Badfinger

Two songs from Badfinger. They did have nice hair ;) ...

Robots

So much in the news is disturbing .... the growing probability of a fourth surge of COVID, the trial of George Floyd's killer, or Lindsey Graham's post-apocalyptic road warrior fantasy.

I'd rather think about robots (just don't bring up Skynet ;).

Fr. Martin SJ

Looking at YouTube for advice on how to replace window glazing putty, I was sucked down the video rabbit hole and eventually came uppn a recent CBS news clip about gay priests in the Catholic church, with Fr. James Martin SJ featured.

When asked how many priests in the church are gay, Fr. Martin said, "I'm guessing. Maybe 40%. Who knows. If it was 40% I wouldn't be surprised. If it was 80% I wouldn't be surprised".

I mention this because of the pope's recent comment on LGBT people, and because I think the fact that there is such a high rate of gay priests in the church has an effect on a lot of issues, from the church's stance on marriage equality for gay people, to the clerical sex abuse crisis.

My solution would be to open up the priesthood to both men and women, straight and gay, married and not, like other Christian denominations. In orderr to do that, though, the church would have to change its teachings on women and on gay people.

This won't happen. It will never happen. The Catholic church has built its power on its ownership of the Truth. There's not the humility necessary to own up to fallibility.

Palm Sunday

Of all the Palm Sunday scenes from Jesus movies, the one that touches me the most is this one from Martin Scorsese's The Last Temptation of Christ . I didn't like the movie as a whole much, but that scene just seems to get closer to what it might have been like as Jesus and the disciples walked into Jerusalem -- the anxious disciples having no real idea of what that whole Jesus enterprise was about, and Jesus barely holding it together with a smile when Peter asks him if there will be angels there to meet them ...

More murders

Another mass shooting, less than a week after the last one.

I would be happy if the US was like the UK or Japan, where the average person can't own most firearms. It creeps me out that there are states in the US where people can "open carry" weapons, some without even a permit. Think white nationalist militia members toting their long guns around, intimidating others while vainly trying to compensate for what must be crushing levels of inadequacy.

Nihilistic Republican politicians, acting as if the 2nd amendment was handed down to us by God himnself, all the while caring only that the NRA doesn't put out mean ads about them when they run for re-elecrion. They didn't care about little kids being gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School and they won't care about these latest Colorado victims either.

But now we have a Democratic president and a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate, and the option of getting rid of the filibuster. I hope the Democrats use this opportunity to seriously neuter gun rights.

Home

I heard just the end, the chorus, of this song the other day at the store and it stuck in my head. I hadn't heard it before, although it's fairly famous I guess (from American Idol, 2012), so I tried to look it up by asking Google search about songs that have "ooh ooh ooh" in the refrain. Who knew there were dozens of similar questions and answers. I finally found it from the ones given. It seems like a good song for these times.

Murders

Hate crimes against Asian Americans are rising, and especially against Asian women. The young white man who has killed 8 people in Georgia, 7 of them women and 6 of them Asian women, well, according to police he was "having a really bad day". So we shouldn't be surprised that he "just had to kill a lot of people"? Reminds me of a Margaret Atwood quote - Men are afraid that women will laugh at them. Women are afraid that men will kill them.

Trump, with his own violence against women and his incitement of hatred against Asians, shares the blame with this multiple murderer.

Just don't

Heard Tom Petty performing Don't Do Me Like That the other day on the Muzak at Whole Foods :)

Pope Francis ...

For those who are always going on about how liberal and progressive and enlightened Pope Francis is ....

Vatican Says Catholic Church Cannot Bless Same-Sex Marriages

The Roman Catholic Church cannot bless same-sex marriages, no matter how stable or positive the couples' relationships are, the Vatican said on Monday. The message, approved by Pope Francis, came in response to questions about whether the church should reflect the increasing social and legal acceptance of same-sex unions ...

For those who will say that this is just the CDF, that Franncis himself is ok with marriage equality ... nope.

From the time he was an archbishop, before he became pope, up until the present (see his encyclical), Francis has himself maintained that the marriage of gay people is the work of the devil and against God's plan.

For those who say Francis really would like to approve marriage equality but he can't because Christianity stands against it ... again, nope.

Many Christian denominations affirm the worth of gay people and of marriage equality: the Episcopal church, Lutherans, Presbyterians, Quakers, UCC, Unitarians, Methodists, etc. Pope Francis and the Catholic church have made the choice not to. They have made the decision to poop on gay people for basically all eternity.

Why? One reason, I think, is that it's very hard for a church whose leader is supposedly infallible, to change its mind, very hard to admit a mistake if it has told people it's the only source of Truth. And then there's that pesky priest shortage that's alleviated by self-hated gay Catholic men - The Gay Church: Thousands of priests are closeted, and the Vatican’s failure to reckon with their sexuality has created a crisis for Catholicism

What's it like instead in a church that accepts everyone, like the present Episcopal church? You can have a bishop, a gay mattied bishop (Gene Robinson), actually discuss the subject in a town hall ...

The Lizard

They're off to see the lizard ;)

Another pathetic Republican politician has scurried down to Mar-a-lago to kiss his master's rear end ....

Not long ago it was Kevin McCarthy who made the pilgrimage ...

All I can think of when I see these photos is that Trump's Vegas-inspired rip-off of Versailles is even more pathetic than the politicians flocking to worship him there.

Hate crimes

There's been a rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans, caused by the blatent hate-filled rhetoric of Trump ...



There has always been discrimination against Asians in the US. I saw some of that up close and personal when I was married to a Japanese American. But during Trump's presidency, we had the highest official in the land actually promoting that hatred. He still is - Trump did his "Chinese virus" schtik at the recent CPAC to the appreciative howls of his supporters.

One year

It's been one year since the WHO declared COVID a pandemic.

One year ago I was getting reconstructive surgery for my face after skin cancer. I can remember waiting in line at the hospital to check in, no one yet wearing a mask. A lady in line coughed a few times and then said to everyone, "Don't worry, it's just allergies". We all laughed.

From there we went to waiting in line at the grocery store at the crack of dawn, hoping to find elusive toilet paper (which I didn't find until March 21). We learned to wear masks, though we didn't know what kind was best. My sister started working from home. And I began watching all the medical experts on the news to try to learn as much as I could about the virus. Thank you Vin Gupta, Michael Osterholm, Irwin Redlener, and Laurie Garrett. Because we couldn't trust what was coming out of Trump's Coronavirus Task Force.

And during this time, more than half a million people died of the virus.

Now I've been lucky enough to get the vaccine, and it seems most people will have that same opportunity in the coming months. Doesn't mean we're home free. There may be more surges of the virsu, the mutations of the virus may beat the effacacy of the vaccine, and no vaccine is 100% effective anyway. And we may well be doomed by the worst of human nature that makes people ignore the science. But at least now we have a competent and compassionate president and administration to help us with the problem.

Harry & Meghan

I haven't seen the actual interview by Oprah of Harry and Meghan, but I've seen the clips, like this one ...



And I see that the Queen has commented on the interview, sort of non-commitally.

I should state that I'm not a fan of monarchy and I don't follow the royals at all, though it's hard to escape mention of them if you watch/read the news.

The British monarchy seems especially icky ... we fought a war to get away from them, after all ;) It seems obscene that a family can command the kneeling obedience and worship of a populace soley because they are the descendants of some medieval warlord. This royal family has a number of creeps in the contemporary ranks, like Jeffrey Epstein's buddy, Prince Andrew. And it's not surprising there would be some racism in the monarchy of a colonizing empire on which the sun could never set.

Having said that, I can't understand how Harry and Meghan didn't see this bad situation coming. Even John Oliver warned them, right before the wedding, saying ...

I would not blame her [Meghan] if she pulled out of this at the last minute. I don't think you need to have just seen the pilot episode of The Crown to get a basic sense that she might be marrying into a family that could cause her some emotional complications .... They're an emotionally stunted group of fundamentally flawed people doing a very silly pseudo job. That's what she's marrying into. So I hope she likes it. It's going to be weird for her. I would not marry into the royal family. I'm a commoner. I would not be welcomed, especially after what I've just said.



Yes, Harry and Meghan have a toxic extended family. But I find it hard to feel too sorry for them. They are young, healthy, happily married with children, living in Santa Barbara. And they are ridiculously wealthy ... Harry's personal finances in 2020 were estimated to be £30 million ($41,643,000).

The Comey Rule

My latest DVD checkout from the library was The Comey Rule ...

an American political drama television miniseries, based on the book A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership by former FBI director James Comey. The miniseries stars Jeff Daniels as Comey and Brendan Gleeson as President Donald Trump. The two-part miniseries was aired from September 27 to September 28, 2020 on Showtime.



I had already read the book some time ago and I often see some of the people portrayed in the miniseries on the news (like Andy McCabe and Peter Strzok), so it was pretty interesting. Brendan Gleeson did a disturbingly good job in portraying Trump ... ugh!

And Jeff Daniels was really good as well. He has the power to always make me forget he's just an actor when he's in his roles. The first movie I remember seeing him in is Arachnophobia in 1990 ...



And the most recent was The Looming Tower in 2018 ....



If you're interested in recent politics, you might like this miniseries.

Spring

It was a beautiful spring day here. The plum trees are blooming ...

Most of the cats were hanging out too. Here they are in alphabetical order ...

Gretel ...

And Hansel, who is Gretel's sister ...

Lucy, who is giving Timmy the evil eye ...

Misty ...

And Mouse, who is Misty's baby ...

Olive ...

Snowy ...

Timmy (the terrible) ...

And Vicky ...

Cuomo

There is a difference between Democrats and Republicans - Democrats at least know they *should* care about sexual harrassment. Republicans don't care and don't even try to pretend they do.

So what to do about Cuomo? I think he should either make a full sincere apology and admit he was wrong, or he should leave. I see that he is now taking questions on this during his COVID briefing. I've got to say, if you are a man and ask a woman who works for you about her sex life, that is creepy and unnacceptable, and you should already know that. Same for if you kiss them.

I'm old now, but I can still remember being a young woman at work and school and having men old enough to be my father come on to me. It was gross!

Wray testifies

FBI Director Christopher Wray testified before Congress today about the January 6 Capitol riot. Wray, a Republican appointed by Trump adter he fired James Comey, said ...

1) The attack on the Capitol was domestic terrorism.

2) There was no evidence that antifa or people disguised as Trump supporters took part in the riot.

3) The perpetrators of the attack were right-wing militia members and white supremacy group members.

4) The most numerous and violently lethal domestic terrorism threats now in the US are from white supremacy groups.

5) There was no widespread voter fraud in the last presidential election.

What Wray testified to shows that the excuses that Trump and the Republicans in Congress are pushing ... that anifa or left-wing agitators were responsible for the riot, and that white supremacy group members are "very fine people" .... are self-serving lies.

The FBI is hindered in its fight against these groups by the fact that while domestic terrorism is defined in the law, there are no laws *against* it on the books (How the Federal Government Investigates and Prosecutes Domestic Terrorism).

The question is whether a Congress, some of whom (Republicans) count their base of voters from these violent groups, will stand up and change the law. I wouldn't hold my breath.

Help!

Old Beatles song in my head today ...



It's from the Help! album, which came out in 1965, when I was 13 :). The movie was actually very cringe-worthy in it's depiction of another religion and culture, but I do still like some of the songs. It's not just me, according to Wikipedia, In 2012, it was ranked 331st on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the "500 Greatest Albums of All Time".

Here are a few of the songs from the album/movie ...

I Need You ~ The Beatles (HELP '65) from BleedBNG on Vimeo.

You're Going To Lose That Girl ~ The Beatles (HELP '65) from BleedBNG on Vimeo.