As a way to commemorate today, I am posting a speech made before the House of Representatives yesterday regarding the anniversary of the Armenian Genocide by the Turks.

I rise today to commemorate the 89th anniversary of one of history's most terrible tragedies, the Armenian
Genocide.
On April 24, 1915, 300 Armenian leaders, intellectuals and professionals were rounded up in Constantinople, deported and killed, under orders from the Young Turk government. This was the beginning of a campaign of terror resulting in the deaths of 1.5 million Armenians and the deportation of more than 500,000.
The government of the Ottoman Empire justified this policy by claiming it was necessary to suppress revolts being launched by Armenians as a consequence of the ongoing military operations of World War I. This assertion was patently denied by survivors and witnesses. United States Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire Henry Morganthau reported at that time, "Deportation of and excesses against peaceful Armenians is increasing and from harrowing reports of eyewitnesses it appears that a campaign of race extermination is in progress under a pretext of reprisal against rebellion.''
Not content with perpetrating this atrocity, the Young Turks denied a genocide had taken place. Generations have since been raised denying this tragedy. Such denials are refuted by the archival documents and first-hand accounts found in such recent scholarly works as Peter Balakian's The Burning Tigris and Samantha Power's A Problem From Hell.
Director Atom Egoyan presented the horror of the siege of Van in his film Ararat, which was based, in part, on the memoirs of Clarence Ussher, an American physician and missionary working in Turkey at the time.
Mr. Speaker, for myself and my constituents, I rise today to urge those who deny this genocide to accept it as fact. Only then can we move forward and stop these atrocities from repeating themselves over and over again.

The source doesn't name who wrote this speech.

For my own family's sake I'll say that my Grandmother and Grandfather were first hand witnesses to this tragedy. I had two uncles and an aunt killed along with countless relatives that I'll never even know. It's easy to objectify this by those that are unaffected. But, for me it is my whole family and everything that goes with it that is gone. When I hear people talk about their own family and their traditions, etc it leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. All because this tragedy is not even known about by most people, and those who know hide it like a secret best forgotten. At least the Jews had the Nurembourg trials.

What a glorious day!! It's nice and sunny here today so we went for a hike up to Ney Springs. I took Mister Ed along with me and we had a nice time. The falls were roaring and beautiful. I stood at the base of the falls and nearly lost my breath. The water tasted sweet and left a lingering mineral taste in my mouth. This is why I came back to California, for days like this.

In other news, I go for my final interview with the Americorps board next week. I'm pretty confident that they will hire me. I'm looking forward to the work and the opportunity to serve my community. I'm also glad that it pays fairly well and is not full time. That allows me to earn the money we need but have the time to spend with family and friends.

As for the house, we had a setback. The contractor who inspected the house last week flaked out on us and won't give us a bid so we have to find someone new. Our landlord has another company coming in on Monday. But, this whole thing sets us back another week. The worst part is our welcome here is already wore out, so tensions are a bit high. It's in Gods hands so I am confident that it will work out. He has brought us this far, and I am so thankful that we are here.

At this point I can honestly say that Memphis, Mississippi, James Wozney, and Games Workshop seems like nothing but a bad dream to me.

Well, it seems the job search is not as easy as I thought. There just ain't much in the way of decent paying jobs around here. I'm still waiting to hear about the position with Americorps. I'm set to meet with the committee next week. So far, that is the best opportunity for us.

The housing situation is slow as well. But, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. We are still set to purchase that house down the street from where we are at now. We walked through it the other day and it is nice and roomy inside. I think the place will be perfect for us. It has a nice big kitchen and dining room. I can see lots of possibilities for decorating and making it an ideal home for us. I am so excited about this possibility. As I have wrote many times in this journal, I have always wanted to own my own home.

We went and saw "Hellboy" last night. It was an alright movie. Enough to keep me entertained though I almost did fall asleep several times. I think it was more from me being tired than from the quality of the movie. If your thinking of going to see it, I'd suggest waiting until it's out on video. Now the Alamo... that's a flick I want to go see!!