"ORDAINED WHILE GAY...THE NEW DRIVING WHILE BLACK"

Please read John Chilton's piece at The Lead titled An occasion for gay bashing and scapegoating:

Ordained while gay -- it's the new driving while black.

In a revealing campaign, Anglican Mainstream seeks to persuade you that sex with children reveals whether you are gay. And it's using the Catholic sex abuse story to make its claims. (And also is an apologist for that church's handling of sexual abuse.) Anglican Mainstream claims the problem is not with the church, but with homosexuals in the priesthood. According to its website, the "Primatial Adviser" of Anglican Mainstream is The Most Rev Drexel Gomez, former Archbishop of the West Indies who chaired the committee that drafted the Anglican Covenant. (My emphasis)

John lists articles in Anglican Mainstream which attempt to demonstrate that sex with children shows whether a person is gay. The list is long.

The Draft Committee for the Anglican Covenant tilted in an anti-gay, anti-North American direction from its inception.

ANOTHER LITTLE BREES IS ON THE WAY

Brittany, Drew, and Baylen Brees after the Superbowl

From NOLA.com:

Brees revealed that he and his wife, Brittany, are expecting their second child in October -- a little brother or sister for 15-month-old son Baylen, who became immortalized as a Saints mascot during the Super Bowl postgame celebration.

"We're very excited, " said Brees, adding that fatherhood has been an "awesome" experience.

STORY OF THE DAY - PIG CAT

Your cat seems very healthy, I said to
her. That is not a cat, she said. That is a
pig in cat's clothing.


From StoryPeople.

THE LAWS OF ULTIMATE REALITY - PART 1

Law of Mechanical Repair - After your hands become coated with grease, your nose will begin to itch and you'll have to pee.

Law of Gravity - Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Law of Probability - The probability of being watched is directly proportional to the stupidity of your act.

Law of Random Numbers - If you dial a wrong number, you never get a busy signal and someone always answers.

Law of the Alibi - If you tell the boss you were late for work because you had a flat tire, the very next morning you will have a flat tire.

Variation Law - If you change traffic lanes, the one you were in will always move faster than the one you are in now (works every time).

Law of the Bath - When the body is fully immersed in water, the telephone rings.

Law of Close Encounters - The probability of meeting someone you know increases dramatically when you are with someone you don't want to be seen with.

Law of the Result - When you try to prove to someone that a machine won't work, it will.

Thanks to Doug.

A HISTORIC DAY!

Arkansas Hillbilly posted two good news items at Hillbilly Musings. Thanks be to God, indeed.

RANDOM IMAGES

EMS RESCUE DOG

 

Breathe, damn you, breathe!

From Doug.



(Illustration: a bumper sticker spotted by a reader in Juneau.)



H/T to Andrew Sullivan.

 

Thanks to Lapin.

ANOTHER INSIDER OPINION

About a week ago, I added Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish to my Google Reader. New posts appear on his blog with amazing speed. I haven't counted the average number of posts in a single day, but I'm sure it's quite high. His blog is exhausting but worth reading. I wonder - does Andrew even take bathroom breaks?

His post today titled Our Screwed Up Priests is spot on. I know that a good many of you disagree that celibacy and child abuse are related, but I stand by my opinion that there is a connection. By no means am I saying that mandatory celibacy is the sole cause of the abuse of children in the Roman Catholic Church - just that enforced celibacy is in the equation.

Sullivan quotes from an interview on NPR with "Dr. Leslie Lothstein [who] has treated more than 300 Catholic priests" at one of the psychiatric centers to which priests were sent for treatment.

One of the biggest challenges in treating priests, Lothstein says, is that they don't have the same kind of sexual experiences -- or history of talking about such experiences -- that an ordinary adult may have. "Many of the priests tend to be psychosexually immature," he says. "They've never taken a course in healthy sexuality."

He says some of them have gone into minor seminary at age 14 and developed "a sense of self without having appropriate lines of dating, meeting other people, experimenting with touch, kissing, ordinary sexuality."

Back in the day, some boys entered seminary at age 13, when they finished elementary school, however I gather that now one must be 18, at the youngest, to be considered as a candidate for seminary.

Sullivan says:

If celibacy is a mature choice, it can be a wonderful act of self-giving. But when mandatory for all, it prevents many healthy men from entering the priesthood, offers a cover for those terrified of their own sexuality and thereby creates a priesthood dominated by the emotionally immature.

Exactly.

STORMY WON'T RUN AGAINST VITTER

 

From the AP:

Louisiana-born porn star Stormy Daniels announced Thursday that she will not run for U.S. Senate in her home state, ending a yearlong flirtation with politics that began as Republican incumbent Sen. David Vitter was working to overcome a sex scandal.

In an e-mailed statement, Daniels said she cannot afford a run for the Senate and, comparing herself to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, complained that the media never took her interest in the race seriously.

"To begin with, like Governor Palin, I have become a target of the cynical stalwarts of the status quo," Daniels said. "Simply because I did not fit in their mold of what an independent working woman should be, the media and political elite have sought to relegate my sense of civic responsibility to mere sideshow antics."

So. Stormy is a victim of "the cynical stalwarts of the status quo". The alliteration reminds me of the rhetoric of whoever wrote Spiro Agnew's speeches. Remember Spiro Agnew? But I digress. If Stormy's aspirations include being another Sarah Palin, it's just as well that she's not running. One Sarah Palin is enough! We don't need Sarah wannabes.

If nothing else, a Daniels campaign for the Republican nomination would have been a constant reminder of the 2007 scandal that broke when Vitter's phone number appeared in the records of a Washington prostitution ring. Other than admitting a "serious sin," he has steadfastly refused to discuss the matter.

Meanwhile, his political career seems to have survived intact. He has raised plenty of campaign money while bashing the policies of President Barack Obama, who is not popular in the state.

At the end of the latest filing period, Vitter had $5 million in campaign cash on hand, compared with $2.3 million for his Democratic rival, U.S. Rep. Charlie Melancon, according to Federal Election Commission filings released Thursday by the campaigns.

Vitter may yet gain another well-known rival because former Republican state legislator James David Cain has said he may enter the race as an independent. Vitter so far has no major opposition in the GOP primary.

Vitter seems immune to ill effects from being caught consorting with prostitutes. He said he was sorry, and there have been no new charges, and that seems to be enough for his loyal supporters and contributers.

Stormy has another problem, too.

Her political story took a bizarre turn last summer when she was arrested on a domestic violence battery charge after she allegedly hit her husband at their home in Tampa, Fla., during a dispute about laundry and unpaid bills. Charges later were dropped.

I confess that Grandpère and I have had our share of disputes over laundry and various and sundry other matters (never over unpaid bills!), but our disputes are not of a violent nature. I've never beat him up. I promise.

THE BISHOP OF...UM...ER....

Thanks to Ann V., who says, "And how can you not love the furry vestments?"

I cannot not love the furry vestments.

From CHEEZBURGER.

SLIVERED CRESCENT MOON

 

Resting on its curve
The moon a slivered crescent
Ends pointing upward

(June Butler - 4/15/10)