Mark's Notebook

Quick links:     Katrina Trip     Bicycle Accident     Square Dancing     Round Dancing

The old and the new

OK, I finally decided that I will never have enough incentive to add comment capability to this blog. So I started a new blog on LiveJournal:

http://hotfootspin.livejournal.com/

It may take me a little while to learn the ins and outs of the new system. And I may continue to post mixed-up site-related items here. But I hope you'll enjoy the new blog!

Thanks,
Mark

Bush Considers Up to 20,000 More Troops for Iraq

New York Times

By David S. Cloud and Jeff Zeleny; Published: December 29, 2006

WASHINGTON, Dec. 28 — The Bush administration is considering an increase in troop levels in Iraq of 17,000 to 20,000, which would be accomplished in part by delaying the departure of two Marine regiments now deployed in Anbar Province, Pentagon officials said Thursday.

The idea of extending the deployments of two Marine units has emerged in part because most of the marines in Iraq are on seven-month rotations and keeping them there longer is considered more palatable than holding over Army brigades, which are already serving tours of a year or longer, one official said.

Additional troops would come from sending into Iraq a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division headed for the region next month and possibly by speeding up the deployment of several Army brigades now scheduled to go to Iraq by next spring.

Other options remain under consideration, the officials said, noting that a decision to speed up deployment schedules would put more strain on Army and Marine equipment and personnel. But other options, like mobilizing reserve units, would take months, officials said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/29/world/middleeast/29prexy.html

Mark says: I'm really glad Matthew came home on schedule in October. His schedule has been approximately seven months on tour and five months at home. It appears later units will be taking longer rotations.

Merry!, uh, ... Happy! Oh, just have a nice day

Wisconsin State Journal

by SUSAN LAMPERT SMITH

When Tom Flynn hears "Merry Christmas!," he hears an implied insult coming from conservative Christians reasserting their dominance at a time when America is growing more diverse. Flynn is waging "war on Christmas," and he says his side, the "Happy holidays!" crowd, is winning.

The right says we wreck the holiday when we don't acknowledge its Christian roots. Flynn says "Merry Christmas" has become "hate speech."

Flynn says demands that retailers such as Wal-Mart and Macy's include the word "Christmas" in their advertising are an affront to Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists and everyone who doesn't spend December anticipating the birthday of Jesus Christ: "Merry Christmas is code for 'All you non-Christians get to the back of the bus.' This is a Christian country. We own the last two (months) of the calendar. We're No. 1! By the way, you're all going to hell!"

http://www.madison.com/wsj/home/column/index.php?ntid=109902&ntpid=1

Mark sez: As a Christian I'm not supposed to use foul language. Let's just say this whole idea makes me want to hurl.

Presidents, Well Known or Not, Will Have Their Day on a Dollar

New York Times

By Matthew Healey; Published November 20, 2006

The United States Mint is unveiling four designs for one-dollar coins today, featuring likenesses of the first four presidents. They begin a series that is to last a decade and portray every deceased president.

The first coin, displaying George Washington on one side and the Statue of Liberty on the other, will go into circulation in mid-February, in time for Presidents’ Day. After that, coins with John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison will be issued at three-month intervals.

Four more will appear, in order of each president’s service, every year until 2016. Designs are based on presidential medals made previously by the Mint and on portraits in the National Portrait Gallery at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, where today’s unveiling takes place.

The size, color and metal content of the $1 coins will be identical to those of the current Sacagawea dollars, but their luster should last longer because of a new anti-tarnishing compound that will be applied to blank coins between the time they are annealed, or softened by heating, and struck with the design.

The date and some inscriptions will be stamped into the edge, airing out the designs.

The director of the Mint, Edmund C. Moy, said the number of each presidential dollar coin issued would depend on circulation demands forecast by the Federal Reserve, regardless of how well known a president was. “This could be a renaissance for some of our lesser-known presidents,” Mr. Moy said in an interview.

There will also be four new designs for the penny in 2009, to commemorate the bicentennial of Abraham Lincoln’s birth.

Hopes are that the new dollars will be as popular as the state quarters, many of which have been taken out of circulation by collectors. The government has earned $4 billion to $5 billion on the state-quarter series since 1999.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/20/us/20coin.html?th&emc=th

See also the US Mint web site:

http://www.usmint.gov/mint_programs/$1coin/

Christian charity bans Christmas themed children's gifts

Daily Mail

By Sam Greenhill

Christian charity Samaritan's Purse fears anything relating to Jesus may offend Muslims

Mark says: We have been putting together these shoeboxes for years. We are very surprised to hear this. We were never given such instructions; actually, we were asked to include tracts and Bibles in the boxes. Perhaps things are different in the UK than they are here in the US. Perhaps the boxes shipped from the UK go to different countries than those shipped from the US. More likely, some of the statements from Samaritan's Purse have been misinterpreted.

It is a Christian charity bringing Christmas cheer to needy children abroad.

So its decision to ban Jesus, God and anything else connected with its own faith has been greeted with little short of puzzlement.

Operation Christmas Child, run by the charity Samaritan's Purse, sends festive packages to deprived youngsters in countries ravaged by war and famine.

Donors are asked to pack shoeboxes with a cuddly toy, a toothbrush and toothpaste, soap and flannel, notepads, colouring books and crayons - but nothing to do with Christmas.

Stories from the Bible, images of Jesus and any other Christian literature are expressely forbidden - in case Muslims are offended.

Last Christmas, Britons filled 1.13 million shoeboxes for Samaritan's Purse to send to children abroad.

But Barbara Hill, who works at the worldwide charity's UK headquarters in Buckhurst Hill, Essex, said: "Anything we find in the boxes which has a religious nature will be removed.

"If a box was opened by a Muslim child in a Muslim country they may be offended so we try to avoid religious images."

Yesterday the policy was condemned as "bizarre". John Midgley, cofounder of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, said: "It seems extraordinary that a Christian charity is so concerned about political correctness that it is banning itself from its own core values.

The appeal sends shoe boxes from Britain to children in countries including Azerbaijan, Armenia, Romania, Serbia, Sudan and Mozambique.

Although no Christian literature is included in the boxes, the charity does separately distribute Christmas stories from the Bible and encourages Bible study in areas where it gives toys out.

A spokesman for Samaritan's Purse, which was introduced to Britain by evangelist Billy Graham and is run internationally by his son Franklin, said: "Christianity motivates many of our supporters to help children in need. We are a Christian charity and that's about helping people.

"But it's our policy not to put religious, political or military items in boxes which go to areas of different cultures.

"All shoeboxes are checked in the UK warehouses in case someone has ignored the instruction and put such an item into a shoebox and, if found, any such item is removed."

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=4155
51&in_page_id=1770

Archives

Last updated Tuesday 13 May 2008