I had a fairly good weekend on retreat at Deer Valley with the UPC. They rented a really nice condo and we had a lot of fun getting to know each other and eking out our event calendar for this fall. I’m really looking forward to working with such a fine group of people. I’m also trying to convince Janene that she should join the Community Service Chair’s committee so we can work together (in a round about way). I really think that would be a good experience for her.

Friday night (while I was in Deer Valley) I got a call from Janene. She informed me that her father, Gene, had fallen 20 feet out of a tree in their back yard! He was standing on a ladder using a chainsaw to cut down a rather large old rotten tree. The ladder was standing on the roof of a nearby shed and situated against some branches in the tree. Something twisted and the ladder came loose. He had enough momentum to throw the chainsaw away from him, and then fell 20 feet onto a pile of old 2x4’s and already cut branches. What amazes me is that most of the 2x4’s had rusty nails sticking out of them, but he managed to miss all of them! He landed on his back and came away with a concussion and some severe bruises, but no broken bones. I would just like to ask everyone to pray for Gene that he can have a speedy recovery, and please give thanks to God that he is alright.

As if Gene falling out of a tree was not enough, on Monday my dad got laid off from ContentWatch. He’s already had a job interview since then, but no word yet on whether that will work out. My dad is involved in an AS/400 user group here in town, and has lots of friends that can help him find a job, but the way the market is right now the pickings are looking very slim. If things get really rough my parents have considered leaving town for better opportunities. If that were to happen I would have to find my own place and start supporting myself. It will be interesting to see how it all pans out, and again I’d just like to ask all of you to pray for this situation. 

I’d like to try putting up some kind of bio page on The Forum. I think it would be fun for everyone to get to know each other a little better. A bio page would also help visitors (not that we have many) to understand who we are and where we come from.

So, in order for me to have some information to put on the bio page, I’d like everyone to write up a little sumthin’ sumthin’ about themselves, either as a comment to this entry or in an email. Keep in mind this will be posted where anyone can see it, so if you don’t want strangers showing up where you work, don’t include specific information. What I would recommend you include is some basic personal info (age, gender, etc.), your political stance (in as much or as little detail as you like), a little about your hobbies or interests, a recent picture of yourself (if you don’t mind having it on the web), and whatever else you deem appropriate.

Thanks everyone! 

Eason Jordan, chief news executive at CNN, writes in today’s New York Times:

“Over the last dozen years I made 13 trips to Baghdad to lobby the government to keep CNN’s Baghdad bureau open and to arrange interviews with Iraqi leaders. Each time I visited, I became more distressed by what I saw and heard — awful things that could not be reported because doing so would have jeopardized the lives of Iraqis, particularly those on our Baghdad staff. …

“The secret police terrorized Iraqis working for international press services who were courageous enough to try to provide accurate reporting. Some vanished, never to be heard from again. Others disappeared and then surfaced later with whispered tales of being hauled off and tortured in unimaginable ways. …

“I came to know several Iraqi officials well enough that they confided in me that Saddam Hussein was a maniac who had to be removed. One Foreign Ministry officer told me of a colleague who, finding out his brother had been executed by the regime, was forced, as a test of loyalty, to write a letter of congratulations on the act to Saddam Hussein. An aide to Uday once told me why he had no front teeth: henchmen had ripped them out with pliers and told him never to wear dentures, so he would always remember the price to be paid for upsetting his boss. …

“Then there were the events that were not unreported but that nonetheless still haunt me. A 31-year-old Kuwaiti woman, Asrar Qabandi, was captured by Iraqi secret police occupying her country in 1990 for ’crimes,’ one of which included speaking with CNN on the phone. They beat her daily for two months, forcing her father to watch. In January 1991, on the eve of the American-led offensive, they smashed her skull and tore her body apart limb by limb. A plastic bag containing her body parts was left on the doorstep of her family’s home.

“I felt awful having these stories bottled up inside me. Now that Saddam Hussein’s regime is gone, I suspect we will hear many, many more gut-wrenching tales from Iraqis about the decades of torment. At last, these stories can be told freely.”

My (Keith’s) comment:

They kept this information from the world, just to keep a presence in Iraq. I have to ask, can we believe any of the CNN news coming out of countries that are lead by brutal regimes? I doubt it. How will we know if they are brutal or not if the media does not have the courage to report it?

I am sick and tired of journalists who are trying to become heroes by finding fault with America (they do it because they have the freedom to), and then ignore horrific circumstances in other countries in order to keep a presence there (money grubbers!). They expose all the dirty laundry about truly free countries (because they have been given that privilege by courageous men who fought and died for it), but they have NO courage when it comes to exposing the brutal tactics of truly evil governments. If they had any integrity or courage, CNN would have pulled all their people out of Iraq years ago and then exposed Saddam’s evil regime for what it was!

What else are they keeping from us?

Shame on CNN.

Interesting article

I was a little shocked when I first read this. It is just so different from how similar situations are handled in the US.

I don’t really know what exactly had gone on in the past with these guys (the hijackers). I just feel that in cases like this, or take the US soldier that killed two other soldiers a few weeks ago, that swift punishment is justified. When your country is at war (well, I guess Cuba isn’t really at war right now), but when the world is at war you can’t take things lightly.

Compared to my close friends (shi and joey) I am usually a little bit closer to the center (or even left of center sometimes) on political issues. However, in cases like these I think what happened deserved to happen. None of this “sit in a jail cell waiting for a trial in three years, only to be sentanced to 17 years in prison. After 5 years get released because no one remembers, or cares, about what you did.” Crap like that can’t be tolerated. Enough ranting…. I need sleep. 😊

Stu

If you can believe it, today is the first time in a long time that I actually attended all three of my classes at the U. I still feel bad that I was ten minutes late to the first one, but all in all this is a drastic improvement.

I also signed up to participate in two psychology experiments. One on emotions and one on personality. That will bring my credit up to 3.5 hours. I’m required to do at least 3 hours for the class, but I can get extra credit for up to 3 additional hours. I plan to do as many additional hours as possible since I missed an exam last month (oops :eek).

I’m taking Janene out this evening for our 22 month anniversary (1 5/6 years). It was actually on Monday, but tonight was the best night for us to get out. We’re planning to go to Cafe Rio. We went there a few weeks ago and I had a grilled steak burrito. It was honestly the best burrito I’ve ever had in my life. If you’ve never been to Cafe Rio, I highly recommend it. After dinner we’re gonna go bowling. I’m really looking forward to spending a fun evening with my sweetheart.