ACI's Dr. Philip Turner's case about Episcopal Presiding Bishop Kathering Jefferts Schori not knowing what she was doing was going pretty well until he said the following: When first I learned that the Presiding Bishop was not going to greet the Pope, I wondered if, because of her gender and her controversial positions on a …
A Place in Church
I was saddened to hear the following news from my home church: James "Jimmy" Heyman spent the last Sunday of his life doing what he loved best — serving God. Mr. Heyman, a longtime acolyte at The Episcopal Church of Bethesda-by-the-Sea, served as crucifer at the May 4 service. Clad in the red acolyte's robe, …
The Strange Position of Carl Hiaasen
It's hard to know where to begin in responding to Carl Hiaasen's latest rant in the Miami Herald White politicos have their own pulpit gasbags, but let me begin by making a few observations: Jeremiah Wright has certainly prospered financially off of his ministry activities, as his US$10,000,000 house will attest. (And he's done it …
Barack Obama Makes the Shiny Sheet
I guess one can say that he's arrived now that he's appeared in the Shiny Sheet's (Palm Beach Daily News) blog: I wonder whether candidates are fully aware of the depth of their followers’ devotion. Many of these folks waited in line for 2 hours — in full sun and 85-degree temperatures. Then, after passing …
Miami-Dade County and Beach Baptisms: An Update
Lifepointe Pastor Travis Johnson got to meet with Frank Faragalli of the Miami-Dade Parks and Recreation Department about their unceremonious ejection of Lifepointe's beach baptism last Sunday. This is part of Travis' account of that meeting. (You can click here for the rest.) It was a pleasant meeting that did not achieve our desired result. …
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Supressing Baptism Where It’s Needed the Most
The authorities in the land "where the animals are tame and the people run wild" (South Florida) have struck again, this time by blocking the beach baptisms of LifePointe Church in Homestead. Travis Johnson is the pastor of this church; you can see his link in the blogroll on the left. You'd think that the …
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Is Palm Beach Really the Centre of the Universe?
I know it sounds conceited, but now I have support for this idea: At Metro, M.D. Bashar, a very helpful and engaging salesman, saw me looking at a display for the magicJack, invented by Palm Beacher and telecom wiz Dan Borislow. Yet more proof that Palm Beach is still the center of the universe. My …
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When “Beauty” Isn’t Worth It
The death of West Boca Raton High School cheerleader captain Stephanie Kuleba during breat augmentation surgery strikes me as singularly sad. To start with, I went to prep school in Boca Raton, and her love for the Beatles' "Hey Jude" only takes me back to the world that inspired The Ten Weeks. My heart and …
Red Light Running Cameras: Would Crashes, Injuries and Automobile Insurance Rates Increase If They Are Used in Florida?
I usually post stuff like this on my companion site vulcanhammer.net or vulcanhammer.info, but I cannot resist this here. The abstract (summary) of this paper is below; click here to download the whole thing. Running a red light can cause severe traffic crashes especially when one vehicle runs into the side of another. Red light …
Chain Ball, Anyone?
I've mentioned the sequence of charity balls in the Palm Beach social season, but the lack of stigma in doing time in Club Fed may yet spawn another one: In an interview published in the 2/25/08 issue of The New Yorker, Auchincloss bemoaned the lack of stigma associated with jail time: He (former Sotheby’s chair …
Positive Infinity 