thoughts out loud

al gore for president?

ehylee — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 15:13:12 +0000

Al Gore just won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize today! I wonder what was going on through his head when he received that…there have been so many talks about him joining the presidential campaign; no doubt his passion for environmental stewardship (or whatever you want to call it) has played a huge role. Personally, I hope he stays out of the campaign. I believe he’s doing many things to promote knowledge about how serious climate change is, and he’s obviously a smart guy – that doesn’t make him qualified to be the next leader of our country. I say the next president (whoever that will be) work closely with Gore on environmental issues (esp. when making policies that will influence the environment), and with the EPA. But personally? No to Gore for president. Yes! to Gore for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner and yes! to his continued involvement with this whole environmental movement!

blackwater’s connection with calvin college

ehylee — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 12:26:28 +0000

http://www-stu.calvin.edu/chimes/article.php?id=2920

“The firm is based out of North Carolina but was founded in Holland, MI in 1997 by Erik Prince, son of Elsa Prince, the namesake of Calvin College’s Prince Conference Center.”

Crazy! Erik Prince is the son of the founder of my school’s conference center!

kingship in deuteronomy

ehylee — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 02:55:22 +0000

Flip to Deuteronomy 17 (starting at verse 14).

Interesting little thing about what God expects of the king. It seems God doesn’t want the Israelite king to:

“acquire great numbers of horses for himself”
“take many wives”
“accumulate large amounts of silver and gold”

It seems pretty self-explanatory. But there is more behind these three things … read on if interested …

horses
Horses represent military power, for they’re a type of military weapon. Not acquiring great numbers of horses for himself is code for: the Israelite king should fully rely on God for military aid and success!

wives
Now if you read on in verse 17 the NIV says, “He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray.” Being a woman myself, this would automatically tick me off … what a sexist comment! But no. God is encouraging marriage as a family relationship as opposed to what marriages at the time were seen as – diplomatic marriages or marital alliances amongst countries. Second thing: foreign countries means foreign marital alliances, which means foreign wives who could potentially bring foreign gods.

personal wealth
What’s wrong with the king having a little wealth? He is king right? Well … the king is supposed to serve the people, and not for personal gain. He should be concerned with the social leveling between rich and poor. Personal wealth, then, is out of the picture and no longer an incentive for the king to be king, because encouraging goodness in society should be incentive enough.

tear gas fired at monks

ehylee — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:36:20 +0000

Burma, Burma, Burma. Is there any hope for the country? Monks are so incredibly revered in Buddhist countries, yet the Burmese military government dares to physically and violently stymie their peaceful protest. The representative of Burma hardly ever attends ASEAN meetings, and the Red Cross pulled out of the country after their continuously failed efforts to help the people.

Any thoughts? Is there hope?

Myanmar crowds cheer protesting monks
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20837849/

1,500 monks march on Myanmar
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/09/19/myanmar.monks.ap/

Notice the difference in tone between the two articles.