Regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline

Joe Pitts, the Congressional Representative from our Pennsylvania 16th District, writes a weekly column for the Lititz Record-Express, the paper that publishes my columns.  I usually don't pay much attention to his articles; reading them is hard on the blood pressure.  But last week he castigated President Obama for "bowing to political pressure" and refusing to okay the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline.  His column regurgitated all the Big Oil distortions and half-truths that we've been hearing of late.  I felt compelled to respond.  My letter to the editor, reproduced below, was printed in this week's issue (January 26, 2012).  I've included links for further reading.

And just to give out-of-state readers a sense of Pitts' general political leanings, here are ratings of his voting record from several organizations: Peace Action gave him 8% for 2009 and 13% for 2010.  The AAUW (American Association of University Women) awarded him 20% in the 110th Congress and 0% for the 111th Congress.  The ACLU gives him a lifetime score of 9%.  And the Human Rights Campaign has scored him at Zero for the 109th, 110th, and 111th Congresses.

Widening Embrace

For the past year I was deeply and joyfully involved in Widening Embrace, the newest music project from Carolyn McDade.  The year began with rehearsals and editing of the songs to be included on the CD.  It ended with ten launch concerts stretching literally coast to coast, with one in Vancouver, BC, and another in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.  Here’s a bit of the story of what I’ve been doing.

Our Widening Embrace on the wide, wide prairie of Saskatchewan

Epiphany

Epiphany – a manifestation, a showing forth, especially of the divine.  In the Christian church calendar, it is the name given to the period immediately following the Christmas season.  The Feast of the Epiphany, which falls on January 6^th, in the Western church commemorates the visit of the Wise Men from the East to the Christ child, an event understood to be the first revelation of his divinity to the Gentiles.  In the Eastern church there is a dual emphasis, with the primary focus on the revelation of Jesus’ divinity at his baptism.