Thanks for your patience!

Hi All!...just a quick note to say thanks to everyone who has continued to drop in, comment, and continues to drop on EC. This is my last night in D.C. I'll be back home with family again tomorrow! Can't wait. I'll be able to blog some more and get back to things as usual...if you can call controlled chaos "usual."

Anyway - this has been a great experience here. In fact, we had a plenary speaker here this week...has anyone here heard off Jeffrey Goldberg? This guy is absolutely amazing! He's a reporter who wrote this amazing book: Prisoners: A Story of Friendship and Terror (Vintage). If you haven't read it yet or heard his story..you need to get it. If you don't want to click the link..here's an image of his latest book:

He has written many other books detailing his personal journey. Essentially, he is an American born and raised in New York. He is Jewish and served as a prison guard/prison counselor for 15 years at a prison in Israel. He befriended several of the Palestinian and Arab terrorist prisoners. This man has literally sat down with leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, and even met with Saddam's sons and soldiers prior to the war. He has an insight to the middle-east like noone else. He told us a story of him having lunch in Lebanon with the leader of Hezbollah. He asked the leader what it would take for America to be friends with Hezbollah. The leader smiled at him and said, "We do not want to be your friends. We want to kill you."

He really puts things in to perspective. While this might sound dire for peace in the middle-east, he also related stories of hope. He talked for about an hour and a half. That time flew by. There was not near enough time to hear everything. However, I did buy his book and from what I've read so far, I can only say, I am extremely impressed with this man. Not only does he call evil what it is, he also shows you where we can find peace and friendship in places we might not look.

I would love to go into more detail here, but, there was just so much he related. Really, the best place to find out is to get his latest book. You can click the other link above on his name to take him to his website...there is a little more detail there as well.

Anyway...just wanted to let everyone know that I am still here...I have survived my residency...I will be home tomorrow...and thanks to everyone for their patience...and...get Jeffrey Goldberg's book! You won't regret it at all!