Magic Statistics

Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor for The Times of London, noticed this strange story in a Japanese news service.

Police have arrested and sent to prosecutors a 49-year-old doctor on suspicion of attempting to set a hospital on fire in western Tokyo, police officials said Wednesday.

Naruhiko Sakai, who runs a clinic in Ome city, allegedly poured salad oil in the vestibule of a hospital in the same city at around 1 a.m. on June 9 and tried to set it on fire.

A police officer responding to an emergency call found the suspect in the vicinity of the hospital and apprehended him, police officials said.

"A former female patient of mine is being treated at the hospital, and I got upset that her condition has been worsening,'' the police quoted the doctor as saying during questioning.

That makes so much sense.  The condition of a hospital patient is deteriorating, so the patient's ex-doctor tries to burn down the hospital, using salad oil as the incendiary agent.

Still, an important question remains unanswered.  What type of salad oil was used?

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is discouraged by the recent upsurge in violence that has killed over 600 people in less than two months.

Speaking after the death of four American soldiers and the appearance of a video message from Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden's deputy, calling for Afghans to make a stand against foreign forces, a frustrated Mr Karzai acknowledged the weakness of his Government.

More than 1,000 people, including at least 40 foreign soldiers, have been killed in Afghanistan since the turn of the year during the worst period of sustained unrest since the fall of the Taleban in November 2001. The violence is expected to worsen this summer as Nato prepares to take over the military mission to the country.

Afghan and coalition forces have in recent weeks focused on southern provinces where the Taliban appears strongest.  Mr Karzai says that sources of moral and logistical support for the terrorists must be interdicted as well.

"I strongly believe … that we must engage strategically in disarming terrorism by stopping their sources of supply of money, training, equipment and motivation," Mr. Karzai said during a press conference.

Christina Lamb, Sunday Times of London Foreign Correspondent, suggests that the West also needs to pay attention to its promises of better infrastructure and social support for the Afghan people.

[T]oday I followed some British soldiers up a dusty track, dodging the stream of green sewage, to see a school that left me completely shocked. Inside the mud-walled compound, 3700 students have no building but study squatting on the ground inside baking hot tents. There are so many that they attend in three shifts – you see when politicians boast about 6million children back at school what they don’t tell you is that most are only going for two hours a day.

Saludin Ansari School is not in some remote province but in central Kabul. Yet four and a half years after the fall of the Taliban, not only do they still have no buildings but no running water or electricity – the one toilet is a foul-smelling hole.  “They treat the children like garbage”, said Habibullah the Pashto teacher.

Remember how Bush and Blair promised that Afghans would never be forgotten again?

No wonder Kabul exploded into riots two weeks ago.
. . .
I cannot think of anywhere I have been where there is such a chasm between the reality on the ground and the claims of the international community inside their heavily-guarded air-conditioned compounds.

Most residents of Kabul do not yet have running water or electricity.  Widespread government corruption doesn’t help the situation, either.

That certainly helps explain why the Taliban has been able to mount a counter-offensive.

Mark "Prince of pot" Emery says the Canadian government wants him extradited to the US, where he is charged with "selling marijuana seeds to Americans through the mail, conspiracy to manufacture pot and conspiracy to engage in money laundering".

"I'm a menace to the establishment,'' Emery said outside B.C. Supreme Court, where he'll be returning Aug. 21 to set a date for his extradition hearing.

Actually, sir, you're a menace to mental and physical health.  (That's my pale imitation of Executive Assistant District Attorney Ben Stone.)

Here's the good news part:

Emery said his lawyers have told him he has a 98-per-cent chance of being extradited . . .

via Nealenews. 

Edith Humphrey gives a much-needed word of encouragement in a comment posted at titusonenine.  Her comment deserves wide circulation, I think.  She takes a look beyond the depressing sight of the Episcopal Church and focuses on the big picture of Christ's church.  (Pardon the typos since this was a comment on someone else’s blog which, as I know only too well, cannot be edited after posting.)

The debate over Arianism brought about clarity for the church with regards to the nature of Christ. Then they had the possibility of an ecumencal council to work things through, and the Creed emerged. Our divisions may prevent that, but we have greater possibilities of communication given the global realities, and we have a great and complex history behind us as the Bride of Christ. Over against the revisionism that plagues the mainline churches, we have seen remarkable things––the rediscovery of liturgy by the “free” and independent churches, a new love for the Great Tradition, the charismatic movement and Opus Dei in the Catholic church, and the rediscovery of evangelism as Orthodoxy moves out of survival mode. What new thing is the Spirit doing? We received a missive from the late Pontiff at Plano/aka Dallas, through the lips of the current Pontiff. Many of us have close ties with Roman Catholic and Orthodox friends. The current question before all of us is that of the nature of the church, the ecclesial question. As we are freed up from sticking our fingers in the dyke of dying denominations, and as mainline Protestantism self-destructs, I pray that the end will not be a Balkanization, but a comunion that seeks to be faithful and that can enter into true, honest, and loving conversation with faithful Catholic and Orthodox brothers and sisters. Let us see what the Spirit will do, and pray that unity will not come only as a reponse to extreme persecution. Ut unum sint––one in undistorted doctrine, full worship and family likeness within one church. God specializes in resurrection.

That is the most inspiring thing I've read arising from General Convention.

Edith Humphrey is currently Associate Professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.  She has served as a member of the Primate's Theological Commission, Anglican Church of Canada, and has taught at Regent College.  An excerpt from her latest book Ecstasy and Intimacy has been printed in The Anglican Planet.

The Primates of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa today issued an open letter concerning the Episcopal Church's General Convention.  Here's the whole thing.

We, the Primates of the Council of Anglican Provinces of Africa (CAPA), meeting in Kampala on 21st – 22nd June, have followed with great interest your meeting of the General Convention of the Episcopal Church USA in Columbus. We have been especially concerned by the development of your response to The Windsor Report, which has been reported to us quite extensively. This is something for which we have earnestly prayed. We are, however, saddened that the reports to date of your elections and actions suggest that you are unable to embrace the essential recommendations of the Windsor Report and the 2005 Primates Communiqué necessary for the healing of our divisions.  At the same time, we welcome the various expressions of affection for the life and work of the Anglican Communion.

We have been moved by your generosity as you have rededicated yourselves to meet the needs of the poor throughout the world, especially through your commitment to the Millennium Development Goals.

We have observed the commitment shown by your church to the full participation of people in same gender sexual relationships in civic life, church life and leadership. We have noted the many affirmations of this throughout the Convention. As you know, our Churches cannot reconcile this with the teaching on marriage set out in the Holy Scriptures and repeatedly affirmed throughout the Anglican Communion. All four Instruments of Unity in the Anglican Communion advised you against taking and continuing these commitments and actions prior to your General Convention in 2003.

At our meeting in Kampala we have committed ourselves to study very carefully all of your various actions and statements.  When we meet with other Primates from the Global South in September, we shall present our concerted pastoral and structural response.

We assure all those Scripturally faithful dioceses and congregations alienated and marginalised within your Provincial structure that we have heard their cries.

In Christ,

The Most Rev. Peter Akinola, on behalf of CAPA
Chairman, CAPA

God bless Peter Akinola.

My only quibble would be that September seems a long way off.

via American Anglican Council BlogSite

As they departed GenCon06, several bloggers posted farewell songs they thought appropriate.  Brad Drell featured "Better Way" by Jeff Black; Baby Blue chose Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (what a coincidence!); Greg Griffith of Stand Firm posted his "obligatory farewell song", The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again", complete with mp3 file.

I hope no one thinks I'm too presumptuous if I toss out a song.  My choice is much more frivolous than those weighty and foreboding songs, probably because I wasn't actually at the convention.

True story: When I heard the news that the bishops were being summoned to an extraordinary Wednesday morning meeting for a last-ditch attempt to say something—anything—relevant to the Windsor Report, a few lines from a country tune that I hadn't heard for years ran through my head.

The chorus of Vince Gill's "One More Last Chance":

Give me just a one more last chance
Before you say we're through
I know I drive you crazy baby
It's the best that I can do
We're just some good ol' boys, a-makin' noise
I ain't a-runnin' 'round on you
Give me just a one more last chance
Before you say we're through

It could be worse.  As far as I know, no one picked this one.

An excellent summary of GenCon 2006's final, messy, panic-stricken frenzied barmy wacky day from The Times of London stalwarts Ruth Gledhill and James Bone.

The Episcopal Church in America descended into chaos last night after leading bishops on both the liberal and conservative wings dissassociated [sic] themselves from a last-gasp effort to avert a schism with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Just hours after its newly elected woman head preached a sermon in praise of “our mother Jesus”, the Episcopal Church agreed to “exercise restraint” in appointing any more gay bishops after a tense day of debate and argument.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, welcomed the resolution with gratitude and what appeared to be relief, but he also made clear his reservations.
. . .
The resolution was agreed after panicked bishops summoned the rare joint session of the whole Church at its three-yearly convention. The session was held the day after the 800-strong House of Deputies resoundingly rejected the Anglican hierarchy’s demand for a moratorium on the consecration of gay bishops.

Read the whole thing.

FWIW, here's my take.

It was almost comical.  On Tuesday evening, the establishment bishops realised that they had "resoundingly rejected" their only hope of continued recognition within the worldwide Anglican Communion, smacked themselves on the forehead, said "We did what??", summoned an emergency meeting of dubious consequence for the following morning, where they proceeded to pressure recalcitrants into passing an obscure, watered-down, non-binding declaration in hopes of mollifying Global South primates.

Even before the meeting was convened, everyone knew that nothing mandatory could be decided; the allotted time for authoritative decisions had already passed.  Predictably, once the meeting was over, the liberals promptly repudiated the resolution, while the conservatives pointed out that it's inadequate to fulfill the expectations set forth in the Windsor Report.

The resolution won't fly; it hasn't a hope of even getting up on its own little feet.  It's DOA.

Cartoon via UK Spectator.

I am in awe of the dedication, hard work, and stamina—especially stamina—of the bloggers on the scene of The Episcopal Church's self-immolation General Convention 2006.  The cream of a very impressive crop was CaNN's GenCon06 blog, led by the mighty webelf hisself Binky, along with Mike, Karen B., and the help of unnamed assistants and sources.

Also in the forefront, some bloggers I've been following for a while: Kendall Harmon, Brad Drell, and the amazing Matt Kennedy, Greg Griffiths, and Sarah Hey at Stand Firm.  Other stand-outs were several Anglican bloggers new to me, whose blogs I look forward to reading in future: BabyBlue, Whitehall, and Rick at The Lobster Pot.

Kudos as well to the techelves who kept the sites available in one venue or another during very heavy traffic.

My apologies to anyone I've inadvertently omitted.  Majorly huge and hearty congratulations to all.  Thank you, thank you, thank you.  The Lord bless you and keep you and give you rest.

My favourite post from the convention was by "Live Blogger" on the morning of Sunday, 18 June.

It is the seventh day of General Convention; a day that will see the election of a new Presiding Bishop, who will be tasked with holding together a church that seems bent on pulling itself apart at the seams.

Journalists are getting bitchy and my hindquarters are beginning to get sore from sitting here so long. Looking to my left and right, I see my friends – at least they were last night – and now I just want to throttle everyone in sight. It’s not because I hate everyone here, but I need something to break up the monotony of being here all day. Bloodshed seems the only possible alternative to mind-numbing boredom here in Columbus.

As someone who detests meetings—and, as far as I'm concerned, the more, the unmerrier—I empathise totally.

Previous related post: Bloggers at Episcopal Church General Convention 2006.