Jim Morrison, GuideStone, Turandot, and cheatin' teachers

Got a nice Christmas e-card from GuideStone, about three weeks before I get to pay an additional 25% for health insurance. Merry Christmas indeed.

Jim Morrison, long dead bad boy rocker of my generation who had those sensual lips that belied a very nice singing voice, is to be pardoned. I happened to be in Miami, site of his offense, when the thing went down. Local people my age were outraged about on stage antics that wouldn't raise an eyebrow today. Pardon/schmardon, who cares? Tourism at his Paris grave site will be steady regardless.

Incidentally, both Morrison and Elvis are in the porcelain hall-of-fame, the former dying in a bathtub and the latter on a toilet. They say drugs were involved...

Teachers, great numbers of them, are caught blatantly cheating in Atlanta. They did so to raise their students' test scores. Concerned Black Clergy of Atlanta come out with predictable outrage and concern. The concern is for the cheaters, not the cheated.

Sorry to read of the death December 3rd of Hughes Cuenod (no, neither you nor I can pronounce it right), notable singer. Debuted at the Met at the age of 84 in the opera Turandot, one of my favorites complete with torture, suicide but a happy ending. He was 108 and started his career as a concert singer in 1928. Egad.

After almost three decades as a pastor I achieved a first recently. No, I wasn't elected to a denominational position or trusteeship or hired for a nice denominational job...but I did bring in one of our senior adult's laundry. Oh, the woes and pressures of being a pastor. Nobody knows how hard it is. Hey, give me a sabbatical!

Sad to read of Elizabeth Edwards death. Headshakingly sad to understand that the phrase, "she survived her husband's infidelity" is in the lead paragraph of stories that report her death.

Cam Newton will win the Heisman. Bets are on how long he gets to keep it.