The most recent 20 comments posted to Electrolite by Peg Duthie:

Perhaps Jim's friend simply got his churches muddled? There probably are some living-room fellowships near him run by eccentrics. Or maybe there's some other Red River Church he can't abide. Or maybe he had the misfortune to meet a particularly flaky or inarticulate or socially inept UU and does assume we're all crackpots (just as some folks end up demonizing all Christians as aggressively ignorant creationists because their encounters have been limited to pushy evangelists).

Anyhow, FWIW, Rev. Strong is actually one of the higher-profile ministers active in the UUA - he was one of the speakers at last year's opening ceremony for GA (at which I was present), a candidate for Interim Moderator when Diane Olson resigned (the Moderator presides over the assemblies, meetings of the national board, etc.), and a contributor to the Welcoming Congregation Manual.

FWIW, the Southwest UU District Executive isn't too concerned about Strayhorn's shenanigans. (Link via Philocrites, who was alerted to it by Steve Caldwell.)

(Clarification: By "not affiliated" I mean "not employed by, not a spokesperson for, not on the GA Planning Committee" etc. (Realized as soon as I hit "post" that my congregation belongs to the UUA, which probably counts for affiliation via membership in most books.))

CSchwally: Pretty sure it's too late to move GA - all the hotels and meeting places get booked *years* in advance, and there are huge penalties for cancellations. The UUA will end up paying for x spaces whether they're used or not (I can't remember if Boston eventually broke even, but IIRC things were really looking bad for a while budget-wise because the hotel contracts were signed long before 9/11 - by the time GA came around, registration was WAY lower than they had anticipated).

Another angle to consider: showing up will be an opportunity to provide support for the UUs and other religious liberals down there.

(Disclosures: Not affiliated with the UUA, but born in Lubbock and now resident in Tennessee, where I get to be embarassed about Bill Frist instead.)

Given the exorbitant rates they're still extorting for phone calls (AFAIK - I've been using access codes for years), do they have to figure it out?

Electrolitage in one hand, an Electrolatte in the other...

Chirked me right up, the part about the award. (I used to participate on rec.arts.books.sf years ago, and whenever I saw your posts listed I'd think, "Oh excellent, Patrick's here." Even if you were just taming the wild speculation about Robert Jordan's schedule for the umpteenth time. *grin*) Mazel tov!

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