A DAY FOR REJOICING - 'DADT IS DEAD'!

From The Advocate:

The military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, one described in 1993 by President Bill Clinton as “an honorable compromise” that eventually destroyed thousands of careers, ended Tuesday at 12:01 a.m., nine months after Congress repealed the law.

Though September 20, 2011 may be remembered as much as a nonevent for the nation’s armed forces as it is a landmark day for equality, an official military memorandum on the end of DADT distributed Monday is striking nonetheless:

“From this day forward, gay and lesbian Soldiers may serve in our Army with the dignity and respect they deserve,” Secretary of the Army John M. McHugh and Army officials wrote (see a PDF of the letter here). “For over 236 years, the U.S. Army has been an extraordinary force for good in the world. Our Soldiers are the most agile, adaptable and capable warriors in history — and we are ready for this change.”

The announcement is long overdue but welcome nevertheless. Lest we diss President Obama and the Democrats in Congress unduly, this announcement would not have come under the presidency of John McCain.

According to ABCNews, when the repeal of DADT passed in the US Senate in December of 2010, McCain made the following statement:

“I hope that when we pass this legislation that we will understand that we are doing great damage,” he said.

“Today is a very sad day,” McCain sighed later.

No, Sen. McCain, you are wrong; today is a day for rejoicing. Gays and lesbians have long served bravely and honorably, and you well know the truth, but now they can be honest and forthright without fear of being thrown out of the military.

And, President Clinton, it was never 'an honorable compromise.' How could the policy that 'destroyed thousands of careers' of faithful service members ever be called honorable?

A TRUE FISHERMAN

Letter to the Men's Helpline:

Hi Andy, I really need your advice on a serious problem: I have suspected for some time now that my wife has been cheating on me. The usual signs: if the phone rings and I answer, the caller hangs up; she goes out with the girls a lot. I try to stay awake to look out for her when she comes home but I usually fall asleep.

Anyway last night about midnight I hid in the shed behind the boat. When she came home she got out of someone's car, buttoning her blouse, then she took her panties out of her purse and slipped them on. It was at that moment, crouched behind the boat, that I noticed a hairline crack in the outboard engine mounting bracket. Is that something I can weld or do I need to replace it?

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

AND ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME?

From the AP:

Drawing clear battle lines for next year's elections, a combative President Barack Obama on Monday demanded that the richest Americans pay higher taxes to help cut soaring U.S. deficits by more than $3 trillion. He promised to veto any effort by congressional Republican to cut Medicare benefits for the elderly without raising taxes as well.

"This is not class warfare. It's math," Obama declared, anticipating Republican criticism, which was quick in coming.

Now if only President Obama and the Democrats hold the line on the taxes in the plan. And I want to know more about the details of the cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.

The Republican reaction was swift and bluntly dismissive.

"Veto threats, a massive tax hike, phantom savings and punting on entitlement reform is not a recipe for economic or job growth-or even meaningful deficit reduction," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell. "The good news is that the Joint Committee is taking this issue far more seriously than the White House."

If the Republicans want to call it class warfare to ask the very richest people in the country to pay their fair share in taxes, that's fine with me. Right now the poor and middle income folks are losing the class war, and it's time to fight back against the greedy people and their supporters in Congress. The president's plan won't make it through Congress, but - Damn! - the Democrats will have a decent issue to run on in the coming election.

THE MAN BEHIND THE STORIES AND DRAWINGS

Elizabeth Kaeton, who knows how much I like the stories, wrote to say that yesterday was the birthday of Brian Andreas, who writes and draws the illustratons for the 'Story of the Day', which I copy and post quite often. She sent the link to an interview with Brian which is a delight.

A late Happy Birthday, Brian!

And here's the Story of the Day from StoryPeople.

this is the center of the universe at this
moment unless you're looking in
another direction or are thinking about
something from a long time ago, in
which case it will wait quietly right here
until you return

A BIRTHDAY PRESENT!

Ah, but is it the drink I want?

Alas, no.



If it was a glass of a nice wine, or a glass of Taittainger, or a dram of a good single malt....

YELLOW ROSES FROM LAST WEEKEND

Can you believe the roses are still beautiful from our family celebration last weekend? You'd think I was the Yellow Rose of Texas!

AMIE DECLARES ITS INDEPENDENCE FROM THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

At the website of Anglican Mission in England, Vinay Samuel and Chris Sugden write as follows:

The ordinations of three young Englishmen by the Archbishop of Kenya in June and the launch of the Anglican Mission in England was a "game-changer". It marked a turning point after four and a half years of discussions with and proposals to Lambeth Palace. These discussions were to seek a way of providing effective Episcopal oversight to those for whom this had become problematic in the Church of England.

The launch of AMIE and the establishment of its panel of bishops indicated that we would no longer play the game of Church of England politics as defined by the Church of England Establishment.
....

It has a different view of women in ministry that does not seek to compete as though it is a matter of power and status. It has a different view of marriage and sexuality which is not based on the interchangeability of the genders. AMIE resists the disaggregation of the issues as though they are all separate. It analyses the current malaise as a gradual process of destabilizing biblically faithful Anglican witness and ministry.

The writers use the analogy of the Arab Spring for the launch of their "game-changer" plan. The members of the AMIE group appear to see themselves as akin to the oppressed people in the Middle East.

And all along I thought it was women and LGTB persons who were the oppressed in the Church of England and that Archbishop Rowan Williams leaned over backwards to appease the anti-gay and anti-women folks. How mistaken I was!

H/T to Nicholas Knisely at The Lead, who says:

Much of this is familiar to people who remember the first moves of the AMIA movement here in the US back in 2000 and the subsequent irregular ordinations of Chuck Murphy and John Rodgers to the episcopate. This latest essay makes clear that the new organization in England is also planning to ignore the rules of the Anglican Communion when they get in the way of their goals.

Yes, I believe I've seen this movie already.

HILDEGARD VON BINGEN - 'O VIS AETERNITATIS'

Hildegard von Bingen- 'O Vis Aeternitatis' from Canticles of Ecstasy - Sequentia

O vis Aeternitatis

Power of Eternity
you who ordered all things in your heart,
through your Word all things are created just as you willed,
and your very Word
calls forth flesh
in the shape
which was drawn from Adam.
Power of Eternity
Power of Eternity.

I have the CD. The music is gorgeous.

Translation of the lyrics here.

Padre Mickey has a wonderful sermon for the feast day of Hildegard von Bingen.

YORKSHIRE GOLD - MMM, MMM, GOOD!

This morning, I had my first taste of the Yorkshire Gold loose tea which I recently ordered, and it is excellent. I've had three cups, mugs really, of the tea. Mmm, mmm, good! What a fine way to start the day.

When I visited England three years ago, the staff at Haley's Hotel presented me with a parting gift of chocolates and Yorkshire Gold tea. Now I have what I hope is a reliable vendor at a reasonable price here in the US.

LAZY BLOGGING DAY

 

I'm a lazy blogger today. We went to the Grandparents Day mass and reception at my grandson's school (on the right day!). The food at the reception was delicious. Afterward, we ran several errands, and I'm worn out.

We must decide whether we want to pay to connect our old computer, which is now in good shape, for Tom's exclusive use, or just go with the laptop and the new desktop and share the desktop. The old computer will not work on our wireless account.