Oh Yes He Did: Bush’s Nostalgia for 9/11

President Bush delivered a speech at an international gathering in Peru earlier today, and waxed nostalgic about those warm and wonderful days immediately after 9/11, when the entire world was on our side and was ready to stand with us against a common threat.

Excuse me, I need to get rid of a load of bile now. Because this same brush-clearing faux cowboy diplomat worked reeeeal hard to screw up our reputation world wide, totally squandering the goodwill that we had gained, and also totally squandering our short-lived sense of national unity. Thousands of lives were lost before the war due to the Bush Administration’s near-criminal lack of interest in Bin Laden, who was indeed “poised to strike within U.S.” and did. And thousands of American lives have been lost, and untold numbers of Iraqi lives too, because this man bungled the first responsibility of the Presidency; he failed miserably at the job of keeping the country safe and secure.

Diplomatic Memo – President Looks Back in Goodbye From Peru – NYTimes.com

Mr. Bush engaged in an unusually sentimental look back over his presidency in a speech here on Saturday morning, beginning with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks: “I remember the flag flying from every fire truck in Montreal, Canada. I remember children kneeling in silent prayer outside our embassy in Seoul. I remember baseball players in Japan observing moments of silence.” He continued: “The bonds of unity we felt then remain today, and they will always remain.”

The untold sentiment: he’s also longing for the days when he actually enjoyed a nearly 90% approval rating. I can’t believe he said this, but he did.

Schismatics Again: Why Wheaton? Why Not Quincy or PA?

It seemed like things had been starting to move on the “Episcopal split” front, what with dioceses like Quincy, Ft Worth, and Pittsburgh shaking the icky liberal dust from their sandals. It seems like such a terrible waste of everybody’s time and talents. But then, I forget: homosexxxuls are teh evul! They do not deserve to live, let along marry! The Devil is constantly going about tempting people to decorate with pink flamingo accent pieces and sing show tunes!

Anglican Primate ‘Disturbed’ by New Rival Body| Christianpost.com

Nevertheless, breakaway Anglicans have expressed little hope that the current church bodies in North America would get back in line with orthodox Christianity and Anglican tradition. The Common Cause Partnership plans to unveil their draft constitution and affirm their stance at an evening worship celebration on Dec. 3 in Wheaton, Ill.

Why is it these angry Anglicanists – there, I coined it myself – always seem to have their renewal whoop-de-dos in the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago? Why not in a venue they still claim as theirs in “friendly” territory: Quincy, Ft Worth, Pittsburgh, or San Joaquin?

Why? Because there’s money and support from well-funded Evangelical bodies in the Wheaton area? How long are the Anglo-Catholics going to put up with the Evangelicals, and vice versa? High Church and Low Church don’t really see eye-to-eye on a number of matters, and there are often hints that the highest-profile leaders are jockeying for position. Also, there’s definitely an aspect of “in your face, Chicago” because our previous Bishop, William, voted to sustain Bp. Gene Robinson’s election. Methinks that conflict and drama are essential to their plans, too – no conflict means no publicity, and no publicity means people lose interest as the movement appears to become less viable.

I ran into some old friends, who left the old Holy Moly a few years ago, while my husband David and I were at REI today. It’s always a bit uncomfortable when I see them, because they left pretty much because the vicar was too much Teh Gay when preaching and speaking. I don’t know if they found another church home; we’re friendly when we see each other, but I’m not comfortable enough to ask them flat out. A number of other former parishioners didn’t come along to the new church after the closure and merger, and I now seem them only at the occasional funeral. They probably feel that we left them, or we made it seem it was “our way or the highway.”

It’s a difficult thing. The Bible does condemn various kinds of homosexual behavior, but Jesus Himself was silent on the subject, choosing instead to condemn (heterosexual) adultery and the uncaring rich. Meanwhile, He hung out with tax collectors and other riffraff. Who are we to exclude any group by name, when He didn’t?

More discussion, and plenty of accusatory “you liberal Episcopalians aren’t really Christian” commentary here.