The World Around You

So, Dr. Bronner won’t provide golf carts, but he will provide free golf if you provide your own special cart. Sorry, David, that’s not how it works. Golfers with disabilities don’t want special treatment (i.e. free golf when others pay). They just want equal access (i.e. providing carts they can use). This is starting to look really ridiculous.

Not only does this White House make decisions based on faith, rather than facts, they seem to decide whether a program is “faith-based” by the same method. As Susan indicated yesterday in the comments of this post, Aletheia House, a drug rehabilitation facility in Birmingham, was included on the list of faith-based programs that have been funded by the federal government. One problem, they’re not a faith-based program. So, how did they end up on the list?

White House officials said the list included some groups that were thought to be religious based on their names and that some may have been listed mistakenly.

Retan said he feels Aletheia House was chosen because the name sounds religious. He said Aletheia House actually gets its name from the Greek word for “the truth.”

Retan said he plans to inform officials at the White House that Aletheia House was mistakenly placed on the list of “faith-based” organizations.

He said he thinks it’s important for the White House to measure the effectiveness of the initiative, but that’s impossible when agencies are incorrectly included on the list.

It is quite evident that for all the hoopla surrounding the initiative, no one was actually keeping track of how many faith-based programs were receiving funds. In addition, the reports yesterday pointed out that almost all of the programs listed had been in existence for decades, with many having received federal grants for years before President Bush came into office. I’m also curious as to whether any non-Christian programs were included in the list…

A proposal from a state legislator could draw the battle lines over a raise for teachers. In Alabama, students do not have to start attending school until age 7. Everyone agrees that this puts those children who wait that long at a big disadvantage, but the cost of lowering the age would likely eliminate any potential for a raise for teachers. That’s why they get paid to make the tough choices.