http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog Fri, 09 Feb 2007 01:10:47 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I’m over here now. http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog/2007/02/08/psst/ I’ve been blogging for almost four years, beginning when we moved out to San Diego, in February of 2003. I started this blog as a way to practice writing, stay in touch with family and friends, and think out loud. Because of my tendency to reminisce about the passage ... http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog/2006/11/07/the-last-post/ The US Presidential Speeches Tag Cloud is a fascinating project. It puts into a tag cloud the keywords of every US President on a sliding time scale. http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog/2006/11/03/presidential-text-analysis/ We’re going to be in Columbus this Sunday through next Sunday for my sister’s wedding. Anyone who reads this and lives in Columbus or therebouts (that means you Erik) and is going to be around, definitely let me know. Does anyone know a good place to eat / drink where ... http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog/2006/10/26/in-columbus-next-week/ I just read that Enron’s ex-CEO, Jeff Skilling, was sentenced to 24 years in prison. I’m no fan of corporate corruption, and justice did need to be served, but come on… 24 years? This sentence is essentially a death sentence. He’s already in his 50s. This ends his life. He ... http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog/2006/10/23/731/ More reasons why the power to imprison people should not be given solely to the executive branch. What will it take to wake us up? http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog/2006/10/21/us-tortures-man-tortured-by-al-qaeda/ If you think that the latest bill signed by the President, Military Commisions Act only applies to non-citizen enemy combatants, do yourself a favor, as an American, and listen to this podcast. This is not, nor should it be, a partisan issue. This latest bill is an insult to all ... http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog/2006/10/19/what-the-military-commisions-act-really-means/ Austin will be speaking at Mid-City Nazarene Church about slavery and human trafficking this weekend. I’ll be there, and if you’re in San Diego and want to join what should be a fascinating and alarming wake up call, I’d encourage anybody to join. Austin works with Free the Slaves and ... http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog/2006/10/18/glocal-discussion-modern-slavery-and-human-trafficking/ After years of wanting to get up there, we finally took a few days and traveled in Washington and Oregon. I’ve created a new Tabblo with some of our pics. See my Tabblo> http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog/2006/10/16/new-pictures-washington-oregon/ The Common Dreams Newscenter has a short piece on the reaction of the Amish community to the shooting of 10 of their children, killing five. I haven’t written anything about the events, but the reaction of both the older girls before they were shot and their families after the attacks ... http://www.firewatching.com/ray/blog/2006/10/07/what-the-amish-are-teaching-america/