JEFFREY JOHN BLOCKED AS BISHOP OF SOUTHWARK

From Colin Coward at Changing Attitude:

Jonathan Wynne-Jones has ‘revealed’ in the Telegraph that Jeffrey John is not to be nominated as the next Bishop of Southwark. Neither, so I am told, will Nick Holtham, Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields, be nominated.

This is painfully disappointing news for Jeffrey, who has lived through a week in which his identity and reputation have been pored over, analysed and attacked once again by conservative forces in the church in a way which I can only describe as poisonous. Those who claim the moral and ethical high ground in the church behave in ways which are scandalous and unchristian.
....

Archbishop Rowan was apparently so furious about the first leak that he unilaterally vetoed Jeffrey’s name, betraying his friend for a second time and handing an apparent victory to the conservatives who seem to be successfully controlling him. Archbishop Rowan would have directed his anger in a more healthy direction if he had targetted the people inside and outside the Commission who have deliberately sabotaged its work.

Jonathan lists a number of reasons why this is bad news. I think he omits far more important reasons why it is bad news. It is a capitulation to forces within the Church of England and the Anglican Communion which represent a reactionary attitude to scripture and a negative attitude towards the glory, goodness and infinite variety and beauty of God’s creation.

It communicates an image of the church and Christianity to our nation in which we are perceived to be bigoted, prejudiced, narrow-minded and lacking in the primary Christian virtue of love.

My goodness! What a mess. Can the words about the Archbishop of Canterbury's unilateral veto be true? What a way to redress a breach of confidentiality!

H/T to Thinking Anglicans.

GUNS ALLOWED IN CHURCH IN LOUISIANA - I AM SO PROUD

From NOLA:

Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed into law one of the more controversial bills from the recent legislative session, one allowing guns to be carried into houses of worship.

Jindal's office said Tuesday the governor acted on the bill in the past few days after receiving it June 20.

Including the "gun-in-church" bill, House Bill 1272 by Rep. Henry Burns, R-Haughton, Jindal has signed into law 940 of the 1,067 bills the Legislature sent him, vetoed 12, and used his pen to line-item spending measures in four different budget bills.
Burns' bill would authorize persons who qualified to carry concealed weapons having passed the training and background checks to bring them to churches, mosques, synagogues or other houses of worship as part of a security force.

Ain't it grand? What a legislature! What a governor! Who knew the lot of them would align so neatly with the result that members of congregations may now be fully armed in church.

Look at the guvna up there wearing his red and white striped tie with the stars in the background - a living symbol of patriotism and what the US is all about, the 2nd Amendment, the right of every citizen to bear arms.

"10 DISASTROUS MISTAKES BP MADE BEFORE THE THE DEEPWATER HORIZON EXPLODED"

From Business Insider:

1. BP downplayed operational risks in applications for exemption from federal inspection

2. BP may have cut corners in well design

3. BP used slapdash methods to fix early problems in the well lining

4. BP skipped crucial tests of the well cement lining

5. BP knowingly used a faulty blow-out preventer

6. According to an industry whistle blower, BP falsified blowout preventer tests for years

7. Rig supervisors ignored pressure warnings in hours leading up to the explosion

8. Turns out BP did not have a good rig rescue plan

9. BP did not plan for an oil spill significantly greater than 20,000 bbl

10. BP had not researched Top Hat and Top Kill at drill depth

Read the details of the mistakes at Business Insider.

The mistakes were human errors, errors of judgment by BP, in which decisions were influenced by the culture embedded in the operations of the company to heavily favor production over safety. Our own federal agencies, especially the Minerals Management Service, many of whose employees were cosy with the oil companies, so much so, that they ignored their mission to regulate, failed to make public safety the priority, and instead put the interests of the oil companies first.

The Deepwater Horizon explosion, which killed 11 men and injured 17, and resulted in a catastrophic human and environmental disaster, with no end to the ill effects in sight, was entirely preventable.

STORY OF THE DAY - INNER SPACE

There's a lot of space in here I'm just
starting to discover, my grandma told
me not long ago, so I'm hoping my body
holds out.

From StoryPeople.

JESUS AND MO - PAIN

From Jesus and Mo.

GAY PASTOR AND PARTNER ATTACKED IN PARK AT GUNPOINT

From CBSAtlanta:

Six people are facing charges after a gay pastor and his partner were attacked at gunpoint while picnicking at Piedmont Park.
Joshua Noblitt, a pastor at St. Mark's Methodist United Church in Atlanta, told CBS Atlanta that he and his partner were enjoying an evening at the park last Friday just before 10 p.m. when a group of young men approached them.

"They walked up to us and asked 'are y'all gay? We ought to beat y'all for that'" said Noblitt.
Noblitt said that the youths walked off, but returned with a stick and demanded money.
....

One of the suspects pulled a handgun and held it to Noblitt's head, then stole his wallet and cell phone, police said.

I should not be shocked by this story, but I am. Violence against gays in this country is nothing new, but gratuitous assaults such as this are difficult to fathom.

They [the attackers] range in age from 13 to 19.

Teens on a lark.

H/T to Timothy Kincaid at Box Turtle Bulletin.

DARTH CAT PREPARES TO CONQUER THE UNIVERSE

This is Bella, my friend's cat.

Either

a) she sees herself as the cat world's answer to Darth Vader

or

b) she has come to the conclusion she needs to swathe herself in the equivalent of a burka to protect the neighbourhood toms from the mesmerising effects of her loveliness

or

c) she is just horsing about with the rubbish bin lid.

You decide.

Thanks to Cathy for the picture and the words. What do you think?

TARBALLS IN LAKE PONTCHARTRAIN

A tar ball washed ashore near the Treasure Isle subdivision in Lake Pontchartrain as people fish near the Rigolets in Slidell on Monday. (Matthew Hinton - The Times-Picayune)

Seems to me the picture shows something other than a tarball. The tarballs I saw on the beach years ago, were solid objects. What's pictured is what I would call a viscous oil patty, something less than a solid.

From NOLA:

Showing just how unpredictable and all-consuming the massive Gulf oil spill can be, tar balls and small sheens of oil have entered Lake Pontchartrain and are hitting Texas shores for the first time.

John Lopez, director of the Lake Pontchartrain Basin Foundation's coastal stainability program, spotted the first tar balls in the Rigolets Pass on Sunday. By Monday, the blobs of oil had washed ashore as far west as Treasure Isle in Slidell.

Cleanup crews used nets to scoop up the tar balls throughout the day, collecting more than 1,000 pounds of oil and waste. BP also deployed 19 manual skimming vessels and four decontamination vessels to the area, and placed 600-feet of hard and soft boom at a choke point in the Rigolets to prevent more oil from entering the lake. Cleanup efforts are expected to resume today.

Lopez said oil made its way into the lake because of winds from the far edges of Hurricane Alex last week as well as sustained east and southeast winds during the weekend. The winds from Alex pushed a large amount of oil into the Mississippi Sound for the first time, and the east winds during the past few days pushed oil into Lake Borgne, the Rigolets and eventually the eastern stretches of Lake Pontchartrain.
....


"It has a fairly tortuous route to get to the lake, and that's why we're at day 70-something of the spill, and we're just seeing the oil reach Lake Pontchartrain," Lopez said. "This oil we're seeing probably headed east toward Alabama and Florida before it came this way. It's traveled probably at least 100-200 miles, depending on how far east it went."

Also on Monday, The Associated Press reported that Texas crews were removing tar balls from the Bolivar Peninsula and Galveston Island.

The Texas landfall and the encroachment into Lake Pontchartrain weren't unexpected, but they were staggering nonetheless, as the previously spared gateways to the highly populated areas saw the first physical evidence that they would not be immune.

The coastline from Texas to Florida, a vast area, is now affected by the gusher. Staggering, indeed, but entirely predictable, although, from the beginning, there were those who said, "It may not be that bad." I never said such a thing, because I knew it would be that bad and, very likely, worse. We have not yet seen the worst.

COMMENTS DON'T POST

Along with Counterlight, I'm having difficulty with comments. Even mine don't always post. I have your comments in my email notification, but they don't appear in the comment boxes. I'm not blocking or deleting. Perhaps they'll show up eventually.

IS SOMEONE SPOILING FOR A FIGHT?

From Andrew Brown at the Guardian:

The fact that Jeffrey John has been nominated as Bishop of Southwark is intriguing. That it has been leaked reveals a great deal about the civil war within the church of England. Seven years ago Rowan Williams' attempt to get his old friend into the much less important job of Bishop of Reading led to his first – and, it seemed, decisive – defeat at the hands of hardline evangelicals. He cracked after two months of pressure and asked John to withdraw his name, establishing his reputation as a man who could be bullied. If he is beaten again, he is finished. If he wins, he will have shot the rapids and the Church of England will finally emerge from the turbulence of the last 30 years with a fairly clear and fairly coherent doctrine about sex.
....

So: a church in which gays are all right if they are celibate, and women are accepted if they tolerate the people who can't stand them. Will that be the settlement of the fuss of the last 20 years? Perhaps not. Whoever leaked John's name made his appointment almost inevitable. But my sources suggest that the leak came from Evangelicals, not from the liberals. Someone is spoiling for a fight.

Please read Brown's words in between the excerpts I quoted.

Intrigue! Fighting! In the church? Heaven forbid!

Also in the Guardian by Riazat Butt:

Conservative parishes in the Church of England could seek alternative leadership from abroad if a gay man is appointed as bishop of Southwark, clerics warned today.

The argument over homosexual clergy in the Anglican communion was reignited at the weekend when it was disclosed that Dr Jeffrey John, the dean of St Albans, is among nominations for the post vacated earlier this year by the Right Rev Tom Butler. In 2003, John was forced to stand down from his appointment as suffragan bishop of Reading because of his sexuality after protests from traditionalists.

Reform, a conservative evangelical group, has warned the church could split if John, who is in a civil partnership but celibate, is made bishop for the south London diocese.
....

Writing in the Church of England newspaper last week, the Rev Ray Skinner, a rector in Morden, south London, said it did not take "a huge leap of imagination" to predict what would happen should John get the job. "As in North America, with its shrinking liberal Episcopal Church, and growing orthodox Anglican Church, there will be a formal divide. Maybe not immediately, we tend not to rush things. There are two new groups already within the Church of England, one called Inclusive Church, the other the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans linking with other Anglican provinces."

Perhaps, the Archbishop of Canterbury thinks it's time to call the bluff of the Reform folks, but why now? The whole scheme for appointing Dean John at the present time makes no sense to me, but I'm no insider. The ABC may yet come to see for himself what it's like to have foreign bishops invade his territory.

As for the Rev. Ray Skinner's words:

"As in North America, with its shrinking liberal Episcopal Church, and growing orthodox Anglican Church, there will be a formal divide."

Methinks the good Reverend is taking the words at the ACNA website too much at face value.

H/T to Thinking Anglicans for the link to the article by Riazat Butt. I found Andrew Brown's article on my own.

"A COALITION OF THE HEARTLESS, THE CLUELESS AND THE CONFUSED"

From Paul Krugman at the New York Times:

There was a time when everyone took it for granted that unemployment insurance, which normally terminates after 26 weeks, would be extended in times of persistent joblessness. It was, most people agreed, the decent thing to do.

But that was then. Today, American workers face the worst job market since the Great Depression, with five job seekers for every job opening, with the average spell of unemployment now at 35 weeks. Yet the Senate went home for the holiday weekend without extending benefits. How was that possible?

The answer is that we’re facing a coalition of the heartless, the clueless and the confused.

Read the rest of the column and weep. It's not just Republicans.

But there are also centrist Democrats who have bought into the arguments against helping the unemployed. It’s up to them to step back, realize that they have been misled — and do the right thing by passing extended benefits.

Oh, yes indeed! As I've said elsewhere, "Oh, the heady days of 2008!" Those were the days when we had such hopes for our Democratic president and our Democratic majorities in Congress.

"But that was then."

NEW (I HOPE!) MAXINES

 

 

Thanks to Ann and Doug.

WHO WILL BE THE NEXT BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE OF SOUTHWARK IN SOUTH LONDON?

The Telegraph is the original source of the story that Dean of St. Albans, Jeffrey John, is favored to be the next Bishop of Southwark. Dr. John (There is another with the same name and title in a different profession.) is in a same-sex civil partnership with another clergyman.

If you recall, some years ago, Dean John was appointed Bishop of Reading, and the date of his consecration was set, but because of the uproar amongst conservatives in the Church of England, and despite the fact that he stated that the relationship was celibate, Dean John was asked to stand down from his appointment by his good friend, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, which he did.

Jim Naughton comments on the latest story at The Lead

Thinking Anglicans posted several links to commentary on the story.

We'll know quite soon whether the story is true or simply misguided speculation, for the meetings to decide upon a candidate for the position of Bishop of Southwark take place today and tomorrow.

Adrian at Pluralist Speaks in his post titled "Restoration" gives us his words of wisdom. Of course, Adrian's post is not really about Dr. Jeffery John, but about Dr. John John. However, there are parallels....

"WE NEED...TO BE FEARLESS AND OBNOXIOUS"

At The Daily Dish, Andrew Sullivan posted rather splendid words for the Fourth of July, when we celebrate our liberation from the tyrannical rule of the British Empire. (Slight irony alert here, since I have a good many English friends, and Andrew himself is an immigrant from Merrie Olde England - God save the Queen, and all that.)

Initially, I planned to excerpt from Andrew's post, but I did not find a logical cut-off spot. I hope he doesn't mind that I use his entire commentary. Pop on over to Andrew's site to read the words he quotes from Thomas Jefferson, who is no longer included in the recent revision of the social studies curriculum by the Texas Board of Education.

"I believe the blogosphere first truly gained traction in America for a good reason. There is something about blogging's freedom from the constraints of conventional journalism that captures an American ideal: civic engagement totally free of anyone else's influence. It is an ideal of a fourth estate hostile to authorities public and private, suspicious of conventional wisdom, and, above all, confident, even when confidence seems absurd, in the power of the word and the argument to make a difference ... in the end. The rise of this type of citizen journalism has, in my view, increasingly exposed some of the laziness and corruption in the professional version - even as there is still a huge amount to treasure and value in the legacy media, and a huge amount of partisan, mendacious claptrap on the blogs.

But what distinguishes the best of the new media is what could still be recaptured by the old: the mischievous spirit of journalism and free, unfettered inquiry. Journalism has gotten too pompous, too affluent, too self-loving, and too entwined with the establishment of both wings of American politics to be what we need it to be.

We need it to be fearless and obnoxious, out of a conviction that more speech, however much vulgarity and nonsense it creates, is always better than less speech. In America, this is a liberal spirit in the grandest sense of that word - but also a conservative one, since retaining that rebelliousness is tending to an ancient American tradition, from the Founders onward. (My emphasis)

....

Here at the Dish, we try and we fail at this every day. But we have never for a second doubted the imperative of this complicated, difficult and exhilarating task."

I echo Andrew's final paragraph, except for the part about never doubting, for I doubt, on occasion.

Andrew's post is heartening to me, since I've heard and read much about the approaching death of the blogosphere. If blogs die, then they die, and so be it. The new online gathering spots, which appear with the speed of storms off the west coast of Africa during hurricane season, are not much to my taste, I'm sad to say, since many of my friends are there.

If Andrew is correct about "fearless and obnoxious", then I have a way to go.

BISHOP KATHARINE'S FREEDOM SERMON IN AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND

On June 27 Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preached at Holy Trinity Cathedral, Auckland, in the morning, and at evensong at St. Michael and All Angels in Christchurch.

The readings for the day were: 2 Kings 2: 1-2, 6-14; Psalm 77: 1-2, 11-20; Galatians 5:1, 13-25 and Luke 9: 51-62.

From Bishop Katharine's sermon:

All the hoopla around the World Cup brings to mind another athletic celebration. In 1968 two American athletes stood on the podium in Mexico City and raised their fists. They wanted to make a statement about freedom and their lack of it, for they were black.

Even though the law insists that all people are equal, people of color continue to suffer injustice, in my homeland and, I think, in yours. Their salute got them thrown out of the summer Olympic Games, but it raised the consciousness of a lot of people, and helped the cause of freedom for many, many others.

In one of the biblical languages, the word for prayer means opening a clenched fist. That black power salute began another petition in a continuing prayer across the world, that all people might be free. The crucifixion is a cosmic version of that same prayer – Jesus’ arms and hands open so wide they take in the whole world, indeed, the whole creation.
....

‘For freedom Christ has set us free. So stand up and stop being a slave,’ Paul says (Gal 5:1). But freedom isn’t only freedom from ; it’s freedom for – for loving self and others. We have been set free in order that we might become that same sort of liberating love in the world, setting others free.
....

The freedom we have received in Christ is meant to give us larger hearts and wider-seeing eyes that don’t focus so much on our own fears. That sort of freedom gives us the ability to look for the larger good, rather than only our own.
....

Will we see those self-centered responses that Paul calls works of the flesh: “strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy” – or together can we encourage works of the spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control”? Even the simple act of attending, paying attention to the suffering of others, begins to unclench the fist.
....

There’s something about the freedom we know in Jesus that cures our paralyzing fear of those on the margins. You know how that sort of clenching goes: “there but for the grace of God go I. Don’t let that happen to me – keep me far away from any hint of the possibility of homelessness or disability or disaster. Thank God I wasn’t born to that culture.” May the unclenching prayer in us be more like, “dear God, I see this suffering. Help me see you in my neighbor.”
....

The freedom we have is to choose for those on the margins, to be in solidarity with the friendless and forgotten, the despised and the demonized. Exercising that freedom is almost always challenging – it annoys people who don’t see any need to change the status quo, it offends those in power, it challenges the ways of the world that say, “me first.”

Crossing those boundaries sent God into human flesh. Crossing those boundaries is the heart of God’s mission. It’s not for the faint of heart, but we find courage from our elder brother who has already opened his hands and arms wide enough for the whole world. We find strength in his body gathered here, and through all time and space. May we claim the freedom that is ours. May our fists open for all!

Read the entire sermon. It's all good. Sadly, there are those within our own Episcopal Church who label Bishop Katharine a heretic - those who will not even allow that she is a Christian. I think, "How can this be?" Her sermon gets to the heart of Jesus' message and Paul's message that we are set free, not to turn inward, but to look outward to serve our neighbors and build the Kingdom of God here on earth.

And who is my neighbor?

BANG!

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

(Declaration of Independence)


HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY!

ANOTHER PRAYER CALL

From David@Montreal:

Before anything else I'd wish a blessed Independence Day to my American siblings in prayer and practice.
Such sad and complicated times we live in
but I truly believe we are living on a transformative cusp
and as a certain beloved Giant has reminded me more than once we are a people of hope.

I'd ask for travelling mercies for my cherished Mam for Sunday July 4
On Friday,. Mam had a fall while visiting her sister in Hamilton Ontario with my sister and her husband
two breaks on her lower left arm- one of them irregular so an operation and two plates will be required.
Waiting time at Hamilton General for this surgery would be until Thurs or Friday of next week, so Cathy and Yves will be driving Mam back tomorrow- stopping every hour to get out of the car and walk about to avoid bloodclots. Normally a six hour trip it will end up much longer, and Mam is to be admitted directly to hospital here in Quebec- thankfully it will be the hospital where one of my nieces is in charge of emergency medicine.

I'd beg your prayers for Kirstin, undergoing aggressive treatment for her second bout with cancer- a rough one with multiple sites. But hey I've got the Giants on the case!
Prayers for John, whose esophagial cancer appears to be out of control again.
For Rosemary, one of the most determined people battling cancer I've seen in some time. She tells me she's doing it for her husband and two young sons, but I think it's her Armenian genes!
For Frank & Carol.
For Dorian.
For Juan Manuel and his incredible parents M. & J.
For those who are walking the path of discernment at this time
and for those working, aching, dreaming or studying to bring about a better way of doing things in our suffering world, particularly this evening I'd ask for those who are laboring or fighting to better the lives of women- most particularly in the developing world.

For the minds and hearts of those responsible for healing the Gulf, that they will be moved to the courage, vision and resolve the situation requires.
For those who armor their fear with hatred- wether it's the people of Arizona, those who rush to follow their ugly example, certain cowardly bishops, or wall-building individual and nations. 'Emotional midgets trying to throw a giants shadow.'

with my love, gratitude for each of you Giants, and my prayers for those on your hearts

love always- always Love

David@Montreal

Lord, hear our prayers.

THE TOMATO GARDEN

An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey . He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard. His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament:

"Dear Vincent,
I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over. I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days.
Love,
Papa"

A few days later he received a letter from his son.

"Dear Pop,
Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried.
Love,
Vinnie"

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left.

That same day the old man received another letter from his son.

"Dear Pop,
Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances.
Love you,
Vinnie"

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

FOR KIRSTIN

Kirstin is presently undergoing chemotherapy for melanoma.

Heavenly Father, giver of life and health: Comfort and relieve your sick servant Kirstin, and give your power of healing to those who minister to her needs, that she may be strengthened in her weakness and have confidence in your loving care; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 459)

Please leave comments at Kirstin's blog, Barefoot and Laughing.

Thanks to Caminante for the burning candle image.

"NO MAN'S LAND" - AGAIN

And the wars continue, and the dying continues on, and on, and on.

Well, the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame
The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,
For Willie McBride, it all happened again,
And again, and again, and again, and again.

Reposted from last year.

IS MY FRIEND GEORGIANNE A MEDIA FELON?

It is now a felony to take more photos of birds like this, wading through oil that broken booms have trapped in rookeries (Photo by Georgianne Nienaber)

See Georgianne Nienaber's piece at The Huffington Post.

The United States Coast Guard considers me a felon now, because I "willfully" want to obtain more photos like these to show you the utter devastation occurring in Barataria Bay, Louisiana as a result of the BP oil catastrophe. If the Coast Guard has its way, all media, not just independent writers and photographers like myself and Jerry Moran, will be fined $40,000 and receive Class D felony convictions for providing the truth about oiled birds and dolphins, in addition to broken, filthy, unmanned boom material that is trapping oil in the marshlands and estuaries. We don't have $40,000 to spare, and have had to scrape the bottoms of our checkbooks as is to hire boats to take us to the devastation the Coast Guard, under the direction of BP, does not want you to see.

Georgianne's post includes heartbreaking photos besides the pelican at the head of my post. She and Jerry, the photographer, risked what I was not willing to try during our visit to Grand Isle. The US Coast Guard seems to be taking orders from BP. BP should have control ONLY of stopping the oil from gushing. The clean-up should be under the authority of the government with the bills going to BP. Why won't the Obama administration wrench control of the clean-up from BP?

Today from our local paper, The Daily Comet:

COCODRIE — Crews made slow progress Friday cleaning up patches of oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill that has reached the waters of Terrebonne Parish.
....

An oil sheen described as light to moderate in density has been working its way through the passes of Terrebonne’s barrier islands. Weather difficulties made a new estimate of just how much oil is floating on inside waters sketchy at best, officials said.
....

Oil was also visible in and around the passes and beaches of Lafourche Parish, where officials said some marsh areas near Fourchon Beach took on some oil.

“There was oil, and due to the surge from Hurricane Alex, the water was pushed beyond the barriers of the beach,” said Lafourche Parish government spokesman Brennan Matherne. “That storm really showed us how bad things could get if a storm gets any closer. This was hundreds of miles away, and the tide came up anywhere from three to four feet; that’s the significant part of this.”

All of Fourchon Beach is now covered with oil because the tide came up to its dunes and a protective levee nearby.

Kerry St. Pe, director of the Barataria-Terrebonne National Estuary Program, who has been closely watching the spill’s local effects, said it appears Lafourche got the biggest local hit.

He confirmed that there has been a large slick on the upper part of Lake Pelto in Terrebonne Parish, just south of Cocodrie.

“What that means is they have a toxic substance that has moved into our estuary and it is probably killing marine organisms like juvenile shrimp, crabs, speckled trout,” St. Pe said.
....

St. Pe said he expects to start seeing more birds turning up with oil on them in the Terrebonne and Lafourche waterways.

Terrebonne Parish is due south of us here in Thibodaux, in north Lafourche Parish. Grandpère and my son fish in the area of Cocodrie and Lake Pelto. Over 30 plus years of fishing, GP has seen the marshes disappear because of coastal erosion. Marsh islands which once had large trees growing on them are gone, and only the top half of the dead trees can be seen now sticking up out of the water. And now this assault on the marshes and God's creatures who inhabit the wetlands.

I've probably gone beyond fair use in quoting from my local paper. I try to follow the rules, but I hope that the powers at the newspaper are forgiving in the name of getting the word out as to what is happening locally. Ultimately, the powers are the New York Times, who owns the two local papers.



Map showing the position of Thibodaux in relation to the areas affected.



A closer view of the area affected

From the Lectionary today:

Romans 8:18-25

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

Maps from Google Map.

"CARRY ON MAYOR"

From the Guardian:

The newly elected lord mayor of Leicester was forced to apologise today after suffering a wardrobe malfunction which onlookers described as "something out of a Carry On film".

As he stood up in front of a room full of schoolchildren to thank the organisers of an educational summer show, Colin Hall felt an unfamiliar draft as his trousers came loose and slipped down around his ankles.

Hall, 46, suffered the embarrassing mishap on a visit to Southfields library in Leicester yesterday morning.
....

One said: "It was like watching something out of a Carry On film. You half expected him to be wearing a big pair of comedy bloomers but as soon as he realised what had happened he pulled his back trousers up."

Did I ever tell you...? No, really. One day, some years ago, I drove to New Orleans for a Jane Austen Society luncheon. As I was riding along, I unbuttoned my skirt, because it felt tight. When I arrived at the Upperline Restaurant, I got out of the car, and before I knew what had happened, my skirt was around my ankles. The only person around was an elderly black man whose eyes widened when he saw me, and then he quickly looked away. Oh dear!

After I pulled up my skirt, I had a good laugh at myself, and I went into the restaurant with a wardrobe malfunction story to tell at lunch.

A MAYBE FOR A WHALE

(Photo by Al Covey, VDOT)

From the Advocate in Baton Rouge:

A whale of a skimmer arrived Thursday in Louisiana, but the massive ship won’t be allowed to scoop oil out of the Gulf of Mexico until it first proves to the government and BP that it can actually do the job.

The 10-story tall, 373-yard long ship, named A Whale, just finished a retrofit at a Lisbon, Portugal, shipyard where it was transformed from a supertanker to a super skimmer, said Chris Coulon, a spokeswoman for the Unified Command.

But A Whale, owned by Taiwan Maritime Transport Co., has never been tested and only just finished its retrofit June 15, Coulon said.

“This is the largest ship of its kind,” Coulon said. “Now we just have to see whether it can do what it’s supposed to do.”

TMT, a Taiwanese company, claims the 12 vents cut into the massive ship’s bow should allow it to scoop as much as 15 million gallons of oily water a day out of the Gulf, Coulon said.

If the vessel works as it should, it will be a great asset. The enterprising owners did not wait for a contract but moved A Whale to the Gulf. Had the giant sat at home and waited for the bureaucratic red tape to clear before moving to the scene, one wonders if either BP or the federal agencies would have taken note. However, A Whale in full view is difficult to ignore.



Thanks to Doug.

A CELL PHONE FOR SENIORS

At Last, a Cell Phone for Seniors!

You REALLY have to be old enough to appreciate THIS joke.

Thanks to Ann.

JESUS AND MO

From Jesus and Mo.

author says:

Lots of words in this one, just to provide a context for the barmaid's line in panel 3. I know, she gets a bit preachy sometimes...

Peace and blessings,

J&M

Don't forget, the new book is available at Lulu.

PUT A WHALE TO WORK!

From Yobie Benjamin at SFGate:

The world's largest oil skimming ship arrived in the Gulf of Mexico and as usual is entangled in the bureaucratic morass of BP. I am sure the delay is being caused by two issues - money and how much it would cost BP to commission the ship and absolutely dumb US EPA regulations.

US EPA regulations prohibit ships from discharging foul water in US waters and that makes sense. We don't want a ship to come in and throw their garbage water and/or bunker fuel on our waters.

The "A Whale" is different. It sucks in foul and contaminated sea water and then processes it separating oil from sea water and discharging the treated sea water back to the gulf. Now it is true that the discharged sea water has some small residual oil and there lies the EPA's knotted response - They want to disallow discharge of the cleaned water because of small residual crude.

"You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel!"

Whatever blundering giant is stopping the action, whether BP or a federal agency, get out of the way now and permit the Whale to start clean-up operations.

HAPPY CANADA DAY! - BONNE FÊTE CANADA!

Image stolen from Canada Tim.

CHARLIE MELANCON'S AD

As Paul (A.) says, "Ow!"


UPDATE:For those who may not know, Charlie Melancon is the Blue Dog Democrat who is running against David Vitter for the US Senate. I'm not alway pleased with the votes of the Blue Dogs, but I'll take this Blue Dog Democrat over Vitter any day.

NOT SO FAST!

A very pretty young speech therapist was getting nowhere with her Stammerers Action Group. She had tried every technique in the book without the slightest success.

Finally, thoroughly exasperated, she said "If any of you can tell me the name of the town where you were born, without stuttering, I will have wild and passionate sex with you until your muscles ache and your eyes water. So, who wants to go first?”

The Englishman piped up. "B-b-b-b-b-b-b-irmingham", he said. "That's no use, Trevor" said the speech therapist, "Who's next?"

The Scotsman raised his hand and blurted out "P-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-p-aisley". "That's no better. There'll be no sex for you, I'm afraid, Hamish. How about you, Paddy?"

The Irishman took a deep breath and eventually blurted out, "London "

"Brilliant, Paddy!" said the speech therapist and immediately set about living up to her promise

After 15 minutes of exceptionally steamy sex, the couple paused for breath and Paddy said, "-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-erry"


Thanks to naughty Paul the BB's naughty friend Kathy.