HOUMAS HOUSE GROUNDS - PART 2

Poseidon in the pool.

Perhaps the statue above represents nobody and is simply an anonymous figure.

The pagoda. And a Japanese bridge?

Another fountain.

Is it just me? The number of statues, structures, pools, etc. (and I did not photograph all!) begins to seem too much. The individual pieces that contribute to the landscaping and building plan are all tasteful. No expense is spared to beautify the grounds, but perhaps more plants and fewer structures would have been the better way to go.

HOUMAS HOUSE GROUNDS - PART 1

Beautiful flower beds. I love the ornamental cabbages.

Neither Grandpère nor I can think of the name of the small, low-growing flowers pictured in the flower bed. (Update: I now know that the flowers are pansies.)

The flowers in the foreground of the photo are nearly black. Again, we've had them in flower beds, but we can't think of the name.

A Houmas House version of Old Faithful?

I did not photograph the attractive formal gardens with low hedges and maze-like paths through the hedges.

LESTER & CHARLIE: Last of the Last Straws

Thanks to bondwooley in the comments for the link to the video about Americans running away to Canada or other places to escape the government if...if...if.... No! It couldn't happen here!

Check out the The Lester & Charlie show, where you can find other satirical videos. You won't be sorry you visited their website.

FEAST OF FELICITY, PERPETUA, AND COMPANIONS

 

Saints Perpetua and Felicity
By Brother Robert Lentz, OFM. © 1996
Courtesy of www.trinitystores.com


Felicity and Perpetua lived in Carthage in North Africa in the late 2nd and early 3rd centuries and were martyred, along with several of their companions, for refusing to deny their Christian faith.

El Padre at Padre Mickey's Dance Party has a lovely post about the two saintly women, which includes the icon pictured above, along with another beautiful icon.

The faithful witness of the martyrs, of people like Perpetua and the others, have made it possible for us to hear the Good News, have made it possible for us to learn of salvation, have made it possible for us to have eternal life. May we all share the bravery and faithfulness of Perpetua, Felicitas, Revocatus, Secundulus, Saturninus, Saturas, and all the martyrs.

Kittkatt at Jesus in Love, using the same wonderful icon, posted another beautiful account of the the lives of the saints.

Perpetua was a 22-year-old noblewoman and a nursing mother. Felicity, her slave, gave birth to a daughter while they were in prison. Although she was married, Perpetua does not mention having a husband in the narrative.

There were arrested for their Christian faith, imprisoned together, and held onto each other in the amphitheater at Carthage shortly before their execution on March 7, 203.

I recommend the two commemorations highly.

PRAYER

O God the King of saints, you strengthened your servants Perpetua and Felicitas and their companions to make a good confession, staunchly resisting, for the cause of Christ, the claims of human affection, and encouraging one another in their time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith, and win with them the palm of victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

"...THAT HOPEY-CHANGEY THING...." SARAH PALIN

If you can't or won't make it to church today, or even if you go to church, you could do a lot worse, a whole lot worse, indeed, than to read Rmj's post at Adventus for the 3rd Sunday of Lent.

HOUMAS HOUSE, DARROW, LA

 

Grandpère and I attended the awards luncheon for the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities. In a later post, I'll tell you about the people who won the awards. We did not. Above is Houmas House on the East Bank of the Mississippi River, where the ceremony was held. We headed up Bayou Lafourche, then over to cross the river on the Sunshine Bridge, and - miracle of miracles! - we arrived early and had time to tour the grounds.

 

Grandpère standing next to a large oak tree. Does he see a spaceship or a vision in the sky? Something up there seems to have captured his attention. He looks good in his suit, doesn't he?

 

Today the weather was mild and sunshiny, a lovely day for an outing and for walking the beautiful grounds at Houmas House. Usually, I don't like photos of myself, but this one I like. Of course, I'm wearing my old, out-of-style blazer, but so what? I'm old and out of style myself.

 

Spanish Moss in the oaks.

 

Do you know what is shown in the picture above?

Since I have more good pictures of the grounds, I'll probably do another post.

OUR JAPANESE MAGNOLIA

 

At one time, the blooms on the Japanese magnolia in our front yard covered the entire tree. I don't know what happened over the years to cause the blooms to be sparser, but the flowers that DO bloom are still lovely.

 

YOUNG BUTLER CHILDREN

 

Above is one of my favorite pictures of my children when they were young. My daughter loves the picture, too. Although you can't see what the kids look like, I think its a wonderful piece of photography. My neighbor, Kathy Silverberg, took the picture. Kathy worked for the local newspaper, The Daily Comet, and the picture appeared on the front page. We'd had rain for days and days and days, and the children hadn't been outside to play in a long time. Like many children and parents, we were restless. The children couldn't work off their energy, and, as a result, were into more mischief than usual. We'd all had enough. Kathy photographed the wistful scene of the kids looking sadly out the window at the never-ending rain.

In those days, if you went to the newspaper office, they'd let you look through their glossy black and white pictures and take any that pertained to you or your family. I framed the picture, and it hangs upstairs in my house.

FEAST OF ST. CONO THE GARDENER

Cono the gardener lived during the reign of emperor Decius in 251. He came from the town of Nazareth. He left his hometown and went to the city of Mandron, in the province of Pamphylia. There he stayed at a place called Karmela or Karmena cultivating a garden which he used to water and plant with various vegetables. From this garden he obtained what is necessary for life. He had such an upright and simple mind that, when he met those who wished to arrest him and saw that they greeted him, he also greeted in return from the bottom of his soul and heart. When they told him that governor Publius called the saint to go to him, the saint answered with simplicity: "What does the governor need me, since I am a Christian? Let him call those who think the way he does and have the same religion with him." So, the blessed man was tied and brought to the governor, who tried to move him to sacrifice to the idols. But the saint sighed from the bottom of his heart, cursed the tyrant and confirmed his faith in Christ with his confession, saying that it is not possible to be moved from it even though he might be tortured cruelly.

From Mission St. Clare.

Thanks to Ann. I'd never heard of St. Cono before today.

In garden catalogs I've seen statues of St. Fiacre, also named as the patron saint of gardeners.

YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP

From the Shreveport (LA) Times:

The Bossier Parish sheriff's office is launching a program called "Operation Exodus," a policing plan for an end-of-the-world scenario involving a mostly white group of ex-police volunteers and a .50-caliber machine gun, inspired in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible.

"The buck stops with Larry Deen," said Bossier Parish Sheriff Larry Deen. "The liability stops with Larry Deen. I am the chief law enforcement officer in this parish, and it is incumbent upon me protect all of the people in it."

Deen said he had been formulating a plan to protect Bossier Parish's vital resources, like food and gasoline, in the event of a catastrophic event, such as war or a terrorist attack. Deen said he had been thinking of the plan since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
....

These volunteers will be armed by the sheriff's office, using, among other things, shotguns, riot shields and batons. The members are mostly white men. Five are black. Women involved will only be used in "support roles," Deen said, which indicated non-combat activity. One of their first official training sessions was Feb. 20 when they learned basic hand-to-hand combat techniques.
....

Deen said in a press release last week that he named the program in part from the Book of Exodus in the Bible. However, on Wednesday, when asked whether he believed in a true "End of Days" scenario, he declined comment.


Last night, Rachel Maddow showed videos of the men during training sessions. A good many are - ahem - men of a certain age, and I spotted not a few pot bellies amongst them as they kicked the protective pads of their "opponents" in the session. You can imagine that Rachel had a good time with the scenes and even speculated about the Rapture, and that if a rather large group of Republicans are "taken", health care reform would be easier to pass. I can only hope and pray that the idea of "Operation Exodus" doesn't spread to other parishes in Louisiana.

THRILLING START TO MY DAY

I write to inform you that we have already sent you $5000.00USD dollars through Western Union as we have been given the mandate to transfer your full compensation payment of $2,500,000,00 USD via Western Union by the United Nations Government.So I decided to email you the MTCN and sender name, so you can pick up this $5000.00USD to enable us send another $5000.00 USD by tomorrow as you know we will be sending you only $5000.00 USD per day. Please pick up this information and run to any Western Union in your country to pick up the $5000.00 USD and call me back to send you
another payment tomorrow.

Manager: Mr Fred Morris
Email: ******************@*****.com.hk
Phone: ***-****-******

Call or email me once you picked up this $5,000 USD today. Here is the western union information ,you can also track it on-line @ www.************.com
Sender Information's

Sender first name = Cathy
Sender last name = Ritchie
MTCN;= ***********
Amount;= 5,000, USD
Test Question;= Honest?
Test Answer;= Trust.

Regards
Miss. Stephine Clara (ESQ)


Thank you, Miss. Stephine Clara (ESQ). You made my day. I'll surely put the 2.5 million USD to good use.

BISHOP CHANE'S GENEROUS PASTORAL RESPONSE

Bishop John Chane will allow priests in the Diocese of Washington (DC) to preside at marriages of same-sex couples following the passage of The District of Columbia’s Marriage Equality Act.


BISHOP’S PASTORAL DIRECTION REGARDING THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA’S MARRIAGE EQUALITY ACT

As the Bishop of the Diocese of Washington it is important that I put forward guidelines for clergy of the diocese to follow now that the District’s Marriage Equality Act is law. I do so based on my interpretation of General Convention Resolution CO56, which states that “bishops, particularly in those dioceses within civil jurisdictions where same gender marriage, civil unions, or domestic partnerships are legal, may provide generous pastoral response to meet the needs of members of this Church.” I hope that these pastoral guidelines will be helpful to the clergy that I serve as bishop. In the matter of how to engage or not engage in performing, witnessing and blessing same-sex marriages within the District, I respect the pastoral judgment and decisions of the clergy under my pastoral oversight.

1) No priest of this diocese, canonically resident or licensed in accordance with the canons of The Episcopal Church shall be required to act as a licensed agent of the District of Columbia in marrying persons of the same gender; neither shall they be required to bless such civil marriages.

2) Any priest from the diocese, canonically resident or licensed, who has been asked to marry same gender couples according to the Marriage Equality Act must: a) have a valid license from the District government; b) have the support of the vestry if the marriage is to occur in the congregation they serve as rector, assistant, supply priest, priest-in- charge or interim or if in another Episcopal congregation in the District of Columbia, the permission of that rector and vestry; c) notify the bishop at least 30 days prior to the marriage when and where it will take place; d) comply with all the requirements that pertain to heterosexual marriage including those relevant to previous marriages that have ended in divorce. All guidelines for Holy Matrimony currently in effect in the diocese shall be applicable to those persons contemplating civil same-gender marriage within the District. (Marriage guidelines are available at www.edow.org/marriage.)

3) Priests who serve congregations in the four counties of Maryland may marry persons in the District who are residents in the State of Maryland and who are active members of their congregations. They may marry within the District, provided that the couple has a valid DC marriage license and the priest is licensed in the District. All such marriages involving clergy who serve congregations in Maryland and who are entering the District must have the permission of the Bishop of Washington. If the marriage is to occur in an Episcopal congregation within the District, the rector and vestry of that church must give their permission for the use of the church.

4) Episcopal priests from outside the Diocese of Washington are not permitted to enter the diocese to perform, witness and bless same-gender marriages unless they are from a State and diocese that permits same gender marriage.

5) No priest from the Diocese of Washington will be permitted to travel outside of the diocese to perform witness and bless a same-gender marriage in another diocese where such marriage is legal without the written permission of the bishop of that diocese. Priests from the Diocese of Washington who have received permission must also notify the Bishop of Washington of their intent.

6) Persons who reside in other dioceses may not enter the Diocese of Washington to have a same-gender marriage performed, witnessed and blessed by a priest of this diocese or a priest from the diocese in which they reside unless that state legally permits same-gender marriage, and the diocese within that state also permits its clergy to perform, witness and bless same-gender marriages.

7) In the Diocese of Washington, deacons are not permitted to witness and bless marriages and are also prohibited from performing, witnessing and blessing same-gender marriages under the Marriage equality Act of the District of Columbia.

Bravo, Bishop Chane! The pastoral directions seem right and reasonable to me.

H/T to Ann Fontaine at The Lead.

WORDS TO LIVE BY

If you had to pick two, and only two, passages from Scripture to inspire you as to how you ought to live your life, which would they be?

Why two? I thought it would be good to allow an opportunity to choose a passage from the Hebrew Testament and the Christian Testament. However, if your two favorites are from one Testament, that's fine, too.

My two:

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O mortal, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?


Luke 10:27 (or Matthew 22:37)

He answered, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.’


Image from Wiki.

A Bible handwritten in Latin, on display in Malmesbury Abbey, Wiltshire, England. The Bible was written in Belgium in 1407 AD, for reading aloud in a monastery.

STORY OF THE DAY - PRACTICAL ADVICE

doesn't usually advise eating chocolate
for breakfast unless you're absolutely
convinced that's the kind of advice you need


From StoryPeople.

GAY ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS?

On Richard Sipe's website titled Celibacy/Sex/Catholic Church, I came upon an intriguing essay titled "Are American Bishops Gay?"

The short answer is yes, some are.

I am pursuing this discussion in the spirit of contemplative transformation espoused by Fr. Thomas Keating who challenges us to confront the biases that keep us from facing truth when we fail to ask penetrating questions: “Are you so enamored with your religion that you have a naïve loyalty that cannot see the real faults that are present in a particular faith community? Do you sweep under the rug embarrassing situations and bow to the security or esteem needs of the community?”1

Who is Richard Sipe?

A.W. RICHARD SIPE is a Certified Clinical Mental Health Counselor who earlier spent 18 years as a Benedictine monk and priest. He was trained specifically to deal with the mental health problems of Roman Catholic Priests. In the process of training and therapy, he conducted a 25-year ethnographic study of the celibate/sexual behavior of that population. His study, published in 1990, is now considered a classic. Sipe is known internationally and has participated in 12 documentaries on celibacy and priest sexual abuse aired by HBO, BBC, and other networks in the United States, United Kingdom, and France. He has been widely interviewed by media including CNN, ABC, NBC, CNBC, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, People magazine, Newsweek and USA Today.

There's more biographical information at Sipe's website, including what I presume is a picture of him at the Vatican with John Paul II.

Sipe goes on:

Why start a dialogue about human sexuality with identifying gay bishops?

At first glance this focus may seem prickly, provocative and contentious. Not true. Rather this is an effort to define a sexual reality and not celibate failure.

Denial of the reality that clergy, bishops included, have some sexual orientation—whatever it may be—is destructive and forms a linchpin keeping a diseased process in place. Also in treating disease—in this case religious hypocrisy—one starts first to address the symptom. A boil can be an ugly and painful sign of a blood disorder; it has to be treated locally and systemically. The hypocrisy of some American bishops, their arrogance and duplicity patently manifested in their dealings with the victims of abuse by clergy, their pronouncements about the “intrinsic disorders” and “intrinsic evil” of masturbation, birth control and the whole host sexual behaviors common to Christian men and women cry to the heavens for an honest accounting and open discussion. Bishops need to be honest about sexuality—even their own. Painful as it might be the boil must be lanced. That is a start to treatment and cure.
....

Am I proposing here an “outing” of gay bishops? No!

I am suggesting that the reality of bishops‟ sexual orientation/behavior and the need to hide it is a significant element in clerical culture and structure that keeps us from facing basic facts about how that culture operates and affects millions of people. (My emphasis)

Since I left the Roman Catholic Church 15 years ago over the child abuse and cover-up in my diocese of Houma-Thibodaux, I've thought much about the reasons for the abuse and cover-up, and, although I'm no expert, I'm convinced that forced celibacy as a condition for ordination in the RCC is the source of at least some of the abusive behavior. Perhaps men predisposed to be child-abusers made their way through the ordination screening process, but it seems to me that being taught to live one's life in denial of one's own sexuality, whether oriented to straight, or gay, or somewhere in between, could, in some instances, lead to aberrant behavior of several varieties, including abuse of children, even if one was not originally predisposed to such behavior. A godly call to celibacy is one thing, but forced celibacy is a whole other matter.

To leave my church of almost 60 years was no easy matter, but I will say that if I had not left back then, by now I would be out of the RCC for other reasons. By no means am I saying that everyone should leave the RCC. I have many friends who are Roman Catholic, and I admire my friends who stay in the church and fight the good fight for change. When I left, I promised myself that I would not be a bitter ex-Catholic, and I believe that I've succeeded in that endeavor more than I have failed.

Regarding the cover-up, I saw the probable cause of the bishops circling the wagons and moving quickly into denial as the default response as a desire to protect the church as an institution, and in their skewed moral assessment, it was more important to protect the institution, than to protect the children.

Perhaps I'm naive, but never once did I think of the gay men amongst the bishops, probably not all of whom were celibate, having to protect themselves from being found out, as another reason to deploy the policy of cover-up. The massive scale of the hypocrisy within the Roman Catholic Church in its failure to acknowledge the numbers of priests within its own clergy population who do not practice celibacy is stunning. As the news of the scandal broke, I began to say of the priests, "For God's sake, do what you have to do, but find a consenting adult, and leave the children alone!"

Let's start where the hierarchy has long staked out its sexual concerns—specifically about homosexuality even before the term came into common parlance in the 1850s. Same sex orientation and behaviors remain a perennial and major concern of Vatican officials both concerning laymen and within the clerical culture.

When James Hickey, later cardinal of Washington D.C. was rector of the Pontifical North American Theological College in Rome, a sign posted on a bulletin board in the college stated “Overt homosexuality will not be tolerated in this seminary.” A priest from Louisiana took a photo of the bulletin board when it appeared.

Once again, it's the hypocrisy that is so very disturbing. Sipe cites Andrew Greeley's novel, The Cardinal Sins, which I read back in the day:

Father Andrew Greeley outlined the clerical celibate/sexual system most elegantly and accurately in his novel The Cardinal Sins. Struggles and failures around power and celibacy are personified in two boyhood friends who become priests. Pat Donahue is a prototype of the clerical sociopath who even violates a classmate and sneaks dates with girls while in the seminary. As he ascends the clerical ladder to become a cardinal he has sexual encounters—some sadistic—with women, fathers a child, and is dominated by bi-sexual passion that is equaled only by his limitless ambition and ecclesiastical savoir-faire. Kevin Brennan the faithful celibate friend and fellow priest repeatedly covers up for Donahue and saves him and the Church from scandal.

Although Greeley could hardly have intended it at the time of writing, the book remains a paradigm of the clerical culture and the celibate/sexual structure—homosexual Vatican Monsignori and all—that constitutes clerical society. Greeley‟s “novel of grace” has the status and force of a parable: clerics collude to cover clergy malfeasance to preserve the Church from scandal. The sexual abuse crisis in the U.S. (and Ireland) spotlights that paradigm with glaring clarity.

The essay was an eye-opener for me, and I'm probably quoting too many of Richard Sipe's words, but I hope that some of you will read the essay. It's 16 pages in a pdf file, but worth taking the time.

As I look at the leadership in the Roman Catholic Church today, I see no move towards openness or an acknowledgement of the reality of the state of the RCC clergy. But the RCC is not simply the hierarchy. The church is the people and the priests who go about their business each day doing the Lord's work and therein lies my hope for the church in which I spent so many years of my life.

I'll end on a humorous note with one more quote from Sipe:

A longtime religion reporter/editor for a prominent daily remarked one time during an interview that he was struck by “all the beautiful young priests” who were in attendance to bishops he had interviewed during his career. Similar innuendoes and jokes are circulated among the Rome Press Corps about a young priest-secretary who attends Pope Benedict XVI. The pope's red Gucci pumps and his obvious predilection for fashionable miters and robes (in addition to his long assault on the "intrinsically disordered" population) do nothing to establish a secure masculine image.

Thanks to John for pointing me to Richard Sipe's writing.

PJ IS PUBLISHED!

A note from my virtual and real-life friend PJ (Phyllis) Degenaro:

Hello all:

Sorry for the shameless self-promotion, but I've finally had a short story published and I figured I might as well shout it from the rooftops.

This is the journal: Adirondack Review.

And this is a direct link to the story:

Just imagine how obnoxious I would be if it was a print journal. ;)

-Phyllis/PJ

No way PJ can be obnoxious, except to those who really deserve the treatment.

After reading PJ's story, here's what I wrote back:

Hello back, PJ,

Your story is good! Gritty and real, or you coulda fooled me. Written out of the experience of your misspent youth, no doubt. I started, had one interruption, came back and read it through with anticipation. Congratulations! The in-print stories will come. I look forward to saying, "I knew her when...." I told you so, didn't I?

I watched "The Daily Show", and Samantha Bee did a sketch with a real guy, who is a game blogger and has a 13.5 in. penis. Samantha is trying to convince him that he's "born for porn".

Sorry for the interruption. Hang in there and keep writing.

xxoo

Mimi

50TH ANNIVERSARY STORY

A couple were celebrating 50 years together. Their three kids, all very successful, agreed to a Sunday dinner in their honor.

"Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad," gushed son number one, "Sorry I'm running late. I had an emergency at the hospital with a patient, you know how it is, and I didn't have time to get you a gift."

"Not to worry," said the father. "The important thing is that we're all together today."

Son number two arrived and announced, "You and Mom look great, Dad. I just flew in from Los Angeles between depositions and didn't have time to shop for you."

"It's nothing," said the father. "We're glad you were able to come."

Just then the daughter arrived. "Hello and happy anniversary! I'm sorry, but my boss is sending me out of town and I was really busy packing so I didn't have time to get you anything."

After they had finished dessert, the father said, "There's something your mother and I have wanted to tell you for a long time. You see, we were very poor. Despite this, we each worked two jobs and were able to send each of you to college. Throughout the years your mother and I knew that we loved each other very much, but we just never found the time to get married."

The three children gasped and all said, "You mean we're bastards?"

"Yep," said the father. "And cheap ones too."


If you're cheap and forgetful with your mama and daddy, and the joke makes you feel guilty, don't blame me, blame Paul (A.). :-)

STORY OF THE DAY - DESTINY

Destiny? there's only your time & then
there's not your time, she said. All the
rest is made up to keep you busy


Oh. Now I see.


From StoryPeople

MORE GOOD NEWS

From Ekklesia:

In a dramatic development, the House of Lords has voted to allow the use of religious premises and religious language in same-sex partnerships.

Sitting yesterday evening (2 March), peers voted in favour of the proposal by 95 votes to 21, despite opposition from the government and several Church of England bishops.

Good news and about time. Why should Anglican bishops exercise control over the polity and practices of other denominations?

Links to other stories about the vote can be found at The Lead.

BUNNING BACKED DOWN

He removed the roadblock. What to say? Bunning says his only concern is for the people. Can't you tell? Sen. DeMint of South Carolina said, "Sen. Bunning is my hero."

WHERE HELL IS

For decades pundits have been saying that The New Orleans Saints were so bad at playing football that Hell would freeze over before the Saints would ever win The Super Bowl.

On Sunday, February 7, 2010 The Saints won the Super Bowl.

On that same Sunday, Washington D.C. was paralyzed under several feet of snow and the Government was shut down.

I suppose we now know where Hell really is.


Thank Doug, because the joke is fittin', jes' fittin'.

WORN DOWN

Oh dear! I'm having an unproductive blogging day. I've started a couple of posts and not finished them. Whether I'll ever finish them is questionable. Through a link from Americablog, I came upon the following news from ABC:

White House officials tell ABC News that in his remarks tomorrow President Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans on some issue to get a health care reform bill passed but will say that if it is necessary, Democrats will use the controversial reconciliation rules requiring only 51 Senate votes to pass the "fix" to the Senate bill.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have been awaiting the president’s remarks direction on how health care reform will proceed.

Can we truly believe that some form of decent health care reform will be passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by the president? For a year now, the path of my emotions, paralleling the course of health care reform, have been a roller-coaster ride, hopes up, hopes dashed, hopes up, hopes dashed, and no bill signed into law yet. Can our Democratic legislators in the Congress come together and produce a bill, and pass the bill through both houses, and get the bill on the president's desk for him to sign? Why not six, eight months ago? Or if substantive legislation is really about to be passed, should I not even ask the question?

I confess that when I hear the words, "Obama will indicate a willingness to work with Republicans", I begin to hyperventilate from anxiety. Mr President, please!

The president will outline the plan to pass the bill, including having the House of Representatives pass the Democratic Senate health care reform legislation as well as a second bill containing various “fixes.”

He will say that if Republicans refuse to allow and up or down vote in the Senate on the fixes to the bill, Democrats will use the reconciliation rules.

"[I]f the Republicans refuse to allow an up or down vote"? Mr President! You simply cannot be credulous enough to believe that there is any chance whatsoever that the Republicans will allow an up or down vote.

I confess that I'm worn down. I'll believe in a health care reform bill when I see President Obama signing the bill on the TV. And then, I'll start praying that the bill is, at least in some ways, better than what we have now.

Note: John Aravosis thinks the news is great. I'd love to be as hopeful as John.

WENCHOSTER CALENDAR - MARCH

 

Pretty Boy Procession 1899

 

Shown above is the official calendar for the month of March from the Diocese of Wenchoster. Once again, the feast days are somewhat different from the calendar of the Episcopal Church and includes saints of whom we may never have heard. After all, the Diocese of Wenchoster is in England, and we should expect that their calendar will be a bit different from ours.

As usual, click on the pictures for the larger view.

I must tell Grandpère about St Mulch of Compostella. Dedicated gardener that he is, I'm sure he will want to adopt the saint as his patron.

Is it just me, or do others judge that not all the boys in the procession are pretty? Still what a grand and glorious ceremony the Crowning of the "Pretty Boy" must be. Is it a bit odd that such a ceremony would take place in the solemn season of Lent?

As to the "Cutting of the Ears" ceremony, my question is, "Whose ears?" Not the Pretty Boys' ears, surely.

Note that the calendar appears only one day late. Not bad, all things considered.

ONLY A MOTHER WOULD KNOW

Cup of Tea

One day my mother was out and my dad was in charge of me.

I was maybe 2 1/2 years old. Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a gift and it was one of my favorite toys.

Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home.

My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!' My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I come down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy and she watches him drink it up.

Then she says, (as only a mother would know... :)

'Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach water is the toilet?'


Don't blame me. Blame Doug. :-)

GO GET 'EM, MARY!

From the Houma Courier:

Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu offered a blunt and personal criticism today of Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal's health secretary as the senator hardened her support for the health-care overhaul sought by President Barack Obama.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Landrieu said of state Health and Hospitals Secretary Alan Levine, "I just think he's wrong, usually morning, noon and night, and as far as I'm concerned, he can go get another job."

She said Jindal had the "wrong priorities."

Now ain't that the truth? How much difference Levine's departure would make I can't say, because he's very likely implementing policies that Jindal wants. Levine moved forward with Jindal's policy to privatize the care of citizens with developmental problems in group home to reduce costs. Levine says that contracting out the care will result in better care and cheaper care. That's always the way it works when the government pays the profit-making companies to take over, right? More for less and the companies still make a profit.

Not only that:

In addition to the privatization effort, which is expected to save $11.5 million a year, the state is cutting reimbursements to hospitals, doctors, nursing homes and other health-care providers who care for the poor and indigent. Mental health, addiction treatment and public health services such as family planning also are being reduced.

Sweet. How many health-care providers will now refuse to treat the poor and indigent? Mental health care and treatment programs for addictions were in sorry shape before the cuts. Our Republican governor, like many of his fellow party members, always looks to impose cuts on the most vulnerable of our citizens.

Back to Mary:

The comments come as Landrieu offered her full backing for the health revamp proposal Obama outlined earlier this week, a proposal that Jindal and Levine oppose.

For Mary Landrieu to sign on to Obama's health care proposal is a big deal. I hope that Mary senses a weakness in Jindal's popularity, partially due to the draconian budget cuts the governor ordered in higher education and the Department of Health and Hospitals, the only two big budget areas in which funding is not constitutionally dedicated, and I hope she's right. Higher ed and H&H bear the brunt in years with budget deficits. A good many employees of the two departments have already or will likely lose their jobs. The universities and colleges are reeling from the cuts. And as you probaly know, Louisiana doesn't score at the head of the class in measurements of educational achievement compared to the rest of the country.

So, yes, go get 'em, Mary. And stick with the health care bill. In two years, you may find that you have a vote that you can run on and real differences with Republicans that you can emphasize on the campaign trail.

GOOD NEWS!

From the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles:

The U.S. Supreme Court today announced that it has denied a petition to hear an appeal from a breakaway congregation seeking claim to the property of St. Luke's Episcopal Church of La Crescenta, California. The court posted its action, together with dozens of other petitions denied, on its web site.
Meeting in conference on Feb. 26, the high court declined to hear the petition filed by St. Luke's Anglican Church of La Crescenta, whose members voted in 2006 to disaffiliate from the Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Los Angeles.

The property, a landmark stone church complex at 2563 Foothill Blvd., was returned to the Diocese of Los Angeles by court order on Oct. 12, 2009, following the California State Supreme Court's Jan. 5, 2009 ruling affirming that Episcopal Church property is held in trust for the mission of the local diocese and the wider church.

A statement from the Rt. Rev. J. Jon Bruno, bishop of the six-county Diocese of Los Angeles, follows here:

"I thank the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court for their clarity in declining to hear an appeal regarding Episcopal Church property in La Crescenta, California, which has served local residents for more than 80 years."

All right! Maybe now the breakaways from the Episcopal Church get it. My plain words to those thinking of departing: I hope that you decide not to leave, but if you do, you cannot take the property with you.

H/T to Jim Naughton at The Lead.