Savonrola is no doubt getting all excited over this one

The Sunlit Uplands, whom my esteemed blogging colleague Waldo has so cleverly nick-named Savonrola, will no doubt have his fancy tickled by this:

England's famed Canterbury Cathedral Choir, one of the oldest choruses in the world, will visit the U.S. for the first time in 10 years. Its nine-city tour was organized primarily to raise money for critical and costly restoration work. The cathedral structure has deteriorated dramatically due to years of benign neglect, and it requires repairs to its walls, towers, roof, organ and historic stained-glass windows, say organizers.

The goal is to raise the equivalent of $90 million over 10 years, according to Capers Cross, organist and choirmaster at St. Philip's Episcopal Church. Cross is responsible for securing the choir's visit to Charleston.

"If American churches don't step up to the plate, I don't know where they're going to get the money," he said.

The Canterbury Cathedral Choir is led by David Flood and consists of 12 professional adult male singers and 30 boy choristers ages 8-13 who attend St. Edmund's School in Canterbury. Young choir members receive a scholarship toward their education and boarding at the Choir House on cathedral grounds. The choir sings at services six days a week and at special events, performing music from the 13th century to the present.

Premium seats for the 3 p.m. April 19 concert cost $75, which includes an invitation to a reception following the event. Other tickets are $25 and $10 (restricted view). Tickets can be purchased at www.dioceseofsc.org or at the St. Luke & St. Paul office. Call 722-7345.

The Group will be in town for the Charleston International Choir Festival. What'll really get Savonrola moist is the fact that they'll be performing in a Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina Church - a diocese who's previous and current Bishop have share no love loss for the national Episcopal Church and Conference and who have been making overtures towards the GAFCON and Southern Cone folks.

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Diocese to ordain new Bishop, faithful to watch online

The Bishop's Official Portrait from the Diocesan Website

From the Diocese of Charleston:

Bishop-designate Robert E. Guglielmone will be consecrated a bishop by His Eminence, Edward Cardinal Egan, Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of New York, with His Excellency, Most Reverend William F. Murphy, Bishop of Rockville Centre, New York, and His Excellency, Most Reverend Robert J. Baker, Bishop of Birmingham, Alabama, as co-consecrators. His Excellency, Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, will concelebrate the Mass of Ordination. The ordination and installation will take place at 2 p.m. March 25 at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, located at 120 Broad Street. The ceremony at the Cathedral is invitation-only because of limited seating capacity. Bishop-designate Guglielmone invites everyone to gather together and witness it on the Internet from the Diocese of Charleston's Web site, www.catholic-doc.org. Mediatrix radio will air the ordination live on WQIZ AM 810 in St. George and AM 1300 WCKI in Greer. The audio also will be streamed live at: www.catholicradiosc.com.

What's curious is the choice of location. Obviously the Cathedral is the physical site of the Bishop's Cathedra, but to be ordained in another setting would not be unusual. The last sacerdotal ordination was held at the Columbia Metro Convention Center.

If I'm not mistaken the last Ordinary, Bishop Baker, was ordained, not in the Cathedral but in the North Charleston Coliseum so that more of the faithful could not only witness, but participate in so joyous occasion.

Oh well, I'll be sure to tune in with the rest of the Charleston laity tomorrow at 2. I wonder if Apostolic Blessings travel through the airwaves?

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Mattie Mae's Stuffed Peppers

It's time once more for cooking with Mattie Mae - where you utilize ingredients you have available, but perhaps don't have the proportionate amount necessary to follow a recipe, or are missing items.

In our kitchen - that's ok, because it let's you be gastronomically creative in instances you might have other wise just played it safe.

On the menu tonight was stuffed peppers. Normally most recipes call for you to have certain types of sausage smoked or spiced sausage and at least four medium sized bell peppers as well as rice, etc etc.

We only had 1 1/2 bell peppers. One red, the half green. First things first with the red pepper cut the top off and remove the seeded center. Get all of the seeds out and make the interior wall as hollowed out as possible. Set the top you cut off aside for use later.

With the green pepper I actually had a little bit more than half so I simply pared away the excess (and set aside for later use).

Set your 'pepper bowls' aside.

Get about a fourth of an onion and coarsely chop it. Also coarsely chop the pepper remainders (though remove the stem!). Putt the veggies in a small chopper to get a finer smaller chop.

In a medium pan I warmed up about a table spoon of olive oil and added to it a teaspoon of minced roasted garlic. Add in about a quarter cup of sausage. In this case I used a mild savory sage pork sausage from Publix. It was tubed sausage so it was loose and not in a casing like other sausages.

I browned the sausage for about three minutes. Then I added the chopped veggies, and here's the first kicker - instead of adding rice I used yellow stone ground grits. Now I suppose one could say - shouldn't you have cooked the grits first, even in grit casseroles you cook the grits first. Yeah, I suppose but all the recipes for stuffed peppers I've looked at in preparation didn't mention cooking the rice first (although maybe it's implied?). Any who you put in about 1/2 cup of grits in with the veggies and sausage. Also add about a table spoon more of olive oil. And for good measure add about 4 or five grape tomatoes that have been halved.

Let that saute for about 4 minutes.

While that's sauteing make sure you have a baking pan or dish. Put the bell peppers in the dish and add water to the bottom of the pan to cover the bottom of the pan. Get your cheeses. This is the second kicker. I used two different cheese mixtures for each bell pepper, and I didn't use any bread crumbs. For my peppers I had a Romano Parmesan mixture, goat cheese, and a South Carolina original Pimento Cheese (with Jalapenos), called Palmetto Cheese, that I had purchased from Publix.

*As a side note, other than Mom's homemade, and the kind you get from DiPrato's here in Columbia - there is no other Pimento Cheese that I'll eat! Free plug for my Mom, DiPrato's and Palmetto Cheese!

Remove the sausage mixture from the heat. Spoon the mixture into the peppers till they're heaped on pretty good. You should use all of the mixture.

Depending on your preference the next step is easy, you top with the cheese mixture of choice until the pepper seems to be bursting. In this case on the red pepper I topped it with the Romano Parmesan blended cheese and Goat Cheese.

On the green pepper I put the pimento cheese.

Bake it in the oven at 400 for 30 minutes. The last 3 or 4 minutes the peppers should be broiled.

The taste delicious, the smell aromatic and slightly sweet. The grits will have the pleasant texture of couscous and the savory taste of the sage and smoky hint of garlic mixes well with the sweetness of the onions peppers and tomatoes. The cheese, well the cheese not only adds its own twists but helps bond the flavors together.

This will be one dish you'll want over and over again.

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QOTD: Block that Metaphor!

The folks at the New Yorker would groan with this lede,

MOUNT PLEASANT — Five poker players challenging South Carolina's anti-gambling laws lost their first round Thursday when a judge declared them guilty.

But as most poker players know, you can lose the first pot and still stick around for the long haul, meaning an appeal is likely.

- Post & Courier, 2/20/09

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SC S.689 'A bill to ban access to the pernicious facebook'

Well, they can't ban facebook, perhaps they'll encourage everyone to withdraw their children from public schools... oh wait they're already doing that. Oh well perhaps it's time to abandon the cradle of civilization for the upcountry. I hear Kevin Bryant will take refugees in his Anderson County Trailer Park.

South Carolina has elected its very first OPENLY GAY public official.

I know >>>>gasp<<<< clutch those pearls honey!

And he did it by campaigning via Facebook. His margin of victory? 22 votes -- out of 22 persons casting votes. He won a seat on the Charleston County School Board.

Read his own analysis of the election at Bilerico.

H/t Waldo for letting us know!

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POTD: A huge disservice...

This is perhaps the worst picture of Senate Majority leader Glenn McConnell I've ever seen. Does anyone else think he looks like a preening sissy? And that hair, I seriously doubt that's his natural color, if it's his natural hair!

Senator - just because you come from a long line of Low Country Planters doesn't mean you have to maintain the gentrified dandy look. Aren't you an avid Civil War enthusiast? Embrace your natural hair color (and hairline) and remember: when the camera gets ready to snap it's better to laugh and have another picture taken than trying to hold it in.

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SC should embrace the Suck

While nearly 70 protesters gathered at the State House today to protest South Carolina becoming the Putrefaction State, leaders in Berkeley County are looking beyond just making cash for trash and are planning on turning their garbage and waste into a different kind of green.

From the P&C:

MONCKS CORNER — Berkeley County officials are drawing up an ambitious plan to turn the smelly gas and rotting garbage in the county's giant landfill off U.S. Highway 52 into power and money.

The project has many puzzle pieces, but if they fit together, officials said their plan could extend the life of the landfill for decades, reduce the dump's noxious odors, generate enough electricity to power homes in a small city and earn or save the county hundreds of thousands of dollars a year.

Colin Martin, executive director of Berkeley County Water and Sanitation, said the goal is to take five different wastes — methane, sewage sludge, waste water, food and yard waste and wood debris — and turn them into power. All of this would happen at the landfill.

Other municipalities are converting one or two of these to power, but Martin said no one in the country has done so many in one place. "It just makes sense to do them all together," he said. "I believe when we're done, we'll be managing waste better than any county in South Carolina, and that we'll raise the bar nationally."

Monday night, County Council unanimously voted to take the first step toward this trash-to-cash vision and sign a memorandum of agreementwith Green Energy Partners, a company in Greenville that specializes in alternative energy systems. Green Energy Partners would help the county build and pay for the project and share in any profits.

Martin said it could cost up to $125 million, though that's a rough estimate. He said the county and Green Energy Partners are still hammering out a funding plan, and he hoped the proposed federal economic stimulus program might be one source of money.

Do read the rest of the article to see the specific details of exactly how they plan to go about greening the county.

Embrace the Suck South Carolina. Raise the rates if you like, but utilize the stuff available waste and turn it into green gold. Produce electricity save money on your electric bills, or export the stuff to other states. Create clean burning natural gas to convert more buses and vehicles as a part of a sustainable mix to use in conjunction with our drive for a hydrogen and hi- tech economy.

I really should plot the different locations for methane exchange facilities in South Carolina and those that are planned along with the other green projects.

I wonder if the folks at the State House even notice?

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SC Senate GOP Harumphs the closing of Gitmo

The Republican Senate Caucus at the State House is trying to pass a resolution asking President Obama to not place detainees in South Carolina. Sen. Cromer who initiated the measure said today:

“Closing the detention center at Guantanamo Bay is the wrong move for our country, it is better to have enemy combatants housed outside of the continental United States,” says Senator Cromer. “We have been very blessed over the last seven years, in that we have not had another terrorist attack in our country, but moving current detainees into the United States is just inviting trouble. And, I am certainly opposed to using the Charleston Naval Base as an alternative location. I hope Washington will hear this message. We must proceed with extreme caution, when it comes to this matter of national security.”

With that kind of silly logic it's no wonder two planes were flown into the WTC - the terrorist were only trying to spring Ramzi Yousef from jail. SC legislators are falling into a lazy line of rhetoric. To quote TPM:

Most of the Republicans' "not in my backyard" talking points rely on ginning up fear that housing detainees in U.S. prisons would make the facilities into magnets for terrorist attacks from outside. GOP rhetoric on the issue also suggests that the most dangerous of Guantanamo's current occupants, estimated to number between 50 and 60, would pose a significant escape risk if housed in the U.S. -- although little to no data has been offered to support that claim.

The bill will most likely pass and while it's symbolic for them and within their GOP cocoon, it won't make a damn. And as I see it, it shouldn't. I can't help but wonder if there's a subtext here to Cromer's plea. Already we're seeing that the ultimate fear once one accepts that the base is closing is that these detainees will obtain - wait for it - rights. Already a republican congressman is screaming in hypothetical that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed could become a citizen with detainee tranfers from Gitmo. I can see the image this creates in deepest reddest South Carolina as the cogs creekily crank yet produce nothing worthwile.

Lindsay swoons. Mark Stammers, the GOP congressional members jump behind the couch as Henry Brown has a heart attack. Jim DeMint, well it's Jim DeMint and there's nothing scarier than Jim DeMint - even compared to Jihadiis. And the Senate GOP Caucus is left with nothing to do but Harumph.

To prove how ridiculous such a fear is we don't have to get literary and quote the dialogue between St. Thomas More and Roper from a Man for all Seasons just to illustrate why applying the law of this land is important - although I will:

Lady Alice: "Arrest him!"

Sir Thomas: "For what?"

Lady Alice: "He's dangerous!"

Roper: "For all we know he's a spy!"

Daughter Margaret: "Father, that man is bad!"

Sir Thomas: "There's no law against that!"

Roper: "But there is, God's law!"

Sir Thomas: "Then let God arrest him!"

Lady Alice: "While you talk he's gone!"

Sir Thomas: "And go he should, if he were the Devil himself, until he broke the law!"

Roper: "So, now you give the Devil the benefit of law!"

Sir Thomas: "Yes! What would you do? Cut a great road through the law to get after the Devil?"

Roper: "Why, yes! I'd cut down every law in England to do that!"

Sir Thomas: "Oh? And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned 'round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast, Man's laws, not God's! And if you cut them down--and you're just the man to do it, Roper!--do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then?"
"Yes, I'd give the Devil the benefit of law, for my own safety's sake!"

But even if you can't pick up on logic about the necessity for maintaining the law and obedience to the law (or don't want to) then consider this from Jeff Leiber, on the application of said law of this land on terrorists. From his diary titled The Addled Squirrel Rule of Conservative Thought at Daily Kos,

The first photo is, of course, of Timothy McVeigh, who killed 168 people in the deadliest act of terrorism within the United States PRIOR to the September 11. Mr. McVeigh... with full access to all that inconvenient legal crap... was tried, convicted and, on June 11th 2001, executed.

If that doesn't TERRIFY YOU FOR THE SAFETY OF AMERICA (and maybe you need an example of someone more FOREIGN SOUNDING) we then move to Ramzi Ahmed Yousef who was one of the planners of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Mr. Yousef made it OUT of the United States before being captured in Pakistan (hey, this is getting WARMER isn't it) and flown back, where he was, shockingly, TRIED AND CONVICTED (without having to stack a single deck) and is now serving time at Supermax prison in Florence, Colorado.

Finally, in the category of personalized horrific acts NOT HAPPENING ON A FICTIONAL TV SHOW (a 24 reference), we have the disturbing and deeply disturbed... Jeffrey Dahmer.

I won't go into the awful, horrible details beyond saying that he raced right on past "beheading" to "ingesting" and yet, again, a court of twelve Americans was able to try and convict him (and in a side-note that is sure to make YOU, if not ME, thrilled, he was murdered in prison).

Three cases... all adjudicated in an American court with the American system set up by the founding fathers of America in the likely probability that bad shit happens.

So that's why I was questioning what happened to all the Republican talk about Patriotism and the moral superiority and global commitment etc etc and what not that we've heard from the Republican party for the past eight years which has now melted away into Nimby Pimby Pussitude.

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Speaking of Episcopal Elections

Saturday morning I tweeted about the See of Charleston getting a new Pastor, but unfortunately because of computer problems couldn't actually blog then about it. But as my friend Gashwin tweeted: Sedes Carolopolitani habet episcopum. (Propter amicos Carolopolitano felicissimus sum!)

Whispers has the appointment day statement from Bishop-elect Robert Guglielmone, and links to this video:

We welcome our new Ordinary and share in his joy at his appointment. Thanks to as well to the other well wishers including "my friend Earl" who is a "cousin" that belongs to an eparchy that overlaps our diocese (Catholicism isn't very good at streamlining).

The ordination and installation ritual and ceremony will take place on March 25, feast of the Annunciation, at St. John the Baptist Cathedral on East Broad Street in Charleston. Any takers on going and participating/observing? Earl are you going to represent your Melkite flock?

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On South Carolina and Refuse

It's becoming ever more apparent with each passing day that South Carolina doesn't mind being the nations land fill and will find a way to profit from it. From Nuclear to household waste the Palmetto State is quickly becoming the Putrefaction State. But in doing so again we're utilizing one of the three R's and making it profitable.

This week I read in SC Biz Mag that:

Southeastern Petroleum has announced it will invest $30 million in Chester County to build a new manufacturing facility and create 24 new jobs. Southeastern Petroleum recycles used motor oil into base oils that are then used in the production of lubricants. The company expects to produce up to 10 million gallons annually from the Chester County facility, according to a statement.

And speaking of recycling refuse and making money off of it... Guantanamo Bay is slated to be closed within a year. I find it outrageous that our Republican (Republican = Jesus Wrapped in an American Flag with a Rifle, a pack of Marlboros standing atop a moose in front of his hummer = the epitome of patriotism) leadership would not consider bringing the terrorist goons to Charleston's Navel Brig.

But it's not just our leaders, across the country Republican Politicians with huge military prison installations are saying not in our back yard despite the opinions of their less than sheepish constituents. From the Kansas City Star:

An informal survey Thursday on the streets of Leavenworth found reactions ranging from confidence that the Army would continue to keep the community safe, to concerns that the city would be visited by new dangers and its name become synonymous with terrorist incarceration.
“The question that comes to my mind is how secure it will be,” said Timothy Swan, the owner of Alpha Geek Computers in downtown Leavenworth.
Anita Maynard, owner of the Queen’s Pantry shop, feared the transfer of prisoners might too strongly reinforce Leavenworth’s image as simply a prison town at the expense of its other attributes — such as being home to a college for mid-career Army officers.
Dianne Hawkins, a homemaker married to a soldier, said she had confidence that if the detainees came, the Army could keep things safe.
But that security question was key for Brendan Sheehan, who runs a bicycle shop in Leavenworth. If he were assured that the town would stay safe, Sheehan said he could imagine an economic boon.
“That’s that many more workers here in town,” he said. “That could mean more customers.”

And Charleston has held highly sensitive terrorists before. As one reader of Andrew Sullivan's blog said of Charleston:

I lived in Charleston: the Military Brig in Charleston, South Carolina is in the town of North Charleston, SC, where the mayor drives around town with police/military scanner, heavily armed looking for crime to stop (I'm not joking). Nevermind that the Charleston airport abuts the Charleston Air Force base (home of Military airlift
command) and could be secured fairly quickly. In order for a detainee to make it from the military brig to the airport, he would have to cross swampland unprepared. The area surrounding the Charleston area is cypress swamp (that goes for miles around the city) full of gators, wild hogs and poisonous snakes and the residential areas are full of people armed to the teeth (with a hair trigger, a state rep got into some hot water for getting drunk and shooting at some power line workers he thought were thieves, he wasn't charged). Keeping them there might be a good idea. They've kept Padilla and others at that Charleston brig for years with no complaint.

I don't get it, if you're big enough and man enough to spend 10 billion dollars a month and sacrifice the lives of more than 4000 American Servicemembers and believe that our Military and our Country is the best the God has ever created: why be a big sloppy, flappy - well you get the picture - about this. Shouldn't the military, which we so implicitly trust and owe our freedom to, be able to handle 200 some odd folks - guarding them and making sure they don't escape into a swamp with animals most of the detainees have never seen before (if they're from Afghanistan especially)?

Is it sooo wrong to increase the number of jobs in your state by an increase in military or FBP employees, who - are higher paid than their state or local counterparts, many times by double (which means that much more of an increase in purchasing power and money being pumped into economy)? Or is the patriotism only skin deep? Is it not really an issue, belief or an ideology worth putting your name on the line about?

Jim DeMint, Mark Sanford, Lindsay Graham, or Henry Brown care to respond? I doubt it.

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Preparations for DC, week in review and remembering William Henry Harrison

It's been a busy week, I'm heading to DC tomorrow (Sunday) for our President elect's inauguration and this week has been filled with planning and preparations, and lots of work to boot which is why there wasn't much blogging - sorry. But do follow my twitter throughout the week and I'm taking the laptop and a camera so check back too for picture posts and hopefully a couple of opportunities for reflection. I'll be there for the whole week so hopefully I'll be able to cover a lot.

(Aside: Wednesday/Thursday in DC is the national march for Life and I hope to observe that -- I may even make a sign or two and join in somewhere, plus I have quite a few friends in DC that I probably won't get to see, but it's nice mentioning that they're there and that I'm thinking about them, good intentions and all)

But a lot has happened this past week. South Carolina residents were shocked and disturbed to find out that we're the nations landfill - literally, though I find this as an economic opportunity especially as we try and green our economy - see my support for landfill and water treatment plants gas exchange as sources for electricity. Also though the Governor (who I rarely agree with) sees it as an opportunity to raise money for the State by charging fees for other states to dump in SC. But we can't just think of it all about trash -- it's recycling, it's reusing, and in other ways it's reducing. I say reducing because just this week Coca Cola announced the largest plastic bottle recycling operation was opening up right here in the Palmetto State in Spartanburg, and in Georgetown another metal recycling service is adding 60+ jobs to the area, but these are only two examples of businesses around this state that are emphasizing and utilizing the three R's that we learned about in grade school.

Speaking of the Grand Strand Area - remember the Tower of Bible that a lady is pushing to build in Socastee? Well it looks like she got a cool reception from residents who are concerned about traffic and property values though not necessarily her religious values. And I chuckled when I read that the property to be developed in question is (was) a large trailer park.

If you head to Indigo Journal do read the piece by Tim Kelly on the outrageous prices that the Governor's office wanted to charge for copies of e-mails on a CD. This is in response to the "outrage" of Howard Rich's shills to the prices quoted by local school districts to FOIA requests for various specific information - something that, curiously, The State's editorial board picked up and decided not to investigate or inquire about.

And that brings us to the Governor, yeah his State of the State was on Wednesday night and it was full of the same old same old that he's been spouting for the past six years. So to commiserate with the poor condition of our state I went to the Whig where I ran into the Lexington Young Republicans. Who should be with this motley crew of conservatives but Josh Gross. We spoke politics briefly but mainly talked Catholic/Evangelical theology and history (Josh it was nice meeting you and you really should check out Phillip Jenkin's Lost History of Christianity). I also met Wes Wolfe from the Wolfe reports and kept him up way past his bed time - sorry Mr. Wolfe, but it was a good evening I'd surmise.

Other cursory reading before I finish up this post: This guy in Charleston is probably looking for a gun and a quiet cabin in the woods, that or he'll be chased off the peninsula by an angry mob soon. He is one of the many source foci for our economic woes, yes it's a declarative statement and I'm sticking by it, and apparently not the only one thinking it either. And Charleston is asking for a nice chunk of the bailout pie - a little more than 1 billion worth, for which approximately 100 million is being designated for the much needed commuter rail between Summerville and Charleston. In the upstate a report was released on the feasibility of a high speed rail service that will run through one of the world's largest mega regions from Macon Ga and Atlanta, to Greenville, SC, Charlotte, NC and points beyond up to Washington DC. This could add to the capacity and expansion of the upstate as a manufacturing juggernaut even as money tightens in the recession.

Well it's time to go buy wool socks and insulated underwear and long johns as the last bit to gather before the road trip. I do hope our dear PEOTUS, Mr. Obama, remembers the lesson of William Henry Harrison. And if YOU don't, then sit back and enjoy this short historical documentary on our nation's ninth president. (H/t to Rob for discovering this video)

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