Get Smart Week, November 14-20

 

Get Smart About Antibiotics Week is an annual one-week observance by the CDC to raise awareness of the threat of antibiotic resistance and the importance of appropriate antibiotic prescribing and use based on a September 2015 Executive Order. https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/18/executive-order-combating-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria

Not all Executive Orders are bad or life changing. The numbers of them mean little.  FDR is the all time winner, and Bill Clinton issued more than either Bush or Obama.  It will take some research to find out if all the committees and boards on the antibiotics week (Executive Order 12353 of March 23, 1982 revised) have reported to the President. To check others, and to see if you think Congress should have been involved: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/executive-orders

 I read through the change order for revising the wording of collecting funds and volunteer time from federal employees for distribution to voluntary organizations, and not sure I could understand the legalize. In central Ohio we get "Bucks for Charity" which is October 3-November 30 (I just received mine yesterday) listing 300 local charitable organizations to support.  I always read this carefully--many are organizations that I would never donate to. I think it's better to know the organizations personally and donate with discrimination.

I wrote about this in 2006 and found an acronym COSMO, Community Share of Mid Ohio, which appeared to get 10% of the total, and then it's organizations received percentages of that.  Here were some groups I would never donate to individually.

•  ACLU mid-Ohio chapter, 18.8%;
  
  BRAVO, which works to eliminate violence perpetrated on the basis of sexual orientation and gender, 31%;
  
  Kaleidoscope for gay, lesbian, bixexual, transgendered and questioning youth, 14.8%;
  
  NARAL Pro-Choice (formerly known as National Abortion Rights Action League, then the National Abortion & Reproductive Rights Action League, but it still kills babies);
  
  Coalition on sexual assault;
  
  domestic violence network, 5.7%;
  
  NOW education and Legal Fund, 12% (recently changed its name to Legal Momentum apparently to hide its connection to NOW);
  
  Open Hand for AIDS, 15%;
  
  Stonewall (gay rights), 19.1%;
  
  a variety of environmental, disability, animal rights, and arts groups;
  
  Camp Fire, 28%; Cat Welfare 1%; and Habitat for Humanity, 4.9%. 

Cat Welfare is still on the list, which I think is not right (even though our sweet kitty lived there in her youth) as is NARAL.  What is Stonewall using its money for now?  Hormones for sexually confused children?

Government workers who are paid less than minimum wage

The 2014 budget requested $1.061 billion for the Corporation for National and Community Service, an increase of $12.2 million over the 2012 funding level. This is our tax money used for "unpaid volunteers." That means they work below minimum wage, but all the government workers in the agency above them get paid nice salaries with benefits. In true government double speak it is supposed to expand ...opportunity and embrace competition. ???? This is not to say people haven't had wonderful experiences in AmeriCorp or benefitted from being farmed out to a church organization that helps immigrants, but somewhere we need to let these organizations stand on their own and actually hire people to take their place in the work force.

I was in Brethren Volunteer Service as were my sisters in the 1950s. It can be done without your tax dollars. This is me showing off a pair of shoes after we went shopping in downtown Fresno. The washing machine (wringer) was in the shed. It was a great experience—many churches now offer volunteer opportunities at no cost to the taxpayer, except from her own pocket.

The Job Corps is a “Great Society” program, which offers job-training services to disadvantaged youths age 16–24 in 125 sites across the nation. The Department of Labor Office of Inspector General estimates each Job Corps participant who is successfully placed into any job costs taxpayers $76,574 (I don't know what the unsuccessful cost us). They are less likely to finish high school than those disadvantaged who don't participate, and when employed, make 22 cents more per hour than a control group. I'll bet McDonald's or Wendy's could have trained them and at least taken them to assistant manager, beginning at minimum wage.

I'm fine with internships and volunteerism; I'm fine with the minimum wage for entry level jobs for people who need to learn job skills, team work, and dealing with the public. It's the Democrats who scream about minimum wage not being high enough, and then pay their political lackeys at the Obama campaign (OFA) or fancy non-profits nothing. They have options: full time for nothing, or half time for nothing. I wonder if they get Obamacare?

Three years ago the Labor Department said it was going to do something about this—but in the for-profit sector only. Non-profits like the President's campaign arm is free to abuse employees, I mean interns and unpaid volunteers, any way they choose.

Want to volunteer?

Serve dot gov will direct you to ACORN. Isn't that a sweet connection--and with our tax money too.

Read it here.

350,000 wannabees, many now unemployed

So what happened to all those idealistic campaign workers who left it all to get out the vote? Some of it illegally, like here in Ohio. This is an interesting story of the unemployed and underemployed, the idealistic Obama orphans, adrift in a sea of memories.

“Toby Osherson joined the [Obama] campaign straight out of college and gave 21 months. He frames the experience in terms of national service. “I felt this was my duty to my country…this is how I sleep at night, so that I can tell my kids that when our country hit closest to rock bottom, this is what I did to help.” “

Fella, we are at rock bottom now (at least I hope we won‘t go lower, but we could), not then when unemployment was at 5%, not near 10% like now, and the President of the United States wasn’t illegally taking over major segments of the economy and destroying the country. Back when a President would speak and you could trust him and he wasn’t getting whiplash from reading teleprompters without understanding a word he was saying. Sigh. Sorry you wasted so much of your idealism and young life for such a global disaster.

The "Give Back" theme of the Democrats

It's graduation season. Giving back is always and forever the theme of speeches at graduation, but it seems only the Democrats have recently discovered it as a way to smack down Republicans. And that's so strange. Because all research for years and years has shown that conservatives, particularly conservative Christians, are more generous with their time, talents and money than liberals. Joe Biden and Al Gore's contribution record is laughable, and President Obama's was almost as paltry until he got serious about campaigning for the presidency and one of his advisors noticed this moral flaw.

I personally was a bit uncomfortable with George H.W. Bush's "thousand points of light" theme. I was a Democrat then, but also an evangelical. It just didn't seem right to me that the President was doing a Preacher's job. Later I found out it was Peggy Noonan, his speech writer, who came up with "kinder, gentler nation," and "thousand points of light." Liberals absolutely hated this Bush theme because it encouraged Christians to do even more (and apply for government grants to do it). After Democrats were trounced in 2004, they had many pity parties--I know this because I watched some of them on C-SPAN. The conclusion apparently was to pretend to care more than conservatives, so that they could gain political office. Play down the liberal-progressive drivel. In Ohio we elected a former Methodist pastor as governor on an ethics platform because our former governor played golf with someone and it wasn't recorded as a donation, or something silly. Our new governor, who seems a nice person, has had nothing but trouble with some of his morally-challenged appointees. You remember, don't you--the folks who decided to investigate Joe the Plumber for calling Obama's bluff accidentally.

But that Presidential leadership into good works wasn't good for the churches, either. Christians were getting a bit fat and sloppy at the government money trough.
"Wanna feed the hungry? Wanna rehab housing for the poor?"
"You bet!"
"Just apply for a USDA or a HUD grant."
"What will it cost?"
"Not much. Just take down the cross of Jesus and don't hand out literature."
"Well, OK, it's for a 'good' cause."

It's not that Candidate Obama didn't notice that U.S. citizens were already volunteering for all manner of projects from community concerts, to cleaning up rivers and streams, to recycling yard waste, to helping immigrants learn to read. No, of course he knew. But he needed something to make us feel guilty and morally deficient, like we couldn't decide for ourselves if taking an elderly neighbor to the doctor was the right thing to do if the government wasn't tracking it. So he's going to make it mandatory.

Right off the bat I can tell you what will happen.

First, volunteering in a religious activity where evangelizing or proseletizing takes place will not count, in fact, it might even be penalized. If that activity takes place in a church basement--like a food pantry--all religious symbols will need to be removed.

Second, certain 501-c-3 non-profits (religious, educational, charitable, scientific, literary, public safety, amateur sports, or prevention of cruelty to children or animals) will count more than others--like the ACORN, Saul Alinsky-type, left-leaning organizations, animal rights organisations (as opposed to animal welfare) and radical "greenies" claiming concern about safety. Signing up illegals to vote, for instance, will be a credited, gov't approved volunteer activity. Helping someone refinance a mortgage they can't afford, will count if the helpee is a minority. Helping a woman avoid an abortion or going back to Mexico to give birth in her home community will not.

Third, many non-profits, if not allowed to use government money because they won't dance to Obama's tune, will have to close shop. People who wish to remain in the "giving" field will increasingly need to be employed by the liberals and socialists.

Fourth, your mandatory volunteerism will become a factor in your job security and promotion ladder. Maybe even in hiring. The "volunteerism" required of many school children (begun years ago) can barely pass the sniff test.

Fifth, eventually, only those volunteer activities that directly promote the government approved agenda (what ever it is at that time) will be allowed.

The GIVE Act. Does it violate the 13th amendment?

The bill, HR 1388: The Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education Act otherwise known as the "GIVE Act," has already passed. Here’s the roll who voted for it.



Did Congress read this bill? What was missing in VISTA, AmeriCorps, Peace Corp, Foster Grandparents, and the bazillion of local opportunities, funded by government, non-profits and churches? Is there an area not already covered by Sertoma, or American Legion, or the Lung Association, or Rotary or AARP? I never had the feeling that Points of Light was mandatory, did you? And didn't Democrats ridicule Bush I or is that why--because he didn't make it mandatory?

Did we really need another massive stack of federal dollars bundled in acres of paper co-opting volunteerism? Surely, they can't call this a "stimulus." Something like $22,000 per volunteer--but then, it takes a bunch of bureaucrats to run a program like this. And what in the world is a "social entrepreneur?" More people to join the unions that get out the Obama vote. More people to look to Obama has their savior in the White House. It makes them that much more dependent on the government.

The bill, promoted by the Obama administration as a means of “encouraging America's youth to participate in voluntary community service,” (if you read it, you’ll see it goes far beyond “encouraging,” that it opens the door to conscription) has received little scrutiny from Congress or the public. It provides funding for Obama’s favorite leftist organizations, especially ACORN, but starves out the churches that have traditionally been vehicles for volunteerism--in fact, the almost 50 year old Peace Corps was modeled after what the Mennonites, Brethren and Quakers did after WWII.

Did the RINOs read this bill before they voted for it? Time to call them home. Next time the Republican Party head guy sends out that envelope pleading for money, ask about the voting records of the RINOs. Senator Voinovich voted Yay, as usual; when anything wasteful or socialist comes along, he's all for it.

So the Senate will allow funding to ACORN, but they won't allow any religious expression in the "youth brigades?" Gateway Pundit And to think we spent American lives and money to free the women of Afghanistan from the fundamentalist Taliban, only to conscript our own.

Oh yes, “Requires states to develop comprehensive plans for volunteer and paid service by Baby Boomers and older adults.” (from summary of text)

Governor honors long-time married volunteers

This was apparently started under Governor Taft and Strickland has continued it. No one from Columbus on the list.

First Lady Frances Strickland and the Ohio Department of Aging today honor 31 couples for their dedication to marriage and volunteerism at the tenth annual Joined Hearts in Giving celebration, held in observance of Valentine's Day at the governor's residence in Columbus. Joined Hearts in Giving honors Ohioans at least 60 years old who have been married 40 years or longer and who share a commitment to volunteerism.

"Ohio is a better place because of the efforts of these great people," said Mrs. Strickland, the event's host. "Through the hours and hard work they volunteer, they embody all that makes this state exceptional."

"The devotion of these couples is truly heart-warming," said Barbara E. Riley, director of the Ohio Department of Aging. "Their commitment to each other and their passion to help others is a model we can all take to heart."

I wasn't aware of the nomination process. I certainly would have recommended my neighbors long time volunteers at their church and the senior center, and married over 60 years.

More thoughts on volunteerism

My mother was a volunteer for 30 years at the nursing home in my home town. However, over the years she saw many changes--particularly in the amount of contact the volunteers had with the patients. Early in her "career" she carried food trays to the room and tenderly fed some of the patients--some her contemporaries whom she'd known in college or in a young mothers' group. As rules and regulations changed, there was less and less of the satisfying personal contact. Today I chatted a few minutes with a woman working the produce table at a supermarket. She was quick, efficient, attractive, funny, and in a word. . . classy. When she said something about her shift, I asked her where she had worked before. "I'm a recent divorcee," she said, "and I've had to go to work due to my situation--this is my second job, my primary job is with (a home health care agency). She described to me her other job, the one with the benefits, which was helping a woman in an assisted care wing of a nursing home get back and forth to the dining room and attending a few personal needs in her apartment--but no bathing or dressing--a different paid assistant did that. These are jobs that may be "low pay," but they use to be "no pay"--they were volunteer jobs. As I noted in the entry about "outreach" ideas for church groups, there are layers and layers of laws and regulations dealing with health, safety, education, liability, and environment that relegate volunteers to almost "stand aside" status. And then if your group or activity takes government money, you are even further restricted, especially in matters of religion, even if you are representing a church and providing the service because of your religion.

Sometimes I take a bag (I still use plastic) and walk around the grounds and along the street and pick up trash. People throw an awful lot out of car windows, plus some of it blows off trucks. But, gosh, I wonder if I'm putting someone out of work! As far as I know, we're still allowed to do this, although if I were to get hurt or hit by a car (a teen-ager crashed into our condo street entry lamp post the other day and totalled his dad's new car), I suppose I could sue someone for NOT keeping the area clean and inspiring me to do it as a volunteer.

MLKing the memory

Milking the memory of a Civil Rights leader and taking credit for service already in place, the media and Democrats too young to remember the 80s and 90s, seem to forget a service day designated on August 23, 1994 by President Clinton as "The King Holiday and Service Act", a challenge in 1988 by Bush I for all Americans to be points of light, and memorializing September 11 as a service day (see MyGoodDeed.org, which looks like it is being folded into Obamanation and will probably lose its 9/11 roots) in memory of those lost in the terrorist attact. In fact, as early as 1980, black pastors were concerned that the King holiday was becoming an "idle day" and might reduce some mischief if kids did service.

"Iowa’s Martin Luther King, Jr. celebration coincided with the National Day of Service called for by President Obama to honor the legacy of Dr. King. Across the nation, thousands of volunteers – including the President, Vice President, and their families – joined together to improve the lives of their fellow Americans. This theme was echoed in the President’s Inaugural Address yesterday, where he called on Americans to serve their country during these challenging times." Link to Governor's site [huge Obama supporter].

This has all the authenticity of sending a president to the grocery store to "experience " the rising cost of food. It is not "volunteering" or service when your president, whether Bush, Clinton or Obama, governor, boss, or school superintendent tell you to do it, "or else". And Obama is VERY serious about your doing service--and I'm guessing he'll decide whether your current activity is worthy. Volunteering at the Pregnancy Distress Center probably won't qualify because you'd be saving the unborn.

Millions of Americans volunteer everyday in organizations from A to Z (Amazing Grace Day Camp, City Vision, Clothes Closet, Faith Mission, Food pantries, Habitat for Humanity, health centers and hospitals, Make a Wish, prisons, resettling refugees, classroom tutors, adult language instruction, pregnancy centers, nursing homes, hot meals for shut-ins, survivors of AIDS assistance and care, wigs for cancer patients, and on and on). As far as I know, no one tracks the actual hours, but if they did, they'd see Americans don't need top down pressure to help their neighbors. I don't remember this excitement from the left or the media when service to community was called a "thousand points of light."

And there is another tradition. And that’s the idea of community -- a beautiful word with a big meaning; though liberal democrats have an odd view of it. They see "community" as a limited cluster of interest groups, locked in odd conformity. And in this view, the country waits passive while Washington sets the rules.

But that's not what community means -- not to me.

For we’re a nation of community; of thousands and tens of thousands of ethnic, religious, social, business, labor union, neighborhood, regional and other organizations, all of them varied, voluntary and unique.

This is America: the Knights of Columbus, the Grange, Hadassah, the Disabled American Veterans, the Order of Ahepa, the Business and Professional Women of America, the union hall, the Bible study group, LULAC, "Holy Name" -- a brilliant diversity spread like stars, like a thousand points of light in a broad and peaceful sky." GHW Bush, August 18, 1988

In fact, did they even notice that in 1994 it actually became a day of service? Or that 9/11 is a day of service? Iowa's governor is pretty young--maybe he doesn't remember or never noticed the service opportunities in Iowa B.O., Before Obama.

Did real people suggest these?

Not to be cranky, but. . . (when someone says that, they are about to be cranky). When I read through "100 idea starters for outreach that any church, any size" could do, I had a few questions. First of all, unless you live in an unincorporated town of 273, most towns and cities have codes and standards, even for good deeds. Secondly, some of these require so much preplanning and follow through, I wondered if the "idea" person had ever chaired anything or tried to organize volunteers. Keep in mind, that the intention is to proselytize or evangelize, depending on your point of view. That's what outreach is, regardless of what you call it. For instance,

FRONTING LIBRARY FINES
"Leave $20 at the library to cover fines for the next several people who come in "overdue." Leave connection cards (that's like a business card with a church's name, address and maybe a Bible verse) in the envelope, telling people why their fine was paid." Hello! Libraries are very busy places--especially during economic downturns; they cannot proselitize; you do people no favors by encouraging careless behavior. I can barely get my library to even purchase a Christian book let alone hand out material for me.

CARING FOR MILITARY WIVES
"Say thanks and support the women behind the men serving in the military by offering free childcare and a child-free breakfast. Give spa gift baskets filled with candles, lotions, shampoo and conditioner and other fun items like chocolate, phone cards and coffee or tea." Oh. My. Goodness. There are many, many women in the military, and I think the kiddoes are with grandma or daddy! Do you have any idea how long it takes to run all your volunteers through the guidelines, child safety, and security checks (link to our church web site for security) for working with children? I could go for phone cards for military families, but unless you've got a batch of volunteers already fully vetted to work with children, this one won't fly. And make sure your insurance is paid up.

PARENTING HOW-TOS
"Identify times in your community when kids are busy with activities and parents wait for them, like soccer practice. Then offer seminars at those times to help moms and dads improve their parenting skills." Where? In the parking lot? If the parents have paid their money and signed the kids up, and are appearing at practice, they could already be pretty good parents. Plus, they should be there cheering them on, or helping the coaches. Just take a thermos of coffee along and join them as an interested friend--don't try to organize them.

CHAPLAINS IN UNEXPECTED PLACES
"Identify retired pastors or qualified lay leadership in your church or area, and post them as chaplains in an airport, a business, a hospital, a fire department a coffee shop or even a laundromat." I hardly know what to make of this one. We use retired pastors in our church--lots of them; they are paid to preach, visit the sick, teach Bible study classes, and be the "ordained" person on duty when a lay person is acting as a pastor. You just can't waltz into a hospital and say, "Hello, I'm a pastor, can I visit someone?" Oh, and I can just imagine the complaints the manager of a coffee shop will get if you hang out there and tell people about Jesus. I see Bible study groups in every coffee shop I've ever visited (except Starbucks in California), but they aren't advising or proselytising.

BEAUTIFY THE NEIGHBORHOOD
"Ask hair stylists to bring their own equipment, including chairs and styling tools, to the church and serve those in your community who can't afford a professional haircut." This one baffles me. It probably violates most health and business codes in even tiny towns, plus, styling tools have to be sanitized, and where are you going to get the sinks that fit those chairs, assuming you can move them? Crazy!! If you think you know someone who would enjoy a visit to a barber or a beautician--pick them up, take them there, wait for them, and pay for it. And don't forget the tip.

And there are about 90 more where these came from.

I will try to resist

Today is my turn to volunteer at the lunch room at the UA Senior Center. They have great food, deliciously prepared, lovingly dispensed (by me and Harold), and quite tempting. I'm going to keep that picture of my turnip greens in my mind's eye, and try to resist the corn chips and desserts. My goal--my red jeans will fit again.
If not by Christmas, maybe Valentine's Day.

Is required "voluntary" service marxist?

Obama's website has already backed down on the mandatory service idea, as he is backing down on many of his glorious ideals and themes. Personally, I think it will return in sort of a revised, refreshed WPA type thing. His campaign site was "scrubbed" so I won't look at the old version. I'm not sure bait and switch is more Republican, Democrat or Socialist, but we sure see a lot of it--although usually it's within the first 100 days of the administration, not the time between the election and taking the oath.

Maybe some of the Clinton retreads pointed out to him the bulging federal government give aways that already support millions of jobs at "volunteer" pay, particularly through faith-based agencies and non-profits carrying water for the federal government. The aid these programs supply to the poor and disadvantaged, the disabled and mentally ill, is so siphoned away by thousands of jobs in the chain between the grant and the hand-out, it's criminal a form of money laundering to bring home the pork to keep the elected folk in office. A side benefit is everyone from the president on down can feel warm fuzzies in a nation whose economy is over 70% built on consuming and very few people are truly poor.

The Obama administration will call on Americans to serve in order to meet the nation’s challenges. President-elect Obama will expand national service programs like AmeriCorps and Peace Corps and will create a new Classroom Corps to help teachers in underserved schools, as well as a new Health Corps, Clean Energy Corps, and Veterans Corps. Obama will call on citizens of all ages to serve America, by setting a goal that all middle school and high school students do 50 hours of community service a year and by developing a plan so that all college students who conduct 100 hours of community service receive a universal and fully refundable tax credit ensuring that the first $4,000 of their college education is completely free. Obama will encourage retiring Americans to serve by improving programs available for individuals over age 55, while at the same time promoting youth programs such as Youth Build and Head Start.

There are already so many organized volunteer agencies, groups and opportunities in place that your head could spin trying to select one that, 1) suits your skill level, 2) addresses a true need, and 3) doesn't bloat the state or federal government by asking for more taxes so it can give it back to you through block grants to churches, local agencies, and university studies.

I could work 40 hours a week, at no pay, just in USDA funded activities, not just distributing food, but on global warming hype, on questionable housing programs, and convincing old people to eat their fruits and veggies in hopes of slowing dementia. None of this would make an iota of "change" in the long run, but I could feel good about keep thousands of people "up stream" from the agency and the federal government employed.

On the other hand, the local and state regulators are making it very difficult to actually get physically close to a person in real need, so you may have to settle for raking leaves, licking envelopes, or shoveling snow.

Working for the candidates

Yesterday I volunteered at a printing facility for the McCain-Palin ticket. I met some interesting people and got a little taste of how "boots on the ground" works during campaigns. You can have tons of money for the TV ads, billboards and appearances on Letterman and SNL, but if you don't have the loyal, organized volunteers, you probably won't get elected--at any level.

Until the carpetbaggers came to Ohio (about a dozen Obama staffers have now cancelled their registration and ballots--they must have cut a deal to avoid felony charges), I thought the involvement of some of my Democrat friends 24/7 was admirable, even though I disagreed with their politics. It takes a lot of gumption, guts and glorification to pick up and move to another state even for a week or two. I don't see it that way anymore.

Not that my friends of 50 years would register and vote multiple times or encourage anyone else to, but they've helped with the plan--whether setting up the headquarters, filling in for the locals, making the coffee or hosting an event. The 20-30 year olds they admire so much do not have our grounding in ethics and morality. They are of the ends justifies the means crowd. They're schooled in Obamanomics. As Michelle said this week in Bexley, "Barack gets it" (and I think she means your money).

Seeing the vans pull up to voter sites (during golden week in Ohio you could register and vote the same day and our Secretary of State and Courts have said it is legal even though she can't verify them) and disgorge the homeless from God knows where with ACORN drivers and counselors telling them how to vote makes me see political volunteering outside your own city and state in a whole new light.

The houseful of 13 out of towners who came here were taking time out of their busy schedules in Europe and elite Ivy League schools as honor scholars with wealthy parents to fund their fun to tell us poor schmucks how we should vote. Good riddance, and I hope they can't find another sandbox to litter and just go back to studying peace, justice and marxism until they grow up.

Slip-ups by McCain and Obama

Both candidates made very odd statements last night. First McCain mentioned that the confidence/popularity of Congress was at an all time low--I think he said 9%--lower than the President's. But he's going to restore faith in government if he's elected. Well, three of the four people trying for the new administration are Senators. If you know how to fix it, why didn't McCain, or Obama, or Biden do something?

Then Obama was asked about his plan to require (insist, suggest, encourage--he's vague on this) government service for all young people. But then he mentioned how hard the young people are working on his campaign. They are volunteers I assume, and truly committed. So if people really care, they do volunteer, so why more government funding for what's already available through the private sector? It's just another huge bureaucracy with political strings.

Libraries out of their depth

You probably can’t pray or hold religious services in this library, but you can buy clothing. Call me stodgy, but I think libraries should serve the community with information about services, not the services themselves.

“The Good Buy Room has some great deals on gently used clothing. The Spring selection of wares are here and are very reasonably priced. When you come into the main library in Buckhorn next time, go downstairs to the lower level and checkout the wonderful selection.”

So many librarians really wanted to be social workers at heart. They wanted to help people save the world without seeing blood or a classroom or digging a well. In career counseling they were warned about the paper work, documentation, constant meetings, low pay and seeing no change in people’s lives, so instead, they gravitated to library science. No one alerted them . . . that. . .well. . . it’s supposed to be about information--collecting, storing, preserving, guiding and providing (plus all the above listed stuff). Increasingly it’s about networks, computers, licensing, and fund raising, but all with the goal of providing people with information they can use. Some libraries rent tools and supply day-care. Some have reading classes. Or teach crafts. Show movies. Put on rock shows with air guitars. Anything to raise stats.

Does this community not have a Women’s Club, or Veterans Group or Church or Hospital Auxiliary that is looking for a service project? Is there only one public building? Let the schools teach; let the churches read and follow Matthew 25; let the volunteer groups raise funds.

Think local, act short term

You'll do far more good. Sixteen year olds are just not going to get turned on to a project to help their grandchild inherit a better earth. On our way to Worthington last night to have dinner with our friends Wes and Sue, we were stopped at a light at 315 and North Broadway. What a mess. There is trash--bottles, bags, old political signs, posters, grocery sacks, newspapers--embedded in all the branches and grasses, smashed up against the wire fences, and strewn along the easements and berms. I'm not sure if this is a county problem or a city problem, but I know it is a local problem. Everytime a piece of paper breaks loose from a garbage truck bin, it collects itself with other trash along a fence row. Everytime a wise guy tosses a beer bottle from the car window, he's invading my space. All the schools have community service requirements "to incorporate classroom skills with the real world." A few stints of cleaning up these areas instead of the cushy inside jobs at the senior center or the local library would probably teach teens a lesson they'd never forget. Litter hurts.

Church of the Best Buy

Sometimes I arrange my poetry into shapes. My best efforts were a Christmas tree, a tornado, and a side profile of a man's face. So when I see information in an ad arranged to give two messages--one verbal, one graphic, I stop to read it. In yesterday's paper there was a small ad for the Best Buy Scholarship fund. I don't think I own BB stock, but I shop at Best Buy once a year for my son-in-law--it sells "consumer electronics, home-office products, entertainment software, appliances and related services through more than 1,200 retail stores across the United States, throughout Canada and in China." Volunteerism figures prominently at its corporate website. 1500 of the scholarships (non-renewable) are $1,500, but 51 are for $10,000--well worth taking the time to apply.

The ad I saw was all words, but shaped like a human, and it listed all the volunteer activities high school students might be doing which would qualify them for a Best Buy college scholarship. It was really quite clever and well done. Here's the list, and notice #14. (I added the numbers.)

1. Worked at the local food pantry.
2. Mentor
3. Picked up garbage off the freeway
4. Delivered meals on wheels.
5. Tutored a 2nd grader.
6. Walked the neighbor's 2 dogs.
7. Visited residents at a nursing home.
8. Rang the ------ (unreadable) for a total of --??--- hours.
9. Raked leaves for elderly people.
10. Mentor for a 3rd grader,.
11. Mowed the lawn for a handicapped neighbor for the past 4 summers.
12. Shoveled snow for Mrs. Jones.
13. Volunteered at a book drive to raise money for children's literacy.
14. Got a B+ on my chemistry test.
15. Organized a school blood drive,.
16. Basketball coach for 5th grade boys.
17. Read to toddlers at the local bookstore.
18. Children's summer program assistant.
19. Wildlife nursery volunteer.
20. Cooked for homeless teens on the week-end.

The only academic item on this list is a B+ in chemistry, and it is so different than the others, (it was the left arm of the figure), it almost looks like an error. The scholarship does have a grade point requirement, and obviously, the selectors are not looking for a teen who did all of this. In fact, a B+ in chemistry won't get you far in academic competitions--perhaps that's why it was included, to encourage the less than stellar students to apply.

What I like about this list is, 1) specificity, and 2) age appropriateness. They are not asking 15 year olds to go out and organize farm workers, picket abortion clinics, sleep on the streets with the homeless, or build homes for low income people. The list just by appearing in the paper shows that everyone, no matter how young, can do something close to home (and close to a Best Buy store, which is part of the FAQ). Only #20 seems out of place, considering the logistics and exclusivity of the idea (a pizza party with other teens sounds like a better idea to me rather than let-me-help you-feel-inadequate).

I think it is nice that Best Buy is a good corporate citizen, that it helps the communities from which it earns its income, and that its employees have opportunities to volunteer. However, I also believe its first commitment has to be to its real mission, to make money honestly in an ethical manner for its investors, which will in turn be good for its employees, the U.S. economy and the global economy.

This is a good lesson for youth staff of churches--as long as they keep in mind their real mission, which is to preach and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ--his life, death and resurrection--discipling their youth to move out into the community, and not just compiling to-do lists to keep their young, affluent members busy with feel-good projects.

4088

Are Democrats stupid?

No, but they know the American people, and they may be right. If something doesn't work, we just keep doing it, or electing it hoping for better luck next time. The Democratic candidates for president are on the road to New Orleans, the most corrupt, the most patronage puffed, the most crime ridden city and the most bamboozled by the Democratic party (as of August 2005--Katrina Hurricane) in the United States. It will be another attempt to lay this at the feet of President Bush, which is so absurd I do wish the man would step on them with his big cowboy boots and just lay it all out about whose responsibility it was that the city was sitting on leaking levees controlled by parish boards, that its public housing was filled with poor blacks with no hope, that its government health care was the pits, that the streets were swarming with criminals and that the Mayor and the Governor never did a thing to evacuate those projects even with all the warnings they had, letting the buses drown in the flooding and the criminals take over while they evacuated their cabinets and family members.

But here comes another black, Democratic savior for the Democrat racists in NOLA--Barack Yo'mama Obama

The Gulf Coast restoration, Mr. Obama said, has been weighed down by red tape that has kept billions of dollars from reaching Louisiana communities. As president, he said, he would streamline the bureaucracy, strengthen law enforcement to curb a rise in crime and immediately close the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet in order to restore wetlands to protect against storms.

Mr. Obama also said that he would seek to lessen the influence of politics in the Federal Emergency Management Agency by giving its director a fixed term, similar to the structure of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The FEMA director would serve a six-year term, under Mr. Obama’s plan, and report directly to the president.

Mr. Obama, an Illinois Democrat, and several presidential hopefuls are scheduled to arrive in Louisiana this week to highlight how New Orleans has — and has not — recovered from Hurricane Katrina. Democrats have sought to use the city as an example of what they believe was among the Bush administration’s greatest domestic failures. Jeff Zeleny, NYT, Aug. 26, 2007 Jeff, how'd you keep a straight face writing this drivel?

Over a million volunteers from every state in the nation and every imaginable religious group have headed to NOLA in the last two years to pull it out of the mud. I'm guessing they've done more than all the federal FEMA dollars and reelected-Nagin nonsense combined. And I think that is under reported.