Gene Robinson, Slayer of the Episcopal Church

Hellooooo excommunication, and rest in pieces the Episcopal Church. The (in)famous Right Reverend Gene Robinson of New Hampshire has recently made a statement that might shake the Communion in America, and I'm sure the Archbishop of Nigeria isn't going to like at all.

Earlier Robinson nearly caused schism within the Episcopal Church when he openly declared he was a practicing homosexual. Unitarianesque Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori didn't help matters when she declared that this was a perfectly fine practice for bishops within the Communion. Of course, within traditional Anglicanism this is not known to be normal, and many Pastors decided they didn't want to be under the guiding wing of P.B. Katharine anymore. In turn she threatened to sue those who left. The Archbishop Peter Akinola has been a forerunner among the voice of opposition against Robinson and his position within the Church.

Michael Buerk of BBC Radio 4 has just conducted an interview with Robinson, and Robinson has declared that he and his partner will join in Civil Partnership only a few weeks before the large scale Lambeth Conference:

Church of England Newspaper: Civil partnership for Gene Robinson
by Ed Beaven

The Bishop of New Hampshire, the Rt Rev V Gene Robinson, is to enter into a Civil Partnership with his long-term partner just weeks before next year’s Lambeth Conference. The openly gay cleric, whose consecration as Bishop of New Hampshire in 2003 caused outrage among traditionalist wings of the Anglican Communion and has placed the Church on the brink of schism, unveiled his intention during an interview to be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 next week, in a programme entitled the Choice. Interviewed by Michael Buerk, Bishop Robinson denied the plan to hold the ceremony next June had been chosen to be deliberately provocative.

He said: “The decision to take advantage of the new law that will come into effect in New Hampshire on January 1 is simply our taking advantage of the kinds of rights which are now being made open to gay and lesbian people in New Hampshire. “I am certainly not doing that to rub salt into anyone’s wounds, but no one should expect me to penalise me and my partner when these rights are being offered. “We were looking for a three-day weekend which would allow people to travel more easily, and that happened to be the fifth anniversary of my election as the Bishop of New Hampshire and thought that would be an appropriate date. “I think the fact is my critics would find any date impermissible.”

He also tells about his love for the Anglican Communion, but said he would never stand down from his role as it would be going against God’s call on his life. He said: “I love the Anglican Church and I value the Communion and I will do everything short of standing down to benefit the Communion.

“But I will not reject God’s call to me. If I were to disappear tomorrow does anyone think these questions are to go away either for the Episcopal Church or the Anglican Communion? I don’t think so.”

When asked about his thoughts on how his consecration as Bishop had placed the Church on the road to schism, Bishop Robinson admitted that the Episcopal Church may have got it wrong. He said: “This was not just my doing this was an entire community’s doing, and that community tried its very best to discern the will of God, and we may be wrong, I am ready to admit to you that I cannot be sure that this is the right thing or the right time or the right way.

“I believe that Peter Akinola, the Archbishop of Nigeria, one of the primary spokespeople against my election, I believe he is following his call from God as best as he can, I just wish he could believe I am following my call from God as best I can.”

The interview is on Radio 4 on Tuesday August 28 at 9am U.K. time

--This article appears on page 1 of the August 24th, 2007, edition of the Church of England Newspaper

So there you have it. The action of Robinson doesn't really surprise me. What I don't understand that if the man wants to live an openly homosexual lifestyle, complete with civil union, then why in the world become a Bishop within the Anglican Communion? There are so many other religions out there, Unitarians for one, that would welcome this man with no conflict. I don't see why Robinson would join the clergy of the Episcopal Church and then try to change what it means to be Episcopalian. The whole scenario screams of the man's agenda. Hypothetically, If I was to convert to Islam and become a Muslim Cleric I would do so because I believed what Islam taught, unless I joined with the intention of changing things to the way I think they should be within Islam. I don't see any way that Robinson can say he didn't have this kind of in mind from the beginning. If you're going to join a certain religion, at least believe what the religion believes and don't use it as some sort of war machine for your personal agenda.

Red Bull finally is proven dangerous to idiots.

Well, the day has finally come. Strolling through a convenience store, reading the ingredients labels of major brand energy drinks, I knew someone was going to either abuse this stuff or have it effect them in some horrible way. As a giant flare advertised “SUPER BOOST OF ENERGY AND NO COME DOWN,” I thought to myself how this oddly sounded like someone on the street telling me of a new sort of cocaine. As I read the back of a Red Bull, I tried to figure out what most of this stuff was. The ingredients are:

carbonated water, sucrose, glucose, acid (sodium citrates), taurine (0.4pc), glucuronolactone, caffeine (0.03pc), inositol, vitamins (niacinamide), pantothenic acid (B6, B12), flavours, colours (caramel, riboflavin).

Each can contains 80 milligrams of caffeine. Now I drink about two cups of coffee a day, but when I drink a Red Bull I go out of my flippin’ gourd. I can feel my body temperature rise as my mind races and my muscles gain some sort of Lance Armstrongesque endurance. An eight ounce cup of coffee has between 115-175 milligrams of caffeine in it. An espresso shot (1.5oz) usually has around 100 mg. 12 ounces of iced tea has around 70 milligrams. So as you can see, Red Bull has potentially half the amount of caffeine that a cup of coffee, and a little more than a glass of iced tea. I can’t remember the last time I drank an iced tea and felt like I could punch the head off of the Statue of Liberty.

If not the caffeine, what the heck is giving me such an insane rush? Now I know taurine is partly responsible in the muscle endurance, but this still does not explain the “buzz” and the energy boost. Don’t tell me B12 either, because I used to take B12 pills and got nowhere near what I feel from one Red Bull.

Recently, Matthew Penbross downed 8 Red Bulls in 5 hours during a motocross event. Surprisingly, HE HAD A HEART ATTACK. His heart completely stopped and had to be revived via electric shock. A doctor examined the guy and said he can find no other catalyst to induce the attack. Penbross isn’t a particularly bright guy for drinking that much Red Bull. In fact, he stated that he regularly had 4 Red Bulls every morning because he had “no time for breakfast”. Yeah, that’s it. It’s not like you wanted to feel like you were on speed or anything. Later in the article he said he drank the 8-in-5 for fast reflexes in the motocross event. Oh yeah, and for a buzz.

Still, the question remains: what the heck are these companies putting in these energy drinks that would make someone’s heart stop? Especially someone so regularly consuming these drinks? One would think that his tolerance level would have protected him. Maybe, to some extent, it did. I’d hate to see what would happen to me if I slammed back 8 Red Bulls. The hidden mystery ingredient not required by the FDA to be listed is still unnamed, but hopefully you’ll think twice if you really need such energy before drinking any of that crap.

Fase at Planet Prozess and Why Only North America Hates Graffiti

Check out this awesome projection production by Fase at Planet Prozess in Berlin:



Planet Prozess is a huge street art exhibition held in Berlin. Hundreds of artists show up to collaborate and display their artistic talents. I admire street artists because it seems like they're always doing something new and original, like the piece above. Street art is great because of the incorporation of so many elements, and then the destruction of the barrier that separates artist from onlooker by utilizing everyday buildings and surroundings. Banksy is making millions of dollars doing stencil graffiti, and his pieces are actually protected by the British government. Banksy is arguably the next Andy Warhol. But would his graffiti be welcomed on American walls?

Overseas in such places as Germany, Spain, and the U.K. graffiti is looked at a bit differently than the general consensus here in North America. Large scale open exhibitions where the continent's greatest graffiti artist come together to celebrate and share their art are often held and attended. While the overseas nation's governments still view graffiti as vandalism and a detrimental to society, the public and critics alike often maintain the view that well done graffiti is indeed art. Thankfully this is even happening in America, as the Brooklyn Museum has hosted a graffiti artist gallery in the past. Is this the beginning of a reformation for the world of United States graffiti, or will artists still be doomed to see their masterpieces buffed to oblivion?

I believe if graffiti is going to be considered art by the American public, then it obviously needs to be artfully done. Bombing an entire train may get you street cred, but it's not going to earn you culture cred. So to all you aerosol/sticker/ink artists out there, keep it tasteful and always push yourself as an artist.

Facebook your unborn children!

My wife is a Facebook fanatic. Her favorite pastime is lying in bed with the laptop, scanning through piles of profiles. Once in awhile I'll get called away from chopping up graffiti stencils or some other inane project to be shown which former classmate "MUST have gotten a boob job," or to see "how many times some loser has posted a comment on Suchandsuch's picture," or asked if I know "this weird guy trying to add me as a friend." I have to admit, it's a crazy adventure. I even have my own Facebook, and enjoy scanning through my friend's moods to see that they "are so HAPPY right now!" or, on the flip side, "not their usual smiling self."* It's like telepathy, really.

A recent article I read on Reuters is about an Australian couple that have set up a Facebook profile for their unborn fetus. Just think of it, thanks to Facebook your kids can bypass all the struggle and tension of making new childhood friends that you had to go through. If every expectant parent can make a profile of their unborn and update it weekly with its likes and dislikes, said child could be born into the cold world with a plethora of pre-made companions.

For likes and dislikes, you could put something like "kicks hard when I play Mozart for it, but kicks twice as hard when played Rage Against the Machine." Leave it up to your fetus' friends to decide if 'kicks twice as hard' translates into a like or dislike.

I think I'm going to go make a Facebook profile for the spider that lives on my porch. I'll put the link up for Porchspider's profile as soon as it's done, and you can read about how violently his web has twitched all day.



*Actual moods taken from Facebook

Birth of Theociraptor!

Hello and welcome to the very beginning of Theociraptor! My name is Mike Pace, and I'll be your overly-charming host. This is a spin-off blog of THEOdyssey, my first blog that I co-host with Bryan McKenzie. While THEOdyssey is strictly theology and public affairs, the content of Theociraptor will be more along the lines of popular culture, art, and of course theology (I just can't escape it).

I want this blog to be a place where serious ideas and creativity can be reflected on comfortably, without an air of pedantic scholarism that I see all too often on blogs that deal with theology and counter culture. I'll try and update this daily, as there's always something to talk about. So to tide you over until I actually add some meaty content tomorrow, here's an epic battle between African wildlife:





-Mike