Unfinished Business, Bishops, Books, etc.. Helena, MT - (I love this dateline thing) I've got a great deal of unfinished business. This is almost a note to myself. I want to talk about my niece's confirmation, which happened last Sunday. The election for Bishop in NH happened last weekend and I have some thoughts about that. In the meantime, here are a couple of stories: Dancing in the aisles and lover's kiss greet election of gay bishop and Bishops criticize election of gay man. The following is from the statement from the Bishops of South Carolina:

The Anglican Communion now faces one of its greatest crises ever over the question of whether or not same sex relationships are sinful or to be blessed by the church. Earlier today, on the second ballot, the diocese of New Hampshire elected the Rev. Canon Gene Robinson to be their next bishop. To his credit, Canon Robinson made no secret of his involvement in a relationship with his same sex partner, whom he named but didn't make a focus of the election process.

This election causes us the gravest possible concern, for if the church ratifies it, we would clearly be approving of the relationship in which Gene Robinson is involved. This is not about a person or a diocesan election process; it is about a radical change in church doctrine.

The union in which Canon Robinson participates is not Holy Matrimony but an intimate relationship outside the bounds of marriage. This would be true whether he were cohabiting with a man or with a woman. For the church implicitly to sanction such a partnership will be a clear repudiation of the teaching of Holy Scripture and the tradition of the church; it also would signify a massive overhaul of the Christian theology of marriage by the Episcopal Church. It would in addition be against the expressed will of the Anglican primates at the recently concluded meeting in Brazil, as well as the two documents commended by the primates, "True Union in the Body", and the Episcopal Church's House of Bishops' Theology Committee report. Finally, it would be against a whole host of General Convention resolutions on this subject dating back several decades.

We keep hearing about doing justice in the Episcopal Church; we think it is important to stop and consider what this means. The currently unchanged official position of the Episcopal Church is that the only proper context for the expression of sexual intimacy is between a man and a woman who are married to each other. For the last two decades, there has been a debate about whether or not to alter this teaching, a conversation which has been so challenging and difficult precisely because to move to bless same sex partnerships would represent such a breathtaking departure from all previous Christian teaching.

* * *

If Gene Robinson's election is confirmed by General Convention, it would bring through the back door a practice that the Episcopal Church has never agreed to approve through the front door. How can this be considered doing justice? We do NOT have a theology for same sex relationships, and to agree to the Robinson election would be tacitly to sanction relationships still searching for a theology. We do not believe such a theology is possible without doing violence to Holy Scripture. . . .

This really hits the nail on the head.

It's my own belief after having read the biographies and statements of the candidates that in most respects Robinson was the most moderate and temperate of the candidates. Nevertheless, he is living in open defiance of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Episcopal Church and the Anglican Communion. It would've been better to not fill this vacancy.

Still more unfinished business: I realize I've failed to update my current reading. I'll try and get to this next week.

Six Pack. What a game -- six pitchers combine for a no-hitter against the mighty Yankees. This is the first time the Yankees have been no-hit in my lifetime!

Naturally, this take me back to my childhood when Blue (5), Abbott (1), Lindblad (1), and Fingers (2) combined to no-no the Angels.

[We won't talk about Ted Lilly tonight]

More -- good article on no hitters here.

Best Ever. ESPN writer Rob Neyer has put together the all-time ball team for each team -- looking these over I've got to say that I am actually in general agreement with his choices. It's important to note, however, that the all-time team just features those players who played with the team in the current city -- not all the players that ever played with the franchise (which is why you won't find Walter Johnson on any team).

Here's Neyer's A's all-time team (err, from Oakland):

C Terry Steinbach 1986-1996.
1B Mark McGwire 1987-1997.
2B Dick Green 1963-1974.
SS Miguel Tejada 1997-2002.
3B Sal Bando 1966-1976.
LF Rickey Henderson 1979-1984; 1989-1993; 1994-1995; 1998.
CF Dwayne Murphy 1978-1987.
RF Reggie Jackson 1967-1975; 1987.
SP1 Catfish Hunter 1965-1974.
SP2 Vida Blue 1969-1977.
SP3 Dave Stewart 1986-1992; 1995.
SP4 Bob Welch 1988-1994.
RP Dennis Eckersley 1988-1995.

My only disagreement with this list would probably be shortstop -- Bert "Campy" Campaneris. I might also go with Antonio Rafael Armas Machado in right -- if looking at the position from the defensive standpoint. (SI named that trio -- Armas, Murphy, and Henderson -- the greatest defensive outfield ever).
Last, maybe Tony Phillips instead of Dick Green at 2nd (which also highlights the fact that this is an Oakland only list -- I'm sure the all-time A's team would have Nap Lajoie at 2nd).

Nolan Ryan makes three different teams lists -- and arguably should've made the Mets (over Leiter). [But see, Mark Byron's comments. He's made me take a closer look and I have to agree.] Don Baylor makes two as DH -- not a real position, right? (I mean if you were to choose someone from the Yanks roster to be DH, wouldn't you chose Joltin' Joe, since Neyer put Mick in CF?) And why not the Babe on the Red Sox all-time pitchers list?

[Where's Dave Kingman?] [That is a joke.]

Never Forget. Unfortunately, the 20th Century gave us far to many things to "never forget." One of these was the extermination of the Czech village Lidice. Here is the story. On June 10, 1942, the Nazis wiped out the entire village in reprisal for the killing of Reinhard Heydrich.

Travelogue, Pt. 1. Salt Lake City - I guess I'm getting the dateline, a la Rick Bragg. This wasn't one of the cities that I was supposed to be visiting -- just passing through, but with airline problems I'm at the Airport Marriott. In the meantime, I wanted to make an account of the places I've been to so far this year -- it has been a busy one.

I've spent a lot of time in eastern Ohio: Akron, Canton, Kent, Cleveland and Lorain. I will stay that I was really surprised at how much I liked Cleveland -- none of that "mistake by the lake" talk around me. I'm already forgetting where else I've been -- St. Paul, MN, as well as Prior Lake and Mankato. Kokomo and Indianapolis in Indiana and Chicago (where we celbrated Mother's Day at Lou Malnati's. I think that's it -- if I remember anyplace else, I'll add it. This is just the first five months -- I'll do a part 2 later.