Thank the Lord for Abdul Rahman’s release!

But that creates another problem . . . .

Got Room?

That’s the alternate headline for this story:

An Afghan facing the death penalty for converting to Christianity was freed from prison and under government protection amid fears of more protests demanding his execution.

Abdul Rahman, released from a maximum security jail outside Kabul late Monday, was being kept at a secure location for his own protection, deputy attorney general Mohammad Ishaq Aliko said.

His case prompted an international outcry, with

Afghanistan’s Western allies putting unprecedented pressure on the new democratic government to honour freedom of religion.

The UN said late Monday that Rahman had asked for asylum outside Afghanistan. “We expect that this will be provided by one of the countries interested in a peaceful solution to this case,” said spokesman Adrian Edwards.

A Western diplomat said the sensitivity of the case was making countries think twice about accepting Rahman.

Those Western countries wanted him freed but they won’t give him assylum for fear of the Muslims?

Well, I won’t judge them for that because I have no interest in condemning myself. I’m not persuaded I would be willing to take him into my home or even my neighborhood.

Pathetic.

Not that this should affect your sleep tonight:

Four years after the September 11 attacks, investigators were able to easily enter the United States with enough radioactive material to make two so-called dirty bombs, according to a report on a government undercover investigation obtained on Monday.

Two teams made simultaneous entries at the U.S.-Mexican border and the border with Canada carrying radioactive material in their vehicles in December 2005, the
Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in the report on its investigation.

But just in case you’re still awake enough to care, the next question is:

How many bombs can be made from the materials brought in by the “bad guys” during that same time period?

(My answer: I don’t know. I don’t care. Good night.)

I must confess — this sounds like a fun project. Well, some of it, anyway.

He spent the first afternoon watching “Chicken Little,” the animated Disney film.

He lived off energy drinks, doughnuts, yogurt and Subway sandwiches.

He figures he slept four hours out of the 41 in captivity. He’d catch a few minutes whenever he could – in a Subway booth or a restroom stall…

The best place for dozing was lawn and garden…found a lawn chair, kicked back and wondered how life could be better.

…a man appeared out of nowhere, giving him pointers, teaching him how to throw a left jab and a right “steamliner.”

“One sat on the grapes, and the other pulled them off….”

“One of the shift managers came up to me and asked, very politely, if I needed anything. I could have told him where everything was.”

When he had nothing better to do, he roamed the aisles, putting away items that were out of place.

Maybe he’d move on to another Wal-Mart and produce a documentary….

Yeah, a documentary. He should have done a photo blog.

Do WalMarts offer Internet access yet?

This guy’s name is familiar to me, but I don’t know anything about him. I don’t even know if politically he’s conservative, independent, or liberal.

I suppose the fact his piece is in Time magazine says a lot about his political leanings.

Be that as it may, I think what he wrote that was published there yesterday is worth reading. Here are two paragraphs:

We’re now at the dawn of an era in which an extreme and fanatical religious ideology, undeterred by the usual calculations of prudence and self-preservation, is wielding state power and will soon be wielding nuclear power.

That will present the world with two futures. The first is Feynman’s vision of human destruction on a scale never seen. The second, perhaps after one or two cities are lost with millions killed in a single day, is a radical abolition of liberal democracy as the species tries to maintain itself by reverting to strict authoritarianism–a self-imposed expulsion from the Eden of post-Enlightenment freedom.

I expect the second scenario to be closer to what’s in store. It fits the Left Behind plot better. And it might even fit Biblical prophecy better.

Now I lay me down to sleep….

Except it’s too early in the day for that!

Potential implications in stories like this one interest me very much.

Ukrainians cast ballots for a new parliament, with Russia-friendly forces poised to make a strong comeback in the first electoral test for the nation’s bickering “orange revolution” leadership and its pro-Western drive.

Russia and the West, which wrangled over the bitterly contested 2004 campaign, are once again keenly watching the ballot in this strategic country.

While the Kremlin sees Ukraine as its historic backyard, the West has encouraged Yushchenko’s drive to enter its ranks, safe from an increasingly confident and authoritarian Moscow.

Ever since it happened, I’ve been suspicious of the Break-Up of the Soviet Union.

So events of the last year or so in particular have left me wondering if a leaner and meaner “upgrade” of the USSR is in the works.

Maybe I’m just being kooky. Or at least spooky.

Perhaps.

…if they weren’t being so diplomatic?

Iraq’s embassy to Canada lashed out at the Christian Peacemaker Teams Friday, calling them “phony pacifists” and “dupes” after the anti-war group responded to the rescue of three of its kidnapped activists by condemning the U.S.-led military intervention in Iraq.

In a statement obtained by the National Post, the Iraqi embassy called CPT “willfully ignorant” and “outrageous,” and accused the Chicago-based group of being on the side of anti-democratic forces in Iraq.

Just wondering.

🙂

Finally!

British-led forces rescued three Christian peace activists from captivity on Thursday after finding them tied up in a house in western Baghdad, two weeks after their American colleague was killed.

Thank God and everyone He used.

And may He continue to comfort the family and friends of the American killed.

Now…how will the “invaders” be bashed by CPT, I wonder.

UPDATE 1: This evening, around 6:10 Oregon time, I read the CPT statement, of which I include these three sentences:

Our hearts are filled with joy today as we heard that Harmeet Singh Sooden, Jim Loney and Norman Kember have been freed safely in Baghdad.

We have been especially moved by the gracious outpouring of support from Muslim brothers and sisters in the Middle East, Europe, and North America.

We pray that Christians throughout the world will, in the same spirit, call for justice and for respect for the human rights of the thousands of Iraqis who are being detained illegally by the U.S. and British forces occupying Iraq.

freed safely — Freed by their abductors? Freed by allied forces? Granted, I used freed in my original headline, though I had “freed by allied forces” in mind. Perhaps CPT did also.

Muslim brothers and sisters — Huh? Are they putting Christianity and Islam in the same bucket?

detained illegally — by those Anglo occupying forces, of course.

Oh well.

Politics as usual.

UPDATE 2: Then I noticed their site had an addenda posted at 6:00 pm my time. (It’s presently 6:25 pm here in Oregon on Thursday, March 23.) Here are the first two paragraphs of the addenda:

We have been so overwhelmed and overjoyed to have Jim, Harmeet and Norman freed, that we have not adequately thanked the people involved with freeing them, nor remembered those still in captivity. So we offer these paragraphs as the first of several addenda:

We are grateful to the soldiers who risked their lives to free Jim, Norman and Harmeet. As peacemakers who hold firm to our commitment to nonviolence, we are also deeply grateful that they fired no shots to free our colleagues. We are thankful to all the people who gave of themselves sacrificially to free Jim, Norman, Harmeet and Tom over the last four months, and those supporters who prayed and wept for our brothers in captivity, for their loved ones and for us, their co-workers.