The most thorough study of U.S Census Bureau data released last Thursday shows that the the wage gap between women is not closing and that women still make about 77 cents to the dollar when they perform the same tasks as men. Think of it as an ovary tax.
The study covered all fifty states and all 435 congressional districts and found unfairness in 97 percent of congressional districts.
“It is stunning and deeply troubling to learn that the wage gap affects women in nearly every congressional district in the country. Women and their families are losing critical income for food, gas, rent, health insurance and more due to a punishing gender-based wage gap that has plagued this country for decades,” said Debra L. Ness, president of the National Partnership. “These new data should be a clear and resounding wake-up call for all lawmakers who have the power to pass legislation that would help close the gap and promote economic security for the women and families in their districts.”
There is a movement to pass a “Paycheck Fairness Act” which would remove loopholes in current law. The bill has been tried before and narrowly lost.
“The wage gap is taking a tremendous toll on women and their families throughout the country,” Ness added. “The gap persists across industries, education levels and, as these data make clear, it spans the geography of our country. It’s time for all members of Congress to take a hard look at the damage being done in their districts and commit to promoting fair wages by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act.”
To read more and find how you can support the Paycheck Fairness Act, click here:
http://www.nationalpartnership.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=35814&security=2141&news_iv_ctrl=2181
What can you say? Old worldviews die hard and find themselves out on smaller and smaller limbs. When the marketing department of Dr. Pepper came up with the campaign of the “Evolution of Flavor” who would have thought creationists would rise in protest? One comment on the site read, “I have lost all respect for Dr Pepper and if Dr Pepper wants business from thousands of people they will need to apologize.” Ironically, the protest brought much attention to the campaign. I suppose it’s possible that’s what the marketing people secretly hoped all along. Playing off religious outrage could be the new trend in advertizing. If so, expect slogans like, “Join the Jihad for Jello,” “Use Pope Condoms,” or “Ark of the Covenant Pork Rinds.”
Read more: http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/09/14/creationists-boycott-dr-pepper-over-evolution-of-flavor-facebook-ad/#ixzz279GVvgUh
Should we be accused of being unpatriotic when we call our nation to treat other nations ethically? In an essay that sounds like it came out of MLK’s speech at the Riverside Church, Jimmy Carter said that the United States is abandoning its role as the global champion of human rights.
Our nation began as a revolution. We once felt an inspiration to be a shining city on a hill declaring to all nations that every human being is endowed with an inalienable right to life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Dr. King said there was a world revolution, that the world’s poor were rising up to throw off the chains of colonialism, but that the United States was on the wrong side of that struggle.
Perhaps it was our need to enslave Africans for free labor, or to rob the original inhabitants of this continent for free land, that lured us to turn our principles into mere motto’s and slogans. Perhaps it was the lure of capitalism that changed the American dream from universal freedom to personal wealth. In any case, America’s true patriots are those who find the courage to admit what we have become, and to dismantle the American Empire in the name of the American Dream, which is actually the dream of all of us.
http://www.tikkun.org/nextgen/two-extraordinary-articles-by-jimmy-carter-former-president-of-the-u-s-one-on-us-imperialism-the-other-on-us-drug-policy
We carry hell in our ideas of salvation. The idea that we would be saved from a punishment claiming other parts of our human family leaves us selfish and indifferent.
We carry war in our ideas of peace. The idea that we work for peace by imposing our will upon the world leaves bitter enemies who will not rest until they have broken our reign over them.
We carry unhappiness in our ideas of happiness.
The idea that happiness is something we do not have but must pursue, turns our own lives into a desert and turns our souls into tentless nomads.
Daniel Burke and David Gibson have written an article that really helps contextualize the importance of the recently discovered scrap of paprus claiming Jesus had a wife. The most important fact, which I had not heard before I read this article, is that no one really knows where the scrap came from.
See what you think. To read, click here:
http://www.religionnews.com/faith/beliefs/five-big-questions-about-the-jesus-wife-discovery
Wow, now this is an interesting story.
The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) has 2 million members in Canada, the United States and Puerto Rico. The union says its purpose is “uniting workers in healthcare, public services and property services, SEIU members are winning better wages, healthcare and more secure jobs for our communities, while uniting their strength with their counterparts around the world to help ensure that workers—not just corporations and CEOs—benefit from today’s global economy.”
The Mexican government has accepted a complaint against Alabama’s recent anti-immigrant law using the NAFTA’s supplemental labor agreement. The complaint says that the law is “discriminatory” and “abusive” toward workers and violates international labor rights standards.
A spokesperson for SEIU said in a statement: “We hope that further review of Alabama’s racial profiling law will make clear its devastating impact on workers, on the law’s potential for minimum wage and overtime violations, and on workers’ freedom of association which are supposed to be protected under the NAFTA labor clause.”
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2012/09/20
Ray McGovern is a former CIA analyst who used to prepare the President’s Daily Brief. He is now a peace activist trying to help a reluctant America look behind the curtain and see the real reasons for American foreign policies. When he came to speak at our church, I had dinner with him thanks to Bonnie Tamres-Moore. I found him to be thoughtful and sensitive.
It is much in the interest of hawks in this country and in Israel to continue presenting the Arab world as irrational religionists. It would be as if Rev. Fred Phelps and Rev. John Hagee were constantly presented on Arab news as representing Christianity. What that version of the news ignores is precisely the valid concerns that people may have. It is much better for Americans to believe that they won’t listen to reason and only understand force.
I believe that Islam has a serious problem with violence, as I also believe Judaism and Christianity do. When you believe you are God’s chosen group, mistreating others comes easily. Political affairs are seldom about who is right and who is wrong. That’s what the propaganda addresses. Political affairs in the Middle East is much more likely about things like land, and oil and the meddling of Western foreign powers in the lives of a frustrated and humiliated people.
What follows is Ray McGovern’s interpretation about the real issues in the Middle East. As always I do not post this because I agree with everything in it, but because I believe it presents an important interpretation of events we are not hearing much in our own news coverage.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2012/09/20
Are you tired of non-judgmental people throwing the Sermon on the Mount in your face? Are you tired of people saying just because you love Jesus that you shouldn’t be able to be hateful to homosexuals and welfare mothers? Are you pro-life but against neo-natal care for the poor? Do you believe lazy no good parents should be punished by having their children suffer the consequences of malnourishment and poor education? Do anti-war sermons make you want to pull out your concealed weapon and send another hippy preacher to hell where he can explain his sissy ways to Osama bin Laden and the other liberals?
If you answered “yes” to any of those questions, have we got the group for you. “Cannibals for Christ” is a not for profit, non denominal movement that cuts and pastes the heavily edited words of Jesus onto the God inspired message of Ayn Rand. Kneel before a red white and blue cross and listen to our 9-11 hymns as the tears stream down your face.
It is a hard time to be a Christian. We will soon be forced to choose between a Muslim and a Mormon for President. It is time to take our nation back and give it to the original Americans. No, I’m not talking about the Native Americans. I’m talking about the people that founded this country. No I’m not talking about the Deists, or the Quakers, or the Episcopals. I’m talking about the real founders of the country. And by “real” I mean the ones who agree with us.
So if you’re tired of other people’s inalienable rights getting in the way of your God given right to tell everyone else how to live, give us a call at Cannibals for Christ. Help us take a bite out of sin.
Had it happened in Iran, I wonder how this story would have been covered by the press? In a conference call with clergy last Tuesday, the governor of the second largest state in the union called for “Christian soldiers” to rise up and take the nation and give it back to the Christian religion. Gov. Perry called secular government a lie spread by Satan. He said the nation is engaged in “spiritual warfare.”
“In fact, it may be growing stronger as President Obama and his cronies in Washington continue their effort to remove any trace of religion from American life,” Perry said. “And it falls on us. I mean we truly are Christian warriors, Christian soldiers, and it’s for us as Americans to stand our ground and to firmly send a message to Washington that our nation is about more than some secular laws and activist courts.”
“…The idea that we should be sent to the sidelines, I will suggest to you, is very driven by those who are not truthful. Satan runs across the world with his doubt and his untruths and what have you, and one of the untruths out there (that) is driven is that people of faith should not be involved in the public arena.”
So riddle me this. If it is crazy when a leader in Iran calls for a holy struggle to establish an Islamic state, why is it not crazy when a leader in our country does the same thing using the Christian religion?
A longer article from the Austin Statesman on this subject is included below. (Thanks to Bob Dailey for link)
http://www.statesman.com/news/local/perry-and-the-devil-and-church-state-separation-2462392.html
This Saturday I will be saying a prayer for a very special event. Fourth street will be named after one of my heroes and late friends, Bettie Naylor. I met Bettie as a part of the Ann Richards gang. She is best known for her work on Gay and Lesbian issues, but she had a passion for anyone being mistreated. She had a particular passion for the children of Texas.
We had many wonderful conversations at the Capital cafeteria, or sitting on the hallway benches waiting to testify at a meeting that had gone deep into the night. I remember her fierey eyes and gentle smile. I remember the pain on her face when she discussed any human rights issue. She would lean forward like a child, honestly trying to understand why anyone would withhold food, or education, or medical treatment to a child. Then sit back up like an ancient sphinx ready to defend whoever it was that needed her courage.
While many people may have feared Bettie Naylor, she did not have an enemy in her heart. I will never forget during the effort to pass the James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Bill, she would have regular lunch with the most homophobic lawmaker of them all. I wondered at the time if she had some self loathing, some desire to get his approval. But then when the bill hung in the balance, it was that lawmaker who crossed the isle to support it. I realized she was living and loving by the power Gandhi called “Soulforce.”
In the future, when people drive through downtown Austin, I hope MLK Street will remind us that everyone, regardless, of race should be honored and given their rights. When we see Cesar Chavez Street I hope we will be reminded that people from every economic class should be honored and given their rights. And when we drive by Bettie Naylor Street, I hope we will all be reminded that every form of mutual, consensual, and faithful love should be honored and given its rights- all of them.