stop and smell...

the roses!
Thank you, hubby, for helping me appreciate once again how beautiful roses are...

Congratulations to Blair and Katrina, who were married on the 17th. You both looked faaaabulous!

Still waiting to hear about grad school.... it's agonizing! Every day I check the mail twice, thrice!

We're moving on Saturday. Yipes!

stoking the fire once again...

I ran across an article about Guantanamo Bay on new.bbc.co.uk. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4708946.stm)
Some highlights to peak your interest:

"During the past few weeks there has been a widespread hunger strike among the prisoners there [Guantanamo Bay]... The hunger strikers were strapped into "restraint chairs" and forcibly fed. The Pentagon says the tactics used were humane and compassionate.
According to American lawyers representing some of the prisoners, one of the methods was for riot control soldiers to hold the prisoners down while long plastic tubes were inserted into their nasal passages and down into their stomachs.
A Washington lawyer who visited Guantanamo last week called it "a disgrace". ...They claimed that they had no link to al-Qaeda or other extreme Islamist groups, and were demanding to be released. a thorough analysis by an American law professor and a defence lawyer of information released by the US defence department revealed last week that 92% of the 517 Guantanamo detainees had not been al-Qaeda fighters.
Of these, 40% have no clear connection with al-Qaeda, and 18% have no connection with either al-Qaeda or the Taleban.
In total, 60% are there because they have been accused of being associated with a group which the US government regards as a terrorist organisation.
Most detainees are regarded as enemy combatants.
Among the criteria reportedly used to define an enemy combatant are these: possession of a rifle; possession of a Casio watch; and wearing olive drab clothing.
According to the Pentagon, 95% of them were not captured by the Americans themselves.
Some 86% were handed over in Afghanistan and Pakistan after a widespread campaign in which big financial bounties were offered in exchange for anyone suspected of links to al-Qaeda and the Taleban.
The US lawyers quote the text of one of the notices the Americans handed out: "Get wealth and power beyond your dreams... You can receive millions of dollars helping the anti-Taleban forces catch al-Qaeda and Taleban murderers.
"This is enough money to take care of your family, your village, your tribe for the rest of your life."

Let's recapitulate briefly. According to the US Department of Defense, only 8% of the prisoners at Guantanamo were al-Qaeda fighters, and only 5% of them were captured by the Americans themselves.

Gahhh!!!!

To those of you who do not care:

(and in response to the comments on the previous post)

This is ignorance, pure and simple. And, I emphatically add, UNChristlike. I cannot imagine a god who would not be weeping by witnessing the atrocities that happen daily around the world. They are His children, our brothers and sisters. It is not just the Middle East that is experiencing death, sorrow, and violence. It is the world, my friends. Are so few of you aware? Do none of you read the news, aside from what is broadcast from American television and printed in American papers? Alas, we are so egocentric!

Do none of you know that Russia has restricted oil supply to the Ukraine, and it is winter! It is cold! People die! They have no food!

Do none of you know that the US has cut down financial aid to Bolivia by 96%… because of some bullshit excuse that somehow doesn’t “apply” to five other countries in the same circumstances… and this is coming only weeks after the election of a new president that cut his salary in half because he doesn’t “need the money.” He now makes about the same amount as my husband does. And he’s a president. Of a country. That, friends, is integrity! And we punish him!

Do none of you know that the bird flu has now spread to Africa, a continent poorly equipped to battle such a threat? And if you think, “Who cares? It’s Africa.” I’d like to hear what you say after it has spread to the States and kills a friend.

Do none of you know that there are wonderful, loving, kind, Christlike, beautiful people everywhere? Yes, even in the Middle East. Even in Iran. Even in Nigeria. Even in the States. Who are we to decide who should die? Who are we that can afford to not care?

Why be apathetic? If it’s inevitable, it doesn’t mean I can’t be angry that we are the cause of it. I’m not going to kill myself because I know I’ll eventually die. And I’m not going to ruin a county because it already has problems, or I don’t my neighbors don’t agree with me, or because they have something I want. And I’m certainly not going to feign righteousness so I have an excuse not to do something about it, or because I’m afraid to feel pain.

Shame on you… those who do not feel, and who rationalize it by saying it is inevitable. God would never do that, and you use His gospel as an excuse for tolerating violence. I am sure He weeps for your apathy. That is not the way to salvation. Charity, love, and compassion are godly traits, not apathy.
Let me ask you: Who will pity YOU when YOU are a victim?
I have a selfish wish, a wrong wish: I hope someday you will feel just a fraction of the anguish, suffering, and abandonment that these innocent people suffer daily… and suffer for OUR mistakes, OUR greed.

We live in a great country. Most of us (and I dare say, anyone who is reading this) live comfortably. We're not worried about what we'll eat tomorrow, or about being cold, or if a suicide bomber will kill your husband or girlfriend tomorrow. We are lucky. There is a price we must pay for such luxury... since we can afford to care about others, we must. That is why we are so blessed.

Let me say that I have a testimony of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. I live my life according to its principles, as best I can… and I feel peace in my heart. Anyone who cannot or will not feel for the suffering around you, I call you to repentance!


Many of you will be shocked by such gall, such sprite, such conviction. Let me tell you that I felt the Spirit as I wrote this. So, I thank you for reminding me of what I stand for, what I believe, and what I live my life for.

Is anyone else angry?!

From the New York Times:
Iraq Utilities Are Falling Short of Prewar Performance
By JAMES GLANZ

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8 — Virtually every measure of the performance of Iraq's oil, electricity, water and sewerage sectors has fallen below preinvasion values even though $16 billion of American taxpayer money has already been disbursed in the Iraq reconstruction program, several government witnesses said at a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Wednesday...

...In addition, two of the witnesses said they believed that an earlier estimate by the World Bank that $56 billion would be needed for rebuilding over the next several years was too low.

At the same time, as Iraq's oil exports plummet and the country remains saddled with tens of billions of dollars of debt, it is unclear where that money will come from, said one of the witnesses, Joseph A. Christoff, director of international affairs and trade at the Government Accountability Office.

And those may not be the most serious problems facing Iraq's pipelines, storage tanks, power lines, electrical switching stations and other structures, said Stuart W. Bowen Jr., the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an independent office.

In one sense, focusing on the plummeting performance numbers "misses the point," Mr. Bowen said. The real question, he said, is whether the Iraqi security forces will ever be able to protect the infrastructure from insurgent attack.

"What's happened is that an incessant, an insidious insurgency has repeatedly attacked the key infrastructure targets, reducing outputs," Mr. Bowen said. He added that some of the performance numbers had fluctuated above prewar values in the past, only to fall again under the pressure of insurgent attacks and other factors.

wink!

Last week, as I got into my car to go to work, the sun winked at me!

I am ashamed that I didn't immediately post it on my blog. I guess I didn't think many people would understand.

What I found out, though, when I told people that the sun winked at me, was that more people believed me than I thought... and come to find out, I wasn't the only person the sun winked at! I am thankful for all these sun-winks.

The next morning, as I was on my way to Emily's super-fantastic yoga and breakfast festivity (an hour late, sadly), I turned on my radio to the jazz station. They were playing old-tyme jazz from the 20's, the kind flappers would enjoy. Well, as soon as the music started, so did the rain, and boy, did it dance! So did all the cars on the road, and the trees, and the stoplights, and my wipers, and the clouds! The world was dancing! Thank the heavens for sending dancing rain!

And you know what inspired me to write this blog more than anything? I wrote it for those people who see the rain dance too. Ariana, I know you are one of them, and I hope that day the rain danced at your house as it did at mine. You are one of the few that notices when the world is alive.