Republicans win office, kill jobs immediately

Republicans win office, kill jobs immediately

Yo! If you voted Republican you should have anticipated this because there is a demonstrable track record that the GOP does not give a shit about American workers. If you thought they would help the jobs situation you have paid no attention to our history or their track record. Wake up and start paying attention now because those who put them in power are culpable not for what they surprisingly do but for what they predictably do.

--the BB

Impunity

R. Jeffrey Smith writes in the Washington Post:

Human rights experts have long pressed the administration of former president George W. Bush for details of who bore ultimate responsibility for approving the simulated drownings of CIA detainees, a practice that many international legal experts say was illicit torture.

In a memoir due out Tuesday, Bush makes clear that he personally approved the use of that coercive technique against alleged Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheik Mohammed, an admission the human rights experts say could one day have legal consequences for him.

...

Georgetown University law professor David Cole, a long-standing critic of Bush's interrogation and detention policies, called prosecution unlikely. "The fact that he did admit it suggests he believes he is politically immune from being held accountable. . . . But politics can change."

What Mr. Smith does not say, and should have been said, is that the United States declared waterboarding to be torture in WWII and prosecuted enemies for doing it.

That war criminals like George W. Bush and Richard B. Cheney can make admissions like this with no apparent fear of consequences speaks volumes about the lawlessness of their regime and of this nation.

--the BB

End douchebaggery

h/t to watertiger

--the BB

No Anglican Covenant

On this feast of Richard Hooker I offer the following news release:

No Anglican Covenant Coalition
Anglicans for Comprehensive Unity
noanglicancovenant.org


NEWS RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2010
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE



INTERNATIONAL CAMPAIGN SEEKS TO STOP ANGLICAN COVENANT

LONDON – An international coalition of Anglicans has been created to campaign against the proposed Anglican Covenant. Campaigners believe the proposed Covenant constitutes unwarranted interference in the internal life of the member churches of the Anglican Communion, would narrow the acceptable range of belief and practice within Anglicanism, and would prevent further development of Anglican thought. The Coalition’s website (noanglicancovenant.org) will provide resources for Anglicans around the world to learn about the potential risks of the proposed Anglican Covenant.

“We believe that the majority of the clergy and laity in the Anglican Communion would not wish to endorse this document,” according to the Coalition’s Moderator, the Revd. Dr. Lesley Fellows, who is also the Coalition’s Convenor for the Church of England. “Apart from church insiders, very few people are aware of the Covenant. We want to encourage a wider discussion and to highlight the problems the Covenant will cause.”

The idea of an Anglican Covenant was first proposed in 2004 as a means to address divisions among the member churches of the Anglican Communion on matters ranging from human sexuality to the role of women. The current draft of the Covenant, which has been unilaterally designated as the “final” draft, has been referred to the member churches of the Communion. The proposed Covenant establishes mechanisms which would have the effect of forcing member churches to conform to the demands and expectations of other churches or risk exclusion from the Communion.

Critics of the proposed Anglican Covenant, including members of the new Coalition, believe that it will fundamentally alter the nature of historic Anglicanism in several ways, including the narrowing of theological views deemed acceptable, the erosion of the freedom of the member churches to govern themselves, and the concentration of authority in the hands of a small number of bishops. Two English groups, Inclusive Church and Modern Church, ran anti-Covenant advertisements in last week’s Church Times and the Church of England Newspaper aiming to make more members of the Church of England aware of the dangers of the proposed Anglican Covenant.

"If the Anglican Communion has a problem, this is not the solution,” according to former Bishop of Worcester Peter Selby. “Whether those who originated the Covenant intended it or not, it is already, and will become even more, a basis for a litigious Communion from which some will seek to exclude others."

The launch of the No Anglican Covenant Coalition website coincides with the commemoration of the sixteenth-century theologian Richard Hooker. “Hooker taught us that God’s gifts of scripture, tradition, and reason will guide us to new insights in every age,” according to the Canadian priest and canon law expert, the Revd. Canon Alan Perry. “The proposed Anglican Covenant would freeze Anglican theology and Anglican polity at a particular moment. Anglican polity rejected control by foreign bishops nearly 500 years ago. The proposed Anglican Covenant reinstates it.”

The No Anglican Covenant Coalition began in late October with a series of informal email conversations among several international Anglican bloggers concerned that the Covenant was being rushed through the approval process before most Anglicans had any opportunity to learn how the proposed new structures would affect them.

noanglicancovenant.org

Revd. Dr Lesley Fellows (England) +44 1844 239268
Dr. Lionel Deimel (USA) +1-412-512-9087
Revd. Malcolm French (Canada) +1-306-550-2277
Revd. Lawrence Kimberley (New Zealand) +64 3 981 7384

The Collect for Hooker's feast, November 3:

O God of truth and peace,

you raised up your servant Richard Hooker

in a day of bitter controversy

to defend with sound reasoning and great charity

the catholic and reformed religion:

Grant that we may maintain the middle way,

not as a compromise for the sake of peace,

but as a comprehension for the sake of truth;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

--the BB

Go Giants!

Bay Area folks and former Bay Area folks are pretty excited about the San Francisco Giants winning the World Series (and beating the boys from W's team to boot).

As unlikely as it seems, I was in a bar when they won the pennant and we knew they were going to the Series. Whole lotta shouting going on and I, a total non-sports-fan, was pretty stoked about it too.

I trust this celebratory post will not be deemed trademark infringement. We're just so damned proud of the boys from Baghdad by the Bay (as Herb Caen used to call it).

Yes, I miss Herb and his column.

All right, San Francisco, first we vote. And Wednesday we party!

--the BB

Heart thread - 11/01/2010

We remember Kirstin in our prayers daily, yes? She has offered some focus for our prayers and I ask you to read her latest post here.

She needs folks to travel with her for treatments and we're trying to get the word out in case someone who can do this will read and say "Yes."

If you can come with me, come with me. If you can’t, pray and let me know that you’re praying. Thank you.

and

Honestly, when you don’t see me is when I most need you. If you think of it, e-mail and say hi.

There was a time when she was in seminary and she and I traded e-mails endlessly. I have failed of late. May God help me to do better. God knows I have not forgotten her but I have not told her often enough.

--the BB

Heart thread - 10/31/2010

My father-in-law, Jack, is declining rapidly. I ask your continued prayers that he may be delivered from anxiety and pain in his last days. Thanks to all who have prayed for him and the family.

My cousin Michael and his wife Danielle are grandparents. Aria Evans has entered the world on October 29, her mother's birthday.

So many of my friends and their families need prayer that I cannot begin to list them (and in some cases it is confidential), so I offer them to God and to your prayers.

I also offer thanksgiving for the SF Giant's victory tonight because I can't help myself.

--the BB

You should be afraid

Paul Krugman points out the destructive path we are on if the fecking Republicans gain power. They only have a very few goals: destroy the President and serve the wealthy and corporate power. That is their entire agenda. They don't give a shit about the common welfare, the health of the economy, true national security, their red herring "values" issues, the working class, the Constitution and the rule of law, or anyone but their cronies. It's sad but true.

The Democrats are flawed humans and I try to hold them accountable but the Republican corporate structure is outright evil. Oppose it at every possible opportunity. And do your best not to be silent when lies or stupidity are uttered.


--the BB