World
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This past Monday I sat down at work not having seen any of the Olympic games over the weekend, so I really wanted to show my national pride and catch up on the excitement. “I’ll just find some Twitter account following the winners.” I found a few Twitterers tweeting Olympic news, but I couldn’t find... Read More
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Maybe I’m delusional, but tonight at church I felt what I believe to be a small earthquake (2 or 3 magnitude). I was leaning against the wall and felt it tremble significantly for about 40 seconds, then again after about a minute (the second time not as much). I mentioned it to someone and only... Read More
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One Last Cup of Kofi Before I Go
Kofi Annan gave his last major speech as UN Secretary General, and I had the prilvege to watch it on television. You couldn’t miss the conviction in his words. Sure, he’s not exactly charismatic, but he spoke of some lofty goals: “First, we are all responsible for each other’s security. Second, we can and must... Read More
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Verkeersbordvrij: Europe’s Great Traffic Experiment
It sounds absurd: Tear down all the traffic signs. Pull up all the sidewalks. Scrub the lines from the road. Verkeersbordvrij (“free of traffic signs”) is a revolutionary new model of managing traffing dreamt up by anarchist Mikhail Bakunin who was banished to Siberia for his political ideas, but his laissez faire model of traffic... Read More
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I don’t feel like writing an expose on senseless violence. It is by definition impossible to explain. When the story of the school shooting in the one room schoolhouse in Lancaster broke earlier in the day, I was so saddened. My wife and I just recently spent our anniversary in Lancaster; we were charmed and... Read More
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A poem concieved upon reading the newspaper and looking around in church: Warm me sun and bathe me brine Here where rolls the gentle tide, Strokes the ocean bottom fine. Close my eyes, suspended low Between the sky and ribboned floor, Anchored, spinning by a toe. Yes, I saw the coming storm; I happened once... Read More
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UPDATE: “We want to make it clear that if the pope does not appear on TV and apologize for his comments, we will blow up all of Gaza’s churches,” [Lions of Monotheism] said in a statement. (This has inadvertantly become a series.) I ask you this: Has the world gone mad?! Five Christian churches in... Read More
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The Best Way Not To Prove Your Point
UPDATE 2: I guess this is turning into a series. UPDATE: Well, it seems as though the Pope has recanted. At least now we don’t have to worry about seeing him on Al Jazeera with a scimitar at his throat. Not to anyone’s surprise, the furor of most fundamentalist Muslims over the Pope’s remarks (or... Read More
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Let’s file this in the “ok, DUH” category: Pope’s Speech Stirs Muslim Anger » I can’t believe the gall of this guy. First, he is made the veritable head of the Catholic church and then he has the outrageous insolence to speak out against another religion! Come on. The absolute effrontery of pointing out the... Read More
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So Mike Wallace gets a once-in-a-lifetime interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and it ends up looking more like a tea party than a journalistic endeavor. Ahmadinejad is saavy, no doubt; his answers were deft and well-crafted. But his inconsistencies drove me almost as crazy as the fact that Wallace didn’t call him on them.... Read More
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So These Four Ukranians Walk Into A Church…
Pasha, Oxanna, Ura and Sasha and Oxford Valley Chapel, to be precise. And what a day it was! These four brothers and sister in Christ took two weeks without pay to visit us from Komsomolsk, Ukraine and spend time learning how to better their ministry and deal with questions that they, as fairly new believers,... Read More
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Just came across this in the news: Abortion was decriminalised in Spain in 1985 for certain cases: after rape, in the case of malformation of the foetus and if the pregnancy represents a threat to the physical or mental health of the woman. The report said 95.7 percent of abortions were carried out for the... Read More
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Michael Yon: Independant Report in Iraq
Michael Yon is a self-proclaimed independent, informed observer chronicling the monumentally important events in the efforts to stabilize Iraq. Visit his site (http://www.michaelyon.blogspot.com/) and you’ll find riveting and passionate stories about the struggles taking place daily in the effort to bring democracy and stability in Iraq.
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Reagan on Communism, Confrontation and Life
With Chinese Communism back in the news lately, I thought it would be rather appropriate to share a few quips from Reagan on the topic from the December 2004 issue of Reader’s Digest: A Russian Communist official asked a collective farm worker about a potato crop. “Oh, Commisar, if we could put the potatoes in... Read More
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Looking back on the short time I’ve been alive, it sobers me to see how many of my close friends have fallen from grace. Best friends who have fathered illicit children in a drunken fit of passion. Mentors who have been scorched by the fire of an extramarital affair. Students who are, as you read... Read More