Well, hello there.

Hmm. Facebook has taken over, and I've completely neglected this blog. If any of you are still subscribers, I apologise. I think this summer I am going to try to be more attentive. In our brave new electronic world, this seems like a slightly more permanent forum than FB.

Buy My Parents' House Please...

This is the house I grew up in.  It is a great house,  but they're moving to Florida.  It would be a great second house for a family with young children needing room to grow.  It has a nice yard,  and is walking distance to the Jr. High School and the Sr. High School.  It is also walking distance to the bus to Ashmont Station,  and a very short bus ride or drive to the Holbrook Commuter Rail station. 

26 Howard St., Randolph, MA

Oh, my ears!

This is cute.

Doh!

Great Obama ad, with a surprise guest.

Keith Olbermann is right about Hillary Clinton.

Which is why I am hoping that Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination cleanly, and we do not have a brokered convention in Denver. Hillary Clinton clearly wants to win at all cost.

Let Me In Cat

From the creator of "Wake Up Cat" comes "Let Me In Cat".

I'm hoping for a whole series of these cartoons. Simon is a genius.

The Donkey

When fishes flew and forests walked
And figs grew upon thorn
Some moment when the moon was blood
Then surely I was born.

With monstrous head and sickening cry
And ears like errant wings
The devil's walking parody
On all four-footed things.

The tattered outlaw of the earth.
Of ancient crooked will;
Starve, scourge, deride me: I am dumb
I keep my secret still.

Fools! For I also had my hour;
One far fierce hour and sweet:
There was a shout about my ears,
And palms before my feet.

- G. K. Chesterton (1894-1936)

Another Blog

The web is saturated with 'blogs.  We are adding to it. We have a Gloxinia that is in its second cycle of growing.  It grows, blossoms, and completely dies off,  and then lies dormant for several months.  A couple of days ago, we noticed that it is beginning to grow again. 

Follow its growth at our new 'blog.  I think you can subscribe to an RSS feed to get daily updates. 

The Resurrection Plant

Armour for Cats

Simply stunning.

And I can't imagine trying to get Her Royal Highness to wear it.

Click the photo for more examples of this artist's work.

Ban Comic Sans

I have been known, on occasion, to go on rants about things that seem irrelevant.

For instance, the use of the font known as 'comic sans' on everything from posters to worship bulletins drives me absolutely insane. It is a font designed to imitate the hand-lettering in conversation bubbles in comic books. There, it is usually appropriate, but even this computer-generated travesty of a font cannot hold a candle to a beautifully hand-lettered comic.

The use of 'comic sans' for professional communications, exams and most unfortunate of all, worship bulletins in church, is wholly inappropriate, infantilizing, and should be punishable by lashes with wet noodles. The whole-wheat kind, not those wimpy soba or egg noodles.

I am vindicated. Viz.;

Ban Comic Sans

Did You Know This?

The more I learn about our caucus and primary system to select Electors for the party Conventions this coming semester, the more I am convinced that we must move to a direct vote system.

Read these two articles about 'Super Electors'; Governors and members of Congress of the Democratic Party who gave themselves the vote at the 1982 Convention. Barack Obama could win the majority of the voted Electors, (those selected by party primaries and caucuses) and still not get the nomination, since it seems that the majority of the Super Electors favor Hillary Clinton.

There is something just inherently unfair in this.

An article about this at AmericaBlog.

More about this at the LA Times.

Barack Obama at Ebenezer Baptist Church

'The Great Need of the Hour'

The Scripture tells us that when Joshua and the Israelites arrived at the gates of Jericho, they could not enter.  The walls of the city were too steep for any one person to climb; too strong to be taken down with brute force.  And so they sat for days, unable to pass on through.   

But God had a plan for his people.  He told them to stand together and march together around the city, and on the seventh day he told them that when they heard the sound of the ram's horn, they should speak with one voice.  And at the chosen hour, when the horn sounded and a chorus of voices cried out together, the mighty walls of Jericho came tumbling down.

There are many lessons to take from this passage, just as there are many lessons to take from this day, just as there are many memories that fill the space of this church.  As I was thinking about which ones we need to remember at this hour, my mind went back to the very beginning of the modern Civil Rights Era.   

Because before Memphis and the mountaintop; before the bridge in Selma and the march on Washington; before Birmingham and the beatings; the fire hoses and the loss of those four little girls; before there was King the icon and his magnificent dream, there was King the young preacher and a people who found themselves suffering under the yoke of oppression. 

And on the eve of the bus boycotts in Montgomery, at a time when many were still doubtful about the possibilities of change, a time when those in the black community mistrusted themselves, and at times mistrusted each other, King inspired with words not of anger, but of an urgency that still speaks to us today:

"Unity is the great need of the hour" is what King said.  Unity is how we shall overcome. 

What Dr. King understood is that if just one person chose to walk instead of ride the bus, those walls of oppression would not be moved.  But maybe if a few more walked, the foundation might start to shake.  If a few more women were willing to do what Rosa Parks had done, maybe the cracks would start to show.  If teenagers took freedom rides from North to South, maybe a few bricks would come loose.  Maybe if white folks marched because they had come to understand that their freedom too was at stake in the impending battle, the wall would begin to sway.  And if enough Americans were awakened to the injustice; if they joined together, North and South, rich and poor, Christian and Jew, then perhaps that wall would come tumbling down, and justice would flow like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream.

Unity is the great need of the hour – the great need of this hour.  Not because it sounds pleasant or because it makes us feel good, but because it's the only way we can overcome the essential deficit that exists in this country. 

I'm not talking about a budget deficit.  I'm not talking about a trade deficit.  I'm not talking about a deficit of good ideas or new plans. 

I'm talking about a moral deficit.  I'm talking about an empathy deficit.  I'm taking about an inability to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we are our brother's keeper; we are our sister's keeper; that, in the words of Dr. King, we are all tied together in a single garment of destiny. 

We have an empathy deficit when we're still sending our children down corridors of shame – schools in the forgotten corners of America where the color of your skin still affects the content of your education.

We have a deficit when CEOs are making more in ten minutes than some workers make in ten months; when families lose their homes so that lenders make a profit; when mothers can't afford a doctor when their children get sick.

We have a deficit in this country when there is Scooter Libby justice for some and Jena justice for others; when our children see nooses hanging from a schoolyard tree today, in the present, in the twenty-first century.  

We have a deficit when homeless veterans sleep on the streets of our cities; when innocents are slaughtered in the deserts of Darfur; when young Americans serve tour after tour of duty in a war that should've never been authorized and never been waged.

And we have a deficit when it takes a breach in our levees to reveal a breach in our compassion; when it takes a terrible storm to reveal the hungry that God calls on us to feed; the sick He calls on us to care for; the least of these He commands that we treat as our own. 

So we have a deficit to close.  We have walls – barriers to justice and equality – that must come down.  And to do this, we know that unity is the great need of this hour. 

Unfortunately, all too often when we talk about unity in this country, we've come to believe that it can be purchased on the cheap.  We've come to believe that racial reconciliation can come easily – that it's just a matter of a few ignorant people trapped in the prejudices of the past, and that if the demagogues and those who exploit our racial divisions will simply go away, then all our problems would be solved. 

All too often, we seek to ignore the profound institutional barriers that stand in the way of ensuring opportunity for all children, or decent jobs for all people, or health care for those who are sick.  We long for unity, but are unwilling to pay the price. 

But of course, true unity cannot be so easily won.  It starts with a change in attitudes – a broadening of our minds, and a broadening of our hearts. 

It's not easy to stand in somebody else's shoes.  It's not easy to see past our differences.  We've all encountered this in our own lives.  But what makes it even more difficult is that we have a politics in this country that seeks to drive us apart – that puts up walls between us. 

We are told that those who differ from us on a few things are different from us on all things; that our problems are the fault of those who don't think like us or look like us or come from where we do.  The welfare queen is taking our tax money.  The immigrant is taking our jobs.  The believer condemns the non-believer as immoral, and the non-believer chides the believer as intolerant. 

For most of this country's history, we in the African-American community have been at the receiving end of man's inhumanity to man.  And all of us understand intimately the insidious role that race still sometimes plays – on the job, in the schools, in our health care system, and in our criminal justice system. 

And yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that none of our hands are entirely clean.  If we're honest with ourselves, we'll acknowledge that our own community has not always been true to King's vision of a beloved community. 

We have scorned our gay brothers and sisters instead of embracing them. The scourge of anti-Semitism has, at times, revealed itself in our community.  For too long, some of us have seen immigrants as competitors for jobs instead of companions in the fight for opportunity. 

Every day, our politics fuels and exploits this kind of division across all races and regions; across gender and party.  It is played out on television.  It is sensationalized by the media.  And last week, it even crept into the campaign for President, with charges and counter-charges that served to obscure the issues instead of illuminating the critical choices we face as a nation. 

So let us say that on this day of all days, each of us carries with us the task of changing our hearts and minds.  The division, the stereotypes, the scape-goating, the ease with which we blame our plight on others – all of this distracts us from the common challenges we face – war and poverty; injustice and inequality.  We can no longer afford to build ourselves up by tearing someone else down.  We can no longer afford to traffic in lies or fear or hate.  It is the poison that we must purge from our politics; the wall that we must tear down before the hour grows too late.   

Because if Dr. King could love his jailor; if he could call on the faithful who once sat where you do to forgive those who set dogs and fire hoses upon them, then surely we can look past what divides us in our time, and bind up our wounds, and erase the empathy deficit that exists in our hearts. 

But if changing our hearts and minds is the first critical step, we cannot stop there.  It is not enough to bemoan the plight of poor children in this country and remain unwilling to push our elected officials to provide the resources to fix our schools.  It is not enough to decry the disparities of health care and yet allow the insurance companies and the drug companies to block much-needed reforms.  It is not enough for us to abhor the costs of a misguided war, and yet allow ourselves to be driven by a politics of fear that sees the threat of attack as way to scare up votes instead of a call to come together around a common effort.

The Scripture tells us that we are judged not just by word, but by deed.  And if we are to truly bring about the unity that is so crucial in this time, we must find it within ourselves to act on what we know; to understand that living up to this country's ideals and its possibilities will require great effort and resources; sacrifice and stamina.

And that is what is at stake in the great political debate we are having today. The changes that are needed are not just a matter of tinkering at the edges, and they will not come if politicians simply tell us what we want to hear.  All of us will be called upon to make some sacrifice.  None of us will be exempt from responsibility.  We will have to fight to fix our schools, but we will also have to challenge ourselves to be better parents.  We will have to confront the biases in our criminal justice system, but we will also have to acknowledge the deep-seated violence that still resides in our own communities and marshal the will to break its grip. 

That is how we will bring about the change we seek.  That is how Dr. King led this country through the wilderness. He did it with words – words that he spoke not just to the children of slaves, but the children of slave owners. Words that inspired not just black but also white; not just the Christian but the Jew; not just the Southerner but also the Northerner. 

He led with words, but he also led with deeds.  He also led by example.  He led by marching and going to jail and suffering threats and being away from his family. He led by taking a stand against a war, knowing full well that it would diminish his popularity.  He led by challenging our economic structures, understanding that it would cause discomfort.  Dr. King understood that unity cannot be won on the cheap; that we would have to earn it through great effort and determination.

That is the unity – the hard-earned unity – that we need right now. It is that effort, and that determination, that can transform blind optimism into hope – the hope to imagine, and work for, and fight for what seemed impossible before.

The stories that give me such hope don't happen in the spotlight.  They don't happen on the presidential stage. They happen in the quiet corners of our lives.  They happen in the moments we least expect.  Let me give you an example of one of those stories.

There is a young, twenty-three year old white woman named Ashley Baia who organizes for our campaign in Florence, South Carolina.  She's been working to organize a mostly African-American community since the beginning of this campaign, and the other day she was at a roundtable discussion where everyone went around telling their story and why they were there. 

And Ashley said that when she was nine years old, her mother got cancer.  And because she had to miss days of work, she was let go and lost her health care.  They had to file for bankruptcy, and that's when Ashley decided that she had to do something to help her mom.

She knew that food was one of their most expensive costs, and so Ashley convinced her mother that what she really liked and really wanted to eat more than anything else was mustard and relish sandwiches.  Because that was the cheapest way to eat.

She did this for a year until her mom got better, and she told everyone at the roundtable that the reason she joined our campaign was so that she could help the millions of other children in the country who want and need to help their parents too.

So Ashley finishes her story and then goes around the room and asks everyone else why they're supporting the campaign.  They all have different stories and reasons.  Many bring up a specific issue.  And finally they come to this elderly black man who's been sitting there quietly the entire time.  And Ashley asks him why he's there.  And he does not bring up a specific issue.  He does not say health care or the economy.  He does not say education or the war.   He does not say that he was there because of Barack Obama.  He simply says to everyone in the room, "I am here because of Ashley." 

By itself, that single moment of recognition between that young white girl and that old black man is not enough.  It is not enough to give health care to the sick, or jobs to the jobless, or education to our children.

But it is where we begin.  It is why the walls in that room began to crack and shake.   

And if they can shake in that room, they can shake in Atlanta. 

And if they can shake in Atlanta, they can shake in Georgia. 

And if they can shake in Georgia, they can shake all across America.  And if enough of our voices join together; we can bring those walls tumbling down.  The walls of Jericho can finally come tumbling down.  That is our hope – but only if we pray together, and work together, and march together. 

Brothers and sisters, we cannot walk alone. 

In the struggle for peace and justice, we cannot walk alone. 

In the struggle for opportunity and equality, we cannot walk alone. 

In the struggle to heal this nation and repair this world, we cannot walk alone. 

So I ask you to walk with me, and march with me, and join your voice with mine, and together we will sing the song that tears down the walls that divide us, and lift up an America that is truly indivisible, with liberty, and justice, for all.  May God bless the memory of the great pastor of this church, and may God bless the United States of America.

Five Dangerous Things We Should Let Our Children Do.

This is an excellent little video.  Mind you, we don't have children of our own,  so perhaps we would feel differently about this if we did.  But I am convinced that we are coddling children into a complete inability to fend for themselves and survive difficult situations.  

Gever Tulley Speaks About His Work With Children

Impeachment Now.

How many former White House officials need to come forward before Speaker Pelosi files Articles of Impeachment against the President and Vice President of the United States? The lying cabal that has been running our country into the ground for the past eight years needs to be called to accountability. Perhaps, just perhaps, the Democratic leadership of this Congress will finally find the spine to do something about this.

Scott McClellan, former press secretary has a new book coming out.

What Happened.

The most powerful leader in the world had called upon me to speak on his behalf and help restore credibility he lost amid the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. So I stood at the White house briefing room podium in front of the glare of the klieg lights for the better part of two weeks and publicly exonerated two of the senior-most aides in the White House: Karl Rove and Scooter Libby.

There was one problem. It was not true.

I had unknowingly passed along false information. And five of the highest ranking officials in the administration were involved in my doing so: Rove, Libby, the vice President, the President's chief of staff, and the president himself.

-from What Happened

A couple more...

Red Sox Rally

We had a great time this afternoon out in front of Old South Church, Boston. Our Pastor, Nancy Taylor invited us to vest and hang out to watch the parade. The Red Sox players and staff on the Duck Boats noticed and really appreciated the gesture. Here are some pictures.

The Funniest Cartoon I Have Ever Seen.

Do NOT be drinking anything when you watch this cartoon. It is, without a doubt, the funniest thing I have seen in a very, very , very long time.

The World Series

Another Update:

The Sox swept the Rox in four games. I feel a little bad for the Rockies fans, it might have been nice for them to see their team win at least one game at home.

Tomorrow, I will be out in front of Old South Church in Boston where I am a member , in full vestments, to celebrate with the team and the rest of the OSC clergy as the parade goes by.

Pictures later.

***

Boston. Colorado. Game 1. Josh Beckett on the mound for Boston. I'm wondering just how late I'm going to have to stay up all week.

Major League Baseball
The Boston Red Sox

Update: Bottom of the 5th Inning:



(I know this is supposed to be the Yankees in the old stadium...but it is fitting, I think. 15 hits in the bottom of the 5th, Lowell just walked, and the Sox have just batted a full round.)

Corporate America

I think Corporate America is a strange place. No, not the economically obsessive, drive to succeed part of Corporate America, (though that is all quite odd as well...); no I mean the part of Corporate America that responds thusly to emails from consumers.

From: SonicPR@Sonicdrivein.com
Subject: RE: Not so Cran-tastic...
Date: August 28, 2007 4:22:28 PM EDT
To: revjjo@mac.com

Jim,
Thanks for the observation, I will forward this on to our advertising
department for review.

-----Original Message-----
From: James Olson [mailto:revjjo@mac.com]
Sent: Saturday, August 18, 2007 7:04 PM
To: Sonic PR
Subject: Not so Cran-tastic...

Dear Friends:

We love the goofy ad where two people are sitting in a car, and the
man is going on about his cran-mother, cran-t, cran-versations, etc.

The last seconds of the ad show a beautiful, dew-kissed cranberry
dropping off a branch and into one of the cranberry drinks.

One little problem...cranberries don't grown on trees, they grow
close to the ground in bogs. In the fall, the bogs are flooded and
the ripe cranberries are paddled and then float to the top.

Just an observation, not really a complaint!

Jim Olson
Boston, MA

***

Now, admittedly, I was being goofy in even sending the email in the first place; I am sure that Sonic, Inc. neither knows or cares that cranberries grow in bogs and not on trees. But two things strike me as odd. First, that nooned checked this in the first place, and that noone caught this small but important error. And second, that I may have just cost Sonic a whole lot of money while they pull the ad, re-tool the last couple of seconds of it, and then re-release it as part of their advertisement campaign. I appreciate that someone at Sonic even took the time to respond to me, but even that is odd, and, in Corporate America, cost money somewhere.

All of this would have been unnecessary if someone at Sonic had known that cranberries grow on the ground.

Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc.

Bad Parenting

"Kid Nation", a new 'reality' show on CBS caught my attention several weeks ago. Several dozen children, apparently unsupervised in a New Mexico ghost town are given the challenge to create a society and survive. I am no fan of reality shows, I think they're quite boring and base, actually. Adults certainly have the right to participate in these shows, I think they have the ability to determine for themselves whether or not the risk is acceptable...participants do suffer significant privation for many of these shows, and are often injured.

Children are another matter entirely. I ran across this article in todays' New York Times about what happened during taping of the show, that appears to violate several laws and endangered the children. Stunning. Shocking. Horrifying, really.

After reading provisions in the Contract that these parents apparently willingly signed with CBS, I have come to the conclusion that these parents should be immediately investigated by state authorities to determine whether or not they are fit to be parents at all. Even more ludicrous is that a second series of "Kid Nation" is already being filmed. Willingly endangering your children in this way to further some fantasy a parent might have about fame and fortune is just dreadful. Pageant parents, like the one mentioned in the article are apparently the worst, but I have had enough experience with 'stage mothers' to know the type.

Living vicariously through your children is natural, we all do it; imposing your fantasies of fame and fortune by deliberately endangering your children is not natural, and, I hope, is found to be criminal. How toweringly stupid these parents must be to even consider that this was a good idea after reading through such a strict legal contract simply amazes me.

/rant, it is time for bed.