During September, Central Dallas Ministries passed the 1 MILLION pound mark of groceries distributed to our low-income neighbors.

1 MILLION pounds!

Through June 30, 2009, our food distribution channel had distributed more food than during all of 2008.

A combination of factors explains the rather startling growth.

There's been a little angst regarding The Dallas Morning News' editorial board's 'Bridging the Gap' project. For two years now, there has been a special initiative to focus on the disparity between North and South Dallas. It's important since South (or southern) Dallas represents some 80% of the city land mass, but is woefully underdeveloped representing less than 20% of Dallas' tax base. Most of the city's poorest neighborhoods are found in southern Dallas - more particularly the South Dallas/Fair Park area and West Dallas.

It is amazing, that the attitude of many who respond to issues raised about this disparity have a 'damn 'em all to hell', 'serves 'em right' attitude towards the poor in this region of our city. When investment in southern Dallas is brought up, some northern residents complain about the amount of tax money that must be spent on people who 'don't deserve it'. It is amazing that they have a difficult time seeing that economic development in the southern sector expands the tax base and lessens the tax burden on everyone. Of course that's simply the economic rationale.

And its not the only angst being expressed.

A.Word.A.Day, with Anu Garg

legerdemain

"It's a fantastic spot. But what happens to viewers' trust of Barclays when they realize all commercials are fake, shot on soundstages, and built on camera tricks and fancy editing and legerdemain?"
(Simon Houpt; Spotting the Fake; Globe and Mail (Toronto, Canada); Aug 14, 2009.)

Katrina Hobbs has been dynamic since she was five years old. She was probably dynamic before then, but I didn't know her before then.

When Katrina was little, she and her sister, Lewanna, attended our summer Kids Kamp program. While other kids just showed up to attend, Katrina and Lewanna would go home in the evenings and turn cheers and chants into songs and activities and bring them back for us to do at Kids Kamp.

Katrina's family lived in Roseland Homes and attended J.W. Ray Elementary. They would always bring reports of winning different oratorical contests and straight A's on their report cards.

Having had very intelligent conversations with many who identify themselves as Republicans, with any luck common sense will prevail when ballots offer an alternative to Lynn Jenkins in 2010.

Many people in recent years have come to realize that the GOP has abandoned its stance on limited government. After all, under the Republican controlled White House, Senate, and House, government expanded.

Conventional wisdom that says Democrats are most likely to break the piggy bank was thrown out after the Carter Administration. Still, many fear an increased Democratic majority in Congress topped by a Democratic president. Yet, the proof is in the pudding, Democrats spend less than the party who decries no spending.

If limited government is the goal, history tells us we should root for Democratic presidents. No matter which party is in power, Texans should be banned from the White House.

Dick Kelsey spent some more of his own hard earned dollars to showcase some of his top brass supporters for his bid for Congress in KS-04. Last week, Kelsey posted this radio spot featuring Kansas GOP Presidential caucus winner Gov. Mike Huckabee in a strong endorsement.

(Script of Huckabee Spot after the jump.)

About a week ago I was elected to be the new State President of the Kansas Young Democrats.

One of my first goals was to create the Kansas Young Democrats Alumni Association. I wanted to establish this to create a place where new Young Dems and past Young Dems can better connect. The Alumni Association will be used to connect democrats young and old statewide to build a stronger party and a strong youth motivated organization.

Miami congressional representative, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, (18th Dist. Republican) a Cuban-American, [hence the reference to Ricky Riccardo] has been one of most vocal supporters of the de facto government in Honduras following the midnight coup that put the former president, Manuel Zelaya, into exile wearing nothing but his pajamas [you can't make this kind of stuff up folks]. Mrs. Ros-Lehtinen has been flying solo as the coup has been denounced by virtually every government in the region. Recently, it seems the Honduran government has suspended civil liberties and shut down two major media outlets. Read more at the link here.

The former president "snuck" back into the country last week and is holed up in the Brazilian Embassy. The Brazilian government has successfully lobbied the United Nations for a resolution calling on the coup leaders to stop harassing the personnel in the embassy by such things as cutting power, hindering deliveries and perhaps even deploying a chemical irritant.

I keep telling people that every day I become more and more impressed with the 20-something age group. They are innovative critical thinkers who know and utilize technology and want to change the world. And so many of them are on the path to do just that!

Tameshia is an African American Studies AND Latin American Studies double major. She has taken some time off so she can save up to finish her last year at school. Though I am definitely encouraging her to go back, I'm extremely glad we have her and want to find ways to keep her!

He awakes every day, knowing that it will be a struggle. He takes 10 pills a day to manage his disorders. He struggles with suicide almost daily. Some days are tougher than others. There are times he hears voices, that tell him to kill himself, other times he hears voices that tell him someone is in danger. He never feels “normal,” as hasn’t for as long as he can recall.

As difficult as it is for him, it’s not a problem that he deals with by himself. Like so many with mental illness, his family is affected by his disease.

It started when he was a child. He grew up in an abusive household. He was only 19, when he saw his mother murder his father. He held his dying dad in his arms, as the police took his mother away. For many years, he self-medicated with drugs and alcohol. He never found one that would take his pain away.
He had two children, yet that couldn’t fill the hole in his heart.

For starters, some may say that a dog is just a dog. And they are right. Dogs aren’t like humans, they don’t impact the world like us, they don’t run countries or raise children. Yet, for me, one dog has made me look at life differently. He made me realize things I already knew, and now I want to live bigger and better.

Lesson #1: Love Unconditionally

Not everyone you encounter in life will like you, let alone love you, but those who do deserve unconditional love. Love without expectations, that is always present. Give and you shall receive.

Lesson #2: Be Proud of Who You Are

You are unique, with your own thoughts, goals, experiences, personality and looks. Sometimes, you will be judged, but you are who you for a reason. Whether you are too big (as in Zyne’s case), too small or not so good looking, you must always carry your head held high, walk proudly and know that you have purpose.

Lesson #3: If You Have a Job, Do it Well

If given a job or duty, perform it to the best of your abilities. We are often faced with tasks that are too difficult, or even too mundane, that we’d rather not do. If not given a job in this life, assign yourself one. Every thing we do teaches us a lesson, and can possibly impact others.

Here are some facts:

• From January through June 2008, Central Dallas Ministries worked with 25,542 different individuals and, among other things, distributed 277,056 pounds of groceries and foodstuffs to assist low-income people "make ends meet."
• From January through June 2009, CDM worked with 31,100 different individuals and distributed 614,522 pounds of groceries and foodstuffs to assist in the "making ends meet" exercise.

By now most Americans have heard of the group, ACORN. It is so unique the mainstream press, especially the Washington Post, CNN, and other television networks are ill prepared to explain what it really is. The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now is a nation-wide anti-poverty group that has, through community organizing, pressured powerful banks to provide home ownership opportunities for working people. It has fought to raise workers' wages, get traffic lights at dangerous intersections, increase police protection in low-income neighborhoods, and help families avoid foreclosures.

The group has improved the lives of millions of working families and strengthened America's democracy through its voter registration efforts. ACORN helped lift low-waged poor out of poverty by building the "living wage" and minimum wage movement, perhaps the most successful poor people's campaign during the past two decades. Coordinated and inspired by ACORN's Living Wage Resource Center, what began as a series of local efforts in the late 1990s, led to a national boost in the minimum wage in 2007, an increase signed by George Bush.

I stand by my last blog post concerning the Health Care Reform Bill!

There is certainly room for disagreements with provisions in that bill, but you need to know what you are disagreeing with. HR3200 Sec. 1233 does not mandate end of life procedures! It makes consultations with health care professionals elegible for reimbursement by Medicare. It allows paid for consultations once every 5 years. Do a search via google for Health Care Reform bill and you can find a complete copy of the bill, available free for download. Go to Sec. 1233 and read it.

The bill lists several areas that you can and should let your wishes be known concerning how aggressive you want your health care provider to be.

"My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition."

Indira Gandhi, 1917-1984
Prime Minister of India, 1966-1977, 1980-1984

In view of the current "conversation" regarding race and racism in the United States, I found Melissa Harris-Lacewell's essay, Can We? A Brief History of American Racism, published on The Nation website (September 16, 2009) worth a read.

To hear a thoughtful sermon by Dr. John Fiedler on the benefits of civil argument and the downside of the uncivil variety, click here and then select "What Are We Arguing About?" Once you are there you can fast forward to 30:14 to the start of the message.

A new study out of Washington promotes taxing foods with high fat and low nutritional value. The think tank behind the study, the Urban Institute, and pundits suggest the tax would help drive down cost in a couple of ways.

Last year, $200 billion – 9 percent of all health care costs – was spent on health care related to obesity. And a "fat-foods tax" would generate $500 billion over 10 years and help cover the projected $1 trillion anticipated cost of health care reform.

Yet in poor communities, such as those in some parts of southern Dallas, high-fat, low-nutritional foods often make up the majority of what's available. Fresh fruits and vegetables are, by comparison, expensive and not as easy to find. And low incomes, lack of transportation and too few grocery stores limit shopping options. Those facts make the proposed tax regressive and punitive towards those with limited access to healthier alternatives.

When we began talking about starting educational programming for teens, I was aware of the stories that getting teenagers to come could be challenging. But I also know that so many of our teenagers are eager to go to college and simply don't have the knowledge of how to be prepared and how to get through all of the paperwork. After interviewing Terrence for the Americorps position, I knew he was the perfect person for the job.

The hullabaloo that was raised by radical opponents of the Health Care Bill provision that called for ‘End of Life Counseling’ just doesn’t resonate with the reality of how society looks at the sanctity of life. In an article I just read in the Miami Herald written by James H. Burnett III, he comments on the difficulty in raising $11,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the murderer of a couple college students. But, apparently, in the same time period they had to plead for people to stop donating to a reward fund for information leading to the arrest of the butcherer who had slaughtered some horses. That fund had reached $80,000. What does that say about sanctity of life? We have a large and influential group of people who seem to be far more concerned about the welfare of animals than they are the welfare of human beings. They seem to be far more concerned about the welfare and treatment of domestic livestock, from birth to death, than they are the welfare of the human work force involved in the food chain. They have, sometimes, unreasonable demands on the resources available to meet their criteria. Where is the demand for resources to meet the welfare of humanity?

The Roseland Library/Bookstore was a buzz of activity when I entered. Ms. Anna's class from the After-School Academy was there for their KidzLit reading class. They had finished reading the book and doing their activities and were all browsing the library.

I noticed a low-key ruckus beginning to take place. I looked over to see Randy rather upset. One of the kids had picked up a book and Randy was afraid he was going to buy it. Miss Katrina intervened, "What's wrong?" Randy, upset, tried to explain, "He's got the book I wanted to buy!!" Katrina calmly explained to Randy, "He doesn't have any money with him today. He was just looking at the book." The other child finished looking at the book and turned it over to Randy. Randy was then able to get his book and pay Miss Katrina at the check out desk. (I believe I heard a sigh of relief. :) )