Tuesday, November 01, 2016

There is little to report. The Kaffe Fassett socks progress well – I should reach the first heel today. And the half-brioche sweater plods steadily on. The current plan is to finish the front, upon which I am now engaged, before I think about adding the next project to the equation. I should be able to unpin the Uncia from the dining room floor today, and take some pictures for you tomorrow.

Non-knit

I did enjoy reading your comments yesterday about voting. I particularly like yours, Susan, about the smell of the old pole barn. My sister reminds me that the USofA is much more spread out than we are here, so it’s harder to get to a polling station. I suspect we probably have more polling stations per capita here, as well – I’ve never known queues. And they are always open until 10 p.m. My sister says that “early voting” is a cheaper way of getting more people to vote, than extending the opening hours. Which seems funny when an American general election costs such a mind-boggling amount of money.

I still have a sort of feeling that we all ought to do it together on the same day whenever possible, but I also like the sound of the diversity you report.

Cardinal O’Brien/Donald Trump

In the many years when O’Brien and I were in the relationship of bishop-to-parishioner (the cathedral is our parish church) I admired and respected him. I was sorry, and remain so, to see his career end because of anonymous accusers and nameless crimes. I am pretty sure that one result has been to make half the world assume that his crimes were a good deal worse than they were. He remains a Cardinal, and hasn’t been stripped of his honorary degrees from Edinburgh and St Andrews. 

I do have confidence in the present Pope as a just man. He must know a good deal more than I do, and must have decided that the present punishment is appropriate. But I thought this article from the Catholic Herald was rather good, too.


I don’t admire or respect Mr Trump, but I’m glad that the women who accuse him have come forward in their own names and have been detailed and explicit about what they are saying he did. 

5 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:04 AM

    Since election officials are volunteer non-paid positions and since the election equipment and venues are being used for even longer periods in this year's "pre-elections" I do not see where cost is a factor, especially since keeping it in one day would only add two or three extra hours to that one day, as opposed to the multiple days this pre-election voting is using up. Of course there may be other logistical reasons for this set-up, but I still don't like it. Also, there may be long distances between polling places in Wyoming but not in most urban areas. I can walk to my polling place in 10 minutes and drive to it in two.
    IF Cardinal O'Brien were guilty, he used his office to perpetrate these crimes, and I don't see how forgiveness would include reinstatement of this office as the Herald seems to be arguing. I think the Church's only expression of forgiveness would be reinstatement of permission to receive the Sacraments just as any other Catholic. Anything more is irrelevant in my opinion and an attempt to do so would be suspect of hierarchical favor and hypocrisy. Should the Coca-Cola Company reinstate its CFO after he served his jail time for being caught with his hand in the till? Whatever for? This is all contingent on actual guilt, of course. Anonymous accusations are highly suspect. And my sympathies are with the Cardinal if they are false.
    Other than that - so looking forward to pictures of your beautiful blocked Uncia! Chloe

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  2. Anonymous12:48 PM

    To respond to the previous about US election officials, they are not non-paid but very minimally paid (think: jury duty pay). At least in some jurisdictions.
    cheers,
    CKP

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  3. I used to earn $200 to $250 per election, which sounded like a lot when I thought about having extra spending money. The per/hour was awful, when you consider we had to be there at 5 am to set up, and didn't go home until after 8 pm!

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  4. Anonymous1:21 PM

    Those women who have come forward have been incredibly brave. They are the victims, and yet they have stepped up to tell intimate details of their life to the entire world, while confronting a powerful, vindictive man. Unimaginably difficult, unless you have been in the position of having been assaulted and then having to decide how to proceed.

    I have nothing but sympathy for victims who choose to remain in the shadows.

    Beverly in NJ

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  5. Anonymous11:14 PM

    As soon as I pressed Send it occurred to me that there might be a nominal fee for election officials but life got away from me and I didn't have a chance to research it right away so I'm sorry I delivered inaccurate information without an immediate retraction. I still do find it disturbing to spread out voting for such a wide timeframe but time will tell how wise (or not) that will be.
    Sorry again. Chloe

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