U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned after being confronted with sexually explicit computer messages he’d sent to former House pages.
From the Associated Press
This is relavent because THIS is the reason the Democrats were able to take control of the U.S. House of Represenatives in 2006. This scandal, and revelations that then-GOP Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert was trying to keep it low-key or even cover it up, made the electorate sick to their stomach.
Democrats didn't have any kind of a mandate to do what they wanted to do. The voters wanted to throw the bums in control out. At the time, those were the Republicans.
They might have had a bit of a mandate in 2008, with Obama's election. But they squandered it.
This is the most politically inept White House — politically — possibly ever.
Thursday, September 29, 2011
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
VIDEO: Irreverant, but not heretical (I hope) at the Eucharistic Congress
So the Catholic Diocese of Charlotte held a Eucharistic Congress. Tens of thousands attended. A procession started right outside The Charlotte Observer.
It chose not to cover the event. At all. You'd think they'd at least be wondering what 10,000 people were doing outside their front door on a Saturday morning, since, if you miss the crosses an incense, a procession looks remarkably like a march.
I sent this email to Rick Thames, the editor:
Anyway. That's the serious commentary
• I made a few wisecracks while there.
My wife's receptionist Denyse said that she saw a certain priest in the procession. I said I had heard a lot about him, but I'd never met him so I wouldn't recognize him.
She said, "He's in black."
"A priest in black is really going to stand out here," I said.
• My lovely bride also set me up pretty good. I walked around the vendor booths, and with the exception of a lady selling a cook book, they seemed to all have Christian/Catholic themes. Some were info booths. Some were merchants.
When I got back from making a loop to the right, my wife asked, "Did you see any crosses?"
I had said I would buy her a certain cross that she likes if I saw it. But she didn't say, "Did you see the cross?"
She said, "Did you see any crosses?"
I said, "You can't spit in this place without hitting a cross."
That's probably borderline heresy, come to think of it. But God gave me my sense of humor.
• When the procession came through, you were supposed to kneel. I leaned on a table that I wrongly thought had rubber-tipped legs to get back up, and it slid about 3 inches, causing me to slip a little, and I twisted my ankle.
Some weekends, the bowing and rising at mass is the only exercise I get. But the danger inherent in kneeling at a Eucharistic Congress in the Charlotte Convention Center has me wondering about conversion to a less bow-y version of the faith.
I would accept the supremacy of the See of Rome and all that. Just a Catholicism that is not potentially going to put me in crutches. If it's out there, let me know.
• The procession made its way through the convention center throughout the day. I didn't think, however, that escalators were in the rubrics.
Edit: Here's the video I promised. It's raw. I'll see if I can get it into an editor and smooth it out some. later.:
The note I posted with the video says this: The procession of the Eucharist through the the Eucharistic Congress in Charlotte NC, Sept. 24, 2011. I consider it a "liturgical irony" that the procession carried the host on the escalator.
Watch any movie with a scene of the Crucifixion, and they almost always have a stair well or two that Jesus must travel to get to Golgotha. He didn't get to ride an escalator.
It chose not to cover the event. At all. You'd think they'd at least be wondering what 10,000 people were doing outside their front door on a Saturday morning, since, if you miss the crosses an incense, a procession looks remarkably like a march.
I sent this email to Rick Thames, the editor:
Would the definition of local news include news that happens about 10 feet from your door?We'll post any answer he makes.
Why did no one from The Observer cover the Eucharistic Congress on Friday or Saturday?
There were 10,000 people in the streets outside your office on a procession (you could call it a march if you like). 10,000 plus. Probably more.
One of the main speakers at the event was a main Third World Catholic Cardinal, said to have been in the running for pope the last go-around? How is THAT not newsworthy?
I'm an award-winning journalist myself and I cannot justify or explain your lack of even just a perfunctory photo.
Some Catholics believe the "mainstream media" have an anti-Catholic and/or anti-Christian bias. I can't defend journalism in the face of such a stunning failure on your part. I can't fathom it. It's either laziness, or it is indeed a bias.
Please explain.
Anyway. That's the serious commentary
• I made a few wisecracks while there.
My wife's receptionist Denyse said that she saw a certain priest in the procession. I said I had heard a lot about him, but I'd never met him so I wouldn't recognize him.
She said, "He's in black."
"A priest in black is really going to stand out here," I said.
• My lovely bride also set me up pretty good. I walked around the vendor booths, and with the exception of a lady selling a cook book, they seemed to all have Christian/Catholic themes. Some were info booths. Some were merchants.
When I got back from making a loop to the right, my wife asked, "Did you see any crosses?"
I had said I would buy her a certain cross that she likes if I saw it. But she didn't say, "Did you see the cross?"
She said, "Did you see any crosses?"
I said, "You can't spit in this place without hitting a cross."
That's probably borderline heresy, come to think of it. But God gave me my sense of humor.
• When the procession came through, you were supposed to kneel. I leaned on a table that I wrongly thought had rubber-tipped legs to get back up, and it slid about 3 inches, causing me to slip a little, and I twisted my ankle.
Some weekends, the bowing and rising at mass is the only exercise I get. But the danger inherent in kneeling at a Eucharistic Congress in the Charlotte Convention Center has me wondering about conversion to a less bow-y version of the faith.
I would accept the supremacy of the See of Rome and all that. Just a Catholicism that is not potentially going to put me in crutches. If it's out there, let me know.
• The procession made its way through the convention center throughout the day. I didn't think, however, that escalators were in the rubrics.
Edit: Here's the video I promised. It's raw. I'll see if I can get it into an editor and smooth it out some. later.:
The note I posted with the video says this: The procession of the Eucharist through the the Eucharistic Congress in Charlotte NC, Sept. 24, 2011. I consider it a "liturgical irony" that the procession carried the host on the escalator.
Watch any movie with a scene of the Crucifixion, and they almost always have a stair well or two that Jesus must travel to get to Golgotha. He didn't get to ride an escalator.
Thursday, September 22, 2011
Blast from the past: Flashing back to my baby's birth
I thought I was going to have Internet access at the hospital when my baby was born, but the maternity ward wasn't wired. I started a little log of what was going on -- while Patricia slept -- and played CDs on my laptop to give her something to listen to. But I never had time to follow up and finish. I don't know how long I intended to keep doing this. But it was a one-shot deal.
My lovely bride is, again, snoring. She’s always snored, but it’s gotten heavy with the pregnancy.
Eating for two – ha ha. Good joke. Everyone gets it, and laughs.
She’s been breathing for two for months now. It has put her respiratory system to the test.
We have spent a night of some pain, a bit of unease, and she reached the point of asking for “something” to take the edge off her pain. It was supposed to make her a little woozy, a little drowsy. But she’s out cold.
It is almost 9 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 22.
I have called my family, her family. I have to call her office and get a number to call her boss, let her know.
But our baby is coming. On the way. There’s been no backing out for months now. Never was any backing out, really.
But there’s REALLY no backing out now.
So this wonderful day started with a bit of a bad night. I expected her to be home when I was on my way home, but when I called, she was was still at work. I knew she had thought about going to see the doctor, so I asked if she had. She wanted to wait to tell me later, but I got it out of her.
Her blood pressure was a bit high, and she was cramping a bit more uncomfortably. She was not dilated, so the doctor was afraid of pre-eclampsya. He took some blood and told her to come back Friday.
She went back to the office and got down to finishing up the conversion of her templates from the 25-inch web templates to the 24-inch. Just an inch, but it takes a lot of effort.
I told her to come home, but she wasn’t home until like 9:30 or 10.
She was afraid she was having contractions. She also wanted to eat a bit. I made her an egg salad sandwich, because that requires all of 10 seconds of effort.
When we started timing her contractions, they were around a minute to a minute and half long, and about five to seven minutes apart. The “key” time is to be a minute long, five minutes apart, for an hour.
She'd had a few in the car just like the ones she was having now. And they were at the same level. I started running the watch.
We called the doctor, and he said if she wanted to go to the hospital, it was up to her. She wanted to sleep, and be with the dogs for a little longer. So we watched the Colbert Report, got a few laughs, and tried to sleep.
We went to bed about 1:30 p.m., She woke me about 4. She was ready. She had slept good for a while, but two good contractions had woken her.
It was hard leaving the dogs behind.
We were talking, going along at a good clip for a bit, but when a contraction hit, she said, “Are you at least going the speed limit?”
We triaged, and to both our surprise, Patricia was dilated between 3 and 4 centimeters. Wow.
On the way. The nurse who checked us in, Tia, said it was possible the doctor would send us home, but mostly likely, we’d be here and we’d be having the baby.
Tia got us into the room, but she actually got to helping another woman coming in whose water had broken. She got the woman into the room and the baby just came there. So Manuela came.
Tia had us walking the halls, which is supposed to help the dilation progress. We needed to get to at least 8 centimeters.
We had little progress during the night. At the 7 p.m. shift change, Tia came in and told us goodbye, and what had happened elsewhere in the ward that kept her away for a bit.
During one of our walks, we saw Dean, the guy who runs Fort Mil Automotive, who repaired Patricia’s A/C cheaper than the dealership. His wife was having a C-section.
Funny to meet someone you know.
By about 8 a.m., Patricia had had all the pain she could stand, so she wanted to get a narc. It ended up knocking her out. I made a few calls to Patricia’s work and her family, Tom and Susan.
I had called Catherine, then Anne, getting neither. Catherine called back, talked to me, then Patricia, then me again.
“Whee, we’re having a baby,” she said before hanging up.
(Captain's Log, supplemental, on June 9, 2007: WE?)
She said she was working but could get off by noon. Mom would come with her, it was decided. She called Mom. I expected Mom to call, but she didn’t.
Anne called. I’d left a message. She sang. I can’t even remember what, but it wasn’t one of my favorite songs. But to Anne, it will be the baby’s song for a while. Probably until he/she gets married.
Talked to Mom. She was praying.
Talked to John. He had the day off, and was going to come, do a couple of errands for us that we just didn’t get to. The bases for the baby's car seat needed installing. The dogs needed to be handled, either walked or taken to the Dirty Dog Depot. Probably the latter. And we need Patricia's work key taken to the office. Debbie either had the day off or got off, and is coming with him.
There is no internet access here, and I had promised a bunch of people they’d get an e-mail during the event. Sucks.
It’s almost noon. I need sleep. She will wake up soon, and we’ll see what we see.
Except for the spell check to correct, and the supplemental note in there, that's all that I wrote that night.
I didn't even make a note of what the doctor said when he came. The first one.
Or the bit about the actual doctor who came in and helped Patricia deliver. Her cellphone went off and started playing the Tiger Rag. The doctor didn't understand the horrified, murderous look on my face at first, but when she saw my USC Gamecocks shirt AND hat, she said, "Uh oh, I'm in trouble."
Patricia laughed pretty hard. I had to take my cell phone out, play the USC fight song and remove/exorcise the demon sounds. But I let her proceed.
Other than being a graduate of Clemson at some point in her career, it was actually a pretty good decision.
We had a few other funny bits, but I can't remember them right now, almost nine month later.
(Captain's Log, supplemental -- Here it is, the boy is 3 and a half, and I do remember a good bit. Once the baby was born, they held "it" up, and the doctor, the two nurses and my wife, the ladies, all, just kind of waited. Patricia said, "Well?"
(They had a written plan for what everyone is supposed to do, and one of my few meager tasks was to "announce" the sex of the child. They didn't explain that to me. I thought it meant, tell the world, later on. I thought it was a stupid job, because I didn't imagine Patricia would be making many calls, and I thought I sure would be.
(But that meant, announce in the delivery room. They were waiting on me to say what it was. And for a second, I blanked. There was some, you know, goo, in the area, so I couldn't actually tell.
("A boy?" I said, hesitantly.
(And it was.)
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
On the poor
So there's a new late afternoon radio host on conservative talk radio station WBT, Vince Coakley.
He's not the snarling, foaming-at-the-mouth, rabid conservative mouth that they had with Tara Servatius or her predecessor (can't remember his name). No, Coakley is soft-spoken. BUt he might be more dangerous.
He more readily wears some kind of ID on his shoulder that he is a Christian, but I'm not sure what variety. Certainly not mine.
While attacking something Nancy Pelosi said, he made a statement that, to my ears, said, she wasn't a Christian. But he said more than once, she was a Catholic. It was almost a direct statement, this "Catholic" isn't a Christian. I didn't listen much longer, but nobody seemed interested in correcting it. Well, we are in the South, and it's a Protestant Bible belt.
But again, caught it a little later, and I heard an exchange that went something like this, beginning with a caller who related, in brief, this parable:
OK, that's the whole verse. Now, the caller summed it up, condensed it. But his takeaway was this -- The lazy poor people who are gobbling up government benefits need to be tossed out. They are dragging us all down, and God wants us to take care of ourselves and make MONEY.
The "Christian" host, Mr. Coakley, agreed.
And there you have it. To live their lives, to set their attitude about everything, they depend on just one parable in a book filled with dozens. Some of the other parables have the direct opposite meaning. Some direct quotes of the Jesus both these men purport to follow contradict, absolutely, the message they took away.
The message they heard, the guiding principle they seem to want to apply is, "Fuck the poor."
Hate to use the language, but that's what it boils down to.
Jesus Christ never, ever said, "Let the poor fend for themselves."
Jesus spoke against the rat race when he said God takes care of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. "How much more are you than they?" he said.
But he never said make money. He never said screw those less fortunate than you.
Jesus said, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."
None of the poor, today, are just handed a million bucks.
The people who are on public assistance have no "talents."
Those to whom God, or life, has given something, sure. Something is expected. But the people on public assistance are those whom life, or God, has given nothing. That's the basic misconception Coakley and the caller have. This parable on which they base their view of the poor actually has nothing to say about the poor in that society ... or our society. They aren't mentioned.
In today's world, the poor are those on public assistance, and they are also the nearly "50 percent" who pay no income tax, according to too many conservatives. They believe it is OK to discard such people, or not think about them at all, or, if you do think about them, deride them and scorn them.
Jesus didn't say, "Fuck the poor."
When he talked about them, he talked about caring for them.
But also, the fundamental misunderstanding held by the host and the caller was that Jesus was actually talking just about money. I don't know when the double entendre became real for the word "talent," but it now also means gifts, skills, abilities.
And that is what Jesus was really talking about. Jesus was not a stock broker or a financial consultant. This was not his "Get rich quick, -- 10 easy steps" program.
If the parable had just its basest meaning, well, then tell me where I can go to get my talent. I am sure if I were handed $1 million, I could make a run at doubling it up.
On the radio and on Fox News, you hear it said that for Obama to propose taxing the rich is "class warfare." But you hear those same people spout off, time and again, about the "lazy" poor who pay nothing.
The rich can take care of themselves. But the rich, or those who have enough, too often in our society, still either attack the poor or nod or just let it go without challenging it. Deluding oneself about what the Bible says is an insidious sign of how deep this goes.
I doubt if anything else can correct someone who does distort the Bible's message. But I'll give it a try.
He's not the snarling, foaming-at-the-mouth, rabid conservative mouth that they had with Tara Servatius or her predecessor (can't remember his name). No, Coakley is soft-spoken. BUt he might be more dangerous.
He more readily wears some kind of ID on his shoulder that he is a Christian, but I'm not sure what variety. Certainly not mine.
While attacking something Nancy Pelosi said, he made a statement that, to my ears, said, she wasn't a Christian. But he said more than once, she was a Catholic. It was almost a direct statement, this "Catholic" isn't a Christian. I didn't listen much longer, but nobody seemed interested in correcting it. Well, we are in the South, and it's a Protestant Bible belt.
But again, caught it a little later, and I heard an exchange that went something like this, beginning with a caller who related, in brief, this parable:
Matthew 25:14-30: New International Version (NIV)
“Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one he gave five bags of gold, to another two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.
The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also, the one with two bags of gold gained two more. But the man who had received one bag went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags of gold brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I have gained five more.
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!
“The man with two bags of gold also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two bags of gold; see, I have gained two more.’
“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’
“Then the man who had received one bag of gold came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed. So I was afraid and went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’
“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed? Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.
“‘So take the bag of gold from him and give it to the one who has ten bags. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’"
OK, that's the whole verse. Now, the caller summed it up, condensed it. But his takeaway was this -- The lazy poor people who are gobbling up government benefits need to be tossed out. They are dragging us all down, and God wants us to take care of ourselves and make MONEY.
The "Christian" host, Mr. Coakley, agreed.
And there you have it. To live their lives, to set their attitude about everything, they depend on just one parable in a book filled with dozens. Some of the other parables have the direct opposite meaning. Some direct quotes of the Jesus both these men purport to follow contradict, absolutely, the message they took away.
The message they heard, the guiding principle they seem to want to apply is, "Fuck the poor."
Hate to use the language, but that's what it boils down to.
Jesus Christ never, ever said, "Let the poor fend for themselves."
Jesus spoke against the rat race when he said God takes care of the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. "How much more are you than they?" he said.
But he never said make money. He never said screw those less fortunate than you.
Jesus said, "If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me."
Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, it will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven."
Jesus said, "... when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. ..."
Back to the parable of the talents, and why both the caller on the show and the host were blindly ignorant to take that meaning away from it.
The rich man gave his wealth to his servants. He expected them to make use of the wealth that they had been given.
But what exactly did he give them? If you reduce this to just money, how much was it worth. One website says this --
Standard talent is equal to seventy-five pounds. The price of gold as of April, 2009 is approximately $900 dollars an ounce. There are 16 ounces in a pound. That means a talent of gold would be worth $1 080 000.
Either calculation suggests that the "lazy" servant is given, in the equivalent money of his day, from $1 million to $2 million.
None of the poor, today, are just handed a million bucks.
The people who are on public assistance have no "talents."
Those to whom God, or life, has given something, sure. Something is expected. But the people on public assistance are those whom life, or God, has given nothing. That's the basic misconception Coakley and the caller have. This parable on which they base their view of the poor actually has nothing to say about the poor in that society ... or our society. They aren't mentioned.
In today's world, the poor are those on public assistance, and they are also the nearly "50 percent" who pay no income tax, according to too many conservatives. They believe it is OK to discard such people, or not think about them at all, or, if you do think about them, deride them and scorn them.
Jesus didn't say, "Fuck the poor."
When he talked about them, he talked about caring for them.
But also, the fundamental misunderstanding held by the host and the caller was that Jesus was actually talking just about money. I don't know when the double entendre became real for the word "talent," but it now also means gifts, skills, abilities.
And that is what Jesus was really talking about. Jesus was not a stock broker or a financial consultant. This was not his "Get rich quick, -- 10 easy steps" program.
If the parable had just its basest meaning, well, then tell me where I can go to get my talent. I am sure if I were handed $1 million, I could make a run at doubling it up.
On the radio and on Fox News, you hear it said that for Obama to propose taxing the rich is "class warfare." But you hear those same people spout off, time and again, about the "lazy" poor who pay nothing.
The rich can take care of themselves. But the rich, or those who have enough, too often in our society, still either attack the poor or nod or just let it go without challenging it. Deluding oneself about what the Bible says is an insidious sign of how deep this goes.
I doubt if anything else can correct someone who does distort the Bible's message. But I'll give it a try.
"I wouldn't give you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have a little bit of plain, ordinary, everyday kindness and a - a little lookin' out for the other fella, too. ...That's pretty important, all that. It's just the blood and bone and sinew of this democracy that some great men handed down to the human race, that's all."And
"All you people don't know about lost causes. Mr. Paine does. He said once they were the only causes worth fighting for, and he fought for them once, for the only reason any man ever fights for them: Because of one plain simple rule: Love thy neighbor. And in this world today, full of hatred, a man who knows that one rule has a great trust."
-- Jefferson Smith
Anyway. It's been months since I heard that, and it's been stewing at the back of my brain ever since.
Hey, Vince. Next time, correct your caller.
Jesus did not say screw the poor. He did not tell us how to make money.
Take care of the poor.
Hey, Vince. Next time, correct your caller.
Jesus did not say screw the poor. He did not tell us how to make money.
Take care of the poor.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Wedding Anniversary Polka - YouTube
Wedding Anniversary Polka - YouTube
As of Tuesday, it has been eight years of marriage with my lovely bride.
We went out to a German place in Myrtle Beach, Horst Gasthaus.
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