Forget the Ethics Training, Go With Morals

Since posting "Rich Man Poor Man" below, I came across another scathing criticism of the budget reductions recently passed that I just had to pass along. Cathleen Falsani, religion writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, soundly rebukes Congress and Bush for losing their moral compass:

The massive budget reductions would include billions of dollars from pension protection and student loan programs, Medicaid and child support enforcement, as well as millions from the food stamp program, Supplemental Security Income (read: senior citizens and the disabled) and foster care. Also attached to the "reconciliation" proposal is a plan that would allow oil drilling in Alaska's pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

Nice.

Maybe Republican leaders should consider proposing an open season on the homeless or the resurrection of debtors' prisons while they're at it?

Is this the kind of leadership the majority of voters who, according to pollsters at the time, cast their ballots in 2004 based on "moral values," had in mind?

Is this what faith-based "compassionate conservatism" looks like? Is our nation more moral, more secure or spiritually healthier than it was a year ago?

And, to address my fellow Christian voters specifically, has the Good News been advanced in any way?

No. Absolutely not.

Ms. Falsani goes on to point out that it's not just a few left-leaning wretches (like me) who feel this way:

For example, all 65 synod bishops of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America have signed a letter to members of Congress vehemently opposing the proposed budget cuts, saying in part, "The Biblical record is clear. The scriptural witness on which our faith tradition stands speaks dramatically to God's concern for and solidarity with the poor and oppressed communities while speaking firmly in opposition to governments whose policies place narrow economic interests driven by greed above the common good."

It's about time people of other faith - or no faith - starting speaking out. I'm a member of the ELCA church and I've been speaking out about the Bush administration's neglect and hypocrisy for nearly five years now, and in the process I alienated some friends at church - friends who put their allegiance to the Republican party above the moral teachings of scripture. Maybe now that mainstream church leadership is finally speaking out, others will find their voices too. As Falsani states, ..."there comes a time when silence is immoral. Now, I believe, is that time."

Rich Man Poor Man

The rich continue to benefit from Bush's largesse at the expense of the poor. Just last Thursday, the Senate cut spending by $36 billion and taxes by $70 billion. The problem is the cuts included removing medical benefits for 6 million poor children, food stamps to 225,000 working families, and child-care for 330,000 poor children whose parents work. The $70 billion in tax cuts are primarily aimed at capital gains and dividends, which help the richest segments of our population, while the cuts exacerbate the financial insecurity of low income families.

An editorial in yesterday's St. Petersburg Times printed a scathing rebuke of the cuts, and pointed out that although it's necessary "to bring the deficit under control, it's hard to make a case for asking poor people to pay more when rich people are paying less." Just how much less are the rich paying?

An Urban Institute/Brookings Center report on the 2001 tax cuts shows that people with annual incomes of more than $1-million have received an annual average break of $103,000. Further, two new tax breaks scheduled to take effect in January will allow them to pocket $19,200 more each year.

Gee, I doubt families making $1 million will have to worry about heating their homes or feeding their children without those tax cuts, but apparently Bush and Congress see it differently. Forget about a refresher course in ethics, how about a course in doing what is morally right? Or, as the editorial puts it:

As to the values implied by such priorities, the president might want to listen to some voices in his faith-based community. A collection of church leaders, including the Rev. Frank Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA, recently wrote:

"Some contend that these (tax) cuts will stimulate the economy and improve life for all Americans, but we believe that stocking the rich man's larder is a peculiar strategy for getting Lazarus more food. Not only does this policy rest on dubious economic assumptions, but it asks the poor to pay the cost for a prosperity in which they may never share."

Just In Case You're Waffling on Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart has been making a concerted effort to redeem themselves with the public lately. Just in case you're still waffling about the Beast from Bentonville, here's another bit of news to consider.

Hat tip to Josh Craft, Political Dissonance:

The Washington Post reports this morning that the inspector general is criticizing the Sweet heart deal between Wal-Mart and the Department of Labor. It's good that the inspector general did its job, but depressing the the DOL has become a wholly owned subsidiary of corporate America under this Administration.

Rep. George Miller, who continues to be a strong voice for working families, had this to say:

"The Bush Labor Department chose to do an unprecedented favor for Wal-Mart, despite the fact it is well known for violating labor laws, including child labor laws," Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the lawmaker who requested an investigation, said in a statement. He also said such an arrangement could allow the nation's largest employer to cover up evidence of a violation and would discourage employees who might fear retribution from filing a complaint.

This is how the Washington Post article describes the specifics of the deal between Wal-Mart and the Department of Labor:

..."the company will receive 15 days' notice "of any audit or investigation at the stores covered by this agreement."

The report released yesterday said that the 15-day advance notice is "inconsistent" with the department's guidelines and that Wal-Mart could avoid penalties or a formal citation if it brings a facility into compliance within 10 days of a notice of violation. Labor officials in February said that Wal-Mart's advance notice would involve only child labor investigations and that it is standard practice in such cases. But the inspector general's office said the 10-day provision "was designed to allow Wal-Mart to avoid penalties if compliance is achieved."

The report also raised specific concerns about the agreement because "it contained significant provisions that were principally authored by Wal-Mart attorneys and never challenged by" the Department of Labor."

No wonder the media is dubbing this a sweetheart deal. Average Americans don't get 15 days notice before authorities bust into their homes to check for evidence of a crime, so why should Wal-Mart get a break, especially considering the advance notice only pertains to child labor investigations?

Wal-Mart - Redemption or Public Relations?

Yesterday I posted on Wal-Mart's attempts to redeem themselves with the public by hiring Global Insight, an independent research company. Wal-Mart feels it has been unfairly characterized by activist groups and the media and decided to get to the real truth themselves. For the most part, the independent research verified most of the claims of Wal-Mart's critics. The retailer is responsible for driving down wages and putting local merchants out of business. In addition, they benefit from taxpayer funded subsidies that helped them build their distribution system, and taxpayers also pay nearly $900 per employee for Medicaid benefits the company encourages their associates to sign up for.

Wal-Mart is against the ropes and they know it, but don't feel too sorry for them. In fact, we should all question their motives and sincerity. They recently contributed $15 million in relief efforts after Hurricane Katrina, mostly in water, diapers, and other tangible items. Compared to the $285 billion in sales they recorded last year, that amount was less than one half of one percent. Hardly a noble gesture. In fact, the Sunday Business section in today's New York Times reports:

Bill Gates is no slouch in the charitable-giving department. Just last week, the foundation he founded with his wife, Melinda Gates, said it would donate $258 million to eradicate malaria, which kills 2,000 African children a day. All told, Mr. Gates has given away 37 percent of his vast fortune, Forbes magazine estimated last year.

The article goes on to state that Ted Turner, at last weeks United Nations Foundation conference, donated $20 million over the next four years to reduce measles deaths. It may not be fair to criticize Wal-Mart for the amount they give compared to others, but one does have to wonder if their corporate hearts were in the right place - or were they simply spending $15 million to buy a little public relations? Wal-Mart certainly isn't adverse to buying some political goodwill, so why would charitable PR be any different? Consider the following from the same New York Times article:

Once indifferent to politics, Wal-Mart's founding family has learned the value of having - and supporting - friends in high places.

One such friend is Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger of California. Last year he vetoed a bill that would have forbidden employers to lock workers inside businesses, a practice Wal-Mart has used. Last month he vetoed a bill that would have required California to identify the employers of people who are paid so little that they qualify for government health services. Again, Wal-Mart is the No. 1 example.

While the governor was vetoing, heirs to Sam Walton were busy writing six-figure checks to his political causes. It began after Mr. Schwarzenegger vetoed the lock-in bill. John T. Walton, a Wal-Mart director who died four months ago, gave $200,000 to his political committee, the California Recovery Team, according to The Los Angeles Times and USA Today.

On the day Mr. Schwarzenegger vetoed the latest bill, Christy Walton, John's widow, wrote a $250,000 check to the governor's committee. Three weeks later, Wal-Mart's chairman, Rob Walton, gave $250,000 to the governor's campaign to limit the political activities of labor unions. (Wal-Mart itself, which is famously allergic to unions, chipped in $100,000 of its own.)

Political donations to Schwarzenegger begin the day he vetoes the lock-in bill? If the company was sincere about doing what is best for their employees and corporate America, they would have blasted the governor for his veto. America is not best represented by companies that think locking their employees in is acceptable. Wal-Mart is not a prison or high security government facility. It may portray itself as family friendly and community oriented, but it continues to act like the Beast of Bentonville - a title it justly deserves.

Wal-Mart Seeks Redemption

Wal-Mart has been taking lots of heat in the media for years now, most of it well-deserved. To fight back against the criticism, Wal-Mart decided to sponsor an independent conference to explore what effects they really have on local communities and the national economy. They hired independent consultant Global Insight to conduct the studies, who in turn vowed to select academic papers only for their academic rigor, not because they were pro Wal-Mart.

The results are in and they’re not what Wal-Mart expected.

Some of their findings, which a few of the researchers released before the conference, tend to confirm what Wal-Mart critics have been saying for years.

At least two concluded that Wal-Mart stores' pay practices depressed wages beyond the retail sector. Another found that states on average spent $898 for each Wal-Mart worker in Medicaid expenses.

One study concluded that Wal-Mart's giant grocery and general merchandise Supercenters brought little net gain for local communities in property taxes, sales taxes and employment; instead, the stores merely siphoned sales from existing businesses in the area.

The results also showed taxpayers came out losers when it comes to the retailer’s “Always Low Prices,” and the south suffered greatly from the presence of Wal-Mart too, where it has its greatest concentration of stores.

Michael Hicks of the Air Force Institute of Technology and Marshall University found that each employee of Wal-Mart caused "the average state to expend just under $900 a year in Medicaid benefits."

In a look at the Supercenters' effects on local businesses in Mississippi, Albert Myles and his coauthors found that a Supercenter's own community benefited from sharp retail sales increases — as much as 59% — though nearby towns suffered annual decreases. Any gains, the researchers found, came at the expense of local merchants.

"Many times the net increases are minimal as the new big-box stores merely capture sales from existing businesses in the area," they wrote.

Wal-Mart also benefits from more than taxpayer subsided Medicaid. In a study, How Wal-Mart Uses Taxpayer Money to Finance Its Never-Ending Growth - May 2004, findings revealed:

Walmart has received more than $1 billion in economic development subsidies from state and local governments across the country. Taxpayers have helped finance not only Wal-Mart stores, but also the company’s huge network of distribution centers, more than 90% of which have gotten subsidies.

Wal-Mart pays inadequate wages and health insurance for their employees, yet benefits from subsidies paid for by taxpayers. This is a company that made $285 billion last year and is owned by five members of the Walton family – who happen to be on the Forbes annual list of the richest people in the world. The best way to describe this company was succinctly put by Libby Spencer over at the DetNews:

It's a sham and a scam and it's a perfect illustration of the corporate mentality that has poisoned the concept of the free market. And it's immoral when the owners of the company collectively possess more wealth than the GNP of over half of the world's nations.

It is a sham and a scam. American workers are facing increasing pressure to hold on to the American Dream, but face downwardly mobile prospects daily from companies that continue to outsource, dump pensions, and reduce wages. We have Wal-Mart to thank for that to a large degree. Their “Always Low Prices” has translated to “Always Lower Wages” in the free marketplace.

Reading is Fundamental for All People

The holidays will soon be here, which means it’s time to think about gift giving. It’s also time to think of those less fortunate than us, not just financially, but also physically, mentally, etc. That’s why I want to make an unsolicited endorsement of a charity that personally means a lot to me.

Seedlings Braille Books is a non-profit organization here in Michigan that produces braille books for blind children from toddlers to 14 years of age. For a small donation of $10, Seedlings will send you an elegant gift card and envelope indicating that a braille book was inscribed in the name of your loved one and will soon be on it’s way to an eager braille reader. (Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent of the law.)

Reading has always been my passion, so this is a cause near and dear to my heart. As a disabled person, I often lived vicariously through books as a child, doing all the things in my mind’s eye that my feet wouldn't let me. Reading was a refuge and my best friend. Seedlings helps make it possible for blind children to discover the wonders of reading too. Here’s a little background information from the Seedlings web site:

At this time, less than 20% of the 50,000 blind children in the United States are proficient in braille. All too often, the written word has been inaccessible to them, and this is what we are hoping to change.

Braille books are provided at each level of development, from toddler board books to classic literature for older children. Just as sighted children learn to "read" as they are exposed to the printed word, so do visually impaired children who are exposed to the tactile page at an early age.

As a non-profit organization, Seedlings sells its books for considerably less than it costs to make them. Support is very broad based and comes from individuals, philanthropic groups, corporations and private foundations. Seedlings receives no government or United Way funds. Thanks to hundreds of generous donors and dedicated, hard working volunteers, the price of Seedlings' books remains far below actual production costs, averaging only $10 per book.

Seedlings has nearly 700 titles available and has mailed books to all 50 states, Canadian provinces and several foreign countries. Check out Seedlings to learn more and make a donation. Your $10 gift will be priceless to a blind child.

Congrats Citizens of Pennsylvania

Do you think picking up a phone or writing a letter to your Senator or Congressman is a waste of time and effort? Do you stay home on election day because you think your vote won't make a difference? Well, stop it. This country belongs to all of us and we really do have a voice, sometimes it just means yelling louder and longer to get some attention.

Last July in Pennsylvania, legislators voted themselves very hefty raises (16 to 24 percent) at 2:00 in the morning without any public discussion or hearings and then convened for the summer. The raise wasn't scheduled to take effect until December 1, 2006, but the cunning legislators decided to use a provision called unvouchered expenses to take the higher compensation starting August 1, 2005. The citizens were outraged and indignant. They quickly mobilized petitions to overturn the raises and scheduled protests on the Capital steps in Harrisburg.

The public outcry worked. Last night the legislators voted to repeal the raises. The Senate voted first, 50-0, to strike down the increase, and the House, near midnight, voted 196-2 to do the same thing. Democrats cast the two dissenting votes: House Minority Leader Bill Deweese, Waynesburg, and Minority Whip Rep. Mike Veon, Beaver Falls. They may live to regret their "no" votes next election day since their districts are in western Pennsylvania, which has struggled for years to stay abreast economically compared to the eastern side of the state. Speaking their minds paid off though.

Gene Stilp, a Harrisburg lawyer who had filed his own lawsuit against the raise in July, expressed surprise, but pleasure, that the Senate went along with the wishes of pay-raise protesters around the state.

"This proves that voters, taxpayers and the people of Pennsylvania can have an impact if they try," he said. "But don't let anyone tell you these politicians did this for good government reasons. They did this because they are fearing for their political lives."

Whatever their reasons for voting to repeal, the citizens came out the winners. That's a lesson for all of us. We can make a difference, but we need to speak out.

Mother Said There'd Be Days Like This

There are days when I still feel young, but today is definitely not one of them. I have my husband to thank for that. He got it in his mind that he wanted to make homemade sauerkraut just to see if he could do it. Someone he knows sold him a LARGE crock for twenty dollars (a good deal) and, after a trip to the store to buy kosher salt and cabbage, he was all set to start slicing and dicing.

I need to back up and tell you a little bit about my husband. He’s a great cook, but he’s the type that always does everything in a grand way. He once decided he wanted to learn to make bread from scratch. Okay, fine. I like bread, so I was willing to teach him about yeast, kneading the dough, and all the other tricks. Well, I must be a good teacher, because in no time at all my husband was preparing French bread, focaccia, Irish soda bread, and every other kind of bread you can think of – all over the course of a weekend. The man went through 40 pounds of flour! So, do you get what I mean when I say he likes to do everything in a grand way?

Anyway, back to the sauerkraut. My husband is from the Pittsburgh area and sauerkraut and pork play important roles when celebrating New Years. Tradition dictates that a person MUST eat some pork (roast, chop, kielbasa – it doesn’t matter) and sauerkraut on the first day of the New Year or you will be cursed with bad luck for the rest of the year. (A shiny new dime is also cooked along with the pork and sauerkraut to ensure financial fortune in the months ahead.) This tradition is my husband’s reason for wanting to make sauerkraut. He figures we’re going to need it soon, so why buy it.

Where do I fit into this whole scenario and why has this made me feel so old? Because, I took pity on the man and decided to help him slice the cabbage – all 31 heads! I think my husband sensed my shoulders were going to wear out after I sliced the first head because he asked me if I wanted a glass of wine – and then he informed me I was slicing the sections too thick. They should be no thicker than a dime.

I have to back up and tell you something else about my husband. The man uses our kitchen utensils to fix anything and everything around our house, so you can imagine how sharp our 20-year-old knives are. That’s why my husband offered me the wine. He could just sense that I was about to question his sanity and ask him how the heck I was supposed to cut cabbage into dime width slices with knives that can’t even cut butter!

Anyway, after half a bottle of wine and lots of slicing, the cabbage is happily fermenting away in the crock – all 20 gallons worth! It should be ready to eat by the holidays. If I can lift my fork to my mouth by then, I’ll probably enjoy it. In the meantime, my shoulders are painfully reminding me that I’m too old to play Martha Stewart anymore.

UPDATE: The sauerkraut is done and we labeled it "designer" quality. Check it out for yourself to see the finished product.

Are You a Brainiac?

Question: What relationship to you is your father's mother-in-law's only daughter's only child?

If you figured out the answer to this question with little hesitation, then you may be a candidate for Mensa - an organization for people with high intelligence. Five people from the Flint area
recently faced a battery of questions over precisely one hour and 12 minutes to see if they have what it takes to call themselves brainiacs, er, Mensa members.

Surprisingly, membership may not help you land that lucrative job you've been coveting. "I mentioned Mensa at a job application and someone said, 'What's Mensa?" said Flint attorney Lynn E. Taft in the Flint Journal.

Membership is exclusive though. There are only about 100,000 people worldwide who belong, so that may be motivation enough to take the test. Just think, if you pass, you could say you're one of the brightest with some authority, and it might help you win an argument or two with your spouse or significant other!

Oh, did you want the answer to the question at the beginning? Yourself.

Who Will Speak for Them?

The Book of Amos in the Bible could be speaking about our current situation in this country. Amos was very critical about four major sins: Mistreatment of the poor, false pride, inhumane treatment of other people, and insincere worship. If we were to look at these four areas separately and examine them in relation to the Bush administration’s policies, the picture would not be too flattering. From budget cuts for food stamps and housing subsidies, to the war in Iraq, Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, this administration has repeatedly acted in ways that are anything but Christian. Simply professing to be religious and participating in religious activities is not enough; their actions do not demonstrate what they profess to believe.

The Religious Right is guilty to a degree too. They focus on single issues like abortion, but remain silent about poverty, capital punishment and unnecessary war. Even worse, many of them pit their evangelical beliefs against those of other Christians in an effort to make others look bad and themselves better. Isn’t this the false pride Amos speaks about?

Thankfully, more mainstream Christians on the left, middle and right are beginning to speak up about the problems that effect people living in this country today, especially the problems of poverty and the minimum wage. The Charleston Gazette recently ran an editorial highlighting the efforts of churches in West Virginia to do something about this problem.

”The West Virginia Council of Churches - an affiliation of mainstream Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant congregations - has made adequate pay a priority. The council supports raising the minimum wage to $7.25 by June 2007. (It would have to be $8.90 an hour to have the same buying power the minimum wage had in 1969.)

“Justice for low-wage workers isn’t just an economic or political issue. It’s a religious and moral issue as well,” Bishop Ralph Dunkin of the West Virginia-West Maryland Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church said in Saturday’s paper.

These churches already work to help individuals struggling with poverty. Together, they plan to work for changes to policies that make Americans poor.

Their timing is perfect. The lives and work of millions of American families have been disrupted by hurricanes. Others are sacrificed for the war in Iraq. Still others are affected by swings in the economy. The president and Congress have cut taxes for the richest Americans and given away billions of public money in no-bid contracts to friendly corporations. Meanwhile, they pander to Religious Right taboos involving topics such as abortion or homosexuality, while they fine-tune plans to cut health care, child care, child support collections, food stamps and income assistance for old and disabled people living in poverty.”

Amen! The least among us have finally found voices willing to speak out for them. It was a long time in coming, but welcome nonetheless.