Monthly Archives: July 2011

On Wed, Jul 27, 2011 at 2:53 AM, Gregory Flynn wrote:

John, I’m sending the photos again by individual e-mails in the hope that the three of them get through. Kindly let me know if they did.

Greg

[JR: Three photos came thru. Two were for me personally, and one this is the promised graduation photo for you.]

[JR: You can help make this photo bigger in terms of children helped. Remember it's not tax-deductable unless you want to fight the IRS. Think that starving kids and impoverished mothers have ever heard of the IRS. I don't know WWJD, or what Brother Jasper might expect by way of conduct, but I know what Brother Austin Barry would say: "Gentlemen: Measurement Errors, Mistakes, and Blunders. Which do you make?". LOL! Neat black board. (Inside joke)]

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On Mon, Jul 25, 2011 at 8:56 AM, Gregory Flynn wrote:

Hello John,

Hope this finds you continuing to do well. At long last things here have settled down a bit.

On July 2nd we graduated forty- two students from our Selihome Teachers Training Institute. These are young adults who are either deaf or blind but who want to teach others like themselves on how to cope and even take advantage of their disabilities. We began the Institute in 2007. We have hired teachers from Addis Ababa University as lecturers for them in such subjects as sign language and braille. They receive a certificate that is recognized by institutions working with the disabled. Many of these graduates have found teaching positions in these institutions. They have classes every evening in one of our two centers after our Addis Hope children have finished their own daily classes. They are a delight to work with and very appreciated that anyone takes an interest in assisting them.

On July 16th we graduated our tenth class of 101 Addis Hope students. There is always concern that during the rainy season, the event would be a washout, but it has never happened, due, I’m sure to it being watched over by St. La Salle who always guards such work that in his own day was dear to him. As always, the children dressed in their tiny caps and gowns looked like Manhattan grads. In fact the master of ceremonies was wearing an MC shirt compliments of Dr. Bill Clyde, MC vice president, who joined us for the occasion and whose daughter, Elizabeth is here as a summer volunteer teacher in the Brothers latest Ethiopian school, aptly named St. John Baptist De La Salle. The whole occasion was quite rousing with singing, dancing and games involving all the kids and their families. The proud relatives came with bouquets of flowers to present to their children. For many it was the first graduation of any kind in their families and they were very hopeful that it would allow their kids to climb out of the poverty trap in which they themselves are enmeshed.

{Privacy Invoked}

Also attached is a photo of yours truly with Ruth Girmay, my Addis Hope colleague and the day to day administrator of the program, along with a handful of the children, of course.

Thanks again for your support of the program. I’ll be back in the States on home leave for some weeks starting in late August to do some fund raising. I’ll give you a ring then and see how we can get together.

God bless,
Greg

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[JR: The photo didn't make it thru the inet. (Or perhaps, attaching was forgotten.) But, in our mind's eye, we can see folks climbing out of poverty. Hope everyone considers a donation to keep this going.]

Flynn, Bro. Gregory (MC1967)

[JR: Still disconcerting to have Brother not be the fearsome authority fixture. :-) Time may change; old terrors don't. LOL!]

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Dear Jasper John,

I would say to Jasper O’Connell that If we leftists have to accept being blamed for Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Castro etc, he should in all honesty accept Hitler and countless other right wing tyrants on his side. Today it is rightists who are using or threatening violence here and abroad. Tea Partiers say that the “next time” they will bring guns to rallies and rightists have shot down doctors legally providing abortion services. Just this weekend one fanatic in Norway showed how much one committed right wing Christian could do in the anti-Muslim cause.

Regarding the financial meltdown of 2008, I note that Jasper O’Connell repeats the rightist canards about Fannie, Freddie and the Community Investment Act causing the crisis. In fact after congressional hearings held in October 2008 a magazine headline read

“Cox, Greenspan, Snow Agree: Freddie Mac And Fannie Mae Did Not Cause The Financial Crisis” (see http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2008/10/23/31194/mica-waxman/)

Committee chairman Henry Waxman (D Cal) noted that Freddie and Fannie “certainly played a role” in the current situation, but then asked the witnesses, “Do any of you believe that they were the cause of this financial crisis?” All three men said no.

Christopher Cox was head of the SEC, Alan Greenspan the former head of the federal reserve, and John Snow was Bush’s Treasury Secretary.

Business Week reported that the Community Reinvestment Act had nothing to do with subprime crisis in an article posted by: Aaron Pressman on September 29, 2008. Quoting from the article below” ( see http://www.businessweek.com/investing/insights/blog/archives/2008/09/community_reinvestment_act_had_nothing_to_do_with_subprime_crisis.html for the complete article)

“Fresh off the false and politicized attack on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, today we’re hearing the know-nothings blame the subprime crisis on the Community Reinvestment Act

— a 30-year-old law that was actually weakened by the Bush administration just as the worst lending wave began. This is even more ridiculous than blaming Freddie and Fannie.

But it’s even more ridiculous when you consider that most subprime loans were made by firms that aren’t subject to the CRA. University of Michigan law professor Michael Barr testified back in February before the House Committee on Financial Services that 50% of subprime loans were made by mortgage service companies not subject comprehensive federal supervision and another 30% were made by affiliates of banks or thrifts which are not subject to routine supervision or examinations.”

The three men most responsible for overseeing the financial structure say categorically that Fannie and Freddie were not to blame. An article in the mainstream magazine Business Week shows how the Community Reinvestment Act had nothing to do with the collapse. Yet right wingers still parrot these canards. They can not face the truth or admit the were wrong.

Sincerely yours,
Donald M Stebbins
BS 1961

[JR: <1> Hitler was a National "Socialist". <2> All the folks you cite, as "telling us all's OK", are hip deep in the problems. Like asking the drunk if they need another drink. <3> The Treasury and the Fed and all the bureaucrats could have shut down sub-prime anytime they wanted to. <4> Sorry, but I think for myself like I was taught at MC.]

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Dear Jasper John,

I have to say that you and Jasper O’Connell have a much tougher row to hoe than I do. You two have to square the circle in trying to make laissez-faire capitalism compatible with Christianity. One proclaims ” every man for himself and the devil takes the hindmost” while the other says “whatever you do to the least of these” you do unto me. Your only advantage lies in that yours is a position the SNL Church Lady might have called “conveeenient” and is quite common among those trying to justify their privileges. The Republican party comes to mind.

One question I have for both of you. Why do you call on the vast powers of the “gooferment” to force women to bear children they do not want? On one hand you say any taxation is theft but turn around and say that the government has the absolute power to outlaw abortion. It would seem to me that libertarians would be among the strongest supporters of abortion rights. Rights over your own body seem to trump rights over your money. Money is a creation of the state, so its seems reasonable for the government to have some controls on it. Do you ever think of how draconian a police state we would need to enforce anti-abortion laws?

While on the subject of abortion I have to say that I have always favored policies aimed at reducing the number of abortions via providing health care, shelter, education etc. There is no way I find abortions to be noble. On a personal level my wife and I recently helped a cousin’s girl friend carry an baby to term in very unfortunate circumstances. Do to restrictions put in by local conservative politicians she was denied food for the baby at one point. Guess who had to buy the food instead. I have never seen conservatives at the county offices offering to cover the expenses of mothers with newborn infants.

Sincerely yours,
Donald M Stebbins
BS 1961

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[JR:

<1> It's not "every man for himself". Where did you get that idea from? What we are saying is that "YOU" have no right to steal the wealth created by others to "GIVE" to those you feel "NEED" it. If I think some one warrants being helped, I'll help. That's charity. When "YOU" take it, even if you do the same thing. (You won't.) That's THEFT.

<2> I don't know about "Oconnell The Younger", but I don't want the Gooferment to FORCE anybody to do anything. I'd like to see abortion be unnecessary and recognized for the self and societally destructive practice it is. Like human sacrifice, we see in the movies. But I'm unwilling to kill people to stop killing people. Common sense should prevail.

<3> Money is NOT the creation of the State. Tyrants take over money because it's the easiest way to control people. Gold and silver have been money for 4000 years. Long before there was ever a State. We need money to allow the division of labor to make us all prosperous. And, greed does wonders to make humans cooperate. You can't get stuff without those "certificates of appreciation" from your fellow workers. Greed is good.

<4> "Polices reducing the number of abortions" means that we're giving the Gooferment our approval to kill people. I'm no fan of "politicians" of either party. But, now that you bring it up, why is the Gooferment feeding babies? That's the role of family, tribe, clans, churches, fraternities, sororities, and charities. In a civil society, not everything MUST be done by the Gooferment. As a matter of principle, ANYTHING the Gooferment does is, by definition, immoral (i.e., force initiated on people), ineffective (i.e., doesn't accomplish the desired end; unintended consequences) and inefficient (i.e., something done at a cost that is more than if there was a voluntary solution).

<5> By you buying the food, you eliminated a bunch of "handling fees" and put a bunch of bureaucrats out of work. Shame on you. They need their peons to justify their continued employment in "public service".

<6> ATDA! BTW "capitalism", even the not so Lazy Fair here and today, makes for fat poor people. Despite the Gooferment trying to keep all those poor people in servitude to the politicians and bureaucrats. Just a different plantation!

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<<spread out for ease of readability>>

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