Wednesday, May 20, 2009

God bless Aung San Suu Kyi


Aung San Suu Kyi is on trial for a bogus charge in her home nation of Myanmar. As the world watches, groans and mumbles, a court will gather and find her guilty of breaking the conditions of her house arrest. An arrest that never had a trial. She will be found guilty because her house arrest is set to end in about a month from now. So these charges will put her back in her place so that the military government can keep her from running against them in their "free" elections. Since her party won its land slide victory way back in 1990, she has been in and out of house arrest and her victory completely ignored by the ruling junta. A Nobel peace prize should have shamed this military into giving this great leader her freedom, but it merely hardened their convictions that she would forever be a threat to their rule. She is a symbol of hope for a nation that is no closer to freedom and democracy now as it was 19 years ago when Aung San Suu Kyi' party won the right to run the nation.

The situation in the country is so bad, so murderous and oppressive, that reporters who can sneak in and out of the country struggle to report the horrors they have witnessed. It is the worst outside the main cities in the rural areas where minority groups are being persacuted without mercy. 

I have no idea how to help or what can be done, but I guess I just hope God will bless Aung San Suu Kyi and her troubled nation. 

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Nature in the north of Thailand

Well my summer is over and I'm back to work. So I thought I would put up a little video I shot while up in Chiang Dao in the north of Thailand. My summer was very uneventful, but it was relaxing and I must say that down time is always good time. 

Friday, May 15, 2009

Coffee and Black



Well during April I ventured away from my blog. Just not in the mood to share, but I did do a lot of traveling and enjoyed some great day trips around Thailand. I will be putting these images up soon. But first I'd like to introduce my newest housemates, Coffee and Black. Nan and I found them in the church where we were married and so we thought they would be very good luck for us. Besides, we live in Bangkok where Rats thrive on lots of trash and Buddhist traditions don't allow them to kill them. Of course these two little guys have a way to go before they are killing any rats. For now they are just babies. 

Nan is holding Coffee and I am holding Black. Yes they are twins, but Coffee has a thin line of white, like cream, so we decided he would be coffee and Black is pure Black so he gets the most obvious of names. 

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Yao Ming NBA's Most Popular


The entire Asian region gave out a collective sigh of defeat when the news of Yao Ming's injury came out this morning. Is everyone in Asia Houston Rockets fans or something? No. But there is more than a BILLION Yao Ming fans in China who were getting very excited about their hero taking on America's Late Show the LA Lakers. When Yao pushed back trainers in game one and forced his way back onto the court to finish the game, scoring 6 of Houston's last 10 point, everyone began to believe this 7 foot 6 giant could bring down the giant Lakers franchise. Now, all over the Asian region, people are putting away their Rocket's banners and shirts for another year.  It was obvious in game 3 that Yao was not himself and was not going to be able to finish the series. Without Yao or even a true backup center, Houston is finished.

Yao Ming is the WORLDS most popular player. You can argue all you want to about James or Bryant, but these two are the best players but far from the most popular. Kobe was cleared of a rape case a few years back that tarnished his very clean image until that point. No one believed he raped the gold digger he slept with, but does it really matter to his wife? And despite James having no serious drama so far, he also has no serious personality to back up his amazing talent. 

Yao is a proud warrior on the floor. He is not the most talented, but he is one of the most amazing players in the NBA. He works hard and keeps his head up. Can you imagine being Yao and having a billion people watching, listening, and talking about you. In the US he is probably the most recognizable player anywhere he goes. In China he is an icon. Did they even have basketball rims in the nation before he arrived?

So it is a sad day for the NBA, Asia, and of course for YAO. Let's hope he can recover and return next year.