HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU, CATHY!

Happy Birthday to You, dance performed by Chipmunks Alvin, Theodore and Simon; music is taken from different videos and of course the Chipmunks are not singing this song by themselves. This video was intended for all who would appreciate amateur video makers :)

May you have many more Blessed and Happy Birthdays, my dear Cathy.

UPDATE: Wait! Below is a picture of the gift of a CD from Cathy, which just now arrived in the mail for me on HER birthday. How lovely! And all I gave Cathy was a blog post. Shame on me! The music is gorgeous!



The package is addressed to Miss Mimi Butler.

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Cathy. I love it.

"LEAVE, WITH MY 'BLESSING'"

From Viv Groskop at the Guardian:

On our wedding day we virtually ran back down the aisle the second the ceremony ended. "I thought you were going to trip up, you were in a such a hurry," I remember one guest saying. Why the rush? Because it wasn't really a wedding at all, but a blessing – and throughout the ceremony the vicar had not let us forget it.

My husband had been married before and, in the Church of England, remarriage is at the vicar's discretion. Our vicar had decided against it. Throughout the ceremony he referred repeatedly and pointedly to "new beginnings" as opposed to just "beginnings". He insisted that there be no exchange of rings, because we were, technically, already man and wife. (We went to a registry office five days earlier.) I spent most of the ceremony fiddling with my headdress because I had been told that I shouldn't be wearing a veil (too bridal for a blessing). It was only at the last minute that the vicar relented and allowed my father to walk me down the aisle. And did I mention that it was not a beginning but a new beginning? I can still remember seeing, out of the corner of my eye, friends and family in the congregation cringing.

It seems to me that a grudging "blessing" is an oxymoron. Either you bless with your whole heart, or there is no blessing. Can you guess who was the vicar who gave Viv and her husband the "blessing" with a grudge attached? Why none other than the Rev. Stephen Bould of St Peter, Folkestone, who announced that he would leave the Church of England to join a Roman Catholic ordinariate. Amongst his parting words are:

"It is a battle we are fighting now. Let's fight it with flair, imagination and spirit."

Battle metaphors abound amongst the dissatisfied in the Episcopal Church and in the Church of England.

Back to Viv:

Ten years on I'm disillusioned.... I would like to see the Church of England be more inclusive not only towards women priests but towards people like me – people who rarely attend church, often question their faith, but who are, essentially, supportive of the church. It's not as if you'd ever be turned away from a service, but there is a clear message on high days and holidays. Always the hopeful raised eyebrow: are you coming back on a regular basis or not? How serious are you? In today's Christian Britain you are either atheist or God Squad. There's no inbetween.

Bitter fruit, indeed.

I'm curious as to whether the bishops and priests who announced that they will take up Rome's offer have stopped presiding at the Eucharist. Do the clergy headed for Rome believe that their orders are presently valid and will suddenly become invalid once they cross the Tiber? According to Roman rules, the Church of England clergy will become humble lay folk, or, at best, seminarians, until they are screened and re-ordained. Just a thought.

Thanks to Cathy for the link.

JESUS AND MO - DONE

From Jesus and Mo.

BEING GAY ISN'T VOLUNTARY - HATE IS

Being Gay Isn’t Voluntary (get this on a tee in US store, get this on a tee in European store, make your own tee with this or get this on a postcard)

From Wordboner.

Thanks to Lapin.

MORE OF THE LARYNGOSPASMS

"Mister Gasman", a parody of "Mr. Sandman", as performed by The Laryngospasms at the 2008 AORN Congress at the Anaheim Convention Center. Come visit us online at www.Laryngospasms.com!!

The members of The Laringospasms are all certified nurse anesthetists. Wouldn't you like to have them put you to sleep?

A MAILING FROM JEFF LANDRY (R) FOR CONGRESS

On the post card Jeff says of Social Security:

Jeff will not change the retirement age for any worker nearing retirement.

To save social security for future generations Jeff will shore up the system by making changes without raising taxes; changes that will not jeopardize benefits of current retirees or workers within the system.

The explanation of Jeff's views on Social Security in his mailing is vague and deceptive. See the shadowy elderly couple pictured in the post card? The mailing is targeted to the elders amongst us and is intended to reassure us that nothing will change for us. And, if nothing changes for us, why should we be concerned about anyone else? I'm all right, Jeff, and that's all that counts, right?

Here's Jeff Landry's plan from his website:

Protecting Social Security and Medicare

Social Security and Medicare is a promise that was made to our seniors who paid into the system for many, many years.

Our seniors built the Nation we enjoy today. As your Congressman, I will not allow the current liberal administration to default on its promises to the greatest generation. I believe our nation must keep its promises.

I will not ignore threats to the solvency of Social Security or Medicare. I also understand that there is a need for a modernized secured retirement system that gives more freedom to today’s workers. A system that workers can use to build secure wealth and prosperity for their retirement and their posterity. As a member of Congress, I will work to ensure that all Americans have an opportunity for a secure retirement.

Simply put, I will protect Social Security and Medicare and help ensure we have a strong retirement system in our nation for decades to come.

Now we have a bit more detail about Jeff's position on the issue. In the end, Jeff's plan will result in the destruction of Social Security as we know it. It will put an end to mandatory contributions by employers and employees to the Social Security Trust Fund.

Jeff gives no details that I could find on his website on how he would protect Medicare. I sent an email to Jeff asking for details, but I have not yet heard back.

From Jeff's biographical information on his website:

Jeff, along with his family, participated in Louisiana Tea Party taxpayer rallies and he served as a Delegate to the Republican State Convention and served on the Party’s Platform Committee where he helped write the Party’s conservative platform.

How thrilling!

STORY OF THE DAY - HAPPY CAMPER

What if we all got along & people loved
each other & sang songs about peace?
he said. Would that be a good world? & I
said I didn't know about that, but it
would be a good summer camp & he
looked at me & shook his head & said,
It's no wonder you're leaving us with
such a mess.

From StoryPeople.

BULLET POINTS

Thanks to Ann V., who directed me to a new (to me) blog, Faith and Theology. Ann sent the link to the post titled Twelve point guide for ripostes to militant atheists, by Kim Fabricius.

A couple of samples to entice you to read the rest of the ripostes at the link:

—Your faith is unreasonable.

—Your reason is unreasonable – and you have such faith in your scepticism.

------------

—The Gospels contain inconsistencies A, B, and C.

—You forgot X, Y, and Z.

While meandering around the website, I found a marvelous post by Ben Meyers, titled On writing: thirteen theses. It's enough to give a blogger pause, nearly enough to cause a blogger to cease and desist, but not quite. However, reading the theses will perhaps cause me to think rather more seriously about what I write and to give additional attention to editing and deleting - and that would be before I hit the publish button. I joke that my motto is "Publish first; edit after", but making a joke of mistakes is a poor excuse for not writing a satisfactory post before publishing.

Excerpts from the theses:

2. Kinds of writing. There are four kinds of writing: bad, mediocre, good, and great. The difference between bad writing and mediocre writing is discipline. The difference between mediocre writing and good writing is editing. The difference between good writing and great writing is miracle.

------------

3. Writing and editing. T. S. Eliot once observed that good writers do not necessarily write better than others, but are better critics and editors. Good writers cull the overpopulated paragraphs of their work. Like a farmer protecting the livestock, the writer lovingly separates whatever is sickly and infirm – and then loads the gun.

Bang!

There you have it. Read the rest and weep. I know I did.

MORE MAXINE ON SATURDAY

FURTHER ADVICE TO REMEMBER AS YOU SLIDE DOWN THE BANNISTER OF LIFE


For JCF: As you see, the groupings are random.

WHAT THE BISHOP SAID

Random and out of context quotes from Bishop Mark Lawrence's address to the Reconvened Diocesan Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina:

I do not wish to keep you long this morning, though I may.
....

At our Diocesan Convention in 2009 I put forward what I believed was a God-given and gospel vision that would guide us through the stormy waters facing us at that time. The vision was succinctly stated as, “Making Biblical Anglicans for a Global Age.”
....

It is my great pleasure to announce at this Reconvened Annual Convention that he (Rt. Rev. Michael Nazir-Ali, retired Bishop of Rochester in England) has agreed to be Visiting Bishop in South Carolina for Anglican Communion Relationships.
....

Certainly we have challenged and will continue to challenge a tendency to revise the core doctrines of our church and to reshape the polity of the Episcopal Church through an inappropriate extension of power.
....

Along with the voices that just say, “Be quiet and get along,” there are others who say, “Bishop why don’t you just leave? Depart with or without the buildings?” To these voices I say “We still have a God-given vocation within this worldwide struggle.” Not unlike a battalion in a military campaign which is ordered to hold a pass or a position against overwhelming odds—so we are called to resist what many of us believe is a self-destructive trajectory within the Episcopal Church; to resist until it is no longer possible and at the same time to help shape the emerging Anglicanism in the 21st Century, which is increasingly relational and less institutional.