STRAIGHT NO CHASER - "THE CHRISTMAS CAN-CAN"

Thanks to Doug.

VIRGINIA JUDGE RULES MANDATE IN HEALTH CARE LAW UNCONSTITUTIONAL

From TPM:

A federal judge in Virginia ruled Monday that the individual mandate contained in the health care law passed by Congress and signed by President Barack Obama this year is unconstitutional.

Judge Henry E. Hudson found in favor of Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, who brought this suit separately from the other state attorney generals suing the federal government over the law. Hudson was the first judge to rule against the law. Two other judges ruled in favor of the law, bringing the Obama administration's record thus far to 2-1. At least 13 other suits against the health care law have been dismissed on jurisdiction or standing issues.

And there's this, also from TPM:

Federal judge Henry E. Hudson's ownership of a stake worth between $15,000 and $50,000 in a GOP political consulting firm that worked against health care reform -- the very law against which he ruled today -- raises some ethics questions for some of the nation's top judicial ethics experts. It isn't that Hudson's decision would have necessarily been influenced by his ownership in the company, given his established track record as a judicial conservative. But his ownership stake does create, at the very least, a perception problem for Hudson that could affect the case.

"Is Judge Hudson's status as a shareholder coincidence or causation? Probably the former, but the optics aren't good," James J. Sample, an associate professor at Hofstra Law School, told TPM. "Federal judges are required by statute to disqualify themselves from hearing a case whenever their impartiality might reasonably be questioned. It's a hyper-protective rule and for good reason. At the very least, his continued financial interest in Campaign Solutions undermines the perceived legitimacy of his decision."

Well, it seems to me that the judge should have recused himself, but what do I know?

The health care bill was such a patchwork job that individual sections will probably be challenged in the courts forever. It's a mess, and perhaps no health care bill would have been better than the bill that passed.

UPDATE: Hang on. There's a flaw in Judge Hudson's argument. From TPM again:

Legal experts are attacking Judge Henry Hudson's decision on the merits, citing an elementary logical flaw at the heart of his opinion. And that has conservative scholars -- even ones sympathetic to the idea that the mandate is unconstitutional -- prepared to see Hudson's decision thrown out.
....

Kerr and others note that Hudson's argument against Congress' power to require people to purchase health insurance rests on a tautology.
....

As a result of this error, Hudson never engages the key question in the case: whether the individual mandate is a reasonable way for Congress to implement regulations within its purview.

UPDATE ON AILEEN

Brothers and sisters in Christ---First, let me thank you all for sending up prayers for Aileen during this long struggle. She has been up and down over the past several days. She has had continued bleeding in the brain, new bleeds in bowels and stomach. Mike wrote that she "crashed" twice on Saturday, but was brought back to us. A former doctor visited her and made suggestions which were agreed on. This was followed by her temperature going below 100 degrees for the first time since Thanksgiving. Praise God! I do not know yet about extended plans. However, a permanent tracheostomy tube was to be put in place today. Following is the Facebook message from her loving husband, Mike. Please continue to lift this young mother to the Lord for healing. Blessings to you all during this precious season of expectant waiting.---Sally Boyd


Aileen had an uneventful night last night and her day has been much the same. Her dialysis went well today. Her vitals and blood chemical numbers are pretty stable and show some good progress. Her color is good and she has at times had her eyes open a good bit. Thank God for good days!!!---Mike

Sally Boyd is the priest who is ministering to Aileen and Mike.

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.

Sanctify, O Lord, those whom you have called to the study and practice of the arts of healing, and to the prevention of disease and pain. Strengthen them by your life-giving Spirit, that by their ministries the health of Aileen may be promoted and your creation glorified; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer)

O God, give to Mike and all who watch and wait with Aileen strength and courage during this difficult time. Surround them with your presence in the power of your Holy Spirit that they may trust in your everlasting love.

We pray for Sally as she stands with Aileen and Mike. Give her gifts of wisdom, knowledge, and understanding as she ministers to Mike and Aileen. Fill her with strength in the power of your Spirit. We pray in the name of your son, Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

From Ann.

WENCHOSTER CALENDAR - DECEMBER 2010

 

I understand. I've never had to participate in five carol services, but I imagine I'd look a bit jaded afterward, too, even more so than the Herberts.

 

Click on the calendar for the enlarged view.

In the past few months, I've slipped up by forgetting to post the Diocese of Wenchoster calendar. My apologies.

Brief commentary on the December calendar:

I want to see a picture of St Kenneth the Good-looking.

I'll pass on incense-testing day. The smoke gets to me.

The pew-leaping should be a sight to behold.

"Presents for Peasants" Gift Day is noblesse oblige at its best.

How would you like to live in Bonk?

Who knew St Ursula was the Queen of Thighs? The Wikipedia article gives no clue, except that the Basilica of St Ursula in Cologne contains lots of bones, and presumably there could be thigh bones in the mix, although they are not mentioned. According to the article, the collection includes the following information:

A surgeon of eminence was once banished from Cologne for opining that, among the collection of bones which are said to pertain to the heads, there were several belonging to full-grown mastiffs.

"Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones...."

WHAT IS ADVENT?

From J. KAMERON CARTER:

What is Advent? What is the hope into which we enter during this season as we move towards Christmas—not Christmas the commercialized phenomenon on the nation’s calendar, but the interruptive event of Emmanuel, God-With-Us?

It is the hope of Christ’s coming, that in him God meets us and that therefore we are not God, not the lords of the earth. It is the hope that in his coming to us, our will to mastery, our will to Lordship, our will even to good intentions, our will to usurp the position that only God can occupy, the position of the Judge and thus our willing to judging is overturned. For the narrative of power, in God’s coming in nakedness and as a helpless and vulnerable child and in strangeness, is what the naked Christ delivers us from. In short, salvation has come.

Amen!

Carter's words followed upon his finding a "wonder passage" in a letter written by Dietrich Bonhoeffer to his cousin in which he describes his conversion. Bonhoeffer's words may be found at the link above.

Carter continues:

Bonhoeffer’s conversion narrative proves to be a Christmas narrative, a narrative that turned him from himself, from power and mastery, from bourgeois comfortability, and toward the weak and vulnerable, the “wretched of the earth” as Franz Fanon put it—toward those who in a world bent on the worship of power and security, wealth and prestige, are the despised and rejected.
....

Christmas, or the coming of God-with-Us as the man Jesus, is liberation—liberation first of all from the will to power and mastery that dogs us all and liberation in the world. God-with-Us means we are free to be for another, for their good, for their flourishing, for their well-being. In this sense, Christmas is liberation, which is love.

To me Carter's words are wonder passages, too.

J. Kameron Carter teaches theology and black church studies at the Divinity School at Duke University.

Thanks again to Ann V.

"OBAMA STUMBLES IN LINCOLN'S FOOTSTEPS"

From Eric Foner at the Guardian:

President Obama's tax deal with congressional Republicans may well turn out to be a defining moment in his presidency. This is less because of its content than what it tells us about Obama himself and his politics.

During the 2008 campaign, many observers compared Obama with Abraham Lincoln. Obama encouraged this, announcing his candidacy in Springfield, Lincoln's home, and taking the oath of office on the bible Lincoln used in 1861. (He trumped his predecessor, however, by having two preachers speak at his inauguration. Lincoln managed to be sworn in twice without hearing from a single minister.)

The comparison of Obama to Lincoln always seemed a stretch to me, except in the sense that Obama set the people of the US free from the Bush maladministration and its dreadful actions and policies. I keep in mind that the American people chose to elect Bush twice as their president. Oh wait! The US Supreme Court gave us the first Bush presidency, but with full knowledge of what kind of president he was, we reelected him.

Obama's rather petulant response to liberal critics of his tax deal, however, reveals a fundamental difference between the two men. Obama accuses liberals of being sanctimonious purists, more interested in staking out a principled position than getting things accomplished. Lincoln, too, faced critics on the left of his own party. Abolitionists, who agitated outside the political system, and Radical Republicans, who represented the abolitionist sensibility in politics, frequently criticised Lincoln for what they saw as his slowness in attacking slavery during the civil war. In 1864, one group of Radicals even sought to replace Lincoln with their own candidate, John C Frémont.

Lincoln, however, was openminded, intellectually curious and willing to listen to critics in his own party – qualities Obama appears to lack. Lincoln met frequently in the White House with abolitionists and Radicals, and befriended Radicals like Charles Sumner and Owen Lovejoy. Obama has surrounded himself with "yes men". Alternative views – on the economy, the nation's wars, etc – fail to penetrate his inner sanctum. Lincoln saw himself as part of a broad antislavery movement of which the Radicals were also a part. Obama has no personal or political connection to the labour movement, or even, although it seems counterintuitive, the civil rights movement – the seedbeds of modern Democratic party liberalism.

Foner is right. Obama surrounded himself with the like-minded when he appointed his advisors and Cabinet members. And then when certain of the people who elected him and Democratic members of Congress dared to criticize his policies, Obama resorted to name-calling - surely a low point in his presidency, following his previous low point of giving in to Republicans on the tax deal. Obama may believe that he has the votes of Democrats in his pocket, no matter what he does or says, but he should remember that although Democrats probably won't vote Republican, they may stay away from the polls on election day or vote for a third party candidate. We may be on the cusp of the fracture of the two-party system here in the US. Most certainly, neither party represents my views.

PLEASE PRAY...

...for Cathy, who has a job interview tomorrow at 11:00 AM English (GMT) time.

And pray for my a member of my family and my friends who are searching for jobs:

My daughter, Alison
Adrian
David & friends
JCF
JimB
Jonathan (MadPriest)
Padre Mickey
Penny

And for all who are unemployed or underemployed:

Heavenly Father, we remember before you those who suffer want and anxiety from lack of work. Guide the people of this land so to use our public and private wealth that all may find suitable and fulfilling employment, and receive just payment for their labor; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

From Ann in the comments:

Prayers for our son in law - David - who is having a thyroid biopsy and maybe more depending on what they find out. Dec. 20.

STORY OF THE DAY - PRETEND VISITOR

We stood out on the porch before we
went inside & she told me her secret.
Pretend you're just visiting, she said.
That way you'll forget that they're
family.

From StoryPeople.

THIRD SUNDAY IN ADVENT - GAUDETE SUNDAY

Notes from Ann Fontaine's sermon for III Advent at What the Tide Brings In:

John the Baptist is in jail – and soon to lose his head, it is the low point in his life. Since he first leaped in the womb of his mother Elizabeth at the approach of Mary pregnant with Jesus- the gospels tells us that he has spent his life pointing to the one who was to come. From the high point of the baptism in the river Jordan when it all seemed to be coming true to now—seems like one of the saddest moments in our readings. He had been so sure – now – he sits in prison and wonders.

How many times in your life have you devoted yourself entirely to something or someone only to be disappointed in the outcome? Perhaps you worked hard in a job and still did not get the promotion you dreamed of? Perhaps there was a boyfriend or girlfriend or even your spouse to whom you placed your hopes and dreams and yet they left in the end? Or did not live up to your expectations. Perhaps it was a civic project to which you gave your time and energy but it was dashed to pieces in the politics or finances of the time? And then you wonder – like John the Baptist - was it all for nothing? Was it worth all that I gave it – will there be any good result.

Please read the rest of the notes from which Ann will preach tomorrow. She quotes the wonderful words of Roman Catholic Archbishop Óscar Romero, who died a martyr's death by assassination:

It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view.
The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision.
We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.
Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith.
No confession brings perfection.
No pastoral visit brings wholeness.
No program accomplishes the Church’s mission.
No set of goals and objectives includes everything.
This is what we are about.
We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities.
We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that.
This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.
It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.
We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers, not master builders; ministers, not messiahs.
We are prophets of a future not our own.

As I said in a comment over there, "...the words of Oscar Romero are heartening in times of discouragement. I've read them before, but they never get old." I'd add that San Romero's words also address our moments of self-doubt when we wonder whether any of what we do does any good at all.

Although San Romero is not yet included in the canon of saints by the Roman Catholic Church, he has a place in the calendar of the saints of the Episcopal Church and is considered by many to be the patron saint of the Americas and El Salvador.

San Romero, ruega por nosotros.

HE'S ON HIS WAY

From ClickLiverpool:

A Christian churches Christmas ad campaign that shows Jesus as a foetus with a halo in Mary's womb has sparked a controversy.

The sonograph image is part of a Christian campaign to promote the message that the meaning of the Nativity as the birth of Jesus Christ.

Drawn up by charity Churchads.net, the "Ultrasound Jesus" campaign is backed by a number of Christian organisations including the Church of England, the Baptist Union, the United Reformed Church, the Anglican and the Methodist churches.

But the National Secular Society has criticised the ad saying it achieves the opposite and carries an anti-abortion message.

Terry Sanderson, director of the NSS, said: "The image of this poster is very similar to the ones used by the anti-abortion lobby - in fact when I first saw it that's what I thought it was.

"It may not have been the church's intention to give a political message with this campaign but for many people - particularly women who have had abortions it risks evoking painful memories.

"The church have made a mistake and won't attract more people to church over Christmas.

"It's more likely to put them off." (My emphasis)

Well then, Terry Sanderson, you should be cheering the ad, shouldn't you? If the ad will put people off Christmas, then perhaps it may increase the membership in your society, which would be all to the good from your point of view.

Some people will use any excuse to get their knickers in a wad.

Watch the video ad.




Thanks to Ann V. for the link.