Why I Love Jonathan Alter

From Jonathan Alter's column titled "What's Not To Like?" in Newsweek:

Go ahead, shoot me. I like the status quo on health care in the United States. I've got health insurance and I don't give a damn about the 47 million suckers who don't. Obama and Congress must be stopped. No bill! I'm better off the way things are.

I'm with that woman who wrote the president complaining about "socialized medicine" and added: "Now keep your hands off my Medicare." That's the spirit!

Why should I be entitled to the same insurance that members of Congress get? Blue Dogs need a lot of medical attention to treat their blueness. I'm just a regular guy and definitely deserve less.

I had cancer a few years ago. I like the fact that if I lose my job, I won't be able to get any insurance because of my illness. It reminds me of my homeowners' insurance, which gets canceled after a break-in. I like the choice I'd face if, God forbid, the cancer recurs—sell my house to pay for the hundreds of thousands of dollars in treatment, or die. That's what you call a "post-existing condition."

Please, please read it all. Read how little of the money that the health insurance companies take in is devoted to actual medical care and how much is devoted to "loading fees". How about the lady on Medicare who complained about "socialized medicare"? Ya gotta love her.

I Heard The Owl Call...

...not my name.

When I walk after dark, I sometimes see a barred owl in flight. The bird is usually invisible once it gets in the tree branches. However, last night I saw where one of the owls landed, and when I got closer, there it was perched on top of a high light post staring down at me, following my progression with owl eyes. Seeing the large bird follow me with its eyes was a little unsettling.

As I returned home, I wondered whether the bird would still be on the light pole, watching as I passed. Before I reached the pole, the owl, or another owl, called out with its loud owl sound - twice! - on the other side of the street. A spooky night sound, surely. To tell the truth, I was relieved to see that the owl had left its perch on the pole, and I did not have to watch it follow me with its large owl eyes once again.

Thus endeth my nightime adventure in my neighborhood.

Image from Wiki. I'm grateful for the pictures at Wiki, because they are not protected by copyright, so I like to give them credit.

What Is This Bird?

We have never seen this bird in our yard before, but yesterday several appeared at the feeders. We looked in our bird books, but couldn't find them. Grandpère said that it may be a Tree Duck. The shape of the head, feet, bill, and body of were similar, but the plumage, bill, and legs and feet of the birds in our yard was so very different in color than the ducks in the picture. We wondered if habitat could have the effect of changing their color that much.



My son said they were definitely Black-bellied Whistling Ducks from Mexico. We went online again and found the ducks, as you see, at another website. The two names seem to be for the same duck, and at the second site we found these words which solved the puzzle:

Juvenile is paler, with grey bill, legs and feet. It has duller plumage than adults, with sooty-brown belly and flanks. It reaches its adult plumage at 8 months of age.
Very young birds have very paler belly, with indistinct transversal bars.

The pictures are from a distance, because I couldn't get closer to the ducks without making them fly away, and my digital camera is not one of the finest. I bought it for its small size and its reasonable price. My regular camera takes much better pictures, but, of course, I have to have the disks developed.

UPDATE: Here's another view. I also posted larger versions of the other pictures.



UPDATE 2: And yet another, though blurred, view of the mystery bird, which I took today:



I think it's a juvenile Black-bellied Whistling Duck. The proof would have been if the bird had whistled for me, but it didn't.

The Rabbi And The Eggs

A rabbi and his wife were cleaning up the house for Passover. The rabbi came across a box he didn't recognize in the refrigerator. His wife told him to leave it alone, and she would take care of it when she finished the preparations for the holiday.

While his wife was doing so, of course curiosity got the best of the Rabbi. He opened the box, and inside he found three eggs and $2000. He was happy that it wasn't something 'bad,' but he was puzzled about the contents. He could understand a stash of money, but why hide eggs? And they didn't even smell rotten.

When his wife came home, he immediately admitted to her that he opened the box, and asked her to explain the contents.

She sighed and explained that every time he had given a bad sermon, she would put an egg in the box...

He interrupted, "In twenty years, only three bad sermons? I think that's pretty good!"

His wife continued, "... and every time I got a dozen eggs, I would sell them for $1.

From Doug, of course. I forgot to give him credit.

Sue-z Update Final

From JimB:

Sue-z is home. Stiff, legs swollen, but home. It is my hope that there is now no need to keep the news uptodate. She is home, healing, on meds that should make another similar event unlikely. So everything is pretty good.

Sue-z and I want to thank all of you who prayed, sent me notes and responded to the updates. It really does matter to know that there are folks who care and you can actually feel the uplifting in prayer.

Thanks!

No Slow-Friday News Day

It seems that today will not be a slow-Friday news day with respect to religious news.

From The Lead:

Britain's Quakers have agreed to carry out same-sex marriages on the same basis as marriages for opposite-sex couples.

Excellent news!

Read the lovely story at Ekklesia.

The Quakers agreed this morning that they would “treat same-sex committed relationships in the same way as opposite-sex marriages, reaffirming our central insight that marriage is the Lord's work and we are but witnesses”

They further declared that “the question of legal recognition by the state is secondary”.
....

Symon Hill, associate director of the thinktank Ekklesia, who is himself a Quaker, welcomed the decision.

He said “I trust this decision will inspire people of all faiths and none who are working for the inclusion of gay, lesbian and bisexual people”.

He added that “As with other churches, this has not been an easy process for Quakers. I hope that others will have the courage to follow this lead and speak up for the radical inclusivity of Christ. As Christians, we are called to stand with those on the margins who are denied equality”.

Amen, and amen, and amen!

Also from The Lead:

Marion Hatchett, a beloved professor of liturgics at Sewanee and a key figure in the development of the 1979 Prayer book and the 1982 Hymnal has some words of exhortation for the Episcopal Church.

From an quoting a speech he gave at General Seminary earlier this year:

"The American Church jumped way out ahead of the Church of England and other sister churches in a number of respects. One was in giving voice to priests and deacons and to laity (as well as bishops and secular government officials) in the governance of the national church and of dioceses and of parishes. The early American Church revised the Prayer Book in a way that went far beyond revisions necessitated by the new independence of the states."

Yes! And I hope and pray that we will not permit the Church of England or any other church in the Anglican Communion to deter us from doing right as we see right. If TEC is wrong, then I'd prefer to err on the side of inclusion.

H/T to Susan Russell, who has a picture of a lovely ship a-sailing at her blog.

"I Am Weary"

I Am Weary

Kiss me mother kiss your darlin'
Lay my head upon your breast
Throw your loving arms around me
I am weary let me rest

Seems the light is swiftly fading
Brighter scenes they do now show
I am standing by the river
Angels wait to take me home

Kiss me mother kiss your darlin'
See the pain upon my brow
While I'll soon be with the angels
Fate has doomed my future now

Through the years you've always loved me
And my life you've tried to save
But now I shall slumber sweetly
In a deep and lonely grave

Kiss me mother kiss your darlin'
Lay my head upon your breast
Throw your loving arms around me
I am weary let me rest
I am weary let me rest

Post inspired by Ann in the comments:

Ann said...

I am so tired of Rowan - I had so much hope for him and he has dashed them all. Teaches me not to put my faith in men who ascend to powerful places - like I had not learned that lesson over and over!

My sentiments exactly. I'm not dying, at least no more than in the sense that we are all dying, but I am weary of Rowan and the troubles of the Anglican Communion. "Seems the light is swiftly fading", indeed. "Let me rest."

"Rowan Williams Then and Now"

If you have not yet read the post by IT at The Friends of Jake, titled "Rowan Williams Then and Now", you may want to have a look. I had already read RW's two statements previously, but when the two are juxtaposed, the contrast is startling.

Archbishop Tutu To receive US Medal of Freedom

From The Lead:

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that Anglican Archbishop emeritus of South Africa, Desmond Tutu will be among those receiving the US Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama.

Desmond Tutu is an Anglican Archbishop emeritus who was a leading anti-apartheid activist in South Africa. Widely regarded as “South Africa’s moral conscience,” he served as the General Secretary of the South African Council of Churches (SACC) from 1978 – 1985, where he led a formidable crusade in support of justice and racial reconciliation in South Africa. He received a Nobel Peace Prize for his work through SACC in 1984. Tutu was elected Archbishop of Cape Town in 1986, and the Chair of the South Africa Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1995. He retired as Archbishop in 1996 and is currently Chair of The Elders.

Others named for the medal are:

Billy Jean King

Rev. Joseph Lowery

Joe Medicine Crow

Harvey Milk

Sandra Day O'Connor

Sidney Poitier

Chita Rivera

Mary Robinson

Janet Davison Rowley M.D.

Muhammad Yunus



Harvey Milk


Billie Jean King

Check out the post at The Lead to view the accomplishments of the others on the list.

That's grand, isn't it? It's a fine list, with the exception of O'Connor. It's wonderful and all that she was the first woman on the Supreme Court, but she also gave us George Bush as president, snatching the job away from the man who won.

Of course, the medal is a tad tarnished from being given to Rummy and George Tenet, but this list of recipients will help restore its luster.

All images from Wiki

I Am So Proud - Not! Shame On Us!

Hello--

This is Josh Nelson with the Hatcher Group writing on behalf of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. I wanted to let you know about our release today of the 2009 Kids Count Data Book. The Kids Count Data Book provides the most credible data on child well–being and is the only source that measures national and state-by-state trends on a wide range of indicators. The Annie E. Casey Foundation feels strongly that good data is the foundation of good policy. The types of indicators we track include infant mortality rate, teen birth rate, high school dropout rate and child poverty rate.

I thought you’d be particularly interested in our Louisiana-specific data:

State Fact Profile.

State Fact Sheets.

There are a number of opportunities to blog on this, and I hope you will consider doing so. If so, please consider the following:

The Embeddable Widget

The 2009 Essay, Counting What Counts, Taking Results Seriously for Vulnerable Children and Families:

Louisiana ranks 49th nationally in a new state-by-state study on the well-being of America's children. The 2009 KIDS COUNT Data Book reveals that since 2000, Louisiana improved on four of the 10 measures affecting child well-being. Yet on five other measures, conditions worsened for Louisiana's kids, and on one measure conditions remained unchanged. The 20th annual Data Book also contains the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s essay, which focuses on the country’s progress in keeping track of children’s well-being.

This year’s Data Book is complemented by the expanded KIDS COUNT Data Center, an online interactive database that contains hundreds of measures of child well-being covering national, state, county, and city information. To access information for Louisiana go to datacenter.kidscount.org/la.

Louisiana ranks in the bottom 10 on nine of 10 indicators. Nationally, Louisiana ranked 49th on six key measures of child well-being, including the percent of low-birthweight babies, the infant mortality rate, the percent of teens ages 16 to 19 who are not in school and not working, the percent of children without secure parental employment, the percent of children in poverty, and the percent of children in single-parent families.

In terms of key findings nationally, there were:

* Six areas of improvement: infant mortality rate, child death rate, teen death rate, teen birth rate, high school dropout rate, and rate of teens not in school and not working;

* Four areas have worsened: low-birthweight babies, children living in families where no parent has full-time year-round employment, children in poverty, and children in single parent families.

If you would like a copy of the press release, or have any questions whatsoever about this, please let me know. Additionally, be sure to send me the link to anything you write on this, so we can include it in our outreach to other bloggers and journalists as appropriate.

Thank you for your time.

Josh, I'm pleased to blog this information, but, at the same time, I'm quite ashamed of the statistics on my state. Our politicians blather on and on about family values, but it seems obvious that they don't care much about the children of the families in Louisiana.

It's more of the same old, same old, near the bottom in the good stuff, and near the top in the bad stuff. Why don't the politicians do something about this, and why don't the people of Louisiana press them to do more for the good of the children of the state? Is it that we don't care? If so, shame on us.

UPDATE: Here's the link to the Kids Count Databook of the Annie E. Casey Foundation where you can find information on your own state.