"Wallis ... invoked the Christmas story of Mary who, upon being told she would give birth to Jesus, thanked God for, among other things, humbling the mighty and exalting the lowly.Some of my friends were there.
'They are reversing Mary's priorities,' Wallis said. 'This budget and the tax cuts fill the rich with good things and sends the poor away hungry. That's why we're here.'"
Saturday, December 17, 2005
`Christmas scandal' outcry
Chicago Tribune
Thursday, December 15, 2005
Marginality in a Pluralistic Society, by Billie Davis
I read this article a couple of years ago, then entitled "The 150% Person". I just ran across a copy. It's as good now as it was then.
Sample: " ... a former missionary ... says the psychological adjustment necessary for optimum multicultural relations is to yield part of one's birth culture to merge with another. He compares this with the initial socialization of a child, making adjustments to become a fully developed personality within a social context. He calls his model the 150 percent person. The person who is more than whole."
Read the entire article here.
Sample: " ... a former missionary ... says the psychological adjustment necessary for optimum multicultural relations is to yield part of one's birth culture to merge with another. He compares this with the initial socialization of a child, making adjustments to become a fully developed personality within a social context. He calls his model the 150 percent person. The person who is more than whole."
Read the entire article here.
Wednesday, December 14, 2005
Thirty Five Years ...
... on December 12, and still smiling and touching.(The picture is from last May, but it's the best recent one we've got.)
A Religious Protest Largely From the Left
A Religious Protest Largely From the Left: "'Woe to you legislators of infamous laws . . . who refuse justice to the unfortunate, who cheat the poor among my people of their rights, who make widows their prey and rob the orphan.'"
Tuesday, December 13, 2005
Seth: I have a son!
I just ran across this photo from the kids' BWCA trip last summer, and I remembered how much I liked it. I intended to publish it at the end of October on his 21st birthday, but I forgot. Tsufa mugun ciwo. (Hausa for "Old age is a wicked sickness".)
The night after Seth was born I had a dream that I was standing at the open skylight in our bedroom with heart full and overflowing, shouting out to the world, "I have a son," and my voice echoed across the sky like rolling thundrer.
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Current Title-holder, Under Two-Weeks-Old Division
Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Or maybe just an acute case of New Grandfather Syndrome.
Saturday, December 03, 2005
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Cash injection boosts hopes for future in Niger
International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Report
Wednesday, November 30, 2005
Sus is a foster Mom!
As of last night, she is now completely responsible for the care of this 1 week old child. What a woman!
I guess this makes me a foster Grandpa. I know it's true because I teared up when she called yesterday with the news.
Friday, November 18, 2005
FewsNet on Niger: Crisis will make next year more difficult
Famine Early Warning System Network: Niger Monthly Food Security Update, Sept. 2005:
Thursday, November 17, 2005
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe
I just saw a 10 minute preview, and I'm hooked. I'll be in the theatre when it opens on December 9 - The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
Virtual Set
Virtual Set
Monday, November 14, 2005
Bad to the last drop
An article in the Heiffer International magazine a couple of months ago about Tom Standage's observations, analysis and conclusions on growing use of bottled water in developed countries got Carol and I thinking, and digging.
Here's an excerpt: "... most people cannot tell the difference between tap and bottle water and yet they buy it in enormous quantities.
Ounce for ounce, bottle water costs more than gasoline, said Standage, even at today's high prices, and cost 250 to 10,000 times more than tap water.
Globally, it's a $46 billion indiustry. Nutritionally, bottled water is not better than tap water and a study in Cleveland found that nearly a quarter of the samples of bottled water had significantly higher levels of bacteria. A study at the University of Geneva found that bottled water was no better from a nutritional point of view that that of tap water. Bottled water is bad for the environment, says Standage. It is shipped at vast expense from one part of the world to another, is kept refrigerated before sale, and causes pile-ups in landfills. "...tap water is not so abundant in the developing world. And that is ultimately why I find the illogical enthusiasm for bottled water not simply peculiar, but distasteful. For those of us in the developed world, safe water is now so abundant that we can afford to shun the tap water under our noses and drink bottled water instead: our choice of water has become a lifestyle option.
For many in the developing world, however, access to water remains a matter of life or death...more than one billion people lack reliable access to safe drinking water. The World Health Organization estimates that 80% of illness in the world is due to water-borne diseases, making countries less productive, more dependent on outside aid and less able to lift themselves out of poverty. One of the main reasons girls do not go to school in many parts of the world is that they spend so much time fetching water from distant wells. Clean water could be provided to everyone on earth for an outlay of $1.7 billion a year beyond the current water spending, according to the International Water Management Institute. The logical response for those of us in the developed world is to stop spending money on bottled water and give the money to water charities.
The full Op Ed article is here Bad to the last drop. Also see his blog.
Here's an excerpt: "... most people cannot tell the difference between tap and bottle water and yet they buy it in enormous quantities.
Ounce for ounce, bottle water costs more than gasoline, said Standage, even at today's high prices, and cost 250 to 10,000 times more than tap water.
Globally, it's a $46 billion indiustry. Nutritionally, bottled water is not better than tap water and a study in Cleveland found that nearly a quarter of the samples of bottled water had significantly higher levels of bacteria. A study at the University of Geneva found that bottled water was no better from a nutritional point of view that that of tap water. Bottled water is bad for the environment, says Standage. It is shipped at vast expense from one part of the world to another, is kept refrigerated before sale, and causes pile-ups in landfills. "...tap water is not so abundant in the developing world. And that is ultimately why I find the illogical enthusiasm for bottled water not simply peculiar, but distasteful. For those of us in the developed world, safe water is now so abundant that we can afford to shun the tap water under our noses and drink bottled water instead: our choice of water has become a lifestyle option.
For many in the developing world, however, access to water remains a matter of life or death...more than one billion people lack reliable access to safe drinking water. The World Health Organization estimates that 80% of illness in the world is due to water-borne diseases, making countries less productive, more dependent on outside aid and less able to lift themselves out of poverty. One of the main reasons girls do not go to school in many parts of the world is that they spend so much time fetching water from distant wells. Clean water could be provided to everyone on earth for an outlay of $1.7 billion a year beyond the current water spending, according to the International Water Management Institute. The logical response for those of us in the developed world is to stop spending money on bottled water and give the money to water charities.
The full Op Ed article is here Bad to the last drop. Also see his blog.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
Sunday, October 30, 2005
Friday, October 28, 2005
Saturday, October 22, 2005
Tough Learning conference extract
Provocative thoughts on challenges and strategies for effective personal development.
Extreme thinking by Michael A. Nielsen
Extreme thinking by Michael A. Nielsen
Saturday, October 15, 2005
The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde
My friend Steve strongly recommends this book:
Read it online.
Read it online.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Touchstone Archives: Phil’s Shadow
My dear Mother (just turned 80 last month) saves and gives me her old issues of Touchstone, so I enjoy them somewhat later than most readers. The April 2004 issue contained a terrific review/theological analysis of the Bill Murray classic "Groundhog Day": Touchstone Archives: Phil’s Shadow. It makes me want to watch the film yet another time.
Wednesday, October 12, 2005
Mata Masu Dubara
means Women on the Move, or Most Resourceful Women
Working It Out On Their Own
Dr. Hangadoumbo is a friend.
Working It Out On Their Own
Dr. Hangadoumbo is a friend.
On K Street Conservatism, George Will, Newsweek
George and I don't usually see eye-to-eye, but this week, he hits hot and hard on some hugely important issues.
Just one example: "In 1987 Reagan vetoed a transportation bill because it contained 152 earmarks — pork — costing $1.4 billion. The bill President Bush signed contained 6,371, costing $24 billion. The total cost of the bill—$286 billion—is more, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than the combined costs of the Marshall Plan and the interstate highway system."
Okay, here's another: "Since 2000 the number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled, from 16,342 to 34,785. They have not been attracted to the seat of government, like flies to honey, for the purpose of limiting government."
Just one example: "In 1987 Reagan vetoed a transportation bill because it contained 152 earmarks — pork — costing $1.4 billion. The bill President Bush signed contained 6,371, costing $24 billion. The total cost of the bill—$286 billion—is more, in inflation-adjusted dollars, than the combined costs of the Marshall Plan and the interstate highway system."
Okay, here's another: "Since 2000 the number of registered lobbyists in Washington has more than doubled, from 16,342 to 34,785. They have not been attracted to the seat of government, like flies to honey, for the purpose of limiting government."
Sunday, October 09, 2005
NIGER: Government plans food security reserve, wants to modernise farming
Reuters AlertNet: "The head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Niger, Michele Falavigna, said last week that the UN had received just 50 percent of the US $80 million it requested from donors for its overall humanitarian aid programme for Niger."
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Interpreting Harriet Miers
Robert Reich: "According to the Census Bureau, only the top 5 percent of households have been enjoying real economic gains. Almost all the economic growth has gone to the top. ... Not since the Gilded Age of the 1890s has this nation experienced anything like the inequality of income, wealth and opportunity we’re now witnessing."
U.N. halting food aid in Niger to ease market prices
The Washington Times - the news is still mostly bad
Friday, September 23, 2005
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Wikipedia is amazing to begin with, but it's coverage of current events is extremely impressive, comprehensive and constantly improving. I don't know of another source of information that is close to what it offers.
2005 Niger food crisis
Hurricaine Katrina
2005 Niger food crisis
Hurricaine Katrina
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Monday, August 29, 2005
Monday, August 22, 2005
Thursday, August 18, 2005
I. Wallerstein: "The U.S. Has Lost the Iraq War"
It's over. For the U.S. to win the Iraq war requires three things: defeating the Iraqi resistance; establishing a stable government in Iraq that is friendly to the U.S.; maintaining the support of the American people while the first two are being done. None of these three seem any longer possible. First, the U.S. military itself no longer believes it can defeat the resistance. Secondly, the likelihood that the Iraqi politicians can agree on a constitution is almost nil, and therefore the likelihood of a minimally stable central government is almost nil. Thirdly, the U.S. public is turning against the war because it sees no "light at the end of the tunnel." See the rest of the article.
I welcome examples of thoughtful analysis leading to a different conclusion.
I welcome examples of thoughtful analysis leading to a different conclusion.
Niger Famine Spotlights Infrastructure Issues
VOA News My friend is interviewed for this article. There's also a video version.
Monday, August 15, 2005
Niger Food Crisis Update – August 2005
By Gordon Evans, SIM Niger Director
It is gratifying to see the flood of international expressions of concern and compassion for those caught in the present Niger food crisis. However, I feel the need to explain more fully this year’s food shortage situation. Food shortage is nothing new to Niger. On average, over a ten-year period, only three years will yield adequate food for the nation. 2004 was one of those years where Niger’s ‘normal’ insufficient rainfall and harvest coincided with a broader West African food stock shortage. The subsequent exorbitantly higher grain prices are perhaps contributing more distress and suffering than any actual shortage of grain stocks.
FEWSNET (Famine Early Warning System Network) gives an excellent explanation of this dilemma in the paper, “NIGER: AN EVIDENCE BASE FOR UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT CRISIS”, from which I have taken this quote:
SIM Niger has been actively involved in responding to this crisis since April, and we are continuing to expand our intervention as new needs come to our attention. SIM’s intervention to date has been three-fold:
1. Through food assistance and malnurished infant rehabilitation programs run by SIM’s two hospitals (Galmi & Danja) and two community health programs.
2. Through food assistance to our network of church partners and their infrastructures that stretch across the country.
3. Through food assistance via our SIM missionaries, in partnership with local churches and other organizations with whom we work.
Our philosophy of intervention focuses on the long term, not just the immediate crisis. As we evaluate those “chronic issues” cited above by FEWSNET, we recognize that appropriate answers can only come through appropriate education in all areas; health, academics, theology, technical training, etc. Fact: Niger has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world as well as one of the highest infant mortality rates. There is a connection between those two grim realities, and we believe appropriate education from a Christian perspective coupled with the Good News of Jesus Christ, in whose name we come, can introduce transformation and hope where there is currently despair. Thank you for helping give the opportunity for this to become a reality for all Nigeriens. Please pray too. That is the key to any real and lasting change.
It is gratifying to see the flood of international expressions of concern and compassion for those caught in the present Niger food crisis. However, I feel the need to explain more fully this year’s food shortage situation. Food shortage is nothing new to Niger. On average, over a ten-year period, only three years will yield adequate food for the nation. 2004 was one of those years where Niger’s ‘normal’ insufficient rainfall and harvest coincided with a broader West African food stock shortage. The subsequent exorbitantly higher grain prices are perhaps contributing more distress and suffering than any actual shortage of grain stocks.
FEWSNET (Famine Early Warning System Network) gives an excellent explanation of this dilemma in the paper, “NIGER: AN EVIDENCE BASE FOR UNDERSTANDING THE CURRENT CRISIS”, from which I have taken this quote:
"This food crisis is not just a temporary emergency. It is the predictable and inevitable result of inadequately- addressed chronic poverty in the world’s second poorest country. Although the willingness of much of the world to address these “famine” conditions in Niger is appropriate and welcome, without a similar commitment and prolonged attention to addressing the chronic issues that are at the heart of the current localized crises, the same problems will re-occur again soon."
SIM Niger has been actively involved in responding to this crisis since April, and we are continuing to expand our intervention as new needs come to our attention. SIM’s intervention to date has been three-fold:
1. Through food assistance and malnurished infant rehabilitation programs run by SIM’s two hospitals (Galmi & Danja) and two community health programs.
2. Through food assistance to our network of church partners and their infrastructures that stretch across the country.
3. Through food assistance via our SIM missionaries, in partnership with local churches and other organizations with whom we work.
Our philosophy of intervention focuses on the long term, not just the immediate crisis. As we evaluate those “chronic issues” cited above by FEWSNET, we recognize that appropriate answers can only come through appropriate education in all areas; health, academics, theology, technical training, etc. Fact: Niger has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world as well as one of the highest infant mortality rates. There is a connection between those two grim realities, and we believe appropriate education from a Christian perspective coupled with the Good News of Jesus Christ, in whose name we come, can introduce transformation and hope where there is currently despair. Thank you for helping give the opportunity for this to become a reality for all Nigeriens. Please pray too. That is the key to any real and lasting change.
Friday, August 12, 2005
Delightful Surprise Visitor
Sani, Nigerien friend, came to Chicago today for a couple of hours, a wonderful surprise. He's in Michigan getting radio training. We spent 4 hours doing the tourist routine down town. He's pictured here with his family.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Andy, Honorary Son, Proud Uncle of Owen
34 years old today, reluctantly willing to let us party in his honor.
He's been blessing family and friends in Chicago for the last three months. Tragic flaw: Just can not seem to hold still and smile for a photo.
Chicago Tribune | Hunger stalks Niger
The Niger famine hit The Chicago Tribune section 1 today, 1/3 of the front page and all of the back page. Chicago Tribune | Hunger stalks Niger
Tuesday, August 09, 2005
"It is not too late to save many more children"
Food begins to arrive for starving in Niger; aid agencies warn more aid needed: Forbes.com
Monday, August 08, 2005
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
Monday, August 01, 2005
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Niger Famine in the news
UN News Service: In Face of Worsening Hunger in Niger, UN Steps Up Aid, Warns of Rising Deaths
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks: World Food Program to More Than Double Food Aid Recipients to 2.5 Million
US Dept. of State: USAID Announces Additional Emergency Food Aid for Niger
More:
Niger - Top News
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks: World Food Program to More Than Double Food Aid Recipients to 2.5 Million
US Dept. of State: USAID Announces Additional Emergency Food Aid for Niger
More:
Niger - Top News
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
I love Grandpa
Andy got the photo (and a couple of others) up first. I am thrilled with my new birthday T-shirt with this photo on it and the caption "Ask me about Owen John".
Monday, July 25, 2005
Thursday, July 21, 2005
July 20: Niger Struggles With Worsening Food Situation; Children Begin Dying of Hunger
The famine in Niger folds while the whole world watches, and a few take action. - allAfrica.com: Niger
from a poem by Wendell Berry
A fragment of wisdom from a larger work worth absorbing: Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front, by Wendell Berry:
"So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it. "
Good advise for the tech guy, and maybe for others, too.
Thanks to Marilyn Chandler McIntyre, "In Praise of Anonymity", Books and Culture, July/August 2005, page 7 .
"So, friends, every day do something
that won't compute. Love the Lord.
Love the world. Work for nothing.
Take all that you have and be poor.
Love someone who does not deserve it. "
Good advise for the tech guy, and maybe for others, too.
Thanks to Marilyn Chandler McIntyre, "In Praise of Anonymity", Books and Culture, July/August 2005, page 7 .
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
Monday, July 18, 2005
Sunday, July 17, 2005
The Art of Self Leadership
I listened to a tape by Bill Hybels on this topic today, and it rocked me again to reflect on my leadership. Check it out: The Art of Self Leadership
Thursday, July 14, 2005
UN representative reports on famine crisis in Niger
TODAYonline: "Niger's most vulnerable famine victims 'on the brink': UN"
Saturday, July 09, 2005
International Student Friendship, Chicago
70% of the international students studying in the U.S. leave without ever entering an American home. That's not right.
The world is here visiting. Let's make friends. We could use a few more. Learn more at ISF Partners
The world is here visiting. Let's make friends. We could use a few more. Learn more at ISF Partners
Skype - Internet phone calls
This week I spoke with Joshua at Galmi using Skype. After a bit we conferenced in our friend Steve in Nebraska. It was clear and relatively simple. I haven't yet checked how it works on a dial-up connection, but it works great over a broadband connection. Let me know if you've got a skype ID. Apparently quite a few people do.
Friday, July 08, 2005
Thursday, July 07, 2005
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
Mothers' Day 2005 at the Chicago Botanic Gardens
Andy and I standing. Susan, Kezi, Carol, and Sus sitting.
More people we love
Suga (Sus) and the Dud (cousin Jason) making life interesting on cotton candy day at the preschool.
Saturday, July 02, 2005
Golden Apple Scholars
Our little girl was awarded a Golden Apple Scholarship. This means she's committing to be a teacher in a underserved community in Illinois for 5 years after graduation. The scholarship is designed to help produce top-quality teachers, and includes some financial help, as well as significant supplimental training and mentoring by master teachers.
Golden Apple Scholars
Golden Apple Scholars
Monday, June 20, 2005
Saturday, June 18, 2005
Our blessed treasure on earth
Susanna, Keziah, Carol, Seth, Stephen, Owen, Abigail, Benjamin, and Jonathan
(High res image - 323K)
Friday, June 17, 2005
Monday, May 02, 2005
Honor Your Father and Mother
There are a number of issues that I don't agree with Sojourners on, but Jim Wallis' essay (Honor Your Father and Mother) seems to me to be a strong, Biblical statement of principles outlining the moral framework within which Social Security should be discussed.
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Sunday, April 10, 2005
The tragic flaw of violence
I'm a reasonably committed fan of West Wing. It is both serious and fun, both fast and deep. It often tracks and illuminates contemporary political, moral and global issues. I don't watch much else on TV; I always watch West Wing.
I just ran across this quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. which John Wells used in #502 "The Dogs of War". See also Bartelby. The quote is from "Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community".
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."
I just ran across this quote by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. which John Wells used in #502 "The Dogs of War". See also Bartelby. The quote is from "Where do we go from here? Chaos or Community".
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy.
Instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it.
Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot murder the lie, nor establish the truth.
Through violence you murder the hater, but you do not murder hate.
In fact, violence merely increases hate.
Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that."
Monday, March 28, 2005
Four Things America Agrees On
Check out outragedmoderates.org
The media often portrays this country as being divided down the middle: polarized into two parties that have irreconcilably different sets of values and political opinions. At outragedmoderates.org, we're a little skeptical of that analysis. While there are certainly divisive issues, a majority of Americans basically agree on a number of core political values.
1. Open and Honest Government
2. Protecting America's Health
3. Responsible Military Power
4. Defending the U.S. Constitution
The media often portrays this country as being divided down the middle: polarized into two parties that have irreconcilably different sets of values and political opinions. At outragedmoderates.org, we're a little skeptical of that analysis. While there are certainly divisive issues, a majority of Americans basically agree on a number of core political values.
1. Open and Honest Government
2. Protecting America's Health
3. Responsible Military Power
4. Defending the U.S. Constitution
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