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Unexpected Promise
Unexpected Promise:
Disaster creates an opening for peace in a conflict-riven land
Aceh-For centuries, this territory at the northern tip of Sumatra was at the crossroads of several of the world's major cultures and trade routes, leading some to say that Aceh really stands for Arabia-China-Europe-Hindustan. It was there that Islam was first introduced to the vast Indonesian archipelago in the 8th century. Later, an independent sultanate emerged that lasted for some five centuries.
Open to foreign influences, the Acehnese have nonetheless been fiercely independent-minded. This was as true when a Portuguese fleet was defeated in 1614 as it was during Dutch efforts to impose colonial rule between 1873 and 1942. After World War II, Aceh became part of Indonesia. But excessive centralization and unjust exploitation of its resources by Jakarta led to the founding of the separatist Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM, or Free Aceh Movement) in 1976. Although the initial rebellion was quickly crushed, atrocities committed by government troops fueled resentment among the Acehnese and ensured a prolonged struggle. During the 1990s and again in 2003, the province was put under martial law (see sidebar, "Conflict and Peacemaking," opposite page.)
It took the enormous devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami of December 26, 2004, to break Aceh's punitive isolation. In a matter of mere minutes, close to 170,000 people perished-more than ten times as many as had been killed during the 29 years of secessionist conflict. Against the wishes of military hardliners, newly elected Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono accepted international emergency assistance. An intense global spotlight was trained on Aceh as foreign aid workers and reporters flooded in.
Yudhoyono had pledged during his election campaign to bring peace to Aceh, and there were secret efforts just prior to the tsunami to resolve the conflict. But the tsunami's killer waves triggered a more decisive mood of reconciliation. Facilitated by the Crisis Management Initiative headed by former Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari, five rounds of talks led to a peace agreement, known as the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), which was signed in August 2005. In a nutshell, GAM abandoned its goal of independence in return for assurances of human rights, amnesty, reintegration of combatants, and a greater degree of self-government and democratization.
Silencing the Guns
On a sweltering morning in December 2005, I watched six proud young men march onto Blang Padang sports field in the heart of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh. Former GAM fighters, they were clad in black uniforms and matching berets and held assault rifles across their chests. They were met by six other men in white baseball caps emblazoned with the initials AMM-Aceh Monitoring Mission. The AMM monitors, drawn from European and Southeast Asian nations, were in Aceh to oversee the implementation of the peace deal. On cue, the guerrillas handed over their guns, and the monitors proceeded to cut the weapons apart with power saws.
The six guns were the last of 840 weapons handed over by GAM fighters emerging from their mountain and jungle redoubts. In parallel, Jakarta withdrew thousands of soldiers and policemen from the province-non-local units that had been brought in to enforce martial law and that had distinguished themselves mostly by their brutality toward civilians. Given failed earlier peace efforts, some observers doubted that the terms of the peace agreement would be honored by the protagonists. But the first phase of Aceh's peace process, from September to December 2005, was an outstanding success.
GAM's official representative at the decommissioning ceremony was Irwandi Yusuf. A small man with an intense gaze, Yusuf was a political prisoner when the tsunami hit and only narrowly escaped drowning. He referred to the weapons as "our friends," but went on to say that the time had come to rely on "finer tools" to build a free and flourishing society. A year later, he is now GAM's candidate for Aceh governor.
His government counterpart in overseeing the weapons decommissioning and troop withdrawal, Major General Bambang Darmono, was grim-faced throughout the Banda Aceh ceremony, flashing a smile only when he triumphantly hoisted a plaque on which the last cut-up gun was mounted. Once the operational military commander in Aceh and a proponent of a merciless iron-fist policy, he was put in charge of the military's relief efforts after the tsunami before becoming the government's point man in the disarmament process. GAM spokesman Bakhtiar Abdullah told me that Darmono's involvement in the peace process had in fact eased his hardline views-a softening of attitudes that is critical for peace.
Silencing the guns and taming the military's opposition to peace have been major achievements. But multiple challenges remain on the road to lasting peace. Physical rebuilding and peace-building are closely intertwined challenges. The political process has barely started. Economic revival is essential for giving people a stake in peace.
Politics and Accountability
Around nightfall one evening the group I traveled with, organized by San Francisco-based Global Exchange, pulled up at a humble village café not far from the industrial town of Lhokseumawe. Word of foreign visitors spread fast, and we were quickly surrounded by a few dozen men, women, and children. When they realized that we wanted to hear about their experience during the conflict, everyone pressed even closer. The villagers eagerly took turns relating tales of abuse they had suffered-beatings, kidnappings, killings, as well as theft and extortion, at the hands of Indonesian military and police.
Their stories opened a window into the deep emotional scars left by the years of conflict. In Aceh's villages and towns, a sense of normality has returned. The peace agreement lifted a heavy shroud from Acehnese society. People who were forced to go into hiding have returned; others feel they can now speak up without fear of retribution. But a March 2006 poll showed half the population still worried about the possibility of arbitrary arrests by security forces. Two dozen young activists in Bireuen regency we met late one night told us they'd feel safer not revealing their names and not having any pictures taken.
Following the disarmament and troop withdrawal, the peace process has entered a more challenging stage: granting greater autonomy to Aceh, building a democratic political system, and establishing accountability for past human rights violations. The peace agreement requires that a new governing law for Aceh be promulgated, incorporating key provisions of the MOU. An initial draft for the governing law was drawn up with broad popular consultation in Aceh, then forwarded to the Indonesian government. The version subsequently submitted by the government to parliament for final approval was much weaker. Parliamentary deliberations were exceedingly slow-marked by a tug of war with hardline lawmakers displeased with what they regard as unwarranted concessions to Aceh.
Parliament finally passed the governing law on July 11, 2006-four months late. The delay meant that elections had to be postponed repeatedly, from an initial April 2006 target to December. More important, GAM and many Acehnese NGOs charge that the law falls short of the autonomy provisions in the peace accord (see sidebar, "Aceh's Peace Accord," opposite page). Its passage was greeted by repeated protests and a one-day general strike in Aceh.
GAM leaders have said they have no intention of taking up arms again, but they are demanding an immediate revision of a number of articles that are not in compliance with the spirit of the peace accord. The government says the law can be amended in a year or two. But given Jakarta's long track record of broken promises, that's not an answer reassuring to the Acehnese.
In fact, there are already reasons to doubt the government's commitment to an open and democratic Aceh. In June, Aceh's acting governor issued a decree declaring 16 Acehnese groups illegal. Most of them were militia groups allied with the Indonesian military, but the decree also included the Aceh chapter of the respected environmental group Walhi and the Aceh Referendum Information Center, which has denounced aspects of the governance bill.
In mid-July, two community radio stations-Seha Radio in Jantho, the capital of Aceh Besar regency, and Suara Perempuan (Women's Voice) in Banda Aceh-were closed down by military police even though both had an application for a license pending. In contrast, several other radio stations that had been banned by the Indonesian Broadcasting Commission, including a military-run radio station in Lhokseumawe, remain on the air.
The European Union-led Aceh Monitoring Mission has played an important role in overseeing the implementation of the peace agreement and the presence of the monitors has boosted Acehnese confidence. Initially, AMM was expected to stay until mid-May. However, in line with the delays in passing the governing law, its mandate has been repeatedly extended. The monitors are currently expected to remain until elections in December. Most Acehnese want them to stay longer. Wrapping up AMM's work too hastily could endanger political stability, as has happened in other conflict zones before.
Building Back Better?
The tsunami disaster triggered the most generous humanitarian aid response ever, with pledges in the billions of dollars pouring in from all over the world. The emergency relief effort was indeed an admirable operation. But longer-term efforts to rehabilitate Aceh have run into a host of problems, partly because of unresolved land and property disputes.
With international aid groups awash in unprecedented levels of aid, their catchphrase has been "building back better." But actual rebuilding is agonizingly slow: by July 2006, only about 35,000 out of 141,000 needed houses had been completed. At least 25,000 Acehnese remained in tents. Those housed in temporary barracks are better off, but living conditions are characterized by overcrowding, little privacy, and often a lack of even basic amenities such as toilets and running water.
The quality of reconstruction is as problematic as the pace. One reason is corruption and profiteering. In several cases, unscrupulous contractors were found to have built flimsy homes and schools. In place of laying proper foundations, they propped buildings on wooden stilts and stones. The timber used was substandard and warped and the bricks of inferior quality. In March, some 10,000 of the new houses were judged to be so poorly built as to require major repair.
Foreign aid groups have in their own way contributed to the problem. Hundreds of them went into Aceh after the tsunami, making coordination a near-impossibility. In fact, intense turf wars broke out, with major aid agencies claiming certain villages and areas as their domain, displaying their logos and putting up banners extolling their good works. In the mad dash for visibility, some towns and villages ended up with redundant services, while others were overlooked entirely.
The aid groups' desire to demonstrate quick results to Western donors (and thus burnish credentials seen as necessary to secure future funding) has to some extent also had the effect of sidelining the longer-term needs of the local population. By and large, local communities were not consulted in rehabilitation and reconstruction decision-making. Meetings and documents were mostly in English. Acehnese disillusionment and resentment were compounded because many aid groups ended up promising far more than they could deliver. So frustrated with the mismatch between promises and actual performance were villagers in Pasi, in the regency of Aceh Besar, that they told one aid group to leave.
By mid-2006, only US$1.5 billion of $8.5 billion in post-tsunami pledges had been disbursed, and much of that amount has not been spent well, according to a scathing report by the Tsunami Evaluation Coalition. TEC was formed by a group of public and private aid agencies to identify recurring systemic problems and improve the quality of humanitarian action. Its report says that many of the aid agencies displayed arrogance and ignorance, were staffed by incompetent workers, and suffered from high rates of turnover.
Reconstruction is never just a physical task. Assistance in the wake of so-called "complex emergencies" such as disasters and armed conflicts runs the risk of creating uneven benefits, widening economic disparities, and fueling social jealousy. For instance, how much housing assistance people should receive has divided tenants and house owners.
Tension is also building between tsunami survivors and those displaced during the conflict. An estimated 120,000 Acehnese were forced from their homes by the Indonesian army's counter-insurgency operations before the tsunami, but they have received minimal or no assistance. Several thousand of the conflict-displaced even faced intimidation at the hands of military and police as well as local officials when they attempted to return home to the central highlands.
Finally, the re-integration of former GAM fighters-and the economic development of the villages to which they return-will be crucial for lasting peace. Those who own land have fared reasonably well so far. But many others need land, capital, skills training, and jobs. A World Bank assessment found that six months after the peace agreement, almost 75 percent of GAM members remained unemployed. Many GAM members also need shelter. Half of those surveyed by the World Bank had their houses damaged or destroyed by the conflict, and another quarter by the tsunami.
The Indonesian government promised assistance for job creation, economic development, and rehabilitation for ex-combatants and war-ravaged areas of Aceh. But the government's Aceh Reintegration Agency was overwhelmed by the heavy demand for such aid, and the release of funds has been exceedingly slow. Representatives of GAM and civil society groups complain of a lack of transparency, an overly bureaucratic approach, and corruption. The Indonesian Survey Circle, a leading pollster, said that its latest survey in Aceh showed public skepticism about the peace process might increase if economic difficulties remain unresolved after the December elections.
Sustainable Aceh
A few kilometers inland from Lhokseumawe, the only paved road is colloquially known as "Exxon's Road." For many years, it was off limits to Acehnese farmers, who had to travel on narrow dirt roads that were badly churned up by army trucks during the rainy season. Until the peace agreement, Exxon's Road was lined with military posts spaced just 100 meters apart. The soldiers manning those posts, notorious for their abusive behavior, were part of the deployment of as many as 5,000 troops to shield ExxonMobil from GAM and the wrath of villagers whose land was confiscated in the 1970s without compensation.
Aceh's natural gas and other resources have long been exploited for the benefit of Javanese elites and foreign multinationals such as ExxonMobil. Ordinary Acehnese have harvested only the bitter fruits of repression and pollution. The peace accord promises that the bulk of resource revenues will stay in the province. Still, absent new discoveries, the once-ample gas deposits may be depleted in relatively short order.
Fishing has long been a mainstay of Aceh's economy. The tsunami destroyed the livelihoods of fishers by obliterating ports and landing facilities, silting shallow waters, and damaging coral reefs. And of 223 shrimp hatcheries along the coast, 193 suffered extensive damage. But the post-tsunami rehabilitation effort needs to tread carefully: overfishing may result if the fleet of fishing boats is rebuilt at higher numbers than before.
Logging proceeds at a rapid clip and much of it is illegal. The World Bank and the Indonesian government estimated in the late 1990s that 69 percent of Aceh's total land area remained forested-2.7 million hectares of old growth and 640,000 hectares in tree plantations. By 2004, this had declined to 62 percent, according to Indonesian environmental group Greenomics.
Aceh's natural treasures are under threat of rapid depletion, including Gunung Leuser National Park. The park is part of the Leuser ecosystem, a vast tract nearly the size of Belgium that harbors some 700 species of animals and 4,500 of plants. It is also rich in tropical hardwood trees such as semaram, merbau, kruing, and meranti. Besides logging, the biggest threats to Leuser are oil palm plantations and roads that facilitate growing human encroachment. By 2002, 26 percent of the national park had been deforested, and a planned road project could push this to 40 percent by 2010. According to the Leuser International Foundation, at least 120,000 metric tons of illegal logs were trucked out in 2005 alone.
The Leuser ecosystem is not only the last refuge for several endangered species, but also provides essential ecosystem services-such as water supplies and protection against floods and land erosion-for Aceh's human population. Logging has caused a growing number of flash floods and landslides, sweeping away homes and destroying nearby rice fields.
The long conflict was a convenient cover for illegal logging ventures that are plundering the region's hardwood forests. Both the military and the police have been (and continue to be) involved in illegal logging in Aceh, working in partnership with private entrepreneurs and levying protection fees on trucks that carry logs out of Aceh. Rivalries among different units of security forces have at times led to armed turf battles.
But to some extent peace has also opened previously closed areas to logging, and post-tsunami reconstruction needs are driving up demand for timber. Lumber prices have jumped, forcing delays and suspensions in some construction efforts, especially in Aceh Jaya regency on the west coast, where most of the tent-bound survivors are. Concerns over accelerating the already unsustainable pace of deforestation in Aceh led the government's reconstruction agency to all but prohibit the use of wood from the province. But aid agencies have struggled to secure adequate supplies from other sources, and few of them have the expertise to guard against illegal timber.
Beyond simple reconstruction, Aceh's economy needs to be put on a broader footing to create jobs and secure livelihoods. Boosting education, skills training, and investment is critical, because extractive industries alone will not provide sufficient livelihoods.
Struggle for the Soul of Aceh
Traveling into Banda Aceh from the airport, it is hard to miss the billboard-size image of an Acehnese couple in traditional clothing, accompanied by the stern admonition that the strictures of Shari'a (Islamic law) are to be obeyed. As elsewhere in Indonesia, a struggle is intensifying between those wanting to hold firm to the country's secular path and conservatives who favor Shari'a.
In Aceh, the role of Islamic law needs to be understood in the context of both the 2004 tsunami and the long-running independence struggle. After the fall of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998 and the discovery of mass graves, the Indonesian government decided that introducing Shari'a in Aceh would be a clever political move-mollifying the population of a deeply religious province and enticing it to abandon separatism. However, many Acehnese, mindful of a tradition of tolerance and pluralism, consider Shari'a an "unwanted gift."
The ulama (Islamic theologians) have stridently blamed "female sinners" for the tsunami and argued that moral shortcomings caused the long conflict. Banners put up by the ulama are hectoring a traumatized population: "Disaster has struck, so women cover yourselves." Yet the majority of the Acehnese reject a puritanical interpretation of Islam.
Only questions of marriage, divorce, and inheritance had traditionally been handled by Islamic courts. But Jakarta has pushed for an expansion of cases to which Islamic law is applied. The first set of regulations entered into force in 2005, criminalizing the consumption and sale of alcoholic beverages, gambling, and illicit relations between men and women. Public canings have been instituted as a punishment for violators, even though there is no precedent in Aceh for meting out such penalties. Women now feel compelled to wear the jilbab (head scarf) in public.
The wilayatul hisbah (vice and virtue patrol) was created in 2004. Poorly trained and overly zealous in arresting or harassing people, the religious police have quickly become very unpopular. Many Acehnese complain that women and the poor are the primary targets of enforcement, while acts of corruption have been neglected. Meanwhile, vigilantism is on the rise.
This struggle is crucial to the future of Aceh-mobilizing its strengths instead of paralyzing a large segment of its population. Ensuring that Acehnese women can fully participate in political and economic life will make a critical difference in the effort to overcome the legacies of conflict and natural disaster and to build a vibrant society.
A Silver Lining?
Undoubtedly, Aceh still has serious hurdles to surmount on the way to a stable peace. But it offers hope that humanitarian action following natural disasters can be a powerful catalyst for overcoming deep human divides. Post-disaster goodwill can carry warring factions beyond the stumbling blocks of a peace process only if it is transformed into political change-addressing the root causes of conflict, setting up a firm and reliable peace process, giving people a tangible stake in peace, and taking on the vested interests that might benefit from a continuation of conflict.
This much is clear in comparing Aceh's experience with that of Sri Lanka, which also was hit by the 2004 tsunami and suffered through two decades of civil war between the island's Sinhalese majority and its Tamil population. In Aceh, the shared suffering sparked political reconciliation, but in Sri Lanka, initial acts of empathy soon gave way to the old rifts. One year after the tsunami, the island's protagonists entered a period of brinkmanship that led to open warfare in mid-2006.
Several key differences can be seen in the way that the conflict and disaster situation was handled in these two places. In Aceh, everyone acknowledged that rebuilding after the tsunami could not be done in the absence of peace. By and large, post-tsunami aid has been distributed without political favoritism. In Sri Lanka, the tsunami accentuated rather than ameliorated the conflict dynamics. Relief and reconstruction were soon seen in a competitive context, and the protracted quarrel over aid distribution hardened the conflict fronts once more.
Aceh's peace negotiations concentrated on finding a political formula to end the conflict, and continued skirmishes never threatened to derail the talks. In Sri Lanka, a ceasefire was put in place, but a reckoning with the underlying causes of conflict was postponed.
Indonesia's top leaders worked hard to neutralize or mollify opponents of peace among the military and parliament. In Sri Lanka, the current president was elected in November 2005 with the assistance of extremist parties that rejected compromise.
In Aceh, the European Union took the lead in monitoring the peace agreement, putting its prestige on the line. In Sri Lanka, monitors from Nordic countries are working under a very limited mandate, and international donors mistakenly assumed that economic incentives would override the political imperatives of the protagonists.
Aceh and Sri Lanka show that disasters occurring in conflict zones can either spur reconciliation or trigger fresh upheaval instead. The crucial difference lies in the political action that follows-on the part of domestic and international actors.
Michael Renner is a senior researcher and director of the Global Security Project at Worldwatch.


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text: Afghans stand near a crater from an attack reportedly targeting the U.S. Embassy in Kabul on Wednesday. Ahmad Nazar/AP hide caption toggle caption Ahmad Nazar/AP The Two-Way U.S. Embassy In Kabul Hit By Indirect Fire December 25, 2013 Officials are investigating after two rockets hit an open area at the embassy Wednesday morning. There were no injuries.


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Lindsay Lohan's mother Dina has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.
The 50 year old was pulled over in her native Long Island, New York on Thursday night after she was allegedly caught speeding.
During the stop, officials state Dina Lohan appeared intoxicated and she was placed under arrest after a blood alcohol level test registered at .20 – more than twice the legal limit of .08.
The mom of four claimed that she was injured during the arrest, but a representative for New York authorities says, "State Police called an ambulance to have Lohan evaluated. When emergency personnel arrived and evaluated Lohan, there were no injuries and she recanted her claim."
Dina was booked on two counts of driving while intoxicated (DWI) and one count of speeding, before being released.
She will face the charges in court later this month.
Dina's arrest is the latest drama for the Lohan family – her famous daughter recently completed a court-ordered 90-day stint in rehab after pleading no contest to misdemeanour charges relating to a June, 2012 car accident. She was sentenced to community service, therapy sessions and rehab.
Lindsay Lohan's mother Dina has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.


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From the director of the box office hit Jump! Boys (2005), Lin Yu-hsien, comes a genre-fusing motivational sports movie inspired by the life story of his gymnast brother. Starring Canadian pop idol Eddie Peng and Lawrence Ko, Lin's new movie is a drama with humour and action, with scenes reminiscent of the playful 1980s movies starring Jackie Chan.
Ashin is a young gymnast whose life has revolved around training since he was a boy growing up in the small town of Yilan. His mother doubts that his involvement in the sport will amount to anything, so she takes him off the team to allow him to focus on the family business. Disheartened, Ashin gives up gymnastics and starts to hang out with the wrong crowd. He and his best friend, Pickle, quickly become the most sought-after troublemakers in town as the former gymnast successfully uses his high-bar skills for gang fighting. However, things take a turn for the worse when Pickle becomes addicted to drugs; and when the two clash with the son of a local kingpin, they are forced to flee to Taipei.
When life in the big city turns tragic, Ashin returns home, determined to re-enter the world of gymnastics no matter what obstacles await him.
Jump Ashin! features an outstanding cast including Eddie Peng, who underwent 12 hours of training a day for three months to be able to show the intensity of a gymnast, and Lawrence Ko, whose fascinating portrayal of Ashin's best friend Pickle won him the Best Supporting Actor Award at the Taipei Film Festival this year.
– Heather Keung
Cast: Eddie Peng, Lawrence Ko, Hsia Ching-ting
Director's Bio
Lin Yu-hsien
Lin Yu-hsien has been working as a director, screenwriter, and editor in Taiwan for many years. His work delivers subtle observations and social reflections in a humourous and fast-paced style. In 2005, his first highly acclaimed documentary, Jump! Boys, won Best Documentary at the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival. It remained in theatres for three months and broke box office records for that genre. Lin's feature include Exit No. 6 and Sumimasen, Love.
Audience Choice Award – Taipei Film Festival 2011


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WASHINGTON – Supporters of President Obama's healthcare law scrambled Wednesday to control the damage following the administration's release of a report revealing that just 106,000 Americans had successfully enrolled in coverage through it.
The administration had hoped that as many as 500,000 people would select a health plan in October, the first month of enrollment.
The president's backers said the enrollment numbers did not tell the full story. They pointed to the much larger number of Americans who had completed the eligibility process, while not yet enrolled. They noted that large, new government programs typically started slow, and that enrollment growth built over time, highlighting how that was the case in Massachusetts when that state started a healthcare plan similar to Obama's Affordable Care Act.
Obamacare advocates also argued that the states where the fewest residents were enrolled tended to be the ones where officials have fought implementation of the law.
PHOTOS: 2013's memorable political moments
"Today's numbers … show that in states where governors, healthcare providers, faith leaders, labor and business are working together, the law is working and saving lives," said Mary Kay Henry, president of Service Employees International Union. "Where obstructionism and foot-dragging rule the day, hard-working Americans are being left behind."
The national figures are indeed lower than projected, said House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of San Francisco. But she attributed it to the technological problems plaguing the program's website.
"Massachusetts' implementation of healthcare reform shows that we can expect enrollment to grow through the next five months," she said in a statement.
Despite the president's best efforts to find some positive news in the report, it was a tough day for the Affordable Care Act. Republicans eager to repeal it seized on the figures. Several statements pointed out how many more people have been warned they will be losing their healthcare plans as a result of the law than have managed to enroll in new ones.
"The abysmal Obamacare enrollment numbers are another early warning sign that this legislation is deeply flawed and ultimately cannot be fixed," said a statement from Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). "Only full repeal and replacement can begin undoing the damage this law has done to people who have lost their health plans and doctors, and are paying higher out-of-pocket costs."
PHOTOS: The battle over Obamacare
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Biodiversity on the U.S.-Mexican Border
Conservation Biology in the U.S.-Mexican Border Region
The U.S.-Mexican border region has the highest rate of species endangerment in the United States. Some 31 percent of the species listed as endangered by the U.S. Department of Interior are found in the region. On the Mexican side of the border, 85 species of plants and animals are endangered. Not surprisingly, the threats to these species are exacerbated by the fact that the ecosystems in this region are split by a political boundary that greatly complicates conservation efforts.
The area along the U.S.-Mexican border has seen extraordinary population growth, and the resulting residential and industrial sprawl along the border can evoke a doomsday vision for the entire strip from the Pacific to the Gulf of Mexico. Already, habitat loss is estimated at 2.5 hectares (more than 6 acres) per day within Tijuana alone.
Last summer a coalition of U.S. and Mexican conservation biologists and other experts (the Southwest Consortium for Environmental Research and Policy) met to discuss possible ways of responding to this mounting border crisis. Well aware that the most important principle of biodiversity conservation is the need to protect the largest possible intact landscapes, we focused on identifying ways in which protections could be established that, in effect, crossed the border-regardless where the fences or guards might stand-to encompass whole ecosystems.
Establishing effective cross-border policies is not easy. While nations can readily agree to conserve migrating species in their territories, as when Mexico signed on to the United States' Migratory Bird Treaty Act to protect migrating birds half a century ago, protecting adjacent prime natural areas proves much more difficult. Designed to stop humans from freely crossing, borders also stop other species. Since 9/11, the U.S.-Mexican border has been further bolstered by both the Department of Homeland Security (DHS, which was formerly divided into the customs, border patrol, and immigration agencies) and the still somewhat-secret Joint Task Force Six (JTF-6, a multi-service command charged with providing counter-drug-trafficking support).
These agencies' efforts and physical infrastructure have done significant damage to wildlife habitats. Their use of sensor fields, roads, and triple fences up to 50 meters deep create erosion and dust. The physical presence of vehicular patrols, all-night artificial lighting, noise, dragging of screens to clear a slate that makes footprints visible, and the clearing of brush also degrade sensitive habitat as homeland security forces seek view and access points. Along the San Diego segment, a proposal to install triple fencing now pits the federal government's ambitions to secure borders against the state and local jurisdiction over environmental issues. "The project would cut a 150-foot swath across a habitat that is home to some of the state's rarest plants and at least three endangered wildlife species," writes California environmental journalist Terry Rodgers.
While borders make environmental protection more difficult in many respects, they can also provide unique opportunities for conservation-provided that the neighboring nations are amenable to cooperation. One such form of cooperation is through the designation of parks along borders as "peace parks." During the past year, Israel and Jordan's agreement to build an environmental studies center over their common border illustrated the ability of environmental concerns to serve as a sign that the link between biodiversity and security can be turned around so that it is not seen as an impediment or cost of security but as augmenting security.
Conservation attitudes are hugely complicated by poverty and asymmetry at this border. "The [Mexican] green world is ravaged by people whose only path from starvation lies in slashing and burning the jungle to plant a patch of corn," observed New York Times reporter Tim Weiner in 2002. Even in the relatively affluent border region of Mexico, the economic asymmetry between the two countries is so sharp-and land-use so different-that the border is starkly visible to people flying over in airliners.
In our 2004 conference, we made a number of recommendations for helping to stabilize and protect the U.S-Mexican border environment, including the following (all very briefly summarized here):
- Build on local success. We have seen a number of places where individual officials and their agencies are effectively practicing conservation across the U.S.-Mexican border despite all the barriers of governmental constraints or physical infrastructure.
- Integrate biodiversity considerations into other efforts such as water transfers or infrastructure projects. Each side can also learn from the success and failures of the other. For example, the United States can learn how to make land productive with less water, just as Mexico can learn how to reforest lost habitat.
- Excite and engage the public. Making conservation projects, such as the "river walk," the "nature trail," or the "greenway," into recreational household words helps produce a motivated and engaged public.
- Preserve and protect. It is not enough just to buy land-once owned it must be properly managed, and that takes money and political will. Joint or shared funding of projects offers some solutions. In practice, the United States could help Mexico provide more water from the Río Conchos by paying part of the cost of removing the salt cedar plug from the lower Río Conchos, providing immediate benefits for important downstream protected areas.
- Achieve a sustainable rural economic development alternative. A successful industry can be developed around the themes of cultural, agricultural, natural, and tribal tourism, which by definition and practice must be conducted so that the carrying capacity of the destination is not exceeded either by residents or tourists.
- Dedicate sufficient and sustained water for nature. Rivers must no longer be seen only as water supplies, but must be valued for their own sake. Both the United States and Mexico should pass legislation recognizing international rivers, dedicating water to them, and allowing the purchase of water to maintain their flows all the way to their mouths. The legislation should include consideration of drought and flood years, as well as long-term global climate change predictions.
- Plan at watershed scales. A bi-national watershed assessment for the entire Rio Grande/Río Bravo, from Colorado to the Gulf of Mexico, should be undertaken to determine how much water is needed to sustain life. Several successful small watershed pilot projects exist along the border, and they can be replicated for development in other areas of the border region. Existing organizations on both sides of the border should work together to develop long-term, holistic visions for their watersheds.
- Cross the border! Although land use planning is different in both countries, it is critical to enhancing and restoring long-term health and ecosystems. Stakeholders must recognize the United States' need for border security and the need to find ways to maintain landscape connectivity, such as using remote video surveillance systems rather than physical barriers.
- Revitalize the role of conservation in existing border institutions. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security should consider non-invasive techniques-including seismic sensors, remote video surveillance systems, and laser crossing detectors-to monitor remote sites for security-related concerns.
Rick Van Schoik teaches international environmental security, science, and policy at San Diego State University, California.


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Proper nutrition plays a major role in staying healthy. With this in mind, the USDA's MyPlate initiative features recommendations for following a healthy eating style and maintaining it for a lifetime. With small changes in diet, and utilizing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to include the major food groups as well as proper portion sizes, people can make better and more enjoyable choices towards sustaining a healthier lifestyle.
As a National Strategic Partner of the USDA, Positive Promotions is proud to offer a full menu of MyPlate-themed products and resources to help you promote healthier food choices at your school or organization during National Nutrition Month® in March, or any day of the year. From portion plates, MyPlate printable placemats, and educational guides to activities books, magnets, and more essential promotional items, you'll find everything you need to educate and inspire better eating habits. Best of all, many of our MyPlate products can be customized with your logo or message to provide a lasting reminder to the community about your commitment to healthy eating.
National Nutrition Month® is a registered trademark of the Academy of Nutrition And Dietetics


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Book of Secrets
iOS iPhone Reference
Trilobyte's Book of Secrets is the indispensable player guide for navigating Stauf's mansion and its many devilish puzzles. Stauf got you stuck? Want to make the taunts stop? Look no further. The Book of Secrets will help you out! Walk-throughs, hints and solutions for all the puzzles in The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour plus some bonus music tracks! No "guest" should be caught without one. At least if you expect to get out alive.
The Book of Secrets also includes the original scripts for The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour as an added bonus!
"The 7th Guest iPhone game is awesome. And absurdly frustrating. Am apparently no smarter than I was at 10."
- @land_the_plane
"Does anyone remember the computer game, 7th guest?! So creepy and awesome. @looooo3 and I were too dumb to complete the game."
- @sparklystephiee
"Which way should I go now? :p I'm not getting far with the chess puzzle in 7th guest."
- @ineedausername
"We've been staring at the frigging "letter can puzzle" in The 7th Guest for like an hour now and we're honestly this close to snapping our respective iPads and iPhones over our knees at this point. ... Wait, maybe if ... no, that won't work!"
- Justin McElroy, Joystiq
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* Added hints and solutions for The 11th Hour
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Senate-CIA Dispute Erupts Into a Public Brawl
Feinstein Says CIA Spied on Congress; Brennan Rebuts
WASHINGTON—The chairman of the Senate intelligence committee levied an extraordinary barrage of criticism against the Central Intelligence Agency, saying it may have violated the Constitution and U.S. laws by spying on a congressional review early this year.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) said in a speech from the Senate floor that the CIA had conducted improper searches of committee computers being used by staff members. The CIA director quickly rebuffed that accusation, saying a Justice Department review would show...


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I have submitted a paper to a good journal about 3 months ago. Now I have realized that there is a mistake in the paper. Now I have completely corrected it. It is not a very serious error, but I think it could create some problems in reading the paper. In particular there is a definition that should be changed, but not in a trivial way. The main results of the paper remain essentially unchanged.
So my question is: should I write to the editors of the journal in order to inform the referee about this problem or should I wait some comments by the referee?


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Father, we thank You that it is true that man looketh on the outward appearance and God looks on the heart. Not only do we sense that from the song but even from our Scripture lesson this morning when we see a man who looks so good on the outside but when the truth was known the inside was not right with Thee. Father, may nobody in this place leave today who's not right with Thee in their hearts. We commit this time to You. Bless our study. We pray in Christ's name. Amen Turn in your Bible to the ?th chapter of Acts and we're going to consider these verses this morning that deal with Simon the Sorcerer who illustrates faith that does not save. Faith that does not save. Last week we began our study of the eighth chapter which is a very important chapter in the book of Acts because it records for us the first great missionary move of the new church. The church bursts forth out of its solitary Jewishness and its identity with Jerusalem to reach the world.
And we see that in chapter ?. The church was born as we've seen in our study of Acts over the past few months in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost.
It filled Jerusalem with its doctrine and now it begins to move out. And i is moving out in response to persecution as the church filled Jerusalem wit its doctrine it aroused the hatred of the Jewish leaders who in turn persecuted the church, the persecution resulted in the scattering of believers a wherever they went they bore the gospel. And so persecution resulted in preaching. And we saw last time how the persecution was really ramrodded by a man named Saul who later became the apostle Paul. And the Bible says ?:3 that he made havoc of the church, entering into houses and dragging people out and committing them to prison, both men and women. And so the persecution was wholesale and widespread. It really began with the catalyst of the martyrdom of Stephen who was killed for the sermon which he preached in chapter 7, incensing the leaders. So the church was born. The church reached Jerusalem and God knew it was time to move out so God used persecution as the method. For the church being persecuted, fled in scattering itself about it wound up in Judea and Samaria and there bore the message of Jesus Christ to the people. Now we saw also last time that wherever the message is preached there are always two results. There's truth faith and there's phony faith. There are the wheat and the tares, the faithful - the phony, the rocky ground - the good soil, the abiding branches - the branches that are cut off, those who believe to the saving of the soul - and those who draw back unto perdition. Both of those are always there whenever you have the preaching of the gospel. True believers and believers who make a mental assent but whose faith does not save. This, then, becomes the key to chapter ?. For in chapter ? you have the fact of the two types illustrated.
Simon becomes an illustration of faith that does not. save, beginning in verse 2?, the Ethiopian eunuch becomes an illustration of faith that does save.
And so we see, Philip then, the main character as he confronts both Simon and the Ethiopian. One illustrating the faith that doesn't save and the other the faith that does. And this is to be understood at the very beginning of the ministry of the church that there will be both in this church, Grace Community Church, right here. There are people who are true and there are people who are false. Would to God, that we could detect them. Sometimes we can. Sometimes that becomes manifested, but we know enough about Satan to know that he always sows the tares among the wheat. And this is so from the very beginning.
Philip, then, begins by confronting Simon who is the first tare that we know of sown by Satan in the church. The first false believer so named.
And then later on Philip meets the Ethiopian eunuch who works under the authority of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, and who illustrates to us the faith that does save. But keep in mind that the point of the chapter in a broad sense is to show us that there will always be both at the preaching of the gospel.
Now Simon looked so good externally. Now Philip was one of the Christians that was scattered and one of them who was preaching. And he was one of those chosen by the early church to be leaders, in chapter ?, he was a prophet, he was also an evangelist. And in the course of his minis he had brought about a great revival under the energy of the Holy Spirit in Samaria. And in that time in Samaria he confronted this man Simon and so we meet that confrontation. And Philip was actually convinced that Simon was for real. And I'm so glad for that in one sense, it's sad that we can't discern but in another sense I'm glad that Philip didn't know anymore than I'm able to know, that Philip baptized a man who wasn't a believer, I've don the very same thing. Not knowingly but unknowingly. I always think of the one I have mentioned to some of our folk, I baptized a man who turned out later to not have been a believer but only had apparently put on a front about it, it all looked so good to me and later on and now he is a producer of pornographic films. And so this happens but I thank God that He's the final judge and I don't have to stand in judgment. I can only do the best I can even as Philip did. And Simon looked good, look at verse l3. You know, I've always said, look at this one, I've always said there's three things that prove your salvation is real visibly, only God knows but there are three things that I always look for and that Scripture lays out. Number one, to believe: number-two, to obey; number-three, to continue. Now I've said that many times in different contexts and maybe not together like that but that's basic. You always want to say when somebody - is somebody a Christian or are they not, you want to say, number-one do they believe, number-two do they obey, "For he that cometh to Me must not only believe", that's true, but Jesus said, "If you love Me you will keep My commandments"
And the third thing is to continue, to continue. The book of Hebrews repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly establishes a true Christian as a one who continues. And so we always want to look for those three things.
Well, we come to verse l3 and look, "And Simon himself", what? "Belie that's number one, "and when he was baptized", that's obedience. Baptism was a question of obedience wasn't it? He obeyed. Thirdly, "He", what's the next word? "Continued" Boy, does he look good. But like the song said that Peggy sung, How about your heart, Simon? You look good on the outside, God looks on the inside. Boy, Simon looked good. He believed, he obeyed in Baptism and he continued. It's no wonder that Philip was convinced. There wasn't anything missing at that point, apparently. But Simon was sharp. He was a phony, he was the devils man, he was a demonic magician placed by Satan to infiltrate the church and only God really knew.
And that's the way it always is. It is so hard, to know - that's why the work of the church is difficult. The work of the church isn't difficult because of what Satan's doing in the world it's difficult because of what Satan's doing in the church. That's what makes it hard. In Matthew l3 the is a parable that we must understand because it's basic to this whole point Verse 24, Matthew l3; "Another parable put He forth unto them saying", this is Jesus, "the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man who sowed good seed in his field". A guy goes out and sows some seed. "And while men slept his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat". darnelles, a tare appears to be very much like wheat and very difficult to distinguish from the wheat and if you try to uproot the tares you're liable to pull up the wheat. And so the enemy sowed the tares and he went his way. "When the blade was sprung up and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from where then hath it tares?" Where did that stuff come from? "He said unto them, An enemy hath done this.
The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?"
Should we go and start ripping up all the tares? "But he said, Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares ye root up the wheat with them." We can't really run around accusing everybody of being a tare, we just don't know that we might get some of the wheat upset. He says, "Let both grow together until the harvest and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather together first the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into barns." When the harvest comes you gather it all up then you can separate it. And He explains this parable later on in the same chapter so that they understand what He's saying, verse 3?; "Then Jesus sent the multitude away", He always left the multitude confused, He gave the parable and then He gave the explanation to the disciples. But that was a point, see. He was hiding these things from the wise and prude and revealing them to babes. "So He went into the house and His disciples came unto Him saying, Explain unto us the parable of the tares of the field. He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man The field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the children of the wicked one." Satan moves in and sows tare in the church. "The enemy that sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of the age. The Son of man shall send forth His angels and they shall gather out of His kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast the .
into the furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
Now, you see, there the Bible says very explicitly, and this is a parable of the church age, that in the church age, Matthew l3 contains parables of the church age, in the church age there will be this problem of distinguishing the true from the false and both will grow up together. It's like the mustard seed that turns into a giant big bush and Christianity is a conglomerate of things some real some unreal, some true some false and that's Satan's ploy to confuse the world and it works. And you've got so much stuff masquerading under the guise of Christianity that it s no wonder that the man in the world, the average man, can't figure out what Christianity is.
Simon had all this possibility going for him and from all outward appearances, from Philip s view and my view and everybody else's view, he would have appeared to be right on. But he was doomed, you see, he lost out on salvation with all this proximity, he was like Judas was only Judas is even a more outstanding monstrosity of the illustration that Simon is, of one who was near the truth and missed it. Now why did Simon mess up? Why did he blot this opportunity? Why did it happen? Well, he had a bad theology.
Now I want you to get something and get it very clearly. True salvation, people, is not only based on faith it is based on faith based on truth. It is based on a faith in true theology. Now when I say theology I mean doctrine out of Scripture. Faith based on faulty doctrine is faulty faith. It isn't' enough to say - Well, so and so believes in God, so and so believes in Jesus What God and what Jesus and what do they believe about Them? That's the point. Simon believed, Simon was baptized, Simon continued but Simon's who thing was based on faulty doctrine, four wrong views that I discovered in t text. He had a wrong view of self, he had a wrong view of salvation, he had a wrong view of the Spirit, he had a wrong view of sin. And when you've got a wrong view of all those basic things, his anthropology was messed up, his soteriology was messed up, his pneumatology was messed up, his hamartiology and that messed up his whole theology. The cardinal doctrines of theology he had all messed up and to say that he believed was meaningless. Because his faith was not founded on truth.
Let's look at these things. First of all he had a wrong view of himself. His anthropology was lousy. That's the doctrine of man. Now this is a common thing that keeps men from true salvation, they've got the wrong view of man. They think man is something good. You hear this all the time, don't you? Man is good he just needs to fan the spark of his goodness. I think we've been hearing it long enough to know it isn't so. This is a common thing, you know, and people think they're good and especially religious people. Why they think, - God couldn't pass me by.
If He really knows me, I mean, heaven's got to be for folks like me, I'm good. I give to the United Fund, the Community Chest even give to a telethon now and then. My kids are cub scouts, my wife takes care of the people at the hospital. I even once in awhile give money to the church I go to, I believe in God, I believe in Jesus. The assumption is that God is applauding all of that. The fact is God is sickened by it. Driving last night out to Citrus College to speak to some young people in a conference and Matt and Marcy, Matt's my oldest and Marcy's next, were with me. They often go to meetings with me not because they want to hear me preach but because I always take them to get an ice cream afterwards. But anyway, it's good fellowship.
But anyway we were going out there and Matt says, out of the mouth of babes, he says, Dad, he says being good's hard. I said, I know it is, Matt, especially in your case and he said, yeah it's hard. And he said, Try as hard as you want, he said, you just can't really do it all the time. He said, You know why do people want to try to hard to be so good when it's just so easy to ask Jesus in and not worry about it? And I did a double take, you know.
And I thought, you've been listening to somebody. He said, You know, I think it's so easy to ask Jesus into your heart and then you don't have to worry about trying to be good all the time. And Marcy pipes up in the back seat about four decibels louder than anybody else, she always talks like that, she says, Well, my teacher said that you could go to church and you could read your Bible and do your lesson and even give your offering and go to hell if you didn't ask Jesus into your heart. Is that right, Dad?
I said, That's right. But you know, there are people in this world who think they're good. The Bible says, - All their righteousness is what?
Filthy rags. You see, that's what's wrong to begin with with Simon's theology. He's got a lousy view of himself. Verse ?, look at it: "But there was a certain man called Simon who previously in the same city", that is in Samaria, "used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria giving out that himself was some great one". Now that is faulty anthropology. He was not some great one. You see, he came to God not because he needed God but because he thought that he could gain some more glory for himself by getting in on this new thing. Simon is introduced to us here as a very proud man.
Pride is a very, very severe problem in keeping people from God. Pride is basic to the faith that does not save. And notice a little of the detail or the verse, Simon is called off on Simon magnus because Simon the sorcerer, sorcerer means - sorcerer, I should say, in the Greek is magos, so he's often called Simon magos. The word for sorcery is a word is maguon and it really is a word that means magic, simply maguon even sounds the same but it's original meaning is to be skilled in magian lore. Do you remember that the men who came to the birth of Jesus Christ were called the Magi, that's the same word. The magian lore is the priests religion of Medo-Persia connected with Zoroastrianism, it was kind of a combination of astronomy, astrology, horoscope, it was a science - superstition kind of duo. So these people who were astrologers and soothsayers, sorcerers dealt in incantations, charms, divinations, spells, astrology, horoscopes and so forth. This kind of thing really goes way back to the time of Zoroastrianism, it even goes back to the tower of Babel which was apparently related to the zodiac and all of this was basic to Simon's operation. He was one who called demonic supernatural powers into action to perform wonders. Simon had used his sorcery to capture the minds of these people. The word bewitched means astonish them or dupe them or brought them under his control. He had actually captured these people. Now mark this down, these sorceries actually happened. He actually did supernatural things and it's still being done today. These things were really being pulled off and because of them people's minds were being captured to the control of Simon. And he announced to everybody that he was some great one, some great power of God.
In fact, apparently he had a God complex. For later on Justin Martyr says in his Apology Number I, that there was found the remains of a stone at the foot of a supposed statue in Rome and on this stone it said, Simone sancto Deo which means Simon the Holy God. So he really had an ego problem. And unless you think he's too far out any may who doesn't worship God makes God out of himself. And Simon had that problem and unlike most people wasn't ashamed to announce it. And so he had taken, really, yielded control of his life to demonic magic and he was being used to hold the people captive and now Satan is going to move him into the church to infiltrate the church. He has already gained the confidence of the people, he's kept them in bondage, he's counterfeited the power of God and now Satan's going to slide him right into the church. He had a wrong view of self, egotistical and it was going to become the thing that Satan could use to perpetrate false doctrine in the church. Look at verse 10, "To whom they all gave heed", it's interesting everybody believed him from the least to the greatest, this covers the spectrum. Everybody thought Simon was for real and here's what they said of him, '*"his man is the great power of God". Now Simon seems to have taught along with his practice of magic a kind of pseudo-science or pseudo-philosophy of which we find other traces in gnosticism and some old sources would indicate to us that Simon may have been the founder of gnosticism as a sect or at least one of the founders. Now gnosticism sees God up here and man down here. Now how are we going to connect the two? Gnosticism says that there are series of divine emanation like steps coming down to man, these are kind of manifestations of God called mediators or emanations, the word the Gnostics often used was the word, quo?
powers'. In other words, God self-discloses Himself in a series of emanation some of which become incarnate in human flesh and thus reveal God to men.
That's what the Gnostics say Jesus was simply one of these series of emanations. Now if it isn't too clear to you don't worry about it, they don't exist anyway so you can't really define them. But that's Gnosticism. There was a series, then, of descending emanations kind of a decreasing God into men's form and the Samaritan's said Simon was number-one. "This man", verse is the great power", or the great emanation or the great mediation from God.
So this guy was up there he was sort of God incarnate, in human form. And so he had counterfeited God. It's interesting that you'll find that the demonic activity is not always black magic, blatant Satanism, it is very often white magic, it is often Satanism under the cloak of God, Christ and the Holy Spirit. And here Simon was connecting everything to God. The Samaritans were God fearing people. Did you know that? The Samaritans worshipped God in Mount Gerizim. The Samaritans had Messianic hopes.
The woman at the well said, Is this not the Christ? The Samaritans believe in the true God and they actually believed in the confusion of this man's teaching that he was that chief emanation from God. Demonic activity is very subtle it's not always blatantly Satanic. It sometimes masquerades as the truth of the Scripture. And so he had captured these people giving out that he was some great one. And let's be honest with this thing, he might have believed it. It is not unusual to find in his particular age, an age of certain incredulity, that there were a lot of these soothsayers and magicians roaming around and they actually, many of them, believed that they were for real. They were not conscious frauds. They knew they could do these powers. There are people like that today, they're not fooling anybody, they actually believe they are powers of God. Satan has captured them to believe it, Simon probably believed it. And so he thought he was really something. And as long as a man thinks he something he's nothing.
As long as he thinks he's something he cannot come to the right view of himself which is the view that I am nothing, I am the less of the least of all things, what is man that thou art mindful of him or the Son of man that thou visiteth him. Man must see himself lost without God as separated from God as weak, inept and helpless before he can ever entertain the concept of faith that does save, you see. And Simon couldn't. Pride is a real hindrance. Now you say, - Well, I would never go as far as Simon's pride.
Anything that lives without God is proud, it needs God not, you see. It needs not God. And pride grows in everybody's garden. Did you know that?
It's a weed and it grows very easily. And it's interesting that it seems to always grow where there's nothing for it to feed on. It lodges in the heart kind of like a robber, you know, it's concealed in some kind of dark recess and it waits for it's moment and then it seizes it. Or sometimes it just struts down the main street at high noon but pride is there. We can take it better when it hides, that's for sure. And you know it's kind of an easy sin to indulge in because it doesn't entail the loss of character the loss of health or the loss of wealth which is very often the punishment for other sins and it can be indulged in with apparent immunity and it's no always easily detected and it often wears the guise of virtue and holiness.
In Herod it wore the mask of conscience and it beheaded John the Baptist.
In the Jews it wore the mask of tender regard for God and they killed God's Son. In the Pharisees it wore the mask of purity of life and so sailing magnificently by the sinful women lest his robe should be defiled by the touch of hers it looks down and says I'm holier than thou. And pride is deadly. It cost Nebuchadnezzar his reason. It cost Hezakiah his kingdom.
It cost almost Peter his life. It cost man Eden. It doomed Sodom. It sprang up in angels bosoms and cost them heaven. It cost Haman his life.
It gave Hezziah leprosy and so it goes. Pride damns men. In Job 23 verse, pardon me, Job 35 verses l2 and l3 the Bible says, "The pride of evil men surly God will not hear vanity". In Psalm 10:4, "The wicked through the pride of his countenance will not seek after God. God is not at all in his thoughts." And God was not in Simon's thoughts, Simonves in Simon's thoughts. Psalm l2:3 says: "The Lord shall cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaketh proud things". Proverbs ?:l? and l7 says, "These .
does the Lord hate", and then it goes on to say, "these are an abomination to Him", and the first one it lists is a proud look. Psalm 101:5; "A proud heart will I not tolerate says God". Proverbs ?:l3; "The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, pride and arrogance and the evil way do I hate, the Lord said". Proverbs l6:5, "Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord". Proverbs l?:l?,"Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall". Proverbs 2l:4 says, "A high look and a proud heart are sin". And a man who comes to God must be broken of pride. In Galatian ?, listen to verse 3, "For if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing he deceives himself". What is a man? He is nothing. He is nothing. To come to God a man must recognize that he's nothing. I can't put it anymore simply then James said it in James 4:? he said this, "God resists the proud". Oh, that's a shocking statement. "God resists the proud and gives grace", what? "To the humble" You know, there's an illustration of this that's too classic to bypass in Luke l?, you're familiar with it.
Luke l?:?,"Jesus spoke His parable unto certain who trusted in themselves", isn't that good? Trusted in themselves. "That they were righteous and they despised others." They were the holiers than thou, you know, looking for the first vacancy in the Trinity and hopelessly lost. And He gives an illustration of these, says this; 'Two men went up into the temple to pray. The one a Pharisee the other a tax collector". Now we all have problems with tax collectors but in those days it was personal. We can all kind of hate the IRS with a little bit of retribution because it's impersonal but in those days the tax collector came to your door, you knew who he was and so you could attach your hatred to an individual and it became a real problem. "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God", isn't that interesting?
Prayed with himself and used the term God. And he says, he's not really asking for anything he's just reciting to God all the wonders of his own .
character. "I thank Thee that I'm not as other men", you say, Oh, sick.
"By the deeds of the flesh shall no law be justified." That stands in the way of God. That's between a man and God. Then you look in the corner on the tax collector, he's way over in a corner, "He wouldn't lift up so much as his eyes toward heaven but he beats on his chest and says, God, be merciful to me a sinner". This is the story of the good man who went to hell an the bad man who went to heaven. The next verse says, "I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other for everyone who exalts himself shall be abased he that humbles himself shall be exalted.
You see the wrong view of man prevents man from coming to God. And that was Simon's problem. Oh, I think of it, let's see Revelation 3:l7, the church at Laodicea, he says, '"You say your rich and increased with goods and you don't know you're poor and wretched and blind and naked". The only man who comes to God in true faith is the man who's broken. And Simon went around saying that he was some great one. The only man who finds faith is a humble man. I love Job 22:2?, listen to it, "When men are cast down then shalt thou say there is lifting up and he shall save the humble person".
Boy, when you get broken over your inadequacies, when you get broken over a rejection of Jesus Christ, when you're broken over a failure to be obedient to God, when you're broken over your lostness that's when you can come to God with faith that does save. Job 25 says, "Behold even to the moon it shineth not", the moon can't even brag, it's light isn't even its own. "yea the stars are not pure in his sight", if you get close enough to a star you' see that's it's not all pure glitter. "How much less man, who is a worm?"
A lot you've got to brag about. Matthew l? Jesus said, "You know, you can't come into My kingdom until you become like a little", what? "A little child And then He went on to say, "here's how a little child is, he humbleth himself". James, oh this is such a good verse, 4:10 is practical, listen to what it says, "Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall lift you up". Now humility is not running around saying, - On, I'm nothing, humility is just knowing in your heart you're inadequacies and acknowledging before God that you are hopelessly lost without Him and that you have nothing redeeming about your person. And only humble people find the faith that saves, proud people don't need it, see. Perhaps another severe illustration that just rings in my mind is John 5:44 Jesus talks to the leaders of Israel just listen to what He says, shocking statement, He says: "How can you belie It's impossible is what He's saying. "How can you believe who receive honor one of another and seek not the honor that comes from God?" All you want i applause from each other you don't care about God. How could you believe?
And so Simon gave out that he was some hot stuff and everybody bought it.
Verse 11 says,"And to him they had regard because for a long time he had bewitched them with sorceries". Justin Martyr says his birthplace was in that area and likely lived there all his life so he had longed for many year held them in bondage. People were duped and they thought he was from God a he wasn't.
The second thing that was wrong with Simon, he not only had a wrong view of self he had a wrong view of salvation. His view of self was egotistical, his view of salvation was external. Listen to this, verse l2, "But when they believed", and there was a great revival that some of the people really believed, a great revival, "When they believed Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ they were .
baptized both men and women". Boy, this was great. Simon was something but Philip was something else. Philip moved in and he was doing miracles back in verse 7, unclean spirits were coming out and people with palsies and people were lame were being healed and miracles were going on and people were getting saved and God was moving and people were joining Philip and Simon was losing his following. The crowd was dwindling. Notice Philip's message, two things, the kingdom of God - that's a general term referring to all of the truth concerning God, God's great rule in the universe. That's a broad term. Philip preached God's great kingdom and then he zeroed in on the name of Christ. Whenever you see the term - the name of Jesus Christ -it means all that He is and everything implied in His name. So Philip had two parts to his message the general truth about God and His universe and the specific things about Jesus Christ and he nailed that truth down. He like Paul apparently preached the whole council of God. He didn't just go in and give them the gospel with nothing else he preached the whole kingdom of God and centralized it on Jesus Christ. And people believed and were baptized both men and women. Well Simon watched all this happen and got a little panicky, you see. I mean, his believers were moving out on him and .
they were joining Philip and Philip was doing stuff that he couldn't do.
Well Simon finally figured if you can't lick them join them. Then, no doubt being impressed by Philip and he actually did believe what was going on at least the miraculous end of it. He thought Philip had another particular bag of tricks that maybe he could lay hold of and he ought to get in on this baby so he figured I'll join up. But he looked at salvation as a commodity to be added to his bag of tricks, see. He, now watch this, he didn't see salvation as a totality of life, as a total transformation as Paul says, "IF any man be in Christ he's", what? "A new creation, old things pass away", what becomes new? All things. He didn't see it, he thought it's something to be added. And I told you about the story of the guy I spoke at the Hollywood Christian group and the Moslem that came up and he said, I think I'd like to receive Christ and he did and then after he prayed and asked Christ into his life he looked at me and said, Oh, isn't that good, he says, now I have two Gods, Jesus and Mohammed, see. Well, you see, to him Christianity was a commodity to be added to what he already had. That's how Simon saw it as a new bag of tricks to give him greater wonder working ability to hold the people captive. You see, his view of salvation was as an external commodity it wasn't legitimate. He didn't see it as a totality of commitment of life. Verse l3, "Then Simon himself believed also", oh, it sounds so good, "and when he was baptized he continued with Philip and was amazed beholding the miracles and signs which were done". He hung around, he watched, he looked at those miracles. But you know something?
There is a faith that doesn't save. Do you know that? You saw it in John 2 Jesus did miracles that time when He came to the temple and His ministry began and a bunch of people believed Him and it says He didn't commit Himself to those people, verse 2l and 22 and 23 there, He didn't commit Himself to those people because He knew what was in them. What did He know?
He knew their faith was not the faith that saved. They believed the miracle they weren't willing to give their life to Him as their Christ and Messiah.
Did you know that James said the devils believe and tremble? James says, Don't show me your faith without works show me your works and I'll know your faith. Faith better mean transformed life or it isn't true faith. Simon wanted a bag of miracle tricks. He was a phony. But it says he continued.
Why do you think he continued? I think three things, at least, number one he continued because he wanted to maintain a following. If all of his followers went to Philip he figured he'd go with them because he wanted to be associated with what was going on. Second thing, people would associate the power with him if he stayed next to Philip. I'll just believe that Philip had Simon on his tail all the time and it might have even been that whenever Philip was doing the miracles Simon was doing some hocus-pokus in the background so people would think he was in on it. And the third reason he hung around was he was looking for an opportunity to figure out how to buy this power because the sorcerers would exchange their tricks and their incantations for money and he figured I'll get in on this deal, surly Philip's in the same thing I'm in. That's what makes me believe that Simon was not a conscious fraud that he actually believed that he was doing. He figured he'd buy Philip's tricks. And he went through the rigmarole to get in. But he had a wrong view of salvation, external. You know, there are people like that today who think salvation's an external issue? That it's religious formality that's it's going through some religious activity. One of the great things about this that is pin-pointed to me in this passage is the fact that he was baptized but it didn't save him. There are some people today who believe that baptism saves. Did you know that there's an entire church that's based upon that premise? That the Roman Catholic Church. I was reading this week in Ludwig Ott, the German Catholic theologian, who really makes the statement of Catholic doctrine for today and redefines Thomas Aquinas and all the church councils and this is what it says in the Catholic theology books, listen as I read it. Baptism confers the grace of salvation. The Council of Trent says if anyone denies that by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ which is confessed in Baptism the guilt of original sin is remitted. If you deny that or if you deny that the whole of that which has the true and proper nature of sin is not taken away by Baptism let him be anathema. It goes on, quote "Baptism has the power both of eradicating sin and affecting inner sanctification. Baptism affects the remission of all punishment and sin both eternal and temporal. Even if it is unworthily received valid Baptism imprints on the soul an indelible spiritual mark. Baptism by water is necessary for all men without exception for salvation." end-quote Now that's what it says an that is not true. Simon was baptized and Simon went to hell. He was never saved. Salvation is not external. That's what messed him up he thought it was. Don't you ever think that salvation is a commodity to be added to you life. Don't you ever think that Jesus Christ is some religious bag of trick to go in addition to the way you want to live. It's a total commitment of life or it's nothing. True salvation is not mere profession, it is not external identity, it is no sudden impulse, it is no vanishing sentiment it is an entire commitment of life to Jesus Christ and it is a transformation.
So, "That for me to live is Christ". Simon had a wrong view of self and a wrong view of salvation.
Thirdly, he had a wrong view of the Spirit. He saw self egotistically he saw salvation externally and he saw the Spirit economically. Verses l4 to l?, he thought he could buy the Holy Spirit. He thought that was the magical power he needed. Now to him the Holy Spirit was just another one of these demons that he trafficked in and so he just figured he'd buy into this on?. Verse l4 leads us into this: "Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God they sent unto them Peter and John". Now this is interesting because the progress of Philip's work there has reached Jerusalem and so the Jerusalem church wants to send Peter and John up there to check on it. They want some apostolic verification that Samaritans are really getting saved, you know, those semi-Gentile schismatic Samaritans we want to check on. And so here comes Peter and John, terrific combination you know Peter was ardent and bold and zealous and rash and John was mild, gentle, tender and persuasive. They made a perfect combination. And the reason they came was probably three-fold; number-one, to help Philip in the harvest: number-two, to give really the sanction of the apostles to what he was doing and number-three to confer the Holy Spirit. Verse l?; so here they come from Jerusalem, "when they got there", verse l5 says, "they were come down", as I told you last time everything is down from Jerusalem because it's up on that plateau, "they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet he was fallen upon none of them only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus", now watch. They had been saved, they had been baptized they had not received the Holy Spirit. Now I must make a point here because this is something that's been misunderstood. Some people say, You see, - I heard a guy on the radio saying this the other day, he said, - You see, this proves that you can be saved and not have the Holy Spirit.
Yes, you see, but that's only when you do not understand dispensational distinction or transitional distinction. Here in the book of Acts you have a transition, you never want to build a doctrine of the Holy Spirit from the book of Acts. If you want the doctrine of the Holy Spirit go into Paul's epistles and take them because there you have the flow of the life of the church. Here's the transition. You say, - Well, why didn't -if you believe every Christian possess the Spirit. Absolutely, you receive the Spirit the moment you're saved that's very clear. Romans ?:? says, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ he's not a Christian". I Cor. ?:lo ev . '??hat!
to the cruddy Corinthians the Holy Spirit is given, the Bible says, Know you not that your body's the temple of the Holy Spirit? Which you have of God and you're not your own you're bought with a price". So at the same time you were bought with a price you obtained the Spirit, in the same context. The same time you came to Christ. You say, - Well, why didn't the get the Spirit? Watch this, for five hundred years, in this transition it' important, for five hundred years the temple at Jerusalem and the temple.
at Gerizim had been rivals. The Samaritans worshipped at Gerizim, the Jews worshipped at Jerusalem and they each had their own thing and they were rivals. The woman at the well said, What are you doing talking to me? To Jesus, remember, Jews have no dealing with Samaritans. The woman at the well said you worship God at Jerusalem and we worship God at Mount Gerizim.
Those two temples had been rivals. Now watch this, if the Spirit of God .
had fallen immediately on the Samaritan believers when they received Christ through Philip there would have been no connection between them and the Jerusalem church. Are you with me? Therefore, the schism would have been perpetuated. They would have said, You've got your deal we've got ours and Jesus had prayed, Father, I pray that they may be one. And God answered their prayer by holding back the coming of the Spirit of God until Jerusalem Jews and apostles could arrive and allow the Spirit of God to come to the laying on of their hands that those Gentiles and Jews together might know there was unity in the church. Now,.you see, if you understand the transition there's no problem. The same thing happens later on at the house of Cornelius when Cornelius is saved Peter is there again and Jews are there again so that the Jews might see that the Samaritans have the same thing they have. We find in chapter l?, there's some of those John the Baptist disciples and Paul says to them, Have you come to know the Holy Spirit, been baptized in the Spirit and they said we haven't even heard of the Holy Spirit. What's the Holy Spirit? We're just old disciples of John the Baptist, we've been wandering around the hills and don't know what's happened. So Paul talks to them about Jesus and they accept Jesus Christ and there from Paul the Spirit of God descends upon them. In each case it was a distinct act and apostles were always present. Why? In order to tie every other group to the Jerusalem church so that unity was together, was tied. Not only that, the Jews were always suspect of the Samaritans and they were always suspect of the Gentiles. Right? God made sure both times that what happened at Pentecost was repeated again. And I believe the signs and wonders that occurred at Pentecost, at least some of them, occurred again here in Acts chapter ? because it says Simon saw what was going on.
He wanted to buy the miracle powers so some miracles must have happened.
And you remember over in chapter 11, it's so good, you know Peter goes running back to the Jerusalem church and verse l5 he says, "And I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them". And he says this, "As on us at the beginning". That's why I think there must have been some of the same phenomena that happened at Pentecost for him to make that connection. Then he says this, verse l7; "For as much then that God gave them the same gift as He did unto us". Don't you see, Peter, that's exactly what God wants you to say? So that there's unity. Later on in chapter l5 Peter makes the same report to the Jerusalem council again. You see, God wanted to tie the whole church together into one unit so that there wouldn't be any fractions. Don assume that the Holy Spirit always comes later on just because of Acts. The only reason He came later on here was to bring the unity that Jesus Christ prayed for but once the church is Jew and Gentile and Samaritan, once it's one then everybody added to it is added to that unity by the baptism of the Spirit at the moment of salvation. There's no need to create disunity and if the Spirit of God didn't come when I believed then I wasn't connected to the body because I Cor. l2:l2 says; "For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body". The moment you come into the body it's by the Spirit and we're all made to drink of the same Spirit. So every believer possesses the Spirit the moment of salvation. In the book of Acts there was a transition. And it's interesting that Peter's always around. Peter was the one who opened the door to the Jews in Acts 2. He opened the door to the Samaritans in Acts ?. He opened the door to the Gentiles in Acts 10. That's because Jesus said unto him, "I give unto you the keys to the kingdom". He unlocked the gospel and the coming of the Spirit in each of those movements. Well, Simon saw this stuff and he 'When Simon saw that through laying on of the just flipped. Verse l?;
apostles' hands the Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money. Saying, Give me also this power that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Spirit." Wow, this is too much. I'd like to buy this one. He thought the Holy Spirit was an economic commodity. Philip's magi: was something but Peter and John, they had really pulled some stuff. And so he treated Peter and John like other dealers in the black arts, you know? How much do you want for your trick, this Holy Spirit? He didn't want the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit within, did he? He was a vile, demon infest+d individual. He wanted the power of capturing people with more miracles. In fact, the word simony which is an ecclesiastical word comes from this man's name and it means the illegal buying and selling of ecclesiastical offices. There use to be in the big structures of the church, if you wanted to be a bishop you paid somebody off and you got the job. So Simon had a high view of himself and a low view of God. He thought he was some great one, he thought God was some kind of cheap commodity to be bought like a bag of tricks to add to his repertoire. He didn't understand the glory of God. You want to know something interesting about God? Nothing He has is for sale. Why? Cause you haven' got nothing He wants. The only thing God has is free, free, free. He gives it all freely. It's all over the Bible. Read Romans 3, Romans 5, free, free everything's free. Remember old Naaman the leper? Naaman said, I've got to get rid of this leprosy. So they said, Well, you ought to go down and see the prophet. So Naaman packed up all of his goodies and said, I'll buy a miracle off that prophet. Remember? Boy, he was loaded and he went on down there and he said, Here I am, prophet, look what I've got for you, I'll pay you all this - heal my leprosy. The prophet said, You keep your junk, just go take seven ducks in that dirty Jordan river.
Naaman said, You know who I am? I don't go around in dirty rivers, the rivers up where I live are clean, ecologically pure. And he went away in a big huff but his leprosy was still there. So he finally came back and took those seven ducks in that dirty river and he came out and he was clean. What was God saying? You can't buy My miracles they're free.
And all those prophets servants saw all those goodies going back and they thought, hmmm - that's a shame. And so he trailed Naaman, you see, and he got some of Naaman's goodies, you know what else he got? Naaman's leprosy. Read it, II Kings chapter 5. So you see, you can't buy anything that God has because you haven't got anything that's worth anything to Him.
What are you going to say, - God, I'd like to give you --whatever you put in the next blank is ridiculous, you haven't got anything He wants. You can .
buy God. Aren't you glad it's free?
I'll never forget a man, never forget him. His name was Mike. I'm not going to give you his last name, I knew him very well. He believed you had to earn salvation and part of it got so much to be the captor of his heart he believed Jesus was coming January l, l??? and he knew that he had in desperation to make sure that he was saved before that day.
He had half a million dollars in real estate, properties and all kinds of other things and he liquidated every penny of it and with it he bought twenty - forty thousand, I can't remember the figure exactly, of the Good News for Modern Man, passed them out everywhere, bought little Jesus glow-in-the-dark praying hands, crosses with Jesus Saves, Jesus' pictures and gobs of holy hardware, all kinds of stuff, you know, to pass out. He was earning his way into heaven. I said, Mike it isn't that way, it isn't that way. But he went ahead and did it. He became a pauper and he got ready on January lst. It was a sad January 2nd.
You can't buy grace, it isn't for sale. It's free. It's like Matt said the other night, Why do people want to work so hard to be something they can't be when for nothing they can accept Jesus? That's looking at it from a child's view but it's true. There's no price, Jesus paid it all.
Your big check to the church doesn't even buy the Spirit's power. Well, Peter heard this and he got mad. Oh, I like it when he gets mad, he's terrific. "Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee", now the Greek says, hang on to your hats - To hell with you and your money. I didn't say that, Peter did. Boy, Peter really got uptight. I mean, that's salty fisherman prose. It's a sad thing because everything looked so good. Verse 2l, "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter", you're not even into this thing, he says. "Thy heart is not right in the sight of God." You look good on the outside, Simon, on the inside you're rotten, you're rotten. You see, he's acknowledging in the face of Simon he's got a wrong view of the Spirit. You can't buy it, Simon, it's not for sale.
Lastly, he had a wrong view of sin, evasion - he wouldn't face it.
Verse 22, quickly: Peter says, "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness".
Kakia - general evil. "And pray God", watch this, "if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee". Peter's acknowledging that he doesn't know whether God will forgive him. You know, that you ought to repent of your sins not because God will forgive you but because your sin is rotten. That's enough reason to repent of it and then hope that He will forgive you. And so he says repent if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. You see, what he says to Simon is - Have a good view of sin, the one that is correct. See it for what it is and turn from it. Repentance, metanoeo, a hundred and eighty degree turns, a hundred and eighty degree turn from sin toward God. He says, Turn around, if God may forgive you. "For I perceive that thou art in the gall", that's the word for bile, "of bitterness and in the bond of iniquity." You're tied up in a rotten kind of evil. He says, See your sin and turn from it.
See your sin and turn from it. Proverbs, Solomon said, .The sinner shall be holden with the cords of sin". Simon was bound. He says, Turn to God, see your sin, repent, repent, verse 22, repent. What did he do? Verse 24, "Then answered Simon and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me", and some of the western texts, the other texts say that he was sobbing and shaking and trembling, "Pray to the Lord for me that none of these things which you have spoken come upon me". You know something? Simon's in the same boat, he's just saying - Do something to save my hide. He's still not repenting. There no forgiveness asked for, no confession, no self-judgment, no acknowledging sin, no exhibit of confidence in the Lord, no asked forgiveness, no nothing.
Just - Don't let me get it, don't let me get it. He was sad and he was scared but he wasn't saved. In II Cor. 7: ? and 10 it says, "There is a sorrow that doesn't work repentance." And then it says, "There is a Godly sorrow that does work repentance". Simon had a wrong view of sin. He evade it he never faced it. He has the faith that doesn't save. He had a wrong view of self, egotistical; salvation, external: the Spirit,.economic and sin he evaded it. What about your faith? Is it faith that saves? Oh, I pray God that it is. Let's pray.
Father, we thank You that we again have been able to see the strategy of the enemy Satan. And, Lord, we know that there are some here at Grace Church that Satan has sewn in here as tares, who have faith that doesn't save. And maybe they look good on the outside and they've even been baptized and even continued for awhile, oh, God, we pray that You might while grace still is offered to them bring them to a place of repentance that Simon never came to. That they might trade their faith that doesn't save for faith that does. That they might have a true view of themselves as nothing, worthless, lost, hopeless. A true view of salvation is something internal, life-changing, and transforming. Totally a work of God. A right view of the Spirit that He is given freely to those who believe. A right view of sin that it is faced and repented of. God, may it be so. May no one leave this place with faith that doesn't save. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.
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text:
German Chancellor Says Only Print Media Can Teach You 'Real' Reading
from the smelly-logic dept
Angela Merkel may be Germany's Chancellor, and therefore a busy woman, but since she trained as a chemist, you might expect her to have a more positive view about new technology than this statement from a recent interview (original video in German), reported by the Netzpolitik blog, would suggest:
I regard the print media as very important. Being able to read is quite another thing from being on the Internet -- something that naturally will grow, and increase in importance. Nonetheless, the ability to read is something very, very important. And therefore I hope that, alongside the strong development of all the new media, all the well-known newspapers, the print media, the magazines, have a good future.
What's strange here is that the vast majority of those newspapers and magazines publish all or most of their articles online as well as in printed versions. The words are identical, so what magic ingredient does Frau Merkel think is missing online? It can't be the readability, since digital versions are arguably more legible, thanks to the ability to change the print size for those whose eyesight is not what it was.
The only real difference is that online versions are insubstantial, simply an image on a screen, while printed versions consist of ink on paper. Maybe her comment does, in fact, reflect her past as a chemist, and what she secretly misses is that characteristic odor of printing inks. Perhaps she just needs a iSmell Personal Scent Synthesizer device or equivalent.
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Filed Under: angela merkel, digital, germany, reading