Whatever....

All right, folks, whatever. Just go vote like your yard sign.

Photo of a house in Indiana from Politico.

Thanks to Lapinbizarre.

UPDATE: From Paulas, in the comments, comes a link to an article about the owners of the house pictured above.

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

"Refugees In Congo Desperately Need Aid"

From NPR:

Morning Edition, November 3, 2008 · Tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced by fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo. U.N. peacekeepers are protecting an aid convoy that's heading to a town in the rebel-held zone of east Congo. The town was captured last week by rebels loyal to renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda, who is participating in the fragile cease-fire.
....

Both the Congolese army and the rebel leader it has been battling assured the convoy's safe passage, said Gloria Fernandez, head of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in eastern Congo.
....

She said health clinics north of Goma have been "looted and completely destroyed," leaving the Rutshuru hospital as the only operating medical facility in a region of hundreds of thousands of people.

Food, however, was the critical issue for most people.

"Everybody is hungry, everybody," said Jean Bizy, 25, a teacher, who watched with envy as the U.N. convoy stopped to deliver a sack of potatoes to U.N. troops in Rugari. Bizy said he has been surviving on wild bananas for days.
....

"They go around in circles ... fleeing the movement of troops and the lines of combat," she said.

Since Thursday, streams of refugees have thronged the roads around Goma trying to get home, lugging babies and bundles of belongings, guiding children, pigs and goats.

Why is it that international aid agencies seem to be able to do so little? I know; it's a war zone, and the UN peacekeepers are few in number. What do we do? Start a war to stop a war? Does anyone have answers?

One answer is that the Western nations must stop exploiting the people of Africa. Too often the leadership, with whom the West makes their deals, is corrupt, and none of the benefits from the natural resources of the countries make their way to the mass of the people.

UPDATE: For further information, read Georgianne Nienaber's article at The Huffington Post on Congo, and pray for the writers who try to tell the story.

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Please Pray For Roseann and Jonathan

NOT HOW IT WILL BE!

A reminder to pray for Roseann, who will have surgery tomorrow to remove both kidneys. Her kidneys are no longer functioning, and she has been on dialysis. She hopes eventually to have a kidney transplant. From Roseann's blog:

One of the things I'm learning while dealing with a serious illness, a life-threatening condition is to limit my contact with certain people. There are people who are helpful and supportive and these are people I want to keep close. There are people who want to make my condition about them somehow and want me to help and support them as they deal with my illness. I don't have the energy for that.

Update on Roseann:

June,...she is listed as Satisfactory. I think that is as good as it gets.

Sue

Pray also for Jonathan, aka Madpriest, who will have dental surgery tomorrow (which it already is now over there). Instead of a general anesthetic, which the dental surgeons recommended, he wants it done under a local anesthetic with an iPod to help him through the ordeal. Let's pray him through this. In his own words:

Your nerves are raw because of an election?!! Hah! You should try facing the extraction of half your teeth in one go on the morrow.

So thank you all for taking my mind off things.

Update from MadPriest:

Well, I'm back. Four rotten teeth lighter.

It wasn't too bad except there was a couple of hours or so between the end of the operation and the point at which I could drink enough to swallow some pain relievers that I was in incredible agony, far worse than any toothache.

He says he's getting sane. I hope he doesn't stop being funny.

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Is There No End To the Horror?

From the Guardian:

An Islamist rebel administration in Somalia has had a 13-year-old girl stoned to death for adultery after the child's father reported that she was raped by three men.

Amnesty International said al-Shabab militia, which controls the southern city of Kismayo, arranged for 50 men to stone Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow in front of about 1,000 spectators. A lorry load of stones was brought to the stadium for the killing.

Amnesty said Duhulow struggled with her captors and had to be forcibly carried into the stadium.

Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.

UPDATE: Here's a horrifying account of the stoning from the BBC.

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Proof that Barack O'Bama Is Irish!

Watch this video. It's 5 minutes long, but you won't be sorry.

Sing along:

O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama
From the old Blarney Stone to the green hills of Tara
There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

Tooral - U
Tooral - S
Tooral - A
Toor a lama

There's no one as Irish as Barack O'Bama

Stolen from Fran, who stole it from someone else We're nothing but a bunch of blogging thieves.


[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Studs Terkel Dies At 96

From the Chicago Tribune:

The author-radio host-actor-activist and Chicago symbol has died. "My epitaph? My epitaph will be 'Curiosity did not kill this cat,'" he once said.
....

"Studs Terkel was part of a great Chicago literary tradition that stretched from Theodore Dreiser to Richard Wright to Nelson Algren to Mike Royko," Mayor Richard M. Daley said Friday. "In his many books, Studs captured the eloquence of the common men and women whose hard work and strong values built the America we enjoy today. He was also an excellent interviewer, and his WFMT radio show was an important part of Chicago's cultural landscape for more than 40 years."

When Terkel's wife of 60 years, Ida, died in 1999, he said:

"It's hard. It's very hard," he said the day she died. "She was seven days older than me, and I would always joke that I married an older woman. That's the thing: Who's gonna laugh at my jokes? At those jokes I've told a million times? That's the thing ... ... Who's gonna be there to laugh?"

Studs and Ida are together again. Prayers and sympathy to his son, Dan and to all those who knew him and loved him and to all who admired him from afar, through his books, through his TV show, and through his radio show.


[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Mittens - Not To Be Believed

But nevertheless, we must believe it.

From The Caucus at the New York Times:

“John McCain! Not Hussein!”

So goes the latest popular chant on the campaign trail with Gov. Sarah Palin, demonstrated at a morning rally in central Florida.
....

After the rally in Florida ended, two of the people leading the chant explained why they did so.

“Because it rhymes,” said Shirley Mitten, 64, a volunteer at a pregnancy center and a resident of Brooksville, Fla.

She said she does not know if Mr. Obama is a Muslim. “He says he’s not, but we have no way of knowing,” Ms. Mitten said.

Mr. Mitten said, “I guess Obama was named after Saddam Hussein,”

Lovely people, the Mittens. Palin brings out the best in her audiences. Please don't vote with Mittens.

UPDATE: Promoted from the comments as too good to be hidden:

Blogger Ruth Hull Chatlien said...

Yes, of course, Obama was named after Saddam Hussein. Just like Joe Biden and Joe Lieberman were named after Joseph Stalin and John McCain was named after John Dillinger.

The ignorance of some people is frightening.

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Feast Of All Saints

"All Saints" by Fra Angelico

CARMINA GADELICA

The holy Apostles’ guarding,
The gentle martyrs’ guarding,
The nine angels’ guarding,
Be cherishing me, be aiding me.

The quiet Brigit’s guarding,
The gentle Mary’s guarding,
The warrior Michael’s guarding,
Be shielding me, be aiding me.

The God the elements’ guarding,
The loving Christ’s guarding,
The Holy Spirit’s guarding,
Be cherishing me, be aiding me.

Readings:

Eucharistic:
Psalm 149;
Ecclesiasticus 44:1-10,13-14; Revelation 7:2-4,9-17; Matthew 5:1-12

Daily Office:
AM: Psalm 111, 112; 2 Esdras 2:42-47; Hebrews 11:32-10:2
PM: Psalm 148, 150; Wisdom 5:1-5, 14-16; Revelation 21:1-4, 22-22:

PRAYERS

O Almighty God, who have knit together your elect in one communion and fellowship, in the mystical body of your Son Christ our Lord: Give us grace so to follow your blessed saints in all virtuous and godly living, that we may come to those indescribable joys which you have prepared for those who truly love you: through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, in glory everlasting. Amen.

UPDATE: Thanks to Lapin, here's a link to the entire painting, of which the picture in the post is only a part.

Image from Wiki

[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Pray For Roseann (Being Peace)

Good Morning Mimi,

I've just received word from Roseann, and she is in the hospital, and will have both kidneys removed on Monday. She did not give me a time, but I suspect it will be early.

She's asking for prayers.

Pass this on to MP and the rest of the blog world. The more praying for her the better her recovery will be.

Blessings,

Suzanne

Almighty God our heavenly Father, graciously comfort your servant Roseann in her suffering, and bless the means made use of for her cure. Fill her heart with confidence that, though at times she may be afraid, she yet may put her trust in you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.


[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]

Please Pray For Congo

From Reuters:

The U.N. Security Council must send more peacekeepers to eastern Congo and increase pressure on the Rwandan and Congolese governments if another humanitarian catastrophe in Africa is to be avoided.

Recent fighting has sent tens of thousands of civilians running for their lives in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where aid workers say two years of violence has forced nearly 1 million people from their homes despite the end of country's broader 1998-2003 war.
....

...U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the violence is creating a humanitarian crisis of "catastrophic dimensions" and announced he was sending senior envoys to Rwanda and Congo.

With the 15-nation council divided over who is to blame, the only thing it has done is issue two non-binding statements condemning renegade Tutsi General Laurent Nkunda, whose rebels are poised to take the North Kivu capital Goma, and calling for an end to the violence.
....

It is time for council members to set aside their differences and save some lives, analysts say.

"Number one, what we need is continued pressure both on the warring factions and on the governments of Congo and Rwanda to ensure that they do not support each others' enemies -- and there is clear evidence that that is happening," said Anneke Van Woudenberg, an Africa specialist at Human Rights Watch.

"The council has been reluctant to publicly criticize either the Kabila or the Kagame governments for doing so, and it is high time that it became much more vocal about that."

In private, numerous council diplomats do not hesitate to accuse Rwanda of supporting Nkunda's CNDP rebels. But the council's public record does not reflect that view.

Georgianne Nienabur, who wrote the flattering article about me at the Huffington Post, asked that I call for prayers for the tragic situation in Congo.

Morning,

You may or may not be aware of the crisis today in Congo.... I worked in Africa before coming here. I have friends there.
....

Put out a plea to pray for Goma....Just get people to pray for the Democratic Republic of Congo.

GN

I'm ashamed to say that I was aware, but not aware enough. Please join me to pray for peace in Goma and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Eternal God, in whose perfect kingdom no sword is drawn but the sword of righteousness, no strength known but the strength of love: So mightily spread abroad your Spirit, that all peoples may be gathered under the banner of the Prince of Peace, as children of one Father; to whom be dominion and glory, now and for ever. Amen.
[Book of Common Prayer, p. 815]


[ Find Your Polling Place | Voting Info For Your State | Know Your Voting Rights | Report Voting Problems ]