Lawyer and philosopher Peter Sean Bradley, in comments here and here asks

First, when did you come to realize that the loss of the true conservatives jeopardize the centrists? Was it when the Robinson matter surfaced or earlier?

Second, I sense a kind of ambivalence in some of the things you have written. You appear to oppose Robinson on the perfectly reasonable basis that married men ought not have sex with persons not their wife, but you don't appear to like being labeled a "conservative?" Aren't you a conservative at this time and in this context? Is it the case that in the earlier dispute over female ordination, "conservatives" were those people over there who were utterly unreasonable in their position and now it stings to have the charges leveled against you that were leveled against them?

It's not my intent to intrude, but your model of how the ECUSA seems to make a lot of sense and I don't think I've seen it anywhere else, certainly not in the media. It also, frankly, resembles the Jacobin phase of the French Revolution when slightly less radical factions were led off to the guillotine protesting their radicalism.

This requires a bit of history and a bit about myself. All my life, I thought of myself as a "liberal" -- I was never a commie-lover -- in fact, I could never understand that faction (Eugene Volokh has some good thoughts on this posted recently here) and considered myself a Bobby Kennedy -style liberal. Nevertheless, some of my best friends have been conservatives. VBG.

This political liberalism survived being "surprised by joy" (in the words of C.S. Lewis) -- being a follower of Jesus and being a political liberal in the late 1970s were not unheard of. My "role-model" and political hero was Sen. Mark Hatfield. Other influences were Ron Sider, the Sojourners Community, the magazine The Other Side, and the Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder.

In the 1980s some of these organizations and people took a beating. Sen. Clean was involved in a real-estate scandal, Sojourners and the Other Side embraced the Stalinists, Yoder admitted to having a string of adulterous relationships and Ron Sider published a book saying we should pray away on-coming nukes. Those things didn't do me in -- some trust in horses, others in chariots -- but I did start questioning a lot of their ideas.

Also, at the time, I was going to a school headed up by a televangelist, a faith-healer, and there was a lot of this "name-it-and-claim-it" faith teaching that my friends were struggling with. A magazine named Eternity, not published any more, had a brief quote by Fr. Neuhaus comparing the Yoderite anti-war theology to the whole "faith teaching" of these televangelists. The more I wrestled with it, the more I saw he was right, and that began the deterioration of my radical pacifist beliefs.

I'm babbling -- what I want to say is that for years -- decades, I've been a political liberal and that to call me a "conservative" is extremely painful. I can't think of myself that way. Also, I think there are many in the Episcopal Church who associate the idea of being "conservative" with a political position that we find anathema.

In the early 80's I was married by an Episcopal minister, Renny Scott, committed to "social justice" and a radical commitment to Christ. I wasn't raised in the Episcopal church and neither was my bride -- but we joined, in large part, because of this minister. I also had a Young Life leader in college I studied with who introduced me to the Episcopal Church and Anglican thought. This was Sam Pascoe, now rector of Grace Episcopal Church in Orange Park, FL, and author of a book on the Articles of Religion.

As I got involved in the Episcopal Church, I fell in love with it. The more I fell in love, the more I wanted to know -- and as I explored the history, I looked at the revolution the ECUSA had just undergone, with the ordination of women, the issuance of the new BCP and the new hymnal. Being a fair-minded kind of guy, I wanted to examine, fairly, the arguments of the dissenters.

(to be continued...)

(I'm still babbling and haven't gotten close to answering the questions...)

Continuation

Okay, I'm back -- let me try to stop babbling...

What I tried to say above is (1) I come out of a very liberal political philosophy, where the idea of being "conservative" is anathema. (2) even so, and this is true of my conscious walk with Christ (which is more like Jacob wrestling), I had firm convictions (i.e. anti-communism) that put me at odds with my "liberal" brethern.*

As I was saying above, that being a new Episcopalian, I could sense there was something missing within the denomination and I think it was those folks who left.

I really believe that statement I have at the left by St. Augustine. I believe we really need each other -- liberal and conservativee, fundamentalist and po-mo X-ian, high-church and low church,** pentecostal, liturgical, evangelical, social gospel, all have a place in the body of Christ. And yes, even my gay brother and lesbian sister.***

And that's really the point of it. I think the ECUSA really lost a lot when it lost all those church members since the mid-1970s. I am grieved by those who claim to be acting in the name of inclusiveness -- why do they only seek to be "inclusive" in one direction?

While I've gone on for awhile here, I've really only scratched the surface.

Early in my Christian walk, I saw a lot of folks damaged by an undisciplined, un-Biblical charismatic movement. Folks who claimed to be spiritual giants receiving words of knowledge directly from the holy spirit. For those of us young in the Lord, we deferred to much and there was a lot of damage done by truly carnal "Christians" claiming to be acting in the name of God.

This was part of why I found refuge in the Episcopal Church -- it offered shelter in the form of what I saw as godly checks and balances -- the episcopal governance, the local vestry, and (in the churches I generally attended) effective small groups. There was proper oversight and care. To use Charles Hummel's phraseology, the fire was in the fireplace.****

This background set forth in the two prior paragraphs is why I have so much problem with the action taken by Peter Lee. In making his decision to vote to ordain VGR as a Bishop in the church catholic, he abandoned the guidance offered by the Scriptures, by the Anglican Church councils, by the ecumenical chuch catholic, and by the faith handed down throughout the centuries. Instead he said he prayed and relied on his feelings.

Blessed Peter Sean Bradley offers these additional comments, while I've been away dithering:

...which is whether a person should be loyal to a name or an idea? I often wonder about my Methodist clients who were as ruthlessly submarined by the leftists in their denomination and who chose to leave it en banc. They don't seem to miss being "Methodist."

I don't know. For those in the Methodist church -- that is a church that similarly has a rich tradition and theology -- as you know, the Wesleys were Anglican -- so conservative those opposed to them looked down on them and sneeringly called them "methodists..." Of course they take these things with them, but something is lost -- a lot. Were it just a name, it would be no problem. From Abram to Saul, God gives us new names when he calls us to our true mission.

I don't know...

In another year, I might be worshiping at an AME church -- I love gospel music and call and response preaching...

I don't know...

To the second thing, yes, I am a . . . a . . . conservative at this time and in this context. . .

There, I said it.

Sometimes I wonder if that's part of the strategy -- if the revisionists label the confessing members of the denomination "conservative" and "fundamentalist," it will drive us back and/or keep others from joining us. "You don't want to be seen with those fundamentalists -- they beat their wives to keep them down -- they burn books -- they handle snakes ---"

Peter writes:

Life is a journey, my friend. I think you've been cast into the outer darkness with the rest of us "conservatives." And as the character in "The Princess Bride" says "I don't think it means what you think it means."

Well, one thing I've always liked about you conservatives is that you generally have a good sense of humor.

Let us walk together and "keep to the path, in love, as we fare on toward Him, 'whose face is ever to be sought."


___________
*There were other convictions I held that were outside the "liberal mainstream:" I was always leery of big unions and especially found the teachers unions a very corrupting influence on education. Shortly after the Christian "conversion" experience, I came across "Washington Monthly," Senator Paul Tsongas, and the developing neo-liberal movement. *sigh* that movement really faded...

**When asked if Truro is high church or low church, our rector Martyn Minns replies we're broad church. That's a good description of how it should be, I think.

***Yet I recognize that I am in deep and fundamental conflict with my brother and sister when they seek to have their sinful activity "blessed" by the church. Similarly, I reject the idea of "blessing" an adulterous relationship, or "blessing" a fraudulent business endeavor, etc.

****I want to take a moment to affirm the pentecostal and charismatic movements as something that has been a true blessing from the Lord. The abuses by some do not negate this work of God as evidenced by the fruit of the Spirit. I believe the church catholic is liturgical, orthodox, evangelical, and charismatic.

Open Letter to the Bishops. I didn't write this, but it could go directly to Bishops Peter Lee, Frank Griswold:

So far, you and your government have chosen the easy way out for yourselves, and the most dangerous road for society: the path of inner decay for the sake of outward appearances; of deadening life for the sake of increasing uniformity; of deepening the spiritual and moral crisis of our society; and ceaselessly degrading human dignity, for the puny sake of protecting your own power.

Movies for Kids Here's a list of 100 flicks for kids. The main qualifier is the age range: 8-12.

From this list, I particularly like these for younger kids (under 8)

"Babe" (1995)
"Beauty and the Beast" (1991)
"Mary Poppins" (1964)
"Monsters, Inc." (2001)
"Peter Pan" (1953)
"Pinocchio" (1940)
"Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (1937)
"The Sound of Music" (1965) (although, since its a long movie, I'll send the little ones off before the end, which might be too intense for them)
"Toy Story" and "Toy Story 2" (1995 and 1999)

Rebirth? Is this the news we were hoping for? I don't think so.

The Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes, many months in gestation, has been born. The question is whether this is a new birth, a rebirth, a new creation? Or is it more of the same -- the only weight-bearing pillar holding up the apostate Episcopal Church?

First, the good news. I love the theological charter -- I will be meditating on this for a while to come. (See also the organizational charter.

The Christian Science Monitor indicates the purpose of the Network is to "eventually replace the church as the authentic representative of the faith in the US." Yet, the WaTi indicates the purpose of the Network is to be a "church within a church." (I'd prefer the notion of it being a "church within a brothel" -- which is much more accurate.)

Time will tell, I guess. This note is tentative, because I'm feeling tentative about this. I'd hoped for more. I don't want to see the Bishop Lees of this world prevail and smother the faithful in their stall tactics. I'd prefer to have them go after us, like the tyrant in NewWest has gone after the faithful believers there.

Silent No More. The the National Silent No More Awareness Campaign will be observing the commencement of the US holocaust tomorrow evening on the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court. Among those bearing witness will be Jennifer O'Neill, Dr. Alveda King (Niece of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.) and singer and actress Melba Moore.

Abortion has never been among the healing arts. It is harmful emotionally, physically and spiritually to women and others. This organization, these women, reach out to other women who are hurting from an abortion and let them know help is available.

Virginia Primary. I'm looking forward to voting in Virginia’s February 10, 2004, presidential primary.

Court case. The Supremes had a 5-4 case today involving the EPA and a state seeking to comply with the Clean Air Act.

The EPA was the "winner" in the case, and once again, Justice O'Connor was the swing vote. The Majority opion was by Justice Ginsburg. Justice Kennedy wrote the dissent, joined by Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas.

This will be seen through the lens of Democrat v. Republican, Liberal v. Conservative, Government v. Business, and, to some extent, that's valid. However, this is one of those instances where you have to look at all levels.

I think the dissent was correct in the interpretation and application of administrative law.

One side note I find interesting, Kennedy begins and ends his dissent with and emphasized civility:

The majority, in my respectful view, . . .

and

For these reasons, and with all respect, I dissent from the opinion and the judgment of the Court.

(emphasis added)

Hmmm. Payton's place?

More Apparently not.

Who Moved? The USA Today has another one of those articles about the "conservative" Episcopalians. As I wrote in my cri d'coeur following the confirmation of VGR, the ECUSA drove

off the true conservative wing years ago -- over the issue of the ordination of women. . . . Nevertheless, the extremist left wing of the ECUSA strove to minimize, marginalize and hound those who hold to a contrary belief. As a result, those of us who are the real centrists now find ourselve on the right flank, labeled "conservatives."

I should've added the revision of the Book of Common Prayer and the Hymnal.

The writer of the USA Today article quotes a VTS professor (there's an objective voice) as saying "The deeper story here is a coalition of theological, socially and politically conservative activists moving in several Christian denominations to push each to its most conservative or orthodox position."

In other words, this prof., Diana Butler Bass, sees an insidious fifth column in every denomination trying to destroy each. (I imagine soon she will release her list of 4 or 57 or 205 card-carrying conservatives in each denomination.)

The truth is, what has happened in the Episcopal Church is a mirror image of what happened in the Southern Baptist Convention, with one exception. In each church a group on the extreme fringe pushed for ideological purity and was willing to drive out those on the the other extreme. In the SBC, it was the "right" whereas in the ECUSA it was the "left" doing the pushing. The big difference as I see it, is that the left wing fringe in the ECUSA was far more extreme than the SBC right wing.

Those of us who are left in the Episcopal Church support those changes, yet without our conservative brothers and sisters who have beem driven away, we lack the political support to fend off a radical religious left wing when it comes to sexual fidelity within marriage. Accordingly, we find ourselves labeled “conservative” or “fundamentalist” and are being also driven out the door of our churches.

All in the name of inclusiveness.

More. See this for developments.

Never Forget. Visit here, if you need a reminder.

Buh-bye, Howie. Mr. Ketchup v. Dubya? I'd prefer to see Joe Lieberman (who skipped Iowa) or Dick Gephardt -- but no Mean Dean is good for the country.

More. Man, didn't Dean lose it last night?

Also, as I indicate above, I'm very sorry to see Gephardt leave.

ECUSA News Roundup. In the Atlanta Journal-Constitution we read:

The conservative coalition of Episcopalians who lost their campaign against an openly gay bishop have adopted a new strategy for the new year.

They're not going to play by the rules anymore.

Ahh, yes, good objective reporting. (Is this why this paper is normally referred to as the "urinal-constipational"? The writer later says "Dissident leaders acknowledge that they will break church law..." yet he fails to support this assertion with any evidence that these leaders are planning to break church law. Actually, I might welcome it if one had issued such a statement, but none has been forthcoming.

It would also be fitting on this day that the nation has set aside to honor Martin Luther King, Jr. to reflect that in his famous letter from the Birmingham Jail, he argued that Christians should not follow man-made laws that violate the law of God.

Over in the Orlando Sentinel, Mark I. Pinsky, who is actually a good religion reporter -- he tries to understand his subjects and then report on them -- writes about the struggles the different congregations are having in dealing with GC2K3's decision to reject orthodox Christian teaching. He notes [reg.req'd] that Bishop John Howe repeated his insistence last week that Central Florida "would not join any such move [to breakaway]. He said he preferred to voice his conservative opposition from within the denomination and will recommend that no action be taken when the diocese meets for its annual convention Friday."

Julia Duin in the WaTi has a brief article -- no comments from me -- if you're up to speed on CANN, there will be nothing new here.

Here is the website for the meeting.

Last, Bishop Don ("Sonny Crockett") Johnson of the Diocese of West Tennessee went apoplectic last week, accusing the faithful remnant of "deceitfulness and subversive sabotage justified in the name of serving Christ." He further indicates that he will be reconstituting the Inquisition so that he can root out and destroy any professing member of the faith.

See also, Rev. Dr. Ephraim Radner's response on behalf of the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes.

Go Silver and Black (and baby blue). I'm backing the underdog Panthers in the Superbowl.

Minns on Plano East. The following are Martyn Minns comments on Plano East as published in today's TFN:

When three thousand Episcopalians gathered together last weekend at the Hylton Chapel in Woodbridge, what really happened? Was it a surreptitious attempt to take over the Episcopal Church , as an article in this week’s Washington Post suggests? Was it really an Episcopal revival meeting as one observer asked? Or was it merely a time for those who are now at odds with the leadership of the Episcopal Church to lick their wounds and pray for a better day? What was it?

In many ways it was a living demonstration of what the new realignment in the Episcopal Church is all about. We were not defined by geography or churchmanship. Nor were we defined by culture or economics. We came together out of our love for Christ and His Church and we were united in our desire to see His truth and love proclaimed to the ends of the earth. We didn’t spend a great deal of time debating the “hot button” issues, although it was clear that there was great sadness and hurt over the direction of our church and its apparent rejection of Biblical authority.

We came from more than 45 Dioceses. Bishop Duncan of Pittsburgh and Bishop Gerard Mpango from Western Tanganyika reminded us that we represent the vast majority of the Anglican Communion. We were rich and poor, young and old, men and women. We began our time together with the Penitential Office because we recognized that the Anglican Communion is suffering because of the actions of the Episcopal Church and we asked for God’s forgiveness and mercy. We ended our time with a renewed commitment to mission and the proclamation of the Gospel of radical inclusion and profound transformation. Several of the mission agencies represented said that they have never witnessed such an outpouring of interest.

What next? There will be an organizational meeting for the Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes at Christ Church, Plano, Texas, on January 19/20. A charter has been developed, a theological statement prepared and a set of by-laws written.

Twelve dioceses will be represented: Albany; Pittsburgh; San Joaquin in California; South Carolina; Florida and Central Florida; Dallas and Fort Worth; Quincy and Springfield in Illinois; Western Kansas; and Rio Grande, which includes parts of Texas and New Mexico.

Representatives from other sections of the country have also been invited. This gathering will approve the next steps in the formation of the NETWORK and also outline the process by which individual parishes can become members. However, the NETWORK already exists, we saw it in Woodbridge. God is at work!

NFL Games. With all my favorites gone, I'm backing the Panthers and the Colts tomorrow. Of the four remaining, I'd like to see the Panthers take it all. I suspect the cold will overwhelm both visitors and we'll see the Pats and the Eagles in the Super Bowl. In which case, I'll be backing the Eagles.

Recess Appointment. Yesterday, President Bush appointed Judge Charles W. Pickering of Mississippi to the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. Of course, what makes this unusual is that it's a "recess appointment" meaning that Judge Pickering will serve on the 5th Circuit until the adjournment of the current Congress, which will take place at the end of this year.

I've never been a huge Pickering supporter (probably because his main supporter was Trent Lott). Nevertheless, I'm surprised to see people who might otherwise be supporters, such as Libertarian Law Prof. David Bernstein, swallow the lies about Pickering. See Bernsteins comments here, which he reaffirmed here just last night.

On the contrary, please read Nat Hentoff's columns on Pickering, including this one which begins

I write this final column on Charles Pickering because, in some 50 years as a reporter, I have seldom seen such reckless, unfair, and repeated attacks on a person?not only by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee but also by organizations that gather financial contributions because of their proclaimed dedication to civil rights, civil liberties, and honest research. (People for the American Way, Alliance for Justice, et al.)

I think the reason Judge Pickering was selected really amounts to the fact that since he's already a sitting Judge, his temporary elevation (and I do think it's temporary) will be the least disruptive of any of the other candidates. Currently Federal District Court Judges, such as Pickering, sit on appellate panels from time to time. Therefore, this will be a little like an extended temporary rotation. Now, having said this, I must relate to you that is just my own speculation based on the fact that Pickering is already an Art. III judge, with a lifetime appointment. Eugene Volokh writes "if he isn't confirmed for the permanent appointment when his name is sent up again . . . I assume he'd lose the district court judgeship immediately and permanently, but I'm not positive."

I'd have loved to have seen this happen for Miguel Estrada, but to do that he'd have to be willing to have been blackballed from the judiciary for life. (Unlike Republicans, the Democrats play for keeps.) Larry Solum writes: "Miguel Estrada was also offered a recess appointment, but turned it down--presumably for career related reasons."

I don't recall if any of the other from President Bush's original group of nominees continues to be filibustered.

I know that Priscilla Owens is, but I think she was a later nominee.

Similarly Justice Brown of the California Supreme Court was a later nominee. And, as Eugene Volokh points out here, if the President had done this to Janice Rogers Brown "and then she wasn't confirmed for a permanent post by the Senate, she would lose her California Supreme Court seat permanently..."

Prof. Larry Solum characterizes this as

a very significant development in the confirmation wars--a natural retaliatory move by the President for the Senate Democrat's use of the filibuster against several of his nominees and yet another move in the downward spiral of politicization that has characterized the process.

Please remember that recess appointments to the judiciary are unusual. Nevertheless, this is not an abuse of power -- it's no worse than a minority of senators blocking consideration of a nomination, which is what the Leahy gang has been doing to Pickering all these years.

Remember that William Brennan was seated on the Supreme Court as a recess nominee.

The last nominee to be seated in the judicial branch by a recess appointment was Roger Gregory. This was done by William Jefferson Clinton. Also, it should be noted that Judge Gregory had his nomination resubmitted by President Bush as a peace offering to the Leahy gang.

Leahy, Schumer treat peace offerings a lot like Yassir Arafat: they fill an extended hand with a live grenade.

More. I almost forgot -- see this monograph recently published by the Fed.Soc and headed up by Stuart Buck.

Home School. Ben has a good piece about homeschooling. We have homeschooled all our kids (hmm, can I count Em at age 2?) at one time or another. I worked, very briefly, for HSLDA. I went to a law school that promoted home education and became friends with Chris Klicka (we roomed together and took and passed the bar exam together).

Nevertheless, I'm not a doctrinaire homeschooler. Our oldest is back in the government schools as a freshman in high school. We educated her at home through 5th grade when we sent her to a gov't school. For 7th and 8th grades we did homeschooling (and I was her primary teacher).

She is a smart kid, but lazy and easily distracted, like me. (In fairness to her, she's both smarter and less lazy than I was at her age.) When she went into a 5th grade class, she was at the top of her class, and slowly, over the next two years, slid back to average. We decided to go back to homeschooling for the next two years and see how things developed.

Some things went very well -- others not so well. I won't ever sugar coat things -- since I don't get home from work until 4 in the afternoon (I leave for work at 5:30 a.m.), we weren't always able to devote the time to some subject like I wanted. Nevertheless, she made remarkable progress in all subject areas and when she went back into the gov't school this past year, she went into all the honors courses and her last interim report was all A's, save one B+ (in Algebra II, Honors; which I'm pleased to report that she brought home a note from her teacher yesterday saying she'd finished off the semester by raising it to an "A").

In any event, Ben makes excellent points for home schooling. Among these, (1) the approach is easily tailored to a particular student's strengths and weaknesses (2) you can harness a student's particular interests to help the child to excel. Chief, however, is this point:

Ironically, public school proponents almost always choose to criticize this facet of home education - it's strongest point. They claim that home schooling isolates children, forces them to live in close-knit family settings, and removes them from necessary social activity with their peers (Yes - because forced social activity is always beneficial and can be achieved so fluidly in the welcoming environment of a public school, where non-conformity is always praised and never ridiculed).

They claim that home schooling traps children - but in reality, it frees them to use their imaginations to the fullest. There are no social restrictions in the home.

[I am cutting this off here, but you really should read the rest of Ben's point, because he takes a slightly different path here than the one I will take] There is that peer pressure to not perform, to not excel and I could see that was happening to our oldest when we took her out after 6th grade. If I see it again, I'll bring her back home.

One last point: home education always happens, even if you send your kids to a gov't or "private" school. I know from my experience that I received as much education from my parents as I did from teachers and I was never "home schooled." This happens though ordinary "life activities" but also happens when a parent works with a child on homework.

P.S. (yeah, that was the last point above, I just wanted to say one more thing) Read the comments to see what Papa D and "Jomama" D have to add. I do disagree slightly with Papa D when he writes

In spite of all the rhetoric condemning public education, MOST [conservative activists] still send their kids to public school, and MOST of the conservative women choose to work full time, letting the state raise their children. Why? As Francis Schaeffer said, people want their own "personal peace and affluence." Conservatives, too often, suffer from the same problem. Few...too few..chose the harder road. It costs time...and money...and freedom. But the results are worth it.

I'm not a "conservative," so I guess what he writes doesn't apply to me. Nevertheless, I don't think you should condemn your fellow conservatives who choose to send their kids to a gov't school. I do agree with him that you should count the costs and I agree that the costs are definitely worth it.

Good Point. From yesterday's WaTi:

"Staring at the back of a car during a red light can be a mundane experience — or it can be an opportunity to think through the logic of a worldview. I recently noticed a bumper sticker that read: 'Against abortion? Don't have one!' ...
"This argument works when dealing with preferences. 'Against broccoli? Don't eat it!' It doesn't work, however, with claims of objective morality. That's why we don't see bumper stickers that read: 'Against genocide? Don't commit it!' Or: 'Against rape? Don't do it!' Those slogans confuse categories. Pro-lifers are not simply expressing preferences; they are making arguments that abortion is an objective moral wrong.
"The same car had another sticker slapped onto its bumper: 'If you can't trust me with a choice, how can you trust me with a child?'
"The virtue or vice of a 'choice' is dependent upon its object and outcome. ... The logic of this bumper sticker makes perfect sense if you assume that the 'choice' has two legitimate, positive outcomes. ... [W]e wouldn't think it profound for a young man to say: 'If you can't trust me with the choice of beating my fiancee, how can you trust me with marrying her?' "
— Justin Taylor, writing on "Sticker shock," in the Saturday issue of World

Guilty Pleasure: The first season of Green Acres was released on DVD on Tuesday. My copy arrived via Amazon on Wednesday.

Most people don't know I'm from Hungary because I don't speak with an accident anymore.

-Lisa Douglas

DC Primary. A friend of mine, who lives in the District, just showed me the Voters guide that was sent to every voter prior to last Tuesday's primary. It contains a one page statement from every candidate and there, on page 12 (or 15, if going by the .pdf version), is the statement of Vermin Supreme. He concludes by saying:

All politicians are vermin. I am Vermin Supreme. I shall lie to you, because I can. I will Promise anything and deliver nothing.

Mr. Supreme received more votes than John Kerry, John Edwards, Dick Gephardt, Gen. Wesley K. Clark and Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman combined. Okay, so the guy only got 146 votes and the others pulled out.

The Daily Kos had the DC ballot posted last month -- is it a coincidence that Dean is on top and Vermin is on the bottom?

Great NFL Playoffs. ESPN has a piece on the greatest playoff games and fails to mention the first overtime game, between the Colts and the Giants. Perhaps, because they are excluding championship* games, such as the Super Bowl?

In any event, my own votes would be for two Raider games: The ultimate game would be the one they christen the "Sea of Hands:" Raiders 28, Dolphins 26 (AFC semis, Dec. 21, 1974). ("the greatest game I have ever seen" - Curt Gowdy)

The second was "The Immaculate RDeception:" Steelers 13, Raiders 7 (AFC semis, Dec. 23, 1972). Yes, it was a low-scoring game, but it was the most physical game I ever saw.

The rest:

#3 -- 1982 Chargers 41, Dolphins 38, OT (AFC semis, Jan. 2, 1982). Kellen Winslow shows why he's the greatest TE ever.

#4 -- The Ice Bowl: Packers 21, Cowboys 17 (NFL championship, Dec. 31, 1967). What separates the Men from the Martz? Going for the win and not OT.

#5 -- The Comeback: Bills 41, Oilers 38, OT (AFC wild card, Jan. 3, 1993).

#6 -- 1975 NFC semis: Cowboys 17, Vikings 14 ... Hail Mary to Drew Pearson.

#7 -- 1972 NFC semis: Cowboys 30, 49ers 28 ... Staubach led 17-point 4th quarter.

#8 -- 2003 Wild Card: 49ers 39, Giants 38 (NFC wild card, Jan. 5, 2003). Yes, I have a thing for comebacks.

#9 -- 1962 Texans 17, Oilers 14 (Double OT) ("We'll kick to the clock...") (okay, this may be cheating -- it was the AFL title game).

* There have been other great Title games that should be considered. The 1945 game between the Rams and Redskins, for example, decided by a safety called when Sammy Baugh's pass bounced off the goal post (weird rule!).

Reading. I finished reading Avenger by Frederick Forsythe -- very good book, one I'd recommend.

Now I'm reading Hidden Gospel How the Search for Jesus Lost Its Way by Philip Jenkins.

And am listening to Sharpe's Trafalgar.

This doesn't surprise me, on the other hand. BYU "edits" the tatoos of a student's body? If you've ever been to a "religious" school, I submit you've seen this kind of thing.

Of course, Wisconsin did something similar a few years back, except it was an addition, not a removal. [Article with pix.]

Dean's Troubles. I'm slighty surprised this story, about Gov. Dean's personal support of a wife beater, and this story, about his letter arguing for unilateral action, aren't getting more attention.

No, I don't like Dean -- GWB will destroy him in Nov. if he procures the nomination -- and that won't be good for anyone, IMO.

Just so you know my bias -- had Lieberman been on top of the Democratic Ticket in 2000, instead of Gore, I would've voted for him.

Driver's Fallacy. Volokh co-conspirator Tyler Cowen, raises and then answers (I believe) a philosophical problem today. He posits (in part)

In my lifetime as a driver, I stand some (fairly low) chance of killing an innocent pedestrian. Few people would argue that I should be prohibited from driving. Assume, however, that science prolongs (fit) human life forever, at least unless you are struck down by a car. My chance of killing an innocent pedestrian then would approach certainty, given that I plan to continue driving throughout an eternal life. In fact I could be expected to kill very many pedestrians. Should I then be prohibited from driving?

The problem is more a statistical one. It's the "Gambler's fallacy" or the "overdue hitter." I suspect Cowen knows this and is playing with us because he later states "Measuring the bundled risk appears to imply absurd consequences, such as banning driving for people with sufficiently long lives." And yet again, "Imagine an involuntary game of Russian roulette with very many chambers in the gun, played very many times against me. The chance of my death from any single firing is very small, but surely we would prohibit such a game, looking at the high overall risk of the bundle." The Russian roulette example is a good one. If you play with a six chamber revolver, five chambers empty, one loaded and spin each time, your chances, in theory, are that you will survive 5/6 of the time. However, if you don't spin, then your chances decrease with every empty click until, with one chamber left, the certainty is 100%.

Or, to put it another way, will Cowen's everlasting man have a 100% chance of winning the lottery (grand prize) at sometime in this infinite life if he buys a dollar ticket every day? Believe it or not, the answer is no.

Or is this like the infinite monkeys finally pounding out a fair and equitable tax code?

(Or did I miss Cowen's point completely?)

More. See also, Bruce Cleaver comments here.

Tyler Cowen has more here.

And then there was one. Now every team but the Raiders have a head coach. No surprise here.

I am a little surprised that no one picked up Jim Fassel, less so about Dan Reeves (just because he's been fired by the Giants and the Falcons, so fewer opportunities). Reeves would've been good for the Nebraska job.

These are the candidates, in order of likelihood of being hired:

Art Shell. Al Davis said that firing Shell was the biggest mistake he ever made.

Romeo Crennel, Patriots defensive coordinator

Maurice Carthon Cowboys Offensive Coordinator

Jim Fassel former Giants head coach and one-time Raiders assistant (1995).

Sean Payton Cowboys QB Coach

Charlie Weis, Patriots offensive coordinator

Al Saunders Chiefs Offensive Coordinator. Al Davis just pumped him for info. Opposition research.

Wade Phillips Falcons Interim Head Coach. May end up as defensive coordinator.

Rick Neuheisel. Cross John Gruden with Pete Rose.

Amy Trask CEO, Oakland Raiders. Al Davis likes to be a maverick, so first female head coach? Don't put it past him (plus he likes to promote from within).

Disobedience? Today's WaPo exclusive! is interesting, but not as earth-shattering as the Post tries to spin it:

Episcopalians who oppose the consecration of a gay bishop are preparing to engage in widespread disobedience to church law in 2004, according to a confidential document outlining their strategy.

As the letter* notes, the idea is to be obedient to the faith handed down, even if it runs contrary to a handful of heretic bishops and their country-club deputies.

Where was the Post with a story like this in the years, oh, 1990 to 2003:

Episcopalians who oppose the historic and Scriptual teaching on marriage and sexuality are preparing to engage in widespread disobedience to church law until they get their way, according to a confidential document outlining their strategy.

*The Post has the letter here, in .pdf format.

More. See Kendall Harmon's extensive comments and links, here.

I Wonder What His Wife Thinks? According to the Beeb, a Cambridge University Prof. is trying to get lust reclassified as a "virtue."

Sorry, Prof., there's a big separation from the Song of Solomon to "adultery in the heart."

Thoughts on Plano East. [This has been "revised and extended," see below.]

It went very well. My only disappointment was that there were two people I was really hoping to meet, but didn't. The group was large (well, for a conference like this): just over 3,000.

Here's the link to the WaPo's article. It's not bad -- although, it's evident the reporter clearly missed the purpose of the meeting (we "gathered in Northern Virginia this weekend to express their outrage over the consecration of a gay bishop" No, not at all). [The WaPo wasn't the only one to get it wrong -- the headline in the WaTimes categorized the group as "angry.")

Revised and Extended

The first thing I would like to tell you, if you weren't there, is that it was a truly wonderful experience. The service of Holy Eucharist on Friday evening was like a preview of heaven. It started with a time of praise music and then, after a very brief introduction, there was a processional consisting of two hymns and a ton of ministers processing. The first hymn was a sentimental favorite of ours -- Praise to the Lord the Almighty -- was a hymn we sand at our wedding.

Speaking of which, we ran into a bridesmaid from our wedding there which was a huge surprise -- it had been about 6 years since I last saw her and I wasn't aware she had begun going to an Episcopal church. She lives about 4 hours away from us now -- we were all friends in college and had been in the same small group. How wonderful it was to see her and so many other old friends that we hadn't seen in ages. Some folks we just saw in passing, but yet just seeing a glimpse of them was wonderful.

In some ways, this compensated for the new friends I missed seeing, although that was still a disappointment. I had been trying to get in touch with Robert Bauer, but I arrived at the meeting place about 10 minutes too late. (In sort of a weird coincidence, we were having dinner with Jean Gruhn, who seemed to be the only lay participant attending quoted in the WaPo article.)

But back to the Eucharist -- part of the reason for it being like a foretaste of heaven, was that I was able to be with fellow believers, worshiping our Lord, without an agenda, yet with a common purpose. You see, for those of us there, the words we pray, sing, and affirm actually mean something. We don't have to "translat[e] them into [our] own language" (i.e. mutilate them beyond comprehension).

But that was just a small reason for being a small sample of heaven. There was the blend of styles -- "low" pentecostal and "high" catholic.

There was the old friends and new friends and as yet undiscovered friends.

There was power and glory. Yet not the kind of power wielded by the ECUSA establishment or the kind of glory misappropriated by Gene Robinson and his followers. The power was akin to the power of the Holy Spirit on the first Pentecost (and notice too, the paralel numbers between those present at P-E and those baptised on Pentecost.

Rev. Guernsey welcomed us. The NYT had this quote:
"We're not simply against something," Mr. Guernsey said. "We're not a bunch of cranky reactionaries. But we reject the idea that acceptance means we need to approve of every behavior."

Bishop Duncan had a wonderful and challeging sermon, which Kendall Harmon posted on-line.

At the end of the evening, we collected our kids, who were on fire about the kids events -- they were just bubbling over with excitement. Well the number one daughter wasn't, but part of that was because they had the high-school aged kids outside in a tent and the outdoor temperature was 22F -- so it was freezing in the tent. (BTW, she had a wonderful time asking me if I'd met any of my "Idiot" friends. To which I reminded her, she is the "idiot" daughter.) [Also, I want to note for my own record of this, that the temperature the next morning was 8 and windy -- I think the high that day was in the upper teens. Maybe this is what I get for having teased Cap'n Yip last week about the cold.]

Saturday morning began with Morning Prayer and an address by John Yates. I lost count of the number of times my wife turned to me during his address saying "He's wonderful." Yes, he is. I wish his talk was on-line -- I don't see it. In brief, it was a clear explanation as to why Scripture matters. The WaTi had this quote:

"If it's our claim to submit to Christ, we must submit to scriptural authority as well," he said. "We dare not say, as one of our bishops said, 'Well, we wrote them, we can rewrite them.' Or, as another bishop said, 'We need a new Christianity for a new world.' "

Next was Kendall Harmon. Awesome. His address is here not posted yet. It is very similar to the one he delivered at the first Plano conference, here.

Then came the panels and the first up was Rev. Thomas Logan, [text] of Calvary Episcopal Church in DC. He began by singing "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so." We all joined in. He then noted the paucity of "Afro-Americans"* robed and processing the night before. There were just three. Whose fault was this -- he didn't dwell on finger-pointing, but noted that the supporters of sexually active gay ordination had sought to piggyback their efforts on the civil rights struggles and in doing so had abandoned what the Bible tells us [is] so. It is not "inclusiveness" that will save us, but Jesus who will save us. "How do we know this? we know this because," he pauses and holds up his Bible and the crowd yells back: "The Bible tells us so." The Word of God which contains the message of hope has gotten the Afro-Americans through the darkest days. He acknowledges that he has not dwelt on these issues because he has been looking after the immediate safety of the folks on the block surrounding Calvary; this stuff all seemed like it was for the white churches. But how can he say to the kids (and even the married) to not engage in extra-marital sex when the Episcopal church has a Bishop doing just that? He proceeded to preach in a manner which elicits our response: How do I know there is a healing power in Jesus? because "The Bible tells me so." and he continues from there -- I was not taking notes, I was rocking as he was preaching. His fiery (but too short) homily concluded by noting that we need to let the light of the Word of God, the light of Jesus, shine in our lives, in our neighborhoods, in our churches in our diocese, in 815, in Lambeth Palace. He concludes in song: "This Little Light of Mine."

Kendall came back again, as the next panelist and was asked to distinguish between the Robinson ordination and the ordination of women. Kendall began by indicating this was a little difficult for him and I began to wonder if he is opposed to women's ordination as well. [text] In any event, he noted the fact that women's ordination was poorly handled in the US (a woman about 15 rows in front of me yelled out a loud Amen) as opposed to the way it has been handled in England. [If you have read anything I've written, you know I am a strong supporter of women's ordination, but I agree with Kendall on this. Phillip Turner had a good piece in First Things last November, that explained the problems in passing.] He then distinguished, in brief, the fact that homosexual practices in the Bible have been consistently condemned as sinful, whereas the record on the ordination of women is mixed (that is there is sufficient textual evidence for women's ordination and sufficient on which to oppose it). [I am trying and failing to be brief -- sorry.]

Diane Knippers was next, speaking as President of the Institute of Religion and Democracy. She addressed the Three Myths which were spread in Minneapolis and elsewhere regarding the issues surrounding the Robinson ordination and "blessings" proposals: (1) This is the Future. On the contrary, this thinking is "so 20th Century." [okay, that's not how she put it, but that's the effect.] This is something that arose 40 years or more ago, has been tried and found wanting. On the contrary, it is the timeless standards of Scriptures that matters. (2) Second myth is that "We're doing this for the Poor and Oppressed ?" Again, thel victims of the 20th Century sexual revolution are racial minorities, the poor, and our children. (3) The third myth is that [whine on]"You're undermining Christian Unity" [whine off]. The truth is that General Convention dealt a terrible blow to Christian unity. Relations with the wider Anglican Communion, the Orthodox Churches, Roman Catholics, evangelicals, charismatic, and so on, were broken; shattered. "Denominational lines do not mark the boundaries of Christendom." The big lie is that one must choose between truth and unity. They are the different sides of the same coin, she said. She closed with this wonderful quote, repeated slowly twice so as to be recalled: "Genuine truth defines our unity, genuine unity protects the Truth."

Continuation

Next was Martyn Minns, rector of Truro Church, speaking on "The Network" Since his talk is on-line, here, I'd direct you to read it in it's entirety. It is important. My only comment would be on the name: Network of Confessing Dioceses and Parishes. I prefer the Confessing Anglican Network of America ("CANA") -- as in the place where our Lord took stagnant water and turned it into wine.

Senior attorney, ?minence grise, Hugo Blankingship, former chancellor of the Diocese of Virginia, current chancellor of the AAC, and an incredibly well respected attorney spoke next. (Address online here.) He pointed out that most of the law suits have been filed by "liberal" dioceses against the moderate and conservative parishes. His aim and hope is to resolve these differences peacefully and without resort to litigation. Like all good lawyers, he sees that litigation only profits the lawyers. [I recall a divorce case I reviewed over 15 years ago that was like the War of the Roses -- both parties consumed over a million dollars on attorneys fees and came out impoverished.]

Here we were running over and broke for lunch. I picked up the kids (well, some of them -- Debbie got Emilie) and they were so enthusiastic about the kids programs. I must emphasize that these were wonderful (a thousand thank yous to all those who worked so hard on this for the kids!).

We headed over to Amy's (the bridesmaid, mentioned above) parents house for lunch. It was good to catch up on old times, briefly with her parents, and we got to meet some other friends -- I spoke with an attorney from Coinjock, NC.

After lunch the focus was on missions (I was back late, after dropping off kids). Reversing the "...Jerusalem, ... Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth" formula, it went from broad to narrow, beginning with the international frontier.

What was stressed was that the new network wanted to make missions it first priority, and therefore was doing this to make it part of the organizational DNA.

Rev Tad de Bordenave, Director of Anglican Frontier Missions stressed that missions must remain a priority. We should be known as the missionary church. We do the work of the Great Commission well, but we need to focus as well on the word "all" in the great commission. The goal of AFM is to reach out to "the ends of the earth, the areas of the world where the church has not yet been established."

Jim Oakes spoke for Five Talents. Now here, I must confess -- I had a long week and, well, I had my Eutychus moment. Thankfully, I was not sitting in a third story window.

The next thing I knew, Edwina Thomas of Sharing of Ministries Abroad ("SOMA") was speaking. According to my wife, she told a powerful story of a church that was built in the heart of a town in Pakistan; a Muslim stronghold. She was taken up to the top of the building and was shown some bullet holes. It seems that when the church building was finished the time came for them to place the cross on top. The congregation gathered and one went up to place the cross. As he put it into place, he was shot, and fell to his death. After some time another went up to place the cross and he too was shot. This was repeated, as Ms. Thomas could see by the holes. Finally, the Muslims stopped shooting; they realized that the Christians wouldn't stop, they would keep at it, keep raising the cross. She said the cross is still there to this day. And the bullet holes bearing witness to those who gave their life for the spread of the gospel.

We then broke into small groups for intercessory prayer and prayers of repentance.

After this, the meeting turned to the local and personal levels of mission.

First up was Alpha, developed by Nicky Gumbel, this was presented by Jenny Noyes. Alpha is simple and honest, and effective. It is "friendship-based evangelism" meeting over a period of weeks presenting the Gospel in a non-threatening and very open manner. It allows all questions, from the simple to the complex and works with you where you are.

Bob Ragan spoke from his heart (indeed, as did all) with respect to how God's love changes people. Bob is the head of Regeneration and has been with Exodus International reaching out to persons trapped in a life of sexual sin. He spoke of truth and lies. It is a lie that sexuality is genetically determined, he said, science has not proven the existence of a "gay gene." He cited studies of identical twins; persons who have the exact same DNA, yet one may be "gay" the other straight." Moreover, the studies which lay claim to a "gay gene" are not repeatable. What found interesting is when he said that he does not speak of "healing" which you might think of as the healing of a paper cut. The reality is more like being hit by a Mack truck going a hundred miles and hour and having to put the pieces of the person back together (Here, like for most of this, I'm paraphrasing -- he may have said an 18 wheeler instead of Mack truck, but you get the idea). Instead of "healing" he speaks of "sanctification." Amen, I think, as this idea hits me and sinks in. It is a process that we are all undergoing ("work out your salvation in fear and trembling" Paul writes in Phil. 2:12). How do we determine success for those who are broken? We all go through the sanctification; we all go through death-styles that Jesus brought us out of in His redemption. There is no overnight change.

He said that he constantly gets asked two questions, one being something like, "do you still struggle? are you still tempted" He said he is posessed by temptation, but he must maintain his physical and spiritual health, daily readings and prayer; if he doesn't he becomes vulnerable. It's not just sexual, it's emotional and it's that way for all of us who are tempted and vulnerable. (I really wish his talk were posted on-line, I'm afraid, I'm not doing it justice.) When he concluded, he received a standing ovation.

Steve Schlossberg, the director of the Lamb Center, an outreach to the homeless near Fairfax Circle spoke last in this group. steve spoke, as he always does with elegance and grace, although in many respects it's not there on the surface. He's a big man, with a chisled chin and curly black hair. He speaks with a New York accent and always from his heart. He told us there was a problem in our church [referring to Truro]: strangers came to the church with needs and left as strangers. Strangers don't come to the Episcopal Church. So, the Lamb Center was created and run by a number of churches in the Fairfax City area. There is a table where people are met, food is shared, coffee is poured, the Bible is read, people receive prayer. People come in as strangers to one another, to county services, to the church and to themselves - people are met. needs and all. Then he told us what we needed to hear: we need these people who enter the Lamb Center. They may be strangers, but they are our neighbors and while they need what the Lamb Center provides, that's only half of it. Actually, he said, maybe sixty percent of it is that we need them. We will perish without them. "They are broken, and they know it; we are broken and we forget it."

Stop -- hear that: "They are broken, and they know it; we are broken and we forget it." This is why God calls us to care for the poor - we need to know our own poverty.

He continued: when we meet those who know poverty; we are going to be changed; carried to the foot of the cross by the people we came to save.

When we meet people on the street we think they are very good at surviving. It is impossible to not admire how they survive. But it's impossible to keep that admiration up because they are not surviving, they are not living; they are dying. Steve concluded saying that they show us that one temptation is to go into survival mode and not really live. We were admonished not to do that.

Last on this panel was Rev. Tom Herrick, the Vicar of Christ the Redeemer, speaking on Church Planting. [No notes now, I'm going on way too long.]

We broke again for a time of prayer, then turned to the next generation. The speakers were David Young, Youth Leader from Christ the Redeemer; Ashley Barker. a student at William & Mary and member of All Saints Episcopal Church; and Christopher Douglas a sophmore at West Springfield High School and member of Church of the Apostles. ("Awake O sleeper").

This session was concluded with worship and prayer for those under the age of 22.

The closing address was by Martyn Minns, and may be found on-line here.

Bishop Gerard Mpango the Diocese of Western Tanganyika, Tanzania gave the final blessing. First, he reminded us that "there are 45 million Anglicans standing with you and praying for you." Wow. What an event. Praise God!


* I found it interesting he used the phrase "Afro-Americans" instead of the more prevalent "African-American." This was the usuage favored by Justice Thurgood Marshall (see this dissent, for example) and seems to be more accurate, if you are going to use such terminology.

Still More. See this report, which contains a lot that I left out (and there is still more both of us left out!)

Plano East. I'm looking forward to Plano East starting tomorrow. If you see me, please say hello. I don't have a picture, but I'm, uh, stout -- I make G.K. Chesterton look slim -- and desparately in need of a haircut (although I have a very receeding hairline).

problems with blogger

Headline News. If the Supreme Court today declared DC a state, if an earthquake leveled San Francisco, if India and Pakistan went nuclear, if John Paul II went to heaven and Castro went to hell today, if anything, this would still be the main headline in the Post tomorrow.

I know one contender next year.

(Are you listening, John Madden?)

More. You can not believe the difference in people's attitudes here in DC -- everyone is walking with a spring in their step.

Still More. My mother and sister have started arguing over who gets tickets for which games next year. My parents have season tickets, but my sister and her husband usually buy them and go. Now they're in demand. Oh, and the home schedule looks good -- no dogs there (Green Bay, Minnesota, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Tampa Bay) -- the "worst" game being, what, Cincinnati? The return of Coach Lewis? (Link to all 2004 opponents)

I listened to his press conference this afternoon carried live on 980 -- gosh, it was good to hear the voice of this old friend.

More Sprawl. The sprawl continues from the Massing article. In a new blog* called The Revealer, which covers religion and the media, Jeff Sharlet (of Killing the Budda) notes an absence of "God talk:"

. . .the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost, all of whom are curiously absent from this saga of moral anguish and political maneuver. Bishop Lee, who shocked his longtime allies by voting to confirm the ordination of Robinson, cites Martin Luther King, Jr. as his inspiration; [Rev.] Minns, eyeing a break from the Anglican Communion over what he sees as its embrace of homosexuality, takes his cues from Bishop Peter Akinola of Nigeria.

But the reader is left to pick up this worldly twist for him or herself, since Massing leaves the absence of God uncommented on -- which has The Revealer wondering whether these two priests are really so earthly. Did Massing take the reporter's traditional road? The facts, and nothing -- not even God -- but the facts?

My response would be yes, to a certain degree, Massing took "the reporter's traditional road."

Perhaps, to be charitable to Massing, coming in at this late stage in the game, he has missed much of the earlier conversation regarding the will of God and His revelation. Yet, even at the meeting Massing refers to ("It would be on full display that evening, when some 400 people attended a church meeting") which took place on November 23, there were questions about how to seek the will of God. (As I noted here, Martyn Minns asked that nothing discussed in this session be on the record, so maybe Massing withheld those comments.)

Nevertheless, I know from having spent a little time with Rev. Minns, that if Massing asked (and probably if he didn't) Rev. Minns would've discussed the struggle to remain faithful to the revelation of God and his temporal authorities. Moreover, it is clear from some of the passages in the article that these things were discussed with the reporter. Massing writes of his meeting with five Truro parishioners: "In our conversation, the word ''clear'' as applied to Scripture and its meaning kept coming up." Yet, he does not discuss this at all. With respect to Rev. Minns, he excerpts statements from paragraphs, and these statements are a shadowy portion of the larger discussion omitted from the article (for the sake of clarity, I will bold Martyn's words): "'. . . I saw some profound changes.' God, he added, 'can change lives' -- even those of homosexuals."

Yet, if Massing (and Sharlet) want to see more evidence of the struggle to do the will of God, I suggest they look at some of the documents posted on the Truro website, as well as some of the Anglican websites posted over on my left-hand column.

*Published by the New York University Department of Journalism and New York University's Center for Religion and Media, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts. Man, where can I go to get funding and editors like that?

Underdog of the Year, 2003. Someone came to my attention near the end of the year last year through a terrible, tragic incident. Bethany
Hamilton, a 13 year old, home schooled girl was doing her training near Tunnels Beach on the morning of October 31, 2003, when she was mauled by a shark. Here is her story of what happened and how she is doing.

Ms. Hamilton was a surfer in training to be the best in the world. According to her website and bios, she may have done it.

She may still do it -- she certainly has the determination.

Moreover, she has a strong faith in God: "I might not be here if I hadn't asked for God's help," she said. "I look at everything that's happened as part of God's plan for my life." A committed believer, she and her family are members of North Shore Christian Church, an evangelical church in Kaua'i.

From what I've read, she's back in the water and is planning on continuing to move on in professional surfing.

I'm rooting for her and look to see her winning titles in the future.

Here is a link to her support page.

Here is her sponsor (who hasn't backed off a bit).

Currently Reading: Avenger by Frederick Forsyth. Early reaction: I Like It. Reminds me of: A little bit of Proteus by Morris West.

Grievous Sinners. One final comment on the sprawling Massing article. About 2/3 of the way through, Massing ponders: "So, I wondered, what did this one-eighth-Jewish evangelical who regarded gays and lesbians as grievous sinners think Truro should do?" Actually (and I don't presume to speak for Pastor Minns) we are all grievous sinners (a point Robert Bauer made six weeks ago using exactly this language, see here).

It is not that a small group of people are sinners that's the problem. In fact, it's not even that the ECUSA has decided to downplay sexual infidelity that's the problem. As the article quotes Jeff Fedorchak, just a few sentences down, ''The core issue is not homosexuality but biblical authority." If the ECUSA has decided it can abandon the sole standard of authority (i.e., the Word of God) and just vote on whatever it thinks is right and wrong, why not just abandon all moral codes? Let everyone do what is right in their own mind and be done with it.

Epiphany I never thought I'd see this headline in the WaPo: Rejoicing in God's Presence. It's about El Dia de los Reyes Magos -- 3 Kings Day. Personally, I'd love to see this day emphasized -- the whole 12 days of Christmas emphasized -- and Santa day de-emphasized.

To my Orthodox friends -- may you have a very Merry Christmas tomorrow.

Binky Exposed! The Washington Times has a short article on some of the leading webloggers and gives us a little more information on Binky the Web Elf: he's a "priest, a man in his 30s." It's good to see the mighty CANN empire get a little recognition -- it's the best out there.

About The Picture. One more thing: about the picture that the NYT used to accompany the article -- did anyone find it curious?

What I noticed was (1) how empty it was, and (2) how stark it was.

The picture shows Truro Church from the outside after a Sunday morning service, but almost no one has left the Church yet. We see Martyn at the main door and Rev. Marshall Brown is briskly walking to the side door, the one with the handicap ramp. There are two young boys streaking by -- and that's it.

Black and white -- very stark.

What happened that morning was sort of diffferent. Martyn told us the NYT had asked people to congregate in the yard in front of the Church -- this normally happens as the building is old and there's no place inside to informally greet one another. However, because it's a large congregation, folks leave through three main doors. We normally use the ramp because my wife has very bad knees and can't walk up and down stairs. This day, there were people there from the NYT asking us to not use the side doors and to all go out the main door. As a result, there was no one outside when they started taking the pictures. Yet it was a beautiful day -- clear cool skies -- and folks were dressed for Christmas.

I guess warm pictures of an economically and ethnically diverse congregation would just blow the minds of the average NYT reader? Or am I too touchy?

At Halftime -- I'm still not convinced that either team could beat USC. Moreover, I'm persuaded that the best two teams in the country are probably USC and LSU. I also think Michigan would match up better with OU and could be the 3rd best team in the nation. We'll see what happens.

Lee, Minns, and Massing. Michael Massing's lengthy NYT Magazine article, Bishop Lee's Choice, is really more an article about Lee, Canon Martyn Minns and Massing's own biases.

It is, for the most part, a fair article, but what is revealed is the NYTimes mindset of the writer. On one side we find: those with "a literalist interpretation of the Bible," "loud," "dissidents," "military officers, defense contractors and intelligence analysts," a ''theological lynch mob,'' people with a "sharp-edged political agenda,"and "the side of the past." On the other "the lesbian daughter of a fundamentalist preacher who . . . joined the Episcopal Church because 'it's the only one that lets gay people grow spiritually without requiring that they stop being gay,''' "moderate," "faithful churchgoers," "the side of the future."

Hmmm.

It goes on from there...

Massing writes

All Saints', together with the Falls Church, Church of the Apostles and Truro Church, constitute a bloc of evangelical churches that have led the charge against Peter Lee. For months their rectors have been talking with the bishop, trying to hammer out a deal that would allow for alternative oversight while leaving broad authority in the hands of the diocese. Leading these discussions has been Martyn Minns, the rector of Truro. To see how the resistance looked from the inside, I arranged to visit him. I was surprised at what I found.

Massing continues:

On matters of morality, [Truro Church] is among the staunchest. Its congregation includes many Republican activists -- people like Diane Knippers, the president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, which works to expose what it considers the liberal excesses of mainline Protestantism.

It is not clear whether the writer has actually spoken with this so-called Republican activist -- if so, he would again find himself surprised. She is not a cardboard stereotype -- I think he'd be surprised that her primary passion isn't taking on the "liberal excesses of mainline Protestantism" so much as it is for ministries such as Five Talents which she was very instrumental in establishing. [Also, it should be noted that the primary opposition to the liberal elite isn't the political or partisan as much as it ends up being a complete waste of resources and an advancement of the oppressors, such as you see in Cuba and saw in Nicaragua in the 1980's.] Massing should have spoken with Mr. Diane Knippers -- Ed, a wonderful painter, whose paintings of grotesque nudes would be welcome in most post-modern Episcopal churches. See more here. (About these paintings -- think Flannery O'Connor.)

Later in the article, Massing confesses: "I was having a hard time fitting Minns's various parts together, and I told him so. "

Massing meets with a group of five persons at Truro (none was me, as evidenced by this comment "Clean-cut and articulate, the group...") and concludes "Truro seemed far more divided than its public face would suggest. " Umm, yes and no. Truro is made up of individuals, not a Stepford-wives type congregation led by a Svengali; I have not ever sensed a hostility toward gays that the NYTimes evidently expects. This is not your typical "fundamentalist" book-burning church that they were hoping to find -- of course, I believe most "fundamentalist" churches would surprise most NYTimes readers, if they every got to know the members.


One of the good points of the article is that it sets forth the reasons for Peter Lee's decision and in particular the fact that what he first told us was an outright lie.

Based on these two interviews, Massing concludes: "It's a strange paradox: Martyn Minns, the insistent evangelist, is seeking compromise, while Peter Lee, the pragmatic fence sitter, is standing on principle." Yet, is Lee standing on principle? If he really believes the revisionist gospel he preaches, why does he deny equal rights (or rites) to the gay Episcopalians living in Virginia?

While Massing gives Lee the last word -- with a hopeful epitaph, "I like to think that down the road I'll be remembered as a bishop who did the right thing, who brought the diocese through a difficult time and who helped find a way to let people live together with their differences.''

I believe Lee will be remembered as a man who, in a time of trial, abandoned the guidance offered by the Word of God and ripped a huge hole in a sinking Episcopal Church.

More: Rod McFadden, in the comments below, notes

The real news here is Bp Lee's assertion that 30 years from now, no one will care.

It might be that he meant that 30 years from now, no one will be Episcopalian, but I don't think so.

This is an excellent observation.

Lee in the Times. The lengthy, should I say "sprawling" NY Times article about Peter James Lee, the apostate Bishop of Virginia and the reaction of the Diocese has been published. I'm sure I'll have more reaction later, but one of my first problems with it emerges in a context not related to the Episcopal Church or Christianity. The article betrays a fundamental flaw when it characterizes the suburbs of Washington DC in Virginia as "high-tech, sprawl-ridden, conservative suburbs southwest of Washington." Go tell that to the rest of Virginia which sees these same suburbs as the liberal blight upon the Virginia body politic.

Favorite Books, 2003. I had hoped to keep a list of books I'd read during the past year, because I'm sure in doing a note like this I'm sure I've overlooked something. But maybe, if I have to go looking for something, it wasn't that memorable to begin with.

The book I just finished reading turned out to be pretty good: The Face by Dean Koontz. The first 100-200 pages, I didn't like it -- it didn't fit any types -- it wasn't a ghost story -- it wasn't a detective story, but it had elements of both. Once we finally got around to looking at the antagonist, an MLA type guy, it got interesting. And the ending addressed larger questions -- like I said, interesting.

But not my favorite book.

Favorite fiction was Jasper Fforde's Lost In A Good Book. No deeper questions here -- just good fun, science fiction and very heavy literary allusions (but not so heavy so as to lose this non-Lit major). This is really a laugh out-loud book. Nevertheless, it is imperative that you start, if you have not done so, by reading The Eyre Affair first. This will introduce you to the heroine, Thursday Next, and the villain, Acheron Hades. Not to mention Goliath Corp., The Socialist Republic of Wales, Jack Schitt, The Crimean War (still going strong after 130 years), and the ChronoGuard. (Did I mention everything takes place in an alternate universe?)

Favorite Non-Fiction was probably Paul Johnson's The Renaissance: A Short History. I really like Johnson's insights, even when I disagree. His book Modern Times is probably the best overview of the 20th Century (and one I hope he again updates). In reviewing Art: A New History, David Gelernter offers comments that are appropriate for this book as well:

[Th]is not so much a book as a sparring partner. It is a chronological, comprehensive narrative, brilliant and cranky by turns. Brilliance predominates, but if you intend to read Johnson seriously (as he must be read), bring boxing gloves.

Johnson’s History is extraordinary in part because his eye is sharp, his prose is dangerous to opponents, and his book is formidable in every way—starting with the fact that it weighs a ton. More important, Johnson is no mere professional art-writer. He is a wide-ranging, deep-digging thinker and scholar whose books on history, religion, and culture are classics in their own time. Johnson disdains the ever-tinier subfields bequeathed by thesis advisers to their academic offspring. (A typical academic specialty today is barely wide enough to turn around in.) He disdains politicized, "postmodern" scholarship. He understands art’s place on the map of human thought, its historical and intellectual context. And Johnson writes about art from the best possible vantage point: he is a painter himself.

Almost all of this applies to The Renaissance, except it is very short, indeed, it can be read in one sitting. It should also be noted that Johnson spends a good portion of this small book on Art, perhaps because he was writing that other one as well. (BTW, I do have the other one, but I don't think I'm going to be reading it anytime soon -- and certainly not in one sitting.)

Criticisms of Johnson's Art here and here.

Temporary Fix. For those of you looking for a temporary fix on the CANN London pages, check this. Hopefully, the elves will be back in full force soon and the unrelenting attacks will, well, relent.

No Doubt. USC is the Number One team in the country.

Spot On The transcript of the SNL skit whereby "Al Gore" explains his endorsement of "Howard Dean" has been posted. It's a riot.

"...but come on, Al Gore endorsing your campaign? Isn't this a little like Star Jones endorsing your diet plan?"
- "Chris Matthews" (Darrell Hammond)

Ingham Exposed. Finally, the unconscionable action of shutting down a church four days prior to Christmas is getting some media attention in the US. In the Washington Times, of course.

Personally, I think excommunication is too lenient a punishment for Michael Ingham.

So is burning at the stake -- that's what they did to Polycarp and Cranmer.

Drawing and quartering?

tEST

Change. There will be a, um, slight change taking place in the days ahead. The editorship of the Blithering Idiot will be transferred over to my, um, brother (yeah, that's the ticket), Václav Patrik Šulik. Other than this, you shouldn't notice any difference.

Same idiotic blithering.

What Was Chane Thinking? Chris Johnson reported on this sermon by Washington, DC's Bishop, the Right Rev. John Bryson Chane. Normally, this would be known as a Christmas sermon, but it is not clear that the Right Rev believes in Christmas (-- or, should I say, the Incarnation, because he may believe in a Macy's version of Christmas complete with Santa and Rudoph). You see, in this sermon, he reaffirms the "holiness" of the Islamic scriptures:

And what was God thinking... when the Angel Gabriel was sent by God to reveal the sacred Quran to the prophet Muhammad?
. . . was the Angel Gabriel who appears as the named messenger of God in the Jewish Old Testament, the Christian New Testament Gospels, and the Quran of Islam, really the same miraculous messenger of God who proclaimed to a then emerging religious, global community and to us this morning that we are ALL children of the living God? And as such we are called to acknowledge that as Christians, Jews and Muslims we share a common God and the same divine messenger. (emphasis added)

Personally, I think the Rite Rev just needs more cowbell. A lot more cowbell.

Another View. Here are my mom's comments on the first flight centennial:

December 18, 2003

Time to give you my impressions of the 100 year First Flight celebration. This event lasted five days and everyone who attended talked about how well organized and terrific it was. I agree, the planning that went into the event was careful, thorough and detailed enough to keep everything flowing smoothly. I believe that scientists and engineers spent ten years developing and building the "Wright Flyer" to the same specifications as the original craft. As you know Will, Debbie and the kids came for the event as well as Kathy with dog and cat.

We all got up early on December 17, the big day, to eat breakfast and go to the Marketplace where we would catch a bus to the Monument Grounds. We were on the bus by 8:35. The sky looked a little threatening but by the time we arrived at our destination the sky was no longer threatening. All resemblance of a threat was gone--the skies opened and the ocean poured forth. Rain was horrific! We all had our raincoats and umbrellas, and we trudged off the bus quickly opening our umbrellas and thrusting the little spike points into one another's eyes. The rain flowed off our umbrellas into the little ones eyes, back of their necks etc. No one complained---we all joked with each other and with strangers laughing and chatting. There were approximately 2000 people waiting to go through security into the park grounds to join the many thousands already there. The rain flowed downward in buckets, no one complained.

We spent approximately 35 minutes going through security. No one complained, though we didn't joke quite as much with each other. I had charge of Sarah, I clutched her small hand in mine, poked her with my umbrella, and clenched our precious tickets for admission to the event---no one complained.

Finally we got through security just as President Bush was finishing his opening remarks. Not sure where he was located on the field---rain too hard to see anything although there was a drive in movie size television screen up with his picture on it making his speech---course we could not hear it. No one complained. We pushed our way forward to get closer to the large TV screen so we could hear Pres Bush's remarks. We edged close enough to hear his final "God Bless America" over the loudspeaker. We could not see him but we were happy. No one complained.

Suddenly the rain turned to a drizzle. We were really happy! We got close to the barricaded field in the middle of the park area where we were told Bush's cavalcade of cars would soon be coming by to take him to the Presidential helicopter where he would board to go back to Air Force one. Suddenly the rain stopped, we put down our umbrellas and the jeeps starting coming through the mud with President Bush on board. He went right in front of us and we all saw him in his car giving a thumbs up sign to the crowd. Now we were really happy! Actually, it was a thrill to realize this is our President who came to this muddy field to pay homage to two humble bicycle builders from Dayton, Ohio who changed the world. Even little Emilie, 2 1/2, said "I saw him give thumbs up" holding her little thumb up. We were happy. No one complained. We watched the helicopter with President Bush take off followed by a second helicopter.

At this point there was some hope that the Wright Flyer would be able to make its attempt at duplicating the original flight. In order to see this event since the people were ten deep in front of us we decided that we needed to cross the field and climb the hill by the monument to see the area where the Flyer would make its attempt. This was not a great distance--maybe 500 yards or so but the rain which had returned made the field a sea of water and mud. We crossed. We sank into mud over the tops of our shoes, clinging mud that wanted to retain possession of our shoes, yucky, sucky mud, slippery mud. We crossed carefully trying to stay together as a group. No one complained. After a 25 minute hike we reached our destination---the hill. We climbed half way up the hill and joined the thousands of other people with our eyes glued on the field and the large TV waiting for the Event. John Travolta was speaking on the giant TV. We were excited. We were waiting for the Event. Then it was announced that there was not enough wind---they would try again at 2:00. We were disappointed. We did not complain. John Travolta said he would fly a 707 over the Monument himself at 1:00. Then we were told to look toward the monument for a special surprise. We did. The Stealth bomber came quietly up and flew over our heads. We felt awe, we felt pride! We were glad it was our plane! We did not complain. The rain came down. There was a twelve second pause at 10:35; the time and length of the first flight. We were proud and happy to be on those grounds at that time and happy to be Americans living in the greatest country in the world. We did not complain!

We went to see the NASA exhibits. Awesome! We were thrilled to know that our tax dollars are being used so wisely. We wished Pres. Bush had used the occasion to announce that the United States would begin manned space exploration of Mars. But we did not complain that he didn't. The rains started again. We were cold, we were wet clear through, there were huge lines at the food concessions. It was twelve-fifteen. There was no wind necessary for the flight to occur. We did not complain------but we returned home! An attempt will be made again next December 17 to fly the "Wright Flyer." We'll be there! We will not complain!

(Now, if you have read this long message do not complain to me! I am busy looking outside at the beatiful sunshine and wind perfect for the Flyer to do it's thing---I wonder if Ohio had anything to do with the bad weather in North Carolina on December 17?!)

Who's Running the Asylum? In January 2003, SI had a cover story asking if anyone could beat the Raiders -- of course, we all know that (nearly) anyone could (the exception being the flukey Vikings who can't beat a team on grass to save their [playoff] lives). According to ESPN, the suspension of Charles Woodson and Charlie Garner led to a "near mutiny" before the Charger game. Raider coach Bill Callahan is a dead man walking, which is a shame, because we did have a good run prior to the last Super Bowl.

Never has a team fallen so far.

Coaching candidates? Dennis Green or Art Shell?

What is Globalization...?. The following e-mail was forwarded to me by my mother.

Question: What is the truest definition of Globalization?

Answer: Princess Diana's death.

Question: How come?

Answer:

An English princess

with an Egyptian boyfriend

crashes in a French tunnel,

driving a German car

with a Dutch engine,

driven by a Belgian who was drunk

on Scottish whisky, (check the bottle before you change the spelling)

followed closely by Italian Paparazzi,

on Japanese motorcycles;

treated by an American doctor,

using Brazilian medicines.


This is sent to you by an American,

using Bill Gates's technology,

and you're probably reading this on your computer,

that uses Taiwanese chips,

and a Korean monitor,

assembled by Bangladeshi workers

in a Singapore plant,

transported by Indian truck drivers,

hijacked by Indonesians,

unloaded by Sicilian longshoremen,

and trucked to you by Mexican illegals.....

That, my friends, is Globalization

Cute, although, I'm not sure everything is correct -- for example, the WaPo, indicates that the driver of the car was French, not from Belgium; was the doctor American? I don't see any evidence, but I'm not really spending any time on this.

Surprise (not). Tom Leonard, Media Editor of the Telegraph (U.K.) writes that Lord Dubs, British Laborite and chair of the chairman of the Broadcasting Standards Commission, observes "Christianity is an easier and more acceptable target followed, to a lesser extent, by Jews and Hindus."

2003: Best Movies. My favorite movies of 2003, in descending order:

1. LOTR: Return of the King.
2. Finding Nemo
3. Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
4. Second Hand Lions
5. Seabiscuit
6. Bend it Like Beckham

Honorable Mention: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl; Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.

Side note: See this webpage for a easy to use database of grosses for the year, which allowed me to make sure I didn't miss anything.