The family joined me in Denver for work and then we are headed out for a few days of vacation here in Colorado. The weather is fantastic and despite two trips to the ER for two family members prior to our departure, everyone is here and well.

Talk to you later!

I have been riveted by the pictures coming out of Iran in the wake of what can only be described as a questionable election. I have also encouraged our daughters (age 13 and 11) to watch the news coverage. For all the talk of what is wrong with American elections, we still manage to have an orderly transfer of power every 4 or 8 years.

To be a young person in Iran who feels like their future might have been stolen from them must be crushing. Tonight we watched the police fire on the crowd from a rooftop when the crowd retaliated by burning down the building. For those of you who do not know me personally, I am the stereotypical person who NEVER wants to be in trouble with ANYONE. A sideways glance from an authority figure is enough to make my stomach churn even today at age 41. As I watched the genuine suffering and angst tonight, I could see myself setting fire to that building. The helplessness that must be prevalent in Iran is heartbreaking.

While I think the problems in the Middle East go back centuries and are not easily solved, we must help the next generation in Iran as they fight one of the great injustices of their time. America turned the other way when genocide occurred in Rwanda. America turned the other way when the crisis in Darfur spiraled out of control (and our recent involvement is too little, too late). We cannot sit by and watch this lead to more repression and suffering. I am NOT saying the American military needs to intervene, far from it actually. We need to talk to Iran and anyone funneling money into Iran. This is not acceptable and being American still carries certain responsibilities that we seen to have forgotten along the way.

I am back after 5 days in Orlando for a large oncology conference. A few random musings:

Technically, it was the day before Memorial Day. We recently started attending a new church. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are mentioned frequently in the “war is bad” way. This is not problem for me, most of the time, but yesterday it was a problem. If the church feels the need to comment on the injustice of war, almost weekly, then Memorial Day deserved a mention.

I have no reason to believe the church is anti-troops, by any means, but when they did not mention anything about Memorial Day, it rankled me. I have seen the other extreme–jingoism from the pulpit but no mention of the price of freedom by people past and present did not sit well with me.

Memorial Day–does it have a place in worship?

Only five days until the nightmare known at 7th grade is over for our oldest. Her year closely resembled “Mean Girls” and I am not sure who is most excited about the end of the year–her or me! I really, really wanted to call the mothers of the gang of mean girls but I resisted. Should I run into any of them at Honors Day today, though, I will say something about how much things changed this year. Sadly, I suspect no parents will be there which highlights part of the problem. No time for a long discourse on apathetic middle school parents today…lucky you!

Ranger, our wonderful chocolate lab/English springer spaniel mix, eats just about anything. We have this daytime ritual where he licks the spoon after I finish various snacks…peanut butter, soup, etc. Today, I offered him Marshmallow Fluff but he would have NONE of it. He appeared to raise his eyebrows at me and slink away, disappointed. If the dog won’t eat it, perhaps I should not eat it, either!

We are in the middle of end of the school year madness. I am tired already which is unfortunate since we have school activities 4 nights this week plus a soccer tourney (it is bad to hope for a loss just to get the season over with?) and a 21st wedding anniversary. Did I mention I am flying to St. Louis for 30 hours this week, too? Tired yet?

After watching Joe “Typhoid Mary” Biden on The Today Show last week, I suspect he and President Obama had an interesting discussion afterward. Since Biden could not get Matt Lauer’s name right, I think his office should have just written off the whole incident by saying “Vice President Biden was completely confused and just disregard everything he said”. How much do you want to bet that Biden was ordered on that train on Friday?

We went from winter straight to summer here in Atlanta. This has been known to happen but not in recent memory. So, less than a month ago, we had snow flurries and this week it is nearing 90! No wonder the dog cannot decide whether to start shedding or not! The basil and tomatoes are fine early but by lunch are a bit droopy. Hope you are enjoying spring wherever you are!

Apparently the Interweb is in an uproar over Miss California USA’s statement regarding gay marriage. Since when do we care what beauty queens think? She is not in favor of it. So what? During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama echoed the same sentiment by stating he thinks marriage is between a man and a woman. Miss CA apparently lost the crown due to her stand on the issue. I have no idea if she should have won or not but I am tired of the debate of this. Maybe we can cover some actual news for a change.