JESUS AND MO - GUESS

 

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From Jesus and Mo.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GRANDPÈRE!

May you have a great day, Tom!

My gift to Tom will be a nice pair of jeans.  When we go out to eat or to a movie, Tom will often ask if he can wear his jeans, and I have to say, "No, not with me."  People wear jeans nearly everywhere, but Tom's jeans are another matter.  They're from Walmart, which would not be so bad, but they usually have holes in them or are stained with black grease or blood from the many small and not-so-small wounds he accumulates from his yard work.  The other day, I persuaded him to go to a store other than Walmart to try on nicer jeans.  It took us a while and many tries before he found a pair that suited him, so now he has one pair that he can wear to a restaurant or a movie and look decent.  Now that I know the style and size, I will buy him another pair for his birthday, and he will have two, which should do nicely for now.

Tom doesn't like to have too much made of his birthday, because it's sort of a sad day for him, since he's one year older, but I see birthdays as a reason for celebrating having made it through another year more or less intact.  Glass half-full or half-empty?   

He's off working at the boat center today.  He was on TV a few nights ago on Channel 8 in New Orleans.  The reporters visited the center and did a fine job with a lovely news piece on the museum during the nightly news.    

FOX 8 WVUE New Orleans News, Weather, Sports New Orleans News, Weather, Sports

NEW BUBBLE SITES AT BAYOU CORNE SINKHOLE

 

BAYOU CORNE — Eleven new bubble sites have been found in inundated swampland west of an 8.5-acre sinkhole in northern Assumption Parish, including a frothing spot dubbed the “mother of all bubble sites,” officials said Tuesday.

The sites are roughly in a row west of an unnamed oilfield access road extending south from La. 70 South through the wooded swamp, a parish map shows.

The sites bring to 34 the number of known bubble sites in the Bayou Corne and Grand Bayou areas in the vicinity of the sinkhole on Texas Brine Co. LLC’s leased property.

My guess is that the people who were ordered to evacuate from their homes last year will very likely never be able to return.  The troubling situation in the area is worsening, and who knows when or where it will end?  I wonder if further numbers of residents of nearby areas may be asked to leave.  Highway 70, a much used road, is near the sinkhole activity.  If the highway is impacted and forced to close, it will greatly inconvenience workers and travelers in the area. 

The "mother of all bubble sites"

If we take stuff out from under the ground beneath us, why are we surprised when the ground beneath us collapses?  When will we ever learn?

LUTHERAN ORDINARIATE? THANKS, BUT NO THANKS

Two leading Lutheran clerics have rejected suggestions from the Vatican that it could create a subdivision for converted Lutherans similar to its structures for Anglicans who join the Roman Catholic Church.
....

Bishop Friedrich Weber, the German Lutheran liaison with the Catholic Church, said the idea was unthinkable and amounted to "an unecumenical incitement to switch sides."
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Archbishop Gerhard Mueller, head of the Vatican's powerful doctrinal office, was reported in Catholic media last week as saying Rome might envisage a special section for Lutherans.

[The Rev Martin] Junge said very few Lutherans wanted to switch to the Catholic Church and creating a special subgroup for them would complicate ties between the churches and confuse Lutherans who wanted to work in harmony with Catholics.

I can only conclude that the arrogance of the authorities in the Roman Catholic Church is without bounds.  Lutheran leaders told Rome what to do with their my-way-or-the-highway offer for Lutherans to have their own separate pen similar to those of the converts to the Anglican Ordinariates.  Lutheran Bishop Weber suggested that those members who want to be in full communion with Rome should simply join the Roman Catholic Church, which I think is very sensible.  The "Anglicans" in the ordinariates are, in fact, Roman Catholic converts.

Thanks to Ann V for the link.  

BO - THE FIRST DOG

President Obama and Bo - BFF

"How could you?"

I love Bo's white boots.

Photos by Pete Souza and Sonya N. Hebert / The White House

MICHELLE OBAMA'S VIRAL EYE-ROLL

Was it something John Boehner said? :-D

Geaux, Michelle!

H/T to Addicting Info.  Thanks to Doug for sending the link.

KRUGMAN ON DEFICIT SCOLDS

The reality, first, is that the deficit scolds — who are, after all, making a living by scolding — depend on constant warnings of imminent fiscal crisis to drum up interest. Saying that it’s a longer-term issue, and not our first priority right now, is not something they can afford to hear.

Ain't that the truth?  Read Krugman's post.

NO BETTER CHOICE THAN PAUL

• Paul Ambos, Esq named acting Chancellor

Dear Friends in Christ, It is an honor to announce that, with the concurrence ofthe Standing Committee, I have appointed Paul Ambos, Esq., to theposition of Acting Chancellor of the Diocese of New Jersey.

That the position title includes the adjective “acting” is a reminder that this appointment is effective for the remainder of my tenure as Bishop Diocesan; that is, through November 2, 2013. It will be up to the Twelfth Bishop of New Jersey to determine – again, with the concurrence of the Standing Committee – who he or she will appoint to serve the Diocese in this ministry.
Paul Ambos is well known and widely respected in our diocese. For many years he has been active and effective in advancing the mission of our Church through his parish, this diocese and the wider Church. He has a keen intelligence, a faith-filled heart, a firm foundation in the Gospel of our Lord and an inexhaustible energy for our mission. Those who have attended our Convention in the past ten years and more are aware of the tremendous volume of work that Paul has contributed to the Convention through the Standing Committee on Constitution and Canons and the Committee on Resolutions. In addition, he presently serves as Senior Warden of Christ Church, New Brunswick and sings in their choir. His devotion to our Church is lived out in activities too numerous to mention. His service and sacrifice are exemplary.

I have had the privilege of working closely with Paul Ambos throughout my years as your Bishop. I have often drawn upon his wisdom, grace and good counsel. I have a very high regard for his love of our Lord and his loyalty to our Church. He is well-versed in the laws, statutes and canons that govern our lives and the life of our Church. I believe that he will be a wise counselor and strong advocate for the Diocese and for its Bishop. In the aftermath of the sudden death of our beloved brother, Canon Chancellor John Wood Goldsack, I believe that Paul is well qualified for the role of Chancellor and I have confidence in him.

This is an extraordinary season in the life of our Diocese. I am grateful for Paul and for all those leaders who are working so hard to help with an orderly transition to the next chapter of our ongoing mission in the name of Christ our Lord. Thank you. Thank God for you.

May the Lord who has given us the will to do these things, give us the grace and power to accomplish them, with joy. Right onward!

Faithfully yours in Christ,
 
+George
 
To think I knew Paul when he was only a member of a Standing Committee of the national church, Senior Warden of his parish, and member of the choir in his parish church, and look at him now, Acting Chancellor of the Diocese of New Jersey.  My question:  Do I have to call him "Sir"?

Seriously, I could not think of a better man.  Paul is a mensch. 
  
Blessings and congratulations on your appointment, my friend.  Amen to Bishop George's prayer.

UPDATE: Post corrected to show that Paul was not a member of the Standing Committee of the Episcopal Church, however he was was an early friend of Fr Jake, Worldstopper, which is where Paul and I "met".  Then, we met face to face in New York, at GC2009 in Anaheim, and again in New Jersey.  Paul and his wife Catherine are two of the finest people I know.    

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WE THE PEOPLE

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths –- that all of us are created equal –- is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law –- for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity — until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia, to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for and cherished and always safe from harm.

(Barack Obama - Second Inaugural Address - January 21, 2013)

IS THE WILL STILL ALIVE?

Icon by Tobias Haller

"In a few weeks some of us are coming to Washington to see if the will is still alive or if it is alive in this nation. We are coming to Washington in a Poor People’s Campaign. Yes, we are going to bring the tired, the poor, the huddled masses. We are going to bring those who have known long years of hurt and neglect. We are going to bring those who have come to feel that life is a long and desolate corridor with no exit signs. We are going to bring children and adults and old people, people who have never seen a doctor or a dentist in their lives.

We are not coming to engage in any histrionic gesture. We are not coming to tear up Washington. We are coming to demand that the government address itself to the problem of poverty. We read one day, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." But if a man doesn’t have a job or an income, he has neither life nor liberty nor the possibility for the pursuit of happiness. He merely exists.

We are coming to ask America to be true to the huge promissory note that it signed years ago. And we are coming to engage in dramatic nonviolent action, to call attention to the gulf between promise and fulfillment; to make the invisible visible.

(Sermon by Martin Luther King, Jr at the National Cathedral, Washington, DC, on 31 March 1968.  The Rev King was shot on April 4, 1968.)

Tobias Haller blogs at In a Godward Direction.