thejanet's blog

After discussion upon discussion on homosexuality and the church over the past few years, well, I lost energy some time ago and started just sitting quietly through the discussions and voting with the inclusion crowd. But that doesn't seem good enough for here, to just read and enjoy all the discussion and not participate.

So here is how I look at this issue, and how I arrive at my strong belief that all people should be included equally in God's church. Meaning that anybody can be a member, a clergy member, a bishop, etc. That includes homosexuals. Oh! and women, too! (CofE just voted today to start working on a process of electing women bishops, I still don't know why that is so hard for them, they've had women priests longer than the US has.) But I digress (as usual).

To begin with, I don't have to judge, and that takes some of the pressure off. But I have had to vote in church elections, where the question isn't just "right or wrong?" but also "what's best for the church?" And that makes it too hard of a question to answer with just a yea or nay vote.

Hong Kong, April 30, 3pm:

***** The Pillar of Shame painted Orange *****

The eight meter tall sculpture The Pillar of Shame
was today painted orange by the Chinese Democracy Movement

We have just received photos and uploaded them to the internet at:
http://www.thecolororange.net/uk/page160

The authorities had tried to obstruct the painting of the sculpture by denying the Danish artist Jens Galschiot and his staff access to Hong Kong as they landed in the airport on April 26. The expulsion has caused wide discussions in Hong Kong about whether China is now introducing their own visa rules and censorship on to Hong Kong. The Danish artist has been in Hong Kong several times before and is known for making peaceful art installations. He has put up The Pillar of Shame which has become a renowned memorial about the massacre on the Tienanmen square in Beijing 1989.

It hasn't been me out of town, disconnected, out of pocket this time... but the end result has been almost the same. I've been half here the last few weeks, but oh! the stories I can tell!!

A few weeks ago, the Texas Bar Association put out a plea for anyone who could pick up a pro bono case or three to please consider representing either children (as guardian ad litem) removed from the Fundamental Latter-Day Saints (FLDS) ranch in west Texas, or to represent one of the mothers trying to get back their children from state protective custody. My own personal live-in lawyer (daughter Lisa) ended up going out there to represent a few of the mothers.

By going "out there" I do mean Out There. You can look it up on the map, but trust me, while it's not out in the middle of nowhere, you CAN see it from there. Let's just say I didn't worry about her enjoying the night life too much on this trip. And she ended up with two clients, both women close to thirty (one on either side of it) and both women worried sick about their children who had never been away from home before.

Read this news story: http://www.11alive.com/news/article_news.aspx?storyid=113686

It that too cool or what??

But if you need more reality in your news, read the comments. I never will understand how people can talk all judgmental and hate-filled and truly believe they are doing as Jesus wanted. I guess it's a good thing I'm just in charge of me and what I do or try to do to live as a Christian.

speaking for The Color Orange Project

Can China forbid the color orange?

Purpose: To use the Olympics in Beijing 2008 to visually put focus on China's violations of human rights, and to create a visual symbol, using the color orange, to remind people that "we do know there is something wrong with the respect for human rights in China." We will use the color orange and make it a symbol of the protest against the human rights violations in China.

CNN reports:

National Review founder and conservative commentator William F. Buckley Jr. was found dead Wednesday in the study of his Stamford, Connecticut, home, officials at the magazine said.

He was 82.

Buckley died while at work," said Kathryn Jean Lopez, editor of the National Review Online, in a written statement. "If he had been given a choice on how to depart this world, I suspect that would have been exactly it. At home, still devoted to the war of ideas."

It may be a bit unexpected to see praise for William F. Buckley here, but I can't not speak. Bill Buckley helped make me what I am today.

Buckley, and my father, who led me to Buckley's columns, they challenged me, the high school student, to push my political thinking up a notch. Knee-jerk reactions weren't good enough, think, Janet, think. Think first, lay your arguments carefully, think again. Do your arguments lead to what you think you believe, or are they leading somewhere else completely? Are your arguments true? What do you really think?

Where have I been lately? Time flies and I didn't even realize it had been more than a week since my hide and hair had been seen here...

The Obama national campaign has done descended on Texas and I have been amazed. See, the county I live in isn't just red in a red state, Collin County would show up on that blue state red state map as scarlet. Richest little county in Texas. Where Democrats go to learn how it really feels to be disenfranchised. How do I describe this?

Oh! A story. I love stories and this one is true. I love true stories best of all. See, it was like this. My husband and I went in to vote early for one of the national primaries, not that it really counted, I'm thinking that was when I voted for Bill Bradley even though he'd already dropped out and all. But nonetheless, we went to vote, you have to vote in a primary to participate in the election night precinct convention. Two-tiered primary, we call it the Texas Two-Step and national campaign workers call it a nightmare.

(this is just a copy of a discussion post from our paths up the mountain discussion, I copied it here so that months from now I could find the information in it.)

Jim, thank you so much for your insights into how the Buddha relates to our Christian tenets. The discussion on The Tao also is illuminating to me, I came into that thought puzzle from the other side of Bill, wanting to understand The Tao and using my Christian knowledge to help me do so. (I also taught a really quirky class called "the Tao of watercolor" which mostly excused my inability to completely explain some things that you just have to know or feel when it is right. Which is neither here nor there, unless it helps make sense of it all.)

In the amazing synchronicity that is our world, another blog post in my list of blogs I always check is about Islam and how it relates to Christianity. Today, that was the post. Like "Sleepless in Seattle" I exclaim, "It's a sign!"

Forty years ago today America saw the first instance of violence between police and protesters in what is now referred to as The Orangeburg Massacre.

The shootings occurred two nights after an effort by students from an almost all all-black college to bowl at the city’s only bowling alley. The owner refused. Tensions rose. The students planned a bonfire to draw attention to their protest, firemen were sent to put out the bonfire and police were sent to protect the firemen, and when one started shooting at the students, they all did. Nine students and one city policeman received hospital treatment for injuries. Other students were treated at the college infirmary. College faculty and administrators at the scene witnessed at least two instances where a female student was held by one officer and clubbed by another. In total, 28 students were injured and three were dead.

I made an angel food cake this morning, the diabetic's favorite because there is so little fat in it. Yes, I'm diabetic, one who always remembers and never forgets: SALSA is a free food. Bake a few low-fat tortillas in a low oven for a while, break them into chip-size pieces and eat with salsa, the free food, a snack even my endocrinologist would smile at.

But it's the angel food cake I made this morning, my husband goes in to work late today and he wanted a good snack. He's not diabetic but he won't ever turn down a piece or three of angel food cake. I baked it in one of those new plastic silicone pans, and it looks like the silicone didn't melt into the cake so I reckon it's a success. Mike (the hubster) was moaning because I said it wasn't going to come out of the pan until it was cool, and uh I was a little eager, too, so we devised a plan. We'd eat off the top crust while it was hot, then level off the cake even with the top of the pan, then call it a brand new dessert for supper. We figured the kid would not figure out what all she had missed.