Well it would appear from all accounts that if the primary season didn’t end Tuesday night, it will officially end tomorrow as Hillary Clinton gives her support to Barack Obama.
In case you missed it, NPR has a great “highlight reel” with some of the top sound clips from the campaign season.
Category: take action
politics, social justice and ways you can make a difference in the world around you.
Sen. Barack Obama :: on faith (or why I liked him in the first place)
Back in October 2006 I shared a post that really turned me onto Barack Obama. I thought it was fitting to re-share this now that just about everyone has declared him the presumptive DNC nominee.
The story is an excerpt from a speech from which was delivered at the Sojourners/Call to Renewal-sponsored Pentecost conference in June 2006. (emphasis mine)…
Continue reading Sen. Barack Obama :: on faith (or why I liked him in the first place)
Will destroy nukes for food
From e-mail:
A new bill in Congress called the Global Security Priorities Resolution (H.R. 1045) would shift tens of billions of dollars from nuclear weapons funding into projects which alleviate global poverty.
Cosponsored by Congressmen Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Dan Lungren (R-CA), the resolution calls for reducing U.S. and Russian nuclear arsenals to 1000 deployed/3000 total weapons each by 2015.
It further stipulates that some of the financial savings from such a move would be redirected to the Nunn-Lugar program, as well as $6.5B to “child survival, hunger, and universal education” programs worldwide in an attempt to address the root causes of terrorism.
While the resolution does not advocate complete nuclear disarmament, it sets the proposed actions within the context of our NPT Article VI obligations to pursue nuclear weapons elimination. The Global Security Priorities Resolution is an excellent vehicle for outreach to more conservative members of Congress, and helps to link the elimination of nuclear weapons with vital human needs.
Faithful Security has formally endorsed the resolution, as have the following religious organizations:
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
U.S. Fund for UNICEF
Friends Committee on National Legislation
Union for Reform Judaism
Conference of Major Superiors of Men
Evangelicals for Human Rights
United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society
Leadership Conference of Women Religious
Catholic Relief Services
Mennonite Central Committee U.S./Washington Office
Can you take a moment to send a note to your Representative asking him or her to sign on as a cosponsor? Click here to send a quick email.
There are many other ways that you can help the resolution move forward. Visit the Faithful Security website for statements from prominent endorsers, the full text of the resolution, and other resources. Consider writing a letter to the editor about the resolution, or invite other national religious groups to endorse this important legislation.
Need more ideas? Email us at info@faithfulsecurity.org.
The first step is gathering Congressional cosponsors, so click here to send your Representative a note.
Blessings,
Tyler Wigg Stevenson and Jessica Wilbanks
Help China – one shirt at a time
Love this!
A graphic designer named Steve has partnered with World Vision to sell 50,000 t-shirts and raise $1,000,000 to help China.
On Monday, May 19, one week after the China Earthquake, reports surfaced estimating that 50,000 lives would be lost in this tragedy—our vision is hope. One by one, fifty thousand hand drawn tally marks create the “x†on your shirt, each one representing a life that has passed, and connecting it with a life that has committed to help rebuild. Your shirt is a symbol how one person, multiplied 50,000 times, can do something amazing.
Love it! “Be the difference you wish to see in the world!”
Love your neighbor – even if they’re halfway around the world.
simply living simply pt.2
Well I promised I’d try and share some of the things Laurie and I are currently doing to live simply.
I’m not sharing this list because I want to brag about what we do, or because we’ve got it all figured out and we do it right all the time. I’m just sharing this list because they’re some things that we’ve found that work for us (as in – “Hey! We can do this!”). Laurie may have some additions to this list (I hope she does).
Invest in others – Laurie and I are both involved in several groups where community and relationships are built. We are both part of a community group that meets each Tuesday night in the home of friends and we share life and God. Laurie also now meets weekly with several friends on Thursday night to just spend time building those relationships and I’m involved in a Bible study/discussion for men on Wednesday morning (the men’s What-a-Study) and typically meet with one or two other guys at different times during the week.
Recycle – we’re not doing near enough yet (in my opinion) but we’re doing a lot more than we used to. We recycle our aluminum cans, plastic and glass thanks to city recycling program. We should probably add cardboard and paper to the mix – but we haven’t taken the time to store and deliver paper products to a recycling site (mental note: add that to the goal list).
Utilizing public transportation – I’m a big fan of public transportation, especially good systems like DART. Granted, the old joke remains, “The thing I hate about public transportation is the public.” Sure there are days when folks can annoy you and get on your last nerve – but we save a great deal of money on gas and parking each month with my monthly DART pass. On top of that, it gives me an opportunity to actually be in fellowship with others rather than tuning the world out as I climb in my truck all by myself.
Using CFLs – We’ve switched all but just a few lights in our house to new CFL or LED bulbs. We need to find some good CFLs that look good above our bathroom mirrors, but otherwise I think all of our lights have been changed to money saving CFLs.
Utilize an automatic thermostat – This is one of those ways we’re easily putting technology to use to try and save money and automate our air conditioning/heating needs. We also utilize ceiling fans in our main rooms of use (including a brand new one I installed in our office today). While this may be too warm for some folks, we keep our thermostat at 78° F while we’re home and at 85° F during the day. We just discussed the possibility of lowering that day time temperature to 80 or 82 so our AC doesn’t run as long in the evening to cool the house off again. We haven’t found any substantial evidence as to which is best for efficiency, cost and wear and tear on our AC. While our winter bill was a bit higher, we’ve had 2 months of spring/summer electric bills of $70 or less!
We’ve discussed other areas we can improve on or start doing including:
- starting a garden
- starting a compost pile
- recycling paper
- eating more organic foods
- eating out much less
- having friends over for dinner on a more regular basis
Well there’s you a starting point. Any thoughts, ideas or suggestions?
Be sure and check out Shaun Groves’ latest post to see some of his goals as well.
simply living simply
Kevin has shared some thoughts on living simply.
I think everyone wanting to live simply has different reasons for doing so, Kevin says, “Part of my motivation is money: Spending less on stuff makes our adoption more affordable. It also makes it easier to help others and be more generous.”
Kevin points to two recent posts by Shaun Groves who writes that his desire for living simply is: “To free up resources which should be spent on those presently in need. To prevent need. To invest in personal health – mental, spiritual, relational and physical.”
These things resonate with me deep in my soul. Yet I struggle with simply giving up my wants and desires in order to simply live a simple life. Things like having my own car (truck) to take me where I want when I want, having the AC/heater on at the exact temperature I want it at, eating what I want, when I want or even living in a “suburb” away from the big city. These are things (along with others) that I want control over – but seem to go against the idea of living simply.
Some other things I think are important to living simply (that Kevin and Shaun didn’t specifically mention) are taking full advantage of technology when and where its affordable and practical. Probably one reason I’m a big fan of sites like Lifehacker.com and even social networking sites. I’ve always sent prayer requests to people via txt messaging and e-mails but now with Twitter and my BlackCrackBerry those processes are even faster and easier. There is some additional cost along the way – but to me, for what I do its well worth it for some of the technology (but maybe these are areas I should work on as well). Of course when and where I can use open source – I’m all for it.
I think ultimately I have several reasons for wanting to live simply and both Kevin and Shaun have included them in their reasons – but off the cuff here are some of mine…
- Investing more in others rather than myself. The more I spend on myself, the less I have to give away. God may choose to bless me and Laurie, but I believe he blesses people so that we in turn can be a blessing to others. I also think this carries over into investing personal time and such with people as well. If I share my dinner with friends and family, not only am I giving to them financially, it offers opportunity to give and share relationally.
- Being a good steward of ALL that God has given us. We hear this a lot in our churches, but I think we tend to only apply it to our tithe and finances we give back to the church or other causes. I think this also includes being a good steward of the world around us – i.e. living green, recycling, etc.
- Living simply = less stress. Let’s face it, the less you have, the less opportunity you have for things to go wrong. Sure some of those things may happen and stress may still occur but if I become dependent on things – it becomes a lot more stressful when those things don’t work like they should.
Well those are the basics. Be sure and read Kevin’s post as well as Shaun’s to see what they’re doing. Maybe a little later I’ll share some of the simple things Laurie and I have started doing to try to simply live simply.
In the meantime, how, why and where do you live simply?