STORY OF THE DAY - HEARING VOICES

I used to hear voices a lot, but then I
read up on it & found out they don't
exist, so now I don't listen to a word
they say.

ANTI-BULLYING BILL FAILS IN LOUISIANA HOUSE

State Rep. John Bel Edwards speaking in favor of the bill. (Advocate staff photo by Arthur D Lauck)

From the Advocate in Baton Rouge, Louisiana:

Legislation designed to define what constitutes bullying among school students died in the Louisiana House on Thursday amid complaints that it would promote gay lifestyles.

The Louisiana Family Forum, which calls itself a voice for traditional families by pushing biblical principles, characterized House Bill 112 as a homosexual agenda.

The organization issued notes to lawmakers alleging that the legislation would introduce sexual orientation into the classroom.

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All right. I'm all done banging my head on the keyboard.

When I read about the Louisiana Family Forum and its influence on so very many of the legislators in Louisiana, smoke comes out of my ears.

HB112 fell 10 votes short of passage, with 43 lawmakers voting for it and 54 voting against it.

The legislation’s sponsor, state Rep. Austin Badon, said the Louisiana Family Forum intimidated lawmakers.

“The hate spilled out — the ignorance of the fact that there are gays and lesbians all over the world,” Badon, D-New Orleans, said after the bill failed to pass.

Bravo to Rep. Badon and to all 43 legislators who stood against the bullying tactics of the Louisiana Family Forum.

State Rep. Patricia Smith struggled to keep her voice at a normal volume when she rose from her House desk to respond to Seabaugh’s amendment.

Smith, D-Baton Rouge and a former School Board member, accused Seabaugh of diminishing the hateful words that are used to bully children.

“I am very upset by what you just said because I do not like Family Forum. I will state it here right now on the floor. I do not like Family Forum … because their perception of anything that’s different from what they perceive is that they feel it’s always going to be taught to children,” Smith said.

Amen, and amen, and amen!

I see hope in this outcome, because getting 43 votes in favor of the bill in the Louisiana House is more than I would have expected. Maybe next time.

From the website of Louisiana Family Forum:

Our Mission is to persuasively present biblical principles in the centers of influence on issues affecting the family through research, communication and networking.

UPDATE ON SLAVE LAKE IN THE AFTERMATH OF THE FIRE

A home in Slave Lake burned to the ground.

Tim Chesterton, an Anglican priest who lives in Edmonton, Alberta, writes to give an update on the aftermath of the fire in the nearby town of Slave Lake:

Hi Mimi:

Thanks so much for mobilising the troops for prayer for Slave Lake. On that subject, I thought this might interest you.
....

Your friend in Christ,

Tim

From the Anglican Journal:

When Pastor Leigh Sinclair and the congregation of St. Peter’s Ecumenical Church in Slave Lake, Alta., gathered for a confirmation service last Sunday morning, they didn’t think the wildfires were close enough to town to be worried.

Most went to celebration lunches and barbeques for the newly-confirmed. At around 3 p.m., Sinclair said people at a barbeque party she attended started getting worried. “Everybody thought, ‘This isn’t normal. There’s too much smoke!’ ”

By 6 p.m., Sinclair–who pastors a shared ministry with the Anglican, United and Lutheran churches–packed a bag and started the long drive to her parent’s home in Edmonton, joining a stream of vehicles on the road out of town.
....

She would later learn that two-thirds of Slave Lake burned down. Her home and St. Peter’s church were spared but five families who belonged to St. Peter’s lost everything. (My emphasis)

Thanks be to God that no lives were lost. Pray for the people of Slave Lake and the other towns who lost everything as they begin to rebuild their homes and their lives.

If you recall Tim asked for prayers for the people in the area several days ago.

Tim blogs at Faith, Folk, and Charity.

Photo from the Vancouver Sun.

LATEST REPORT ON CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE BY ROMAN CATHOLIC CLERGY

For some days I've intended to write about the report by the researchers at John Jay College on child abuse by Roman Catholic clergy, but I'm blocked. One stumbling block is the consistent use in the report of "incidents of child abuse", rather than "reported incidents of child abuse". We know, or we should know, that incidents of child abuse are grossly under-reported everywhere. The authors of the report state as much themselves. Therefore, it seems to me that the modifier should be used consistently. I don't know. Maybe I'm nitpicking, but when "reported" is left out, I stop in my tracks and think it should be there. What we know, especially about earlier times, may just be the tip of the iceberg, and there is much that we will never know. Even now, reports of cover-up still surface as is demonstrated by the recent story of the removal from active ministry of 21 Roman Catholic priests in Philadelphia.

And I surely do not buy the blame-it-on-Woodstock excuse. As Ken Briggs says in the National Catholic Reporter:

The Sixties did it.

The John Jay College report on child sexual abuse by priests nails it. Don't put the chief blame on the church -- nothing wrong with its teachings on sexuality or celibacy.

It's the demon Sixties with its ravenous demand for freedom. Blacks, women, college students, war protesters cut loose against the old restraints. Vatican II chimed in, wittingly or not, or borrowed from it, espousing such things as letting fresh breezes blow through the church and encouraging a participatory, more democratic Catholicism.

To many church authorities, the "revolution" that mattered most was about sex. Cramped minds imagined orgies and impulsive free love that assaulted church teachings.

I've finished reading the summary, and I'm on page 20 of the 152 page report, but I can't promise to read it all. The report is here in pdf format and is titled The Causes and Context of Sexual Abuse of Minors by Catholic Priests in the United States, 1950-2011.

There's so much that I would like to address in the report that I don't know where to begin. As a result, I may never begin. The contributors at The Lead have done a terrific job of following the commentary on the report here, here, and here. Pardon me, if missed a link or two.

THE VETERINARIAN'S MOM

One Sunday, as he was counting the money in the weekly offering, the pastor of a small church found a pink envelope containing $1,000. It happened again the next week!

The following Sunday, he watched as the offering was collected, and saw an elderly woman put the distinctive pink envelope on the plate. This went on for weeks until the pastor, overcome by curiosity, approached her.

"Ma'am, I couldn't help but notice that you put $1,000 a week in the collection plate," he stated.

"Why yes," she replied, "every week my son sends me money, and I give some of it to the church."

The pastor replied, "That's wonderful. But $1000 is a lot; are you sure you can afford this? How much does he send you?"

The elderly woman answered, "$10,000 a week."

The pastor was amazed. "Your son is very successful; what does he do for a living?"

"He is a veterinarian," she answered.



"That's an honorable profession, but I had no idea they made that much money," the pastor said. "Where does he practice?"

The woman answered proudly, "In Nevada. He has two cat houses...one in Las Vegas, and one in Reno."



Don't blame me. Blame Sue T. I can't blame her at all for the cute kitteh pictures.

DOUG BLANCHARD'S "END OF THE WORLD" SERIES

Quickly, before the rapture on Saturday, see Doug Blanchard's (aka Counterlight) "End of the World" series of paintings. In all seriousness, Doug's pictures are powerful and haunting, truly outstanding.

The painting above, as you see, is titled "Rescue". At his blog, I told Doug that the painting called to mind a crucifixion, and that's true, but what the scene suggests now, with a further look, is a particular scene at the crucifixion, the pietà.

A ROLLING RAPTURE?

Starting in the Pacific rim at around 6:00 PM with a great earthquake? In these days of instant communication, won't we hear about it if the rapture doesn't happen in the Pacific rim? I'm just asking.

Instead of wasting my time searching for a rapture picture, I stole the scene above of the rapture in Dallas, Texas, from Counterlight. He posted a group of pics, and I liked the Dallas best. The scene is realistic, because it shows the wrecked cars. Of course, only the naughty left behind folks are apt to get hurt, so the wreckage doesn't matter. If you have the slightest doubt that you may be amongst those left behind, stay in your house until all is calm after the excitement.

As I said in the comments over there, "I guess right at the time when the big event is to happen, we should all put our arms in the air just in case...."

COINCIDENCE?

Doug (or someone) says, "I absolutely refuse to believe this is a coincidence!!!"

RICHARD HOLBROOKE FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE

From Nicholas D. Kristof at the New York Times:

When he was alive, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was effectively gagged, unable to comment on what he saw as missteps of the Obama administration that he served. But as we face a crisis in Pakistan after the killing of Osama bin Laden, it’s worth listening to Holbrooke’s counsel — from beyond the grave.

As one of America’s finest strategic thinkers and special envoy to the Af-Pak region, Holbrooke represented the administration — but also chafed at aspects of the White House approach. In particular, he winced at the overreliance on military force, for it reminded him of Vietnam.

“There are structural similarities between Afghanistan and Vietnam,” he noted, in scattered reflections now in the hands of his widow, Kati Marton.

“He thought that this could become Obama’s Vietnam,” Marton recalled. “Some of the conversations in the Situation Room reminded him of conversations in the Johnson White House. When he raised that, Obama didn’t want to hear it.”

That Obama didn't want to hear Richard Holbrooke's counsel is unfortunate, indeed.

From the Army Times:

KABUL, Afghanistan — Four American soldiers serving with NATO forces in Afghanistan died Monday in an explosion in the country's south, NATO and a defense department official said, bringing home the human cost of the U.S.-led push into Taliban strongholds.

The official said they were hit by an improvised explosive device. He spoke on condition of anonymity because relatives of those killed were still being notified. The latest deaths make a total of 16 NATO service members killed so far this month, and 167 so far this year.

What is it about being in the Oval Office that blinds presidents to the reality that prolonging a war that goes nowhere, even as members of the military and civilians continue to be maimed and killed, will accomplish nothing worthwhile? The war in Afghanistan has now become Obama's war. What is the president's view of the endgame?

Vali Nasr, a member of Holbrooke’s team at the State Department, puts it this way: “He understood from his experience that every conflict has to end at the negotiating table.”

Why not sooner, rather than later?

Read Kristof's column in its entirely for its valuable analysis of Holbrooke's views on our relations with Pakistan.

As for Pakistan, Holbrooke told me and others that because of its size and nuclear weaponry, it was center stage; Afghanistan was a sideshow.

“A stable Afghanistan is not essential; a stable Pakistan is essential,” he noted, in the musings he left behind.

That Obama will reconsider Holbrooke's wise counsel now that he has passed on is surely too much to hope for, but I hope anyway.

THE OLD RIVER CONTROL STRUCTURE - SIMMESPORT, LOUISIANA

Click on the map for the larger view.

The map above shows the locations of the Old River Control Structure and the Morganza Floodway.



Above is an aerial view of the Old River Control Structure. Image from Wikipedia.



Shown above is the Morganza Floodway with one bay open. As of now, 11 bays are open. The US Corps of Engineers expects to open 31 of the 125 bays in the floodway.

In the comments to this post at Wounded Bird, Paul (A.) asks a question and references an article in the New Yorker by John McPhee, written in 1987:

Is the opening of the floodway to the Atchafalaya the beginning of the end for Baton Rouge and New Orleans?

In response, I wrote a long comment which I decided to edit and use in a post.

Paul (A.), I read the article by McPhee when it came out in 1987. He writes about the Old River Control Structure at Simmesport, north of the Morganza Floodway. The Mississippi River wants to take the most direct route to the Gulf of Mexico, which is through the Atchafalaya River basin. If that happened vast areas would be flooded, and the Baton Rouge and New Orleans ports would be finished as major ports. The passage of large ships between NO and north of BR would cease, because the Mississippi River would not have enough water to support major shipping.

The Old River Control Structure was built to direct the major flow to the Mississippi River rather than the Atchafalaya River at roughly 70%/30%. McPhee and others think that the structure could fail and the river eventually have its way, and they may be right. However, since the article was written, an additional structure was added to the ORCS complex, which serves as further reinforcement to prevent a failure. We shall see.

The purpose of the Morganza Floodway is entirely different. It's built to send water into the Atchafalaya River basin to protect Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and the refineries and chemical plants along the Mississippi between Baton Rouge and New Orleans in the event the Mississippi reaches flood stage, which it has now. The flooding of the Atchafalaya River basin is to lower the level of water in the Mississippi River to prevent overtopping of the levees and to reduce the intense pressure from the high waters in the river, to prevent breaches. Either event could have catastrophic consequences.

I hope this helps.

Posted with the caveat that I am neither a flood engineer nor an expert on flooding.