Holy Bull

The incumbent of the Holy See has never been someone I have respected.  Under John Paul II, he headed the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.  Oops.  Sorry.  That's the Saudi/Wahhabi equivalent.  The Roman version is the Prefect of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the historical Roman Inquisition. Liberals (and some admiring conservatives) called the current Pope "God's Rottweiler" while he served John Paul II as head of the Inquisition.

Like John Paul II, his successor Benedict XVI, is a staunch conservative on matters both spiritual and secular and he has demonstrated his conservatism by the promotion of radical conservatives to the church leadership.  The United States Council of Bishops has become nearly indistinguishable from its yahoo cousins in the right-wing Republican evangelical establishment.

Given the honorable history of the many Catholic affiliated social institutions in this country - educational and health related in particular - it saddens me to see these institutions fall under the oppressive yoke of ecclesiastical tyranny.  How can any Catholic hospital provide 21st century care if it is subject to the arbitrary decrees of clerics living in the middle ages?  Well, they can't - as demonstrated in Germany this past month.  Although I believe it was a bit of a fudge in the end on the German case...

But I digress...

We can now put a fork into the reign of Benedict XVI.  And to his credit he did resign.  And even more to his credit one might infer that his resignation might maybe, possibly, conceivably be due to a recognition of just how dysfunctional the church has become.

Today Benedict XVI gave the bum's rush to Cardinal O'Brien of Scotland - the only cardinal from the United Kingdom who was eligible to vote for a new pope in the upcoming conclave.  Allegations have been filed against the Prince of the Church from Scotland by several priests under his direct supervision through Vatican ambassadors suggesting that the cardinal made inappropriate advances upon them.

I found the article on this subject today from The Guardian most compelling:

If the allegations are correct, you would need a heart of flint not to feel some sympathy for the cardinal as well as for his victims. Celibacy is difficult and sometimes lonely for anyone. The traditional remedy for loneliness, in Scots and Irish Catholicism, involved medication with whiskey and manly bonding. If your inclination is in any case towards men this is not going to be very helpful. Getting drunk in an atmosphere of sentimental affection with the object of desire is a tough test in self-control. We should not be surprised if some men sometimes fail it.

Journalists and Guardian readers who never get drunk and have regrettable sexual episodes are entitled to completely unalloyed joy at the spectacle of a moralist revealed as a hypocrite. The rest of us should temper our delight.

Of course, the real problem is that the Roman Catholic church expects an entirely unrealistic standard of continence from its priesthood. Some priests can manage celibacy. The evidence from all around the world is that most can't. They certainly can't always. In the developing world the problem is largely one of priests having unofficial heterosexual families, as Cardinal Tagle of the Philippines – an outside candidate for the papacy – pointed out last week. In countries where that isn't an available alternative, the priesthood becomes a refuge for gay men – especially in societies where homophobia is the public norm.

This fact adds irony to O'Brien's denunciations of gay marriage. You can't really expect better from a church that still hasn't come to terms properly with heterosexual marriage, as its position on artificial contraception shows. There are many great Catholic feminists, some of them nuns. But you would never guess this from the official doctrine, which still proceeds as if marriage were something in which a man took the initiative, rather than a partnership of equals. And a church that can't treat women as equals is certainly not going to be realistic about marriage between two men.

Couldn't have put it better myself.  And in my tribute to creatures with red hats, I offer the following:  Common Redpolls.

 Da Boyz in da hood.  The conclave.

You f***'n with me?  Don't you be f***'n with me!

Bring it on....

Hah!  Ain't life grand!

When your heart stops beating; you'll keep on tweeting

When I wake-up these days, I reach over and fire up the TV to the local public radio station, KTOO.  I listen to the national, state and local news before I roll-out.  A couple of days ago I was taken by a story of a new app. for Twitter that allows you to tweet even after you have firmly planted your second foot in the grave.  A twitter add-on for the ages. This is not a concept I personally find appealing.  But...for those of you who just refuse to let go, I suppose it might have an attraction...

It's been a dreadful week.  Not that anything bad happened.  Just wet, cold and unpleasant.  My windy promontory has been - well, windy.  And rainy and slushy to boot.  Ugh.

I did transplant about 30 dahlia seedlings to their own little potlets.  About 10 look like they're not going to make it.  But 20 seedlings will be plenty.  About  30 of 100 bell flower seedlings have hatched.  They are TINY seedlings and thus far no secondary leaves so the jury is out.  Time will tell.  I have yet to plant the painted daisy, columbine, and foxglove seeds.  So lots of seedling stuff to enjoy.

I have been vastly amused by texts and pics received from my friend Martha.  She spent a few days in Seattle with a mutual friend, Wendy, at the garden show in Seattle.  Ms. Stewart and Ms. Redman were accompanied by Martha's hound, Bailey, and they all took-up residence at the Hotel Monaco in downtown Seattle - a doggy friendly establishment.  All hands are now safely home after a wonderful time and when I queried Martha about Bailey's doggie day care experience she replied as follows:

"Perfect.  Came back after 5 hours to find Bailey working the hotel front desk.  She was having the best time there, welcoming the guests.  They'd walked her every hour, played with her toy, etc.  She was happy to see me but was ever so happy when we aimed back down to the lobby and she got to see them again."

Woof!

In other news, Amanda is making excellent progress in her quest to open a food establishment this summer.  A couple of interesting (and encouraging) twists and turns.  But I am sworn to secrecy for the moment...

The elders soldier on...  Mom has a doctor's appointment next week and auntie's daughter arrived today for a week.  I will be hosting a family supper early next week.

All is well...

Bang!

Like most Americans, I was appalled - though certainly not surprised- by the recent  massacre at Newtown.  Why should anyone be shocked when a military-style assault weapon is used effectively for the exact purpose for which it was designed - to spray deadly lead over a wide area in a very short period of time?  And why should anyone be astonished that a mentally unstable person would commit an act of violence?

I ask these questions rhetorically, of course, as I recognize that the mutilated bodies of five and six year old school children is something that even our violence soaked culture cannot easily accept.

Still, the simple fact of the matter remains that the slaughter at the schoolhouse in Newtown will be repeated in one variation or other - over and over again - so long as the nation remains awash in guns.

I take little comfort in the most recent gun control proposals.  Not that they are bad.  They should be passed by Congress and signed into law. There is no doubt they would save lives.  But with tens of thousands of gun deaths a year the carnage will continue largely unabated even if ALL the mooted measures are adopted - and they won't be.

The best my own Democratic Senator could do was mumble something about the mentally ill on his Facebook page.  He's up for reelection next year and scared to death of the NRA, of course.

Indeed, there is a chance that at the end of the day the mentally ill could be the big losers in this so-called debate.  Some may well lose their liberty in a very real sense - an irony that I'm confident would be lost on those who cannot count beyond "two" as far as the Bill of Rights are concerned.

And speaking of mental illness, there was an interesting article in Salon this morning, 'Religious states are also the unhappiest', which notes that in 2006 approximately 14% of my fellow Americans were prescribed anti-depressants.  One would presume that only a small fraction of these sad citizens are truly a danger to themselves or others; but it does point out the absurdity of the suggestion that the solution to gun violence is to simply keep guns out of the hands of people who should not have them.

Just exactly who might that be?

What about alcohol?  You show me a man (or woman) with a snoot-full of a six-pack of Miller Genuine Draft and a couple of shots of Wild Turkey and I will show you a man (or woman) who should not be in possession of a gun. 

Guns ARE the problem, kids.

Shoosting (Green Acres is the Place for Me!)

A rather pleasant day...the sun is shining...the Juncos are tweeting, and Enrique is contemplating taking the hound to the dike trail.  The temperature is right around freezing; but there is no wind.  In other words NOT a typical February day here in the rainforest. 

My yard is nearly snow free and this morning I walked the perimeter to see what's what.  There is no winter damage that is discernible aside from a minor washout in the flower bed I rehabilitated last spring.  I fear that this indicates that some drainage work may be in my future.  I noticed last year that the far western extremity of the property is fairly wet - water will drain from the fenced backyard into the lower yard and ultimately into the gravel.  I believe that some French drains may improve drainage in that area.  Since this project would require little more than manual labor of the digging and hauling gravel variety I believe it is therefore within my sphere of competence.  Better yet, it is something I can do in early spring which will keep me occupied until things actually start to grow.

In the same vein, I plan to construct some raised beds and flower boxes in the garage for putting out later.  Bottom line my garden jones can be satisfied before May - a very good thing.

Indeed, my first gardening efforts of the year are already showing some success.  I have 25-30 seedling dahlia sprouts after less than a week under the lights and over the heating pad.

This is what Lisa Douglas in 'Green Acres' would describe as seeds "shoosting."

I am going to have LOTS of plants...and I do not yet know how I will deal with them all.  But I will have great fun figuring it out.

In other news, I have done lots of cooking this past week and tomorrow is elder night here at the ol' homestead.  Today I will make a honey cheesecake and raspberry sauce for dessert.  I believe the rest of the menu will consist of Harvard beets, cauliflower au gratin, mashed potatoes and meatloaf.

A couple of days ago I made a very big pot of chicken with rice soup which was outstanding if I do say so myself.  Mom thought so too...

Well, off to the Club for a workout.  Then I'll pick-up Amanda and chauffeur her around on various errands.

Later gang.

For They Have Sown the Wind...

Politics is full of irony

The Republican Party has been, since the genesis and implementation of the "Southern Strategy" under Richard Nixon, an unholy alliance of the affluent and the Anglo Saxon lower middle class.  The Republican wealthy have paid lip service to the fears and desires of their less well-heeled brethren in the arena of the culture wars so long as the Congressional party and Republican Presidents were allowed to go about the business of systematically picking-the-pockets of the middle class.  It was a fools' bargain on the part of middle class social conservatives; but their self-appointed leaders - clerics, out-of-work or wannabe politicos, and the welter of "conservative" non-governmental agencies like the Family Research Council - found the alliance very lucrative both politically and financially.

And in 2010 the alliance seemed to reach new heights with the Tea Party surge in Congress and, arguably more importantly, with gains in state legislatures and governorships.

At the state level newly empowered Republican majorities and super-majorities gleefully went about gerrymandering election districts to perpetuate their legislative majorities and maximize their Congressional seats.  They did so with remarkable success.

Today, your average Republican Congressman has little to fear from a Democratic challenger in his or her solid Republican district.

And on the national level GOP Presidential primaries made it clear that moderation in the pursuit of anything was no virtue.

Then came the 2012 election results - and those pesky inconvenient demographic truths - that promise to only get worse from the GOP perspective and which became so obvious that even FOX News has found them impossible to ignore.  In the aftermath, many wealthy Republican contributors looked at the numbers and after days given over to prayer and meditation they sayeth:  "Oh Shit! What hath we wrought?" 

For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind: it hath no stalk: the bud shall yield no meal: if so be it yield, the strangers shall swallow it up.

Hosea 8:7

Indeed, the bud yielded whack-jobs who could not win elections and the Democrats were perfectly willing to swallow-up Senate seats that should have, in any reasonable circumstance, gone or remained Republican.

And the Republican Speaker of the House is saddled with a majority of his own caucus that he is unable to lead and that is unwilling to follow or get the hell out of the way.

Enter (again) Mr. Karl Rove.  How about a super PAC, funded by the anonymous uber-wealthy, designed to pre-select "electable" Republicans and give the bum's rush to those who fail to recognize the supremacy of the monied or who want to talk about rape, abortion, gay marriage and all that nonsense?

Not so fast say the Tea Party types!

Of course every state and every state GOP organization will resolve these contradictions in their own inimitable fashion.  In Alaska it didn't take long.  Last fall, Paulista's (remember Ron Paul) elected one of their own as the state party chairperson.  He was unceremoniously deposed last week by the party politburo via machinations that would have made any banana republic proud. The state party's funds were transferred to the Juneau Republican precinct for "safekeeping". 

This dubious coup (or was it a counter-coup) was poorly covered by our local media.  And small wonder.  Few of the Republicans in the state legislature give a fig.  A majority of the Republican legislative majority long ago signed-up with Big Oil.  And Big Oil couldn't care less about rape, abortion, gay rights or any Paulista notion of "liberty".   Big Oil just wants the money.

Ain't life grand?  Stay tuned...

It's Nice to be Missed

Well, here I am.  Safe and sound.  I appreciate the various calls, emails and texts inquiring as to my well being.  I'm fine.  I just got bored with the damn blog.  And I haven't had a lot of interesting pics to post during our winter dark time.

So where were we?  November 26th.  Barely post-Thanksgiving and pre-Christmas.

The holidays were quite fun.  My buddy Adam was here for almost six weeks and I very much enjoyed his company.  He is back in Portland now enrolled in a vocational program.  He started work last Monday and seems to be doing well thus far.  Part-time work will be good for him financially and even more so emotionally I expect.  I do hope he will be back this way this Spring; but time will tell...

My pal, Enrique, left before Christmas but returned on January 7th with his dog Nikki.  I am very fond of the hound.  Nikki and I were left alone to our own devices while her Master performed in Anchorage for a couple of weeks. Enrique is a good guy and now back in Juneau rehearsing for "Seminar" which will play at Perseverance Theatre in March.  He is downstairs memorizing lines even as I type.  Nikki is snoozing on her bed by the Monitor heater.  She likes being a hot dog.

Daughter Amanda is back in Juneau after a trip to PDX and Hawaii.  I have spent some quality time with her since she returned.  She is interested in opening up a food cart downtown this summer.  Cool.  I will be more than happy to contribute sweat equity.  I will keep you posted as the business plan evolves.

The elders are doing reasonably well.  Mom's arthritis continues to worsen as does the associated pain.  Auntie has refused all offers of household assistance since her daughter left a few months ago.  A pity.  I thought we were doing rather well there for awhile; but she now refuses to let me do any house work.

I have, however, done lots of cooking.  And mom is now coming over once a week (weather permitting) to hang-out during the afternoon followed by supper when we are joined by Auntie.  Amanda made it a foursome this last week.  I enjoy cooking and they enjoy eating so it's a good day.  On Tuesday the entree was Prawns Oreganate from the Fiddlehead Cookbook.  One ingredient was goat cheese...wasn't sure how that would go down...but the prawns were a serious hit.  You just never know...

Yesterday I planted seeds - a bellflower mix and seedling dahlia mix.  They are both under the lights and over a heating pad.  After they sprout and I pot them up I will see if I can coax some yellow foxglove and a Columbine mix to hatch.

A couple of pics:

Enrique and his friend Chryssy decorated my tree

A beautiful winter scene from North Douglas

Adam is getting very good at his wire wrapping

It is my intention to post regularly...