Government funded, non-profit After School Programs

If you’d like to develop an after school program in your community, there’s apparently a lot of money. Here’s the link for government grants. You can be the director and hire your out-of-work or underemployed friends and relatives to help you. A back ground in teaching or social work might be nice, but I don't see that anywhere as a requirement. If you don't like children, you might try a different non-profit area, like finding mold, or lead, or hazardous waste.

No one has ever been able to determine what exactly these after school programs do in the long run, but in the short run they keep children supervised and off the streets, and provide adult mentors. Maybe they reduce crime; maybe they just put good kids in the path of bad kids they normally wouldn't be spending time with.

In the 1950s, my after school program was called "working at Zickuhrs," the local pharmacy, and I also had one called "working at the public library." After school club activities were known in the old days as hanging out with my girls friends for parties, overnights and picnics. When I was in elementary school I think it was called Girl Scouts, 4-H, and church choir. I'm sure the adults were role models, although we probably didn't think of them that way, and I'm sure they weren't paid. Our parents, not the government, provided the snacks, and I actually earned college money with all that adult advice and supervision from the Mayor and his wife Alice.

This definitely isn’t new to Obamadmin; the government has been using non-profits to spread the wealth for years. Bush was a heavy user of religious organizations for this. In exchange for taking government money, they were not to get preachy, which is what the church is there for. This will probably get much more restrictive under Obama--that's one promise he'll probably keep.

Just glancing through the list; in FY 2006-2008 there was about $7 billion available in just one after school snack program called CACFP; if you can throw in a little supervisory training for job skills you can dip in a pool of about $36 million through CNCS; if you’d like to educate the children on environmental issues there are numerous grants through EPA, including $25,000 from an $8 million pocket (2006-2008 years). I’ve even seen grants for getting people into mortgages in this after school funding list, although I’m not sure how that benefits the children--putting their single mom into mortgage debt instead of subsidized rental housing.

One of the "crown jewels" of after school programs is located in Chicago, called "After School Matters," and it was started by Mayor Daley's wife about 20 years ago. That should be long enough to see if it really does matter, but the fly in the ointment in determining this is that the children in the program are hand picked, and they can't participate unless they have a good attendance record in public school. Reading through a 2008 report, it appears to me it is in direct competition with several other programs in Chicago which don't get the fat cats' contributions. They all use government money, of course. But how they name it is a bit clever. For instance ASM says in a report by Sengupta

"Researchers studying After School Matters at Chapin Hall have asserted that its funding stream depends on Maggie Daley’s leadership. According to After School Matters’ audited reports from FY 2005-2006, of the $22 million in revenue received, 30% came from in-kind contributions from Chicago’s public partners, such as school and park space, while 51% came from government contributions."

Call me crazy but 51% from government "contributions" and 30% from the school and park funding is all tax money, isn't it? And $22 million a year for an afterschool arts program is nothing to sneeze at. The children are paid to attend this, so the demand is high. Then that leaves three other programs, also government funded, to pick up the slack: Department of Children and Youth Services includes the Kid’s Start and recreational centers after school programs; PARK kids run by The Chicago Park District; and Community Schools Initiative run by Chicago Public Schools. Since the Park district and the schools also contribute to ASM, it would seem to me the lesser advantaged kids are contributing to the more advantaged.

This is definitely math Chicago style. Now we see where Obama gets it.

Obama’s revolving door--FINRA and SEC

I've written about Mary Shapiro before. There is no hope for change when the fox guards the henhouse. We'll continue to have the Bernie Madoff and "Sir" Allen Stanford scandals and ponzi schemes.

"Markopolos and the subcommittee members devoted much time to laying out the multitudinous and egregious failures of the SEC with respect to Madoff. During the questioning, Markopolos was asked his opinion of another regulatory entity that is supposed to be overseeing and policing the activities of a segment of the financial services industry—broker/dealers. This one is called the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). It is a non-governmental organization run by the broker/dealers (think: fox watching the henhouse), empowered by the U.S. Congress to do so. Its powers include arbitrating disputes between customers and their broker-dealer members, since aggrieved customers are not usually permitted access to the courts. Supposedly, the U.S. Congress oversees FINRA activities.

Now, Markopolos was asked to compare the SEC and FINRA. His answer was short and pithy: the SEC is incompetent; FINRA is corrupt.

President Obama had appointed one Mary Shaprio to be the new head of the SEC, replacing the clueless Christopher Cox. I also knew that Mary Shapiro's previous job was head of FINRA, where she was paid approximately $3 million per year, plus another $5-$25 million reward for her FINRA exit. So, we have here the chief of a corrupt regulatory body, being appointed to clean house at an incompetent regulatory body. She was unanimously confirmed by the U.S. Senate." Bob Gilbert quoted at Maggie’s Notebook

This should be a classic

Of all the blogs written on Terri, this is one of the best. It's been almost four years.

How little the lives of children matter in the legal system

In Ohio, we have incredibly oppressive, counter-productive drug sentencing laws. We have so many people in prison for doing dumb things with drugs, hundreds of books could and probably have been written. That's not my topic. This is about maimed, injured and murdered children. Here are two stories in today's Columbus Dispatch.

1) MOTHER OF BATTERED BABY GET PROBATION: The child had 27 bone fractures and cigarette burns on it. The father went to jail for 4 years; the mother gets probation and the child back. The injuries happened in May 2007; just getting to court. Link.

2) MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN 2001 DEATH OF TEEN IN BATHTUB: A man drowned and dismembered a 15 year old boy, and got the MAXIMUM sentence, 7.5 years. It was called a "domestic" dispute, because the boy was somehow related to the sister of the ex-wife. Link

But they'll put druggies in jail to rot forever.

Another meme

I found this at Gekko's site.

1. What are you wearing right now? Navy wool slacks, white collar shirt, layered with rust colored 100% cotton long sleeve open weave t-shirt. Brown Ecco tie oxfords, no jewelry except my rings.

2. What is on your mind right now? Blogging this meme. Also, I'm multi-tasking, listening to see if the dishwasher is still making that funny noise I heard on Thursday.

3. What was the last thing you watched on TV? I had one of the rerun channels on during the night. I saw several wretched "family" comedies from recent years, one about a baby being born with lots of screaming and yelling, one about a daughter that shoplifted so she could get in with the popular crowd, one about a daughter 15 who was getting her driver's permit and was driving badly because her boyfriend dumped her; they weren't very good, but I was awake with a cough about 3:30, then overslept. The converter box is working fine on the 20 year old set. Wish my eyes worked better; it's across the room.

4. What was the last thing you ate? My fabulous, thrown-together, cabbage soup with a touch of sweet-sour. See the previous blog entry.

5. Who was the last person you were on the phone with? Haven't talked on the phone today. It might have been a friend calling from Florida who reads this blog?


6. Are you a compulsive cleaner? I'm cleaner than a lot of people, but certainly not compulsive. I can see cracker crumbs and cat hair on my dark green office carpet. I've recently discovered that if I wipe some alcohol on my kitchen marble counter top, the paper towel finds a lot of dirt. I wonder if it's the old sealer coming up?

7. Zombies - good, bad, or just misunderstood? Where did that come from? Do people actually think on such things?

8. What was the last song you listened to? I was listening to Dr. Laura on a California station yesterday (streaming radio)--so it was probably her bumper music. She's not been available locally since the Gays got mad at her for saying that an adopted baby deserved a mother and a father.

9. Do you have any pets? Yes, she's getting drowsy right behind me on my office couch. I gave her a piece of cheese at lunch, and she'll be my best friend for about 2 hours.

10. What's your favoritest ice cream? Toft's Moose tracks, but it's hard to beat their Black Raspberry Bugaboo Fudge, too. I hope the government doesn't socialize the ice cream business and ruin it.

Cabbage soup for lunch

After I started this one, I thought I'd check google. Hmm. Cabbage soup doesn't seem to be a hot topic. Here's what I had. A very tired, half a head of cabbage. I trimmed off all the brown and limp, and chopped it up with a medium onion, and put it on the stove with home homemade chicken broth. I usually keep a lot of broth on hand, but the other day decided it looked a little pricey, so I just cooked some chicken and froze some of the broth. That's what I'm using. The recipes I looked through all used beef broth, some included potatoes and carrots. I have that. And I also have some green peppers and some tomato juice that needs to be used up. I looked through Granddaughter's Inglenook Cookbook, but that wasn't old timey enough.

I'm sure my mid-19th century Great grandmother Nancy (near Dayton) and Great-great grandmother Mary Ann Elizabeth (Dandridge, TN) must have kept this kind of food around the house--not having refrigeration and huge families. By the end of February, carrots, potatoes, turnips, onions, and cabbage must have become pretty boring and probably looked as limp and tired as what I had in the frig this morning.

I looked in More-with-less cookbook and found something called "Good Friday Vegetable Soup," which uses chicken broth, carrots, onions and cabbage, as well as green beans. I don't want to add any beans. I'd throw in some corn, but my husband hates corn. One of the recipes I googled was sort of a sweet-sour flavor using a touch of brown sugar and lemon juice, so I tossed in a little of that.

I'll let you know. . . but it sure smells good.

Update: It was fabulous with some crackers and cheddar cheese. That sweet-sour touch did it. Also I sprinkled in some bacon bits.

Sourcing the Morgenthau 1939 quote

At the coffee shop this morning another imbiber handed me a quote on a torn piece of paper, "We are spending more money than we have ever spent before, and it does not work. After eight years we have just as much unemployment as when we started, and an enormous debt to boot. - U.S. Secretary Henry Morgenthau. . . May 1939." Being a librarian, I looked into his handsome face and said, "Do you know the source?" And he didn't.

So when I got home I googled it, and found every conservative, libertarian and anti-Bam source on the internet is using it. That's not a good sign. Even going to a fact checking web site like Snopes or Factcheck is dicey, because even those are political, whether liberal or conservative. Someone, somewhere, must know where the original is, but with libraries like Fisher in the College of Business at OSU closing because it's all free on the internet, I don't know if I could find a paper copy. And these days, for this librarian [retired], paper is the "gold standard." Anything digitized, like all that stuff Obama promised us would be up there for us to read, can be altered. And although his staff had wiped out all the Bush stuff on January 20, they can't even get his press conferences up in a timely fashion so you can fact check. (I wonder if his IT staff paid their taxes?)

Anyway, I only recently (yesterday) began reading Alan Caruba because he'd written about coal, which is extremely important to Ohio's economy, which Obama and his green friends are trying to kill. Here's what I found in a Caruba blog.

In 1939, ten years after the crash on Wall Street, the Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., told the House Ways and Means Committee:

“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work. And I have just one interest, and if I am wrong…somebody else can have my job. I want to see this country prosperous. I want to see people get a job. I want to see people get enough to eat. We have never made good on our promises…I say after eight years of this administration we have just as much unemployment as when we started…And an enormous debt to boot!”
Does history repeat itself? Yes, it does. And there is every appearance that the White House and the Congress intends to repeat many of the errors of the last Depression that came to be known as Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal.

With exquisite timing, after ten years of research, professor of history, Burton Folsom, Jr. has published “New Deal or Raw Deal? How FDR’s Economic Legacy has Damaged America” ($27.00, Threshold Editions).

To get an idea of just how bad the U.S. economy was during the 1930’s, Folsom notes that, even though the U.S. had budget surpluses in 1930 and 1931, government spending “ballooned and far outstripped revenue from taxes.” It was the Wall Street Crash of 1929 that precipitated the Depression, but it was FDR’s “solutions” that deepened and lengthened it, actually preventing any solution.

I'm guessing he found the source in Folsom's notes, but unless I see the committee report somewhere in print, I'll reserve judgement on the authenticity. Some quotes are just too good to be true, and after 8 years in office, I'm not sure Roosevelt had any people left who would question his plans. Anyone got a source?

And please, let's not give all the credit for the mess to FDR! President Hoover first did what Obama is doing now with help in the fall from Hank and Ben before he took office, spiking the unemployment to the 20% range. FDR's policies just lengthened it. If those two presidents had sat on their hands, if they'd just gone on vacation or wherever the summer White House was in those days, we'd be a much different country today. Regardless of whether we have a Democrat or a Republican in office, we've been bankrupting our country with social spending, not military spending, for years.


You can see from this that spending on social/human services levels or dips a little under a Reagan or a Bush, but it doesn't really go down. We'll be stuck with SCHIP and summer lunches for children forever, even though they've never been proven to help poor children or decrease poverty. In America, it's all about intentions, never results. If it feels good, it must be good. Which brings me back to the Morgenthau quote--got a paper source?

Update: Caruba has kindly confirmed the source from the Folsom book: Morgenthau Diary, May 9, 1939, Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library.

Blogging from the kitchen

Today I'm sitting in the kitchen with the laptop--the one that frequently balks and quits, and I have to reload everything. I've learned over time, to not upgrade anything on it--not virus protection, not internet settings; don't add widgets or gizmos, nothing that flashes or wiggles. No music. No streaming radio. It wants to live in its own little cocoon of 2004, or whenever I bought it. So I got this e-mail from Murray, who will be my guest blogger until I can get the office computer to work (where I keep my drafts). Murray is living in Florida right now, but Spring is coming even to Illinois, wrapped in another very cold winter, and he and the Mrs. will soon be returning home to the golf links of Sunset Golf. course.

Murray sez: President Obama has been visiting some of the major cities to sell HIS plan to help people who got in over their heads and cannot keep up with their mortgage payments. His last stop was Phoenix where he assured the crowd that he has committed 75 billion towards that goal. He states that this help is only for the people that got caught up in the housing bubble or lost their jobs and will not assist the speculators, house flippers, and the people that bought more house than they could afford. (Heh,heh,heh!) Now, I would like someone to tell me just when did the Federal Government ever fine tune any financial bailout or large expenditure and track exactly where the money went? When they release this 75 billion it's gone. Never to be seen or heard from again. Just like free money for services in the war, the 150 billion PORK package and for Katrina. Anybody know what happened to those funds? They will manage the bail out just like they did with Medicare, Social Security and the National debt. They couldn't get the Prescription drug plan, the tax code, or even the simple AMT right.

Today I watched CNBC as the majority of the analysts argued why should the people who didn't do anything wrong bail out the people that did. One of our legislators responded with "these people did nothing wrong, they just got caught in the housing bubble"! Well, that statement ticked off quite a few people and one of the analyst replied, "me and everyone around me did nothing wrong but now our 401-K's are 201-K's. Who's gonna bail us out?" Excellent point that will go unanswered!

I'm sure by now you have all heard of ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. You know, they're the group that went to Ohio and rounded up anybody they could whether or not they lived in Ohio and took advantage of a weeklong period in which new voters can register and cast an absentee ballot on the same day in Ohio. You just know that they didn't round up anybody to vote Republican. Well, anyway these same shock troops will be rearing their ugly heads again. The troop hero (Obama) is dedicating millions of his PORK plan to this organization. Their next goal will be to stop people from being evicted from their homes even if it means that they will chain themselves to the front porch and refuse to be evicted. Or if evicted they will move back in. This will constitute civil disobedience. ACORN's drum beat and chant will be that they are defending these poor defenseless homeowners from the big bad banks. Columnist Michelle Malkin says "the ACORN foot soldiers, funded with your tax dollars, will scream, pound their fists, chain themselves to buildings, and engage in illegal behavior until they get what they want."

Here is a link to a video of ACORN breaking into a Baltimore house formerly owned by a woman who could no longer afford the payments after the Balloon. The bank she did business with no longer owns it and had resold it to someone else. Someone who probably had the traditional credit check and standard loan.

The lawyers will have a heyday AND your President already is aware of the tactics planned by ACORN and will see to it that they are adequately funded. This could, by itself, drag on for years.

I just looked in on the office computer. After hitting the F1 (or F2) key, after about 30 minutes a message came up about the keyboard, so I unplugged, replugged, and also rearranged the mouse just for good measure, and it seems happy now. Maybe the cat was looking for something to do last night when she wasn't sitting on my head while I was sleeping.

Going south for the decade with President Obama's Plan

Can we hold him to his promises?

No. "I will also go through the federal budget, line by line, eliminating programs that no longer work and making the ones we do need work better and cost less - because we cannot meet twenty-first century challenges with a twentieth century bureaucracy."

Actually, reading a bill line by line isn't the same, is it?

Or this one?

Third debate: ". . .what I've done throughout this campaign is to propose a net spending cut.... What I want to emphasize ... is that I have been a strong proponent of pay-as-you-go. Every dollar that I've proposed, I've proposed an additional cut so that it matches."

Rich Lowry RealClearPolitics:
If he had pledged in October to double federal domestic discretionary spending in a matter of weeks—including increasing the budget of the National Endowment for the Arts by a third, spending hundreds of millions more on federal buildings and throwing tens of billions on every traditional liberal priority from job training to Pell Grants—he'd have been hard-pressed to win at all.

The president should read the transcript of the third presidential debate. He claimed his program represented "a net spending cut." He called himself "a strong proponent of pay-as-you-go. Every dollar that I've proposed, I've proposed an additional cut so that it matches." He added, "We need to eliminate a whole host of programs that don't work."

Actually, I don't believe that if he told the truth he wouldn't have been elected. He made it over the finish line on white guilt, and blacks were voting for him 99%, and the press fell down and played dead. No, it wouldn't have mattered at all.

What is an OCDCA?
Not an obsessive compulsive disordered Californian. Here's the definition:

"an organization of community development agencies from through out the state [of Ohio] focused on building economically and socially stronger neighborhoods and communities. Through mutual assistance, training and advocacy, they influence public policy to improve the statewide community development environment and support community-based development."

This is one of those definitions you can choose words from several columns but nothing makes sense. So I went to OCDCA's web site and looked at its history. It has been in the "affordable housing" business for over 25 years and guess what? They've never found a reason to shrink (as they would if they were successful) only to expand. Imagine!

It began in 1983-84 with a foundation grant staffed entirely by volunteers to be an Ohio trade association for Community Development Corporations, hiring a director, Patrician Barnes in 1985. Her first initiative was to see that it stayed in business by creating a grant program funded by the state. It got $1 million from the Ohio Department of Development in 1985. Then it created the OCD Finance Fund building on the linked deposit model of AmeriTrust Bank, making it a product. From 1987-89 OCDCA organized a statewide Task Force to guide the Finance Fund, partnering with other development programs and an Episcopal Diocese. Then it got the governor and legislature in 1989 to provide matching public funds through an expansion of its CDC grant and Finance Fund continues to this day in a set-aside in the Ohio Housing Trust Fund. (Call me crazy but it looks like the state was matching state funding.)

Is it clear to you so far? Me either.

During the 1990s OCDC got involved in "educating the public" about ballot initiatives to expand the state's powers to finance affordable housing, helped draft legislation advocated for reduced state prevailing wages for housing targeted to low-income households and got exemptions from state prevailing wage for nonprofit sponsored housing development. (I think that means they didn't have to pay union wages.) Then it got into the training and assistance business making it possible for welfare recipients to start businesses and hold assets (called micro-enterprise programs).

As the CRA was gearing up to bring pressure on banks, the OCDCA began training Community Development Corporations staff.

Some new sites to visit

This is fun to read--at least for a conservative, The Absurd Report. Seem to be a few Washington insiders present--a group blog. Be sure to read the collection of links on articles about Obama paying mortgages, and the percentage that will fail within 6 months anyway. I was going to do that one, but they've already done it.

Also I've added Hot Stuff 2.0 to my library links. He/she has corralled a huge list of librarian bloggers (540 last I checked), which are fun to look through (for me). Didn't see the Laundress', Deb's or Jill's--think you just add your name at the bottom. Librarians are really into blogging. Only about 1% are conservative, would be my guess, and that might be high. But it reflects what's on the shelves of your library.

Somehow my Bearflag League group fell off my blog--must have been in my last redesign. It's a group of California or ex-pat California bloggers. Yes, I used to live in California. Way long time ago. Alameda. Update: I found the code and added it, but couldn't get it to work in a cute little scroll box.

FISCONS blogs on the issues that affect your wallet - and the members of Congress that vote to protect it.

For once (or twice) I agree with President Clinton

After being elected on "hope" Obama has been the biggest down talker of the people and the economy I've ever heard. President Clinton has cautiously announced that this isn't the way to give people hope, and that everyone who has bet against America in its history has lost. First he gives Obama an "A" for his first month (he doesn't mind the huge ethics lapse of Obama's staff). Then he adds his "fatherly" advice--lighten up.

Former president Bill Clinton tells Good Morning America, in an interview airing today, that he likes "the fact that (President Obama) didn't come in and give us a bunch of happy talk. I'm glad he shot straight with us. ... (But) I just want the American people to know that he's confident that we are gonna get out of this and he feels good about the long run. ... I like trying to educate the American people about the dimensions and scope of this economic crisis. ... I just would like him to end by saying that he is hopeful and completely convinced we're gonna come through this."

I have never felt so belittled and distraught as I do listening to our President hem and haw his way through a speech or interview. He is throwing bad money after bad. And then he tells us it probably won't work. Huh? The markets are responding--unfortunately--just the way Obama "hoped." The markets began plunging when it appeared in the fall that Obama-spread-the wealth would be elected. They have continued to plunge because the more he destroys the economy, the more he knows the people will turn to him. Now all the gains of the Bush years have been wiped out, and Obama appears to be the big winner.

Friday Family Photo--August 1982

Is it too early, too cold, too gray to be thinking about Lakeside, Ohio, that 19th century chautauqua community on Lake Erie? In the 1980s, we liked the nostalgic 1950s feel; now we like the nostalgic 1980s feel.


This home was one of our favorite rentals. I think it's now owned by the director, Kevin Sibbring. When it came up for sale, we still had children in school, so couldn't even think about it. I like this photo because my son was standing on his tip-toes and was not yet taller than me. Now he is 6'1" and I'm the shortest one in the family. But in 1988 we did buy our own cottage, and now we can spend most of our summer at Lakeside. Here's my link for life at Lakeside.

Here we are at Lakeside (without the children) 25 years later, August 2007.

An unusual story in the Wall St. Journal

It actually criticizes President Obama, and points out how irritated and unhappy the people are who chose to live within their means, who met all the requirements for downpayment and percent of income for housing costs.

What do you expect from the government?" said David Newton, 46 years old, proprietor of DJN Management LLC, which owns 232 rental apartments in the Atlanta area. "The government isn't out there to help people who obey the law and follow the rules."

Mr. Obama "told everybody, 'I'm going to spread wealth around,' and that's what he's going to do," Mr. Newton said. Story by Timiraos and Phillips here.

Yes, it's a quote, but at least it's not from an ACORN "community organizer" who was first taking money from the government to put people into mortgages they couldn't afford, then taking money from the government to run foreclosure workshops, and now is taking money to organize foreclosure protests.

Since 1986, we have helped 45,000 families successfully negotiate the homebuying process and achieve the American dream of homeownership for the first time." ACORN website

"ACORN Housing provides one-on-one mortgage loan counseling, first-time homebuyer classes, and helps clients obtain affordable mortgages through our unique lending partnerships." ACORN Florida website

"In Providence, Rhode Island, ACORN will provide a foreclosure workshop to assist homeowners who need to renegotiate their mortgage loans. ACORN is a nonprofit group that advocates for initiatives that benefit moderate- and low-income people." Bankruptcy website

"ACORN plans local action to stem North West Indiana mortgage foreclosures." NWI website.

If you need a job, ACORN is hiring. I'm guessing the protestors in front of homes, banks, and mortgage companies are paid.

My Friend ERMA

United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund was authorized by President Obama after one week in office to furnish assistance under the Act in an amount not to exceed $20.3 million from the United States Emergency Refugee and Migration Assistance Fund for the purpose of meeting unexpected and urgent refugee and migration needs, including by contributions to international, governmental, and nongovernmental organizations and payment of administrative expenses of Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration of the Department of State, related to humanitarian needs of Palestinian refugees and conflict victims in Gaza. Federal Register, January 27, 2009"

Big Gay Al wonders how he missed it on the national news. Yeah, I wonder. Obviously, someone had that ready for his desk before he took his hand off the Bible.

So I went over to the ERMA website to see what else was going on, and why this was such a rush job.

Of the $20.3 million in new ERMA funds, $13.5 million will go to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), $6 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and $800,000 to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). . .

Today’s [January 30] contribution to UNRWA augments the $85 million the United States contributed in December 2008 toward UNRWA’s 2009 appeals. Of that amount, $25 million supported UNRWA emergency operations in West Bank and Gaza. The remaining $60 million supported UNRWA’s services for 4.6 million Palestinian refugees in the region, including Gaza. . .

Furthermore, today’s contribution to ICRC complements the $9.7 million the United States provided earlier this month for ICRC’s activities for victims of conflict in the Middle East, with particular attention to its critical programs in Gaza. . . In addition to our contributions to UNRWA, ICRC, and OCHO, to date, USAID has provided more than $3.7 million for emergency assistance to Gaza."

And does the US give Israel a lot. Oh yes. Billions. Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. However, when I tried to find a reliable source, all I found was hate Israel pro-Palestine sites (well, the first 20 or so). As with most problems in the middle east, it depends on your politics. Maybe the press didn't mention it because Bush gave more in December and they didn't want Obama to look like a piker?

The beautiful children of Haiti

Please see the previous blog entry first so you understand why we have these photos. It's hard to hold the camera when they all want to see the picture.



Lunch time! There are many shifts, and the food is on the table before the children enter.





Girl's choir from 2007 trip

Scenes from Haiti 2009

On Monday afternoon my husband returned from a short term mission trip in Ouanaminthe Haiti. This was his third year to go, and he hopes to go again next year. He loves the people there. By our standards, they don't have much, but they are so joyful in their faith, and the students he works with are just delightful.
The 2009 team with Dave and Pam Mann (UALC ministers who serve there)

The container with the construction materials didn't arrive until Thursday, but God always has a Plan B, so the team busied themselves painting a room cream with salmon pillars.

Two of the team members have medical equipment backgrounds and were able to help calibrate equipment in the clinic which is now completely staffed with Haitians. The first few years of the clinic it was staffed with rotating teams from the USA.

After he was finished with his construction responsibilities, my husband taught a 13th grade class in model building. These are models of the buildings he has designed for the vocational school which will be built next to the academic buildings.

Today's new word is JAILBREAKING

I don't have an iPhone, but do have an iTouch, which I haven't yet figured out. Today I saw the following: "For quite possibly the first time ever, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has publicly stated that it believes that jailbreaking an iPhone is against the law -- not against its end-user agreement for iPhone use with Apple's services like iTunes, its App Store, or MobileMe -- but against the law. More specifically, Apple contends that jailbreaking an iPhone infringes on its copyright. That's right, copyright."

Jailbreaking, then, is opening up your iPhone's file system so it can be accessed from your computer.

About.com says, "Jailbreaking your iPhone means freeing it from the limitations imposed on it by AT&T and Apple. You install a software application on your computer, and then transfer it to your iPhone, where it "breaks open" the iPhone’s file system to allow you to modify it. Once you do it, you're on your own. You may have voided your warranty, so you can't rely on AT&T or Apple to fix any problems you encounter."

Don't wear this to an awards event

Especially not if you are. . . rather large and going to be in every photo from the top seller award to the janitors' cleaniness prize. This photo is from yesterday's WSJ fashion article, but what I saw in a non-profit newsletter was a woman exec in a very big black and white patterned dress with jacket in a similar shiny fabric and design. And I won't provide a link. I don't think she realized when she took it out of her closet that morning for the event, that seeing the dress about 10 times in a single issue of the company newsletter would have such a stunning, memorable affect. At least I'll never forget it. The other female CEO wore a simple muted lavender suit, so she looked much more business-like standing next to the men who were all in dark suits, or even the janitors who also looked more professional than the black and white event of the day. It's not that large women have to always dress conservatively or in black, but neither should they be a moving billboard.