We present the guide for the Acolyte Order of St. Peter at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church for three reasons: To give a historical view of acolytes in Episcopal churches in the era it was written (around 1968.) To help Anglican churches today in training their acolytes. To show how the "rich and famous" (or infamous) served …
Robert McNamara and the Hard Lessons of “The Best and the Brightest”
Robert McNamara's death beings back memories of the era when the elitist know-it-alls could do no wrong, then turned around and seriously misjudged the situation in Vietnam: McNamara was secretary of defense during the presidencies of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Baines Johnson. In that capacity he directed a U.S. military buildup in Southeast Asia …
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Sunni and Shi’a: The Deep Divide, or Why the Saudis Would Give Israel Airspace Clearance for a Nuclear Strike Against Iran
The impetus to republish this 8 July 2005 piece comes on Sunni and Shi'a Islam comes from this, in the Times: The head of Mossad, Israel’s overseas intelligence service, has assured Benjamin Netanyahu, its prime minister, that Saudi Arabia would turn a blind eye to Israeli jets flying over the kingdom during any future raid …
Youth Choir Contract, Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church
When it comes to Palm Beach, as Kendall Harmon would say, you just cannot make this stuff up... BETHEDSA-BY-THE-SEA Palm Beach, Florida 1967-1968 YOUTH CHOIR CONTRACT THIS AGREEMENT, made and entered into between the CHURCH OF BETHESDA-BY-THE-SEA, Palm Beach, Florida, and __________________________. WITNESSETH: That the Second Party named above, agrees to sing in the YOUTH …
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The Declaration of Independence: Our Foundational Document
In the early 1990's my wife and I had the pleasure of being on tour in the old Soviet Union with John Brabner-Smith, founding dean of the International School of Law at George Mason University, along with his wife Daniela. (The pleasure was being with the Brabner-Smiths; the Soviet Union was another story, but we …
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“We are not the only leaders of Christianity around the world”
This, from the Weekly Update of the Church of God Chaplains Commission, Dr. Robert Crick, Executive Director, after a trip to the church's seminary in Quito, Ecuador: When you travel to other areas of the world, in this case, to South America, you obviously get a bigger picture of not just what God is doing …
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Gildas: On the Ruin of Britain, Part IV
This is a continuation of Part III. 67. For what is so wicked and so sinful as after the example of Simon Magus (even if with other faults he had not been defiled before), for any man with earthly price to purchase the office of a bishop or priest, which with holiness and righteous life …
Tribute to the Heroes of Honduras
Americans on the Edge: The Hawaiians and Identity Politics
This piece was originally written 5 June 2006, when legislation was being considered to make ethnic Hawaiians a "protected group."Â The whole business of protected groups is very much still with us in American life and politics. Back in the early 1980's, our family business had an ongoing business relationship with the People's Republic of …
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More from Miguel Alvarez: The Untold Story: Zelaya’s Agenda for Honduras
A follow-up to his article yesterday on this subject. Overview About the people. The people would give him absolute powers over the nation. The poor are the majority and have a very poor memory. He had to inject in them a sense of hopelessness, accuse the past and democracy of evildoing. He would have to …
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