Mortimer Zuckerman writing in the US News and World Report said "Former President Jimmy Carter, acting out his stubborn, self-righteous moralism and his stunning vanity, persists in legitimizing terrorism." Aljazeera says "Give Peace and Jimmy Carter a Chance". Michael Craft, a former senior adviser in the State Department added "Mr. Carter's well-publicized meeting plans amount to rewarding terrorists..." Congressman Eric Cantor said "It is shocking that a former president of the United States would sit down and speak with a terrorist kingpin like Khaled Mashal.This type of meeting will only be misconstrued in the region as a sign of legitimacy for Hamas terrorism,".

It is important to put a face on the terrorists. If we are going to spend $3,000,000,000,000, potentially destroying the US Economy, making us safe from these individuals we ought to get to know a few.

One of them is a guest of the State of Virginia in the Northern Neck Regional Jail - Sami Al Arian. Upon his arrest in 2003, Attorney General John Ashcroft announced a major victory in the "war against terrorism". After a prosecution costing $50,000,000 resulting in zero convictions, the Department of Justice secured a plea bargain agreement which would result in Sami's deportation.

He is still here.

Today would have been Martin's 79th birthday. It will be celebrated on the third Monday in January - January 21st.

Pain and suffering often smack you in the face, joy and happiness sneak up on you from the side.

This year Christmas Eve at home with friends was truly marvelous. Among the carols we sang was "It came upon the midnight clear". We didn't sing the third verse, it wasn't in the hymnal. It's missing from a lot of hymnals.

It wasn't until I stumbled upon "The Gospel in Hymns" by Albert Edward Bailey at Books 'n Friends in Sparta and read his commentary on James Russell Lowell's "The Present Crisis" and then, by inertia, continued to read the section on Edwin Hamilton Spears, that I awoke to the poetic prophecy of that Christmas Carol.

Actually, I didn't stumble, I soaked in a warm bath, a blessed sacrament in itself. I often take two, three, four books or more with me. Wintertime is especially conducive to this sacrament where one gets to rest beside the road and listen for inspiration.

In abandoning a read of Philip Hensher's "The Mulberry Empire" (the larger premise is intriguing but much or the detail is not worth repeating), I poked a bit into the history of Afghanistan.

In an attempt to install a government friendly to their interests, the British sent 50,000 people into Afghanistan. Although a few were rescued later, only one escaped a massacre during the withdrawal - William Brydon. The Brits repeated this excellent adventure twice more and the US twice again.

The second to last US adventure in Afghanistan was to install the Taliban to displace the Soviet client Najibullah and the last was to install Hamid Karzai to replace the Taliban.

I've been reading "Seeking Peace" by Johann Cristoph Arnold which prompted me to search for background on the web. The author is a member of the Bruderhof, a 20th century creation in the Anabaptist family (Amish, Mennonites, Quaker ...). The history of the Bruderhof is an intriguing story in itself. Their publishing house - Plough - has placed over 40 of their books online as PDFs. A link has been added to the "Books" page.