Hugs for everybody!

The tree is lit, carols are playing, and a huge pan of curry is simmering on the stove.

I did not finish my garage project but I did accomplish half of it. I got the yard watered. Tried to do that New Year's morning and the water was frozen in the hose, but this afternoon after church it was just fine. I see lots of buds on the trees, some on the roses. One load of laundry yesterday (freshly ironed linens for church) and one load today. Have spent very nice time with friends over the weekend.

The year begins well. So far, at least.

A huge cyberhug to all.

I love the collect for the Second Sunday after Christmas:

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

--the BB

Как у вас дела?

ինչպէս էք?

Τι κανεις;

Gearing up. It's language learning/refresher time. Maybe, with some new Turkish, brushed up Armenian, Greek, and Russian I can communicate in something other than English next February.

Unlike Spanish, written Turkish gives me no clue on where the accent goes. I am adjusting to the i without a dot over it (ı) having a schwa sound. I popped the first CD in and listened to the first conversation with introductions. This is going to take a while. I cannot use latinate roots to help me along.

Possibly the only time I ever heard Turkish was when Roxie and Jack were chatting and did not want their children to understand. I was in the same class as their son Charlie. He and his sister Susan did not speak much Armenian but understood it when their parents spoke, so "adult" conversations were in the language the kids did not know. But if I heard any Turkish fifty years ago, I do not really remember. The sounds and rhythms of Armenian are familiar to me, whether I understand the words or not.

My conversational Greek is limited to about five phrases. Not really a lot more in Armenian.

I know I could travel in Turkey using English alone, but what's the fun (or challenge) in that? And where is the effort to open up to another culture? That, for me, is one of the most important reasons for traveling abroad.

The Blessing of Our Relatives tomorrow! Fr. Anskar, my Swedish priest teddy bear, will join us to bless the animals on the feast of St. Francis. My friend Jan rides her horse to church and we have a hitching post. I imagine she and some of her friends will have the equine contingent there for this event. Rhonda+ will preside over the Blessing, though we will share the individual blessings, and I will preside at the Eucharist. I anticipate a bit of chaos. Par for the course. In communities that trust God and one another we can all ride with untidiness.

May Francis and Clare intercede for us all. Blessings on San Francisco, the see city of my canonical diocese, and ongoing prayers for my bishop, +Marc.

--the BB

Treason upon treason

“If you realize, D., that I am no fool, then you must know I have seen you will not answer the choice I put to you. I therefore declare the barony of M. forfeit to the Black Lion on the grounds of high treason.”

Well, that's a pretty sentiment from someone who commits high treason by considering himself the Black Lion!

And then his sister commits one of the gravest of sacrileges by violating the eagle feathers and slaying the baron. Those two are nasty pieces of work.

In the entire weekend (including Friday when I stayed home with a sore throat) I have only written half a chapter. Ah well.


I did have a lovely brunch with my friend Kathy at the Indigo Crow in Corrales today. That was after a nice service at San Gabriel with our second baptism. (Not bad for a little mission only two years old, eh?)

I was looking in my library for my commentaries on Mark this weekend, getting ready to preach. It appears they are still in boxes somewhere in the garage because they clearly are not in the library yet. (Hey, I've only had three years to unpack; let's not rush things.) I ended up drawing on a quote from Augustine of Hippo and another from a fellow blogger (which really tied everything in the sermon together). Спасибо!

Photos this weekend were of my friend's garden. My own has nothing spectacular to photograph, though it does have tomatoes! So nice to see them already. Still small and green, of course, but promise of things to come.

Next weekend is my brother-in-law's 60th birthday (young whippersnapper!). I will get to see folks I have not seen in a while but it threatens to be rather chaotic. I am hoping to get a good chunk of writing done this week as next weekend will be a "lost weekend" (at least from an introvert's perspective). A much smaller party for the Fourth of July the weekend after.

The birthday boy is Janet's husband, and this is a lot going on while she recuperates. Everyone is pitching in and virtually nothing is demanded of her, but please continue to keep her in your prayers.

--the BB

There is much to say

There is much to say about Somalia, Gaza, the economy, 2008 in retrospect, female genital mutilation in Kurdistan, Pakistan and India, a Canadian avalanche, voting in Bangladesh, etc. I have been doing things other than blogging lately and lack the energy to add my commentary to it all, except to note that Mitch McConnell is a hypocrite and asshole of the highest order (see link on economy above). Some of you will recall (with varying degrees of horror) my comments about obstructionists and chainsaws. McConnell's latest antics bring that mood back. I am sure there are good people in Kentucky who deserve better than Mitch. I hope they can organize and kick him out of office so far that his sorry ass lands several states away. Perhaps Gitmo.

I know that I don't really care about Bristol Palin whelping. Teenage boys knocking up teenage girls and babies ensuing is hardly news. Happens all the time (including among my own relatives in several generations). Ho. Hum. Anyone who gives a shit - outside the circle of family and friends, for whom it is legitimately a cause of wonder and joy - needs a life.

We now have a study showing that those who take virginity-until-marriage pledges are just as likely to have premarital sex as those who take no such vows - and are more likely to do so unsafely. How can this surprise anyone? Ignorance, denial, and fantasy do not make a recipe for happy outcomes.

Wait. Was I typing about premarital sex or Bush administration policies? In either case, somebody gets screwed with predictable consequences.

Ugh. Much too grumpy for the Twelve Days of Christmas.

In happier news: 20 days and 22 hours until Chimpy McCokespoon is out of office.

God loves this world. I need to remember this and take a deep breath.

Let us not only pray for peace in the world but also work for it.
--the BB

Miscellaneous

Although I think the Fresno County Library mural has been the best ever photo for my masthead, I went for another change. This seems appropriate for winter. It is sunset on the Manzanos Mountains as seen from my home office.

Today was non-stop: the first regular working day in which the new travel system was operative. I am part of the help desk team. The calls came fast and furious. As soon as I hung up there was another. At one point I had not even hung up and the phone rang. Just as I was about to log out for lunch, already half an hour late. That kind of day.

The silence of my home is so wonderful. Unlike most folks, I do not usually have the television playing, or a radio, or CDs. Just quiet. I have come to love it.

I have not commented on the Mumbai horrors as I feel I have nothing to add (except prayers).

Nor on President-elect Obama's cabinet choices. I have mixed feelings but trust him to make it all work. I AM impressed with the high caliber of intelligence and political savvy among them. Nice to think that competent people are being tapped instead of cronies with no relevant experience. There will be thinking outside the bubble.

[That last phrase was an homage to discussion chez le prêtre fou.]

I have tons of prayer requests and it is too late to try listing them. MP is among them, and a number of other dear blog friends. God knows who they are and they know who they are. So give a shout out on their behalf. Thanks.

And now to bed.

Sweet dreams, cherubs.
--the BB

So short!

The time I got to spend back home in Albuquerque was short. Way too short. But still, I got to have some time at home. Did some shopping, some catch-up blogging, and attended mass at San Gabriel this morning. By 9:15 Central Daylight Time this evening I was back in the apartment in River Ridge, unpacked, and firing up the laptop.

Last Sunday I worshiped at St. Anna's on the Eaplanade in New Orleans and here is the photo I took of the church interior. Finally got home to download photos. St. Anna's had a ministry to musicians following Katrina. A guest filled in last Sunday and the music rocked.

Alas, the photo taken of Mimi and me with my camera did not merit posting (I doubt even photoshopping would help), so we will stick with the nice photo already made famous elsewhere.
Since it is the evening of Pentecost and the hours of the Great Fifty Days of Easter are trickling away, I will post a finally double Alleluia to mark the occasion. It is one I actually put together during the first days of Easter and have had at the ready. Time to use it. I hope you have all had a wonderful Eastertide with fresh risen life popping up in delightful and life-giving surprise.
--the BB

Miscellany

Joe Brewer and George Lakoff have an article at Truthout titled "We Need a President, Not Just a Commander in Chief." Nice discussion of the perils of narrowing our primary image down to military mode alone.

Barbara O'Brien provides background on the situation in Tibet here.

William R. Polk has an extensive guest article posted at Informed Comment. The title is "Iran: Danger and Opportunity." Polk provides an interesting analysis of the risk of a US attack on Iran and also the potential for positive action instead.

The New York Times weighs in on Bush's speech yesterday.

I was heartened by this news today (heard first on the radio):

A three-judge panel on the D.C. Court of Appeals stripped Libby of his ability to practice law after he was found guilty last year of obstructing the investigation in the CIA leak investigation, WTOP radio reported. [emphasis mine]

SilentPatriot at Crooks and Liars lets us know that Bill Maher offers us a great new campaign slogan for Grandpa John:

Susan Russell, who has a son in the military, posted some great prayers from Episcopal Peace Ministries.

FranIAm wrestles with footwashing, the new commandment, and how we feel about warmongers in a challenging post.

Jane R shares a great quote from France's last surviving World War I veteran, Lazare Ponticelli, who died last week at 110:

You shoot at men who are fathers: war is completely stupid.

Mimi has a thoughtful poem for today.

Of course, our blog friends put out fascinating and provocative and uplifting material all the time. Blessings upon them all.
--the BB

Stuff and nonsense

South America - Thailand connection
We just reported the arrest of the global arms trader in World Watch. Emptywheel reports that this arrest in Thailand may be related to the cross-border adventures in South America and the Colombian raid on FARC rebels in Ecuador.

Bout, the target of an international arrest warrant and U.S. sanctions, was picked up at a Bangkok hotel after he entered Thailand on February 29. Police were searching for an associate.

Bout was attempting "to procure weapons for Colombia's FARC rebels", the Thai police said in an arrest report.

Which suggests it ties in some way to the cross-border raid the Colombians staged in Ecuador, for which the US is alleged to have provided intelligence. The Colombians nabbed a laptop from the scene of the Reyes assassination--though already there are disputes about what kind of intelligence the laptop included. This may mean the Colombian/Venezuelan conflict will get bigger before it is resolved.

Avoiding taxes, beating out competition, and screwing employees
We wouldn't be talking about Bush and Cheney's good friends, the folks at KBR would we? Well, yes, we would. Check out their Cayman Islands scam at Emptywheel's blog.

Jack Abramoff, Jeff Gannon, Carl Truscott, George Bush - connect the dots
You can't be sure but the possibilities are fascinating. The White House clearly protected Carl Truscott, former head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms when he committed all manner of misuse of funds and people (the DOJ has never pursued the complaints against him). He came to BATF from the WH where he was in the Secret Service. You know, back in the days when folks like Jack Abramoff and gay manwhore Jeff Gannon used to visit there. You gotta wonder. Read more here.

Rule of Law? Qu'est-ce que c'est?
The Washington Post reported two days ago:

Two former high-ranking Shiite government officials charged with kidnapping and killing scores of Sunnis were ordered released Monday after prosecutors dropped the case. The abrupt move renewed concerns about the willingness of Iraq's leaders to act against sectarianism and cast doubts on U.S. efforts to build an independent judiciary.

The collapse of the trial stunned American and Iraqi officials who had spent more than a year assembling the case, which they said included a wide array of evidence.

"This shows that the judicial system in Iraq is horribly broken," said a U.S. legal adviser who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. "And it sends a terrible signal: If you are Shia, then no worries; you can do whatever you want and nothing is going to happen to you."

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to allow the case to proceed to trial was considered a significant step toward proving his Shiite-led government could hold Shiite officials accountable for sectarian crimes. The case was heard at the multimillion-dollar Rule of Law Complex, protected and supervised by the United States, which has said that the development of an impartial justice system is essential to Iraq's long-term stability.

"Rule of Law Complex"? Is that a psychological condition listed in the DSM-IV? Is it related to Bush's night sweats when he dreams that his crimes will catch up with him? Or does it never even occur to the coddled, entitled New England fratboy (with Texas pretensions) that his crimes might some day catch up with him?

h/t to Swopa at Firedoglake for this one.

Unchecked power gets abused. Who knew?
Glenn Greenwald shares lessons from the forthcoming Inspector General's report. You will be shocked to learn the following:

(1) If unchecked power is vested in government officials, they're going to abuse that power;

(2) If government officials exercise power without real oversight from other branches, they're going to break the law and then lie about it, falsely denying that they're done so, insisting instead that they're only using their powers to Protect Us;

(3) Allowing government officials to engage in surveillance on American citizens with no warrant requirement ensures that surveillance will be used for improper ends, against innocent Americans.

Israel - Palestine
Palestinian gunmen kill 8 in Jerusalem Jewish school
Reuters - 3 hours ago
By Alastair Macdonald JERUSALEM, March 6 (Reuters) - Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire in a Jewish religious school in Jerusalem on Thursday, killing at least eight people and wounding 20, the Israeli emergency service Zaka said.

Alas, altogether too much stuff and not enough nonsense. I will try to bring some levity to us later on.
--the BB