I'm just a sweaty girl on Capital Hill.
This won't mean much to alot of you, but I made the mistake of getting off at Union Station this morning. Little did i know that the Rayburn building is far away from Union Station, like really far away in the blazing heat and i am walking in a suit. i walked by the Dirksen building and someone told me that Rayburn was just two blocks down, but in the heat it might as well have been 6-8 blocks. By the time we got to the building I looked like I had gotten out of the shower. My sidekick, intern Veronica was merely red in the face. No perspiration to be seen. Unfortunately, the Italian side of my family sweats profusely. My hair was no longer dry and I was definitely convinced that people would have known i was the room because they could smell me. Yikes.
This morning i visted the Rayburn office on the Hill for a hearing on persecution of Dalit Christians in India. Alot was really new to me, because that isn't my region, but i was glad to be there. The Dalit class is the lowest in the India Caste System. Society has labeled them as the "untouchables", but they have named themselved "Dalit" meaning oppressed. It seems there is a great deal of complexity with persecution of Christians and other minority groups in India. The national rhetoric is that there is religious freedom but on the state and local levels this is not the case. India is now creating new anti-conversion laws, redefinding what "forced conversions" are. Christians can be imprionsed for sharing their faith, under the claims of "emotional coercion", if they are establishing relationships with seekers.
Something striking that was said in the conference was that one-third of social work done in India is done by Chrisitans (who represent 3-5% of the population).
Also: there is a House Bill coming up on the floor for a agreement between India and the United States on nuclear arms next week. I wonder how we can enconomically put pressure on India, so that they might take the issue of persecution seriously.
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5 comments:
Hey, nice blog! Looks like you keep it pretty up-to-date. I'll definitely be back. Had fun checking out the other ASU alumni blogs you link to as well! Sorry you got so sweaty today!
my goal is that the ASU gang should get back together via this whole blog thing. ASU alumni unite!! i have dropped the ball in keeping up with all the special peeps i knew!!! Talk to you soon, jen
A.S. WHO!??!
go coogs!
ps--re: the us-india "agreement" it is more like india gave the west (and the nonproliferation treaty) the finger and developed nukes. . .if the us were to follow the treaty, we woudl have to sanction india. . .but rather than do the right thing, once again the government exhibits that it is more expedient to get short-term benefits if one looks the other way on long-term problems. . .the administration is actually trying to reward india rather than follow our own obligations to NPT and sanction india. . .pakistan, iran, northkorea, argentina, and others have already started using our hypocracy on india against us. . .but why not---our government has already exhibited that our word is just about as good as india's. . .
long live the spirit of kissinger haunting the halls of state dept : (
AS WHO! Whatevah - if the rams and the coogs were in a fight we all know who would win...
carnivore > herbivore
TRAiTOR!!!
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