What he'll miss about President Bush

"I remember coming to the West Wing one morning before the daily 7:30 senior staff meeting and seeing Mr. Bush at his desk in the Oval Office, reading a daily devotional. I remember the look of sorrow on his face as he signed letters to the families of the fallen. When he met with recovering addicts whose lives were transformed by a faith-based program, he spoke plainly of his own humiliating journey years ago with alcohol. When a Liberian refugee broke into tears after recounting her escape to freedom in America, the president went over and held and comforted her.

Little acts behind the curtain like these inspired intense loyalty by staff members. They spoke of someone never too busy or burdened to care -- like when he took time on Air Force One to call my wife when she was sick. The president's true character rendered his media image pure caricature."

Jim Towey writes a very touching remembrance of President Bush. He was director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives from 2002-2006 and is currently president of Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, Pa. When I write analytically of the faith-based initiatives that are in almost every branch of the federal and state governments, I don’t do it to be mean or hostile to "good works." I am sounding an alarm based on Obama's promises. He may be too busy in the beginning dismantling the courts, but it will come.

People in social programs of housing, nutrition, food pantries, summer lunch programs, post prison work, nursing home ministries, fostering abused children, etc., particularly conservative Christians who are heavily involved in these areas to live out their faith with works, need to realize this can be taken away from you much faster than it was given (over a period of almost 20 years). Once you take government money (or, even if you don‘t) to train ex-convicts, or feed Somali immigrants, or provide outings for medicaid patients at the nursing home, the administrators of that program by law, law suit, regulation or political pressure can tell you who you have to hire (Obama has already said he will do this), can pull your tax exempt status which will destroy your funding, your building plans which need to pass code for an expansion, your retirement plans for your staff, your Medicare and Medicaid funding for the nursing home for your people, your right to have adoption programs limited to married heterosexual couples. And don’t forget what you’re allowed to preach from the pulpit about abortion, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, stem-cell research, or any type of morality from polygamy to sex with children in a society whose values come from Hollywood, Wall Street and the Federal government bureaucracy.

Christians, we need to get back to the business of God. Gospel first, works resulting from faith second. And stop depending on kick backs from the government to change lives. The Bible never tells you to do this, nor does it ever say that even if you do it without government help, that the service you perform to clean up, feed or house a person on the outside will change his life or turn him to God. That's an inside job, and it belongs to God.

Business as usual in the Obama White House?

"Rahm Israel Emanuel, who turns 49 on Nov. 29, was born on Chicago's Far North Side, with his family moving to Wilmette when he was a youngster. He is a graduate of New Trier West High School, with an undergraduate degree from Sarah Lawrence and a master's in communication from Northwestern University. He is a ballet dancer and a swimmer.

Emanuel's Israeli father, Benjamin, is a pediatrician, and his mother, Marsha is a social worker. Emanuel is an observant Jew who did not, contrary to some of the mythology that has grown around him, serve in the Israeli army. Rather, Emanuel in 1991 volunteered for a few weeks in a program run by the Israeli army where civilians could help the Israel Defense Force with support work on an army base.

He is one in a trio of superachieving brothers: Ari is a Hollywood superagent, the chief at Endeavor, and Ezekiel, a breast oncologist, is the chairman of the department of bioethics at the National Institutes of Health. An adopted sister, Shoshana is rarely mentioned.

Through his Wilhelm connection, in 1991, Emanuel joined the Clinton campaign as a fund-raiser, rewarded with the White House political director post. He flamed out in a few months, to be resurrected and end up as a senior adviser to Clinton.

After seven years in Washington, Emanuel moved to Ravenswood, making millions of dollars as an investment banker in a few deals, and making more money when tapped by Clinton for a plum spot on the Freddie Mac board." Sun Times.

Hmmm. I can see the beginning of a trend here. A Clinton third term. Well, I feel much better about Obama's marxism drift--Clintons we know. It's just old fashioned Democrat cronyism, Wall Street millionaires, and Fannie covering, so far so good. A ballet dancer? Other than that, same-old, same-old.

Obama's tax cuts for the middle class

This was published before the election, but still well worth reading. After all, it's not the conservatives who will be surprised.

"Just as Bill Clinton promised a "middle-class tax cut" in 1992 only to raise taxes on the middle class in 1993, Mr. Obama will quickly find that his tax-revenue math doesn't add up. Add in the demands on Capitol Hill to spend more and to offset the Alternative Minimum Tax, and our bet is that even $150,000 would soon prove to be a moving tax target. Remember when the AMT was only supposed to hit 21 millionaires? Next year, without relief, it could hit 26 million taxpayers. Tax increases always hit the middle class because that's where the money is."

Read Biden's Tax Truth
However, it was never about revenue, was it? It was about "fairness."

Dear Sarah Palin

That was the google search a few moments ago--I think I found 3,700,000. I was looking for an apology from John McCain for the way his staff has been scrambling for cover trying to find someone to blame. I even went down to the dregs--like page 57 or something--almost all were September and October. The vilification, misogyny, and sexism just went on and on. Like a huge leaky pustule on the nose of a Bush Derangement Syndrome Blogger. Really bizarre. I really didn't know there was such hatred and fear of capable, charismatic, talented women. I attended the rallies and did one volunteer shift--and from what I could tell, without her, he would have been lucky to draw 100 people. So I don't know what his staffers are upset about; she was a pure gift and they blew.
Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah Sarah

The purpose of a house

By poking around in the Plum Book for 2004, I think I've found the root of the housing problem. The government. The Plum Book explains the 7,000 Federal civil service positions, so as soon as the next one is published, Democrats will be all over it like flies on honey to see what's up for grabs. So anyway, I was browsing the Assistant Secretary for Administration of HUD, and came across the Center for Faith Based Initiatives and its Director, Ryan Streeter. Found this dandy little article by him about a viable return on housing investments (by the government) that he'd done for ROMA, Results-Oriented Management and Accountability (ROMA), U. S. Department of Health and Human Services in August 2001. He says there are two purposes for housing programs, but that they came about with no overarching plan (surprise!):

(1) There is the conventional view that says housing programs are a good in themselves, and
(2) There is the (more recent) perspective that says housing programs should promote the economic self-sufficiency of the people they serve.

Most federal housing is #1--designed to be shelter, with little plan or thought about the client's long term need. Block grants for shelter or for rehab or construction. But in the last 20 years (can we all say CRA?) HUD began to think more about self-sufficiency combining supportive services with housing services to get people off welfare (can we all say Republicans?). "These have become much more common in recent years. Approximately 1,200 local housing authorities sponsor a Family Self-Sufficiency program."

Of course, Mr. Streeter, continues, #2 is waaaaay more complex (and expensive) than #1. What he says the client gets is very vague--something about not living in an unstable environment and possibly increasing wealth if he becomes a homeowner. The other parties to this transaction are definitely not poor--they are developers, investors, contractors, the real estate market, surrounding homeowners and finally, we taxpayers. In other words, the government housing programs are a lot like the food assistance programs--they do a lot more for the producers than they do for the poor.

Ask yourselves how this has worked out in your own life. Unless you purchased investment/rental property, or were a home flipper in the last housing boom, owning a home didn't do diddly squat for your wealth. You think it did because of the home sale prices, but because of inflation and everything you poured into the house that you wouldn't if you had been a tenent, you are lucky to break even let alone accumulate wealth. What owning a home did for my family was provide shelter, a good school district for the kids, nice neighbors, a life style that suit my tastes and education, and a lot of job opportunities for other people in the housing field--real estate agents, plumbers, electricians, animal and pest control, house painters, pavers, lawn services, tree trimmers, and window salesmen.

We live in a lovely condo complex now with beautiful vistas, trees, ravine and creek, because in 1962 we purchased a dump--a 1912 duplex in a mixed zoning neighborhood in Champaign, Illinois. The student renters paid the mortgage, allowing us to eventually move out, rent both units and get a nicer place, plus have enough left to make a car payment. All other wealth we have accumulated in 48 years has come from salaries, savings, inheritance, and investments (one really strange one where we bought a building lot on a lake in Indiana for $10,000 and sold it the next year for $25,000 not putting a penny into it, except the guy who mowed the weeds, and never spending one night there.) We paid $28,500 for our Abington Rd. home in 1968, sold it in 2002 for $325,000 and paid $275,000 for this one. But we lived on Abington 34 years, put about $170,000 into various additions and remodeling, to say nothing of the general maintenance and decorating (taking out trees, putting up fences, taking down fences, putting in drive-way, replacing garage doors, fixing gas line leaks, rewiring the mess the previous owners had made, building closets everywhere (no basement or attic), treating carpenter ants, treating termites, mopping up after flooded toilets or washing machines, replacing things in the 90s that we'd replaced in the 60s, etc. We paid fees to sell it, and then had to put money into the condo to redecorate brown walls and red ceilings, bring it up to code with insulation, and got hit with a $7,000 roof assessment the first year. Just last week we had someone here to replace some rotting wood on the deck.

No, whether you do it for yourselves, for your children, for your parents, or the government does it for a low income mom with children from several boyfriends, you don't change lives through housing subsidies or grants. Take a tour through any prison, hospital, school or nursing home, and you'll see that it is not the building that changes lives or educates or makes people well. It's the same with us.

Now, will someone tell the government. Someone might need help with safe, comfortable shelter, but they probably don't need the nanny state trying to babysit and redirect their lives.

Setting the Record Straight on GSE's role in the economy

Since we're in for another round of FDR type "fixer-uppers" to weigh down the economy, the response to who's at fault is up at the White House Web page. Even if you're an avid Bush basher, you really ought to take a look, because your 401-k or 403-b has been just as damaged as mine, but for some reason, you just might think that by raising taxes, you'll get some back. Don't think it works that way--at least it didn't in the 1930s.

The chronology starts in April 2001 with the FY 2002 budget, "the size of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is "a potential problem," because "financial trouble of a large GSE could cause strong repercussions in financial markets, affecting Federally insured entities and economic activity." (2002 Budget Analytic Perspectives, pg. 142)" Democrats forget Bush inherited a recession and was probably trying to figure out how to fix it. Having poor people borrow both the mortgage and the down payment from the government was not a healthy way to go. Foreclosures were already showing that.

Read all the way through to August 2007 (chronology ends in September 2008), the last time I think this steam roller could have been halted and around the time I started blogging about it: "August: President Bush emphatically calls on Congress to pass a reform package for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying "first things first when it comes to those two institutions. Congress needs to get them reformed, get them streamlined, get them focused, and then I will consider other options." (President George W. Bush, Press Conference, the White House, 8/9/07)" I even wrote a poem about it in September 2007--not only were Barney and Chris not listening to the President, they weren't listening to Norma! Once the Democrats controlled Congress, there was no turning this thing around. Now they get the whole sticky wad.

Obama's team was much faster at taking advantage of this problem (by lying) than was the disorganized, flabby McCain team, so most of you bought into the, "it's the President/Republicans fault" meme and that action was needed immediately. I've spent more time deciding what to have for Thanksgiving Dinner than these Porkers did figuring this one out. We'll stay in this mess until someone smart about not raising taxes figures it out. I'm already retired, so please hurry up!

Too old and too female

There are a few old timers in the Senate and House who have become flabby porkers with 20-30 years of "service" to their country/state (in fact, one from Delware comes to mind). But too old and too female to own a gun? When her disabled husband who is older hasn't had the problem? Seems like state workers are just taking on a whole bunch of corrective and protective responsibilities never assigned to them.

"Delaware State Police stopped Alvina Vansickle from purchasing a .22-caliber pistol for self-defense because she was too old and a woman, said Superintendent Col. Thomas MacLeish.

The outrage that followed led to the revelation that Delaware State Police had been keeping lists of gun buyers for years; state law requires them to destroy these records after 60 days.

Without so much as a traffic ticket, the 81-year-old Lewes resident should have sailed through the mandatory state police background check when she tried to buy a Taurus revolver from Charlie Steele's Lewes gun shop last August.

Problems started after Steele made the required phone call to state police for approval of the firearms transaction." Delaware online

Now check out this video by Dr. Suzanna Gratia-Hupp of Texas whose parents were killed by a gunman: "What the Second Amendment is REALLY For," October 2003

Unity, social action and the weakened church of Europe

So what was happening to the church in the early 20th century that allowed it to be mowed down like wet grass by the National Socialists? (see previous entry) My grasp of 20th century history is pretty much limited to what I was taught in school or saw in the movies (i.e., FDR was our savior even though he extended the Depression 8 years; we were the good guys in WWII and bad guys in all following wars) and what I lived through. Keep in mind, I was either a humanist or a Democrat most of my adult life, or too busy raising a family, and working toward academic promotion and tenure to pay much attention to anything beyond the campus and home on Abington. Here’s a brief summary of about the first 40 years of the European Lutheran church in the 20th century from History of Lutheranism by Eric W. Gritsch (Fortress, 2002).

1) Ecumenism
2) Doctrine divides, service unites

Now, I realize it was a bit more complicated than that, but the leader of the ecumenical movement and all the cleverly named organizations and conferences that mushroomed (mostly in Europe with some participation of American churches) was a Swedish Lutheran, Nathan Söderblom (January 15, 1866-July 12, 1931). He was a man of deep longing for unity among Christians, a goal to which he devoted his life and studies, while pursuing eastern religions and dabbling in Marxism. Just skipping through the highlights of his life in Chapter 7, "New Ventures, 1918- :

1890 International Student Conference (New Haven)
1901 Young Church Movement, with links to Swedish socialists; studies Persian religion in Paris
1908 Proposal for Christian unity with Anglicans and mission work in India
1912-13 Professor at University of Leipzig, Germany
1914 Appointed archbishop of Sweden; Declaration of Peace and Christian Fellowship
1914 Unity efforts set aside by WWI with focus on helping orphaned German and Austrian children as head of World Alliance of Churches for Promoting International Friendship as a way to unite Christians in social action despite national and doctrinal differences
1917 Manifesto signed by leading clerics of Europe calling for a durable peace;
1917 International Christian conference--hand picked delegates; unity, life in society, international law were the topics
1919 World Alliance International Committee, 60 attendees from 14 countries (Netherlands)
1920 Negotiations for Ecumenical Council/Conference for unity and renewal of society (Geneva)
1925 Universal Conference of the Church of Christ on Life and Work (Stockholm) with six topics: 1) church’s obligation to the world, 2) church and economic and industrial problems, 3) church and social and moral problems, 4) church and the mutual relations of nations, 5) church and Christian education, and 6) methods of practical and organizational cooperation between Christian communions
1927 World Conference on Faith and Order (Lausanne); seven topics many doctrinal on sacraments, gospel, nature of the church--much tension--no vote taken
1930 Received Nobel Prize for peace
1931 Gifford lectures, honoring his work on world religions and the mystical unity of humankind

With his life, the chapter parallels what was happening in Germany to the church (mostly Lutherans, since this is a book about Lutherans) who have been participating all along in these calls for unity, cooperation, and mission to social causes

1932 German Lutherans who support Hitler (Reichskirche) and “heroic piety” call for a revival of inner mission and a platform to fulfill the intentions of the Reformation of the 16th century
1933 Hitler elected during economic crisis with the Jews blamed for all of Europe’s economic woes (i.e., evil, greedy, capitalist CEOs); he promises a new Germany; rise of secularization, churches lose influence; the government coordinates all sectors of public and private life.
1933 The Nazis first affirmed support of religious freedom, except when public security was threatened, and ties with ecumenism in other parts of Europe are halted
1934 German confessing church (bekennende Kirche) putting the gospel first, repudiates the false teachings of the government and many eventually go to prison camps and death.
1937 Second Conference for Faith and Order (Edinburgh)
1937 Conference on Life and Work (Oxford) Hitler barred Germans from attending
1938 German pastors are required to sign a loyalty oath or lose their ministry and salary
1939-1945 (World War II) The rise of German National Socialism (and Italian Fascism) during which the believing churches are suppressed; those who support the government (majority) allowed to continue.
1945 Surviving leaders of the German Confessing church establish Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany

In an effort to save the environment, I think the churches of today could just dust off a few of these documents (if they can find them), especially that one in 1925 with the 6 main topics has a very familiar ring, don't you think? Works for PAJAMA Christians.

National Socialism--could it happen again

A Chinese-American friend was visibly upset by the election of Barack Obama. Thinking perhaps she was remembering her youth in China when Mao came to power and so many capitalists had to flee (my college roommate’s family went to Brazil), we discovered she was going back further than that, to the free and democratic election by the German people of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, the subsequent suppression of the already weakened church, and the collapse of capitalism. And to that perfect storm, I would add race-based myths-- only this time around it’s the idea that by being of African descent Obama is superior, almost messianic in his appeal not only at home but abroad. Only he can expiate the sins of a history of slavery and Jim Crow. Clicking briefly through the news programs since Tuesday, the adulation by the native and foreign press and capitulation even by Republicans have been revolting. Dancing in the streets in Indonesia because he has brown skin? Have they never had a brown skinned despot in Asia? The government will now take care of all your deepest needs ideology? Haven’t we heard this all before? I almost can’t believe my ears and eyes. The spiritualized political language and its mesmerizing affect is breathtaking in its reminder of both the past and its precursor of what’s to come.

Friday Family Photo

There's no date on this photo, but it's a polaroid, so I know it was taken by my father-in-law. They usually came for the kids' birthdays in November. The lapels, wide tie, and pinky-orange shirt scream early to mid-1970s, as does the lime green trim in the living room to match the carpet which was installed about 1973. You can't see them, but my husband's slacks were bell-bottom, also quite popular then. I got that "serf" haircut after my appendectomy in fall 1974--before that my hair was almost waist length. My husband is wearing a leather belt hand tooled by a prisoner at the Ohio Penitentiary whom we used to visit with a church program around 1972-73. (The one who escaped with his girl friend in the garbage truck.) Ned Moore painted that watercolor of us sitting on the beach at East Harbor on Lake Erie in 1974 and we bought it at an art show in September. So I'm going to say it's November, 1974.

Tip: Remove all foral arrangements before taking photos.

Remembering Heather Pick

We were all saddened to learn of the death of Heather Pick, Channel 10 news reporter. Check video here. A few years ago--maybe 2004--we were in a furniture store in Rockford, Illinois, and mentioned to the salesman we were from Columbus, and he said we must know Heather--she'd been on a station there. WREX story. She lost her battle with breast cancer, but she was an inspiration to all who watched and knew her. She will certainly be missed.

Looking for sob stories

"onCampus," the faculty/staff newspaper at Ohio State, is looking for a few OSU faculty or staff who have gone through a tough financial situation and were able to rebound from it. onCampus will choose two or three people and conduct interviews with those willing to share their stories. Please respond to Associate Editor Adam King at king dot 1088 at osu.edu or 292-8419 by Monday (11/10) if you are interested in helping others in a financial crunch learn from your experiences.

I don't think they'll want to hear from me. I've been in four of the five quintiles and have no complaints. I was bounced around by PERS and STRS when I started planning for retirement each saying my time off for children (you can buy a year I think) was the others responsibility so I didn't get it. I was passed over for one position because it was given to the wife of a OSU faculty member, and spent my years there in a department whose average salaries were less than other big 10 institutions. Oh well.

Besides, I'd just give them some ideas on being pro-active not re-active. For instance

1) save one salary and live on the other if you have 2 incomes
2) max out the 403-b (which until September was a good idea, maybe still is, we'll see how long Obama can extend this recession to make people dependent on him)
3) tithe your income
4) learn to say NO to yourself and the kids
5) don't take vacations until you're over 40
6) pay off the credit card in 30 days
7) live below your means
8) don't borrow from friends or family
9) keep your car for 8-10 years
10) one of you stay home when the children are little

There. I'll wait to hear from them.

From Toledo Blade

"The Republican Party is experiencing an "identity crisis" and must "rethink" how it can compete in the future, the state party's deputy chairman said yesterday after watching Ohio complete its transition from "red" to "blue." "

How about they try being Conservatives to compete? No one's doing that one.

Michael Reagan on Obama

Under Bush Republicans we had socialism-lite--with Obama it's the real thing.

“In the case of Barack Obama, I hope during the whole campaign, all the things he promised to do I hope was a lie. I’d hate to actually see him put these things into place… and I’ll fight tooth and nail to stop him from putting these things in place.

“But, do I think it’s good for America that a black man was elected president of the United States? Absolutely. I just disagree with his policies.”

Reagan says that with the most left-wing president in history, coupled together with hard-core liberals controlling Congress, America is on the fast track to socialism.

“If Barack Obama is allowed to institute all the things he talked about, we are in to socialism. But let’s be honest, the Republicans under George Bush have been ‘socialism lite,’” Reagan explains. NewsMax account

All opposition to Obama is being presented as racism. That's ridiculous. It's his ideas, not his color, that will sink us. And his cronies.

Proud to stand

with Dodd and Feingold on FISA in February (aka Patriot Act). Backing Bush in June. Yes, he was for sure against amending FISA to allow the government to monitor more communications without a warrant. But then political expediency (he wasn't actually there for the vote--surprise, surprise!) starts to dawn on him. He might actually get to the White House after defeating Hillary in the primaries, and these powers of surveillance might be very useful, so he flipped on a clear promise to his supporters, stabbing his leftist buddies in the back (although they're loving him for it now).

"Given the legitimate threats we face, providing effective intelligence collection tools with appropriate safeguards is too important to delay. So I support the compromise, but do so with a firm pledge that as president, I will carefully monitor the program," Obama said in a statement hours after the House approved the legislation 293-129. [WaPo account]

Democrats hated FISA under Bush (1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act under Carter), but they've already learned to love it. Especially our Ohio Democratic administration. They are practicing to be good ObamaToms. So ripping through Joe the Plumber's records in Ohio (standard procedure we were told when someone's name appears in the news) is just a foretaste of what's to come with President Obama and the new, improved FISA. The fact that asking a question about taxes hardly makes one a national security threat, unless questioning Obama is perceived not only as racism, but a security threat.

HT Larry Johnson

White House for Sale

is an interesting web site. You can't track all the money donated to Obama, but you can see a lot of it. McCain's would be a little more straight forward since he didn't weasel out on the campaign funding agreement. Both the bundlers and the mega-donors. Pick anyone at random who's made a hefty donation and google his name (often husband and wife for double the mega-bucks). For instance this guy

Nasser A. Ahmad is chief investment officer and managing partner of DiMaio Ahmad Capital L.L.C. Prior to co-founding the Investment Manager, Mr. Ahmad was previously a managing director of CS Capital, the chief investment officer for the Diversified Credit Hedge Fund Group Prior to that, he was co-head of Global Cash and Derivatives Credit Trading within the Fixed Income Division at CS. Merril Lynch has minority stake in DiMaio Ahmad Capital. Originally, according to Fundrace and Campaign Money websites, Ahmad was covering his bases with an event for Asian Americans for Obama which required $28,500 a piece or $50,000 per couple. He and wife(?) were co-chairs for a Biden event ($50,000). He's been a featured speaker on a summit on Pakistan. That speaker's bio added a bit more:


Mr. Ahmad is on the boards of Breakthrough for Human Rights (a human rights, economic empowerment, environmental
sustainability and political stability organization (new media) which glancing through the report seems to help women in India) and the Soros Economic Development Fund. He is also a board member of the South Asian Action Forum (SAAF), a Political Action Committee (PAC) consisting of community and business leaders that promotes a progressive policy platform with key rising and established U.S. policymakers to which he donated $3,000 according to Fundrace. I assume that also when to Obama.

In 2008, Mr. Ahmad joined the National Finance Committee (NFC) of Senator Obama’s presidential campaign and was appointed co-chair of the Asian American Finance committee.

Isn't it interesting that I select a name at random and he turns out to be on the board of George Soros organization.

Obama and The PAJAMA Christians

No, I'm not referring to Christian bloggers, of which there are thousands, maybe millions. Or Christians who secretly are watching porn, listening to phone sex or gambling in their home offices at night on the internet. Or baggie pants Christians eschewing or setting current fashion trends chasing hip-hop idols. I'm talking about Peace-and-Justice-and-More-Aid ChristiansThe Christian reformers of the 15th-16th century had two problems with God's Word. First, they had to get it into the language of the people through direct translation and paraphrase from Greek and Hebrew into German, or English or French in a way that people could understand the simple, clear meaning of the Gospel. Second they needed to liberate scripture from the encrusted allegories that spiritualized or created retellings of Greek and Roman myths covering up the clear word of the Gospel, particularly in the Old Testament.

Over the years, scripture again became entangled in a variety of "correct" translations (with some American Christians believing only the KJV is acceptable, which is tough on speakers of French, Russian, Navajo, etc.) and fascination with prophecy with cherry picking of verses for seven dispensations and times of The Rapture, to extreme pietism that requires women to dress or fix their hair in a certain way or men not to use technological advancements (no TV but computers are OK), or scholarly treatises so dull and obscure with multiple editors and authors of various books of the Bible, they send the parishioner fleeing the pew into the waiting arms of the atheists, humanists or government program that promises to save the world.

The gospel preached from Jeremiah Wright's pulpit may have shocked some, but a quieter version of liberation theology has been recycled through American churches for years--actually predates Black Liberation Theology. PAJAMA Christians turn Christ into Moses, and he's not just leading them in some exodus from evil, Satanic capitalism. He's got a long list of rules to create a just kingdom on earth. However, instead of personal belief, behavior or sacrifice, they want the government to bring in the kingdom through our ever more bloated programs supported by taxes. (From my pocket to Washington, to a government employee, back to Ohio, to a government employee, then to a trust fund for the poor, to the pocket of a government employee with a few bucks left over for the poor.)

The Gospel isn't difficult, but you would think so, as seldom as it is preached, taught or sung either by conservatives or liberals. Luther writes in "A brief instruction on what to look for and expect in the Gospels":

For at its briefest, the gospel is a discourse about Christ, that he is the Son of God and became man for us, that he died and was raised, that he has been established as a Lord over all things. . . . Just as there is no more than one Christ, so there is and may be no more than one gospel. . . .Thus when Isaiah in chapter 53 says how Christ should die for us and bear our sins, he has written the pure gospel. And I assure you, if a person fails to grasp this understanding of the gospel, he will never be able to be illuminated in the Scripture nor will he receive the right foundation. . .

You should grasp Christ, his words, works and sufferings in a twofold manner. First as an example that is presented to you which you should follow and imitate. . . However this is the smallest part of the gospel, on the basis of which it cannot yet even be called gospel. For on this level Christ is of no more help to you than some other saint. . . before you take Christ as an example, you accept and recognize him as a gift, as a present that God has given you and that is your own. . . .when you have Christ as the foundation and chief blessing of your salvation, then the other part follows: that you take him as your example, giving yourself in service to your neighbor just as you see that Christ has given himself for you."

Obama has promised to undo the "faith based initiatives" the federal and state governments now use to rebuild and change society by requiring "nondiscriminatory" hiring. This in fact means for Christians, their organizations would become non-Christian. Christian non-profits have become so dependent on the government for funding, using their own funds to build bigger campuses, I suspect most would rather give up the Gospel than give up their own idea of what the gospel is--i.e., helping people through government grants, most of which go to pay their staff, keep their buildings open, and provide an outlet for volunteerism and service for their members to feel more holy.

Martin Luther's Basic Theological Writings edited by Timothy F. Lull is google scanned.

What I saw at the coffee shop

Gracious, goodness,
Lord Almighty.
This old gal
got quite a sighty.
Should we object
or bring a law suit
when common sense
we give the boot?

Here.

Even with fraud and bussing in the homeless

Obama raised and spent millions more than any candidate in history, much by theft and fraud which will never be investigated, carpet baggers ran around the nation registering Democrats, many states had early voting, and raised the dead, and still . . .

"The report released Thursday estimates that between 126.5 and 128.5 million Americans cast ballots in the presidential election earlier this week. Those figures represent 60.7 percent or, at most, 61.7 percent of those eligible to vote in the country.

“A downturn in the number and percentage of Republican voters going to the polls seemed to be the primary explanation for the lower than predicted turnout,” the report said. Compared to 2004, Republican turnout declined by 1.3 percentage points to 28.7 percent, while Democratic turnout increased by 2.6 points from 28.7 percent in 2004 to 31.3 percent in 2008." CNN

I'm not surprised that Republican turn out was low (or that single women were high); I overheard two older people at the library on Tuesday discussing whether it was worth it to vote. The press and polls tried to build Obama at every opportunity and suppress McCain's support. Conservatives didn't have a candidate until the end of August when Palin appeared, then all the "moderates" jumped ship. The slavish devotion of the press corp and op-ed-ers to expiate their guilt was palpable. I wish them luck, because the race industry is just too huge to be dismantled in the voting booth.

Affordable housing in Ohio--and your state, too

Because the current value of your 401-k, your 403-b, or your private investments and the value of your house are tied directly to the government's interference in the housing market in the past 15 years, it's time for you to take a look around, become familiar with the real estate, as it were. Today I'm looking at the Ohio Department of Development and how many fingers and thumbs are trying to pull out a plum.

Here's some history from the Ohio Housing Trust Fund Annual Report 2008 :

To address Ohio’s housing needs, Ohio’s housing advocates, led by the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (COHHIO), began a grass roots campaign to improve Ohio’s housing conditions. The campaign’s first success came in November 1990 when Ohio’s voters approved Issue 1, a constitutional amendment making housing a public purpose. During the following year, the Ohio Legislature passed implementing legislation (House Bill 339) to establish the Ohio Housing Trust Fund (OHTF) and an Advisory Committee to work with the ODOD, the administering agency, to develop the fund’s housing programs and policies.

OK, start small with volunteers, get some funding, get established, hire more staff to find more funding.

In the 1992-1993 Ohio Biennium Budget, $5 million of state general revenue was allocated to the fund. Immediately, Ohio’s housing advocates began lobbying for an OHTF permanent, stable funding source.

So that's the beginning. Identify a need, get a small grant to keep you going until you can get more money. No low income person's rent is ever paid, but the goal is set with meetings and workshops--rent, coffee and snacks eat up a lot of budget. Keep the need out front--"affordable housing," but keep expanding what that means. From homeless to poor to low income.

For the next 12 years, the fund’s allocation level struggles with a sluggish economy and the high demand for other state-funded services, including education. During that period, the allocation level fluctuated from $5 million for a biennium to $20 million for one year.

OK, funding is too iffy to pay all the salaries, so let's rethink this. We need to bring in more people at every level of the housing industry for a larger stake.

In 2002, established the Affordable Housing Taskforce, (when the word Trust Fund loses its glow, try Taskforce) recommend an increase in fees to have a permanent, dedicated funding source for the OHTF. Continue to raise fees, while warning about the housing crisis and lauding a public/private partnership to increase affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families.

What started as "homeless" in 1990, is now "moderate-income" housing. Continue to lobby the governor's office and state legislature and broaden your base in the building industry so they can get a piece of the pie. By the early 2000s, you've got so many endorsements, businesses, non-profits (which have also been expanding using the same methods) and financial institutions (which are being threatened for "red lining") plus religious organizations (faith based initiatives), you can go for yet another increase in fees for 2004-2005 for the funding of OHTF. And finally, the pot and the end of the rainbow.

In the 2008-2009 Ohio Biennium Budget, the Ohio Legislature appropriated $53 million each year to the OHTF. Subsequently, the State Controlling Board approved an increase in the OHTF appropriation authority for SFY 2008 to $56 million.

From grass roots, rag-tag volunteers for the homeless to $56 million dollars in just 18 years. Not bad. Of course, we still have homeless; we still have decaying housing stock in the older neighborhoods like Hilltop and near East side and over there south of Children's Hospital. But we have an unending stream of funding, the non-profits and religious organizations have places to put staff who might not otherwise have jobs, the volunteers have a place to go to feel good, and it certainly is reducing the gap between the rich and the poor--by helping indirectly to destroy the wealth of the middle class.

The bigger the housing trust funds became, the bigger the crisis grew--the more funding was needed. Take a look at this explanation by Fannie Mae, that sweet thing who was stealing from you all along while her front man Barney said everything was just fine.

And we've just elected a guy who claims we aren't doing enough!