The Madness of King Obama (and His Budget)

I can only scratch the surface with this post, but I am appalled at President Obama’s budget. Readers know my expectations for Obama were *Anglican understatement alert* not high. But his budget blueprint is worse than even I expected, far worse.

It is sheer madness. He blames Bush for the deficit he “inherited,” yet he wants to double it. Then he says he wants to cut the deficit in half, yet he proposes spending over $25,000 per taxpayer on items like doubling foreign aid and, yes, lots of earmarks Obama says he opposes. And if you think soaking the rich will pay for it, think again. One estimate: you would have to tax 100% of the income of everyone making over $75,000 to pay for Obama’s spending.

*another Anglican understatement alert* I don’t think we can afford that.

Speaking of taxes, Obama claims to be a Christian. Has he ever read, “You shall not muzzle the ox while he is threshing”? (Deut. 25:4; 1Cor. 9:9; 1 Tim. 5:18) Letting Bush’s tax cuts expire in 2010 isn’t enough for him. He’s in a big hurry to raise taxes on the eeeevil “rich”. And that includes sharply reducing itemized deductions for expenses and charitable contributions.

Does he think higher taxes will give incentive and capital to those we need to do the economic heavy lifting? It will discourage business risk and investment. It the risk taker loses, he loses. If he wins, . . . he loses to Obama’s high taxes. What sucker is going to play that game? Even oxen aren't that dumb. And what about churches and various charities, which do important work and are already hurting in this economy? Obama would put more hurt on them in order to shovel more money into his profligate spending.

It is sheer madness. I really thought Obama was smart enough to do no-brainer things like substantial infrastructure investment and backing off on taxes and leftist wish lists in order to help the economy. Instead, Obama is a walking economic disaster.

God have mercy on us.

Archbishop of Canterbury to Attend TEC GenCon ‘09

I don’t presume to know the significance, if any, but Dr. Rowan Williams plans to attend the General Convention of The Episcopal Church this summer.

Anglican “Church” of Canada: Jesus Was a Racist

A Lenten devotion published by the Anglican “Church” of Canada pretty much says Jesus was a sinful racist.

Further comment from me on the continuing apostasy of said “church” would be superfluous.

Hat tip to Holy Smoke.

First Things: George Weigel on the 2008 Election

In the excellent March ‘09 issue of First Things is a thoughtful article on the 2008 election by George Weigel. “A Campaign of Narratives” is one of the best summaries of the current political culture I’ve come across.

Now I do disagree with his attributing the ‘08 result to Bush Derangement Syndrome. To be sure, there was plenty of that going around along with the flu. But methinks the sudden downward spiral in the economy is what put Obama over. Remember that McCain was ahead, then the refuse hit the fan in September, and he fell and never recovered. And it is hard to conceive how the candidate of the party then in the White House could have recovered under such a circumstance.

But Weigel nails the political culture in a number of areas. Two areas stand out.

First, he notes well the “secular millenarianism,” even “chiliastic enthusiasm,” behind the adulation of Obama and finds it “deeply troubling” as do I. For the 20th Century shows us that “the passionate investment of inchoate utopian hopes in a political leader is almost always bad news.”

(By the way, that scary adoration of Obama and the dangerous impulses that accompany that are what I mock when I refer to him as “Dear Leader.” I don’t equate Obama with Kim Jong-il.)

Second, he indicts the “mainstream media” for its negligent bias. And the harm that bias inflicts on our political discourse continues. I found the following particularly damning.

But at no point . . . did the national media explain . . . the relation between the credit crunch and the housing policies of the Carter and Clinton administrations [such as pressuring banks to write uncreditworthy mortgages –ed.], or the cozy relations that had built up between current Democratic congressional leaders and the senior management of the about-to-crumble Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Were the partisan shoe on the other foot – such that, say, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner, rather than Chris Dodd and Barney Frank, were in the political-economic crosshairs – it is inconceivable that serious investigative reporting would not have ensued.

Absolutely right. And that news media omission is a dereliction of duty that continues even as those two charlatans among many constantly preen in front of the cameras and inflict further harm on our economy and nation.

Well, as you can tell, I could get a really good rant on. So I’ll exercise Lenten restraint here and end by commending the article and the March ‘09 issue of First Things to my good readers.

A Prayer for Ash Wednesday

I don’t know the occasion of the following prayer. But I find it very appropriate for Ash Wednesday. With thanks to Fr. Steel.

O my all-merciful God and Lord,
Jesus Christ, full of pity:
Through Your great love You came down
and became incarnate in order to save everyone.
O Savior, I ask You to save me by Your grace!
If You save anyone because of their works,
that would not be grace but only reward of duty,
but You are compassionate and full of mercy!

You said, O my Christ,
"Whoever believes in Me shall live and never die."
If then, faith in You saves the lost, then save me,
O my God and Creator, for I believe.
Let faith and not my unworthy works be counted to me, O my God,
for You will find no works which could account me righteous.

O Lord, from now on let me love You as intensely as I have loved sin,
and work for You as hard as I once worked for the evil one.
I promise that I will work to do Your will,
my Lord and God, Jesus Christ, all the days of my life and forever more.

Prayer of St. John Chrysostom

GUNS!

Sturm Ruger reported earnings overnight. In a word, sales are up . . . a lot. Glad I own the stock. I bought it not long after the election because I figured the Ascension of Our Dear Leader plus a bad economy would help gun sales.

This tidbit from the earnings report is especially interesting:

Firearm orders received grew from $156 million in 2007 to $234 million in 2008. The order backlog at December 31, 2008 was $48 million, up from $18 million at December 31, 2007. Nonetheless, shipments in 2009 will be limited to units produced in 2009 as finished goods inventory was depleted during the fourth quarter of 2008.

In other words, they are selling guns faster than they can make them.

A Lesson of St. Matthias Day and of Lent: No Phonies!

Today is both St. Matthias Day and Shrove Tuesday, the eve of Lent.

During private Morning Prayer, even I could not miss a big message of St. Matthias Day – No Phonies!

The first lesson (REC BCP) was 1 Samuel 2:27-35, in which the Lord condemns corrupt priests, namely the sons of Eli. The second lesson was Matthew 7:15-27 in which Jesus warns against false prophets and false professions of faith.

Then the Collect:
O ALMIGHTY God, who into the place of the traitor Judas didst choose thy faithful servant Matthias to be of the number of the twelve Apostles; Grant that thy Church, being alway preserved from false Apostles, may be ordered and guided by faithful and true pastors; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

It is indeed hard to miss this message of St. Matthias Day – No Phonies!

It so happens that is a message of Lent as well. I’ve been discussing evangelism with my youth Sunday School class. And in reviewing some of the history of the origins of Lent, I noted a stark contrast with the easy conversion policies of most churches today.

As many of my erudite readers know, Lent came out of the early church’s preparation of candidates for baptism. By the Third and Fourth Centuries, it is clear that the church took pains to ensure that adults to be baptized were the real deal. Practices varied at different places and different times. But catechumenates lasted as long as three years! In Jerusalem, Egeria reported that one had to be closely examined by the bishop simply to become a candidate for baptism at the beginning of Lent. Those who didn’t measure up were “told to go away” and get their act together before coming to the font.

Those accepted as candidates were then expected to attend frequent, even daily and lengthy, instruction during Lent and to fast. In at least some places, the fast included abstaining from the pleasure of the marriage bed and of bathing! And there were further frequent examinations as well.

I went through such history with my class to bring home the following -- in evangelism, we are not to manipulate people or to make conversion easy in order to add to our soul-winning tally list or membership rolls. And, yes, that goes against the grain of many modern church practices. The ancient church made more than a little effort to avoid phony conversions -- for the spiritual health of both the church and candidates.

One of my younger students, without prompting (I swear!), noted that such efforts to be sure converts are the real deal help avoid false priests and bishops.

Bright kid! It’s sad modern churches have not been that wise. Doing little to nothing to weed out phonies in initiation and in ordination has resulted in such absurdities as a Buddhist bishop and clergy not only lacking in faith but hostile to it.

One need only glance at modern church history to see it is not for nothing that the lessons of St. Matthias Day and of Lent include “No Phonies!”

Government Is Stopping Formation of New Banks

In this difficult economy when capital is tight, one would think the government would welcome the formation of new banks to provide more capital.

One would be wrong.

Over at RealMoney, a paid site that I can recommend to investors over at TheStreet.com, David Dvorchak posted the following:

I met a couple weeks ago with a good friend who has been in the process of starting a new bank over the last year. This is a community bank in Tennessee. Everything is ready to go-- investors lined up, senior staff, etc. Yet he is dead in the water, because the state hasn't awarded the charter yet. The state officials freely admit to him they don't have the time, because their staff is overloaded with the shutdowns they are processing.

His situation may or may not be widely prevalent, but it does illustrate an ironic problem. Much needed capital formation in the banking system is being blocked by bureaucratic sluggishness. Shutdowns must be processed, of course, but in this situation shouldn't new bank formations be the highest priority?

The answer, of course, is “YES!”

But later came this tidbit from Geoff Johnson:

Gary Dvorchak notes earlier today that the state of Tennessee is effectively blocking bank start ups due to lack of time to address their applications. Unfortunately, even if the entrepreneurs get past the Tennessee red tape, they are very likely to get blocked by Sheila Bair and the FDIC.

I've been sitting on a copy of the January 12 American Banker for weeks with a post half-tapped out on just this matter. In that issue is a front-page article noting how the FDIC officially has an unofficial policy of not approving new bank start ups for deposit insurance. Featured in the article was a group in Atlanta that spent $2M trying to launch their bank and already had approval by the Office of Thrift Supervision, but was shut down by the FDIC. I've been saving the article because I find it frustrating that the government is making a point of keeping fresh capital from entering the bank market.

So the powers that be that should be encouraging new banks and the capital they would provide are blocking their formation. Instead, taxpayers are forced to shovel out more capital into rat holes. Because Government knows best, after all.

More economic stupidity brilliancy in the Age of Obama.

Obama in “Perpetual Campaign”

You heard it here first. But I’m not the only one who has noticed that Obama is in “perpetual campaign.”

Obama, The Campaign is Over. You Won. SO GET TO WORK!

I see that the Great Leader is in Laredo today. He was in Denver the other day. Then Mesa, Arizona. Hell, I’m losing track.

Everyday, it seems, he’s in a new location making a campaign style speech. As if his glorious speeches will solve our problems.

There’s one problem. THE CAMPAIGN IS OVER. And, yes, Obama won already.

So I find this barnstorming around the nation inappropriate when there is real work to do, especially on the economy. The main reason the Stimulus is such a budget busting liberal wet dream that will hurt the economy more than help is that Obama just farmed it out to Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi. Now the banks and the markets threaten to go down the tubes in part because his Treasury Secretary is AWOL when adult leadership is needed. A financial site I frequent is beginning to play a version of “Where’s Waldo?” called “Where’s Geithner?”.

Obama, the campaign is over. You won. SO GET TO @#$% WORK!

-----

PARTIAL RETRACTION: It turns out I really can’t keep track of Obama’s perpetual campaigning! President Obama was not in Laredo today.

I think what happened is that I misheard this story on CNBC as having Obama speaking in Laredo.

I stand by the gist of my post, but apologize for the error.

ACNA Has More Anglicans Than Twelve Provinces in Anglican Communion.

Did you know that the Anglican Church in North America has more members than twelve provinces of the Anglican Communion?

I did not, until I read this:

On every Sunday morning, some 81,311 people worship at the 693 congregations of the Anglican Church in North America. These people and parishes are already outside of The Episcopal Church and The Anglican Church in Canada. The large majority are temporarily under the oversight of six separate Anglican provinces.

The Anglican Church in North America will unify the parishes and membership of a number of jurisdictions:

• The Anglican Mission in the Americas (Rwanda) reports an average Sunday attendance of 21,600 in 180 congregations (40 of which are churches in formation called “networks”).

• The Convocation of Anglicans in North America (Nigeria) has 69 congregations with an average Sunday attendance of 9,828.

• The Reformed Episcopal Church has 150 parishes and an average Sunday attendance of 13,000.

• There are 51 parishes under the temporary oversight of Uganda with an average Sunday attendance of 7,000.

• There are 55 parishes in The United States under the temporary oversight of the provinces of Kenya and the Southern Cone with an average Sunday attendance of 10,000.

• Four entire dioceses separating from The Episcopal Church, with a combined 163 parishes and an average Sunday attendance of 16,483 (The Episcopal Church congregations and members having been excluded from this count) are temporarily dioceses of the province of the Southern Cone.

• The Anglican Network in Canada (Southern Cone) is composed of 24 congregations with an average Sunday attendance of 3,400.

• One congregation is under the temporary oversight of West Africa.

Based on a firm Sunday attendance average of 81,311 people, it is reasonable to very conservatively project that more than 100,000 Anglicans in North America are active members of a congregation of the proposed province (In many cases, total membership often runs at two to three times average Sunday attendance. For instance, The Episcopal Church reports an average Sunday attendance of 768,476 in 2007 and an active baptized membership of 2,116,749.)

While each individual group is small, as a united body, the Anglican Church in North America stretches from one end of North America to the other and has as many or more (in some cases, significantly more) members than 12 of the Anglican Communion’s 38 provinces (Bangladesh, Brazil, Hong Kong Sheng Kung Hui, Indian Ocean, Japan, Jerusalem & Middle East, Korea, Mexico, Myanmar, Scotland, Southern Cone, Wales)

Gulag UK: Spy Cams Required in Pubs, But You Face 10 Years in Jail for Taking Pics of Police

I am not exaggerating.

I don’t call Britain under Labour Gulag UK for nothing.

Hat tip to Moonbattery.

Report: Obama Picks Late Term Abortion Supporter to Lead Health and Human Services

The word is that President Obama has selected Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius to lead Health and Human Services.

It is really hard to describe this selection while avoiding Godwin’s Law. As mentioned here before, she is a notorious supporter of abortion, even of late term abortionist George Tiller.

For all his campaign posturing and dancing around the issue, this is yet one more indication that Obama is all in when it comes to killing the unborn . . . during all nine months of pregnancy.

If this is indeed Obama’s selection, this is like selecting a KKK Grand Wizard to lead the Civil Rights Commission. It is an outrage that calls for protest.

Pope Puts Pelosi in Her Place

I am gratified to see that, in a private audience, Pope Benedict let Nancy Pelosi know in no uncertain terms that her pro-abortion policies are not acceptable. From a Vatican statement:

Following the General Audience the Holy Father briefly greeted Mrs Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, together with her entourage.

His Holiness took the opportunity to speak of the requirements of the natural moral law and the Church’s consistent teaching on the dignity of human life from conception to natural death which enjoin all Catholics, and especially legislators, jurists and those responsible for the common good of society, to work in cooperation with all men and women of good will in creating a just system of laws capable of protecting human life at all stages of its development.

More on this story with lots of links may be found at Hot Air and The Anchoress.

++Cormac Bans Archbishop from Saying Latin Mass at Westminster Cathedral

This news floors me. I knew Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor was no fan of the Latin Mass. But banning Archbishop Burke, a close ally of Pope Benedict and a likely future cardinal, from saying the traditional mass at Westminster Cathedral? That seems gratuitously hostile and incredibly stupid. Why such a willful alienation of traditionalists and of perhaps the Pope himself?

I just don’t get it. If I’m missing something, my readers are most welcome to enlighten me.

By the way, Cardinal George Pell, a “formidable” no-nonsense traditionalist (of whom I’ve long been a fan), will be celebrating Latin Vespers and giving a lecture in Oxford on March 5th and 6th. That now has become that much more interesting.

I’m tempted to go.

Judd Gregg, Obama, and the Census

Kudos to Judd Gregg for withdrawing his name from being considered for Secretary of Commerce.

I want to focus on one reason for his withdrawal because it is important to our democracy and won’t be going away. In his statement, Senator Gregg said, “I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me.”

The “Mainstream” Media hasn’t paid much attention, but the Obama Administration is seeking greater control over the Census. And you don’t have to be as paranoid as me to suspect they will do for the Census what Democrats have done for election after election – they will rig it.

And that really is just another form of election rigging as the Census, among other things, determines how much representation each state gets in Congress.

In fact, they have pretty much admitted they will attempt to rig the Census:

Under the new management structure, the director of the Census Bureau will report to “White House senior management” as well as to the Commerce secretary, where President Obama wants to install a Republican -- Sen. Judd Gregg -- who in the past has clashed with Democrats on issues related to the Census.

The Obama White House says the decision is based on the model used by the Clinton administration . . .

The run-up to the 2000 Census featured a pitched battle over whether to rely on the actual count of individuals, or statistical modeling that could produce more accurate results.

Democrats tended to favor the latter mechanism, since hard-to-reach people -- particularly minorities and recent immigrants -- are more likely to live in Democratic areas of the country. (The bureau eventually decided that only the actual count would be used in 2000.)

Obama spokesman Ben LaBolt downplayed the impact of the structural changes. He said President Bill Clinton had a similar flowchart in place, and pointed out that the director of the Census Bureau will still report to the Commerce Secretary.

In other words, the Obama Adminstration will try to rig the 2010 census just like Clinton tried (and failed thankfully) to rig the 2000 census – by counting phantom people in liberal urban areas.

Again, this is election-rigging writ large.

You will hear from me again on this.

Wilders Turned Away at Heathrow, Calls Out “Cowards” UPDATED

As promised, Dutch MP Geert Wilders did indeed make things interesting. He flew to Heathrow where he was immediately detained and sent on the next plane back to the Netherlands.

Before he left, he called out Gordon Brown and his Labour cabal as “the biggest bunch of cowards in Europe.” He is right on target. The Labour government had a choice between appeasing Muslims and upholding freedom. And they chose appeasement.

Hat tip to Cranmer.

UPDATE: Here is the speech Wilders would have given if he had made it through Customs.

For the record, there is much in it with which I disagree.

Damning – AAC’s Report on The Episcopal Church

Accompanied by a cover letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury, The Primate of Nigeria, Peter Akinola, has released a report by the American Anglican Council on the enormities of the Episcopal Church.

The report is detailed and damning. Here is a complete PDF of it. I commend it to all readers, especially those who are only recently becoming acquainted with the apostasy of the Episcopal Church.

Double Standard

I think it fair to say right-wing extremism is not a huge problem in the Church of England. Yet its General Synod, backed by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, has voted to ban clergy from joining the BNP. That even though one estimate has the number of CofE clergy in the BNP at a grand total of . . . one.

I would suspect *Anglican understatement alert* slightly more CofE clergy are involved in left-wing politics. Are there any bans or restrictions on them? Hmmmm?

UK Labour Dhimmis Ban Geert Wilders from Entry

This is disgraceful and spineless.

It appears under the UK Labour government, appeasing Muslims is more important than freedom. An elected member of the Dutch Parliament invited to the House of Lords is banned from the country while the most vile sort of Islamofascists run riot with calls to behead opponents of Islam and the like.

I now think I perhaps should apologize to my forbearing readers for calling Britain under the Labour Party “Gulag UK.” For it seems “Caliph UK” might be more appropriate.

But, unlike UK Dhimmis, Mr. Wilders has a backbone. So he may make matters interesting:

Mr Wilders responded to the decision in fighting mood, telling Dutch media that he still intended to travel to London:“I’ll see what happens at the border. Let them put me in handcuffs.”

“Change”: Lies and Class Warfare

During last night’s press conference, Barack Obama lifted our hopes with his soaring oratory. . . . Not really. Actually he engaged in tired old liberal Democrat tactics – lies and class warfare. But did the sycophantic press hold him accountable for that? Of course, not.

But I will.

First the lie, and it is a whopper:

As I said, the one concern I’ve got on the stimulus package, in terms of the debate and listening to some of what’s been said in Congress is that there seems to be a set of folks who — I don’t doubt their sincerity — who just believe that we should do nothing. Now, if that’s their opening position or their closing position in negotiations, then we’re probably not going to make much progress, because I don’t think that’s economically sound and I don’t think what — that’s what the American people expect, is for us to stand by and do nothing.

That’s a line Obama has been using lately, that his opponents want to “do nothing.” The thing is, unless he has imaginary opponents like children have imaginary friends, it’s a big lie. I’ve followed the stimulus debate closely, and I can’t remember anyone suggesting we do nothing. And Republicans in Congress have offered alternative stimulus plans. Obama is either deluded here, or, more likely, he is choosing to tell a big lie again and again.

Then there’s the class warfare rhetoric. In the midst of saying “working” and “middle class” as many times as he can, he throws in this tired line:

But as we've learned very clearly and conclusively over the last eight years, tax cuts alone can't solve all of our economic problems -- especially tax cuts that are targeted to the wealthiest few Americans.

That’s a tired old demagogic bogey man. Agree with them or not (I very much agree with them.), the Bush tax cuts were across the board.

What Obama advocates is targeting success in a negative way, that if your income is above a certain level, you not only should pay more taxes (which is most certainly the case even under the Bush tax cuts), but an even greater percentage of your income in taxes. You should pay, say, 40% rather than 28%. Obama and his allies are the ones really targeting “the rich”. But in Obama’s world, if one disagrees with him and thinks success shouldn’t be punished with higher tax percentage rates, you’re favoring the eeeeevil rich, “the wealthiest few Americans.” For in Obama’s class warfare tax math, punishing success = “fairness”.

So Obama is playing by the old Demagogue Democrat Party playbook of class warfare and big lies.

Some “change”.


MORE: Here’s a more detailed (and admittedly less heated) critique of Obama’s deceptive and divisive rhetoric. But the conclusion is similar – Obama’s attacks on straw men last night is the same old same old.

Obama Fatigue?

First, I should say that as much as I oppose his policies, I’m not tired of seeing Obama on my TV screen . . . yet.

And that’s saying something. I am one who always turned the TV to mute as soon as Bill Clinton’s lying face appeared. I could not endure the man. But I’m not near that point with Obama. I find him interesting whereas Bill was so predictably and unbearably smarmy.

But I have noticed that just about every day Obama makes a point of getting in front of the TV cameras for some big announcement or big speech. I know modern presidents tend to be very much out there, but still. I wonder if it is part of some messiah complex that he feels he must make a pronouncement every day.

And tonight, he is having a prime time press conference the networks are expected to carry. A prime time press conference. I suspect that is overkill already. And I can’t help but wonder out loud if he is already in danger of giving Americans Obama Fatigue.

Even the Obama-worshipping networks aren’t thrilled about tonight, by the way.

ACNA Likely to be Recognized in Anglican Communion?

She gives very few details but Ruth Gledhill remarks, “What has surprised me most are the strong signals I'm receiving that the new Anglican Church in North America is likely to be given some kind of recognition, perhaps as an extra-provincial entity.”

If so, this would go a long way to explain why key orthodox primates were so positive about what was outwardly a rather nondescript Primates Meeting.

We shall see in due time. I still don’t expect anything at least until after the ACNA gets the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed this summer (and until the Episcopal Church's General Convention '09 further alienates most of the Anglican Communion). And, to be honest, it is not reasonable to expect recognition before then.

Hat tip to MCJ.

Bipartisanship. Yeah. UPDATED

More bipartisanship in getting the “stimulus” package crammed down your throats passed:

GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions and Democrat Sen. Ben Nelson attempted several times to bring their bipartisan amendment to the floor last week. SA 239 would require local governments and businesses that receive porkulus money to use the federal E-Verify citizenship check system. . . .

But Democrat Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid refused to allow it to come to the floor. Now, we’re headed for cloture.

“While it is difficult to believe that Senate leaders might insist that illegal aliens have the same chance at new stimulus jobs as unemployed Americans, this scenario may now be at hand,” says Roy Beck of Numbers USA. “SA 239 is now unlikely to receive a floor vote.”

This is a strange slap in the face of Sen. Ben Nelson. My understanding is he played an important role in bringing over enough cowards liberal Republicans to get the “stimulus” package passed. Some thanks he’s getting. This is also very much against the spirit of the Senate where senators have traditionally been giving a lot of freedom in making amendments.

But those of you who voted for Obama in part because you hoped for a more nonpartisan or bipartisan Washington, sorry -- you’ve been punked . . . again.


UPDATE: The fight for the citizenship verification amendment is not over just yet.

Harry Reid might be about to learn the hard way that the United States Senate is no one-party dictatorship.

Primates Meeting Ends *Yawn*

Well, the Primates meeting has concluded with a communiqué, of course. Some conservative primates seem positive about it all. But my response is more in line with what Sarah Hey posted earlier this week:

It is essentially a useless meeting. Someone or other somewhere pointed out some days ago that the Primates Meetings have proved useless -- they can purport to "decide" all sorts of things but nobody ever does anything about it. The ACC was always talking into the wind anyway, and that hasn't changed. The Lambeth Meeting became a simple publicity device designed to pretend that everybody was "together" and "unified" even while 1/3 of the bishops of the Anglican Communion didn't bother to attend.

So . . . Rowan Williams wins.

Not the Archbishop of Canterbury, mind you. But simply, Rowan.

He alone has any power thanks to his non-exercise of the office when it came to enforcement of any of the other instruments' decisions and his exercise of the office when it came to enforcement of any of his decisions.

In other words, Rowan is going to play his passive-aggressive game of doing whatever he wants to do to back the apostates and undercut the orthodox no matter what happens at the Primates Meeting.

In short, *yawn*.

I could comment on what a sorry document the Windsor Continuation Report is, with its thinly veiled blaming of GAFCON –

Anxieties have been expressed about the purpose, timing and outcomes of the Gafcon; there is some perplexity about the establishment of the Gafcon Primates Council and of the Fellowship of Confessing Christians (FOCA) which, with withdrawal from participation at the Lambeth Conference, has further damaged trust.

and its bold calls for more “dialogue” and “listening.”

At least the report acknowledges the obvious in places –

Much has been undertaken in the Communion through and in response to the Windsor Process, but as a Communion, we appear to remain at an impasse. There is inconsistency between what has been agreed, and what has, in the end, actually been done.

But if I were the Bishop of West Texas (who hosted and was part of the Windsor Continuation Group), I would be embarrassed to be associated with this. The Windsor Continuation Group is well named though, I have to admit. For it just continues the same old same old in the Anglican Communion.

Beyond saying that, I really can’t be bothered. I got more important things to . . . do . . .

:gazes out window:

Obama Administration Knew About Daschle’s Tax Violations

According to a Washington Post report, the Obama Administration knew about Daschle’s tax violations, but chose to nominate him for the cabinet anyway.

One helpful reader has asked if Mr. Obama knows any honest people. In light of this, that good question has become even better. It is now clear that Obama is willfully nominating and appointing unethical people.

Why? Why has he chosen to appoint such sorry corrupt people? Is he just a corrupt Chicago political hack dressed in Messianic clothing?

Obama Appoints Another Election Fraud Crook UPDATED

Why does Barack Obama love election fraud crooks? He’s long been ACORN’s sugar daddy. He nominated Tom Daschle, whose Indian reservation fraud put Tim Johnson over in the 2002 Senate election. Thankfully, that sleaze has gone down in flames.

Now Obama has appointed Ron Sims to the #2 position at HUD. It turns out that Sims has been heavily fined for illegal record withholding in his role as King County (That’s the Seattle, Washington area.) Executive.

And guess what is among the records he’s been hiding?

Sharkansky eventually discovered what Sims and King County wanted to keep hidden: they counted ineligible ballots during the recount to give Christine Gregoire the necessary margin of victory over Dino Rossi for governor.

So Sims is a perpetrator in at least the cover-up in that fraudulent 2004 election if not guilty of the fraud itself.

Again, why does Obama so fawn over election fraud crooks?


MORE: At my first go, I missed the irony that The One who has so peddled “transparency” has appointed such a violator of public records laws.

I’m glad to say others have not missed the irony.

Primates Meeting: Get Ready for More Indabas! UPDATED

News from the Primates Meeting so far isn’t exactly encouraging.

For one thing, those of you who were hoping that a Covenant would help resolve the Anglican Communion’s issues, I hate to break this to you. But it looks like you are being played for suckers. For it now appears even less likely that the Covenant will have any teeth.

There has been a “pulling back from the language of sanctions and teeth” in the crafting of the Anglican Covenant, the Primate of Australia told reporters at the Primates' Meeting in Alexandria on Feb 2.

The Most Rev. Philip Aspinall said that whereas earlier drafts of the covenant envisioned sanctions for violations, disciplinary mechanisms were not likely to make it into the final draft.

“Hitting people over the head with sticks” was not what the Anglican Communion wanted to do to provinces that violated the Covenant, Archbishop Aspinall said. Instead, the covenant—designed to set the parameters of Anglican life and worship—is evolving into a document about “koinonia…fellowship…of communion” between churches, and would not be a sanctions-based legal code, he explained.

In other words, when heretics give the finger to the faith and to the orthodox majority (for now) of the Anglican Communion, the solution will be . . . MORE INDABAS! YEAAAA!


UPDATE: Was Aspinall’s analysis wishful thinking on his part? Ephraim Radner thinks so and has taken him to task on it.

Obama to Meet With Communist Pig Chavez?

There is a report out that is even more upsetting than the Super Bowl result. This is not yet confirmed, but apparently Obama will meet “face-to-face” with Hugo Chavez in April.

To give such legitimacy to that Communist thug right as he is seeking to change the Venezuelan constitution to allow him to become president-for-life would be inexcusable.

But then it wouldn’t shock me to see Obama’s brownshirts eventually push to abolish presidential term limits in the U. S., too.

Primates Meeting Begins – The Official Photo

The Primates Meeting has begun. If any important business has yet occurred, it is behind the scenes so far.

But Baby Blue has a sharp eye concerning the official photo:

At the last Primates Meeting in Tanzania, Rowan Williams was not able to get a photo of all the primates together before the meeting ended - primarily because a good number of the Anglican primates are in impaired communion with the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church.

We noted that this year the Archbishop of Canterbury is not hedging his bets and got his picture first thing - before Katharine Jefferts Schori arrives.


(By the way, I’ve looked, without success, for a larger version of the official photo. If anybody finds one, feel free to let me know.)