AN EVENING WITH CABLE NEWS

In the evening, you generally will not find me watching the cable news shows, but tonight I decided to tune in. On Lawrence O'Donnell's show, I heard Ann Coulter compare Mitt Romney to a Ken doll. I made the same comparison a few weeks ago. To discover that my mind runs on the same track as Coulter was sobering, indeed.

Then I saw a clip of the old interview with Mitt, in which Chris Wallace questioned him about riding his dog Seamus on the roof of his station wagon, 'What were you thinking?' Romney said that the kennel in which his Irish setter rode was air tight, and the dog loved riding in it and jumped right up and into the kennel when they were ready to roll. The dog was so happy that he pooped, and the poop ran right down the back window of the vehicle. Presumably, the kennel allowed Seamus to breathe, because the poor setter survived the trip.

I think I'll go back to not watching cable news.

UPDATE: Ann V sent me the link to the Dogs Against Romney website. In their store, the group sells clever t-shirts, bumper stickers, and more. A selection from the bumper stickers say:

Mitt is Mean
Crate-Gate
Get "Ruff" with Romney

Click on the shirt for the larger view.

I fear Romney will lose the dog vote, along with the dog lovers vote.

And one more thing: 'The Saturday Night Live' video.

ASBO JESUS - COPE

Click on the cartoon for the larger view.

Oh yes! I can relate.

From ASBO Jesus.

HAPPY ST VALENTINE'S DAY!

What? No hearts and flowers?

Grandpère and I decided to give each other Maine lobster dinners to celebrate St Valentine's Day. Bubba's II Restaurant, which is quite near our house, imports live Maine lobsters every couple of months. Yummy!

GOOD NEWS - A SPANKING NEW ST LAIKA WEBSITE

Jonathan Hagger aka MadPriest says:

Yes! Good news, everybody.

To help in my promotion of "New Words For Holy Communion," my podcasts and Ellie's "The Anchorhold," I have invested in a real website with a real domain name and everything. Over the last few weeks I have been building it up which explains why things have been a bit quiet around here. I'm sure I will need to tweak it over the coming weeks and months but it's okay for now. It's user friendly, informative and funny (just like it's two hosts).

So, please, please CLICK HERE and check it out. Browse the different pages. Click on the links to make sure they are working. Join in the conversations at The Forum and/or start a new one. Download some stuff and subscribe to "New Words" if you think it would be useful to you.

G'wan click the link. You know you're curious. I mean...what could it hurt?

MadPriest said to promote, and I'm promotin'.

PROTECTING THE 'DELICATE SENSIBILITIES'

Read David@Montreal's post at LGBT Vocations about his conversation with a friend in England. Here's a brief quote:

When V. called she was tears, having read a news story of the on-going antics in the British Synod over the proposed ‘protection’ of the delicate sensitivities of priests and parishes unable to accept the oversight of women bishops in the English Church.

‘Rowan is actually tying the English Church into a legislative straight-jacket to normalize misogyny within the Church.’

Sad but true. Read the rest of David's account of their heart-rending conversation, and pray for our brothers and sisters in the Church of England.

DOWNTON ABBEY - PART 2 EPISODE 6

Spoiler alert!!!

Well now, last night's episode of Downton Abbey was wonderful. I was completely caught up in the lives of the Grantham family and their servants in the expensive soap opera. I'd say the episode was quite satisfying, if the end hadn't left poor Bates in the custody of the police just after marrying Anna, and Matthew poised to make a martyr of himself because Lavinia, his self-sacrificing fiancée, happened upon him dancing with and kissing Lady Mary, and finally with Lavinia dead of a broken heart and the Spanish flu. And the dignified Lord Grantham dallies with Jane, the maid! Shocking, just shocking!

And isn't Bates, sexy, despite the fact that he's a tad overweight (and it's not all muscle!)? And Anna, with her hair down, is lovely. Remember the old movies with plain and prudish women characters who come alive as beauties, simply by letting their hair down? Of course, Anna smolders even with her hair hidden away in her cap.

Dame Maggie Smith, as the Dowager Duchess, speaks a good many brief lines which, if spoken by another actor, might be throwaways, but with Maggie, no lines are throwaways. She commands every scene where she appears. There's none like her. I had the great privilege to see Dame Maggie in Peter Shaffer's Lettece and Lovage in London from the second row. She was magnificent, and I shall never forget her performance.

What a change from last week's episode, which was ruthlessly edited into brief scenes with little context in so choppy a manner that I could barely follow the story. Downton Abbey is soap opera certainly, but, at its best, soap of a very high order.

BRITISH HUMOUR IS DIFFERENT

These are classified ads, which were actually placed in U.K. Newspapers:

FREE YORKSHIRE TERRIER.
8 years old,
Hateful little bastard.
Bites!

FREE PUPPIES
1/2 Cocker Spaniel, 1/2 sneaky neighbour's dog.

FREE PUPPIES.
Mother is a Kennel Club registered German Shepherd.
Father is a Super Dog, able to leap tall fences in a single bound.

COWS, CALVES: NEVER BRED.
Also 1 gay bull for sale.

JOINING NUDIST COLONY!
Must sell washer and dryer £100.

WEDDING DRESS FOR SALE .
Worn once by mistake.
Call Stephanie.

**** And the WINNER is... ****

FOR SALE BY OWNER.
Complete set of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 45 volumes.
Excellent condition, £200 or best offer. No longer needed, got married, wife knows everything.

STATEMENT OF THE CENTURY

Thought from the Greatest Living Scottish Thinker--Billy Connolly.

"If women are so bloody perfect at multitasking, how come they can't have a headache and sex at the same time?"

Don't blame me. Blame Erika if you wish, but I don't blame her at all, because I laughed.

TWO STORIES OF THE DAY

PESKY GROWTH

I finally got to exactly where I wanted to
be, she said, so why won't all these
growth experiences go away & leave me
alone?

GRIEF

standing alone in her grief for as long as
it takes to remember it is also a thing
that binds us together

From StoryPeople.

ROMAN CATHOLIC BISHOPS DON'T LIKE THE PRESIDENT'S TWEAK

The Vatican

From the New York Times:

The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops have rejected a compromise on birth control coverage that President Obama offered on Friday and said they would continue to fight the president’s plan to find a way for employees of Catholic hospitals, universities and service agencies to receive free contraceptive coverage in their health insurance plans, without direct involvement or financing from the institutions.

The Roman Catholic Church will take matters to the courts, and they will call upon Congress for relief from their oppression.

Already three lawsuits have been filed against the birth control mandate, two by religious colleges and one by a Catholic media outlet.

The bishops will also renew their call for lawmakers to pass the “Respect for Rights of Conscience Act,” which would exempt both insurance providers and purchasers — and not just those who are religiously affiliated — from any mandate to cover items of services that is contrary to either’s “religious beliefs or moral convictions.”

Whoa! Internal divisions are developing.

However, the bishops are now facing a potential rift with some of their allies who welcomed the compromise yesterday — including Catholic Charities, the Catholic Health Association, which represents Catholic hospitals across the country and individual Catholic Democrats and liberals who had helped persuade the administration to make the change.

James Salt, executive director of Catholics United, a liberal advocacy group that is organizing support for the Obama administration, said, “The bishops’ blanket opposition appears to serve the interests of a political agenda, not the needs of the American people.”

It's about time!

Is it possible that President Obama will offer further concessions to bullying, celibate, old men, who experience nothing of the costs and difficulties of family life?

FEAST DAY OF FANNY CROSBY

Frances Jane Crosby (March 24 1820 – February 12 1915) usually known as Fanny Crosby, was an American lyricist best known for her Protestant Christian hymns. A lifelong Methodist, she was one of the most prolific hymnists in history, writing over 8,000 despite being blind since infancy. Also known for her preaching and speaking, during her lifetime Fanny Crosby was one of the best known women in the United States.

To this day, the vast majority of American hymnals contain her work [but not the 1982 Episcopal Church Hymnal]. Some of her best known songs include "Blessed Assurance", "Jesus Is Tenderly Calling You Home", "Praise Him, Praise Him", and "To God Be the Glory". Because some publishers were hesitant to have so many hymns by one person in their hymnals, Crosby used nearly 100 different pseudonyms during her career.

From The Lectionary.

Alas, we should have at least a few of Fanny Crosby's many hymns in our hymnal.

PRAYER

O God, the blessed assurance of all who trust in you: We give you thanks for your servant Fanny Crosby, who, though blind from infancy, beheld your glory with great clarity of vision and spent her life giving voice to your people’s heartfelt praise; and we pray that we, inspired by her words and example, may rejoice to sing of your love, praising our Savior all the day long; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God in perfect harmony, now and for ever. Amen

Thanks to James on Facebook for the inspiration to note the feast day.

UPDATE: Paul (A.) reminds me that Fanny's hymns are included in 'Lift Every Voice and Sing II', which has a place in many Episcopal Churches.

Ann Fontaine points us to the post on Fanny Crosby at Speaking to the Soul.