US Not Founded On The Christian Religion

Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States and the Bey and Subjects of Tripoli of Barbary

Authored by American diplomat Joel Barlow in 1796, the following treaty was sent to the floor of the Senate, June 7, 1797, where it was read aloud in its entirety and unanimously approved. John Adams, having seen the treaty, signed it and proudly proclaimed it to the Nation.

Article 11 of the treaty states:

As the Government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion; as it has in itself no character of enmity against the law, religion or tranquility of Musselmen; and as the states never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mohometan nation, it is declared by the parties that no pretext arising from religious opinion shall ever produce an interruption of harmony existing between the two countries.

A mere 8 years after the founding of the Republic and 6 years after the "Bill of Rights" was adopted, we find these words. Shocking!

I fear that certain citizens of the US will be greatly disturbed if they ever find out that the US is "not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion". To have it spelled out explicitly and in connection with a treaty with "Musselmen" will surely be more than they can bear.

You thought that Lapinbizarre was a rabbit, didn't you? Well, he's not. He's a ferret in disguise. I know, because he ferrets out these obscure bits of fascinating information and sends them to me.

Here's the link to the entire text of the treaty.

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Madelyn Dunham, Obama's Grandmother, Dies

Barack Obama with his grandparents, Madelyn and Stanley Dunham, after Obama's high school graduation in 1979.

From the Mercury News:

The day before the presidential election, Sen. Barack Obama's campaign announced that his grandmother, the woman he called "Toot" who helped raise him, had died in her apartment in Honolulu.

Aides said Obama was in his hotel room Monday morning in Jacksonville, Fla., doing brief interviews with radio stations in battleground states, when he learned she had died after a long battle with cancer.

He was described as stoic upon hearing that she had died and told aides that he was grateful that he had a chance to say goodbye in person when he recently suspended his campaign for two days to return to Hawaii.

Madelyn Dunham, 86, who had been gravely ill, was a rock of stability as Obama was growing up, giving him the American roots that would ground his teenage years as well as his career in politics.
....

Speaking after news of his grandmother's death had been made public, Obama said Monday that the evening marked a "bittersweet" moment for him.

"She has gone home," he said. "She died peacefully in her sleep with my sister at her side, and so there is great joy as well as tears."

In a rare 2004 interview with the Chicago Tribune, Dunham, who called her grandson "Bear,"said she and her husband offered their grandson a greater sense of normalcy. "I suppose I provided stability in his life," she said.

Madelyn did not live to see the day of what I hope and pray will be the election of her grandson as president of the United States. As Obama says, "She has gone home." But she will know. She will know. It's good that Barack had the opportunity to see her and say good-bye before she died.

O God of grace and glory, we remember before you this day our sister Madelyn. We thank you for giving her to her family and friends, to know and to love as a companion on their earthly pilgrimage. In your boundless compassion, console those who mourn. Give them faith to see in death the gate of eternal life, so that in quiet confidence they may continue their course on earth, until, by your call, they are reunited with those who have gone before; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

[Book of Common Prayer], p. 491 (slightly paraphrased)

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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.

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"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.

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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.

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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.

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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.


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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.


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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.

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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

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