Captain Yips Secret Journal

Omnibus

I've no plans to see "Disney's" A Christmas Carol ("Disney's"?), nor, for that matter, Mr. Downey, Jr's, effort at The Great Detective, a movie likely to induce in me brain fever at best, a rare coolie disease, fatal in 4 days, at worst, but I could not but think of Mr. Dickens' A Christmas Carol as I read about the Bishop of Repton's peculiar comments on Christmas cheer.  Bearing in mind that this report is from The Telegraph, I did look for the original article, in vain.  The Bishop seems to be saying that the presence of any secular sorrow whatsoever is reason for us to give up on Christian hope.  Odd thought in a bishop.

Bear in mind that Mr. Dickens, no Christian in any overt or classical sense, hits a couple of things square on.  Scrooge is brought by supernatural means to see the misery he has been forging for himself, and he chooses to change his way of life.  His "salvation" is certified, not by elaborate self-denial or asceticisms, but by sitting down to a meal.  Bob Cratchit, certainly one of the world's oppressed, with too many mouths to feed, a desperately ill child, and a perennial finalist in the World's Worst Boss competition for an employer, observes Christmas with care and rebukes his wife for her uncharitable comments about Scrooge.  This is sort of the opposite to Bishop Southern's suggestions.  One suspects that Bob Cratchit has influenced far more people than Humphrey Southern, rightly reverend or not, ever will.

Wonder

Some things are so amazing I can only look and wonder.  The Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Ready for Reform?

A few days ago, Chris mentioned the possibility that the Democrats would lose Barack Obama's former Senate seat.  I'm certainly a long term, and somewhat nauseated, observer of Illinois politics.  I don't know that my thoughts are worth a hill of beans.  That won't stop me.

• History.  The critical event in recent Illinois politics was the 1972 election for governor.  The Heffalump incumbent, Richard Ogilvie, was probably the best governor Illinois has had in the post war era, if by "best" we mean, "someone who actually tried to deal with problems."  His term saw a state constitutional convention, the establishment of the Regional Transportation Authority to fund and manage public transit in the Chicago area, and (ominous music) the imposition of a state income tax.  Oopsie.  The state income tax was, shall we say, unpopular.  Ogilvie was defeated for reelection by Dan Walker, an incredible buffoon who indulged himself in the fantasy that a Democratic governor could govern without reference and deference to the Mayor of Chicago, Richard I.  What Illinois politicians learned from Ogilvie's defeat was Do As Little As Possible.  The effect on Illinois has been calamitous.  Our politicians refuse to restrain spending, and refuse to take any steps to revenue reform or tax increase.  Sound familiar?  Yes, the country elected a president from this tradition.  You can't do both, but magical accounting puts off the day of reckoning. 
• Mark Kirk is an electable Republican in the current climate.  He's not an ideological purist, but he's sound on defense policy.  He's been an officer in the Navy Reserve, and is pretty reasonable about fiscal matters.  Perfect according to some strict notion of conservative purity?  No.  Electable?  Yes.  The Donks haven't come up with a compelling candidate yet, and I don't see any on the horizon.  I suspect that they would rather have a good shot at Kirk's seat in the House.
• The 2004 senatorial election here was the weirdest election I have ever witnessed.  The public destruction of Obama's opponents, first in the Donk primary election, then in the general election, was astonishing to behold.  Jack Ryan, the Heffalump candidate, was never popular within the party, and as the faux-scandal about his divorce grew, it became obvious to him that the other Heffalumps would give him no support.  Massive amounts of blame-the-victim were applied, and he understandably withdrew.  No electable Heffalump was about to step up, given the destructions of Ryan and of Blair Hull, Obama's chief opponent in the Donk primary. 
• There's some degree of sense that we are poorly governed.  Duh.  Whether that sense can be galvanized into a throw-out-the-bums movement can't be guessed.  Richard II's greatest accomplishment may have been the creation of a sense of inevitability.  "We may be bad, but you know we're going to win.  Make the best of it."

Some Studies of Frost

 

 

 

 

Chill

Waiting for plumbers, I note with pleasure Cranmer's bracingly cool comments about the Anglican Ordinariate.  No doubt quite a good plan for some, less so for others.  I would say, a very Roman Catholic plan, displaying the strengths and weaknesses of that Church.  As one would expect.  Often enough, the same trait is both a strength and a weakness. 

I tend to agree with Cranmer about God's symphony; there's an important part of Anglican tradition to regard formulations as, in the end, merely formulations - more or less accurate and useful.  That Anglican trait at the same time gives responsiveness and flexibility, but at the same time opens the door to silly folks who would have it that all formulations are equally valid.

Open Thread II

What are the defining differences between Evangelical Anglicans and Anglo-Catholics?  Not, especially here, differences in emphasis, but actual unique identifiers.  Honesty encouraged, but intemperacy should be avoided.

Open Thread I

While I'm (mostly) on hiatus, I leave a couple of open threads for discussion.  Have fun.

1.  Toxic Culture

It seems to me and some other parents that our current mass culture is pretty toxic for children.  Kids who, a generation or two ago, might have had a difficult time but wobbled through, are pretty knocked around.  Perhaps there is now little societal support for marginally stable kids.  Anyway, feel free to discuss how you perceive the problems of raising children in today's society, give examples of failure or success as you wish, opine away, discuss among yourselves.

Noisy Silence

That didn't last long.  Looks like I'll be nodding in, briefly, from time to time.

Anyone who can't see the difference between giving up your life to save others, and giving up your life to take the lives of others, is obtuse.  The notion that turning yourself into a weapon has intrinsic merit is equally obtuse.  War is a part of the evil of the fallen and corrupt world:  sometimes necessary, sometimes utterly wrong. 

Hiatus

Listen up, both of you.  This blog is about to take a break, probably until New Year 2010.  Too much on the plate.  Today begins a complete, stripped to the studs, kitchen renovation that'll last 8 to 10 weeks.  I have cabinets that are making a break for freedom, a range that works when it feels up to the effort, and a floor that looks like it's already been demo'd.  Then there's the difficult, poorly defined task of working with our daughter on the choices she's made, and the sheer disruption of schedule that is a new born child. 

The dominant theme here has, of course, been the decline of The Episcopal Church and the slow development of its successor.  I've come to find the accelerating senescence of TEC to be without interest, the dominant thought processes irrelevant to just about anything, and I can no longer muster the outrage to comment on the latest effluvia.  I realized some time ago that the battle for my home diocese, Chicago, if it was a battle at all, was lost before I came of age.  What's happening now is the inevitable and sour fruit of a long, long process.  Barring real and miraculous intervention, TEC's fate is obvious and inevitable.  I realize that there are places and people remaining in TEC where they do the best they can, and I wish them well.  I am more interested in doing what little I can to help build up ACNA, and that is boring.  Good, but boring.  Construction is slow, tedious, and unspectacular.  It's meticulous, hours of wrestling one small stone into position.  I'm more interested now in exploring the richness of the Anglican theological and spiritual traditions, and that will be one theme of this place come January.

So, have a Happy Thanksgiving, a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.  See y'all in January.