WHERE I WAS NOT ON BLACK FRIDAY

From the Baton Rouge Advocate:

They were packed onto escalators and in food courts. Others had endured pre-dawn hours standing in line.

Whitney Cooper, 29, was slumped on the floor at the Mall of Louisiana eating lunch with her 6-year-old son, Rayne.

“I was not expecting to be sitting on the floor eating Chick-fil-A,” Cooper said. All of the seats in the nearby food court were taken. So this mother and son joined dozens of other shoppers at this pinnacle of Baton Rouge shopping venues and had lunch, exchanged shopping stories and just generally people-watched from knee-height.
....

On the other side of town, Toys R Us bore all the signs of a serious play date, the aisles littered with toys and the occasional screaming child.

“I was surprised at how cleared out the shelves are,” said Larry Bezet, who was standing in the checkout line with his 4-year-old son, Nicolas. Their shopping cart was loaded with an Imaginarium track system for toy cars and a Crayola digital camera for kids.
....

Across the street a banner in front of The Compact Disk Store advertised 30 percent off.

“I call it the Black Friday super surreal sale,” said Chris Lott, 26, a self-described “music specialist.”

Lott’s “surreal” description was not too far off the mark. Because unfortunately, these discounts had nothing to do with the day after Thanksgiving or even with Christmas. After 26 years, this venerable Baton Rouge music lovers’ institution will soon close its doors. A casualty of iTunes and Amazon, Lott lamented.

The title of my post is not entirely accurate, because I visited a local jewelry store which is going out of business. My one shopping stop was stress-free, except for my wallet and my grandson who was with me and didn't want to be there at all. I found a white gold necklace and earrings (not matching) for incredible prices, so I bought them as Christmas presents from me to me. The reason for the low prices is because a good many folks don't much care for white gold, since it may be mistaken for the lesser sterling, and others will not know that you wear GOLD. However, I like white gold, and I benefited because of its lack of popularity.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - LOOSEN THE REINS?

If the Archbishop of Canterbury wants the members of the Anglican Communion to act like adults, instead of teenagers (I'll do what I want!) or children (I'll take my marbles and go home!), shouldn't he be loosening the reins instead of tightening them?

TRAFFIC CAMERA

I was driving when I saw the flash of a traffic camera. I figured that my picture had been taken for exceeding the limit even though I knew that I was not speeding. Just to be sure, I went around the block and passed the same spot, driving even more slowly, but again the camera flashed.

Now I began to think that this was quite funny, so I drove even slower as I passed the area once more, but the traffic camera again flashed.

I tried a fourth and fifth time with the same results and was now laughing as the camera flashed while I rolled past at a snail's pace.

Two weeks later, I got five tickets in the mail for driving without a seat belt.

You know, you just can't fix stupid.

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

GAFCON REJECTS ANGLICAN COVENANT

Those of you who follow the story probably know by now that on the very day that General Synod of the Church of England voted in favor of the Anglican Covenant, GAFCON, a group whom the covenant was designed to placate and keep within the fold of the Anglican Communion, announced their rejection of the document.

"While we acknowledge that the efforts to heal our brokenness through the introduction of an Anglican Covenant were well intentioned, we have come to the conclusion the current text is fatally flawed and so support for this initiative is no longer appropriate," the council said in a statement.

No Anglican Covenant Coalition put out a statement:

"We believe that this covenant is ill-conceived. In response to the reputed 'crisis' in the Communion, drafters of the covenant have favoured coercion over the hard work of reconciliation. The covenant seeks to narrow the range of acceptable belief within Anglicanism and to prevent further development of Anglican thought. Rather than bringing peace to the Communion, we predict that the covenant text itself could become the cause of future bickering and that its centralised dispute-resolution mechanisms could beget interminable quarrels and resentments."

If you would like to join the effort against the adoption of the Anglican Covenant, check out the website of NACC. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click the "JOIN US" button. You can also visit the Facebook and Twitter sites of the coalition.

On GAFCON's announcement, Ekklesia quotes Giles Fraser:

"This just proves how ineffectual it is going to be ... it won't keep us together," Giles Fraser, Canon at London's St Paul's Cathedral, and president of Inclusive Church which opposes the Covenant, told Reuters. "All the archbishop's hard work in getting it through and using up one of his lives, seems rather pointless."

Ekklesia offers further background information on the covenant and details of the voting in General Synod.

UPDATE: From the Church Times:

AT LEAST ten Primates from the Global South are now expected to boycott the Primates’ Meeting in Dublin in January.

In a statement released on Wednesday, five African Primates, members of the GAFCON Primates’ Council, confirmed that they would not attend the two-yearly meeting. In addition, it is understood that the Primate of South-East Asia, Dr John Chew; the Primate in Jerusalem & the Middle East, Dr Mouneer Anis; and the Primate of the Indian Ocean, the Most Revd Ian Ernest, will not go to Dublin.

Furthermore it is expected that two new Primates, Presiding Bishop Tito Zavala, Primate of the Southern Cone, and the Most Revd Onesphore Rwage, Primate of Rwanda, will also boycott the meeting.

What's the point of the Anglican Covenant if the Anglican Communion is already breaking up?

H/T to Nicholas Knisely at The Lead.

And you really should read Paul Bagshaw at Not the Same Stream.

Given that GAFCON have turned their backs on the Covenant, why pursue it further?

Why that would be because, as the Windsor Report stated,

...a common Anglican Covenant which would make explicit and forceful the loyalty and bonds of affection which govern the relationships between the churches of the Communion.

Read the rest. Paul's post is excellent.

THE WORD FROM CARTOONIST ROZ CHAST

"Anxiety has just always been a part of my life," Chast says. "I cannot even imagine what a life without it would be. You make that decision to get out of bed in the morning, and you know that before you get back into bed at night, you're just going to have all kinds of things you're going to have to deal with. You just hope that it's not so crippling that you don't get out of bed."

For years now, I've enjoyed Chast's cartoons in The New Yorker. I'd love to post a cartoon, but all are under copyright. One of my favorites is the "Poet in Hiding" weatherman.

Quote from SFGate.

Picture from Wikipedia.

STORY OF THE DAY - NO WORDS

I read once that the ancient Egyptians
had fifty words for sand & the Eskimos
had a hundred words for snow. I wish I
had a thousand words for love, but all
that comes to mind is the way you move
against me while you sleep & there are
no words for that.

From StoryPeople.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE COPPERHEADS

Scurrilous Copperhead pamphlet from 1864

If we think that our current political discourse has sunk to an all-time low, a look at the editorializing and pamphleteering by the Copperheads in the North against Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War might cause us to rethink.

From Wikipedia:

Wisconsin newspaper editor Marcus M. Pomeroy called Lincoln:

"Fungus from the corrupt womb of bigotry and fanaticism" and a "worse tyrant and more inhuman butcher than has existed since the days of Nero... The man who votes for Lincoln now is a traitor and murderer... And if he is elected to misgovern for another four years, we trust some bold hand will pierce his heart with dagger point for the public good."

Weeks and Pomeroy didn't hold back, and neither was from the South.

What has been is what will be,
and what has been done is what will be done;
there is nothing new under the sun.
(Ecclesiastes 1:9)

H/T to The Writer's Almanac.

"THERE IS A GREAT CHASM FIXED"

From xtranormal.

SINFUL HOMOSEXUAL RECIPE

Rob Tisinai at Box Turtle Bulletin posted a sinful, homosexual recipe for "Sweet Potato and Apricot Puree with Pecan Streusel". As Rob says, the recipe is too late for Thanksgiving but is suitable for Christmas dinner. The casserole sounds delicious, but I don't know that I can recommend the dish, because I agree with Rob that it's homosexual and sinful. But if you want to take the risk....

A BLESSED AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Collect of Thanksgiving Day

Almighty and gracious Father, we give you thanks for the fruits of the earth in their season and for the labors of those who harvest them. Make us, we pray, faithful stewards of your great bounty, for the provision of our necessities and the relief of all who are in need, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

For the Beauty of the Earth

We give you thanks, most gracious God, for the beauty of earth and sky and sea; for the richness of mountains, plains, and rivers; for the songs of birds and the loveliness of flowers. We praise you for these good gifts, and pray that we may safeguard them for our posterity. Grant that we may continue to grow in our grateful enjoyment of your abundant creation, to the honor and glory of your Name, now and for ever. Amen.