Quick Baby Update

Yesterday Keli and I had a baby doctor appointment after work. It was one of those quick check-ups but the kids were there so they got to listen to the baby’s heartbeat. They were pretty happy about it and were grinning ear to ear. Keli and the baby are both doing really well and the midwife told us she’s 15 weeks, 4 days along.

After we left the office, we had the fun job of answering Mason’s question about “How do they get the baby out of your belly?”

When Bailey was 4 (the age Mason is currently) she was there to see her baby brother come into the world. She knew what’s involved and, as we did with her, we explained briefly how the baby comes out and where it comes out. The moment Keli used words like “vagina” and “penis” — when making sure Mason understood the difference between male and female bodies — the back seat erupted into some deep-down-in-the-belly laughter. After that, the conversation was more or less derailed and Mason seemed to have lost interest.

Oh well. You can’t win them all, I guess.

AR Supreme Court: Burnett Must Turn Over New Evidence

The Arkansas Supreme Court has ordered Judge Burnett to turn over new evidence in the case of the West Memphis Three (Damien Echols, Jessie Misskelley & Jason Baldwin), which would require “the lower court to include a sworn affidavit by a prominent Arkansas attorney that alleges extraordinary juror misconduct in Damien Echols’s original trial.”

Known as Baldwin exhibit 76, because it is concurrently under consideration in Jason Baldwin’s hearing for a new trial in Jonesboro, the sworn affidavit reveals shocking details of improper conversations that the jury foreman, Kent Arnold, conducted with the attorney while the original trial was in progress, clearly violating the law and the rights of Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin to a fair and impartial trial. In those conversations, Arnold indicates that he had prejudged Echols’s guilt and was trying to convince other jurors to convict based upon news reports of the so-called confession of Jessie Misskelley, which was barred from admission at the Echols-Baldwin trial. In essence, the jury foreman introduced Misskelley’s false confession into jury deliberations.

In addition to the juror misconduct, new evidence includes DNA and forensic findings that link others to the crime scene

Source: WM3 blog

For the latest in the appeals of the West Memphis Three, head over to WM3.org.

Finding Your Friends

There are times in everyone’s life when all you want is a friend. Maybe your girl left you or maybe it’s just been one of “those” days and you need a friend to hang out and listen. I’ve been there many times before with my friends - each being there for the other when things looked very bleak.

But what happens when you pick up the phone, call your friend and arrange to meet, but you can’t find each other? If you’ve ever been in that lonely, vulnerable situation, you can appreciate how devastating it can be. My hope is that this song will help you see the silver lining and realize that every day is a new day.

Power To The People

Defying an official ban, hundreds of thousands of Iranian supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi demonstrate in Tehran on Monday, June 15, 2009. (BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images)

When you join hundreds of thousands of your fellow disenfranchised citizens in the streets in blatant defiance of your government, do so knowing full well that they will come at you with waves of riot police.

They will come at you with bullets and clubs and tear gas and tanks and motorcades.

They will not back down and they will not let up until they are content that every ounce of patriotism has been washed from the streets.

This is when the true measure of your patriotic rebellion will be put to the test and decide the fate of your cause.

Good Morning, Everyone

That’s pretty much all I had to stay this morning.

By some act of God I ended up with a lot of extra time this morning, where I could actually drink and enjoy my morning coffee and read through a few of the billion or so unread blogs I try to follow.

I also noticed that where and what I post has changed a lot over the past couple of months. I’ve found it’s faster and easier to make shorter posts to Facebook, which is pretty pathetic since this is my blog and it should be as easy to post as I want it to be. I have also noticed that I’ve cut back a lot of my Twitter trolling, though, that’s not to say I won’t be using Twitter anymore.

As you can tell I have nothing earth-shattering to say right now, other than “Good morning” and here’s hoping everyone’s week goes smoothly!