First - make or find a still and do NOT involve a car battery. Seriously, you have to watch out for that. If you run into it, know who you're buying from. It's a dying art and when I last asked I was told there were only a very few people still making good moonshine and you generally had to order it ahead of time.
From biblio.org:
Take:
corn meal
sugar
water
yeast
malt
Mix all ingredients together in a large container. After mixing, move the mixture, called "mash," into a still and leave it to ferment. How quickly this process occurs depends on the warmth of the mash.
Heat the mash to the point of vaporization at 173 degrees. The mash will produce a clear liquid, often the color of dark beer. You must watch this process with careful attention.
Trap vapor using a tube or coil. The vapor will be transferred into a second, empty container. The resulting condensation is the moonshine. It is then ready to drink or sell.
Keep mash in container. It is now called "slop." Add more sugar, water, malt, and corn meal and repeat the process.
Repeat the process up to eight times before replacing the mash.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Sunrise in the Holler of Good and Evil
Well, I'm heading back today after a day yesterday that got as de-railed as the Old '97. Jesco's got a show in August though, and I'm going to try to be back up for that. Will be back in a few weeks either way, and you'll without question find a great story about him at GratefulWeb.net in the near future. Along with the story, we're going to be featuring a gallery of the artwork of Jeffrey Holland, (most recently of "Weird Kentucky"). He's got a really cool series of paintings of Hasil Adkins, who we featured on our blog at GratefulWeb MySpace
It just won't be a story about hanging out with him & Mamie yesterday. Just as I was about to call to see what they were up to, enter Aunt Teal with friends from the Peace in the Valley Church in tow, (didn't make that name up even). Apparantly my soul needed saving more than I needed to raise hell.
She'd torn out of here yesterday morning like nobody's business. Don't care how pious she is, she drives like her Daddy ran moonshine. (Teal lives in a house built just a hair up the fork in the crossroads from this one.) Seemed like an odd way to go to church but not my place to say or question. She's mad about the whiskey & guns and there's also something of a family feud going on, (it is Hatfield & McCoy territory, after all).
Anyway, we're about to head out to a phone signal to call Jesco and/or Mamie when our path was blocked by Bible-thumping, elderly Appalachian women. They weren't even bearing pies and lemonade or anything. They insisted we go back up to the porch and talk with them, (listen rather).
Now, I was a religion major. I've got nothing in the world against Bible-thumping Appalachian women. In fact, I find the unique way religion has settled itself around here completely fascinating and would really like to check it out more than I have. I've done everything form read the Bible in Greek to visiting a snake handling church in NC. But it just wasn't the time, you know?
Well, I heard a long story on the family feud and then began to be subjected to an endless flow of Bible verses. That's all well and good, but this habit of answering one Bible verse with another gets kind of old. I mean, the Bible is so vast it can really be used to support anything. Discussing the verses, now that might be insightful. But reciting something from memory doesn't really show you know it.
It went on so long I started reciting Bible verses in Greek and praying in Latin. "What is that, Spanish?" I was asked. I just kept on, (praying for real that I'd get out of there in time to call Jesco). "That Spanish girl sure is weird." Another said.
It went on for hours.
By that time it was too late to possibly go to Madison.
So next trip. But if he's playing, well that'll be even better.
A fascinating trip was made, however, to the Exhibition Coal Mine, along with a treck up Great, Great, Great GREAT Big Ass Mountain and another to the New River. I've never seen so many butterflies. The ones here at the house are about as big as baby bats and the ones down by the river were as thick as flies. Let me walk right in the middle of them, never seen anything quite like it.
Coal Mines coming soon. Guess it was something of a political trip after all. Mabye sociological is a better word.
It just won't be a story about hanging out with him & Mamie yesterday. Just as I was about to call to see what they were up to, enter Aunt Teal with friends from the Peace in the Valley Church in tow, (didn't make that name up even). Apparantly my soul needed saving more than I needed to raise hell.
She'd torn out of here yesterday morning like nobody's business. Don't care how pious she is, she drives like her Daddy ran moonshine. (Teal lives in a house built just a hair up the fork in the crossroads from this one.) Seemed like an odd way to go to church but not my place to say or question. She's mad about the whiskey & guns and there's also something of a family feud going on, (it is Hatfield & McCoy territory, after all).
Anyway, we're about to head out to a phone signal to call Jesco and/or Mamie when our path was blocked by Bible-thumping, elderly Appalachian women. They weren't even bearing pies and lemonade or anything. They insisted we go back up to the porch and talk with them, (listen rather).
Now, I was a religion major. I've got nothing in the world against Bible-thumping Appalachian women. In fact, I find the unique way religion has settled itself around here completely fascinating and would really like to check it out more than I have. I've done everything form read the Bible in Greek to visiting a snake handling church in NC. But it just wasn't the time, you know?
Well, I heard a long story on the family feud and then began to be subjected to an endless flow of Bible verses. That's all well and good, but this habit of answering one Bible verse with another gets kind of old. I mean, the Bible is so vast it can really be used to support anything. Discussing the verses, now that might be insightful. But reciting something from memory doesn't really show you know it.
It went on so long I started reciting Bible verses in Greek and praying in Latin. "What is that, Spanish?" I was asked. I just kept on, (praying for real that I'd get out of there in time to call Jesco). "That Spanish girl sure is weird." Another said.
It went on for hours.
By that time it was too late to possibly go to Madison.
So next trip. But if he's playing, well that'll be even better.
A fascinating trip was made, however, to the Exhibition Coal Mine, along with a treck up Great, Great, Great GREAT Big Ass Mountain and another to the New River. I've never seen so many butterflies. The ones here at the house are about as big as baby bats and the ones down by the river were as thick as flies. Let me walk right in the middle of them, never seen anything quite like it.
Coal Mines coming soon. Guess it was something of a political trip after all. Mabye sociological is a better word.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Midnight in the Holler of Good and Evil
Though I stick with political topics for the most part here, as you've seen, every now and then I'm unable to control my enthusiasm and veer over to music. It is, after all, GratefulWeb. With what I call 'String Season', (the time of year when string festivals in Appalachia are as abundant as ticks on a deer), in full swing, it seemed like a good time to head to them hills and find something fascinating and somewhat less known than the festivals themselves to share with you.
So I set off yesterday for a place I'll call 'Crossroads Holler', (truly sitting a ways up said holler with my back to a crossroads right now), up off 'Big Ass Mountain', (elevation 2700+ a few feet), A banjo, guitar, whiskey and biker friend in tow, I'm going to see if I can't run into Dancing Outlaw Jesco White. He's over in Hatfield and McCoyville, (of course he is), about an hour away.
I meant to post this 'round midnight, but the reception up here is tempremental as hell.
So most of a bottle of whiskey, a lot of songs and 8 hours (aka enough time to sleep it off) later...let me see if I can describe this place well enough for it to be like you was here...(somewhere along the way I lost the adaptor to my camera, so you've just got to wait for the photos)
The house was built by my friend's grandfather and his wife's family, semi-enclosed moonshine spring and all. And that's impressive, especially considering the size, (sleeps about 13, not so surprising when you consider they had 9 children). I don't have all the details on the moonshinin' but the place where the still was is right up behind me, just above the crossroads.
Just like the Steve Earle song, when moonshine fell out of fashion, (guess that's one way to put it anyway), a descendant took some 'seeds from Columbia and Mexico' and planted 'em even further up the holler. That didn't work out too well for him. He ended up with the tri-state police giving him 2 black eyes and a trip to prison. (We might go visit him on the way out tomorrow.) Needless to say, just like the moonshine still, that's gone now too, though the schoolbus he converted and lived in still stands at the end of a near impassable, (except on foot), road far up Crossroads Holler.
So what's with all this illegal production up here? Well, truth be told, it's not entirely that people up here are oulaws by nature, (though they are). There are some pretty practical reasons for that. Main thing is, up here, there aren't many ways to make money. If you don't work in the mines, for the railroad or, further West the nuclear plant, good luck to you. It's that way on purpose too, (otherwise, who would work in the afore-mentioned, very dangerous places?). A case was won against WalMart not long ago, in fact, because someone had been working at a store in another state and was offerred substantially less for the exact same job at the WalMart here.
So, there aren't, and haven't ever been, a lot of options when it comes to feeding yourself, let alone a large family like most people had in the moonshinin' days. Doesn't make illegal enterprise the right thing to do, just saying for a lot of people it's been the only thing to do. With tourism growing rapidly between the parks & white water rafting and the re-surgance in popularity of String Season, the police started cracking down harder on the fairly common green fields.
And boy did they crack, I'll post the mug shot with the 2 black eyes. The guy didn't fight either, in case you're thinking that's why he got beaten up. Nope, thin wiry small guy, sitting drinking a beer when the cops came down. And they came down.
But I digress. None of this is giving you an idea of what it's like up here. Damn my tendancy to wander off on tangents.
Well, imagine this - I'll stick to the title even though it's more sunrise in the Holler of Good and Evil at this point, pitch dark, (there's nothing nearby to give a bit of light), save for an army of fireflies so thick they're like dots on dotted swiss. Every half hour or so you hear the rumbling echo of a coal train so close it sounds like it's going to land on the porch - an ominous, sad sound, appropriately. A Peabody still owns them too I believe, just like he did in the 'John Henry' song and in John Prine's 'Paradise' song. Mountain peaks green as the field that used to be up the holler, (he he he), loom to my right and I really have heard a lonesome whiporwill or three that sounds to blue to fly. And it's so cool I wish I had a sweater, quite a switch from the extreme heat and humidity in Richmond.
Outside of the whiskey drinkin' and guitar pickin' it's been pretty uneventful so far, unless you count the stop at a store called simply, 'Tobacco and Liquor' where some tedious idiocy was encountered among patrons, (not worth going into). In spite of the dramatic history of the place, right up to not too long ago, it's still and quiet but for the coal trains and what sounds like about 20 different kinds of birds. A trip up to a restaurant in the nearest town last night wasn't really so different than going to a similar place anywhere else in the country. Kitchen open till 10, diverse crowd at the bar and pretty diverse menu. It ain't all biscuits and moonshine.
But I've been up in these hills often enough to not let all that fool me.
To Be Continued...
So I set off yesterday for a place I'll call 'Crossroads Holler', (truly sitting a ways up said holler with my back to a crossroads right now), up off 'Big Ass Mountain', (elevation 2700+ a few feet), A banjo, guitar, whiskey and biker friend in tow, I'm going to see if I can't run into Dancing Outlaw Jesco White. He's over in Hatfield and McCoyville, (of course he is), about an hour away.
I meant to post this 'round midnight, but the reception up here is tempremental as hell.
So most of a bottle of whiskey, a lot of songs and 8 hours (aka enough time to sleep it off) later...let me see if I can describe this place well enough for it to be like you was here...(somewhere along the way I lost the adaptor to my camera, so you've just got to wait for the photos)
The house was built by my friend's grandfather and his wife's family, semi-enclosed moonshine spring and all. And that's impressive, especially considering the size, (sleeps about 13, not so surprising when you consider they had 9 children). I don't have all the details on the moonshinin' but the place where the still was is right up behind me, just above the crossroads.
Just like the Steve Earle song, when moonshine fell out of fashion, (guess that's one way to put it anyway), a descendant took some 'seeds from Columbia and Mexico' and planted 'em even further up the holler. That didn't work out too well for him. He ended up with the tri-state police giving him 2 black eyes and a trip to prison. (We might go visit him on the way out tomorrow.) Needless to say, just like the moonshine still, that's gone now too, though the schoolbus he converted and lived in still stands at the end of a near impassable, (except on foot), road far up Crossroads Holler.
So what's with all this illegal production up here? Well, truth be told, it's not entirely that people up here are oulaws by nature, (though they are). There are some pretty practical reasons for that. Main thing is, up here, there aren't many ways to make money. If you don't work in the mines, for the railroad or, further West the nuclear plant, good luck to you. It's that way on purpose too, (otherwise, who would work in the afore-mentioned, very dangerous places?). A case was won against WalMart not long ago, in fact, because someone had been working at a store in another state and was offerred substantially less for the exact same job at the WalMart here.
So, there aren't, and haven't ever been, a lot of options when it comes to feeding yourself, let alone a large family like most people had in the moonshinin' days. Doesn't make illegal enterprise the right thing to do, just saying for a lot of people it's been the only thing to do. With tourism growing rapidly between the parks & white water rafting and the re-surgance in popularity of String Season, the police started cracking down harder on the fairly common green fields.
And boy did they crack, I'll post the mug shot with the 2 black eyes. The guy didn't fight either, in case you're thinking that's why he got beaten up. Nope, thin wiry small guy, sitting drinking a beer when the cops came down. And they came down.
But I digress. None of this is giving you an idea of what it's like up here. Damn my tendancy to wander off on tangents.
Well, imagine this - I'll stick to the title even though it's more sunrise in the Holler of Good and Evil at this point, pitch dark, (there's nothing nearby to give a bit of light), save for an army of fireflies so thick they're like dots on dotted swiss. Every half hour or so you hear the rumbling echo of a coal train so close it sounds like it's going to land on the porch - an ominous, sad sound, appropriately. A Peabody still owns them too I believe, just like he did in the 'John Henry' song and in John Prine's 'Paradise' song. Mountain peaks green as the field that used to be up the holler, (he he he), loom to my right and I really have heard a lonesome whiporwill or three that sounds to blue to fly. And it's so cool I wish I had a sweater, quite a switch from the extreme heat and humidity in Richmond.
Outside of the whiskey drinkin' and guitar pickin' it's been pretty uneventful so far, unless you count the stop at a store called simply, 'Tobacco and Liquor' where some tedious idiocy was encountered among patrons, (not worth going into). In spite of the dramatic history of the place, right up to not too long ago, it's still and quiet but for the coal trains and what sounds like about 20 different kinds of birds. A trip up to a restaurant in the nearest town last night wasn't really so different than going to a similar place anywhere else in the country. Kitchen open till 10, diverse crowd at the bar and pretty diverse menu. It ain't all biscuits and moonshine.
But I've been up in these hills often enough to not let all that fool me.
To Be Continued...
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Obama and McCain Agree on an Unsetteling Set of Crucial Issues
"Stem-cell research and nuclear weapons are just two examples of a surprising but little-noticed aspect of the hotly contested 2008 campaign: Democrat Obama and Republican McCain actually agree on a range of issues that have divided the parties under Bush.
On immigration, faith-based social services, expanded government wiretapping, global warming and more, Obama and McCain have arrived at similar stances -- even as they have spent weeks trying to amplify the differences between them on other issues, such as health care and taxes.
Even on Iraq, a signature issue for both of them, McCain and Obama have edged toward each other.
The result is that in many areas of policy, the general direction of the next White House seems already set, even if the details are not."
From the LA Times
On immigration, faith-based social services, expanded government wiretapping, global warming and more, Obama and McCain have arrived at similar stances -- even as they have spent weeks trying to amplify the differences between them on other issues, such as health care and taxes.
Even on Iraq, a signature issue for both of them, McCain and Obama have edged toward each other.
The result is that in many areas of policy, the general direction of the next White House seems already set, even if the details are not."
From the LA Times
Thursday, July 10, 2008
From Willie Nelson to Johnny Cash, Snoop Goes Country
He's just done duets with Willie Nelson and now he's getting ready to chime about walkin' the line on the upcoming "Johnny Cash Re-mixed", produced by John Carter Cash.
yeeehaaaawww Dog!
yeeehaaaawww Dog!
Handwritten Lyrics to "Give Peace a Chance" Auctioned at Christies
Lennon gave the sheet he'd written the words on to a 16 year old girl during his bed-in protest. It sold for over $800,000.00.
More from Yahoo News
More from Yahoo News
McCain Advisor Says Economic Problems are in Our Heads
Well now, let's rally for that sort of economic solution why don't we? I know, since it's similar to us all being depressed, let's lobby for manditory anti-depressants for all Americans why don't we? Then the pharmecutical and insurance companies can make even more money. The pharmecutical companies will benefit the most, clearly, in light of the health care crisis that I suppose is also all in our heads. McCain for president indeed.
From the horses mouth:
"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession. We have sort of become a nation of whiners."
PHIL GRAMM,
top economic advisor to John McCain, on complaints about a declining economy
From the horses mouth:
"You've heard of mental depression; this is a mental recession. We have sort of become a nation of whiners."
PHIL GRAMM,
top economic advisor to John McCain, on complaints about a declining economy
Senate Approves New Wiretapping Bill
Even Barack voted in favor of it, reversing his original position on the matter. He did also vote for a Bill that would have denied immunity for telephone companies, however.
"The bill also effectively protects telephone companies from being sued for cooperating with a government surveillance program launched in the wake of the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The White House pushed hard for the provision, with a threat to veto the bill if it did not contain protection for phone companies..."
So, if it's all legit and everyone they're tapping is proveably a threat to America, why do they have to incorporate immunity for the people doing it? And to be so supremely insistant. This is more than the old protect big business at the expense of the people song and dance. You don't cover your ass that emphatically unless you're doing something wrong. They insisted on protection because they're fairly sure they're going to be exposed somewhere down the line for abusing the power. And it's waaaayyyy too much power for the Government to have don't you think?
Read it and see:
"The bill, formally known as the FISA Amendments Act, updates the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It will:
"Require the secret court set up to oversee FISA to review the surveillance of any targeted American whether the person is in the United States or abroad;
"Provide for the FISA court to sign off on procedures for removing the name of any American inadvertently captured in a communication with a foreign target;
"Prohibit reverse targeting, which is when intelligence officials eavesdrop on a foreigner's communications overseas as a means to spy on someone in the United States.
"Close a loophole by explicitly establishing the 1978 law as the exclusive means for authorizing electronic surveillance;
"Set up a procedure for federal judges to determine whether a telecommunications company can be sued for providing the intelligence community access to its networks without a court order."
Always beware when loopholes close.
From CNN
"The bill also effectively protects telephone companies from being sued for cooperating with a government surveillance program launched in the wake of the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington. The White House pushed hard for the provision, with a threat to veto the bill if it did not contain protection for phone companies..."
So, if it's all legit and everyone they're tapping is proveably a threat to America, why do they have to incorporate immunity for the people doing it? And to be so supremely insistant. This is more than the old protect big business at the expense of the people song and dance. You don't cover your ass that emphatically unless you're doing something wrong. They insisted on protection because they're fairly sure they're going to be exposed somewhere down the line for abusing the power. And it's waaaayyyy too much power for the Government to have don't you think?
Read it and see:
"The bill, formally known as the FISA Amendments Act, updates the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. It will:
"Require the secret court set up to oversee FISA to review the surveillance of any targeted American whether the person is in the United States or abroad;
"Provide for the FISA court to sign off on procedures for removing the name of any American inadvertently captured in a communication with a foreign target;
"Prohibit reverse targeting, which is when intelligence officials eavesdrop on a foreigner's communications overseas as a means to spy on someone in the United States.
"Close a loophole by explicitly establishing the 1978 law as the exclusive means for authorizing electronic surveillance;
"Set up a procedure for federal judges to determine whether a telecommunications company can be sued for providing the intelligence community access to its networks without a court order."
Always beware when loopholes close.
From CNN
Rove Refuses to Obey Order to Testify Before House
"WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Karl Rove, President Bush's longtime political guru, refused to obey an order to testify before a House Judiciary Committee hearing Thursday.
"Karl Rove's lawyers says he is immune from a congressional subpoena.
"Rove's lawyer asserted that Rove was "immune" from the subpoena the committee had issued, arguing that the committee could not compel him to testify due to "executive privilege."
"The panel is investigating allegations that Rove and his White House allies dismissed U.S. attorneys and prosecuted officials who they saw as political opponents...
"A refusal to appear in violation of the subpoena could subject Mr. Rove to contempt proceedings, including statutory contempt under federal law and proceedings under the inherent contempt authority of the House of Representatives," Conyers and Sanchez wrote...
"..."Threatening Mr. Rove with sanctions will not in any way expedite the resolution of the issue," Luskin wrote in a letter to the panel on Wednesday."
I'm sure they won't, I mean, seeing as how he's above the law and all. Jolly. Just jolly.
From CNN
"Karl Rove's lawyers says he is immune from a congressional subpoena.
"Rove's lawyer asserted that Rove was "immune" from the subpoena the committee had issued, arguing that the committee could not compel him to testify due to "executive privilege."
"The panel is investigating allegations that Rove and his White House allies dismissed U.S. attorneys and prosecuted officials who they saw as political opponents...
"A refusal to appear in violation of the subpoena could subject Mr. Rove to contempt proceedings, including statutory contempt under federal law and proceedings under the inherent contempt authority of the House of Representatives," Conyers and Sanchez wrote...
"..."Threatening Mr. Rove with sanctions will not in any way expedite the resolution of the issue," Luskin wrote in a letter to the panel on Wednesday."
I'm sure they won't, I mean, seeing as how he's above the law and all. Jolly. Just jolly.
From CNN
"Making Cracks in a Dark Wall to Let Light In"
After James Buck, a University of California at Berkley Grad. student was arrested in Egypt while photographing protests against low wages and rising food prices, he texted "arrested" and his school quickly secured his release. His assistant, however, an Egyptian citizen, was detained for 3 months and tortured while in jail. Buck worked relentlessly to help him and he has finally been released.
"I think he's a hero. Some people might think it sounds silly," Buck said. "But he went to jail for his beliefs. Instead of selling out or making something up, he really was willing to stand up to the intimidation. It's people like him that make cracks in a dark wall to let light come in."
From CNN
"I think he's a hero. Some people might think it sounds silly," Buck said. "But he went to jail for his beliefs. Instead of selling out or making something up, he really was willing to stand up to the intimidation. It's people like him that make cracks in a dark wall to let light come in."
From CNN
Friday, July 4, 2008
Protesters Drown Out Bush During Speech
The President's speech to new citizens at Monticello meets with protest. 4th of July protest
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
What Ever Happened to the Separation of Church and State? Obama Supports Faith Based Services
While more and more tax dollars go to war spending rather than social services unemployment, food prices, home foreclosures and, obviously, oil prices and health care increase. So what happens? Obviously more people need services and fewer are getting them.
What's the solution? Seems to me that requiring Congressmen to turn in the SUV's that they're driving and fueling at taxpayer expense and re-channeling the money might be one solution, or making similar cuts in the spending that's allowed by elected officials. Do this, in fact, while simultaneously requiring all social service agencies and employees undergo an effectiveness evaluation.
Why not do the unheard of and tax the wealthy in like proportion to what lower income people pay? Or outlaw late payment fees, the nation-wide practice of charging the poor more for car insurance and car payments, set a cap on the percentage over wholesale stores can charge for products. Do the same, please for the love of God, to hospitals and medical doctors.
Do this while simultaneously requiring all social service agencies and employees undergo an effectiveness evaluation and update for the fast-changing needs of citizens. Do something for heavens sake. Oh wait, the suggestion is to do something for heavens sake, push the responsibility off on faith based programs. Bush and now Obama are all about this.
I see the point. As Obama says, the problem is more than the government can handle. And it's growing. However, the government knew this was coming long ago and took no steps to handle or prevent the looming crisis; as with so much New orleans. In fact, millions of dollars of desperately needed aid sat in storage instead of going to New Orleans as intended and was eventually re-distributed based on red tape technicalities rather than given to those who still really needed it there.
In light of things like this, maybe it's better that the government does reduce it's involvement in the problems of the rapidly growing American poor. Talk about a waste of taxpayer money. However, I don't agree that mixing Church and State is the right idea either. It's not that it's this one thing that's bad. It's probably the only hope that millions of starving, homeless or nearly so people have, sadly. But everything that happens like this sets a precident. And that's a little frightening.
And other things come in on the sidelines of logical initiatives like this. For example, allowing faith based organizations to hire based on faith. Obama says it's ok for them to do that for non-taxpayer funded areas of their businesses. That sounds relatively reasonable. But it lays the groundwork for expanding this sort of behavior, which is discriminatory.
Think about what could happen. It's not a huge leap to go from turning people down for jobs based on their religious beliefs to turning them down for services. How is that in the best interests of the people? And the best interests of the people are clearly not served by that.
Even if you're a person who thinks this is fantastic and/or that no one could help but benefit from a little religion, giving people a choice between conversion and starvation is hardly a way to gain sincere converts. And what really will happen in a society where that's the way things go down? Poverty and it's related social ills, which are many, very much effects everyone in society.
And with the growing number of poor in America falling into the category of displaced middle class people rather than those who come from generations of impovrished conditions, people just might be less likely to go along with this faith based b/s. If it requires faith to receive services, that is.
It might not get to that point but I'd be very surprised.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for Obama. This is just the way campaigns go. You're scathingly attacking your opponent one day, paying their debt the next, (Which makes the whole thing like nothing so much as watching a comedy routine. How are we really supposed to take this but so seriously? That's why I withheld comment on the race between Obama and Clinton, it was very hard to take seriously enough to comment on, as much respect as I have for Barack.)
But that's how it is. And one must try to get as many of the other sides votes as possible, that's logical. So Barack is going after the Evangelical crowd. Like I said, I see his point in that it's a bigger problem than the government can handle. Correction, a bigger problem than the government is willing to handle. Though they were more than willing to create it. So why then can the government expand their funding of these entities? Why can't they expand their own funding? Or give incentives for the forming of private non-faith based organizations?
One of Obama's arguments for the practice is that these organizations are already in the middle of the people who need help. That's probably true, though people who aren't religious might well shy away from seeking help from religious organizations and they should have that right but good luck with that. What about people who aren't in these organizations who are right there?
Think about it, there are probably a lot of people who have lost jobs in industries that provide social services; the legal field, health care profession, restaurant and child care workers, for example. Why not provide money for displaced legal workers to expand legal aid for the poor? Child care workers who have lost their jobs could create places that watch children for jobless people who can't afford day care but need to find a job. Restaurant owners who lose their business know more about running a kitchen than churches do, why not give them the money to do it and to pay service workers a living wage within these places? Health-care providers could find jobs in expanded clinics that do not depend on corrupt Medicare or Medicaid systems.
Why on earth not? Guess none of the above have powerful enough lobbying groups. Except for health care that is but good luck extricating that from the above-stated corrupt, not to meniton inneffective systems. Good luck with any of it. Looks like we're all going to be living in a Dickens novel. May as well just open up workhouses and debtors prisons; faith-based, of course.
Obama Backs Expanded Government Funded Faith Organizations
What's the solution? Seems to me that requiring Congressmen to turn in the SUV's that they're driving and fueling at taxpayer expense and re-channeling the money might be one solution, or making similar cuts in the spending that's allowed by elected officials. Do this, in fact, while simultaneously requiring all social service agencies and employees undergo an effectiveness evaluation.
Why not do the unheard of and tax the wealthy in like proportion to what lower income people pay? Or outlaw late payment fees, the nation-wide practice of charging the poor more for car insurance and car payments, set a cap on the percentage over wholesale stores can charge for products. Do the same, please for the love of God, to hospitals and medical doctors.
Do this while simultaneously requiring all social service agencies and employees undergo an effectiveness evaluation and update for the fast-changing needs of citizens. Do something for heavens sake. Oh wait, the suggestion is to do something for heavens sake, push the responsibility off on faith based programs. Bush and now Obama are all about this.
I see the point. As Obama says, the problem is more than the government can handle. And it's growing. However, the government knew this was coming long ago and took no steps to handle or prevent the looming crisis; as with so much New orleans. In fact, millions of dollars of desperately needed aid sat in storage instead of going to New Orleans as intended and was eventually re-distributed based on red tape technicalities rather than given to those who still really needed it there.
In light of things like this, maybe it's better that the government does reduce it's involvement in the problems of the rapidly growing American poor. Talk about a waste of taxpayer money. However, I don't agree that mixing Church and State is the right idea either. It's not that it's this one thing that's bad. It's probably the only hope that millions of starving, homeless or nearly so people have, sadly. But everything that happens like this sets a precident. And that's a little frightening.
And other things come in on the sidelines of logical initiatives like this. For example, allowing faith based organizations to hire based on faith. Obama says it's ok for them to do that for non-taxpayer funded areas of their businesses. That sounds relatively reasonable. But it lays the groundwork for expanding this sort of behavior, which is discriminatory.
Think about what could happen. It's not a huge leap to go from turning people down for jobs based on their religious beliefs to turning them down for services. How is that in the best interests of the people? And the best interests of the people are clearly not served by that.
Even if you're a person who thinks this is fantastic and/or that no one could help but benefit from a little religion, giving people a choice between conversion and starvation is hardly a way to gain sincere converts. And what really will happen in a society where that's the way things go down? Poverty and it's related social ills, which are many, very much effects everyone in society.
And with the growing number of poor in America falling into the category of displaced middle class people rather than those who come from generations of impovrished conditions, people just might be less likely to go along with this faith based b/s. If it requires faith to receive services, that is.
It might not get to that point but I'd be very surprised.
Don't get me wrong. I'm all for Obama. This is just the way campaigns go. You're scathingly attacking your opponent one day, paying their debt the next, (Which makes the whole thing like nothing so much as watching a comedy routine. How are we really supposed to take this but so seriously? That's why I withheld comment on the race between Obama and Clinton, it was very hard to take seriously enough to comment on, as much respect as I have for Barack.)
But that's how it is. And one must try to get as many of the other sides votes as possible, that's logical. So Barack is going after the Evangelical crowd. Like I said, I see his point in that it's a bigger problem than the government can handle. Correction, a bigger problem than the government is willing to handle. Though they were more than willing to create it. So why then can the government expand their funding of these entities? Why can't they expand their own funding? Or give incentives for the forming of private non-faith based organizations?
One of Obama's arguments for the practice is that these organizations are already in the middle of the people who need help. That's probably true, though people who aren't religious might well shy away from seeking help from religious organizations and they should have that right but good luck with that. What about people who aren't in these organizations who are right there?
Think about it, there are probably a lot of people who have lost jobs in industries that provide social services; the legal field, health care profession, restaurant and child care workers, for example. Why not provide money for displaced legal workers to expand legal aid for the poor? Child care workers who have lost their jobs could create places that watch children for jobless people who can't afford day care but need to find a job. Restaurant owners who lose their business know more about running a kitchen than churches do, why not give them the money to do it and to pay service workers a living wage within these places? Health-care providers could find jobs in expanded clinics that do not depend on corrupt Medicare or Medicaid systems.
Why on earth not? Guess none of the above have powerful enough lobbying groups. Except for health care that is but good luck extricating that from the above-stated corrupt, not to meniton inneffective systems. Good luck with any of it. Looks like we're all going to be living in a Dickens novel. May as well just open up workhouses and debtors prisons; faith-based, of course.
Obama Backs Expanded Government Funded Faith Organizations
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
