SWEET EMMA - "I AIN'T GONNA GIVE NOBODY NONE..."

Enjoy! I did - Sweet Emma Barrett live in Preservation Hall in New Orleans - back in the early 1960s, before the babies started coming.

LOUISIANA'S GOV. JINDAL IS SLIPPING IN THE POLLS

From Arjun Jaikumar at Daily Kos:

Polls for the Louisiana Governor's race slated for fall 2011 have been rare so far, with conventional wisdom dictating that incumbent Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal is the runaway favorite in this red state.

A new poll is out, however, from Republican pollster Market Research Insight (though it appears to have been conducted for "a group of business people", and not the Jindal campaign).

The poll shows decent but unspectacular numbers for Jindal:

Market Research Insight (R) for "a consortium of business interests". 1/10-14. Registered voters. MoE 4%.

Reelect Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) 49
Prefer someone else 40
....

So this poll isn't wholly surprising...unless you compare it to Jindal's once-stratospheric approval ratings. While pollsters once had Jindal's approval in the mid-70s, his current numbers indicate he's slid back to being a generic Republican.

Which, in Louisiana, isn't a bad place to be. It's just not completely safe, and it might be a touch early for Jindal to start burnishing his credentials for his expected 2016 presidential run. Rather, he might want to prevent his home-state approval from falling any more than it already has.

A good many folks who strongly supported the governor in the last election became quite disenchanted with our peripatetic chief executive for being absent from the state, raising money for Republican candidates in the 2010 election, when we faced a budget crisis here in the state where Jindal was elected to govern.

Some of us hoped that Jindal might be appointed to head the RNC to replace Michael Steele, thus moving him permanently out of the governor's office, but - alas - it did not happen. Now Jindal travels around the state and the country to raise money for his war chest, which already holds $7 million, for the next gubernatorial election.

Meanwhile, the state budget deficit is projected to be $1.6 billion. The governor needs to focus on finding rational solutions to the budget crisis, but he won't. Since Jindal will not entertain the idea of raising taxes, the budget must be balanced by deeper and more painful cuts than have already been put in place. As is usually the case, I fear the least amongst us will bear the brunt of the cuts.

Jindal seems to enjoy running for office and raising money for campaigns, his own and other politicians' campaigns, but he does not seem to savor doing the job he was elected to do. Yet, he will probably be reelected without much of a struggle, because Louisiana becomes more Republican with every day that goes by.

JESUS AND MO

Click on the strip for the larger view.

From Jesus and Mo.

BYE, KEITH, I WILL MISS YOU

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

From the New York Times:

Keith Olbermann, the highest-rated host on MSNBC, announced abruptly on the air Friday night that he was leaving his show, “Countdown,” immediately.

The host, who has had a stormy relationship with the management of the network for some time, especially since he was suspended for two days last November, came to an agreement with NBC’s corporate management late this week to settle his contract and step down.

In a closing statement on his show, Mr. Olbermann said simply that it would be the last edition of the program. He offered no explanation other than on occasion “all that surrounded the show – but never the show itself – was just too much for me.”

Mr. Olbermann thanked his viewers for their enthusiastic support of a show that had “gradually established its position as antiestablishment.”

I will miss Keith as a counter-voice to Faux News, which is nothing more than an arm of the Republican Party, and, all too often, featured the extremists as representative of the party. Keith sees himself as antiestablishment, and that's quite true, but I can't deny that his show was a forum for progressive politicians and issues, perhaps a needed balance in these times when we see or read little of what could be called objective news reporting. I'll say this for Keith: I never heard him lie, and when he made a mistake he publicly acknowledged his mistake, which I cannot say for the faux "reporters" on Faux News.

Josh Marshall appeared in the opening segment of the final Countdown show and posted a rather poignant account at TPM of his surprise when he received the news release about the finale of the show. Josh says:

I'm sure we'll be hearing soon enough what on earth happened here. But color me stunned. And really disappointed.

Was it the coming takeover of NBC by Comcast that brought an end to Countdown? Again from the New York Times:

NBC executives said the move had nothing to do with the impending takeover of NBC Universal by Comcast. With viewers and fans of Mr. Olbermann suggesting that Comcast was responsible for forcing Mr. Olbermann out, Comcast also released an official statement late Friday night:

“Comcast has not closed the transaction for NBC Universal and has no operational control at any of its properties including MSNBC. We pledged from the day the deal was announced that we would not interfere with NBC Universal’s news operations. We have not and we will not.”

We shall see. I've heard that song before from the executives of companies who take over news organizations.

THE LATEST ON KATZIE, MARK'S CAT

From Mark at Enough About Me:

Dr. Carrie ran a scope Thursday, to see if it might be polyps in the throat causing the coughing. No polyps, but . . . swollen tonsils and a raw throat.

Now, Katzie is on prednisone (sic) and an antibiotic. Yesterday, there were no coughing fits. We're watching this weekend to see how it goes, and, if the coughing is gone through meds, the ekg takes on less urgency.

At this point, the bill stands at $392.10 and we have $150, which is a huge help in itself.

Thank you, and keep praying that this "gets" it.

I think of Katzie as our Blogland's cat. Let us pray that the latest medication "gets it".

PIGS FLY IN VIRGINIA

A must-read for today is margaret's post at Leave It Lay Where Jesus Flang It, which brings us news and commentary from the 216th Annual Council in the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia.

In the Bishop's pastoral address at Council yesterday it was announced that the first class of vocational deacons will be ordained.... yes, the blessing of the order of deacons (except as transitional to priesthood) has not been present in Virginia... thirty years behind the curve on this one. And kinda nice to ponder on the day we remember St. Vincent, Deacon.
....

And, the internalized oppression of our LGBTQ sisters and brothers has begun to break apart --we have a year to work on the details... and then in 2012 the blessing of these Christian unions--households--families that endure such wicked discrimination may begin.

Read the rest over at margaret's place. A new day dawns in the diocese. Thanks be to God!

FOUR YEARS AGO TODAY

On January 22, 2007, I wrote my first post here at Wounded Bird as a lark, and I never thought I'd still be blogging away four years later. I never once thought that blogging would turn out to be serious, a ministry, of sorts - at least that's how it seems to me. Although I post jokes, cartoons, and funny stories, I feel a responsibility toward my readers, which I take very seriously. And I feel a responsibility to tell certain stories and promote certain causes, as well as post prayer requests, as they come in.

Without my visitors (I can count you) and my readers who leave comments, I would not have continued for so long a time. In great part, I have been blessed with wonderful feedback in the comments, with only a few brief periods of being plagued with offensive or trollish comments. Without the folks I call my stringers, the people who send me links, stories, cartoons, and jokes, Wounded Bird would be much the poorer.

Imagine my surprise when I visited The Lead on December 28 and saw this in their "2010: Top Ten Stories" post:

Our top blogs to quote: Wounded Bird and Thinking Anglicans

Moi! As I said in the comments:

Episcopal Café had a great year. Thanks to all of you for your hard work. My posts would be fewer, if not for the stories for which I owe a tip of the hat to you folks at EC.

I am honored and humbled by having my blog quoted. Truly! I don't deserve the distinction, etc., etc., etc., but I thank all you good people from my heart.

Th folks at the Café have been good to me. I wasn't going to link to the post at the EC, because it seemed prideful and self-serving, which it is, but consider the mention an anniversary indulgence.

This post is No. 4713, which averages to more than 1000 posts per year. Amazing!

PS: I fixed the link above to my original post at Wounded Bird.

THE BRITS DON'T WANT PASTOR TERRY JONES

From CNN:

Britain has denied entry to the Florida pastor who said last year that he was "praying about" whether to burn Qurans to protest the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

"The government opposes extremism in all its forms which is why we have excluded Pastor Terry Jones from the UK," a Home Office spokesperson said in a statement. "Numerous comments made by Pastor Jones are evidence of his unacceptable behaviour."

I don't blame the British authorities for keeping the trouble-maker out of their country. Jones threatens litigation. Well, let him sue. We'll see how far that goes.

Thanks to Paul (A.) for the link.

JUDGE GRANTS EPISCOPAL CHURCH'S MOTIONS FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENTS IN DIOCESE OF FORT WORTH

From Jim Naughton at The Lead:

On Friday, January 21, 2011, the Hon. John P. Chupp of the 141st District Court, Tarrant County, Texas, granted the Local Episcopal Parties’ and The Episcopal Church’s Motions for Summary Judgments. He denied the Southern Cone parties Motion for a Partial Summary Judgment The orders can be seen here.

The Court orders provide in part that the defendants, including Bishop Jack L. Iker, “surrender all Diocesan property, as well as control of the Diocesan Corporation, to the Diocesan plaintiffs and to provide an accounting of all Diocesan assets within 60 days of this order.” Additionally, “the Court hereby orders the Defendants not to hold themselves out as leaders of the Diocese.”

It's only right, and it's about time.

In November 2008, former Bishop Jack L. Iker and other diocesan leaders left The Episcopal Church and aligned themselves with another church, the Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Since then they have been using the name and seal of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth and occupying Episcopal Church property.

For over two years, faithful Episcopalians in the diocese have not only been denied the use of their property, but they've had their name appropriated by those who left the Episcopal Church. Here's the website of the real Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth.

Check out the phony Diocese of Fort Worth. Confusing, right? The giveaway on the home page is the prominence of the link to Exodus International "a ministry of freedom from homosexuality through the power of Jesus Christ".

It's been a long night, but a new day has dawned.

UPDATE: From the phony Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth comes the news that they will appeal the decision by Judge Chupp, which is not surprising. Will they ask for a stay on the order to vacate the property, and, if so, what are the chances that a stay will be granted? Thanks to Bex in the comments for the update.

HILDEGARD - "A FEATHER ON THE BREATH OF GOD"

On this day (The Feast of St. Agnes) two years ago, my beloved cat Hildegard departed this world. She truly was a "feather on the breath of God" and I still miss her terribly. Call me a sentimental old man, but know that my life is not the same without her. At some primal, yea theological, level I'm confident she waits for me in the heavenly realms. Good girl!

--Bruce+ (aka Canon Itchy)

Bruce, I won't call you a sentimental old man. I'll call you a man who belonged to the beautiful Hildegard who loved him very much, and a man who loved Hildegard back with all his heart. My sympathy to you on this day. I know, too, that Hildegard waits for you.