• Books - Funnies

    Hot Ferret Love!

    As a former Highlander fan, denizen of the Big List where ferret and weasel jokes were rife (long story), I had to read this tale of the bodice-ripping plagiarism case that somehow involves black-footed ferrets. For one thing, the author of the offending bodice-ripper is from Mattoon, IL, not far from where some Highlander fans gathered a few years ago for a mini-convention and garage sale of HL-themed gifts. It’s not the kind of place where there are many bodices, let alone where they get ripped.  But it is the kind of place where people who read trashy novels live…

  • Episcopal

    Susan Russell: Violence, Religion, and the American Soul

    I’m familiar with Susan Russell‘s work – in addition to leading Integrity USA, she also helped produce the Via Media videos that we used a couple of years ago for a Lenten discussion series. Truth and consequences- Pasadena Weekly As the president of Integrity USA, the 30-year-old national Episcopal lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) advocacy organization, the Rev. Susan Russell has been at the forefront of some of the boldest, most inclusive and most controversial policy statements of any church leader in America. She’s also the convener of “Claiming the Blessing,” a national ministry focused on the full inclusion…

  • Episcopal

    +++Rowan’s Row: Not All Is As It Appears

    I’m home sick today, listening to the BBC News Hour on WBEZ. There’s been a lot about the Archbishop of Canterbury’s recent comments regarding sharia law in Britain. Here’s part of what he actually said, which was in a BBC News interview before a lecture before legal academics, where he went into more detail: In an BBC interview before the lecture, Dr Williams said: “Certain provisions of sharia are already recognised in our society and under our law; so it’s not as if we’re bringing in an alien and rival system. . . There is a place for finding what…

  • Hot Off The Presses - Politics, Schmolitics

    More Delicious Schadenfraude, PLZ!

    Yes, I laughed out loud at a joke based on a very unfunny conceit. Is that wrong and bad? The more I read about how horrified the Repunditans – those most ultra-strident media voices screaming from the rightmost lunatic fringes on the far side of Genghis Khan – are with McCain’s success, the more I wonder at their blindness. Because it’s becoming evident that the folks who’ve been voting for McCain are the moderates who’ve been whipped and beaten into silent acquiesence by the social conservatives of the Religious Right, and the independents who aren’t going for the Democrats. McCain…

  • Only in Utah...

    Group Homes for the Socially Backward

    Utah has its own Lost Boys, and needs to address the problem before it gets even worse than it is now. Fortunately, there’s some group homes that help them with life-skills, because some of these kids have never thought for themselves, never had a bank account, never owned a car, never worked at a job for anyone where they got paid a normal wage, never voted, never thought about going to collage or having a career.  The programs need more funding, of course, something that Utah’s not very good at unless it’s shamed into it by one of its not-that-rare progressive…

  • Episcopal - Parish: Holy Moly (ECUSA)

    Chicago’s new Episcopal bishop, national leader speak up for gay clergy — chicagotribune.com

    Yes! This is what we hoped to see: Chicago’s new Episcopal bishop, national leader speak up for gay clergy — chicagotribune.com Chicago’s new Episcopal bishop and the church’s national leader sent a clear message Sunday about where they stand on gay clergy, a smoldering issue that threatens to tear apart the denomination.Wrapping up a five-day tour in honor of Jeffrey Lee, the new Chicago bishop, Katharine Jefferts Schori declared that the American church will not stand alone in its support of gay clergy during an international meeting in July in Lambeth, England. “Many more [bishops] than you might expect are…

  • Episcopal - Good and Joyful Things - Parish: Holy Moly (ECUSA)

    Half Court Press: The Trib Mentions Episcopalians!

    I must have sent 3 press releases to Manya Brachear, the Trib religion editor. Maybe 4.  I had hoped for a sidebar in the Trib on Holy Moly’s big visitation, but no joy in this article. She does an okay job of explaining the complicated background detail.  I’m planning to go to the shindig tomorrow at House of Hope, but we got a lot of snow last night and frankly I’d rather go x-c skiing rather than spending a lot of time cooped up in someone else’s car trying to get to the South Side. We’re not scheduled to leave…