Focus.

We've got lots happening these next few days work-wise and home-wise (end of school, projects due, yadda yadda...), so blogging will be light to non-existent. But do not, dear readers, wander off in the time being - there's still plenty of fun stuff in the archives, so set a spell and have a look round. And we will be back after we get these things knocked out, with more RSR excitement!

"Doing A New Thing" Posters.

From a local clerical friend, some "motavational" posters to get all my Anglican/Episcopalian readers in the mood for General Convention 2009. My favorite:

Brilliant.

Just Brilliant. Take 2 and a half minutes and watch this video Matthew found.

For my Episcopal / Anglican readers, without knowing it this gentleman sums up the whole "doing a new thing" theology of The Episcopal CHurch (tm) in a sentence:

"I have nothing personally invested in my own opinions, I'm just, like, inviting you to join me on the bandwagon of my own uncertainties."

Throw in some boilerplate about cow farts, sporks, and the Millennium Development Goals, and you've got a pastoral letter from The Presiding Bishop.

Some Clarity? Why Yes, Thank You.

Um, what he said.

Obama Getting Covered. Oops.

They say you are known by the company you keep. And the Rev. Jeremiah Wright seems to have been good company for Barack Obama in recent years, with the good Senator appearing at least three times on the cover of Wright's Trumpet magazine - once in a montage with Nation of Islam's Louis Farrakahn sometime in 2005/2006 (the montage appears to be African-American leaders, so the placement was no accident).

If the facts that bizzyblog laid out are correct, this makes Obama's I-didn't-really-know-the-man excuse seem pretty lame. Why did Obama object and distance himself from Rev. Wright only now, and not back then? Especially when he was on the same cover as Farrakhan, who Obama claims to have denounced.

It's going to be interesting to see how Obama, and his cheerleaders the Mainstream Media, deal with this one. My money is on "not at all," as I think they'll dismiss anyone gets upset by this as a West Virginian bigoted, ignorant, redneck hayseed.

H/T: Little Green Footballs.

Get Down, Get Poultry!

Mark your calendars, dear readers, because tomorrow, 14 May 2008, is National Dance Like A Liberal Democrat Chicken Day. Really.

It seems it's much easier to do if you wear a pants-suit. And have a chicken-cackle laugh, too.

Priorities, Priorities...

The more promises of change, the more things stay the same. The Louisiana Legislature, while not wanting to give us, their employers, a pay raise (in the form of tax relief) are working hard to double their salaries.

Eh Tu, SNL?

Yep. Hillary is toast:



UPDATE 12MAY08: I guess somebody doesn't like it, as the video has aparrently been taken down at the link above. But fear not, dear readers, the intrepid RSR staff (plus the cat) will stop at nothing, except maybe at a Bud's Broiler, to keep you informed. So try this one.

Happy Mother's Day!

This is why we need to thank moms today - a description, in classical style, of what moms go through... every day:



(Yes, I know it's a repeat, but what better day to repeat it?)

Saturday Evening Palette Cleanser.

There are reasons, dear readers, reasons why those of us who came of age in the 1970's... wish we hadn't. James Lileks "catalogues" but one of them.

Read it all. If your eyes can take it.

And if your Saturday nights are as exciting as mine, don't forget to check out James' many other efforts. There's cultural gold in them 'thar pages!

Why Democrats Should NEVER Be Trusted With Numbers. Or Geography. (UPDATE: Or History.)

Barack Obama says he's visited all "Fifty....... Seven States." Really:



And note he says still had "one more left to go: Alaska and Hawaii..."

That Harvard education is really shining through, isn't it?

UPDATE: And Jack Kelly at RealClearPolitics suggests someone needs to get the man an American History book as well. I agree. If he does not know that Roosevelt's idea of talking with his enemies was to declare war and demand unconditional surrender, and that Truman's idea was to drop not one, but two, atomic bombs, what kind of foreign policy could we expect from an Obama Administration? I'd say this kind.

And you know if George W. Bush had made these kind of gaffes the Mainstream Media would have been all over them like beans on rice.

UPDATE: Like you couldn't see this coming: 57-star flag lapel pin. If Obama refused to wear one with the correct number of stars, I don't think he'll be sporting one of these, either. But I would.

Actually, I would prefer a bottle of Heinz 57 State Sauce. That works on so many levels, don't you think?

UPDATE: Also posted over at Louisiana Conservative, but with a MUCH better post title.

Rachel. Gets. Lewis.

I've been a big fan of Rachel Lucas' for years, as she is one of the most enjoyable reads in the blogosphere - salty language and dog props and all. My one criticism was that Rachel never thought much of religion, and couldn't understand why some of us did.

Well, someone recently sent her a copy of C. S. Lewis' Mere Christianity. Read the result.

Every journey starts with one step. I'm just saying.

Easter Island Sunday!

I saw this video this over at Chris Johnson's site - call it The Eucharist of the Giant Heads. If you want to know what +Kate and her buddies see as "doing a new thing" in The Episcopal Church (tm), this is an excellent example. Not quite Clown Communion level, but darn close:



Couple of observations:

1) If you want to worship Him Her To Whom It May Concern in that way, knock yourself out. It's a free country. But please do not insist that I must worship that way, or deem me less of a Christian because I do not.

2) If I was six and saw a bunch of monstrous, stony-faced Jesus Christ looking giants wandering round my church like enforcers, with huge hands that could crush me like a bug, I'd pee in my pants and become a Baptist on the spot.

3) The giant heads were amusing, in a creepy sort of way, but the middle-aged, Alvin Ailey wanna-be's were an absolute hoot! Particularly the sensing of the Gospel, which looked like something out of a bad Chinese Cultural Revolution ballet. It was hard to tell if I was watching a church service, or the intro to "A Tribute To People's Collective Factory No. 814 Who Raised Tractor Production 11 Percent By Following The Words Of The Great Helmsman!"

4) The crowd looked like they were not only alive when Woodstock happened, but were old enough to have attended. After the incense, I bet the predominant smell in that room was Ben-Gay (with patchouli coming in a close thrid). Aren't such hip, relevant services supposed to attract the modern young people? So where were they? (Hint: See Church, Mega, down the street, or see Home, TV, watching)

UPDATE: I'm told that this is not a "New Thing" Episcopal service, but actually the service of a group of "progressive" Catholics. "New Thing" Episcopalians. "Progressive" Catholics. A distinction with out much of a difference.

iPhone 2.0: Don't Get Too Hot And Bothered.

Via Instapundit, comes this article on why the iPhone 2.0, due out in June, will be a letdown. And while I love my iPhone, I think he may be right. Apple has a nasty habit of not listening to it's customers, and of the 10 suggested improvements he mentions I think only two or three will actually make it onto the improved iPhone.

You getting this, Greta? You now have a whole new topic of endless discussion for your radio show: your new phone.

Friday Morning Distraction.

Via Ontario Emperor, a cool video from the early 80's:


Mea Culpa by David Byrne (of Talking Heads) and Brian Eno.

Reminds me a bit of Koyaanisqatsi, and (being an architect) I really like all the play with points, lines, and planes. (David Byrne started out studying architecture at RISD.)

Um, Nice Dunes.

How'd you like to be lost in them thar' hills?

(Somewhat NSFW)

From Last of the Few, of course.

Welcome to 2007, Greta!

Well, it's about time. The Princess of Positive, Greta Perry, has joined the iPhone club and has discovered "Will it Blend?"

Wait 'till you're a two-iPhone family, Greta. You'll never have to talk to each other over lunch again. Trust me.

Michael Yon.

Michael Yon is back in the States right now, but he'll soon be heading back to the Sandbox. Autographed copies of his new book Moment of Truth in Iraq' are still available. Non-signed copies are available at your local Barnes & Noble and BN online.

If you don't have a copy, get one.

More On The Sixth District Race.

Stephanie Grace at nola.com says that national Democrats shouldn't read too much into their victory here last Saturday, as the reason for their win was primarily local. I tend to agree, but would add that the national Republicans should read a few things into their loss, including:

1) All politics is local. Duh.

2) Get. A. Better. Candidate. (Preferably one who doesn't own a plastic fetus.)

Now how hard is that?

Unified Useful Idiot Theory. Confirmed.

(UPDATE 12MAY08: Welcome Stand Firm readers! I need to take a moment to say that the person who covered the Rachel Corrie story, and has truly kept up with it, is Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs. He deserves the investigative credit. All I did here was connect the dots with our Presiding Bishop.)

Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church (tm), writes about her recent trip to the Holy Land. And the first thing she mentions is this:

I was in the Holy Land during this last Holy Week. When we were there, by chance we met Cindy and Craig Corrie, whose daughter Rachel was killed by a bulldozer in Gaza five years ago.

She was protesting the Israeli government's destruction of a Palestinian home.

And who is this Rachel Corrie, you may ask?

This, is Rachel Corrie:




An American citizen, sporting an Islamic headscarf and burning an American flag in a rage for onlooking Palestinian children. These were taken a few days before she died. (image source unknown, via Little Green Footballs)

Rachel was a member of something called the International Solidarity Movement, a peaceful group just helping to protect some "peaceful" people. Here are a few ISM folks, holding instruments of peace in a group photo:


(image by Lionheart)

Rachel did indeed die after falling front of an Israeli Army bulldozer knocking down a Palestinian house. Why was the bulldozer there? Because the house aparrently hid the entrance to a tunnel for smuggling arms into Gaza from Egypt. Why was Rachel there? Apparently protecting the same.

And what of Rachel's parents, Cindy and Craig Corrie, who +Kate met "by chance?" Their single purpose nowadays seems to be to get their daughter canonized as a Leftist saint. See this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this, and this. And, of course, this.

+Kate met them by chance? Fat chance.

UPDATE 12MAY08: As this post is getting a lot of exposure thinks to a link from Stand Firm, I think a couple of things need to be added.

First, I think our Presiding Bishop should at least be honest about who she sees as the "good guys" in the Middle-East struggle and who she sees as the "bad guys," and not slip it in en-passant. It is clear she sees folks like Rachel Corrie as one of those "good guys," and the Israelis - and the US government - as the "bad guys." Did she "by chance" happen to run into the family of Rami Ayyad, a Palestinian Christian who was executed because he owned a Christian bookstore? Didn't think so.

Second, please do not condemn Rachel Corrie's parents for why they are doing what they are doing - pray for them. They are trying to bring some value to their daughter's life and make some sense of their daughter's death, as any parent would struggle to do. In today's world, that is very hard. In the past, people could turn to their Faith for strength and answers. But Faith, especially current American "progressive" Christian Faiths, does not provide answers or a safe harbor anymore - they provide "space," "the ability to question," "an invitation to dialogue," etc., ad nausium. Say what you want about Evangalicals, or Roman Catholics, or Mormons - or even Islam - at least they provide answers to hard questions. Which is why, IMHO, they are growing.

And last, but certianly not least, pray for the soul of Rachel.

Surprise!!

My Anglican/Episcopalian readers will remember the Pope criticizing "so-called 'prophetic actions" in other Churches , and the Episcopal Bishop of New York Mark Sisk's response:

Asked whether he thought Benedict had singled out the Episcopal Church in his remarks, Sisk responded, "It's possible--but I would be rather surprised. I don't think he was trying to send shots across the bow at particular churches. I think he spoke in a respectful way and I didn't see that as a shot at the Episcopal Church."

Well, here is a followup and...

SURPRISE BISHOP SISK!!!!!!

That is EXACTLY who(m) our Roman friends were shooting at. And they didn't miss, either:

Speaking on the day that the Archbishop of Canterbury met Benedict XVI in Rome, Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president of the Pontifical Council of Christian Unity, said it was time for Anglicanism to "clarify its identity".

He told the Catholic Herald: "Ultimately, it is a question of the identity of the Anglican Church. Where does it belong?"

I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for an answer, Your Grace. I'm an Anglican, and I've been waiting for an answer to that question since 2003. Heck, since 1976.

Hattip: Chris Johnson.

UPDATE 07MAY08: Thanks for stopping by, Bishop.

Tuesday Evening Required Reading.

Sage advice for graduates, from P. J. O'Rourke.

Where were people like this when I graduated? I had to listen to Bill Bennett.

What He Said.

(Warning: A few bad words - NSFW) (Use headphones...)

Hattip: Last of The Few.

Learning From Our Mistakes.

My thoughts about Louisiana's Sixth Congressional District race, and what happened last weekend, are up at Louisiana Conservative Dot Com.

UPDATE: Aparrently, someone isn't learning. These jaw-droppers from an article at Politico.com:

Jenkins, who said he may run again for the seat in November...

They say insanity is doing the same thing over and over again the same way, and expecting a different result.

And they say stupidity is backing someone who you know can't win:

(NRCC Chairman) Cole’s supporters, for their part, are laying the blame for Saturday’s loss directly at the feet of their candidate, former Louisiana state legislator Woody Jenkins, calling him a “flawed candidate” who failed to raise enough money or come up with a message to beat Democrat Don Cazayoux.

Maybe Chad is right - we Republicans are totally screwed if we don't get our act together. And fast.

Yes, That Was Me....

Go here for the podcast of my interview last Saturday on Greta Perry's radio show in New Orleans. (Scroll down to 'Kiss My Gumbo', and it's the 05.03.08 link.)

Two additional things from the show:

First, I'm gonna start a "Six Degrees of Greta Perry" heading where you can email me and I will post how you are connected to Greta Perry. Drinking game rules will be developed shortly.

Second, I wasn't kidding about that "Save the Inspector General Fund." Since I don't have time right now to set up the PayPal account, email me your pledge and how I can contact you to collect. I'm serious, folks.

Something You Can Feel Good Voting For.

Because of the ever-optimistic Greta Perry, my family has become involved with Soldiers' Angels - a wonderful group that supports Americans in uniform with a variety of programs.

Instapundit has this post saying the founder of Soldiers' Angels, Patti Patton-Bader, is one of the fifteen semi-finalists in NBC’s “America’s Favorite Mom” contest, and on 11 May you can vote for her as “America’s Favorite Mom." If she wins, it puts a nice chunk of change in the coffers of Soldiers' Angels, so I don't think our own moms will mind. Not this time, anyway.

Sunday Morning Distraction.

Helping you Handel the day with a smile:



Hattip: The Last of the Few.