Saturday morning--Friday afternoon scare turns out well

This week was exhausting for both of us, and I think we are both glad to welcome a weekend. Yesterday proved to be even more stressful, when our dog Abbie got out of the backyard for at least 20 minutes. One of our neighbors down the street saw me as I was frantically looking for her and offered to help. As I was returning to the house to take the car looking for her, he found her under a bush across the busy street. I can't thank him enough for finding her.

We think the meter reader for the gas company left the gate open. I have watched them over the years do this. They come in one way, read the meter, and then climb over the fence to get into the neighbor's yard--usually with no regard either for the gate or for the fence. And I must say, the gas company has had the absolutely worst customer phone service over the years, and yesterday was no exception. She was churlish and hardly helpful. I have no real good faith that the gas company will tell their meter readers anything at all. We may move to reading that meter ourselves, and still allow the electric company to read. In contrast with the gas company, the electric people were very helpful and even apologetic for an incident they had not caused.

Reminds me of another gas company story. A few years ago, they replaced our meter and had to dig up part of the yard. In fairness, they did little damage to the yard, and it was more of an inconvenience than problem. But then they came and reconnected the gas and we did a quick check inside to see if the stove and water heater worked. 20 minutes later, however, I tried to take a shower only to find cold water. I called, and they said that since it had been working when the guy left, I would have to pay for a relighting visit. I believe I stuttered at that point and pointed out they had just dug up my back yard. Yes, she agreed, but then added, "but we aren't charging you for that."

Sigh.

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We are shopping for a new camera, btw, and wonder if anyone has some suggestions. We like Canon, and are looking for a digital camera with 7 or so mp that is small and easy to carry around.

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Couple of news items caught my eye. The first, is just a sad reminder of unintended consequences. I wonder if the conservative Christians who supported this war from the beginning realize that the war has made Iraq completely unsafe for Christians. Despite the horrors of Saddam, Christians were not persecuted under his rule. Now, Christian leaders are being killed. I hear very little from the conservative Christian segment about this.

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I have had several conversations about the press lately and am still amazed that so many conservatives just accept blindly the charge that the media is liberal. In one recent conversation, I kept pointing out the blind support from the media when the war was unfolding, and they seemed to agree with that, but somehow that didn't count now that the media was critical. And being critical, it seems, means reporting bad news from the war. That makes them liberal, I guess, and reminds me of Stephen Colbert's great line, "The truth has a well-known liberal bias."

A good take on this is from Greg Mitchell, who here relates his conversation with Bill Moyers from 5 years ago. His criticism of the media and the public is still timely.

"MOYERS: What do you think is stake for democracy and how we journalists cover this war?

MITCHELL: Edward R. Murrow had a quote on his wall in his office from Thoreau in which he said something like, 'To speak the truth, you need two people. One to speak it and one to hear it.' And I think that sums up the relationship not only between the military and the press but the press and the American people. You know, the press often is reporting factual matters. And the public sometimes turns away from it. We entered this war, with upwards of half the people in the country believing that Saddam Hussein was behind the 9/11 attack."