Gulag UK: “It’s All in the Database.”

Those who think I’m over the top when I talk about Gulag UK should take a look at this ad currently being run by the BBC.



Big Brother Corporation?

(Numerous hat tips, including to Billy Ockham.)

BREAKING: Google Under Attack?

Everything Google, including Blogspot and You Tube, is running very slowly this morning. The rest of the net seems to be just fine. I therefore suspect Google is under some kind of attack.

Manchester Report on Women Bishops in the CofE

The Manchester Report is out. And it appears that reason has prevailed, that “a church within a church” in the form of extrageographical dioceses will be provided for those who cannot recognize the ordination of women as sacramentally valid.

Of course, this provision begs the question: if a form of “boundary crossing” is o.k. for the Church of England, then why isn’t it o.k. for the Anglican Communion?

Ruth Gledhill has posted a good report. Interesting commentary may be found there as well as here and here. I especially appreciate this comment: “Ladies - just take a good, long look at male bishops. 
Now, honestly, do you still want to be bishops too?
 Come on, you're much too intelligent for that.”

Forward in Faith is tentatively pleased with the report:

We are pleased to note that the report appears to have addressed most, if not all, of the issues which we raised with the Group and that it seems, among the several possible ways forward described, to include proposals which those unable to receive the ordination of women as bishops could in good conscience embrace.

But scorched-earth liberals such as Christina Rees of Women and the Church are not pleased. They want women bishops now and “with no legal arrangements for those who remain opposed to having women as bishops and priests.” Submit or leave is their policy towards traditionalists. How inclusive.

Fortunately – and unlike the Episcopal Church – such do not yet run the show in the Church of England.

Ubuntu Indaba!

That’s a cool sounding greeting, isn’t it? Or maybe it’s a creative expletive.

Of course, I have no idea what it really means. But I want to be trendy and multicultural like these crackers ++Rowan Williams and The Episcopal Church.

++Rowan Misses the Point.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has gone YouTube with his agenda for Lambeth.

He makes it clear that “we don't want at the Lambeth Conference to be creating a lot of new rules” like that nasty Lambeth 1998 Resolution 1.10. He instead wants lots of fellowship, prayer and Bible studies and the like.

And that completely misses the point.

Many Anglicans cannot and – if one gives scriptures about dealing with false teachers any weight – really should not be in full fellowship with the apostates and heretics among the bishops of the Anglican Communion. So how can Lambeth be a big kum-ba-ya?

Oh, that’s right – if one leads in such a manner that those most intent on following scripture on the issue of false teachers and fellowship won’t come.

Of course, that’s not ++Rowan’s intent. But it sure as heck has been the result of his leadership.

Pope Tells It Like It Is to American Mainliners

This hasn’t gotten a lot of publicity. But at the meeting that TEC Presiding “Bishop” Schori conveniently missed, Pope Benedict had some strong words that just have to have been aimed at the apostates mainline denomination leaders in the audience:

Fundamental Christian beliefs and practices are sometimes changed within communities by so-called "prophetic actions" that are based on a hermeneutic not always consonant with the datum of Scripture and Tradition. Communities consequently give up the attempt to act as a unified body, choosing instead to function according to the idea of "local options". Somewhere in this process the need for diachronic koinonia - communion with the Church in every age - is lost, just at the time when the world is losing its bearings and needs a persuasive common witness to the saving power of the Gospel (cf. Rom 1:18-23).

Wow. That is not only absolutely right; it’s about as “in your face” as you’ll ever see a modern pope get. Pope John Paul II’s trip to Nicaragua in 1983, in which he began lecturing Sandinista priests as soon as he got off the plane, is the only instance I can think of that exceeds what Benedict just did.

I like this pope.

Another Liberal Idiot Hiltz vs. Venables

Once again a liberal Primate is picking a fight with the Primate of the Southern Cone, Gregory Venables. This time it’s the Most Reverend Fred Hiltz of the Anglican Church of Canada. He’s written ++Venables objecting to his visit to churches who have left the ACC and joined the Province of the Southern Cone. And he’s released the letter publicly, of course.

He attacks ++Venables for being divisive, and in so doing breathtakingly overlooks that the ACC “bishop” of New Westminster has been a focus of division and has driven out the churches ++Venables is taking in and will visit.

Again, this is very similar to the letter from the TEC toadies bishops of Brazil. These liberals are like abusive parents that drive children out of the house then complain that a good family takes them in.

Ah, but --Hiltz says there’s no spiritual abuse in the Anglican Church of Canada. Nope, none at all. (Warning: I advise not drinking your coffee in front of your computer while reading the following.)

The Bishops believe that we have made adequate and appropriate provision for the pastoral care and Episcopal support of all members of the Anglican Church of Canada, including those who find themselves in conscientious disagreement with the view of their Bishop and Synod over matters of human sexuality.

Yes, I did have a good laugh this morning when I read that one.

Anyway, no formal reply from ++Gregory is out yet. But he has pointed out the obvious, that these Canadian churches aren’t part of the Anglican Church of Canada anymore. And that therefore he won’t call off the trip.

Nor should he.

Wow. --Schori is too busy to meet the Pope.

Like Chris Johnson, I’m amazed by this:

On a side-note, among the national Christian leaders invited to the cross-community prayer [with the Pope] was Katharine Jefferts Schori, the presiding bishop of the Episcopal church. Jefferts Schori declined the invite, citing a scheduling conflict; the US branch of Anglicanism will be represented by Bishop Mark Sisk of New York.

First, it is mildly disturbing that --Schori was invited. Surely the Vatican is aware of what a heretic and persecutor of the faithful she is.

But what is more amazing is that she declined to attend and cited a scheduling conflict in so doing. What, pray tell, does the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church do that is more important than meeting with the Pope? Suing the faithful? Approving strange liturgies? Meeting with David Booth Beers on how to better twist the canons? Promoting the UN Millennium Development Goals? Reviewing how many are leaving the Episcopal Church? What???

Palestrina’s Mass for Pentecost

I’ve slowly discovered that I’m quite a fan of the choral composer Palestrina. I didn’t know that a few months ago. But it seems every time I hear something of his, I love it.

The latest example is his Mass for Pentecost as sung by the Christ Church Cathedral Choir, Oxford in the 1990’s. It is excellent. Palestrina particularly knew how to use boys’ voices.

I have it as part of the five CD set European Choral Music 1525-1751 from Nimbus Records. I think it may be also be found as a separate CD here or as mp3 downloads here. But you may find the 5 CD set a better deal if you can find it. (Christ Church sells it in their shop.)

It is definitely nice to have as Pentecost approaches.

Special Coverage of Papal Visit to U. S.

The peripatetic papists at the Shrine of the Holy Whapping are covering Pope Benedict’s visit to the United States as only they can.

NO May House of Bishops Meeting

This missive begs for reading between the lines:

From: HOB
Date: April 16, 2008
Subject: Possible House of Bishops in Meeting

Dear Bishops,

After receiving a large number of responses to our poll regarding the need for a May meeting of the House, we can confirm from the results that there will not be a meeting in May.

For all who were in attendance at Camp Allen, it may be recalled that there was no clear sense from the House at that time that such a meeting would be necessary. This is the reason the poll was suggested.

We will indeed proceed as planned with the post-Lambeth meeting in September in Salt Lake City, and further details about the specific location and registration will be made available at the end of May or beginning of June.

Again, our thanks to all of you who responded to this poll.

CHUCK+
The Rev. Canon C. K. Robertson, PhD
Canon to the Presiding Bishop

Of course, we all know why --Schori wanted a special May HOB meeting – to depose +Duncan and +Schofield before Lambeth. Judging from Canon Robertson’s letter, the response of the bishops was speedy and overwhelming against such a meeting.

Perhaps many bishops are quietly losing their sympathy for Schori’s jihad against the orthodox? At the very least, it seems most don’t want to make any more special accommodations for it.

But I am reading between the lines. And maybe I am engaging in wishful thinking.

That an apparently large majority of the TEC bishops so quickly said “No” to at least this part of Schori’s jihad is interesting nonetheless.

Happy Birthday, Pope Benedict!

I just found out today is the Pope’s 81st birthday.

I hope I annoy liberals as much as he when I’m 81!

Tough Questions About Cardinal Law

As noted by Cranmer and Damian Thompson, Pope Benedict’s visit to the U. S. is an occasion for tough questions about Cardinal Law and his position in Rome.

When the appointment of Cardinal Law was made, I was not pleased. The harm he brought to the church (and not only the RC church, but the church as a whole) was such that I felt his appointment to St. Mary Major Basilica was highly inappropriate.

But to be fair, the appointment was made by John Paul II in his latter years, not by Benedict. And a closer look at the time revealed that Law was in effect “put on the shelf.”

Still, does Law not remain a Cardinal? Does his position not entail some prestige?

I’d prefer that he be “put on the shelf” in an unpleasant dungeon somewhere. But then I’m rather medieval about such things.

BREAKING: BDS OUTBREAK WARNING

Please keep a close eye on your liberal friends. With Pope Benedict meeting President Bush, there is sure to be virulent outbreaks of both strains of BDS, particularly the Bush strain.

Please do all you can to keep your liberal friends from seeing photos or videos of the two together. Perhaps this a good time to take them on that three day hike (away from the internet and television) they’ve been talking about. It’s better they hug some trees than have a conniption.

Evil in South Africa

I don’t know what’s more evil – the attacks of Mugabe and his thugs on the people of Zimbabwe who have the courage to oppose his tyranny, or Zimbabwe’s neighbors, who do nothing and even say, in the words of the President of South Africa, there is “no crisis in Zimbabwe.”

Tell that to those being tortured and killed by Mugabe’s thugs. Tell that to the starving who are having food withheld from them because they didn’t vote for Mugabe. The current leaders of South Africa called for the world to act against apartheid. But now that Mugabe is perpetrating crimes many times worse than apartheid, they hardly lift a finger.

I guess evil is only really evil if it's done by a White man.

I’m “bitter” so I did Morning Prayer today (or Obama lets his mask slip again).

Once again, Barack Obama has let his mask slip – this time in San Francisco – and revealed some of his contempt for Middle America and its values:

You go into these small towns in Pennsylvania and, like a lot of small towns in the Midwest, the jobs have been gone now for 25 years and nothing’s replaced them. And it’s not surprising, then, they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.

So if someone is religious and actually cares about the Constitution, including the Second Amendment, and thinks we should actually exercise some control over our borders, they are “bitter.” Uh, huh.

Combine that with his choice of church and pastor, the Rev. Wright, his wife not being proud of pre-Obama America et al, we have a pattern emerging – Obama is a lefty who thinks Middle America with its “bitter” traditional conservative values is not a nice place that needs “change” from a political messiah like himself.

Obama has a lame explanation of his comments, of course. And, of course, Hillary is trying to make political hay of this.

Among more cogent responses, Lisa Schiffren alertly notes:

It is striking that Obama makes clear that he believes that clinging to religion is no different than clinging to guns, (— we know his class of elitist Democrats has no respect for either the Second Amendment or deer-hunting —) racism, xenophobia, and anti-trade sentiment — as if they are all equivalent signs of lack of education and gullibility.

Or – to put it not as nicely – Obama’s bigotry is showing.

TEC Clones “Bishops” of Brazil Whine that ++Venables is a Real Bishop

Liberals must have no idea how silly they look. Take the “bishops” of the Episcopal Anglican Church of Brazil – please.

They drove the diocese of Recife out of their province, by among other things, deposing their orthodox bishop. But now they have the gall to complain that the Primate of the Southern Cone Gregory Venables takes them in and actually treats them as a archbishop should.

This is like an abusive parent driving a child out of the house, then complaining that a good family takes the child in. Oi!

Me? Rooting for San Francisco?

I never thought the day would come that I would root for the lefties of San Francisco. But today is that day.

The Olympic torch goes through San Francisco today.

I might have to watch it live and cheer the lefties on.

Maybe the Olympics are uniting people after all.

Google: Don’t Be Evil

Google has refused to run advertisements from a UK Christian anti-abortion group. Meanwhile, it accepts advertisements from abortion clinics and sites that attack Christianity.

I don’t have a problem with them being neutral and taking ads from just about anyone. But now they have thrown off neutrality and taken sides against Christians and for abortion.

One comment on the above link says it all: “They seem to have gotten over the ‘don’t be evil’ stuff.”

Mugabe Punishing Zimbabwe with Starvation

It is now clear that Robert Mugabe lost the election in Zimbabwe. This disturbing report raises the question of whether part of his response is to punish Zimbabwe with starvation. Not only is he engaging in his old tactics of driving farm owners off their land, his goons are intentionally destroying food production. There’s also this report:

In Masvingo province, starving pro-MDC villagers in Zaka West were forced to stand and watch while officials driving a government truck delivering maize made sure the only people who received it were accredited Zanu-PF supporters.

It certainly wouldn’t be the first time a Communist used starvation as a tool of governance.

Election workers are targets of Mugabe’s thugs as well. Two have been arrested for undercounting Mugabe’s vote. Yeah, right. Others have been brutally beaten. I guess they didn’t count correctly, either.

The Skating Franciscan!

A friend of mine works at God Tube. He recommended this video of a Franciscan skater:



Even in full habit, the guy can skate!

Shame on Gordon Brown

I’m beginning to wonder if one has to sign away his conscience before becoming a Labour Party Prime Minister. For I can’t see how anyone with a conscience can welcome the Olympic torch as Gordon Brown did while the host China stomps on the face of freedom in Tibet.

And freedom is getting trampled more than a little under Gulag UK, too. Apparently, wearing the wrong t-shirt is a thought crime against the state:

Yonten Ngama, a Tibet-born care home worker, was asked by police at Wembley to remove a T-shirt that declared: “China Stop the Killing.” Minutes before he was arrested, he said: “It is difficult to protest. China is powerful also in the UK.”

Indeed. Those who deny basic freedoms know no boundaries . . . and have no shame.

By the way, I must salute the protesters in London and Paris. They quite literally snuffed out efforts to ignore Tibet.

Sunday Times Report on Zimbabwe

The Sunday Times has a very interesting report on the situation on Zimbabwe. This, for one thing:

The Sunday Times has learnt the inside story of what happened last Sunday, the day after the poll. By Sunday afternoon the theoretically independent Zimbabwe Electoral Commission, the body under Justice George Chiurshe which is charged with conducting the elections, communicated its initial estimates of the result to the Zanu-PF politburo: Tsvangirai 58%, Robert Mugabe 27% and Makoni 15%. These estimates were based on too narrow an urban sample and were too favourable to Tsvangirai and his MDC, but the message was clear: Mugabe had lost. The politburo, particularly Mugabe himself, hit the roof.

According to an account sourced to a commission official, Mugabe then ordered it to declare him elected with 53%. He was angry at Makoni’s “treachery” and demanded that his vote be reduced to 5%.

This produced resistance from the commission and also from the army, police and intelligence chiefs.

The commission objected that manipulation of the results on such a huge scale would be too obvious, while the security chiefs were concerned that the country might become ungovernable if the popular will was so blatantly flouted.

At this stage Thabo Mbeki, South Africa’s president, took a hand. . . .

Then there’s this picture of the bizarre and awful economy Mugabe has brought about:

Every morning begins in the towns with huge queues outside banks and building societies, for nobody may withdraw more than Z$500m a day - about £6.

Harare is the only city where you can see large-denomination banknotes scattered on the pavement. So rapid has inflation become that all notes bear an expiry date after which they are invalid and the central bank adds another nought or two to the next set of notes. People just tear up invalid notes and throw them away.

When you speak to people in the queues you realise how beaten down they are. “I have three children, all hungry. I’ve sold everything in the house except a table and our beds,” said Margaret Zimondi, a secretary.

Please continue to pray for Zimbabwe.

Here We Go Again

Relations between the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio and orthodox parishes seem to be taking a sadly familiar turn.

The parishes thought matters were heading to an amicable separation. But then, all of a sudden, the diocese tosses aside past talks and efforts and comes after them. Which decision very understandably raises suspicions that 815 and Presiding Heretic Schori are behind the ugliness.

Hmm, where have we seen that before? Can you say, “Virginia”? I thought you could.

King’s College Choir U. S. Tour Begins Tomorrow

The Choir of King’s College Cambridge begins their U. S. tour tomorrow night in Dallas.

Guess where I’ll be. :)

When I visited King’s at the beginning of the Michaelmas Term this past Autumn, the choir sounded even better than in recent years. So it should be amazing!

Captain Benedict?!?

What happens when you combine fanatical Cartholicks with fanantical Trekies?

Well, you get this.

-------

Housekeeping: I expect to be a bit busy the remainder of the week. So don’t be either too alarmed or too thankful if I don’t post.