Light Posting Today

 

This morning we're going to Grandparents' Day in New Orleans, and in the afternoon, I'm due to pick up my grandchildren in Thibodaux after school. In between, Grandpère and I may grab a lunch at Mimi's Restaurant, which is across the street from the school.

Arrivederci!

UPDATE: The picture above shows the mural on the wall of Mimi's Restaurant.

Guys, Get With The President's Program!

It's important. Really, really important. Remember. Obama is popular. Congress is not.

He's Baaack!

See President Obama at his bully pulpit. It's a grand sight. Check it out at C-SPAN.

And now the Blue Dog Democrats are giving him grief! Aaarrrrgh!

Inauguration Day From One Who Was There

A friend of Ann's, who viewed the inauguration day ceremonies from the Washington Monument sent a play-by-play account of getting to their spot on the Mall, watching the events on the Jumbotron, and getting back to where they were staying. It's a wonderful long story, and I've picked out a few quotes to share.

While in line for the john, the Jumbotrons showed footage from the kick-off concert at the Lincoln Memorial. When Bruce Springsteen and Pete Seeger did “This Land is my Land,” I sang along, tears streaming down my face, feeling the fullness of The Movement and its culmination at that moment. Halfway into the song, I realized that I and the guy in front of me – the only other white person in sight at that moment -- were the only ones belting out Woody’s lines. It was a cultural reality check.

I noticed as I watched TV that few of the African-Americans and not all of the young people, no matter the color of their skin, seemed to know the words of "This Land...." Reality check, indeed!

You have all seen footage of the ceremony by now, probably more than I could see at the time. But I can offer one personal anecdote that was not captured on film: in the middle of Obama’s address, a great blue heron flew over the Mall, northeast to southwest. It was way up there, not obvious, but I happened to look up at the right moment and focus on the sky enough to notice that it was not one of the many gulls circling the Mall that day. Its long legs trailed behind, and it flew with that telltale reptilian wingbeat.

Ah lovely. The great blues fly here, and they are a grand sight to see.

When Obama’s address ended, people danced,...jumped, shook their booties, and high-fived. It was an Ode to Joy.

The Exit Strategy from the Mall was another matter. Once we got to the edge of the Mall, there wasn’t any choice about which direction to go. You just had to follow the flow, and the flow became a river of people, moving slowly but forcefully as it was funneled between buildings, barriers, blocked busses, and National Guardsmen. We followed this river for about 2 hours, wanting to go east, but forced north towards Dupont Circle. It sent us through landscaped areas (we bushwhacked through the DAR shrubbery), over low concrete walls. We were cold – everyone was cold. And we had no way of knowing when or where the river would ever fan out and let us free. And yet, everyone – EVERYONE – stayed patient and courteous and amazingly quiet. I have never heard so many people be so hushed, due in part to the cold. I would never have thought it possible for so many people to be so patient and kind while being so crammed and cold for so long. We were living The Dream.

Beautiful! Ann, thanks for sending this.

One phrase in the last quote made me laugh, but I'm not saying which.

"Is $500,000 A Year Enough?"

Juan Cole's voice is much-respected on Middle Eastern affairs, but his words on the salaries of the Wall Street lenders make a lot of sense to me.

Is $500,000 a Year Enough?

A common response from the Right to President Obama's capping of CEO salaries and bonuses at $500,000 a year in companies that take big USG bailout money has been to warn that it will be difficult to attract the best management talent to run those firms.

Uh, wasn't it those geniuses, the 'top management talent' making $20 million a year who ran those companies into the ground in the first place?

Tell you what, just promote a good middle manager who had been making $100,000 a year, and she or he will be very grateful for the job. And before you let them take over, you just give them a three-part test:

1. Fill in the blank:

Buy cheap and sell _________.

2. True or false:

A loan should not be offered to a prospective buyer if the monthly mortgage payments will come to more than 28 percent of the buyer's monthly income.

3. True or false:

A mortgage loan should not be given to a prospective home buyer unless the buyer can put down at least 10% and preferably 20%.

If the incoming CEO can get those three right, the person will be heads and shoulders above the $20-million-a-year screw-ups who destroyed the American economy.

Good-bye, Tom Daschle

Tom Daschle is gone, withdrawn as a nominee for the position Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Good. He waited too long, received too many late expressions of support from the president on down to his former club members in the Senate. In fact, he should never have been selected. I could have told President Obama that.

For me, the worst of it was not so much the $140,000 in taxes that somehow never were paid, although the lowly amongst us are required to pay our taxes in a timely manner. It was the lobbying that really made me queasy. According to the Los Angeles Times:

Though not a registered lobbyist, the South Dakota Democrat over the last two years earned more than $2.1 million as a "special policy advisor" at Alston & Bird, a law firm with more than 50 lobbying clients in the healthcare industry.

According to financial disclosure forms filed with the Office of Government Ethics, Daschle also took in $153,200 in 2008 for giving speeches to healthcare companies and industry groups such as GE Healthcare, a leading manufacturer of medical devices.

That's far too great a conflict of interest to be acceptable. That, along with Daschle's sometimes weak performance as a leader in the Senate, was enough to give me great concern when Obama chose him. I couldn't see Daschle as tough enough to lead the fight to pass a bill providing health care for everyone.

I'm not running with the folks who are in a panic two weeks into the Obama administration, nor am I with those who already call his administration a failure, however it was a stumble by Obama that could easily have been avoided. He said, "I screwed up." All right then, lets move on.

I do wonder why President Obama is not making his case for the stimulus bill with the sort of passion that we saw him make his case for being president. The Republicans are speaking out, and the press covers their opposition quite well. He shouldn't forget that he owns the bully pulpit.

Some Puns!

1. Two vultures board an airplane, each carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at them and says, "I'm sorry, gentlemen, only one carrion allowed per passenger."

2. Two boll weevils grew up in South Carolina. One went to Hollywood and became a famous actor. The other stayed behind in the cotton fields and never amounted to much. The second one, naturally, became known as the lesser of two weevils.

3. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, but when they lit a fire in the craft, it sank, proving once again that you can't have your kayak and heat it, too.

4. A three-legged dog walks into a saloon in the Old West. He slides up to the bar and announces: "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw."

5. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? He wanted to transcend dental medication.

6. A group of chess enthusiasts checked into a hotel and were standing in the lobby discussing their recent tournament victories. After about an hour, the manager came out of the office and asked them to leave. "But why?" they asked, as they moved off. "Because," he said, "I can't stand chess nuts boasting in an open foyer."

7. A woman has twins and gives them up for adoption. One of them goes to a family in Egypt and is named "Ahmal." The other goes to a family in Spain; they name him "Juan." Years later, Juan sends a picture of himself to his birth mother. Upon receiving the picture, she tells her husband that she wishes she also had a picture of Ahmal. Her husband responds, "They're identical twins! If you've seen Juan, you've seen Ahmal."

8. These friars were behind on their belfry payments, so they opened up a small florist shop to raise funds. Since everyone liked to buy flowers from the men of God, a rival florist across town thought the competition was unfair. He asked the good fathers to close down, but they would not. He went back and begged the friars to close. They ignored him. So, the rival florist hired Hugh MacTaggart, the roughest, most vicious thug in town, to "persuade" them to close. Hugh beat up the friars and trashed their store, saying he'd be back if they didn't close up shop. Terrified, they did so, thereby proving that Hugh, and only Hugh, can prevent florist friars.

9. Mahatma Gandhi, as you know, walked barefoot most of the time, which produced an impressive set of calluses on his feet. He also ate very little, which made him rather frail and with his odd diet, he suffered from bad breath. This made him ....what? (Oh, man, this is so bad, it's good) A super callused fragile mystic hexed by halitosis.

10. And finally, there was a woman who sent ten different puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. Unfortunately, no pun in ten did.
* * *

Sent by Susan S.

Now there are excellent puns in the list, for which you can thank me, but there are really bad ones for which you know the drill: Don't blame me....

Back To Bishop Training School, +Clumber?

Is it possible that our good friend Bishop Clumber, the bishop of the One True Diocese of Pittsburgh, may be due for spell in a refresher course in obedience at Bishop Training School? He posted on his blog, Barkings Of An old Dog, an illustrated series called "Ticks on the Body of Christ". Read all about it over there. Start with the original story and then jump to the most recent illustration in the series, and work your way backwards to see the others.

I'm not passing judgment on +Clumber, but only wondering if perhaps he has not given the proper example of discretion that one expects of a bishop. Of course, he would not be the first bishop to be guilty of a minor indiscretion, or even of a major indiscretion.

As you see above, I am one of the "Ticks", but according to the good bishop, it is a great honor to be so designated.

I leave it to you, my readers. Should we applaud +Clumber, or is it back to school for him?

Feast Day Of Anskar, Apostle Of The North

When one of Anskar's followers suggested to him that he could work miracles he replied, " Were I worthy of such a favour from my God, I would ask that He would grant to me this one miracle, that by His grace He would make of me a good man." No one can read the "Life" written by Rimbert his disciple and successor which, after being lost for five hundred years, was fortunately rediscovered, without feeling moved to thank God for the accomplishment of the miracle for which Anskar had prayed. He was a good man in the best and truest sense of the term. In the character presented to us by his biographer we have a singularly attractive combination of transparent humility, unflinching courage, complete self devotion, and unwavering belief in a loving and overruling providence. The claim to the title Apostle of the North, which was early made on his behalf, rests not upon the immediate outcome of his labours, but upon the inspiring example which he bequeathed to those who were moved to follow in his steps. For whilst the Missions which lie planted in Denmark and Sweden during the thirty-three years of his episcopate were interrupted after his death by the desolating raids of the Northmen, those by whom the work was restarted gratefully recognised him as their pioneer.

Anskar was born in 801 and died in 865.

Readings:

Psalm 96:1-7 or 98:1-4
Acts 1:1-9
Mark 6:7-13

PRAYER:

Almighty and everlasting God, who sent your servant Anskar as an apostle to the people of Scandinavia, and enabled him to lay a firm foundation for their conversion, though he did not see the results of his labors: Keep your Church from discouragement in the day of small things, knowing that when you have begun a good work you will bring it to a faithful conclusion; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

A very special Happy St. Anskar Feast Day to Göran Koch-Swahne, our friend from Sweden.

Biographical information from Medieval Sourcebook, from a biography by Rimbert, Anskar's friend and successor.

Image from Satucket.

The Market Creed

I believe in Greed, the Market Almighty,
the creator of Money,
and in the Profiteer,
His only Son our Lord:

Who was conceived of the Capitalist,
born of the free market economy,
suffered under His own pompous piracy,
crucified himself, died and was buried.

We descended into Recession.

The third day he rose again from the dead.

He ascended into profit
and sits at the right hand of Greed the Market Almighty,
whence he shall come to fleece the living and the dead.
I believe in the holy catholic bank, the communion
of bankers, the covering of their sins, the resurrection
of the economy, and riches everlasting.

AMEN.

Thanks to ASBO Jesus for the creed. Thanks also to TheMe for introducing me to ASBO Jesus, ASBO Jesus' creed, and his wonderful cartoons, one of which is shown below.

Un Homme D'un Certain Âge

A guy is 85 years old and loves to fish. He was sitting in his boat the other day when he heard a voice say, "Pick me up."

He looked around and couldn't see any one. He thought he was dreaming when he heard the voice say again,"Pick me up."

He looked in the water and there, floating on the top, was a frog. The man said, "Are you talking to me?"

The frog said, "Yes, I'm talking to you. Pick me up then, kiss me and I'll turn into the most beautiful woman you have ever seen. I'll make sure that all your friends are envious and jealous because I will be your bride!"

The man looked at the frog for a short time, reached over, picked it up carefully, and placed it in his front breast pocket.

Then the frog said, "What, are you nuts? Didn't you hear what I said? I said kiss me and I will be your beautiful bride."

He opened his pocket, looked at the frog and said, "Nah, at my age I'd rather have a talking frog."

With age comes wisdom.

Thanks to Jim from up Nawth - Louisiana, that is.

UPDATE: This joke is especially dedicated to my new Louisiana friend, Crapaud.

What Do Prayers Of Petition Do?

As I walked tonight, my thoughts turned to prayers of petition. What good do they do? Just how does God act in response to prayers of petition? I believe that petitionary prayer is efficacious, but I'm not sure how it works. Goodness knows that I do enough of it, therefore I must believe that what I do has a purpose. I know that in my act of praying for another, I am changed by the prayer, and I believe that the prayers affect the person or persons for whom I pray for good. What I see as the result of my prayers may not always be what I want or what I expect for myself or others, and yet I continue to pray.

Our church has a prayer chain ministry, a list of people to call who are willing to pray and pass the prayer request on whenever someone asks. Sometimes the chain gets a kink or in a knot, and the prayers don't move along the chain in a timely manner, or even at all. At times, the event, such as an operation or a life or death situation, passes before the prayers are prayed. I feel sad and discouraged about the ministry when that happens.

Here on this blog and other blogs, posting prayer requests has become what I view as a prayer ministry. Some come early to the prayers and others later. Yet, as I walked and pondered these things, what I came to see is that none of the prayers are for nothing. I believe God hears and answers all the prayers, even retroactively, so to speak. The very instant a person asks for prayer, God responds. The prayers that come late are part of God's response as much as those that come early - or so it seems to me.

Certain family members are presently experiencing a difficult time of it, and I pray for them and feel great concern for them. As I was praying for them during my walk, my prayers were rather abruptly interrupted by a voice, not an audible voice, but an inner voice that speaks to the heart. The words were from Chapter 14 of John's Gospel, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives." The words came plain and clear. The words of Jesus that follow are quite comforting, "Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid."

The inner voice continued with words from Numbers 6,

"The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace."

What I think of as my solitary walks oftentimes result in amazingly fruitful companionship with God.

Health Care In New Orleans For Those Without Insurance

From the Times-Picayune:

To help people who have lost health insurance, a second-year Tulane University medical student has built an online guide to free and low-cost local clinics.

Richard Brucker created Nola Free Health Care, which is also available on paper at homeless shelters and community centers. The information includes clinic hours, the type of care available and the cost, if any.

What a great thing to do. Richard is an example of a good citizen who sees a need and jumps right in with a solution, instead of waiting for the local officials or some other agency to do the job. Since the homeless and those without health insurance often do not have computers, having the information available on paper handouts is an excellent idea.

The site includes information on pharmacies which sell a list of drugs at low cost and a mobile dental van which serves persons who are HIV positive.

Richard is a mensch.

Mensch - A person having admirable characteristics, such as fortitude and firmness of purpose: "He radiates the kind of fundamental decency that has a name in Yiddish; he's a mensch" James Atlas

From the Free Online Dictionary.

Do I hear an "Amen!"?

Don't Take Your 92 Year Old Dad To The Mall

I took my dad to the mall the other day to buy some new shoes (he is 92).

We decided to grab a bite at the food court. I noticed he was watching a teenager sitting next to him. The teenager had spiked hair in all different colors: green, red, orange, and blue. My dad kept staring at him. The teenager would look and find him staring every time.

When the teenager had had enough, he sarcastically asked, 'What's the matter old man, never done anything wild in your life?'

Knowing my Dad, I quickly swallowed my food so that I would not choke on his response, knowing he would have a good one, and in classic style he did not bat an eye in his response.

'Got drunk once and had sex with a peacock. I was just wondering if you were my son.'

Don't blame me, blame Susan S., who was sent this story by another person. Susan is not related to the character in the story, nor does she vouch for the truth of the story.

Doorman-Priest Made Me Do It

Could you put this appeal out on your blog please.

Could all British regulars of Wounded Bird please contact Doorman-Priest via his blog where his e-mail address is shown. He has a proposition to put to you.

Thanks
Jack

May I say that Jack has been the kindest and most helpful of virtual friends as I planned my trip. I'm greatly looking forward to meeting him and his family. They've taken me under their wings, and I'm not even there yet. I can't thank him and his lovely Rachel enough.

I'm also looking forward with much pleasure to meeting others in the English blogging community while I'm "over there".

Since You're Not Watching The Superbowl...

here's a little Verdi for you.



Thanks to Lapin.

Am I The Only One...

in the whole USA who is not watching the Superbowl? Check in if you are NOT watching the BIG GAME. Grandpère popped in periodically to give me a play-by-play of the pre-game festivities, and he cannot believe that I'm not watching. Millions of people in the country and around the world have eyes glued to their tee vees, so why not me? I can't think why he's surprised, because I don't remember ever watching. I missed the whole Janet Jackson affaire du teton, but I saw the rerun. If the New Orleans Saints ever make it to the Superbowl, I'll watch.

New Orleans, Katrina Was All Your Fault!

From the AP via USA Today:

Pope Benedict XVI's decision to promote a pastor who called Hurricane Katrina divine punishment for sin in New Orleans was criticized by Austrian priests and church groups on Sunday.

The Vatican announced Saturday that the Pope has tapped the Rev. Gerhard Maria Wagner, 54, to be auxiliary bishop in Linz, the capital of Upper Austria province. Wagner caused a stir in 2005 when he was quoted as saying that he was convinced that the death and destruction of Hurricane Katrina earlier that year was "divine retribution" for tolerance of homosexuals and laid-back sexual attitudes in New Orleans.

There you go, people in New Orleans, you brought Katrina and the federal flood on yourselves with your wicked ways. Nightclubs, brothels, and abortion clinics were destroyed. That proves beyond a doubt the truth of Fr.Wagner's statements, right? Too bad about all the good folks who died, lost their families, their homes, their livelihoods, and their businesses, but retribution is retribution, and sometimes the good must suffer with the bad.

Upper Austrian priest and church dean Franz Wild said he was "appalled" by the decision and that he found it astonishing that someone with such extreme positions could be appointed to a post that was meant to unify.

"I hope it's clear to the church that we're living in the 21st century and that it also has to live there," the newspaper quoted Wild as saying on its website.
....

"The conditions of immorality in this city are indescribable," Wagner was quoted as saying.

I wonder what kind of pure land Fr. Wagner inhabits. If he put his mind to it, I'll wager he could manage a description of the indescribale. People want to know.

I continue to attempt to give Pope Benedict XVI the benefit of the doubt in his policies, but it gets more and more difficult to discover a benign motive behind several of his recent decisions.

Inauguration Pictures

Ann sent me a link to an amazing set of pictures of the inauguration of President Obama from the Boston Globe. President Obama. I love the sound and look of that. I'll type it again. President Obama.


The picture above is my favorite. Schadenfreude? I don't think so. It's a picture rich with significance on many levels.

The pictures show people from the US and from all around the world watching the inauguration.

We Will See More Of This

Please read the moving post by Elizabeth Kaeton on the unemployed Tom who went to the parish hall of her church, The Episcopal Church of St. Paul, seeking help. Elizabeth's blog is Telling Secrets.

Two members of our blog community, JCF and JimB, who are both currently without employment, left comments to the post. It's a heartbreaking read all around, and we are likely to hear more and more stories like this, and perhaps go through the experience ourselves or, vicariously, with close family members. And then, there is David, who was recently laid off. It will get worse before it gets better.

They Made MR-GO; Now They'll Unmake It

From the Times-Picayune:

The closing will end 45 years of navigation on the 60-mile shipping channel that provided a shortcut from New Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico. Although the corps contended that the channel, completed in the 1960s, had minimal impact on Hurricane Katrina's storm surge, MR-GO took the brunt of criticism for the massive flooding in St. Bernard Parish and part of New Orleans during the 2005 storm.

Environmentalists also have blamed it for killing off thousands of acres of cypress wetlands and marsh, vital to helping the area absorb the pounding of hurricanes.
....

The corps has been working with state and federal agencies to devise a supplement to the MR-GO closing plan to address restoration of areas affected by the shipping channel. The plan could include marsh creation, barrier island building, shoreline protection and freshwater diversions from the Mississippi River.

This is good news, one step in the right direction, but's only the beginning of a vast amount of work that needs to be done to restore the marshes and coastal areas of Louisiana. The people spoke out long and loud, and the Corps responded - finally.

Meet Crapaud

I'd like to introduce y'all to a new Louisiana blogger, Crapaud. Now how Louisiana is that name? His recent post on the new "Man of Steele" chairman of the Republican Party, Lawn Jockey Alert, is wise and funny. He can say stuff He quotes The Field Negro, who says stuff that I can't say, because I'm the wrong color, and it would not be PC. The title of his new blog is Times a'Changin'. Check it out.

UPDATE: I figured Crapaud all wrong, but I corrected the post as well as I could, while still showing that I made a big faux pas. All I had to do to get it right was to read Crapaud's post with a little more care. Let me say that I was proud to have what I thought was my first known black fan. But, hey! I should know that I'm not that cool. Crapaud, that don't mean that I don't like you, too, because I do. I have an idea. In solidarity with our new president, how 'bout we say, "We are all black now!"?

And you should read The Field Negro, too. He's a force!

UPDATE: Crapaud has apologized beautifully for MY mistake in misreading his post. That's Louisiana gallantry at its best. In addition, he provides us with the response of our own Louisiana man, David Duke, to the election of Michael Steele as chairman of the Republican National Committee, true pearls of wisdom from our very own Klansman.

But, Crapaud, surely you're too harsh on yourself.

"I Cried Today" - IT

From IT in the comments at The Friends of Jake:

IT said...

I cried today. Stupid. I was at my dentist's (he's a friend and came to our wedding) and he cheerfully said, "How's married life treating you?" and I replied, waaay too seriously, "good for as long as it lasts," and then he wanted to know about the court case, and if we'd heard whether our marriage would last, and when we would KNOW, and how we are doing, etc etc and I had to go through it all again.

I walked out to the car afterwards and got in and cried tears of anger and frustration--not at my dear dentist, but at feeling I'm living betwixt and between, unresolved, at being A Thing whose fate is decided by courts and how the PropH8 people took my euphoric feeling that finally I was a Real Married Person with a real place in society, like everyone else, and they threw me back into the gutter and kicked me back into being an unwanted outsider.

And then I dried my eyes and went to work and tried, yet again, to get past it.

I don't know what to say, except to note that the marriages of 18,000 couples, 36,000 human beings, may be annulled by the passage of Prop 8 in California.

H/T to Arkansas Hillbilly, who posted these poignant words, too, and followed them with lovely commentary.

Berani, The Orangutan, Escapes In The Zoo

From the Times-Picayune:

Using only a stretched green T-shirt and powerful upper-body strength, a Sumatran orangutan named Berani escaped from his Audubon Zoo enclosure Friday -- for about 10 minutes.

Employing a level of cunning that could have come from a prison movie, the brownish-orange primate stretched the shirt, scaled a 10 1/2-foot wall to the top of the moat, wrapped the shirt around the "hot" electrical wires surrounding the exhibit and swung out about 12:45 p.m., zoo spokeswoman Sarah Burnette said.

That's Berani the Coy in the picture. He's a clever one, isn't he? If he could talk, we'd know just how clever.

The sight of a primate mixing on the grounds with zoo patrons did cause a mild stir.

"There was a group of people standing there," Burnette said, "and they kind of pointed, and there was Berani, standing in the middle of the boardwalk. He kind of lingered there for no more than 10 minutes and catapulted himself back into his exhibit."

The zoo staff gave the orangutans t-shirts to play with every day, but now, no more t-shirts! Berani escaped from his enclosure, and then he got back in. T-shirts or not, he may repeat the the exercise. What now? A higher fence? I think there's a message here.

End Of Winter

Winter is almost over and we can see the deer wandering around now.

From Doug.

"To Be Six Again"

A man was sitting on the edge of the bed, observing his wife, looking at herself in the mirror. Since her birthday was not far off he asked what she'd like to have for her Birthday.

'I'd like to be six again', she replied, still looking in the mirror.

On the morning of her birthday, he arose early, made her a nice big bowl of Lucky Charms, and then took her to Six Flags theme park. What a day!

He put her on every ride in the park; the Death Slide, the Wall of Fear, the Screaming Monster Roller Coaster, everything there.

Five hours later they staggered out of the theme park. Her head was reeling and her stomach felt upside down.

He then took her to a McDonald's where he ordered her a Happy Meal with extra fries and a chocolate shake.

Then it was off to a movie, popcorn, a soda pop, and her favorite candy, M&M's. What a fabulous adventure! Finally she wobbled home with her husband and collapsed into bed exhausted. He leaned over his wife with a big smile and lovingly asked, 'Well Dear, what was it like being six again??'

Her eyes slowly opened and her expression suddenly changed. 'I meant my dress size, you dumb ass!'

The moral of the story:

Even when a man is listening, he's gonna get it wrong.

Don't blame me. Blame naughty Doug.

Ellie's Tribute To Izzy

Today, my wonderful Anatolian Shepherd (who was part of my life for almost thirteen years) died peacefully in my arms. She had just been diagnosed with bone cancer.

I made the decision many years ago that I would not let her deteriorate or go through any unnecessary pain when there was no hope of her getting better. So there was no inner struggle or conflict about knowing what needed to be done.

She was happy to the end - still guarding the house with vigor.

Please go read the rest of Ellie's lovely tribute to Izzy, a truly magnificent friend and companion.

Quote Of The Day

From the TimesOnline.

Father Floriano Abrahamowicz, head of the [S]ociety [of Saint Pius X] in Treviso in northeast Italy, told a local paper: "I know that gas chambers existed as a means to disinfect. But I cannot say for sure if they killed anyone, because I really haven't looked into it." His remarks were widely reported in the Italian media.

I dunno. Maybe Father Floriano should have "looked into it" before he spoke out.

Father Floriano's bishop, Richard Williamson, recently stated on Swedish TV, "I believe there were no gas chambers."

Which is it? No gas chambers, or gas chambers for the purpose of disinfection?

The excommunication of the society's members was recently lifted by Pope Benedict XVI.

A long time ago, Gerturde Stein said, "There is no pope."

Prayer Request From Ellie - "Oh, No, No, No, No!"

From Ellie Finlay

Oh, no, no, no.

I just this minute got the word that Izzy (my big dog) has bone cancer. Her leg could break at any moment. I'm going to need to have her put down in a couple of days. I just asked her vet to give me time to process this and say good-bye.

Obviously, I'm in shock right now. It hasn't really sunk in.

Oh dear! How sad. And so soon after Ellie's scare about her own health. Please pray for Ellie and Izzy.

UPDATE:

From Ellie:

I've decided to have her put down this afternoon. I'm actually on my way now. A dear friend and dog lover is meeting me at the animal hospital.

Please keep saying prayers. I love this dog like my life - I'm sure you understand.

Love,
Ellie

Now Is The Time For Universal Health Care

Paul Krugman in the New York Times:

The whole world is in recession. But the United States is the only wealthy country in which the economic catastrophe will also be a health care catastrophe — in which millions of people will lose their health insurance along with their jobs, and therefore lose access to essential care.

Which raises a question: Why has the Obama administration been silent, at least so far, about one of President Obama’s key promises during last year’s campaign — the promise of guaranteed health care for all Americans?

Good question. I've been wondering about that myself. When my son lost his job a couple of years ago, he tried to start a small business. The COBRA premiums on the health insurance from his former employer were too expensive, so he bought private health insurance. That was during the year after his divorce, and his blood pressure went up, no doubt due to the twin catastrophes, and the private plan doubled his premiums. He was forced to abandon the idea of a small business and take a job with health-care benefits. I wonder how many small businesses do not succeed or are never started due to health insurance issues. It seems to me that our country, where capitalism is valued next to God (or even higher than God!), entrepreneurship is too often stifled because of the pathetic state of our country's health care.

If you're wealthy, or elderly with Medicare coverage, of if you're well-covered by your employer's health care plan, you do all right. But if that's not the case, then you're in a pretty bad way.

Krugman lists several reasons why Obama's advisers may be cautioning him against moving forward on universal health care, which you can read if you click the link. Of the final possible reason, Krugman says:

Finally — and this is, I suspect, the real reason for the administration’s health care silence — there’s the political argument that this is a bad time to be pushing fundamental health care reform, because the nation’s attention is focused on the economic crisis. But if history is any guide, this argument is precisely wrong.

Don’t take my word for it. Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, has declared that “you never want a serious crisis to go to waste.” Indeed. F.D.R. was able to enact Social Security in part because the Great Depression highlighted the need for a stronger social safety net. And the current crisis presents a real opportunity to fix the gaping holes that remain in that safety net, especially with regard to health care.

I believe that Krugman is correct in his analysis.

Please Pray For JohnieB

From Jane R. at Acts of Hope:

Dear all,

I've wanted to post this for a while but did not want to do so without JohnieB's permission, which I just received along with a nice catch-up letter.

JohnieB, friend to many of us in this corner of the blogosphere, is, as you know, a Vietnam War veteran who lives with PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder). He also gets depressed in the winter, which happens to many of us (SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder) and happens even more to people who already suffer from depression.

...Continued at Jane's blog.

Perhaps it would be best to leave comments at Jane's blog or at JohnieB's blog, Here Still Running, so he won't miss them. His energy level is low, so don't be offended if he does not respond.

Heavenly Father, giver of life and health: Comfort and relieve your sick servant Johnie, and give your power of healing to those who minister to his needs, that he may be strengthened in his weakness and have confidence in your loving care; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer, p. 459)

Let's Call The Whole Thing Off?

From Ruth Gledhill in the Times of London:

The Archbishops of the Anglican church worldwide are to debate the damaging effects of the row over homosexuality at a meeting in Egypt next week.

If that were truly the substance of the meeting, then my suggestion would be, "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off!". However, that first sentence may simply be Ruth's hook to attract readership. And I see that the "Anglican church" rears its head again. There is no worldwide "Anglican church". Last I heard, it was called the Anglican Communion.

He [the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams] was upset that several conservative provinces, including Nigeria, Uganda and Rwanda, boycotted last summer’s Lambeth Conference. But it was regarded as a triumph of his archepiscopacy that he survived the three-week conference without presiding over a split. It is a further sign of the success of his strategy that no Primates are boycotting next week’s meeting, although one source said there will be no formal joint eucharist at the meeting, to avoid Primates the public embarrassment of former meetings where conservatives have refused to go to the communion table with liberals.

Why would a primate boycott the Eucharist? I don't get it. Is there a risk of contamination? It's the Lord's table, after all, not the personal possession of any one or group of Anglican primates. Can the members of a group be "in communion", if they can't share Holy Communion?

In an attempt to move the church on from homosexuality, the Primates will focus instead on how well their provinces are fulfilling the Communion’s official “five marks of mission”: evangelisation, catechisation, service, social and environmental action.

If the primates intend to focus on the "five marks of mission", rather than homosexuality, why the first sentence in the article? A focus on mission would surely fall into the category of A GOOD THING.

The Anglican Covenant, the rows over gays, defections, depositions, moratoria, blah, blah, blah. The meeting is a gathering of the primates of autonomous provinces in the Anglican Communion (not the "Anglican church"). Why not leave each province to administer its own affairs and focus on common mission, even if you can't share Holy Communion?

H/T to Mark Harris.

But I Was Never Allowed To Chew Bubblegum!

Because you have nothing else to do.

Everyone over 50 should have a pretty easy time at this exam. If you are under 50 you can claim a handicap.

This is a History Exam for those who don't mind seeing how much they really remember about what went on in their life. [Remember! Googling is cheating!]

Get paper & pencil & number from 1 to 20. Write the letter of each answer & score at the end.

Then before you pass this test on, put your score in the subject line. Send to friends so everyone can HAVE FUN!!!! Also send it back to me.

1. In the 1940s, where were automobile headlight dimmer switches located?
> a. On the floor shift knob.
> b. On the floor board, to the left of the clutch.
> c. Next to the horn.

2. The bottle top of a Royal Crown Cola bottle had holes in it. For what was it used?
> a. Capture lightning bugs.
> b. To sprinkle clothes before ironing.
> c. Large salt shaker.

3. Why was having milk delivered a problem in northern winters?
> a. Cows got cold and wouldn't produce milk.
> b. Ice on highways forced delivery by dog sled.
> c. Milkmen left deliveries outside of front doors and milk would freeze, expanding and pushing up the cardboard bottle top.

4. What was the popular chewing gum named for a game of
> chance?
> a. Blackjack
> b. Gin
> c. Craps

5. What method did women use to look as if they were wearing stockings when none were available due to rationing during WW II.
> a. Suntan
> b. Leg painting
> c. Wearing slacks

6. What postwar car turned automotive design on its ear when you couldn't tell whether it was coming or going?
> a. Studebaker
> b. Nash Metro
> c. Tucker

7. Which was a popular candy when you were a kid?
> a . Strips of dried peanut butter.
> b. Chocolate licorice bars.
> c. Wax coke-shaped bottles with colored sugar water inside.

8. How was Butch wax used?
> a. To stiffen a flat-top haircut so it stood up.
> b. To make floors shiny and prevent scuffing.
> c. On the wheels of roller skates to prevent rust.

9. Before inline skates, how did you keep your roller skates attached to your shoes?
> a. With clamps, tightened by a skate key.
> b. Woven straps that crossed the foot.
> c. Long pieces of twine.

10. As a kid, what was considered the best way to reach a decision?
> a. Consider all the facts.
> b. Ask Mom.
> c. Eeny-meeny-miney-MO.

11. What was the most dreaded disease in the 1940s and 1950s?
> a. Smallpox
> b. AIDS
> c. Polio

12. 'I'll be down to get you in a ________, Honey'
> a. SUV
> b. Taxi
> c. Streetcar

13. What was the name of Caroline Kennedy's pony?
> a. Old Blue
> b. Paint
> c. Macaroni

14. What was a Duck-and-Cover Drill?
> a. Part of the game of hide and seek.
> b. What you did when your Mom called you in to do chores.
> c. Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an A-bomb drill.

15. What was the name of the Indian Princess on the Howdy Doody show?
> a. Princess Summerfallwinterspring
> b. Princess Sacajawea
> c. Princess Moonshadow

16. What did all the really savvy students do when mimeographed tests were handed out in school?
> a. Immediately sniffed the purple ink, as this was believed to get you high.
> b. Made paper airplanes to see who could sail theirs out the window.
> c. Wrote another pupil's name on the top, to avoid their failure.

17. Why did your Mom shop in stores that gave Green Stamps with purchases?
> a. To keep you out of mischief by licking the backs, which tasted like bubble gum.
> b. They could be put in special books and redeemed for various household items.
> c. They were given to the kids to be used as stick-on tattoos.

18. Praise the Lord, & pass the _________?
> a. Meatballs
> b. Dames
> c. Ammunition

19. What was the name of the singing group that made the song 'Cabdriver' a hit?
> a. The Ink Spots
> b. The Supremes
> c. The Esquires

20. Who left his heart in San Francisco ?
> a. Tony Bennett
> b. Xavier Cugat
> c. George Gershwin
------------------------------------------------------------


ANSWERS:

1. (b) On the floor, to the left of the clutch. Hand controls, popular in Europe, took till the late '60's to catch on.

2. (b) To sprinkle clothes before ironing. Who had a steam iron?

3. (c) Cold weather caused the milk to freeze and expand, popping the bottle top.

4. (a) Blackjack Gum.

5. (b) Special makeup was applied, followed by drawing a seam down the back of the leg with eyebrow pencil.

6. (a) 1946 Studebaker.

7. (c) Wax coke bottles containing super-sweet colored water.

8 (a) Wax for your flat top (butch) haircut.

9. (a) With clamps , tightened by a skate key, which you wore on a shoestring around your
neck.

10. (c) Eeny-meeny-miney-mo.

11. (c) Polio. In beginning of August, swimming pools were closed, movies and other public gathering places were closed to try to prevent spread of the disease.

12. (b) Taxi Better be ready by half-past eight!

13. (c) Macaroni.

14. (c) Hiding under your desk, and covering your head with your arms in an A-bomb drill.

15. (a) Princess Summerfallwinterspring. She was another puppet.

16. (a) Immediately sniffed the purple ink to get a high.

17. (b) Put in a special stamp book, they could be traded for household items at the Green Stamp store.

18. (c) Ammunition, and we'll all be free.

19. (a) The widely famous 50's group: The Inkspots.

20. (a) Tony Bennett, and he sounds just as good today.

SCORING:

17- 20 correct: You are older than dirt, and obviously gifted with mental abilities Now if you could only find your glasses. Definitely someone who should share your wisdom!

12 -16 correct: Not quite dirt yet, but you're getting there.

0 -11 correct: You are not old enough to share the wisdom of your experiences.

Then before you pass this test on, put your score in the subject line. Send to friends so everyone can HAVE FUN!!!!

Or POST IT ON YOUR BLOG!!!

Surprise, surprise! I scored a perfect 20.

From a friend in Texas, who gave me the title for the post.

John Updike On the Resurrection

Whether John Updike was a great writer, a great American writer, a great writer who was a mysogynist, a great short story writer, or something else, and I've read all of those categorizations online on various blogs, I can't say. I did my own tribute, which was not much, as it was mostly a cut and paste affair.

What I can say is that I love the poem below. His beautifully expressed view of the Resurrection is quite close to my own.

SEVEN STANZAS AT EASTER

Make no mistake: if He rose at all
it was as His body;
if the cells’ dissolution did not reverse, the molecules
reknit, the amino acids rekindle,
the Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers,
each soft Spring recurrent;
it was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled
eyes of the eleven apostles;
it was as His flesh: ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes,
the same valved heart
that–pierced–died, withered, paused, and then
regathered out of enduring Might
new strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor,
analogy, sidestepping transcendence;
making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the
faded credulity of earlier ages:
let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mâché,
not a stone in a story,
but the vast rock of materiality that in the slow
grinding of time will eclipse for each of us
the wide light of day.

And if we will have an angel at the tomb,
make it a real angel,
weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair,
opaque in the dawn light, robed in real linen
spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous,
for our own convenience, our own sense of beauty,
lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are
embarrassed by the miracle,
and crushed by remonstrance.

Thanks to Bishop Alan and to Ann for the reminders of the poem.

Other blog posts on Updike that I've enjoyed are below:

Jane at Acts of Hope

Rmj at Adventus

They Make Me Crazy

From the Baton Rouge Advocate:

Louisiana legislators debated Tuesday whether insurance companies should be forced to cover the cost of vaccinating teens and pre-teens to prevent a cancer-causing virus.

At issue is the fact that the virus — human papillomavirus or HPV — is sexually transmitted.

State Sen. Gerald Long, R-Natchitoches, spoke for many opponents who feared a state-mandated coverage of the vaccinations would lead to increased sexual activity among teenagers.

“It would seem to me,” Long said, “… that we almost tell our young people, ‘It’s OK. It’s OK to practice sex.’ ”

State Rep. Juan LaFonta, D-New Orleans, said the virus can lead to cervical cancer.

He said he knows a 19-year-old woman who had to have a hysterectomy because of the virus.

“Why aren’t people talking about this?” he said. “It’s really a woman’s health issue.”

Folks like Sen. Gerald Long make me crazy. As though the young people need a license to "practice" sex. They just do it. Of course, the state run sex education programs in Louisiana are pathetic, leaving such gaps that the young people might believe that the vaccine protects them from all STDs, or even from pregnancy. The short version of sex education for teen-agers in Louisiana is, "Don't do it until you're married."

As Sen. LaFonta says, it's a woman's health issue. It's not about teen-agers having sex.

UPDATE FROM THE COMMENTS:

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "They Make Me Crazy":

This of course ignores the fact that some young girls get HPV because they are sexually abused by an infected man. That's what happened to me, but I'm remaining anonymous at the moment because it's just to personal (however, y'all do know me). It is something I have to live with for the rest of my life, and be vigilant about testing. I've already had one cancer scare because of it (thankfully, was not cancer). No one ever talks about children who get STDs from rape and sexual abuse, and have to live with that legacy the rest of their lives -- something they did not ask for and wholly do not deserve. It often causes problems forming relationships later in life, as potential spouses often don't care how you got it, the stigma remains. No one wants to date someone with a known STD, you know? I was lucky and found a spouse who understood, but dated some that did not. I'd love to hear the politicians discuss this issue in those terms. They'd be lining their daughters up to get the vaccine.

Anon1

Good News From Ellie!

Blogger Ellie Finlay said...

Dearest friends,

I'm seem to be okay. I haven't had a heart attack but the medical people said I did the right thing in calling the paramedics. I'm in the hospital overnight for tests. They're not sure why I had the symptoms - jaw and neck pain, some nausea (symptoms that women tend to have when they sometimes don't have chest pain). I have several risk factors: both parents died from heart disease, I'm well past menopause and I have high cholesterol (despite my vegetarianism!) Also, they've found a couple of spots on my chest X-ray that weren't there in 2007 (and I'm an old TB patient) so they wanted to check that out.

Thank you so much for all your prayers. I know this community is a POWERFUL prayer force so, of course, I had to email Mad Priest before getting in that ambulance. (Then fortunately, some friends brought me my laptop after I was admitted.) No doubt all the prayer power had something to do with the (so far) positive outcome. (DON'T ask me how that works. I'm in no condition to do heavy-duty theology tonight.)

David, I'm so, so sorry about the job loss. I will definitely give that situation prayer time (I do have my rosary with me) and Jim, may your surgery go well. I promise to pray.

Again, thank you all so much. I love you dearly - each and every one of you.
Ellie

Thanks be to God, dear Ellie! Now we'll pray about the spots on your lung.

And remember JimB, who will have his gallbladder removed tomorrow.

Urgent Prayer Requests

From ELLIE FINLAY (40 minutes ago):

Hi, Jonathan.

Please get people praying. I'm going to the hospital with heart attack symptoms.

The medics are here.
Bye.
Ellie

Also further to this prayer request:

DAVID writes:

I'd appreciate the continued prayers, as I was part of a large layoff at work today...

Also, please don't forget JimB, laid off from work and laid up in hospital.

Posted by MadPriest at 9:34 PM

What a load of bad news in one night. Prayers for all.

UPDATE from the comments at OCICBW:

Jim said...

Prayers ascending for Elle and David. Latest news on my own case is that the pathologists say the gallblader must come out. We will schedule surgery in the morning. (It is the evening of the 27th here as I type this.

MP, you have forged an amazing community here. You and the Spirit do good work together.

FWIW
jimB

Prayers that all goes well with JimB's gallbladder surgery.

"Girl In A Hotel Bar - Priceless!"

It's only just over a minute. Take the time.

Don't blame me. Blame Doug.

John Updike - R. I. P.

From the Washington Post:

John Updike, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist, prolific man of letters and erudite chronicler of sex, divorce and other adventures in the postwar prime of the American empire, died Tuesday at age 76.

Updike, a resident of Beverly Farms, Mass., died of lung cancer, according to a statement from his publisher, Alfred A. Knopf.

Norman Mailer didn't like his writing.

He captured, and sometimes embodied, a generation's confusion over the civil rights and women's movements, and opposition to the Vietnam War. Updike was called a misogynist, a racist and an apologist for the establishment. On purely literary grounds, he was attacked by Norman Mailer as the kind of author appreciated by readers who knew nothing about writing.

I'd say Updike did pretty well for himself with his "readers who knew nothing about writing".

But more often he was praised for his flowing, poetic writing style. Describing a man's interrupted quest to make love, Updike likened it "to a small angel to which all afternoon tiny lead weights are attached." Nothing was too great or too small for Updike to poeticize. He might rhapsodize over the film projector's "chuckling whir" or look to the stars and observe that "the universe is perfectly transparent: we exist as flaws in ancient glass."
....

"I am very prone to accept all that the scientists tell us, the truth of it, the authority of the efforts of all the men and woman spent trying to understand more about atoms and molecules. But I can't quite make the leap of unfaith, as it were, and say, `This is it. Carpe diem (seize the day), and tough luck.'"

I'm with Updike.

He received his greatest acclaim for the "Rabbit" series, a quartet of novels published over a 30-year span that featured ex-high school basketball star Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom and his restless adjustment to adulthood and the constraints of work and family. To the very end, Harry was in motion, an innocent in his belief that any door could be opened, a believer in God even as he bedded women other than his wife.

H/T to the Episcopal Cafè.

Please! This Is Flim-Flammery, Mr. President

From TPM:

Obama meets this afternoon with the entire Republican conference. "I think what our big moves will be today are to ask the President to help us. Help us make this plan better so that it will put Americans back to work," said Boehner before the meeting.

House Republicans have worked closely with Obama while the plan has been crafted, but have complained that House Democrats have been less open to their ideas than has the president.

In the recent election, the people of the country made it quite clear that they do not want a continuation of the policies of the Bush maladministration and the Republicans in Congress. The problem is not the Democrats, Mr. President. The problem is congress critters like Mitch McConnell and his cohorts. You won by a landslide, Mr. President. Listen politely to the Republicans, and then do the right thing, Mr. President. Please! We're counting on you.

Video from TPM-TV.

A Word From Pip Across The Pond

Posted by Pip Dawkins:

Well bless my 'eart and call me Cromwell! The yank election 'as come to an end at last. Isn't it wonderful? A new leader across the pond. And without even cutting off the 'ead of the old president! Blimey, those Americans sure know 'ow to pick a ruler, don't they? Did it with class they did. I only wish I knew 'oo they picked.

It's my own fault, that is. Time and time again Mr. Greystone 'e told me not to bleed on 'is things, but I never listen. So until I clean every last speck off 'is brick, 'e won't utter one word to me about a winner. In my defense, chaps, I didn't know I was bleedin' at the time, as I'd made the unwise decision to faint on the sidewalk in front of 'is 'ouse. I don't see why 'e should 'old it against me. The front stoop is 'ardly inside the 'ouse. And my blood can't be that 'ard to clean off, being as though I'm right iron deficient.

Poor Pip. Read the rest. Perhaps Mr Greystone's heart will melt, and he'll let Pip know the outcome before too long.

Pip was orphaned at age three when his parents died of cholera. He resides at the Bethnal Green Workhouse in London, and is ever so excited for this year's election in America.

From The Onion.

Padre Mickey Speaks

From Padre Mickey's fingers to Wounded Bird:

Hi everyone,
I rarely send out a single email to a group; that's Mona's department with our Missionary Newsletter thang, but I wanted to notify you all that Mona and I will be in los estados unidos on a sabbatical of some four months this year. After the sabbatical, we'll return to Panama for one year to wrap up our ministry here and, hopefully, return to a new position in the U.S.A.

We are really looking forward to the sabbatical, but we're a little concerned about funding. Our income here in Panama is small but we're able to live simply as the standard of living is not so high, but four months in EEUU would be next to impossible on our income. We are looking for grants to help, but since I hates to beg, I came up with another idea. I'm writing you folks as you are all familar with my blog Padre Mickey's Dance Party and many of you are fans of that silly Friday Red Mr. Peanut Bank and Gallito Mescalito Blogging thang I try to do every Friday. I've opened a Cafe Press store which sells t-shirts, sweatshirts, caps, etc, which have Gallito Mescalito or Red Mr. Peanut Bank or Miss Egyptian Hippo of Love on the front. I'm hoping that this stuff will sell and that this income will help us fund our sabbatical. Of course, we'll also take donations to our Missionary Fund at St. Francis' website, too.

Click here to check out the Dance Party Store of Love, and if interested, please purchase some stuff.

I'm sending this email as I am well aware that you all have lives and aren't able to visit the blog every day.

So, thanks for any help you can give, and maybe we'll see you while were in los estados unidos, hopefully!

Gracias a todos,
Michael aka Padre Mickey

--
Padre Mickey's Dance Party

Padre Mickey is an Episcopal priest and missionary who has served the Parroquia San Cristóbal for three terms. He and his wife, the Lovely Mona, sacrificed a great deal in their years of ministry in Panama. I have enjoyed the crazy, but occasionally serious, blog of El Padre for some years now. If you haven't checked it out, you should, especially his Friday evening dramas with the fascinating assembly of characters, some of whom are pictured above and featured in the merchandise at his store.

Padre Mickey posts many pictures of the parish activities at San Cristóbal. If you visit his blog, you will see the beautiful members of the parish in which he serves. The children are adorable.

UPDATE: Regarding the Dance Party Store of Love. Please! The "Store of Love" part is not what you're thinking.

Kentucky Ghost Story

This happened about a month ago just outside of Owensboro, Kentucky, a small town on the banks of the Ohio River, and while it sounds like an Alfred Hitchcock tale, it's indeed real.

An out of state traveler was walking along the side of the road hitchhiking on a dark night in the middle of a thunderstorm. Time passed slowly and no cars went by. It was raining so hard he could barley see his hand in front of his face.

Suddenly he saw a car approaching, moving slowly and appearing ghostlike in the rain. It slowly and silently crept toward him and stopped.

Wanting a ride very badly, the guy jumped into the car and closed the door; only then did he realize that there was nobody behind the wheel, and no sound of the engine to be heard over the rain.

Again the car crept slowly forward and guy was terrified, too scared to think of jumping out and running. The guy saw that the car was approaching a sharp curve and, still too scared to jump out, he started to pray and beg for his life. He was certain the ghost car would go off the road and into the river, and he would surely drown! But just before the curve, a shadowy figure appeared at the driver's window and a hand reached in and turned the steering wheel, guiding the car safely around the bend. Then, just as silently, the hand disappeared through the window and the Hitchhiker was alone again.

Paralyzed with fear, the guy watched the hand reappear every time they reached a curve. Finally the guy, frightened nearly to death, had all he could take and jumped out of the car and ran through the storm to the nearby town.

Wet and in shock, he went into a lighted tavern and with voice quavering, ordered two shots of whiskey, and then, shaken, he told everybody about his supernatural experience.

A silence came over those listening and everybody got goose bumps. They realized the guy was sober and was telling the truth. And the sounds of the storm continued outside.

About half an hour later, two guys walked into the bar and one says to the other, 'Look Billy Bob, there's that idiot that rode in our car while we was pushin' it in the rain.'

Who is the idiot here?

Today is a lazy Monday blogging day, but trusty Doug comes to the rescue.

Once upon a time, I played a fairly decent version of "On the Banks of the Ohio" on my mountain dulcimer, which is pictured below.



Isn't it a beauty? It was handcrafted by Lynn McSpadden, from Mountain View, Arkansas, in 1975. The McSpadden family still operates The Dulcimer Shoppe.

Happy Chinese New Year!

Good Luck Chinese New Year Ox Year 2009


People born in the Chinese New Year of Ox, 2009 will preponderantly have the below mentioned traits in their character: Leadership qualities, dependable, great organizers, loyal, patient as well as strong and responsible. They are also some of the best people one can have as colleagues in the work place as they are believed to posses strong work ethics and display their creative side as well, especially when it comes to decorating their home.

Since the people born in the Ox year are also trusted to be reliable and logical, people generally turn towards them for suggestions and guidance. Their honesty and eye for details also helps them to prove their worth both in the workplace as well as in their personal lives.

Sounds good to me. But wait!

However there are a few negative traits associated with the character of the Ox that also is reflected through the people born in the ox years. Attributes like being narrow minded, stubborn, with low public relations skills and also very far from being emotional are generally associated with people born in this year.

From 123 Chinese New Year.

Inner Peace

If you can start the day without caffeine,

If you can get going without pep pills,

If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,

If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,

If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,

If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,

If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,

If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor friend,

If you can conquer tension without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,

If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,


...Then You Are Probably The Family Dog!


And you thought I was going to get all spiritual.

Thanks to Doug.

New Rector And Son Of Proud Mom

From the Daily Chronicle:

"Don’t let this be your next ride to church."

A bumper sticker displaying a hearse, and those words, is one that the Rev. Dave Hedges remembers a fellow seminarian having on his car when they both attended seminary.

The flip side of that message, Hedges said, is that priests and other church ministers need to do their part in inviting people back more often, so that the Sunday morning ride to church isn’t their only contact with ministry.

A week ago, Hedges affirmed this clerical duty. He was instituted – meaning permanently placed – as rector of St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Sycamore [Illinois].

The handsome young dude in the picture is the son of our own Susan S, who is bustin' her buttons with pride. After serving as a curate in Crystal Lake, Fr. Dave served as "priest-in-charge" at St. Peter's for 18 months. Now he is rector of the 150 year old church.

When serving as a curate at a Crystal Lake church, Hedges assisted a priest who had been there for 31 years. The priest acted as Hedge’s mentor, and made Hedges realize the value of visiting members outside of the once-a-week sermon.

“There’s a lot of people in the congregation; their contact comes on Sunday morning and that’s pretty much it,” Hedges said. “But you have to be a presence in people’s lives. He taught me to value that and to strive for it.”

Congratulations to Fr. Dave, the parishioners of St. Peter's Church, and last, but not least, to Susan S.

Let us pray for Fr. Dave and the members of St. Peter's:

Almighty and everliving God, ruler of all things in heaven and earth, hear our prayers for this parish family. Strengthen the faithful, arouse the careless, and restore the penitent. Grant them all things necessary for their common life, and bring them all to be of one heart and mind within your holy Church; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(Book of Common Prayer), p. 817

Continuing On The Theme Of Guantanamo

From the Washington Post again:

President Obama's plans to expeditiously determine the fates of about 245 terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and quickly close the military prison there were set back last week when incoming legal and national security officials -- barred until the inauguration from examining classified material on the detainees -- discovered that there were no comprehensive case files on many of them.

No comprehensive files? We shouldn't be surprised, but, once again, I am. If there was a way to get things wrong, you just know that the Bush maladministration would do it.

Several former Bush administration officials agreed that the files are incomplete and that no single government entity was charged with pulling together all the facts and the range of options for each prisoner. They said that the CIA and other intelligence agencies were reluctant to share information, and that the Bush administration's focus on detention and interrogation made preparation of viable prosecutions a far lower priority.

I'm surprised that I continue to be surprised by these people.

In a court filing this month, Darrel Vandeveld, a former military prosecutor at Guantanamo who asked to be relieved of his duties, said evidence was "strewn throughout the prosecution offices in desk drawers, bookcases packed with vaguely-labeled plastic containers, or even simply piled on the tops of desks."

He said he once accidentally found "crucial physical evidence" that "had been tossed in a locker located at Guantanamo and promptly forgotten."

What other shocking leftovers from the Bush maladministration await discovery, as the new administration moves forward? Probably not just a few. Remember Cheney's secret meetings with the oil barons early in Bush's first term? The battle goes on for the documents which disclose who attended and what was discussed. We're not really done with the Bushies, and we won't be for a very long time, more's the pity.

The "Good" Guantanamo?

With the help of Arkansas Hillbilly, I'm proud to say that Wounded Bird scooped the Washington Post on the story that Guantanamo was once a relatively decent place.

When Marine Brig. Gen. Michael Lehnert and his unit were assigned to Gitmo to meet the first 300 prisoners, they had 96 hours to draw up procedures and rules. They decided to go with the Uniform Code of Military Justice, other U.S. laws, and the Geneva Conventions.

Lehnert said he had been told by the Joint Chiefs of Staff that the Geneva Conventions would not technically apply to his mission: He was to act in a manner "consistent with" the conventions (as the mantra went) but not to feel bound by them.

What the hell does that mean? When Lehnert tried to bring in the International Committee of the Red Cross, his request was turned down. However, the call to the ICRC had already been made, and they arrived at Gitmo. With their help, Lehnert began to improve the conditions of the prisoners. The military, including the head of the JAG group tried to do the right thing, but Rumsfeld had other ideas.

By late January 2002, according to Brig. Gen. Galen B. Jackman, Lehnert's chief contact at Southern Command, the defense secretary told officers on a video conference call with Southern Command that he was frustrated by the absence of such information [actionable intelligence].

A displeased Rumsfeld seems to have decided to create a second command, one that would exist side by side with Lehnert's. It would be devoted solely to gathering intelligence and would be headed by a reservist major general, a former U.S. Army interrogator during the Vietnam War named Michael Dunlavey. Jackman told me that he considered the idea of two parallel commands a "recipe for disaster." At the same time, Navy Capt. Robert Buehn, the commander of the naval base at Guantanamo, recalled, the Gitmo task force's initial expectations of orders to build a courtroom began to fade.

For two years, the reporter, Karen Greenberg, gathered information through interviews, which essentially supports Arkansas Hillbilly's contention:

I believe in due process, and I am ashamed of what GTMO became, but when it started we were trying to sort the bad guys from the good,treat all the wounded and hopefully get information WITHOUT torture. When I was there the mere mention of that word was shunned for fear of being accused of it. I used to be proud of the things I did there... and still am of the accomplishments. But all the allegations of torture after I left, what it became, I am horribly ashamed of the whole mess. You shouldn't be ashamed to serve your country, but there it is. Thank you Mr. Bush and Chaney.

Thank you again, Arkansas Hillbilly.

President Obama ordered that Guantanamo be shut down within a year. Where will the prisoners go?

And there is a final irony on the horizon.

One of the places now being considered as a new U.S.-based destination for the remaining Gitmo detainees is Camp Pendleton, a Marine Corps base in Southern California. The base's commanding general is none other than Michael Lehnert, now a major general. The detainees might well be returned to his custody. In several senses, we could wind up right back where we started. This time, however, we should have the law on our side -- not to mention a conscience.

You can't make this stuff up. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and their minions came together in a perfect storm which resulted in disaster.

Feast Of The Ordination Of Florence Li Tim-Oi

First Woman Priest In The Anglican Communion, 24 January 1944

Florence Li Tim-Oi was ordained a priest by Bp. Ronald Hall of Hong Kong in 1944, primarily because of difficulties occasioned by the Japanese occupation of China. A storm of protest after the war forced her to refrain from exercising her role as a priest. Towards the end of her life, she emigrated to Canada where she was able to resume her priestly duties. She died in 1992.

More is available in a short article about her from the Anglican Journal of Canada, and from the Li Tim-Oi Foundation.

James Kiefer at The Lectionary

Readings:

Psalm 116:1-2
Galatians 3:23-28
Luke 10:1-9

Prayer:

Gracious God, we thank you for calling Florence Li Tim-Oi, much-beloved daughter, to be the first woman to exercise the office of a priest in our Communion; By the grace of your Spirit inspire us to follow her example, serving your people with patience and happiness all our days, and witnessing in every circumstance to our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the same Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

UPDATE:

Ann has left a new comment on your post "Feast Of The Ordination Of Florence Li Tim-Oi":

Here is what was on Episcopal Cafe today.

A hundred years ago a baby was about to be born in the fishing village of Aberdeen on Hong Kong island. Its gender was not known. Boy babies were highly prized. At that time, in that culture, a bowl of ash could be at hand to smother unwanted new-born girls. The baby who was born on 5 May 1907 was wanted. Her Christian father, a doctor turned headteacher, valued his new daughter and called her Tim-Oi, “Much Beloved.” That decision began a chain of events which has changed the Church.

Tim-Oi completed her primary schooling at 14, but her five brothers and 2 sisters meant there were no funds for further schooling until she was 21. She left school aged 27. While a student she joined an Anglican church, and at her baptism took the Christian name Florence, because her birth-month, May, is a month of flowers, and because she admired Florence Nightingale.

In 1931 she was at the ordination in Hong Kong cathedral of an English deaconess. The Chinese preacher asked if there was a Chinese girl also willing to sacrifice herself for the Chinese church. She prayed: “God, would you like to send me?” That call never left her. In 1934 she started a four year course at Union Theological College in Canton, where her New Testament tutor was Geoffrey Allen, later to be Bishop of Derby, England. Her family couldn’t afford the college fees which were paid by the Anglican church. While at college she led a team of students rescuing the casualties of Japanese carpet bombing, and narrowly escaped being a casualty herself.

Time does not allow to tell her full story: of her licence to preside for two years at Holy Communion in the absence of a priest in Macau; of the bishop brought up in a Tractarian [High Church] vicarage who was not happy with lay celebration and ordained her a Priest of God on 25 January 1944, because God had clearly shown that He had already given her the gift of priesthood. After the War, pressured by what I call a “Purple Guard,” to the dismay of the Bishop, she resigned her licence as a Priest, but not her Holy Orders. She was put in charge of a parish near Vietnam, and there she started a large maternity home to ensure that new-born girls were not smothered at birth. Her witness to the value of every child, girl and boy, made many friends for Jesus—making friends for Jesus was her mission in life. But also she showed that “It Takes ONE Woman” to change the culture of her community.

From “Memories of Li Tim-Oi” by Canon Christopher Hall, Lambeth Palace, 30 April 2007.

Thanks, Ann.

Where We Eat - Tony Angello's

 

On Tuesday, Grandpère and I went to dinner with our daughter and son-in-law at Tony Angello's in Lakeview in New Orleans. That's Tony up there between GP and me. He is 80 years old and still cooking. The restaurant does not have a website, but here's a review from Brett Anderson in the Times-Picayune.

Tony Angello's is still the dimly lit residential-looking ranch house where diners are known to order by simply saying "Feed me," the signal that you desire a seemingly never-ending parade of Angello's creations: eggplant Tina, meatball-tender braciola, crab in red gravy, rabbit braised in a lemony tomato sauce. Angello's take on Creole-Italian is idiosyncratic in a city with no shortage of idiosyncratic Creole-Italian restaurants. Many in New Orleans figured the magnitude of the damage coupled with the age of its owner meant Tony Angello's was gone for good. They were wrong.

I can't find a menu online to aid my memory, but the food was delicious. GP and SIL had all-you-can-eat dishes, and even they could not eat it all. Amongst their dishes, which I tasted, were an artichoke salad and a steak dish that were both out of this world and chicken rosemary that was quite good. I had an Italian salad, minestrone, eggplant Tina (ummm, delicious!), and manicotti in a tomato sauce. Only my daughter ordered dessert, a bread pudding, but we all tasted, and it was to die for.

The folks next to us had the rabbit dish mentioned above, and they said it was wonderful. Altogether a satisfying evening. GP said that the restaurant was like a scene from "The Sopranos".

Lakeview was flooded by breaches in the 17th Street Canal in the aftermath of Katrina. The neighborhood is coming back slowly, but I'm quite pleased that Tony Angello's is back and flourishing, and that it is still a favorite. The business was brisk on a week night.

Below are the youngsters.