Quality People Who Are REAL Christians
Hey! It's my birthday and I get to put up a story dear to my heart, all the class act volunteers who came into Louisiana and helped - and are still helping - rebuild people's lives. These folks are super heroes! They have given so much hope to thousands of people in emergency need who were so stressed out because they had meager or no resources to rebuild.
Most of all, these people like the ones profiled here, are REAL Christians. They are out there "in the highways and the byways" doing for others.
Pretend PHONY Christians
They aren't screaming about abortion and how a woman has no right to make her own moral decision. They aren't out there promoting character assassination because they can't get their own way and bully people into doing what they want. They aren't out there judging others because they don't go to the same church or believe in Jesus or whatever other hateful venom.
Latest Toxic Politics Courtesy of the Republicans
The latest so-called Christian vitriol is claiming President Obama is not a real American because they think his birth state of Hawaii is not really an American state. It just keeps getting meaner and meaner with the right wing's version of Christian politics. They also do not address him properly as The President. They have their little snide code words for him. Sure sounds like disrespect for the office, folks! You can't have it both ways: one minute demanding respect for a Republican President but you don't have to respect a Democratic President.
Call Goodness For What It Is and Quit Twisting the Truth
So, when I see quality people heralded as what they truly are, people of good character, then I like to promote them. Goodness no longer needs to be promoted as evil and evil as if it were good, something the Bible teaches by the way. That is some twisted thinking of our Republican politics in America for years now.
Republican Government Created Long-Term Harmful Effects After Hurricanes Katrina and Gustav
What a lot of the nation doesn't know, because it hasn't been the interest of the national media, is just how hard that storm hit the average person's wallet since the storm. Most Americans are frustrated and worried for the past year to eighteen months because of new expenses like fuel and food costs, watching their income ebb and flow because of it. Particular to Louisiana since 29 August 2005 is that the big business insurance companies have had a field day with us on jacking up our expenses beyond the ability to pay.
The argument is that you shouldn't live in such low-lying areas. True. Of course, you can kiss your oil to make the fuel for your car goodbye as the entire population moves away from the coasts. Kiss goodbye your natural gas to heat your homes, hot water and cook your food. Kiss goodbye your seafood too. Kiss goodbye your ports to move your goods across the country and overseas. That's the reality.
How It Developed into Such a Mess Because of Republican Policies
What's happened, because of Republican policies, is that the insurance companies were allowed carte blanche to do what they will. The result of Bush tax rebates has been that the state had to raise taxes, so did the local parishes (counties) and then the cities followed suit. Because of the Republicans yelling and screaming about how the Democrats would tax you, they ended up throwing the taxes to the local levels. Of course, not without a parting shot to the middle class across America. Under Bush, a Republican, I paid $7,000 more a year in federal taxes because of how he manipulated the tax code to force the middle class to give more again to replace what the wealthy were told they no longer had to give as their portion as being an American.
There went my savings account allocated for emergencies and retirement. What people who don't know that don't live in a hurricane zone (just like I don't know what it's like to live in an earthquake zone) is that it costs easily $500 to $2,000 dollars every time you evacuate for a hurricane or have to hunker down for 10 days by "sheltering in place" at home. Two or three hurricanes a year and you can see how families are devastated.
Insurance Companies Taken Off the Leash to Run Wild
Then the insurance companies went up on homeowners' and car insurances to the tune of the highest in the nation. Homeowners' insurance and new property taxes take up almost 40% of what was once my modest house note before Hurricane Katrina. Don't even get me started on the cumulative effects of Hurricane Gustav afterward... :)
Shed Your Expenses
Of course, when your expenses go up you start shedding anything you consider a luxury like a second car, vacations, dining out, hair and nail salons (do it yourself; it's easy), the car wash, lawn service, the dry cleaners and anything else you can do less of or do without entirely. Not really hard for us because I know how to do the same services. The ride was nice while it lasted not having to do everything all the time as eventually you get an inflamed shoulder nerve like I did from too much work.
Bush Rezones Flood Map for Democratic Voting Areas of Louisiana
Bush's parting shot at the Louisiana middle class was to pander to the insurance companies and redraw the flood map to now include people whose homes have NEVER flooded or come near to it in my area. What did that mean? Well, try to the tune of an additional $5,000 a year for mandated flood insurance from the mortgage company. Sure, we found cheaper.
We also should be carrying just a $1,000 deductible for homeowners' insurance. Because of the insurance lobbyists demanding everyone in state be mandated to carry homeowners' insurance whether you want it or not, we now get a really pretty choice: extremely high deductibles or normal deductibles with outrageous prices.
So, that translates as now a $17,000 deductible for homeowners' insurance instead of a $1,000. I'm lucky; most people I know in the same modest sized house are paying a $23,000 to $28,000 deductible. What this basically translates into is that you are self-insuring. Most hurricane damage does not cost this much so you will be out of pocket for it. All the while you are forced by the Republican policies to pay for insurance that will never cover a thing. Talk about a scam.
So, enough of the educational rant about how national politics really can impact our daily lives... it was meant as an illustration so the concrete thinkers out there can see how their bad decisions play out when they don't care about anything more than screaming their rhetoric. This is real life, folks!
Enjoy the Video About People Helping People Who Fall Through the Cracks
You will really enjoy this video. What I liked is hearing it from their own lips about what it is to trust God and go out and do what you know God is calling you to do. They put their money, their lives, their welfare, their everything on the line to start up a Disaster Recovery Service. They are entirely dependent upon donations. These are some incredibly cool people!
If you are able to contribute to this endeavor and give a donation to them that would be great. You never know when these people may come to your neighborhood and help you and yours in the future. They are such a class act!
Video: Hurricane Katrina Super Volunteers
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