Monday, May 8, 2017
Church member Joe Stocks died suddenly Saturday. Natural causes.
Jesus said, “Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” That’s the kind of man Joe was. All kinds of men and women glorify God because of Joe’s good works.
All kinds.
(Originally posted 10/25/2013.)
Baltimore has another fit of panhandler anxiety
For years, I had the mantra: “Most panhandlers aren’t homeless, and most homeless people don’t panhandle.”
Now I have many acquaintances who do one or the other.
Given recent instability in my support system, I myself may soon become one who does both.
My experience is much informed by what I’ve seen at the McDonald’s I frequent at Baltimore and Light Streets, where some people seem to panhandle outside all day long.
Continue reading The new panhandling controversy in Baltimore
One can want the best for another person, but
only that person can define what “the best” means.
Thursday 2017-04-20
On the walk from the shelter to church Wednesday morning, I was in great turmoil. I may or may not manage to recall all the questions now. Pastor is focused on the need to change systems (people’s circumstances) in order to alleviate poverty, and seems unwilling or unable to consider how people act; my orientation is the exact opposite, wanting people to change their ways in order to alleviate poverty. Pastor says he doesn’t like it when I talk about squalor; but doesn’t squalor need to be talked about, given that it’s why “haves” won’t invest where the “have-nots” live?
I am torn between the way I want to live, and the way I have to live in the situation I’m in.
(Originally published 09/18/2012 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reposted 10/24/2013.)
First, let me say I believe the Republicans nominated the right person. Second, I have no special mission here to post things that put Mitt Romney in a bad light. I also am not keen on secret taping of anyone. (Remember Linda Tripp?)
Those things said, this report gives me lots of mixed feelings.
And my “facts” are certainly subject to correction.
I find it hard to believe 47% of Americans pay no income taxes. For the past several years I have had income so low as to have no income tax obligation, so that I get a complete refund of all taxes withheld; but one has to have a REALLY low income for that to happen, and with the U.S. median household income at roughly $50,000/year, I have to believe most of the folk in that lower 50% face some income tax liability.
The characterization of people who work full-time as “dependent” is questionable.
And I would look forward to polling or other public opinion research to verify what portion of this 47% hold to “entitlement” or “victim” mentalities. Such data will be much harder to come by during the current controversy. Please note that I myself speak to those frames of mind in this blog.
Not all the 47% will vote for Obama. They include a disproportionate number of folk who don’t vote at all, including convicted felons who cannot vote. And I have to assume a significant portion of the 47% have been Romney supporters all along.
Postscript, 09/20/12:
This article helps some, but I want still more information. How many of those who don’t pay income tax, support Romney?
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A composition by my homeless neighbor, Ted Hoover.
Sometimes the smallest step
in the right direction
winds up being the biggest step}
of your life.
Tiptoe if you must,
but take the step.
(Originally published 10/17/2012 at Trojan Horse Productions. Reblogged 10/24/13.)
During the 2012 Presidential race, a Democratic party operative secretly recorded Mitt Romney’s remarks to potential donors at a private fund-raiser. Those remarks included that 47% of voters pay no taxes and thus have no interest in the Republican message. The release of that recording caused quite a stir. See “* We are the 47%.” There are other features of who Romney is and what he does with his money, that got far less media attention. Like, this one.
Psalm 37.25:
I see it all the time.
We’re in for two straight days of constant, sometimes heavy, rain.
The media have been bringing us contradictory reports of how Malala is viewed in her homeland.
Conspiracies do occur. In my previous work as a legal secretary, I was privy to secret campaigns to manipulate public opinion in various ways. That often comes to mind when I see a flurry of media coverage on any given subject. In recent years, for example, there was an explosion of coverage of the creation of vaccines for new, terrifying strains of the flu — that may not have proved so terrifying after all, but for the media hype itself — that impressed me as very likely a campaign to raise public esteem for pharmaceutical manufacturers.
Here we have two competing constituencies that, for whatever reason, are competing for U.S. public opinion concerning this woman.
(Originally posted 10/14/13.)
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I just learned that folks have been making donations via GoFundMe that, for some reason, GoFundMe never told me about.
GoFundMe no longer supports the browser I normally use, so I’ll have to go to a different browser to ask them.
In the meantime, if you’re one of those people, please contact me so I can thank you properly. Some folks have my e-mail; others know me on FaceBook; if you’re not one of those, please use the Contact form on My Resume.
The Homeless Blogger 