(alex's is being a siberian tiger)
http://www.cereality.com
Yes. And AMEN, and all that.
12 years ago
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Saturday, February 19, 2005
and now for something completely different
Without vision the people perish
by Jim Wallis
On Monday, February 7, President Bush released his 2006 budget proposal. As convener of Call to Renewal, Sojourners' partner organization, I issued the following response to the budget.
The biblical prophets frequently spoke to rulers and kings. They spoke to "the nations," and it is the powerful that are most often the target audience; those in charge of things are the ones called to greatest accountability. And the prophets usually spoke for the dispossessed, widows and orphans (read: poor single moms), the hungry, the homeless, the helpless, the least, last, and lost. They spoke to a nation's priorities.
Budgets are moral documents that reflect the values and priorities of a family, church, organization, city, state, or nation. They tell us what is most important and valued to those making the budget. President Bush says that his 2006 budget "is a budget that sets priorities." Examining those priorities - who will benefit and who will suffer in President Bush's budget - is a moral and religious concern. Just as we have "environmental impact studies" for public policies, it is time for a "poverty impact statement," which would ask the fundamental question of how policy proposals affect low-income people. We could start with this budget and do a "values audit" to determine how its values square with those of the American people. I believe this would reveal unacceptable priorities.
The cost of the deficit is increasingly borne by the poor. The budget projects a record $427 billion deficit, and promises to make tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest permanent. Religious communities spoke clearly in the past years about the perils of a domestic policy based primarily on tax cuts for the rich, program cuts for low-income people, and an expectation of faith-based charity. We must speak clearly now about a budget lacking moral vision. A budget that scapegoats the poor and fattens the rich, that asks for sacrifice mostly from those who can least afford it, is a moral outrage.
Low-income people should not be punished for the government decisions that placed us in financial straits. Rather than moving toward a "living family income," the budget stifles opportunities for low-income families, which are vital for national economic security. Our future is in serious jeopardy if one in three proposed program cuts are to education initiatives (after a highly touted "No Child Left Behind" effort), if there will be less flexibility to include working poor families with children on Medicaid, and if reductions in community and rural development, job training, food stamps, and housing are accepted as solutions for reducing the deficit. Cutting pro-work and pro-family supports for the less fortunate jeopardizes the common good. And this while defense spending rises again to $419 billion (not including any additional spending for war in Iraq).
These budget priorities would cause the prophets to rise up in righteous indignation, as should we. Our nation deserves better vision. Morally-inspired voices must provide vision for the people when none comes from its leaders. We must believe that such vision can change the hearts of those needing new grounding and direction.
The Bible talks often of the need to repent - to turn and go in another direction. If we do not now "Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets" (Habakkuk 2:2), others cannot follow. If we do, we act to secure the future of the common good.
say something:
http://http://go.sojo.net/campaign/budget_06/ww373k54q57x55d
by Jim Wallis
On Monday, February 7, President Bush released his 2006 budget proposal. As convener of Call to Renewal, Sojourners' partner organization, I issued the following response to the budget.
The biblical prophets frequently spoke to rulers and kings. They spoke to "the nations," and it is the powerful that are most often the target audience; those in charge of things are the ones called to greatest accountability. And the prophets usually spoke for the dispossessed, widows and orphans (read: poor single moms), the hungry, the homeless, the helpless, the least, last, and lost. They spoke to a nation's priorities.
Budgets are moral documents that reflect the values and priorities of a family, church, organization, city, state, or nation. They tell us what is most important and valued to those making the budget. President Bush says that his 2006 budget "is a budget that sets priorities." Examining those priorities - who will benefit and who will suffer in President Bush's budget - is a moral and religious concern. Just as we have "environmental impact studies" for public policies, it is time for a "poverty impact statement," which would ask the fundamental question of how policy proposals affect low-income people. We could start with this budget and do a "values audit" to determine how its values square with those of the American people. I believe this would reveal unacceptable priorities.
The cost of the deficit is increasingly borne by the poor. The budget projects a record $427 billion deficit, and promises to make tax cuts benefiting the wealthiest permanent. Religious communities spoke clearly in the past years about the perils of a domestic policy based primarily on tax cuts for the rich, program cuts for low-income people, and an expectation of faith-based charity. We must speak clearly now about a budget lacking moral vision. A budget that scapegoats the poor and fattens the rich, that asks for sacrifice mostly from those who can least afford it, is a moral outrage.
Low-income people should not be punished for the government decisions that placed us in financial straits. Rather than moving toward a "living family income," the budget stifles opportunities for low-income families, which are vital for national economic security. Our future is in serious jeopardy if one in three proposed program cuts are to education initiatives (after a highly touted "No Child Left Behind" effort), if there will be less flexibility to include working poor families with children on Medicaid, and if reductions in community and rural development, job training, food stamps, and housing are accepted as solutions for reducing the deficit. Cutting pro-work and pro-family supports for the less fortunate jeopardizes the common good. And this while defense spending rises again to $419 billion (not including any additional spending for war in Iraq).
These budget priorities would cause the prophets to rise up in righteous indignation, as should we. Our nation deserves better vision. Morally-inspired voices must provide vision for the people when none comes from its leaders. We must believe that such vision can change the hearts of those needing new grounding and direction.
The Bible talks often of the need to repent - to turn and go in another direction. If we do not now "Write the vision; make it plain upon tablets" (Habakkuk 2:2), others cannot follow. If we do, we act to secure the future of the common good.
say something:
http://http://go.sojo.net/campaign/budget_06/ww373k54q57x55d
Monday, February 14, 2005
see you must understand
so yeah hotel rwanda. of course my reaction is less about the movie (please see it) than it is about the reaction to the movie. we're so ignorant. our hearts are so hard and we get overwhelmed so easily that we just go right back to comfortable before we even notice. i'm not an activist, i don't know the story, i didn't go help tsunami victims, i don't go and love the sudanese refugees who live 5 blocks away. but come on. feel something for more than 20 minutes just once and let it change your life.
we're not all supposed to go do something about it, but i know for sure that we're not all supposed to read time magazine and watch star wars instead. why is prayer an afterthought, why don't i trust that it works? why don't i pray big? i've seen god change lives. i know he listens but i don't even talk. because what if he doesn't? what if nations keep warring and moms keep dying? what would that say about god? oh right, that he's in control not me. that our comfort isn't his primary concern. that he has it all figured out, he had it all figured out a long time ago, like, before time. he made it so that he gets the glory in the end. maybe he's trying to let us become more like him and sometimes part of that is our heart being broken, like his is.
not that it's all about me or anything...
how can you look at who we are and not have self-worth issues?!
thursday i'll leave to go be trained on how to not make excuses. i'm not sure it'll work. i'm so scared that it won't work. or that i'll just realize that this has all been just one big excuse. it's even harder to pray that god would change my heart, my life, my priorities. that instead of planning how to change the world, i'd knock on a door and ask to hear someone's story, just to hear it, not to tell them mine. but i still don't even dare to pray it.
yeah. this post is definitely not about a movie. the movie will help you learn a lot about something that's really easy to push out of your mind because we were 11. their families are still all dead, they're still living away from home, they still know what it sounds like when someone gets beaten to death. we still don't even care enough to hear it from their mouths.
we're not all supposed to go do something about it, but i know for sure that we're not all supposed to read time magazine and watch star wars instead. why is prayer an afterthought, why don't i trust that it works? why don't i pray big? i've seen god change lives. i know he listens but i don't even talk. because what if he doesn't? what if nations keep warring and moms keep dying? what would that say about god? oh right, that he's in control not me. that our comfort isn't his primary concern. that he has it all figured out, he had it all figured out a long time ago, like, before time. he made it so that he gets the glory in the end. maybe he's trying to let us become more like him and sometimes part of that is our heart being broken, like his is.
not that it's all about me or anything...
how can you look at who we are and not have self-worth issues?!
thursday i'll leave to go be trained on how to not make excuses. i'm not sure it'll work. i'm so scared that it won't work. or that i'll just realize that this has all been just one big excuse. it's even harder to pray that god would change my heart, my life, my priorities. that instead of planning how to change the world, i'd knock on a door and ask to hear someone's story, just to hear it, not to tell them mine. but i still don't even dare to pray it.
yeah. this post is definitely not about a movie. the movie will help you learn a lot about something that's really easy to push out of your mind because we were 11. their families are still all dead, they're still living away from home, they still know what it sounds like when someone gets beaten to death. we still don't even care enough to hear it from their mouths.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
whoa
ok so i just saw hotel rwanda. it's going to take me a couple days to process so this is just a warning. watch out.
go see it right now so you're ready.
go see it right now so you're ready.
Wednesday, February 02, 2005
did he just call himself the talent?
i don't understand the lack of dancing in the streets...
Happy Groundhog Day!!
amirightoramirightoramiright? right right right
Happy Groundhog Day!!
amirightoramirightoramiright? right right right
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