`Christmas scandal' outcry

Chicago Tribune

"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.

'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.'"

Some of my friends were there.

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.

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.'"

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.

Harold Pinter: Art, Truth & Politics

Nobel Lecture Svenska Akademien

Current Title-holder, Under Two-Weeks-Old Division

Most Beautiful Girl in the World
Or maybe just an acute case of New Grandfather Syndrome. 

Foster Uncle Andy

 
Perhaps he's found a new love. He does seem smitten. 

Foster Grandma on duty

 
... and experienced professional baby love specialist. 

Speaking words of love and blessing

 
 

Mother and child

 
This baby was welcomed and is already dearly loved. 

Cash injection boosts hopes for future in Niger

International Federation of Red Cross And Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) Report