Archive for April, 2010

Happy birthday, <lj user=”mrpandabehr”>, <lj user=”pinkfish”>, and <lj user=”shelbycub”>&#8230;

Friday, April 30th, 2010

…and many happy returns of the day to you all!

From Twitter 04-29-2010

Friday, April 30th, 2010
  • 07:44:54: Morning, tweeps and peeps. Interesting political day yesterday. Who knows what today will bring? PM’s debate tonight.
  • 23:41:49: Well, tweeps and peeps, off to bed now. Wish me luck at the foot clinic tomorrow. I don’t honestly know what will happen.

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From Twitter 04-28-2010

Thursday, April 29th, 2010
  • 08:45:41: Morning tweeps and peeps. Had a bad day yesterday and a moderately bad night. Off to get my shot in the butt now…

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From Twitter 04-27-2010

Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
  • 13:51:51: Amazing! RT @devinjay A Tiny Apartment Transforms into 24 Rooms http://tinyurl.com/3xd78yw
  • 16:32:30: Hang ’em high! RT @kevjumba: Headed to jury duty again this morning, ugh.
  • 16:34:34: Some chicklehead rang my doorbell while I was upstairs in bed. “There is a pre-alarm fire here” No there effing isn’t! I gave him what-for.
  • 16:35:10: I thought it might be a candidate canvassing. Unless it was Simon Hughes, I don’t want to talk with them. I’ve already voted, anyway.

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From Twitter 04-26-2010

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
  • 10:41:42: morning, tweeps and peeps. Feeling a bit better today, but not out of the woods yet. No visiting nurse today, I must hobble to the GP. Nuts!
  • 23:10:36: Well, tweeps and peeps, time to retire. I’m feeling better today (but not absolutely first rate) so more good thoughts would be welcome. Tnx

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Today’s Bicycle Safety Video

Monday, April 26th, 2010

I haven’t ridden a bicycle since I lived in the Bronx nearly 20 years ago. However, in the 1960’s, kids were shown this videl to warn them about bicycle safety. I suspect they all got nightmares. I know I will. It’s a cross between the Flying Monkeys in the Wizard of Oz and Planet of the Apes. That lovely old queen Edward Everett Horton narrates. It’s long, but unmissable.

From Twitter 04-25-2010

Monday, April 26th, 2010
  • 22:43:32: Well, tweeps and peeps, off to finish the rest of the Vicar of Dibley then to bed. I hope I feel better tomorrow: good thoughts welcome! thx

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From Twitter 04-24-2010

Sunday, April 25th, 2010
  • 10:47:28: Morning tweeps & peeps. My right foot is now infected again, and I’m trying to keep it rested while waiting for the nurse to arrive w/ shot.
  • 19:23:24: @seismic007 @jonk http://bit.ly/d7dwpR is possibly the most disgusting menu item ever attempted. Except for balut http://is.gd/bGpCL
  • 20:13:13: Oh good grief! Balut=Barf! @jonk: @seismic007 omg y’all, even *i* have limits! *barf* lololol (i’d totally eat balut over that any day!)
  • 23:31:22: Well, tweeps and peeps, time for bed. I do hope I feel a bit better tomorrow.

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Today’s Spam Subject Line

Saturday, April 24th, 2010

Upgrade your powerfederal rattlesnake

Medical Matters

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

I discovered that the ulcer on my right foot was not doing very well a few days ago, so I started myself on metronidazole (the infamous Flagyl) and went to the foot clinic today.

The good news first: the cast on my left foot was removed and the podiatrist pronounced herself pleased with the results. However, I would need to have another one put on today and removed in two weeks. We shall see how this transpires.

The bad news is that there is a serious infection in my right foot. The podiatrist listened to the blood circulation in that foot and decided to send me up to the vascular clinic for them to take a closer look. I went upstairs and a very cute specialist (radiographer? radiologist? I’m not sure what he is…) told me to take off my jeans. He asked me to lie on a table while he slathered my tummy and my left leg in K-Y jelly and started up his ultrasound machine. He also took the blood pressure in my ankle and my arm. He began by telling me that since the arteries in my legs start in the abdomen, he’d begin there. He wanted to assure himself that I didn’t have an aneurysm. ANEURISM?! I cried? He assured me it was just as a safety precaution. Once he’d finished looking at the arteries in my abdomen (and found no aneurisms), he ran his machine down my thigh and saw a bit of calcification but no blockage. However, when he got down to my ankle he found a significant spot where the blood flow was constricted. By this time I was sitting up and watching his monitor and found it fascinating, in a grim kind of way. He then let me towel off the K-Y, put my jeans back on, and make my way back down to the Foot Clinic. The podiatrist said that I should come for the vascular leg clinic in a week and a half. They would assess whether I needed angioplasty or not. It’s day surgery and no stent will be placed, unlike my heart angioplasty. That is, if they decide I ought to have it. Meanwhile, I need a shot in the bot every day for the next two weeks and oral metronidazole. I went home quite discouraged.

But my discouragement was not to end then. I had put in a prescription refill request for Insulatard (long-lasting insulin) a week ago at my GPs. They had forgotten to include it in the previous refill. When I got home, the prescription was not in my mailbox. So I called the GP, and they scrabbled around for a bit until they found it. “Good!” I said, “I’ll be right down.”

I came down and got the prescription. Now, recall that I got refills of everything around a month ago. I looked at the prescription and discovered, to my horror, that they had filled nearly the entire set of my medications. By this time I was so unsettled that I said, “Well, having extras of everyting won’t be TOO bad…” and went to the pharmacy. They filled the prescription, suggested I should contact the practice manager at my GP’s, and I toddled home with two shopping bags full of medication.

Well.

When I got home I discovered, to even more horror, that they had filled everything but had given me a prescription of 5mg of amlodipine, rather than 10mg (I was upped to 10 mg a while back and that has been fine); had prescribed gliclazide, which I haven’t taken since November when I was hospitalised, and had given me two boxes of Insulatard, rather than three.

Now if I were a little old 98 year old man, I might not have noticed that the amlodipine was 1/2 its usual strength, and only taken one a day. The stroke that would follow would have been quite preventable. I might have decided that they wanted me to start taking the gliclazide again, which might screw up my blood sugar.

I need to think about whether I should write the practice manager and point out the last three prescriptions that were not written correctly. I believe it’s the staff, not the doctors, who are negligent. But it’s making me seriously think of changing GP practices. When I get older and more senile (if I do get much older, that is…) mistakes like this might kill me faster than my ailments are kiling me already.

Now I have to chase up the district nurse, who is meant to be giving me my injection tomorrow and Sunday. Another worry.

From Twitter 04-22-2010

Friday, April 23rd, 2010

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Poetry

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

I’m not normally a fan of poetry. However, somewhere I came across this cowboy poem in a place where the person pointing it out thought it was redolent of Brokeback Mountain.

Be that as it may, it touches me somewhere and I think it might touch you too.

Jeff and Joe. A True Incident of Creede Camp, Colorado by William Devere

Knowed Joe Simmons? Course I did.
Knowed him ‘fore he up an’ slid
Cross the range that blustery day.
Did he slide? Well I should say!
Not the way you mean it, though,
Up the hill we toted Joe,
And we laid him ‘neath the rocks.
Death had called the turn, “Jack Box.”
‘Fore he cashed in Jeff Smith come,
Asked if nothin’ could be done.
Jeff, yer see, thought well of Joe

Happy birthday, <lj user=”kc_risenphoenix”>&#8230;

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

…and many happy returns of the day! You share a birthday with Her Majesty the Queen, by the way.

From Twitter 04-19-2010

Tuesday, April 20th, 2010

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Happy birthday, <lj user=”vernnyc”>&#8230;

Monday, April 19th, 2010

…and many happy returns of the day!

From Twitter 04-18-2010

Monday, April 19th, 2010
  • 07:41:46: @jbttm4u If you’re going to see him again tell him to lay off smoking and then offer him a pineapple juice a few hours before you go to bed.

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From Twitter 04-17-2010

Sunday, April 18th, 2010
  • 09:33:06: @DanielJUK I only drink tea when I’m ill, but always drink coffee.
  • 10:36:18: #AmericaWants @IEquality to get a full-page ad in USA Today.
  • 10:42:07: @DanielJUK I’m originally American so we only drink tea in extremis…old ladies drank tea in my misspent youth, not anyone younger than 70.
  • 14:44:08: RT @LucasLascivious: Me:”I feel like I should have included the fact that I’m 5’2″ in the e-mail.” Friend:”Well, or 12 inches long.” Hahaha.
  • 14:47:29: Hm…will wonders never cease! First KFC, now this! RT @stevenimmons: UK Brigade of Kentucky Colonels Inaugural Meeting http://aosr6.th8.us
  • 22:59:04: @Lileks My friend the Grand Circumciser of Atlanta is stuck over here in Europe due to ash plume. Shoulda cut his trip short…
  • 23:00:01: Well, tweeps and peeps, time for hitting the hay. Be good, play nice, and we’ll see you all tomorrow.

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This made me smile&#8230;

Friday, April 16th, 2010

Jaded commuters put smiles on their faces…

Humour, There’ll Always be an England Department

Friday, April 16th, 2010

The Grauniad…er…Guardian is the newspaper I read here. It’s left of centre. However, it earned a reputation in the days of hot lead type of being full of printer’s gremlins and typos. Thus, the nickname Grauniad.

Without further comment, here is the last item in their “Corrections and Clarifications” column today:

Our panel listing the expected highlights at Glastonbury this summer catapulted into the festival’s headliners a band not so much obscure as unknown, even to those expert in Judaic contributions to rock (Taking the stage: Sunday, 15 April, page 3). The group Frightened Rabbi should have been the Scottish band Frightened Rabbit.

Makes up for the lousy political campaign and ash plumes over Great Britain.

How Dumb Am I?

Friday, April 16th, 2010
I am smarter than 99.81% of the rest of the world.
How Smart Are You?

Happy birthday, <lj user=”j8d”>&#8230;

Friday, April 16th, 2010

…and many happy returns of the day!

From Twitter 04-15-2010

Friday, April 16th, 2010
  • 15:28:27: @AIannucci It’s “twit”. Believe me.
  • 17:43:44: I suppose it depends on where you’re putting your fingers… RT @Sgboy01: I cut my nails every other day, some say I am strange
  • 22:16:05: I watched the #LeadersDebate … I thought Brown seemed very defensive, Cameron confident, and Clegg enthusiastic. I enjoyed it. Clegg wins.

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Happy birthday, <lj user=”ruth_lawrence”>&#8230;

Thursday, April 15th, 2010

…and many happy returns of the day!

From Twitter 04-13-2010

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010
  • 09:33:28: @alexgohdd If Mustafa was run by the gahmen, it wouldn’t have been shut down…Simple!
  • 14:48:48: Patisserie Valerie served me a coffee eclair with 2 hairs on it–YUM!
  • 15:09:55: @urbanbohemian at least it was not curly…
  • 22:55:28: Well, tweeps and peeps, hope you had a good day. I’m pooped and need to go to bed shortly. Cheers to all!

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From Twitter 04-12-2010

Tuesday, April 13th, 2010
  • 17:54:51: Back from the funeral. Was dropped off at Westfield so shopped and met up with my friend Nicky for a coffee. Exhausted.
  • 18:15:12: Parliament is dissolved tomorrow: Here’s some medieval pageantry saying so: http://is.gd/bpOBv

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From Twitter 04-11-2010

Monday, April 12th, 2010
  • 12:34:45: Back from preaching, about to go out to lunch. Tripped on the pavement on the way to church. Other foot in plaster soon then?
  • 16:28:04: @devinjay Thank you for the information.
  • 16:28:56: @ianvisits they will pad the public payroll to do it, I think.
  • 22:20:47: Well, tweeps and peeps, I’m done for the night. Exhausted, really. Let’s see whether my right foot is swollen tomorrow. If so, another cast?

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From Twitter 04-10-2010

Sunday, April 11th, 2010
  • 08:06:35: That woman in TN who sent her adoptive son back to Russia with a note saying he was violent and she didn’t want him anymore should be jailed
  • 18:37:56: @devinjay And who is Clare Hooper?

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Sermon for Low Sunday&#8212;Doubting Thomas <b>AGAIN</b>!

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

Every year right after Easter, the Vicar of St. John’s takes off (and who could blame him—Holy Week in an Anglo-Catholic parish is demanding) and asks me to preach. I thought I had escaped it this year, but he called on Tuesday and asked me to preach. Who could say no? Certainly not me. Of course, the Gospel for Low Sunday is always Doubting Thomas, and I’ve preached on this reading every year for many years. I thought I had run out of ideas, but I’ve found another one, yet again!

April 11, 2010 Low Sunday
Sermon delivered at St. John the Evangelist, 10 am.
First Reading: Acts 5:12-16; Ps. 117; Epistle: Revelation 1:9-13, 17-19; Gospel: John 20:19-31

The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.

In the name of God, the one, the Undivided Trinity. AMEN.

One of the little-known but interesting facts about St. Thomas is that he is the patron saint of architects. As a matter of fact, that is almost the only thing that is known about him. Legend has it that Thomas was sent to India to build a palace for a king. Thus he is not only the patron of architects and builders but also the Apostle of India. Traditionally Thomas is depicted in stained glass windows and statues as holding a square

The homeless&#8230;

Saturday, April 10th, 2010

…I am not particularly enamoured of homeless people either. They need help in order to sort themselves out, but all too often the government and social service agencies are not helpful. They often have substance abuse difficulties or mental health issues that make housing them problematic. However, take a look at the YouTube video below:

(I’ll wait…)

This young gentleman is also not particularly enamoured of the homeless. However, just like many on the right who trivialise other people’s problems and reduce them to one-dimensional caricatures (The homeless are all alcoholics and all the money they beg goes toward beer…) Kyle actually seems to think that the homeless are like mosquitoes or flies—they are a personal irritant of his, perhaps sent by someone who doesn’t like him.

I don’t know where to go with this. I didn’t leave a comment on his YouTube page because I didn’t know where to start. In addition, the people who watch his videos are an unknown quantity to me and I am so over engaging in pointless personal opinion ping-pong. Life is too short. I take as my motto: “Why try to teach a pig to sing: it wastes your time and annoys the pig.”

At the end of the video I caught a caption that exhorts us all to “World peace”. Now, how can someone who thinks that the homeless are on a par with a rash in his crotch actually be an effective advocate for “world peace”. In fact, can someone of that opinion actually know what “world peace” means?

Now I have to write possibly my tenth sermon for Low Sunday in 20 years, and I would love to get all worked up about this and link it somehow to Doubting Thomas, but I’m afraid that even my fertile brain would stretch too far in doing so.

P.S. The thought that he might have been putting on an attitude for the video has just occurred to me. However, when you wind people up like this it’s only fair to point out that you’re doing so at some point, and he hasn’t done that.

From Twitter 04-09-2010

Saturday, April 10th, 2010
  • 14:05:33: The quacks left my cast on for at least another two weeks. I said that if it wasn’t off for May 12th I’d take it off myself.
  • 15:17:20: @hungskateboy U could eat free at my place…no line, no waiting… 😉

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Internet Radio Annoyances

Friday, April 9th, 2010

Now I think that internet radio is the best thing since sliced bread. As a former shortwave radio listener, I loved listening to far-away places and hearing news, current events, and music.

I thought that internet radio might be the next big thing. But, of course, the lawyers are ruining it. I tuned in, hoping to hear WCBS-880 in New York, just as I had last week. I instead heard a cheesy announcer say that because of suits filled with lawyers, CBS, AOL, and Yahoo! were no longer streaming outside the United States, and would I like to tune to Lost.fm?

No.

No, I wouldn’t.

Now, I have a VPN account from the US which, I trust, will allow this. However, I can only use it from a computer, not the internet radio.

I think I asked this before, but is there any way to get my router to log in to the VPN servers so that my internet radio can get those radio stations? The answer I got before was a bit too technical, I think. I have an O2 router but I’m not averse to buying other gear.

Help!

Feet, yet again, plus tooth

Friday, April 9th, 2010

I went to the Foot Clinic this morning, and, as I had feared, the cast stays on for at least another two weeks. The podiatrist took the tape off the bottom, moved the sock covering the cast up toward my ankle, and put her nose close and took a biiiiig sniff. Apparently if something is festering inside this is the only way to find out short of cutting the cast off. She then hit the cast a few times to see whether it was cracked. Apparently all is well and they will see me again in two weeks.

I told them that if it wasn’t off by May 12th (my installation day) I would cut it off myself. They promised that they would take it off before then. If I still need it, they’ll put another one on the next week. However, I am hopeful that 6 weeks in the cast will be sufficient to heal the ulcer.

Last night I was eating something and suddenly felt something hard in my mouth (keep your minds on the curb, please!) It was a piece of my left lower second molar. This tooth was pretty much gutted and filled with a load of amalgam back in the 1980’s, and the dentist said it would last for about 20 years or so. Well, I guess he was right. Now I have to go to the dentist here and, I suspect, have the tooth pulled. I don’t think that there’s enough left to put a crown on it. Crumbs!

From Twitter 04-08-2010

Friday, April 9th, 2010

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From Twitter 04-07-2010

Thursday, April 8th, 2010
  • 10:44:52: Morning tweeps and peeps. The General Election craziness has begun in earnest. I have to preach on Sunday with no idea what to say. Help!
  • 22:06:19: Those kooky Americans: http://is.gd/bj3rq I often get asked why I prefer to live in the UK and this link points to the answer.
  • 23:11:48: Good night, tweeps and peeps! Time to retire!

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Today’s great headline!

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

Astrologers jump on Cox

Pssst. Say it aloud!

From Twitter 04-06-2010

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010
  • 11:59:36: The new Coadjutor Abp. of Los Angeles is an Opus Dei cleric (currently Abp of San Antonio TX). God help ’em.
  • 18:49:22: @GaySkyHooker i agree in ref to DentonPolice.

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Religion as the hater’s shield

Monday, April 5th, 2010

There has been a minor kerfuffle lately here over the refusal of a Berkshire bed and breakfast owner to allow a gay couple to stay there. The Conservative shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, says that he believes that B&B owners using their own homes as business premises who have religious objections to homosexuality should be allowed to refuse accommodation to same sex couples. Of course, he does not believe this should extend to those premises such as hotels or larger B&Bs which are not mostly private homes. The difficulty is that refusing accommodation to same-sex couples is against the law in the United Kingdom. Grayling voted for this law when it was passed. There is no clause that would allow any hotel or B&B owner to refuse accommodation to same-sex couples on the grounds of religion.

My only comment is that I would have a bit more sympathy for the Christian B&B owners if they required a marriage certificate for any mixed-sex couple who booked accommodation there. As they do not so require, they have no leg to stand on and should be prosecuted for discrimination.

As no B&B could continue in business if they required proof of marriage before accommodating a mixed-sex couple—who carries their marriage certificate with them when travelling?—this will not stand and business owners who discriminate against lesbians and gay men will be prosecuted.

In this season of Easter, where the Christian message is that even God himself could suffer and die for our salvation, haters cannot use religion as a bullet-proof vest.

From Twitter 04-04-2010

Monday, April 5th, 2010
  • 18:08:47: @BryanthePanda Oh dear, I would be the last one to try to put anyone off you…I hope that everything works out OK…if I can help ask!
  • 23:51:08: Well, good night tweeps and peeps! Hope all you SoCal people are OK.

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For <lj user=”trawnapanda”>&#8230;

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

a gorgeous guy in Toronto who has gotten the spirit of Easter down pat

From Twitter 04-03-2010

Sunday, April 4th, 2010
  • 11:09:56: Morning, tweeps & peeps. The altar linens are ironed, the altar cloths are washed and awaiting ironing, now I have to get a move on & do it.
  • 13:45:18: @MitchBenn I was disappointed that “Scunthorpe” didn’t make an appearance in the Now Show rundown of porn filters this week…Peniston? Bah!
  • 16:49:51: @Sgboy01 I’m sure you’d do the church good if you went.
  • 16:55:11: http://tweetphoto.com/16832601 @Shaw_Girl Yum! My favourites.
  • 17:23:00: You have to click through to the event to get the times of the services..RT @se1: Easter Sunday church services in SE1: http://bit.ly/6zKb4X
  • 22:42:17: “Root my droid” sounds pretty risqué… RT @jonk: now i just need to root my droid so i can wirelessly tether the ipad. hmmm.

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Easter Vigil Sermon

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

I’m glad that I didn’t preach to the readings tonight, but to the occasion. The Vicar hadn’t told me what the Gospel was, and I picked the wrong one (Luke) out of the Lectionary. I also managed to preach an Easter sermon and mention Jesus precisely once. Could be a record…

April 3, 2010 Easter Vigil
Sermon delivered at St. John the Evangelist, 7 pm.

In the name of God, the one, the Undivided Trinity. AMEN.

One of the little secrets about Christmas is that we have no evidence that it happened on December 25th, or in December even. Shepherds watching their flocks by night is something that happened mostly in the spring, when the ewes needed help with the lambing and the shepherds thus stuck around the fields to assist should the ewes get into trouble during birth. So if the Gospel narrative is anything to go by, Jesus was born in the spring.

Easter, however, is another matter. As the narrative is so tied up with Passover, we are relatively certain that it took place sometime in March or April around the first third of the 1st Century AD.

Although you wouldn

Update on Credibility

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury has called the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin to apologise for the words he spoke at the recording of Start the Week—that the Church in Ireland had lost credibility. The Archbishop of Dublin pointedly did not mention the ABC when thanking people for their support and kind words.

Oh, what fun! See how they love each other!

Credibility

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

I awoke this morning to BBC Radio 4’s Today program and the news bulletin at 7am. Surprisingly, two religious stories topped the news. His Grace, the Most Rev’d and Rt. Hon Rowan Douglas Williams, by the Grace of God Archbishop of Canterbury, Primate of All England, Instrument of Unity in the Anglican Communion, Twit Extraordinaire (I made that last one up) has said on a show to be broadcast on Monday that the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland has “lost all credibility” as a result of the sexual abuse scandal.

I see.

The second story concerned the Vatican’s response to the scandal.

I would not be so crafty as to observe that, after the Pope’s sticking two fingers up at the Anglican Communion and Church of England by announcing that disaffected Anglicans (the woman-haters, closeted gay clergy, sanctuary rats, and all) would be allowed to become Roman Catholics under an Anglican Ordinariate, His Grace is ramming his crozier where the Pope’s sun doesn’t shine. However, while there is merit in what Williams says, there is also merit in letting the Romans stew in their own juices rather than lighting a warmer fire under the pot.

First, the Anglican Communion and its constituent provinces are not blameless in the matter of child sexual abuse. One diocese in the Anglican Church of Canada was forced to dissolve in the face of the financial burden laid upon it by abuse meted out in schools for First Nations children. The national financial settlement that stems from those schools has bitten off a large part of the finances of Canada’s Anglicans. In England, the abusive clerical headmaster of old is hardly blameless in these matters. Every C of E diocese has its cases in the past. The Episcopal Church also has cases of the same kind, and a currently-serving bishop is appealing a sentence of deposition for covering up abuse committed years ago by his brother, also a cleric. None of this excuses any abuse: whether it be Anglican, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Evangelical (all those American televangelists caught with their pants down), Jewish, Moslem, or atheist abuse, all denominations have past and future responsibility for these actions and for any subsequent cover-up.

Second, outside of the matter of sexual abuse, Williams has lost a lot of his own credibility lately for many reasons. He warned the Episcopal Church against electing a lesbian or gay bishop. When the Rev’d Canon Mary Glasspool, an out lesbian, was elected Suffragan Bishop of Los Angeles, Williams warned the Episcopal Church not to go against the bonds of “gracious restraint” and confirm her election. When the Episcopal Church confirmed her election, he shook his head sadly and said in effect “No good shall come of this.” The Episcopal Church, for one, has found that Williams may huff and puff, but he is unable to blow their Church down. The proposed Anglican Covenant is now dead, mainly through the actions of the Episcopal Church in this matter. Even the Church of England General Synod is unlikely to ratify the Covenant, as much as Williams will push for it. Without the participation of the Anglican Communion’s wealthiest member, the Episcopal Church, the Covenant is lost.

Williams is an opaque speaker and thinker. He has found the time to write several books during his time as Archbishop, and often pronounces on issues of the day. His pronouncements, however, are couched in theological God-speak that is impenetrable by the person on the Clapham omnibus (ie, Everyperson). He has taken positions on social issues such as same-sex civil partnerships that are at odds with even those taken by the Conservative Party (which used to be the C of E at prayer). People perceive Williams and the Church of England in general as out-of-touch and remote from the opinions of the mainstream of society.

And so it goes. Credibility is the loser in all this. The only good that has come out of this whole sad story of abuse by clerics and church workers of any denomination is that cases that occur now are meant to promptly be handed over to the civil arm for justice and the offender barred from ministry or church work.

Oh, and as for celibacy (or, more accurately, chastity within the unmarried state) causing such abuse or attracting abusers as a cover for their activities, don’t believe it. Non-celibate clergy and layworkers commit abuse too. I do not believe that celibacy is required for priesthood, of course, but marriage would not have stopped a lot of this abuse by Roman Catholic priests, nuns, and brothers. The causes lie much deeper than just the desire for sex and allowing marriage for RC priests would not have obviated most of those causes in these people.

Random reflections&#8230;

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

—It seems to me that Twitter, while entertaining, is more of a time-suck than I can handle now. I dip in and out, but only when I’m actually in front of the computer or on my iPhone away from home. I don’t go back to the point at which I last looked at it. Just too much time wasted.

—I fired up Agent for the first time since before January and looked at Usenet. Thousands of posts! I quailed and only read a few. I think my time on Usenet is rapidly drawing to a close. Blogging, Facebook, and Tweeting take up most of my discretionary time.

—The Pope is making a serious series of mistakes in handling the sexual abuse scandals in the Roman Catholic Church. Comparing the public exposure of sexual abuse of children in the news media with antisemitism is not valid. Antisemites have no basis for their hatred and vilification at all. However, those who were abused as children and those who write about that abuse in the newspapers indeed have a basis for their loathing of the Church and those abusers who were protected by the Church. So cut it out, Ratzinger & Co. You know what you must do! First, not only apologise but publicise the errors that were made. Acknowledge them. Second, publicise the steps you will take to see that past abusers are punished appropriately and third, ensure that any future abusers are immediately separated from the hierarchy and reported to the civil authorities. If these things are not done, the reputation of the Church will suffer a blow that won’t be repaired anytime soon. (Oh, I’m not saying that Protestants, Jews, Orthodox, and secular organisations aren’t also guilty of some of the same misdeeds. Those need to be treated in the same way.)

—A Lodge brother, W. Bro. John Williams, died Thursday morning. He had been suffering with brain cancer for a year or so. He was Master of Goliath Lodge a few years ago, and had started again as Junior Deacon to work his way up through the chairs again. This year he was struck down as he had just begun to serve as Senior Deacon. He was a true gentleman in the best sense of that word. As Preceptor of our Lodge of Instruction, he was patient, gentle, and kind with those of us who were still learning the ritual. His knowledge was deep and his understanding of the meaning of Freemasonry was broad. We will miss him terribly now that he has gone to the Grand Lodge Above, and may he rest in peace and rise in glory.

For <lj user=”trawnapanda”>&#8230;

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

…you might want to visit Ajax Stamos and scroll to the end of the entry.

Your heart will be warmed.

From Twitter 04-02-2010

Saturday, April 3rd, 2010

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From Twitter 04-01-2010

Friday, April 2nd, 2010
  • 01:42:33: Back from dinner at Pei & Daniel’s place. Thanks, guys; we enjoyed the beef rendang and the company and the conversation! Bed now…
  • 12:30:53: @CllrChrisPage i see! Well, good luck & may the best person win. After the election we should have dinner again.
  • 12:31:59: @soveren @jerricklim I am going to try baking my own bagels next week. Should be interesting…
  • 14:49:45: Corn muffins are baked despite lots of phone calls while I was dealing with the oven and spooning the batter into the cups.
  • 14:50:51: RT @charlesarthur @nevali OH: walked past grave of guy who died of Meow-meow overdose. So sad. OTOH, flowers on the grave coming on a treat.
  • 14:55:02: RT @Glinner: Yes, and you get an F minus RT @huffingtonpost: Pope: Sex Abuse Scandal Is A ‘Test’ http://huff.to/anVb39
  • 19:05:37: @Sgboy01 it’s a name for something called “mephedrome”, which is a newish party drug that’s about to be banned. It’s sold as plant food…
  • 22:19:43: @GaySkyHooker Please take good care of yourself. I’ll be thinking of you over Easter. Hugs.

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From Twitter 03-31-2010

Thursday, April 1st, 2010
  • 13:44:07: @RichieInLondon fire in Paddington BT substation caused those problems…
  • 19:08:58: @jonk give ’em a six-pack & do ’em after they drink it. That’ll learn u!

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