"That's Not Bad...."

A golfer playing in Ireland hooked his drive into the woods. Looking for his ball, he found a little Leprechaun flat on his back, a big bump on his head and the golfer's ball beside him. Horrified, the golfer got his water bottle from the cart and poured it over the little guy, reviving him.

'Arrgh! What happened?' the Leprechaun asked.

'I'm afraid I hit you with my golf ball,' the golfer says.

'Oh, I see. Well, ye got me fair and square.. Ye get three wishes, so whaddya want?'

'Thank God, you're all right!' the golfer answers in relief. 'I don't want anything, I'm just glad you're OK, and I apologize.'

And the golfer walks off.

'What a nice guy,' the Leprechaun says to himself. I have to do something for him. I'll give him the three things I would want... a great golf game, all the money he ever needs, and a fantastic sex life.'

A year goes by and the golfer is back. On the same hole, he again hits a bad drive into the woods and the Leprechaun is there waiting for him.

'Twas me that made ye hit the ball here,' the little guy says. 'I just want to ask ye, how's yer golf game?'

'My game is fantastic!' the golfer answers. 'I'm an internationally famous golfer now.' He adds, 'By the way, it's good to see you're all right.'

'Oh, I'm fine now, thank ye. I did that fer yer golf game, you know. And tell me, how's yer money situation?'

'Why, it's just wonderful!' the golfer states. 'When I need cash, I just reach in my pocket and pull out $100 bills I didn't even know were there!'

'I did that fer ye also. And tell me, how's yer sex life?'

The golfer blushes, turns his head away in embarrassment, and says shyly, 'It's OK.'

'C'mon, c'mon now,' urged the Leprechaun. 'I'm wanting to know if I did a good job. How many times a week?'

Blushing even more, the golfer looks around then whispers, 'Once, sometimes twice a week.'

'What?' responds the Leprechaun in shock. 'That's all? Only once or twice a week?'

'Well,' says the golfer, 'I figure that's not bad for a Catholic priest, who doesn't own a car and is in a small parish.'

Posted with fond memories of the good parish priests I have known during my long years in the Roman Catholic Church. A good many of them would share a laugh with me over this one.

Sent by Doug.

Herman Put Down The Gun

From Georgianne Nienaber at The Huffington Post:

A while back I posted a commentary and review on Indie music as a soundtrack and metaphor for troubling financial times. In today's atmosphere of music industry giants swallowing the little Indie guys and the news about Ticketmaster's Echomusic shutting down the websites of 200 mid-level artists with barely a "slam, bam thank you guys and gals," a little band from Atlanta proves that all it takes is heart to produce art and great PR.
....

I came across the "Lonely Street" video on Facebook, and since I am a huge fan, I wrote to front woman Sonia Tetlow and asked how much time and money it cost to put the thing together. Plus, I wanted to write something positive about the music business for a change.Turns out it cost zip. A week ago, instead of having band practice, the band met at Tetlow's house and went for beers in their Atlanta neighborhood while taking turns with an eight year old camera that had not seen much service.

Now the video is going viral on Facebook and elsewhere on the net. I love what the musicians did with no resources but their talent and creativity. Thanks to Georgianne (the woman who made me famous!) for spotlighting them at The Huffington Post.

From SOVO (Southern Voice):

Herman Put Down The Gun with lead singer Sonia Tetlow is making viral waves on the internet thanks to a DIY video for their song “Lonely Street.” Tetlow, a lesbian, was featured in Southern Voice as one of its “next generation of gay Atlanta.”

With no money and using an old video camera in making the just over 3-minute video, the Atlanta-based rock band was written up by the Huffington Post about its use of Facebook and Myspace to spread the video that has now been linked to numerous other sites as well.

That's how to do it, guys.

The woman lying on the ground in the video is Sonia Tetlow, the band's front woman. They were playing in 99° heat in Atlanta, and she suffered a minor heat stroke, but she revived quickly after a dose of Gatorade. By the way, Sonia has the right roots. She is a native of New Orleans.

If You Ever Feel Stupid....

If you ever feel a little bit stupid, just dig this up and read it again; you'll begin to think you're a genius.

(On September 17, 1994, Alabama's Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.)

Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?
Answer: 'I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,'
-- Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest .
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'Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff.'
--Mariah Carey
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'Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life.'
-- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign.
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'I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body.'
-- Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.
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'Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country.'
--Mayor Marion Barry, Washington , DC
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'That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it.'
--A congressional candidate in Texas
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'Half this game is ninety percent mental.'
--Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark
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'I love California . I practically grew up in Phoenix'
-- Dan Quayle while campaigning
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'We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?'
--Lee Iacocca
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'The word 'genius' isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein.'
--Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.
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'Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 2009 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances.'
--Department of Social Services, Greenville, South Carolina
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'Traditionally, most of Australia's imports come from overseas.'
--Keppel Enderbery
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'If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record.'
--Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman
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Feeling smarter yet?

Send it on to your brilliant friends.

And you, my readers, are my brilliant friends.

Sent by Doug, who obviously thinks I'm brilliant.

"Queer Vs. Christian"

Thanks to SCG for the link. She says:

This video was a big hit at the Mickee Faust Club's "Queer As Faust2" cabaret this summer. If it strikes a chord with you, pass it on!

So I pass it on.

Mary, It's Time To Be A Democrat

From the Huffington Post:

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said on Tuesday that she is opposed to the creation of a public health care plan patients could opt into that would compete with private insurance.

"No, I'm not open to it. I'm not open to a public option," said Landrieu. "However, I will remain open to a compromise, a full compromise. Public option is not something that I support. I don't think it's the right way to go."

As some of you know Mary Landrieu is the senior senator from the State of Louisiana. David Vitter is the junior senator. Neither of them support the inclusion of the public option in the health care plans which are being considered by the Senate. The difference is that David is a Republican, and there's absolutely no hope that he will vote for the public option, no matter that the government provides him and his family with decent health insurance.

However Mary is a Democrat. It's true that she's a Blue Dog Democrat, which means that she often votes with the Republicans. I gave her money during her first run, but not for the second run, because she voted to allow torture. But my donation was only a pittance compared to the donations Mary receives from health care and health insurance industries. She has participated in government sponsored health insurance plans at least since she was a member of the Louisiana State Legilature. Why does she want to deny her constituents what she has benefited from for so many years?

Later in the HP article Mary is quoted as saying:

"I know there are some people really pushing this public option, but I think it really undermines the essence of our efforts to create a real market-based private sector model but with strong, I guess, safeguards for consumers," she said.

And don't we all know how perfectly the market operates? I like her phrasing "...with strong, I guess, safeguards for consumers".... Why safeguards for consumers? The market polices itself so well. I guess. But perhaps she is yet persuadable, if the pressure is great enough.

From Public Campaign Action Fund:

* According to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Sen. Landrieu has raised $1,668,693 from health care and insurance interests throughout her federal political career.

* Of the $1,668,693 in health care and insurance money Sen. Landrieu has raised, just 36% came from in state donors, with 64% coming from out of state interests.

* Sen. Landrieu has received substantial contributions throught her career from leading health care industries, including HMOs and pharmaceutical companies:

Health Professionals $600,366
Insurance $376,731
Hospitals/Nursing Homes $266,645
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $228,446
Health Services/HMOs $160,005

* Sen. Landrieu has also received $677,014 from registered lobbyists and their political action committees throughout her career.

* Sen. Landrieu has received large contributions from some of the largest companies and groups in the health care and insurance industries.

There's more at the link.

In addition to the money that she received from the health care and health insurance industries, several of Mary's former staff members now work for health care industries or with firms which lobby for the industries.

Could it be that the donations carry weight in helping her decide how to vote on this issue? No, it couldn't be. But wait! I wonder.

This vote is crucial, as crucial as the vote on Social Security, and it's time Mary paid her dues for calling herself a Democrat. It's time she paid more attention to the needs of her constituents than to her corporate and lobby donors.

A Word From Roseann

From Roseann to Sue:

Well, later this afternoon they're going to take out the catheter. Leave it out a few days, then put in a new one. They're really loading me up with antibiotics. I'm fairly certain if a germ of bacteria came within 50 yards of me I could zap it. ha!

The putting in and taking out of the catheter is not so bad. They'll put me in twilight, I'll have my iPod on and probably sing really loud and off key. But hey, that's what they get for leaving me partially awake.

I can't post on my blog, only read so please let my peeps know what's up.

Love you so much, Roseann

That's our Roseann. Sue says that she's really unhappy about not being able to read her favorite blogs on the internet connection at the hospital.

The picture is from Roseann's Facebook page. I hope it's all right with her for me to use it.

Grace Brings Freedom

The freedom to fall is also the freedom to rise. It’s precisely in our failure, our experience of poverty, weakness, emptiness that we come to experience God’s restoration and healing love.

From Daily Meditation by Richard Rohr

Bonne Fête du Canada!

To all our dear friends north of the border:

HAVE A BLESSED AND HAPPY CANADA DAY!

More Prayers, Please - From Arkansas Hillbilly

Hey guys. I posted this on my blog, but thought I'd save you the trouble of trying to find it. Mrs. H's dad was admitted to the hospital last night with trouble breathing and has been diagnosed with emphysema. Would you please add Chris to your prayer lists today?

Blessings,

Dave

Arkansas Hillbilly

On Prayer From David@Montreal

My dear Giants of Faith & Practice
I know it's been a while since you've had one of these from me-
let's just say that Life and the search for livable employment in the current economic situation have kept me rather busy, especially as my own financial resources start to narrow.

But this evening, our Mam spoke with my much loved cousin Frank, who you might remember is still undergoing the course of his gene therapy for leukemia. Close to a month ago Frank was also diagnosed with c-difficile and was isolated at home as the hospital was already overwhelmed with other cases of this. Frank's situation however became serious enough that he was rushed into hospital by ambulance where he's been for some time. The c-difficile's still not beaten, but they've sent him home again, and before he went to bed, he insisted on calling our Mam, to give her news, but also to ask her to pass along his personal thanks to 'all those incredible prayer partners of David's. Tell them, sometimes when it's been going on a little too long, and been a little too much, the thought of them is what's had me draw my next breath.. Tell them thank-you, Auntie Marion. I know it's not enough- just thank-you. But thank-you.'
As you might remember we're also waiting for 'the other shoe to fall-' the inevitable effect of the imperfect 9/10 genetic match, so I'd ask your prayers for Frank, and for Carol his wife who is exhausted and a little raw right now.

I'd also ask prayers again for Crystal, a young woman who has known incredible abuse, illness and suffering in her life, and who is once again hearing voices.

Prayers please for Patrick, a confused & tormented young man in Arkansas, who has made one suicide attempt in the past, who appears to be seriously depressed; and whose Pentacostal Roman Catholic family have turned themselves into an approximation of a closed cult in reaction to the news that Patrick might be gay.

Prayers for the people of Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan & Pakistan, and for the work the Holy Spirit is slowly bringing about in Islam.

Prayers please for our dear Barbara C, an incredible paliative care nurse, who may have to undergo surgery for a muscular tear in her right knee which currently has her on crutches.

Prayers please the repose of Deenie, who sounds like the time of person I would have loved to have known. Civil rights, womens' rights, LGBT rights; Deenie made all of these her personal issue, and after a very long course of cancer, Deenie passed this week in Boston, Deenie's deep friendship with our incredible Jane spans decades, so I'd ask prayers for Deenie and our Jane.

Prayers please for Sr. Ellie, and for all those unknown others who suffer spiritual and emotional violence within our Church.
Prayers also for their abusers.

And speaking of the America Church, I'd ask your confident prayers of hope for those dear to us who will be heading to Anaheim in less than a week. most particularly our LGBT brothers and sisters who once again muster such generous good will under the care of the Holy Spirit, to once again speak truth to power in our Church. Most especially I'd ask prayers for Gene , Elizabeth, Susan and her Sweetie Pie who has done some incredible video segments on Full Inclusion. They go with my great love and gratitude.
But I'd also ask prayers for our wonderous allies- the likes of Bishop Bono Bruno of L.A., Bishop Ely of Vermont, Mark Harris, and for the Great Katherine herself of course.etc.etc.etc.

I don't know if any of our American brothers and sisters are aware of this, but in a strange way this is also our General Convention in the rest of the world- in that as members of the Body of Christ the outcomes of Anaheim will have very real, prophetic & personal repurcussions of countless Anglicans throughout the world, and none more so than our LGBT brothers and sisters of faith.

A certain dear brother, more than once has written to remind me that we are a people of hope, and it is in that hope that I'm asking prayers that those gathered in Anaheim might prove themselve capable of the great grace and truth, the great vision and courage the Holy Spirit is calling us all to embody in these times.

Thank-you - with a deep bow, thank-you.

You have no idea the difference your lives your prayers, practice & friendships make.

David@Montreal


My dear sisters and brothers, it is a good thing that we do when we join one another in love to pray for those in need. By so doing, we serve to build the Kingdom of God here on earth. With God's help, we make a difference.