A new voice crying in the wilderness!

We've always known the English are capable of courage and straight thinking. That's why the BBC and their articulate but biased cohorts that we knew and loved so well prior to the last quarter century or so, has proven to be so outrageous an anomaly.

Now comes a new blog from a delightfully clear headed straight speaking Brit lady living and working in the holy land. I heartedly recommend a daily read of JANE'S FIGHTING TALK for a fresh look at the struggle for survival now underway in Israel. For example:

First question "Who ARE the refugees on the run from the bombing?"

• 1. They are in the main originally Palestinians, Shiite Moslem, who had fled Israel in the 1948 war of independence. The population is between 400 and 500,000; press reports say that 600,000 + refugees are on the move
• 2. They live in overcrowded refugee camps, villages and suburbs, mainly in south Lebanon and south Beirut. They survive through (a) UNWRA aid (b) menial labour (c) salaries and ex-gratia payments from Hezbollah – routed from Iran.
• 3. Palestinian refugees do not have Lebanese citizenship. (Not a well-known fact.)
• 4. They are excluded from Lebanese society. Palestinian refugees were banned from 73 professions (including law and medicine) in Lebanon until last year.
• 5. The Palestinian refugees provide Hezbollah its army and its civilian infrastructure. They provide their homes and land for bunkers, tunnels, and underground cells. Ready to fire rockets are tucked away in populated Hezbollah Shiite neighbourhoods, in apartment buildings, parking garages, out-houses, mosques and schools. Not exclusively, but mostly, Palestinian refugees and Hezbollah are one and the same.
• 6. Hezbollah is a closed area for the rest of Lebanon. It is entirely independent, providing its own services, its own policing, its education system, its own laws and its own army. The original Lebanese population has no connection with the refugees and their descendents. The Palestinian refugees have been mired in poverty and hopelessness, although shored up in recent years with millions of dollars worth of military equipment. Hezbollah is therefore extremely dangerous.

Has our arrogant and proud western media recently discussed any of these points at length? Do they even consider this might be information that could make a difference, or the free world would want to know this background? Does the media even care? Does any of this support their own corporate agendas? Or sell any more papers or adverts? The answers are obvious, I believe.

People of Good Will may always disagree on the means to an end. But IMHO this particular bully needs to be thrashed until he looses both the will and the capacity to fight. That has not yet occurred. Go IDF! Fight! Fight! Fight! (OK, it's almost football season here in the states, so cut me a little slack, will you?)

God bless you, Jane, as you almost single-handedly take on the slimy, pasty, yellow, lily-livered rats that now inhabit the empty halls of the once great BBC, et al.!

Cheers

The MSM's "Gap" Widens

Update on this subject at 1915 hrs PDT. Belmont Club posted interesting speculation.

News headlines today from MSNBC touting claims from Hezbollah's leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, that Israel has suffered a MAJOR DEFEAT in their three week war - passed on apparently either tongue-in-cheek or by an almost unbelievably uncritical and adoring media - illustrate just how wide the gap has grown between what has happened, and what is reported to have happened.

Let me see now if I can figure this out.

HZ shoots rockets randomly and without much aim, hitting mostly fields, outbuildings, private homes and a few civilians. IDF destroys HZ rocket launchers (which have surprisingly been placed in public buildings and residences) almost as soon as they fire.

HZ has gone underground and mostly hides in bunkers, hunkering down amidst (and holding onto) women and children as human shields, relying only on its random rockets to strike back at Israel. IDF owns the skies over Lebanon and has pretty well destroyed HZ's headquarters compound in Beirut, plus about 35% of its other facilities - including deep bunkers - scattered around the country.

HZ - a guerilla movement - is now defending its land, the worst tactical mistake one such can make. IDF has blocked avenues of resupply by almost totally destroying the local infrastructure.

HZ has lost forces at the ratio of 10 highly trained warriors to 1 reservist.

Yep, it all figures! Israel HAS suffered a major defeat! And in a welcome gesture of humanitarian kindness Nasrallah now offers his beat up foe a chance for a cease fire, so it can "catch its breath". Yeah, it makes perfect sense.

Does it sound a little like the schoolyard bully laying on the ground with a bloody nose, asking the kid standing over him if he's "ready to give?"

Nothing here is saying war is great! It isn't. But it certainly isn't difficult to figure out who bit off more than he can chew. Well, he probably needs to choke on it for awhile, until he learns a little respect for peace and quiet. The tragedy, though, is that while "he" is doing that innocents will die.

Once again, we survive !!!

Had a few problems earlier this morning resurrecting the "Gap", but once Q let me know of the problem and I was able to contact Blogger, everything else soon fell into place and we are once again live from the Monterey Bay! Thanks again, Q - and thanks to Blogger support, too.

Nature photos from the UK

A blogging friend, Q, recently posted several neat photos of a family of ducks, including one particularly brave duckling, while the ducks were on a day outing swimming in a Canadian canal. Several folks commented on the pics and there occurred some discussion as to the proper genus duckus of his subjects.

Which reminded me of the 200 plus photos Mrs. Dweet took during our recent UK holiday. (Notice, please, all 49er is claiming to have done here was make sure the photographer got on and off the proper trains and buses so as to complete the trip. Nothing else). But from comments received since our return the photos seem to hold a certain general interest, therefore a few are being posted here - along with some obviously uninformed comments. Most of these photos were taken at Leeds Castle, which has a large, charming "Duckery" lying astraddle its mile long entrance path.



I'm assuming this first bird is a wood duck drake or hen, but could not prove it if challenged.



This guy wanted nothing more than a early afternoon siesta, and the warm sun sure made that idea seem inviting.



The graceful Black Swan, imported from its native Australia, has been the official bird of Leeds Castle for decades.



This mystery bird is dramatically beautiful, but we don't know what it is.



One of many colorful peacocks strolling the grounds.
All photos © 2006 suzikayatpacbellnet.

And lastly, this proud fellow made sure EVERYONE got the opportunity to take plenty of great photos of his distinctive plumage. A rare sight, there were actually two albino peacock families on the castle grounds.

Well, that's all for now. Maybe later I'll post two more of Mrs. Dweet's outstanding UK photos - one an exterior shot of Leeds Castle itself, and the other of the intricate ceiling works inside Bath Abbey. Many of our friends thought she'd purchased professional shots for these. But that will have to wait for later.

"As exciting as watching grass grow!"

49er was reminded of this comment from a friend recently when he heard the news of his "retired" brother-in-law's new temporary job.

Here are some additional details. He has the ideal part time job. A job as a "Field Observer" at the 'gap' in highway 140 created next to the Merced River by the recent Ferguson Rock Slide in the Sierra National Forest. He watches rocks roll down hill! All night long! And afterwards he hurries home, sleeps and hurries right back to work! Exciting, eh?

Of course there is some paper work to do - keeping track of the latest "rollers" so the crews in the morning know what's happened during the night - but how's that for a great profession - rock watcher? What tales he'll have to tell his grandsons!

OK, enough already. It is an economic disaster for hundreds of folks living in Mariposa County and working in El Portal or Yosemite NP, so we shouldn't take too much glee with this, but the BIL has sure put in his years fighting fires all over the west during many, many summers - so we don't begrudge him a season at home, even though he is forced to work nights for a change. Good go, Dennis!

PS: For those interested in personal memorabilia, the linked publication is the modern version of the same weekly newspaper 49er edited for a couple of years during the late 1960's. Another of his many, many fun jobs!

"Militaristic"

On a friend's blog today he commented in passing he believed his own country was "less militaristic" than the USA.

His use of that word set off bells in my head, reminding me once again of the "gap" between what most Americans think of themselves versus what some think are the generally accepted opinions of the "rest of the civilized world".

After losing a half hour or so looking up various references I decided to post on the issue here, rather than use up his own "space" with a lengthy response.

(Besides, it gives me a chance to use my recently installed "Performancing" extension on Firefox).

At times we use words rather carelessly, I think. I hope I would never say his country was "more passive" than mine, although it is. (When I think of passive from my own perspective I think of a herd of cow's lined up in the dairy barn, contentedly eating their feed and all being hooked up to milking machines - being milked. The "ladies" are actually anxious to enter their stalls and co-operatively commence a "disgorgement" process of their swollen udders. This is not a flattering view of what some think to be a dynamic country. So I'll never say it).

Back to "militaristic". Okay, it was a fair comment. He didn't say we were, just that we were more than his own folk.

As an American I don't think in "militaristic" terms. I don't think in terms of relying on our military to enforce my country's POV on the national stage. I would much rather talk than fight. And if the other guy will just talk reasonably, I am content to keep talking for quite a spell. Years. Decades. Centuries, if some progress is apparent.

But as a westerner in the USA I may be more sensitive than some to the odor of cow dung. And when what the other guy is saying begins to smell like last week's pasture-droppings, I don't have a lot of patience for him to realize the conversational phase of our interactive time is drawing to a close - that his future may not be as rosy as his past.

Winston Churchill's dictum, "Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it" is never more apparent than today when millions of well-meaning folk keep "hoping" there has to be some other way than conflict to deal with radical Islam and avoid bloodshed.

Barry Goldwater - IMO the best president there never was - put it best, I think, when he said, "Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice; Moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue". When I look at the tentiveness with which many of the other western democracies approach some of the current international issues I shake my head in despair. Where is their pursuit of justice? How can they possibly expect a corrupted institution like the UN to function in a reasonably acceptable way? Or is their sense of human justice tainted in some way by their national interests - or just plain passiveness? But forget I asked the latter, please.

There is definately a "gap". We all need to "mind" it very carefully. When it grows larger, the reaction to it can become much too violent. But the recent assignment of some of our northern neighbor's own military to service in Afghanistan helps draw that gap closer. IMO that is a good thing. God speed, "Canucks". I pray for the safety of your young military men and women, too.

Have Returned; No Change - Yet

See "Spoke Too Soon", below. Upon returning from a two week holiday in the UK this Tuesday evening discovered DSL service had still not been restored. And in fact was even less reliable (if that were possible) than before. Try nada.

Even worse, in the interim another repairman had come by the homestead and left word that "we lived too far" from the local phone office to receive DSL. Of course we hadn't moved in the six years since we first started using the service, and neither had the phone company equipment building, so that excuse really didn't sit very well. But the repairer just shrugged and left. Nothing he could do, apparently. So nothing was done.

Began the telephone complaint process all over again early the next morning. Lady taking the first call spoke UK style English with a distinctive, sing-song Indian accent. Very difficult for an aged western English speaking consumer to understand. After a while and with much difficulty was transferred to a supervisor, "Ron" (probably just a desk name) whose accent was much less pronounced and easily more understandable. Did a fairly good job of trying to help, but was taken aback when he realized the complaint had been on-going for over two months. He arranged for a site visit. Again. Again. Again. Again. Etc.

Discovered this: It seems SBC/at&t internet repair services "closes out" all repair tickets once someone - anyone - has responded. Whether service is restored or not. THAT sure makes it helpful to manage the old workload, but doesn't really beggar the question of reliable service, does it? Strange, anti-consumer but pro-bureaucratic corporate behavior.

Long story. Short conclusion. After complaining later Wednesday to a secret contact person who over a month ago had given out her working phone number, a few hours later the net went up and simultaneously received a call from a nice technician telling us two things. He had gone into the system and temporarily increased the 'power' to our line and slowed down the feed, which should give us some type of connectivity until (and now for item 2) TWO repair persons (one a phone cable guy, the other an internet repairer guy) would arrive on Friday afternoon to work out some type of resolution. (Shortly before they arrived the power would have to be decreased and the speed increased in order to permit valid testing/analysis for the repair guys).

So for now we have had 'service'. Thankfully and gratefully. In a few hours that may change, but we shall see what happens. It has been nice. Sayonara.

Waiting . . . . .

Spoke too soon

Re: Arghhhhhh!!!, below, spoke too soon. Phone company can't fix the DSL internet access problem until there are no clounds in the sky within a hundred mile radius, apparently. They call it "storm damage", and since the outage only affects the data lines of a couple of folk are not interested in fixing it until they are good and ready. Totally frustrating. It only "up" about two or three hours a day - on average - and there's no predicting just which hours those might be.

So posting, etc., will be lite until it's over, or when I switch over to another provider on our return from the UK in early May.

Cannot believe the low level of customer service communications am experiencing with SBC! What total failures! All they would have to do is phone me, but they apparently no longer believe it is important to do that. Losers!

Who ARE these people?

Ran into this story and headline on MSNBC's web site today, courtesy of the trusty old MSN Explorer home page, and immediately thought, "Don't they know how to spell 'razed'"? Meaning 'leveled'? 'Cause after all, we all know that many flood-damaged homes in New Orleans have to be eventually demolished and rebuilt, right?

But no. Lo and behold the authors of the story and headline did mean "raised", as in 'elevated'. They just didn't seem to "get" that a major and repeated portion of their story was based on a homophone that could be confusing to many readers.

UPDATE: MSNBC themselves must have realized the problem, because since I first read the story they have added a new sub-headline about "hiking" the houses one to three feet.

Who ARE these people at MSNBC? And how did they get this far along into so-called modern "journalism" without displaying more awareness of nuances in the English language? Am I the only one who sees a "gap" in the information related by this story and it's execution in prose?

Arghhhhhh!!!

For over six weeks now have been telling the phone company something is intermittently wrong with the DSL line. For over five and a half weeks nothing happened afterwards, other than the intermittency got worse and worse and worse and ..........

Finally, last Friday saw somebody working on the line about 5 blocks from the house and shortly after received a phone call from someone whose grasp of the English language was of apparent short duration. After many attempts I finally understood, "Yes, something is wrong. Our repairman can't fix it. We have a 'contractor' scheduled to work on the problem next Wednesday. Thank you for choosing - "(you get the picture).

In all fairness, at odd times every day the DSL would come up - however briefly - but not stay up. It just bounced and bounced and then dropped off again as if into a deep well. Never to be seen again until the following day - but only during a time when it wasn't raining or storming outside. Hmmmm. Could that be a clue?

Anyway, today is Wednesday. Around noon the DSL line mysterious came up - staggered for a few minutes - and has now been up longer than at any other period during the previous month - for almost six hours. And still no phone call telling me it is "fixed", or IF it is fixed, or anything. Whoever in the phone company is in charge of customer service must have retired about 10 years ago and was not bothered to be replaced. Because they obviously don't care a fig for their customers. When we get back from our London holiday I think their DSL line will pretty quickly (at least by their standards) be replaced by a cable modem.

Not so cheerful

Hidden in plain view – if only someone were watching!

Wretchard the Cat of the Belmont Club is always worth a daily read. His concluding commentary yesterday on “In Plain View” (linked below) should be required reading for modern journalistic aspirants the world over. But sadly, most are not able to "mind the gap" – or else fail to understand it’s full significance.

“W” writes, “…….. three of the decisive weapons of victory in Iraq will have been the 190 military transition teams (MTT) which raised the new Iraqi Army, the Transitional Administrative Law which made a new coalition government possible, and the US Armed Forces itself, which held up the shield behind which the training and political components could take shape. It now seems fairly clear that many of the 'far better' strategies which were suggested (by others) in 2004 and 2005 in place of CENTCOM's (plans) may not have been as good as they were made out to be.”

And then concludes, “If the public has (n)ever heard of the MTTs, the political transition process or the River War it will not be the result of their concealment. These three decisive weapons were lying in plain view from the end (of) 2004 onwards though their significance had not been noted -- their existence hardly even acknowledged -- by the Press even until now. Ironically, this may have contributed to (their) overall success. The enemy in reading the leading newspapers of the West remained ignorant of the doom descending upon their heads, confirmed in their eventual victory even as catastrophe overwhelmed them. Thank you MSM.”

One needs to read the entire The Belmont Club: In Plain View to drive home the point, but “the press” draws ever nearer to being permanently mistaken for a proverbial group of sightless individuals describing an elephant! They still fail to see facts not supporting their preconceived ideas. Talk about shallow reporting! Follow the links “W” provides. The MSM either can’t or won’t understand what is happening!

Examples. The Washington Post wastes time and energy criticizing the military for either not being clairvoyant enough three years ago, or for learning from their mistakes now– its just not clear which perceived “failing” their writer has discovered. The AP (by way of Portland’s channel 6) thinks it aids the public weal to report not all locals near Samarra welcome the presence of Operation Swarmer troops. Go figure!. The BBC goes to great length (and lots of words) to worry about ‘deception’ from the U.S. military because their own editors don’t understand military terms. Only ABC gets part of the picture, and even that portion is more closely tied to eventual U.S. troop withdrawal plans than an ultimate success or victory strategy for Iraq.

And of course the “pajama media” keeps being disparaged by the MSM. Could it be that the 'hoof beats of history' have already passed by today's media and are now growing ever weaker? And that the press still can’t figure out why they are less and less relevant?

Nah! Couldn’t happen!

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. and her fantasy war

The gap between fantasy and reality continues to widen in congresswoman Nancy Pelosi's poor mind. She just doesn't "get it".

Quoted here today, she says, "“The fact, that it (operation Swarmer) is necessary shows you the failure to date"” of the administration'’s war approach, she said. "“Three years later, we have major offensive; it just doesn'’t jibe"” with prewar promises. "“It'’s amazing how failed this effort has been,"” Pelosi said.

Apparently Pelosi buys into the theory that once the initial insertion of coalition forces into Iraq was complete, resulting in the rapid failure of the previous regime, then Bush promised us everything afterwards would quickly and easily be coming up roses. Unfortunately, that's not what I recall and she fails to substantiate her POV with the record - thus everything that follows is simply a mistaken opinion.

In actual fact operation Swarmer demonstrates precisely the success desired of our military's approach. When we first started into Fallujah in late 2004 our Marines ran into such a buzz-saw they found it prudent to withdraw for a few days to soften up the target and rework their strategies.

Not so now with the Swarmer operation, which is centered in and around Samarra - the site of a massive insurgency bombing of a Shiite shrine on February 22. So far this operation has taken less time, used fewer troops and gunships, run into much less resistance and received much more cooperation from locals on the ground than that experienced by our forces in Fallujah. As a matter of fact, during the initial attack - and the following day (today) - the gunships so far HAVE NOT NEEDED TO FIRE at insurgents on the ground. One can only hope that will continue.

Somehow, even in the mind of an ultraliberal, that should not equate as "failure". But by the fractioned reasoning of the distinguished but illogical representative of Bagdhad-by-the-bay, it is but another example of the standard left-speak "Bush lied" mentality.

Predictable, but not honest or realistic. The reality gap in her mind may at last have become dangerous to her political health - if her constituents actually were able to reason on their own. Fortunately for her, so far few have demonstrated that ability.

A needless tragedy?

News Friday confirming the death of Tom Fox at the hands of a self-identified Iraqi terrorist group calling themselves the "Swords of Righteousness Brigades" is quite possibly a double tragedy. And not because of his own loss of life - or the tragic times facing his loved ones.

Mr. Fox was a member of a Canadian-led team belonging to "Christian Peacemaker Teams" (CPT), which according to their website is jointly based in Chicago and Toronto. Formed in the mid-80's by a coalition of North American Mennonites, Brethren and Quakers, as well as others, the teams like to say they are "committed to reducing violence by getting in the way".

Obviously, each of the founding organizations come from a "pacifist" tradition or background. I will comment further about "pacifists" another time. Suffice it to say most I've known appear to be solidly based believers, hold strong beliefs in the 'rightness' of their doctrine, and are extremely courageous and helpful in living for Christ among their communities.

CPT uses the following scripture references from the NRSV to justify their official "missions".
Exodus 20:13 You shall not kill.
Matthew 5:43-44 "You have heard that is was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."
Matthew 26:52 Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword."
John 15:13 No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.
Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

As far as what CPT was doing in Iraq, their official site also states, "Iraq: (has been) a Baghdad-based presence since October 2002. Team members accompanied the Iraqi people through the U.S.-led 2003 war and continue during the post-war occupation to expose abusive acts by U.S. Armed Forces and support Iraqis committed to nonviolent resistance."

I find this official explanation from CPT extremely troubling, creating a dangerous gap between their ministry and the results of their actions. Why did they only link the term "by U.S. Armed Forces" with efforts to "expose abusive acts"? Wouldn't an informed Christian viewpoint have included exposing abusive acts by all forces? Of course it would! Does nothing the insurgents do come up to the level of abuse? What utter rot! Of course it does. Almost everything the insurgency does is "abusive" in nature, and if they were but uniformed troops of an organized state would be acting virtually completely contrary to international law. How deceitful!

The only explanation I can come up with is this. The "enemies" of the CPT are not the insurgents. Those irregulars have morphed into becoming their friends. Instead, the CPT have decided among themselves "U. S. Armed Forces" are now their enemies. And in so doing they have totally failed to follow Matthew 5:43-44. In their eagerness to "get in the way", they just haven't recognized (or admitted) this disconnect yet.

And so the double tragedy. Tom Fox was a believer, trying to perform an important "ministry" and in so-doing demonstrate a noble Christlike spirit. But it can NOT be noble to just willingly 'give up' your life for a mistaken purpose. And I challange anyone to construct a 'supporting' peaceful purpose in Fox's slaying. It changes nothing, and it makes the group of which he was a member also seem to be ineffectual in their 'ministry' efforts. They publicly ignored a true evil, and the outcome has now become a double disaster. I am so sorry.

Unlike results portrayed in the movie "The End of the Spear", this story seems much more likely to end up merely an unimportant postscript, and not become the "tipping point" his group probably sought. I fail to see how this tragedy will bring glory to God, even though I pray I am wrong, and that eventually it might.

Reasoned comments will be recognized.

More re: Mrs. Dweet

Last week my love again saw her bariatric surgeon - the one who first found a problem in her lungs last spring - and he has agreed to again consider by-pass surgery for her in about 90 days if she is first able to pass a few other tests, or re-tests, and meet some conditions. Since short peoples' weight impinges more stringently on their lung capacities - and the bottoms of her lungs are clearer than the upper quadrants - this was good news! Not a cure for PAP, perhaps, but an encouragement as to the possibility of breathing easier post-surgery as the weight rolls off.

Speaking of which, I'm down about 90 pounds since early October. And feeling great - except for some sore ab muscles in the area of my other (intestinal) surgery - due I think to stubborness while unloading a few heavy objects after a Costco run late last week. Ah, the perils of bulk shopping!

Up-date from Mrs. Dweet.

At a Palo Alto hospital yesterday, Mrs. Dweet found out her latest CT scan shows the disease she carries has progressed, but not a lot. Her pulmonary function tests were essentially unchanged from the last time. There is nothing seriously wrong with her bone marrow or blood, although she is manufacturing some strange blood cells. All this is good news. The medication she’s injecting is not working, so she will finish up her current supply and stop. (One can't just return or toss away 60 bottles of precious medication valued at $843 each!)

There is some talk of an aerosol supply of this same med that has worked for some. Her doctor is finding out more about it. He has also prescribed a 6 week pulmonary rehab program that will not clear her lungs, but should make the muscles that work them more efficient. Her doctor still thinks she is qualified for and should receive bariatric surgery. The resultant weight loss should open up the bottom part of her lungs (the section that is now being compressed by extra weight). The Dweet’s will see that particular surgeon next week and ask for his input.

Spiritually speaking, she knows the Lord has given her more opportunities to share her faith because of the ugly oxygen tank she hauls around. Last week at the golf tournament, she really saw that more than ever. She wonders how she can ask that her problems be removed if the Lord is using them in a positive way? So her prayer is that she continues to see and use those opportunities to be a witness, and to remain in the center of His will for her, WHATEVER it is. And that while there, she can truly experience "the peace that passeth understanding."

Thanks to all who have expressed love and concern. Your prayers and thoughts have been an awesome blessing.

London Calls!

Now that 49er's big mid-winter activity spree is over, it's time to begin preparing for springtime in London. England. Great Britain. The U.K.

Mrs. Dweet's longtime goal of returning once more to the mother country will soon be upon us. Many, many arrangements need to be made vis-a-vis oxygen supplies for her whilst there. But time is also being spent determining which plays starring Dame Judith Dench will still be playing, which day trips will be the most rewarding, and etc., etc., etc. It's quite fun!

Re-establishing contact with our favorite church on line 74 is in progress, too, and viewing our new hotel and it's surroundings, or "digs", via "google earth" has been a high priority.

Travel is fun. Traveling in London is great fun! The tubes, the buses, the trains, the buskers, the language differences, everything! Great fun!

Can't wait.

Minding the Gap is sometimes discouraging

Life has a way of intruding on the firmest of plans. And it is bad enough when one family member becomes overwhelmed. If both responsible parental figures in an otherwise dynamic family consisting of multiple physically challenged and dependent adults are unexpectedly afflicted, the "gap" understandingly becomes unmanageable. That is a brief outline of just why this site has been inactive.

Suffice it to say times have been both tough and challenging, but the Dweet's faith (and their bodies) continue to survive. The short version reads something like the book of Job, except Mrs. Dweet plays the role of Job and her husband fills in some additional background and color by impersonating a new character called Job lite!

Mrs. Dweet was diagnosed last summer with an extremely rare lung condition, and at the beginning of 2006 was not quite holding her own against the disease (PAP). She is continuing a daily, self-inoculation medication regimen, and is in frequent contact with a research specialist physician at Stanford. She is on oxygen 24/7, but has learned (with her doctor'’s help) she can spend a few quiet periods off it on occasion, and gladly takes several brief respites each day from dragging the long tube [or a rolling tank with a short tube] around behind her. But when active, or sleeping, she needs the O² to cope and survive.

She has a blood test twice a week, with results forwarded to her doctor the same day. The key element they check is her blood'’s ‘white count’ levels. The medication was designed for some types of immune deficiency patients, and it supposed to stimulate the growth of white cells in the blood. In patients like her that do NOT have an immune deficiency condition, her own body'’s natural reaction may be to ‘fight off’ the medicine. When that happens the normal dosage is increased, and increased, and increased again until it finally theoretically overwhelms her ID system and goes to work in her body wherever bad things are happening, in this case the tiny air sacs in both lungs. Once she reaches that stage, it should take a month and half or so to de-protein-ize (49er's term) those myriads of tiny sacs, a few at a time.

As time goes by more and more information about PAP has become available on the internet. The Dweets have discovered data showing 90% of patients respond favorably to lung lavages. She didn'’t. Furthermore, about 50% of those that did NOT, do respond well to the medicine inoculation regime. Only time will tell if she will be in that group. (Regardless, the Dweets know the Lord is in charge and trust on His mercy and love for them).

The continued treatment prognosis beyond that point could be grim, but she first must see a hematologist before the end of the January to determine why her white cell count is so counter-intuitively low.

49er, after working as a volunteer in a special event in mid-August, and participating in an exciting (and emotionally rewarding) junior-senior PGA tournament, spent the balance of September helping out with grandson and winding down after both activities.

The first week of October brought elective surgery, which was successful, but two weeks later he had to have emergency surgery to remove about 18"” of lower intestine that had suffered too much blood loss from an undiscovered mini-stroke, and had subsequently ‘died’. That surgery was thankfully successful, but its result was the insertion in the lower stomach of a gastric feeding tube leading to the abdomen, and a large open longitudinal wound in the center of the abdomen, at first requiring thrice-a-day re-dressings. 49er was in the hospital about 12 days, and then home with almost daily visiting nurse care for one of the re-dressings, while Mrs. Dweet did the other two.

49er was making good healing progress with the wound, for a few weeks, but eventually developed some type of infection and simply stopped eating. He then dropped about sixty pounds but grew increasingly weaker, so the doctor put him back in the hospital in November for a 5 day ‘tune-up’. He also started daily tube feedings then and 49er was sent home with a gastric pump that pushed liquid food 23 hours a days. So he had something to carry around that seemed to match what Mrs. Dweet was carrying around. Great fun!

Since then, 49er has weaned himself from the tube feedings, the wound has almost healed and the tube has been removed. He is once more eating on his own.

This just in: Update from Mrs. Dweet: After being on the max dose of her injectible meds, she saw the hematologist at Stanford just this week and came away with more questions than answers. He saw some things in her blood that could be problematic. He cannot explain why the white cell count is below normal when the medicine's job is to increase the white count. There are a couple of possibilities, but he has to find out how to test for these. In the meantime, she will continue on the meds. She has another CT scan next week, and pulmonary function tests coming up mid-February. So the Lord continues to ask her to trust Him for the unknowns, and she has determined she will. As always, her only prayer request is she remain in the center of God's will. She know's that's the best place to be, with or without the crazy oxygen tank she lugs around!

But to get back to minding the gap. She and 49er have become increasingly tired of answering the reasonable and well-intentioned question, "How do you feel"? Or, "Any improvement?" Or many similar variations. After each hospital or doctor visit, and after repeatedly experiencing the disappoinment of not receiving a direct answer as to 'why'?, it takes longer and longer for them to wait on the Holy Spirit and allow Him to rebuild their spirit in His likeness. Sometimes they just don't want to be around people for a few hours or so, so they won't have to "be brave" for a while longer. Pray for them, and if they have been short with you or let you down at any time, please forgive them and try to understand.

Separation of Church and State

Interesting development today as reported by MSNBC, with FEMA said to be setting up guidelines for reimbursement of certain disaster relief expenses of "faith-based organi(z/s)ations" - OK, churches - responding to critical public requests for humanitarian services in their communities due to the hurricane(s).

As may be expected, divergent and critical viewpoints are aired in the story, and the whole thing should be read to catch their true flavor. The most illuminating bit, however, in my view is the final portion:

No income coming in
For some individual churches, however, reimbursement is very appealing. At Christus Victor Lutheran Church in Ocean Springs, Miss., as many as 200 evacuees and volunteer workers have been sleeping each night in the sanctuary and Sunday school classrooms. The church's entrance hall is a Red Cross reception area and medical clinic. As many as 400 people a day are eating in the fellowship hall.

Suzie Harvey, the parish administrator, said the church was asked by the Red Cross and local officials to serve as a shelter. The church's leadership agreed immediately, without anticipating that nearly a quarter of its 650 members would be rendered homeless and in no position to contribute funds. "This was just something we had to do," she said. "Later we realized we have no income coming in."

Harvey said the electric bill has skyrocketed, water is being used around the clock and there's been "20 years of wear on the carpet in one month." If FEMA makes money available, she said, the church definitely will apply.

Full disclosure: The writer serves both on the board and finance committees of a small (under 150 member) independent protestant church, and has some familiarity with church budgets, exclusive of the mega and mainstream varieties. This type of use is exactly why the church is there. The churches on this continent, and probably the world, could no more turn down a request from a public entity for this kind of emergency aid than they could promote a professional tractor-pulling contest - OK, they probably could do that in North Dakota or Saskatchewan - but you get the picture.

Almost no churches are so well-off they have enough funds available to live without regular giving (income) from their members for more than a short period, probably one to four months. Beyond that, to be prudent they would need to restructure their long-term debt, cash in CD's, adjust their payroll (cut people or hours back) and/or make other adjustments to their outgo. Just the fact they still have a facility to use for worship and service is truly a blessing.

That said, I would caution churches to be extremely careful if they decide to request any degree of reimbursement. Things like extra ministry or payroll support costs should be scrutinized, and only costs associated with specific line items or services requested in writing by the public entities, such as excessive janitorial, maintenance, utility and security expenditures - all clearly over and above like periods from previous years - should be submitted. The expense to replace fixtures or items accidently destroyed due to excessive or careless public use should be clearly prorated to reduce the amount sought by the extent of the known previous wear and tear.

Absolutely no storm damage or ministry opportunity costs or supplies should be included, no matter the amount. The occasion is simply a gift from God of an opportunity to serve others. What more could a church seek? Why else would we exist?

One other thing. Likely all requests will be classified as public records, meaning any unabridged financial records included could become fodder for every self-styled investigative anti-religious crackpot to travel down the pike for years to come. Figure out a way to comply with requests for cost or expense verifications that do not include submitting an intact annual financial statement. Or else refuse to submit the request.

Churches should gratefully use this opportunity to serve, care and demonstrate selfless love for their neighbors and community members without regard to financial gain. To do otherwise is to shame the name of the Lord we serve.

Gaza Greenhouse Disorder

other suggested titles:

• Hope Springs Eternal....................................no,
• Stupid Is as Stupid Does...............................no,
• A Fool And His Money....................................maybe!
  

I stumbled across this story sometime in the past few days, but for some reason cannot remember where. So I 'disgoogled' it again today in the Jewish Exponent. It's a sad, oft-repeated story, titled The Greenhouse Effect, about wealthy "liberals" thinking judicious applications of money, (thankfully this time their own $14M USD), could make a difference in evil peoples' lives.

If there is any one act that can serve as a symbol for the shattered hopes for a democratic Palestinian state, it is the sad fate of the greenhouses left behind by Israeli farmers forced to abandon their businesses in Gaza.

Rather than being dismantled like the settlements, the greenhouses were purchased for the Palestinians by American Jewish philanthropists. These wealthy individuals hoped this would allow a thriving agricultural business, which had been carved out of the sand by Israelis, might become an engine for Palestinian prosperity.

But it appears that the Arabs who might have benefited from these greenhouses had other ideas. Along with the remaining synagogue buildings, these structures were smashed by Palestinian mobs, who surged through the settlements after Israel pulled out. For them, destroying any vestige of the Jewish imprint on the land was more important than jobs and the economy.

This story could serve as a wake-up call for the well-intentioned souls who believe that economic development is the key to peace. They need to remember that, for Israel's foes, the hope of prosperity still ranks a distant second to hate.

See also this LA Times story, earlier. In the past, some liberal readers have objected to my earlier post vis-à-vis mental disorders. And I freely agree that many ultra conservatives seem to be linked closer to escapees from a funny farm than participants in a rational discussion. That said, why is it so many liberals cannot see the fallacy of Jewish Philanthropists (or anybody else) expecting any other result in Gaza from the giving of this expensive 'gift'?

Hate trumps reason every time. Remember this! Even when it apparently doesn't, it eventually does! Ultra unthinking, blind-faith liberalism is akin to a mental disorder! One may be as nice as pie and smart as a whip, but to deny the existence of evil and hate when the evidence is so overwhelming is just plain sick!

We criticize those in New Orleans reluctant to leave their homes even though told the rising waters, etc., would kill them. They 'wasted' too many public resources, we said, trying to convince them to leave. We asked the question: "How many others could have been rescued with those same resources?"

I ask the same question of blind-faith liberals. "How much more justice and freedom could have been wrought with your 'wasted' resources if you had used better sense? How many man-hours of 'property protection' time were wasted trying to protect these greenhouses? Could the money have been better spent?"

Please note, I'm not accusing them of hating Israel, hating the US, or hating Bush. I'll leave those judgmentss to others. I do accuse them of being terminally stupid. It will probably take some additional years to prove my point, but remember, you saw it here first.

People With Too Much Time and Money on Their Hands

In what can only happen when the collective mind suffers too many attacks from the "slings and arrows" of modern big city living, New 'Yawkers' are currently being treated to the inspiring view of a barge disquised as an 'island' being drug around by a tug boat in the waters off NYC. Read it and wonder at the mind set that sees a significant societal 'benefit' from this experimental art form.

Now if they would only charge an admission fee for an hour's ride on the floating hay bales, the idea might turn out to be of some use. But the 'artsy' mind doesn't appreciate the commercial value of that type of thing. Too practical.