NotShyChiRev

If Pastorgate is good for the goose, is Mr. McCain ready to defend Rev. Hagee and Rev. Parsley

Thu, 8 May 08 22:38:00 UT

John McCain has made no secret of the fact that he is courting the evangelical Christian vote in the coming Presidential election. Well, good for him, that's his choice.

But as his seconds continue to throw stones at Barack Obama for Rev. Wright (a truly tired issue that clearly didn't have too much of an impact in North Carolina), there are growing calls for McCain to come clean about his views on and connection with Revs. Hagee (God smote New Orleans because there was going to be a gay parade that weekend) and Rev. Parsley (All Muslems are evil and seek to destroy America).

Last time I checked, hate in the name of God was something Mr. McCain's people were against.

So where is the condemnation of these two leaders with whom McCain has appeared at rallies and as to whom he readily accepts and is "honored" by their endorsements.

I'm just wondering...

Revisiting the Idea of My Favorite Meal

Fri, 25 Apr 08 20:09:00 UT

When we were little, Mom would let my siblings and I choose the menu for the family dinner on the evenings of our birthdays. Eventually we got old enough (and financially comfortable enough) that a night out at a favorite restaurant replaced the "pick your favorite foods" birthday. I missed those home-cooked celebrations, and still do.

BigSis always chose roast and rice and gravy, which in our family became known as "roasunriceungravy." BigBro's tastes were always unpredictable, but there would always be red meat involved. BabySis and BigSis could be counted upon to insist upon chocolate cake to end the meals, whatever their choices for entrees.

For me, it was always about hamburgers, fries, cowboy beans (a story for another day), and apple pie. Always. Every year. Boring? Never! Sometimes I had relish, sometimes not; sometimes mayo and mustard, sometimes just mustard. The choices were endless. Who could find that boring?

My birthday is sometime in the next 60 days, so my choices also fit the time of year, a burgeoning summer in Bayou City...and if we had to combine my B-Day celebration with some surrounding national or Hallmark holiday, the meal still fit.

Well, I think I'm gonna be changing my order.

I spent this week in a lovely Midwestern City with 14 colleagues, preachers all, who had gathered to share research, insights, random thoughts, well meaning inSULTS, and a whole lot of food, drink and laughter.

Fed by the Word, fed by good company, fed by simple communal worship, fed by the very idea that we could get together and do this, fed by great cooks and gracious hosts, fed by the Master Chef. By any measure, we did far more than share a snack.

We've committed to gather again next year, again in the season that comes near my natal day.

By the time my birthday comes around next year, I'm fairly certain I'll have already had my new favorite meal. Yum!

A Little Song, A Little Dance, A Little Kiss to Scare the Aunts

Mon, 7 Apr 08 11:32:00 UT

So, this weekend during a comedy scene at the end of the Chorus' three raucous and wonderful concerts of election-year Americana and rabble rousing political stuff, I had my first on-stage man-on-man kiss(es).

I was an ersatz Simon Cowell finally surrendering to the "bickering as foreplay" sexual tension with an ersatz Ryan Seachrest and I basically attacked (lip-wise) the (not nearly as young as the real Ryan) fellow chorister, sucking face for an exaggeratedly long time as the audience roared with laughter (or perhaps that noise was the sound of the blood rushing in my ears as I contemplated how my mother will respond to seeing the archival DVD of this performance in a few months).

The dear folks in my congregation who attended one of the performances laughed with great gusto and only one brought up the kiss yesterday in church, during, of all times, the passing of the peace.

So it got me wondering...does anyone else have any interesting "kissing in public" or "kissing on stage" stories?

I did have a long snog on stage with a woman once back in the 90's, playing the husband in a community theatre production of the play "No Sex Please, We're British." Come to think of it, all of my on stage kisses have involved me using a British accent. Am I more snoggable with an accent?

While I ponder that, share your public kissing stories in the comments.

Smooches...
NSCR

Name that Movie...

Mon, 31 Mar 08 16:03:00 UT

I'm only at the (almost) beginning of an insane month of chorus, church, ecclesial and other responsibilities, but I need a break...so have fun...DON'T peek at comments until you've already decided your guesses. This is a personal integrity thing...:-)

And No Fair Looking These Up On-Line!!!

Have fun...

For each...2 points for the title, 3 more points if you name the actor/actress who speaks the line, and 5 bonus points if you can give the full name of the character.

1. "He's so confused he doesn't know whether to scratch his watch or wind his butt."

2. "Maggie the cat is alive!"

3. "You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means."

4. "She was yar alright. I wasn't, was I?"

5. "Why does it have to be snakes?"

6. "No, __. ________, I expect you to die."

7. "You gotta tame the beast before you let it out of its cage."

8. "Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above."

9. "I have been, and ever shall be, your friend."

10. "...is it to be at every meal, or merely at dinnertime, that you intend on leading us all through this rare and wonderful new world of...indigestion?"

Ten thoughts after "relaxing" for an hour in front of the tv with clicker actively engaged...

Tue, 25 Mar 08 21:43:00 UT

1. Okay, so I'm Big, I'm Gay...but the Big Gay Comedy Sketch Show on Logo is almost bad enough to make be ashamed of both.

2. Frontline's "Bush's War" is truly, maddly, deeply disturbing. Falujah. What a nightmare. The Bush administration really has botched this thing seven ways to Sunday.

3. Blades of Glory is really not funny.

4. Even the risk of sleet in the final five days of March seems, well, just a bit like God is showing off.

5. Bill Maher and I both have hair that is too long to compensate for our hair loss. It is not flattering on either of us.

6. Fox News Chicago features people with very nice voices and very bad clothes who can't seem to read their teleprompters correctly, and when they do, speak mostly dreck.

7. Frasier in the final years...um...not so much.

8. The Bridgestone Tire commercial with the screaming animals...SO over it.

9. If the food at Olive Garden was actually as good as it looks on TV, I'd eat there twice a week.

10. The Enterprise Car Rental commercial where the son tells his mom the cars are "fitty" percent off is just sad.

I've Got Nothin'

Tue, 25 Mar 08 12:35:00 UT

Nothing witty or important to say. Just wanted to say "Hi" and "Happy Easter" to those of you of that persuasion (and what the heck, to those of you not as well.)

I'm up to my nipples in meetings, projects and deadlines.

The chorus is singing a great concert on the 4th and 5th of April here in ChiTown. Check it out at www.cgmc.org (Sorry, no time to put the link in html). It will feature...um...a VERY big surprise for friends for NCSR...and no I won't be in drag.
Let's just say mouthwash will be involved.

Have a wonderful week...and take a nap for me...heaven knows when I'll get one.

The whining shall now cease. Smooches.

Shame on You, ABC News

Thu, 20 Mar 08 10:35:00 UT

So...the release from the National Archives of Senator Clinton's schedules while she was First Lady was to be a major step in vetting her claims about her involvement in key issues in her husband's presidency.

Some news outlets have jumped on a pro-NAFTA appearance as inconsistent with her current position.

But is that what ABC NEWS chose to highlight? Of course not. Along with a number of other news outlets, their first story on the release of the materials...was to note that Mrs. Clinton was in the White House on the day of the "Blue Dress Incident."

As Towleroad and others have already asked...Is there any purpose in this story other than to humiliate Senator Clinton?

BAD Journalism, BAD Editorial Choice, BAD Idea.

Charlie Gibson, Barbara Walters, somebody...how about an apology? You're better than that, and ABC News used to be. Peter Jennings is spinning in his grave.

The Definition of Presidential

Wed, 19 Mar 08 02:00:00 UT

From "THE SPEECH."

For we have a choice in this country. We can accept a politics that breeds division, and conflict, and cynicism. We can tackle race only as spectacle - as we did in the OJ trial - or in the wake of tragedy, as we did in the aftermath of Katrina - or as fodder for the nightly news. We can play Reverend Wright's sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she's playing the race card, or we can speculate on whether white men will all flock to John McCain in the general election regardless of his policies.

We can do that.

But if we do, I can tell you that in the next election, we'll be talking about some other distraction. And then another one. And then another one. And nothing will change.

Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, "Not this time." This time we want to talk about the crumbling schools that are stealing the future of black children and white children and Asian children and Hispanic children and Native American children. This time we want to reject the cynicism that tells us that these kids can't learn; that those kids who don't look like us are somebody else's problem. The children of America are not those kids, they are our kids, and we will not let them fall behind in a 21st century economy. Not this time.

This time we want to talk about how the lines in the Emergency Room are filled with whites and blacks and Hispanics who do not have health care; who don't have the power on their own to overcome the special interests in Washington, but who can take them on if we do it together.

This time we want to talk about the shuttered mills that once provided a decent life for men and women of every race, and the homes for sale that once belonged to Americans from every religion, every region, every walk of life. This time we want to talk about the fact that the real problem is not that someone who doesn't look like you might take your job; it's that the corporation you work for will ship it overseas for nothing more than a profit.

This time we want to talk about the men and women of every color and creed who serve together, and fight together, and bleed together under the same proud flag. We want to talk about how to bring them home from a war that never should've been authorized and never should've been waged, and we want to talk about how we'll show our patriotism by caring for them, and their families, and giving them the benefits they have earned.

Someday, I pray, children will read these words in history books...

And God Laughed....

Tue, 18 Mar 08 22:36:00 UT

So...

Three weeks ago, disgusted with a winter that refuses to end and the endless shoveling of the heaviest snow totals on my side of ChiTown since before I was born, I said...

"If I have to shovel snow during Holy Week or if it snows on Easter, I'm taking all of April off. That's all there is to it."

Current forecast: Snow on Friday, small accumulation (read shoveling), and intermittent snow showers ON EASTER.

Sadly, taking off April is not in the cards....but if it all comes to pass...Yahweh owes me a month.

Then again, I don't think I want to start comparing the balance of accounts in this relationship...so...um...never mind.

Governor Spitzer....Apologies Generally Don't Work for Federal Crimes. Just Resign....but first, let's talk a little about prostituion as a crime.

Mon, 10 Mar 08 21:56:00 UT

In an crisis no one needed, Governor Eliot Spitzer of New York has admitted making arrangements for a New York City prostitute to travel to Washington DC for an assignation.

Notice that there are two jurisdictions mentioned in that sentence...crossing state lines.

This is a violation of the Mann Act. Gov. Spitzer could go to federal prison. He MUST resign so that his shameful behavior does not further taint the current election cycle any more than it already has.

But some thoughts...

First, we must acknowledge that Gov. Spitzer is, on one level, a victim of the times. Thousands of politicians have done the same thing in times past...but times change. (Oh, and just because they didn't get caught, doesn't mean the others weren't wrong to do it.)

Second, he's admitted it's a violation of his marriage vows and a breach of his family's trust. Perhaps, in time, fence mending can happen there...and that should be his priority more than remaining Governor of New York.

Third, it's a violation of the public trust. He is a state official scoffing at the laws of his own state and the federal government.

Fourth, and here's where perhaps I get myself into trouble....The fact that, IMHO, the Mann Act and the New York and DC anti-prostitution statues are antiquated and excessively intrusive statutes in dire need of revision cannot nullify Gov. Spitzer's criminally stupid behavior.

Perhaps an explanation or two is appropriate as it relates to this Fourth point.

Why is the Mann Act outdated? This is the text of Act:

Whoever knowingly transports any individual in interstate or
foreign commerce, or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, with intent that such individual engage in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

This is what's left of the White Slave Traffic Act of 1910. Young women were being kidnapped, raped, and then sold into prostitution, often across state lines. Sadly, all of that is still happening in this country, but most of the victims are from foreign countries.

The Mann Act goes much farther than that though...It doesn't simply apply to prostitution, but "any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense." For example, until Lawrence v. Texas in 2003, it was a violation of the Mann Act for a gay couple to take a vacation in another state if they planned to be sexually intimate in that other state. In more than a dozen states, it would still constitute a violation of the Mann Act for MARRIED couples to cross state lines with the intent of performing a number of the sexual acts described in Alex Comfort's "The Joy of Sex."

Congress generally doesn't have the power to regulate private sexual conduct--indeed, it is only the Interstate Commerce Clause of the Constitution that allows the act to pass constitutional muster. To include matters that aren't the subject of COMMERCE in the Act is to overreach Congress' constitutional powers. So...the Mann Act...probably should be trimmed down a bit. (Notice that trimming wouldn't help Gov. Spitzer).

Now...about criminalizing prostitution...I personally think that the Mann Act provisions against interstate prostitution should stand...taking prostitutes across state lines smacks of something particularly nefarious. As far as the legalization of prostitution at the state level is concerned, I don't believe that any series of regulations has yet been devised where prostitution is both legal and sufficiently regulated to protect physical and mental health AND prevent exploitation and trafficking of exploited women and men. That being said, I would favor the Rhode Island and French models of statutes which do not make criminals of prostitutes, but ban pimps, brothels, trafficking and procurement. (Again, Gov. Spitzer, who used a procurement service, would still be on the hook here.)

All that being said...
Gov. Spitzer...resign, please.

A Sermon Where Ezekiel's Dry Bones Meet the Girl Scouts

Mon, 10 Mar 08 18:01:00 UT

So, it was Girl Scout Sunday...and I've preached on last Sunday's gospel passage before...so this was the sermon...

Ezekiel 37:1-14

By any measure, hers was a difficult childhood.Her father was usually away drying out in a sanitarium. Her mother, never the most affectionate of people, called her âGrannyâ because, as she told little Ellie, she was "ugly as" her fatherâs mother. Orphaned by the age of 10, she went away to boarding school in Europe before too long. She went away from family and all she knewâ¦she came into her ownâ¦through her educationâ¦an education she used to, in her words, make herself useful. She dedicated herself to a number of causes and worked for the betterment of the worldâ¦she argued for women to get the right to vote and celebrated when that finally came to pass. Eventually, she married her fifth cousin once removed and then dedicated the next part of her life to raising her childrenâ¦and to assisting him in his chosen professionâ¦politics. She was invaluable to himâ¦as he was stricken with polio.

As his legs and often his voice, the one her mother considered an 'ugly duckling,' Eleanor Roosevelt, blossomed in her role of public servant as she accompanied her husband Franklin from the state house in New York, to the governorâs mansion, to the White House. She helped lead the nation out of the depression and became the nationâs mother as she visited the troops at hospitals and on bases around the globe during World War II. And hers was not simply a behind the scenes roleâ¦.many have asserted that while the President tended to the war, she was responsible for much domestic policyâsocial, health care and education reforms of the time are often considered at least partially her handiwork.

And thenâ¦suddenly, without much warningâ¦It was over. The President diedâ¦and she was adrift. Her children were grownâ¦her country was healingâ¦and she felt her story was overâ¦.In fact, that's what she saidâ¦interviewed just two months after she became a widowâ¦Mrs. Roosevelt said point blankâ¦âMy story is over.â And she retreated to the coupleâs home in upstate New Yorkâ¦tiredâ¦her life dried upâ¦overâ¦.

Ezekiel was a prophet who knew about what it was like to think life was overâ¦he had been a prophet in the temple in Jerusalem when King Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah and forced most of the people into exile hundreds of miles away in Babylon, what is now Modern Iraqâ¦They were taken from all that they knewâ¦their homes, their families, their land, their templeâ¦Life, as far as they knew it, was over. Their lives were little more than dry bonesâ¦they had lost everything that defined themâ¦and to say they were sadâ¦dejectedâ¦forlornâ¦would be the grossest of understatementsâ¦

They are without hopeâ¦and then Ezekiel brings them this visionâ¦this dream of life returning to lifeless bones...of breath and vitality returning to those who have been wiped out...this reminder from God that they are not forgottenâ¦that God will be with them even so far from homeâ¦even though they have nothingâ¦even though the live as little more than prisonersâ¦they will yet liveâ¦they will breath free againâ¦And, while it will take many yearsâ¦Ezekielâs promise will indeed come to passâ¦the people of Jerusalem will go home againâ¦Godâs people will see their homeland againâ¦they have a future that will once again be in their handsâ¦

In 1946, the Sprit blew through Eleanor Rooseveltâs life againâ¦President Harry S. Truman appointed her as a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly. She played an instrumental role in drafting perhaps the most important document for freedom since the American Constitutionâ¦the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights. She went on to serve as the first chairperson of the UN Human Rights Commission. On the night of September 28, 1948, Roosevelt spoke on behalf of the Declaration calling it "the international Magna Carta of all humankind" The Declaration was adopted by the UN General Assembly just weeks later. That same year, she was approached by some in the leadership about becoming Harry Trumanâs running mate for the Vice-Presidency. As landmark as Senator Clintonâs candidacy is now, imagine what it would have been for a woman to be vice-president 60 years agoâ¦but she declinedâ¦saying she had more important work to doâ¦for the whole world.

Just about that time, in an interview, she said âthe future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.â Like Ezekielâs dream where there is new life coming, Eleanor Roosevelt believed in the power of dreamingâ¦of hopingâ¦of envisioning the future that we want and the future we hope forâ¦and then working to make it soâ¦.It is the same hope and promise that was lifted up for those frightened people who had been captured and taken from their homes.

Ezekielâs message rings out for us today as wellâ¦the same God who promised deliverance to the Hebrew people in exile and kept that promise, is the same God who came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ and encountered a world once again oppressed and in exileâin the exile of hopelessness and slavery to sin and death. In his death and resurrection we find deliverance as wellâ¦from every oppression that still clings to us.

And we find an invitation to dreamâ¦to dream dreams of hope and restorationâ¦of justice and peaceâ¦these were central to Ezekielâs dreamâ¦and to Mrs. Rooseveltâs dreamâ¦.and in a wayâ¦all of you young ladiesâ¦you are part of that dream as wellâ¦for you are the hope of the generationsâ¦you are their dreamsâ¦you are our dreamsâ¦and you are Godâs dream for the future as wellâ¦in you, the dry bones of our lives will live onâ¦and you are the hope, too, of Mrs. Roosevelt I thinkâ¦the woman who served longer as the honorary President of the Girl Scouts longer than any person in historyâ¦

So let us dreamâ¦confident that the spirit will be present in our desert timesâ¦giving us life, giving us hopeâ¦giving us todayâ¦to believe in the beauty of dreamsâ¦and to live into themâ¦today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen.

An Open Letter to Senators Clinton and Obama

Thu, 6 Mar 08 17:04:00 UT

Dear Candidates,

You are presented with a unique privilege in the political history of our country. One of you will be the FIRST...the first candidate of a major national party who will not be a white male of European heritage.

That is a wonderful thing...and long overdue.

Please understand that I write to you as a fan....Yes, I voted for one of you over the other...but I was conflicted about it, though I now believe even more strongly that I made the right choice...but which of you that was/is isn't really important for the purposes of this communication.

The number one priority of those who voted for EITHER of you is to insure that the policies of the current incumbent in the White House are brought to a hasty conclusion and a move in a new direction is both charted and carried out, not with undo haste, but without ANY real delay.

Recently, statements made by both of your camps create the potential for undermining all that you and we hope to accomplish when the next President is elected.

Senator Clinton, you have repeatedly asserted what you believe "the Republicans will say" about Senator Obama as though you completely agree with those statements. In the world of international relations that would be called "providing aid and comfort to the enemy."

Senator Obama, today, news sources carry an allegation from your camp that Senator Clinton is "John McCain Light." Regardless of your intentions, such a statement insinuates that in a one-on-one contest, Senator Clinton would be considered a pale imitation of Senator McCain, the lesser of the two candidates.

Let me say this as clearly as I can. That kind of politics will not win this election, indeed, it puts the election of EITHER of you at great risk. If Governor Dean will not call the two of you out on these tactics, you can rest assured the American People will. DON'T SCREW THIS UP...WE BEG YOU.

Further...here are a few things, I personally suggest you avoid, because they are the tactics of demagogues:

1. Fear-based attacks on your opponent. Want to know something? I don't care what you think about your opponent, I care about what you want to do for this country. Tell me how your ideas differ...specifically. Tell me how you intend to carry out your vision for restoring our international standing, or for restoring the strength of the middle class, or for shoring up our crumbling infrastructure, or for reforming our morally bankrupt health care and financial services industries. DON'T try to make me afraid of your opponent...that just makes me think that YOU are afraid people will take him/her seriously. Those are the morally bankrupt politics of Rove and Bush.

2. Winning at all cost strategies. The scorched earth take no prisoners politics of the 90's led to the wholesale disenfranchisement of tens of millions of Americans who found that they detested all of the candidates and would not participate in a system that FORCED them by its pervasive use of invective and mendacity to choose the lesser of two evils. The politics of change--which you both say you espouse--is premised on bringing those millions back into the political system. Continue on your current path and they will stay home...history's lesson there is cruel.

3. Relying on super delegates. Only two times in our history have a majority of the American people voted for one person only to have another become the President. In one instance, a compromise in the House of Representatives gave birth to Jim Crow and generations of Americans were thrown to the wolves of prejudice and hate. In the second instance, a neo-fascist regime took advantage of one of the greatest tragedies ever to strike American soil to begin two wars, trample on the constitution, mortgage our children's future, and label reasoned debate and disagreement treasonous. Do not turn this nomination into another power play among the elite. Commit right now to the idea that the super delegates' votes cannot reverse the outcome of a committed delegates' vote. Super delegates were created to insure that the party faithful are present for debate and participation in the platform and other key issues. They were not created so that the elite of the party could determine the party's nominee.

It is my fervent hope that both of you will see the folly of destroying the other. We can no longer be part of a system where a candidate can smear and attack all the way to a nomination and they say "I respect Senator X and look forward to working with him/her to achieve our common goals."

Just look what participating in that kind of soul-destroying fight did to John McCain.

Every 8 Days in 2008--Corrected

Thu, 6 Mar 08 16:00:00 UT

So far in 2008, based on crimes that have actually been reported publicly, an LGBT American is murdered in a hate crime...One every 8 days.

The vast majority of the killings in 2008 have been of transgender young people.

In a recent email I received, the American Family Association decried the upcoming Day of Silence being observed on April 25, 2008 in schools--public and private, high schools and universities all across the country. They urged parents to pull their children out of school on those days. The Day of Silence was created to protest the silencing of LGBT youths through discrimination, harassment, bullying, and violence.

The Day of Silence is, was, and has always been a student-created, student-led, student-focussed effort to promote tolerance and the dignity of all humanity.

Nevertheless, the AFA alleges it's part of some great gay conspiracy...asserting it's a day of "promoting the homosexual lifestyle."

Last time I checked, wanting to end violence wasn't specifically an exclusively 'homosexual' thing.

Then again, if the AFA wants to brand the promotion of respect and an end to violence as promotion of my lifestyle...I'm pretty cool with that.

After all, the alternative seems to be...one every 8 days.

The Most Attractive Man in the World, February 2008 Edition

Sat, 1 Mar 08 22:49:00 UT

Consider this...

His directorial debut, "Gone Baby Gone" is a solid effort.

He has an Academy Award.

He is extremely active in raising money and speaking out on issues of justice, inclusion, hunger and famine relief, and cancer prevention and treatment.

He is more than a little pleasant esthetically.

But none of that put him over the top this month.

He wins because of two words...

Jimmy Kimmel.

It's profane, it's crass, it's absolutely hilarious.

If you don't know of what I speak...where have you been?

Because a sense of humor is essential for attractiveness...

Ben Affleck IS the Most Attractive Man in the World, February 2008 Edition.

The Ugliest Man in the World, February 2008 Edition

Sat, 1 Mar 08 22:31:00 UT

Well...

He used the word "lynch" in reference to Mrs. Obama.

He said there was no difference between Ariana Huffington and the KKK and the Nazis?!?!? (What is it with commentators and the Nazis these days? Can't anybody be compared to Stalin or Attila the Hun anymore?)

He is a human toad...and a beloved child of God. That sometimes really ticks me off.

And the UMitW goes to....Pat Buchanan.