WHAT GOD INTENDS

Whenever the Louisiana legislature is in session, you can be sure that mischief is afoot. Here's a sad story.

From the Advocate:

Under heavy opposition by religious interests, a Louisiana Senate panel rejected legislation Tuesday that would have allowed same-sex couples to adopt children in Louisiana.

Proponents said the legislation would expand the pool of people available to provide loving homes for children by allowing two unmarried people to adopt.

Opponents said children need homes with a traditional mother and father as God intended.

“We believe this bill is nothing more than social engineering using children as guinea pigs,” said the Rev. Louis Husser, of Robert.

The legislation died when one senator voted for it while three voted against.
....

“We are talking about homes for children. We need parents whether they be two single parents or married couples to adopt children,” said the bill sponsor, Sen. J.P. Morrell, D-New Orleans.

He said limiting the pool of people who can adopt keeps children in foster homes and group homes, particularly at-risk children who need the most parental care.

Thank you, Sen. Morrell, for your lone voice of compassion and common sense. Of course, the opponents of permitting same-sex couples to adopt know the mind of God, and few in the legislature would go against the mind of God.

The story brings tears to my eyes. It's just so wrong.

EAR HAIR

My neighbor found out her dog could hardly hear so she took it to the veterinarian. He found that the problem was hair in its ears. He cleaned both ears and the dog could hear fine. The vet then proceeded to tell the lady that if she wanted to keep this from recurring she should go to the store and get some "Nair" hair remover and rub it in the dog's ears once a month.

The lady goes to the drug store and gets some "Nair" hair remover.

At the register the druggist tells her, "If you're going to use this under your arms don't use deodorant for a few days."

The lady says, "I'm not using it under my arms."

The druggist says, "If you're using it on your legs don't shave for a couple of days."

The lady says, "I'm not using it on my legs either; if you must know, I'm using it on my Schnauzer."

The druggist says, "Stay off your bicycle for a week."


Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

STORY OF THE DAY - DEEPEST DESIRES

Wish for your deepest desires, she said
& when I asked if they'd come true, she
said they always do, so you might as well
get them out in the open while you're
still young enough to correct any serious
mistakes.


I'm rather amazed at how many of my deepest desires have come true, but I've had to make adjustments, because life has also dealt me bad hands. However, I prefer to accentuate the positive, although I'm not quite ready to eliminate the negative.


From StoryPeople.

JESUS AND MO

From Jesus and Mo.

GAYLE - FOUR YEARS GONE

 

The picture of my sister Gayle was taken on the grounds of the Tower of London during our trip to England in the 1990s. We were headed to visit the Norman chapel inside the White Tower. I stopped to take a picture, and Gayle walked on. Today is the fourth anniversary of my sister's passing. With courage, she fought off lymphoma 17 years before she died from pancreatic cancer. I still miss her. For me, the picture is a stunning metaphor for Gayle's walk away from all of us who love her.

Please pray for her husband, Frank and her three children, two grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Please pray for me and for her many friends who still miss her. She was a wonderful person. She loved to joke and laugh, and she loved a good party. She was a good wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She was a good sister and a good friend to me.


Why Couldn't You Stay?

You walked away; you left us
Bereft, bereaved.
How could you go?
It wasn't your doing,
I know, I know.
Yet, how could you go?

Two years passed and gone,
Slipped away.
After you left, I'd think
I'll call her; I'll email.
Oh no! None of that!
You won't answer.

Now I know you're gone.
No thoughts of visits to come,
Seeing your face, hearing your voice,
The sound of your laughter.
Sadness lingers, emptiness remains.
Why couldn't you stay?

June Butler - 04-27-08



The Norman chapel in the White Tower is one of my favorite buildings in the all the world.

Image from Wiki.

"IMAGINE IF THE TEA PARTY WAS BLACK"

From Tim Wise at AlterNet:

Let’s play a game, shall we? The name of the game is called “Imagine.” The way it’s played is simple: we’ll envision recent happenings in the news, but then change them up a bit. Instead of envisioning white people as the main actors in the scenes we’ll conjure – the ones who are driving the action – we’ll envision black folks or other people of color instead. The object of the game is to imagine the public reaction to the events or incidents, if the main actors were of color, rather than white. Whoever gains the most insight into the workings of race in America, at the end of the game, wins.

So let’s begin.

Imagine that hundreds of black protesters were to descend upon Washington DC and Northern Virginia, just a few miles from the Capitol and White House, armed with AK-47s, assorted handguns, and ammunition. And imagine that some of these protesters —the black protesters — spoke of the need for political revolution, and possibly even armed conflict in the event that laws they didn’t like were enforced by the government? Would these protester — these black protesters with guns — be seen as brave defenders of the Second Amendment, or would they be viewed by most whites as a danger to the republic?

Continued....

Please read the rest of Tim's post. Play turnabout with Tim Wise, who lives up to his family name.

Image from The Huffington Post.

Thanks to Ann for the link, and from there, it was via, via, to Tim's post.

NO RESPECT

Did you know that this week is Older Americans' Mental Health Week? Well, it is.

My niece sent me what follows, which demonstrates that I don't get no respect, not even in my own family.

 

 

Niecy, you got this wrong. It's Older Americans' Mental Health Week, so don't pretend this is a "We're all in this together" post, because I know it's directed solely at me.

 

 

 

 

So. What do I make of this? Should I take revenge, and if so, what form do you suggest that the revenge take?

Not a word of this post refers to my readers, nevertheless, if the shoe fits....

PLEASE PRAY...

From Arkansas Hillbilly:

Could you please add the family of Kathy Berg to your prayer list? She was a member of All Saints and died in a car accident today. She leaves behind a partner and teenage daughter.


May Kathy rest in peace and rise in glory.

May God give comfort, consolation, and the peace that passes understanding to all those who love Kathy.

"CHRISTIANITY...IS A LOVE-POEM"

From Diarmaid MacCulloch at the Washington Post:

What constitutes Christian love amid the sweaty delights of sex? Organized religion always takes an interest in sex, usually so it can tidy people's sexual lives into some easily-managed pattern. The Vatican's traditional emphasis is that God commands humans to procreate. Good sex has the potential to produce children; bad sex is everything else. Bad sex includes heterosexual acts involving contraceptives; masturbation; gay sex acts of all sorts. The equation of sex and procreation remained convincing for centuries because contraceptive devices were expensive, unreliable and even more comic in appearance than they are now. Now, however, readily available contraception has transformed the way in which human beings use and experience sex. Sex has always been fun: contraception has shown that the fun can be detached from the possibility of having children. The Christian tradition is now faced with the reality that pleasure and procreation are two separate purposes of sexuality, and many parts of the Christian Church, especially the Vatican, are baffled and angry.

MacCulloch's words are amusing, but quite true. He continues, opening a window into the manner in which the church came to its stance on human sexuality. Once again, Greek ideas creep in to contaminate the Jewish heritage of Christianity.

Christian theologians in late second-century Egypt took up the theme: 'to have sex for any purpose other than to produce children is to violate nature', said Clement of Alexandria. It does not inspire confidence in Alexandrian judgment on matters sexual that Clement's successor, Origen, is said to have castrated himself because he regarded his sexual organs as a source of moral danger. However, these views on sex were so influential in the Church that we can call the equation of sex and procreative potential the Alexandrian rule. The rule was repeated with enthusiasm by Thomas Aquinas, who did so much to make the Church of Rome see the world through Aristotle's eyes. And so matters in the Vatican rest from the 13th to the 21st century, although its celibate theologians apparently do not now adopt Origen's desperate measures.

All right, now I'm rolling on the floor, but please read the entire essay, for MacCulloch turns quite serious:

Christianity, whether or not you think it's true, is a love-poem. It should not be afraid of love, even when the love seems dangerous and unfamiliar. Christianity has danger built into it.

Yes. Read the rest.

Diarmaid MacCulloch wrote the masterful The Reformation, which I read a few years ago. His newest book, which is sitting on my bookshelf waiting to be read, is Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. MacCulloch is nothing if not ambitious in undertaking to write on huge swaths of history. If his latest is half as good the previous work, it will be good, indeed.

H/T to Nicholas Knisely at The Lead

UPDATE: MacCulloch was interviewed on NPR this morning.

A BRIEF PASSAGE FROM "PRIDE AND PREJUDICE"

Indulge me again for a bit with my dear Jane Austen. After writing my earlier post on my life in books, I took up Pride and Prejudice to read last night. What's lovely now about reading Jane is that I can pick up her books and start anywhere, because I know what came before because I've read them so many times, and I can put them down anywhere, because I know what follows. I quote a brief passage which delighted me last night. When I read Jane's books, I stop after reading certain passages to reflect in amazement at her wonderful writing.

Jane's description of the characters of Mr. and Mrs. Bennet:

Mr. Bennet was so odd a mixture of quick parts, sarcastic humour, reserve, and caprice, that the experience of three-and-twenty years had been insufficient to make his wife understand his character. Her mind was less difficult to develop. She was a woman of mean understanding, little information, and uncertain temper. When she was discontented, she fancied herself nervous. The business of her life was to get her daughters married; its solace was visiting and news.

The exchange below takes place after a ball attended by Mrs. Bennet and her five daughters. Mr. Bennet stayed at home with his books, and upon their return, his wife went to his library to give him an account of the ball.

"Oh! my dear Mr. Bennet," as she entered the room, "we have had a most delightful evening, a most excellent ball. I wish you had been there. Jane was so admired, nothing could be like it. Every body said how well she looked; and Mr. Bingley thought her quite beautiful, and danced with her twice. Only think of that my dear; he actually danced with her twice; and she was the only creature in the room that he asked a second time. First of all, he asked Miss Lucas. I was so vexed to see him stand up with her; but, however, he did not admire her at all: indeed, nobody can, you know; and he seemed quite struck with Jane as she was going down the dance. So, he enquired who she was, and got introduced, and asked her for the two next. Then, the two third he danced with Miss King, and the two fourth with Maria Lucas, and the two fifth with Jane again, and the two sixth with Lizzy, and the Boulanger --"

"If he had had any compassion for me," cried her husband impatiently, "he would not have danced half so much! For God's sake, say no more of his partners. Oh! that he had sprained his ancle in the first dance!"

And if you really want to know about the relationships and connections in P&P, I found this wonderful chart to help you out. Click on the chart for the larger view.


Am I going overboard? Is the chart TMI? Is the entire post an unnecessary self-indulgence? Well, it is my blog, after all.