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| UCC weekly message points to an urgent
need for setting our budget priorities
Weekly Message 2001, #9 from the UCC Justice and Peace
Ministry
[published here on 4-14-01]
SETTING OUR FEDERAL BUDGET PRIORITIES
The federal budget, released on April 9, reveals how
President Bush's proposed $1.6 trillion tax cut will effect our common
life in the United States. Programs to support the training of doctors
at children's hospitals lose $35 million. Tax credits to boost economic
development in poor neighborhoods have been scaled back, as has funding
for a highly successful community policing program.
During a major energy crisis, the budget cuts $200
million from federal renewable energy and energy efficiency programs.
Solar, wind and renewable energy research was cut by 50 percent, making
way for the budget's planned replacement activities -- $5 million to
study oil drilling in Alaska's pristine Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Thus far, some bipartisan House and Senate reactions
to the proposed budget cuts indicate that a large tax cut may not be the
best way to spend the surplus after all. On April 6, the US Senate voted
65-35 to trim the tax cut to $1.2 trillion to make way for spending on
special education, prescription drug benefits for seniors, and long-term
health care. Deuteronomy 24:21-22 reminds us "when you gather the
grapes of your vineyard, do not glean what is left; it shall be for the
alien, the orphan, and the widow. Remember that you were a slave in the
land of Egypt..." Members of Congress are home for the
congressional Easter recess, so call your members' district offices or
schedule a visit. Let them know where you stand on budget priorities
that effect our common good.
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Some blogs worth visiting |
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PVJ's
Facebook page
Mitch Trigger, PVJ's
Secretary/Communicator, has created a Facebook page where
Witherspoon members and others can gather to exchange news and
views. Mitch and a few others have posted bits of news, both
personal and organizational. But there’s room for more!
You can post your own news and views,
or initiate a conversation about a topic of interest to you. |
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Voices of Sophia blog
Heather Reichgott, who has created
this new blog for Voices of Sophia, introduces it:
After fifteen years of scholarship
and activism, Voices of Sophia presents a blog. Here, we present the
voices of feminist theologians of all stripes: scholars, clergy,
students, exiles, missionaries, workers, thinkers, artists, lovers
and devotees, from many parts of the world, all children of the God
in whose image women are made. .... This blog seeks to glorify God
through prayer, work, art, and intellectual reflection. Through
articles and ensuing discussion we hope to become an active and
thoughtful community. |
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John Harris’ Summit to
Shore blogspot
Theological and philosophical
reflections on everything between summit to shore, including
kayaking, climbing, religion, spirituality, philosophy, theology,
politics, culture, travel, The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), New
York City and the Queens neighborhood of Ridgewood by a progressive
New York City Presbyterian Pastor. John is a former member of the
Witherspoon board, and is designated pastor of North Presbyterian
Church in Flushing, NY. |
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John Shuck’s Shuck and Jive
A Presbyterian minister, currently
serving as pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Elizabethton,
Tenn., blogs about spirituality, culture, religion (both organized
and disorganized), life, evolution, literature, Jesus, and
lightening up. |
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Got more blogs to recommend?
Please
send a note, and we'll see what we can do! |
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