EXACTLY

 

THAT'S OUR BOBBY

Funding for the disabled and arts programs fell out of the $25 billion state spending plan Friday with the stroke of Gov. Bobby Jindal’s veto pen.

The governor deleted $4 million aimed at whittling down a waiting list for home-based services for the developmentally disabled. Parents of disabled children pleaded with legislators during the session to shorten the list. Some could wait 10 years before receiving services.
....

After issuing the vetoes, the governor flew to California for Republican National Committee meetings.

Jindal also stripped money for children’s clinics, family violence programs and an organization that helps the disabled become more independent through technological tools.

Do your dirty work and run, Guvna.  You don't want to be in Louisiana, anyway.  The trail of wreckage you leave behind is so ugly that maybe even you don't want to look.  What's next once your term is up?  Since you have your eyes on a prize on the national scene, why not now?  Is there a powerful Republican out there who will make you an offer you can't refuse right at this moment?  Not every governor completes her/his term.  Take Sarah Palin.  I'm sure a good many people in Alaska thought, "Take Sarah Palin.  Please!" 

40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UPSTAIRS LOUNGE FIRE - JUNE 24, 1973

The UpStairs Lounge arson attack occurred in 1973 at a gay bar in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the United States, and resulted in the deaths of 32 people due to direct immolation or inhalation of fumes. It was started with Ronsonol lighter fluid on the steps near the entrance. The most likely suspect was a man who had been thrown out of the bar earlier that day; he was never sentenced.  It was the deadliest arson attack to take place in New Orleans at that time, and one of the deadliest attacks on LGBT people in United States history.

On Sunday, June 24, 1973, the final day of Pride Weekend,^] a group of members of the Metropolitan Community Church, a pro-LGBT Protestant denomination, had held services inside the club located on the second floor of a three-story building at the corner of Chartres and Iberville Streets, after which the club had hosted free beer and dinner for 125 patrons. At the time of the evening fire, some 60 people were listening to pianist David Gary's music and discussing an upcoming MCC fundraiser for the local Crippled Children’s Hospital. The UpStairs Lounge was a temporary home of the MCC, the nation’s first gay church that had been founded in Los Angeles in 1969.

Jesus in Love Blog has a wonderful post on the the musical titled "Upstairs" written and composed by Wayne Self commemorating the tragedy.

Louisiana playwright and composer Wayne Self spent five years weaving together the stories of the UpStairs Lounge fire victims and survivors. The result is a dramatic musical that opens tomorrow (June 20) in New Orleans. He says his work takes the form “of tribute, of memorial, even of hagiography.”

The musical "Upstairs" brings back to life people such as MCC assistant pastor George “Mitch” Mitchell, who managed to escape the fire, but ran back into the burning building to save his boyfriend, Louis Broussard. Both men died in the fire. Their bodies were found clinging to one another in the ashes. In the musical, Mitchell sings a song called “I’ll Always Return”

On Saturday, I plan to attend the memorial mass at St George Episcopal Church in New Orleans, Below is the announcement from the Episcopal Diocese of Louisiana.

St. George's to Offer Memorial Mass to Mark 40th Anniversary of Upstairs Lounge Fire

   

On Saturday, June 22nd, at 2 PM St. George's Episcopal Church of New Orleans will offer a memorial mass marking the 40th anniversary of the tragic fire at the Upstairs Lounge. The fire claimed the lives of 32 people and left devastated those of many more in the New Orleans gay community. The liturgy is offered to the glory of God in loving memory of those who died and also in thanksgiving for Father Bill Richardson's courageous work in according to the dead a proper burial and to the living a pastoral ministry of sympathy and support.

At The Episcopal Café, Deacon Ormonde Plater, a friend of Bill Richardson, on the occasion of his death:

A Saint has died: The Rev. William P. Richardson, 98, rector of St George's, New Orleans, from 1953-1976, died peacefully last night at 10:48 p.m. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. George’s on Monday, Oct. 8, at noon.

Among the gay community in the United States, Bill Richardson is honored as a hero.

The post at the Café includes a letter from Bill Richardson to Integrity about his decision to hold the memorial service at St George.

Next morning a member of the MCC called to ask if they could have a memorial service that evening at St. George's. I agreed, providing they would not make a big splash over it. The Rev. Troy Perry [Founder and Moderator of MCC] flew in that evening and assisted with the service. Some 80-90 persons attended. I warned the TV people not to take pictures, and asked the reporters to play it low-key. They did.

Bishop Iveson B. Noland, who was later killed in a plane crash in New York, phoned me early the next morning. He said, "Bill, this is the Bishop. Have you read the morning paper?" I said, "Yes, Bishop, I have." "Is it true that the service was at St. George's Episcopal Church?" "Yes, Bishop, it was." "Why didn't they have it in their own church?" he asked. I replied, "For the simple reason their own small church holds about 18 persons. Without any publicity we had over 80 present." "What am I to say when people call my office?" I replied, "You can say anything you wish, Bishop, but do you think Jesus would have kept these people out of His church?"

I heard later the Bishop had a hundred calls, and I got hate calls and letters. Only one member of our vestry supported me. Later, I was stopped on the street by many persons thanking me for doing such a Christian thing.

EXODUS INTERNATIONAL TO SHUT DOWN

From the Huffington post:

Exodus International, a large Christian ministry that claimed to offer a "cure" for homosexuality, plans to shut down.

In a press release posted on the ministry's website Wednesday night, the board of directors announced the decision to close after nearly four decades.

“We’re not negating the ways God used Exodus to positively affect thousands of people, but a new generation of Christians is looking for change -- and they want to be heard,” Exodus board member Tony Moore said.

And not a minute too soon.  Good riddance.  The harm caused by organizations of this sort is incalculable.  Guilt, self-hatred, suicide...I could go on.  Saying you're sorry is not enough.

I wonder how much the decision had to do with lack of  funding.

UPDATE: See nakedpastor for the visual.

FROM MY KITCHEN WINDOW

 

What I see from my kitchen window.

What I want to see from my kitchen window.

The palm plant is a giant, which completely hides the view of the beautiful oak tree in my back yard, so it must go.  Grandpère summoned help to cut the palm low or to the ground, as it is now too large for him to handle alone.  I love all my oak trees, four of them, but especially the two in the back yard, which are the oldest.  When we built 30 years ago, we repositioned our house on the lot to save the oak in the picture.

 

The sun was bright the afternoon I took the pictures, so bright that the color of the roses shows only in the shaded part of one picture.  GP dug up the bushes from New Roads, and replanted them here in Thibodaux, where they thrive all on their own, without the TLC that roses usually demand in our humid climate.  I suspect the hardy roses are an older, non-hybrid variety, but I could be wrong.

WITHER GOETH THE ACNA?

Excerpts from Archbishop Robert Duncan's address to the Provincial Council of the ACNA.

The Anglican Church in North America continues to secure its place in global Anglican circles.  The amazing work of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund is a huge part of the story: 134 development projects in 36 nations, alongside of millions of dollars of relief work in global disasters, has shown the Anglican world that we desire to be agents of the transforming love of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth.  In a different way, as a GAFCON/GFCA Province we are full partners with a majority of the world’s Anglicans.  Twice a year I participate in the GAFCON/GFCA Primates Council.  An even larger constellation of Anglican Provinces – the so-called Global South – also always includes our leadership in their global gatherings.  The Church of England continues to follow-through on the General Synod motion of 2010, a follow-through that, I am convinced, will lead to the recognition of our orders within another year or so.  Recently I spent four and a half hours with the Archbishop of Canterbury, at his invitation.  Last week I spent five hours of private time with the Primate of Nigeria, deepening our relationship and commitment to one another.  The role of the Anglican Church in North America in GAFCON 2 in October in Nairobi – some one-hundred-thirty-four of us – will be an immensely significant one.  The Anglican Church in North America is a significant player on the Global Anglican stage.  (My emphasis)

Regarding Duncan's confidence that the Church of England will recognize ACNA's orders within a year or so, who am I to say it won't happen?  At first, I thought the juxtaposition of Duncan's mention of the two meetings - four and a half hours with the Archbishop of Canterbury and five hours with the Primate of Nigeria - was a bit strange, but perhaps not. 

Lionel Deimel, to whom I am indebted for the link to Robert Duncan's address, has further interesting commentary about the content of the speech, especially with regard to the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh and the ACNA's choice of Nashotah House for their meeting.  

MEDICAL ALPHABET

 

About right.

STATEMENT OF CLARIFICATION

Just because I do not view Edward Snowden as a hero, and just because I was not surprised by the information revealed in the leaks, does not mean that I think the spying and collection of vast amounts of data by our government agencies, especially on its own citizens, is a good thing.

EVELYN UNDERHILL - THE PRACTICAL MYSTIC

The lovely icon of Evelyn Underhill pictured above was written by Tobias Haller.

God is always coming to you in the Sacrament of the Present Moment. Meet and receive Him there with gratitude in that sacrament. 

....

God is acting on your soul all the time, whether you have spiritual sensations or not.

Evelyn Underhill

Evelyn was a wise and practical mystic whose words resonate today, with her emphasis on balance between the heights and the earthy and her reminder to celebrate and give thanks for the miracle of the Incarnation.

IRAN TO SEND TROOPS TO SYRIA TO SUPPORT PRESIDENT ASSAD

Iran will send 4,000 of its troops to Syria to aid president Bashar al-Assad's forces in its fight against rebels, according to the UK's Independent newspaper.

The "military decision" means that Iran is now "fully committed to preserving Assad's regime," wrote journalist Robert Fisk, citing pro-Iranian sources.

As well as sending Revolutionary Guards, Iran has reportedly proposed to open a "Syrian front" against Israel in the Golan Heights.

The decision was reportedly made before Iran's presidential election, and came as the US approved a move to arm the Syrian opposition.

Did anyone in the White House anticipate Iran's "military decision" before the president announced the plan to send light weapons to the rebels in Syria?  Or is the news from Iran another "Who would ever have expected...?" moment?  Why do we continue to meddle in the affairs of countries in the Middle East despite our miserable series of failures?  Many questions...