THE "PLAYAS"

I am relatively new to the world of blogging. I am very new to the world of "lets see how many people we can hate, disenfranchise and otherwise despise" and I am disappointed to know that many of these people are learned individuals who unfortunately appear to be out to get something for themselves.

One of the many things I have learned over my lifetime is to find out who is playing since those people that like to play tend to bring their own set of strengths, weaknesses and biases to the game. In essence, it helps to explain when and how things are going when one understands who is playing. It helps to have a scorecard.

So, in the interest of filling out everyone’s scorecard here are a few names. What I would appreciate from all of you is filling in the gaps so that if you need to add a name please do. If you can give some background on one or more of these individuals please do. It is hard to hide when you are standing in the light of day!

In the first tier, these are the “playas”. These are looking for the pointed little hat that the guy in Rome wears. The immortals.



The Most Rev Peter Akinola, Primate of Nigeria
The Most Rev Gregory Venables, Primate of The Southern Cone
The Most Rev Emmanuel Kolini, Primate of Rwanda
The Most Rev Valentino Mokiwa, Primate of Tanzania
The Most Rev Benjamin Nzmibi, Primate of Kenya
The Most Rev Henry Orombi, Primate of Uganda
The Most Rev Peter Jensen, Archbishop of Sydney, Australia


In the second tier, those that have got theirs and are looking for a little more:

The Rt. Rev’d Bill Atwood, Anglican Church of Kenya
The Rt. Rev’d John Guernsey, Anglican Church of Uganda
The Rt. Rev’d Don Harvey, Anglican Province of the Southern Cone
The Rt. Rev’d Martyn Minns, Church of Nigeria (CANA)
The Rt. Rev’d Chuck Murphy, Anglican Church of Rwanda
Mr. John David Schofield, Anglican Church of Southern Cone
The Rt. Rev’d John Iker, Episcopal Diocese of Forth Worth, TX
The Rt. Rev’d Robert Duncan, Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, PA
The Rt. Rev’d John Howe, Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida

In the third tier, the bottom feeders:

The Rev’d Canon Neal Michell
Diocese of Dallas
The Rev’d George Willcox Brown III
Diocese of Dallas
The Rev’d Anthony F. M. Clavier
Diocese of Northern Indiana
The Rev’d Daniel K. Dunlap
Diocese of Texas
The Rev’d Joseph B. Howard
Diocese of Tennessee
The Rev’d Nathan J.A. Humphrey
Diocese of Washington
The Rev’d Richard Kew
Diocese of Tennessee
The Rev’d Canon Dr. Graham Kings
Vicar, St. Mary’s Islington (Church of England)
The Rev’d Daniel H. Martins
Diocese of Northern Indiana
The Rev’d Dorsey McConnell
Diocese of Massachusetts
The Very Rev’d Dr. Jean McCurdy Meade
Diocese of Louisiana
The Rev’d Matthew S. C. Olver
Diocese of Dallas
The Rev’d Dr. Ephraim Radner
Diocese of Colorado
The Rev’d Bruce M. Robison
Diocese of Pittsburgh
Mr. Dale A. Rye
Diocese of Texas
Mr. Dave Sims
Diocese of Dallas
Mr. Craig Uffman
Diocese of Northern Indiana
Mr. Christopher Wells
Diocese of Northern Indiana

Once again, with these names in place please help by adding names and by adding what you know about the person's background. (It is interesting to note that there is not a woman among them). Once we have a bunch on information in place I will sort it out and bring it back in some semblance of order so we all can understand what is going on – at least in part.

Next week we will begin the work on those who can/will work to restore the Episcopal Church and its place in the Church militant.

Remember the following lines from a prior post. I believe this is a driving force:

You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own God... and where can you go from there?

God's trying to tell you something...

It's gospel choir Sunday with the movie cast of The Color Purple. Love and reconciliation is the theme -it has a good beat, and you can dance to it.

Religion and Politics

No, I'm not talking about religion in the political arena, but on the stage of life. Were you taught that it wasn't polite to talk about religion and politics in social situations?

As a Washingtonian of the native variety, my parents never did pretend you shouldn't talk about politics. Religion couldn't be avoided, either - my neighbors came from too many faith traditions, and kids always have questions. They did try to teach us that we wouldn't be so free to speak our minds in other parts of the country, however. But it's still an invitation to wrangle in my book if someone states views in a dismissive way - assuming I know something about the topic.

We all now people who have views on the other end of the "shades of grey" scale that we love and respect. When religion and politics a debated without rancor, it brings other people into the conversation. Everyone learns something, and some really amazing things happen sometimes.

One of the best discussions I have had in the last year about religion was after a Redskins game in a very un-toney sports bar. All of a sudden a casual conversation between two people became a group. No one was preaching - but people were sharing their ideas. It never would have happened if I was afraid to talk about religion.

Do you have a similar story to tell? The Spirit moves around in all sorts of places, at the most unusual times. And helps us talk about politics and religion, and religion in politics, and everything in between.

And if we don't talk about these things with people, the only ones who are talking are the ones who are yelling - and not listening.

What Do You Think is Evil?

Last week there was a political soiree behind the "Orange Curtain". A lot has been written about the event. The fact that Obama was "vote catching" in an arena that was neither the time nor the place has been pointed out in a number of places. One question did intrigue me and I began to think. For some one of my advanced age that is dangerous, as you are about to find out.

I find a movie that is very high on my list is The Devil's Advocate. The movie stars Al Pacino as John Milton (devil) and Keaneau Reeves as the unsuspecting son of Al Pacino and the unwitting lead. I encourage everyone to watch this movie but do it with your heart and soul turned on -- and for you **TJ folks hang in there until the end of the movie -- that is necessary.

This movie deals with the question of evil, pure, unadulterated evil. These few comments from John Milton reflect on our times.

John Milton: Vanity, definitely my favorite sin.

Kevin Lomax: "Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven", is that it?

Kevin Lomax: What about love?
John Milton: Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate.

Evil is permitting people to be kidnapped and held for months and years in your own country and not lifting a finger to help them because one is so busy at the border of Jordan trying to get into a conference to hate more people.

Evil is not doing anything to correct the thousands of young boys kidnapped and forced into waging war against others. Evil is not helping these youngsters as they crowd into your cities hungry and tired and frightened at night to avoid this plight.

Evil is not speaking out against "soldiers" who rape because it is their "right".

Evil is not speaking out against those who would wrap barb wire around some person and hang him from fencing in the middle of nowhere because of his sexual orientation. Or chasing some one into a back alley and beating that person with a baseball bat to death.

Evil is not welcoming everyone into a house of worship because of the color of their skin, or the lack of money, or their sexual orientation. Evil is not receiving communion with someone who does believe that everyone should be allowed in.

Evil is forcing some young woman to seek a back alley quack that will cut her to ribbons for a few hundred dollars.

Evil is forcing a teenager to leave her baby on a levee because "her religion" will ostracize her for her sexual activity.

Evil is the mistaken idea that one has to trade persons of the "wrong" sexual orientation for growing a church community.

John Milton: Are we negotiating?
Kevin Lomax: Always.

Evil is not recognizing that each one of us is created in God's image and is entitled by the creator to certain inalienable rights.

John Milton: Free will, it is a bitch.

Evil is refusing to allow people to exercise that greatest gift God gave to mankind --the power to choose.

John Milton: You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire; you build egos the size of cathedrals; fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse; grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green, gold-plated fantasies, until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own God... and where can you go from there?

Evil is following those who have insatiable appetites for money and power and hiding behind the Bible to do it.

Is there evil in this world? Let me know what you think.

A GENUINE DEMOCRATIC HERO

Sometimes, a person enters a stage and for just a few moments commands the attention of the world. A person who in the waning days days of 1967 and the early days of 1968fought the most powerful man in the world over the War in Vietnam. The man, the hero, is Gene McCarthy.

Dissident Democrats began looking for someone to challenge the re-election of President Lyndon B. Johnson in the Spring primaries. Many considered it, but the only high ranking Democrat willing to step forward was Senator Eugene J. McCarthy of Minnesota.

After McCarthy won 42 percent of the vote in the Democratic primary, the contest changed. On March 31, 1968, President Johnson announced that he would not run for re-election. Two days later, LBJ received only 35 percent of the votes in the Wisconsin primary, to McCarthy's 56 percent.

The political issues that ultimately surrounded the 1968 convention caused the democrats to reform the entire primary process and we "enjoy" that process even through this convention. For better of worse, each primary is now won or lost on the basis of a pro-rata share of the votes. That is the main reason why the convention is a great big party and very little real work gets done, but that is another story.

What really mattered was that Senator McCarthy, in the midst of the terrible police riots in Chicago (and it was a police riot), took the hurt and wounded people (students mostly) into his campaign headquarters and ministered to them. He practiced the gospel message -- he was the man that rose above history -- and now is but another footnote not unlike Shirley Chisolm and Barbara Jordan.

Happy Birthday, Leonardo Ricardo

Well, the 'Net is rocking - it's Leonardo Ricardo's 29th birthday (again!) The volcanoes are rumbling...the Beatles are singing You Say it's Your Birthday...and we have a fabulous flourless chocolate cake for him.

"Pressed" Chocolate Soufflé Cake

7 oz. extra-bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small pieces
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

sweetened whipped cream
fresh raspberries

Position oven rack to the lowest third of oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 10-inch diameter springform pan with 3-inch high sides.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler, then stir mixture until smooth. Transfer to a medium-sized bowl and cool slightly. Lightly beat egg yolks with a fork in a small bowl, then whisk into chocolate mixture. Add the vanilla, then sugar, and sift in the cocoa powder. Whisk to blend all ingredients.

Beat the egg whites with salt to soft peaks. Fold one-third of the chocolate mixture into whites to lighten, then gently fold in remainder. Pour batter into the prepared pan; bake about 30 minutes. (The sides of cake should be set, but the center still moist).

Remove cake from oven and set on a cooling rack. Loosen the sides of the pan but do not remove. Top cake with a smooth dinner plate (or pan lid, etc. that fits into form), and gently press down to deflate the cake. Remove the plate and pan sides. Cool completely.

Serve with sweetened whipped cream and fresh raspberries, or ice cream. Insert a birthday candle in Leonardo's piece - but if he isn't around you get to eat it for him.

A DEMOCRATIC LEADER

We have had a request for a little history review during this week of the Democratic National Convention. Most of us know the big names like Kennedy, Johnson, Truman, McGovern and others. But let's see if you recall this pioneer in Democratic politics.

Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress, was a passionate and effective advocate for the needs of minorities, women and children and has changed the nation's perception about the capabilities of women and African-Americans.

A New York City educator and child care manager, Chisholm saw the problems of the poor every day, and in the 1950s this led her to run for and win a seat in the New York State Legislature. In 1968 she was elected to Congress from the new 12th District. There she supported improved employment and education programs, expansion of day care, income support and other programs to improve inner city life and opportunity. She advocated for the end of the military draft and reduced defense spending. In 1970 she published her first book, Unbossed and Unbought. She served in Congress until 1982 and in 1972 entered several Democratic presidential primaries, receiving 151 delegate votes for the presidential nomination. Her second book, The Good Fight, was published in 1973.

Thanks to the National Women's Hall of Fame.

Here is an exerpt from here book:

In the 91st Congress, I am a sponsor of the perennial Equal Rights Amendment, which has been before every Congress for the last forty years but has never passed the House. It would outlaw any discrimination on the basis of sex. Men and women would be completely equal before the law. But laws will not solve deep-seated problems overnight. Their use is to provide shelter for those who are most abused, and to begin an evolutionary process by compelling the insensitive majority to reexamine its unconscious attitudes.

The law cannot do the major part of the job of winning equality for women. Women must do it themselves. They must become revolutionaries. Against them is arrayed the weight of centuries of tradition, from St. Paul's "Let women learn in silence" to the American adage, "A woman's place is in the home." Women have been persuaded of their own inferiority; too many of them believe the male fiction that they are emotional, illogical, unstable, inept with mechanical things, and lack leadership ability.

A couple of quotes from Ms. Chisolm:

The United States was said not to be ready to elect a Catholic to the Presidency when Al Smith ran in the 1920's. But Smith's nomination may have helped pave the way for the successful campaign John F. Kennedy waged in 1960. Who can tell? What I hope most is that now there will be others who will feel themselves as capable of running for high political office as any wealthy, good-looking white male.

• At present, our country needs women's idealism and determination, perhaps more in politics than anywhere else.


• One distressing thing is the way men react to women who assert their equality: their ultimate weapon is to call them unfeminine. They think she is anti-male; they even whisper that she's probably a lesbian.

Apparently some 36 years later we are still struggling with this concept. By the by, she was intrumental in the ERA (not earned run average) Equal Rights Amendment.