Wednesday, June 16th Update: Click here for follow-up information on the Wednesday press conference.

A group of former military and diplomatic officials – calling themselves Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change – will hold a press conference on Wednesday morning to call for national leadership change. The group, which includes several prominent officials from the Reagan and Bush I administrations, will call for the defeat of George W. Bush based on what they see as his foreign policy failures. US Newswire reports that the group includes:

....former ambassadors Jeffrey Davidow, William DePree, Charles Freeman Jr., William Harrop, Arthur Hartman, H. Allen Holmes, Samuel Lewis, Princeton Lyman, Jack Matlock Jr., Donald McHenry, Richard Murphy, David Newsom, Phyllis Oakley, John Reinhardt, Ronald Spiers, Nicholas Veliotes and Alexander Watson; and Adm. William Crowe, Gen. Joseph Hoar and Adm. Stansfield Turner.

The Financial Times in London is reporting that the release of the statement could deepen distrust of the Bush Administration’s foreign policy objectives.

The 26-member group, known as Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change, includes several people appointed to important positions by Republican presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush. Among them are former US ambassadors to Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union and a former chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, as well as retired Marine General Joseph P. Hoar, who commanded US forces in the Middle East under former President Bush.

Their letter, to be published on Wednesday, represents an unusually broad attack on a president in an election year from the ranks of the career diplomats inside the Washington beltway.

It is likely to deepen doubts reflected in recent polls that the nation, under the leadership of President George W. Bush, is on the wrong course.

There was other bad news for the president this weekend. The Bush White House has been claiming that they are winning the war on terror and have pointed to recent statistics that show terrorist attacks down worldwide. It turns out the data was wrong. Colin Powell, who for some reason keeps making statements he then has to retract, promises the data wasn’t manipulated to benefit the president. "I am not a happy camper over this," Powell said. "We were wrong."

Click here for developing news on Diplomats and Military Commanders for Change.

The Washington Post is reporting that Ralph Nader has been using at least one of his non-profit organizations to help out his presidential campaign. Using non-profit organizations to support partisan political campaigns is illegal (not to mention unethical). Nader’s campaign has been using office space leased by Citizen Works, a non-profit group started by Nader.

Records show many links between Nader's campaign and the charity Citizen Works. For example, the charity's listed president, Theresa Amato, is also Nader's campaign manager. The campaign said in an e-mail to The Washington Post that Amato resigned from the charity in 2003. But in the charity's most recent corporate filing with the District, in January, Amato listed herself as the charity's president and registered agent.

The office suite housing the campaign, the charity and other sub-tenants had a common receptionist for greeting visitors.

Nader has made his reputation as a critic of the political system and those who corrupt it. He claims there is no difference between the corrupt republicans and the corrupt democrats. Now we know that the rules he asks others to live by don’t apply to him. That makes him just another corrupt politican with a sense of ego bigger than his sense of duty.

The American Prospect mentions my site this week in an article about comparisons of Howard Dean to Ronald Reagan.

The Riverside Church in New York City is now linking to my interview with William Sloane Coffin.

And Austin Cline, who says he promotes atheism on the web, thinks that my post on Mark Kleiman's ranting was “truly ridiculous.”

We’ve reached the 33 week mark in the pregnancy. On Thursday, we had another appointment with the OBGYN who was very happy with Liz’s progress. As I’ve mentioned before, our doctor won’t let the pregnancy go past 38 weeks (somewhere around July 15-18). That means at the most we have five more weeks to go. However, our doctor has also told us that in recent times he has only had one mother of twins actually make it to 38 weeks. So these girls of ours could come at any time. Liz is busy getting prepared. Today she assembled one of the swings.

This evening we were invited to dinner at the home of Jerry and Sue Palmer here in St. Louis. The Palmer’s are friends of the Marsh family in Oregon. My friend Wendy Marsh was a colleague at Baloney Joe’s and her father, The Rev. Spencer Marsh, was also a friend who served as the chair of the board of Burnside Community Council. Doris Marsh, Wendy’s mother, got Sue and Jerry in touch with us and they were very generous in having us over for a fabulous meal.

(Jerry and Sue Palmer)

Two of my colleagues from Eden Theological Seminary, Char and Geoff White, were interviewed Friday on NPR’s Market Place. The story dealt with the financial hurdles clergy couples face. Click here to listen to their story.

Tuesday, June 15th Update: Safe Harbor for Churches Defeated. Click here for more.

Urgent Action Alert from The National Council of Churches

Despite overwhelming opposition from nearly two dozen religious denominations, House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader Tom Delay have ordered a version of Rep. Walter Jones's "Houses of Worship" Political Speech Restoration Act to be included on page 379 of a 398 page tax bill (H.R. 4520, American Jobs Creation Act of 2004).

Entitled the "Safe Harbor for Churches" bill, the legislation would radically change the nation's historic tradition of separation of church and state and "raise moral questions about the actions of religious leaders and their congregations and disrupt the political process itself," said Bob Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches. A statement from Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance said: "The bill encourages willful ignorance of the law by houses of worship, amending the tax code to permit churches, and only churches, to engage in political campaigns while maintaining their status as tax-exempt organizations."

Under the legislation, Gaddy noted, houses of worship would be allowed to "accidentally" endorse political candidates up to three times in an election cycle without losing their coveted tax-exempt status. While the bill purports to draw a distinction between intentional and unintentional violations of political activity, it is silent on what constitutes an "unintentional" violation, leaving religious leaders and institutions free to claim ignorance of the law as reasoning for an "unintentional" breach.

It is expected that the House Ways and Means Committee will be voting on the Safe Harbor for Churches provision on Monday, June 14. NCC is urging concerned citizens to call their Members of Congress and raise their concerns about the measure, and to urge legislators to vote for a Ways and Means amendment by Rep. John Lewis of Georgia which would remove the proposed "Safe Harbor for Churches" provision (Section 692) from the tax bill. Phone calls to Members of Congress (202-225-3121), faxes, or e-mail messages (via the Congressional E-mail Center) are important, because many will be caught off guard by the provision, as it was quietly inserted in the bill during a national week of mourning.

Published on Thursday, June 10, 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle by Kevin Fagan

Praise for the late President Ronald Reagan's sunny resonance with the common man has been rasping all week on the ears of many activists and social workers who watched in vain as homelessness exploded under his watch -- and they hope the history books remember one thing:

Before Reagan, people sleeping in the street were so rare that, outside of skid rows, they were almost a curiosity. After eight years of Reaganomics - - and the slashes in low-income housing and social welfare programs that went along with it -- they were seemingly everywhere.

And America had a new household term: "The homeless."

"I don't think he was a bad guy, but I think he thought the private charity system could address homelessness. And he was wrong," said Michael Stoops, co-founder in 1981 of the National Coalition for the Homeless in Washington, D.C., which he still helps direct. "He was a Robin Hood in reverse, who took from the poor and gave to the rich, and I think Americans have such short attention spans they forget this."

Reagan's supporters don't quite see it this way, of course, but his critics say the single most powerful thing Reagan did to create homelessness was to cut the budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development by three-quarters, from $32.2 billion in 1981 to $7.5 billion by 1988. The department was the main governmental supporter of subsidized housing for the poor and, combined with the administration's overhaul of tax codes to reduce incentives for private developers to create low-income homes, the nation took a hit to its stock of affordable housing from which it has yet to recover, they contend.

During the same period, the average family income of the poorest fifth of the American population dropped by 6.1 percent, and rose 11.1 percent for the top fifth, according to "Sleepwalking Through History," the best-selling assessment of the Reagan years by Haynes Johnson. The number of people living beneath the federal poverty line rose from 24.5 million in 1978 to 32.5 million in 1988.

And the number of homeless people went from something so little it wasn't even written about widely in the late 1970s to more than 2 million when Reagan left office.

"His HUD cuts were the main factor in creating homelessness, and we said that throughout the 1980s, but Reagan and his people never listened," said Stoops. "Reagan, very similar to Herbert Hoover, did not believe the federal government had a role in addressing poverty, so he resisted any legislation or programs that did that.

"Besides, how could he help the poor when he didn't even know who they were?"

Stoops and his close friend, the late Mitch Snyder -- the foremost leader in activism for homeless people in the 1980s -- slept on heating grates outside the White House in protest throughout 1986 and 1987 to push Reagan to fund programs for homeless people. When Reagan finally signed the Stewart McKinney Homeless Assistance Act in 1987, Stoops was sure he did so only because Congress had enough votes to override a veto, though the ex- president's supporters pointed to it as a positive sign that Reagan cared.

The gesture was more than counterweighed by Reagan's cuts in unemployment, disability, food stamp and family welfare programs, Stoops said -- not to mention the president's vilification of "welfare queens" as cheats in an effort to justify cuts.

Full story

By Alan Cooperman Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, June 10, 2004; Page A02

More than 350 political liberals of many faiths gathered in Washington yesterday to begin what some pollsters say is a quixotic task: restoring the voice of the religious left in the nation's political debate.

"Progressive religious voices, which historically have fueled so much social change in this country, seem to have been washed out of the public dialogue in recent years," said John D. Podesta, a Roman Catholic who was White House chief of staff under President Bill Clinton. Podesta now heads the Center for American Progress, the Democratic think tank that organized the conference to highlight the "proud past" and "promising future" of the religious left.

Full story

I could have told you this.

BRUNSWICK, Ga. -- On the first day of the G-8 Summit at Sea Island, Ga., as US and UK leaders are considering a proposal on international debt, Jubilee USA Network released a letter signed by hundreds of religious leaders calling on the G-8 to fully cancel the debt of impoverished nations.

Prominent signers to the letter include (Rev. Jesse) Jackson; Rev. Mark S. Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the leader of the Presbyterian Church U.S.A.; Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches; Swami Shuddhananda Brahmachari, Founding President of Lokenath Divine Mission (Hindu); Rabbi Eric Yoffie, President, Union for Reform Judaism; Bishop Charles E. Blake, of the Church of God In Christ; the envagelist Tony Campolo; and Neville Gabriel of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference. A statement by the Most Rev. John H. Ricard, SSJ, of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops that quotes the Pope calling on the G-8 to “radically reduce, if not cancel outright” Third World Debt was also released at the event.

The letter addresses the moral imperative for the G-8 to enact full debt cancellation in order fight AIDS in Africa and to guarantee human rights for impoverished peoples.

“The soul of our nation is in a state of emergency,” said Marie Clarke, National Coordinator of the Jubilee USA Network. “All of the religious traditions represented on this letter have a version of the golden rule – love your neighbor as yourself. Each minute that passes another African child dies of AIDS. As people of faith, we are compelled by our most basic commitment to God, our neighbor and ourselves to call on the G-8, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to address this crisis by fully canceling the debt of impoverished nations.”

Full story

WASHINGTON — Widespread unease over the country's direction and doubts about President Bush's policies on Iraq and the economy helped propel Sen. John F. Kerry to a solid lead among voters nationwide, according to a new Times poll.

Full story

It is always better to be ahead than behind. However, polls are often inaccurate at this stage of the game. During the mid-summer months of the 1992 election Bill Clinton was running third behind George Bush the 1st and Ross Perot. Michael Dukakis was ahead of George Bush the 1st at this point in 1988. Anything can happen. But it still looks pretty good right now.

My nephew Dylan, son of my sister Heather and her husband Rick, just graduated from kindergarten. Way to go, Dylan! Meanwhile, my nephew Ian Rock, son of my sister Jennifer, appears to be starting his own blog.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Laura Bush, whose father died from Alzheimer's, said on Wednesday she admired Nancy Reagan's devotion to former President Ronald Reagan until his death but could not back her call for relaxation of stem cell research restrictions.....

The Bush administration has placed restrictions on embryonic stem cell research and opposes using stem cells from most embryos, a stand Mrs. Bush said she supported.

"There are stem cells to do research on and ... we have to be really careful between what we want to do for science and what we should do ethically," the first lady said. "Stem cell ... is certainly one of those issues that we need to treat very carefully."

Pressed on whether she was prepared to endorse Mrs. Reagan's impassioned call for restrictions to be lifted, she replied, "No."

Full story

For more information visit:

Support for federally funded research on embryonic stem cells

American faith leaders - representing Christians, Jews and Muslim - will reach out to the people of Iraq with a television ad (which I have endorsed) supporting their desires for justice in the prison abuse scandal. From FaithfulAmerica.org:

The torture scandal continues to grow, and with it the outrage of the Arab world. As our leaders continue to blame a few rogue soldiers, a cycle of mutual suspicion and dehumanization between the Arab world and the United States deepens.

We need to send a message directly from us, the people of the United States, to the people of Iraq and the Arab world telling them that, as Americans, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them in demanding justice for these sinful abuses committed in our name.

To do this, we’ve filmed a television ad with Christian, Jewish and Muslim faith leaders to be broadcast on Arabic-language television in the Middle East. You can view the ad using the link below. If you feel the message expresses what is in your heart, let the world know by endorsing the ad. You can even donate to help put it on the air.

www.faithfulamerica.org/AdClip.htm

As the number of endorsers grows, we will add that figure to the end of the ad. The more people who endorse the message, the more effective it will be. Please send this e-mail to anyone you think might want to get involved.

Please watch the ad, endorse it if you are a person of faith, and send money if you can.

Valley clergy group condemns statements that reject gays

Michael Clancy
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 9, 2004 12:00 AM

Valley clergy in favor of gay rights on Tuesday denounced statements that use "religion to sanction the condemnation and rejection" of people who are gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.

At a Tuesday news conference, members of No Longer Silent: Clergy for Justice said they wanted to reach leaders of all denominations but particularly Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted, head of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Phoenix, who in the past month has challenged the group and the priests who signed a pro-gay document, the Phoenix Declaration, in 2003.

The group, responding to Olmsted's actions, capped off Tuesday's conference by nailing the Phoenix Declaration to a door, as Martin Luther did with his 95 Theses in 1517 to kick off the Protestant Reformation.

"We refuse to let prejudice, in the form of religious fundamentalism and society's bigotry, plant seeds of exclusion and violence," the group said in a statement read by the Rev. Jeff Proctor-Murphy, pastor of Asbury United Methodist Church in Phoenix.

Full story

A Bush Administration memo leaked this week that gives the President authority to order the torture of war prisoners. International law prohibits the practice and yesterday the attorney general refused to answer questions from a Senate committee on this issue. NPR reports:

June 9, 2004 -- Attorney General John Ashcroft refuses senators' demands for copies of legal memos, prepared by Bush administration lawyers in 2002 and 2003, that reportedly state the president has the right to order torture in his role as commander in chief. In refusing to discuss the contents of the memos, Ashcroft said his department's advice to the president must remain confidential.

In testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday, Ashcroft also refused to say whether President Bush has authorized force or other techniques in interrogation.

You can hear the incredible exchange between Senate members and Ashcroft on the NPR report and read the leaked Defense Department torture memo here.

United Church of Christ Action Alert

The Section 8 program is the largest program in the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). It provides rental subsidies targeted primarily to very low-income people. Recipients are required to pay 30 percent of their income for rent, and Section 8 makes up the rest. It does more than any other program to keep families from falling into homelessness, and is a key component of an anti-poverty strategy.

The President's proposed budget for FY 2005 would cut Section 8 funding by $1.5 billion. This comes on top of an April 22 rule change in distribution of HUD funds which has already cut the program back once this year. This rule change restricted funding to states and local agencies to the average level of housing costs for the particular HUD multi-state region in which they are based. While this was not a problem where housing costs are lower than average, it amounted to a funding cut for areas where housing costs are higher than average.

With rental costs rising, more funding, not less, is needed to sustain the current level of subsidy. This proposed budget cut for the Section 8 program will leave thousands homeless.

Contact your members of Congress and urge them to support full funding for Section 8 vouchers and a return to pre-April 22 HUD distribution rules. Urge them not to turn their backs on those most in need. To send a fax or e-mail click here.

Visit the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the National Coalition for the Homeless to learn more about this issue.

Washington, D.C., June 7, 2004 -- Religious leaders from Christian, Jewish and Muslim traditions are urging the Bush Administration to take immediate steps to pursue the full implementation of the Road Map to Peace in the Middle East.

In a meeting with Secretary of State Colin Powell on June 1 at the State Department, a “National Interreligious Leadership Delegation in Support of the Road Map to Peace in the Middle East” said now is the time for the United States to jumpstart the peace process. To do so, the religious leaders have called for the United States to send a special envoy to Israel-Palestine.

Full story

A recall effort driven by the Oregon Christian Coalition and backed by The Oregonian, Portland’s daily newspaper, to remove pro-gay rights Multnomah County Commissioners has failed. KGW.com reports that backers were unable to collect enough signatures.

The commissioners had come under fire for allowing gay marriage in the county. A recall effort could have cost taxpayers $300,000.

Supporters of the recall are also backing a ballot measure scheduled for the ballot this November in Oregon to outlaw gay marriage.

The failure of the recall effort shows the lack of grassroots support for the anti-gay rights forces in Multnomah County. However, no one questions that the state-wide contest in November will be a hard fought one on both sides. My recommendation: never vote for anything the Oregon Christian Coalition supports. Any group that wants to restrict the rights of one group of people isn’t, well, very Christian.

The largest New England congregation in the United Church of Christ has voted to withdraw from the denomination and resume the independent status they held for most of their 369-year history, reports Newsday.

Churches members felt the national UCC has become too liberal:

Leaders of First Church say the UCC has embraced homosexuality, same-sex marriage and other ideas that do not conform to their views of the bible.

Some will argue that this represents a crisis within the UCC. My sense is that the decision by First Church of Christ in Wethersfield has little to do with the UCC and more to do with the more conservative theological outlook of the church and their ministers.

Their senior minister served Presbyterian churches before taking the helm at First Church. He also attended a Presbyterian seminary. One of their associate ministers attended the conservative evangelical Fuller Theological Seminary. It appears that none of their current ministerial staff attended UCC-related seminaries. Their leaders seem to have no ties to the UCC.

The church membership has grown as it has become more theologically conservative. It was not the UCC that grew apart from First Church; it was First Church that grew apart from the majority of UCC churches.

Churches in most mainline denominations are divided and struggling with the issues of gay rights, including gay marriage. This is not the first time churches have split over important social issues. In the last 160 years there have been splits over slavery, civil rights, and the rights of women.

Sadly, First Church of Christ in Wethersfield has chosen exclusion over openness. Hopefully, time will bring our churches back together to serve the open table that Jesus preached us to abide. I’m grateful that the UCC is trying to live that example as best we can.

Read the excellent Pastoral Letter on this issue from The Rev. Davida Foy Crabtree, Conference Minister.

(Brussels, June 7, 2004) -- The Iranian government has intensified its campaign of torture, arbitrary arrests, and detentions against political critics, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Iran’s outgoing reformist parliament in May passed legislation to prohibit torture, but without effective implementation, the law remains an empty gesture.

The 73-page report, “Like the Dead in Their Coffins: Torture, Detention, and the Crushing of Dissent in Iran,” provides the first comprehensive account of the treatment of political detainees in Tehran’s Evin Prison and in secret prisons around the capital since the government launched its current crackdown in 2000. Human Rights Watch has documented systematic abuses against political detainees, including arbitrary arrest, detention without trial, torture to extract confessions, prolonged solitary confinement, and physical and psychological abuse.

Click here for more.

Following the atrocities of World War II, the world understood the importance of strengthening international law to protect civilians and prisoners of war. Yet, according to the Red Cross, the documented torture at Abu Ghraib was part of a "broad pattern" of unlawful abuses at many other prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan. Seventy to 90 percent of those prisoners were innocent victims of security sweeps. And in April alone, almost 1,000 Iraqi civilians, including women and children, have been killed. Join the National Council of Churches, Physicians for Social Responsibility, EPIC, Amnesty International, Oxfam and Veterans for Common Sense in their "Honor the Legacy" campaign to call on President Bush to rededicate America to the Geneva Conventions and international law. For more information, and to sign your name to the "Honor the Legacy" petition, click here.

- from the National Council of Churches

For those keeping track of our dogs...

Hugo made an emergency trip to the vet on Friday night after hurting all four of his paws (long story) and has now been on pain meds and antibiotics for 48 hours. He’s been a little lethargic since then, and for the most part unable to walk. We’re hoping for a swift recovery. In the meantime, Hazel is bored out of her mind without someone for her to herd. She has been sitting on the arm of the couch begging for extra attention.

Rev. Terry A. Smith III, pastor of the First Baptist Church of North Brentwood, once attended a prayer breakfast at the White House with other members of the clergy during Reagan's presidency. But during services today, Smith didn't say a word to his 2,800-member flock about the former president's death.

"Reagan was not a friend to the African-American community. He was a leader of the free world, but African-Americans lost under his leadership," said Smith, a veteran civil rights activist who led the effort to integrate the Prince George's County schools and businesses in the 1960s. "My sympathy goes to his family but as far as his leadership in this country, he didn't do us any favors."

Don Richardson, 40, a member of the choir of men and boys at the National Cathedral, said he will participate in the state funeral Friday. "It's not an easy one to sort out," said Richardson, reflecting on his views of Reagan's presidency and his own role in the funeral. "Regardless of the president and what I might think of him, it's a matter of the office and honoring a leader of this country," Richardson said. But he added: "there were some significant social blind spots during his presidency that are difficult to forgive."

"We were thinking about him," said Tom Dabney, 53, a lawyer who attended St. Mary's. "I think of him as a very charismatic, well-meaning person who did a lot to help the country regain its spirit. At the same time, he left the country open to serious problems we face today: the AIDS crisis, [the] plight of the mentally ill, [a] sense of entitlement amid the upper class that is so often disguised as patriotism. He did a lot for a country that was in crisis and for that he deserves to be recognized. I personally did not vote for him."

By Cameron W. Barr Washington Post Staff Writer Sunday, June 6, 2004; 5:36 PM

Full story

Whenever a figure like Ronald Reagan passes away it is appropriate to pause and remember their contributions to history. The former president deserves the thanks of our nation for his commitment to public service. The memorials planned and the state funeral will serve the needed purpose of reminding Americans why they felt hopeful about the future when he shared his vision.

It is also worth noting some of what President Reagan left out of that vision. He was largely blind to the plight of those becoming homeless under his economic policies. Reagan once remarked that being homeless was no worse off than being on a camping trip. His administration also turned a blind eye towards the AIDS crisis which was just beginning to explode during his first term. You can make a legitimate cass that millions died because of his inaction on the AIDS crisis. For many years he would not even say the word AIDS. Maybe he thought it would just go away if he ignored it.

Deficits exploded under his economic leadership. He opposed efforts to use American influence to put pressure on the apartheid government in South Africa and Nelson Mandela remained in prison much longer because of Reagan (who viewed Mandela as a communist). His administration sold weapons to the Iranians and used the profits to fund an illegal war in Nicaragua. He had no concern for the environment and never seemed to grasp the basic science behind environmental pollution.

There will be attempts in the coming days and weeks to crown Ronald Reagan a hero for his accomplishments. Everyone who serves in public office deserves some measure of respect. Frankly, my dislike for his policies may even make me blind to any accomplishments of his that even I would applaud. In the end, he can only be regarded as a good president – in policy terms - if you think the role of president is to help the wealthy secure more wealth without expanding opportunities for the least of these.

I do share some sadness in President Reagan’s death. No one should have to suffer the way he has. His wife Nancy, often vilified in the media, showed unusual commitment to her husband during his final years. My prayers are with her and their family as they deal with such a deeply personal loss.

A group of our friends at Eden Theological Seminary held a baby shower for us this afternoon. We had a wonderful time. The twins got lots of new clothing and other goodies. And we ate some great food. Click here to see more photos.

Former President Ronald Reagan has died aged 93, the White House said Saturday. Detail soon Watch CNN or log on to http://CNN.com for the latest news.

By kgw.com and AP Staff

In the single worst loss for Oregon, three National Guard soldiers were killed in Iraq Friday, when their vehicles were attacked while on patrol in Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

Full story

(CNN) -- Former President Ronald Reagan's health is deteriorating, according to a White House spokesman on Air Force One.

Full story

It was 15 years ago that government troops killed unknown numbers of student protestors in China. The students were demanding democratic reforms. Tonight tens of thousands gathered in Hong Kong to remember the cause for which all those students died for.

Read the article and remember those who fought for justice.

Several denominations, along with the National Council of Churches, have endorsed a boycott of Taco Bell because of concerns over how farm workers used by the company’s parent company, YUM! Brands, Inc, are treated. The farm workers state on their web site that:

More and more every day, the tomatoes we produce in Immokalee go to supply major, multi-national corporations. Long gone are the days when small, family farmers supplied area stores and chains with locally-grown tomatoes in season. Today, huge corporate growers with multi-state operations sell tomatoes year round to even bigger corporate buyers, including fast food mega-chains like Taco Bell and Burger King. Those fast food giants receive cheap, high-quality US tomatoes, thanks to the sacrifices of thousands of hard-working Florida farmworkers who pick tomatoes at a piece rate that has remained virtually unchanged for over two decades.

We believe that the large corporations that buy Florida tomatoes must step up to their responsibility by demanding, and obtaining, changes in the shameful pay and working conditions suffered by the men and women who pick their tomatoes.

Click here to read their full statement and list of concerns regarding Taco Bell.

President Jimmy Carter has offered the Carter Center as a resource in the talks between YUM! Brands, Inc. and the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW). He recently released the following statement on the talks:

ATLANTA.... I have followed with concern for a number of years the appalling working conditions in the Florida-based tomato industry. While production costs in the industry have increased over the last 25 years, wages have been effectively stagnant, as giant cooperative buying mechanisms hold prices down. Conditions are so bad in parts of the industry that there have been two separate prosecutions for slavery in recent years.

In recent years, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) has been publicly campaigning to bring attention to these abuses of human rights and for industry-wide change. In particular, CIW has led a campaign to ask Taco Bell, a subsidiary of YUM! Brands, Inc., the world's largest restaurant company, to accept responsibility for ensuring that its profits are not derived from the abuses of workers in its supply chain.

Recently, YUM! and CIW have been in private talks, convened by the Presbyterian Church (USA), to try to identify tangible ways to resolve the problems in the tomato industry. Regrettably, the latest round, which included talks held at The Carter Center, was not successful. On May 20, Taco Bell issued a statement that YUM! CEO David Novak has called a "proposed solution." Mr. Novak's proposal involves, first, the CIW calling off its boycott and, second, a statement that Taco Bell would be willing to work toward an industry-wide solution to pay and conditions. While YUM!'s belated acknowledgement of the need for improved pay and conditions is welcome, this cannot be considered a serious proposal. YUM! is saying that only if the CIW ends its boycott will it be willing to support efforts to improve wages, and only if the rest of the industry does. This is a lost opportunity for the head of the world's largest restaurant company to take the lead in eliminating human rights abuses that he knows exist within his supply chain.

(Photos from http://www.ciw-online.org/.)

Saturday - June 19, 2004 - 7:00pm

Schroer Commons at Eden Seminary

A forum to explore the deeper issues that underlie the movement to ban gay marriage.

Panelists:

Dr. Deborah Krause, Associate Professor of New Testament at Eden Seminary
Dr. Krause will focus on the role of scriptural interpretation as it relates to the issues of homosexuality and marriage.

Dr. John Riggs, Professor of Historical Theology and Church History at Eden Seminary
Dr. Riggs will discuss the historical evolution of marriage as it relates to the institutional church.

Ms. Loretta Haggard, Attorney
Ms. Haggard will highlight some of the legal inequities that keep GLBT people and their families from enjoying their full rights as citizens.

Our panel discussion will be followed by a time for discussion, dessert, and a musical performance by Susan Drake and Julie Jennings.

This event is sponsored by a grassroots movement for action in the St. Louis Association, Missouri Mid-South Conference, United Church of Christ at the invitation of the Enough is Enough group from Evangelical United Church of Christ (204 East Lockwood Avenue, St. Louis MO 63119).

He should resign and go.

Former Adviser Accuses Moran Of Making Anti-Semitic Remark

USA Today published an article today claiming that how often you attend church almost always determines who you’ll support for President. Frequent church goers vote republican and those Easter Christians (folks who only show up on holidays) tend to vote for democrats. Does this suggest that more faithful Christians support George W, Bush or is there anther issue that should be considered? Maybe your church attendance has nothing to do with this. Many theological liberals and moderates have been driven out of their churches over the year (the best example of this is the Southern Baptist Conference). That process has lead many people to leave church life all-together. That doesn’t mean those who have left church are any less faithful than those who go every week. Progressives, often with legitimate concern, see churches as extensions of the Republican Party. Many in the general public may hold the same impression. It isn’t that the faithful vote republican, it is that so many of the faithful have left churches they see as ridged, conservative, and irrelevant. And those intelligent people – along with the millions of Christians still in progressive mainline churches – will vote for John Kerry in higher numbers. The divide is not between the faithful and the non-faithful. The divide is between the conservative Christians and the progressive Christians. A better story for USA Today to write would have been one on the tragic divisions between Christians in a faith divided that should be whole.

Evidence of my claim that conservative churches often integrate themselves with republican party politics can be found here.

Today was the final day of Chalmers and Carolyn’s all-to-short visit. We went to the St. Louis Arch (a first for both of them), drove through Forest Park, and ate lunch in the Central West End. Yesterday we went to the Lewis and Clark exhibit at the Missouri Historical Museum and brought the dogs to the Eden campus for an evening round of Frisbee throwing. Liz’s dad and step-mom even got to see the twins kicking poor Liz’s stomach. They flew home this evening and should be back in the Bay Area in a few hours.

Click here to see our tour of Grant's Farm on Monday.

(at the Mississippi River - which is flooded, by the way)

Memorial Day weekend was marked with an abundance of food in most families across the nation who enjoyed cookouts and picnics to mark the beginning of summer. But not every family was so fortunate. Hunger persists in every community in America. On June 3, concerned citizens across the country will unite to focus attention on the problem of domestic hunger. Food banks and food-rescue organizations, soup kitchens and food pantries, and countless individuals, faith-based organizations and businesses will donate time, raise funds, and give food to help their neighbors. The NCC is joining America's Second Harvest in this important effort. Visit www.hungerday.org for more information. In October, National Council of Churches will present an hour-long ABC-TV documentary entitled Hunger No More, a collaborative venture with Bread for the World, the NCC's member communions, and other organizations committed to eliminating hunger in America and around the world.

- from the National Council of Churches

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that the Bush campaign is soliciting churches to distribute campaign materials. The paper obtained a Bush campaign e-mail that laid out their plan:

In the message, dated early Tuesday afternoon, Luke Bernstein, coalitions coordinator for the Bush campaign in Pennsylvania, wrote: "The Bush-Cheney '04 national headquarters in Virginia has asked us to identify 1,600 `Friendly Congregations' in Pennsylvania where voters friendly to President Bush might gather on a regular basis."

In each targeted "place of worship," Mr. Bernstein continued, without mentioning a specific religion or denomination, "we'd like to identify a volunteer who can help distribute general information to other supporters." He explained: "We plan to undertake activities such as distributing general information/updates or voter registration materials in a place accessible to the congregation."

No church should ever be involved in partisan political campaigns. Undertaking such action would be blatantly unconstitutional and in opposition to the historical non-partisan role of churches in the United States. Many churches, of course, are involved in issue advocacy and that is appropriate as long as it remains non-partisan. Ministers are – as citizens – allowed to endorse political candidates and freedom of speech provisions in the Constitution allow them to promote candidacies from the pulpit. Churches, as non-profit bodies, cannot engage in such efforts.

The Bush effort, as reported in The New York Times, has drawn criticism from liberal and conservative Christians:

"If I were a pastor, I would not be comfortable doing that," said Richard Land, president of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. "I would say to my church members, we are going to talk about the issues and we are going to take information from the platforms of the two parties about where they stand on the issues. I would tell them to vote and to vote their conscience, and the Lord alone is the Lord of the conscience."

In a statement, Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, a liberal group, called the effort "an astonishing abuse of religion" and "the rawest form of manipulation of religion for partisan gain." He urged the president to repudiate the effort.

This undertaking by the Bush campaign demonstrates a gross interest by the president in using the good faith of Christians for his own partisan political purposes. Not that I’m surprised. Though it still makes me sick.

WASHINGTON, DC—Addressing the House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet, former FCC commissioner Gloria Tristani today (June 2) encouraged the Congress to require the Federal Communications Commission "to take advantage of the transition to digital to reestablish meaningful public interest obligations for America’s television broadcasters."

Tristani, Managing Director of the Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc. (OC, Inc.), stressed that clearly-defined public interest guidelines must be in place before the FCC makes decisions on the transition from analog to digital broadcasting.

Currently, the FCC’s Media Bureau has a proposal to speed up the conversion to digital, thus freeing up the valuable analog spectrum currently held by broadcasters. Portions of the freed-up analog spectrum will be used by communities and police departments for public safety and emergency communication.

"The public deserves to know what benefits it will get from the digital largesse that has been gifted to broadcasters," said Tristani. "That benefit should include reasonable minimums of local civic and electoral discourse … and for children, commensurate amounts of educational and informational programming, a prohibition of commercial website links embedded in children’s programming and incorporation of children’s privacy protections."

Click here to read the full press release from United Church News.

The Office of Communication of the United Church of Christ, Inc. is the media advocacy arm of the United Church of Christ, a mainline Protestant denomination of 1.4 million members worshipping in more than 6,000 churches who maintain or are affiliated with 30 colleges and institutions of higher education, 15 seminaries and more than 340 health and human service centers in every state and in Puerto Rico. The United Church of Christ was the first voice to demand that broadcasters who use the public airwaves have a responsibility to operate in the public interest. In the 1960s, the United Church of Christ earned its place in U.S. broadcasting history by successfully challenging the license of WLBT-TV in Jackson, Miss, for refusing to broadcast news and information about African Americans. This action was taken by the Office of Communication, Inc., established by the Rev. Everett C. Parker, to protect the denomination from legal action when it took prophetic risks in the name of justice. The United Church of Christ continues to fight for corporate responsibility and accountability to the public.

There has been a shortage of ministers in mainline denominations like the United Church of Christ for sometime. Now the UCC has launched a new web site called “Ask The Question” to help recruit new clergy. Take a look.

Propane truck theft prompts fears

PACIFIC SCHOOL OF RELIGION STICKS TO LONGTIME TRADITION OF SUPPORT

By Randy Myers

Contra Costa Times

The religious studies center Mary Tolbert helped create wears its rainbow stripes proudly, vigorously advocating for gays sitting in pews and preaching from pulpits.

"Our role is really to work to change the public discourse around sexuality and religion in a way that works for the benefit of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people,'' the Berkeley center's executive director said.

It's accomplishing that mission without any fuss at an institution where it could encounter the most icy reception, a Christian seminary.

The warm welcome gays receive at Berkeley's Pacific School of Religion is even declared from a window at Benton Hall, an on-campus housing unit where a huge rainbow flag, the symbol of gay pride, hangs undisturbed.

As cultural and religious battles wage on over issues such as same-sex marriage and gays in the clergy, the Pacific School of Religion sticks to a long-held tradition of advocating for and supporting gays.

"There's a need for a progressive religious voice on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues,'' said Bill McKinney, the dean.

The multidenominational seminary of the United Church of Christ challenges prevailing perceptions that Christianity resoundingly rejects homosexuality.

Click here to read the full story (registration required)

I wish every UCC-related seminary – including mine – offered a center like this. Visit the The Center for Lesbian and Gay Studies in Religion and Ministry at the Pacific School of Religion to learn more.

Chalmers and Carolyn, Liz’s dad and step-mother, are in town for a few days visiting with us. We went to see Grant’s Farm this afternoon. The farm is part historical site and part wildlife preserve. From their web site:

Grant's Farm is a 281 acre wildlife preserve and historical site located just south of the city of St. Louis, Missouri and is operated by Anheuser-Busch, Inc. The Farm is home to hundreds of exotic animals from around the world.

The Farm takes its name from our 18th President of the United States, Ulysses S. Grant. In the 1850s, Ulysses S. Grant farmed a portion of the 281 acres. The land, which later became the ancestral home of the Busch family, today is preserved as a living symbol of the family's love for animals and Anheuser-Busch's commitment to wildlife conservation and preservation.

This is a great place to take kids if you are in the St. Louis area. A tram ride takes you through the farm where you’ll see buffalo, deer, wild birds, various breeds of cattle, and antelope. The farm boasts wildlife from six continents.

Tomorrow we're planning on visiting the St. Louis Arch and the historical museum.

Advertisements from Google have been added to this blog in an effort to create a little extra income to support this site. Feedback is welcome on this experiment in capitalism.

Update: Some of the advertisements up at this moment are a little, well, not of my taste. Google does give me the ability to de-link ads that I'm not comfortable with, and I've done that. So the content should change with a day and the sites up should be more in keeping with my faith values.

Church World Service “is the relief, development, and refugee assistance ministry of 36 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the United States.” They are responding to several emergency situations and need support from the public.

Flooding in Haiti and the Dominican Republic has created a crisis and taken many lives. From the CWS web site:

NEW YORK, NY – Responding to devastating flooding and rising death tolls in Haiti and the Dominican Republic, global humanitarian agency Church World Service announced today that it is immediately responding to flood victims in the two countries by reallocating food shipments originally designated for response to Haiti's recent social and political unrest.

CWS partners in Haiti – Lutheran World Federation (LWF) and Service Chrétien d'Haiti (SCH) – urgently requested reallocation of the CWS food supplies as an initial response to the crisis.

CWS partners in Haiti are also seeking support for immediate needs from the Rapid Response Fund of the Action by Churches Together (ACT) International network, of which Church World Service is a part.

Click here to learn more about what CWS is doing in this region.

Storms across the American Midwest and South have also taken lives and destroyed homes. Here in our St. Louis neighborhood we had tornado sirens go off three of the last five days and severe thunderstorms each day this past week. CWS is also responding to help those impacted by these storms:

NEW YORK – Humanitarian agency Church World Service announced today that it has dispatched five of its Disaster Response and Recovery Liaisons to assist during massive cleanup and recovery efforts from a week of storms that heaped devastation across portions of the northern Plains, Midwest, and Eastern states.

With emergency cleanup efforts now underway in parts of the northern Plains, Midwest, West Virginia, Virginia, and Pennsylvania, Church World Service (CWS) Disaster Response and Recovery Liaisons (DRRLs) will assist with answering the long-term needs of the affected regions.

The humanitarian agency has issued a $60,000 appeal to fund deployment of its disaster response specialists, ongoing mentoring and capacity building initiatives, emergency material aid shipments, and grants to help sustain long-term recovery.

Click here to learn more about these stoms and the CWS response. You can also see some of the storm damage in our neighborhood here and here.

You can donate to Church World Service online.

Other ways to donate:

Call toll-free: 1-800-297-1516

Mail donations to:

Church World Service
28606 Phillips Street
P.O. Box 968
Elkhart, IN 46515

E-mail Kelli Arena

CNN Justice Department correspondent Kelli Arena spread the unsubstantiated myth that al Qaeda has a preference in the upcoming U.S. elections. Arena, who is supposed to be an objective journalist, claimed, "there is some speculation that al Qaeda believes it has a better chance of winning in Iraq if John Kerry is in the White House." Arena's comment came on the same day Kerry called for 40,000 more troops in Iraq. E-mail Kelli Arena at [email protected] and tell her to stick to the facts.

- from Center for American Progress