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Monthly Archives for April 2007

On Government Harassment and Waste, not necessarily in that order

Did you know that there was such a thing as the National Center for Education Statistics? They are a part of the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences. Just having 3 layers of bureaucracy like this should be enough to clue you in that money is being wasted – but just wait until you find out how.

Some of you may have been lucky enough to have received a letter toward the end of last year from the aforementioned bureaucrats advising that they have a program entitled the National Household Education Surveys Program (another big name that just has to cost money) that needs your help. Households are being contacted all around the country “to learn about educational experiences of both adults and children.”

As a token of their appreciation, a $2 bill was enclosed.

At one such household that I know of, the $2 was pocketed and the letter tossed with the rest of the junk mail. Then, Westat, a private “social research firm,” started calling. And calling. They were more persistent than yellowjackets. Westat was told to go away, but they wouldn’t. Persistence turned into harassment, as the phone calls came 2 or 3 times a day. “All we need is 20-30 minutes of your time,” they’d say. “What time would be better?” they’d ask. Then, it turned into, “Just let me ask 5 minutes of pre-questions; you may be disqualified after that.” However, the “pre-questions” wanted names, birthdates, and other personal information. Westat was told to go away for good.

Another letter came from the aforementioned government bureaucrats encouraging the family’s participation. Then more calls came. Westat was told in no uncertain terms to back off.

Then, came the clincher: another letter came, this time by FedEx. (You’d think they’d use the U.S. Postal Service at least…) Inside the large cardboard envelope was another letter – and another $2 bill.

As far as I know, the calls have finally stopped – for now. But at what cost? Is this a free country? Does freedom of speech include the freedom to not speak to phone solicitors? What does our government actually think they are buying with their $2? Does that obligate the recipient to anything?

Again, at what cost? $4 in paper money (I’m sure it costs the government less…), and FedEx postage. How many other people out there have been harassed to the same extent? How many $2 bills have been FedExed? And, how much is Westat getting paid for every successful phone call?

If it happened to me, I would be pretty upset at the waste. I’m upset enough the way it is.

All this begs the question: why do we have a Federal Dept. of Education Nosiness in the first place? Hillary wants our children raised by a village (in her case, a village that is a front for some socialist regime – my interpretation); GW wants no child left behind (which means essentially that kids are being shuffled through the system instead of being told they failed). It’s not working. Let the local village – including parents who wish to homeschool – take care of education. Anytime big government gets involved – and in many places that includes State government – it just gets screwed up, and money is wasted.

Dump the bureaucrats, end the surveys, everybody send their $2 bills back, and hire teachers with the money. And stop harassing people to justify your own existence.

Written on 06 April 2007 by me under Politics/Current Events with 1 Comment

Exile, marginalization and the promised land

I love it when conversations converge, such as when I’m reading something on a certain topic and then someone else provides unsolicited input on that same topic. It’s even cooler when input from three different sources converge on a topic. It could be seen, depending on your worldview, as design – the concept that your thoughts are being guided by some known or unknown intelligence. Or, it could just be the random pattern generated by thousands of conversations coincidentally coming together. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

Anyway, I’ve been reading Bruce Feiler’s Where God was Born, which is an excellent, excellent book exploring the ancient & religious history of the Middle East, especially the area that was Babylon, and which is now Iraq. Feiler is Jewish, and makes some interesting points about Israel in exile, specifically how exile was good for Israel; Israel actually thrived in Babylon, and as the Bible makes clear, Israel’s fortune depended on the fortune of Babylon. (Jeremiah 29:7 – “Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.“)

Then, last Sunday I walked into a conversation about Ephesians 6, where Paul writes concerning how the Christian should live “in exile” (For our struggle is not against flesh and blood …), and how that applies to the current “Christian conservative” movement and their political strong-arm tactics.

The 3rd coincidental conversation came Monday on a friend’s blog, where he writes On Why Atheists are So Angry:

What we are angry about is the idea that we have to buy into Christianity to be real Americans. That in most social situations we have to shy away from revealing that we are godless. That we were born 500 years too soon to experience a Societal Enlightenment in which reason will have finally won out over religion. That we are told to sit down and shut up because we aren’t important enough to have our voices in the discourse over comparative religion classes. That we are called fools for not believing in God. That we have to pretend to some religion in order to run for public office.

My comment on the blog included:

Perhaps the moral of all this is that no one likes to be marginalized. … It is the nature of people that the majority tends to marginalize the non-majority as much as possible, which in my opinion is always a fatal defect.

Even though we have Jeremiah and the rest of the Old Testament to teach us how to live in exile, even though we have Jesus’ and Paul’s teachings about how to live “in the world but not of the world,” Christians still don’t know how to live in exile. We don’t accept the reality that God’s people thrive and prosper in exile. We don’t like it, we don’t want it, and we devise theologies and bumper sticker slogans (“I’m a King’s Kid!”) to prove it.

What is also becoming more apparent is that exile has taught many Christians nothing about living in the Promised Land, either. For, we tend to do exactly what we don’t like others to do to us: we quickly marginalize all minority viewpoints, we flaunt our majority rule all over them, enslave them, and make martyrs of them, the exact opposite of what Jesus clearly taught (this is in all 3 synoptic Gospels):

Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Matthew 20:25-28

All of this, of course, begs the question: Are we ready yet for the Promised Land, or do we (Jim Dobson, are you reading this?) need another good dose of exile?

Written on 05 April 2007 by me under Faith, Science & Doubt, My Own Personal Religion, Politics/Current Events with No Comments