Edward Snowden came to the conclusion that the CIA and NSA, for whom he worked, had way too much ability to spy. They can virtually listen in on any phone conversation they like. This is scary. And hardly ethical. So he blew the cover of the entire operation. As egregious as the government’s ability and practice of spying may be, the spy agencies pointed out that with this cover blown, Americans at large are now put at greater risk. And terrorists they might have caught will now be aware of what they didn’t know before and less likely be caught before they…
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An international outcry has rightfully emerged at the Laotian government that sent nine North Korean refugee kids back to North Korea for certain imprisonment in a concentration camp, probable torture, and possible death. They were part of a group of kids who had at various times escaped North Korea, been orphaned in one way or another, lived on the streets in China, and found by South Koran Christians who gathered them in. The youngest and oldest got to safety. The remaining nine pictured here made their way into Laos, with the aim of getting to the South Korean embassy in…
[ Read More → ]The first will be last, and the last will be first. Along the shores of British Columbia you can find totem poles among Indian villages, beside their great lodges, or along the shore. The animals of a totem pole are special to the people of that village. One village was very poor, and no animals had come to be their totem pole. The villagers were sad, and their eyes had no joy because they had no totems. Many of the animals knew about it, and finally a bear decided that if no one else were going to be these…
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Who’d have believed that Mt. Everest would become crowded– crowded! The mountain was first conquered in 1953, a feat most thought was impossible. BBC reports that now “the summit has become as congested as a five-lane motorway during bank holiday weekend.” One day in 2012 234 climbers reached the peak–in a single day! This year some climbers have complained of having to wait in bottlenecked lines for as long as two-and-a-half hours. The BBC quotes experienced climber Graham Hoyland as saying,
[ Read More → ]When you forgive someone, you set a prisoner free—yourself. The jailer sat by the prison cell door. He glumly looked at the man inside, who abruptly turned his head away and folded his arms. The jailer said to the prisoner, “You need to let me go.” “No!” snapped the prisoner from behind the iron bars of the cold, gray cell. The thick stone walls afforded only a tiny window that peeked out to the surrounding world. “Please let me go! You must,” the jailer insisted. “Why should I?” demanded the prisoner. “Because there’s no use carrying on like this….
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