The joys of the blogosphere
One of the things that is a fundamental shift from the "old school" or mainstream media (MSM) to blogs is how the MSM wants traffic and eyeballs, but blogs often send people away. That is what I'm doing with today's post. Feel free to comment, but otherwise just go check out these other articles and blogs.John Simpson, BBC World Affairs Editor, has an article for the 3rd anniversary of our invasion. He isn't ready to condemn America, but he isn't the biggest fan, either. Iraq invasion: For better or worse?
The Relationships Foundation has two excellent posts over at their blog. At the end ...what have you got? tells the story of Eugene O'Kelly as he prepared for his own death. Very convicting piece about focusing on the people that matter to us and not on the things that don't we can't take with us anyway.
Also, the Relationships Foundation wants you to Save our Sundays. In the UK (and most of Europe), the shops are closed for most of or all of Sunday. It is a major annoyance to an American used to 24/7/365 opening hours. Tesco, the Wal-Mart of Britain, is pushing the government to liberalize the hours. The Relationships Foundation along with Usdaw, Working Families and Keep Sunday Special to highlight the social impact that extending Sunday trading hours would have.
I have to admit that I'm not convinced. The added convenience of shopping on Sunday would actually help me have more time with my family. Monday I usually do a mega-shop and it means I don't get home until later in the evening, but if I could go with Mrs. Expat Teacher on a Sunday, we'd have more time together. I know that I'm suppose to sing from the same songbook because I've worked with the Relationships Foundation in the past. I'm hoping that they will post more about this negative social impact. Maybe I'm a selfish pig, but it seems that the world is moving toward more and more "on demand" stuff. How long before we want our shopping on demand?
Finally, Abdul Rahman needs our prayers because he is on trial for Christianity. Abdul converted to Christianity while working with a relief agency in Pakistan. If he is found guilty, he will be sentenced to death under Afghanistan's sharia law. If you know of any other way we can help, please let us know in the comments. To free the Afghans from the Taliban only to have a fundamental freedom of religion to be ignored flies in the face of all that we've tried to do over there.
posted by Expat Teacher @ 6:50 AM
