ALTHOUGH I'M TAKING A SABBATICAL...

OMG! Hegelian Dialectic in Anglican Robes. - Tobias

...from "As the Anglican World Turns", Elizabeth Kaeton at Telling Secrets is not. If the following quote from the post is not enough to get you over to her blog...

Here's but one example of Blessed Rowan's cluelessness: At the press conference at the end of the Primates meeting, Dr. Williams indicated that he is planning a global tour to mend fences to, he said, in his very own inimical way (Are you ready for this? Okay, here we go), "find a synthesis between the thesis of sexual orthodoxy and the antithesis of homosexual practice".

...then there's something wrong with you. Sorry, but it's true. :-)

KEEPING WATCH IN NEW ORLEANS

From Ormonde at Through the Dust:

Murder capital of the US of A

The following have been murdered in the New Orleans metro area this week:

1/27 Justin Martin 26 M Shot Orleans
1/27 Dorian Meyers 24 M Shot Orleans
1/28 Terrill Andrews 26 M Shot Orleans
1/28 Joseph Emilien 35 M Shot Orleans
2/2 Information not yet released (killed last night in Gentilly, Male)

Please pray for the victims, their murderers, and their families.

Lord, have mercy! Prayers for all.

UPDATE ON AILEEN - GOOD NEWS

From Sally Boyd via Ann Fontaine:

Keep reading...it gets better!

From her husband, Mike:

(Tuesday, February 1, 2011, 8:20 p.m.)

How quickly things can change & change again. Yesterday was good, but at about 3:30 a.m. Aileen stopped breathing due to a "mucus plug" that blocked her airway. Thankfully, the nurse was on the ball enough to call a code on her and they were able to suction out her lungs, get it clear, and she was breathing again fairly quickly. She doesnt seem to have suffered any further permanent damage, but it was a horrible call to receive for sure.

(Wednesday, February 2, 2011, 9:00 p.m.)

Aileen has bounced back incredibly well from what we are going to just call a "speed bump". Today when visiting her, as I was leaving to pick up the boys from school I leaned over to kiss her goodbye and she kissed me back. She actually puckered up and kissed me. Amazing feeling! Later I had Kaleb do the same thing, and he screamed so loud the nurses thought something was wrong, but it was Kaleb saying "Mommy kissed me!"

Sally Boyd is the priest who ministers to Aileen and Mike.

May God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength. May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

O God, give to Mike and all who watch and wait with Aileen strength and courage during this difficult time. Surround them with your presence in the power of your Holy Spirit that they may trust in your everlasting love.

"ONE OF THE TWO THINGS IN LIFE THAT ARE CERTAIN"

From Bill in Portland, Maine at Daily Kos: Cheers and Jeers:

CHEERS and JEERS to one of the two things in life that are certain. (Hint: it ain't death!) On February 3, 1913, the 16th Amendment, establishing the beloved income tax, was ratified and became part of the U.S. Constitution. Here is our annual posting of the full text (in italics so it looks old and wrinkled and historic):

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

Further, Congress shall have the power to take all tax dollars collected and burn them, eat them, turn them into confetti, light cigars with them, or wad them up and shove them up their butts.

Congress shall also have the power to conspire with giant corporations to use tax dollars to build a war machine that can destroy every planet in the solar system many times over. We want guns. BIG guns! Tanks, planes, nukes, bunker busters, aircraft carriers and a few thousand bullets for every man, woman and child. And bazookas---we need lots of bazookas. Anything that proves to the rest of the world that we've got the biggest penis on the planet must be arsenalized. We are woefully short on lasers---let's fix that.

If the citizenry is paying a reasonable and fair share of taxes in order to allow vital and necessary services to be funded domestically, those taxes must be cut so that these services can be funded properly---with massive loans from China, India and Japan.

At various times, taxpayer-funded corporate bailouts may be necessary. These bailouts will be prioritized in the following order: white collar idiots, white collar dolts, white collar crooks, white collar morons, white collar charlatans, and white collar bloodsuckers.

Finally, Congress shall impose the strictest penalties on citizen scofflaws who fail to pay their income taxes on time and in full without exception. And by 'without exception' we mean except if you're rich and can afford really savvy CPAs and lawyers who can get you out of paying them. Or if you're really rich and you "forget" to pay them, in which case: tut tut.

Okay, that's our amendment. You may now begin stuffing hundred-dollar bills down our pants.

And from the comments to the post comes a cheer for the link to the video of my fellow New Orleanian, Fats Domino, singing "Blueberry Hill".

This was written by Vincent Rose, Al Lewis and Larry Stock for the 1940 Western "The Singing Hill" before they decided it was good enough to be released commercially. The song was used in the movie, where it was heard for the first time performed by Gene Autry.

First sung by Gene Autry in a Western? Dang!




I slow danced to Fats' song on many an evening. Those were the days.

From our friend who signs himself:

Cheers,

Paul (A.)

WHAT WOULD I DO ON A DATE WITH JUSTIN BIEBER?

When the email offer came from my local movie theater, I wondered. "What if I win? What will Justin and I do on our date?"




It seems the date will be planned for us. I will get to watch Justin's latest movie with him and my friends at my local movie theater. Problem solved!

AFTERNOON MOVIE

Another warning: Spoiler commentary ahead.

My afternoon movie yesterday was "The Kids Are All Right" with two wonderful actors, Julianne Moore (again!) and Annette Bening, playing a lesbian couple, Jules and Nic, with two children, Joni and Laser, played by Mia Wasikowska and Josh Hutcherson, both of whom were conceived by the same sperm donor, one each by the two mothers.

The kids decide that they want to meet their biological father. Laser is under 18, so the pursuit of the identity of the donor falls to Joni, who has just turned 18 and is getting ready to head off to college.

The children meet their biological father, Paul (Mark Ruffalo), and then their moms agree to meet Paul, and - surprise! - complications ensue. Nic and Jules are going through a rough patch in their relationship, and Jules begins an affair with Paul, and how's that for a complication?

But, we've come a long way, in that the point of view in the film is that the situation is of the sort that could possibly arise in any family with children conceived by donors and is not at all unique to families with same-sex parents. And the kids are all right.

Again, my time was well-spent, with my mind distracted from the Anglican soap, "As the Anglican World Turns", which world continues to turn whether I pay attention, or not.

Hey! I could do this every day, if I had the time, and I found enough good movies.

MY MORNING WITH "A SINGLE MAN"

Warning: Spoiler commentary follows.

Yesterday morning, I watched "A Single Man", a fine movie, in shades of dark comedy. The film is set in the early 1960s in southern California. Colin Firth plays a gay British professor of English literature, George Falconer, who grieves for his partner, Jim, played by the hunky Matthew Goode, who was killed in a car accident. Jim appears only in flashbacks in the film.

Back in the day, before it was safe to be fully out as gay or lesbian in almost any occupation, conversations about a person's sexual orientation were, for the most part, necessarily tentative and suggestive, rather than straightforward, and included meaningful glances and eye contact to convey messages that must not be spoken. The movie captures well the stifling atmosphere of the times of covering up and hiding, which - alas - has not entirely dissipated today.

George, a precise, fastidious type decides he will kill himself. Before going to see his best friend, Charlotte, wonderfully played by Julienne Moore, who can't quite accept that she and George can't be more than friends, he practices his suicide scene. With the unloaded gun in his mouth, he tries out the bed, propped against pillows that won't stay in place, a sleeping bag in the bed, and the shower, none of which turn out to be satisfactory settings for blowing his brains out.

To me, the funniest line in the movie comes in the scene when George accidentally bumps into a gay hustler, Kenny, outside a liquor store. The two begin a conversation, and George tells Kenny the story of his lover's death; the young man says, "My mother always said, 'Lovers are like buses. If you wait long enough, another one will come along.'" (From memory - perhaps not a direct quote.) Not true, of course, but in the context of the scene, Kenny's mama's words made me laugh out loud.

As I finished watching the movie, on a morning with driving rain and heavy wind outside, I thought my 100 minutes were well-spent.

The film is based on a novel of the same name by Christopher Isherwood.

ZACH WAHLS SPEAKS ABOUT FAMILY

Zach Wahls, a 19-year-old University of Iowa student spoke about the strength of his family during a public forum on House Joint Resolution 6 in the Iowa House of Representatives. Wahls has two mothers, and came to oppose House Joint Resolution 6 which would end civil unions in Iowa.

From On Top:

The Iowa House on Tuesday approved a bill that seeks to repeal gay marriage in the state, the AP reported.

How sad. Zach Wahls' words will live on toward a better day.

PLEASE PRAY FOR IT AND HER FAMILY

From Ann at Friends of Jake:

IT's father passed away last night.

Notes from her:

I am currently stuck in Washington DC by the storm, and just found out that my dad died last night, unexpectedly. I will not be doing any blogging for a while. My wife is trying to get me a flight home and thence to the Bay Area to be with Mom. Expect me to be out of touch for a while.
....

BP managed to re-route me ... and I should get home late tonight, leaving first thing tomorrow for the bay area.

Surround those we love with prayers and support at this time. May IT feel our love as she walks this path.

Best to leave comments at Friends of Jake. Thanks.

AT THE MOVIES

The weather here is terrible, with hard rain falling and a heavy wind blowing. I'm spending the greater part of the day watching rental movies, because the films are due back today, and I hate paying fines. It's a thing with me.

I'm weary of thinking and writing about the Anglican Communion, the Anglican Covenant, and Anglican primates. I'll take a break, maybe short, maybe long, and the Anglican world will continue to turn whether or not I take note and be little or not at all affected by my refusal to take note.

I'll report back on the movies, but I will probably not do my usual full-fledged, professional review of either film. One good movie down and one to go, and then a quick trip to Blockbuster for the returns.