New Blog

For those of you who are following or want to follow this blog, I have switched blog sites: http://bradenu.wordpress.com/

Cheers!

Vermont legalizes gay marriage

As of April 8, 2009, Vermont has become the 4th state in America that recognizes homosexual marriages. The bill was originally vetoed by the governor, but then overridden in the house with a 2/3rds majority. Also significant is that it is the first state to make it legal through legislation instead of judicial tyran...(cough cough)..i mean...judicial review. I could not help feeling really sad about this. I have a sneaking premonition that as this state joins Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Iowa, the rest of the liberal states in the east are soon to fall unless our Lord intervenes. God help us.

i've decided to make a fave list

Favorite food: Phad Thai
Favorite color: White
Favorite drink: Mountain Dew
Favorite band of all time: Lifehouse
Favorite country: United States, duh!
Favorite language: Spanish
Favorite book: Song of Albion
Favorite bible book: 1 John
Favorite subject in school: American Foreign Policy
Favorite state: California
Favorite car: Jaguar XKR
Favorite vacation: French Riviera in 2004
Favorite clothing: Jeans
Favorite athlete: still deciding
Favorite sport to play: Volleyball
Favorite sport to watch: Football

am i missing any good fave categories? let me know
more to come...i gotta catch the bus

and i thought i was busy

California

Cali- HERE I COME! leaving rainy seattle behind for the sunshiny goodness of the Golden State. Thank you Jesus!

word of the week 3/10

The word of the week for me is Resolve: firmness of purpose or intent; determination.

this is sick

Justice delayed yet again

The International Criminal Court has finally charged the Sudanese president, Omar Hassan al-Bashir, with war crimes after years of outrageous acts of mass violence against the people of Darfur. Over 300,000 people have died in Darfur in 5 years and more than 2.5 million people have been displaced from their homes and forced to flee to other countries or refuge camps.

Yet in spite of all of this, the Sudanese government refuses to cooperate with the ICC, claiming that they will not allow their president to be held on trial because it is an invasion of their sovereignty. My opinion is that if a government is willing to violate the sovereignty of millions of its own people over their own lives, they have no right to deny justice being brought to their leaders. But through corruption, racism, and censorship, the people of Sudan will be delayed justice yet again.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/03/04/sudan.president.darfur.charges/index.html

dreaming with God

as i stepped on the bus today on the way home from school, i was immediately met with a cloud of second-hand smokiness. anyone who has ever ridden a bus, much less walked through lake city or kenmore (coincidentally where my bus takes me twice a day) knows that these are the local hot-spots for chain smokers. and i'm not just talking a pack or two a day chain smokers- i mean 'i smoke so much my beard is turning yellow and i can hold the cigarettes in my mouth using the gaps in my teeth' kind of chain smokers. i know, this is hardly the perfect set-up for a post titled 'dreaming with God,' but it was the cause of me curling up in the back of the bus, closing my eyes, and trying to distract my nose- only something supernatural could cure that smell :).

anyways. as i was recoiling from the stank of the bus, i let my mind wander onto my life and what i wanted to do with myself when i grew up. then i realized- 'wait! i am grown-up! oh man, what am i going to do with myself now?' that's when i decided to take a chance and let myself dream for a while. anyone who knows me can tell that i like to live in the real world, where everything is planned out and i know exactly where i am going and how i am going to get there; so this was a big step for me. what would i do with my life if i decided not to limit what God could do through me. various things ran through my head- ambassador to a spanish-speaking country, on the US council of foreign relations, advisor to the president. things of grandeur that would necessitate the hand of God in a big way.

the strange thing was, as i began to remove my self-imposed limits, i felt like my current life made so much more sense. i'm not biding my time in college, trying to add another notch to the resumé so i can fulfill one of my too-small dreams. life is the way that it is because i have submitted to a plan that is greater than me. so when i find myself asking, 'what am i doing here again?' i can answer with a few simple phrases. i'm here to be guided. i'm here to be used. i'm here to dream.

feeling the tension

i know most people are sick of hearing me talk about obama. but allow me to say one more thing, because what obama does in the next month will determine the outcome of the rest of his presidency. our leader has some tough decisions to make in terms of foreign policy. does he bridge the gap with russia and remove our up-and-coming missile defense system from western europe? does he allow iran to continue its nuclear development program unchecked? does he intervene in the conflict between israel and palestine? where will he go from here? keep a watchful eye out.

Testing 123

This is my attempt at posting something. I'm still trying to figure this whole blog thing out. Also, I would like to honor the Royal Red Robin Burger as it has been my favorite burger at RR for the last 3 years. Unfortunately, I usually opt out for buzz clucks now, but this is still the best burger there. :)