At a fairly large conference in England, the Archbishop of Canterbury asked Colin Powell if our [United States and Great Britain] plans for Iraq were just an example of empire building by George Bush.
Powell answered, “Over the years, the United States has sent many of its fine young men and women into great peril to fight for freedom beyond our borders. The only amount of land we have ever asked for in return is enough to bury those that did not return.”
It became very quiet in the room.
This song, “I Turn Everything Over”, by Switchfoot, does a pretty good job of trying to describe my attitude for Lent. Some days I am better at it than others.
Monday found me on my knees again
Breathing You in
To blur the lines that mark where I begin
And where You end
No use in trying to pretend
Come take me again
’Cause rumor has it I’m not who I’ve been
Come define meChorus:
What can we do
If these rumors are true?
I turn everything over
I turn myself in
I turn everything over
I turn myself in
There’s nothing left to me to defend
I turn everything over
I turn myself in, yeahThe evidence convicts the hollow man
After looking inside
To my dismay I find I’m just one of them
’Cause I’m already but not yet resurrected fallen man
Come break this limbo
And I know You know just who I’ve been
Come define meChorus
Rumor has it You love me
Rumor has it the world spins upside down
Rumor has it my only hope is in You
And the rumors are true
I turn everything overChorus (x2)
I apologize before hand for the cat picture and story. It seems like a lot of weblogs have at least one entry about their pets. Here’s mine.
Our esteemed state leaders decreed that every school in Oklahoma will have spring break at the same time, that is, during the third week of March. As the weather would have it, we have had four days straight of rain and gray skies with temperatures in the 50’s and 60’s. Today, the last official day of spring break, is the first day of bright, sunny skies.
Last week, which had been my school’s tradition spring break until last year, was gorgous. Every day was sunny with three or four of them in the 70’s. (70° weather in early March is a little unusual in Oklahoma, but not rare.) Ironically, I had predicted to one of my classes that at least three of our spring break days would have rain. I wish I had been wrong. But as my students would say, no school on a rainy day beats school on a sunny day. They are correct.
Again, as the weather would have it, the forecast for next week looks like we will go back to school on several days of sunny, 70° weather.
The Coalition air war against Iraq, also known as “A” day, has begun at about 9 pm local time in Baghdad. The military nicknamed the type of operation as “Shock and Awe.” What we saw was impressive, but I am sure there is a lot more of it going on around the whole country, and not just in the city of Baghdad. The night is young in Irag—I imagine that it will continue all night long.
It was eery to see the bombing of selected sites within Baghdad on live television. All of the major news agencies have cameras near the center of town. As I watched, I got a little bit of that same sick feeling in my stomach that I had while I watched the World Trade Center towers burn and collapse back on Sept. 11. As the government officials say, they are targeting military and Iraqi leadership positions. The vast majority of the ordinance being dropped is called “smart” bombs. There should be a minimum of civilian deaths. I pray that they are right.
Right now, there seems to be a lull in the bombing. The cameras are showing several cars driving around the streets. One of the green, night-scope cameras is watching a bunch of people mulling around a street corner, watching a burning building. How odd.
The major networks have committed a major faux pau. They concentrated most of their efforts in Baghdad. It is true that they have imbedded reporters with certain marine and army units as they move into Iraq, but their reports are sporadic. Why didn’t networks place camera crews in each of the major cities like Mosul, Basra, Kirkuk, and Najaf?