AS THE ANGLICAN WORLD TURNS

Colbert King, of The Washington Post, writes in an opinion piece on the continuing drama:

Last week, the Anglican Communion, the worldwide collection of national and regional churches that consider themselves Anglican or Episcopalian, suspended the U.S. Episcopal Church from full participation in the global body because of its decision to perform same-sex marriages. The suspension should have been the other way around. It is the Anglican Communion that deserves sanction. It, not the Episcopal Church, of which I am a member, has departed from the faith and teachings of Jesus with its un-Christian treatment of gay men and women.

The information in the column is generally accurate, but I'd note a few corrections. It was a gathering of Anglican primates (chief bishops) of the various member churches, not the Anglican Communion, that "sanctioned" the Episcopal Church. Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby of the Church of England, the first among equals among the primates, later referred to "consequences" rather than "sanctions". Whatever. The majority of the primates are opposed to our church's welcoming LGTB members to all sacramental rites of the church, including Christian marriage. The gathering of primates has no power to legislate or enforce such "sanctions", "consequences", or "suspension", so we shall see what follows for the church.

Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Michael Curry, spoke with grace and eloquence following the meeting. 

This has been a disappointing time for many, and there will be heartache and pain for many, but it’s important to remember that we are still part of the Anglican Communion. We are the Episcopal Church, and we are part of the Jesus Movement, and that Movement goes on, and our work goes on. And the truth is, it may be part of our vocation to help the Communion and to help many others to grow in a direction where we can realize and live the love that God has for all of us, and we can one day be a Church and a Communion where all of God’s children are fully welcomed, where this is truly a house of prayer for all people. And maybe it’s a part of our vocation to help that to happen. And so we must claim that high calling; claim the high calling of love and faith; love even for those with whom we disagree, and then continue, and that we will do, and we will do it together. 

The link above includes the full text and the video of Bishop Curry's comments.

DEMOCRATS LOSE SEQUESTRATION GAME OF CHICKEN

The Democrats have lost on sequestration.

That’s the simple reality of Friday’s vote to ease the pain for the Federal Aviation Administration. By assenting to it, Democrats have agreed to sequestration for the foreseeable future.
....

In effect, what Democrats said Friday was that in any case where the political pain caused by sequestration becomes unbearable, they will agree to cancel that particular piece of the bill while leaving the rest of the law untouched. The result is that sequestration is no longer particularly politically threatening, but it’s even more unbalanced: Cuts to programs used by the politically powerful will be addressed, but cuts to programs that affects the politically powerless will persist. It’s worth saying this clearly: The pain of sequestration will be concentrated on those who lack political power.  (My emphasis)

There you have it.   If you're not a member of Congress, or if you're not wealthy or influential, forget about relief from consequences of the sequester.  If you're poor, or unemployed, or on Medicaid or Medicare, too bad for you.  Funding for scientific and medical research will be cut.  Good-bye to grants for art, music, and writing. 

So, Democrats, what's the plan?   Why did the sequester seem like a good idea?  Will you pull a magic rabbit out of a hat to fix the sorry mess the sequester has created?

Cuts in housing vouchers to 140,000 low-income families
Elimination of 70,000 Head Start slots
Cuts to Vista, which will hurt the program that performs antipoverty work in many states
An 11 percent cut in unemployment benefits for millions of jobless workers
Cuts of about $25 million from a program to provide free school breakfasts.
Cancer clinics across the country have begun turning away thousands of Medicare patients

What about cutting your salaries by 10%, members of Congress and Mr President?  I read somewhere that Obama had voluntarily taken a 5% cut in his salary, so he'd only need to volunteer another 5%. 

What are the chances that the cries of those who suffer severe consequences as a result of the sequester cuts will be heard?  Slim to none, I'd say.  Republicans like nothing better than cuts to programs that help "the least of these", and Democrats no longer seem to care.