Catholic Vote: Caroline Kennedy and Obama

Catholic Vote: Caroline Kennedy for Obama

Richard G. Malloy, S.J., Ph.D.

Author of A Faith That Frees: Catholic Matters for the 21st Century (Orbis 2007)

Who speaks for the Catholic Voter? Certainly the Bishops, and, as Vatican II teaches, lay persons also, who are especially called to engage in and order temporal affairs (cf. Lumen Gentium, # 31). Caroline Kennedy is a practicing Catholic who knows something about politics.

When I was five years old, I was hoisted up onto the bar in a Philadelphia neighborhood tavern, and my Father had me lead the whole crowd in singing McNamara’s Band. I liked the sodas and the hot dogs and didn’t really understand that we were celebrating the election of one of our own, an Irish Catholic. But I soon understood that there was a little girl in the White House who was the luckiest kid I’d ever heard of. She had her own pony, named Macaroni, and the pony lived right there.

So, in the summer of 1961 (or 1962?) my family piles into the car and takes a day trip to Washington, DC. We are going to visit the sites including the White House. I’m thinking, “This is great! I’ll be able to play with John-John and Caroline and get to ride her pony!” I am too young to realize the Kennedys and the Malloys are not quite in the same league. We get to the White House but cannot get in. It’s too late. We missed the tour. We’re walking away, when I see Macaroni. My Father yells at me not to stick my hand through the fence, but it’s too late. I have my arm stretched out, and Macaroni comes over… and bites me. Just a little nip, but enough to draw blood. That’s the day I learned life in the White House and politics can be rough.

Caroline Kennedy knows that much better than I. Hers has been a life graced and gifted with much, but also a life touched by tragedy and tribulations, pains and privations many of us will never suffer. Through it all she has been a woman of courage and compassion, grace and gravitas, a harbinger of hope, and the essence of dignity in a too often undignified age.

A graduate of Radcliffe/Harvard University and Columbia Law School, Caroline Kennedy is the co-author of two books, In Our Defense: The Bill of Rights in Action (1990) and The Right to Privacy (1995) and has edited several volumes. Her Profiles in Courage for Our Time, continues the legacy of her father’s Pulitzer prize winning Profiles in Courage. As a young adult, she interned for her uncle, Senator Edward Kennedy. For a time she worked at The New York Daily News. While working for the paper, she attended the funeral of Elvis Presley and wrote about the experience for Rolling Stone magazine (so you could say she really saw Elvis leave the building).

She is currently the President of the Kennedy Library Foundation, and director of both the commission on presidential debates, and the NAACP legal defense and education fund. She is also an adviser to the Harvard Institute of Politics, a living memorial to her father. She is the founder of the Profiles in Courage Award, and, in 2002, presented the award to all the brave men and women who were among the first responders to the events of 9/11. For the past several years she has been working to improve New York City Schools. She is married and the mother of three.

As arguably the most famous Catholic of my generation, and as a woman accomplished and influential, her thoughts and opinions on matters count. Caroline Kennedy is supporting Senator Obama.

In Jan. 2008, she published an op-ed piece in The New York Times entitled “A President like My Father” announcing her support for Senator Obama. She wrote: “I want a president who understands that his responsibility is to articulate a vision and encourage others to achieve it; who holds himself, and those around him, to the highest ethical standards; who appeals to the hopes of those who still believe in the American Dream, and those around the world who still believe in the American ideal; and who can lift our spirits, and make us believe again that our country needs every one of us to get involved. I have never had a president who inspired me the way people tell me that my father inspired them. But for the first time, I believe I have found the man who could be that president — not just for me, but for a new generation of Americans” (Kennedy, The New York Times, January 27, 2008).

A cover story in Time magazine once called her a champion of civility. The well known historian David McCullough, who sits on the panel that picks the Kennedy Library’s Profile in Courage awards, said, “She has a strong sense of personal responsibility. She knows she has serious work to do.” Of one of her books she once said, “I hope it will show people there is a process for working things out. To the extent that we are all educated and informed, we will be more equipped to deal with gut issues that tend to divide us” (Time, Aug 1, 1999).

As a quietly public person, Kennedy strives to help us overcome the divisions in our society and culture. As a Catholic, her support of Senator Obama fulfills our Christian duty to participate in the political process.

The teaching of the Catholic church on matters political is well articulated, and is more nuanced and complex than some would like to admit. See the Catholic Bishops’ website http://www.faithfulcitizenship.org/ . There is no major candidate in this election who is 100% pro-life. Senator McCain will allow abortion in the case of rape and incest, and has stated in 1999 that he would not be in favor of repealing Roe v. Wade. The only candidate in favor of abolishing the death penalty and protecting unborn life is Ron Paul. No candidate stands unequivocally with the Catholic Bishops and the Popes in opposition to the war in Iraq, but of the leading three candidates, Senator Obama comes closest.

Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, wrote in July 2004: “When a Catholic does not share a candidate’s stand in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes for that candidate for other reasons, it … can be permitted in the presence of proportionate reasons” (Ratzinger 2004. http://www.catholicsforcommongood.org/election.htm). That’s not some Jesuit spin on moral theology. Those are the present Pope’s own words.

Caroline Kennedy and other Catholics recognize the truth of the Bishops’ teaching that “a political commitment to a single aspect of the Church’s social doctrine does not exhaust one’s responsibility to the common good” (http://www.catholicsforcommongood.org/election.htm). This election, Catholics ought to listen to all our Catholic leaders, especially women like Caroline Kennedy.

Two more articles:(1) on Obama (2) on Iraq

White America, Listen! Shame on us that the Obamas need to fear.

http://www.bustedhalo.com/features/BarackObamaSecurity.htm


1.7 million = Iraq's body count if we were Iraq
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fr-rick-malloy-sj-/17-million-americas-b_b_85587.html

Of Sex and War: Two Articles

Here are two of my recent articles:

"Just Sex?: Giving young adults what they truly want."
http://www.bustedhalo.com/features/SexandCatholicHigherEd.htm

"Bring'em Home, but at Least Pay'em. Wear Green!"
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-malloy-sj/bringem-home-but-at-lea_b_81864.html

Youtube Magic

My Question for Republican candidates:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axabZXqxE5I
(with apologies to Bob Dylan!)

Plug for my book :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yh88huZu4ew&feature=related

How Long O Lord?

U.S. Guards Kill 2 Iraqi Women in New Shooting

Joao Silva for The New York Times. An Iraqi boy peered Tuesday inside a car that was towed to a Baghdad police station after two women inside were killed.

By ANDREW E. KRAMER and JAMES GLANZ Published: October 10, 2007

BAGHDAD, Oct. 9 — Two women died here on Tuesday when their white Oldsmobile was riddled by automatic gunfire from guards for a private security company, just weeks after a shooting by another company strained relations between the United States and Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/10/world/middleeast/10iraq.html

Anthropologists: Slaves of the State or disciples of the discipline?

This article raises many troubling questions. How can Anthropologists avoid being duplicitous in the war making of the empire?

Army Enlists Anthropology in War Zones

An Afghan boy at a medical clinic set up by American Army medics and an anthropologist in the Shabak Valley in Afghanistan.

By DAVID ROHDE
Published: New York Times, October 5, 2007

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/05/world/asia/05afghan.html?bl&ex=1191902400&en=3a7c6f8648b23327&ei=5087%0A

The Sydney Morning Herald's headline: "America's new weapons are anthropologists"

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/americas-new-weapons-are-anthropologists/2007/10/07/1191695739604.html

Wait til next year's Fightin' Phils

Yo, Phillies. Thanks for a great year. See you all in April 2008 when the quest will begin once again.

GO PHILLIES !!!

Fly, Phillies, Fly, on the path to victory
Fly, Phillies, Fly get them out one, two, three
Hit'em far, hit'em long
As we sing our Phillies song
Fly, Phillies, Fly, and win the World Series

(my own rewrite of a Philadelphia anthem!)

Hitchens and Harris are confused at best, idiotic at worst

Read my article debunking the slew of recent "God is Goofy, Faith is a Fraud" type books

http://www.bustedhalo.com/features/HarrisandCompany.htm

Harry Potter Good for all (Even Christians)

The Huffington Post ran my article on Harry Potter. Check it out.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fr-rick-malloy-sj-/harry-potter-good-for-ev_b_56968.html

A Faith That Frees

My Book, A Faith That Frees: Catholic Matters for the 21st Century, will be published by Orbis Press this Fall.

Check out the link to the Orbis Press Web page.

http://www.maryknollmall.org/description.cfm?ISBN=978-1-57075-734-1

Peace

The Way Beyond Iraq: Forgiveness

Read my article written for busted halo .com

http://www.bustedhalo.com/features/TheWayBeyondIraqREVISE.html

WHY I AM A JESUIT PRIEST

WHY I AM A JESUIT

http://www.mdsj.org/MalloyNJNOct2006.pdf

The Great Reversal: Blessings and Woes in Luke 6

The Great Reversal: Blessings and Woes in Luke 6

Rick Malloy, S.J.

http://www.food4thought.tv/Media/stj/hires/070211malloy.wmv

VALENTINE’S DAY: A gal walks into a post office one day to see a middle-aged, balding man standing at the counter methodically placing "Love" stamps on bright pink envelopes with hearts all over them. He then takes out a perfume bottle and starts spraying scent all over them. Her curiosity getting the better of her, she goes up to the balding man and asks him what he is doing. The man says, "I'm sending out 1,000 Valentine's Day cards signed, 'Guess Who?' " "But why?" asks the girl? The man replies, "I'm a divorce lawyer.”

1. To understand things, you have to understand context and background.

- To understand this week, you need to know what Valentine’s day is (and ladies, for guys, Valentine’s day makes as much sense as a dog looking at a computer screen).

- Yesterday Sen. Barack Obama announced he’s a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. He did so in Springfield Illinois and invoked the meanings and myths of another tall, gangly Springfield lawyer, who went to the White House and changed the Nation and the world’s history. If you don’t know who Lincoln was, you missed half of what Obama was saying in his electrifying speech yesterday.

- To understand what Jesus is saying in the Gospel today, you have to know his people’s history, the meanings and myths of the people of Israel. The central story of Jesus’ life has been re sung recently by Bruce Springsteen on his album, the Seeger Sessions. “O Mary don’t you weep.

Well if I could I surely would, Stand on the rock where Moses stood

Pharaoh's army got drownded, O Mary don't you weep

O Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn, O Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn

Pharaoh's army get drownded O Mary, don't you weep

Well one of these nights bout 12 o'clock this old world is gonna rock
Pharaoh's army got drownded O Mary don't you weep

Well Moses stood on the Red Sea shore And smote the water with a two by four
Pharaoh's army got drownded O Mary don't you weep

O Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn O Mary, don't you weep, don't you mourn
Pharaoh's army got drownded O Mary, don't you weep

2.. What was Jesus’ context and background as he gave this sermon?

- “Pharaoh's army got drownded.” That’s the whole background of Jesus’ life. That’s the context within which Jesus understands God, as the God who freed the slaves, as the God who stood against the empire, as the God who reversed all the social patterns of those who unjustly oppress others. This God of Jesus was not on Pharaoh’s side. The God of Jesus was on the side of those who were fleeing slavery in Pharaoh’s empire. The God of Jesus leads the slaves into the challenge of the desert and the freedom of the Promised Land.

- Mary don’t you weep no more speaks of Mary Magdelene at the end of John’s Gospel. Mary don’t weep, because the resurrected Jesus now does what Moses did. The risen Lord promises that the empires won’t last forever. Jesus calls his disciples to believe in the promise and possibility of the Kingdom of God.

- Jesus preached a new social order, a world wherein all values are reversed and the first shall be last and the last first. A kingdom of Justice and Joy, Faith and Freedom, Peace and Prosperity, Hope and Healing, Liberty and Love.

- Marcus Borg: The kingdom of God is God’s hope for the world. God’s Kingdom will bring blessings for those dominated and exploited by empires; woes to those who benefit from established unjust orders maintained by military might. “The Kingdom of God is about a great reversal of the ways things are” (Borg 2006:245)

Jesus was a prophet like Jeremiah. Jeremiah says cursed is the one who trusts in human social structures based on oppression and exploitation. Blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord. Jesus says woe to those who are rich, filled, Laughing, spoken well of. Their day of distress is coming. Jesus says Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the weeping, the excluded and hated.

Jesus is saying those who serve Pharaoh’s army may be rich, and filled, and laughing and spoken well of. But empires built on exploitation and injustice cannot last. Those oppressed by such empires are poor. The exploited weep. Those destroyed by floods and war, like Katrina and Iraq, are hungry now. Those who speak up and call the empire to accountability and repentance are ridiculed, hated, persecuted and killed. But the great reversal is coming.

Jesus is saying all this in the context of his sermon on the plain. In this chapter 6 of Luke’s gospel, Jesus comes down to be on a level place and gives his campaign speech, telling us what he’s all about. He’s all about the Kingdom of God. He’s all about Loving our enemies. He’s all about not judging others. He’s all about forgiveness. He’s all about being merciful and compassionate as God our Father is compassionate and merciful.

3. What’s our context? What’s our background as we hear this Gospel of Blessings and Woes today?

Last week we heard Super Bowl players and coaches thanking God for helping them win. We’re going to hear presidential candidates invoking God as they campaign for the White House in 2008. We hear over and over how ours is a Christian Nation.

Bill McKribben last year wrote a provocative article for Harpers magazine. In that article he deeply analyses and questions whether all our rhetoric about being a Christian nation is matched by our actions. McKribben finds us falling short.

“Only 40 percent of Americans can name more than four of the Ten Commandments, and a scant half can cite any of the four authors of the Gospels. Twelve percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. … Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves.” That is, three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture. The thing is, not only is Franklin's wisdom not biblical; it's counter-biblical. Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its radical summons to love of neighbor. On this essential matter, most Americans—most American Christians—are simply wrong, as if 75 percent of American scientists believed that Newton proved gravity causes apples to fly up.”

“America is simultaneously the most professedly Christian of the developed nations and the least Christian in its behavior. … Ours is among the most spiritually homogenous rich nations on earth. Depending on which poll you look at and how the question is asked, somewhere around 85 percent of us call ourselves Christian. Israel, by way of comparison, is 77 percent Jewish. It is true that a smaller number of Americans—about 75 percent—claim they actually pray to God on a daily basis, and only 33 percent say they manage to get to church every week. Still, even if that 85 percent overstates actual practice, it clearly represents aspiration. In fact, there is nothing else that unites more than four fifths of America. Every other statistic one can cite about American behavior is essentially also a measure of the behavior of professed Christians. That's what America is: a place saturated in Christian identity.”

“But is it Christian? This is not a matter of angels dancing on the heads of pins. Christ was pretty specific about what he had in mind for his followers. What if we chose some simple criterion—say, giving aid to the poorest people—as a reasonable proxy for Christian behavior? After all, in the days before his crucifixion, when Jesus summed up his message for his disciples, he said the way you could tell the righteous from the damned was by whether they'd fed the hungry, slaked the thirsty, clothed the naked, welcomed the stranger, and visited the prisoner. What would we find then?”

“In 2004, as a share of our economy, we ranked second to last, after Italy, among developed countries in government foreign aid. Per capita we each provide fifteen cents a day in official development assistance to poor countries. And it's not because we were giving to private charities for relief work instead. Such funding increases our average daily donation by just six pennies, to twenty-one cents. It's also not because Americans were too busy taking care of their own; nearly 18 percent of American children lived in poverty (compared with, say, 8 percent in Sweden). In fact, by pretty much any measure of caring for the least among us you want to propose—childhood nutrition, infant mortality, access to preschool—we come in nearly last among the rich nations, and often by a wide margin. The point is not just that (as everyone already knows) the American nation trails badly in all these categories; it's that the overwhelmingly Christian American nation trails badly in all these categories, categories to which Jesus paid particular attention. And it's not as if the numbers are getting better: the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported last year that the number of households that were “food insecure with hunger” had climbed more than 26 percent between 1999 and 2003.”

“This Christian nation also tends to make personal, as opposed to political, choices that the Bible would seem to frown upon. Despite the Fifth Commandment, we are, of course, the most violent rich nation on earth, with a murder rate four or five times that of our European peers. We have prison populations greater by a factor of six or seven than other rich nations (which at least should give us plenty of opportunity for visiting the prisoners). Having been told to turn the other cheek, we're the only Western democracy left that executes its citizens, mostly in those states where Christianity is theoretically strongest. Despite Jesus' strong declarations against divorce, our marriages break up at a rate—just over half—that compares poorly with the European Union's average of about four in ten. That average may be held down by the fact that Europeans marry less frequently, and by countries, like Italy, where divorce is difficult; still, compare our success with, say, that of the godless Dutch, whose divorce rate is just over 37 percent. Teenage pregnancy? We're at the top of the charts. Personal self-discipline—like, say, keeping your weight under control? Buying on credit? Running government deficits? Do you need to ask?” (McKribben in Harpers, 2005)

SALT OF THE EARTH: Among key trends outlined in the 2006-2007 report are:

• The gap in income equality continues to widen dramatically.
• Technology is making us more connected technologically but more isolated socially; Americans have fewer friends or family to confide in and rely on for emotional support.
• Emerging generations of Americans are not adequately educated to lead the nation.
• The U.S. reports the highest infant mortality rate and the lowest life expectancy for people over 60 compared to other industrialized countries.
• A record number of Americans have no health insurance; half of adults in middle-income families reported they've had serious problems paying for their health care.
• Some 28 percent of veterans return from the Iraq war with health problems that require medical or mental health treatment.
• Correcting problems in the juvenile justice system requires prevention strategies and alternatives to juvenile detention centers; detention not only increases the odds that youth will return to the justice system, but many emerge from detention with worse problems than when they went in.
• Suicide is the third leading cause of death among children and youth aged 10-24.
• The number of single mothers who are jobless has increased significantly since 2000; yet single mothers leaving welfare for work remain poor or near-poor.
• Over their lifetimes, School dropouts cost the U.S. more than $260 billion dollars in lost wages, lost taxes and lost productivity over their lifetimes

It’s Time to turn things around.

Don’t serve Pharaoh’s Army.

In Whatever you do, serve God’s Kingdom

To copy a final phrase from Obama,

“Let’s get to work.”

Our First work is to pray. The Eucharistic Liturgy is the work of the people. Let us pray.

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More good preaching from www.food4thought.tv

http://food4thought.tv/fft-bin/f.wk?fft.media.menu

Moyers for President!

America 101

Bill Moyers, Oct 2006

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1101-33.htm

Bill Moyers in a talk delivered to an audience of educators in October 2006 made the argument that the social compact of the United States contained in the preamble to the Constitution has been grossly violated. The USA now needs to invest $268 billion in our schools just to make them physically safe for children to occupy. The lack of investment in public schools may help explain why U.S. children rank 24th out of 29 industrialized countries in math scores and 15th out of 27 in reading and literacy (Moyers 2006). Our roads and power grid are in horrible shape, and our supposed technological superiority is a façade. The U.S. has fallen from “4th to 12th place on the information superhighway” as other countries rush ahead of us to give their people more and easier access to greater broadband speed (Moyers 2006).

A 2002 report commissioned by Paul O’Neill, the then Secretary of Treasury, revealed that “our fiscal gap – the difference (in present value) between the government’s future receipts and expenditures – assuming the same net tax rates going forward, was a staggering $45 trillion dollars. This is $4 trillion more than the entire capital stock of industry ($25.9 trillion) and total market capitalization ($14.3 trillion) in 2003” (Moyers 2006).

Despite this looming shortfall in needed government funds, the richest 1 perccent will get over $479 billion over the next ten years as a result of Bush’s tax cuts in 2001. Pension plans are in jeopardy, workers wages are worth less and less, and the concentration of wealth in the hands of the rich has reached Gilded Age proportions. In the past 25 years manufacturing workers’ real wages fell 1 percent; real income for the 1 percent at the top of U.S. society rose 135 percent. In 1960 the gap between the top fifth of the population and the bottom fifth was 30 fold. Today the top fifth gets 75 times the bottom fifth (Moyer 2006).

Moyers charges that wealth concentrated among the rich does not benefit the rest of society. “According to Census Bureau data, Americans have become progressively less likely to advance up the socio-economic ladder. One study cited by Stephen Heinz concludes, ‘The rich are likely to remain rich and the poor are likely to remain poor.’ ” (Moyers 2006). Even a robber baron like J.P. Morgan felt those in charge should get only twenty times more than the workers. Today the average CEO grabs 262 times what an average worker gets. Real weekly wages for workers has declined from $332 a week in 1972 to $278 a week in 2004 (Moyers 2006). Moyers quotes a Goldman Sachs report which states, “The most important contributor to higher profit margins over the past five years has been a decline in labor’s share of national income.” (Moyers 2006). By the way, that’s the Goldman Sachs that split $16.5 billion, $623,000 per employee, at the end of 2006. Top traders took in $17,000 – $33,000 an hour, assuming a 60 hour work week (Blodget, New York Times op-ed, Dec. 20, 2006). Moyers speaks for those on the other end of the economic ladder.

"So it is that to make ends meet in the face of stagnant or declining incomes, regular Americans have gone deeper and deeper in debt – with credit card debt nearly tripling since 1989. Poor kids are dropping out of high school and college at alarming rates, the middle class and working poor have been hit hard by a housing squeeze, 45 million or more Americans – eight out of ten of them in working families – are without health insurance. 'The strain on working people,' says the economist Jeffrey Madrick, 'has become significant. Working families and the poor are losing ground under economic pressures that deeply affect household stability, family dynamics, social mobility, political participation, and civic life.' The American Dream has had its heart cut out, and is on life support.” (Moyers 2006).

Christmas in the Trenches - An Advent Relection

As we prepare to welcome the Prince of Peace, let's pray and ask God to heal the world of war by changing the desires of human minds and hearts.

This song is based on true events that happened on Christmas Eve 1914. If the actions of these soldiers had been heeded... how different our world would be. Let us heed the peacemakers as we enter the 21st century. Peace!

Christmas in the Trenches

by John McCutcheon

My name is Francis Tolliver, I come from Liverpool

Two years ago the war was waiting for me after school

From Belgium then to Flanders, to Germany to here

I fought for King and Country I love dear.

'Twas Christmas in the trenches where the frost so bitter hung

The frozen fields of France were still no Christmas song was sung

Our families back in England were toasting us this day

Their brave and glorious lads so far away.

I was lying next me messmate on the cold and rocky ground

When across the lines of battle came a most peculiar sound

Says I "Now listen up, me boys!" Each soldier strained to hear

As one young German voice sang out so clear.

"He's singin" bloody well, you know!" my partner says to me

Soon one by one each German voice joins in in harmony

The cannons rested silent. The gas clouds rolled no more

As Christmas brought us respite from the war.

As soon as they were finished and reverent pause was spent

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen struck up some lads from Kent

The next they sang was Stille Nacht, 'tis Silent Night says I

And in two tongues one song filled up that sky.

"There's someone coming towards us" the front line sentry cried

All sights were fixed on one lone figure trudging from their side

His truce flag like a Christmas star shone on that plane so bright

As he bravely strolled unarmed into the night.

Soon one by one on either side walked into No Man's Land

With neither gun nor bayonet we met there hand to hand

We shared some secret brandy and we wished each other well

And in a flare-lit soccer game we gave'em hell.

We traded chocolates, cigarettes and photographs from home

These sons and fathers far away from families of their own

Young Sanders played his squeezebox and they had a violin

This curious and unlikely band of men.

Soon daylight stole upon us and France was France once more

With sad farewells we each began to settle back to war

But a question haunted every heart that lived that wondrous night

Whose family have I fixed within my sights?

'Twas Christmas in the Trenches were the frost so bitter hung

The frozen fields of France were warmed as songs of peace were sung

For the walls they'd kept between us to exact the work of war

Had been crumbled and were gone forevermore.

My name is Francis Tolliver, in Liverpool I dwell

Each Christmas comes since World War I, I've learned its lessons well

That the ones who call the shots won't be among the dead and lame

And on each end of the rifle we're the same.

* “For every additional second we stay in Iraq, we taxpayers will end up paying an additional $6,300. …“The total costs of the war, including the budgetary, social and macroeconomic costs, are likely to exceed $2 trillion,” Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel-winning economist at Columbia, writes in an updated new study with Linda Bilmes, a public finance specialist at Harvard. … Just to put that $2 trillion in perspective, it is four times what is needed to put Social Security on a solid footing for the next 75 years. It is four times the additional cost needed to provide health insurance for all uninsured Americans for the next decade (Nicholas Kristof, op-ed, New York Times, Oct. 24, 2006).

“The Father sent the Son into the world to defend the poor.” - St. Augustine

Are You Economically Better Off Than You Were?

ARE YOU ECONOMICALLY BETTER OFF THAN YOU WERE?

Here's some info from the recently released census info on poverty and income (www.census.gov) and a New York Times Editorial commenting on the numbers.

Census Bureau Poverty Rate and #s for 2005

Aug. 26, 2006 Press Release (www.census.gov)

“Real median household income in the United States rose by 1.1 percent between 2004 and 2005, reaching $46,326, according to a report released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Meanwhile, the nation’s official poverty rate remained statistically unchanged at 12.6 percent. The percentage of people without health insurance coverage rose from 15.6 percent to 15.9 percent (46.6 million people).” (www.census.gov. accessed Sept 6, 2006) [For the Numbers Scroll Down]

"Despite the Bush-era expansion, the number of Americans living in poverty in 2005 — 37 million — was the same as in 2004. This is the first time the number has not risen since 2000. But the share of the population now in poverty — 12.6 percent — is still higher than at the trough of the last recession, when it was 11.7 percent. And among the poor, 43 percent were living below half the poverty line in 2005 — $7,800 for a family of three. That’s the highest percentage of people in “deep poverty” since the government started keeping track of those numbers in 1975. " (New York Times Editorial 8/30/06) [For Full Text Scroll Down]

Poverty Line

(Family of 4) $19,971

(Family of 3) $15,577

(Family of 2) $12,755

(Single person) $ 9,973

Poverty rate 12.6% (marked end of 4 consecutive years of increase)

In Poverty 37.0 million people (32 million in 2001)

# of poor families 7.7 million families / 9.9% in 2005 (6.8 million /9.2% in 2001)

USA Median Household Income 2005

Median Household Income $46,326 (up 1.1%)

Asians $61,094

Whites $50,784

Hispanics $35,967

Blacks $30,858

USA Poverty Rates 2005

Whites 08.3% (down from 8.7% in 2004)

Blacks 24.9% (statistically unchanged)

Hispanics 21.8% (statistically unchanged)

Asians 11.1% (up from 9.8% in 2004)

Native Ams 25.3%

Children 17.6%

18-64 years 11.1%

65 years & over 10.1%

*************************************************************

The New York Times nytimes.com

August 30, 2006 Editorial

Downward Mobility

If you’re still harboring the notion that the economy is “good,” prepare to be disabused.

Even the best number from yesterday’s Census Bureau report for 2005 is bad news for most Americans. It shows that median income rose 1.1 percent last year, to $46,326, the first increase since it peaked in 1999. But the entire increase is attributable to the 23 million households headed by someone over age 65. So the gain is likely from investment income and Social Security, not wages and salaries.

For the other 91 million households, the median dropped, by half a percent, or $275. Incomes for the under-65 crowd were hurt by a decline in wages and salaries among full-time working men for the second year in a row, and among full-time working women for the third straight year. In all, median income for the under-65 group was $2,000 lower in 2005 than in 2001, when the last recession bottomed out.

Despite the Bush-era expansion, the number of Americans living in poverty in 2005 — 37 million — was the same as in 2004. This is the first time the number has not risen since 2000. But the share of the population now in poverty — 12.6 percent — is still higher than at the trough of the last recession, when it was 11.7 percent. And among the poor, 43 percent were living below half the poverty line in 2005 — $7,800 for a family of three. That’s the highest percentage of people in “deep poverty” since the government started keeping track of those numbers in 1975.

As for the uninsured, their ranks grew in 2005 by 1.3 million people, to a record 46.6 million, or 15.9 percent. That’s also worse than the recession year 2001, reflecting the rising costs of health coverage and a dearth of initiatives to help families and companies cope with the burden. For the first time since 1998, the percentage of uninsured children increased in 2005.

The Census findings are yet another indication that growth alone is not the answer to the economic and social ills of poverty, income inequality and lack of insurance. Economic growth was strong in 2005, and productivity growth was impressive. What have been missing are government policies that help to ensure that the benefits of growth are broadly shared — like strong support for public education, a progressive income tax, affordable health care, a higher minimum wage and other labor protections.

President Bush is unlikely to push for those changes, wed as he is to tax cuts that mainly benefit the wealthy. But the economic agenda for the next president couldn’t be clearer.

Iraq War's effect on Alaska

Iraq War's effect on Alaska

The upcoming deployment of members of Alaska's National Guard imposes severe hardships on those left behind in isolated villages. Many people in the small communites of 200 to 500 people will miss those who fish and fill the freezers with salmon for the winter. The handpainted sign (see the picture to the left) appears on the side of a building in Bethel Alaska. Here are two newspaper accounts of the deployment's effects. Spaning the "lower 48," one is from Seattle and the other from Atlantic City.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003057603_alaskaguard13.html

http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/news/story/6449207p-6304787c.html

Week in Marshall, Alaska up on the Yukon River

Fascinating Week in Marshall, Alaska.

June 12-16, I was in a little Yu'pik Eskimo village up on the Yukon River in the Alaskan bush. Very different way of life there. All of life revolves around subsistence fishing of salmon. Wonderful, friendly people.

Check out this link: http://www.cbna.info/churches/marshall.html

St. Stephen's Wyoming: Thought Provoking

Visit to Jesuit Mission at St. Stephen's Wyoming. May 2006.

Consider visiting St. Stephen's Jesuit Mission on the Wind River reservation SE of Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, near Riverton Wyoimnng, home to Arapahoe and Shoshone Indian tribes. Three Jesuits minister on the Reservation to peoples suffering economic poverty, but struggling to maintain traditonal values and ways. The area is starkly beautiful and majestic (and the fishing opportunites are stupendous!).

Most importantly, my four day visit made me reflect on the historical injustice of taking First Americans' lands and leaving them with very little. How can the USA hope to achieve liberty and justice for all in foriegn lands like Iraq and Afghanistan when we still have so much work to do here at home?

Here's the mission's website.

http://daithi4.tripod.com/id1.html

Message to Alpha Males: Change!

How long will we let the Alpha Males run the war in Iraq?

http://www.bustedhalo.com/MessagetoAlphaMalesChange.htm

Getting Out of Our Comfort Zones

Let's Get Out of Our Comfort Zones! Ride The Bus!

http://www.bustedhalo.com/RidetheBus.htm

Intelligent Design is not Good Science

Is the theory of "INTELLIGENT DESIGN" all that Intelligent?

Intelligent Design is a good topic for a course in the sociology of knowledge. It is also good grist for the mill in philosophy and theology courses. But it is not good science, and Christians who try and force scientists to teach the ideas of ID in science classes do intelligent Christians a disservice.

Here's an op-ed piece I published on ID and the controversy over the Dover PA school board elections (in The Philadelphia Inquirer, Nov. 2005).
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/editorial/13151801.htm

George Coyne, S.J., a leading scientist at the Vatican Observatory, has an excellent article on the topic in The Tablet.
http://www.thetablet.co.uk/cgi-bin/register.cgi/tablet-01118

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Welcome 2006

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Ride a bus and see another world! Let's get our of our comfort zones!

http://www.bustedhalo.com/RidetheBus.htm

Christmas Presence: ALL IS GIFT!

Here's a Christmas reflection. Hope your Christmas was wonderful. Peace in 2006!

http://www.bustedhalo.com/AllisGift.htm