Mass. Treasurer Rips Obamacare: “Will Bankrupt State”
Treasurer Tim Cahill ripped Gov. Deval Patrick and President Obama this morning for health care initiatives that the independent gubernatorial hopeful alleged will “bankrupt the country in four years.”

Introducing the New and Improved Heritage.org
The Heritage Foundation introduces a redesigned website today with a modern look and feel, better organization of our policy research, and greater integration of The Foundry and our multimedia products. More than a year of planning and development went into the creation of the new Heritage.org. We interviewed key constituent on Capitol Hill, in the press, among our coalition partners, and Heritage members. The feedback we received drove the new design and direction of Heritage.org.

They Spend WHAT? The Real Cost of Public Schools
Although public schools are usually the biggest item in state and local budgets, spending figures provided by public school officials and reported in the media often leave out major costs of education and thus understate what is actually spent. To document the phenomenon, this paper reviews district budgets and state records for the nation's five largest metro areas and the District of Columbia. It reveals that, on average, per-pupil spending in these areas is 44 percent higher than officially reported.

NJ Governor Creates Privatization Commission
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie deserves major kudos for signing an executive order today creating the New Jersey Privatization Task Force, which will "develop recommendations for a comprehensive approach to converting certain areas of government operations to privately-run operations in an effort to cut the size and cost of state government."

Kansas Government Spending
See for yourself what happens after nearly 8 years of Progressivism in Kansas.

US Constitution Class a Huge Hit
About 300 concerned citizens from Kansas and Missouri attended a class about the U.S. Constitution on Saturday morning at the Hyatt Regency Crown Center in Kansas City, MO. A 2-hour presentation followed by an hour of questions was led by UMKC Constitutional Law Professor Kris Kobach.

Bishops send message: We oppose ObamaCare
The Obama administration last week week attempted to argue that Catholic bishops didn’t oppose the Senate version of the ObamaCare bill as a way of “proving” that the bill won’t fund abortions. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has responded by asking parishes to post and/or read aloud a statement that clarifies their position on the bill, which is adamant opposition. In the statement that many Catholic parishioners will find greeting them as they attend Mass, the USCCB not only declares its opposition but also urges Catholics to contact their elected representatives in Washington to stop it.

Green Initiatives Increase Electric Bills
Households that get their power from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power could see their electric bills go up between 8.8% and 28.4%, depending on where they live and how much energy they use, under a plan unveiled Monday by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Mexican military copter over U.S. neighborhood
The Zapata County sheriff was questioning why a Mexican military helicopter was hovering over homes on the Texas side of the Rio Grande. Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez said he'd reviewed photos of the chopper flown by armed personnel over a residential area known as Falcon Heights-Falcon Village near Falcon Lake, just south of the Starr-Zapata county line. He said the helicopter appeared to have the insignia of the Mexican navy.

Olathe Economist Predicts Depression Is Looming
An agricultural economist from suburban Kansas City who is forecasting bad times ahead hopes he is mistaken. Bill Helming of Olathe is making dire predictions of a beaten-down stock market, a jobless rate at 12 percent, widespread debt defaults and a deflationary price spiral.

How occupational licensing laws restrict liberty
Competition is better than government at protecting consumers from shoddy work. Furthermore, licensing creates a false sense of security. Consider this: When you move to a new community, do you ask neighbors or colleagues to recommend doctors, dentists, and mechanics even though those jobs are licensed? Of course! Because you know that even with licensing laws, there is a wide range of quality and outright quackery in every occupation. You know that licensing doesn't really protect you.

Liberal GOP Kansas Senator Pushes Increased Taxes
The chair of the Senate tax committee on Monday proposed increasing the state sales tax from 5.3 percent to 6 percent. State Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita, said he doesn’t want to raise taxes, but the state budget crisis requires more revenue.

Obama’s Third World Presidency
Rush Limbaugh starts off about Haiti and our refusal to fly the American flag at our base of relief operations in Port-au-Prince, and ends up calling Barack Obama a “third-world President.”

Kansas Bill Crushes Child Porn Industry
Kansas lawmakers are considering an innovative way to fight child pornography that has begun catching on in several state legislatures. A new bill introduced in the state Senate Judiciary Committee last month would unleash lawyers on the producers, promoters, and consumers of child pornography and empower them to collect hefty damages on behalf of victims. Kansas' Senate Bill 549 would allow victims to sue each of their offenders for at least $150,000 in damages until they turn 21, or within three years after the completion of a criminal case.

Kansas City School Closings
In a recent editorial, we supported Kansas City, Mo., School District superintendent John Covington's proposal to close nearly half its schools due to declining enrollment. One of our viewers offered a particularly interesting response. She gave kudo's to Covington for his decision. She also argued that teachers and the teacher's union is one of the major problems in the district.

Cleaver spends $2,900-per-month on vehicle
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver says there’s nothing wrong with spending $2,900 a month for a leased vehicle. Even if taxpayers are paying the bill! The Politico Web site dinged the Missouri congressman on Monday, reporting that it appears he spent more on vehicle rental in 2009 than any other member of the House.

Department of Education to Purchase Shotguns
The hypocrisy of this administration rears its ugly head again. Listed on the Federal Business Opportunities website is a notice of the United States Department of Education's intent to purchase 27 new Remington 870 Tactical (Police) Shotguns.

American Diplomats Killed in Mexico
The danger signs had been mounting. The U.S. Consulate in Ciudad Juarez recently shut down for a bomb threat (which proved false). Federal police guards were redoubled. Officials working at the diplomatic mission saw their movements being gradually restricted, some parts of the city deemed too dicey to frequent. This week Lesley Enriquez, a U.S. consular official, and her husband, Arthur H. Redelfs, were driving home to El Paso, just across the border, when suspected drug gangs intercepted their car and shot them to death Saturday afternoon. Their baby daughter, dressed in pink and crying in the back seat, survived unharmed.

Sexual misconduct in prison an issue rising in visibility
A open records request revealed 477 allegations of sexual misconduct in four-year periods among the nearly 9,000 adults and juveniles in Kansas correctional facilities. The cases range from inmate-on-inmate sexual violence to staff members coercing inmates into sex. But the details about the vast majority of these cases are rarely known outside prison walls, and a Journal-World investigation revealed that more than 20 prison employees have resigned or been fired because of sexual misconduct during the past four years.

Prison: A Place for Sex, Drugs and Porn,br> A convicted sex offender, the wheelchair-bound old man was locked away with 291 others at the state's Special Commitment Center on McNeil Island. There they were in September, Gamer and six other offenders, when FBI agents arrived to take them into federal custody. Five of the seven men have since admitted to obtaining digital copies of photos and films showing children being raped or put on display.

Parkinson names Biggs as Secretary of State
Governor Mark Parkinson announced Democrat Chris Biggs, current Kansas Securities Commissioner to replace Ron Thornburgh, who resigned last month, as Kansas Secretary of State. The citizens of Kansas voted a Republican into that office and the Governor selects a Democrat. The will of the people ignored again.

Bishop Miege Wins State in Undefeated Season
Bishop Miege High School wins yet another Boys Basketball State Championship. In addition Bishop Miege (25-0) finish in the top 20 in the National Polls. In the 2009-10 school year the Stags have won state titles in Football, Volleyball and Boys Basketball.

A Special Honor
The St. Patrick’s Day parade is a family festival, named for the Irish saint who liberated the Irish race from Druidism into the fold of Christ. Ian Byrne, the lead singer of the Celtic Irish rock band, The Elders, was named the Grand Marshall for the parade. Ian Byrne received his American citizenship this year. Congratulations!

Battle over boy's Jesus poster sent to Supremes
When kindergartner Antonio Peck made a poster suggesting Jesus was the way to "save the world," little did he know his artwork would spark a 10-year legal battle that has seen six court decisions fire back and forth only to now be sent to the U.S. Supreme Court.

5-year-old Savannah's Calm Call with 911
It’s never too early to teach your kids important safety rules and how to stay calm in the midst of a crisis. Watch this video all the way through! It is way too cute!

Archbishop Defends Decision On Lesbians' Children
This story has been twisted by the media to demonize the archbishop and the priest of this school. The culture wants us to accept homosexuality behavior and is making it more and more difficult for our children to know right from wrong moral choices. We need to commend leaders and pastors when they speak the truth in love.

Court to government: OK to diss Catholics
San Francisco attacks the Catholic Church’s unwavering teaching on the behavior of homosexuality.

Prom Canceled after ACLU Insists on Cross Dressing and Gay Dates
A small town Mississippi High School has decided to cancel its school prom after the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) demanded the school permit a female student to wear a tux to the prom and attend with her lesbian partner. With all of the pressures and lawsuits to accept the culture, will we just give up or stand up?

Maine Human Rights Commission Debates ‘Biology-based Bathrooms’
Transgender students must be allowed access to bathrooms that correspond with their gender identity or expression or, if they prefer, to existing single stall bathrooms." Please tell me this isn't really happening in the United States.

Secular Writer Takes on Fr. John Corapi
A. A. Gill, contributing editor at Vanity Fair, usually writes restaurant reviews and states, “Surely there is nothing ‘Fr. Crappy’ [referencing Fr. John Corapi] could possibly say that would affect me or the rest of humanity who, like me, have more than half a brain”. If you are familiar with Fr. Corapi, a former marine, who preaches the truth like a military drill sergeant and doesn’t care what anyone but Jesus thinks, then you’re smiling about this, too.

Father Corapi Explains the Events of 9-11, New War/Old War
Why does evil exist? Drawing an analogy from military training, Father Corapi speaks of spiritual training, spiritual weapons and tactics, and the key to being a good soldier or a good Christian: To serve, not to be served. The battle cry for many seeking to bring us back to the moral uprightness we once took pride in is summed up by Father Corapi in this way, "Immorality is un-American and a threat to national security."

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Steve Rose the Tax Man
The governor got it exactly right when he announced his latest tax increases. There is little doubt the Legislature could find $100 million, or even $200 million in lost revenue from plugging sales tax exemptions. That would go a long way toward fixing our $400 million upcoming deficit, without having to cut education, human services or public safety.

Tim Hawkins- Old Rock Star Songs
Tim Hawkins sings songs that famous Rock Stars will be singing in their old age.

Gospel of St John 5:1-16

1. After these things, there was a feast day of the Jews, and so Jesus ascended to Jerusalem. 2. Now at Jerusalem is the Pool of Evidence, which in Hebrew is known as the Place of Mercy; it has five porticos. 3. Along these lay a great multitude of the sick, the blind, the lame, and the withered, waiting for the movement of the water. 4. Now at times an Angel of the Lord would descend into the pool, and so the water was moved. And whoever descended first into the pool, after the motion of the water, he was healed of whatever infirmity held him. 5. And there was a certain man in that place, having been in his infirmity for thirty-eight years. 6. Then, when Jesus had seen him reclining, and when he realized that he had been afflicted for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be healed?” 7. The invalid answered him: “Lord, I do not have any man to put me in the pool, when the water has been stirred. For as I am going, another descends ahead of me.” 8. Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your stretcher, and walk.” 9. And immediately the man was healed. And he took up his stretcher and walked. Now this day was the Sabbath. 10. Therefore, the Jews said to the one who had been healed: “It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to take up your stretcher.” 11. He answered them, “The one who healed me, he said to me, ‘Take up your stretcher and walk.’ ” 12. Therefore, they questioned him, “Who is that man, who said to you, ‘Take up your bed and walk?’ ” 13. But the one who had been given health did not know who it was. For Jesus had turned aside from the crowd gathered in that place. 14. Afterwards, Jesus found him in the temple, and he said to him: “Behold, you have been healed. Do not choose to sin further, otherwise something worse may happen to you." 15. This man went away, and he reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had given him health. 16. Because of this, the Jews were persecuting Jesus, for he was doing these things on the Sabbath.

Sixteen years ago, I took my undergraduate degree and headed straight to the 'hood. Since then, I've lived one block from the corner of Howard and Navarro, an area that once had the highest daytime crime rate in Southern California. I've lived through the 1992 Rodney King riots, the 1996 welfare-reform bill, and the rise of compassionate conservatism. And I've lived through a small revolution in how Christians think about justice.

Not so long ago, evangelical Christians who served the poor often found themselves on the defensive among fellow believers. Now it's the rare church that doesn't engage in works of mercy and justice. Watching this evangelical wave of concern and action, I've been greatly encouraged. Yet as I listen to my fellow justice-impassioned Christ-followers, whether they are newbies or grizzled veterans, I often hear only part of the message of justice.

There is no shortage of protest across the political spectrum. Some promote fair trade over free trade and argue for turning the minimum wage into a living wage; they seek to strengthen immigrant rights and oppose racism. Others object to activist judges, family-hostile state laws and school curricula, and porous borders. But increasingly, all these concerns are framed in terms of concern for the most vulnerable members of society. These issues rouse people out of their living rooms, out of the pews, and into society to work for change.

While I celebrate this development, I worry that we are perilously weak at walking alongside the poor, at investing directly into the lives of individuals to give them what they truly need—not what we believe they need or what our policy statements tell us they need. I've found that it's relatively easy to raise a voice in protest, but unfathomably hard to invest in a life.

Justice Habits: Growing up, I had to learn how to manage money, how to be a good employee, how to act in someone else's house, how to study, and how to delay gratification. As an orphan in a poor East Los Angeles neighborhood, learning these things was a matter of life and death.

My mother died when I was 6. My father had already left us. My sister, 20 years old at the time, became mother, father, grandma, and grandpa for my other two siblings and me. She drilled those basic life skills into me. Alongside her were members of a small Baptist church who taught us the Scriptures, teachers who saw the potential in the Carrasco kids, and employers who held us accountable for our behavior on the job.

Years later, the Carrasco family had emerged from poverty, and I had a bachelor's degree from Stanford. I went straight to northwest Pasadena to join Harambee Ministries and be a part of breaking the cycle of poverty. I initially assumed that youth in the community surrounding Harambee were learning what I had learned growing up. And some were. Others, however—many others—were failing to learn these most basic skills.

Take money skills. While some urban youth have a good grasp of personal finance, many don't. How to manage a credit card, why to avoid check-cashing shops, why a good credit report is a critical tool in America—most youth on my street know almost nothing about these topics.

Those who lack knowledge and experience managing money must be taught. But here is where doing justice by investing in the personal development of the poor gets hard.

Imagine teaching a young adult male how to manage a salary that provides for housing, food, family expenses, transportation, and emergencies. He might complete a class at a church or community center. But will that information stick? Money management must be practiced in order to be truly learned. Is this young man getting the training he needs? More often than not, the answer is no, especially among fatherless young men. The older he is, the more bad habits he is likely to have accrued over the years. While he painstakingly unlearns those habits, he still has to make ends meet.

After seeing this pattern repeatedly in northwest Pasadena, I began to wonder where I learned about money. After all, at age 6 I was the at-risk poster child. I was "the poor." But my sister was a math major—and that fact alone made a difference. When I was in fifth grade, she made me multiply the number of chores I had done by ten cents to arrive at my weekly "salary." At various stages of my life, she instructed, cajoled, and held me accountable. One year, she gave me $4,000 and suggested I take up day trading. By prodding me to save, plan, and experiment, she helped me learn. It took years.

Then there came a day, as a young adult, when the problem was not understanding, but confidence. Deep down, I didn't believe I could really hold on to money, that this particular Mexican would ever rise above his circumstances. I went through a severe crisis of self-doubt. I had a lot of support from family and friends, yet it took a long time to learn what I know now about finances. Now add issues like education, employment, and marriage. There is no way around these basic life skills if a person is ever to escape poverty. The investment needed is long, sacrificial, and, frankly, tedious. Doing justice by walking alongside people as they develop critical life skills is not exciting. Protesting on Wall Street against globalization is exciting. Getting arrested at the courthouse is exciting. Filling the National Mall with hundreds of thousands of people is exciting. But staying proximate to people as they learn lessons they should have learned years ago? When's the last time you saw that on CNN?

The Dignity of Accountability: It's not just justice workers who need to accept responsibility for investing in the skills of the poor. The poor themselves must realize their capacity to overcome poverty. In saying this, I'm not blaming the victim and letting powerful people and systemic powers off the hook. I mean nothing of the sort. What I'm getting at is something I learned from Harambee's founder, John Perkins.

If you are down and out, Perkins would ask, are you going to sit back and wait for someone else to transform your situation? Are you going to rely on the very government, for example, that has failed you? Your best chance is to take responsibility for changing your circumstances. Yes, you will need support from others and policies shaped by protesters for justice, but you are the principal engine for change in your own life.

I believe that, for every person is created in God's image. The same God who created the world ex nihilo has created us capable of great things. We are able, because he is able. Because our dignity comes directly from God, it is not only possible for people to rise above their conditions—it should be expected.

Yet it took a disappointment for me to learn just how hard it is to put that theology into practice.

One teen we'd known since elementary school had a father who was nowhere to be found and a mother who struggled to raise him and his siblings. By his teen years, street vice had become attractive. We at Harambee intervened, drawing him into our lives and our programs. After he graduated from high school, we helped him find a job—a great job, in fact.

Then he got fired. The reasons weren't complicated: He ignored rules, was often late for work, and was oblivious to his employer's wishes. Gradually, I realized where this young man had learned much of his poor work ethic: on our staff. I wanted him to stay close to our community and off the streets, so I made concessions when I felt that discipline might turn him away from us.

This young man was now another unemployed urban male. Seeing him on the street, the protester against injustice might easily surmise that racism, discrimination, a bad economy, or any number of social factors had made this young man a victim. But I knew differently. His circumstance wasn't the result of injustice, but of a flaw in his work ethic, a flaw that could have been corrected.

Yes, my role in this young man's drama was secondary. The primary responsibility lay with his own choices. But he was close to me for some time, and I failed to use the myriad opportunities I had to shape his character. I meant well, but I turned out to be part of the reason he found himself unemployed and broke a year out of high school. Since then, we've revamped our youth jobs program. We've made it harder for students to get in. Once in, we work them, as we say in the 'hood, like they stole something. We expect a lot of them. A new teen at Harambee has to demonstrate high character immediately, because many little children in our after-school program are watching everything these teenagers do.

It's a lot of pressure on the teens, but they rise to the occasion—or they get the boot. Our present crop has a high work ethic, and I feel hopeful they will be very employable very soon. Even those we've given the boot to are stepping up in their responsibilities. I heard the other day that one recent high school graduate is working at Starbucks, getting solid hours, and learning the ropes. He's been there for four months, and his employment future looks promising. Get closer:?When did you last spend time with a poor person, an at-risk individual, or someone in need? When was the last time you were close to them for an extended period? I ask, because that's what Jesus did. He was close to the poor who needed justice. The Messiah was sent to preach Good News to the poor, to proclaim freedom for prisoners, recovery of sight for the blind, release for the oppressed, and the arrival of the Jubilee year (Luke 4:18-19). He did this first by becoming incarnate, one of us. He did not commute from heaven in a fiery chariot. "The Word became flesh," says John, "and made his dwelling among us."

In urban ministry circles, we call this relocation. Many urban ministers intentionally live in the neighborhoods they seek to serve. Proximity builds trust with neighbors, especially if a racial divide must be crossed. Relocation also helps urban ministers discern the roots of need. A man may ask me every day for money. He's down and out, he says. But if I live in that community, I'll be able to discern if he is down and out because of systemic injustice or because he does not want to work. Then I'll be able to share with him what he truly needs.

People in need of justice are not just in the inner city. Individuals and families are struggling in suburban and rural settings as well. In many cases, you do not need to relocate in order to meet a need. But when working for justice, it is crucial to have personal proximity to injustice.

Up close, the protest-oriented injustice-fighter may discover that some matters are best settled by a personal intervention, not a new law. The personal-responsibility injustice-fighter may discover that impersonal systems often devastate the lives of the poor, and that these systems must indeed be protested.

In either case, the best way to get closer to doing justice for the poor is, quite simply, to get closer.
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