UK PAGANS GET TAX BREAK

From ASSOCIATED PRESS:

Druidry has been formally recognized as a religion in Britain. The Druid Network, a group of about 350 Druids, will receive exemptions from taxes on donations after the semi-governmental Charity Commission granted it charitable status just like mainstream religions such as the Church of England.

To register as a religious charity in England, an organization must satisfy requirements that include belief in a supreme entity, a degree of cohesion and seriousness, and a beneficial moral framework.

DON'T BLAME MADPRIEST, BLAME BRUCE

CAPTION COMPETITION

FOLKY LOUD FRIDAY

Happiness abounds at MadPriest Towers as the new Bellowhead album is released this weekend. You'll have read my over the top adulation for this U.K. folk supergroup many times in the past if you are a regular round these parts. So all I will say is that this album does not lessen my admiration for them one iota. It's great. Here's a few tracks to keep you going until you get your own copy.



BELLOWHEAD WEBSITE

PURCHASE HEDONISM VIA MADPRIEST'S AMAZON STORE

MORE ROMAN CATHOLICS DEEPLY WOUNDEDBY PEOPLE NOT AGREEING WITH THEM

From THE JOURNAL PIONEER:

MANILA, Philippines - Government prosecutors on Friday charged a popular Manila artist and tour guide with offending Roman Catholics after he disrupted Mass at the capital's main cathedral to protest the clergy's opposition to contraception.

On Thursday, Carlos Celdran, who is known for distributing condoms and birth control pills to poor residents as he guides tourists through Intramuros, the Spanish colonial-era walled city, interrupted an ecumenical Mass at Manila Cathedral. Dressed in a 19th-century outfit, the performing artist approached the altar and told the priests to stop getting involved in politics and not to threaten civil disobedience against any government plan to promote family planning and birth control, according to police. He carried a placard bearing the name "Damaso," seen in the Philippines as a term of insult for priests. Damaso is the name of a friar depicted in a novel by national hero Jose Rizal who was openly strict with religious practices yet secretly fathered a child.

Celdran, 37, was arrested at the cathedral and freed almost a day later on 6,000-peso ($138) bail. Friends of the artist had set up a Facebook fan page calling for his release, drawing more than 12,000 supporters by the time he posted bail.

"I apologize for being rude, but it was necessary for me to be rude," Celdran told reporters.

COMMENT: For putting his money where his mouth is and being so wonderfully O.T.T. whilst doing so, Carlos Celdran is our:

BRICK OF THE DAY

TYPO OF THE DAY (?)

From THE CHURCH TIMES:

Blimee! You would have to move fast if you wanted to go
for this job. Do you think they may already have someone
in mind for the job?

STEPHEN FRY WOULD BE PROUD OF ME . . .

WE'RE OFF!

OCICBW... has today launched two new websites
- ST. LAIKA'S (a totally inclusive worship blog)
and THE ANCHORHOLD (about prayer and stuff).

Please do me a great favour and advertise
both sites on your own blogs.

Oh, and please, please, please do pop over
there yourselves, of course.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
For the purpose of general hilarity, Grandmère Mimi's
name was taken in vain in this cartoon without her
permission. Grandmère Mimi blogs at WOUND UP BIRD.

THE SOPPY PEDANT'S SELECTION

From USA TODAY:

Logan Erickson will soon head back to his village in Alaska will a new "leash'' on life, thanks to sled dog racers and a pet food sponsor.

The 10-year-old boy has a severe case of autism, according to his parents, and can't be left alone in his hometown of Unalakleet, Alaska. But a new dog is about to help. Logan concludes his training Thursday with Juke, a yellow Lab trained to help children with autism. The training involves tethering Logan to Juke when he's outside so he can't wander off alone. Juke is trained to calm Logan when he's unsettled by nuzzling him and is also trained to track him by scent.

Dogs have a big impact on Logan, something his parents realized for the first time late last winter. He said his first word in nearly 7 years at the airport when he watched a family friend — Iditarod sled dog musher DeeDee Jonrowe — get on a plane with her dog, Miyagi.

Logan said the word Miyagi.

His mother told the Dayton Daily News: "There was a storm raging, the howling winds and the waves and the ocean sounds were so tremendous, I think that DeeDee's dog was a calming effect. When she left with that dog, he wanted that connection."

Logan is speaking more since he's met Juke. That's all the thanks anyone involved in this wonderful effort needs.

DOGGERS TO GET THE HORN

From THE TELEGRAPH:

Surrey County Council chiefs have discussed packing a field with cattle after a spate of complaints about outdoor public sex. More than 300 residents of Puttenham have written to the council complaining that a field near the Hog’s Back lay-by on the A31 was 'being used for all kinds of sexual activity night and day’ by doggers.

They said that children at the Puttenham Church of England Infant School can see the couples from the playground and demanded the council 'do something about it’.

Surrey County Council, however, refused to shut the lay-by and Hog’s Back Cafe down saying it would be 'unfair on legitimate visitors’, but discussed various tactics to stop doggers congregating at the site – including putting bulls in the field.

Campaigner Jules Perkins said she was 'devastated’ when the council said it would not close the lay-by. Speaking about the idea of putting bulls into the field to deter the doggers, Mrs Perkins said: “I have to say that some of the comments from the cabinet were quite frightening, such as the suggestion to put bulls in the field. What a ridiculous idea.”

Local Sarah Green, 32, said today: “How the council can sit there with straight faces and suggest putting a herd of bulls in a field to stop people having sex in it is almost too ridiculous to contemplate. Do they really think a bunch of perverts are going to be put off by a few bulls in a field? It will probably make them even more excited."

COMMENT: Actually, Sarah, I think a field full of bulls would put all but the most stupid exhibitionist off taking his pants off al fresco. And the bulls would have a absolutely spiffin' time chasing any half naked humans, foolish enough to brave it, around the field. I don't think we should deny them their opportunity for such fun.

ANOTHER HEART OF DARKNESS

You would think that living through the worst genocide in modern history would temper your propensity for bigoted hatred. I mean the German people certainly turned their back on such evil. But not so Rwandans who are happy to elect a bishop who openly hates people who are different from himself (at least, as far as he would have us believe). I suspect we have not seen the end of dead bodies being washed out of Rwanda and into Lake Victoria. May God be with the gay people of this barbaric land and all their brave friends and supporters.

From ALL AFRICA:

Archbishop elect, Onesphore Rwaje, who is set to succeed Anglican Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini in January, 2011, has vowed to follow in his predecessor's footsteps by taking a firm stand against homosexuality.

"Anything that is contrary to God's family set-up is not acceptable; there is nowhere in the Bible where same-sex marriage is encouraged. God created a man and woman to be the basis of a family," the Archbishop-elect told The New Times, a week after he was elected to succeed Kolini.

Rwaje said homosexuality was a practice introduced by individuals who wanted to secularize theology.

His predecessor, Kolini, has in the past referred to homosexuality as "moral Genocide" among Christians, and a new form of "cultural imperialism".

But, dispiriting as the words of this particular hater are, we must not lose sight of the fact that although countries such as Rwanda, Uganda and Nigeria are part of Africa, they are not, contrary to their loud claims to the contrary, all of Africa. Although much of the continent is still dominated by alpha males intent on not letting go of their tribal mindset and privileges, there is a new Africa. And nowhere is this seen more dramatically than in South Africa where the people have emerged from the flames of apartheid and, instead of seeking revenge, have embraced the central message of Christ's teaching no matter what religion or none they adhere to. This miracle (and it would be a miracle in any country) is due, in no small part, to the vision of the greatest among us, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. His legacy still lives as this report from NEWS 24 demonstrates:

More women need to be in leadership roles in the Anglican Church, Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba said on Wednesday.

"The church is hugely unrepresentative in relation to gender... women constitute the majority in our pews but the reverse is true at every level of leadership, lay and ordained," Makgoba said in a statement.

"The roles of men and women alike, of every culture, were distorted by apartheid. We need to develop appropriate spiritualities for us all, for contemporary living... that are also channels of healing for the legacies of our brutalising history."

Makgoba was delivering a speech at the three-yearly provincial synod of the Anglican Church in Benoni.

He also expressed his views on conscription - describing it as having a "dehumanising effect... on a generation of young men barely more than boys".

"Many are still wounded from that time... from their time in Namibia and Angola and need to be able to speak and find healing. Our society makes this almost impossible."

On the issue of the position of homosexuals in the church, Makgoba said: "For us what has mattered most is being centred on Christ, agreeing on the central matters of who Jesus is and the salvation he brings and therefore recognising one another as being united in him, and, in consequence, with each other."

If a people have such an attitude towards each other as the one envisaged by the Makgoba, then differences (which are there in South Africa as much as in any other place) can either be resolved or accommodated. May God continue to speak his message of love to his children working to bring the light into previously dark places.

ANGLICANS IN AUSTRALIA SAY NOTO BISHOP ROSS DAVIES (AS WAS)

From THE AUSTRALIAN:

The former Anglican bishop of the Murray was found guilty of disgraceful conduct by a church tribunal in Adelaide yesterday (29th. September 2010). The body rebuked him and recommended that he be prohibited from acting as a bishop.

Bishop Davies, who quit his position last week and received a $150,000 payment from the church, was not at the tribunal when it delivered its findings after a two-day hearing. He had faced nine internal charges brought by Adelaide Archbishop Jeffrey Driver and Bishop of Willochra Garry Weatherill relating to behaviour dating back to 2003.

The tribunal heard Bishop Davies had treated parishioners in a "dictatorial manner" and publicly expressed a desire to join the Catholic Church. It also heard he had aligned himself with archdeacon Peter Coote, who had been accused of sexual misconduct by three female parishioners.

The tribunal found Bishop Davies had allowed Mr Coote to continue to hold positions of responsibility in the diocese, used his powers to subvert proper professional standards processes and failed to act on recommendations for action against the archdeacon.

Bishop Davies tried to relinquish his holy orders on the weekend but failed because his attempt did not comply with church rules.

COMMENT: I understand that the charges brought against Davies were just the tip of a very large iceberg. Most priests in the Murray diocese will be well pleased that they will not have to put up with his aggressive and bullying behaviour anymore. And don't be fooled. Davies is not an old school bishop unable to cope with modern forms of leadership. He is just a nasty man.

Mind you, OCICBW... is not at all surprised by his appalling behaviour considering the company he keeps. Remember this from January 2008?

And this is a photograph of the Bishop Davies at the consecration of two "Traditional Anglican Communion" bishops back in 2005.

Now, if those liberal pansies down under had the balls to call the Head of the Family Firm to account as he has been far naughtier than Davies ever was, perhaps Anglicanism would have a chance of returning to the great nation of Australia.

PRAYER REQUEST

From Mary (aka Mibi52):

Asking for prayers from the OCICBW... clan for our cat Mia, a 12 year old tiger kitty, who has a cancerous tumor on her leg that will be removed surgically on Oct 4th.

She's a dear shy cat who has always been in good health, so we're a bit freaked out by this.

Blessings and a hug from Mibi52.

A DAY ON WHICH WE WILL ALL FEEL OLD

TONY CURTIS
movie star


3rd. June 1925 to
29th. September 2010 


May he 
rest in peace
and be forever 
gorgeous

MARK'S LITTLE KATZIE - AN UPDATE

With reference to CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME.

I live for moments like these. OCICBW... would just be a load of inane, cynical chatter if it wasn't for real difference the community, that surrounds it, regularly makes to the happiness and welfare of people (and other creatures) outside of the virtual world.

So far, I am incredibly pleased to inform you, you have donated $483.66 towards the cost of Katzie's veterinary bills, that will end up being (as far as we know at this moment in time) about $700. Mark has no funds whatsoever to fall back on so he needs to raise a bit more. He is trying his hardest to get help locally, from his church and other acquaintances, but, so far, we are the people who have come up the goods. So, if you can, please do think about sending something - even if it is only a few dollars (which was all I could afford to donate).

If you don't like using PayPal and would still like to send Mark a donation by cheque, or check if you are American and unfamiliar with standard English :-), drop me an email and I will pass your address on to Mark who will then contact you direct. Also, you can drop me an email if you want the contact details for the veterinary practice that is treating Katzie, should you, quite understandably, want to check out (not cheque out) the veracity of Mark's cry for help. I must point out, though, that I can only release such details to known and trusted readers and those who can prove their good intent.

Both Grandmère Mimi and myself have received emails from Mark about your donations. At the moment he is babbling, somewhat incomprehensibly, in gratitude for your generosity. I won't embarrass my friend by posting everything he has said. Rather, please accept my word for the fact that he is more touched with your genorosity than the winner of last year's "Being touched by as many people as possible" competition. He also says that it has been a life changing experience for him that has made him look away from his own problems and to seek to reconnect with others.

Well done, you people!

You can send money to Mark through PayPal using his email address: 

petrus332000@hotmail.com

THE SOPPY SHEILA SELECTION

MADPRIEST'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

If we should speak proper when in the company of people who speak proper, should a white, Englishman speak in Jamaican patois when in the company of Afro-Carribeans or lowland Scottish when in the presence of a Glaswegian?

I have a feeling that if I attempted to do so I would wake up in hospital.

The defining of proper by a particular social grouping in society is one of the ways that such groups define themselves as proper and everyone else as not proper. It is elitist and a way of controlling those not in the group. Nowhere is this more prevalent than in the Church of England which is still mainly controlled by the Oxford / Cambridge / Durham Universities elite. They decide what is acceptable speech for a minister. The main casualties of this linguistic elitism are those from social classes, other than the elite, seeking promotion in the Church, either lay or clerical. I wonder how often a "well spoken," but pastorally crap, priest has been appointed to the episcopacy in preference to a chav priest with the pastoral abilities of St. Francis of Assisi.

See  IT'S 'BOUT SPEAKIN' PROPER, INNIT? below.

OUR READING TODAY FROM THE OLD TESTAMENT . . .

From THE DAILY MAIL:

Criminals should not make excuses for their wrongdoing, the Archbishop of York said last night. Instead of blaming their background, poverty, drink or drugs, they should face up to the cost of their crimes.

In a tough speech on crime and society, the archbishop said prisons were necessary and condemned the way some offenders are rewarded in jail by being given cable TV and computer games.



COMMENT: Actually, I agree with Dr. John. But I am self-critical enough to realise that both me and he are being lazy-minded, unimaginative, bigoted and downright unchristian.

MRS MP'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Although she readily admits that she nicked it from the bottom of somebody else's email.

Veyl got hot bashlosn in zeyner khokhme es zol undz pasirn epes shreklekhes, iz dos keyn grund tsu kvetshn – s’iz a gelegnheyt tsu kvetshn!

Translation: “Just because God decided in his wisdom that something awful should befall us, that is no reason to complain - it is an opportunity to complain!”

IT'S 'BOUT SPEAKIN' PROPER, INNIT?

From CHRISTIAN TODAY:

Oscar-winning actress Emma Thompson has vented her frustration with some of the slang terms popular with today’s youth following a recent visit to her old school, the Camden School for Girls in north London.

She told Radio Times: "We have to reinvest, I think, in the idea of articulacy as a form of personal human freedom and power.

"I went to give a talk at my old school and the girls were all doing their 'likes' and 'innits?' and 'it ain'ts', which drives me insane.

"I told them, 'Just don't do it. Because it makes you sound stupid and you're not stupid."'

She argued that youngsters need to learn the occasions on which certain expressions are appropriate and when they are not.

"There is the necessity to have two languages – one that you use with your mates and the other that you need in any official capacity," she said.

COMMENT: So it was okay for Shakespeare to use slang and invent new words but not for today's youngsters?


Thompson is an Oxbridge lovey, very much part of establishment. And like most of her kind, no doubt believes that she is better than the plebs who jolly well should know their place in society and, above all, do what they are darn well told by their betters.

MADPRIEST'S BOG STANDARD PODCAST NUMBER ONE

Yes, it's true! MadPriest has purchased a license and can now provide you with quality entertainment which you can legally download for your own, personal listening pleasure. And, joy of joys, you get to hear my voice with its gorgeous English accent as I prattle on about nothing very important between the music tracks.


MP3 File

The albums from which the tracks on this podcast are taken can be purchased from the US and UK Amazon sites via my store. If you use this link for your purchases I get a bit of commission and that would be a nice way for you to say thank you to me without costing you any extra money.

PURCHASE VIA MADPRIEST'S AMAZON STORE

PLEASE PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE OF MEXICO

CHARITY BEGINS AT HOME

I have received this email from longstanding OCICBW... reader, Mark Brunson (Grandmère Mimi received the same request):

My older cat, Katzie, has had to have emergency care - x-rays and catheterization. His urethra blocked and he couldn't urinate and was in great pain. This has happened before, and the vet has confirmed that this is likely to happen throughout the rest of his life, off and on, and it may require surgery - a long name with "cysto" in it somewhere - to basically transform his urinary tract into a female's urinary tract, opening the ureters wider to allow the crystals in the urine to flow out.

As of now, he's home, having been catheterized and cleared. He's not showing any signs of pain, but also hasn'turinated since he got home, so, naturally, I'm worried.

The difficulty is the cost of the care - for the past two-day stay, it comes to $281. I've been able to pay most of it, but it's coming out of the money saved for my property tax, which will be due December 20. The full surgery will cost (an additional) $400. I'm writing the two of you because you have far wider readership than I could hope for, and are more forthright and, well, crusading than I am. I wind up apologizing for having bothered everyone by living and saying "You know, don't worry about it. I'm sure I'll be fine." But I won't be fine this time. This is serious, and I need folks in my corner. I've checked around - our priest is out of country, and he's the one with the discretionary fund, though it's tiny. There are no charities (I'm aware of) who have anything right now, and nothing for someone's pet care. I'm now, officially, pulling in $217.50 a week, which is the legal requirement that I be left with in my pay after garnishment, being minimum wage X 30.

I have a PayPal account now through this email address. I'll take any help anyone can give, if you'll raise the rallying cry. Even a few bucks helps.

Thanks, in advance, for anything - prayers, advice, whatever.

Love,

Mark

COMMENT: I am so convinced that this is a perfectly genuine cry for help that I have sent my own donation taken out of my meagre unemployment benefit. And yes, I am trying to embarrass you into donating in this instance. Mark has been a good friend to me, and OCICBW..., over the past four years or so and if we can't help our friends when they are in trouble then all our charity is worth nothing.

You can send money to Mark through PayPal using his email address:

petrus332000@hotmail.com

MADPRIEST'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

Saying that gay people can become bishops as long as they don't ever have sex is no more generous or enlightened than saying mass murderers and serial killers can become bishops as long as they promise not to kill anybody. Basically the Grand Tufti is saying that there is no difference between gay people and murderers. Well, I suppose it makes a change from being called a paedophile.

GENERALLY IGNORANT

Q. Why didn't anybody buy Stephen Fry's old computer keyboard when he advertised it on eBay?

A. Because the "M" and the "E" buttons were completely worn out and didn't work anymore.

THE SOPPY OUR TRACE SELECTION

GORILLA'S AND GUERILLAS IN THE FOG

This is an absolutely brilliant editorial, especially when you take into consideration that it was written in one of the most barbaric police states in the world.

From THE STANDARD (Zimbabwe):

After being chased from their churches in Harare and its suburbs members of Bishop Chad Gandiya’s Anglican congregation came up with a brilliant idea. They decided they could build other churches while the disputed ones were still being fought over in the courts.

One congregation in Chitungwiza had just completed building a church in Unit M when two weeks ago police with “orders from above” pounced. They ordered the congregants to leave the church and Bishop Nolbert Kunonga possessed it. Now he has given one of his followers the right to the property.

The police have been known to side with Kunonga in the whole Anglican saga but it defies logic that they would help him take possession of a church which is outside the disputed ones.

There is an interesting contradiction in Kunonga’s character. He claims his beef with the mainstream Anglican Church is about its support of homosexuality. He has ready support in this from President Robert Mugabe. But let’s take a look at Kunonga as a heterosexual male. According to him it is right to bar people from worshipping their God. He is prepared to have woman and children battered by thugs for the simple reason that they have congregated in a church that they built and have been praying at all their lives.

Homosexuality is a subject that is not talked about openly in Zimbabwe; I don’t understand it myself. But I have not heard of a single homosexual who has barred people from praying to their God.

It turns out that Kunonga is not the only rogue bishop in the world. He has now got support from an Ecuadorian bishop who has turned against the mainstream church. His name is Bishop Walter Roberto Crespo. He was in Zimbabwe recently and voiced his support for Kunonga and also launching a broadside at those in the Anglican Church who support gay rights.

It has turned out that Crespo is a fake bishop who is best known for dealing in arms. In trying to ship a consignment of arms to rebel guerrillas fighting the Colombian government Crespo used the Zimbabwe government’s name to cover up the covert supply of arms.

The obvious similarity between Kunonga and Crespo is that they both behave like alpha males in a troop of gorillas. Kunonga’s and Crespo’s propensity for violence reinforces this primeval desire to control. Is Kunonga really fighting the Anglicans over homosexuality or is he just fulfilling a primitive urge to dominate?

He is a disgrace to all heterosexual males who love to live peacefully with their neighbours who may have divergent sets of beliefs.

FALSE MEMORY SYNDROME

The new series of "Inspector George Gently" started last night on the BBC. It's a reasonably good detective but the main attraction, as far as I am concerned, is that it is set in North Tyneside, so Mrs MP and myself can play "Spot the Location" all the way through the programme.

However, the show has made me doubt my own memory. You see, I was seven years old back in 1966, the year in which the current series is set and I thought I had pretty good recall of that period of my life. The thing is that I can't remember life as being that dark back then. I'm sure the sun shone sometimes, it wasn't always raining or overcast. And I'm absolutely positive that it was not the law that we could only use 10 watt light bulbs or that, whatever the size of the room, we were restricted to one light bulb per room. In fact, I recall us not being so obsessed with conserving energy as we are nowadays and happily illuminating our buildings with 100 watt light bulbs or higher. Yet, in "Inspector George Gently" the policemen stumble around their station in almost pitch blackness. They sit at their desks in small pools of dim light and anything could lurk in the shadows and dark corners. Outside the streets are like the blackout during the blitz.

Normally, as this programme is produced by the BBC, I would accept that it is myself who is wrong. However, the BBC have definitely made one huge mistake on this one. I just cannot understand how their researchers could have made such an error. You see, back in 1966, as I thought everyone knew, England was still in black and white but everyone in this series walks around in full technicolour. Standards in my country are definitely slipping.

THE SUNDAY GO TO CHURCH HOLINESS JUKEBOX

We've already had one song today from Patty Griffin. But she is most certainly one performer you can never get enough of. So here are three more tracks by her from her "Downtown Church" album. The third track of which, after the arch-episcopal embarrassments of the last few days, pretty much sums up my feelings at this precise moment in time.



PURCHASE VIA MADPRIEST'S AMAZON STORE

WHY ROWAN WILLIAMS IS WRONG

From KGET.COM:

Friends and neighbors of Tehachapi 13-year-old who attempted suicide Sunday said the boy is openly gay and was taunted by bullies for years, at school and at a local park. The bullying might have been what led him to try to take his own life, friends said. The boy hanged himself at his own home from a tree and has been on life support since Sunday, according to the Tehachapi Police Department.

He previously attended Jacobsen Middle School, but was put on independent study this year. Friends said he was still bullied outside of school for being gay and bisexual, but he didn't tell close friends how the bullying affected him.

COMMENT: Thanks to Priscilla for sending me the link to this story. She writes:

Perhaps I am too hard-hearted but I believe that every single one of these horrible tragedies will continue to hang around the necks of people like Rowan Williams, like a necklace of skulls, unless and until the find the courage to speak out against them and to actually do something to stop them.

Favoring unity over justice isn’t Christian. Period (full stop).

MadPriest writes:

In my opinion the ongoing "nature v. nurture" debate over whether homophobia is genetic or acquired is over. Kids bully gay kids because their parents bully gays - in their language as well as physically sometimes. Rowan Williams is the bully in the school playground who drives gay children to the point where they believe death is better choice than life. His "gay people can be bishops but can't consummate their love" drivel is just a disingenuous, grown up version of calling the lad at the desk next to you a mo or a sissie. On an issue where there really aren't any shades of grey, Williams has chosen black. He has wrestled the Church from the arms of Christ and given it back to the pharisees.

Here's a tune from Patty Griffin:

Hey tony, what's so good about dying?
He said I think I might do a little dying today.
He looked in the mirror and saw
A little faggot starin back at him.
Pulled out a gun and blew himself away.

EVIL TERRORIST DISASSOCIATESHIMSELF FROM EVIL TERRORIST

Remember THIS?

Well this is how it all played out:

From THE WASHINGTON POST:

Zimbabwe state radio says President Robert Mugabe arrived home Sunday from the United Nations General Assembly in New York. He canceled an onward trip to Ecuador where he was to receive an honorary doctorate in law from a discredited Christian university that has broken away from the mainstream Anglican Church in South America.

The Anglican Diocese of Harare described Crespo as a "rebel" of the church who spent three years in jail in Ecuador for running guns to the Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) of neighboring Columbia.

MUSIC FOR YOUR LUNCHTIME

If we poison our children with hatred
Then, the hard life  is all that they'll know
(Nanci Griffith)

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Tracie sent me THIS LINK
because she thinks it's "great stuff."

And she's right, it is.

FROM "THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE"

THE MIDNIGHT JUKEBOXFOR ROWAN

What makes a man a man?
The cut of a coat, the hint of a tan?
It's not who you love, but whether you can.
What makes a man a man?