the kitchen

cabinet doors
pam and i have been remodeling our kitchen for awhile and today we took another step closer to being finished. tonight i installed our glass doors. these doors didn’t used to have glass in them – nope they had boring panels. we took them into to a local glass company and asked if they had any cool glass we could put in them. the owner said if we had a little time he could gather glass from the old windows they replace and insert that glass in our doors. it took over a month but we finally were given doors that have glass in them from the early 1900s. how cool is that?

okay, maybe this is boring to most of you but i love it. i think they look great and i enjoy the fact that we are recycling the glass from older homes.

the real id act

tomorrow (tuesday, may 10, 2005) the senate is scheduled to vote on the “real id act“. here’s what sojourners had to say about the “real id” act within their april 13th issue of sojomaill.

The United States’ long-standing history as a beacon of hope to people around the world fleeing political, religious, and other forms of persecution is under assault in Congress. A bill, soon to be considered in the Senate, contains provisions that will make it impossibly difficult for refugees fleeing persecution to seek safety in the United States by obtaining asylum.

Under the bill, known as the REAL ID Act, trivial details – like a woman’s failure to recall her date of high school graduation – could be used to deny her asylum, even though she has fled from genocide, rape, forced abortion, severe domestic violence, or the threat of honor killing. Another provision of the bill would allow a torture survivor to be delivered back into the hands of his persecutors; the bill prohibits a U.S. federal court from preventing his deportation back to his oppressive home country while his case is still pending.

The REAL ID Act is based on the false argument that asylum laws in the United States are open to exploitation by terrorists. Current law already bars people who present a security risk from getting asylum – asylum seekers already undergo rigorous security and background checks from the time they apply until their cases are resolved.

basically, aside from quite possibly messing around with the civil liberties of american citizens, the act will make it much more difficult for political refugees to find asylum within the united states. so much for the “give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”

you can let your voice be heard by going to this link.

they better not screw this one up

i can’t wait until december 9th because not only is it four days before my youngest son’s birthday but it is also the release date for the theatrical interpretation of c.s. lewis’ book “the lion, the witch, and the wardrobe.” here’s the trailer for it. i believe it looks pretty good but of course, it’s only a trailer and the quality of a trailer doesn’t always reflect the quality of the movie.