Seek Ye First The Kingdom of God...

Last week I came accross an article in the Los Angeles Times that truly hurt my heart.

Promoters of get-rich-quick scams have increasingly targeted black congregations, often offering help with church finances and lining pastors' pockets as steps toward fleecing the faithful. Some operators have taken to pulpits themselves.

I don't know if any of you know fellow believers who have fallen victim to investment scam artists. But be aware that the church is a prime target for these scum.

As a person who studied Finance in School I have learned one important rule about investments. THE GREATER THE REWARD, THE GREATER THE RISK.

Also Check out my comentary "Wealth and The Word...Does God Want Us To Be Rich?"

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Craig DeLuz

Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense…
www.craigdeluz.com

Race Wars

Jill Stewart of the Sacramento News and Review makes an interesting observation about leadership choices in the California State Legislature.

To sum up, the Republicans are wallowing in the 1980s, still knuckle-dragging with a crew of white Anglo-Saxon men, only slowly adding women and minorities. Equally out of touch, in a different way, are the Democrats, stuck at an imaginary 1960s peace protest where Latinos, blacks, Asians and gays control things--and icky WASP men are quashed.

Or maybe you like this description better.

The result is plain: an extreme over-preponderance of white, Christian, ultraconservative men among the Republican legislative leadership; and an extreme over-preponderance of urban, ultra-leftist ethnic and gender warriors among the Democratic leadership.

Ok, maybe these are a little extreme. But they do make a very valid point. Neither party is doing a very good job of communicating a message that resonates beyond their already existing constituencies.

Craig DeLuz

Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense…
www.craigdeluz.com

Trash is Picking Up The Trash

It’s good to see that the right to free speech is alive and well… I guess. Reuters is reporting that the U.S. Supreme court let stand a ruling that allows the Klu Klux Kan to participate in the Adopt A Highway Program in the state of Missouri:

The officials said some people might intentionally dump trash along the road to create more work for Klan members. "The Klan's involvement could lead to more trash along the highway, completely defeating the purpose of the program."

Where exactly is that stretch of highway again?

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Craig DeLuz

Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense…
www.craigdeluz.com

Boys Fall Behind Girls In The Classroom. Is It Time To Worry?

According to an article in The Detroit News yesterday, the academic performance of male students is lagging drastically behind that of female students. This has resulted in women being more likely to be admitted to and eventually graduate from college. Additionally, women are receiving post-graduate degrees at a rate much higher than men.

Now before we start instituting affirmative action programs for men, let us consider what the root causes of this demographic shift. I believe that a lot of what we are looking at is the lack of significant male role models in the lives of our young men.

Consider that the number of children growing up in fatherless households is on the rise. The National Center for Fathering reports that less that 50% of children will spend their entire childhood in an intact, two parent household.Also bear in mind, that the number of males going into the teaching profession is at an all time low. In an article entitled “Are Male Teachers on the Road to Extinction” the NEA reported that in 2004, just 21% of the nation’s 3 million teachers are males and less than 9% of all elementary school teachers are male.

This means that at home and at school (the two places children spend most of their time), young men are likely to have no male role models. It is clear that too many of our young boys are not being prepared for their futures as men. And I don’t know that this fact will change anytime soon; at least not until us (men) get on our job.

Craig DeLuz

Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense…
www.craigdeluz.com

Hip Hop Turns 30... What a Waste!

Hip Hop just got done celebrating it’s 30th birthday. And like a disappointed parent who’s now middle-aged child has produced a disgraceful legacy of drugs, sex and violence; I am left with disappointment as to what it could have been.

In his commentary“Hip Hop Turns 30; Whatcha Celebratin for?” Greg Tate discusses the frustrations that many of us Gen X, Hip Hop listeners share. “How did an art form that we grew up with and loved so much, go so wrong?”

As lover of rap and Hip Hop (yes, some conservatives do listen to rap) I grew up listening to the carefree lyrics of the Sugar Hill Gang, Run D MC and Kurtis Blow. There were even those like KRS 1 and Public Enemy who used rap for social and political commentary. Since coming to know the Lord, I have enjoyed positive and uplifting messages from Christian rap artists like T-Bone, the Gospel Gangstas & Kirk Franklin. As a matter of fact, former Hip Hop Bad Boy turned Preacher, Mase recently returned to mainstream commercial rap music. And he has chosen to serve as a positive light in what otherwise has become a dark abyss of negativity.

The fact is that Hip Hop, like country western, rock and classical is a form of music; a way of communicating a message. Hip Hop in and of itself is not the problem. What we must question is the message that is communicated by those artists who have chosen to appeal to the worst in our society. Furthermore, we must ask why we have allowed commercialization to turn rap into a never-ending borage of filth; polluting the public airwaves, all so that a few record executives and wannabe gangsters can line their pockets.

While my politics may be clearly different from Mr. Tates, I have to admit that his choice of words hit the nail on the head when he states that instead of using his mass popularity to uplift society and intellectual discussion the average rap artist choses “…to take his emancipated motor mouth and stuck it up a stripper's a** because it turned out there really was gold in them thar hills.”

Craig DeLuz

Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense…
www.craigdeluz.com

California needs an Office of Faith-Based Initiatives

After listening to the State of the State Address last night, it is clear that California still has a long way to go before our budget problems are behind us. So one would think that we would be looking whatever money is available to help meet the needs of our citizens. In the Democratic reply to the Governor’s speech, Senator Don Perata stated that we need to do a better job of getting back more of the tax dollars that we send to Washington. However, there is one source of money that California is doing little to tap into… Faith-Based Initiative Grants.

In a recent Associate Press (AP) article Jim Towey, Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives pointed out the following:

…in 2003, groups dubbed "faith-based" received 1.17 billion in grants from federal agencies, according to documents provided by the White House to The Associated Press. That was about 8 percent of the $14.5 billion spent on social programs that qualify for faith-based grants in five federal departments.

Why isn’t California going after some of this money? Well, there are many on the Democrat side of the isle that continue to fight against faith-based initiatives, despite the fact that the law supports their funding.

Brief History

In 1996 Democrat President Bill Clinton signed Welfare Reform into law. This also included provisions known as "Charitable Choice Provisions" which made it illegal to discriminate against faith-based organizations who applied for federal dollars to administer social service programs. Despite this fact, many states (including California) have still failed to come into compliance with this law.

During his time in the State Assembly and State Senate, Assemblyman Ray Haynes has repeatedly introduced legislation to bring California into compliance. Needless to say, Democrats never allowed it get out of committee, keeping our state from being able to work with faith-based groups.

In 2001 President Bush introduced the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, designed to bring the federal government in line with Charitable Choice Law and to seek out opportunities in every federal department to work with religious groups. AP reports:

States were initially slow to warm to the Bush initiative. An independent 2003 study of state efforts to contract with faith-based groups found little activity. That was partly because states did not see a need to target religious groups and partly because their budgets were so tight that there was little room for new contractors, said Richard Nathan, director of the Rockefeller Institute at the State University of New York in Albany.

So, why does California need an office of Faith-based Initiatives? I’ll give you two reasons:

1. To insure that California is in compliance with Charitable Choice Laws when it comes to administering federal dollars.

2. To go after some of that multibillion-dollar pot of money available to help those in need in our state.

Whether or not you believe government money should go to faith-based groups, the fact is that someone is getting the money. Why not us? These other states are meeting the needs of their citizens with no additional cost to their taxpayers. The only question left to ask is “Are we going to go after these resources to improve conditions here in California?”

You can also check out my commentary Let Us Rebuild on this same topic.


Craig DeLuz

Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense…
www.craigdeluz.com

Consumer Reports says the worst performing condom is one distributed by Planned Parenthood

I always knew that "Safe Sex" was a myth. But little did I suspect that the myth's biggest advocate, Planned Parenthood, would poke holes in their own story. LITERALLY!

Reuters is reporting the following:

The consumers group best known for rating cars and washing machines has turned its testing prowess to condoms to find out which ones measure up best and how other birth control methods compare.

The nonprofit Consumers Union says in a new guide to contraception that the seven top U.S. types of condom they studied did not burst despite vigorous testing, and all models met international standards.

And how did the condoms given out by Planned Parenthood do?

A melon-colored model distributed by Planned Parenthood performed the worst, bursting during a test in which the latex condoms were filled with air.


Keep in mind that Planned Parenthood is the country's largest provider of abortions. Talk about creating a market for your product!

Visit The Home of Uncommon Sense…
www.craigdeluz.com