THANGS I LARNED WILE LIVIN' IN LUSIANA

1. Possums sleep in the middle of the road with their feet in the air.

2. There are 5,000 types of snakes and 4,998 live in LOUISIANA.

3. There are 10,000 types of spiders.

All 10,000 live in LOUISIANA plus a couple no one's seen before.

4. If it grows, it sticks; if it crawls, it bites.

5. Onced and twiced are words.

6. It is not a shopping cart; it is a buggy.

7. Fire ants consider your flesh as a picnic.

8. People actually grow and eat okra.

9. Fix & into is one word: FIXINTO

10. There is no such thing as 'lunch'. There is only dinner and then there is supper.

11. Ice tea is appropriate for all meals, and you start drinking it when you're two. We do like a little tea with our sugar!

12. Backards and forwards means 'I know everything about you.'

13. Jeet? is actually a phrase meaning 'Did you eat?'

14. You don't have to wear a watch because it doesn't matter what time
it is. You work until you're done or it's too dark to see.

15. You don't PUSH buttons, you MASH them.

From my daughter. You see? I taught larned her right.

"These Processes Will Take Years...."

From Episcopal Life Online:

A spokesperson for Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has responded to the Common Cause Partnership's December 3 release of a provisional constitution and canons that outline the formation of what they are calling a new Anglican province in North America.

"There are clear guidelines set out in the Anglican Consultative Council Reports, notably ACC 10 in 1996 (resolution 12), detailing the steps necessary for the amendments of existing provincial constitutions and the creation of new provinces," the spokesperson said. "Once begun, any of these processes will take years to complete. In relation to the recent announcement from the meeting of the Common Cause Partnership in Chicago, the process has not yet begun."

No. It Couldn't Be

I've a regular visitor from San Clemente, California. You don't suppose.... No, it couldn't be. Not the ghost of Richard M. Nixon come to haunt me as George W. Bush gets close (not close enough!) to the end of his term.

If you click the link, you'll see the comment by the creator of the cartoon.

Cartoon by David Ravenwood at Flickr.

Elvis In Advent - For The Sad And Lonely

Especially dedicated to the many depressed Englishmen of my virtual acquaintance, but for anyone who feels sad or lonely during the season. I know that you are not few in number. In all seriousness, you have my sympathy.

Thanks to Renz for the idea.

A Sunset Gone Bad

From Eric Lutz at The Onion.

Eric wanted to celebrate his 10th wedding anniversary in a special way. He bought a bottle of wine, took his wife out to the country, climbed up a hill, and prepared to view what he hoped would be a spectacular sunset.

I had high hopes. All the signs were right. The sun was dipping down to the mountain peaks, which looked almost purple in the autumn dusk. But as the light spilled over the landscape in a flood of fiery streaks—if you can even call them streaks—I thought to myself, "Where is this going?"
....

You know how watching a burning ball of gas several thousands miles away streak across the sky and then disappear can make you realize that every single day we are given on this earth is a blessing? This was nothing like that.

Read it all, especially his startling conclusion.

Advent - A Season Of Hope - II

Michelangelo Merisi, called Caravaggio, Italian, 1571-1610
"Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness", 1604-1605

The Proclamation of John the Baptist

The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

As it is written in the prophet Isaiah,
‘See, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,*
who will prepare your way;
the voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
“Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight” ’,

John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And people from the whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem were going out to him, and were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel’s hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. He proclaimed, ‘The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me; I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with* the Holy Spirit.’
Mark 1:1-8

COLLECT:

God for whom we watch and wait, you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son: give us courage to speak the truth, to hunger for justice, and to suffer for the cause of right, with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect from the Church of England website.

UPDATE: I seem to be two weeks ahead in my lectionary readings. I can't think how that happened, but John the Baptist stays. I may have different plans two weeks from now. Everything happens for a reason, right?

Nothing To See

Last night on Countdown, Olbermann and Howard Fineman were discussing Bush's horrible presidency in general and, at the end, his inability to second guess himself and the lack of any capacity for introspection. They agreed that Bush was incapable of either. Olbermann's final words on the matter were, "If there's nothing to see, then there's no reason to look inside your soul.

Amen.

"as u have done 4 the least of these"

WORLD AIDS DAY - 2008

With deep gratitude to Tobias Haller for the icon and the title of the post.

What a beautiful tribute. My eyes are wet, my friends.

Coming Back To Bite Them

Ai-Yai-Yai!

From the HoustonChronicle.com

Silver bullet: Next Congress should use little-known law to reverse
Bush administration midnight regulations

As lame duck federal agency heads prepare more than 100 new regulations
designed to leave the current president's stamp on environmental,
health and commerce policies for years to come, their undoing may be a
law passed by the Republican-controlled Congress 12 years ago.

The Congressional Review Act was pushed by then-House Speaker Newt
Gingrich to allow Republicans to prevent President Clinton from
enacting his own set of last-minute regulations at the end of his first
term. The pro-business legislators wanted to stop the incumbent from
strengthening and expanding workplace safety laws.

The only use of the law by Congress to date invalidated a Clinton
regulation that would have set mandatory standards for ergonomic
equipment to prevent carpal tunnel and similar injuries. President Bush
signed the bill making the ergonomic guidelines voluntary.

Go get 'em, Democrats! Thank you, Newt. But will the Democrats use this power for good? That is the question.

Thanks to a friend from Houston for the link.

Susan Cowsill's "Crescent City Snow"

Today, I received the following email from Georgianne, the woman who gave me my 15 minutes of fame when she wrote about the "Gumbo Granny" at the Huffington Post:

Hi Mimi,

I am back north and had whirlwind video production to finish that you may enjoy. We are trying to get the message across about South LA recovery. This is my good friend, Susan Cowsill, of the famous Cowsill family. She is fearless advocate of South Louisiana..her brother Barry was killed in Katrina. Video was produced right down the road from you in Gray.
....

Wanna plug the video?

Nice Christmas message, I think for Louisiana.

Love

GN

Georgianne, I'm pleased to give the video a plug from my humble blog. From YouTube for your watching and listening pleasure.

If you like the song, you can buy it here.

The song and the album from which it was taken, Feeder Bands On the Run, was produced by The Carrollton Station Foundation in New Orleans:

The purpose of the Carrollton Station Foundation is to provide financial assistance to the musicians of New Orleans who have been adversely affected by the recent hurricanes of 2005.

The intention is to rebuild the music community of the City Of New Orleans by offering the money to said musicians to replace the equipment and instruments that have been lost to these storms.

Our method of raising money for this purpose is to sell a CD that is a compilation of songs that were written and performed by New Orleans singer/songwriters and musicians about the city and the devastation it has sustained in the wake of these recent events.

Carrollton Station is "an authentic New Orleans bar" which hosts live music from local musicians every weekend and serves over 50 varieties of beer, both domestic and imported. What more do you want?