a brutal world...

I was reading in Jeremiah 22 yesterday, which tells of God's punishment to those who do not follow his commands, about those who use injustice for personal greatness, about those who oppress in order for gain. It's a compelling and convicting section of the Holy Scripture, a warning to be heeded. I realize that in my own ways, I am so full of oppression and injustice and unfairness. I'm certainly not perfect.

However, then I read about some of things happening in our world, and it makes me sick. Read this article I found on CNN about the horrible atrocities being committed in Congo at present. It's nearly unbelievable...talk about injustice and oppression. This is sick.

Rapes, brutality ignored to aid Congo Peace

What I find nearly as challenging and heartbreaking is that the Congolese President didn't even know it was happening, or at least claims he didn't. If the President of a country is not informed, how can the rest of the world understand...? Here is the link that article: Congo president on military rapes - "unforgiveable"

I suppose I only find solace knowing God has it covered. He reigns over all things and one day will judge all of us. I hope I can give account for all I've done under His watchful eyes. Some won't.

Kick the Oil Habit

here is a great editorial by the famous actor, Robert Redford, promoting Kick the Oil Habit...

SUNDANCE, Utah (CNN) -- Today the American people are way out in front of our leaders. We're ready to face our toughest national challenges, and we deserve new and forward-looking solutions and leadership.

The recent surge in gas prices has touched a raw nerve for many around the country, reminding us of an economy that is increasingly uncertain for the middle-class, a growing addiction to oil that draws us ever closer to dictators and despots, and a fragile global position with a climate that is increasingly out of balance. I believe America is ready to kick the oil habit and launch a new movement for real solutions and a better future.

Something is happening all across the country. People are coming together and demanding new answers. A grassroots movement is gathering today to promote solutions, like renewable fuels, clean electricity, more efficient cars, and green buildings that use less energy -- all of which are exciting alternatives that rebuild our communities even as they cut pollution and create good jobs. And, when people come together to invest themselves in building a better future, we are not only helping to solve our energy crisis, but we are taking back our democracy itself.

You can see this change in many places.

In California this November, voters will be offered an initiative that cuts the use of oil by 25 percent and creates new funding to support innovation and cutting edge technology.

Austin, Texas, is leading a growing number of cities in calling for car companies to produce plug-in hybrid vehicles that can go hundreds of miles on a gallon of gas.

New Mexico has joined the Chicago Climate Exchange, pledging to reduce its carbon emissions, and at the same time becoming a national leader in creating a state-of-the-art clean energy economy.

In Minnesota they have jump-started a new biofuels industry driven by farmer-owned co-ops that are putting more money back into rural communities and lifting up people's lives.

Cities like Seattle are joining with others around the world and taking on goals for green development, while states like Colorado are passing bond initiatives for transit and new requirements for clean energy.

Recently, a dynamic new campaign launched to seize and grow these opportunities and break our energy dependence. It's called KickTheOilHabit.org, and it has the backing of a diverse coalition of organizations. Its first action was to challenge oil companies to double the number of renewable fuel pumps at their stations within the year and pledge to offer E85 ethanol fuel at half of all gas stations within the decade.

This is a simple clear action that the oil companies can do today. But it is only a first step. Many others are ready to be put in action despite industry claims to the contrary.

In coming months, this campaign, which is based at the Center for American Progress and works with partners from the Natural Resources Defense Council to Consumers Union, MoveOn.org to the Apollo Alliance, will launch new challenges to our elected leaders, but it will also point to good work that is already going on all around the country. It will illuminate efforts on Capitol Hill by those who are concerned about the public good as well as the work of a myriad of grassroots groups effectively pushing innovative technological and public policy solutions alike.

Kick the Oil Habit will bring forth the dynamic narrative of American innovation and inspired thinking. It will give everyone who believes we can free ourselves of our dependence on oil, real solutions which embody real opportunity.

There is so much we can do right now. And there is a new groundswell of good organizing and real world actions that we can take today to make this change a reality. The Campaign to Kick the Oil Habit is one way to connect to this growing movement. I hope you will join in transforming the face of America and in working to leave a better world for all of our children. I hope you will join me in signing on to this growing campaign at KickTheOilHabit.org.

nothing...

i haven't posted in a week now. haven't had any good thoughts i suppose. nothing good to write about. nothing to say really. haven't had the desire or the creativity or even the skills to write anything worth note. it's sad, but not totally.

hopefully, i'll think of something soon.

for those with cats

For those of you with cats, check out this Cat Video from Google - it's pretty darn funny.

what is influential mean...?

I found this link (more like stole this link) from my friend Dave's blog. Dave is the pastor at a great church in Naperville called CCC, or better described as the big yellow box. Better yet, Dave is helping to lead a revolution in organic multi site churches - check it out here. Still, I wonder about what it means to be influential...?



The 50 Most Influential Churches in America

Merriam Webster defines influential as to exert influence. And influence is desribed as 1 : to affect or alter by indirect or intangible means : SWAY
2 : to have an effect on the condition or development of : MODIFY.

Anyway, I suppose I'm just thinking about what it means to influence people. Is it about a particular church or particular pastor influencing it's congregation...? Or rather, shouldn't be the church/ pastors job to act as a gateway or impetus to allow Christ's influence...? It's a subtle difference but a significant one nonetheless.

What do you think about the churches of influence...? and what about the subtle difference between being the agent of change or being something that directs a congration to THE agent of change...?

time

time keeps slipping away
a rare entity
it's all we have in common

can't have more
can't take less
everyone has the same

what will you do with yours?
make a boat
sail the seas
make a friend
walk through trees
what will you see
through the sands of time



it's slipping away you know
you can't have it back
time holds for no one

captured in a bunch of moments
memories lapsing
time waits for nothing

goes quickly in good time
slowly in bad
what a weird aspect of time

what will you do with your time
some use it for evil
and others for good

it will make you happy
sadness though is a greater friend
lonliness the best



a final word
a last tear
an empty word

all find solace
moments of silence
tick tick tick

no friend sees your time
like you see it
no time like your friend

an enemy sucking life
from your world
what time is it anyway?

make the most of it
three years
so many miracles

crowds, followers, kings
time held still
then it swooped and killed

but time could not stop
what was meant to be
what will you do with your time...?



***coincidentally, these pictures above are of my friend Steve taken in the fall of 2002 in Amsterdam. Sometimes I wonder what time has done to Steve. Steve, what do you think of time...?

land of the empty plate...

Today I met Maxwell. He works for a catering company and is often in the building I work refilling sodas and drinks. I don't like making people feel like they are inferior. We are in our nice clothes, our suits, our "white-collar" wardrobes. We are for the most part white. They are in their uniforms. They are blue collar. It always feels like "us and them" in the business world. I don't like that. So, I talk to the janitors, the drink refillers, the security guards. Their names are Tim and James and Maxwell.

Maxwell is from Zimbabwe. He was born and raised there and has lived in the States for about three years now. He is married and watches the BBC. Maxwell is black. He is different than me and yet so much the same. I asked him about Zimbabwe and if the things I hear and read are true...is Mugabe that bad...? Was Britain at fault for what has become of the country...? who is who there...? It was great talking with Maxwell. Enlightening. We aren't too different. He didn't know about who was to blame. He did know that there is a problem in Zimbabwe - no food - of course there is food for the rich, but no food for the poor.

Before the civil war in 1980, Britain controlled Zimbabwe and thus, white men controlled Zimbabwe. White men had big farms. White men had big food. Civil War takes place, dictators happen, power happens, Mugabe happens. Food is scarce. Farmers are killed. Less food. People die. Maxwell knows change must happen or his country will continue downhill. He is leaving in two weeks for a two week trip to his come country. I wished him well.

Then I found this article on the food problem in Zimbabwe. Check it out...

Famine plagues Zimbabwe
Up to seven million Zimbabweans face starvation


By Fergal Keane
BBC correspondent in Zimbabwe

Posing as tourists, we evaded President Robert Mugabe's police and his army of spies and found, hidden from the world, a nation's tragedy.

Hungry people queue for the meagre rations offered by church workers - their children's hair already changing colour from malnutrition. The elderly too are beginning to suffer terribly - not much food and not much hope of it either. Misrule, corruption and drought are combining to make a catastrophe.

Scavenging
Among the poorest of the poor, some compete with wild animals for what they can scavenge. Many people have abandoned their homes in search of food and work.

"For three days I haven't eaten, because of this I have no energy, that is why you see me here," explained one man that we met.

Yet the commercial farms that could have provided much of the food needed are lying abandoned, their owners forced out. Jenny Parsons, one such farmer, and her children, tried to visit their family farm and were attacked by government supporters.

"Every time I tried to get back to the truck to protect the kids more of them came and started punching me and kicking me into a hallway," she recounted.

Even the children were not spared. "They were trying to treat me like a dog, as if I were dirt," explained one of her sons, tears streaming down his face. "It was really scary."

Torture chambers

Fear now rules Zimbabwe. Harare, the capital, now has secret torture chambers. Being caught filming could mean up to two years in jail. As the economic crisis gets worse so does the level of government repression. Nobody who opposes the government now is safe from torture, from arbitrary imprisonment.

We met a group of people, many of them high profile, who have just been released from police custody. In this country even members of parliament and human rights lawyers can end up in torture chambers. All of those we met said they had been subjected to electric shock torture.

"They electrified me on my genitals, on my toes, in my mouth, and they said 'this is the mouth you use to defend human rights,'" said Gabriel Shumba, a human rights lawyer.

"The world must know of the kind of life that the people of Zimbabwe are living under. It is terrible," Job Sikhala, an opposition member of parliament, said from his hospital bed, where he is recovering.

'Land of empty plate'

Petrol queues throughout the city are a symptom of the crisis.

The England cricket squad will see them when they visit, but the government will crack down hard on any demonstrators. That is just one reason why the mayor of Harare, Elias Mudzuri, wants the England cricketers to stay at home.

"How many more people are likely to be dragged into the cells because they think they are perceived to be disturbing the cricket and the cricket people must be seen to be seeing that Zimbabwe is a good destination?" he asked.

Back in the rural areas the people gather wild plants, a traditional meal in times of hardship. The United Nations warns that seven million people now face starvation.

This is my third undercover trip into Zimbabwe in the last 12 months and the situation has deteriorated drastically. Yet nobody here seems to doubt that change is coming. The only question is whether it will be peaceful or violent.

This land of the empty plate attracts little attention from the powerful nations of the world, but they could soon find themselves facing a dramatic crisis here.

things i learned from the divinci code

The following in a wonderful interview with Brian Mclaren (author of a New Kind of Christian, among other books) regarding the Davinci Code which will be released worldwide on May 19th.

I love this article because McLaren takes such a fresh approach to the whole "Davinci Dilemma." While every Christian and their mother argues over and over about the fiction in the story and why its blasphomous, McLaren talks about trying to understand what our culture is saying to us. Why is our culture so intrigued by the Jesus of the Davinci Code...? What are the factors playing into it's popularity and the story that's told...? Maybe we can learn something from this... check out the interview and judge for yourself...

Brian McLaren on The Da Vinci Code
An interview by Lisa Ann Cockrel
With The Da Vinci Code poised to go from bestseller list to the big screen on May 19, pastor and writer (and Sojourners board member) Brian McLaren talks about why he thinks there's truth in the controversial book's fiction.


What do you think the popularity of The Da Vinci Code reveals about pop culture attitudes toward Christianity and the church?

Brian McLaren: I think a lot of people have read the book, not just as a popular page-turner but also as an experience in shared frustration with status-quo, male-dominated, power-oriented, cover-up-prone organized Christian religion. We need to ask ourselves why the vision of Jesus hinted at in Dan Brown's book is more interesting, attractive, and intriguing to these people than the standard vision of Jesus they hear about in church. Why would so many people be disappointed to find that Brown's version of Jesus has been largely discredited as fanciful and inaccurate, leaving only the church's conventional version? Is it possible that, even though Brown's fictional version misleads in many ways, it at least serves to open up the possibility that the church's conventional version of Jesus may not do him justice?


So you think The Da Vinci Code taps into dissatisfaction with Jesus as we know him?


McLaren: For all the flaws of Brown's book, I think what he's doing is suggesting that the dominant religious institutions have created their own caricature of Jesus. And I think people have a sense that that's true. It's my honest feeling that anyone trying to share their faith in America today has to realize that the Religious Right has polluted the air. The name "Jesus" and the word "Christianity" are associated with something judgmental, hostile, hypocritical, angry, negative, defensive, anti-homosexual, etc. Many of our churches, even though they feel they represent the truth, actually are upholding something that's distorted and false.


I also think that the whole issue of male domination is huge and that Brown's suggestion that the real Jesus was not as misogynist or anti-woman as the Christian religion often has been is very attractive. Brown's book is about exposing hypocrisy and cover-up in organized religion, and it is exposing organized religion's grasping for power. Again, there's something in that that people resonate with in the age of pedophilia scandals, televangelists, and religious political alliances. As a follower of Jesus I resonate with their concerns as well.


Do you think the book contains any significantly detrimental distortions of the Christian faith?


McLaren: The book is fiction and it's filled with a lot of fiction about a lot of things that a lot of people have already debunked. But frankly, I don't think it has more harmful ideas in it than the Left Behind novels. And in a certain way, what the Left Behind novels do, the way they twist scripture toward a certain theological and political end, I think Brown is twisting scripture, just to other political ends. But at the end of the day, the difference is I don't think Brown really cares that much about theology. He just wanted to write a page-turner and he was very successful at that.


Many Christians are also reading this book and it's rocking their preconceived notions - or lack of preconceived notions - about Christ's life and the early years of the church. So many people don't know how we got the canon, for example. Should this book be a clarion call to the church to say, "Hey, we need to have a body of believers who are much more literate in church history." Is that something the church needs to be thinking about more strategically?


McLaren: Yes! You're exactly right. One of the problems is that the average Christian in the average church who listens to the average Christian broadcasting has such an oversimplified understanding of both the Bible and of church history - it would be deeply disturbing for them to really learn about church history. I think the disturbing would do them good. But a lot of times education is disturbing for people. And so if The Da Vinci Code causes people to ask questions and Christians have to dig deeper, that's a great thing, a great opportunity for growth. And it does show a weakness in the church giving either no understanding of church history or a very stilted, one-sided, sugarcoated version.


On the other hand, it's important for me to say I don't think anyone can learn good church history from Brown. There's been a lot of debunking of what he calls facts. But again, the guy's writing fiction so nobody should be surprised about that. The sad thing is there's an awful lot of us who claim to be telling objective truth and we actually have our own propaganda and our own versions of history as well.


Let me mention one other thing about Brown's book that I think is appealing to people. The church goes through a pendulum swing at times from overemphasizing the deity of Christ to overemphasizing the humanity of Christ. So a book like Brown's that overemphasizes the humanity of Christ can be a mirror to us saying that we might be underemphasizing the humanity of Christ.


In light of The Da Vinci Code movie that is soon to be released, how do you hope churches will engage this story?


McLaren: I would like to see churches teach their people how to have intelligent dialogue that doesn't degenerate into argument. We have to teach people that the Holy Spirit works in the middle of conversation. We see it time and time again - Jesus enters into dialogue with people; Paul and Peter and the apostles enter into dialogue with people. We tend to think that the Holy Spirit can only work in the middle of a monologue where we are doing the speaking.


So if our churches can encourage people to, if you see someone reading the book or you know someone who's gone to the movie, say, "What do you think about Jesus and what do you think about this or that," and to ask questions instead of getting into arguments, that would be wonderful. The more we can keep conversations open and going the more chances we give the Holy Spirit to work. But too often people want to get into an argument right away. And, you know, Jesus has handled 2,000 years of questions, skepticism, and attacks, and he's gonna come through just fine. So we don't have to be worried.


Ultimately, The Da Vinci Code is telling us important things about the image of Jesus that is being portrayed by the dominant Christian voices. [Readers] don't find that satisfactory, genuine, or authentic, so they're looking for something that seems more real and authentic.

its definitely about the stats... and the love

in my friend Todd's blog, he recently made a post called It's All About the Stats, in which he shows some alarming stats about the world from a photo exhibit called 365 Days: The Earth from Above, by Yann Arthus Bertrand. Check it out to see such amazing stats about our world, our global culture and humanity itself. It's amazing.



When I saw this exhibit a few years ago, I too was moved not only by this man's wonderful photographs, but by the statistics behind each photo. With the help of OXFAM and various other organizations, Yann was able to put real stories behind each photo. Stories that don't just show the beauty of the land but also what humanity has done to destroy it. I think his work is magnificent not only because of the art, but because of the message.

I too wonder how I can impact people through a message way beyond myself, my art, my thoughts or my action. But instead, to iimpact people with broad strokes of the brush - to get them thinking and moving and caring and loving. How can I do it...?

not a good place to be...

Right or wrong...? It doesn't seem right. Still, it's the system as it stands now, and I sure wouldn't want to be there. Here is a description of the maximum security prison where Zacarias Moussaoui, the convicted 9/11 terrorist, was just sentenced. As the judge in the case said so eloquently, "you will die with a whimper." This place is messed up and though, the people in this prison are alledgedly the worst of the worst, this is no place for a human...dang. Plus, this place is only about two and half hours from where I live.

ADX Florence

The United States Penitentiary Administrative Maximum Facility (ADX) in Florence is a supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. It is the only federal supermax prison in the United States. Also known unofficially as ADX Florence, Florence ADMAX, Supermax, or the Alcatraz of the Rockies, it is a supermax prison operated by the federal government. A part of the Florence Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) in Florence, Colorado, it houses only the most dangerous prisoners in need of the tightest control.

History
Opened in November of 1994, ADX Florence was constructed as a response to the October 22, 1983, prison guard killings in Marion, Illinois. United States Penitentiary (USP) Marion was, at the time, the holding place for the Federal Bureau of Prisons' most dangerous prisoners. However, in two separate incidents, an inmate managed to kill his accompanying guard. Relatively lax security procedures allowed the prisoner, while walking down a hall, to turn to the side and approach a particular cell. An accomplice would subsequently unlock his handcuffs with a stolen key and provide him with a knife.

As a result, the prison in Marion went into "permanent lockdown," and entirely transformed itself into a "control unit" prison. This penal construction and operation theory calls for the keeping of inmates in solitary confinement between twenty-two and twenty-three hours each day. They do not allow congregate dining, exercising, or religious services. These practices are used as administrative measures to keep prisoners under control.

Following the killings, Norman Carlson, then director of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, successfully persuaded the federal government that a more secure type of prison needed to be designed. There was a need to isolate uncontrollable prisoners from both guards and each other for the sake of security and personal safety. Marion became a model for the subsequent construction of ADX Florence, a facility built specifically and entirely as a control unit prison.

The residents in the surrounding area, Fremont County, gladly welcomed the prison in a time of economic hardship. At the time, the county was already home to nine existing prisons. However, the lure of between 750 to 900 permanent jobs, in addition to another 1000 temporary jobs during the prison's construction, led residents in the area to raise $160,000 to purchase 600 acres for the new prison. Hundreds attended the groundbreaking, and ADX Florence opened in November of 1994 with a price tag of $60 million.

ADX Florence is now a 37 acre complex located at 5880 Highway 67, Florence, Colorado. It is part of four separate correctional facilities, representing four different security levels. More than half the jobs in surrounding Fremont County are related in some way to the corrections industry.


The Prison
ADX Florence is generally home to between 400 and 500 male prisoners. About 22 percent of inmates have killed fellow prisoners in other correctional facilities; 35 percent have attempted to attack other prisoners or guards. As a result, most individuals are kept for at least 23 hours each day in solitary confinement. They are housed in a 7-by-12 foot (3.5-by-2 meter) soundproofed room, built behind a steel door and grate. The remaining free hour is spent exercising alone in a separate concrete chamber. Prisoners rarely see each other, and inmates' only human interaction is limited to that of the prison guards. Religious services are broadcasted in from a small chapel.

The cells are 60 feet below ground.

Most cells' furniture is made almost entirely out of poured concrete, including a desk, stool, and bed covered by a thin mattress. Each chamber contains a toilet that shuts off if plugged, a shower that runs on a timer to prevent flooding, and a sink missing a potentially dangerous tap. Rooms may also be fitted with polished steel mirrors bolted to the wall, an electric light, and a 13-inch black and white television, and a cigarette lighter. Windows in rooms are small, set high up in the wall, and point towards the sky, confusing the prisoner as to his specific location within the complex.

The prison as a whole contains countless motion detectors and cameras, 1,400 remote-controlled steel doors, and 12 foot high razor wire fences. Laser beams, pressure pads, and attack dogs guard the area between the prison walls and razor wire. Built into the side of a mountain, visitors and prisoners enter through a heavily-guarded tunnel.


Controversy

Psychological Effects
Many have argued that the psychological effects of long-term solitary confinement can be devastating. Prisoners may suffer from hallucinations, anxiety, problems with impulse control, and self-mutilation. In addition, confinement may encourage anger and rage, resulting in further violence. Depression may set in, with prisoners becoming extremely lethargic, losing memory, and refusing to exercise.

Psychologists testifying in cases regarding solitary confinement have suggested that prisons could more reliably manage inmate behaviour were they to concentrate on fulfilling prisoner needs, rather than building oppressive controls.


Human Rights
Prisoners have complained about excessive steps taken by guards and officials in these types of facilities to control inmates. Constant surveillance and random searches at the whim of prison staff can be humiliating, and their frequency may be used as methods of intimidation and sleep deprivation.

The maximum security facility at Marion, Illinois, which is the model ADX Florence is based on, has been denounced by Amnesty International, a human rights organization, for violating the United Nations' Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners.

Some of the prisoners currently held at Colorado Supermax:
Matthew F. Hale (White Supremacist convicted of soliciting murder of a federal judge)
Theodore Kaczynski ("Unabomber" terrorist)
Terry Nichols (Oklahoma City Bombing conspirator)
Omar Abdel-Rahman (Islamist terrorist, nicknamed "The Blind Sheik", involved in World Trade Center bombing planning in 1993.
Larry Hoover (Leader of the Black Gangster Disciple Nation, based in Chicago)
Richard Reid ("Shoe bomber" terrorist)
Ramzi Yousef (Islamist terrorist, 1993 World Trade Center bombing)
Eric Robert Rudolph (Terrorist bomber)

the darfur imperative...

Written by Jim Wallis

Beyond all the important things that we are doing, there is one thing that we all must now do: stop the genocide in Darfur. For some time now, the world has known the facts of Darfur: up to 450,000 people dead and nearly 3 million displaced - black citizens (mostly Muslims) of the western region of Sudan are being daily attacked, raped, and massacred by marauding militias armed and supported by the country's Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. But knowing the facts hasn't changed them on the ground. Thousands more die each week of murder, hunger, and disease and the death toll could reach to the millions if the pillage of Darfur is not stopped soon.


In Washington, D.C., this weekend, and in 17 other cities, tens of thousands of people rallied to say "enough." It was the largest, clearest, and strongest public witness thus far against the horrible events that have been unfolding since 2003. The make-up of the crowd was the beginning of the answer to Darfur. Many commented on how this human crime and tragedy is bridging all our divisions, and bringing people together from across all our boundaries. Jewish families with their children gathered together with evangelical Christians, African-American church people with leaders from the Religious Right, Republicans with Democrats, Hollywood actors with conservative activists, and many students (for whom Darfur is becoming a rallying cry) with human rights advocates who see this as the paramount challenge of the moment. Speakers invoked the Holocaust, Cambodia, and Rwanda, repeatedly reminding us that we have often said "never again" only to let it happen again � and again. They told us that Darfur was the first genocide of the 21st century.


While the situation is complex, the crisis is rooted in longstanding grievances against African farmers who point to government neglect and ongoing conflict with primarily Arab herdsmen over land, water, and safety. That is why rebel groups are demanding formal representation in the Sudanese government to redress these grievances. The Sudanese government already has the land; it just wants to "cleanse" the land of its people. President Bush and Congress have named it genocide and the administration has tried to pressure the Sudanese government. But the world has been too slow and all the efforts thus far have failed to stop the daily death and atrocities. The Sudanese government has continued to resist international pressure. The U.S. has often been reluctant to put real teeth behind its rhetoric because of its strategic interest to keep the Sudanese government as an ally in the fight against terror.


Nothing less than a strong multinational peacekeeping force is needed now to stop the raping and killing by the Janjaweed militias; to assure the delivery of critical food, medical, and humanitarian aid; and to provide the security necessary to make a political solution possible. The U.S. must push the U.N. Security Council to authorize a multinational peacekeeping force - over the objections of China and Russia who do business with Khartoum - to reinforce the existing African Union force. Additionally, the U.S. should push the UN to aggressively enforce the current sanctions against the Sudanese government. The Bush administration has called for many of the right things, but has not applied the necessary pressure to accomplish them. Only a massive outpouring of public opinion could change that and force the U.S. to do whatever it takes. As long as that does not happen, many more people will be savagely attacked and cruelly displaced.

the worst i've even seen...

I saw this article on CNN today and am again saddened by the world in which we live. The headlines these days are smeared with the Divinci Code and the NFL Draft, but half a world away, none of this matters. People are dying. Here I am, no better. I live in a nice house. We own a nice car. I ride a $1200 bike to work every day. I just ate a banana with peanut butter on it and am still hungry. Now I'm drinking coffee from Starbucks. What have I done to help...? Nothing.

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) -- A senior U.N. humanitarian official said Tuesday he saw Somali refugees living in "the worst conditions I have ever seen" during a tour of the Horn of Africa.

Kjell Magne Bondevik, the U.N. special humanitarian envoy for the Horn of Africa, said that governments must do more to ensure drought and hunger are eradicated in the long-term.

At least 7.5 million people are suffering from the worst drought in a decade in parts of Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya and Djibouti. Cattle are dying and food supplies to 18 million people are in jeopardy.

"It was especially moving to visit the country where several thousand ... displaced were living under the worst conditions I have ever seen," Bondevik said of his visit to lawless Somalia. He added, however, that Somalis want to "reconcile and rebuild their economy."

Somalia has had no effective government since 1991, when warlords ousted a dictatorship and then turned on each other, carving the nation of an estimated 8.2 million people into a patchwork of fiefdoms. A transitional federal government that was formed following peace talks in neighboring Kenya is struggling to assert its authority.

Bondevik also said he could not confirm reports that 90,000 tons of food aid were being left to rot in Eritrean warehouses. The Eritrean government, he said, made it clear that "the discussion about this was closed. The warehouses were closed, that the government has the keys."

But he said he has asked Eritrea to issue a report on the matter.

In the past year Eritrea has rejected or suspended the operations of several aid agencies. The government previously has accused some foreign agencies of sympathizing with Eritrea's hostile neighbor, Ethiopia, where aid workers also are trying to combat the effects of the region's five-year drought.

Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war. The two fought a 1998-2000 border war that ended with a fragile peace agreement. Efforts to demarcate their border under the terms of their 2000 peace deal have stalled after Ethiopia objected to the awarding the town of Badme and other territories to Eritrea.