Every day, central authorities loose a little more power. Whether their power was delegated or co-opted, we needed them to make decisions because there was no way to organize mass, non-local movements on a peer basis. Every day, technological improvements and personal attitudes lower the barrier to peer-to-peer information sharing, product production, collective action and learning.
I’ll be writing a lot about this.
I said it before: nobody keeps the spotlight on torture like Andrew Sullivan. It might be our nation’s greatest moral crisis, but where’s the outcry? We free people can’t claim we’re held and gagged. Go read it; I’ll be here when you’re done.
Reading today’s contribution left me a bit agitated and clammy, but not from gratuitous depictions of torture. Rather, how the Administration’s defense and jargon has precedence. The “members of the Bible-researcher sect” in the image at the head refers to Jehovah’s Witnesses, by the way.
No alarmism, no hot words, and you don’t trigger Godwin’s Law when you cite chapter and verse.
Four U.S. Representatives — three Democrats and a Republican — are spending the week eating on $21 in groceries because that’s the average benefit of someone living on food stamps. They’re blogging their experience, and the comments are getting very interesting.
I won’t be cynical and say the effort is a political ploy; perhaps, rather, that they are trying to make a political point for increased benefit and the reauthorization of the Farm Bill. Say what you might but even a small government could do worse for its own survival and the well-being of the citizenry than give away food.
But is the $21 figure fair? Or realistic by the USDA’s own logic? Can you effectively reproduce the experience of someone receiving food stamps this way?
My problem with the experiment is that such a little amount of money is never meant to cover all food costs, but rather supplement expenses. Looking at the USDA March 2007 (latest available; PDF link) costing for various food plans you see the Thrifty plan, from which food stamp values are derived. For a man aged 19-50 (as I am) the weekly Thrifty grocery costs should be $35.20, very tight but better than $21. So would Hubby and I get $70.40 hypothetically? No, because the USDA recognizes that smaller families and individuals can’t buy food as cost effectively as larger families. A household of two men our age would “rate” 10% more or $77.44. A male-female couple the same age range — as at least one of the House member participants probably is — would merit $73.90, not $42. That’s $320 a month. The difference comes — I’m guessing — in the lower allotments for small children averaged in or that food stamps don’t cover everything.
The calculus for these values is beyond my comprehension, but fresh fruit and vegetables, whole grains, fish and some meat is factored in. (PDF link.) This improved understanding includes contemporary foodways and a broader selection of ethically-appropriate choices than when I first started looking at the Thrifty plan years ago. I certainly lived on this budget for longer than I care to remember.
Yes, hunger and health are big national issues; but looking at the numbers I think I’ll reserve my anger for uncontrolled housing and health costs which are more likely to put a family in peril.
I remember a maxim one of my religion professors — more ill than any of us late teen scholars knew — offered the class before the lecture started. In so many words: It’s a sin to wish someone dead, but you can enjoy some obituaries more than others. He died at the end of the quarter and was remembered as a wise and (in his private life) faithful man.
Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. Isa. 62:11.
Work indeed. That cuts both ways.
I’m glad Jerry Falwell isn’t here to cause me more harm. I won’t weep for him or roll out some pious regret. I don’t believe Falwell’s defenders about how nice a guy he was when you got to know him: I knew him as a public figure and that’s where he did his damage to the fabric of Christian faith and the Republic.
How does this square with my theology? I’m not a Universalist because I have a glowing and sunny opinion of human nature; indeed, I have a rather grim opinion of human nature and celebrate acts of selflessness and good as accomplishments, whether by cultivated character or an immediate response to circumstances. I also glory in God who’s better — and ultimately more hopeful — than I.
So I don’t mourn Falwell, but neither do I curse him. I think Michelle Murrain is right in asking for silence, and at that I’ll close.
According to the Wise County Messenger, (“Students May Get Recycled Computers,” by Brian Knox, 13 May 2007) the Northwest Independent School District northwest of Fort Worth, Texas may give five-year-old computers scheduled for replacement to students without computers at home.
The hard drives will be wiped and a version of Linux will be installed on them. Given their age, I hope it will be light-on-resources Xubuntu or child-centered Edubuntu versions of Ubuntu Linux. (If you’re a regular reader, this will be no surprise.) But I would love to know their Linux distribution choice and logic.
Environmentally, reusing old machines is better than scrapping them. Educationally, giving students a resource they wouldn’t otherwise have it a bonus.
School Superintendent Karen Rue sums up the logic of the action
“These computers may not have market value, but they have kid value.â€
I don’t understand the fascination for the kind of gigantic designer kitchens promoted as the norm on home shows and in magazines. You don’t need that much to cook well, if you have desire and a willingness to learn. (Yes, this also takes time, but a big kitchen isn’t going to give you any more time; indeed, it may be a time sink maintaining it.)
The Gray Lady shows how one food writer could kit out a kitchen for $200, $300 with a few frills.
“A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks” (New York Times, 2007 May 9)
When I go shopping — whether its for lentils or a vacation — a string of self-reflective questions run through my mind. (Was I Quaker in a past life? I doubt my Puritan ancestors would have approved. The Baptist ones might have coped.)
I could go on, but these are probably the biggest concerns. From these questions, I try to buy US or Canadian made and union and cooperative made goods because our laws and location cover more of these than not; it isn’t about jingoism or nativism.
That’s not to say I start from scratch thinking every time. After a while, you know yourself well enough to shorthand the process. Most people I know would never (knowingly) buy dog fur clothing, so it’s not a question of thinking which dog fur clothing manufacturer treats its workers the best, improves the local economy or has the greenest factory: you just avoid it, and perhaps give the retailer an earful for good measure. And, in time, you find reliable vendors and products. (I want to share these, and I’ll ask you to share your favorites.)
But remember, the idea’s not to get paralyzed negotiating between options to find the one that’s infinitesimally better than another. We should begin to reshape our lives in all ways, understanding that what we buy and how we buy or don’t buy is a reflection of our character and grows out of our vocation as faithful people.
We’ve seen the alternative — I want it, I have to have it at all costs — corrupt individuals and societies. Indeed, societies have died under less strain.
Ms. Theologian at Surviving the Workday describes and defends her and husband’s “No China Diet” — which extends far past food and into every corner of commercial life. I think they’re right and don’t underestimate the difficulty such a discipline takes. A generation ago imports from the PRC were new, now they’re endemic.
Of course, the question of an abusive regime isn’t the only one of interest to ethical shoppers. Indeed, there are many and some conflict. And that’s before you even consider price, style, availability and convenience of purchase.
I’d like to talk about the minefield ethical shoppers have to face. To make that work, I’d like you to join in. Not only in the ethics behind decisions and how conflicting ethics claims can be negotiated — hard and fast rules will surely lead to frustration and abandonment — but practical tips for substituting less-ethical goods for more ethical choices and purchasing tips.
Here are some more.
Adding in Ms. Theologian, we seem to have our own little green carnival!
Ms. Kitty (Ms. Kitty’s Salon and Road Show) and Mama G (Mom to the Left) have each spelled out green actions they or their church have or will make. I thought I would join in, thinking of particular was church offices — and perhaps your non-church workplace — can make green improvements. I have actually used some of these at Day Job.
An inexhausive list.