Vox Lucens

This week I finished up a fascinating book on international human rights, which I read for my Senior Seminar Paper. It discussed a number of world situations–hopefully I’ll blog more about those later, in book review fashion–and really focused in the last chapters on the potential tensions between promoting human rights and promoting democracy.

I found a news story today that made me think that the author missed an important detail, though. Those of you that follow international news know that East Timor, a hotspot of rights violations for decades, held elections recently. Here are the results, as posited by asianews.it:

With 90% of votes counted, the outgoing premier has won 753% of votes cast…

And THAT is the problem with international elections.

If anyone over the past couple of days tried viewing this blog in that bane on mankind known as Internet Explorer 6,* you have probably noticed that the sidebar to the blog was inexplicably placed at the bottom of the blog, instead of where it belongs.

Thanks to people who know what they are doing, I have fixed that problem, but it led me to wax poetic. I offer the following wit:

There once was a fellow named Bill,
Who fed his computers some swill,
And then from the code,
Did a browser explode,
Wreaking havoc, back then and still.

All hail Firefox.

***UPDATE: See? I’m not the only one.***

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* Undoubtedly one of the stronger euphemisms of our day. I would instead categorize it at “Internet Marauder” or perhaps “Internet Destroyer.”

Perhaps heartbreak is simply the nature of my work, or perhaps we should all be heartbroken at the work of the kingdom of darkness in this world. I share these thoughts assuming the latter.

I’ve already written about Mahjoub, and his heart that beat for the Sudanese church until it gave out. Since then, I’ve been overwhelmed with more evidence of Satanic attack worldwide.

The news from Burma, for instance, is almost unbelievable. Our team over there is reporting that a major officer, assigned with protecting the saints, has defected, causing widespread destruction. The villages I have been in, the church I have seen, perhaps even the kids who sang to us, are gone–if not dead, then living without protection from the army that wants to kill them.

Last night, I received a phone call from a member of our Board who is our contact with the Sudan. Just days ago, in what is apparently the first ambush since the Comprehensive Peace Accords between North and South, three pastors were killed by Islamic attackers. They were returning from Kadugli and an evangelistic meeting in the Nuba Mountains.

I used to hear these stories with a minimum of sorrow. I don’t think I was “hard-hearted,” because I cared, but they didn’t hit home. I couldn’t picture them. But I’ve been to Kadugli, like I’ve been to the jungle villages in Karen State, and one of these Sudanese pastors was at the conference we attended just months ago. Now I can see it all in my mind’s eye, because I’ve seen the passion that poured from their lives.

And I look forward to seeing them again.

For more information–

Aftermath of New Attacks on Karen Villages

Evangelists Killed in Nuba Mountains

I apologize for the lack of blogish infotainment this last week. I discovered that the ‘tween semester “break week” is the biggest misstatement of law school; the fact that I did no studying did not make it a break.

And now I’m three days into my final semester, wondering how on earth I’m going to get all this stuff done. Here is what is on my study plate between now and October:

- Uniform Commercial Code (6 credit hours of utter insanity).

- Community Property (probably the easiest course on this list, but boring as anything).

- Senior Seminar Paper (30-50 pages).

- Trial Advocacy (a ton of fun and a corresponding ton of work).

It is at times like this that the only thing to do is paraphrase Prince Humperdinck. I’m swamped.