'A FRIEND IN NEED'

And we call them the lower animals.

Thanks to Ellie at The Anchorhold for calling my attention to the video.

BESSIE SMITH - BACKWATER BLUES

Ormonde Plater at Through the Dust inspired me to search out the video. Here's Bessie Smith, with her amazing voice, in splendid collaboration with James P. Johnson on the piano. What a team! I like the listening guide.

At the moment, the sun is, if not shining, at least showing itself from time to time. The wind has picked up some, but we are not feeling the backwater blues. It appears that the worst of Tropical Storm Lee may be past us, as the radar shows the storm is now mostly to the east of us. Scroll down at the link to see the radar.

However, areas in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish experienced flooding, as did lower Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes, and folks there may be feeling the backwater blues.

UPDATE SEPT. 4: Tropical Storm Lee finally came ashore at Vermilion Bay west of us. It's blowy and rainy here, but nothing serious for us.

Rain and storm surge are causing flooding in other areas of south Louisiana.

UPDATE ON OUR FRIEND DAVID (DAH-VEED)

Brother David said...

Thank you all for the remembering prayers. The procedure came out well. I had a fully occluded artery that was successfully reopened and had four stents inserted. The time for the procedure used the time I could be subjected to the radiation and dye, so I will be doing it again on the 15th for two partially blocked arteries. But now, a day later I am doing and feeling well.

TBTG and knowledgable physicians.

'O Lord, your compassions never fail and your mercies are new every morning: We give you thanks for giving our brother David both relief from pain and hope of health renewed. Continue in him we pray, the good work you have begun; that he, daily increasing in bodily strength, and rejoicing in your goodness, may so order his life and conduct that he may always think and do those things that please you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.'

ANGLICAN DIOCESE OF AUCKLAND, NZ, OPPOSES ANGLICAN COVENANT

Bosco Peters at Liturgy informs us of the good news that the Anglican Diocese of Auckland, New Zealand, passed a motion opposing the Anglican Covenant. Read the text of the motion at Bosco's blog.

TAKING DOWN THE PROFESSOR'S ARGUMENT AGAINST SAME-SEX MARRIAGE

The argument by Prof. John Araujo, SJ, Loyola University School of Law, posted at Mirror of Justice, comes via Rob Tisinai at Box Turtle Bulletin:

Let us assume that two planets which have not yet been inhabited by humans are to be colonized by them; on Planet Alpha, heterosexual couples only are assigned; on Planet Beta, only homosexual couples. In one hundred years, will both islands be populated assuming that reproductive technologies are not available to either group? I suggest that Planet Alpha will be; but Planet Beta will not. Why? The basic answer is to be found in the biological complementarity of the heterosexual couple necessary for procreation that is absent in same-sex couple.

Rob calls the professor's argument 'The Stoner Argument Against Same-Sex Marriage' because it reminds him of stoner conversations back in his college days.

Stoner: Dude, I just blew my mind.

Rob: I’m trying to study.

Stoner: Dude, I figured out why gay marriage is, like, a no-go!

Rob: I don’t have time –

Stoner: DUDE!

Rob: Fine. Tell me.

Stoner: Suppose we dump a bunch of gays on an empty planet.

Rob: Why would we do that?

Stoner: Dude…

Rob: Never mind. Go on.

Stoner: And we dump a bunch of straights on an empty planet.

Rob: Okay.

Stoner: So if we come back to Planet Straight in, like, a hundred years, we’d find a bunch of new people. BUT! If we go back to Planet Gay, there’d be like no people at all.

Rob: Why not?

Stoner: Because – dude! – they’re gay.

Rob: So?

Stoner: They’re gaaay.

Rob: They can still –

Stoner: Gaaaaaaaaaay.

Rob: What’s your point?

Stoner: Um…

Rob: Right.

Stoner: I remember! Don’t let gays marry.

Rob: Why?

Stoner: Dude, one of the planets is empty.

Rob: So your point is…we shouldn’t colonize planets with lesbians and gays?

Stoner: YES! Wait. No. Don’t let gays marry.

Rob: On other planets?

Stoner: No, dude, here, now, today!

Rob: Why not?

Stoner: Because of the planets, dude! The planets!

Rob: I don’t get it.

Stoner: Dude, you need to smoke more weed.

As I read the conversation, I was rolling on the floor, and I can tell you that it's hard to read while rolling on the floor. I hope Rob doesn't mind that I stole his very clever satire in its entirety. I couldn't resist. If he asks me to take it down, I will.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY FROM ATRIOS

Odd how both parties think the path to election is "pissing off liberals."

Maybe they're even right!

Quite odd.

I've been reading Atrios at Eschaton for years and years, although I'm not a member of his tight community of commenters. They all seem to know one another, and I'm not sure they take easily to newcomers. In general, they do not like religion. Can the religious amongst us blame them with the many examples of hateful speech that circulate on the internet in the name of religion?

Hey, guys! We're not all hate-filled.

'WHY I OPPOSE THE ANGLICAN COVENANT' - CANON ALAN PERRY

Canon Alan Perry of the Anglican Church of Canada, who blogs at Insert Catchy Blog Title Here, dissected the Anglican Covenant, part by part, in a good many posts at his blog. At the link above Alan summarizes the reasons why he opposes the covenant. His entire post is excellent, but two statements in his summary jumped out at me.

Most of the member churches of the Anglican Communion seemed to find the first three sections of the covenant acceptable as a document to which they could attach their name, but Alan cautions us to think again. With regard to Section 3:

But, as I have said, “there is one fundamental problem with this whole section of the proposed Covenant, and that is that it seems to assume both that Churches will have a tendency to act in a manner which is irresponsible, or that their mechanisms for discernment and consultation are inadequate. And it seems to assume that relations among the churches of the Anglican Communion will normally be marked by conflict.” In fact, those assumptions underlie the entire proposed Covenant, which says much more about the context of our current conflict than about our aspirations for life as an Anglican Communion. (My emphasis)

That's a pretty sad assumption. What a crooked foundation upon which to build a community based on the New Covenant of Jesus Christ in which we are bid to love God and love our neighbors as ourselves!

Skipping to Alan's commentary on Section 4:

And what to say of the dispute-settling mechanism? It provides for a process by which “controversial actions” can be assessed and, if such actions are determined to be “incompatible with the Covenant,” impose “relational consequences” on a Church that refuses to withdraw the offending action. But this process has more holes than Swiss cheese. For starters, there is no definition of what might constitute a “controversial action.” You might imagine that it would be something that is contrary to the standards of faith, but since, as mentioned above, these standards are not clearly defined, we're really no further ahead. Nor are “relational consequences” clearly defined. So we don't really know what the rules are or what the punishment is for violating them. (My emphasis)

So. We are to sign on to play the Anglican Covenant game despite uncertainty about what will be required of us after we sign and what consequences will follow if we break the rules of the game, even though we don't know the rules. The words in bold actually made me burst out laughing, but it's not funny, because the people in high places who ask us to agree to such an absurd document are quite serious.

Alan has a Master's Degree in Canon Law from Cardiff University, but he wishes his words on the covenant to stand or fall on their own without reference to his credentialed expertise. Oh that Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams would take a lesson from Alan! For his part, he seems determined to ram the adoption of the covenant through the Church of England General Synod, not on the basis of the soundness of the document itself, but on the basis of personal loyalty to him in his position as Archbishop of Canterbury. It's a shameful exercise to witness.

Read Alan's entire summary.

The complete text of the Anglican Covenant may be found here.

A GOOD RECIPE FROM GRACIE

Thanks to Doug.

HURRICANE/TROPICAL STORM IRENE RELIEF

From Episcopal News Service come reports of damage in the Eastern United States from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene.

Katie Mears, Episcopal Relief & Development manager for its U.S. disaster program, said Aug. 29 that the amount of damage from Irene "seems to vary widely from place to place."

"Some people were able to stay in their homes and are now just waiting for the power to come back on; others were evacuated and are returning to try and salvage what they can from their flood-soaked homes and businesses," she said in a press release.

"We are still in the very early stages of assessment and planning in partnership with local dioceses," said Mears. "I have been in contact with a number of the diocesan disaster coordinators from impacted areas, and they will be working with diocesan leadership to see what needs to be done and how churches can help."

Here's the link to Episcopal Relief & Development, to donate to help with hurricane relief.

US Hurricane Relief

Gifts to this fund will enable Episcopal Relief & Development to support the hurricane response efforts of dioceses in the United States. In the wake of these events, we partner with local dioceses and churches to provide essential supplies such as food, water and medical care to those in need. Donations to the US Hurricane Relief Fund at this time will assist dioceses impacted by Hurricane Irene.

TOP-PAID CEOs TAKE HOME MORE THAN THEIR COMPANIES PAY IN TAXES

From The Nation:

Of last year’s 100 highest-paid US CEOs, twenty-five took home more in compensation than their company paid in 2010 federal income taxes. As a new report by the Institute for Policy Studies reveals, these twenty-five CEOs averaged $16.7 million, well above last year’s $10.8 million average for S&P 500 CEOs.

Even more stunning is the fact that most of the companies they ran actually came out ahead at tax time, collecting tax refunds from the IRS that averaged $304 million, instead of contributing their tax dollars to the common coffers.

Institute for Policy Studies

In the slides that follow, the Institute for Policy Studies’s Sarah Anderson uncovers ten companies that paid their CEOs more last year than they paid in corporate income taxes.

Watch the slide show of the Hall of Shame companies and CEOs, and read the article at the Institute for Policy Studies. This information needs to be widely distributed. Greed, greed, greed! And Republicans insist upon even lower takes for the rich and for corporations to allow them to keep even more of their compensation and profits at the expense of the rest of us in the country.

Thanks to Lapin for the link.