SUNDAY
1
Last night, Saturday, the fog broke for about two hours and I had a chance to watch Mars. It was a strange sight. Knowing what we do about that planet. I do wonder what happened to the water and the ice that once was there? Mars suffered some kind of tragedy in the past. A huge comet? The planet has an ellicptical orbit where's Earth's is circular. The history of our Star System is almost unknown to us. In this century we will resolve most of the unanswered questions.
2
The situation in Iraq is worse than ever. 300,000 desperate walking south the Najra. The distress the civilian population is suffering is going to cause trouble fore decades to come. The United States has allowed life in Iraq to deteriorate to the point where every person child and adult has good reason to be afraid and bitter. What ever government comes it will be hobbled by enormous debt and years of struggle to create credibility. The Bush Administration knows all these things but engages in a calculated denial. Once Bush is out of office, whatever gains were made will falter as the US lurches away. The Democrats will evade any serious involvement and future Republicans will do the same.
Getting rid of Saddam Hussein was a worthy cause. Despite lies and a amateurishly method of getting things done, the potential for a better life exists. But it's obvious we are not up to the task. Afghanistan is faltering. American media warns us, but we are not listening.
Our enemies can see all too clearly that the best way to deal with us is to hunker down, wait two years and we will roll away like the tide. The United States must learn as the Romans did, either come to stay or do not come at all.
In three years Iraq will have a new dictator and he will employ every trick Saddam Hussein used. We will want stability and thus will look the other way. By 2013 Iraq will be poverty stricken and a ruthless dictatorship. Who ever runs the place will hate the US and probably be a threat to us. Boys on the street, hungry and afraid will grow up to be our enemies. If we had a tough heart we'd set up a dictator today and see to it he engages in public works and unites the nation behind his personality. A ruthless Franklin Roosevelt. Instead Iraq will get fueding religious leaders and corrupt bankers and local warlords.
More later!
David Star@Audiea.com

FRIDAY
1
Tragedy in Iraq. Another respected Cleric killed in a bombing. A hundred dead as well as a hundred wounded. Pointless slaughter all in the name of religion. The United States should offer greater protection for these important men. We will end up with all the moderates dead and the extremists running the show.
2
North Korea is saying they have an atomic bomb and they want to test it. I can imagine them launching a rocket out over the China Sea and setting the ten kiloton bomb off in the darkest night. Everyone will be angry at Kim Jung IL and his antic!
The United States created this mess by playing to Il's paranoid fantasies. GW Bush's comment about the Axis of Evil has made life nasty for everyone. I wonder if the Bush Administration understands the psychological impact of North Korea setting off Atomic Bombs?
3
Noise over Arnold Schwarzenegger interview in 1977. People have better things to do. The man was 27 at the time. He is older and wiser. I like most of what he says. The black lady that was the object of the gang bang was paid and never complained. What's the fuss?
4
The fog has cleared and we have blue skies. Tonight I'll watch Mars at the Recycle Center.
Take a look at Rachel Lucas today, excellent entries.
Have a nice weekend.
More Later
David Star@Audiea.com

1
Rachel Lucas is helping English students, I recommend you check her blog today, there's great fun there!
2
Read NY Times editorials and op ed page. Everything there is wonderful.
3
I can't feel pity for Mr. Geoghan. He was a sexual predator. I am Gay and I love men and I look at pretty boys all the time, but the idea of touching a child and crashing their sense of security or worse bringing unwanted confusion into their lives is repulsive. Ten year olds deserve to be let alone and not burdened. I detest this bull shit about kids being sexual. They have urges and desires that are unknown and not understood. Who the hell are YOU to disrupt their orderly process of growing up?
If they are 21 and breathing they are fair game. I drool over 25 year olds. But I'm 52 and look like hell. Most guys in their twenties look at me and start giggling or just walk to the other side of the room. I never do anything because I was 25 and I hated the greasy old bulls. I know the drill.
Geoghan was a ruthless thug and a cynical asshat as Rachel Lucas says who used the church and betrayed Jesus.
I do not approve jail house executions. But this one was genuine evil. You can be sure he lusted after the men in his unit and they knew it!
Rot in hell you creep!
More later
David Star@Audiea.com

TUESDAY
1
Take a look at One Hand Clapping. Dr. Sensing has a smooth review for Kevin Costner's "Open Range" Dr. Sensing is an intelligent Conservative. I respect him and regret not enough folks read him. His mind reflects rational Christianity in our times. Forget the predator windbags like Bennett and Falwell or gasbags like Robertson. The only psychopath I'm interested in is Ralph Reed, he is so sinister he is delicious.
2
Warm day in San Francisco. Lots of sun. I plan to take my dear IBM 570 and walk all over, maybe meet a new friend.
More later!
David Star@Audiea.com

MONDAY
1
Terrible story from Boston.
Here is the last sad chapter in the life of a sexual predator. I detest this man and feel no pity for him. And I equally detest the thugs who allowed his murder. I lived in Massachusetts fifteen years and I learned early that just as Mississippi has brutal instincts so does Massachusetts.
Mr. Geoghan was cruel and indifferent to the suffering and especially the humiliation he caused. He had decades to grasp the pain he caused and he never cared! Even at 60 he was grabbing kids and using his authority as a priest to do so!
The Corrections System in Massachusetts is loaded with patronage and thuggery.
Read it and weep!

BOSTON GLOBE (Reprinted without permission)
MONDAY AUG 25 2003
Geoghan was tied, beaten, officials say
Attacker struck when guard was distracted
By Thomas Farragher and Sean P. Murphy, Globe Staff, 8/25/2003
Defrocked priest John J. Geoghan was bound, gagged, strangled, and stomped
by a fellow inmate who followed the notorious child molester into a cell
Saturday afternoon while one prison guard was distracted with other
prisoners and another officer was temporarily away from the area,
according to correctional officer union officials.
The fellow inmate, Joseph L. Druce, then jumped from Geoghan's bed onto
Geoghan's chest at least twice, the officials said.
"An officer heard a noise, went over to the cell, and he saw Geoghan on
the floor, gagged and tied," said Robert W. Brouillette, business agent
for a 5,000-member corrrectional officer union. "Druce was standing on the
bunk."
Brouillette's account of the attack comes from correctional officers who
work at the Souza-Baranowski Correctional Center.
Geoghan, hands tied behind his back, was strangled with either one of his
T-shirts or a bed sheet, and beaten, Brouillette said.
Druce used one of Geoghan's shoes or sneakers to tighten the sheet or
shirt, another union official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
"He twisted the shoe to tighten the ligature around Geoghan's neck," the
official said. "It all happened in a matter of minutes."
Brouillette said six or seven guards, alerted by a commotion in the cell,
rushed to the scene but were unable to immediately open Geoghan's cell
because, he said, Druce had jammed it from inside, perhaps with a stick.
Brouillette said there is no video surveillance inside the inmates' cells.
Union officials said inmates had finished their lunch, eaten on trays in
their cells. The inmates had returned their trays to a common collection
area outside their cells, when Druce trailed Geoghan and pounced on him in
his quarters, the officials said.
One official said Druce had been closely following the unit's staffing
patterns the last three months, apparently in an effort to strike when
staffing levels were at their barest minimum. "These guys have nothing
better to do 24 hours a day than to watch what you do and how you do it,"
said Brouillette, who represents the Massachusetts Correctional Officers
Federated Union.
Union officials yesterday said they have complained about inadequate
staffing levels in the protective custody unit, which opened earlier this
year. The area where the attack took place is typically patrolled by two
correctional officers, but during Geoghan's assault, one officer was
assigned to monitor lunch activities elsewhere, one of the officials said.
The union had been seeking to have three officers on duty.
Kelly Nantel, the state Department of Correction public affairs director,
yesterday declined to give any description of the attack.
The details about the assault came as state officials struggled to explain
how a serial pedophile could have been left alone with an inmate convicted
of a "gay-bashing" murder.
Prisoner rights activists yesterday called for an independent probe into
Geoghan's strangulation death inside Massachusetts' most modern and secure
prison.
Nantel acknowledged there are 366 surveillance cameras at the
Souza-Baranowski facility, which straddles the town line between Shirley,
which is in Middlesex County, and Lancaster, which is in Worcester County.
She would not say whether Saturday's attack, or the events that led up to
it, was captured on videotape.
"There are significant video capabilities in the facility," Nantel said.
Geoghan, whose serial child molestation offenses helped to ignite the
roiling scandal in the Catholic Church, was housed in a unit away from the
prison's general population with inmates deemed not to pose a threat to
him, Nantel said.
The state is investigating how officials could have allowed Geoghan, 68,
to share the same prison space as his alleged killer -- the 37-year-old
Druce, a convicted murderer with a white supremacist past and an apparent
disdain for homosexuals. Geoghan was accused of molesting about 150
children, mostly boys.
Nantel said the correction department's policy is to keep any two inmates
with a documented history of antagonism apart, even if that means allowing
only one into the protective custody unit.
But prisoner rights leaders said Geoghan's slaying should be the focus of
an independent probe, declaring the state Department of Correction
incapable of policing itself.
"Everybody in prison knows that prisoners who have attacked children are
hated," said Joshua Rubenstein, Northeast regional director of Amnesty
International. "Mr. Geoghan was sentenced to a long jail term. He was not
sentenced to be beaten or murdered by another inmate."
Rubenstein and Leslie Walker, executive director of Massachusetts
Correctional Legal Services, said federal investigators such as the FBI or
the US attorney's office should open an investigation independent of those
begun by the DOC and Worcester District Attorney John J. Conte.
"Let's face it," said Walker. "They screwed up. This was a skinny old man
that they allowed to be murdered on their watch and in our name."
As the head of a statewide nonprofit law office for prisoners, Walker said
she visited Geoghan at Souza-Baranowski in April just after he became one
of the first inmates at the new protective custody unit there following
his transfer from the state prison in Concord.
"He was very relieved to be at Souza-Baranowski," Walker said of Geoghan.
"He told me he felt safe there."
As an inmate in the maximum security prison's protective custody unit,
Geoghan was locked alone in a cell secured by a wooden door with a window
cut into it except for the roughly three hours a day he was allowed out of
his cell. State prison regulations require correctional officers to make
rounds at least every 30 minutes.
Nantel said corrections officials are prepared to make changes in
procedures, if necessary, to protect inmates. She declined to answer
questions about why Druce and Geoghan shared a common area, other than to
say that prison officials assign all inmates who might be in danger to the
small, well-monitored unit known as protective custody where both Geoghan
and Druce were housed.
Inside protective custody, however, the inmates are in regular contact
with fellow prisoners also considered at risk, she said.
"Inmates in protective custody are not isolated from all others," the DOC
spokeswoman said. "They do get out of their cells and have contact with
others in protective custody."
Inmates in protective custody share recreational facilities, access to
telephones, and a visitor area, she said. The number of inmates they come
into contact with is vastly lower than in the general population. When
Geoghan was killed, there were 24 inmates in the protective custody unit,
compared with 1,200 in the general population.
Nantel said the Department of Correction considers the safety of inmates
on a case-by-case basis. While the nature of an inmate's offense might be
taken into consideration, there is no general rule for the security of all
inmates convicted of a particular type of crime, such as child
molestation, she said.
"We don't assess the safety of all inmates by a category of offense," she
said. "The process is to identify anyone who may be at risk and house them
where their safety can be assured. I don't want to get into a particular
offense as being more risky or more susceptible. The bottom line is the
safety of all."
A prisoner cannot be assigned to the protective custody unit simply by
requesting it, she said. "There has to be a documented history of an enemy
situation, for example, or some particular notoriety," she said.
In Druce's case, he was an admitted neo-Nazi who was in prison for a crime
that mirrored the attack on Geoghan. He strangled a 51-year-old man in
1988, after driving him to a wooded area. Police said Druce apparently
believed his victim was gay. A police officer who investigated the murder
said Druce "viewed it as a gay bashing."
Dana Smiledge of Byfield, Druce's father, has said his son has a
longstanding grudge against homosexuals, in addition to a hatred of blacks
and Jews.
The $105 million Souza-Baranowski facility opened in 1998. Prisoner rights
advocates have said that since the prison's opening there have been
persistent complaints of inmate mistreatment.
"What we have heard is that when one prisoner attacks another prisoner,
the guards do nothing," Walker said. "They stand and wait until it's
over."
Nantel, the DOC spokeswoman, dismissed that characterization of prison
disturbance protocol. "That is not the policy. The policy is to intervene
when it's safe to do so," she said.
Walker, the legal services director, said during her April visit with
Geoghan, he realized that he was a potential target in prison. "We talked
about how difficult it was for him being such a notorious client," Walker
said. "He was aware of his notoriety."
Geoghan's old assignment to Concord's protective custody unit was
considered too porous, according to James Pingeon, a lawyer with
Massachusetts Correctional Services. "There were serious security concerns
with the protective custody unit at Concord because of contact with the
general population," he said. "My sense is that the situation at
Souza-Baranowski was better."
Walker and Pingeon said Geoghan believed his food at Concord was being
fouled before it reached him. "He suffered a lot of abuse at the hands of
inmates and guards," said Pingeon.
Stuart Grassian, a Newton psychiatrist who has written about prison life,
said officials should have realized Geoghan was an obvious target for
violence and done more to prevent him from coming in contact with Druce.
"The risk to him was fairly obvious," Grassian said, noting that inmates
in all prisons maintain an aggressive social pecking order that shunts
pedophiles to the lowest rung.
Conte, the Worcester County district attorney, did not return telephone
calls yesterday. An autopsy on Geoghan is scheduled to be performed today.
A Worcester County grand jury will hear the case against Druce in
September.
Michael S. Rosenwald and Michael Rezendes of the Globe staff and Globe
correspondents John McElhenny and Ron DePasquale contributed to this
report. Thomas Farragher can be reached at farragher@globe.com.
© Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.

MORE LATER
David Star@Audiea.com

THURSDAY
1
The United States is attempting to get the UN to act on some level in Iraq. This smells like Sec. Of State Powell at the ramparts. He has been trying to find a wedge to use against Defense Sec. Rumsfeld. Powell has friends at the UN and they treat him much better than the old white worriers at the Pentagon. It is a interesting irony that Powell, a military man has to sek help and allies from a politicians club because the politicians have co copted him with the military he once was part of! The Bushies are angry at the Iraqis because they are proving to be such mean dogs and that Iraq is starting to look like the Balkans at the least. Nevermind Afghanistan is becoming a NATO bailiwick!
2
As everyone expected, the Palestinians and Israel's found a way off the road to peace. The Israel's have no interest in peace as long as they can assassinate Hamas or Islamic Jihad leaders. The Israel's are sure the Palestinians will eventually collapse and Israel will run the show on their terms.
Imperialism is not just a Euro thing.
3
Schwarzenegger is riding high as the general public turns against Davis. My guess is Bustamonte has a slight chance. But it does look as if Davis might be voted out. I'm stilll cynical about that! The situation is quite fluid.
More later
David@Audiea.com

WEDNESDAY!
1
Another week at the recycle center should start tonight. I hope things will be quiet. Last week was difficult because we had double coverage and some of the extra officers hated the place and did not want to be there! The job is about as easy as you can get. I really don't need the aggravation.
I am trying to write a book!
2
The storys covering Iraq are depressing. The people over there are suffering. GW Bush has AC and steaks! We were going to liberate them! The United States will buy a local loudmouth and set him up as President and then we will walk away and he wil be assassinated and Iraq will have a new Saddam Hussein!
3
Very pretty day in The City. Lots of sun, not too warm either!
More later!
David Star@Audiea.com

TUESDAY
I have a new computer cam. Weird fun.
1
Crazy fool blew himself up on the #2 bus in Jerusalem this evening. More fuel for the right wing nuts!
2
Un Headquarters in Baghdad blown up in a truck bombing. And this will solve what?
3
Gray Davis is toast. I think most folks will tire of the Recall soon enough and vote against it. S'Negger will get the unimportant vote but will use it as a spring board to 2006.
4
Very warm in San Francisco today.
What can I say, Summer!
More later!
David Star@Audiea.com

SUNDAY
Good article in Fridays NY Times by N.D. Kristof, concerning present US religious beliefs.
I personally think the current religious wave is a reaction to the millennium and the stress from the social changes in recent decades. It will pass in a few years. Secularism is not going to stop. If you ask serious questions you discover US religious views are shallow and lack a deep thinking process. Americans use religion much like Valium.
More later
David Star@Audiea.com

August 15, 2003
OP-ED COLUMNIST
Believe It, or Not
By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF


Today marks the Roman Catholics' Feast of the Assumption, honoring the moment that they believe God brought the Virgin Mary into Heaven. So here's a fact appropriate for the day: Americans are three times as likely to believe in the Virgin Birth of Jesus (83 percent) as in evolution (28 percent).

So this day is an opportunity to look at perhaps the most fundamental divide between America and the rest of the industrialized world: faith. Religion remains central to American life, and is getting more so, in a way that is true of no other industrialized country, with the possible exception of South Korea.

Americans believe, 58 percent to 40 percent, that it is necessary to believe in God to be moral. In contrast, other developed countries overwhelmingly believe that it is not necessary. In France, only 13 percent agree with the U.S. view. (For details on the polls cited in this column, go to www.nytimes.com/kristofresponds.)

The faith in the Virgin Birth reflects the way American Christianity is becoming less intellectual and more mystical over time. The percentage of Americans who believe in the Virgin Birth actually rose five points in the latest poll.

My grandfather was fairly typical of his generation: A devout and active Presbyterian elder, he nonetheless believed firmly in evolution and regarded the Virgin Birth as a pious legend. Those kinds of mainline Christians are vanishing, replaced by evangelicals. Since 1960, the number of Pentecostalists has increased fourfold, while the number of Episcopalians has dropped almost in half.

The result is a gulf not only between America and the rest of the industrialized world, but a growing split at home as well. One of the most poisonous divides is the one between intellectual and religious America.

Some liberals wear T-shirts declaring, "So Many Right-Wing Christians . . . So Few Lions." On the other side, there are attitudes like those on a Web site, dutyisours.com/gwbush.htm, explaining the 2000 election this way:

"God defeated armies of Philistines and others with confusion. Dimpled and hanging chads may also be because of God's intervention on those who were voting incorrectly. Why is GW Bush our president? It was God's choice."

The Virgin Mary is an interesting prism through which to examine America's emphasis on faith because most Biblical scholars regard the evidence for the Virgin Birth, and for Mary's assumption into Heaven (which was proclaimed as Catholic dogma only in 1950), as so shaky that it pretty much has to be a leap of faith. As the Catholic theologian Hans Küng puts it in "On Being a Christian," the Virgin Birth is a "collection of largely uncertain, mutually contradictory, strongly legendary" narratives, an echo of virgin birth myths that were widespread in many parts of the ancient world.

Jaroslav Pelikan, the great Yale historian and theologian, says in his book "Mary Through the Centuries" that the earliest references to Mary (like Mark's gospel, the first to be written, or Paul's letter to the Galatians) don't mention anything unusual about the conception of Jesus. The Gospels of Matthew and Luke do say Mary was a virgin, but internal evidence suggests that that part of Luke, in particular, may have been added later by someone else (it is written, for example, in a different kind of Greek than the rest of that gospel).

Yet despite the lack of scientific or historical evidence, and despite the doubts of Biblical scholars, America is so pious that not only do 91 percent of Christians say they believe in the Virgin Birth, but so do an astonishing 47 percent of U.S. non-Christians.

I'm not denigrating anyone's beliefs. And I don't pretend to know why America is so much more infused with religious faith than the rest of the world. But I do think that we're in the middle of another religious Great Awakening, and that while this may bring spiritual comfort to many, it will also mean a growing polarization within our society.

But mostly, I'm troubled by the way the great intellectual traditions of Catholic and Protestant churches alike are withering, leaving the scholarly and religious worlds increasingly antagonistic. I worry partly because of the time I've spent with self-satisfied and unquestioning mullahs and imams, for the Islamic world is in crisis today in large part because of a similar drift away from a rich intellectual tradition and toward the mystical. The heart is a wonderful organ, but so is the brain.

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company | Home | Privacy Policy | Search | Corrections | Help | Back to Top

SATURDAY!
1
The Great Blackout is over! I read the NY Times marvelous section devoted to deep coverage of the entire event. I wonder if I'm the only one on the West Coast to do so? The writing was excellent and showed that the Gray Old Lady still has the power and the glory.
I read the 911 coverage for a year and I have yet to meet a single person who has done the same.
Future history students and nostalgia fans will read all of the special sections and get the full temper and flavor of our times.
Oddly enough the lack of public interest is a healthy sign. We have become adults understanding the reality of modern life. And are able to cope with stress far better than in the past. The United States is becomin g a culture that can distinguish between the important and the frivolous. The Blackout is a immediate event but not a historical event. Great technocratic civilizations will have occasional burps. Our ability to endure them without chaos is a critical part of the process. I am pleased.
2
The Democrats may have found a way to stop the California Recall. They are telling everyone who will listen that the Recall is part of a Gingrich Republican nullification scam. The line used is that Clinton's impeachment, the 2000 election as well as the Texas reapportionment fight are all connected in a GOP plan to defeat the Liberals in the courts or in special elections. This is disingenuous at the best.
Gingrich was set to impeach Bill Clinton in 1992 before he became president. The scam was that Gingrich played on the emotions of Republicans and hustled everyone! He has never been a party loyalist as much as a self promoter! Gingrich used former speaker Jim Wrights dubious book deal (1989) to take the mans career away from him. (Most GOP were unhappy with the methods of that stunt and it setback Gingrich's aspirations a few years. His predatory instincts were a bit obvious. By 1994 Gingrich had developed some polish) He used scare tactics in Georgia to get re-elected and as the House Whip he created the bogus "Contract With America" as a hustle to get money and fame for himself. He was and is "The Music Man" The great fraud! The Democrats are tuning in on these shameless Antics.
Having failed to control Gray Davis and get his administration on track, the Democrats avoided him and now the predators have arrived. A judge in San Jose might derail the Recall. But California will still be stuck with a vindictive Davis and nothing will get done. The Dems will employ court challenges and various legal tricks as the GOP taught them and reasoned politics gets lost in the shuffle.
3
Alabama Supreme Court has the Ten commandments in their building. A Federal Judge has ordered the 5000 pound insult removed and Judge Moore says NO. So the Supreme Court has to act and the hustlers Mau Mau the rabble and we get more confrontation and vilification.
4
The 2004 elections are going to be a crude brawl as the GOP smears each emerging Democrat. But the Democrats are angry and will raise hell as well. There is genuine bitterness over Bush and his phony war and the huge deficits, tax cut, and a feeling the country is being ripped off by the white collar thieves.
"When rich people have nothing constructive to do they self destruct!"
More later! David Star@Audiea.com

WEDNESDAY!
Well at least it's not Tuesday!
1
My novel "Nor Far From Here" has reached the final draft phase. A tough, not always fun read, I will not appeal to the general public. I'm not all that concerned. I do not seek wealth on this one. The Next novel "A Love So Real" will be the crowed pleaser."
2
The Recall thing is fading as reality sets in. In a Week the California Republicans will be trashing each other and will ruin their chances. Darrell Issa, the Car Alarm King who started this noise has wandered off. The state should sue him for this mischief! Davis will find a way to stop this thing if he can, or delay it. Arnold must be aware that his glory could have a sudden death. We will see.
2
Tuesday NY Times has a wonderful Science piece on the vast number of moons found around Jupiter. This is a critical bit of info because it implies a pattern through out the universe and some moons orbiting the gas giants that are close to a star might harbor life of some form.
3
The British are having fits over BBC informant Kelly's death. The reactionary are after Blair as the public gets tired of him. There is a point to limited terms. Leaders are like TV shows, they run a few seasons and then go stale. Blair has been there long enough.
More later
David Star@Audiea.com

ARNOLD!
I support Arnold Schwarzenegger. He has class, dignity and grace. He is a decent moderate and will do just fine.
I loathe Gray Davis. He is a sadist who is titilated by seeing violent men humiliated. Who needs that!
Read the SF Chronicle archives or the LA Times archives about Davis connections to the Correctional Officers Union, pure corruption! He withholds parole to torment inmates and pander to right wing crazies. Davis had every chance and he screw up everything again and again.
I am a liberal, and I believe Schwarzenegger will be honest and seek a sensible solution to the states problems.
More later
Star@Audiea.com

TUESDAY!
Hell of a day. I'm writing the final draft of my novel. THe task demands a distinct state of mind. I can't allow anyone or anything affect me.
Below is a remarkable article from the NY Times wire services.
The Episcopal Church is setting the way for generational changes. With declining enrollment in North America and Europe, the church is attempting to find the proper language to admit Homosexuals.
The Catholics, and other Christian sects are watching closely. By 2050 all denominations will have Gays at every level and few will care. Some of the arch conservative groups will not. But you can be certain that those who do not change will eventually wither away. Modern Times and the advance of understand humanity are not going away.
More later
David Star@Audiea.com

August 5, 2003
Gay Bishop Wins in Episcopal Vote, Threatening Split
By MONICA DAVEY


INNEAPOLIS, Aug. 5 - The Episcopal Church approved the election of its
first openly gay bishop tonight, reaching the historic decision after
rejecting accusations of sexual misconduct against him that had suddenly
halted the vote on Monday.
After being called back to the floor of the House of Bishops this
afternoon, 62 of 107 diocesan bishops voted to approve the bishop-elect,
V. Gene Robinson. Moments later, more than a dozen conservative bishops,
their faces grim, marched slowly to the front of the House to denounce the
decision as an affront to church teaching that would split the worldwide
church in two.
``The bishops who stand before you are filled with sorrow,'' Bishop Robert
Duncan, of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, told the room. ``This body has
divided itself for millions of Anglican Christians around the world,
brothers and sisters who have pleaded with us to maintain the church's
traditional teaching on marriage and sexuality. With grief too deep for
words, the bishops who stand before you must reject this action.''
Bishop Duncan, one of a group of church leaders who had fought
Bishop-elect Robinson's approval for weeks, said he and his colleagues
would now call on the top leaders of the Anglican Communion - the 38
primates around the world - to intervene on the ``pastoral emergency that
has overtaken'' the Episcopal Church. ``May God have mercy on this
Church,'' he said.
But others rejoiced in the decision, praising the popular bishop-elect for
his works, and saying that the decision marked another barrier overtaken
by church leaders, another widening of the church doors.
``It's a great day for the church,'' said the Rev. Sandye Wilson, of the
Minnesota Diocese. ``This is a church which has finally understood that
men and women created in the vision of God can be the guardians of the
faith - and be gay or lesbian.''
Those who had pressed for the choice, over weeks of lobbying and days of
intense pressure at this convention of hundreds of Episcopalians, said
they were thrilled by the outcome, but also saddened by talk of a split
within the church, and the calls for help from the primates. ``I am also
mindful of the fact that our brothers and sisters are brokenhearted,'' Ms.
Wilson said, ``and I feel for them in their pain.''
Supporters say that the decision will bring new people - young ones
especially - into the church, which now has 2.3 million members in the
United States, but opponents say that just the reverse will occur: that
people will stay away from their churches this weekend, stop giving
donations, and wonder what the church has come to stand for.
As recently as noon today, church leaders here said they were uncertain
whether Bishop-elect Robinson could even be considered today - or even by
the end of the convention on Friday. Bishops had planned to make their
choice on Monday, but delayed the vote indefinitely when two accusations
were made against him late Sunday, and began to investigate.
A day later, to the surprise of many here, the investigation was over.
This afternoon, Bishop Gordon P. Scruton, who was assigned to investigate
the claims, told his fellow bishops that he had found ``no necessity to
pursue'' either complaint against Bishop-elect Robinson further.
Bishop Scruton, of the Diocese of Western Massachusetts, said that he had
interviewed David Lewis, a church member in Manchester, Vermont, who sent
an email message to bishops on Sunday night accusing Bishop-elect Robinson
of harassment during a church conference in Holyoke, Mass., in November of
1999.
When Bishop Scruton spoke to Mr. Lewis by telephone on Monday, Mr. Lewis
said he ``regretted having used the word `harassment' in his email,''
Bishop Scruton said. Mr. Lewis described two conversations with
Bishop-elect Robinson during the conference, Bishop Scruton said. Mr.
Lewis said that the Bishop-elect had touched him on the arm and upper back
during the talks, which occurred in front of other people.
Mr. Lewis said gesture struck him as too familiar, and said the incidents
``made him feel uncomfortable,'' according to Bishop Scruton. But he also
acknowledged that others might view the exchange as normal and natural,
and twice told Bishop Scruton that he did not want to pursue the matter
further, Bishop Scruton said.
Mr. Lewis said he sent his email on Sunday night - after he heard that
Bishop-elect Robinson had been approved by the House of Deputies, one of
two decision-making bodies in the Episcopal Church along with the House of
Bishops. Mr. Lewis said he ``found himself late Sunday night needing to
tell someone of his experience,'' Bishop Scruton said.
Bishop Scruton also cleared Bishop-elect Robinson of a second claim, made
late Sunday night by his opponents in the House of Bishops. Bishop Scruton
said he found that the Bishop-elect had no involvement in a website for
young, gay people, which also had links to a website that included
pornography. Bishop-elect Robinson helped found the organization, Concord
Outright, meant to help gay and lesbian teens, but Bishop Scruton said
that the bishop-elect had no involvement with it since 1998. The
organization created its website in 2002.
The investigation, which had seemed so crucial a day earlier, seemed to
have been forgotten by the time the bishops began debating Bishop-elect
Robinson before voting. The discussion was quiet and civil, and preceded
and followed by prayer. Bishops rose from their seats around round tables
to address the crowd. ``He's been tried, he's been weighed, he's been
measured,'' said Bishop Jon Bruno, of the Diocese of Los Angeles. ``On the
extreme, he has been found morally capable.''
But as they rose to speak, Bishop-elect Robinson's opponents described
what they said he would bring to the broader church: schism, pain,
confusion.
``I am absolutely committed to Jesus Christ, absolutely committed to this
church, absolutely committed to this House, absolutely committed to you,''
said Bishop Edward Little of the Diocese of Northern Indiana. But, he
said, ``If we confirm Gene Robinson as a bishop of the church, the unity
of this House will be shattered forever.''
But others say those warnings are overblown. Look at earlier
controversies, they say, which were also predicted to split the church:
the ordination of women in 1976, the ratifying of a woman bishop, Barbara
Harris, in 1989.
This evening, Ms. Harris, who has retired from the Diocese of
Massachusetts, said the church had survived, and would once more. ``I
remember well the dire predictions made at the time of my election consent
process,'' she said. ``The communion, such as it is - a loose federation
of autonomous provinces - has held.''
Those who have known David A. Lewis in Manchester, Vt., described him
today as a husband, a father, a religious scholar, a lay reader at the
local Zion Evangelical Church and a man who told the truth whenever he
spoke.
Many neighbors who tried to reconcile his accusations, via e-mail message
on Sunday, that Bishop-elect Robinson had inappropriately touched him at a
Province I convocation a couple of years ago, said they had no reason to
doubt him. Others said they could only surmise he must have felt moved to
express a private thought, even in the last possible moments of a
complicated process.
Indeed, Lou Midura, the senior warden of the Zion Episcopal Church, who
was the only one to speak officially about Mr. Lewis here today, said his
friend and fellow parishioner wanted everyone to know one thing: that his
e-mail about Bishop-elect Robinson was meant to be privately conveyed to
the governing body of the Episcopal Church, at its meeting in Minneapolis,
Minn., not debated in the secular press.
``I'm comfortable saying I know David extremely well and his character is
beyond reproach,'' said Mr. Midura, a house builder by trade, as he stood
inside the white church on Main Street, founded in 1782, as a battery of
TV news trucks were lined up in the parking lot.
``For him to say it, he must have really felt it,'' Mr. Midura said.
``He's not dumb. He's a Harvard graduate and he must have really trusted
his feelings after much thoughtful and prayerful consideration.''
As the events unfolded here over the past day - the accusations against
Bishop-elect Robinson, the delayed vote, the investigation - the mood
among the hundreds of Episcopalians meeting here was shock and confusion.
``We were numb,'' said Bishop Geralyn Wolf, of the Diocese of Rhode
Island. ``We just couldn't get over that this could happened.''
In the end, though, church leaders said the events, however chaotic, had
shown the world how this church handles accusations against members of the
clergy. ``It has laid out before the world that we take these things
seriously,'' said Bishop Mark S. Sisk, of the diocese of New York.
Others, though, were left pained by so much talk of issues of sexuality,
and not enough about other questions for the church - ministering to the
hungry, fighting the AIDS crisis in Africa, reaching out to those in
search of faith.
``To my mind, this has been too much of a distraction,'' said Ed Cahill,
an alternate from the Diocese of East Tennessee. In all the turmoil, he
said, he had a dream about a house burning down. The church's efforts to
sort out its position on homosexuality, which already has lasted years,
will probably take many more years to truly resolve, he said. As an
alternative in the House of Deputies, Mr. Cahill did not cast a vote on
the question of Bishop-elect Robinson this week. That was fortunate, he
said today, because he still has not made up his mind.


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SATURDAY
1
Rachel Lucas has a wonderful page today. Next week she is moving and graduating from college. Lucas is so natural and speaks as a sensible Texan. I savor her decency and responsible attitudes. She sees life as it is and give it a firm tenderness we all crave. She is a comfort to a lot of single readers.
2
The Gay marriage thing is tiresome. I can tell the NY Times is on a jag. They hate Bush and are always searching in the weeds for something to trip him up. The NY Times is bitter over the war in Iraq and the clumsy lies we have been told. So they go after Bush as a reactionary and bigot toward Gays. Frankly, I don't think GW Bush is a bigot. Reactionary? Well, yah, but I'm a liberal and I do react toward asshats (A Rachel Lucas Term) like Tom Delay and John Ashcroft and others. But then these fools make me laugh and in a sick way I like their predatory antics. Imagine a dignified Liberal Administration, we'd all die from boredom!
More later!
David Star@Audiea.com