From the Daily Misleader

www.misleader.org

BUSH'S WMD MISLEADING CONTINUES TO ESCALATE

Faced with evidence that no WMD existed in Iraq before the war, President Bush is citing different rationales for going to war. He said this week that the war was justified because "the world is a better place without Saddam Hussein." The president's recent statements, however, are belied by what he's said in the past. A look at the historical record shows President Bush justified an invasion of Iraq by making unequivocal statements that Saddam Hussein possessed WMD that threatened all Americans, even claiming that inspectors had found WMD when they had not.

On November 23, 2002, President Bush said a war was justified because there was "an urgent threat posed by Iraq whose dictator has already used weapons of mass destruction to kill thousands." In early January 2003, President Bush said, "The Iraqi regime is a threat to any American. They not only have weapons of mass destruction, they used weapons of mass destruction...That's why I say Iraq is a threat, a real threat." And in his speech announcing the invasion, President Bush said the war was justified because Americans were "living at the mercy of an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder." None of these assertions have since been substantiated.

The president and his advisers had been warned repeatedly in the fall of
2002 by the intelligence community, including the CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency, that the WMD case was weak. However, ten days after the war began, Secretary Rumsfeld asserted the U.S had pinpointed the location of WMD, saying, "We know where they are. They are in the area around Tikrit and Baghdad and east, west, south and north somewhat." Less than two months later, President Bush went on television to claim that WMD had been found, saying, "we found the weapons of mass destruction" - an assertion that was false. Asked a follow-up question, the president again contended they'd been found, saying, "For those who say we haven't found [them], they're wrong, we found them." The statement has not been repeated since by the Administration or supported by the Iraq Survey Group's months-long search for WMD.

Independent observers are speaking out about the administration's pre-war assertions on Iraq versus the reality that's emerging. The respected Carnegie Endowment for International Peace wrote that the administration "systematically misrepresented the threat" from Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. The Army War College called the war "unnecessary," and the President's own Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board believes the White House was so desperate "to grab onto something affirmative" to demonstrate Iraq's weapons that it ignored intelligence reports undermining that claim.

The word from the vet

Two words, actually: "Perfect." "Beautiful." =)

That, and a clean bill of health. What more could a puppy ask for?

In Memoriam: Challenger

Today marks the eighteenth anniversary of the Challenger disaster. Janutary 28, 1986, was one of the most significant moments in my childhood. All sorts of dreams became suddenly uncertain, and the dangers of spaceflight became suddenly all too apparant.

May we remember the seven who were lost that day with appreciation and honor them for the risk they took so that humankind might explore the stars.

Times archives: The Shuttle Explodes

Vindication!

Ha! Take a look at this quote, from the New York Times: "Chuck Gerba, a professor of environmental microbiology at the University of Arizona who has studied bacteria in home kitchens, said that he found that people who had the cleanest-looking kitchens were often the dirtiest. Because 'clean' people wipe up so much, they often end up spreading bacteria all over the place. The cleanest kitchens, he said, were in the homes of bachelors, who never wiped up and just put their dirty dishes in the sink. "

Obscenely cold

Good grief. It's -27 here right now, with wind chill hovering right around -55! Today's high is expected to be... -17.

None of which is good for me. My car's block heater doesn't seem to work, and it took a lot of help to get it started today. (Wouldn't go on its own at all when I tried yesterday.) I'm getting a new battery this morning... mine only has 700 amps of cold cranking juice, and folks are telling me I really ought to have 1000-1100 in these parts. In my line of work, it isn't a good thing at all to have a car that won't go, so I'm going to bite the bullet and get the new battery.

Also, the pipes to my washer seem to be frozen. I'll have to call some church people about that... not only is it a nuisance, it could also cause damage to the house. Hey, Mom - you've still got a functioning laundry room, right? ;) Good thing I'll be coming home in two days!

That's the news for now. Aren't you glad it's warm where you are?

UPDATED - Elanor's Photo Gallery

I've posted new pics to Elanor's Photo Gallery. My new digital camera came today (yes, I DID buy a new digital camera just to take puppy pictures... what can I say?) and I've enjoyed trying it out. The most convenient thing it offers for puppy pictures is its big zoom lens - it lets me get great close-ups of her, and it also lets me "sneak up" on her when she's playing from across the room, so she never even knows I'm paying attention. I've only posted a half-dozen new pics, but I think they're showing the promise of things to come. =)

Elanor herself has had a mixed bag these last couple days... some really good moments, and some pretty naughty ones. She's getting good at going outside, but it seems like she's forgotten everything she ever knew about puppy pads inside. She hasn't been on the pad once today, even in her own room, where she's gone about four times today. She even made a big pile on the floor, just minutes after being outside. Grrrrrr...

She gets by on cutes and being little. It was easier last week to remind myself how little she was, and that she didn't know any better. This week the trouble is that I'm pretty sure she DOES know better, at least a little bit. Last week she knew all about puppy pads, and this week she ignores them. *sigh* I'm going to need to have my whole main floor steam cleaned once she's housebroken.

(And then, it happens - just as I'm writing about my despair at her good sense, she walks up to the puppy pad unannounced, crouches, and makes a pile. Lavish praise, of course. And one thing becomes clear: I know absolutely nothing about puppies!)

One thing's for certain - having Ellie this week has tired me out. She sleeps through the night just fine now, but it's still only about six hours, and we're not so good with naps yet. I'm an eight to nine hour kind of boy, so I'm dragging. And since I've been out of soda (and thus also out of caffeine), I don't have any nice chemical to make up the balance between her energy and mine. It's ten now, and I'm seriously thinking about crashing.

Poetry Corner: "The Power of the Dog"

The Power of the Dog
by Rudyard Kipling

There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
And when we are certain of sorrow in store,
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and Sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.

Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie--
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.

When the fourteen years which Nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumour, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
To lethal chambers or loaded guns,
Then you will find--it's your own affair--
But...you've given your heart for a dog to tear.

When the body that lived at your single will,
With its whimper of welcome, is stilled (how still!);
When the spirit that answered your every mood
Is gone--wherever it goes--for good,
You will discover how much you care,
And will give your heart for the dog to tear.

We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying Christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound interest of cent per cent.
Though it is not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em, the more do we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A short-time loan is as bad as a long--
So why in Heaven (before we are there)
Should we give our hearts to a dog to tear?

State of the Union reaction

You probably already know my political leanings and reaction to most of Bush's speech last night. So let me just offer this one observation:

The word is NUCLEAR... NOO-CLEE-AR. It is not, in any dictionary of the English language NUCULAR... NOO-CUE-LAR. For a president who's so concerned with such weapons (both building them at home and preventing his enemies from building them), you would think he would know how to say the word. But speech after speech proves his vocabulary's limitations.

Cheney? Rove? Condi? Won't someone PLEASE have the spine to stand up in front of the man, and say, "Um, Mr. President? The word is pronounced 'noo-clee-ar.' We just think you should be saying it right, that's all."

Unless, of course, that's also how people in other parts of the world say it. In that case, we refuse to ask for the world's permission to pronounce words the way we want...

ADDENDUM: For some interesting reading, try searching Google for the words "bush" and "nucular".

Adventures in Puppyland

Elanor has already had some big adventures today. With a little bit of encouraging, she got up the nerve to try following me up a few stairs... she made it up and back down two whole stairs, albeit with a greatly increased need for comforting immediately after!

Then, as I was doing laundry (she made a tiny puddle on my sheets... in the last 24 hours she's managed to soil almost all my bed items just a little bit!), I noticed Ellie looking at the door. She had a really good time walking over to the church yesterday, even if she got cold doing it, and I figured it would be a good thing to let her explore a little bit out in the yard. I was able to encourage her all the way down the back stairs, and after a bunch of enthusiastic exploring, she took care of all her business outside. =)

Obviously, there was a lot of cheering from her papa on the sidelines. I think I'll take her out pretty regularly. Even if she doesn't go, getting some experience on those stairs will be good for her, and she seems to really like exploring in the snow, if only for a few minutes.

Maybe next trip into Fargo I should get a sweater for her. I'm sure Nikki's is too big.

But the way this one is growing, I don't think I ought to be spending any great amount of money on clothes! She's right around six pounds this week, and two weeks ago she was 4.5 pounds.

Well, since the little bundle is cuddled up to my feet and I've got confirmation stuff to work on, I should "get busy" (gotta be careful how I use that expression now that it's become a command!).

Morning report

Ellie and I are up and facing the morning. Overall, she's been reasonably good about nighttimes, considering that in her entire two-month life she's never slept alone before this. She's very good about holding it all through the night - and making a mega-puddle on her puppy pad first thing in the morning. She's not so good about settling in quietly... I have to spend ten or twenty minutes lying by her crate where she can see me to calm her down, and then just ignore her when she throws a tantrum in the middle of the night.

(I've tried taking her to the puppy pad when she does that, but she wants to play. That's a no-go. We're not going to teach her that when she gets squirrely in the middle of the night and wants to play, she should just wake me up!)

All in all, though, we've had three fairly good nights. I've been able to get an appropriate amount of sleep, and I think there's been at least a tiny bit of progress on Elanor's part. I'm hoping to get her over her tantrums before we go to visit Mom and Dad in just over a week.

Confirmation is today, so I'll spend a good chunk of the day working on the presentation at home. I try to spend an hour on Wednesday afternoons over at the church, so I'll bring Ellie along for that. For the actual confirmation time, though, she'll probably need to stay at home. I think I'll bring her for a quick visit, though.

Speaking of visiting, she met what must have seemed like half the town to her yesterday. We went over for coffee with the sewing ladies, and then visited Floyd Olson, one of my homebound parishioners (whom I knew loves dogs). I kept her tucked into my coat most of the time, but she took things pretty much in stride. She freaked out once when one of the gals at sewing tried to pick her up, but I think that was just one thing too much for her. And by "freaked out" I don't mean got aggressive... she just skittered away to near my feet and yipped.

It's going to be way cold here today. Right now we're probably at our high for the day... it's only going downhill as a front moves in. Snow and wind should make driving a real pleasure! Good thing that I'm going no farther than across the street. I should be able to manage that.

UPDATED - Elanor's Photo Gallery

New pics online at Elanor's Photo Gallery

Friedman on the US role in Israel/Palestine

Column - 'War of Ideas, Part 4': "The Bush team destroyed the Iraqi regime in three weeks and has not persuaded Israel to give up one settlement in three years. To think America can practice that sort of hypocrisy and win the war of ideas in the Arab-Muslim world is a truly dangerous fantasy."

Lutherans are so funny!

My friends the van der Hagens passed on an e-mail about "Lutheran Air." Here's a link to the original version, on A Prairie Home Companion.

The War on... Math?

NEW YORK (AP)

At New York's Kennedy airport today, an individual later discovered to be a public school teacher was arrested trying to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a setsquare, a slide rule, and a calculator.

At a morning press conference, Attorney general John Ashcroft said he believes the man is a member of the notorious al-gebra movement. He is being charged by the FBI with carrying weapons of math instruction.

"Al-gebra is a fearsome cult," Ashcroft said. "They desire average solutions by means and extremes, and sometimes go off on tangents in a search of absolute value. They use secret code names like "x" and "y" and refer to themselves as "unknowns", but we have determined they belong to a common denominator of the axis of medieval with coordinates in every country. "As the Greek philanderer Isosceles used to say, there are 3 sides to every triangle," Ashcroft declared. When asked to comment on the arrest, President Bush said, "If God had wanted us to have better weapons of math instruction, He would have given us more fingers and toes.

"I am gratified that our government has given us a sine that it is intent on protracting us from these math-dogs who are willing to disintegrate us with calculus disregard. Murky statisticians love to inflict plane on every sphere of influence," the President said, adding: "Under the circumferences, we must differentiate their root, make our point, and draw the line." President Bush warned, "These weapons of math instruction have the potential to decimal everything in their math on a scalene never before seen unless we become exponents of a Higher Power and begin to factor-in random facts of vertex."

Attorney General Ashcroft said, "As our Great Leader would say, read my ellipse. Here is one principle he is uncertainty of: though they continue to multiply, their days are numbered as the hypotenuse tightens around their necks."

Elanor's Photo Gallery

It's official: I've chosen a name for my puppy - Elanor. I call her "Ellie" for short, but she's learning to recognize both her full name and nickname.

Jeff had suggested it, actually. We were talking about good names from literature we liked, and he remembered that in The Lord of the Rings, Sam names his daughter Elanor on Frodo's suggestion. The unusual spelling (most people spell her name with an extra "e" - "Eleanor") comes from Tolkien's version of the name. In the context of TLOTR, "elanor" is a beautiful flower.

If you're a real fan, you might know that it comes from the Sindarin Elvish el ("star") + anor ("sun"). But that's venturing pretty far out into the waters of geekdom, even for me. ;)

Suffice it to say, I liked the name, I liked the literary allusion, and I liked how it fit my pup. So Elanor it is!

Now, here are some pictures. I've posted a few of these online, and e-mailed a few more to some of you. But there are fresh ones from today, and this is the first time I've gathered them all into one photo gallery.

I'll make a mention in the blog whenever Ellie's gallery is updated.

So far she's been absolutely a dream. Don't let the "ferocious puppy" pic in the gallery fool you... Ellie's a sweetheart, and she's already got the puppy pads figured out. One legitimate mistake out of maybe eight or nine attempts since she came yesterday. I'd say that's a FINE record. =)

I'm learning a lot by being a "puppy papa." But I'll have to post more on that some other time. Right now, I'm ready for some supper.

But take a look at the pictures, and just tell me you wouldn't have fallen for her like I did!

So far, so good!

Well, my visit yesterday was a lot of fun, and my annual meeting went better than my best hopes. I'd say the last 24 hours have treated me pretty well, all in all. =)

Now I'm off to pick up my puppy. Today's the day that I get to bring her home. I'll probably post an update tonight on how it's going. I expect that it will be like any other time there's a new little addition to the family... many things that are absolutely wonderful, and a few things that are not so thrilling. ;) I'm glad that tomorrow is a holiday - I don't have to worry so much if I'm up all night with a traumatized, homesick puppy!

As I said... more later.

Quick update

I've been a bit delinquent in updating my blog, so here's the skinny on what's been going on:

• Jeff came to visit last weekend. He and I had a rather low-key time, and enjoyed going over to visit the puppies at Duane and Cindy's.
  
• We had yet another funeral on Wednesday at First Lutheran. That makes three in the last month, five since I was installed, and six since this time last year. And no baptisms or marriages yet. Among my nearest colleagues, I'm far away the funeral king... sounds like Lee, my predecessor, also had stats to back up that reputation. I hope that it's a short-term title! Bring on the baptisms!
  
• I'll be driving up to Devils Lake today to visit two old camp friends. The three of us haven't gotten together since my senior year in college, so it's a momentous occasion. Let's hope the town can survive us. ;)
  
• First Lutheran's annual meeting is tomorrow after church. Spring Creek's is next Sunday.
  
• I'll be bringing my puppy home after the meeting tomorrow. =) I've been sifting through the rubble in my "toy room," the little corner room that Lee had used as a nursery for his daughter and that I've been using for geek toys/storage, so that it can be a "puppy room" instead. There are no electric cords, there's enough room to play, there's a light with a dimmer (good for night trips), there's a low window to look out of, and the carpet's such a small patch that replacing it, if need be, won't be a big deal. This way when I have to go someplace, I won't need to confine the puppy to her crate. (I want her to be used to being in the crate so that it's no big deal, but I don't want to have to use it for long stretches.) I can place a puppy pad in the room, along with a few toys and her bowls, and it'll be about the best-case scenario for being home alone. Or so I hope.

That's all the news. Time to get a sermon going, and then hit the road!

Ted Rall: "Bush admits it - he lied"

I've enjoyed Ted Rall's commentary. It's true, he is probably the angriest liberal columnist I know of, and he sometimes overstates his case. Much like Rush, actually. ;) But if you can get past the histrionics, Rall does make some awful good points, and it's easy to understand why he's upset to the point of near-hysteria: Bush lied about his reasons for going to war in Iraq, and the American people have bought those lies, hook, line and sinker. It's maddening.

In his latest column, Rall writes:

"Nearly 500 American servicemen have been killed in the war against Iraq. At least 2,400 more have been wounded. We've killed so many Iraqis--tens of thousands, certainly--that the Pentagon can't keep count. We've borrowed more than $160 billion to pay for this extravaganza, with many more hundreds of billions to follow. And what was the point of this waste of life and treasure? 'To disarm Iraq,' Bush told us.

"But Iraq, as everyone from the CIA to Hans Blix to Saddam told us beforehand, didn't have any arms to dis.

"Calling off the WMD hunt [the Times reported last week that the Bush administration "has quietly withdrawn from Iraq a 400-member military team whose job was to scour the country for military equipment"] is Bush's tacit admission that he lied about the reasons for war. It's hard to think of anything worse that a president can do. It's even harder to imagine the American people, so cynically accepting of deception, holding him accountable."

Good points, even if they are a little bit frantic. =)

Yahoo! News - Army War College Study Blasts U.S. War on Terrorism

---

"Terrorism is a common noun. It's a technique. How do you make war on terrorism as opposed to specific terrorist organizations?"

- Jeffrey Record, veteran defense expert and visiting research professor at the Strategic Studies Institute of the Army War College

---

Ouch! Record pretty much blows the Iraq invasion out of the water. Other choice quotes:

Lumping Iraq and al Qaeda together "as a single, undifferentiated terrorist threat ... was a strategic error of the first order because it ignored critical differences between the two in character, threat level and susceptibility to U.S. deterrence and military action."

"The result has been an unnecessary preventive war of choice against a deterred Iraq that has created a new front in the Middle East for Islamic terrorism and diverted attention and resources away from securing the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al Qaeda."

The Bush administration's declared goals "are unrealistic and condemn the United States to a hopeless quest for absolute security."

"I don't think that it is within America's power to rid the world of terrorism. ... The idea that you're going to be able to expunge this form of warfare from the world, I think, is really stretching it."

The Passion Of The Christ

I'm becoming cautiously excited about the release of Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ on Ash Wednesday. Although it's been accused of anti-Semitism, I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt. Historically speaking, Jesus was crucified at the hands of Romans and Jews, and the movie can't escape that. Theologically speaking, it's not enough to say "they did it!" but films speak the language of visuals and images more than that of theology. We'll see.

As I said, I'm cautiously excited. The short "teaser" trailer from the site is beautiful, suggesting that, if nothing else, this will be the best looking film ever made on the life of Jesus. I'm intrigued by Gibson's use of the original languages (Aramaic and Latin) with subtitles in a mainstream release. And many of the reviews I've read (including a handful from prominent Jewish figures who have seen the film) say it's profoundly moving and that the fears of anti-Semitism are overplayed.

I'll probably wait until I've seen it myself before promoting it at church. The long, long list of conservative, religious-right figures in the reviews section of the site troubles me a little bit... at least until some commentators that I trust and respect more lend their voices. No matter how beautiful the film is, if its theological content is in the same ballpark with "Left Behind," I'm not interested.

Anyhow, check out the site, view the trailer, and come to your own conclusion. If only more pastors trusted their parishioners to do that, instead of telling them not even to watch or read or listen to some controversial thing.

Fire burns LaMoure church

The news around town yesterday was that our Catholic neighbors in LaMoure had lost their church in a fire that morning. The Jamestown Sun offers this article: Fire burns LaMoure church.

What a difficult thing! Our prayers in Litchville are certainly with the members of Holy Rosary as they try to get back on their feet.

Literature corner

When I was going through everything with Nikki almost a month ago now, Mom sent up a clipping she'd been saving for more than a decade. It was a Dear Abby column that ran very shortly after the last time (and the first time) she and Dad had to put down one of their dogs. She thought had kept it because it had touched her so. She sent it with Dad so that I could benefit from it, too.

Here it is...

"A Dog's Prayer" by Beth Norman Harris

Treat me kindly, my beloved master, for no heart in all the world is more grateful for kindness than the loving heart of me.

Do not break my spirit with a stick, for though I should lick your hand between the blows, your patience and understanding will more quickly teach me the things you would have me do.

Speak to me often, for your voice is the world's sweetest music, as you must know by the fierce wagging of my tail when your footstep falls upon my waiting ear.

When it is cold and wet, please take me inside, for I am now a domesticated animal, no longer used to the bitter elements. And I ask no greater glory than the privilege of sitting at your feet beside the hearth. Though had you no home, I would rather follow you through ice and snow than rest upon the softest pillow in the warmest home in all the land, for you are my god and I am your devoted worshiper.

Keep my pan filled with fresh water, for although I should not reproach you were it dry, I cannot tell you when I suffer thirst. Feed me clean food, that I may stay well, to romp and play and do your bidding, to walk by your side, and stand ready, willing and able to protect you with my life should your life be in danger.

And, beloved master, should the Great Master see fit to deprive me of my health or sight, do not turn me away from you. Rather hold me gently in your arms as skilled hands grant me the merciful boon of eternal rest... and I will leave you knowing with the last breath I drew, my fate was ever safest in your hands.

More information about Charles

You may remember that I've sponsored a young boy from Indonesia, Charles Klau, through Christian Children's Fund. I thought it was high time I posted some more information about Charles here. =) I'll post his picture soon. Also, you can read about his home country, Indonesia, and East Timor, the country his village borders, on MSN Encarta.

Charles' Bio:
"Charles Klau was born into a desperately poor family in East Nusa Tenggara. He lives with his parents only in a very simple house, earthen floor without private bathroom and electricity. His father tries hard to earn a living by working as a farm laborer, but he earns very little that it is impossible to meet the family's needs. His mother, although resourceful at trying to make the most of the little, cannot do much with her husband's low income. The family's annual income is around US$ 100. It is painfully obvious that the child needs help if he wants to get proper nourishment, clothing and better attention. When we learn of his needs, we are happy to welcome him to our big family. Charles is his nickname. His health condition is average and he makes good progress. His hobby is playing with toy cars. He will receive proper clothing and nutritious meals under your kind sponsorship, so that he can grow healthily. he is studying in the primary school now."

GENDER: M
BIRTHDATE: Apr 09, 1992
PROJECT: 2793
COUNTRY: Indonesia


Charles' Project:

INTRO
Bina Mitra Tulakadi, the project where your CCF child receives the benefits of your sponsorship, is a social service center assisting needy children in Silawan and Tulakadi, remote villages in West Timor, located on the border of Indonesia and East Timor.

STANDARD OF LIVING
Siwalan and Tulakadi are situated at the slope of a hill, about 1,000 feet above sea level. The village is barren, rocky and infertile. Drought is common, causing hunger, scabies, diarrhea and malnutrition.

When East Timor separated from Indonesia in 1999, thousands of refugees flocked and lived in barracks around West Timor. Many other people like army, police, UN staffs and volunteers from many national and international aid organizations arrived in great numbers to help the refugees. The influx of those people caused the price of food and other commodities to soar. The Siwalan and Tulakadi villagers who do not receive these humanitarian services have no adequate income to pay food commodities. Meanwhile their farm plots are used for refugee settlements. Many farmers lost their farmland because they are located in East Timor that has now become a different country.

Thousands of refugees hesitated about whether to join a reunification program conducted by UNHCR, or to live in West Timor as citizens of Indonesia or return to East Timor. Many of them have no jobs and spend their time gambling. The cases of crimes are increasing. This situation caused the local and refugee children to become more aggressive and discouraged them from going to primary school. The local kindergarten and primary school cannot accommodate school age children due to limited number of class and teachers. Meanwhile the parents cannot pay school tuition for their children.

PROJECT PROGRAM AND ACTIVITIES
Sponsorship assistance helps the project enable the poorest children and their families to have access to clean water, adequate nutrition, proper health care, education, healthy housing and sanitation facilities.

HEALTH CARE AND NUTRITION
To improve the children's health status, the project conducts supplementary feeding, nutrition education, general health checkups and intensive medical treatments when necessary. To prevent hunger, the project runs a food for work program.

SANITATION
The project encourages the people in mutual cooperation to build wells, clean water reservoirs, a pipeline system, latrines and other sanitation facilities.

EDUCATION
The project provides school fees and school supplies for the children, enabling them to enjoy formal education. Study and playgroups are conducted for all children without discriminating against their ethnic or religion of the families.

INCOME GENERATION
The project develops a food security program through land conservation, candelnut planting and multiple crop farming. Working capital is provided to conduct cow fattening.

Make an impact!

How would you like to make an impact... on a comet? By visiting this site you can have your name engraved on a disc that will be attached to the impactor spacecraft which will collide with Comet Tempel 1 in July, 2005. The best part is, it's free. =)

Op-Ed Columnist: Job and Dean

Ouch... I think I just lost a few ounces of respect for Howard Dean:

From William Safire in today's Times: "As he heads into what H. L. Mencken called the 'Bible Belt,' the candidate moved to plug an apparent hole in his resume about an interest in religion. After hearing Dean's observation beginning 'If you know much about the Bible - which I do,' a reporter asked about his favorite New Testament book. Dean named Job, adding, 'But I don't like the way it ends . . . in some of the books of the New Testament, the ending of the Book of Job is different . . . there's one book where there's a more optimistic ending, which we believe was tacked on later.'"

Bad enough that Gov. Dean appears to know little at all about the Bible. (Job is in the Old Testament, there are no "alternate endings" to it in the New Testament, and he's probably thinking of the Gospel of Mark, which appears to have two additional endings that were "tacked on later." Mark and Job, however, are not easily confused books.)

But to brag about "knowing much about the Bible" like that is just plain hubris. If you don't read it and aren't familiar with it, friend, just say so. Be a secular humanist or whatever... most folks will forgive you. But you look like a darn fool saying things like that, especially to people who happen to have both read and cherished the Scriptures.

Times: "Unruly Students Facing Arrest, Not Detention"

"The idea that you try to find out why somebody did something or give a person a second chance or try to solve a problem in a way that's not punitive - that's become almost quaint now."

- Laurence Steinberg, a professor of psychology at Temple University and the director of the MacArthur Foundation Research Network on Adolescent Development and Juvenile Justice.

As someone who's worked within the juvenile justice system, I have to point out how absurd and unfair this trend is to the kids involved. The combination of "zero tolerance" policies and a shift in how society views kids has resulted in kids being taken away in handcuffs for things as minor as turning off the lights on the girls' bathroom or refusing to change out of an inappropriate item of clothing.

I'm not disputing that these are examples of misbehavior, or that the students involved should not face consequences. But the severity of the punishment should bear some relation to the offense! Detention seems like a fair option in both of these cases, or possibly even being sent home for the day. But kids should not be thrust into the juvenile justice system lightly.

I've seen how easy it is for kids to get caught in a nasty cycle there. When a kid a given probation, any little slip-up can land him or her back in the system. Lip off to Mom? Play hookey? Light up in the boys' lavatory? That could be all it takes.

These kids go round and round, through the system again and again, and it doesn't help them in any way. Instead they learn that people in positions of authority are against them, and that punishments have no relation to reality. They learn that most people would rather send a kid off to a detention center than to deal with the problems in that kid's life in a helpful, sympathetic way... and they learn all too often that their parents fall into this category, as well. (Read the disturbing comments in the Times article from parents who wholeheartedly approve of their kids being taken out of school in a squad car with handcuffs and a police escort.)

There's a great demand in our society for "law and order." Legislators have made careers on "getting tough on crime." What both of these phrases really mean is something like "using police authority to remove unpleasant social problems from my backyard."

Parents who have no concept of how to raise a child endorse this "tough love" when they're mostly just relieved to let someone else deal with their kid's annoying behavior problems for a while.

Administrators who are trying to squeeze budgetary blood from deficit turnips, and have precious little time or resources to devote to classic cases of student misbehavior, discover that the costs of dealing with a troubled child can be offput onto the juvenile justice system, freeing up a few meager rousources for their districts. Much easier to put the community liason officer to useful work than to have to shell out for additional guidance counselors and staff for dentention halls.

And the students are the victims. Once they're thrust into the system, the odds are good it will change them for life. I've seen it happen. A good kid can become jaded and cynical as she watches how adults handle her "crime." And a troubled kid can become a real problem when his issues are handled in a detention center rather than the local clinic.

The thing is, we're not talking about sending the serious offenders, here. If a kid comes to school with a gun or a switchblade, it's appropriate to treat that as a criminal offense and to use the juvenile justice system.

But sassing off to the teacher? Peeing on the floor? Flipping the principal the bird on the playground?

Are we really so thin-skinned that we can't deal with this sort of minor misbehavior without calling in the Mounties?

Sadly, apparently we are.

Going for a test drive, so to speak

Today I took my puppy for a test drive.

That is, while her current family was visiting relatives to exchange Christmas presents (I know, it's a bit late), I got to have the pup over for over five hours and get some one-on-one time with her. =)

It was good for both of us. I'd never seen her without her siblings around, and though you learn something about a dog from watching her around other puppies, you also learn something about her by spending time with her alone. Although she certainly had rambunctious moments, she was a lot more subdued tonight than she was the last time I was at Cindy's. Could be the night, could be the new scenario... who knows? Still, it was good to have that individual time.

It also gave her a chance to get to know her soon-to-be home, without the stress of having to live someplace new just yet. She explored a little bit, but it was clear that she couldn't handle more than small doses of "new." She'd start out feeling adventurous, but after a few minutes of sniffing around, she'd start scratching abruptly (a doggie stress reliever) and whimper. That seemed to be her sign that she needed some reassurance and security right about now. After a while, she'd feel better.

When you're that little, it's easy to understand how much there is that would be new and scary in a big house like mine. It'll take some time for her to figure it all out. But she's got a start, at least.

Maybe I'm only going to look foolish in a few weeks, but I'm going to chance saying it publicly: I think housebreaking her is going to be no problem at all. We were 4/4 tonight, and the very first one I didn't even need to coach her at all. She sniffed the puppy pad, played for a minute or two, and then headed to the pad and went right to her business. Whenever she started to get a bit squirmy, I brought here there. Seemed to work well. =)

I'm still working on naming her. I think that'll end up being much harder than housebreaking her. It's important that she not only get a nice name or a name that I happen to like... she needs to get the RIGHT name, the one that's hers. I keep looking, and I'm not sure I've found it yet. But spending a whole evening with her alone helped. It gave me a better sense of who she is.

We'll probably be doing a few more extended visits like this over the next few weeks, to help both of us get ready for the Big Day.

It was good to have a dog in the house again. Today marked three weeks since losing Nikki, and also three weeks since first meeting my puppy. That seems to me like a good time to have the new addition over for a visit, now that I think about it.

Regarding Nikki, I'll be able to pick up her remains in Fargo when I'm there on Monday. That'll be kind of weird... I'll need to find a place to keep them until I can bury her this spring. I'm asking around to find someone here in town who does woodworking and might be willing to make a small box for her. I'd like that a lot better than some mass-produced urn.

Time to hit the hay... this was a longer update than I expected it to be, but there was lots of dog news to report.

Food for thought as you watch your Bowls...

"Name me a single company where a C.E.O. works with someone who makes five times more than him. What kind of business is that? When you add it all up, what's at stake is the integrity of the American university"

- William C. Friday, chairman of the Knight Foundation Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics and president emeritus of the University of North Carolina, on the disparity between the salaries of football coaches and the presidents of their universities, in the New York Times