Howie Luvzus

Let’s see here. Bobby Jindal wants to get Republican street cred by cutting funding for non-profits.

Jindal admitted that he targeted non-governmental organizations in his $16 million belt tightening. He cuts funds for 258 different programs and groups.

Jindal said that plenty of the organizations that had funds slashed are very good groups with very noble goals, but he said they need to find their money elsewhere.

But typical of the Republican philosophy, Jindal takes care of his buddies:

For example, the Secretary of Economic Development Stephen Moret received a $75,000 raise and will now be making $320,000. His assistant Steve Grissom will be receiving an even larger raise of $94,040 for a total pay package of $237,000. The Secretary of the Department of Health and Hospitals Alan Levine will receive a $60,000 raise for an annual salary of over $160,000. The Director of Legislative Affairs will receive a $76,000 raise. The Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Waguespack will receive a $30,000 raise. Despite all of these excessive salaries, they pale in comparison to the jackpot winner Superintendent of Education Paul Pastorek who will make $355,000 per year and receive a salary increase of over $50,000 per year.

All of these raises were proposed in the Governor’s budget and strongly supported by Jindal. He could easily strip these raises from the budget if he wanted. However, he defends these massive increases as necessary.

It’s easy for folks to get upset about pay raises for the Legislators. Where’s the outrage about cutting help for the homeless? UNITY FOR THE HOMELESS is taking a $50,000 hit from Bobby’s cut. They’ve done a hell of a job finding places for the homeless to live.

Shame on Bobby and shame on those who follow the one who said “Blessed are the poor” if they aren’t more outraged now!

Joe’s a friend I met through the New Orleans blogosphere. He attended New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. We actually got to meet once. Unfortunately, Joe’s moved to Texas to continue his studies. Pray for him. For a lot of reasons! Here’s what he recently wrote:

See, since I moved to Texas, I’ve had two guys tell me the city is a cess pool. I’ve had one SWBTS church planter tell me how easy it must be to plant in New Orleans. And overall I’m convinced the entire concept of Katrina is completely lost on the people I meet. I get it. They weren’t here, and I can only imagine what it was like in Indonesia after the tsunami. But the thing is, I have to get it into people’s heads that what happened is going to last with those of us involved here forever. It shapes who we are. I’m not going to get offended by every moron who never set foot in New Orleans but has a false opinion of what it’s like here. Maybe I can show them some photos and tell them some stories, and if I’m good enough at it, maybe I’ll give them a glimpse into my New Orleans.

I can’t imagine having to deal with knuckleheads who think they know, but as Jim Mora once said, “You think you know, but you have no idea.”

Check out Joe’s blog and pictures of New Orleans, they’re pretty great.

I couldn’t let this one go without comment!

An Oklahoma church canceled a controversial gun giveaway for teenagers at a weekend youth conference.

Windsor Hills Baptist had planned to give away a semiautomatic assault rifle until one of the event’s organizers was unable to attend.

The church’s youth pastor, Bob Ross, said it’s a way of trying to encourage young people to attend the event. The church expected hundreds of teenagers from as far away as Canada.

Friday evening, Ross said the gun giveaway had been canceled. Pastor emeritus Jim Vineyard, who ran the event, injured his foot and wouldn’t be able to attend. The gun giveaway was also removed from the church Web site.

Wow! Thanks Greg! This is unbelievable. Above is a picture of “Dr. Ross.” Here’s the church’s website.

If you’d like to send an email saying “What were you thinking?” Send it here.

I’ll be out of commission for a while. I’ve got some very important writing assignments to finish.

Take care!

Mark Van Steenwyk at Jesus Manifesto reminds us that today is also the Feast Day of St. Elizabeth of Portugal, the Patroness of Peace. Check out the whole post here.

Wouldn’t it be great if we valued peace as much as we value freedom?

When I think of the 4th of July, I think of freedom. I think about Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I know this is a real downer, but here goes… As a Christian I think I should not only think about my “unalienable Rights” but also the rights of others. Thus, when I see my fellow citizens talking about freedom, it saddens me that there are those under the control of my government who really don’t have freedom. One of the cries of the revolution was “taxation without representation is tyranny.”

What about incarceration without representation? Jesus compels me to think of the “least of these,” those without a voice. On the day when we celebrate freedom, isn’t it hypocritical to not think about those persons, created in the image of God, who are imprisoned in Guantanamo with no one to defend them?

My prayer is that somehow we might become a country that champions freedom for all. Not just some. My prayer is that Christians might remember to whom their real allegiance lies. Not to our country, but to our Savior who commands us to love our neighbor and yes, even love our enemy. Maybe if we live by Jesus’ ethic we would make our country and world a better place for all.

God bless.

Baptist Press, the official news outlet for Southern Baptists has weighed in on the presidential election. According to a recent poll by LifeWay Research, 80 percent of Southern Baptist pastors support McCain and 1 percent back Obama. Fifteen percent were undecided.

Another interesting article by Baptist Press identified the candidates’ positions on “five issues important to social conservatives.” These issues are: Judges, Abortion, Gay Marriage & Gay Rights, Embryonic Stem Cell Research, and Global Warming.

In regard to Embryonic Stem Cell Research, Baptist press describes it this way—”Both Obama and McCain support giving federal funding to embryonic stem cell research, which kills the tiny human beings.” OUCH!

I’m not too surprised about the “top five social issues” except for the long discussion on judges. I am a bit shocked that immigration isn’t on there. If pressed for my top five I’d have to say they are the following: poverty, health care, environmental issues, human rights, the war in Iraq. I might need to revise these a bit (Any suggestions?). Corporate greed and consumerism really bother me, but I doubt a presidential candidate can do anything about that.

Bigoted moron and Terrebonne Parish School Board member, Rickie Pitre is leading a charge to make English the only spoken language at graduation ceremonies. Seems that Rickie took offense to Cindy Vo’s comments at Ellender High School’s Graduation. Cindy, the American-born daughter of Vietnamese immigrants, who was the valedictorian had the nerve to say, “Co len minh khong bang ai, co suon khong ai bang minh.” She then explained that the expression, roughly translated, was a command to always be your own person.

Rickie and the School Board are pissed! How dare that girl use anything but English in her speech! Come on cher!

A couple of things.
1. Hey Rickie–Why not change the name of your parish? Terrebonne means “good earth” in FRENCH! God knows we should hate the French! Remember “Freedom Fries”?

2. Hey Rickie–Didn’t your ancestors get flack over their use of French? Can’t you see how that might be a bad thing?

Rickie and his bigoted buddies can be contacted here.

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