You heard it here …. I’ll say it clearer … Not Myanmar … It’s really Burma ….

3 comments May 5th, 2008

The country in southeast Asia that was devastated by the cyclone is called BURMA. Latest reports say 50,000 are feared dead.

The country is NOT “Myanmar,” which many newspapers insist on calling it. That name was foisted on the country in 1989 by a brutal military junta that, among other things, holds Nobel laureate and democratic reformer Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest and refuses to allow democracy to return.

The rulers also failed to notify coastal residents that the cyclone was coming, which caused many deaths. Mrs. Bush appealed Monday for the country to allow U.S. aid workers into Burma to provide disaster relief.

By using the word “Myanmar,” we are legitimizing the junta. So, it’s Burma to me.

Congratulations to The Washington Post and to The Guardian for using the correct name for the country.

Heartland targets more schools for refurbishing

Add comment May 5th, 2008

Last spring, Heartland Community Church undertook a huge volunteer project and cleaned, fixed and repainted two grade schools and some East High School classrooms.

This year’s project will be much bigger. Heartland congregants learned Sunday that come June, they’ll be refurbishing Ellen Stiles School, the westernmost school in the district,  they’ll keep plugging away on East, and they’ll take on Flinn Middle School — the whole thing.

Heartlanders will also install doors and side panels on scores of toilet stalls in schools throughout the Rockford School District.

No tax dollars are used, all the materials are bought by the church or donated. Heartland is hoping for 5,000 volunteers to get the job done in about a week.