Angels

I am not going to be creative today. Someone already has. My friend Homer noted that some are calling for banning gay marriage because it isn't mentioned in the Bible. So he posted this:

Things not mentioned in the bible that aren't banned. Vanilla, parsnips, Austria, Pepto-Bismol, Lil Kim, movies, Gilligan's Island, keyboards, Ipods, gall bladders, Puff, Joey, Mama Cat, saguaro cacti, Sheryl Crow, Mormon magic underpants, Saturn, post-nasal drip, gorillas, celiac disease, the Jesuit Order, Tucson, flypaper, maple syrup, Patti LaBelle singing Moulin Rouge, armadillos, kangeroo meat, Michelle Obama, Lost, AM radio, testicular cancer, double penetration, ice skating, jumbo jets, the internet, California, pizza, gas stoves, tractors, Orangina, Eastenders, kitty litter, cotton candy, candy thermometers, suspension bridges, scuba gear, Jake Dakota, Daniel Zueras, hematomas, Secret deodorant, plasma tvs, North America, actresses portraying Anne Boleyn, blood type AB+, mohawks, Mike Huckabee, and my blog.

But gay marriage must be banned because it isn't mentioned in the bible.

Makes perfect f***ing sense to me.

OK. I have a couple of questions. In the Bible, angels are said to be "genderless". But they are often referred to as male, like in Genesis or like Gabriel. But at Christmas time, every angel you see is female.

There is a story behind these angels (actually part of a pair). I bought them years ago, used them once on the mantel. Put them away with the Christmas decor. Every year since I have searched for them, opening every box and looking in every trunk in the attic and the basement, and could not find them. I mean, they are like two or three feet tall, hard to miss.

This year, there they were, in a box of Christmas stuff that we use every year.

There's ghosts in this house I tell ya. Strange things happen.

But if biblical angels are referred to as male, why do we not see angels depicted like this?

Or this?

Who wouldn't want angels like these "myspace angels" watching over?

Three Things of Significance

Three things of great significance happened Saturday. Other things happened that are important as well. Barack Obama named a cabinet member. Joe Biden got a dog. Auburn named a coach. But these three things hit close to home, not in order of importance.

1. I graduated from UAB.
2. We had our Christmas Party.
3. My neighbor’s house burned to the ground.

1. I earned a Masters degree in Public Health, with an A in every course. I’m not trying to brag, but that is the best set of grades of all three of my degrees. What does the future hold? We will see.

2. We served up a bunch of Cajun food and desserts and raised several hundred dollars in gifts and money for two needy families. The final tally is not in, as we are still collecting donations through Monday, December 15.

3. This house was known throughout Bessemer as one of the premier historical homes. Known as the G. H. Stevenson House in the South Bessemer Inventory, the home belonged to Glenn Shadix who moved back to Bessemer about a year ago. Saturday it burned. Glenn thankfully was not in the house when the fire started, and is physically OK. The cause has not been determined.

Here is a picture of the fire in progress.

Here is what remains.

Here are some pictures taken after the fire. From indoors...you are not supposed to see the sky.
Still smoldering Sunday...the BFD returned.
The Bessemer Historical Homeowners Association members have you in our thoughts and prayers, Glenn.

Bessemer mourns the loss of this beautiful home and for Glenn, of the loss of so much of his personal belongings.

Help the Foundry

The fire in Bessemer destroyed a warehouse where The Foundry stores items destined for their SuperThrift Outlet.

Bill Heintz wrote on his blog that "We are thankful to be a part of such a compassionate and generous community." I agree.

But The Foundry could use your help now. If you want to help, go here to donate.

Newsweek Makes the Case

Well, finally a mainstream publication gets it right on same sex marriage and the Bible and has the ba…, gumption to print it. Newsweek article.

Newsweek created a firestorm however. I heard about this the other day on local AM talk radio. I am sure the hosts (Dominick Brascia and friends) had not read the article, they just automatically condemned the magazine, the author and anyone else associated with it.

Anyway, please do not comment on this unless you read the article.

Also on Newsweek is their Readback, where the response to the article is presented.

The main argument presented against the article and against same sex marriage is that it is wrong because...it is wrong. Nothing factual, nothing to refute the argument that the author makes. In fact, like Dominick, I suspect the comments were made by people who had not even read the article. I know people like this, I wrote a long letter once to a dear friend explaining my beliefs about sexuality and the Bible, and she wrote back that she began reading the letter but stopped after realizing the position I was taking (before she actually read what I was really saying).

American hearts are being changed since the passage of California’s Prop 8. I’m almost glad it passed, now, because it brought the debate into the streets and into the living rooms across the country. More people are learning about the hardship gay couples have in hospital visitation, estate matters, child rearing and more.

Now we have an article in one of the three major news magazines. The passage of Prop 8 sped up the recognition of same sex marriage in America, no doubt.

There still will be a fight, but it just got easier.

Fire in Bessemer

When I left home tonight to go to the Public Building Authority meeting the air smelled funny. Something was burning.

It was a building at Fourth Avenue and 2oth Street, the building housing Gibson Sheet Metal. It was hard to tell where the fire started, it could have been in the building in the center of the block that The Foundry uses for storage. At the other end of the block is a building I think owned by the development board, and it was empty, I am told.

Here are a couple of pictures, taken with my phone.

Lots of water going on this fire. Two streams (help me Wayne, what's the right terminology?) from the ladder truck, one from the back of a truck, and one from the ground.

UAB Employee Sending Hate Mail?

Be careful who you hate. Or at least, how you hate.

A UAB employee used UAB email to send "hate speech" against gays to Join the Impact calling gays "freaks" and a "scourge of the earth", and "responsible for everything wrong in this sorry world."

Everything? So gays are responsible for the terrorist attack in India? Gays are responsible for a confused woman putting a baby in a duffel bag and leaving it abandoned on a street? Gays are responsible for a narcissistic governor attempting to sell a senate seat?

How about recognizing that gays are responsible for some of the good in our world? For instance, Alan Turing , the British mathematician who cracked the code of the German navy during WWII and is considered by some the founder of computer science. Gay. There are plenty of others.

Jonathan Quinn of Central Alabama Pride points out that taxpayer dollars are paying for the sender's email account.

ABC 33/40 Video

Sure, people can have whatever beliefs they want, and we do believe in free speech, but using your business email to spread your feelings is a no-no.

Here are some pictures of Christmas.

A Christmas Cactus

A Peppermint Fountain

A Prancing Reindeer

Fresh From the Oven

Bessemer Responders Earning Their Keep

Be sure to read my Western Tribune column from this week's paper. It's about education. It's posted just below this.

There is just too much "stuff" going on in Bessemer. Police and emergency workers are staying busy.

A murder on Granville Avenue Saturday morning. Johnathan Devon Woods was killed. A man has been charged with this murder. Police say it was a "domestic" situation but details were not released.

Walter Moore is missing. His car was found at Cedar Hill Cemetery with a window blown out and blood in the car. Police are treating it as a murder. Moore's mother, Ruby Moore, says her other children are getting anonymous calls saying Walter's body is in a creek nearby.

Kimberly Davis apparently ran off the road Monday night and into a swollen creek and drowned. Actually the cause of death was not listed, I just assume she drowned. This is not the first person to die along Morgan road in this manner. Shouldn't there be guard rails or something?

A live baby was found in a duffel bag. At least this one has a happy ending, but really, this is both bad and good news. The baby, a boy less than a month old, is alive and doing well. Powell Dabbs found the bag and baby across the street from his home near Grace Lutheran Church in Bessemer. Dabbs is a grandfather, and you can tell he comes from a different era. He was reluctant to touch the baby, "I didn't even handle my babies when they were little," he said. These days, dads are as much caregivers as moms. Well, except for breast feeding. Anyway, we are thankful that Mr. Dabbs had some mail to take to the mailbox yesterday.

What will be the news of today in Bessemer?