This post begins my trial of “citation” format — a “footnote section,” pending my ability to put this information in visual diagram format. It’s good advice.  So for any [FN#] section, references are at the bottom, under “FOOTNOTE SECTION,” separated by quotes in red font from related FN.   However, this ain’t no research paper, and won’t get several drafts either.  Footnotes may be out of order in the text (wordpress has no auto-numbering system I’m aware of).  Deal with it…

I have been looking at some of the reports coming out on the lavish parties following the Baptism of the ‘Faith-Based Office” in 2001, and its expansion throughout government (as per Bush Executive Order in 2001), and what they do with their grants, as well as what is planned (overall) to do with what’s left of the US Legislative-Executive-Judicial branches.

The speed of the spread of independent offices at the highest levels of state government (i.e., Governor’s Offices), and what they have been doing once there has astonished me.   I’m not prophet, but the handwriting is already on the wall.  Here’s what’s up ahead — without targeted & informed protest, it is going to get worse.  Most nets are set in private, and there is NO sense on relying on “MainStreamMedia” (and a good deal of Social Media too) which are owned, as a source of truth.  Look at the financial and corporate track record.  How do groups handle money, wealth, etc.

I believe the handwriting is already on the wall for this country, written by elected (or in the case of Administration 2001-2009, probably not) Presidents and others who influence them.   I heard that our country’s debt is now 100% of the GDP — where do you think the leaders will go when this collapses?  Will they be without options?  I doubt it. ..  They think and move internationally, and try to tell others how to think about their work, lives, marriages, parenting, reproduction, education of youth, and especially what to buy (consume).   People who protest can be incarcerated on frivolous causes, and are being.

Humanity

In species, the most specialized thrive in certain species niches, but humans (among the most generalized of animals — no claws, no fur, we don’t have the best sight, smell, or hearing, nor are we the strongest or fastest species around — but we know tools, language and how to use animals, environment, and other people (as animals, many times) to achieve imagined ends.  We make up gods to worship and kill others who don’t worship the same ones in the right way — habitually.  We devised money.  What a species).

What we don’t get too well is something called limits, and something called contentment — without ruling the world. . . .  And we too easily acquiesce, buying comfort for not having to continually fight the current alpha males, who seem to want (with the associated females around them) too many privileges.

The lesson of the “faith-based organization” is an important one.  Who knows what it is?  (can You define it?  There is no separate category given in the TAGGS databse (HHS) for “faith-based” all they have long lists of Grantee Types, and Grantee Classes.  “Faith-based” was not added as a field in 2001.  See?

http://www.taggs.hhs.gov/AdvancedSearch.cfm

Grantee CLASS can be:  City Government, County, Federal, Foreign Nonprofit, Foreign Profit, Individual. International (US & Foreign or 2 Foreign), Non-Profit Private Non-Government, Non-profit Public Non-Government (??), Other (Towns, Villages, American indian Tribes), Private Profit (Large Business), Private Profit (Small Business), Special Unit of Government (??), Sponsored Organizations, State Government.

Grantee Type:  [about as diverse a list, go look yourself]

At no point does it say “Faith-based organization.”  But for a decade now, the category has existed — and grants are supposed to go to them.  If the public is to know — do we have to look up every (damn) grantee and figure out who they are?  We can run all these kinds of searches — and unless there is a field to indicate “FB” or “There is no God” (:   we can’t see how many of which grants are being steered where.  These are searches one can do on the HHS database, plus there are many reports that can be run also (pre-fab searches, basically):

In essence, “faith-based” means, either a group that has already been doing some kind of charity before 2001, or one that resulted from HHS officials (and DOJ, etc.) soliciting leaders of [name your religion, but predominantly Christian/Catholic/megachurch for sure] and helping them file for incorporation.

It also means favoritism to the point of breaking and skirting laws for application of grants, as a 2008 Investigation of the head of the “OJJDP” found out.   Justice Official Fired; Bypassed Grant Deadlines June 25, 2008 by Patrick Boyle.  Mr. Boyle’s series of articles led to a Congressional investigation of the grants process under Mr. Flores, which should be read.  In this article, McGarry (OJJDP employee) let applicants submit past the deadlines.

A federal juvenile justice official who was fired on June 24 had helped selected organizations apply for Justice Department grants past the deadline – a significant violation of department policy – and directed employees to help a favored organization win a grant, according to federal documents.

Michele DeKonty, who served as chief of staff at the U.S. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), played a central role in grant awards that are under congressional investigation. She recently took the Fifth Amendment (!!) when asked to speak with investigators from the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which is probing whether OJJDP awarded grants based on political favoritism and personal connections.

OJJDP Administrator J. Robert Flores offered no explanation in announcing her departure in amemo to staffers on the morning of June 25, saying, “Yesterday, [DeKonty] ended her tenure with our Office.”

Last year, DeKonty – a graduate of Regent University, which calls itself “America’s Preeminent Christian University” – helped faith-based organizations apply for mentoring grants even though the deadline had passed, prompting a senior Justice Department official to fire off an angry rebuke

You can expect more of this, and multiplying, not simply adding, players.  FYI, the OJJDP has a “Council” – -the “CJJDP” — one member of which is called CNCS, and a woman featured in today’s post, from Ohio’s “Governor’s Office of Faith-Based & Community Initiatives” (GOFBCI), Krista Sisterhen — went from that office to the CNCS in ITS “Office of Faith-Based” (from what I can tell).  These patterns have shown up, and are reasons to force a stop:

• This was Bush’s first abuse of power on getting elected — it was not run by the people. For that matter, it seems his election wasn’t, either.
• Group Incorporates for the purpose of getting grants, may not stay incorporated; may or may not file with their own state.
• Some groups appear to be merely front groups, moving money (actually, to the contractors, for-profit).
• Groups often “Takes the Money and Run” then leaving the next officials to pick up the pieces (frequent).
• The sheer concept of something “Faith-Based” concept RADICALLY transformed how all government departments & agencies do business (spend money), creating more work and costing more to lay out the red carpet.
• Does not bear up under scrutiny — what does the term mean?
• There is no database label for the public of “faith-based” or not “faith-based” groups, meaning, we have taxation without representation.
• It must be important — because it was the FIRST TWO Executive Orders by GWBush in 2001.  (Why are we ignoring this?).  Basically, it sets up parallel yet independent operations WHEREVER IT GOES.
• The Offices are grants & business conduits.
• Some of the Faith-based Organizations chosen are reprehensible to start with (especially for women) and their leaders have already been subject to lawsuits from their own members for fraud, domestic violence, molestation of young boys, and sometimes tax evasion — not to mention flat-out greed.
• Those that don’t fall into this category still use government funds to proselytize, which is the mission or purpose of the church (i.e., Dominionism), and do not really hold allegiance to the U.S. in high regard, or its laws.
• Some denominations or religions actually CAUSE the social service need they are relieving, and historically this has been so.  The last thing we need is uniting government and churches!  Both entities are prone to abusing the people they historically serve.
• As with Catholic authorities that tried to cover up abuse by priests, switching them to new jurisdictions, THESE SAME GRANTS ADMINISTRATORS // RECIPIENTS, WHEN CAUGHT; SIMPLY MOVE ON TO ANOTHER STATE.  THE MOST THEY WOULD SUFFER IS A JOB LOSS, and there’s usually another crony to pick them up.

One cannot straighten out such a situation.  It’s a national network which intends to force a top-down system change through government (similar to what the National Fatherhood Initiative also did, starting in 1994).

THE HANDWRITING IS ON THE WALL – BUT WHO IS READING IT?

I don’t think enough people are reading “The Handwriting on the Wall” on this topic — and so am going to spell it out.

*RE:  HANDWRITING ON THE WALL.

*This phrase comes from a Bible passage; Daniel 5.

http://handwriting-on-the-wall.jpg

Daniel being a youth that was carried away to captivity in Babylon, rose to prominence, and lived through several different reigns.  The book of Daniel tells of his faithfulness, of miraculous rescues because of this (Daniel in the Lion’s Den) and in his longing to know what was going to become of his people, several visions and prophecies that are central to Judaeo-Christian heritage.  It’s quite dramatic, including here.

From Daniel 5.  This is a florid language, so pull up a seat and imagine you are being given an oral history, from the People of the Book, about the exile, and the heroes and forefathers.  Because (though it’s written), you are.   And afterwards, we will judge by looking, whether those on the “faith-based fast-track” are behaving more like Belshazzar the King, or like Daniel.  Look at attitude, assets, and acquisitions — where did the wealth described here come from?  Where does the wealth come from for faith-based groups nowadays, and what are they doing with it?  Do they respect its origins, or is it party time?   How current is this tale?  (Very!)

(interesting, the queen wasn’t there to start with, but nearly everyone else was….)   and she continues saying…

Whatever the hell that term means!  Ever thought about it?  I mean, is a church (mega, Catholic, or your local brick) or a synagogue or a mosque a “faith-based” group?

The 2000 Election and the 2001 Executive Orders of Pres. Bush are linked.

9/11/2001 eclipsed discussion of either and now we are stuck with the results; it has become “status quo” to even take seriously the term “faith-based” either as to the faith, or as to the corporations formed to gobble up the grants, and laws passed to change the process of government to accommodate this.

I plan to talk about WHO and WHAT we are dealing with since that man took office.

This article from Common Dreams, highlights the election of 2000 and 9/11.  I am highlighting, in that context, what came inbetween — the first and second executive orders issued on taking office, and how those horses have bolted out the gate, so far.

The 2000 Election must Not Be Forgotten (Published 11/1/2001 by John Nichols by In These Times)

Historians reflecting upon America’s rough transition from the 20th to the 21st century will identify two crises on which the nation’s future turned. Both will be recalled to have arisen with little warning, to have exposed fundamental flaws in the political, legal and bureaucratic structures of the nation, and to have demanded dramatic responses that would change forever how the United States conducts its affairs. And historians will explain, with the wisdom of time, that it is unnecessary to debate the relative consequence of these two crises; rather, they will argue, it is vital to recognize the clear consequence of both. . . .

He then relates the wish to silence the debate (because the nation is in crisis) to Alice Paul, Woodrow Wilson, and women getting the vote, finally:

. . .But what of a debate about the very quality of the democracy for which Americans are said to be fighting? What if the debate directly challenges the man sitting in the White House? Should this debate not be put aside until a more convenient time?

Alice Paul would tell us not to make that mistake. At the opening of World War I, the women’s suffrage movement faced a critical test. Moderates argued that women would win the right to vote only by appearing to be more patriotic than men. But Paul and the radical suffragists of the National Women’s Party refused to compromise their demand that President Woodrow Wilson endorse a constitutional amendment granting women equal citizenship. They picketed the White House daily with signs that identified Wilson as a hypocrite for sending American soldiers to “die for democracy” when America was a democracy “in name only.”

The women were attacked in the streets, taunted as traitors and branded “Bolsheviks” by theChicago Tribune. Wilson ordered the suffragists arrested. More than 200 were jailed. Eventually Paul led a hunger strike so embarrassing to Wilson that he was forced to release her in December 1917. Barely one month later, under continued pressure from Paul and her allies, Wilson announced his support for women’s suffrage. The next day, the House narrowly endorsed the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. Within three years, women had the vote.

Alice Paul would tell us that, in challenging leaders in a time of war to make real their talk of democracy, we practice the truest patriotism. In an oral history, conducted toward the end of her long life, Paul recalled the “radical” sign that stirred so much controversy outside the White House during World War I. It read: “Democracy should begin at home.”

John Nichols is the author of Jews for Buchanan: Did You Hear the One about the Theft of the American Presidency? (New Press), a book on the 2000 election debacle.

©2001 The Institute for Public Affairs

I am a woman, I have been a Christian, I see what the “faith-based” executive order has done to our country and our government.  It sucks, and I’m ready to keep this debate going, fiscal crisis definitely relates to it, as does the use of the income tax.  While I was married and raising small children (and working, days, nights) Christianity was used as an excuse for abuse, while faith-based people and agnostics did next to nothing to intervene.

AFTER I got out, and was actually happy, safe, and prospering (no one was forcing me out of jobs — yet) again – the same Christianity became a liability for me, both from the useless onlookers (during years of abuse) and the husband, who tried in court to portray me as a religious zealot engaged in bizarre practices, none of which he documented or proved.   I worked for Catholics — for the purpose of work — it was used against me, although the US Government seems to get along just fine with plenty of Catholic groups.

I have come to the conclusion that, whatever my personal faith, places of worship these days are either nonprofit corporations that should be forced to manage their money as others do — or, they are informal organizations that exchange plenty of money without bothering to register with the IRS like their individual congregants have to.  After which they talk about Community, One Body of Christ, or the “Family.”

This is just the beginning of my ongoing exposure of this phenomena.  I’m going to let us know WHICH family this is all about and show groups who go for the bait from the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives (then, or now, federal, community-based, or state-level) – are indeed relatives, and behaving about the same as George W. Bush did, from the start.

There are plenty of ways to satirize the situation, but the closer one looks, it is no laughing matter.

I’m talking about, when these are in the Governor’s Offices, after invited into the White House in 2001.  Since I printed this list, Kansas (Gov. Brownback) has established a similar office, only under the SRS department — after choosing Robert Siedlicki to head up this department.  Gov. Brownback did this immediately — as a “governor-elect.”

Brownback tags SRS, KDHE heads  Siedlecki to head SRS; Moser to lead KDHE

Posted: January 3, 2011 – 1:56pm  The Topeka Capitol-Journal, by Tim Carpenter (CJonline.com

Gov.-elect Sam Brownback nominated Monday a former federal attorney assigned to faith-based programs to lead the state’s social service agency and selected a University of Kansas physician to preside over the agency responsible for environmental and health regulation.

The new secretary of the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services will be Robert Siedlecki Jr., who is chief of staff with the Florida Department of Health. He is former legal counsel to the Task Force for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the U.S. Department of Justice under President George W. Bush.

. . . .

The KDHE and SRS appointments came one week before Brownback is scheduled to be sworn into office as governor Jan. 10. Brownback will officially surrender his U.S. Senate seat Wednesday.

 . . .

Siedlecki, a divorced father of two girls, said he was eager to work for a governor with “strong convictions, courage to fight for those convictions and the will to make a difference for his fellow citizens.”

SRS has 6,000 employees and operates six hospitals for the developmentally disabled and mentally ill. Its budget exceeds $1.7 billion, making it the third-largest in state government, behind the Kansas Department of Education, which distributes aid to public schools, and the higher education system.

SRS oversees foster care for troubled children, with its workers assessing whether children should be removed from their families over allegations of abuse and neglect

. . .

Our administration will work for a strengthening of healthy marriages, a decrease in the percentage of children in poverty and protection from threats to our state’s families’ well-being,” Brownback said.

Sure they will …..  let’s look at what some others have been doing:

(search on grantee institutions which use the term “Faith-based” (or I gather “Faith”) in their names – which is only a fraction of the recipients).

Notice the first two were in Florida.  Keep reading, as Bush’s election was contested, and finally won, in 2000 Florida, and his brother turns out to have been on the board of the “The Project for New American Century.”

Sample — this group got awards for 2002, 2003, & 2004 and shows no “DUNS#” as all federal contractors and grantees should have to.

AWARD ACTIONS

Showing: 1 – 3 of 3 Award Actions

EIN = 65-1004025  Existed as a corporation til dissolved (for nonfiling) around 2011 – but look at the IRS returns:

Tax Return Year 2004:

Government grants this year were $732,021, program service revenue only $19K.  Looks like a flash in the pan group, but made the list of honor at ACF’s “Compassion Capital” roster.  Program Service Accomplishments mention “welfare to work” and expenses of $585K and grant of $99k.

The Bishop Harold Ray this year earned $60K — and $28.5K “Expense account and other allowances” and this time, (unpaid) Bishop Eddie Long (Decatur, GA) was on the Board of Directors!  Plus a program director, $71K (Earl Hamilton).  His FL address apparently was typed wrong (“Rivera” for “Riviera Beach”) and has something to do with housing initiatives in West Palm Beach also.   [“Firm: REDEMPTIVE LIFE FELLOWSHIP URBAN INITIATIVES CORPORATION
Contact Name: EARL W. HAMILTON’]

Looks like ALL of these were dissolved for failure to file report, some in 2006 and some in 2010, and one lasted less than a year (10/29/2010-9/23/2011).  Not the kind of pattern for someone to be managing program funds, seems to me….  Redemptive Life Fellowship Urban Initiatives Corporation bears the SAME address as “National Center for Faith-Based Initiatives” and (in 2004) has Bishop HOward Calvin Ray as the signing officer and on the Board.  I’d be curious to know whether some of the $1.75 million (of public money for the purposes — read on) of this group as “intermediary” then went to an organization on which the same original incorporator sat.    This one seems to have been around since 1992, but Florida reads that reports were filed in the years 2010 and 2011 only (?).

Bishop Eddie Long is a story unto himself and came under investigation for financial fraud, violence towards his ex-wife and accusations of molestation of young men as well. This apparently didn’t stop him from being featured as a 2009 keynote speaker at the launch of an (HHS-sponsored) enter at the “National Center for African American Marriages and Parenting” at Hampton University, Virginia, whose leader, Dr. Linda Malone-Colon also was found meeting (behind closed doors, group flown in at public expense) with the new head of SRS (I think) in Kansas, also.

• His first wife fled him for his cruelty, court papers say:

By Christian Boone and Ty Tagami The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (posted in “DeKalb County News” 9/29/2010)

Bishop Eddie Long’s ex-wife claimed in divorce papers that he was physically abusive, alleging he beat her when she was seven-and-a-half months pregnant with the couple’s only child…

Dabara S. Houston said she was the victim of “cruel treatment” and was afraid of Long’s “violent and vicious temper,” according to Fulton County Superior Court records. She and her son “had to flee [the couple’s Fairburn home] in order to ensure their safety,” the documents say.  The couple was married in 1981 and separated after a couple years, according to the documents.

• Sexual Misconduct with Young Men

Long was accused of sexual misconduct in September 2010 by four young men, all former members of New Birth. They filed a lawsuit against the pastor claiming that he had lavished them with gifts, trips and money while coercing them into sexual contact.

Long denied the charges of sexual misconduct and vowed to fight them, all the while maintaining that he tried to serve as a father figure to the young men and offer them support, financial assistance and guidance.

It received “compassion capital funding” and probably existed only to shunt grants to other groups; ACF calls it an “Intermediary Organization.”  Is it even an organization?  Who is “Principal Investigator” “Bishop Howard Calvin Ray”?  (The word “Bishop” is a clue):

A dominionist minister — read the blurb please, and I’m really beginning to believe the legend of the stolen election, which ushered in a red carpet to:

What is the Kingdom Dominion Network? Kingdom Dominion Network of Interdependent Churches and Ministries (The Network) is an association of churches and ministries affiliated from throughout the domestic United States and foreign countries for the greater purpose of creating the synergistic interdependence necessary for empowerment of local churches for impact upon, and effectiveness in the 21st century. In Essence it is a “network” of “Apostolic Networks”: an essential ingredient for the release of authority and impartation so vitally necessary for Kingdom Dominion in the 21st century The Network provides meaningful resolution for those seeking fraternity while acknowledging the need for fathering. It is designed to foster commitment to interpersonal relationship, while simultaneously commanding interdependent responsibility.

Why do we need such a network? The imminent arrival of the 21st century mandates a new level of urgency and insight by the church to exercise its dominion in the earth. Major paradigm shifts in cultural, governmental, familial and socioeconomic spheres are already well underway, regrettably too often without any meaningful influence upon or impartation by the church. While the church certainly must not abandon, forsake or neglect its primary mission of declaring the Gospel and birthing essential spiritual transformation of individuals, the Church must also awaken to its vital role and clarion call to develop practical mission fields and create economic synergy within its own ranks. The basic physical needs of our communities mandate internally controlled economic empowerment to match our spiritual fervor

But they are not above taking public funding from atheists and nonbelievers to fund this….  Apart from the gobbledygook talk, this is pretty close to Administration policy anyhow, so why not invite more dominionists on board and help them get grants

Notice — no loyalty to the US Government even required, no oath of office, is taken, nor are leaders of these groups required to file conflicts of interest forms (?) — as judges are in the U.S., and which can be used as a means to recuse or depose authority for the sake of justice.  I recommend finishing the link, to see the goals.  Let’s see how long the corporation lasted, from Florida’s “sunbiz.org” corporation search:

(I was curious about the 2nd group.  It was formed for “any and all lawful business” on 9/14/2011, with one name on it).

(“the Corp. is organized for the purpose of (i) creating 21st century economy synergy among a historically economically disenfranchised people, (ii) distributing the benefits derived from said economic synergy to facilitate comprehensive and holistic revitalization of local communities through faith-based initiatives; and (iii) any other exempt purposes.”)  Pretty good foresight, before the 2001 Office had even been invented.  Incidentally the list of 8 members doesn’t include a single representative from a female of the disenfranchised people.

http://www.racematters.org/rayofhope.htm  This line is out pretty straightforward — a March 2000 article featuring Bishop Howard Calvin Ray’s recent trip to meet with Republican Leaders in Washington (and that he is a former lawyer who founded a church in 1991).  For a former lawyer, the groups sure had serious trouble filling out basic corporation forms correctly, and keeping them current.  But this is the plan:

The month-old National Center for Faith Based Initiative would link black congregants with corporations and government, hoping to turn out savvy consumers and black entrepreneurs, and construct a black church that operates like a business.

The plan is still developing; it has no corporations signed up, and a planned $5.4 million headquarters on Ray’s 19-acre lakeside campus is still just a drawing. But Ray has attracted the support of 10 of the most powerful black pastors in the country to serve as governors for the center. It was their enormous clout and legitimacy that helped attract the interest of the Republican congressmen. The center’s governors include the Rev. Floyd Flake, former six-term congressman and pastor of Allen AME in New York; Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas and his highly successful TV and book ministries; and Bishop Charles E. Blake of West Angeles Church of God in Christ in Los Angeles.

With their giant churches, tens of millions of dollars in book and video sales, and huge national TV ministries, they help Ray offer access to millions of black churchgoers — and their pocketbooks.

“What they’re talking about doing is long overdue,” said the Rev. Mark Lyons of the 6,000-member Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Fort Lauderdale. “If they’re serious and sincere, they’re going to wield major power with the type of combined access and influence they control.”

With the shadow of a scandal in the backdrop, the center could face some skepticism from the troops it seeks to help. Last year the Rev. Henry Lyons, a longtime pastor in St. Petersburg, was convicted on state and federal charges of stealing $4 million from the coffers of the National Baptist Convention USA during his term as its president. Lyons was also convicted of defrauding corporations that wanted to do business with the convention’s millions of members. The Rev. A.B. Coleman, who was chairman of the Florida General Baptist Convention during Lyons’ reign, said the scandal has left him and a lot of black churchgoers wary of any large-scale, centralized effort to mix church and business.

“The concept is a laudable one, but the problem with this sort of thing is, historically, it ends up benefiting the people in control, not the people in the pews,” said Coleman, 22-year pastor of St. Andrew’s Missionary Baptist in Jacksonville and a board member of Florida Memorial College in Miami. “I need to understand how it is to be controlled, what safeguards are in place.”

Listen to how this former attorney dismisses the young man’s (legitimate) concerns.  Did I mention, before forming the church, Ray filed for bankruptcy?

Ray, a supremely confident man, is unmoved by such talk.

“That’s debilitating to my time, and I’m not going to waste one minute of it on ulterior motives or speaking out of ignorance,” he said. “We cannot allow the failures of the past to prevent future success.” Ray’s plan is to hire a Fortune 500-style chief operating officer to manage day-to-day operations,** and to hire outside auditing, tax and accounting firms to do the center’s paperwork. Legions of researchers, economists and lawyers also would be hired to direct the vision laid out by the center’s governors and Ray, who will (of course) be chief executive officer.

. . .

Ray grew up a deeply religious boy in a 150-member Pentecostal “holy roller” church in Joliet, Ill., which he recalls as smaller than his office is today. It was the kind of church he tried to help with tailored legal advice in 1982 as a Notre Dame-trained lawyer in private practice in Dallas.

“I saw so much potential there if only they’d organize. But I think it was all a little scary for them,” Ray said. “They loved me, I loved them, but they weren’t ready.”

He left for the lucrative world of medical malpractice law, and was moving in social circles peopled with the successful.By 1986, he was ordained by the Church of God in Christ and married to American Airlines ticket agent Brenda Pikes. Today, his wife is known as Pastor Brenda.

He attracted the attention of super-lawyer Willie Gary of Stuart.

It was a heady time, and Ray was flying all over trying cases, sometimes with Gary, speaking at conferences and spending a lot of money.

Two months before he accepted Gary’s invitation to join forces in January 1990, Ray filed for bankruptcy with debts of more than $100,000.

“We have been transparent about our financial problems, and we have worked ourselves out of indebtedness,” Ray said. “We preach about that: ‘Let’s go up. I’m going to work out of it and you can, too.’ Just be faithful, tithe and manage your finances

(**would that be Earl W. Hamilton?  See below for how that went, at a $71K salary….)

Corporation Filings for the National Center:

The churches involved (then) besides Bishop Ray’s (see above!) included “COGIC” (Church of God in Christ), Pentecostal Church of Christ, New Birth Missionary Baptist,

File notice shows that in 1999 they had not spelled name consistently throughout the document and forgotten to include a principal place of business.  However the first Governors listed include 8 “Bishops”  from various churches — in FL, GA, OK, TN, NC, OH, LA, and L.A. (Los Angeles).

The Tulsa one has an interesting Wikipedia Description for Carlton Pearson: who was from San Diego, mentored by Oral Roberts, campaigned for Bush, ran a Mega-Church in Tulsa, and eventually was thrown out for failing to believe in the doctrine of eternal hell; he said, we make hell here.  Really — read it! I also searched OK sec. of state (by this name) to find fully 23 businesses (nonprofit, most but not all) including a “Child and Family Services Development, Inc.” inc. in 2000; interesting:

Although the USA is supposed to be inclusive, some of the church groups have no such intent, particularly for homosexuals.

In March 2004, after hearing Pearson’s argument for inclusion, the Joint College of African-American Pentecostal Bishops concluded that such teaching was heresy.^[1] Declared a heretic by his peers, Pearson rapidly began to lose his influence.^[8]Membership at the Higher Dimensions Family Church fell below 1,000, and the church lost its building to foreclosure in January 2006. The church members began meeting in the nearby Trinity Episcopal Church as the New Dimensions Worship Center.^[9]

The New Dimensions Worship Center

In November 2006, Pearson was accepted as a United Church of Christ minister.

In June 2008, the New Dimensions Worship Center moved its meetings to the All Souls Unitarian Church in Tulsa. On September 7, 2008, Pearson held his final service for the New Dimensions Worship Center, and it was absorbed into the All Souls Unitarian Church.^[10][11]

[The Christ Universal Temple (Chicago)

In May 2009, Pearson was named the interim minister of the Christ Universal Temple, a large New Thought congregation in Chicago, Illinois.^[12] On January 3, 2011, it was reported that he had left this position.^[13]

That’s just one of the 8 involved in the National Center for Faith-Based Initiatives, betting back to which:

By 11/1/2001, it appears they have a Washington, D.C. Attorney , Colby M. May, who helped clean up the language (after another administrative correction in filing) and specifies what to do when it’s dissolved. On 10/26/2011 Mr. May was testifying before The Judiciary Committee / Subcommittee on the Constitution (!!), in his capacity as “Senior Counsel and Director of the American Center for Law and Justice’s Washington Office (ACLJ),”** saying:  my testimony today is provided in that capacity. The ACLJ defends religious liberties throughout the world. Nowhere is our effort more profound, however, than here at home. This nation’s founders cherished religious liberty. In fact, the Founding Fathers built this nation with the assurance that an American would be free to practice the religion of his or her choice without the fear of government interference

**which just opened the year before.  For “ACLJ” think Jay Sekulow — “TIME Magazine: Sekulow is one of the 25 most influential evangelicals in America; ACLJ is a “powerful counterweight to the liberal American Civil Liberties Union,” etc.

LET’s LOOK AT THE IOWA GRANTEE — does its web presence bear out in corporate filings?  Who is Dr. Daryl Vanderwilt?

and in 2009 (=from same source, cut & pasted differently)

(the 2009 grant series it got is a “Strengthening Communities” part of “ARRA” and usaspending.gov says $46 million of grants were given out …TAGGS lists all of them (I just looked) under “report” (CFDA 93711 as you see here. )  They go to cities, governor’s offices of faith-based, ministerial alliances, the Conference of Churches (?), Counties, Departments of Welfare, and a number of groups.  The 91 awards might be worth a closer look. Oh yes, and Catholic Charities.

“ICFBCI” does NOT show as a corporation under this name OR “Strengthen Rural Iowa” on the SOS Corp. search database.  Look for yourself.   Iowan  corps and nonprofits have to file in-state, just like any other states require groups to….   How did. Dr. Vanderwilt get this particular series, then?

EIN is 30-0302858

This Taggs.hhs.gov site indicates that the areas in yellow are the grantee’s responsibility to fill in, as to ‘ARRA’ grants (grant series cited by GAO for failures to file income taxes, etc., possibly owing the IRS more in taxes than the total amount of grants altogether).  This group’s Grant detail is filled with Yellow “to be supplied” fields throughout but at least shows a “DUNS”# 189950996.  (This is just a worksheet.)…

HHS Recovery Act Recipient Reporting Readiness Tool

Step 4. Review and Copy the Grant Awards Data

TAGGS provides some – but not all – of the data needed for the Recipient Report. Recipients are responsible for directly collecting and reporting all required data to FederalReporting.gov. Data that HHS does not currently collect are highlighted in yellow. Do not copy this highlighted information. Please enter the appropriate data for your organization in these required fields. For assistance with entering these data please contact (etc.)

The IOWA Center for Faith-Based Initiatives self-describes as a 501(c)3 supported by HHS — not a part of a Governor’s Office as some other groups (OH, NJ) seem to be.

Strengthen Rural Iowa (SRI) was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, Strengthening Communities Fund – Nonprofit Capacity Building Program.    The SRI project consisted of two cycles: Cycle 1: April – December, 2010 and Cycle 2: January – September, 2011.

Collaborating partners include:

Iowa Department of Human Services

Wendy Rickman, Division Administrator, Adult, Children and Family Services

Awardees from 2010 Cycle include a Kids University Children’s Counseling Center, some anti-violence agencies, some churches, and various nonprofits

It was formed as a nonprofit in 6/2005 but is not (yet) found on the Iowa Secretary of State Corporations page.  We are in 2011.  Description from the site of Director Darryl Vanderwilt (portion relating to this group only):

As Executive Director of the Iowa Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives he has, within the past 5 years, led staff in attracting nearly $2M in grant funding for major projects designed to assist small Iowa nonprofit organizations gain greater capacity for serving the state’s most vulnerable citizens. Daryl and his wife, Suz, are avid travelers and most recently visited India, Pakistan, Tanzania and its territory Zanzibar. While in Tanzania he threatened to scale the 19,000 foot heights of Mt. Kilimanjaro, but his lemonade froze the first night out forcing bitter retreat. Things are much better now.

How cute.  The 7 staff listed are ALL MEN, in fact all middle-aged to elderly Caucasian men (while I’m on the topic) with an elderly woman volunteer at the bottom.  One of them is very interested in children’s groups, it seems. Only the ED mentions having a wife (?)

Resources Acquisition.   Since 2005, the Iowa Center and its affiliate, Prevailing Strategic Resources, have developed grant projects to assist non-profit organizations and agencies acquire:

1. $1,850,000 to conduct capacity building for nonprofit organizations throughout the state (Strengthening Communities Fund, Targeted Capacity Building, and Compassion Capital Fund grant programs, (OCS/ACF/DHHS);
2. $1,780,000 for mentoring children of Prisoners, Second Chance, and School-Based mentoring grant programs;
3. $1,275,000 to fund Rural Health Care ServicesOutreach Grant Programs for health care institutions and schools;
4. $16,230,118 to assist the Iowa Communications Network in developing partnerships and a proposal to bring Broadband capabilities to all 99 os the state’s counties (Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (NTIA/Department of Commerce).

(THAT #4 sounds like a good project for sure).

But where is its incorporation in Iowa?

OHIO Office of Faith-Based:

This one is a little sickening, and I’ll let another writer report it:  WeCare America (contractor) had ties to the Bush Administration.  After squandering grants, mis-using them (it seems pretty clear) — you follow the trail — WeCare America (Virginia group) closed up shop and now its invoices are being handled b an Assemblies of God church.  Sisterhen had already moved onto other work by the time the 2007 Ohio Governor caught up with the scandal.

Inquiry Launched Regarding Religious Social Services in Ohio (Updated)

The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy has an important story on an investigation that Ohio governor Ted Strickland has launched into some of the dealings of the Ohio Governor’s Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives under the former administration.  (As the story notes, “[u]nlike faith-based offices in other states, Ohio’s office is unique in having been established permanently by state law, rather than being the directive of a particular governor.”)   Since taking office, “Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has replaced staff in the Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives and ordered an investigation into a contract awarded to a Virginia-based organization called We Care America that was paid to administer a program providing grants to small faith-based and community nonprofits.”

Self-explanatory:  http://www.uaprogressiveaction.com/node/758

Sept. 12, 2007 official report of the Investigation from State Office of Inspector General: on allegations of Contract Steering Fraud.  The report was finished in four months (pretty quick):

While not allowing that claim (I think) it does note:

(Ohio already had in place a “Commission on Fatherhood” specifically targeting counties with lots of single-female-headed households….)

Staffing for the agency consisted of GOFBCI employees, as well as employees on loan from ODJFS and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction.

In order to accomplish its newly established priority programs, GOFBCI launched two major initiatives involving different funding sources. GOFBCI initially received $625,000.00 from a federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Title 20 (“TANF”) grant for fiscal years 2004 and 2005.

As in Oklahoma Marriage Initiative, the first thing this office did was to GRAB TANF FUNDING.

GOFBCI was again awarded $625,000.00 for fiscal years 2006 and 2007, but the funding source changed from federal TANF dollars to state general revenue funds.

Note:  Ohio also has put in place (check year), a “Families and Children First” setup which specifies how much it loves flexible funding, relating to accessing money from the general fund, bypassing legislative restrictions.  (too tired to look up again just now).

GOFBCI applied for, and was awarded, a $1,000,000 grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services to fund the Ohio Compassion Capital Program. 

Well, Krista Sisterhen who had previously worked with the Mayor of Indianapolis, Stephen Goldsmith, who had previously worked in Bush Admin, I suppose had nothing to do with it. ….

The report goes on — really it’s quite the read, how moderately the auditor reports some astoundingly poor practices, and endeavors to make the reader feel a little sorry for We Care America [“WCA”] (incorporated in 2001 Virginia, probably for FBO purposes to start with) and funde din large part by faith-based grants) that it had to go bankruptwhen the Ohio Department of Administrative Services (“DAS”) cancelled some contract — with very good reason!  Then a 3rd entity somehow went around the block. .  A footnote 4 says “According to individuals involved in the audit, in its bankruptcy petition, WCA claims the state of Ohio as a debtor, rather than a creditor.”  OK, so we have a GOFBCI contractor firm that can’t tell a debit from a credit? Would this have something to do with why it went bankrupt?

Anyhow:

ODJFS Chief Inspector’s Audit Shortly after his February, 2007, appointment to the position of GOFBCI Director, Eric McFadden noticed what appeared to be some questionable instances relating to the WCA contract and payments to that organization. For instance, he noticed after reviewing GOFBCI records that WCA received overpayments, duplicate payments, payments of late fees and past due charges, overhead fees for the rental of office space and parking spots for WCA’s Columbus Office, and payments for meals that appeared to be outside the scope of the contract.

One might well ask why Krista (who worked at GOFBCI 2003-2006) didn’t notice these.  Or, overlooked them.

As a result of these apparent questionable payments made pursuant to the contract, we requested that the ODJFS Chief Inspector’s Office conduct an audit of the WCA contracts, invoices, and payments. The ODJFS Chief Inspector was provided a list of the questionable transactions prepared by Director McFadden.

. . .

The Baylor University Case Study

Of the questionable expenditures uncovered, the Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion GOFBCI Case Study Report deserves specific mention. (See Exhibit D.)

WCA contracted with William H. Wubbenhorst, a management consultant with ORC Marco International,[FN5]to provide an overview of GOFBCI since its inception. Mr. Wubbenhorst partnered with Professor Bryan R. Johnson, who is affiliated with the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. [But was in 2001 at Penn State, see FN6]

(Let’s not mention in this report that Wubbenhorst is listed as a “nonresident scholar” at Baylor, as we speak, and you gotta read his bio there [FN7])

The result of this collaboration was the Ohio Governor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives: A Case Study, published in January, 2007.

The 20-page case study documents the creation and activities of Ohio’s GOFBCI. The cover of the report depicts an academic building and directs any inquiries to the Baylor University Office of Public Relations, along with a Baylor University web-site, as the contact point.

However, the resulting report reads more like an infomercial for GOFBCI and WCA, rather than the independent academic case study it purports to be.

SMILE . . . .

When interviewed, Ms. Sisterhen said that the draft copy of the Baylor case study she read contained a disclosure statement revealing that GOFBCI had actually paid for the study. However, there is no mention in the final published edition that the case study was actually paid for by GOFBCI, through WCA, at a cost of $6,250.00. We are in no position to judge the academic integrity of not disclosing that the case study was paid for by the entity being studied and utilized to enhance national exposure for WCA and showcase GOFBCI. However, even a casual observer would find the case study’s staging and marketing to be disingenuous.

UNBELIEVABLE — it’s LAW:

107.12 Governor’s office of faith-based and community initiatives.

(A) As used in this section, “organization” means a faith-based or other organization that is exempt from federal income taxation under section 501(c)(3) of the “Internal Revenue Code of 1986,” 100 Stat. 2085, 26 U.S.C. 1, as amended, and provides charitable services to needy residents of this state.

(B) There is hereby established within the office of the governor the governor’s office of faith-based and community initiatives. The office shall:

(1) Serve as a clearinghouse of information on federal, state, and local funding for charitable services performed by organizations;

(2) Encourage organizations to seek public funding for their charitable services;

(3) Assist local, state, and federal agencies in coordinating their activities to secure maximum use of funds and efforts that benefit people receiving charitable services from organizations;

(4) Advise the governor, general assembly, and the advisory board of the governor’s office of faith-based and community initiatives on the barriers that exist to collaboration between organizations and governmental entities and on ways to remove the barriers.

(C) The governor shall appoint an executive director and such other staff as may be necessary to manage the office and perform or oversee the performance of the duties of the office. Within sixty days after being appointed, and every twelve months thereafter, the executive director shall distribute to the advisory board and review with the board a strategic plan. The executive director shall report to the board at least quarterly on proposed initiatives and policies. A report shall include the condition of the budget and the finances of the office.

(D)(1) There is hereby created the advisory board of the governor’s office of faith-based and community initiatives. The board shall consist of the following members:

Well that’s all I feel like saying in Ohio.  By the time you catch up, the leadership will have changed and be off somewhere, replicating the process.

What’s Up

First of all, union of religion with government — and changing government to break down due process and other protections — is necessary to push certain empire plans, alas.  President Bush “reigned” from 2001-2009.  He issued 291 Executive orders [FN1] the first two of which were to bring on the religion.  He drastically restructured society after 9/11/2001 and the continuation to put up parallel systems of networking — WITHIN the executive branch of federal and state government, to pursue some very NeoCon ideas — has been widely ignored by people wishing to “reform the courts,” and by groups claiming to protect women and children, or stop domestic violence — claims that bear no more credibility than this faith-based stuff bears any resemblance to the roots in faith it claims.

Unifying phrases such as “faith-based” simply sanctifies some pretty awful behaviors in the name of “for the good of the people.”  I am female, I am mother, and over time have witnessed and experienced the wrath of the fear-based, scapegoat-talking disenfranchisement of women.

This struggle has occupied one-third of my adult life, and in retrospect, shadowed much of it, affecting who I became over time. This is not the America I was born in, or endorse. This is not a good export-culture, one that resents and flees the limits of the Constitution, while vaguely citing “American Values.” No,  it better resembles the expansion of the British Empire (or should I say previous Roman?) in goals, religion, language, and means.  I do not support this trend, and will do what I can to NOT support it financially; people are dying needlessly around even the family courts, older people, including widows, are having their real estate disenfranchised (there’s a public guardian racket too, not just family court), and there is an increased of poverty directly resulting from claims to “end welfare as we know it.”   And that’s just appetizers, apparently.   So, what about the other venues?

What the hell is a “faith-based group” anyhow?  Do you have a definition of the term?  Because I don’t, but I can watch what people do who claim funds from that grant stream, and identify certain behaviors.  I also know that what President Bush meant by “Jesus” was comfortable with starting wars based on rumor, and while the Jesus Christ of the New Testament actually required repentance and some change of behavior (including ethics), it appears that this President was fine with “Jesus and nothing else” and “the end justifies the means.”

The Project for the New American Century (“PNAC”) (cliffnotes)

I was busy getting beaten up at home and struggling to maintain a work life (and help our children in the circumstances) while this was formed.  In some ways it’s as though I missed about 15-20 years of political developments in the planned chaos of violence and custody struggles.  This PNAC group’s name (though not all of its members, or their policies) is actually new to me — how about you?

From InformationClearinghouse:  Article is 8 years old and calls for urgent “active and informed involvement of the People, all of them.”

The People versus the Powerful is the oldest story in human history. At no point in history have the Powerful wielded so much control. At no point in history has the active and informed involvement of the People, all of them, been more absolutely required.

By William Rivers Pitt

02/25/03 — – The Project for the New American Century, or PNAC, is a Washington-based think tank created in 1997. Above all else, PNAC desires and demands one thing: The establishment of a global American empire to bend the will of all nations. They chafe at the idea that the United States, the last remaining superpower, does not do more by way of economic and military force to bring the rest of the world under the umbrella of a new socio-economic Pax Americana.  . . .

PNAC’s “Rebuilding America’s Defenses” report is the institutionalization of plans and ideologies that have been formulated for decades by the men currently running American government. The PNAC Statement of Principles is signed by Cheney, Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld, as well as by Eliot Abrams, Jeb Bush, Bush’s special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, and many others. William Kristol, famed conservative writer for the Weekly Standard, is also a co-founder of the group. The Weekly Standard is owned by Ruppert Murdoch, who also owns international media giant Fox News.

The desire for these freshly empowered PNAC men to extend American hegemony by force of arms across the globe has been there since day one of the Bush administration, and is in no small part a central reason for the Florida electoral battle in 2000. Note that while many have said that Gore and Bush are ideologically identical, Mr. Gore had no ties whatsoever to the fellows at PNAC. George W. Bush had to win that election by any means necessary, and PNAC signatory Jeb Bush was in the perfect position to ensure the rise to prominence of his fellow imperialists. Desire for such action, however, is by no means translatable into workable policy. Americans enjoy their comforts, but don’t cotton to the idea of being some sort of Neo-Rome.

On September 11th, the fellows from PNAC saw a door of opportunity open wide before them, and stormed right through it

Summary of Pitt Article, above:

All of the horses are traveling together at speed here. The defense contractors who sup on American tax revenue will be handsomely paid for arming this new American empire. The corporations that own the news media will sell this eternal war at a profit, as viewership goes through the stratosphere when there is combat to be shown.  . . .

Apparently, starting in 1997 (year after welfare reform) part of the plan, as stated by the Project for the New American Century (nonprofit formed in 1997, advocating for US Global Dominance a la Regan), was that what’s Good for America is Good for the World.[FN3] especially military dominance.  25 people signed the “Statement of Principles,” and Wikipedia says 17 had positions in the Bush Administration.  Among these 25 are Gary Bauer

• (Reagan Undersecretary of Education, then 1988-1999 President of Family Research Council, after James Dobson; it was part of Focus on the Family til forced to separate because (probably of its lobbying) of tax-exempt status, )

and Jeb Bush (as in Governor of Florida, brother of George) and others.  This relates to today’s post.

With America as the policeman to the world, multiple wars in simultaneous theaters, actually talking about possibly winning a “thermonuclear war,” — we are talking pure insanity.  This group’s founder pushed Bush hard to invade Iraq.  What I can’t seem to persuade groups and people I work with (around “familycourtmatters”) is that there is a war to dominate cyberspace, and your tax dollars are funding the opposite side!  Yet still they want to talk psychology, reason, and unfair judges.  This shows a certain brainwashing — and for a fact, some of the advocacy groups have been paid off to shut up, or change the topic.  THAT smacks of religion, too, of cult following.

People (too few!) who actually study some of the grants databases and grantees in the marriage & faith-based movements can see clearly that many of the programs being pushed by Bush (originated concepts) had their origins with military research and demonstration, and professors or corporations founded by people with a military background.  Any one who’s gone to war has to understand the role of propaganda and seizing control of the media to soften up the (natives, populace) so they resist less; it makes dominance easier.  This is actually a form of war on citizens, to deprive them of their rights and prepare them to support foreign wars for global dominance also.

While I’m here, WOMEN ~ Mothers & daughters ~ can be a serious force opposing war, and have to be kept in their place for things to happen (see “Pray the Devil Back to Hell“).  Your average mother doesn’t give birth to produce cannon fodder, or someone to be raped on the battlefield either.  What better way to handle this than through the “family courts”? ??  Whip up anti-female sentiment, split the country also into men/women’s camps, and perhaps they won’t notice what happened to their due process in the heat to win.  Change the value system by changing the language — that’s AFCC’s byline.  Switch from justice to therapy for profit.  Establish arbitrary and externalized definitions of “normal” behavior, and sanitize history.

Control the educational system and encourage TALK while discouraging THOUGHT and DIALOGUE.

Control ALL systems that supervise human beings from womb to tomb.  Fry brain cells through information overload, a way to paralyze action — but if not, drugging and incarceration can also be used, or threatened.  Or bankrupt people.

Change Language:  Invent new vague phrases to describe criminal activity, deactivate language by deleting the subject, verb, and direct object (acted upon).

John swung the bat and hit the ball over the fence.  (clear reference to baseball)

to

The ball was smacked over the fence. (who did it.  With what? where?)

 to

Promising Practices in achieving Home Runs (where’s the verb?)

or — truer to life

No Child Left Behind // Race to the Top (vague enough yet?)

. . .to, when it comes to the sublimely ridiculous:

“NWNW” [FN4]

The cluster — or, rather, network — of groups claiming grant upon grant, squandering it, and regrouping elsewhere  to repeat the cycle, and call others to the banquet laid out by then-President George Bush, pretty much on taking office, by issuing the Executive Orders, after an unusually contested election in 2000, to begin the reign of a king, [FN1] starting with welcoming in the same religion the founders of this country FLED a few centuries earlier.

#1 — Executive Order 13198
Agency Responsibilities With Respect to Faith-Based and Community Initiatives

• Signed:   January 29, 2001

FOOTNOTE SECTION:

[FN1]  “to begin the reign of a king”

Administration of George W. Bush (2001-2009)

Disposition of Executive orders signed by President George W. Bush:

• 2009 – E.O. 13484 – E.O. 13488 (5 Executive orders issued)
• 2008 – E.O. 13454 – E.O. 13483 (30 Executive orders issued)
• 2007 – E.O. 13422 – E.O. 13453 (32 Executive orders issued)
• 2006 – E.O. 13395 – E.O. 13421 (27 Executive orders issued)
• 2005 – E.O. 13369 – E.O. 13394 (26 Executive orders issued)
• 2004 – E.O. 13324 – E.O. 13368 (45 Executive orders issued)
• 2003 – E.O. 13283 – E.O. 13323 (41 Executive orders issued)
• 2002 – E.O. 13252 – E.O. 13282 (31 Executive orders issued)
• 2001 – E.O. 13198 – E.O. 13251 (54 Executive orders issued)

291 Total Executive orders Issued

[FN2]  “let thy gifts be to thyself”:

Hey, I’m for legitimate hire, but Daniel here already was taken care of, he didn’t seek extra supplementary income for dispensing his wisdom.  Compare with behaviors of public professionals that also need to set up private corporations, market them through the courts, and gain multiple streams of income — from the same public ordered to consume the classes, sometimes literally extorted to do so (i.e., go back to jail if you can’t pay this arrears, or sign up for our nice fatherhood program:  Kentucky State Divorce Education program, “Turning It Around” (one of about 11 such on the page).

Among the DV advocates, I realize work is work and hard work is hard work.  But as I pointed out in “About the Blog” (recent page added, and my last post), it’s clear that being paid to speak affects one’s speech, usually in this manner:  Censorship of the truth to retain the position.  The prophet Daniel specifically declines this in the account.  He is not greedy, and his prophesy is not for sale.

[FN3]  “What’s Good for America is Good for the World…”

(some “statement of principles” signers)

The history of the 20th century should have taught us that it is important to shape circumstances before crises emerge, and to meet threats before they become dire. The history of this century should have taught us to embrace the cause of American leadership.

Such a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next.

Elliott Abrams    Gary Bauer    William J. Bennett    Jeb Bush

Dick Cheney    Eliot A. Cohen    Midge Decter    Paula Dobriansky    Steve Forbes

Aaron Friedberg    Francis Fukuyama    Frank Gaffney    Fred C. Ikle

Donald Kagan    Zalmay Khalilzad    I. Lewis Libby    Norman Podhoretz

Dan Quayle    Peter W. Rodman    Stephen P. Rosen    Henry S. Rowen

Donald Rumsfeld    Vin Weber    George Weigel    Paul Wolfowitz

1.  Wikipedia:

“Wolfowitz exit (from world bank) seen clearing way for progress“

Wolfowitz took the top post in the bank — responsible for billions of dollars in aid projects around the world — in 2005.

A former U.S. deputy defence secretary already controversial as a leading architect of the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, he won praise from some in Africa and Asia for his bank policies, which included a strong campaign against corruption in aid programmes and in the governments of recipients.

UNTENABLE POSITION

For many people Wolfowitz’s role in the promotion of Shaha Riza, an expert at the bank, an involvement which a bank panel found broke several rules, had wiped out any credibility he might have had as an anti-corruption champion.

Many African governments in particular had grown used to being lectured by the World Bank about good governance and Wolfowitz’s actions raised claims of hypocrisy among some.

“The way Wolfowitz negotiated a pay rise for his girlfriend is exactly the same as the way in which President Deby has embezzled oil revenues,” said Ngarlegy Yorongar, a veteran opposition critic of Chad’s President Idriss Deby.

[FN4] No Wedding No Womb —

= a blogging campaign, one of whose originators was found at a closed-door meeting in Kansas, in the company of Wade Horn, David Blankenhorn, and others taking marriage funding with strong HHS connections.  I took time out to place comments on on-line papers documenting this, and haven’t gotten around to a full post yet.  The flip side of No Wedding = No Womb is a Wedding = a Womb (it’s an equation, basically).  That’s absolutely ridiculous and offensive to women, married or not.  A wedding should not be about purchasing a womb, but too many are, which married women find out when they sometimes, having raised children, are dumped by selfish husbands who married them for their reproduction, not for companionship.  Wombs can be purchased outside of marriage legally — it’s called surrogate mothers, when done the expensive way.

I have a womb, but I am not a womb, and any bloggers wishing to refer to me (or others of my gender) as one have something coming from the other, equally important parts of at least MY anatomy!  Like the mouth and the mind behind it!   As beautiful as this statue may be, real women come with moving parts, and more of them:

Venus de Milo (though the Greek version, Aphrodite of Milos)

[FN5] Super attorney Willie Gary trying to “weather the storms like everybody else“– that helped Bishop Harold Calvin Ray (above) after HIS bankruptcy, pulling together prominent black pastors (some recovering from recent scandals involving financial fraud themselves) learn how to be “the head and not the tail”….

(times are tough, and the Boeing 737 with the gold-plated sink can’t be run because of fuel prices; also he’s behind on his taxes:

Gary, through property owned by himself in Stuart and with his wife, Gloria, in Sewall’s Point and Indiantown, is facing late fees that total $222,965.49.

Last year, Gary owed $207,708 on his Sewall’s Point home and Stuart law office, which was down from $239,196 in 2009. Each year, Gary was late in paying.

Gary, who said his customized Boeing 737 “Wings of Justice II” remains grounded at Witham Field because of increased fuel prices and other related costs, added that he isn’t trying to hold on to the tax money he owes as an economic strategy.

“We’re trying to weather the storms like everybody else,” Gary said.

What storms?  The jet #2 is grounded.  Like everyone else?  I might take issue with the characterization…

[FN5] WeCare America (Ohio GOFBCI) contracted with “ORC Marco International” who just happened to have an alliance with Byron R. Johnson of Baylor University …

(yes I noticed “MARCO =/= MACRO” but I can’t find the Marco International either, so far)

(ORC stands for “Opinion Research Corp.” and most of these links seem broken.)

How Odd:  ORC Macro belongs to “Macro International” which I looked up in Maryland (as google search showed several MD addresses).  IT appears to have gone through many mergers and/or acquisitions and now may be — or be closely related to — this ICF International (which I mentioned recently as receiving a $1.5 million? grant to set up a National Resource Center for Strategies to Promote Healthy Marriage (or similar long title). It is NOW called, apparently —

ICF MACRO, INC.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE DEPT

11785 BELTSVILLE DR

BELTSVILLE, MD 20705

[FN6]  Professor Byron R. Johnson before he hit Baylor: and Wubbenhurst says “lack of reliable studies should not derail the President’s plan.*

*note it was by Executive Order — no Congress voted this into law!  But thereafter, state legislatures, such as Ohio’s, (where Bush won, right?) DID

Church-Based Projects Lack Data on Results

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: April 24, 2001

In his office at the University of Pennsylvania, Prof. Byron R. Johnson has just shut off the electronic chirp on his computer that announced every incoming e-mail message. It was chirping more than 80 times a day, joining the ringing telephone in contrapuntal distraction.

Mr. Johnson is suddenly in demand because he is among the few social scientists who have tried to measure the influence of religion on social problems. Less than a year ago, he joined the Center for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society, the institute started by his fellow criminologist John J. DiIulio Jr. Not long after his arrival, though, Mr. Johnson was left alone; Mr. DiIulio went to Washington to lead the new White House Office on Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. . . .

The truth, Mr. Johnson and many other social scientists say, is that there is little reliable research proving the effectiveness of religious programs. They also add that there is scant evidence showing which religious programs show the best results and how they stack up against secular programs.

”From the left to the right, everyone assumes that faith-based programs work,” Mr. Johnson said. ”Even the critics of DiIulio and his office haven’t denied that. We hear that and just sit back and laugh. In terms of empirical evidence that they work, it’s pretty much nonexistent.

”We’ve created an office out of anecdotes.”

Now, with Congress holding hearings on the Bush plan on Tuesday, Mr. Johnson is being deluged with requests for the research to support the assertions made by President Bush and other politicians that religious programs can transform the lives of drug addicts, criminals, welfare recipients and troubled teenagers, and that it can do so for less money than government programs.

. . .

A body of research is essential to the project’s success for the simple reason that it would be unconstitutional for the government to decide which religious programs to finance based on theology or favoritism or familiarity. President Bush and Mr. DiIulio have frequently said that a record of effectiveness is the only viable measure.

Judging by his track record, starting with the election and the first executive order, constitutionality to have been seems a low priority for this president.  Starting program after program, they then seek validation of effectiveness, sometimes purchasing it …

Wubbenhorst was consulted for this article too:

Even large human service organizations like those affiliated with the United Way are only now beginning to measure the effectiveness of their work, said William H. Wubbenhorst, technical director for ORC Macro International, a consulting firm in Maryland. For years, groups that did keep records tracked only how many people they had served or how much time they spent with clients.

. . .

That is likely to change. Now, Mr. Johnson said, ”we’re going to have a chance to find out how effective faith-based groups are.”

With that, he gathered up his papers and left for a meeting with a foundation that is considering giving him a multimillion-dollar research grant.

Just a little reminder — OH GOFBCI got started by taking from TANF funds…

[FN7]  

WeCare America chose Wubbenhurst of “Macro International” who worked with Byron Johnson of Baylor (not mentioned – Wubbenhurst also is listed at Baylor and references his work for OFBCI* in the biography page!)  So what’s the “We Care America” connection, then?:

* of course not that it got a “special mention” in a 2007 investigation by the Ohio State Inspector General, and that the reporter/who paid for the report noted “even a casual observer would find the case study’s staging and marketing to be disingenuous.”

WUBBENHORST, WILLIAM

Non-Resident Scholar, Faith-Based & Community Initiatives
ICF Macro International, Inc.

William Wubbenhorst Vitae

William Wubbenhorst serves both as a Coordinator of the FaithService Forum for ICF Macro International, Inc., and also as a non-resident fellow for Baylor University’s Institute for the Study of Religion.

At present, Mr. Wubbenhorst is serving as Subcontract Manager and FBCO Liaison for a[n] $8 million Pathways out of Poverty grant funded by the US Department lf Labor (USDOL).  Mr. Wubbenhorst is responsible for coordinating with project staff at four local sites throughout the country to develop partnerships with FBCOs to recruit, train and place individuals from disadvantaged populations into career track green job positions.

For ICF Macro,** Mr. Wubbenhorst recently served as project director for Training and Technical Assistance provided to 97 Promoting Responsible Fatherhood grantees funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Family Assistance.  Most recently he worked on behalf of DHHS’ Administration for Children and Families, to identify best practices associated with abstinence education initiatives provided by non-profit FBCOs to high-risk populations throughout the U.S.

Mr. Wubbenhorst also recently completed a companion project for the Administration for Children and Families that involved a review of 300-400 abstinence education curricula to assure their adherence to legislative intent for Federal funding of abstinence-until-marriage projects.

**I think we’ve established a connection between ICF Macro, and ICF that got a recent TAGGS grant for $1.5 million, although it’s not on my schedule to finish this.  Many of my searches for “ORC Macro International” pulled up ICF sites, although one is is MD and the other VA.

OK, here’s the confirmation from ICF’s site:

• ICF International Completes Acquisition of Macro International Inc.ICF International (NASDAQ:ICFI) announced today it has closed on the acquisition of Macro International Inc. (Macro), an advisory, implementation, and evaluation services firm providing research…http://www.icfi.com/news/2009/icf-completes-acquisition-of-macro-international-inc
• Partners in HealthOn November 16, 2011, ICF Macro and Z-Tech Corporation became ICF International. Clients and partners now benefit from the combined strengths of all three firms: ICF Macro’s public healt…http://www.icfi.com/insights/presentations/2011/partners-in-health

Aren’t we glad that the Responsible Fatherhood monies are going to such well-credentialed contractors with a lifelong interest in helping faith-based organizations?  (Mr. Wubbenhorst hails from Boston, incidentally).

I have a lingering question about I C F (other than why TAGGS put spaces in the name) – Why is it classified as “City Government” under TAGGS?  But on its website, city governments are obviously going to be clients — not itself:  SEE?

Fiscal Year	Grantee Name	City	State	Grantee Class	Award Number	Award Title	Budget Year	CFDA Number	CFDA Program Name	Principal Investigator	Sum of Actions
2011	I C F, INC	FAIRFAX	VA	City Government	90FH0002	NATIONAL RESOURCE CENTER FOR STRATEGIES TO PROMOTE HEALTHY MARRIAGE	1	93086	Healthy marriage Promotion and Responsible Fatherhood Grants	CINDY CINDY	$ 1,500,000
2011	I C F, INC	FAIRFAX	VA	City Government	90PD0271	SELF-SUFFICIENCY RESEARCH CLEARNINGHOUSE	1	93647	Social Services Research and Demonstration	DR. JEANETTE M HERCIK	$ 977,256
2010	I C F, INC	FAIRFAX	VA	City Government	90PD0270	SELF-SUFFICIENCY RESEARCH CLEARINGHOUSE	2	93647	Social Services Research and Demonstration	DR JEANETTE HERCIK	$ 500,000
2009	I C F, INC	FAIRFAX	VA	City Government	90LH0001	NATIONAL CHILD CARE TOLL-FREE HOTLINE	1	93596	Child Care Mandatory and Matching Funds of the Child Care and Development Fund	MELISSA ZWAHR	$- 702,966
2009	I C F, INC	FAIRFAX	VA	City Government	90PD0270	SELF-SUFFICIENCY RESEARCH CLEARINGHOUSE	1	93647	Social Services Research and Demonstration	DR JEANETTE HERCIK	$ 500,000
2007	I C F, INC	FAIRFAX	VA	City Government	90LH0001	NATIONAL CHILD CARE TOLL-FREE HOTLINE	1	93596	Child Care Mandatory and Matching Funds of the Child Care and Development Fund	MELISSA ZWAHR	$ 882,080

 Melissa Zwahr, below, works for ICF

Dr. Hercik’s study (linked to 2009 grant row) brings up a serious topic:  increase of Child-Only TANF cases.

1. ROUNDTABLE BACKGROUND

Under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, child-only cases— those in which no adult is included in the cash grant—have become an increasing proportion of State caseloads in recent years. Child-only cases are either parental or non-parental— parental cases are those in which the parent is resident in the home, but ineligible for TANF receipt for such reasons as time limits,1 sanction, immigration status, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) receipt, or previous drug felony conviction. Non-parental cases are those in which neither biological parent is present, and another adult, usually a relative, is the primary caregiver.

Research indicates that the percentage of child-only cases relative to overall national caseloads increased 200 percent in one decade –from 12 percent in 1990 to nearly 35 percent by 2000.2 In some States, over fifty percent of their FY2002 caseloads were child-only.3

We don’t know who’s heading up the 2011 grant without further lookups because TAGGS hasn’t yet corrected their publishing the grants recipients with two first names and no last names in the “principal Investigator” field (FN FN) — hardly reassuring for reliable data reporting…

The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S. Department of Justice and prepared the following final report:

Document Title: Author(s):

Document No.: Date Received: Award Number:

Development of a Guide to Resources on Faith- Based Organizations in Criminal Justice

Jeanette Hercik, Richard Lewis, Bradley Myles, Caterina Gouvis, Janine Zweig, Alyssa Whitby, Gabriella Rico, Elizabeth McBride

209350 April 2005 OJP-99-C-010

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Caliber Associates and The Urban Institute were awarded a contract from the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) to develop a guide to resources on faith-based organizations (FBO) in criminal justice. The impetus for the one-year task order is the need to document the wide range of criminal justice-related services provided by larger FBOs in communities across the nation. The primary purpose of the project is to assist the development of a research agenda to determine whether and under what circumstances the faith community can promote public safety via reducing crime and delinquency. Building on the extant body of knowledge, the project places innovative methodologies for acquiring information on a solid foundation of accepted research practices to meet the requirements of the task order

I think the handwriting is on the wall, don’t you?  When weighed — the books don’t often balance, but gold and silver (in the form of contracts & grants) IS going to those studying and evaluating the whole mess.

The evaluations have been characterized

by one State Inspector General (OH)

as “to even a casual observer . . . disingenuous”

And the public paid for it, too.

(the glowing report was paid for by the group being reviewed, GOFBCI:  Cost $6,000 this time).