STORY OF THE DAY - SIDE EFFECT

I don't really get jet lag, 
she said.    I just see my 
husband's failings more clearly.

Heh heh.  Whenever I'm tired....

From StoryPeople.

POINTING FINGERS

To see how swiftly Republicans have turned on Mitt Romney to blame him for the loss of the election is breathtaking.  Since Romney didn't win, he will be erased from Republican history even more thoroughly than George W Bush, as soon as the GOP is done with the blame game and vilification.  Now they say Romney was a bad candidate, after nominating him, throwing millions his way to get him elected, and remaining in shocked disbelief far too long when the election was called for the president.

All right, I'm not saying Romney was a good candidate, but when you consider the lineup of alternatives, in which only one candidate, Jon Huntsman, appeared to address the issues with a semblance of sanity (he was quickly disposed of), then the nomination of Romney actually makes sense.

Michele Bachmann
Newt Gingrich
Rick Santorum
Rick Perry
Ron Paul
Tim Pawlenty
Herman Cain

Which of the above would have done a better job than Romney?

To the GOP, I say: get off Mitt's case and do an honest self-examination about why you lost the election.  The following email to Talking Points Memo from reader JT might be helpful should you decide to do so.

The Republican Party has a problem, but it is not one candidate; it is not packaging or branding; it is not messaging that is sinking the GOP. It is the core beliefs of the vast majority of Republicans.

Their problem is their war on women; war on gays; war on minorities. It is their war on science and math and logic and education and reality. It is listening to nuckle heads like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Laura Ingraham, Michael Savage, Ann Coulter and Donald Trump. It is allowing entertainers to determine the direction and policy positions of a major political party. It is following the teaching of extremist religions leaders like the US Catholic Bishops.

But most of all, it is the GOP’s utter lack of respect for anyone who is not like them; supporting an idiot obscure congressman who shouts “You lie” at the President of the United States during the State of the Union Address. Not repudiating truly crazy people who cling to the thumbless notion that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. It is supporting an insane governor who waves her finger publicly in the face of the President because he rejects her lunatic positions. When the GOP allows or supports these actions, they are condoning disrespect for the majority of Americans who are not aging white men.

JT sums it up nicely.  A national party cannot dismiss so many citizens of the country (47%) and expect to win.  The leaders of a national party cannot cower in fear and allow the crazy fringes to take over and expect the party to survive.

H/T to Russ Manley for the link to TPM.

FEAST OF CHRIST THE KING

Matthew 21:1-13 (NRSV)

When they had come near Jerusalem and had reached Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village ahead of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her; untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, just say this, ‘The Lord needs them.’ And he will send them immediately.” This took place to fulfill what had been spoken through the prophet, saying,

“Tell the daughter of Zion,
Look, your king is coming to you,
humble, and mounted on a donkey, and on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”

The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them. A very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. The crowds that went ahead of him and that followed were shouting,

“Hosanna to the Son of David!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!
Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

When he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was in turmoil, asking, “Who is this?” The crowds were saying, “This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth in Galilee.”

Then Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who were selling and buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. He said to them,

“It is written,
‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’;
but you are making it a den of robbers.”

Schwarz, Wjatscheslaw Grigorjewitsch  - Palm Sunday in Moscow
Russian State Museum, St Petersburg

What have we in the painting above? (Click on the picture for a larger view.)  A historically accurate reenactment of the Gospel account?  No, of course not.  Why then do we see depictions of Jesus wearing a bejeweled golden crown and expensive fabrics when he would have worn the ordinary clothing of working class males in 1st century Jerusalem, which was an undergarment of coarse cloth and a tunic made of wool?  It's true that Jesus' tunic was seamless, which seems to have been unusual, but that's about as far as his finery can be taken.  The only crown Jesus wore was a crown of thorns.  Even after the Resurrection, when Mary Magdalene first saw Jesus, she thought he was the gardener.    

The rule of God—the kingship of Christ—is not about earthly power or political authority, revenge or judgment; it’s about wholeness, it’s about restoring creation to the fullness of peace and justice, truth and love that God intended. It’s about all lands—ALL people—not just a chosen few. It’s about the primary moral value of prizing the interconnectedness of all humanity—of loving our neighbors as ourselves. The kingship of Jesus is AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN vastly different from a worldly kingship. When we celebrate Christ the King, we’re holding up a king who is, first and foremost, a  reconciler, a redeemer, a servant. This is a king who comes to show us how to live as a people of God in the kingdom of God—a shepherd willing to lay down his life for his sheep. (Susan Russell - Sermon 2004)

 Image from Wikipedia.

THE PRIDE OF TENNESSEE - GOP STYLE

Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), the former physician turned anti-abortion Tennessee Republican congressman, says he hadn’t given abortion as much thought as he “should have” when he supported his first wife’s decisions to have two abortions, and that he often used “very poor judgment” during his first marriage and the separation that followed it.

He now looks back with regret, he says, on the sexual relationships he had with two patients, three co-workers and a drug company representative while he was chief of staff at Grandview Medical Center in Jasper.

DesJarlais won reelection earlier this month, despite the campaign-season revelation that, over a decade ago, he pressured a mistress to have an abortion. In October, he had explained that story by saying he didn’t believe his mistress was really pregnant at the time, and had urged her to get an abortion to call her bluff.

You know, I could have posted a picture of DesJarlais, but I did not want his mug on my blog.  The leopard says he's changed his spots and repented of his wayward ways.  From his website:

Abortion – All life should be cherished and protected. We are pro-life.

Oops!  all those years ago, DesJarlais wasn't thinking...three times.  He will run for reelection in 2014.

BAD DOGS

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to Ann.

OUR MALCOLM IS A CANDIDATE FOR BISHOP

We are pleased to announce that the moderator of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition (and convenor for the Anglican Church of Canada), the Rev. Malcolm French, is a candidate to become the next bishop of the Diocese of Qu’Appelle in the Anglican Church of Canada. The list of candidates is here. Malcolm’s profile is here.

Please pray for the selection process in the Diocese of Qu’Appelle.

Malcolm asks that the members of NACC and everyone pray that God's will be done in the vote on the candidates, and I shall so pray.  But what's the harm in giving God a nudge in Malcolm's direction?  I believe Malcolm would be an excellent choice as bishop.  His contribution to the NACC has been outstanding.  After reading Malcolm's profile, I am even more impressed with the qualities of leadership Malcolm offers to the Diocese of Qu'Appelle.

From a maintenance mentality to a mission mentality:

In the heart of our see city is one of the most deprived neighbourhoods in Canada. There are people in communities throughout the diocese who are learning that “more stuff” does not fill their spiritual need. There’s mission to be done and there are people who need to hear the Good News. But to tell them this Good News, we need to have the courage to leave our buildings and to go where they are.

May I insert a loud "Amen!" here?  I just did.

Christian leadership:

Clearly any discussion of Christian leadership must begin with Jesus, who came not to be served, but to serve. Christian leadership – and, frankly, any kind of effective leadership – is focused not on the leader, but on the led.

A teaching that Christian leaders all too often seem to forget.

I did not intend for my post to include such strong advocacy, but once I read Malcolm's profile, I couldn't help myself.  And that's the way it is, as Walter used to say.

A NEW CLASS OF CLOUDS?

 

An "asperatus" cloud rolls over New Zealand's South Island in an undated picture.

This apparently new class of clouds is still a mystery. But experts suspect asperatus clouds' choppy undersides may be due to strong winds disturbing previously stable layers of warm and cold air.

Asperatus clouds may spur the first new classification in the World Meteorological Organization's International Cloud Atlas since the 1950s, Gavin Pretor-Pinney said.

Yikes!  Those are weird clouds.  I've seen nothing like them.  Before I read of the probable cause of the new clouds, I guessed.

Click the link to see more pictures of asperatus clouds in other areas.

BOSCO 'SPLAINS IT ALL

Presiding Bishop Katharine
carries her mitre

Sometimes those outside see inside more clearly than the insiders.   From Christchurch, NZ, Bosco Peters' writes an excellent post on the defeat of the motion to allow women bishops in the Church of England. 

Obviously my bishop, being a woman, cannot function as a bishop in England. Since this week’s vote in the Church of England’s General Synod, one can no longer make polite English excuses about this being an accident of history. It is now an intentional decision.

I have a … (how can I say this on a family-friendly site?)… ummm…I have a Y chromosome and I was ordained by someone with a Y chromosome, etc. all the way back to the earliest church. I can function as a priest in all of the Church of England. Some, however, who were ordained by someone who has no Y chromosome, even though they themselves have a Y chromosome, will find some places in the CofE where they cannot so function. We are a commnon.

No, the last word in the paragraph is not a misspelling, although Firefox or some other power in charge of internet spelling says otherwise.  Bosco has coined a new word for us which is not yet accepted in the lexicon of the intertubes.  Click one of the links to read how Bosco 'splains it all.

I joke around some here (you laugh, or you cry) , but Bosco shares seriously good thoughts about what is and what is not communion and various other matters. 

GET 'EM WHILE THEY'RE HOT

 

I had to do it.

From someecards.

TELL REPUBLICAN FAMILY MEMBERS AT THANKSGIVING DINNER

 

1. In the past three years, the deficit has fallen faster than in any three-year stretch since World War II.

2. The U.S. recovery has been one of the best in the world.

3. The GOP is the food-stamp party. 

4. Ronald Reagan socialized medicine in the United States.

5. America creates more jobs when a Democrat is in the White House.

See details at The National Memo. 

I realize this post may be too late for Thanksgiving dinner, but you can save the list for Christmas dinner, which is right around the corner.