Blood on the Floor of the Synod

It's not easy being a senior female clergyperson in the Church of England these days. You want power, real power, not the pale imitation that comes with being an Archdeacon, or even a Dean. No, you want the real thing, you want to be a bishop.

consecrate!

And it was so close, so very, very close. Friends were knitting presentation vestments, you've spotted that ring, the gold one that you've always wanted, and Watts has sized you up for a miter. The Episcopal Palace has been redecorated at least a dozen times, in your mind. You almost live there already!

living the dream

Then, today, the dream came crashing down. The Church of England's House of Laity said no. Maybe, in 5 years time, when the Measure resurfaces, you'll be retired and the Christian world will heave a sigh of relief.

a woman "bishop"

Well done, Laity. Bad show, Bishops and Clergy.

COE, you've dodged a bullet. But remember, Hell hath no fury...

LSP

On the Road

LSP drives into Town

It seems to me that Dallas was faced with a decision, probably after World War II. "How and where do we want to live?" the City Fathers asked themselves, "In a city, or on a road?" City, Road? That was the question and the answer came back emphatically. "Road!" they chanted and roads they got.

It came as a culture shock after England, where people still, I think, walk about their towns and cities. But regardless of the ways of what used to be Great Britain, I find myself spending an awful lot of time on the road. 

Speaking of which, Jack Kerouac was a Mass-going catholic, as was Andy Warhol. Apparently Warhol was a daily communicant, amongst other less pleasant things. I'd never have guessed.

Drive safe,

LSP

Gun Safety

I'm all for 2nd amendment rights, obviously. But some people shouldn't be allowed to have guns, or shoot them.

You see?

LSP

Horse Worship

One of the things I like to do, when not browsing Russian nationalist websites in search of Bear Cav pics, is to go riding. It's good for mind, body and spirit, provided, of course, that you don't come off at a full-tilt gallop and break.

Speaking of which, I've been working JB at the slower gaits, walk and trot, around mesquites and small trails  in the brush. The objective being to build her fitness, confidence, response to aids and overall unity with the rider after a couple of months of not being ridden.

spurious target photo...

The principle's simple enough -- make it easy for the horse to do what you want it to do and hard for the creature to do the opposite. I guess you could translate that into church terms.

Say a Solemn High Mass and get a reward.

Say a Clown Mass and ________ Well, fill in the blank.

The Western Church has a liturgy, it just needs to use it.

LSP

Bear Cavalry

Some people have foolishly thought they could invade and conquer Russia.

Perhaps they thought they would win through their enemy's inclination towards hard liquor.

Maybe they didn't factor in Bear Cavalry.

Bad mistake.

Cheers,

LSP

Leave, Hippies.

State after state is joining the wildfire grass roots movement to leave the Union, and who can blame them? Texas is leading the pack, with over 90,000 people signing a petition to exit the United States.

Typical Austin "Street Art"

But one Texan town is holding out against the popular surge of anti-Washington sentiment. Austin, home to Texas' vibrant music scene and thousands of hippies, wants to stay put in the land of hopium. 

Austin Hippies Acting Up

According to the Daily Caller, Austin's hippies have signed a counter petition, threatening to leave the Lone Star State if it leaves the Union.

Fleeing Texas

Off you go then, hippies. Use the back door.

No exceptions.

LSP

Plano!

I had to go to a place called Plano today, for a church meeting. The meeting was good, though I had to leave early to visit a man in hospital.

Plano

Plano has been described as, "Like Planet of the Apes but without the apes."

Laughing Ape Soldiers

In Planet of the Apes, humans are enslaved by apes in a post-apocalyptic world. Somehow that seems appropriate to far North Dallas.

Cheers,

LSP

Putting The Hurt On, Sorry, Petraeus

No one's talking much about a Benghazi cover-up anymore, they're too busy thinking about the Petraeus sex scandal, or "Cloak and Shagger" as the New York Post trenchantly announced to the world. For what it's worth, I think it's a tragedy for the former head of the CIA, his family and doubtless for Broadwell too. I wish, for their sakes, that it hadn't happened, but it did and notice the timing.

It's odd, isn't it, that Petraeus announced his resignation the same day Fox News reported that the Foreign Affairs Committee was going to call him to testify. 

Testify about what? About the Administration's actions, or lack of them, concerning its CIA annex and Mission in Libya. We were told repeatedly that it was "the film's fault." Not dissimilar, when you come to think about it, to a child confronted with a crime claiming that "a ghost did it."

In this case, the "ghost" was Mark Bassely and "white witch" Hilary Clinton was more than willing to use him as a scapegoat. “We’re going to have that person arrested and prosecuted,” she told Charles Woods, father of killed SEAL Tyrone Woods.

Lo and behold, Mark Bassely was duly rounded up and found to be in violation of a parole order forbidding him to use the internet. He's in jail for a year, unlike all those other people with minor parole infringements who aren't.

Or the government, who are notoriously free at large.

As the King James Version puts it, the whole affair stinketh.

LSP

Veterans Day

Respect to all who have and are serving in our Armed Forces.

To those overseas, I pray you come home safe.

God bless,

LSP

Semper Fi

Today's the 237th anniversary of the U.S. Marine Corps and seeing as how this "blog" has become an excuse for LSP nostalgia, I remember a Canadian architect telling me "the U.S. army is just all these kids who're gonna run away, man."

Well think again. Respect to all our forces serving overseas and especially today to the Marines. I won't bang on about Petraeus, but the timing's interesting, don't you think?

Semper Fi,

LSP

Church of England Ruled By Grey Alien?

For the world's third largest Christian denomination, Anglicanism, there's a new boss in town, Archbishop Justin Welby.

Justin Welby

After months of gridlock, the secretive group known as the Crown Nominations Commission, have finally settled on a replacement for the outgoing Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. Bypassing several senior candidates, such as "Ebor" Sentamu, Archbishop of York, the Commission settled on rising star Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham.

An old Etonian and oil executive, Welby felt the call to ordained ministry in the 1980s and was ordained in 1993. He soon shot up through the ranks, becoming Dean of Liverpool in 2007 before surging through the stained glass window to become Bishop of Durham in 2011. It would only take a year before his meteoric rise to power culminated in this month's appointment to Anglicanism's top job. 

Overlord

Mainstream Media attributes Welby's uncanny ability for promotion to raw ambition, a gilded background and natural diplomatic talent to "spin fudge." According to the New York Times, the new Archbishop of Canterbury has shown himself capable of being both against gay marriage and also for it, making him uniquely suited to lead the Church of England.

A Grey?

However, Ancient Astronaut theorists are unconvinced, believing that Welby's stellar climb to become the most important Anglican in the world can only be explained by extraterrestrial agency. "We don't have the technology," said one pundit, "to take a clergyperson from Durham to Canterbury in the space of a year. It's impossible! Only advanced alien technology could pull it off."

Behold your Master

Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. Top level ecclesiastical OE, or Grey Alien spacelord puppet.

You be the judge.

LSP

Cavalry & Guards

After a bizarrely early Mass this morning my thoughts mysteriously focused on London's clubs, and not the earsplittingly loud pounding techno variety either. No, real clubs, like the Cavalry & Guards in Piccadilly.

Cavalry & Guards -- note picture on stairwell

I remember climbing up the impressive stairwell of the "C&G"with a senior member who had kindly invited me over for lunch. I noticed the picture of a cavalry charge, Scotland Forever!, I think, and remarked to my friend, "That must've taken some courage."

Death or Glory

He looked me in the eye and said, "I trained for that on the South Downs in the 1930s. Perfectly useless against tanks, you know."

I supposed it was. Earlier I'd suggested that we go to the bar, only to be turned down with "let's not, they do bellow so in there."

Omdurman

The last massed boot-to-boot British cavalry charge was at Omdurman, in 1898, when we destroyed an army of fanatical Jihadists and killed their chieftain. Winston Churchill was part of that charge.

I miss clubland.

LSP