RUN SARAH RUN! - ER, RIDE!

From The Note:

As speculation swirls over whether former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin will enter the race for the 2012 presidential campaign, former 2008 Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (AZ) said this morning that he thinks Palin can win in a race against President Obama in 2012.

“Of course, she can,” Senator John McCain made said on “Fox News Sunday” this morning. “She can. Now, whether she will or not, whether she'll even run or not, I don't know.”
....

“She [Palin] also inspires great passion, particularly among Republican faithful.” McCain said.

Sarah inspires my passion to hope that she will run and win the Republican nomination.

I'm puzzled that Sarah's not in the driver's seat in the picture. She doesn't function at all well in second place. Still, from the rear seat of a motorcycle, I suppose she hasn't much choice but to follow the leader.

Photo from The Huffington Post.

This post was inspired by PJ DeGenaro at Facebook.

FEAST OF THE VISITATION

GHIRLANDAIO, Domenico - 1491
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Luke 1:39-55

In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leapt in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leapt for joy. And blessed is she who believed that there would be* a fulfilment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.’
And Mary* said,

‘My soul magnifies the Lord,
and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour,
for he has looked with favour on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants for ever.’

PRAYER

Father in heaven, by whose grace the virgin mother of your incarnate Son was blessed in bearing him, but still more blessed in keeping your word: Grant us who honor the exaltation of her lowliness to follow the example of her devotion to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

To me, the Visitation and the Nativity are two of the loveliest stories in the Gospels. The narratives are good news, indeed.

The glorious Magnificat should give pause to all in high positions in the church to recall the words of Jesus that the greatest amongst us are to be servants of all. As well, Mary's song is a call to all of us to serve one another.

Please read Tobias Haller's wonderful poem in the spirit of the feast day at In a Godward Direction.

Image from The Web Gallery of Art.

DEATHS IN THE FAMILY (JOKE)

A man in a bar sees a friend at a table, drinking by himself.

Approaching the friend he comments, "You look terrible. What's
the problem?"

"My mother died in February," the friend said, "and left me
$25,000."

"Gee, that's tough," replied the man.

"Then in March," the friend continued, "My father died, leaving
me $90,000."

"Wow. Two parents gone in two months. No wonder you're
depressed."

"And last month my aunt died, and left me $15,000."

"Three close family members lost in three months? How sad."

"Then this month," continued the friend, "absolutely nothing!"



Cheers,

Paul (A.)

Thanks for the laugh, Paul (A.) :-D

ANDEE AND KIRSTIN NEED HELP

From Barefoot and Laughing:

Written by Andee, posted by Kirstin

We have just reached the point where Kirstin can no longer stay alone while I am at work. (This is Andee - the infamous "A," her roommate, writing.)
For those of you who may not be up-to-date with the latest--the pain from the "strained ligament" in her left knee turned out in fact to be from another melanoma metastasis in her left tibia. The various pain meds she has been given, while not helping much with the pain, have made her loopy, nauseous or both. She had been able to hobble from the bed to the bathroom with the aid of a walker, but Friday night, the pain meds made her lose her balance. She caught herself before falling, but simply putting weight on that leg fractured the front of that bone.

I haven't had an uninterrupted night's sleep in weeks, and am exhausted. Although I have some vacation time remaining, I'm trying to save that for the times I need to accompany Kirstin to doctor's appointments. Family leave laws don't apply when you are the primary caregiver to a roommate instead of a close relative.

To all of you who have wondered how you can help: HELP!!!!

Read the rest at Kirstin's blog, and please help if you can.

MEMORIAL DAY 2011

Arlington National Cemetery

Memorial Day in the United States is a day of remembrance of those in all our wars who gave everything in the service of their country. We honor them for their courage and dedication to duty. We extend our sympathy to their families and friends, whether the loss is recent or from long times past. We stand with you. We mourn with you.

Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.’
For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
He shall judge between many peoples,
and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more;
but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,
and no one shall make them afraid;
for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. Micah 4:1-4

Lord God, Almighty and Everlasting Father, we pray for all those who have died in wars. We pray the they may rest in peace in the perpetual light of your love. We pray for your blessing upon the families and friends of all those who have died in service to their country. Console them for their aching loss. Bring them healing of body, mind, and spirit. Give them strength and courage to go forward, and Lord God, above all else, give them your peace that passes understanding to keep their minds and hearts.

Below is the faded bumper sticker that I put on my car in 2003 after the start of the war in Iraq. Originally, the top letters were bright yellow, and the bottom letters were bright blue and red.

The war in Afghanistan began in 2001.


Image at the top from Wikipedia.

UPDATE: Rmj at Adventus posted a lovely prayer service, with pictures and poetry, in honor of the day.

Counterlight posted a thoughtful reflection on the day, along with a video of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards' lovely version of the hymn, "Abide With Me".

BECAUSE I LOVE AN OXYMORON

A rough outline of sequence of events that led the late Colin Slee, former Dean of Southwark Cathedral, to write the Slee Memo, which was recently leaked to the Guardian:

The position of Bishop of the Diocese of Southwark in south London becomes vacant.

Dr Jeffery John, Dean of St Alban's Cathedral, who is gay and in a civil partnership, but celibate, is one of the nominees for the position.

Jeffrey John's name is leaked to the media, despite the vow of confidentiality taken by the members of the Crown Nominations Commission.

According to Dean Colin Slee's account in the Slee Memo, the Archbishop of Canterbury himself may have been the leaker when he inquired of church lawyers if there was any reason to decline the nomination of Jeffrey John as bishop of the Diocese of Southwark. In his memo, Slee alleges that the Archbishop had no right to break the vow of confidentiality taken by all members of the commission in order to consult the lawyers.

The news of Jeffrey John's nomination spreads through the media.

After vehement objections to Jeffrey John and another nominee by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, the Crown Nominations Commission submits the name of Christopher Chessun to the crown, and he is appointed to the position of Bishop of Southwark.

An inquiry into the leak (the Fitchie Enquiry) begins. The findings of the inquiry are to be secret, says the Archbishop of Canterbury.

Concerning a phrase included in Terms of Reference of (the Fritchie Enquiry) Colin Slee says in an email to Chris Smith of the Anglican Communion Office:

Finally, I hope you are aware of the marvellous oxymoron in the terms of reference, (your italics) '...and to make any recommendations necessary to improve the confidentiality in the work of the Commission as it seeks to open up its processes.' (My emphasis)

Colin Slee writes in the memo about the conduct of the Crown Nominations Commission meeting to choose the bishop of Southwark:

The oxymoron within the Terms of Reference will be a delight to me for years to come; it exhibits the chaotic unreality that prevailed from the very beginning.

The purpose of this post is to call attention to the "marvellous oxymoron" and to the "chaotic unreality" of the process of choosing bishops in the Church of England and also as a memory aid for me of the sequence of events if I choose to write about the Slee Memo yet again.

Thanks to Pluralist for the reminder of the oxymoron in his post titled "More on the Smell".

SPEAKS FOR ITSELF

Borrowed from Vic the Vicar.

Thanks to Lapin.

GUESS WHAT IT IS

Its measure is 1 foot long.

BOUDREAUX MAKES A DEAL

Boudreaux and Aucoin are walking down the street in Beaumont, right over the Louisiana line in Texas, and they see a sign on a store which reads:

Suits $5.00 each!
Shirts $2.00 each! Pants $2.50 each!

Boudreaux says to his pal, "Look here, Auc, we could buy a whole gob of these, take 'em back to Weswego, sell 'em to our friends and them other coonasses down in the bayou, and make a fortune. Just let me do the talkin' 'cause if they hear your accent, they might think we're ignorant Cajuns, and won't wanna sell that stuff to us. Jes watch, I'll talk real sophisticated so's they think we is from Lufkin or somewhares over here in Texas."

They go in and Boudreaux says with his best fake sophisticated Texas accent, "I'll take 50 of them suits at $5.00 each, 100 of them there shirts at $2.00 each, 50 pairs of them there pants at $2.50 each. I'll back up my pickup and..."

The owner of the shop interrupts. "Ya'll Cajuns are from over by Jeanerette, New Iberia or somewheres, aren't you?"

"Well...yeah," says a surprised Boudreaux. "How come you knowed that?"

"Because this is a dry cleaners."

A joke about my own people. I should be ashamed. I blame Doug.

The truth is that I had a good laugh before the punch line of the joke at "best fake sophisticated Texas accent".

HELP FOR THE FOLKS IN JOPLIN, MISSOURI

Click for the larger view.,

To access the links to donate, volunteer, or see the list of needs, go to the website of the Episcopal Diocese of West Missouri.


Nicholas Knisely at The Lead posted quotes and a link to the moving story of the chaplains of Joplin who have taken responsibility for informing the families of the victims who died as a result of the tornadoes.



Bob Heath pictured above.

"Mr. Heath, who is not paid for his work as one of the four Joplin Police Department chaplains, says he prefers that the families get angry with him rather than at someone from somewhere else, someone who cannot possibly grasp all that has happened.

“I’ll take it,” Mr. Heath said, describing a family that screamed at him on Thursday when he told them their relative’s body had been identified. “I’d rather it be me than anyone else in the world. And if that keeps them from yelling at their wife or their husband or whoever, yell at me all you want. Start yelling.”

I read the story from the New York Times in my paper this morning and was quite touched by the work of the chaplains. As I said at The Lead:

Bob Heath and the other chaplins are the face of Jesus to the people in Joplin. God bless them for what they do. God bless and give comfort to the people in Joplin.