Jos, Nigeria photos

Enjoy. All my pics from Jos, Nigeria.

Caption this

DSC_0096
Originally uploaded by Jdblundell.

From Jos, Nigeria. Caption this...

Horse Sense: Faith and Freedom Revisited (Part II)

You may not agree with me that our country is at a fundamental juncture, a crossroads between freedom and despotism—and here I’m simply giving away my prejudice. Perhaps the choice is not at all that stark. But over the years the government has clearly grown and gotten more powerful. Further, the government has gotten a lot more “say so” over practically everything, and technology makes Big Brother more of a potential reality in the future than it was for Stalin’s Russia or Hitler’s Germany—if freedom should ever get away from us. The loss of freedom didn’t happen overnight in those places either. It doesn’t always take a revolution to lose something. It may just take a cumulative process, the slow accretion of power away from the people and to the government, as we quite literally choose our chains—suffocating freedom little by little, day, by day and rule, by rule—assigning more and more personal prerogative to the state. It would be ironic perhaps, but no more ironic than that God has permitted us freedom in the first place, a freedom that we have increasingly used to reject Him—from the classroom, from the ball field, from the public square, from out of the lives of many libertine thrill seekers and word-of-God illiterates. Yet if you are part of the remnant the Bible refers to (you who read and understand); if we are part of the remnant who know better, because Jesus Christ is in our lives, ask yourself what may still happen if we reverse the process and start to insist on more freedom—freedom to pray and to define the moral environment around us, freedom to educate your children, to live according to your own conscience and better lights. Christians may turn the other cheek, indeed are supposed to, but that is not quite the same thing as being pliant. It is certainly not the same thing as being disengaged, disinterested, distracted, irrelevant to political pollsters, because you never or rarely ever vote. Others before have already fought essential battles and shed rivers of blood, the blood of patriots and of Christian martyrs. Do we not even pick up where they left off; do we not even take up the relatively easy tools they left for us? Federalism; states rights; self-determination of towns and communities; the glorious Constitution; and a political system that is the envy of the world; the power of the ballot box. Speaking of which, this coming November 7th is the General Election—are you registered to vote? Have you made arrangement with your county clerk or gone on-line to make sure you receive an absentee ballot if you plan to be gone? The Founders left it all to you, but they could not leave you the courage to take up your cross and walk the walk required of yours and every generation.
Those who like liberty but reject faith need to be reminded that our very concept of what liberty means emerged in a framework of Judeo-Christian tradition. From Holy Scripture, we see the story of liberty unfold: first in the Garden of Eden, proceeding through the commandments that deal so forthrightly with questions of what’s yours and mine, as well as the sanctity of marriage and the importance of truth-telling. All this leads inexorably to the idea of liberty as fundamental to social order. It is true that the idea of liberty finds echoes in other cultures, because the truth is universal. But the Jewish and Christian traditions provide a strikingly coherent understanding of the very basis of liberty as we understand it, with a strong emphasis on the inherent dignity of the human person, of the integrity and moral legitimacy of private property, of the ethical foundation of economic and social advancement, of the duties and limitations of the State. All of this is intrinsic to our faith; they are the social implications of our faith. Faith and freedom are intertwined; and ‘the good life’ on earth resides at their nexus, what the Founders called ordered liberty and gave us to maintain. Ordered liberty again is at the nexus of faith and freedom; that is, where faith and freedom overlap and inform each other. Now some people view Christianity in America as a political force that potentially threatens freedom. But then they should ask themselves what were the religious ideas behind the political movements that have spawned the worst human rights abuses in all of history? The religious assumptions were secular-atheist in the case of the French Revolution and subsequent Reign of Terror; they were secular-atheist in the case of the Bolshevik Revolution and the bloodbath of communism that followed; they were pagan-atheist in the case of National Socialism and the Nazi-sponsored Holocaust; and they were deviant and jihadist Muslim, in the case of 9-11 and the international scourge of terrorism. Those who castigate Christians for their political involvement would give the government more power in more areas of human endeavor and experience. At best these folks misunderstand the terms of Christ’s admonition to us all—that His kingdom is not of this world. The Christian thus renders to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and Christians are very loyal subjects in this regard. But Christians may also resist the State’s encroachment upon prerogatives of God and God-ordained institutions, such as marriage and the family. This is what both Saint Augustine and John Calvin opined, and Christianity has moved steadily in history towards a view that defends the rights of people against the State, in order that we may carve out essential space to live according to God’s Word. Given that, involvement by Christians today in politics is more likely to produce increased personal freedom, not less.
_____________________
Wesley Allen Riddle is a retired military officer with degrees and honors from West Point and Oxford. Widely published in the academic and opinion press, he ran for U.S. Congress (TX-District 31) in the 2004 Republican Primary. Email: wes@wesriddle.com.

National Mosque

National Mosque
Originally uploaded by Obi-Akpere, ObiAkpere.

I found a better picture of the National Mosque in Abuja on Flickr. I have several posted there that I took while driving by, but this is a much better picture.

Esquire endorces Chris Bell

From the Chris Bell campaign:

Esquire Magazine, the national men’s lifestyle monthly has endorsed Chris Bell for Texas governor. The endorsement comes in their November 2006 issue, which also endorses Scarlett Johansson as the "Sexiest Woman Alive."

Take it for what it's worth.

Prove the pope wrong

Here's an interesting thought from Christianradio:

I have been reading with interest the most recent controversy between the Pope and the Muslim world. I’m sure you’ve heard it already. In his speech, the pope quoted 14th-century Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus who said: “Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
My question to the Muslim world is, prove him wrong. In the aftermath of the pope’s comments we’ve seen violence, threats, more violence, riots, more threats and now we’ve even seen a 15-year-old Christian youth in Pakistan punished for wearing a cross.

Catering to the media

Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks discussed catering to the media in one of his latest posts.

A funny thing happened at media day for the Mavs this year. The players were excited as could be. Most of the media was fired up about the Mavs getting back on the court. But there was a segment of the media that wasn't quite as excited as the rest.
The print media guys there looked like they were worn out. Anyone who follows the business of media knows there are changes a plenty happening at Newspapers across the country. Our local paper, The Dallas Morning News offered early retirement packages across the board and the sports department had some takers. That's probably good for them, but what about the rest of the news staff and the topics they cover?
Of course the news, sports or otherwise, knows no boundaries. There may be fewer people in the newsroom but the same number of games, events and what have yous are still being played and presented. The guys who work in print who cover the Mavs didnt say so, and this may be my prejudices coming through, but the look on the faces of several from the Morning News seemed to reflect that trying to cover the Mavs along with their other responsibilities was going to make things difficult on them.

Cuban suggests he'll need to work harder to make it easier for the media to cover his team. I think that's a key for anyone in any organization. Offer the media as much information as possible. I know some news purists will complain about that but if you're in charge of publicity for your group, organization, business, church or whatever, take Cuban's advice and make it as easy as possible for a reporter to get the story.

Im the first to admit that I pushed, prodded and made every attempt to game the media to try to present the Mavs and our players in the best possible light. I am the protector of the Mavs brand, and the person responsible for making sure our fans and customers get what they need to stay fans and customers. This year, for the first time, Im going to have to make adjustments in how i deal with local (emphasis on local) media members. Particularly from the local newspapers.

As a member fo the MSM, I say make your brand as available to the public and media as possible. That may mean a blog or a news release every day, but be sure the media knows what's going on.
There's a million stories in the naked city everynight and with decreasing numbers of reporters and writers around the country there's a high chance your story won't be noticed unless you give it to the local media.
I can't tell you how many times someone has called and complained that we didn't cover the event and we never knew a thing about it until that first contact and complaint.
The media can't be everywhere, so it's in your best interest to be sure they know what's going on in your world every chance you get.

Now with built in bottle opener

A boy from Transition House in Jos, Nigeria opens two 7-Up bottles Nigerian style.

Owwww!

Rob and Blundell in Nigeria

Rob and Blundell in Nigeria
Originally uploaded by Jdblundell.

Rob and myself show off our Nigerian wares at Plateau Church in Jos, Nigeria.

ABC looking for Dallas area family

According to an ad posted on Craigs List, ABC is looking for a Dallas family to participate in the next season of Wife Swap.
The chosen family will receive $20,000.

Jonathan and Laurie

Jonathan and Laurie
Originally uploaded by Jdblundell.

Have I told you lately that I love this girl?
And I love this photo?

Fact checking

I missed seeing the Texas gubernatorial debate. Apparently not too many networks in Nigeria were concerned about it, but I found this interesting bit of "fact checking" on Chris Bell's Myspace page.
What do you think? Who do you think won the debate? Did the debate change your mind on who you're going to vote for and if so, why?

Friday fun

From e-mail:

One day God was looking down at Earth and saw all of the rascally behavior that was going on. So he called one of His angels and sent
the angel to Earth for a time.
When he returned, he told God, "Yes, it is bad on Earth, 95% are misbehaving and only 5% are not."
God thought for a moment and said, "Maybe I had better send down a second angel to get another opinion."
So God called another angel and sent him to Earth for a time too. When the angel returned he went to God and said, "Yes, it's true. The Earth is in decline: 95% are misbehaving, but 5% are being good."
God was not pleased.
So He decided to E-mail the 5% that were good, because he wanted to encourage them, to give them a little something to help them keep going.
Do you know what the E-mail said?
No? Okay, just wondering. I didn't get one either.

Where are people getting their news?

From a recent study:

Overwhelmingly, people say they get most of their news from local TV: 65.5 percent. That's more than double second-place newspapers (28.4 percent) and almost six times the figure for the Internet (11.2 percent). The Internet came in below national network TV news (28.3 percent) and local radio news (14.7 percent).
When asked if they could get the same news whenever they wanted -- on TV, radio, newspaper, online or a handheld electronic device -- almost two-thirds (63.3 percent) said TV. Only 17.8 percent chose newspapers and just 11.1 percent chose online.

That last number seems to get me. I've read a number of other sources that tend to give more readership to online sources... but who knows?

Writing like radio

I thought this was an interesting post and worthy of at least sharing here in the main blog, rather than simply staring it.

What Radio Has Taught This Print Reporter About Writing
Beer.
It's stuck to NPR media reporter David Folkenflik's computer.
Reminds him to write as if he's telling a story to his buddies at the bar.
And there's radio lesson number one, according to print-reporter-turned-NPR-correspondent John Hendren:
Write conversationally.
Ask yourself: Would I say it this way?
You don't have to sacrifice detail for style, he said. "You can be descriptive and still write conversationally."

I find that writing for a newspaper is much simpler when you just write the way you would tell the story to a friend but I think so many times we get caught up in trying to write to impress rather than just writing to tell the story that we lose sight of that.