Worried about retirement?

So are a huge number of people...

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The hypocrisy

of the new right wing governments.

Garbage fees for Toronto food banks, shelters a 'slap in the face'

On one hand the new right wing governments are telling us that government shouldn't be in the business of helping the poor and that the churches should be picking up the ball and running with it because charity is the role of the church, not the state. On the other hand they're increasing costs and charges for things for churches to make if difficult for them to actually provide those services. It makes one wonder what the motives of these levels of government really are.

(And, if truth be told, I think that the motives are the same as they've always been, and are best expressed by C. Dicken's Ebenezer Scrooge: "If they [the poor] would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

And no, I don't think I'm being too harsh here.)

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I listened to an interview with him

The U.N. official, that is.

Food for thought: Why David Olive is ashamed to be a Canadian today

We're a 1st World developed country that had its first food bank start in 1990 as a temporary measure. They're now a fixture. In a country driven by Capitalism, it may be that the food banks actually fulfilled a purpose for our Capitalist leaders - they took away the guilt and political issues that would accompany people starving in their homes or on the street and lessened the possibility of violence over the lack of food. For the politicians it was all win.

This is a national disgrace. Jason Kenney has the gall to suggest that the U.N. shouldn't chastise us. Perhaps it may be our place to remind Mr. Kenney that his government is failing in one of the most basic of tasks - providing food for those most impoverished in his own country. Great thing those blinkers, aren't they Mr. Kenney?

The only plus in this is that we're one step better than the U.S. - they tried everything possible to prevent the U.N. from even collecting data in their country - so that makes us one step up. Whoopee. Some great place to be.

I, too, am ashamed to be a Canadian today. I'm ashamed to live in a country that lets poverty like this happen. I'm ashamed to live in a country that can elect such a heartless and uncaring government...

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Yes

"Food for the body is not enough...there must be food for the soul." - Dorothy Day

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Class Warfare

Fuck Your Prayer, Show Me Solidarity

She's angry. Angry for good, legitimate reasons. She is consumed by the injustice that swallows her and her anger is directed toward the 'justice' proposed by certain liberal Evangelicals. But she has very, very good points. I have felt anger toward some of these people for years. The situation really is class warfare. It is all around us. Our society is built upon the model (and I was just being criticized for not acknowledging that belief just the other night!).

I live in the same world, and hold very similar, though not quite as extreme, debt. I am ill, but to this point not quite ill enough to lose my livelihood. I am older, and therefore not as bitter about lost opportunity, lost hopes and a lost future. I am not as angry. I fully expect to lose everything before the end of my life, and I expect to live in poverty. I don't know the form it will take, but when illness strikes (as the author has so capably noted) the ability to fight back is taken away. Our society needs to put this wrong right. And it won't, because our society is controlled by the elite, by those with wealth. My country is on the path away from possible just resolution of ills to a model based on the U.S. model, which panders to the wealthy and elite as if they have done something special and important. Apparently,we are supposed to love the wealthy simply because they do what we haven't been able to do - make money. And we're expected to die and get out of the way so they can make more...

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A film that raises questions

about art possibly exploiting the poor, or the poor benefiting from art.

Review: Wasteland

And, in this instance, instead of focussing on the huge issue, the incredible waste of a group of human beings, it focuses on a small portion of that group that actually benefits from the waste, however poor and disadvantaged they remain...

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While I agree, to an extent,

that the 'Occupy' protests point toward a utopian goal and consequently are striving for an impossible objective, does that mean that the goal shouldn't be strived for? If, for most of us, sainthood is impossible, should we stop striving toward it?

Christians Divided on Support for Occupy Movement

Why am I not surprised that people start throwing out the 'leftist' epithet every time someone protests about greed and unfairness? Anytime you attack the American Dream and free enterprise and strive for justice and equality you're a leftist or socialist...

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Not a perfect solution


Tallest squat in the world becomes emblem of Venezuela housing crisis

"About 2,500 squatters occupy Torre de David – a 45-storey Caracas skyscraper built during the oil-rich country's boom years"

Good for them! Though I can't see the courts siding with them against business when it finally comes down to that, but for now...

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And so,

justice in America continues to belong to those who can pay for it...

Justice In America: A Tale Of Two Crimes

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Y'know...

...somehow I can't imagine that this is something we should be proud of...



(Thanks to The Atlantic for the photo.)

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I got da blues...

Poor Man's Blues

"Glenn Kaiser on his new album, Chicago's homeless, his own history with poverty, and the 40-year anniversary of the Jesus Movement."

But then I pretty much always got da blues, I guess. Still, we should all buy his album and support those who have the blues worse than we do.

40 years. That's pretty incredible. People have kept the faith for a long, long time...

(In the photo he's playing a cigar box guitar. Way cool! That's on my project list...)

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It is a show of faith

full of simplicity and love.

Brownsville man makes a sculpture of Jesus Christ from dirt

Art that would be called 'folk' art or 'primitive' art, in this case comes from a heart with happiness despite circumstances. There's a lesson here...

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Prepare to be touched

by an article by Michael Coren, of all people...

God looks after, not down upon, Horse

For something similar, check out a book called Harry My Friend by the late Stephen Grosso. It's a true story, in a short book, that will melt the most hard-hearted amongst us. And if you want to read it, it's only $3.00! I re-read it often.

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Yesterday

was the anniversary of the death of Charles I, Count of Flanders, also known as Blessed Charles the Good.

Charles I, Count of Flanders

The reason I include him here today rather than yesterday is all the recent news articles about worker's rights, and about corporate greed and criminal behaviours.

Blessed Charles was known for his generosity toward the poor and starving. What did that get him? Most likely his place in Heaven, but other than personal satisfaction, it also got him murdered. By people who objected to his attempts to obtain justice for the poor at the expense of profits for the rich. Does the world ever change?

What is Jesus asking us to do?

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And Capitalism gives us...

...the travesty that is Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs bankers to receive $15.3bn in pay and bonuses

These people keep getting bonuses for destroying the economy. It's impossible to fathom! I guess we should be rejoicing that the system is working or something...

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Who knows all the issues here?


Santa Cruz's 'Red Church' minister certain he'll keep his job: Father Joel Miller still under fire for handling of homeless outreach

Who's right and who's wrong? What's the whole story? There seems to be a lot missing here, things we're not seeing. I wonder, too, how much of this might be a 'not in my back yard' reaction?

Trying to act as Jesus would act doesn't always garner a great deal of support, too.

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A very short,

but really great article from my favourite Catholic Worker site, Casa Juan Diego:

Do We Help People Who Shouldn't Be Here? Works of Mercy and Immigrants

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I so much admire,

respect, and love Dorothy Day, Peter Maurin, and the Catholic Worker Movement.

Living With the Human Side of the Church

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"When I was hungry..."

Homeless for the Holidays

"Searching for a friend gone missing—or is he?"

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And in Britain...

...the Conservatives are off to their usual behaviour...

Osborne indicates incapacity benefits 'to be cut'

"Chancellor George Osborne has signalled that sickness benefits will be targeted in a summer spending review aimed at cutting the £155bn deficit."

...cutting spending to those who need help the most and, most likely, giving the money to their corporate friends...

The electorate disgusts me...

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