Monday, July 27, 2009
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Growing Food is Good For the People Because Food is Free
If you ever wondered why California is in trouble, listen on....
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
The Revenge Business
I'm not a fan of taking revenge, but if you must, this is how it should be done.
Millions for Lawsuits, Not One Penny for Jesus
The recent General Convention of the Episcopal Church did many things. Bottled water is now officially a Bad Thing, for example. One of the more important things it did was eliminate, completely, evangelism from the national budget. Now it's quite possible to argue that was a good thing, given the current nature of Episcopal theology. But, were I a member of the Episcopal Church I would be worried. Evangelism is how churches grow. The money, effort and staffing spent evangelising is an investment in the future.
Certainly, individual dioceses and parishes will spend money on evangelism. Some of them even have officially designated evangelists on staff. But where an organization spends money is clear sign of what its priorities are. What are the Episcopal Church's priorities? Well the only items to see increases in funds were those included under the heading of Presiding Bishop's office. This includes $3 million for litigation and $1 million for disciplining bishops (and possibly other clergy). That's a staggering sum.
Currently, the official position of the Episcopal Church is that only individuals may leave. Diocese, parishes and such may not leave. Also, all property belongs to the national church. The national church has resolutely resisted any attempts by churches to exit with their property.
The problem is, that even if you happen to agree with 815, what argument can be made against allowing a church to buy its own property? In the vast majority of cases of a congregational split, the remnant congregation has been folded. Selling vacant churches is almost always problematic. I'm told St James, Newport is on the waterfront, which makes it extremely valuable, but most of the dissident churches have not been so blessed.
The litigation has been justified as a 'stewardship issue'. I'm just not buying it. Then again neither are the churches in question. A good and wise steward would seek to extract the maximum value for the property. Disregarding any prohibitions against litigation and being totally worldly, the good steward would assess each case on its facts, and litigate when the cast of the suit was well below the value of the property. He would also negotiate whenever possible to get the greatest value for property.
Outside of Central Florida, we haven't seen this. And again, I have to ask: Why?
What, exactly are the priorities of the Episcopal Church?
All signs point to an organization that is trying to stay on an even keel while the ship sinks. The officers and crew seem to just want to stay afloat until they retire. Any thoughts of repairing the damage have been officially cast aside.
Certainly, individual dioceses and parishes will spend money on evangelism. Some of them even have officially designated evangelists on staff. But where an organization spends money is clear sign of what its priorities are. What are the Episcopal Church's priorities? Well the only items to see increases in funds were those included under the heading of Presiding Bishop's office. This includes $3 million for litigation and $1 million for disciplining bishops (and possibly other clergy). That's a staggering sum.
Currently, the official position of the Episcopal Church is that only individuals may leave. Diocese, parishes and such may not leave. Also, all property belongs to the national church. The national church has resolutely resisted any attempts by churches to exit with their property.
The problem is, that even if you happen to agree with 815, what argument can be made against allowing a church to buy its own property? In the vast majority of cases of a congregational split, the remnant congregation has been folded. Selling vacant churches is almost always problematic. I'm told St James, Newport is on the waterfront, which makes it extremely valuable, but most of the dissident churches have not been so blessed.
The litigation has been justified as a 'stewardship issue'. I'm just not buying it. Then again neither are the churches in question. A good and wise steward would seek to extract the maximum value for the property. Disregarding any prohibitions against litigation and being totally worldly, the good steward would assess each case on its facts, and litigate when the cast of the suit was well below the value of the property. He would also negotiate whenever possible to get the greatest value for property.
Outside of Central Florida, we haven't seen this. And again, I have to ask: Why?
What, exactly are the priorities of the Episcopal Church?
All signs point to an organization that is trying to stay on an even keel while the ship sinks. The officers and crew seem to just want to stay afloat until they retire. Any thoughts of repairing the damage have been officially cast aside.
Important Stuff: Space in the Near Future
Dale Amon has a great overview of current space efforts, both NASA and private. Well worth reading!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Sheer Glee
"These dance points….too accurate for sandpeople. Only Imperial storm troopers are so precise."
Pure. Comedy. Gold.
From here.
Kendall Harmon, You Will be Assimilated
Marcus Borg has been appointed as canon theologian at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland Oregon. The name of his church is of course deeply ironic in light of his beliefs. He remains a layman, which raised my eyebrows. I understood that canons were priests. Apparently that was an error.
The only other canon theologian of whom I am aware is the Rev. Dr Kendall Harmon of South Carolina. The Rev. Dr. Harmon has been known to blog occasionally, in his spare time.
I would pay good money to witness a live theological smackdown (debate) between the two.
The only other canon theologian of whom I am aware is the Rev. Dr Kendall Harmon of South Carolina. The Rev. Dr. Harmon has been known to blog occasionally, in his spare time.
I would pay good money to witness a live theological smackdown (debate) between the two.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
A Much Needed Amendment
In the wake of several bills being enacted by one or both of the houses of Congress that no one apparently ever read, I think I have come up with a way to see that does not happen again.
I offer the 28th Amendment:
Amendment 28- All Laws to Be Written By Hand
1. From the date of ratification of this Amendment forward, any law passed by the Congress under this Constitution must be hand written entirely by a member or members of Congress. No mechanical, electric or electronic device being permitted to aid such writing.
2. In addition to #1, above, all budgetary, tax, spending or debt laws must be written in a member's blood. The member must be one who voted for the final version.
3. Any law not entirely hand written by a member or members of Congress will be void and without effect.
The third clause is probably superfluous, but I included as you need to give the editors something to remove. Also it hammers home what the effect of non-compliance would be.
If nothing else, this will give Congress something to do other than pester the citizenry. Of course, if we get Universal Health Care, this would also mean that carpal tunnel would be. automatically covered.
I offer the 28th Amendment:
Amendment 28- All Laws to Be Written By Hand
1. From the date of ratification of this Amendment forward, any law passed by the Congress under this Constitution must be hand written entirely by a member or members of Congress. No mechanical, electric or electronic device being permitted to aid such writing.
2. In addition to #1, above, all budgetary, tax, spending or debt laws must be written in a member's blood. The member must be one who voted for the final version.
3. Any law not entirely hand written by a member or members of Congress will be void and without effect.
The third clause is probably superfluous, but I included as you need to give the editors something to remove. Also it hammers home what the effect of non-compliance would be.
If nothing else, this will give Congress something to do other than pester the citizenry. Of course, if we get Universal Health Care, this would also mean that carpal tunnel would be. automatically covered.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Worldliness
I've started reading City of God by St Augustine. Today I read his explanation of why both the Christian and the pagan suffer in the world. The pagans suffer because they are under judgment. The baptized suffer because, being too attached to the world, they fall into sin and so are judged.
This is of course completely contrary to the prosperity gospel preached by Crefio Dollar and his ilk. It also sounds quite harsh to my modern ears. That is probably good. We focus too much on the God of Mercy and forget that He is a God of Righteousness.
In modern America I find it entirely too easy to get caught in the 'keeping up with the Joneses' trap. We all need better, shinier bling.
If nothing else, I think this summer's reading will inspire me to get rid of some stuff.
Augustine firmly holds that the world is evil. I'm not so sure that to follow my Saviour I have to loathe the world. Loathe the Prince of the Air, certainly. But the world? I think we, instead, have to prioritize.
This is of course completely contrary to the prosperity gospel preached by Crefio Dollar and his ilk. It also sounds quite harsh to my modern ears. That is probably good. We focus too much on the God of Mercy and forget that He is a God of Righteousness.
In modern America I find it entirely too easy to get caught in the 'keeping up with the Joneses' trap. We all need better, shinier bling.
If nothing else, I think this summer's reading will inspire me to get rid of some stuff.
Augustine firmly holds that the world is evil. I'm not so sure that to follow my Saviour I have to loathe the world. Loathe the Prince of the Air, certainly. But the world? I think we, instead, have to prioritize.
Friday, July 17, 2009
The Importance Of An Advanced Degree
When I was a baby lawyer, fresh from law school and was eager and even enthusiastic, I lived in rural South Georgia. As the youngest attorney in my county I was appointed to defend every felon who could not afford an attorney. This brief excursion has left me with a rich storehouse of criminal law stories.
Typically, I would be appointed at arraignment, after the judge heard the accused's plea. The plea was almost always 'not guilty'. I'd then jot down my new client's name and make arrangements with the Sheriff to interview him at the jail. I'd also fill in the blanks on a bunch of defense counsel motions that I would hand to the assistant DA before I left for lunch. Generally he had what I filed for already and simply gave me a copy.
After lunch, I'd sign out of the office and walk the two blocks to the jail. A deputy would bring my clients to me one at a time and lock them in a cell with me. Armed with the documents the ADA gave me, I'd interview the client. I always let them tell me what they thought happened. That gave me a good feel for how credible my client was as a witness.
Nine out of ten times I would hear a cock and bull story that usually ran along the lines of my client was just sitting in his friend's car when his friend, Red, went into the convenience store and emerged five minutes later with a bunch of money. Red then drove away at high speed, but bailed out right before the police pulled the car over. My client then had to switch to the driver's seat to stop the car. I heard this story or one very similar a lot.
I used to joke with the Sheriff as to how bad a job he was doing, what with Red staying on the loose and all.
Now what made this exercise particularly awful was that I would usually have my client's signed confession, in his own handwriting, right below where he had copied out his Miranda warning in longhand. You see, the DA had to give me copies of any statements my client made to the police. That was part of the documents the ADA handed to me.
One time, my client grabbed the confession from me and ripped it into shreds. I then had to explain to him that all he had done was tear up my copy. The DA still had the original.
My criminal clients would get arrested, confess and then stew in jail for days or even weeks because they couldn't make bail. That gave them plenty of time to work on a more palatable version of events. The longer they simmered, the more passionate they became about their personal fairytale.
When I left South Georgia to be a big city tax attorney, I thought I would never hear such spin again. Until today, I was right. The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori and Bonnie Anderson have topped even the most fantastical of my rural felons.
I guess it pays to have a graduate degree, even in fantasy.
Typically, I would be appointed at arraignment, after the judge heard the accused's plea. The plea was almost always 'not guilty'. I'd then jot down my new client's name and make arrangements with the Sheriff to interview him at the jail. I'd also fill in the blanks on a bunch of defense counsel motions that I would hand to the assistant DA before I left for lunch. Generally he had what I filed for already and simply gave me a copy.
After lunch, I'd sign out of the office and walk the two blocks to the jail. A deputy would bring my clients to me one at a time and lock them in a cell with me. Armed with the documents the ADA gave me, I'd interview the client. I always let them tell me what they thought happened. That gave me a good feel for how credible my client was as a witness.
Nine out of ten times I would hear a cock and bull story that usually ran along the lines of my client was just sitting in his friend's car when his friend, Red, went into the convenience store and emerged five minutes later with a bunch of money. Red then drove away at high speed, but bailed out right before the police pulled the car over. My client then had to switch to the driver's seat to stop the car. I heard this story or one very similar a lot.
I used to joke with the Sheriff as to how bad a job he was doing, what with Red staying on the loose and all.
Now what made this exercise particularly awful was that I would usually have my client's signed confession, in his own handwriting, right below where he had copied out his Miranda warning in longhand. You see, the DA had to give me copies of any statements my client made to the police. That was part of the documents the ADA handed to me.
One time, my client grabbed the confession from me and ripped it into shreds. I then had to explain to him that all he had done was tear up my copy. The DA still had the original.
My criminal clients would get arrested, confess and then stew in jail for days or even weeks because they couldn't make bail. That gave them plenty of time to work on a more palatable version of events. The longer they simmered, the more passionate they became about their personal fairytale.
When I left South Georgia to be a big city tax attorney, I thought I would never hear such spin again. Until today, I was right. The Most Reverend Katharine Jefferts Schori and Bonnie Anderson have topped even the most fantastical of my rural felons.
I guess it pays to have a graduate degree, even in fantasy.
The Big News From Anaheim
The real news from the Episcopal Church's 2009 General Convention is the following:
It's going to be interesting to see how this plays out.Madam President
South Carolina stands before you with broken hearts. By passing Resolution D025 and C056 this General Convention has overturned the clear and consistent teaching of Holy Scripture and the Christian Church. We will have repudiated the teaching and practice of the Anglican Communion. The Communion's patience and generosity toward the Episcopal Church makes our persistent refusal to heed their requests to us to honor the called for moratoria all the more devastating.
Many of us us here this morning, and in Dioceses, parishes, and pews throughout the Episcopal Church, disavow this General Convention's actions. Will will now prayerfully seek ways to be faithful to the Anglican Communion and to the mutual responsibility and interdependence to which we are called, no matter what the cost.
Random Thought
I've been turning over the idea that there is saturated religion, unsaturated religion and trans religion. It's the latter that's lethal, of course.
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Book Bashing
I recently learned of a writer through a rather circuitous route. His name is 'Mike Homfray'. I disagree rather vehemently with just about everything he believes in. So I'm not linking to his blog, or his various comments throughout the Web. However, he's written a book. Like all authors he links to his book on his blog. Also like any author, he wants people to buy his book.
The name of his book is Provincial Queens: The Gay and Lesbian Community in the North-West of England. I have little to no interest in that subject. All I could make out on his blog, was the cover, which is Pepto-Bismol pink and I could not read the title, so I clicked on it, which pushed me through to the publisher's site.
Here's the meat of this story. The price of the book (full retail) in England is 34 pounds. The price in the U S is $85.95. The book is 271 pages long and is a paperback. The cost at Amazon is the same in pounds, but if you order in the US, it is $67.95. The publisher is a known semi-vanity press (that is they generally require a partial payment from the author towards publishing costs, anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 pounds).
Now there is every reason to want to get published. Some authors think their book will be the next best-seller and are in it for the dough. That's not likely the case here. Some authors write as part of the publish or perish process in academia. To a certain extent, I suspect that may be the case here. An awful lot of academics are in the position of needing a book or scholarly paper to put on the old curriculum vitae. Peter Lang does publish some scholarly works that are cited from time to time in their fields. They publish a great many more that are not.
Most authors want to be published because they wish to communicate their ideas, their story or their thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, publishing a seventy dollar paperback is not likely the way to achieve that.
There are an awful lot of vanity presses out there. If anything the Internet has helped that market to blossom. Printing on demand has dramatically reduced the cost of book production. Many books are now available in formats that didn't exist until recently, such as Kindle or PDF.
One of the more interesting new vanity presses is Lulu.com (disclaimer: I have no affiliation with them. I just love the name). To publish a dust jacketed hardcover book with 271 pages it costs $25. That's it. You can write the book, have them print off a copy and have the smallest print run imaginable for $25. Mr Homfray's book, in the manner and style that Lang printed it would cost about half that. There are other publishers with similar services. Now Lulu.com has little to no academic status, but if your desire is to get your ideas out there then Lulu or their competitors are the ways to go.
If we assume a 100% mark up between cost of publishing to selling price, then you would sell it for $25. That would be a perfect bound trade paperback of moderate length. Lang sells it for $42 more. My question is whether the rather dubious academic prestige of being published by Lang is worth $42. For some, it obviously is. But it seems a rather steep price to pay for someone on the bottom rungs of academia to climb another step on the tenure track.
All of which makes me wonder how long the Peter Langs of this world will last.
The name of his book is Provincial Queens: The Gay and Lesbian Community in the North-West of England. I have little to no interest in that subject. All I could make out on his blog, was the cover, which is Pepto-Bismol pink and I could not read the title, so I clicked on it, which pushed me through to the publisher's site.
Here's the meat of this story. The price of the book (full retail) in England is 34 pounds. The price in the U S is $85.95. The book is 271 pages long and is a paperback. The cost at Amazon is the same in pounds, but if you order in the US, it is $67.95. The publisher is a known semi-vanity press (that is they generally require a partial payment from the author towards publishing costs, anywhere from 1,000 to 1,500 pounds).
Now there is every reason to want to get published. Some authors think their book will be the next best-seller and are in it for the dough. That's not likely the case here. Some authors write as part of the publish or perish process in academia. To a certain extent, I suspect that may be the case here. An awful lot of academics are in the position of needing a book or scholarly paper to put on the old curriculum vitae. Peter Lang does publish some scholarly works that are cited from time to time in their fields. They publish a great many more that are not.
Most authors want to be published because they wish to communicate their ideas, their story or their thoughts and feelings. Unfortunately, publishing a seventy dollar paperback is not likely the way to achieve that.
There are an awful lot of vanity presses out there. If anything the Internet has helped that market to blossom. Printing on demand has dramatically reduced the cost of book production. Many books are now available in formats that didn't exist until recently, such as Kindle or PDF.
One of the more interesting new vanity presses is Lulu.com (disclaimer: I have no affiliation with them. I just love the name). To publish a dust jacketed hardcover book with 271 pages it costs $25. That's it. You can write the book, have them print off a copy and have the smallest print run imaginable for $25. Mr Homfray's book, in the manner and style that Lang printed it would cost about half that. There are other publishers with similar services. Now Lulu.com has little to no academic status, but if your desire is to get your ideas out there then Lulu or their competitors are the ways to go.
If we assume a 100% mark up between cost of publishing to selling price, then you would sell it for $25. That would be a perfect bound trade paperback of moderate length. Lang sells it for $42 more. My question is whether the rather dubious academic prestige of being published by Lang is worth $42. For some, it obviously is. But it seems a rather steep price to pay for someone on the bottom rungs of academia to climb another step on the tenure track.
All of which makes me wonder how long the Peter Langs of this world will last.
Heroes and Poor Spelling
The Atlanta Journal Constitution printed a story about a home invasion that was ultimately thwarted by a brave elderly man. It's pretty much a run of the mill affair. Except, in the article, one of the residents last name is Carlson. Under the photo, it's Carlton, repeated three times.
Here's a free tip for the AJC. Spell check doesn't solve everything. You need to have fresh eyeballs read this stuff to catch the mis-spellings and typos.
Here's a free tip for the AJC. Spell check doesn't solve everything. You need to have fresh eyeballs read this stuff to catch the mis-spellings and typos.
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