the next rwanda?

Have you heard about this? Maybe I live in a cave, but I never really understood the extent of what’s going on. In the Darfur province or Sudan, an ethnic cleansing is taking place much like Rwanda 11 years ago.

During the Rwandan crisis in 1994, the UN and the west in general – including the US – stood by as more than 1 million people (mainly children) were tortured, raped and slaughtered. I’m afraid the same thing could happen here. Depending on what estimates you believe, more than 300,000 have died already in Darfur. This is the kind of situation that I think deserves American intervention. Yet the US is blocking any Security Council action because of opposition to the International Criminal Court. The US also blocked the Security Council during the Rwandan situation.

The bad thing is, this has been going on since 1993 and the US has not done anything to stop it and has blocked the UN from doing anything as well. But recently (Apr 16), it was reported that there’s oil in Darfur. Now, things are beginning to move. A UN force is beginning to move in the the US seems to be more interested in helping. It really makes you wonder if the discovery of oil has anything to do with it. That will probably be the perspective of the rest of the world whether that’s the case or not.

Here are some links:

http://www.darfurgenocide.org/ (disturbing photos)

http://www.hrw.org/reports/2004/sudan0504/

http://www.christiantoday.com/news/afr/188.htm

http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~hcdag/

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3496731.stm

http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=3060&l=1%20#C1

http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/36028.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50121-2005Jan30.html

second hand alcohol

This story out of San Antonio is just horrible.

The mother of a little girl had 20 beers and a couple shots and passed out in the bed where the little girl was sleeping. In the morning, the baby was caught between passed-out mom and the wall - suffocated to death.

Why is it that activists have no problem targeting cigarettes for extinction, but continue to let alcohol to be the problem it is? How many celebrities rail against the horrors of smoking on camera and then go to a party or dinner and put a drink in their hand? Why the double standard? Where is the outrage at this incident? Where are all the people who screamed at the management of city's animal shelters for euthanizing dogs and cats?

As far as I can tell, alcohol is at least as bad for the society and it's people as smoking. Between drunks driving headlong into cars filled with families to stories like this, drinking is every bit as dangerous to those around the drinker as the dreaded "second-hand smoke". I understand the concept of personal responsibility and that most people drink responsibly. I'm not advocating abolition, but I think we need to realize the dangers or alcohol.

This story also remins us that the state of kids in San Antonio is at a crisis point. Quality foster and adoptive parents are desperately needed. If you're interested in finding out about becoming a foster parent, I recommend checking out Lutheran Social Services. That's who we go through. They act as an advocate for the foster/adoptive families so you don't have to deal directly with the state or with CPS.

Learn more at the Lutheran Social Services website

book review - knowing the unknowable god

Book Review

Knowing the Unknowable God: How Faith Thrives on Divine Mystery
by James R. Lucas.

The book explores the many paradoxes of Christian scripture - God's judgment versus God's mercy, God's declared hatred of sinners versus God's declared love of sinners, God's omniscience versus statements about God "forgetting." Using Halakic reasoning we learn from the ancient Jewish culture, we learn how to think of these issues as "both/and" instead of "either/or".

Written for the layman, this book will spark great discussion and get us thinking in the right direction. It doesn't go into too much depth and gets a little repetitive, but the premise behind the book is excellent. It would be a great bible study for small group - especially very fundamentalist Christians who have a very black and white mentality.

Check out the book on Amazon