BANGKOK, Thailand -- He shot 55 men and women in the back, killing them with a burst of bullets aimed at the heart, while each person was tied to a wooden cross.

"I think the system of execution has become more humane, compared with when they hammered nails under people's fingernails, and did other torture, or whiplashed them before they cut their heads off," Chavoret Jaruboon said in an interview.

"Those things are in the past."

Mr. Chavoret, 58, is a Buddhist who describes himself as Thailand's "last executioner."

"Every Buddhist monk would say that killing someone is a sin. But the question is whether you take pleasure in killing that person," Mr. Chavoret said.

"What I have seen is that these prisoners have done bad to others, and they are incarcerated because of their own karma."

After two decades as an executioner, Mr. Chavoret switched jobs three years ago to become head of foreign prisoners' section at Bangkok's dreaded Bang Kwang Central Prison, where he coordinates the detention of Americans, Europeans, Africans and Asians.

The Ohio Lavender Festival is seeking volunteers for the 2007 event slated for July 6,7 & 8 at DayBreak Lavender Farm in Streetsboro, OH.

Will you work four hours for free soap? That's the deal says Jody Byrne, manager of The Ohio Lavender Festival. “Last year we had 35+ volunteers who worked a four-hour block of time … either 9 - 1 or 1 - 5. By way of saying thank you, each received a $50 Gift Certificate good for any of DayBreak Lavender Farm's handmade soaps, home spa or lavender culinary products. In addition, they each volunteer gets 2 Free Festival passes so they can return with a friend and enjoy the festival on all the days they're not volunteering.”

From lavender planting and grooming in the lavender field, to Nature Hunt Guides working with kids, to the Gourmet Pavillion … there are all kinds of tasks that the Festival needs your help with.  If you are interested, just email SoapPlease1@aol.com and write volunteer in the subject line.  Jody will send you complete hours, dress and work assignment details.

Eighteen months ago Congressman John Murtha and other pro-war Democrats had not yet developed even a muddled half-hearted opposition to the occupation of Iraq, Joe Lieberman had not lost a primary, MoveOn.org and the Center for American Progress were pretending there was no such thing as Iraq, and the Democratic Party had shoved its collective head so far up… well, let’s just say the pretense was alive and well that Iraq was not the central issue in American politics.

Eighteen months from now, in November 2008, the political scene in the United States will look drastically different from what we see today.  We can't predict with certainty what it will look like, but we can be sure of one thing: if we stay focused now on the election coming in 18 months, the election will go badly for us.  If, instead, we focus now on trying to end the occupation, we could quite conceivably succeed in doing so before the election, and in any event significantly move the nation's political debate in a direction that will benefit humanity as well as the electoral interests of those closest to us. 

ACTION ALERT:
Senator Mitch McConnell (R KY) has offered an amendment to the immigration bill pending in the Senate that would require every voter in the 2008 election to provide government-issued, current and valid photo identification before being allowed to vote at a polling place. This amendment would disenfranchise large numbers of legal voters and create administrative problems at the polls in the next federal election. Please contact your Senators immediately and urge them to oppose the McConnell Amendment to require photo ID for the 2008 election.

beneath the olive branch,
on the entrance of his
lone star ranch...
she stands.
Her face coverd by tears,
Tears for lost blood which now
covers his hands,
and pants.
All the while the olive branch
chants what the rancher cannot do.
All together now,
"Bring our boys home!"
...sorry.