GEAUX MARY!

From The Huffington Post:

Sen. Mary Landrieu, a conservative Democratic from Louisiana, lashed out Tuesday at President Obama's deal with congressional Republicans that allows tax cuts for the wealthy to be extended for two years.

Extending the tax cuts for those making more than a million dollars a year is borderline immoral, Landrieu charged. "I'm going to argue forcefully for the nonsensicalness and the almost, you know, moral corruptness of that particular policy," said Landrieu, walking into a meeting with Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats. "This is beyond politics. This is about justice and doing what's right."
....

"It's what I'm calling the Obama-McConnell plan. We're going to borrow $46 billion from the poor, from the middle class, from businesses of all sizes basically to give a tax cut to families in America today, that despite the recession, are making over a million dollars. I mean, this is unprecedented. Unprecedented. I want to repeat that," she said. Landrieu added, however, that she had yet to make a decision on the final package and was speaking strictly about the extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.

Now this is a Blue Dog Democrat that I can love. Gosh! I wish we'd see this Mary Landrieu more often.

"This is beyond politics. This is about justice and doing what's right."

Amen! But shouldn't politics be about justice and doing what's right? Sometimes?

However you vote in the end, Mary, you've made me proud.

Thanks to Diane for the link.

COMPASS ROSE

Don't blame me. Blame Ann Larry Graham.

PRAY FOR ELIZABETH EDWARDS

Elizabeth is nearing the end of her battle against cancer. She's a lovely lady and set a fine example to us all of courage and grace under pressure.

"Elizabeth has been advised by her doctors that further treatment of her cancer would be unproductive. She is resting at home with family and friends," the Edwards family says in a statement to PEOPLE.

On Monday, Edwards, 61, posted a Facebook message to her friends.

"I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces - my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope," she writes. "These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined. The days of our lives, for all of us, are numbered. We know that."

May God the Father bless you, God the Son heal you, God the Holy Spirit give you strength. May God the holy and undivided Trinity guard your body, save your soul, and bring you safely to his heavenly country; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer)

From the comments:

Murdoch Matthew said...

Word came at eventide that Elizabeth Edwards has died.

May Elizabeth rest in peace in the loving arms of God and rise in glory.

May God give comfort, consolation, the peace that passes understanding to keep the minds and hearts of all those who love Elizabeth.

May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest, Elizabeth.

EASY OPTION

I'm not that good at live & let live, she
told me, when it's just as easy to avoid &
then I don't even have to think about it.

From StoryPeople.

PS: This one is mine.

XMAS GIFTS FOR THOSE WHO LOVE THE BRITISH ROYALS

The British royal family in 1968.

From the Telegraph.

Queen's undergarments' to be auctioned

The monogrammed item reportedly came into the possession of notorious Miami playboy named 'Baron' Joseph de Bicske Dobronyi more than 40 years ago, according to the celebrity website TMZ.

He received the garment from a friend after it was left on a private plane used when the queen visited Chile in 1968.

After Dobronyi's death in June aged 88, his estate began planning to auction off the royal garment which is expected to sell for £6,000.

If you must, you can see a photo of the knickers at the TMZ website, but I advise you not to look. I think how I'd feel having my much less elegant used undies displayed to the eyes of the world.

Thanks to Ann for pointing me to the story. In the subject line of her email was "TMI". Indeed!

And the next item:

 

 

Click on the text to enlarge.

From ACORN Online.

FURTHER UPDATE ON AILEEN

Tis' the season for miracles, tonight after not being awake and not responding for four days Aileen squeezed my hand with BOTH of hers and was able to move her right hand from the pillow next to her over to her tummy. Then she was able to track me with her eyes. Thats my fighter!!---Mike

Thanks be to God, the medical staff, Aileen's family, and all who care for her and pray for her. I don't know about you, but this news gladdens my heart and, along with Mike, Aileen's husband, makes me think of miracles, too. Please continue your prayers.

Aileen's story is here.

R. I. P. COLIN SLEE

Sermon by the Jeffrey John, Dean of St Albans, at the funeral of Colin Slee, Dean of Southwark Cathedral.

I didn't know Colin Slee. Until his recent death, I didn't know anything about Dean Slee, but after reading Jeffrey John's lovely sermon at his funeral service, I wish I'd known him or, at least, known a bit more about him.

One of the last things Colin said before he died was, ‘I am surprisingly un-scared’. It could have been the motto of his whole life. Colin was always surprisingly un-scared. Unlike the rest of us, he never did let fear or self-consciousness or embarrassment to stop him reaching out to the most unlikely and needy people, or doing and saying what he thought was right and true. All the frightened, careful people said Colin was risky, indiscreet, unreliable – ‘the most dangerous man in the Church of England’ said one, to Colin’s deep delight. But he was not dangerous or indiscreet or unreliable - certainly not in anything that mattered. He was just surprisingly un-scared.

If you ask why he was so un-scared, I think the answer is as straightforward as he was. He really did believe. He really trusted in a good and loving God as Jesus came to make Him known to us; and that confidence set him free to be the astonishingly life-giving, brave, generous and joyous person that he was.
....

The papers and his detractors always portrayed Colin as an arch-Liberal, as if he were the leader of a faction obsessed with a secular agenda. It was never true, and it misses the whole point. For Colin it began and ended with God. The truth is that he was a traditional Catholic Anglican, thoroughly disciplined and orthodox in his faith, a man of profound prayer and penitence. His idea of inclusiveness was not that ‘anything goes’, but that we are all equally in need of healing, and therefore the Church must equally be a home for all. Colin welcomed people because Jesus did. (My emphasis)

Amen, and amen, and amen!

I'm baffled that, all too often, it seems difficult for certain of my brother and sister Christians to understand that one can be "thoroughly disciplined and orthodox" in one's faith and still welcome everyone because Jesus did. How is it arch-liberal or secular to look to Jesus in the Gospels as the model for how we are to "do unto others"?

From the website of Southwark Cathedral.

Photo from the Guardian.

IT'S CALLED CONSEQUENCES, MP BAHITI

From Jim Burroway at Box Turtle Bulletin:

Mike Jones at Change.org has learned that Ugandan MP David Bahati, who was slated to come to Washington, D.C. to attend next week’s conference of the International Consortium of Governmental Financial Management, will not be permitted entry into the conference....
....

Warren Throckmorton confirms that Bahati, author of Uganda’s proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill, still thinks he’s going to the conference, but Hadden told Throckmorton via email that “the ICGFM Executive Committee has agreed that his attendance is not consistent with the mission of the organization.”

Sadly, what I said in the past appears to be true. The secular organizations will pressure the leadership in Uganda to remove the pending anti-gay legislation from the agenda, more-so than the religious organizations, which serves to highlight the courage of Ugandan religious leaders like Anglican Bishop Christopher, who, in his retirement, chose to take up the cause of and minister to gay and lesbian persons in the country where "homosexuality is illegal and where gays and lesbians are routinely tormented and harassed". Bishop Christopher stands in opposition to the legislation, unlike certain of his brother Anglican bishops in Uganda.

RAPTURE AND END OF THE WORLD COMING SOON

From WKRN.com:

The estimated 40 billboards were put up by Family Radio, a national Christian radio group.

A spokesperson for the radio station said they are very confident that their prediction is right.

"This date was developed from only Bible scriptures from the King James Bible and a lot of it are parts that people tend to overlook," Allison Warden told News 2.

From the website of Family Radio who sponsor the billboards:

This web site serves as an introduction and portal to four faithful ministries which are teaching that WE CAN KNOW from the Bible alone that the date of the rapture of believers will take place on May 21, 2011 and that God will destroy this world on October 21, 2011.

What about the children? Do these groups truly frighten their children this way. And that's not to speak of other people's children! And gullible adults!

Well, my readers, you can't say I didn't warn you - you know - just in case....

PS: Be careful when you drive on May 21, 2011. Perhaps those who are confident that they will be raptured will be thoughtful enough of the rest of us to stay off the roads. I hope so.

Thanks to Ann V. for directing me to the story.

UPDATE: Go to Ship of Fools. Jesus is furious about the leak. Read it all. There will be consequences.

Thanks to Ann for the link.

SECOND SUNDAY IN ADVENT

A Song of the Wilderness

The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad,
the desert shall rejoice and blossom;
It shall blossom abundantly,
and rejoice with joy and singing.
They shall see the glory of the Lord,
the majesty of our God.
Strengthen the weary hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to the anxious, "Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God, coming with judgment to save you."
Then shall the eyes of the blind be opened,
and the ears of the deaf be unstopped.
Then shall the lame leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy.
For waters shall break forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert;
The burning sand shall become a pool
and the thirsty ground, springs of water.
The ransomed of God shall return with singing,
with everlasting joy upon their heads.
Joy and gladness shall be theirs,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

(Isaiah 35:1-7, 10)

Collect: Second Sunday of Advent

Merciful God, who sent your messengers the prophets to preach repentance and prepare the way for our salvation: Give us grace to heed their warnings and forsake our sins, that we may greet with joy the coming of Jesus Christ our Redeemer; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Image from Wikipedia.