Bohemian Waxwings

Here's what we saw on an apple tree this morning!

Maine Caucus Sunday Feb 10: Northport and Belfast

An on the spot report from the Northport Town Caucus: there were 84 people, and 88 votes (4 absentee); 64 cast for Obama and 24 for Clinton. The proportional delegates are 3-1 for Obama at 72.7%. The space in the town hall could comfortably accommodate 30 people. My source tells me that at the outset, a lot of independent voters were registering as democrats.

Something mind blowing happened at the beginning. After the preliminary explanations and registering (which took longer since they ran out of forms so 40 more were xeroxed), and Clinton supporters coming in with badges and large posters which people were asking to have, the chair requested a quick show of hands to determine how to allocate the space, and out of 60 or so people, 7 hands were raised for Clinton. They he asked for a show of hands for Obama, and the whole room raised their hands!

Belfast reports a similar line of independents at the outset of the caucus registering as democrats. There were 371 people present for the caucus in Belfast which is more than double the number from 4 years ago. 70% went for Obama.

When you aren't around to do roof raking every time it snows, it can almost be fun.

And then there's the benefit of a lovely morning walk through the woods. Diamond, our shepherd, now minus the front leg due to osteo-sarcoma, nevertheless manages beautifully on 3 in the snow. For a 13-year old, she is magnificent and she has the best care in the world.

Composer of the Week is Osvaldo Golijov, born in 1960, brought up in Argentina, of Eastern European Jewish ancestry, living in Jerusalem and studying in the United States. It's good way for me to start an appreciation of his music.

An ad campaign from the Christian Congress for Traditional Values claiming that gay people aim to abolish the family has been banned by a watchdog group, the Advertising Standards Authority according to a report in the Guardian.

CCTV added that the potential for the ad to cause offence was "minimal" because the aim to redefine the concept of the family was "so widely and openly acknowledged" by the homosexual community.

It cited the 1971 Gay Liberation Front manifesto as an example supporting this position.

The ASA said that while it was legitimate that CCTV's ad represented the organisation's point of view.

It also ruled that the statement was "likely" to be understood to represent the view of whole gay community.

CCTV's website says:
The CCTV will act as a responsible pressure group lobbying for broad public support for its campaign aims and encouraging all 42-million citizens who registered themselves as Christians in the 2001 National Census, to join its cause. It will challenge by peaceful protest and demonstration, any media attempt to broadcast or publish material which is anti-Christian, or deliberately designed to ridicule traditional family values and lifestyles.

The CCTV believes in the tradition of British tolerance, in non-extreme but robust debate about traditional family values and is opposed to policies of censorship.

There is something of a pattern here. A press release says that

Complaints about a poster declaring “Miracles Healing Faith”, produced by a Brentwood church, have been rejected by the Advertising Standards Authority.

The poster has been on display across the country for several years until two complainants wrote recently to the ASA saying the words ’Miracles’ and ’Healing’ were misleading and irresponsible.

The leader of the church, Bishop Michael Reid, is delighted at the adjudication:

“The ASA acknowledges that most people in the UK are aware that Christians believe in miracles and healings. In every church in the land we pray that we believe in the power of God to do miracles and I’m delighted that in our church we see lots of people healed. What sort of country would it be if we couldn’t openly express our faith.

“I’m thrilled that common sense has prevailed. It’s amazing that the ASA even investigated two complaints since our poster, which they originally approved, has been exhibited from London to Scotland and across the UK for some years now.”

Bishop of Liverpool apologizes to Dr Jeffrey John

Here's a remarkable report by Riazat Butt in the Guardian.

One of the country's most senior bishops has argued that the Bible sanctions same-sex relationships, using the bonds between Jesus and John the disciple, and David and Jonathan as examples.
The Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Rev James Jones, a conservative evangelical, expressed the views in a book, A Fallible Church, in which he apologised for objecting to the appointment of the gay cleric Dr Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading. He was one of nine bishops to sign a public letter criticising the proposed consecration.

The essay clarifying his position is here. Its quite something, AND it puts some teeth into what the good Bishop says elsewhere.

Ash Wednesday after Super Tuesday is a headspin...but the idea of doing a carbon fast in Lent is provocative. Zoe Williams explains:-

You don't have to get rid of your car or pledge never to take another long-haul flight - just take it a bit at a time. Remove a lightbulb in an act of symbolism and also saving; don't use the dishwasher for a day; snub the plastic bag; pray for a developing world community whose climate has been ravaged by western excess. How effective that is depends on the depth of your faith, but you have to admit it doesn't use much carbon.


Others trace the broader implications:-
The Carbon Fast has been launched in association with the Christian global poverty charity Tearfund.


 The Bishop of Liverpool and vice president of Tearfund, James Jones, said: “It is the poor who are already suffering the effects of climate change. To carry on regardless of their plight is to fly in the face of Christian teaching.


 “The tragedy is that those with the power to do something about it are least affected, whilst those who are most affected are powerless to bring about change.


 “There’s a moral imperative on those of us who emit more than our fair share of carbon to rein in our consumption.”

Spent some time yesterday reading an excellent 47 page review by Scott G. Brown of Peter Jefferey's Yale U Press 2007 book, the secret gospel of mark unveiled (yes the title uses lower case).

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks

People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks is a novel I'm listening to now and finding it riveting!

On a walk today I saw F. Murray Abraham in the West Village. Of course, like a true New Yorker, I did not gawk. Sigh.

Speaking of actors, The Film Programme on BBC Radio 4 this week manages to interview Daniel Day Lewis about his role in There Will Be Blood. He speaks of the character he portrays, his fever to make money, his paranoia and his despair. He is intrigued by the illusion of understanding a life far from his own experience.

Friday Folly: When the President says Hallo to your boyfriend

From today's Boston Globe By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff

WASHINGTON -- It's a time-worn president's trick: walk up to a congressman chatting on the phone and send your regards to the astonished person on the other end of the line, charming the listener with your regular-guy credentials.

That's what President Bush did Monday night at the State of the Union address, when he approached Newton Democrat Barney Frank, who was talking on his cell phone in the House Speaker's lobby before Bush's speech.

What Bush didn't know was that the congressman was talking to his boyfriend.