Digging for the pony

In a former life when I was a Democrat I wrote a few speeches for a member of the governor's cabinet. I know how to write jargon and doublespeak and how to read it. I am making it through the draft Social Statement on Human Sexuality (ELCA, March 2008) line by line because I'm supposed to speak on it to a group tomorrow. I'm very conscious these days both of the word TRUTH and the biblical concept of TRUTH because of our current small group Bible study. In this draft statement, the word TRUTH appears only once, in a Bible quote (John 1:14).

The word TRUST, however, or a version of it (TRUSTWORTHY, or TRUSTING, or ENTRUSTING) appears 138 times! The phrases "husband and wife" and "mother and father" do not appear at all--just references to family and parents (which these days could be any mix and match, and in this context is a collection of negative images of violence, abuse and economic deprivation). There is ONE reference to a family headed by a married man and woman as we would recognize the term on line 673 "legally married, heterosexual 'nuclear family'." On line 641 the writers say that Scripture places family as secondary to the community! (It takes a village. . .?) Maybe 9 of the 19 uses of the word gender were to "same-gendered" or "gendered." I had never heard or seen the word "gendered" before, implying it is a past participle of an active verb--and "same gender" would have the same meaning--unless of course, the implication is that this is something done to the couple by someone--someone like God perhaps?

Examples from the first page only--as there are just too many to list

Line 13-15: “This social statement addresses the question: What does it mean for us as sexual creatures to love our neighbors as ourselves and thus fulfill God’s law of love in this time and society?”

Dogs and cats, horses and zebras are also sexual creatures. God’s law is for men and women, for human beings, one aspect of which is sexuality. Humans who have lost sexual function from injury, birth defect, illness, age, or immaturity are still men and women with other defining qualities and worth and can still fulfill God’s law of love, because that love is revealed most perfectly in the cross of Jesus, where he died for all sin, including misusing our sexuality, and in his resurrection in which we share as Christians.

Line 21-22: “The past six or seven decades have seen immense changes in every aspect of human life, including human sexuality.”

Although we think we sense more changes, they are no greater now than our parents, grandparents, St. Paul, or Moses experienced. My grandmother was born in 1896 and died in 1983--she experienced a tsunami of change just in communication, travel and health care with the advent of telephone, radio, television, print media, the automobile, air travel, vaccines, modern drugs, health insurance, and nursing homes. For a woman who had all nine of her babies (all healthy who grew to old age) at home and rode a draft horse to church when they were little, I’d say that’s much more mind bending change and societal chaos than I’ll ever see or experience.

This ELCA draft does violence to our English language--verbal abuse, noun abuse, adverb abuse and adjective abuse, to say nothing of abusing our Christian faith. It is Scripture twisting and gymnastics! This draft criticizes "Lutheran historical teachings concerning homosexuality" with no footnotes (Book of Concord? Luther? Lutheran Brethren? Missouri-Synod Lutheran? Wisconsin Synod? the old ALC?). It does not analyze or reference any teaching, research or biblical criticism by known Christian homosexuals, theologians or Lutheran pastors who promote ordination and marriage for gays. It does find space to comment on and condemn children's clothing, playground bullying, consumerism, date rape, dangers of the internet, early sex education, grandparents raising grandchildren and inappropriate touching of female pastors. If you throw in the kitchen sink maybe no one will notice there is no Biblical foundation?

I didn't find anything in this document about ordination of openly gay or closeted gay Lutheran pastors--which was in the original charge in 2001, as was gay marriage blessed by the church--also not specifically addressed in this document. It's possible it is in there--as the saying goes, if you keep shoveling the **** there's bound to be a pony in there somewhere. We know and love such a man--and his synod hasn't let him go after he left his marriage. It's apparently a local choice not addressed in this document.

"This church encourages all people to live out their faith in the community of the baptized. Following previous decisions of this church, we call on congregations to welcome, care for and support same-gender-oriented people and their families, and to advocate for their legal protection."

What this document doesn’t say, refuses to say, is that marriage is an exclusive lifelong pledge of fidelity between a man and a woman sealed in physical intercourse. In Genesis 2:24, Moses says, “a man leaves his father and mother and joins himself to his wife, and they become one body,” and Christ in Matt. 19:6 added, “So then what God has united, man must not divide.” (Baker's Dictionary of Christian Ethics) It follows that Christ is talking about the marriage of a man and a woman, and he is commanding people of whatever culture and society in whatever century, that they are not to destroy marriage or pretend they have it harder than any previous era.

Marriage is not a human invention. God planned it from the beginning. He created a woman from a man's side and put them together in a perfect environment. God sent Jesus for our redemption to be born into a family of a man and woman. Since this was done in a miraculous way, he could have just as easily dropped him in the cabbage patch, but he didn't. The Bible uses marriage imagery to describe Yahweh's relationship with Israel, and Christ's relationship with the church, and when gay activists in the church enlist pastors, theologians, and sociologists to twist that to mean something else, it is blasphemy.

I don't know what our congregation (UALC) is waiting for--it took this sexuality task force seven years to write a mish-mash and hodge podge and submit it to the people of God as a serious work. Every paragraph looks like the sentences were drawn from a hat of former reports and pasted to a page. It is an insult to our common sense and a travesty of our faith. It's time to go. It really is. These people will not back down; they'll just wear us out.

4792

Fashion challenged career women

The USAToday Snapshot chart today showed that 55% of women say making it past the glass ceiling is less difficult today and 15% say there is no limitation at all--this based on research by Adecco. Women would have an easier climb to the ceiling and above (if they want the hassle) if they'd make an effort to look like they are serious about the job and not a date after work, or rushing back to the day care to pick up the kids.

It's a sad, sad time when a retired librarian sitting in the coffee shop in $8 jeans (new), a 4 year old white camp shirt (nice detailing and stitching), and black chunky heels looks more serious about earning a living than the gorgeous 20-something I saw ordering coffee and a bagel this morning. I've seen her before, and she is stunning--but usually she has on more clothes. Today she had on above-the-knee, khaki shorts (we used to called them bermudas), a patterned, sleeveless tank top, and 3" cork wedgies with white straps up above the ankles. I know she was going to work because her ID badge was clipped to her belt. Her shoulder length hair and fresh-look make-up was perfect. So, was it a photo shoot for a picnic? Does she work at COSI taking children through the exhibits? Or does she work in an office and has her eye on a guy in management?

Ladies: A man in khaki slacks from Kohl's, loafers and a pressed sport shirt looks more serious about work than a woman in a $500 pants suit with a bit of cleavage peeking above the $150 jewel-toned blouse, teetering on pointy power heels. With all the help and assistance from the government, non-profits, leadership workshops and academic programs in assertiveness, women should have swamped the top echelons 15 years ago--but they insist on looking like they've come to play, or find a husband not to work.

Update: Today she had on my yesterday outfit--dark jeans and a fitted white blouse. Of course, her athletic shoes were aquamarine with glow-pink heels.

Monday Memories--Rose Parade Covered Casserole

Last night I made swiss steak in my pretty blue covered casserole. The pattern is Rose Parade and it was made by Hall China of East Liverpool, Ohio.



Twenty years ago we bought a cottage in Lakeside, Ohio, which I've written about many times. When we were gathering up things to set up our household (much of the furniture came with the cottage, but the kitchen wasn't furnished), my good friend AZ was revamping her kitchen in Columbus, and had decided to give her 30 year old dishes to a church group. I looked at them--a box of 10 or 12 place settings of the blue and white Currier and Ives pattern that had been premiums at the A & P (as I recall), and asked if I could have them for our cottage, which was going to have the colors pink and blue. In the box I also found pink melamine dishes and platters, and a lovely blue covered casserole. I still have all of them, but the casserole I eventually brought back to Columbus because it is so nice and cooks with an even heat and is easy to clean. I rarely fix casseroles at the lake, and for years have enjoyed it more here.

I checked several antique dish sites on the internet and this casserole is going between $65 and $80. But it's too nice to give up--unless she would want it back.

Lining up behind the gay marriage advocates

Take a good look at the polygamists you're seeing on TV and in the newspapers--the attractive, modest women, the adorable children, and the clean cut young men. They are waiting in line behind the gay activists for their opportunity to legalize their way of life. As I work my way through the Lutheran Draft social statement on human sexuality, there's hardly a line in it that couldn't be used on behalf of the FLDS culture--or man-boy love, or marrying your sister, for that matter.

Then take a second close look at the culture or sub-culture you consider normal, that you accept without thinking. You'll find a culture that over values and sexualizes very young girls, and encourages pregnancies (with free access to abortion, of course); listen to the hip-hop and rap music if you want abuse of young women; look at the clothing gay designers drape over stick thin teen models; listen to Dr. Phil or Maury Povich talking to proud, strutting baby-daddies; watch a reality TV show about girls gone wild; walk through any high school and see the young girls with eating disorders trying to look like waifs and 12 year olds; count the teens on welfare rolls--the children who will be raised with government assistance and school lunch programs by moms who got pregnant at 14 or 15 and didn't finish school; check out some movies and see how entertainment moguls, bigger slime than you see in that FLDS compound, discourage and disparage marriage--the only hope children have for a better life; then look up the senator or representative you elected and ask what s/he is doing to stop marginalizing poor women with handouts and another program to make the electorate feel less guilty.

Then go take another look at the polygamist colony run by men for men and ask yourself if what we're offering these young women is that much better.

Fortune 100 Foundations Lean far to the Left

From article summary: "Although many believe selfinterested corporations lavish funds on politically conservative groups, it just isn’t true. A painstaking analysis of tax returns for Fortune 100 foundations reveals the nonprofits overwhelmingly favor groups that push for bigger government and tougher regulations." Of the 53 nonprofits of the top 100 which donated or funded political causes or candidates, the ratio was 14.5:1--$59 million for the left, and $4 million for the right. Read the story here

If this defies common wisdom (not to mention common sense), there must be a reason. As in most things--you only need to follow the money. Or follow the banker or CEO into the halls of the Senate. They give to left leaning, pro-big-government politicians because the regulation or influence will hurt their competition. Why would big oil or big automaker or big lumber be funding and supporting environmental issues that on the surface would seem to be anti-business-as-usual. Well, obviously, it's the small guy with fewer resources and smaller R & D budget who will be hurt, not the mega-behemoths of industry.

La Raza, for instance, which wants the Southwest returned to Mexico in fact if not in treaty or out and out war, is one of the biggest beneficiaries of the wealthy foundations of the top Fortune 100 companies. Now why do you suppose big business has a stake in keeping wages down through illegal immigration? Hmmmm. Banks also are heavily investing in Hispanic causes, which tend to be sympathetic to amnesty and illegals. James Dimon, CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has made political contributions to high-profile Democratic lawmakers and candidates, including New York Senator Hillary Clinton and Illinois Senator Barack Obama, and extremely small amounts to a few Republicans (I'm betting they are RINOs). The JPMorgan Chase foundation gave 2.6% of its giving dollar to political causes, all of which were on the left.

So the next time you read or hear a whiny liberal or progressive legislator, journalist, academic or bloggers moaning about the conservatives being so rich, look for those crossed fingers behind their back or keyboard--just 'taint so.

Forgetting

There's an old country song that goes something like, I've forgotten more about him than you'll ever know. At my age, forgetting (the past) and forgetfulness (in the present) are problems. The memory tapes are full, and to my knowledge there's no way to jettison the old stuff to make room for the new, and in order to even keep the past, you do need to occasionally revisit it. This morning I was reading something dated November 17. "That's Patrick's birthday," popped into my mind. Then I began to doubt. No, it was November 14; or was it the 18th? Patrick died 44 years ago, but he was my baby--we had such a brief time together, and you'd think I'd never forget his birth date, but apparently I have. It wouldn't be hard to look it up, but messy files isn't my topic today; forgetting is.

The past is forgotten primarily by the passage of time, but happy times also start to replace the unhappy memories like a difficult pregnancy and loss of a child in order to build new memories. Both my adult children have November birthdays so I think Patrick's date would come and go and eventually, I paid no attention to it. Alcohol also destroys the memory, as does dementia--those aren't my problem.

Time doesn't always do it if you refurbish and polish the memory like prayer beads. Years ago we "fixed up" a widower we knew with a delightful, handsome divorcee whom I knew through work. I think she was in her late 50s or early 60s, and he was about 70. Both had been single many years and had grown children--I think his wife had died of cancer about 25 years earlier. During dinner I began to spot the problem--he wouldn't stop talking about his deceased wife. It was embarrassing. I talked to my co-worker the next day and she said it continued even when he took her home and she invited him in. He had allowed neither time nor happy memories to chip away at the painful memories of his wife's death. I also considered the possibility that he used this to assure he'd never need to follow up on a social contact!

Some of the happiest second and third marriages I've known are cases where the two bereaved spouses were friends before their loss--each knew the others joys, sorrows, illnesses, children--they had shared memories. I also know a few where this didn't work out at all--resulting in a quick divorce or annulment. Memories are wonderful props for living, but sometimes you need a brick or two replaced, or some new mortar, or maybe a whole foundation.

Librarians are bossy

The younger, 2.0 librarians are quite proud that they don't "shush," can wear trendy clothes and tattoos, and have Wii and e-books streaming out the wazoo in their libraries. But they are still just as bossy as my generation and the generation who were my supervisors and revisers (in the old days of the 1960s, everything you did was revised or inspected by someone above you in seniority and position). Here are some rules to participate in an electronic list by a group called Web4Lib. Note: each statement could stand alone and be perfectly understood, but in true librarian fashion each has to be expanded and explained, some with parentheses. (Librarians love parentheses.) A version of these rules appear everywhere that people are sharing information on the web, but I'm betting that a librarian is somewhere way back in the family tree of every listserv and Usenet BB. Don't let those IT or OT folks pull your leg. They are really librarian wannabees who had better math grades. In fact, I think Moses was the first librarian--at least he was good at making lists and organizing information.

Guidelines for Appropriate List Behavior
The following guidelines are offered as advice for how to best participate in this discussion in a manner that will both contribute to the experience of all readers and also reflect well on you.

Say something substantial. Simply saying "I agree" (in so many words) or "I disagree" (in so many words) does not meet this guideline. Specific technical questions are, however, quite appropriate, as are brief answers to such questions.

Say something new. Mere redundancy will not convince an opponent of their error. Explaining the same argument differently in an attempt to make them see the light has not been proven to be an effective strategy.

"Getting the last word" is for children. [Yikes--how condescending is that!] We're all beyond the age when we should be concerned with being the one to end the argument. Just because you are the last to speak doesn't mean you won the argument.

Agree to disagree. The likelihood of convincing someone to change a strongly held opinion is nil. State your case, but give up on the idea of converting the heathen.

Take "conversations" off the list. When list interaction becomes two-sided (two individuals trading comments or arguments) it is a sign that you should take the discussion off the list and correspond with that person directly. If the discussion was of interest to the general membership you will see others posting on the topic as well.

Remember that you are being judged by the quality of your contributions. No matter whether you are employed or not, or a certain age, or have a certain education, you can create a good professional reputation by how you contribute to a large electronic discussion like Web4Lib. On the other hand, you can ruin your reputation even faster and easier.

NEVER send email in anger. [Isn't that in the Bible? I know I've heard it at church.] Go ahead and compose a message in anger, since that may help you work through what you're angry about, but don't send it. Sleep on it. You will nearly always decide to not send it or to recompose it. There's a reason for that.

Be civil. Treat others how you wish to be treated. No matter how insulting someone is to you, you will always look better to the bystanders (of which there are many, I hasten to remind you) by responding politely.

Respect the rights of others. An electronic discussion is a commons. Your right to post ends at the right of others to not be insulted, badgered, or to have their time needlessly wasted.

There are worse things than modest women with long hair

Bonita's wonderful craft

I've been reading Bonita's blog for several years and have admired her artistic photographs and informative posts. She says she has an old camera and an old computer, but she certainly has an eye for beauty and composition and a knack for story telling, whether about her Baha'i faith, her family, or her wonderful mountain and lake sojourns in Washington. I especially enjoy her food entries--always artistic, photographed during preparation, explained and displayed for the final reveal with a lovely background, plate, napkin or plants. Hawaiian lasagna, dilly bread, Salmon slaw--oh, yummy. Do go for a visit--after dinner. Even her campfire recipes are incredible.

Can't imagine what it found

Either I mentioned I believed in God and the meter was running, or it caught Mr. Jake or Mr. Chuck on one of their rampages.


Created by OnePlusYou

Friday Follow-up

Here's a Friday Family Photo--taken about 2 weeks ago at our little family gathering to celebrate my husband's birthday.



Taxes were due this week. In 1919, P.G. Wodehouse observed: "The only difference between the United States government and the ordinary practitioner in a black mask was that the latter occasionally left his victim carfare.

John of the Cross, after his ordination (in the 1500s), traveled nearly 18,000 miles all over Spain, mainly on foot.

"When millions of people are going hungry, it's a crime against humanity that food should be diverted to biofuels," said India's finance minister, quoted Monday in the Wall St. Journal. Not to be out done, the Turkish finance minister said, "The use of food for biofuels is appalling."

Richard at 3 score and 10 blogged about why it is important for men to learn to put the toilet seat down. At the coffee shop I see that women runners come in to use the restroom about 10 times more often than men (or maybe there are more of them at 7 a.m.) In the medical literature, this is called urodynamics.

The fourth reason to vote for Senator McCain is that he says (now) that he will keep the Bush tax cuts. Sen. Obama needs to go back to math or economics class. He says he will cut taxes for the middle class (earning less than $200,000), but his plan (according to WSJ today) will actually raise middle class taxes because 47% of all tax returns reporting capital gains were from households with income below $50,000 (that'd be us), and 79% came from households with incomes below $100,000. He wants to raise the capital gains tax even though it brings in less money because "it's fair." Not being a boomer, perhaps he hasn't noticed how many will need to be living off their investments.

"People of all colors and income levels don't hate the rich. They want to get rich." Jack Kemp, WSJ 4-17-08

Randi Rhodes is the foul-mouthed, ranting profane anti-Hillary talker on AirAmerica. She's 49. Give her a break. She's probably having hot flashes. Anyway, she was fired for her "comedy" routine on her own time. That doesn't seem fair, and I know liberals are all about fairness. Also, I think she was the only show on that sorry network that had listeners. Liberals love trash talking, especially from women. She probably thought she was safe since an Obama supporter, Charlie Kireker, bought controlling interest.

"Jesus is a liberal" and "Grandmothers for peace," are two bumper stickers I saw on a flashy convertible. Rich Democrat Anabaptist?

Joe Rosebrook, 33, is in the Logan County jail charged with conspiracy to commit murder. His father, also named Joe Rosebrook, is currently serving a sentence on the same charge. Little Joe has droopy eyes, long hair, and a scruffy face--Big Joe may look a bit better if the prison has standards.

Sunset Cemetery west of Columbus has a large grave stone in the shape of a loaf of bread. It memorializes the life of a man, called the Bread Man, who took food to the poor on his own dime and effort--not the USDA's (our tax money).

Today I'm having lunch at Spageddies Kitchen in Hilliard. I've browsed their menu, selected what I want to order, checked out the map, and read about the benefits they offer employees (really good!). I needed a log-in to read the annual report. I have also e-mailed the corporate office and suggested they give their web designer a raise, because it's beautiful, clear, easy to navigate and librarians could learn a lot from them.

Everyone afraid of temperatures who thinks global warming is to blame for too much cold or too much water needs to read Patrick Michaels' article in WSJ today. Did you know that one of the reasons we have an uptick in temperature, and it's very small, is because the IPCC revised the numbers from the 1950s and 1960s downward well after the fact? There's a lot more in it, like what's happening, or not happening in Greenland. You'll sleep better after reading it, but I don't think it will stop the stampede for government grants or investments of the rich folk in phony carbon credit schemes.

The new 2009 Dodge Journey crossover has half the cargo space as my 2002 Dodge minivan, will hold 2 fewer people, has a larger engine, gets poorer gas mileage and costs a few dollars more. I think I'll pass.

By whose standard is this controversial?

My latest LAS News p. 24, Winter 2008 [University of Illinois] reports on the research of Richard Akresh about fostering children among Africans. It seems that poor African families often send a child to live with wealthier relatives who agree to feed, house and educate them in exchange for their labor. Akresh did surveys, accumulating 600 pounds of paper. Yes, he did find some abuse, but in 15 randomly selected villages 600 households were surveyed tracking 300 foster children. They found that the fostered children were better off than their biological siblings in education and health. So the system, developed through the wisdom of the people, did work. And yes, the children did work, and they weren't as well treated as the children of the host family, but I'm guessing even the better off relatives weren't wealthy.

Maybe it was the headline that irritated me: "The fostering dilemma: Controversial practice benefits some African children." It sounds to me that families were developing their own methods and giving their children the best possible opportunities. Checking the author's homepage, I see this is not his title.

This practice was common in the United States and Europe--there were informal child care arrangements, whether you call them fostering, adoption via orphan train, poor farms or child labor. There is still informal fostering arrangements in this country, particularly in black communities. The HBO movie Lackawana Blues starring S. Epatha Merkerson tells of a woman in the 50s and 60s who took in not only children, but other down and outers. A few years ago I was reading an old journal of my great great grandfather who was a farmer/ teamster/ doctor in Ohio before the Civil War. One of the entries in his log (in German and English) was about a niece taken into the family in exchange for her labor, and when she reached maturity, she would receive certain items of furniture and clothing. When I was doing research on 19th century serials, I found ads in religious magazines placed by mothers looking for families to take their children for awhile.

But considering some of the odd stories we hear today, I wonder who really has the more strange customs. I heard one this morning from an adoption attorney that just curled my toes. No servitude was involved, but the child AND the two sets of would be adoptive parents were treated callously and cruelly by the state agency which was holding them all hostage. Only families with a lot of wealth could have hired lawyers to work out the mess that social workers and state bureaucrats had created "in the best interests of the child."

The history of peace

"Writing the history of peaceful endeavor is much harder than writing the history of titans of war. . . The history of peace does not excite the emotions or does it cause the heart to pound. Even the most desk bound intellectuals can relish the account of the siege, which serves as a metaphor for their own lives under siege by personal traumas, social pressures, or technological changes." Paul A. Blaum, "From Steppe to Empire: the Turkmens in Iraq," International Journal of Kurdish Studies, v. 21, no. 1-2, 2007, p. 57

Some articles of this very interesting journal are on line through Access my Library, but not this one. It focuses on Kurds regardless of the country in which they live--Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq, Sweden, U.S. or other.

Is it too late to draft Al Gore?

He's not a Marxist, he's not a Socialist, he's a patriot, he's a Christian; he's just a bit tetched in the head from his own hot air, but I think I could live with that. When Obama finally admits what we all knew--that tax increase isn't about the revenue, it isn't about health care or the needy, it's about "fairness," (i.e., punishing the rich for success), the gloves are off, as are the bets. If Gore's home state would have supported him, or Bill Clinton hadn't sandbagged him in 2000, he probably would have been the one to take us into Afghanistan and Iraq, because all the Clinton years we heard about WMD, and the 9/11 still would have happened.

Is it too late? Please! I really don't like John McCain, although I've got 4 reasons now to vote for him. I think I could vote for old Algore as a place holder until the Republicans could field someone. As long as we have 3 Democrats to chose from, couldn't one of them be Al Gore?

The Hillobama speechifying

When this whole Democrat battle boiled down to two candidates, I thought Obama was the better speaker. After listening to countless sound bites, interviews, debates and off-the-cuff remarks from both, I have to say, Hillary is much better. Once you get Obama off the no-content message of hope and change, he has nothing else to say and he says even that badly. He's even worse on off-the-cuff remarks than John Edwards, who's really a stammerer with a southern accent. Obama's as clear as John Kerry, who's really murky.

Hillary might lie a lot, but at least she's articulate and believes her own lies.

He's probably a Democrat

Les Moonves' salary in 2006 was $5.6 million, plus a bonus of $15 million for a total package of $28.6 million, according to the week-end WSJ. He got a 29% increase for 2007, for a package valued at $36.8 million. Guessing from what CBS offers us in entertainment, I'm betting he votes Democrat and is supporting Mrs. Clinton.

My 2007 pension was under $20,000, and I'm a Republican even though they also spend money like a drunken Kennedy. Still, I believe he should answer to the stockholders and not liberals who want to put a cap on the compensation of CEOs and executives of corporations.

Despite the trash, fluff and fodder, the Rathers and Courics who get enormous salaries to read the news, they should get what they pay for. . . and they are. And when you read Rather's remarks about Couric, you realize how many words that man uses to say, Yes, No, or Maybe.

Maher and the Muslims

Don't you wonder how long Maher's head would stay on his scrawny neck (either on earth or on the air) if he were as insulting to Muslims as he was to the Pope and Catholics? I've never watched even 3 minutes of him. He's a twirp made of diseased sputum and fecal matter, of such filth that I'd be afraid to even step near his piles and splatters. But I do think subscribers to HBO should let the owners, producers, and stockholders know just how insulting he is to Catholics in particular, and all Christians in general. I would never say he shouldn't have a right to be an idiot or slanderer or scumbag, but I'd hit him and his owners where it hurts--his wallet. I mean, it's not like the entertainment industry protects the best interests of children by protecting porn and every imaginable filth for the big bucks.

"I'd like to tip off law enforcement to an even larger child-abusing religious cult," Maher told his audience. "Its leader also has a compound, and this guy not only operates outside the bounds of the law, but he used to be a Nazi and he wears funny hats. That's right, the Pope is coming to America this week and, ladies, he's single."

Advice for boomer retirees

Readers jumped all over those whiners that the WSJ wrote about on April 1. I blogged about them, too. Usually, in letters-to-the editor the WSJ tries to offer a cross section, but I guess no one feels too sorry for a 57 year who had a 6 figure salary and can't retire early at their accustomed standard of living because the economy burps. Here's a summary of comments in yesterday's paper

Save

Live modestly

Learn to understand risk

Learn from past bubbles, whether it's technology or real estate

Take responsibility for your own actions

Locate that document that guarantees you will never experience problems [that was my personal favorite]

Use a little hindsight--like what was your property worth 2 years ago compared to 5 years ago

Not a single sympathizer in the boatload.

You want how many cookies?

Twenty nine thousand, give or take a few dozen. Our Upper Arlington Lutheran Kairos Prison Team will be going to the Marion Correctional Institution April 24-27 for a Christian Renewal Week-end, and each team brings their own cookies--28,800. Usually, we need only 10,000-12,000, but we have so many members on the team for this week-end, we need a lot of cookies. So I'm baking--which is pretty unusual for me. I've made eight twelve dozen brownies (with a little help from Duncan Hines), some with chocolate chips, because there's nothing like chocolate to say, "love." And that's what the cookies are for--tangible evidence of God's love for a sinner in a batch of homemade cookies or brownies. The freezers at the church are probably full--it's hard to find room for that many cookies. A team member is using our garage refrigerator.

To learn more about the program go to www.ualc.org/cookies

Many of the men reached by Kairos Renewal will never be released into society, but many will--and our UALC men are committed to work with them then too, to ease them back into employment and their families.

"Faith-based programs that start in prison and continue after sentences have been served can produce meaningful outcomes when they offer the mentoring, guidance, and hope needed to face a future often marked by social exclusion and fear of the unknown." also, "Working with prisoners before they are released can increase the chances of successful reentry." http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cb_51.htm

The paperless society

This morning I moved a mature IRA from one bank to another, because the first bank was charging me $30 a year just to use my money! Do you know that by the time I got home from those two transactions about a mile apart, I had 26 pieces of paper, or 27 pieces if I counted the check, 25 of them 8.5 x 11. Both banks used to be called something else--or at least one was, and the other was started by officers of a former savings and loan. I can remember the days when they rolled the certificate into a typewriter and I signed a little card for the beneficiaries which stayed there. In those days, I thought it took a long time, but now with computers it is much longer. Plus, the computers don't even update your account until the next day, so on one sheet I had to write in the new amount. But the staff are always pleasant, handsome and cheerful, so it's nice to go to a bank and enjoy the comfy furniture and have a chat. Just make sure you have plenty of time. Plus it is a beautiful, sunny day in central Ohio. My artificial flowers are doing fabulously even in the cold snap.