"APOTHEOSIS" - IN MEMORIAM"

"Apotheosis" - Tobias Haller

Hear our prayers this day as we remember those of many nations and differing faiths whose lives were cut short by the fierce flames of anger and hatred. Hasten the time when the menace of war shall be removed. Cleanse both us and those perceived to be our enemies of all hatred and distrust. Pour out the spirit of peace on all the rulers of our world that we may be brought through strife to the lasting peace.

Thanks to Tobias Haller on Facebook for the picture.

Thanks to James on Facebook for the prayer, who says of the prayer, "I adapted this from the 'official prayer' for the memorial of this day by the Episcopal Diocese of New York.  I stripped it so it is religious-specific free."

SEEING "THE BUTLER"

A couple of weeks ago, Grandpère and I went to the theater to see "The Butler".  People were talking about the film here because scenes from the movie were filmed in this area, in Houma, Louisiana, and at Laurel Valley plantation outside Thibodaux.  The movie makers built a false front to a building in downtown Houma and blew it up.  The early scenes from Cecil Gaines' childhood in the film were set in Macon, Georgia, but Louisiana is close enough, right?

Forest Whitaker's portrayal of Cecil Gaines is excellent.  Gaines erved as a butler in the White House beginning in the presidency of Dwight Eisenhower into the presidency of Ronald Reagan.  Cuba Gooding, as head butler, does a fine job of acting, as does Oprah Winfrey, as Gaines' wife Gloria, somewhat to my surprise.

If you heard or read of the outrage of Reagan admirers at the casting of Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan, which I found quite amusing (After all, Fonda is an actor and was playing a role, and why not the role of Nancy?), you can think of it as a good joke on the part of the filmmakers or as brilliant casting.  Whatever their intention, the result was brilliant.  Fonda was Nancy Reagan, or so close as to be surpassed only by the reincarnation of Nancy Reagan.

Real footage from the civil rights struggle was painful to watch and brought back terrible memories of the horror of the times.  I sat in my seat cringing and squirming, wanting the scenes to be over.  Gaines son Louis (David Oyelowo) becomes active in the struggle, which causes a breach between him and his father, who disapproves of his activism and prefers to work quietly to achieve equality in wages for the African-Americans on the White House staff, who earn less than the white employees.  As Gaines goes about his work, he hears discussions about the demands of African-Americans and the "problem" of the fight for civil rights, but, of course, he cannot react in any way.

While there was much that was good about the movie, Tom and I both came away feeling a bit unsettled and questioning.  The movie seemed to lack a point of view.  Who was the hero?  Was it Cecil, who did his job, serving faithfully in the White House and caring for his wife and children?  Or was it Louis, who was active in the fight for civil rights?  Both?  Were we meant to be left to decide for ourselves? Anyway, we walked away shaking our heads.

There you have it.  I hope I've succeeded in writing my impressions of the movie without spoiling the film for those who have not seen it.

THE WHITE HOUSE'S POLITICAL RESOLUTION IS TO SEND EXPLODING MISSILES TO SYRIA

Yesterday, White House chief-of-staff Denis McDonough made the case for launching missile attacks on Syria on David Gregory's "Press the Meat" show.

But ultimately, the resolution of this, David, there's not a military resolution to this. There is a political resolution.

And the political resolution is to launch missiles that will explode and kill people? Will the president and his top aides continue to argue the case in the pure logic of doublespeak? The people who believe the president is feinting may have a point. The president and his top aides seem to have stopped trying to persuade or make sense.

H/T to Charles Pierce at "The Politics Blog."

TAKING ACTION IN SYRIA - ANDREW BACEVICH

How I wish for President Obama, Secretaries Kerry and Hagel, and every member of Congress would to watch and listen to Andrew Bacevich's brilliant and articulate commentary on the present decision facing the president and Congress with regard to launching missile attacks in Syria.  How I wish for every citizen in the country to watch.  Even those who disagree with Bacevich, might come away better informed.

ANDREW BACEVICH: Well, I mean, if I could have five minutes of the president's time, I'd say, "Mr. President, the issue really is not Syria. I mean, you're being told that it's Syria. You're being told you have to do something about Syria, that you have to make a decision about Syria. That somehow your credibility is on the line."

But I'd say, "Mr. President, that's not true. The issue really here is whether or not an effort over the course of several decades, dating back to the promulgation of the Carter Doctrine in 1980, an effort that extends over several decades to employ American power, military power, overt, covert military power exercise through proxies, an effort to use military power to somehow stabilize or fix or liberate or transform the greater Middle East hasn't worked.

“And if you think back to 1980, and just sort of tick off the number of military enterprises that we have been engaged in that part of the world, large and small, you know, Beirut, Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, and on and on, and ask yourself, 'What have we got done? What have we achieved? Is the region becoming more stable? Is it becoming more Democratic? Are we enhancing America's standing in the eyes of the people of the Islamic world?'

"The answers are, 'No, no, and no.' So why, Mr. President, do you think that initiating yet another war, 'cause if we bomb Syria, it's a war, why do you think that initiating yet another war in this protracted enterprise is going to produce a different outcome? Wouldn't it be perhaps wise to ask ourselves if this militarized approach to the region maybe is a fool’s errand.

"Maybe it's fundamentally misguided. Maybe the questions are not tactical and operational, but strategic and political."

From the transcript.

SENATOR VITTER TO VOTE AGAINST PROPOSAL TO ATTACK SYRIA

U.S. Sen. David Vitter said today that he will oppose the White House resolution that calls for a military strike against Syria.

Vitter, R-La., participated in a briefing Wednesday for Senate Armed Services Committee members. Attending were Charles Hagel, secretary of defense, and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

“After a lot of careful thought and prayer, I have decided that I will vote no on the Syria war resolution,” he said in a news release today.

Will the Republicans be the ones who save us from war? Vitter will vote against the resolution because he's against anything the president proposes, but I'm not choosy about allies in the effort to stop the madness.

Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) and Rep. Bill Cassidy (R) are still undecided.

My guess is President Obama will order the strikes whether Congress votes in favor of the resolution or not, to what good purpose I cannot see.

STORY OF THE DAY - SECOND THOUGHTS

travelling as fast in one direction as she can go before 
she has second thoughts & goes back to doing the 
same old stuff

From StoryPeople.

"THE CIVIL WARS" ARE OVER

Only several months ago did I discover The Civil Wars on NPR and fall in love with them. After watching and listening to the video, I purchased their first album, "Barton Hollow," which I've listened to again and again. Their chemistry in performing, and the near perfect blend of their voices in harmony give the songs a magical quality that completely won me over. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Folk Album in 2012.

Joy Williams and John Paul White scheduled a tour of Europe, and in the middle of the schedule, they cancelled the rest of their appearances due to "irreconcilable differences." The two had also started production on a second album, which they completed despite their disagreements. Their excellent new album, titled "The Civil Wars", has been released and is now available.

The split greatly disappointed me and thousands of fans. I'm in mourning. Joy and John Paul performed alone for several years before getting together, and both have wonderful voices, but I doubt the magic will translate into their solo performances. I wish them well, but, more than anything, I wish they'd resolve their "irreconcilable differences" and get back together.

Set List:

"Barton Hollow"
"Twenty Years"
"Poison & Wine"

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a resolution Wednesday granting President Obama limited authority to launch a military strike on Syria in response to its reported use of chemical weapons against civilians.
....

The Senate committee’s version, released late Tuesday by a bipartisan group of senators, would permit up to 90 days of military action against the Syrian government and bar the deployment of U.S. combat troops in Syria, while allowing a small rescue mission in the event of an emergency. The White House also would be required within 30 days of enactment of the resolution to send lawmakers a plan for a diplomatic solution to end the violence in Syria.

This is not good.  I fervently hope the resolution does not pass in the full Senate.  How absurd of the committee to require of the president a plan for a diplomatic solution to end a civil war in another country.  They ask the impossible.  Our leaders live in an alternative universe where they believe they can impose their will on the leaders and people in other countries, if not by decree, then by force of arms.  Why not a resolution to require the president join with other countries to pressure Assad for assurance that he will not again use chemical weapons against his own people?

The committee later approved a McCain amendment aimed at strengthening the moderate rebel groups fighting Assad.

This is madness.  According to Juan Cole:

As the regime became ever more brutal, the rebel fighters were increasingly radicalized. Now, among the more important groups is Jabhat al-Nusra or the Succor Front, a radical al-Qaeda affiliate.

Sen. Kerry says infiltration into the rebel groups by al-Qaeda is not true.  Whom do you believe?   Considering the BS I heard in the testimony, I'm inclined to believe Juan Cole.  What if it is true?  Our intelligence agencies have been wrong before.  How then will the US prevent aid (weapons) from getting into the wrong rebel hands in the midst of the chaos of a civil war?  What could possibly go wrong?

Dylan Scott at TPM addresses the meaning of McCain's amendments:

McCain introduced new language that would declare it U.S. policy to “change the momentum on the battlefield in Syria.” It passed through the committee on a voice vote, and the committee later approved the resolution 10-7, with one present vote from Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).

McCain’s addition doesn’t quite say “regime change” — and the White House has said that would not be the purpose of military action — but it sounds a lot like regime change and describes a new government in Syria as the ultimate outcome. And with Congress already appearing uncomfortable voting for war, any language that seems to increase the likelihood of the United States getting entangled in a prolonged intervention is going to be met with skepticism.

Count me in on the thinking that the wording of McCain's amendment "sounds a lot like regime change" and opens the door to many different interpretations which would allow the president to order the military to do whatever he deems necessary if the missile strikes don't accomplish their purpose, which, at best, seems quite unlikely to me.

I listened to as much of the testimony of Secretaries Kerry and Hagel and Gen. Dempsey as I could bear and concluded much of what they said was blatant war propaganda.  The same goes for President Obama's commentary.  No good will come of our military intervention.

Grandpère asked me about the raised hands dyed red.  The protestors were from CODEPINK.

 CODEPINK @codepink

We will not be silenced, and if you attempt to silence us we WILL be seen. Our hands are raised for peace! NO to war on #Syria!

Before I knew the answer, I said, "We will have blood on our hands if we launch missile attacks on Syria."  And we will.  No mistake about that. 

KING SOLOMON, IDOLATRY, AND ME

Franz Francken II, 1622: The Idolatry of Solomon (Getty Museum)

From today's reading in The Daily Office:

King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the Israelites, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you; for they will surely incline your heart to follow their gods”; Solomon clung to these in love. Among his wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart. (1Kings 11:1-3)

How many times in a day did King Solomon have sex?  Even if the answer is several times, it would have been ages between engagements with some of the wives and concubines.   What is the point in having such a large number of wives and concubines?  No point, of course.

The passage is good lesson against reading the Bible literally.  The narrative of the many wives and concubines refers to Solomon's great wealth - he could have whatever he wanted - and indicates the enormity of his disobedience to God's command to refrain from associating with idolators, lest one follow their example and fall into worship of false gods.  As the passage reads, Solomon inclined his heart to the worship of idols.

The passage reminded me to reflect once again on the always pertinent question, "What are my idols?"

And now back to The Daily Office.

THE ANGLICAN ROSARY

From Wikipedia:

Anglican prayer beads, also known as the Anglican rosary or Christian prayer beads, are a loop of strung beads which Anglicans, as well as Christians of other denominations, use to order their prayer. This particular way of using prayer beads was developed in the mid-1980s by Episcopalians in the United States participating in a study group dealing with methods of prayer. The beads have since been adopted or adapted by Lutherans, Methodists, and other Protestant groups, thus giving rise to the term "Christian prayer beads".

Many different short prayers may be used to pray the Anglican rosary. Below is one example of a set of prayers suitable for the evening.

 An Evening Prayer

The Cross

O God make speed to save us. O Lord make haste to help us.

The Invitatory Bead 

As our evening prayer rises before you, O God, so may your mercy come down upon us to cleanse our hearts and set us free to sing your praise, now and forever. Amen.

The Cruciform Beads

Let my prayer rise before you as incense, the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice.

The Week Beads

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

The Invitatory Bead

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.

The Cross

Let us bless the Lord, thanks be to God. 

The illustration and prayers are from website of The Society of St Francis.