Cahill Grant... Separation of Church and State... No Chapter 9 Bankruptcy... My Thoughts... Your Thoughts... Oh What a Wicked Web...

[Photo by NS]

Excuse me, but...

The City of Kingston is apparently existing on borrowed money [a huge bond, actually]...

Some City of Kingston representatives are seriously considering a Chapter Nine Bankruptcy - which will - as I understand it - reduce all of our services to the very basics [police, fire, sanitation, basic needs, safety needs...] and bring in [if I understand this right] a State audit...

And --- I pick up today's "Daily Freeman" [online link provided below] to discover that Assemblyman Kevin Cahill has secured a $2.15 million dollar grant to renovate [one building, to reputedly employ 25 "permanent staff members", serve 50 children, provide basketball and other sports facilities for Catholic youth, host a food pantry, and provide offices for Catholic Charities - at the old St. Peter's School?

2.15 Million Dollars!?!

For ONE building [which is going to be duplicating (in essense) a lot of other services (religious and non) that are already in place...] in a City [... in a state? ... in a nation?] that is facing potential bankruptcy?

What - might I ask - is UP with THAT? [My blog... my opinions...]

The organizations involved - apparently benefiting (in some manner) from collaborating on this project and receiving this grant - include:

1. The Catholic Archdiocese of New York
2. St. Mary's Parish
3. St. Peter's Parish
4. The Catholic Youth Organization (C.Y.O); and...
5. Agri-Business Child Development

To what ends?

The Catholic Archdiocese of New York seems to be doing quite well for itself [in terms of money, power and influence...] already.

St. Mary's Parish appears to be doing quite well for itself (comparative to a lot of other religious and non-religious organizations locally) already.

St. Peter's Parish [if this even made logical sense...] is [in my opinion] in a very bad location for this type of project / renovation.

The CYO apparently serves only Catholic youth - providing (in the US) mainly prayer, missionary and sports programs for young Catholics that have --- according to the writeup in "Wikipedia" --- been (this, in regard to the sports programs) deemed: "so competitive that CYO has been jokingly described as 'Crush Your Opponents'" ["Catholic Youth Organization"; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Youth_Organization; 12/3/09]

Agri-Business Child Development apparently only provides early education services [inclusive of Migrant & Agricultural Workers Programs and Seasonal Head Start Programs] to children [aged 6 weeks to school age] to families that meet the following eligibility criteria:

a. They must be the children of migrant, seasonal and/or agricultural / farm workers

b. They must also meet certain finalial eligibility requirements; and...

c. They must meet a host of other eligibility criteria - narrowing the field of potentialities considerably... along with [I would say...] duplicating services that the City and/or County already has in place... [http://www.agri-business.org/whoweare.html; http://www.agri-business.org/missionvisionvalues.html; http://www.agri-business.org/eligibilitycriteria.html]

----------------------------------------------------

A nearly bankrupt city...

A 2.15 Million Dollar Grant for the renovation [etc] of one building that will apparently be serving a very select population that is already being served [and/or certainly could be served...] by other community organizations [that have no "religious missionary" ends in mind...].

-----------------------------------------------

And --- might there be some other potential problems in this mix?

Former President George W. Bush Jr. - via executive order [12/12/02] - granted some special privileges to religious orders; including:

The right to discriminate - in regard to religion - when hiring employees.

Carey Construction of Kingston [Did bids go out on this? Do grants of this nature require taking the lowest bid out of a number of bids? Is there religious discrimination in regard to hiring in this mix? [Carey Construction apparently did the restoration work on City Hall (Why not City Employees?) as well...] has [back to Carey Construction...] apparently already been named the "prime contractor" for the local [St. Peters...] renovation...

---------------------------------------------------

No more Bush Jr.

Right?

-----------------------------------------------------

But the Congressional Budget Office [in the early 1990s] estimated that "the cost to the government of Faith-Based-related programs" [The above reflects a mix, but an off-balance mix, to be sure...] would topple over the $13 Billion mark by 2011.

["Bush Orders Faith-Based Initiative Forward... Faith-based groups can hire based in religion"; Dateline: 12/13/02; Longley, Robert; About.com US Government Info; http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa121302.HRM?P=1]

-------------------------------------------------------

In July 2008, President Barack Obama (via Executive Order) modified and extended the Office of Faith Based Initiatives - renaming it the "Faith-Based Community Service Plan" and/or the "White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships" - with modifications that included the following:

1. Secular Community Service Organizations were to be granted equal chances [in tandem with Faith-Based Programs] to obtain grants.

2. Stronger prohibitions were put in place prohibiting "faith-based organizations" from utilizing their programs for proselytizing or religious instruction

3. Prohibitions against discrimination in regard to potential and/or in facto program participants were put in place.

4. "'Best practices' benchmarks and a periodic evaluation of every such program based on "same" were put in place.

5. A $500 Million Dollar (per year) plan "for a summer literacy program... for one million children from low-income families each year" - was added on.

[Deborah White, About.com; "Barack Obama's Faith-Based Community Service Plan"; http://jsliberals.about.com/od/faithinpubliclife/a/ObamaFthBsd.html; 12/3/09]

---------------------------------------------------

Now, what does all of that mean in looking at the current fiscal situation and the faith-based and secular organizations in our City?

What does this say about this $2.15 Mil. Grant for the renovation, etc. of St. Peters?

----------------------------------------------------

For me it means that I have moved my position --- from someone that was starting to think [after attending a lot of related City / Municipality / Citizen-based meetings; listening, with an open mind to all parties involved; staying up to date on the news; engaging in note taking and my own (at times extensive) research --- that the Chapter 9 Bankruptcy option might be the best way for the City of Kingston to go [in regard to the 2010 Budget Crisis] --- to someone that is 100% AGAINST the idea of the City of Kingston filing for a Chapter 9 Bankruptcy!

----------------------------------------------------

Why?

Because the deck appears to be stacked any way you look at it...

The rules we live by certainly don't appear to be fair and equitable... [But could be WORSE!]

Safety, infrastructure, education and the maintanence of our basic human rights are (for me) priority issues...

And - after reading about this grant?????

I believe we must maintain our secular government options and services AT ALL COSTS - so as not to leave the door open so wide that our education and service programs --- are allowed to become monopolized by any religious body (s) or organization (s) in this City!

---------------------------------------------------

It is stated, in Barack Obama's "Faith-Based Community Service and Literacy Plan" that any organization that receives Federal grant monies from "same" can only "use taxpayer dollars on secular programs and initiatives" - that these organizations cannot discriminate in hiring or in providing services - and that these organizations cannot "use federal funds to proselytize or provide religious sectarian instruction" [Deborah White, About.com; "Barack Obama's Faith-Based Community Service Plan"; http://jsliberals.about.com/od/faithinpubliclife/a/ObamaFthBsd.html; 12/3/09].

--------------------------------------------------

To wrap up...

Take a look at the state that the City of Kingston is in.

Take a look at the state that the State of New York is in.

Take a look at the state that the United States of America is in.

Take a look at what "separation of church and state" ["US Constitution" and "Bill of Rights" is (or should be?) all about...

And ask yourself if the following individuals - appointed in Feb 2009 by President Barack Obama to the "White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships" - reflect the necessary diversity - at the highest (not to mention local issues...) levels (?) --- or whether this White House Office has continued to take us all down a track that could lead --- if unchecked at the local, state and federal levels --- to a total societal breakdown and a religious [Do you like your human rights? Your freedom of choice? Your ability to express your opinions? Your ability to participate in a Democracy? The freedom to choose your own faith (or non) and practice same?] dictatorship...

-----------------------------------------------

Members (when first initiated; these were initially one year terms) of the "White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships" Council:

A. Representing Religious Bodies:

1. Joshua DuBois [Advisor to the President; Campaign Director of Religious Affairs; Former Associate Pastor]

2. Father Larry J. Snyder [Catholic Charities USA (President); Alexandria, West Virginia.

3. Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie [African Methodist Episcopal Church (Presiding Bishop /
13th Episcopal District); Knoxville, TN]

4. Dr. Frank S. Page [Southern Baptist Convention (President Emeritus); Taylors, SC]

5. Dr. William J. Shaw [National Baptist Convention, USA (President); Philadelphia, PA]

6. Reverend Otis Moss Jr. [Olivet Institutional Baptist Church (Pastor Emeritus); Cleveland, Ohio]

7. Reverend Jim Wallis [Sojourners (President and Executive Director); Washington DC]

8. Pastor Joel C. Hunter ["Senior Pastor, Northland, a Church Distributed); Lakeland FL]

9. Rabbi David N. Saperstein [Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and "noted" [Without bias?] "church/state expert" (Director and Counsel of...); Washington, DC]

10. Eboo S. Patel [Interfaith Youth Corps (Founder and Executive Director); Chicago, IL]

11. Melissa Rogers [Wake Forest School of Divinity Center for Religion and Public Affairs and [Without bias?] "expert on church/state issues"; Winston-Salem, NC]

12. Richard Steams [World Vision (President); Bellevue, Washington]http://www.worldvision.org/content.nsf/getinvolved/church-faith

--------------------------------------------

B. Representing Secular and/or Intermediary Bodies:

1. Judith N. Vredenburgh [Big Brothers / Big Sisters of America (President and Chief Executive Officer); Philadelphia, PA]

2. Fred Davie [Public/Private Ventures, a "secular non-profit intermediary" (President); New York, New York]

3. Dr. Arturo Chaez [Mexican-American Cultural Center (President and CEO); San Antonio, TX]

4. Diane Baillargeon [Seedco, "a secular national operating intermediary" (President / CEO); New York, New York]

-----------------------------------------------

See, it sure looks to me (from the onset) like the game plan of this White House Office [I still "love" Obama (in the best sense of the word) --- but I think he needs to "step up to the plate" in some areas...) was 12 organizations representing religious bodies --- versus 4 organizations with alleged secular and/or intermediary missions [headed up by persons whose faith alliance (if any) is currently un-known].

-----------------------------------------------

Whatever the case [Let it be known that I am not anti-religious or opposed to any particular body of faith...] --- it is my opinion that:

1. The Federal, State and Local Government should be providing ample funds for our infrastructure, our safety, our children's education and our (multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-faith and non-religious) citizens - with no special interests [religious or non] taking center stage - PERIOD.

2. This 2.15 Million Grant secured by Assemblyman Cahill [always associated with some ever-elusive "Friends of Public Access" (FOPA) mega-grant, as well...] for the renovation etc. of St. Peters is way out of line to begin with - and is especially so in light of the City, County, State and Federal fiscal crisis! And...

3. To return to where I started...

That the City of Kingston (a secular municipality that has bodies of faith associated with it) should NOT file for Chapter 9 Bankruptcy when this would potentially give all of the money and power in this City to the Catholic (and/or other faith bodies, whom I do not have this degree of data on...) Church!

------------------------------------------------------

Sources:

"Daily Freeman" Article: http://www.dailyfreeman.com/articles/2009/12/03/news/doc4b1743808aa49059359163.txt

"St Peters Cahill Grant to breathe new life into former St. Peter’s School"; http://www.midhudsonnews.com/News/2009/December09/03/StPeters_conv-03Dec09.html

Others are as noted in the writeup...

And many other sources exist (although none perhaps as great as those within your own heart, mind and soul...) as well.

-----------------------------------------------------

As always, feel free to correct me (I will check your input out) -- and or update me (ditto).

NS