Tea Party Eat Your Heart Out

TSA

Totally Sexually Aberrant

What kind of person would like working at the TSA? Scanning bodies for bombs planted internally, or groping small
children or elderly women to see if they have implanted anything explosive. A 61 year old woman tried to get one back-
she got arrested for "groping" a TSA agent. She gave them a dose of what they dish; she grabbed a breast through
clothing of one of them and was arrested on felony charges- and if convicted (it's on tape, she likely will be) then she
will have to be listed as a sexual predator in states that list them. How absurd. The TSA who do pat down and grope
live women get away with it in the name of National Security, but don't you try it back or you will lose your life as you know it. I am not even a little bit gay and I think that is crazy. Perhaps she was just trying to make a point.

I am one of those women who is fairly categorized as somewhat 'endowed' which is not an asset some places. In conservative catholic church it can almost get you arrested for praying while female if a priest is "distracted." I deliberately dress in burlap sac sometimes to dress down the unwanted attention from undesirables. At the TSA they have to search for explosives under my underwire below my chest length dangling cross. Because they are idiots. I feel almost violated every time I get on a plane now.
Can't I show my Bar Card or something to avoid this? I start to hate the 'government' every time I get on a plane, and that is not good because I am a lawyer, and an 'officer of the court.' I just don't want strangers pressing up against touching my breast.
Please don't manhandle or womanhandle me. Is that too much to ask?

Where is Bill Gates when you need him? Please invent something better. I fear with the deficit ceiling talks TSA might
sell my chest x rays to Playboy to pay for social security.

Paraboles 101

And When the Weeds Mock the Wheat


We heard this evening at the Vigil the gospel reading regarding the parabole Jesus told of the field planted with good seed, and in the night the enemy comes and plants weeds. In time, it is obvious there is a bit of a weedy mess and the disciples ask if they are supposed to rip out the weeds and Jesus says no, it could also tear up the weaker wheat, so they are both left to grow interspersed until The Harvest (i.e. the Judgment Day.)
The homilist cleverly made analogy to a baseball field where there are umpires, basemen and even 'security' at the ballpark with the good home team and the bad team vying for prominence and a victory.
A fun but imperfect analogy- it would be more like basketball where the weeds can block and intercept a jump and pass elbow to elbow, or elbow in face. But lets stick with baseball for now.

What if the umpires are crooked? Where is that in the analogy. What if the umpires get a christmas bonus for advancing the weeds and administering the weedkill to the wheat? That's more like what happens.
What if the umpires basemen are in the same union as the umpires who get a bonus for administering the weedkill to the wheat? You get a field overridden with weeds, and so much so everyone starts to think that the weeds look like flowers and like they should be there. Ever see a yard so overridden with weeds you think it is some kind of exotic plant- a field full of it-and it is supposed to look like that? Ever notice that even weeds can sometimes have parts that look almost deceptively like flowering parts? If the crooked umpires call 'security' security becomes like The Mob- a garden variety hit job. Weedwhackers to the kneecaps.

That's what happens in a church when the umpires are in the same union as the basemen who are all paid to administer weedkiller to the good seed. The music dies with the good wheat. And no one can tell the weeds for the woods.

http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&pubid=embassyofargentina

http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php?v=250&pubid=embassyofargentina

Eat Fresh, from the NOMA Farmers Market

Deep

Healing

    For the Greater Glory of God.

At a Jesuit parish in DC named Saint Aloysius a remarkable event packed the place;  not a standard catholic liturgy , but more like an amped up Christ in the City event, a 

charismatic Catholic prayer meeting that looked like the Toronto Blessing only very Catholic

with actual roman collared priests bringing up people who were healed to tell their testimonies. 

This was led by a community called Cor et Lumen Christie (body and light Christ) and their 

unbelievably gifted charismatic founder/leader Damien.   He is the real deal and if you have never heard him you need to invite him to lead a meeting at your Parish.  He is the Hope 

for the New Evangelism.

http://www.coretlumenchristi.org/

Just goes to show you that the Holy Spirit reaches all congregational divides-

because the same sort of services exist in protestant evangelical circles.

Protestantism is mostly protesting the abuses of the church when it was founded

in the 16th century or so, so Protestantism and Catholicism have lots of footpaths

and bridges leading each to each other- and Christ's vision and heart is unity in the Lord.

The Community is one such bridge because every charistmatic protestant would

feel welcome and at home there and even know all the songs.

There were legitimate unbelievable miracles happening that night.

People who walked in on crutches walked out unaided. An eight year old girl who had an

eye blind since birth could see by the end of the service. Another woman

nearly bent over and crippled from Fibromyalgia who said she couldn't stand

or sit for lengths of time on hard surfaces and joined Our Lady of Lourdes

because it had carpet (!!) was dancing up and down the aisle by the end of the

service nearly hugging the statue at the back. A woman with terminal cancer

who walked bent over with a crutch stood upright for the first time in two years,

and there were other unbelievable events witnessed by everyone.

The leader started the service by making everyone say "Jesus is Alive"

and then said- now say it like you mean it. People said it like their lives

depended on it, because they do (the eternal soul lives on by his gift

for those who believe on his name.)

The God of the Universe who created all life, walked the earth and his mere

presence at his word healed people whole, cast out demons, and restored

people to full sanity and health. He is Alive. He walks the earth and does it

today. For those who have eyes to see and ears to hear. And for those whose

eyes can not see and ears can not hear, if they have faith their faith in Him

can make them well.

Jesus of Nazareth- the name on earth that demons shutter to. The Righteous

Jew from a small town in northern Israel. Jesus of Nazareth. Every knee

one day will bow.

Casting Stones

While perched on the log in your eye.

   There is a scripture verse that says basically where do you get off pointing out or criticizing the spec in your neighbors eye when you have a log in your own. Take your log out of your eye and 

maybe you can see a little more clearly what is going on.

   It is in that spirit and vein that legislators in New York City now seek to ban the "Perp Walk"-

the all too frequent parading of charged, but not convicted, arrested persons before TV cameras in the most humiliating fashion one could invent, with their arms visibly cuffed or strapped behind their backs, heads bowed in humiliated disgrace.  Problem is- they didn't all do it. None of them at time of arrest are convicted of anything. The move came as the sad saga of prurient presshood gone amuck pilloried the French former IMF head DSK almost pornographically with alleged details of a rape that chances are never happened. The alleged victim who apparently lied on an asylum application and pled rape in Guinea to gain asylum status couldn't keep her story straight regarding what allegedly happened after the alleged rape. You were just raped, what did you do? Run Screaming anywhere? Hang out and clean the next bathroom? Wait in the hall for permission to go tell security?  wierd. too too wierd. 

   So as that case unraveled so did credibility in the criminal justice system because we all saw it played out in sloppy details that didn't get the facts straight and believed someone who now appears too skanky for words with dubious new additions to her bank accounts that look like someone paid her off to lie.    This is looking more airport novelish than Jean Le Carre.

     The New York times wasted no time noting how embarrassed New Yorkers now feel (the ones that bothered at all to think about it) and the French are furious at our adolescent fascination with humiliation as punishment before proof. It seems our "Just The Fact Ma'am"

motif was made in and stayed in Hollywood. 

   So I cheer the New York legislators who want to do away with the Perp Walk, because half of it might just be the Set Up Walking.

      

Net-Working

One of my fav. hobbies.

 

     Not just the idle blogging of an idle mind-I like to hook people up with other interesting folks for mutual benefit with similar interests. 

No, I am not starting a singles column.

  Along those lines, here's who should meet who next:

Prince William is slightly less cute than the Ubiquitous John Hanshaw (who among his other degree pedigree went to Cambridge in 

England for post graduate work) He is the adorable Director/CEO of the Washington Film Institute in DC and frequently cited as the most eligible bachelor in DC. Kate M. is about average looking compared to the bevy of brilliant beauties who float swanlike around John at any given event he hosts, the latest of which was a packed crowd watching the hilarious spoof on politics gone to the dogs 'Below the Beltway' at a lounge in Georgetown that features simulcasting the movie from several loungy venues inside a clublike atmosphere.  It was followed by a chat with the producers and writers, the main writer being a guy who knew intimately of what he spoke as

he is a twenty year veteran of DC politics and campaigns. He was as funny as the film. He said he was so intent to get the movie made he would have cast sock-puppets if that's what it took. 

    The Washington Film Institute, WFI, started in 2007 and evolved from the Guerilla Film Festival, also founded by John Hanshaw. It brings in amazing talent to conduct workshops, writers and professors of famous drama schools.  Wouldn't it be awesome to have a tie in with the British film industry if we could all figure out how. Washington, DC is the documentary capital of the states as well.....Hmmmmmm. Prince William, please meet via blog John Hanshaw. I will leave it to you all to work out the details of cross-pond collaborations soon. 

http://www.smallfriendlyplanet.org/interview_johnh.html

Hugs and Kisses to all.

    

    

Welcome to America

Katie and Billy:-) 

  America thinks you are georgeous daaaalings.

The International Human Right

To Eat.

    Hunger. It still exists. There is enough food in the world. Pope Benedict says 

there is a sharing deficit. And it's unacceptable when we are talking about kids. Eating is 

a basic human right he declared. 

http://www.h2onews.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=224449727#

The good people at Common Good City Farm in DC might well agree. 

www.commongoodcityfarm.org

In what used to be a shut down elementary school's baseball diamond a half acre of

property in the heart of Northwest Shaw-LeDroit Park area just behind Howard University

Hospital is an unbelievably thriving farm complete with fig, apple, and peach trees, and

every kind of vegetable you thought that you couldn't grow in a city. The roof collects

rainwater through a system of gutters that feeds into a cystern that is linked to the

ground drip irrigation system. Large watermelons, peppers, tomatos, beans, corn, kale,

spinach- and its all organic.

Nearly every variety of herb, including rare medicinal ones are found there.

This is a gem in the city. Their mission is to provide quality low cost fresh organic produce 

as part of the 'food justice' movement which seems exactly what the Pope is talking about.

They are for green sustainability and recycling compost back into the earth to replenish

anything taken away. There are many programs for

low income people to get cheap eats-such as the one where if you work for two hours during

the day you are rewarded with a bag of vegetables.

They are educational in mission inviting groups of kids from schools and after school

programs to visit and even pick and harvest as they walk them through the many varieties

of berries, and green leafies. Do you have a scout troop or boys and girls club that

might want to learn about what urban sustainable organic gardening looks like? Give

them a call. They are there to feed the world.

How Good

When Brothers Dwell Together in Unity

  " Insofar as it is up to you, live peaceably with your neighbor. "

These are two scripture quotes. 

   New testament scripture is rife with references and admonitions against strife-mongering. 

People who create slanders and gossip and stir up ugly false rumors to create dissension in a_

community are blasted in the New Testament. Later they are called sometimes "schismatics" and during the middle ages people could actually be put to death for it. Not advocating that, but just saying that in times former this was considered such a serious sin that it just required shutting down at the pass. Slanderers rank among those New Testament scripture tells us will never make it to heaven along with "whoremongers" and "idoloters" and other evildoers. 

     There is an inspiring new group that hopes to Live Peaceably with their neighbors all over the world. The organization "New Story Leadership" is one that started in Northern Ireland and South Africa with a model of bringing college aged and graduate students to Washington to provide internships with people on opposing sides of conflict living together in houses in the greater Washington, DC area. Recently at SAIS (Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies) in DC Palestinians and Israeli Jewish students /interns came together on the same podium to discuss their new narratives and stories of how they want to live peaceably with their neighbors. This was so moving

it was hard not to cry. One Israeli jewish young man recounted how while he was a solder guarding a check point in Nablus he was approached in the middle of  the night with a large vehicle driven by an Arab which was holding large quantities of watermelon. The soldier was tired and hungry. He recounted how the man somehow sensed that and insisted that he take one of the watermelon. The soldier insisted more strongly that he would not because the man makes a living off selling them. This interchange caused the soldier to realize that coexistence is possible because he felt genuinely cared for. When he opened his heart to the possibility of the other's good will intentions, he was filled with compassion. He determined counterculturally against his upbringing or teaching to not view the 'other' as a threat

and lump all arabs or palestinians into the same stereotypical enemy model.

     A young woman who was once also an Israeli solder who grew up on a Kibbutz recounted how at a party she was disturbingly shouted at by a childhood friend yelling that he killed a man the day before. She didn't know how to react and it made her obviously sad that there was such a flip reference to having to kill a man. A desensitization that scarred the soul somehow. She longed to escape the militarism that defined Israelis who all have mandatory draft military service after high school with few exceptions. 

     Another woman (who is living in the same house as the above woman for the summer) recounted how she as a Palestinian Israeli living in Israel proper, not the 'occupied' territory part, or what is supposed to be Palestinian according to the 67 borders, noted that in a 'black and white world" she is gray and there are shades of gray that don't get factored much into the policy debates that she wishes to highlight. She often feels like she doesn't belong anywhere and yet belongs everywhere. She is currently an intern at the World Bank. It was incredibly refreshing to hear her speak from her heart how she doesn't want to be trapped in the preconceptions of the conflict. She wants to be free to have friends of all stripes. 

     The Palestinian young man from Bethlehem spoke about how he had land title and deed from his family that dated back to the Ottoman Empire when it ruled over the land now Israel, endorsed later by the British Government when it was a Palestinian protectorate. He said it has been tied up for decades in the Israeli court system because they don't know what to do with land titles with deeds because most Palestinians owned their land with a handshake and only declared a small portion of their land officially for tax purposes. There is no Fifth Amendment Emminent Domain expropriation payment obligation of Israel to compensate anyone for State appropriated land. The entire country, if one looks at if from the perspective of the Partition is a UN authorized state appropriatation of land that at one time someone else owned or lived in. But the New Story Leadership program does not want to get too political. It does not issue statements on refugees, the border issues, or who should own or control East Jerusalem. The New Story Leadership program just wants to allow the grass roots to be seen and heard. 

   The conflict affects the psyche of the people on all sides in damaging ways. The political leadership should listen to its own people more. The New Story Leadership is raising up the next generation to tell a truer picture of what is going on, in furtherance of the Vision that one day Brothers and Sisters will dwell in Unity and Peace in that troubled land.

These brave inspiring young people will be on Capital Hill next week. see, 

.

www.NewStoryLeadership.org

     

    

So heavenly minded

You are No Earthly Good

  That's what my mother used to say about folks so cloud-headed in Kool-aidland that they didn't know how to make a decent living.  You know the type - armchair philosophers with lots of religious accolades and more useless stuff in their heads that they hope to edify the yawning masses with. Get over yourself, my mother would think.  Take out the trash now. Thank you. 

    People have all kinds of formulas for what they think makes them happy. The less creative just rely on other people's blueprints and formulas. Do x, y, z and you will succeed down a rigid path and make yourself happy.  The less kind think attacking others will make them happy and sometimes view the world in simplistic zero sums, of if you are happy I won't be so I have to make you miserable. These are idol illusions to convince oneself that one is in control of their heart.  This is of course dangerous stuff.

  The God of Love demands we love our neighbors as ourselves and even love our enemies or persons on the attack.   How easy is it to just love the people who love you back! No, you have to love the quite unlovely.  People want to blame their dashed expectations on someone else as a diversion from looking at their own faults, and they then think that this will make them happy. J'accuse! they shout inanely for they like not the color of the other man's shirt and they didn't get exactly what they wanted out of the deal. Love. This is a messy business. It isn't cloud gazing. It is taking out the trash when its your turn. Its picking up the bills and the leaves off the driveway. It's picking kids up from soccer and ballet and piano and violin lessons. It's waiting at the hospital.  It's being there and not running off with the first other thing that looks like it has a bigger bank account or sets you up in better style.  Becoming attached does not mean avoiding any sense or reality or real responsibility for another's emotional life, as if you could make decisions in a vacuum that had any significance. 

It means growing up finally.

      

     

      

     

    

    

OK Now

If i look that good at that age, I should run for something. You go with your bad scrunchy self.

WOMAN OF THE YEAR

For standing up for her own dignity. Maria Shriver.

Because the more they can't get away with it, the more they

won't try.

Love this woman.

Someone give her an honorary metal to something.

Wish I was a Dean to give her an honorary degree in dignity.

Pray for the whole family.

R U 12??

Leave Hillary's hair alone!

I wrote R U 12 like that on purpose because that is teen text-speak. They can't write because they tweet in abreviated character language.
Someone actually focused for more than three seconds today on the fact that Hillary in her fine blue suit self showed up with her hair pulled back in a scrunchy that I add nicely matched her flowing white blousey blouse. Fashion fine with me. Where can i get it in my size.
The funny thing is that the writer of this ridiculous piece does not even know how to spell faux pas. It's faux pas, as in pas de quoi. Not faux paux as in I am pretending I know how to speak french and it just sounds like it should be spelled that way.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/01/hillary-clinton-scrunchie_n_888948.html


You go Girl. Hair pulled back looks Europeanly regal.

Not a Laughing Matter

The Joke's On Us


Anti-Catholicism is not hardly rare in America. Anti-Irish,
Anti-Italians, who were mostly catholic, was a sentiment widespread and common
in the 19th and even earlier 20th Century. My father, a half-Irish catholic man
recounted seeing signs from the 1960s on store fronts in Boston that read
"Help Wanted, NINA" NINA means "No Irish Need Apply." It was such a common
discriminatory employment practice it had its own acronym.

But what we see now with all the 'scandals' is more than Anti-Catholicism- it's
a ferocious wave of Anti-Christism- a bad reflection on the Lord himself, because the object
of the joking is now the priesthood. And this, the church cannot ignore, and must address
because it slanders
Jesus himself.

These two jokes made their rounds in my inbox this week (the first was retold at a comedy night contest and won the prize for the most uproarious applause):

1/ A priest and a lawer and a troup of boyscouts were on a plane and the plane was going down.
Only two parachutes were on the plane. The priest said- Lets give them to some of the boyscouts.
The lawyer said "Screw all the boyscouts!"
The Priest said "Do we really have time?"

------------

2/ In the Seminary the final test for graduation was a 'purity test' where the seminarians were all lined in a row naked with a little bell tied to their winkies. A georgeous buxom perfumed blonde then walked in front of all of them. Anyone whose bell rang would not get to graduate.
A big buzoomed blonde undressed and walked naked in front of all of them and only one seminarian had his bell jump up and ring so furiously it flew off his winkie. He bent down to pick it up and at the sight of his bending all the other seminarian bells rang so hard it played a bell choir of "Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring."

-----

Funny, funny, ha, ha, right?
No, seriously emblematic of why the church needs to have a healthy heterosexual family model in its priesthood. It would have twice the number of priests who could do twice the work and it would need half the funds for the Saint Luke's Institute to treat priests who think their humanity is evil. It is hurting itself, it is persecuting healthy heterosexual women and it is a perverse betrayal of who Jesus was and is and ever shall be.