US Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) is known for arguing falsely that Catholic doctrine opposes programs for the poor. Catholic bishops, priests, and theologians have vigorously disputed Ryan’s repeated misrepresentation of Christian values and beliefs.
Staff members at Georgetown University have now joined in. Excerpts from their compelling correspondence with Ryan may be found below:
“…[W]e would be remiss in our duty…if we did not challenge your continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few…
In short, your budget appears to reflect the values of your favorite philosopher, Ayn Rand, rather than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Her call to selfishness and her antagonism toward religion are antithetical to the Gospel values of compassion and love. Read more…
Hooker County Courthouse, Mullen, Nebraska, Author Ammodramus (PD)
The media generally present a glamorous image of lawyers. LA Law, The Practice, Ally McBeal, Boston Legal, and the rest have shaped that image. But the original Law and Order is probably closer to the truth.
The “day to day” experience by the majority of lawyers is gritty. Rarely, if ever, does it include corner offices, expense accounts, or three hour lunches…let alone trysts with opponents or the judge. Impossible schedules, dictation on planes, staggering caseloads, depositions in airless rooms, traffic and more traffic, missing witnesses, and client meetings in dusty stairwells are more likely.
Add the responsibility for clients’ welfare, the strain of ongoing conflict, worries about money and limited resources, encounters with unethical adversaries, and the real disappointment of loss. Read more…
Japanese Maple Leaves (“Acer Japonicum Vitifolium”), Photo by Jean-Pol Grandmont (CC Attribution 3.0 Unported, GFDL 1.2 or later)
Ours is the God who shaped a thousand, thousand hills yet knows when every leaf will fall. Ours is the God for whom a single life is of infinite value – so much so that He gave the life of His only begotten Son.
The titanic forces of the earth are under His control, as are the seasons…even the seasons of our lives. His is the life force in a fawn, and to Him it returns. He cherishes the heartbeat of an infant in the womb, and knows beforehand all the days of that child’s life even into old age.
Ours is the God who filled this world with astounding beauty. Not by accident or from some sterile aesthetic sense, but as the reflection of His deepest heart, His desire to surround His children daily with His love.
Why He should love us so is incomprehensible.
A life well lived is never without meaning, however brief. When it comes down to it, we are each of us given only a limited allotment of time here, no matter what the span. The task is to use each day, each moment, to the best of our ability, as God intended. By His grace, we will, when all is said and done, be returning to Him who loves us most.
“But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hand…” (Ps. 31: 14-15).
Father, our lives are in Your hands. Through darkness and trial, in happiness and grief, in triumph and failure, we trust in You.
We thank You for Your Son, Jesus. We thank You for Your Spirit with us. We thank you for Your constant kindness to us.
May we love unceasingly. May we do You honor till our last breath.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed
A Biased Court
The UN purports to be an objective forum based on the principle of equality of rights for all nations.
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP), a nonpartisan conflict management center created by Congress to prevent and reduce international conflict without resort to violence, disputes that.
In a 2005 report titled American Interests and UN Reform, the USIP found that Israel is routinely denied the rights enjoyed by other UN members, and subjected to systematic hostility. The UN’s notorious Resolution 3379 equating Zionism with racism was, of course, in effect from 1975-1991.
Anne Bayesfsky, a human rights scholar and activist, in 2003 spoke eloquently to this disparity of treatment at a UN conference on anti-Semitism:
“There has never been a single resolution about the decades-long repression of the civil and political rights of 1.3 billion people in China, or the more than a million female migrant workers in Saudi Arabia being kept as virtual slaves, or the virulent racism which has brought 600,000 people to the brink of starvation in Zimbabwe. Every year, UN bodies are required to produce at least 25 reports on alleged human rights violations by Israel, but not one on an Iranian criminal justice system which mandates punishments like crucifixion, stoning, and cross-amputation. This is not legitimate critique of states with equal or worse human rights records. It is demonization of the Jewish state.” Read more…
“ElinorD Kneading Bread Dough”
Many of us have a bagel and coffee in the morning. But anyone who has ever baked bread knows that the baking process is not an easy one – particularly from the bread’s perspective.
The dough is prepared, seasoned, floured, and folded on itself; kneaded and rolled flat; allowed to rest and rise; then punched down, again and again. Ingredients can be beaten or whipped, with the dough sometimes actually thrown against the counter, so that flavors mix and the dough attains proper consistency.
So too are we, with God the loving baker and life the process.
The results, of course, are rich and varied. Even the smell of baking bread makes mouths water, drawing others to the table. Knowing this, may we be able to say with Job, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 12: 15).
“Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese, clothe me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews? You have granted me life and favor, and Your care has preserved my spirit” (Job 10: 10-12).
Father, we know ourselves to be the product of Your loving hands and in Your tender care. Where better could we be?
Uphold us this day. Give us peace in the midst of turmoil, and patience in the midst of trial. Help us submit to Your will for our lives. And may our aroma be sweet to You.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
Blood Libel, Sandomierz Cathedral, Poland (PD-ArtlPD-old-100)
“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out – because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out – because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me – and there was no one left to speak for me.”
– Pastor Martin Neimoller
Antisemitism is on the rise in America and overseas. Some 35 million Americans – 15% of us – hold antisemitic views. In France 24% of the population acknowledge bias against Jews. From Spain to Hungary, antisemitism is pervasive. In the Netherlands, “Jews to the gas” is a familiar cheer at soccer games.
Financial instability and changing demographics may be factors in this growing trend. Either way, the stereotypes about Jews linger. Worse yet, blood libels are resurfacing in a new guise.
Origin
In an age of litigation, libel may seem an anemic term, derogatory but hardly dangerous.
Blood libels – patently false accusations that Jews murder children (especially Christian children) to use their blood in religious rituals – are in a tragic class by themselves. Blood libels (along with claims of host desecration and well poisoning by Jews) fueled mob violence against Jews throughout Europe for generations. Countless instances of torture, trial, and groundless execution took place.
Lest anyone have doubts on this subject, the Sixth Commandment forbids murder. Though the Israelites did practice animal sacrifice, the prohibition against human sacrifice was consistently used to distinguish them from pagans. The use of blood in cooking is still banned by kosher dietary laws. Read more…
Prying Up a Long Nail, Photo by Tomwsulcer (CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication)
There is a plaintive line from the old Simon and Garfunkel song, El Condor Pasa (If I Could), that speaks about the superiority of hammers to nails. Sometimes we feel that way, Christians and non-Christians alike. So tired of the pounding, we’re tempted to change places with the hammer. So beleaguered that any road seems better than the one we’re on. If only we could leave our burdens behind.
It is worth remembering that nails hold things together. Tables, chairs. Even skyscrapers. Maybe you are the “nail” holding a family or organization together. Maybe you are the one “nail” on whom someone’s life hangs.
A certain Carpenter we all know used nails. In fact, He continues to use them. He was hung on a cross by – and for – them.
“He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; He has taken it away, nailing it to the cross” (Col. 2:13-14).
Lord Jesus, the thought of Your pain grieves us beyond words. But You discharged our indebtedness on the cross. Help us to know that our own pain is not useless. We can bear that pain, if it is in Your name.
Use us to build up this city we call home, Lord. Use us to hold this nation together. Use us to make this world Yours.
Amen
READERS CAN FIND MY VIEWS ON ABUSE AND ABUSE-RELATED ISSUES AT ANNA WALDHERR A Voice Reclaimed, Surviving Child Abuse
https://avoicereclaimed.com
Vietnamese children engaged in rice cultivation, Author/Source Thomas Schoch (CC BY-SA 2.5 Generic)
“ ‘As long as the earth endures, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will never cease’ ” (Genesis 8: 22).
Hundreds of thousands of children under the age of 18 work in agriculture in the US. Precise figures are difficult to come by. But the 2006 Child Agricultural Injury Survey put the number of those under the age of 20 employed in farm work at 307,000. The United Farm Workers Union would place it much higher.
Federal Regulation
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act governs US child labor. Children from the age of 12 on may legally work for any farm with parental consent. No survey could be located re: the number of children age 12 and under illegally engaging in farm work.
There are no legal limits on the hours children can work in agriculture when school is not in session. Farm workers are not, however, entitled to overtime, and they generally do not receive job benefits.
Child farm workers often make less than minimum wage, with pay reduced still further when employers under-report hours and force children to purchase the gloves, tools, and drinking water that employers are actually required by law to supply.
Child Injury and Mortality [1]
Sixteen children died at work in the US last year, twelve of those while employed on farms. If that statistic is not sufficiently shocking, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health estimates that 907 young people died on US farms between 1995 – 2002. That averages an astonishing 130 deaths per year.
Human Rights Watch over a decade ago reported on the grave health and educational risks children employed in agriculture face. Farm workers (children and adults) often work with or in vicinity of dangerous equipment. Again, the 2006 Childhood Agricultural Injury Survey estimated that 22,900 injuries occurred to young people working on farms.
Both adults and children regularly work in fields treated with chemicals, some carcinogenic. According to the EPA, children ages 3 – 15 may experience three times the cancer threat the same level of chemicals would pose for adults. Simply put, children are more vulnerable to harm. Read more…
Silk Thread, India, Photo by McKay Savage of London, UK, Source http://www.flickr.com/photos/mckaysavage/2576645773/ (CC BY 2. 0 Generic)
“ Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children. They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards …” (Job 24: 5-6).
King Cotton
No one can say for certain when cotton was first utilized in textiles.
Fragments of cotton bolls and cotton cloth have been found in Mexico dating to about 5800 BC. Cotton clothed ancient Egypt, India, and China. When Columbus arrived in the Americas, cotton was already growing in the Bahamas.
By the mid-19th Century cotton formed the basis of the South’s economy. Fortunes were made in the lucrative cotton trade, as an outgrowth of slave labor.
Americans continue to wear and use cotton daily.
We are clothed in cotton, soothed and pampered by cotton, and take cotton for granted. Terrycloth robes, jeans and T-shirts, corduroy slacks and chambray work shirts, socks, underwear, cosmetics, swabs, and coffee filters are among the myriad products containing or derived from cotton. Luxury bath towels are graded by cotton thread count.
By the Labor of Their Hands
Until 1943, cotton was laboriously picked by hand. This meant long, backbreaking hours in the sun – first by African American slaves, then share croppers (black and white), then migrants and their children. A grown man was expected to pick about 90 lbs. per day.
Much has changed with the advent of heavy machinery, but migrant workers continue to play an important role in agriculture.
Children continue to work by their parents’ sides. For one thing, cotton has been genetically modified to incorporate the genetic coding for Bt toxin, a natural insecticide produced by the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). This has reduced the reliance on pesticides. As it turns out though, children are just the right height to pollinate Bt cotton seeds artificially. Read more…
Carpentry Tools, Photo by Wolfgang Sauber (CC BY-SA 3.0 Unported, 2.5 Generic, 2.0 Generic, 1.0 Generic, GDFL 1.2 or later)
Before the Lord took up His public ministry, He worked for years in anonymity, as a simple Carpenter.
Anyone who works in wood will tell you that the task is, in fact, far from simple. Woods vary in quality and strength. It takes knowledge and patience to produce something of lasting usefulness and beauty.
Jesus would have learned His trade from Joseph or another male relation. The God who fashioned this extraordinary universe of ours would have learned to sand, stain, hammer, and saw. His strong and gentle hands would have grown blistered and calloused, in the process.
Who the carpenter was that made Jesus’ cross, we do not know. The cross is unlikely to have been more than rough-hewn. It was intended for use by a criminal, after all. Read more…
A Lawyer's Prayers 