Unrest coming in the Congo

The situation has been bad in the Democratic Republic of Congo for a long, long time, and this June 19 Reuters article foreshadows what’s about to go down. Top News Article | Reuters.com

Word is that today, transitional President Kabila and four vice-presidents were asked to step down. The Congolese are bracing for riots, looting, food shortages, violence and anarchy.

Pray.

Bong attack!

You may have seen this story last week about a man who went into a police station in Wisconsin, handed the dispatcher a threatening note, and then threw his bong at the bulletproof glass of the dispatcher’s window.

The bong shattered, so he then pulled out a shotgun. You have to wonder what he was thinking. “If this toxic bong water doesn’t get ‘em, I’ll shoot?”

Forget “this is your brain on drugs.” Use this guy for those commercials.

It sounds like a low-budget 70s horror movie plot, but…

This really happened. A nun at a Romanian convent was found crucified. The convent was being run by a monk who never quite finished his religious studies. He and the other sisters became convinced that the 23-year-old nun, Maricica Irina Cornici, was possessed and needed an exorcism. On a cross.

When the bishop finally shows up to remove the monk, the nuns attack him. Aaaagghhhh!!

The bishop announced that in the future, the Orthodox Church will implement psychological screenings for those entering the monastic life. Ya think?!?

DisciplesWorld : World News

Former soldier’s talks prompt investigations

Aidan Delgado is taking his stories and photos from time served in Iraq with the Army reserves to the American people. DisciplesWorld : Special Report

The 11-Year-Old Wife - New York Times

The plight of women and girls in Pakistan is appalling. Yet, we consider Pervez Musharraf an ally, and he’s coming to the U.S. next month. I don’t expect W to bring it up, but perhaps Laura, Barbara and Jenna could tag-team the Prime Minister. Anyway, the Times’ Kristof, as usual, is right on the money. The 11-Year-Old Wife - New York Times

Salon.com News | Deadly immunity

A special investigation by Salon.com and Rolling Stone, June 16 - by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (subscription or day-pass required, it’s worth it): “When a study revealed that mercury in childhood vaccines may have caused autism in thousands of kids, the government rushed to conceal the data — and to prevent parents from suing drug companies for their role in the epidemic.”
Salon.com News | Deadly immunity

How do you afford your rock and roll lifestyle?

When did Jerry Hall, the ex-Mrs. Mick Jagger, become a scion of high class and etiquette? I was flipping through the channels and came across this show on VH1 called “Kept” in which a dozen or so young bucks try to prove they are refined enough to be Hall’s kept man. The show takes place in an English castle and the men must go through several weeding-out tests involving table manners, art appreciation, fashion and social skills. Now, Hall’s ok, and looks fairly well-preserved for a senior citizen, but I always thought she was a Texas gal, and a little rough around the edges herself!VH1.com : Shows : Kept : Art And Etiquette : About the Episode

Humane Borders anniversary story

I don’t plan to use my weblog to promote every article I write. But since I mentioned it in my last post, I thought I’d link to it now that it is posted on the DisciplesWorld web site. Amid complex border issues, Humane Borders makes its mark by saving lives

Death and the desert

June 11 is the five year anniversary of the founding of Humane Borders. For five years, they’ve been working to ‘take death out of the migration equation.’ Now just about anybody from a Mexican to a Minuteman can agree that our immigration laws and border policies are a tangled up mess, and that’s using polite language. Who’s to blame, and what to do about it, is where the wheels come off the wagon.

Robin Hoover, a salty, sharp-tongued veteran of the 1980s Sanctuary Movement and pastor of First Christian Church in Tucson, Arizona, is the president of Humane Borders and one of it’s founders. Hoover and the group of 85 people met 5 years ago tomorrow at the Pima Friends Meeting House and decided 2 things: immigration laws needed to be changed, but in the meantime, somebody needed to go out to the human beings risking their lives for a few American bucks (often enticed by American corporate recruiters) and give them water so they don’t die there, or end up in hospitals in Tucson and Phoenix at taxpayer expense before being deported back and trying again.

Hoover and co. are folks who read Matthew 25:35-40 as marching orders, not allegory or metaphor.

Hoover’s also one of my favorite people in the world to interview, because he tells it like it is (and unlike some church leaders, he returns phone calls promptly). You either like the guy or you don’t, but you are never unsure where he stands.

I’ve been working on a Special Report for DisciplesWorld on Humane Borders and hope to have it done and posted this weekend. Meanwhile, here’s a link to an op-ed piece Hoover wrote in the Tucson Citizen a year ago.

The Blade Strikes Again

In this day of media conglomerates, there are few independent newspapers left. One of the best is Ohio’s own Pulitzer Prize-winning Toledo Blade, where my grandfather once worked as night city editor. In the past 2 months, The Blade began asking why the state was investing its money in rare coins. Their digging uncovered ‘Coingate’ - a trail of corruption and cronyism including the latest revelation that the state p—ed away, uh, I mean, ‘invested’, $215 million of its Workers Comp money in hedge funds. The governor, state treasurer and others - all Republicans - knew about it through much of 2004 but kept it quiet because of the November elections.

Follow this link to see a list of the Blade’s stories - if you start at the bottom and skim the headlines all the way up, you get the picture.
toledoblade.com