This face has haunted me since I first saw it in an odd place -- the front page of the Style section in the Washington Post.

His name is Dilawar and this mugshot was taken in 2002. He was a 22 year young Afghan taxi driver whom U.S. military interrogators mistook to be a member of the Taliban. Was it his beard that fed this false impression? After all, bearded men here in the U.S. have been assumed to be militants or worse.

Look into his eyes. His torturers later learned that he'd never spent a night away from his small village. He probably lived with his extended family and worked hard to help support them. He'd never committed any sort of crime yet he was beaten to death for "being in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Have we Americans totally abandoned our moral compass? Have we lost our grip on humanitarianism or has paranoia put blindfolds on the eyes of those who otherwise would not/could not carry out such atrocities. What sort of message are we sending to our own children, much less the rest of the world?

The story was on the front of the Style section because it was about a documentary made by Alex Gibney, called Taxi to the Dark Side. I can only hope that leadership in the Pentagon and White House will see this film and admit that they, too have much innocent blood on their hands. They may not have personally wielded pipes and chains against human flesh, but they condoned and, indeed, ordered it of others who had to obey them.

It is no wonder that the American people feel ashamed of our leadership and the fact that our reputation as a people has been dragged through bloody mud. As long as we continue to allow such atrocities, we will continue to be abhorred by the rest of humankind.

More Memories of Greece

After reading about another impromptu roadside memorial for a little girl recently killed by a hit and run driver, I remembered others I'd seen years ago.

Rather than teddy bears, flowers, signs, pictures and candles tied to lamp posts or arranged on the ground, the Greeks construct a variety of formal memorials. Inside were bottles of Uzo, olive oil, candles and often a photo of the departed.

Wonder how many drivers have been distracted enough to cause accidents. In some particularly treacherous spots, there were several of these memorials.

Rachmaninoff and Russian Housewives

Listening to a CD of Rachmaninoff's piano concertos, I picked up today's issue of the Washington Post. Among the usual sections was one titled "Inside Russia". Usually these propagandist inserts get tossed into recycling right away. Not sure if it was the unusual sight of a sympathetic looking Vladimir Putin on the front page or Rach's melancholic Russian strains that compelled me to look further. Quickly scanning the usual flattering pieces about Russia and it's people, I came across one article I knew I'd read start to finish. It's title was Housewives Agitating for Wages, The Russian Budget Could See a New Expense. According to the leader of the proposed union, Marina Raksha, a housewife raising five children, it's purpose is "to achieve official inclusion of domestic-sector workers in the list of professions and acknowledgement of housewives' labor as valuable to society." In hopes of increasing Russia's slumping birthrate, a new law was passed in January 2007, granting Russian women who give birth to or adopt a child after that date -- that child being a minimum of the second child in the family -- 250,000 rubles (about $9,600). The Deputy Chairman of the Duma's (Russian version of Congress) Committee on Constitutional Law and State Construction was quoted saying "The state should pay for the labor of the nation's reproduction." Some have proposed that standards for housewives pay, seniority and pensions should be written into law. A member of the Duma's Security Committee says "husbands should be the ones standing up for their housewives' rights, protecting and financing them; the state is irrelevant here." I'll admit to a chuckle over all this talk about women's labors, but then it struck me; there are still no guarantees in the US for homemakers (a term I prefer) and women still don't earn the same amount as men for the same work. I'll be watching to see how Russia handles this conundrum.

Pharoah's Eye

In a previous post, I mentioned our trip to Egypt. It was so mind-boggling and filled with new sites, sounds and smells, I have to break it into episodes.

Mid-visit, we returned to the pyramids in Giza in the evening for a marvelous sound and light show. We got there early and, it being Ramadan, folks were gathered in groups, waiting for the sun to set so that they could eat and drink again. It was a festive atmosphere with camel drivers offering/insisting that we purchase rides. Having enjoyed that experience earlier in the week, we politely declined.

One of my Dad's colleagues and I set out to walk around the pyramid of Cheops. There was a full moon and the sky was turning that gorgeous deep blue of late evening. Bright lights lit the pyramids and just as we simultaneously voiced our wish to view them by moonlight, the lights went out! A nervous chuckle gave way to a sort of reverent silence.

Some distance away, a small stone caught my eye. On close inspection, I found what looked like an eye in the natural rock formation. Under those circumstances it wasn't hard to believe that the spirits of the pharaohs linger around their desert tombs. I just hope none of them minded me keeping the stone. . .

It is good to realize that if love and peace can prevail on earth, and if we can teach our children to honor nature's gifts, the joys and beauties of the outdoors will be here forever. -- Jimmy Carter

I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. -- Frank Lloyd Wright

The poetry of the earth is never dead. -- John Keats

Our Tax Dollars at work

Most people don't know that the U.S. Congress runs its own power plant. Yes, it is four blocks south of the Capitol building and was first fired up in 1910. It still burns coal, thanks to powerful senators from West Virginia and Kentucky. This ancient plant heats and chills water that travels through pipes to federal buildings in a network of tunnels were temperatures often reach 160F. Tunnel workers were only recently ordered out of the tunnels because of the presence of asbestos. This was not a secret to the workers and was ignored for years by those who should have been mitigating the condition. The plant is fitted to burn oil as well as natural gas, but senators from coal producing states won't allow this cash cow to slip through their fingers. Our region has trouble meeting the standards set out by Congress in the Clean Air Act and, not surprisingly, the prevalence of respiratory problems is much higher here. Yet Congress continues to sacrifice the well being of a region in favor of their states. Could it be they might lose votes if they did the right thing? DC has no vote. We are at the mercy of seemingly uncaring, self-indulgent legislative and executive branches. We are half a million hard-working Americans who want to be treated like every other American. The only way that will happen is with grassroots support in all states.

Isn't She Lovely

My mother's mother was also an April baby, born on this date in 1893. She was a spirited young woman and maintained her strong embrace on life until four months short of her 100th birthday.

She and my grandfather were born and raised in Pennsylvania of mostly Scots-Irish descent. They raised 4 talented, loving children who provided them with 16 grandchildren. Their first-born died in infancy, a fact I didn't learn until we buried my grandfather.

The day we buried my grandmother, a big flock of birds took flight in a swoosh from another part of the cemetery. I took it as a sign that she was once again holding her beloved husband and infant son.

Hurray for the House!!

Thanks to the U.S. House of Representatives, District of Columbia residents are once again on our way to getting a vote in Congress. By a vote of 241 to 177 House members supported a bill that would give us one voting Representative. This only happened when another vote for predominantly Republican Utah was included in the bill. DC voters are largely Democratic. Nevertheless, we'll take what we can get. Two huge stumbling blocks still remain. The Senate must approve it and Bush has already vowed to veto the bill, viewing it as unconstitutional. How can it be unconstitutional for legal U.S. citizens to have a voice in how their taxes are spent and how they are governed?! I can't imagine another jurisdiction accepting the intrusion on its governance that Congress inflicts on our City Council. Members from as far away as Idaho even get involved in how we run and fund our public schools. The United States Congress does not have the expertise nor sensitivity to micro-manage a city. Taxable property and income here are greatly reduced by the number of nonprofit, federal government and diplomatic entities here. Some would argue that the federal payment to the District makes up for that. Those of us who live and work here know differently. Was it justifiable for Bush to force the District to spend tens of thousands of its Homeland Security funds to pay for security during his inaugural parties when every other president has covered those costs with campaign funds? Do you see a pattern here? If we should actually get a vote in the House, I'll dance naked in the streets. . .

The Sun Will Come Out

This evening, just as ABC Evening News started showing the faces and names of the Virginia Tech victims,with Amazing Grace playing in the background, the sun came out for the first time in days.

May they rest in peace and bask in the glory of Heaven.

Korinthos

In 1981 my Dad took my youngest sister and me with him on a business trip to Egypt and Greece. We stayed in Cairo for 8 days, touring whenever Dad was not in meetings. I'll go into that more in another post but for now I want to remember our three days in Greece.

Arriving in Athens after days in arid though stunningingly beautiful Egypt was like landing on another planet. Surrounded by sapphire blue water, spotted with blindingly white houses and ancient olive orchards the Greek Isles took my breath away.

We spent solid days driving around in a tiny, cramped, little car trying to cram in as many sites as we could. It was mid-summer, so it was HOT!

When we finally reached the island of Korinthos my sister and I simply had to get out of the car to walk on the beach. I think Dad was ready for a breather, too. I cannot remember a time when I more enjoyed stepping into cold water.

The beach was very stoney making barefooting painful. Then I noticed the interesting stryations in the beach pebbles. Maybe I shouldn't have, but I picked up a few as mementos. The theater at Epidorus was impressive as were the Parthenon and all the other sites we visited, but Korinthos . . . aaaah!

Oh -- and our cab driver from the airport looked just like actor Michael Sarrazin -- oh yeah!!

I remember. . . .

The lovely bride is my father's mother on her wedding day. She and my grandfather grew up in Iowa in solid Norwegian families.

Today was her birthday. She left us way to soon and I still miss her.

Peaceful Bliss

This is one of my all time favorite photos, clipped it from a newspaper years ago.

It was a comfort to find it after the horror and tragedy of yesterday.

Hot Flash Violet

Breathless

I started figuratively holding my breath when the news about the tragedy in Blacksburg, Virginia started trickling in yesterday. It was just too dreadful to comprehend so, maybe if I held my breath long enough the news would improve. It didn't. The saturation of media coverage has been overwhelming. Stunned students were surrounded by cameras and had microphones shoved at their faces. News junkies feed off of this frenzy -- not a healthy occupation. Immediately following such a massive tragedy is not the time for such intrusive, insensitive behaviour. Constant speculation about who, what and why only sustains the turmoil and delays recovery. We all need to catch our breath, take time to mourn the dead, let law enforcement do its work and, offer support and comfort to the victims, their families and friends.