Ain't Complicated

Haiti: News You May Have Missed

A catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake with the epicenter in a highly-populated area struck the nation of Haiti on Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2010. In the month after the earthquake, reports indicated that more than three million people were affected by its devastation, including over 200,000 dead, 300,000 injured and 1,000,000 left homeless.

What neither you nor I have heard anything about is what happened in Haiti one month later on Feb. 12, 2010. It is the stuff of news, good news, but there is no evidence on any major news organization Web site that the event ever occurred. None of the major television news organizations covered it.

[…]

This is the news from Haiti you will not hear. It is good news.

With the global humanitarian initiative to aid the Haitian people in their recovery from disaster, countless people have assisted in concrete ways. They have delivered supplies, pulled people from rubble, brought food and water, treated the sick and injured, buried the dead and made every effort to bring order to a land of turmoil. Haitians have witnessed the hand of God at work in the presence of so many people willing to put their lives on hold to help.

Source: News from Haiti you will not hear — I encourage you to read the whole story!

Haiti: CAM Recovery Hospital

Christian Aid Ministries has over 30 patients at their recovery hospital in Haiti. Five nurses, an EMT, and several translators give personal care and attention for each patient.

Some of the patients are in the skin grafting stage. Thankfully a neighboring facility has plastic surgeons who are willing and waiting to help with this. Skin grafting helps speed up the healing process for patients with large, slow healing wounds.

Physical therapy is also a big need with so many amputees and patients with other physical ailments. Lisa Miller returned to the CAM base in Haiti to serve as a physical therapist at the recovery hospital.

The need for cash donations to help the hurting in Haiti continues to be urgent. If you would like to donate by card or check, I have more information here. 100% of your donation will be used for the Haiti Earthquake Relief Project.

Breakfast: Frozen in Time

Earlier this week, this news:

The fossilized remains of a 67 million-year-old snake found coiled around a dinosaur egg offer rare insight into the ancient reptile’s dining habits and evolution, scientists said Tuesday.

The findings, which appeared in Tuesday’s issue of the PLoS Biology journal, provide the first evidence that the 11.5-foot- 3.5-meter-long snake fed on eggs and hatchlings of saurapod dinosaurs, meaning it was one of the few predators to prey on the long-necked herbivores.

They also suggest that, as early as 100 million years ago, snakes were developing mobile jaws similar to those of today’s large-mouthed snakes, including vipers and boas.

“This is an early, well preserved snake, and it is doing something. We are capturing it’s behavior,” said University of Michigan paleontologist Jeff Wilson, who is credited with recognizing the snake bones amid the crushed dinosaur eggs and bones of hatchlings.

“We have information about what this early snake did for living,” he said. “It also helps us understand the early evolution of snakes both anatomically and ecologically.”

Dhananjay Mohabey of India’s Geological Survey discovered the fossilized remains in 1987, but he was only able to make out the dinosaur eggshells and limb bones. Wilson examined the fossils in 2001 and was “astonished” to find a predator in the midst of the sauropod’s nest.

“I saw the characteristic vertebral locking mechanism of snakes alongside dinosaur eggshell and larger bones, and I knew it was an extraordinary specimen,” Wilson said.

Mohabey theorized that the snake — dubbed Sanajeh indicus, which means “ancient gaped one” in Sanskrit — had just arrived at the nest and was in the process of gobbling a hatchling emerging from its egg. But the entire scene was “frozen in time” when it was hit by a storm or some other disaster and buried under layers of sediment.

Source: Fossils of snake eating dino eggs found in India

If Noah hadn’t been ready and had been eating breakfast in his hut, this same event might have left his entire scene “frozen in time” as well.

Yup. That’s exactly what I’m sayin’. I got to that part of the story above and thought of that cataclysmic flood so long ago.

Well, actually not that long ago. More like the bat of an eye compared to the number the story uses. They say 67 million years. Me? Well, I’d modify that “slightly” to .0067 million years ago (if I’m limited to using the same numerals they use).

Christmas in March

'Light the Christmas tree' --

Christmas trees that never made it to market

Trees sacrificed to Father Christmas?

Oh. And try to relax about the global warming stuff, OK?

The whole man-made hoax has (apparently) been exposed.

So let’s stomp a big carbon footprint.

🙄

PS: Those are trees that never made it to market. The field must be cleared for a new planting. So there’s a crew out there right now, torching piles of cut Christmas trees. Maybe I should start an Adopt-a-Christmas-Tree-in-the-Ground program. For $5 a month per tree, I’ll maintain a transplanted one here on our property somewhere. Hmmm. Must think about that one, we must — you and I….

Cut Down (ie RIP)

Two large trees
Well aged
And mature
Shading many of us.

Cut down
This past week
Sadly
Though unsurprisingly.

Farewell
Howard King
And John Yoder
Til we meet you
On the other side.

And thanks
Many thanks
For the shade.

That’s not how I planned to start this post. But my own plans notwithstandingatall, that’s what happened.

What I intended to say originally was something along the lines of, “No, they weren’t cut down! They were transplanted!”

We lost them, like someone loses a bar of gold when he puts it in the country’s bestest, safest, guaranteedest safety deposit box. It’s not lost at all.

So we say we lost John and Howard. And we did. But in reality, they are founder and safer than they’ve ever been. We get them back eventually. Provided we go where they are now kept by The Master Banker, if you will.

That is hope — Christian hope!

Howard died this past Wednesday afternoon around four. John died early yesterday morning around 12:15.

Howard: Welcome to Glory, John!

John: Thank you, Howard! You’re looking great!!

Howard: Yup. And check this out: no more incomplete fingers!

John: Yeah, I can see that…with two eyes.

Yeah, I know. Kinda strange. But in a nice sort of way.

And here’s something also kinda-strange-to-the-human-mind, but also in a nice sort of way:

“Precious
in the sight of the Lord
is the death of his saints.”
Psalm 116:15

Got Bias?

If you’re asking me, sure. I’ve got plenty of it. And you can assume that when you read here at my blog.

Timothy Egan, one of the Opinionators over at the New York Times, also has bias:

From out of the ordered suburbs of Idaho to the grim chaos of Haiti came 40-year-old Laura Silsby — fleeing creditors who had foreclosed on her home and ex-employees stiffed of their wages.

To the Caribbean she went with nine other self-appointed missionaries and an audacious plan: they would “gather 100 orphans from the streets,” of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, according to an outline on the Web site of Silsby’s group, New Life Children’s Refuge.

The children would be whisked across the border into the Dominican Republic. Food, shelter, legal permits: the basics would be worked out by divine blueprint. For now, they needed funds — tax deductible!

Source: The Missionary Impulse – Opinionator Blog – NYTimes.com

Wow! 😯

I don’t know if Timothy Egan admits to his bias, but just in case, I’ll admit him to it for him. (Or something like that.) 😆

I imagine you have your biases as well. And I’m sure WorldNet Daily does as well, so I’ll offer this piece of theirs as partial counterbalance to Timothy Egan:

Her foibles and frailties notwithstanding, Laura Silsby – backed by the Rev. Clint Henry and his 500-member, Idaho-based, Baptist Church – is probably the best thing that’ll ever happen to these waifs.

Whatever were Sillby’s plans for the children, these were far and away better than what’s in store for them if they remain at home.

Well, opinion pieces aside, here’s a news piece from the BBC (which we hope is unbiased, but not with a lot of hope): Haiti poised to free last two American missionaries

A judge in Haiti has said the last two Christian US missionaries being held on suspicion of abducting children after the earthquake may be freed in days.

Bernard Sainvil told Reuters the case, which involves 33 children, should be closed this week because there were no criminal grounds to pursue it.

“No criminal grounds” — so how will Timothy Egan deal with that?

I don’t plan to try to find out.

Hopefully Laura Silsby will get her creditor and employee woes ironed out.

More importantly, though, hopefully the Haiti children will get the help and opportunity and love and homes they need.

Maybe Christian Aid Ministries will help in that.

Oh, wait. I should say that hauling children not your own across international boundaries is a really dumb thing to do if you don’t have all your authorization ducks quacking in a row. That goes for Mark Roth, Timothy Egan, Laura Silsby, Bernard Sainvil, Bernard Sain-Vil, and/or Christian Aid Ministries.