Ain't Complicated

Christian Aid Ministries: Haiti Update

an on-the-ground report from Tuesday --

The tremor that shook Port-au-Prince area Sunday night was strong enough to wake some of us here at the CAM base, but for others in the city the result was much more severe. One of the medical teams treated a man today who sustained head injuries when part of his house finally fell after being weakened by the quake and all the tremors. It is no wonder the streets continue to be filled with people fearful of moving back into their homes.

Three loads of meds (about 1,000 lbs.) went out this morning from the CAM warehouse. After having prayed for the arrival of this air shipment, staying up late sorting the medicines, and loading the trucks this morning, it is good to hear that the medicines are finally getting out to CAM’s clinics and the waiting people. Jeriah Mast, CAM staff member, visited three of the clinics CAM supports and discovered two of them were totally destroyed by the earthquake.

People continue to be very grateful for the water CAM is providing. […] Today while driving I saw a man scoop water out of a very muddy pothole in the street.

Today a patient wanted to show appreciation for the help she is receiving at the CAM mobile clinic. She brought a nice watermelon to the team as a thank-you gift. It is very humbling to receive gifts from these homeless people. Some patients tell the medical team they are praying for them and their families at home.

For the rest: Earthquake victims grateful for aid

Haiti: God’s Miracle for Darlene Etienne

Praise God! And bless the rescuers!

French rescuers pulled a teenage girl — very dehydrated, with a broken left leg and moments from death — from the rubble of a home near the destroyed St. Gerard University on Wednesday, a stunning recovery 15 days after an earthquake devastated the city.

Darlene Etienne was rushed to a French military field hospital and then to the French military hospital ship Sirroco, groaning through an oxygen mask with her eyes open in a lost stare.

“She’s alive!” said paramedic Paul Francois-Valette, who accompanied her into the hospital.

Authorities say it is rare for anyone to survive more than 72 hours without water, little alone more than two weeks.

Source: Stunning recovery: Haitian girl pulled from debris

Bless God for this wonderful miracle!

And kudos to the French rescue team who hadn’t quit yet.

President Roth’s SOTUS

Personal memo to each of you who voted in the 2008 US Presidential election: One at a time, you could have elected me. 😯

In an hour or so, President Obama gives his State of the Union Speech.

But what if it were President Roth (as in, I) giving the address, what could you expect?

No advance copy to anyone (except my wife)
No teleprompter(s)
No Presidential special guests beyond former Presidents willing to attend
No speech writers
No partisanship
No laundry list of my accomplishments or my goals
“Ask what good you can do for you neighbor…then do it.”
“I have asked what good I can do for you. I’ve come up with two things I can promise right now. First, I will veto any legislation that has any earmarks attached. Second, I will push hard for a reduction in income tax rates with matching reductions in federal spending.”
“We have had a hard year. So did the Pilgrims. And they had a time of thanksgiving. For what are you thankful? Fellow Americans, answer the question in your own hearts. Then tell each other. Let’s cultivate a spirit of gratefulness.”
“President Carter, please stand. Thank you, sir, for…” followed by three good things he did for the country.
“President Bush 41, please stand. Thank you, sir, for…” followed by three good thing he did for the country.
“President Clinton, please stand. Thank you, sir, for…” followed by three good things he did for the country.
“President Bush 43, please stand. Thank you, sir, for…” followed by three good things he did for the country.
“I reaffirm my appreciation for our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. The Almighty has blessed us beyond measure through the principles and laws established by our founding documents.”
“I am grateful to be an American. We live in an exceptional country. God Himself has bestowed on us freedoms and liberty few nations have enjoyed. We have carelessly surrendered too many of those. We have brazenly abused others of them. And many we have put to good use for ourselves, our families, our communities, our country, and even our world.”
“I asked you about your own thankfulness. You aren’t here to express them in this forum. But your representatives are here. So we’ll have a fifteen minute open mike period in another five minutes or so. In that time slot, Senators and Representatives with a sincere personal expression of gratefulness may have a maximum of fifteen seconds to say one thing for which they are thankful. While you’re thinking, let me tell you some things for which I’m thankful…not as President, but as Mark Roth….”

See what you missed? 🙄

You may be thankful for that also. 😉

Three Cheers for Mushrooms

“Most of the world is deficient in Vitamin D and I think we have been misled in the past by governmental and scientific advice on needed levels of Vitamin D for healthy nutrition.”

He said the U.S. government has been under dosing the population (with its recommended levels of Vitamin D) and the American Academy of Pediatrics has agreed.

That’s what our local Mushroom Doctor said. And here’s more:

“It is a possibility that even viral flu occurrences could be related to deficiency in Vitamin D and same with the swine flu. Recent published scientific articles throughout the world have suggested that mushrooms have the potential to help with symptoms related to arthritis, immune function, energy levels and perhaps even memory.”

And more:

“I can put in one capsule your daily dose of vitamin D. It’s unheard of. This is all new stuff. The body needs vitamin D and you should be sitting in the sun for 30 minutes a day … just the opposite of what dermatologists say. “I am really excited.”

Source: Wisdom in mushrooms?

The article starts this way:

For Dr. Marvin Hausman, surgically saving lives has been his life’s calling — until now. The long-time urological and transplant surgeon and research doctor may have found the key to an effective treatment, if not cure, to a devastating disease that has had doctors puzzled for decades.

Recently, through extensive research with collaborators at the University of Texas and Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) and through his own work, Hausman may have found an effective treatment, even prevention, for Alzheimer’s disease.

So be sure to have lots of extra mushrooms on your pizza and in your stir fry.

And go get your daily 30 minutes of sunshine.

Right now.

Go! Go! Go!

Lest We Forget

January 27 is the day established by the United Nations as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

Amazingly, today is only the fifth observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day! What was the UN’s hurry?!

Anyway, here are excerpts from two stories I read/scanned a few minutes ago:

Survivors and world leaders gathered in the bitter chill at Auschwitz on Wednesday to remember the hundreds of thousands who perished in one of Nazi Germany’s infamous concentration camps, 65 years to the day since troops of the Red Army liberated the camp.

[…]

Chief Rabbi Israel Meir Lau of Tel Aviv, a holocaust survivor, recited the Kaddish, the Jewish prayer of mourning, and sirens wailed across the barracks and barbed wire where an estimated 1.1 million people died.

Source: Holocaust Memorial Day marked on Auschwitz liberation anniversary

Here’s one other article excerpt:

During the Holocaust, 6 million Jews and millions of others were systematically murdered in Nazi-occupied Europe.

Yet many lived to tell their stories.

Arthur Berger, spokesman for the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, said the first-hand accounts are important, especially in the Internet age when misinformation is easily spread. Those memories must be documented as much as possible, Berger said, in the hope that, by preserving the truth about what happened, future atrocities can be prevented.

Source: Victims, survivors honored International Holocaust Remembrance Day

According to Wikipedia, on this day in 1945, “The Red Army liberates the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland.”

In case you forgot, I titled this post “Lest We Forget.” So I ask, Have the world’s powers that be forgotten Nazi Germany as Iran’s leaders make their anti-Israel, anti-Jew comments and threats? We shall see.

Scott Brown and Abortion

I came across this on the 23rd:

Many “pro-life” leaders are applauding the victory of Scott Brown Republican to the United States Senate in a special election held this past week in Massachusetts. In all honesty, his victory is at best, a hollow one for the preborn. Let’s take an objective, non-partisan look at Scott Brown’s record and rhetoric on prenatal child-killing as recorded at the website “OnTheIssues.org”:

Source: Scott Brown’s Election to US Senate: A Hollow Victory for the Preborn

Ahhh, politics!

Or do I mean, Uggghh, politics!

🙁

(If you’re one of those thrilled and relieved at his election in Massachusetts, do you know Senator-elect Brown’s stance on abortion?)

PS: This post isn’t a political statement. It’s a nudge at my fellow conservative Mennonites who are all thrilled at Mr. Brown’s election.)

From Haitians, With Love

The Dalles couple describes how they survived Haiti quake

They wandered the ruined city for 10 hours before ending up at the U.S. embassy where their wounds were dressed. Joel received about 20 stitches to his head.

The couple were changing clothes when the earth started shaking so they were only wearing underwear.

Joel and Rachel wandered through a horrifying scene. They say the bloody streets were dark with people dying all around them. In the midst of it all, they said the battered Haitian people offered them food, water and even the clothes off their backs.

“Haitians just kept running up to us saying here have my shirt, have my sweatshirt, you’re cold,” said Colbourne.

They said the love they felt from the battered Haitian people was humbling.

HT: EGerig (who just a few minutes ago also pointed me to the Livesay Haiti blog)