Friends-

Vice Moderator Jean Marie Peacock, whose presence we enjoyed at the Witherspoon mission conference in early September, has written a long letter to Moderator Rick Ufford-Chase, describing her return to her home in New Orleans – the losses she and her husband have suffered, the bitter-sweet reuniting of her congregation in worship in a Presbyterian church not flooded as their own had been ... and much more.

Here’s a chance to see the human side of the disaster – if you can stand to see more.

In the satiric spirit of Jonathan Swift, Peter Sawtell offers "a modest proposal" for dealing with the Mississippi River after Katrina. His suggestion, in short, is to "let it loose." Blow holes in the levees and let the great river find its own wandering changing path once again.

Environmentalist Sawtell is not entirely serious, for there would be too many human costs. But he contrasts this with the radical proposals being put forward to "manage" the river instead for the profits of business.

He summarizes:

It is irresponsible to blow apart the levees and let the Mississippi run wild across the Delta. It is also irresponsible to blow apart social contracts and thoughtful planning in order to let corporate America run wild across the Delta. Constraint, planning, and a balancing of interests are needed on all sides.

At the end of the article, he also points to some realistic proposals for environmentally sound policies.

This letter is being sent to all congregations, all new church developments, all executive presbyters and stated clerks.  [9-30-05]

September 30, 2005

Dear Friends in Christ,

We continue to thank God for the partnership we have with you in the mission of our Lord Jesus Christ. Your collective response to our sisters and brothers in the path of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is most gratifying. We continue to hold all of you in our prayers.

We are writing today to lift up a need that is unique to this disaster. A large number of our church buildings are totally unusable and members are scattered all around the nation.

These congregations will not be meeting anytime soon. This leaves them without an income stream and, for many, without funds to pay their pastors and other employees.

We are writing to urge your immediate contributions to the special Presbyterian Disaster Assistance (PDA) account set up for salaries of pastors and other church employees. These funds will be administered directly by local church treasurers to their employees.

The Synod of the Sun and the Synod of Living Waters will be transferring funds from PDA to the treasurer and will keep transparent financial records.

The money contributed to the Katrina Relief efforts (which now also includes Rita) supplements the disaster funds from the One Great Hour of Sharing. Our PC(USA) goal for Katrina Relief is $10 million. You can learn more about the relief efforts from the PC(USA) Web site (www.pcusa.org/katrina/). If you choose to give to the "Pastoral and Church Staff Salaries," use account DR 000161.

May God continue to bless you in your ministries and especially strengthen our church leaders in the disaster areas.

Yours in Christ,

by the Rev. Bobbie McGarey

[Received on September 12, posted here on 9-30-05]

katrina such a gentle name
like dancers on their toes
a storm whose havoc still reigns
the end of it – i don't know

We only have a tree on the roof
that's what my cousin said
They knew they were lucky ones
A roof over their head
We'll stay with Mom until it's time
for lights to burn again
as for our jobs ... well we don't know
we just don't know when

A pastor called another pastor
I heard your church
is gone now in the storm
No not my 'church' the other said
but the building to be sure
the organ and the piano grand
floating here and there
the church is fine we just are spread
e v e r y w h e r e

but we'll be back
but we'll be changed
even if we were not there
because in side our aching hearts
we long to shout – we care

on saturday the woman said
I got two tickets for the football game
$700 each I'm so impressed
a disconnect
a disconnect
from thousands hurting so
no home no food no job no ...

katrina such a gentle namelike dancers on their toes
a storm whose havoc still reigns
the end of it – i don't know.


The Peace of God be with you!

The poet adds this note:

The Synod of the Sun www.synodsun.com has a good link to some of the churches and their stories from both Katrina and Rita.

by Clyde Fant, Stetson University
 [9-30-05]

Dr. Fant introduces his poem with this note:

As most of you know, I am from Louisiana. In the last days, grief and outrage have held a contest inside me. So I'm writing this. Because I have to.

This poem came to us from Witherspooner Bill LeMosy, accompanied by the note with which it was forwarded to him:

Clyde Fant, who will be known to many of you, taught preaching at Southwestern Baptist Seminary before the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention. He then served as chaplain for a number of years at Stetson University in Florida. He has now retired from teaching but his prophetic voice remains strong and eloquent. A friend of mine sent me his "Lamentation" over the destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina in his home state, and I am now in turn sharing it with you; it deserves to be widely known and circulated. God help us all!

Prof. Rex D. Matthews
Candler School of Theology

Lamentation

This message comes from Sojourners 

The Guardian UK reports on ways in which the Bush administration is using the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, and the multi-billion dollar reconstruction plans it is belatedly putting forward, to try out a variety of conservative social policies.   

These include the suspension of regulations guaranteeing the going local wage and affirmative action for minorities, while offering tax incentives for businesses in the affected region. They also include the inclusion of half a million dollars in vouchers for private schools as part of educational aid for displaced children, and waivers of many environmental regulations.

The full story on TruthOut >>

From Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO
[9-23-05]

There is no way a just America should let the wages of working people who will rebuild the Gulf Coast be cut to protect the profits of wealthy contractors like Halliburton and tax cuts for millionaires.

President Bush removed Davis-Bacon wage protections for construction workers on Gulf Coast rebuilding projects. Those protections are supposed to ensure workers will be paid a "prevailing wage" for their work—not a union wage, not a high wage. Prevailing wages for construction specialties in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama average about $9.50 an hour—less than $20,000 a year for full-time work. Is that too much for the men and women who will rebuild those states to ask?

Please take a moment to urge your members of Congress to tell President Bush to restore these modest wage protections now. And urge Rep. Cooper not to fail working families again as they did in voting for CAFTA. Click here:

Cutting wages for Gulf Coast construction workers will make it even harder for working families devastated by Hurricane Katrina to rebuild their lives. But it will ensure bigger profits for companies like Halliburton that are getting lucrative rebuilding contracts—including many no-bid contracts being awarded to politically well-connected companies.

While lowering pay for workers, the administration and its congressional allies refuse to limit massive new tax breaks for millionaires. New tax cuts slated to take effect Jan. 1 that will benefit only the wealthy will cost us $70 billion, which could be spent on rebuilding the Gulf Coast. Households that take in more than $1 million a year—the richest 0.2 percent of us—already are getting tax cuts averaging $103,000 this year. The new tax breaks will give them another $20,000 a year.

Instead, the president and his allies want to pay for hurricane rebuilding efforts with cuts in the very programs devastated working families need most—Medicaid, job training and more.

Please take just a moment to contact your members of Congress now. Urge them to tell President Bush to restore wage protections for the construction workers who will rebuild the Gulf Coast. It's also important to let your representatives know you haven't forgotten their vote for CAFTA.

Groups urge hurricane relief, temporary amnesty to illegal immigrants
[9-21-05]

Tens of thousands of illegal immigrants displaced by Hurricane Katrina should be allowed to receive humanitarian relief and to remain in the United States for now, advocacy groups told Congress today. 

The National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities urged the government to allow desperate immigrants to receive all benefits bestowed on other victims of the storm.

Members of the groups also want President Bush and Congress to offer temporary protective status to an estimated 30,000 to 60,000 illegal immigrants who were living in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama when the storm hit.

Such status is normally provided when conditions in an immigrant's country of origin are determined to be too dangerous or unstable for its nationals to safely return.

Mark Krikorian, executive director for the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, said granting temporary protective status to illegal immigrants in the current situation is "literally turning the policy on its head, and it shouldn't even be entertained."

From Rev. Elenora Giddings Ivory Director, Washington Office Presbyterian Church (USA) 202-543-1126 202-543-7755 (fax) 100 Maryland Avenue, N.E., Suite 410 Washington, DC 20002 eivory@ctr.pcusa.org

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From People for the American Way
September 21, 2005
[9-21-05]

The Wall Street Journal recently exposed that President Bush and his allies in Congress are plotting to take advantage of hurricane relief measures to "achieve a broad range of conservative economic and social policies, both in the storm zone and beyond." On the table are more tax cuts for the wealthy and the suspension of desegregation measures and environmental safeguards. Following last week's waiver of wage protections for federal workers, education is now targeted by two legislative initiatives that could come up for a vote as early as today. Read the article >>

Over the objections of many legislators of both parties, the White House is trying to ram through $488 million in vouchers to send children to religious and other private schools and subsidize children who already attend them. Public schools are the public safety net for the majority of the displaced students in the Gulf Coast, providing not only education but also mental health, nutrition, and social services. Private schools are not equipped to care for these children. Indeed, many private schools in the affected region don't even have the capacity to enroll new students - public schools are enrolling private school students.

As Congress is focused on providing relief for the victims, the congressional leadership is also attempting to take a swipe at Head Start by pushing through an amendment to the program's reauthorization to allow federal dollars to be used by employers who discriminate on the basis of religion.

Send a message to your senators and representative telling them that using this disaster to advance a partisan agenda is bad enough - doing it at the expense of children in need is inexcusable. http://www.pfaw.org/go/education

-- Your Allies at People For the American Way

In Washington, it's business as usual in the face of a national catastrophe.
 [9-21-05]

Fareed Zakaria, editor of Newsweek International, offers a sharp moral critique of the "frivolous" response of American political leaders to Katrina disaster. 

Writing in the Sept. 26, 2005 issue of Newsweek, he begins:

"Adversity builds character," goes the old adage. Except that in America today we seem to be following the opposite principle. The worse things get, the more frivolous our response. President Bush explains that he will spend hundreds of billions of dollars rebuilding the Gulf Coast without raising any new revenues. Republican leader Tom DeLay declines any spending cuts because "there is no fat left to cut in the federal budget."

This would be funny if it weren't so depressing. What is happening in Washington today is business as usual in the face of a national catastrophe. The scariest part is that we've been here before. After 9/11 we have created a new government agency, massively increased domestic spending and fought two wars. And the president did all this without rolling back any of his tax cuts—in fact, he expanded them—and refused to veto a single congressional spending bill. This was possible because Bush inherited a huge budget surplus in 2000. But that's all gone. The cupboard is now bare.

Kirkpatrick, 4 others say federal spending plan would empty cupboards of poor and hungry

by Toya Richards Hill, Presbyterian News Service
[9-21-05]

LOUISVILLE - Sept. 14, 2005 – The devastation and suffering left in the wake of Hurricane Katrina have given church leaders an opportunity to call again for the U.S. Congress to halt the federal budget-reconciliation process, which they say promises to gut programs for the poorest and most marginalized Americans.

The Rev. Clifton Kirkpatrick, the stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), joined the leaders of four other "mainline" Christian denominations in sending a letter to Congress that said, in part: "The devastation wrought by Katrina has exposed the anguished faces of the poor in the wealthiest nation on the planet" -faces that "compel us to set before Congress once again our concerns for the FY (fiscal year) '06 federal budget and its impact on people living in poverty."

The others who signed the Sept. 13 letter are the Rev. Frank T. Griswold, presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church USA; the Rev. Mark Hanson, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America; the Rev. John H. Thomas, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ; and James Winkler, general secretary of the general board of church and society of the United Methodist Church.

Although Congress this week postponed the budget-reconciliation process for four weeks, Kirkpatrick and the others are calling for a complete halt to the process.

"The FY '06 reconciliation bill that is working its way through the authorizing committees will send more people searching for food in cupboards that, quite frequently, are bare," the letter said. "With renewed urgency, we call on Congress to stop the FY '06 federal budget reconciliation process immediately."

The $2.6 trillion budget resolution passed by Congress is an outline for federal tax and spending for the next five years, said Carolynn Race, associate for domestic poverty and environmental issues in the PC(USA)'s Washington office. The resolution directed Congressional committees to reduce spending for mandatory programs under their jurisdiction, such as Medicaid and food stamps, Race said.

It is these committee actions that Kirkpatrick and his cohorts are trying to halt.

"This is a very critical time for the (Katrina) evacuees, and also for the millions who are living in poverty," Race said.

In April, the same denominational coalition asked Congress not to cut the budgets of essential entitlement programs, arguing that such a move would "ask our nation's working poor to pay the cost of a prosperity in which they may never share."

The letter comes on the heels of recently released U.S. Census Bureau figures showing that 37 million people lived in poverty in 2004, an increase of more than one million from 2003.

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