How much does our society truly value and promote the family structure?

I've been trying to fill out paperwork for the state to show we are not a daycare provider. We need this exemption in order for us to receive free snacks for the children.

I don't think we are going to qualify.

Their rules don't match with what what our program is about:

On this Saturday, November 3rd, one year out from the 2008 election, Democrats in all 50 states are gathering for events in their own communities. Is so doing, they are joining up with the Democratic National Party's first nationwide organizing push. In fact, the push looks different than it had in previous years. To many in red states, the "50-state strategy" was a mirage. I'm starting to think that it's possible that Howard heard the complaints and is doing it different this time. How? Truly engaging 50 states and lifting up grassroots worker into higher party esteem.

Yesterday, Spotlight on Poverty and Opportunity, was launched in an attempt to provide voters with useful information on the issues of poverty and opportunity as the nation moves toward the 2008 elections. The initiative, supported by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the EOS Foundation and other major foundations, will seek to engage presidential, congressional and local candidates in substantive discussions about poverty and keep these issues in the forefront as a new administration sets its agenda.

New polling data indicates that growing numbers of likely voters, both Republicans and Democrats, are concerned about hunger and poverty. The research found that 50% of likely voters believe that "the hunger problem in the United States is getting worse," an increase from 38 percent in 2002.

On the backs of Zack Exley over at Revolution in Jesusland and Mr. Brad Andrews the newest blogger at EDC who spoke yesterday about his own disapproval with the US Congress I have put together my own list of:

The Top 10 Problems Facing Contemporary Democrats...

Like you, I'm absolutely disgusted with George Bush's veto of the children's healthcare legislation. He keeps saying that SCHIP was supposed to be for kids in poverty. But, that's a lie! It's not true. Medicaid is the program for the poor kids. SCHIP is for the "working poor" - that is, the disadvantaged uninsured children whose families earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but, not enough to afford insurance.

The truth is that the number of "working poor" in the U.S. has grown tremendously in the ten years since SCHIP was first implemented. That's why we need to grow SCHIP now. So, that SCHIP can do what it was intended to do - provide health insurance to the children whose families make too much to qualify for Medicaid but don't make enough money to afford insurance. There are millions of uninsured children that are currently not helped by SCHIP because SCHIP is out of money. And, SCHIP would have the money, if Bush hadn't vetoed the SCHIP legislation. I couldn't be more angry or more fed up. I'm heartbroken.

The wrongs in our nation live with me every day. Sometimes I'm so absorbed by the grave problems facing my neighbors, I often miss the beauty that surrounds me daily. We need both. The beauty gives us strength to face the horrors. To build up my energy to fight for the rights of my less fortunate friends, this week, I'm taking a brief hiatus to turn my attention to the color green. It's just a little vacation to renew my energies. Come with me!

"So Kansans would have 15 percent of the energy and 100 percent of the pollution and environmental impact of 11 million new tons of CO2 each year," Gov. Kathleen Sebelius wrote in An open letter to the people of Kansas.

Society exists so that we can live better than we could live alone. We cooperate, but as soon as we do not all do exactly the same thing -- as soon, that is, as there is a division of labor -- we have to figure out who carries the heavier burdens.

And when we have divided up the tasks, when one person sows and another reaps, then we also have to figure out how we should divide up the benefits of the cooperation.

Jerry Brown, former California governor, presidential candidate and mayor of Oakland, shared the following comments in an interview with oral historian, Studs Terkel, for his book, Hope Dies Last. We'll be discussing this book this Thursday at our monthly Urban Engagement Book Club meeting.

I found Brown's observations interesting, practical and hopeful in very ordinary ways. We've seen what he describes here in Dallas among the people with whom we work...

Chicago police spokeswoman JoAnn Taylor says about 5,000 people marched through city streets Saturday to protest the war in Iraq. The Chicago war protest was just one of many protests taking place in U.S. cities on Saturday, including New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

In Chicago, the thousands of protesters gathered at the Union Park and marched to the Federal Plaza. The streets were filled with labor and union members, retired military and veterans, clergy, parents and spouses of fallen soldiers, and citizens of all walks of life.

The Internet Monk proposed a list of the thirteen problems that he sees with contemporary Evangelicalism and boy oh boy did the comment explode into some amazing and insightful conversation.

Two main problems that the Monk points out are:

"2. The expansion and influence of the "Prosperity Gospel" throughout evangelicalism.

3. The loss of the concept of meaningful church membership and the rise of the "audience-only" model of church participation."

I think these two actually play into each other in a way that is both disappointing and reflective of the negative attitudes surrounding evangelical faiths today.

In August, Congress passed legislation that allowed President Bush to continue his warrantless wiretapping of American communications, much to my dismay. The only saving grace was that the bill had a six-month duration before it expired. Now, with that six-month deadline nearing, the Senate Judiciary Committee will once again take up the debate over reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveilance Act (FISA) at 10 a.m. on this coming Wednesday. That same committee last week approved a FISA amendment that would give retroactive immunity to communications carriers that have assisted the government's warrantless spying efforts.

Telecoms like AT&T are facing lawsuits claiming that they willingly participated in eavesdropping of U.S. citizen's communications, including phone calls, e-mails and Internet traffic, at the request of the government, without the government providing warrants, as required.

One of my young friends who would benefit from the provisions of the recently defeated DREAM Act is pictured here to the left in a photo taken several years ago when she was about 10-years-old.

She is the smiling face in the middle of this "huddle" of joy. This photo captures a moment in a day of summer camp or, possibly, a shot from one of our after-school activities with children from our community.

She came here when she was 5-years-old when her parents moved to Dallas from Mexico. They were undocumented. They came to work. She is undocumented. She is now a high school graduate. She is now a college student. She is today what she has always been: a delightful, smart, honest, wonderful person.

Opponents of the DREAM Act bluster about border security, abiding by the law, not "jumping ahead in line" that is the immigration process. I guess almost all of us are for all of those things. What complicates this issue are facts like these...

I just got to say that I'm so proud of one of our bloggers. The girl has a Doctorate in Education which would allow her to open so many door in so many places - for herself and for her own personal benefit. With her accomplishments, she could be an administrator of a school system, a professor in a university, even a pundit on CNN talking about that "No Child Left Behind Program." Yet, what does she do?

More than 1,000 war protesters gathered in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, on Saturday - as well as 11 other major cities throughout the United States - to rally against war and call for change. A number of Iraq war veterans also spoke at the Utah protest, including Chris Conway who was deployed in 2003.

"Those soldiers who still wish to go back say so primarily because they feel a sense of duty to defend the lives of those who become their brothers and sisters amidst the so-called mission in which they find themselves," Conway said. "They convince themselves that they are somehow fighting for a just cause to keep from going completely insane."

Two Oklahoma Gold Star fathers were keynote speakers at a rally yesterday in Oklahoma City calling for an end to the war in Iraq. About 150 activists gathered to hold signs, listen to music and hear speakers calling for peace.

Dr. Robin Meyers, pastor at Mayflower Congregational Church in Oklahoma City circulated a resolution for peace and asked others to sign it. The peace resolution first began circulating by members of the United Church of Christ.

"Our national president, Rev. John Thomas, was arrested while delivering more than 67,000 signatures on this resolution [to the White House] which we have at today's rally," Dr. Meyers said. He said that signatures gathered this weekend will be added toward the goal of 100,000 signatures.

Eric is exceptional. He is also homeless here in Dallas. Take a look at what he said (in response to my blog about ending homelessness). He signed off on his comment by offering up this bit of counsel to those of us who are well off, especially those of us who take exception to people like him:

"my inconvenient existence may be a glimpse of your eternal reward..."

Don't like the way that sounds?

We work in neighborhoods where people face all sorts of difficulties, places where bad problems abound, where life is not very good.

At the same time, in every case, no matter what, we also find amazing people who possess enormous amounts of social capital. In the worst places and situations we discover that people are good and that hope abounds.

Monday was World Hunger Day. I was unable to participate in the Central Dallas Ministries' challenge to "share in the pain of my neighbors who must daily struggle with hunger" on Monday so I committed to a different day...yesterday.

I realize people in poverty don't get to choose the day they have to deal with hunger like I did, but even though mine was calculated around my schedule it was important to me to "share in that pain" by fasting for the full three meals.

How did it go?

When I've been in Oklahoma City to visit family and friends for the past several weeks I always stop by and put in a few hours with Andrew Rice's campaign. Sometimes simply because he's another heartland democrat who needs help and has the volunteer mechanism in place to utilize me - and sometimes simply because he's a young democrat who is running for office.

So this week I heard about a rally with the OU YD's that was in part a response to a comment made by Markos (of the dailykos) about Rice's Senate race. I knew then, that I needed to hop in the car and make the schlep to Norman, Oklahoma to support both Andrew and young people. And what I found was astounding.

Neither rain nor sleet nor cold will stop the Oklahoma Young Democrats. Many braved the unexpected weather to hear State Senator Andrew Rice talk about why he is running for US Senate and compound the myth that young people in Oklahoma are less interested.

In the last few weeks young people have seen some serious hatin' going on with Thomas Friedman we saw a serious slam. And this week's Oklahoma Gazette did a huge profile on Rice where Markos Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos blog, was asked to comment on the race.

"Inhofe is a national joke. He is very much a top-tier villain, somebody who could be easy to run against from a national perspective," Moulitsas said. "(But) I wouldn't even say it's a second tier race for us. It's a third-tier race."

To climb the ladder, Rice will have to prove he can pull in $25 checks from rural Oklahomans and motivate college students to knock on doors for him.

"If he can do that, this race merits attention. If he can't do that, then this isn't going to be much of a race," Moulitsas said.

Well get ready because the OU Dems have something to prove.

Yesterday, I flew to Washington, DC to lobby our senators in support of the DREAM Act.

When planning the trip, it was my understanding that the bill would come before the U. S. Senate sometime in early November.

To everyone's surprise the bill came up yesterday for a "procedural" vote that would determine its near-term fate. To move forward the proposal needed 60 votes. It managed to receive 52. So, back to the drawing board.

Traveling with me were three delightful students from Dallas. Jose, Monica and Jesse -- all would benefit from the relief provided by this immigration bill. Each of these wonderful young people were brought to this country when they were small children by parents who were not documented. None of them were consulted about the family move.

Have you ever thought about how easy it would be to rig a national election? With the way our electoral system works, all you need to do is choose one state and swing the election your way in that one state and voila! You wake up one morning the duly elected American President. Or you wake up with your party in control of the Senate, the House, or all of the US Congress.