Episcopal Presiding Bishop hires litigator as her "special counsel" before heading off to Primates Meeting in Egypt

Ah, so while 815 cuts the MDG Goals out of the national budget and the primates meeting is underway in Egypt, Bishop Schori hires a personal litigator to help out with the mounting Episcopal Church lawsuits, apparently with a special eye on Virginia. As we all ready know, The Episcopal Church ignored calls for a cease-fire of litigation by filing an appeal of Judge Bellows' rulings before the Virginia Supreme Court today.

815 reports:

Mary E. Kostel has been named special counsel to the Presiding Bishop for property litigation and discipline, according to an announcement by the Rev. Canon Charles Robertson of the Presiding Bishop's office.

Kostel, who is also chancellor of the Diocese of Washington, has worked in similar areas of law in private practice. She has been associated with the law firms of Shea & Gardner (now Goodwin Procter) and Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering. She was previously a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Division.

She is a graduate of Princeton University and the law school of the University of Virginia, where she was editor-in-chief of the Virginia Law Review. After graduation, she served as a clerk for the U.S. District Court in Alabama, and for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Kostel is married to law school classmate Gregory DiMeglio. They live in Arlington, Virginia, with their sons, Alexander and Philip, and are members of St. Alban's Church in Washington, D.C.

Her profile has now disappeared off the Goodwin Procter website, though is still available in the Google Cache (and we note that she is a member of the Washington and Virginia Bars only, so we can guess what she's going to be up to). There's more info on the PB's new special counsel from what was once on the Goodwin Proctor website (home of You Know Who):

Mary Kostel, of counsel in the firm's Litigation Department, concentrates her practice primarily on civil litigation involving issues of products liability and toxic torts ... Ms. Kostel was an attorney at Shea & Gardner prior to its combination with Goodwin Procter in 2004. Previous to joining Shea & Gardner, Ms. Kostel was in the Communications and Electronic Commerce group at Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering, where she represented a variety of clients in federal court as well as before the Federal Communications Commission and several state public utility commissions. Before that, Ms. Kostel was a Trial Attorney in the Federal Programs Branch of the Civil Division at the U.S. Department of Justice, where she defended federal statutes against constitutional challenges, advocated federal agencies’ construction and application of complex statutory and regulatory schemes, and represented federal agencies in employment discrimination actions.

Upon graduation from law school, Ms. Kostel clerked for the Honorable Sam C. Pointer, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, and the Honorable James R. Browning of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ... At the University of Virginia School of Law, Ms. Kostel received the school’s Margaret G. Hyde award.

There's more on her activities as Bishop John Chane's chancellor in a puffy piece here.

Tip of the Tinfoil from GR.

Day Three of the Primates Meeting

From The Living Church:

A presentation by the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG) to the primates’ meeting was scheduled for two hours on Tuesday morning, but spilled over into the afternoon.

In December, the WCG met at the Diocese of West Texas’s conference center and prepared a final draft of its report to the primates. The report was given to the primates Tuesday, but placed under a media embargo until the close of the conference. The news blackout extended to the day’s press conference, where the primates’ spokesman, the Most Rev. Philip Aspinall of Australia, would say only that the archbishops discussed the report over two sessions.

Primates contacted by The Living Church declined to discuss the issues raised in the meeting, but all agreed the primates had been candid in sharing their views.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams chartered the WCG in the wake of his Advent letter to the primates in 2007. The group was asked to advise him on the “implementation of the recommendations of the Windsor Report, how best to carry forward the Windsor Process in the life of the Communion, and to consult on the ‘unfinished business’ of the report.” The six-member team offered three presentations to the bishops of the 2008 Lambeth Conference.

Read it all here. George Conger has more here.
Photos by ColinCoward and George Conger.

Anglican District of Virginia calls for an end to litigation

via e-mail:

FAIRFAX, Va. (February 3, 2009) – In response to the appeal filed today by The Episcopal Church and the Diocese of Virginia, the Anglican District of Virginia (ADV) called for an end to the two year Virginia church property litigation. Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Bellows issued his final rulings in December. The rulings were in favor of the nine ADV congregations and found that each has a legal right to their church property.

“Judge Bellows upheld the written law, correctly applied the Constitution, and was judicious in his rulings throughout this legal process. We hoped that TEC and the Diocese would recognize this and would have put this legal battle behind us,” said Jim Oakes, vice-chairman of ADV. “We are saddened that The Episcopal Church and the Diocese find it necessary to continue with more litigation. An appeal process will cost additional millions of dollars that could be spent on mission and ministry. Both sides have already spent some $5 million in legal costs, money that could have gone to our communities in need during these tough economic times. Although we are disappointed by this development, we are fully prepared to continue to defend ourselves and remain confident in our legal position.

“These legal victories for religious freedom have encouraged us to stand firm in our Anglican faith. Our congregations will continue to work together delivering the message of Christ. All we have ever wanted to do is continue to worship and serve God in the same tradition as our ancestors and the worldwide Anglican Communion.”

On December 19, 2008, the Anglican District of Virginia congregations received favorable final rulings regarding whether four parcels of property owned by the Anglican congregations were covered by the congregations’ Division petitions. (TEC and the Diocese had previously acknowledged that the congregations’ other properties were all covered by the congregations’ Division petitions.)

On April 3, 2008, Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Randy Bellows issued a landmark ruling that acknowledged a division within The Episcopal Church, the Diocese of Virginia and the larger Anglican Communion. Judge Bellows affirmed that the Anglican congregations in Virginia could invoke the Virginia Division Statute (Virginia Code § 57-9) in their defense. The Virginia Division Statute states that majority rule should apply when a division in a denomination or diocese results in the disaffiliation of an organized group of congregations. On June 27, 2008, Judge Bellows issued a ruling that confirmed the constitutionality of Virginia Division Statute (Virginia Code § 57-9) under the First Amendment. On August 22, 2008, he issued a ruling that upheld the constitutionality of the Division Statute under the Contracts Clause of the Constitution.

“We continue to maintain that the Division Statute is constitutional and are confident that the Virginia Supreme Court will agree and uphold the written law. At the same time, we are ready to put this litigation behind us so we can focus our time, money and effort on the work of the Gospel,” Oakes concluded.

The Episcopal Church (TEC) and the Diocese abruptly broke off settlement negotiations with the Anglican congregations in January 2007 and filed lawsuits against the Virginia churches, their ministers and their vestries. The decision of The Episcopal Church and the Diocese to redefine and reinterpret Scripture caused the Anglican churches in Virginia to sever their ties with TEC and the Virginia Diocese.

The Tyranny of Dead Ideas?

This morning I went to hear a presentation at the American Enterprise Institute, I went to hear a presentation and panel discussion called, The Tyranny of Dead Ideas: Letting Go of the Old Ways of Thinking to Unleash a New Prosperity. The author of a new book by the same name, Matt Miller was attempting to make the case that "political and business leaders have failed to prepare the United States for economic crises because they are slaves to dead ideas."

"These dead ideas include the notions that higher taxes hurt the economy, that free trade is always good, and that money follows merit." Mr. Miller also spoke briefly on "tomorrow's destined ideas" that he believes will eventually replace their dead counterparts. Well, perhaps the notices of the demise of these old ideas is a bit premature.

In other words, I didn't buy it. It didn't sound like "tomorrow's destined ideas" but the same old thing from the 1970s. Raise taxes, increase federal spending, institute protectionism (using new words of course), and disintegrate the individual over the collective and call it good. Mr. Miller's technique of reasoning was creating a strawmen (his old ideas were provocative, but consistently off the mark) and then tearing the strawmen down in favor of the Grand Old Idea that went out with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher came in. Socialism may be dead in the East, but it's alive and well and kicking in the West and if Mr. Miller has his way, will be served on the menu for the rest of our lifetime. It's the same old thing, just repacked with a new wrapper. If one is going to talk about an "old idea" then one should at least be accurate in what the "old idea" actually is - and one item after another was off the mark.

In fact, at one point one of the panelists said that the problem with America following the health care initiatives that are followed in Denmark and Sweden is that America is not filled with Danes and Swedes. We're filled with Americans - who are still rugged individualists no matter what these folks inside the beltway say. What's gone missing, lately, is our conscience.

Also present was Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard (who reminded me that he went with the church plant that came out of the The Falls Church), Michael Barone and Kevin Hasset of AEI, and my favorite, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was the - among other things - the former chief adviser to Senator John McCain's presidential campaign, as well as the former Director of the Congregational Budget Office and the Senior Staff Economist for President George W. Bush.

Mr. Holtz-Eakin didn't buy the presentation's thesis either and consistently pointed out the screaming elephants in room many seemed to be trying to ignore or forget, including the simple fact that ideas are not the same as people. He attempted to put a human face on the issues facing us and why these type of presentations do not - and will not - resonate with the American people. He said it isn't taxes that are the issue, it's spending. I hope he writes a book.

And perhaps the time has come for us to frame our old photographs of Reagan and Thatcher and hang them in our living rooms, lest we forget what good they did, how they changed the world. It seems we have all ready forgotten and that is the real tyrany of dead ideas - that we've all ready forgotten where we came from and what they brought us through. It's not what's new that we find so charming, it's what's old that we've forgotten. Otherwise, perhaps we should just save time and hang that old photo of Jimmy Carter instead.

Here's Matt Miller's recent appearance on the "Colbert Report" which Mr. Miller talked about during his presentation:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Matt Miller

Colbert Report Full Episodes
Paul McCartney Appearance

Funny Political Videos
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Tip of the tinfoil to Perpetua. Thank you!

Primates Press Briefing: Phillip Aspinall Spins the Hits

Once again, Phillip Aspinall returns to the role he had at Lambeth as the appointed press spokesman. Here is his briefing yesterday.

Monday Night at the Cafe: How to call a meeting and get nothing done ...

Hmmm ... Or hmmm ... Fun to see Philip Aspinall back at his spinning post. Did the Primates actually elect him to talk either for them or to the press? Who did? Hmmm ... I guess this is what T.S. Eliot meant about measuring one's life out in coffee spoons. If Aspinall is correct, then this meeting is a complete waste of time. What an extravagant expense to accomplish nothing. Guess we'll see, especially since the hand-picked "communique writers" do not seem to be elected either. Colonialism is fun, isn't it? Back to you, Harold Hill. Or you, Mr. Eliot.

For I have known them all already, known them all:—
Have known the evenings, mornings, afternoons,
I have measured out my life with coffee spoons;
I know the voices dying with a dying fall
Beneath the music from a farther room.
So how should I presume?

-From The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock

David Virtue writes from Alexandria that "We are now told that it will be 2015 before a Covenant would likely be voted on by The Episcopal Church." Which of course, in TEC-speak means never (are you listening remnant Communion Partners and their laity?). 2015 means never. N E V E R . And guess who's term of office expires that year?

Why, 2015 means after Bishop Schori has flown the coup, er, coop. Got it?

One story from the Alpha Course

Jenny Noyes tells her story of how she went from attending the Alpha Course at Holy Trinity Brompton to becoming the Southeast Director for Alpha USA. For more on the Alpha Course, click here or here.

Day Two Update of the Primates Meeting

From ENS:

On February 3, the third day of the meeting, the primates will receive a report from the Windsor Continuation Group (WCG), discuss theological education in the Anglican Communion and address the issue of global warming. The Archbishop of Canterbury has asked that the WCG report be kept private until the primates have concluded their meeting.

A drafting group has been appointed consisting of five primates -- archbishops Bernard Ntahoturi of Burundi (chair), Paul Kwong of Hong Kong, Alan Harper of Ireland, Ian Ernest of the Indian Ocean, and Carlos Touche-Porter of Mexico. The Rev. Canon Gregory Cameron, deputy secretary general of the Anglican Communion, is serving as secretary of the drafting group, which will prepare a communiqué for release towards the end of the meeting.

Archbishop Daniel Deng Bul of Sudan is expected to arrive in Egypt on February 3 after resolving visa complications.

A time to pray ...

I learned today that my former rector while I was in college, who has continued over the years to be a good friend, has been suspended from ministry by his bishop the Rt. Rev'd John Guernsey, another old friend. The Rev'd Dr. Lorne Coyle is suspended from his position at Christ Church, Vero Beach, while an investigation is underway regarding charges recently brought to the attention of his former bishop (and my former rector), the Rt. Rev'd John W. Howe, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida, that he willfully engaged in a past extramarital affair with a woman who was not his wife. Dr. Coyle has publicly confessed to his congregation and to his family that he was indeed unfaithful and has stepped away from his ministry under the direction of his bishop while the investigation continues.

There are so many people we need to pray for, for healing, for repentance, contrition, renewal, and peace. The list is long. It is a sobering reminder of how fragile life is, how easily we are entangled, how quickly we become estranged, how hard it is to show love through discipline, how easy it is to turn away, how simple it is to break a vow, how unexpectedly great loss can come, how desperately we still need Jesus - no matter how long we've followed Him.

2/10 UPDATE: Learned today that Lorne Coyle has resigned from Christ Church.

Update on the Primates Meeting in Egypt

The Living Church has an overview of Day One (yesterday) of the Primates Meeting now underway in Alexandria, Egypt. Here's an excerpt:

The official agenda, which was finalized on Saturday, changed Sunday to a meet-and-greet day, pushing back the first business session to Monday. On Sunday, the primates gathered in a Palestine Hotel conference room for prayer and conversation—what one staffer called a “mini-indaba.” After an afternoon introductory session, the primates were scheduled to take part in a 4:30 p.m., service at St. Mark’s Anglican Church in central Alexandria’s Liberation Square. The colonial-era church will be re-consecrated as a pro-cathedral of the Diocese of Egypt, and a formal group photograph was to be taken of the gathered primates.

At the last primates’ meeting in February 2007, a number of primates declined to receive Holy Communion due to their theological differences with Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. A group photograph outside the Zanzibar Cathedral also was cancelled. Bishop Jefferts Schori is not scheduled to arrive in Alexandria until early on Monday morning.

Representatives of 35 of the Communion’s 38 provinces will be present during the course of the five-day meeting. Two of the primates—the Most Rev. Samuel Azariah, Moderator of the Church of Pakistan, and the Rt. Rev. John Gladstone, Moderator of the Church of South India—will not be attending due to scheduling conflicts. The Most Rev. Edward Malecdan, Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in the Philippines, was refused a visa by the Egyptian government and will not be able to attend.

Three provinces are currently without primates and will be represented by their senior bishop: the Rt. Rev. Errol Brooks, Bishop of Northeastern Caribbean and Aruba for the Church of the Province of the West Indies; the Rt. Rev. Albert Chama, Bishop of Northern Zambia for the Church of the Province of Central Africa; and the Rt. Rev. Charles Koete, Bishop of the Central Solomon Islands for the Anglican Church of Melanesia.

Ten new primates have been elected since the 2007 meeting, and eight of them will be present. They include the Rt. Rev. Paul Sishkir Sarkar of Bangladesh; the Most Rev. Fred Hiltz of Canada; the Most Rev. Paul Kwong of Hong Kong; the Most Rev. Stephen Than Myint Oo of Myanmar; the Most Rev David Moxon of New Zealand; the Rt. Rev. Purley Lyndoh of North India; the Most Rev. Thabo Makgoba of Southern Africa; and the Most Rev. Daniel Deng Bul Yak of the Sudan.

Read the whole thing here.

London: Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Apparently there has been a big snow in London (doesn't happen like this all that often!) and our Auntie in London has sent a picture of her street (she lives in the Pink House). It looks amazing - quite different than what we saw on our way home from Lambeth last summer!

Here's more on the big snow.

Rowan Williams preaches at St. Mark's pro-Cathedral in Egypt during the Anglican Primates Meeting

Here is the sermon by Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, to the Anglican Primates yesterday at St. Mark's pro-Cathedral in Alexandria, Egypt.

It is translated into Arabic by Very Revd. Samy Fawzy Shehata, Dean of St. Mark's.

It's a very good sermon, timely in so many ways. It's quite a Jesus-centered and pointed sermon, appropriate on many levels, but most especially it appears to be aimed directly at a group of people who are severely divided over extraordinary biblical and cultural issues and are sitting right in front of him.

We can hear that the Archbishop of imploring directly and strongly (there's no sweet words to couch what he is saying to them - quite an un-English thing to do, but then he's Welsh isn't he?) with the Anglican Primates in front of him to listen to "Jesus speaking" through one other as they gather for this important meeting in Alexandria. How can there be direct conflict if everyone is looking to hear Jesus in one another? On one hand this is a great invocation for charity and kindness - but also a rather spiritualized attempt to shut down open conflict. And of course, the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church is not even there yet. She is going to make an entrance today.

It's a very good sermon, but one can't escape the subtext - rather than calling the primates to be transparent and clear with one another, speaking truth to one another in love even when it's hard, there is an attempt here to cast a spirtualized spin to be nice, that one can assume Jesus is speaking as the primates speak to one another. What is missing is the gift of discernment - to know when Jesus is speaking through His Holy Spirit, and when He is not. Who will have the courage to say?

Anglican Primates gather first thing for official photo - but guess who's missing?

At the last Primates Meeting in Tanzania, Rowan Williams was not able to get a photo of all the primates together before the meeting ended - primarily because a good number of the Anglican primates are in impaired communion with the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church.

We noted that this year the Archbishop of Canterbury is not hedging his bets and got his picture first thing - before Katharine Jefferts Schori arrives.

Pittsburgh!

The longest twenty seconds ever.

FUMBLED!

AHHH! They win!
Best Super Bowl ever.

The Guardian reports from Alexandria, Egypt on the Anglican Primates Meeting

Looks like Rowan Williams has Phillip Aspinall working the press-beat again. From The Guardian:

From the pulpit of St Mark's Pro-Cathedral in Alexandria, the archbishop of Canterbury praised the transforming and redeeming qualities of acceptance, diversity and stillness. Though Rowan Williams' words on Sunday night were aimed at a local congregation, who followed his ad-lib sermon with the aid of a valiant translator, they could well have been for the benefit of the Anglican primates, nestled among the Egyptians, conspicuous in their purple shirts and concerned about the week that lay before them.

In 1979, when the archbishop of Canterbury Donald Coggan invited senior Anglican clerics from around the world to the cathedral city of Ely, Cambridgeshire, it was so they could engage in "leisurely thought, prayer and deep consultation".

Three decades on, in a more glamorous setting, the primates of the Anglican Communion have gathered in Alexandria, home to fables, legends and ancient wonders, to discuss the impact of the sexuality debate on their provinces.

It will be the first time that those present at last year's Lambeth conference meet those who boycotted it. The second group includes the militant evangelical Peter Akinola, the archbishop of Nigeria.

Few of the primates were willing to talk about their hopes and expectations for the week, however those prepared to break their silence were cautiously optimistic.

The archbishop of Brisbane, the Most Rev Phillip Aspinall, said divergent opinions did not weaken the Communion.

"Everyone has their differences or conflicting viewpoints, it's very important that they're in the mix otherwise the church is poorer.

"A number of issues that were on the agenda at Lambeth are here. There are some voices that were not at Lambeth, but it's not a question of starting again."

He conceded that while some of the delegates felt the emphasis on sexuality undermined their efforts in less controversial areas, there were primates who believed these issues went to the heart of the understanding and practice of the Christian faith.

"Even people who are at odds are good friends. These bonds are much stronger than what divides us. There's nothing wrong with the temperature rising, as long as it's done with courtesy and respect."

The primates will also discuss Christian responses to the financial crisis and recommendations to ban same-sex blessings, cross-border interventions and the ordination of gay and lesbian people, three issues that have fractured the Anglican Communion and led conservative evangelicals to form parallel networks.

The conservative primates would like to see an endorsement for their latest initiative – a new province designed to hold dioceses that have broken away from the US Episcopal Church. Although the subject is not formally on the agenda, it will not be far from people's minds.

Leading the closed sessions at the Helnan Palestine Hotel, a gated citadel oblivious to the chaos of daily Alexandrian life, is Williams who, as an academic, will be aware of the city's ties to Christian brinkmanship and strife.

Constantine the Great took an ambivalent stance when faced with believers who were divided over opinion and practice. He had ideas, but refused to impose solutions and, in his attempt to placate both sides, he only succeeded in encouraging further fragmentation.

During the sermon Williams referenced events of the fourth century, telling the congregation about people who could "not stretch their souls" to admit that Jesus was God. They believed something different and history says they departed, in great numbers, to be led by an Egyptian priest called Arius, only to be declared heretics and exiled from the church.

The reference to Constantine was probably a coincidence, but it was one that would not have gone unnoticed by the primates.

Read it all here.

Trek Update: Clip of upcoming Star Trek film shown during Super Bowl

Sunday Afternoon at the Cafe: Highway 61 Revisited

"Out on Highway sixteeeeeeeeeeeeeeee - one." The pose at the end is a stitch. Hmmm .... right down to the outfit.

Leader of the Coptic Orthodox Church greets Anglican leaders in Egypt

From the Times of London:

Pope Shenouda III, the Coptic Pope, received the Primates at the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate in Alexandria on Saturday evening.

In thanking Pope Shenouda for his welcome, Dr Williams noted the significance of the meeting taking place in the city where many of the core doctrines of the Christian faith were formed and where the seeds of the Christian monastic movement were sown in the third century.

Pope Shenouda, whose church is experiencing a resurgence of monks with more than 20 communities and at least 100 monks in each, told the Primates that bishops had a special responsibility to guide their people in the path of holiness and that engaging with the young was particularly important.

You can read more about the Coptic Orthodox Church here. In addition, Ruth Gledhill does a preliminary report on the Primates Meeting underway in Alexandria, Egypt:

Archbishops of the 38 provinces worldwide are beginning a week-long meeting in Alexandria, Egypt where they will discuss a proposal to allow Anglican churches to remain "in communion" with other provinces that refuse to sign up to a new "covenant" or unity document.

Discussions to draft the new covenant, which sets out sanctions for provinces that breach accepted Anglican norms on issues such as gay consecrations, are expected to be complete by the summer with the covenant signed up to by provinces and ready for implementation within five years.

The proposal, set out in a document of responses after discussions at the Lambeth Conference last summer on an early draft of the covenant, would enable a split to be avoided with provinces such as Canada, where one diocese, New Westminster, has already authorised same-sex blessings and at least one more wishes to follow suit.

Although it would create a "two-tier communion" of provinces that were and were not signed up to the covenant, it would allow those such as the Church of England to remain in communion with both, thus enabling the Archbishop of Canterbury Dr Rowan Williams to achieve one of the main the goals of his archiepiscopacy, which is to preserve the unity of the 77 million strong communion.

The London Times also reports that:

Before debating the covenant, the Archbishops will hear a presentation from five Primates from across the theological spectrum on the impact on their provinces of the dispute over sexuality.

According to the response document being debated by the Primates, the covenant is designed to prevent “breakdown”, by expressing expectations of relationships in communion. It makes clear that behaviour has "consequences" but also that the churches of the Communion should remain able to order their own life, polity and discipline according to the demands of their own mission context.

Although not on the official agenda, the Primates are also expected to discuss among themselves proposals by conservatives in the US for a new province to run parallel with the existing Episcopal Church. The Archbishop of Wales Dr Barry Morgan has condemned these plans as "nonsense", warning it would splinter the church. He has warned that he would oppose such a plan “with every fibre of my being.”

Doesn't sound like the Archbishop of Wales Dr. Morgan is no longer interested in the Windsor "listening process." Of course, he did admit to the Annual Council of the Diocese of Virginia two weeks ago that "if it's possible for that to happen to The Episcopal Church, it's possible for any of us." And why is that, Dr. Morgan?

UPDATE: Paul Feheley, who is acolyting for Fred Hiltz of Canada during the Primates Meeting, writes today that "The staff of the Anglican Communion Office here quite outnumbers the accredited press and the lobby groups from both the right and left are nowhere to be seen. Have we reached a point in the life of the Communion where weariness and frustration over sexuality issues has run its course? Have people simply stopped coming because they know that nothing will change and that opinions are locked in no matter or how many more studies are mandated?"

Answer: Nope. They're there, if you have eyes to see them. Check those iPhones, good buddy. We're living in the Age of Aquarius. Rock on.

The Episcopal Church abandons MDG goals in favor of funding more litigation

Read it all here.