Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Paula Caliendo's Comments to District 300 Board Continued
As elected officials, here to represent parents, taxpayers and most importantly, our students, you have let us all down.
As people like Jack Roeser, Larry Snow, John Ryan and Jim Peschke spoke to the exaggerated numbers presented by this administration, I ask, did you once consider that there might be some merit to their claim that your administration was pushing numbers that were not legitimate?
Did it occur to you to do your own investigation and speak with perhaps Dr. Kasarda who prepared the districts previous demography study?
Is there a reason that administration chose to hire Ehlers, a “Charter Member of the National Association of Independent Public FINANCE ADVISORS” rather than a true demographer.
Were you aware that Ehlers does not have a demographer on staff?
Mr. Chorba, seems to apologize for the Community Building Committee's recommendations, yet I find the fault truly lies with administration's poor decision to use Ehler's numbers.
District community committees are only as good as the information that D300 administration provides and often the information given is lacking transparency.
Now that transparency has come up I'd like to point out that it is a word that this administration often abuses and yet doesn’t seem to understand the true definition.
The current method of contacting the District 300 Board of Education members is not necessarily the best method for the constituents. I’ve been told by Allison Smith, Communications Supervisor, that a new system is coming within this week.
And while a new technology may make great strides in assuring that all the members receive any e-mails, with any attachments, I think it just as important that a Board Member respond to such correspondence simply to acknowledge receipt. Frankly, it is a common courtesy and if there isn’t any protocol established among this current board to accomplish this, perhaps you can come up with a solution.
Otherwise, when a parent or taxpayer sends an e-mail, and this board is not courteous enough to reply with a simple, “thanks for you input”, that parent or taxpayer cannot be sure that the correspondence was received. Furthermore, he or she might come to the conclusion that this administration is tampering with the e-mail, perhaps impeding or censoring what the board receives.
As people like Jack Roeser, Larry Snow, John Ryan and Jim Peschke spoke to the exaggerated numbers presented by this administration, I ask, did you once consider that there might be some merit to their claim that your administration was pushing numbers that were not legitimate?
Did it occur to you to do your own investigation and speak with perhaps Dr. Kasarda who prepared the districts previous demography study?
Is there a reason that administration chose to hire Ehlers, a “Charter Member of the National Association of Independent Public FINANCE ADVISORS” rather than a true demographer.
Were you aware that Ehlers does not have a demographer on staff?
Mr. Chorba, seems to apologize for the Community Building Committee's recommendations, yet I find the fault truly lies with administration's poor decision to use Ehler's numbers.
District community committees are only as good as the information that D300 administration provides and often the information given is lacking transparency.
Now that transparency has come up I'd like to point out that it is a word that this administration often abuses and yet doesn’t seem to understand the true definition.
The current method of contacting the District 300 Board of Education members is not necessarily the best method for the constituents. I’ve been told by Allison Smith, Communications Supervisor, that a new system is coming within this week.
And while a new technology may make great strides in assuring that all the members receive any e-mails, with any attachments, I think it just as important that a Board Member respond to such correspondence simply to acknowledge receipt. Frankly, it is a common courtesy and if there isn’t any protocol established among this current board to accomplish this, perhaps you can come up with a solution.
Otherwise, when a parent or taxpayer sends an e-mail, and this board is not courteous enough to reply with a simple, “thanks for you input”, that parent or taxpayer cannot be sure that the correspondence was received. Furthermore, he or she might come to the conclusion that this administration is tampering with the e-mail, perhaps impeding or censoring what the board receives.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 12:21 PM
Monday, January 15, 2007
Taxaholics Anonymous
by Cal Skinner, former Illinois State Representative and 2002 Libertarian Party candidate for Governor
Step 1. Go home.
Step 2. Talk to the people who elected you...better yet, listen to them.
Step 3. Ask whether any of them has had a 2% “revenue reduction” (cut in take-home pay) since last year, as the State of Illinois has.
Step 4. Ask those who have seen their household income decrease by 2% how they coped. Did they go out to dinner less often? Skip a vacation?
Step 5. Find businessmen who have cut their expenditures by 5% or more during this recession. (Hint: There are a lot of them, including many local media companies.) Ask those businessmen how they managed to stay in business with slightly less income than last year. Heed their advice and make similar cuts in the state budget.
Step 6. Practice saying to union officials, “If we have to give your members a 3.75% pay raise next year and you refuse to re-negotiate, which 3.75% of your members do you want us to lay off?”
Step 7. Write or type 100 times, “I know it’s easier to raise taxes than cut expenditures because the tax eaters are organized and the taxpayers aren’t, BUT THAT’S NO EXCUSE FOR RAISING TAXES!”
Step 8. Try to find someone who can make a rational explanation of how cigarette smokers or cable TV subscribers caused the recession.
Step 9. Go to a local Rotary Club meeting and see whether any of the tax increases you are proposing meet Rotary’s Four-Way Test, especially the question, “Is it fair to all concerned?”
Step 10. Make a sign saying, “Please tell me what tax you want me to raise in Springfield.” Stand next to it in a supermarket for three hours. Get the message!
Step 11. Go on a radio or cable television call-in program and listen to the callers. (Don’t advertise your appearance in advance so the special interests can flood the show.)
Step 12. Go back to Springfield and vote “NO!” If you can not achieve Step 12, go back to Springfield as vote “Present.” That’s the chicken’s way of voting “No,” and it will do.
Step 1. Go home.
Step 2. Talk to the people who elected you...better yet, listen to them.
Step 3. Ask whether any of them has had a 2% “revenue reduction” (cut in take-home pay) since last year, as the State of Illinois has.
Step 4. Ask those who have seen their household income decrease by 2% how they coped. Did they go out to dinner less often? Skip a vacation?
Step 5. Find businessmen who have cut their expenditures by 5% or more during this recession. (Hint: There are a lot of them, including many local media companies.) Ask those businessmen how they managed to stay in business with slightly less income than last year. Heed their advice and make similar cuts in the state budget.
Step 6. Practice saying to union officials, “If we have to give your members a 3.75% pay raise next year and you refuse to re-negotiate, which 3.75% of your members do you want us to lay off?”
Step 7. Write or type 100 times, “I know it’s easier to raise taxes than cut expenditures because the tax eaters are organized and the taxpayers aren’t, BUT THAT’S NO EXCUSE FOR RAISING TAXES!”
Step 8. Try to find someone who can make a rational explanation of how cigarette smokers or cable TV subscribers caused the recession.
Step 9. Go to a local Rotary Club meeting and see whether any of the tax increases you are proposing meet Rotary’s Four-Way Test, especially the question, “Is it fair to all concerned?”
Step 10. Make a sign saying, “Please tell me what tax you want me to raise in Springfield.” Stand next to it in a supermarket for three hours. Get the message!
Step 11. Go on a radio or cable television call-in program and listen to the callers. (Don’t advertise your appearance in advance so the special interests can flood the show.)
Step 12. Go back to Springfield and vote “NO!” If you can not achieve Step 12, go back to Springfield as vote “Present.” That’s the chicken’s way of voting “No,” and it will do.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 8:13 AM
Cal Skinner's 2002 Daily Herald Gubernatorial Questionnaire Answers
1. Why are you running for this office, whether for re-election or election for the first time? Is that a particular issue that motivates you? If so, what?The power parties offer the weakest candidates in fifty years. I am running to give people an alternative to Ryan/Blagojevich. I offer more Springfield experience than both of them combined. I am the only candidate for Governor you can be sure will veto an income or sales tax increase. Everyone knows the Democrats will raise taxes. It is in their nature to raise taxes and most of their constituent groups want more money. Without tax hikes they cannot be rewarded. Republicans like to think their Governors oppose tax hikes. Yet, for the last fifty years, every Republican Governor has raised taxes…no matter what he said before the election. By election day, people will think Genghis Khan is running against Attila the Hun. If they are not so disenchanted that they just stay home, I hope they will vote for me-probably the only politician that Mike Royko ever called "honest."
2. If you are an incumbent, describe your main contributions. Tell us of any important initiatives you've led. If you are not an incumbent, tell us what contributions you would make. Describe any shortcomings in the current board that you would help remedy and explain how.
My background is in budgeting. Unlike my opponents, I am not a lawyer. Given the state's fiscal situation, it seems that my background and my proven ability to say "No" to special interests would be better fit the state's needs than my lawyer-opponents'. Often during the 1990's I was the only state representative to vote "No" on the budget. I am the only one who has made a proposal to cut hundreds of millions of dollars from the budget through the bulk buying of medical care for those whose bills are paid by state government. The other two guys just keep making promises that they can't keep. You may not like my minimalist approach to government, but editorial writers around the state are not charging me-as they are Ryan and Blagojevich-with making promises I can't fulfill without raising taxes.
3. Please describe the essence of your vision for Illinois.
I see a time when state government does not continue taking over twice as much money out of your pocket as does inflation. I see a time when Illinois government is not one of the most corrupt in the country. I see a time when waste is not the watchword. I see a time when decisions are based on merit, rather than on who has the most "connected" lobbyist. I see a time when citizens can be proud of state government. I don't see that time coming if one of the power party candidates is elected.
4. Has the state resolved its budget problems, or is more work needed? If the latter, what further spending/revenue adjustments do you favor?
The spendoholics have ruled Springfield as long as I can remember. It is always easier to raise taxes than it is to cut spending. The reason is obvious: the taxeaters are organized; the taxpayers are not. Remember that movie "Liar, Liar?" Don't you wish that whatever made it impossible for the father to lie would take control of JimRod in the debates when they are asked the "tax hike" question. Can't you just see both stuttering trying to tell the truth. We know, of course, that Rod will raise taxes. Virtually all of the Democrats' constituent groups want more money and, with no revenue growth, where is new money going to come from if it does not come from higher taxes? Republicans like to think their governors are anti-tax, but EVERY REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR FOR THE LAST FIFTY YEARS HAS RASIED TAXES, no matter what he said before the election.
5. Of the proposed reforms in the state's capital punishment, which do you favor and which do you oppose? Why?
I do not favor a continuation of the moratorium on the death penalty. Whatever George does will be done before I would take office. There is no reason to delay the execution of any uncommuted murderers whose crimes are not in doubt. I have already voted to video tape interrogations in murder cases. I would be willing to sign a more well thought out proposal. I have proposed that public input be sought on the death penalty through an advisory referendum of the electorate. I have already voted to give the defense in murder cases the resources to make them able to put on an adequate defense. I think those are the most important reforms that are needed.
5. Concerning public school funding: Study after study recommends increase reliance on income taxes and decrease reliance on property taxes. Political realities then appear, ending the discussion. What politically viable changes, if any, can and should be made to the way the state funds it public schools? Also, what do you think of vouchers.
Michigan made a tax shift (resulting in a net tax hike) from property taxes to higher sales taxes ten years ago. Guess what? It didn't work. The only people pushing a tax shift are the taxeaters. They will NEVER have enough money. I support the Heartland Institute's scholarship plan in which the total amount of money spent on public education would be divided by the total number of students wanting to participate in the program. That amount would be available to any student to take to the school of his/her choice. If the tuition were lower than that amount, the difference would go into a college scholarship fund for the student. Once the public schools understand that they have to perform better to keep their students, the public schools will improve. This program would be phased in two grades at a time and take seven years to implement.
6. To what extent, if any, should the state assume tighter control or oversight of the Toll Highway Authority? And, if the state were to assume greater responsibility, how specifically, would it ultimately meet any new financial responsibilities that would entail?
The tollways should be abolished, period. To accomplish that, first, the bonds must be paid off. That requires under $80 million a year for fifteen years. More than $80 million is paid in gas taxes by vehicles while they are using the tollway. Secondly, two budget items totaling $45 million seem needed for repair, maintenance, snow removal, etc. Federal aid for the 274 miles of Interstate was $52 million in 2002. If more is needed, there are millions more in concession revenue. It is time to end double-taxation for tollway users. My power party opponents are satisfied merely to postpone a massive toll tax hike until after the election. The need for new lanes, etc., should be put into the statewide "road need" pot. If you want to pay tolls for the rest of your life, don't vote Libertarian.
7. Gaming issues. Should the tax on casinos be adjusted one way or another? Do you favor or oppose additional casino licenses? What about smaller expansions, such as poker/slot machines in bars, fraternal halls, etc.?
From the getgo, I have said that I would be willing to tax casinos at 100%. This is the only tax hike I would not veto. I admit to straying from the typical Libertarian stand on this issue. I shall not sign legislation to expand gambling. I have called on Jim Ryan to stop the fix that is clearly in for a Rosemont casino. It is unconscionable that the Rosemont casino investors should have all of their money (including expenses) returned. That didn't happen with Enron and Worldcom investors. Why not give lottery losers their money back? Further, it makes no sense to allow 20% of the current investors to included in the winning bid. I have called on Jim Ryan to force true open bidding. What has he got to lose? I shall appoint an honest man, Tom Grey of Rockford, to be chairman of the Gambling Board.
8. What, if anything, does the legislature need to do to strengthen state and local government preparedness for a terrorist attack?
Am I the only candidate running for office who doesn't pretend to know everything about everything? Obviously, a collaborative effort is needed among state and local governments. I have one thought on terrorism. Pipelines are potential targets, yet we allow pipeline companies to put signs up on the side on roads indicating where their pipelines are buried. That strikes me as a bad idea. There must be another way to let pipeline employees know where their pipelines are. We need to remove this target from casual public view.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 7:56 AM
Cal Skinner's 2002 Chicago Tribune Gubernatorial Questionnaire Answers
Name: Cal SkinnerDate of Birth: June 11, 1942
Home: Crystal Lake, Illinois 60014-5411
Home page address: Skinner4Governor.org
Campaign contact person: Mike Ginsberg, 847-650-8747
Candidate for what office: Governor
Party affiliation: Libertarian Party
Occupation: Retired
Previous political experience: (elective and appointed positions):
United States Bureau of the Budget (65-66),
McHenry County Treasurer (66-70), GOP precinct committeeman (70-72, 86-00),
Illinois House Appropriations Committee Staff (70-71),
State Representative, 33rd District (73-81),
Unsuccessful challenger to Republican congressman (80),
Transportation Consultant to Speaker George Ryan (81-83),
Unsuccessful GOP nominee for State Comptroller (82),
Bureau of Benefits Manager, IL Dept. of Central Management Services (80-85),
In-house management consultant and special projects for CMS, including initiation of direct purchase of natural gas for state government (85-87),
Advisor & research consultant to various state legislators (87-92),
State Representative, 64th District (93-01).
Education: Economics degree from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio (64), master's degree in public administration from the University of Michigan (class work 64-65; thesis finished and degree awarded in 1971, I believe);
Awarded Certified Illinois Assessing Officer designation in 1970.
Taught State and Local Government at Rockford and Harper Colleges.
Cal Skinner
Chicago Tribune Questionnaire
Gubernatorial Candidates
November 5, 2002 General Election
1. After two years of careful study, the Governor's Commission on Capital Punishment issued a set of 85 recommendations for reforming Illinois' administration of the death penalty after a long string of wrongful convictions. Please indicate whether you would support or oppose each of the following reforms to the state's capital punishment system, and provide a brief but specific explanation of your choices.
Sequential, as opposed to simultaneous, police lineups.
The criminal justice community is divided on this issue. It seems logical to me that a witness ought to be able to make comparisons, but I am open to factual arguments.
Reducing eligibility factors from 20 to 5.
I don't pretend to be an expert on eligibility factors, nor do I intend to become an expert before this campaign is over. Certainly removal of premeditation as an eligibility factor defies common sense. I heard an activist on WTTW suggest that the current definition of "premeditated" is overly broad. If so, narrowing it might be in order. Elimination is not.
Mandatory videotaping of all custodial interrogations and confessions.
If Illinois can afford to place cameras in rest stops on Interstate highways, it ought to be able to afford to videotape all custodial interrogations and confessions. I voted for Rep. Monique Davis's bill on videotaping when I was in the General Assembly
Pretrial screening by judges of jailhouse snitch testimony.
Considering the pressure that authorities can place on prisoners, even in the DuPage County Jail, this is a must.
A statewide, centralized review system (centralized in the attorney general's office) that all county prosecutors would have to go through before winning approval to pursue a capital sentence.
There is a real, unintended consequence that could result from this suggestion. Candidates for Attorney General might well compete for election on the basis of which would be "tougher on crime." Indeed, that seems to be happening this year. I understand the purpose of having some outside authority review local state's attorney's decisions to seek the death penalty and generally agree with such a review. I am not, however, convinced that the attorney general is the place to put that authority.
A systematic, statewide monitoring and data collection system by which to identify trends and rectify mistakes in how our capital punishment system is administered in Illinois.
Sounds like something an agency of state government should be doing. I don't understand what relevance "trends" have when individual prosecutions are involved.
2. Should all casino licenses be auctioned to the highest qualified bidders? Why or why not?
Of course all casino licenses should be auctioned periodically to the highest qualified bidder. What part of open bidding doesn't Jim Ryan understand? It makes no sense for Jim Ryan to agree to allow pre-selected so-called minorities to have a piece of the action in the successor to the Rosemont casino. It makes no sense for him to allow failed gambling investors to get all their money back. John Kass is correct in his assertion that lottery losers should get their money back if the Rosemont casino investors are given their money back. Why should such investors be any different that those who invested in Enron or WorldCom?
3. Under Illinois' system of campaign rules, there is nothing illegal about state workers doing political work, either paid or volunteer, as
long as they don't do it on state time. Recent reports, however, suggest that these rules routinely are broken by campaigns. Would you support a measure prohibiting state government workers from doing any campaign work, even on their own time? Please explain.
I understand the problem you are addressing because I blew the whistle on Lee Daniels to one of your reporters before you published anything about his misuse of state employees. (In fact, you still have not published that information.) However, your absolutist solution would just give more power to media giants like yourself. I don't know how you can constitutionally prohibit people from exercising their right to political free speech on their own time…assuming, of course, they are not going to be compensated for such time and effort by the taxpayers either before or after they do it.
4. Assuming the state is likely to be financially hamstrung for at least another year or two, please list three initiatives (and their estimated costs) that you think the legislature needs to focus on its next session. Also please identify three things that ought to be cut, downsized or consolidated. Do you favor raising the state income or sales taxes to balance the state's budget?
Illinois' GENERAL FUND REVENUES WERE DOWN this past year, but the decrease was ONLY TWO PERCENT. What was the big deal? I have now visited with 80% of the daily newspapers in Illinois. None of them had any sympathy with state politicians who could not cut their budget by 2%. (Neither do other businessmen.) All of the newspapers had cut their budgets by 2%, most by 5%, one admitted a 7% cut. When $113,000 is being given to a private individual in Tennessee to develop a $6 million water park on Rend Lake next to a presumably failing state-subsidized hotel, Illinois does not have a budget problem. It has a spending problem. There was no need for a 69% cigarette tax increase, and there is no need for a state income tax hike.
I am the only candidate for Governor you can be certain would veto an increase in the state income or sales tax. We all know the people supporting Rod Blagojevich want more money. No one will be surprised when he signs any number of tax increase bills. Republican want to believe in their heart of hearts that Republican governors won't raise taxes, but every Republican governor for the last five decades has raised taxes, no matter what he said before the election. I repeat, I am the only gubernatorial candidate you know will veto an income/sales tax increase.
Initiative one: Term Limits for Legislative Leaders. I propose a constitutional amendment to limit the terms of legislative leaders to six years as leaders. The over-concentration of power in four men in Springfield is the biggest systemic problem I see in Illinois politics. Federal prosecutors should not be setting term limits for legislative leaders. The State Constitution should. Before I announced my proposal, I mailed a copy to Bruce Dold. It has been crafted to withstand constitutional challenge. If you would like to see its contents, they may be found on my web site. I believe that anyone seeking to lead his legislative party in Springfield should be able to make a good dent in his policy goals, if any, in six years. It is obvious that Mike Madigan and Lee Daniels, Pate Philip and Emil Jones have no policy goals. Their only goal is power and gaining more power. "Controlling the process." That's the way I put it when I taught state and local government at Rockford and Harper Colleges. It is not healthy for the body politic to have so much power concentrated in so few hands for so, so many years. Without fear of contradiction, I predict that neither Jim Ryan nor Rod Blagojevich will support my proposal. The Secretary of State would have to pay for distribution of the proposed amendment to the voters.
Initiative two: Passage of a Personal Security Act that will allow licensed, law-abiding citizens to use a gun in self-defense. The research is in. Passage of such a bill will lower the violent crime rate by 2.3% per year! (Rape goes down 3.1 % per year. See Chapter 9 of Dr. John Lott's paperback book, "More Guns, Less Crime.") Crime statistics were examined in all 3000 counties in the United States before and after gun laws were passed. In the twenty states that passed laws similar to what I am proposing the violent crime rate went down 2.3% per year. Because it's unrealistic to count solely on the police for protection, my Personal Security Act should be made law. (For more details, see my web site: Skinner4Governor.org) The proposal would be financed with user fees.
Initiative three: Turning the Tollways to Freeways. We must end the double taxation of tollway drivers. Motorists using the tollways pay twice-once with their tolls and a second time when they buy gas where they pay motor fuel taxes. It is obscene that this system of double taxation is allowed to continue to exist. Its only beneficiary is the DuPage County Republican Party. Here's how to turn the tollways into freeways:
(1) Pay off the tollway bonds with the gas taxes paid by drivers while using the tollways. The tollway bond payments range from $79.7 million this year to $72.2 million in 2017. Motor Fuel Taxes bring in from $82 million to $107 million per year, depending on the study (and those estimates are 5-10 years out of date in a time of rising tollway use).
(2) Use the federal aid we already receive to maintain these roads. On August 22, 2000, Secretary of Transportation Kirk Brown testified before the Senate Transportation Committee that Illnois received $52 million in Federal highway assistance because of the 274 miles of Interstate highways in the tollway system. I believe that is enough to pay for the type of routine maintenance now occurring on the tollway system.
(3) If additional money is needed, take it from the $8 million in concession revenue that is already coming in.
Obviously, Jim Ryan and Rod Blagojevich merely favor postponing a toll tax hike until after the election. I have identified the source of money for the conversion. No new money would be required. No toll tax hike-No Tolls!
Cost-cutting initiative one: Consolidation and pay cuts. This is not a time for costly legislative or gubernatorial initiatives. There is so much serious work to do and so little desire to do it. Obviously, government can be run more efficiently. A small example: instead of having two labor relations boards filled with patronage appointees doing very part-time jobs, let's merge them and cut their salaries. United Airlines management took a 10% pay cut. Why shouldn't management employees in state government
do the same? Does anyone think that most of them could earn as much in the private sector? There's an organization called the Mercatus Center at George Mason University whose head helped down-size the New Zealand government. I certainly will make good use of talent like that. It will be more than setting measurable performance standards. I believe we can cut the cost of state government enough to provide tax cuts to Illinois taxpayers.
Cost-cutting initiative two: Bulk purchasing of medical care and commodities for those financed by state government and the adminstration of such health care by entities for various geographic areas throughout Illinois. Only the campaign contributions of pharmaceutical companies to Republicans can explain why state government has separate contracts to purchase prescription drugs for each separate department. Think of the purchasing power of buying the health care needs of state employees, prisoners, Medicaid, DCFS wards, retired teachers, retired state employees, etc. It is estimated that merely buying pharmaceutical drugs on one contact per company would save from $120-180 million. I have no way of estimating how much would be saved by having entities bid for the right to provide all health care for those for whom the state pays from conception to death for various geographic areas in Illinois. I do know that it will save money at the end of life, because the administrating entity will spend up to the cost of keeping someone in a nursing home ($35,000 per year average cost now) to keep someone out of a nursing home. (This has the side benefit of making a lot of seniors and disabled persons happier.) After conception, the entity will figure out how to get teens to deliver their babies as close to nine months as possible in order to avoid the cost of neonatal hospitalization. (Certainly, public health officials have had their chance to solve this problem.) The entity will similarly figure out how to keep people with doctors from using expensive emergency room care. Probably, on-site general practitioner availability will result. All will save large amounts of money. I don't believe either Blagojevich or Ryan are capable of making this happen. Both would rather "milk" the current system. Perhaps we can save enough to provide the kind of tax cut that a "welfare reform dividend" should have already provided.
Cost-cutting initiative three: Turning our median strips and shoulders into a tourist attraction. Illinois is the "Prairie State," but all people who drive through see are corn and soybeans. I propose making the median strips and shoulders of at least our Interstate highways (and, yes, I am also talking about the tollways) look like they did before Illinois was settled. Imagine fifteen-foot blue stem prairie grass, which is reported to have been high as a rider on a horse before the prairie was broken. Imagine waves of yellow flowers for miles on end. We need not settle for short prairie grass. The prairie was much more beautiful. I would have our prisoners plant and maybe even grow the prairie plants. I believe this would save money, because we would not need to buy mowers and certainly wouldn't need people to do the mowing.
5. What is the proper use of tobacco settlement funds? Do you favor securitizing future tobacco settlement money to balance the state's budget?
I do not favor securitizing future tobacco settlement money. You are right that is like a farmer's eating his seed corn. Cutting back on spending makes more sense. Everyone knows that politicians will spend every dime that is available and, in Illinois, the Springfield politicians have proven they will spend more than is available.
Because general fund revenue paid for medical costs related to smoking, I see no reason expenditure of tobacco settlement money should be earmarked for any particular purpose.
6. Do you support the elimination of member initiatives?
You would think with all the commotion in Springfield about the budget that member initiatives would have been eliminated…but they weren't. Member initiatives should never be handled like they are now when one cannot figure out how money in a "holding" fund will be spent. Authority to execute the budget belongs to the Executive Branch, not to the legislative leaders. Any money appropriated for specific projects must be put in its individual line item. Having been a Budget Examiner for the United States Bureau of the Budget, you can be sure that I shall examine my budgets very carefully.
7. Do you favor or oppose elimination of legislative tuition waivers for the state's public universities?
I have already voted to eliminate legislative scholarships. I would sign a bill that would do so. Having said that, I may have been the first person to develop an outside committee (in 1974) and a form, complete with essay requirement, to award my legislative scholarships. I didn't think it was right for students to get these scholarships because of what their parents had contributed to a campaign or campaign work their parents had performed. My "Public Affairs" scholarships were awarded on the basis of what the applicant him- or herself had done.
8. Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has opened the way for education vouchers, how should Illinois proceed? Would you support a bill allowing expansion of the number of charter schools in the city of Chicago from 15 to 30? Please explain why or why not.
I believe that Illinois schools already have the authority to offer financial incentives for students to attend other schools. Under Senate Bill 22 of 1995 (Public Act 89-3), schools are granted virtual home rule power. They are allowed to do anything not prohibited by state law. (Until this is published, the teachers' unions won't have figured out that this possibility exists. Needless to say, they will immediately try to plug the "hole" in Springfield.) So, immediately, I believe any school board could decide to allocate funds to allow parents to send children to other schools or even to allow them to home school. I proposed such a bill in 1995 while I was in the General Assembly as a "growth management" tool. When I costed out what it would take to build and operate a new public grade school, I discovered that it would almost always be cheaper to pay parents to send their children to school elsewhere. I certainly would be supportive of any similar proposal that would save taxpayers money.
I also endorse the Heartland Institute voucher plan. (See Heartland.org.)
With regard to additional charter schools in Chicago or anywhere else in Illinois, I would support expansion.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 7:52 AM
Cal Skinner's 2002 Chicago Sun-Times Gubernatorial Questionnaire Answers
Name: Cal Skinner Birth Date: 6-11-42
Political Affiliation: Libertarian Party
Home: Crystal Lake, IL
Marital status: Married Spouse's name: Michele Giangrasso
Occupation: Retired state legislator
Campaign HQ Address: West Adams, Springfield, IL
Campaign Phone: 1-866-SHAKE-UP
Campaign Manager: Ted Semon Phone: 630-240-4797
Education: Economics degree from Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio (64), master's degree in public administration from the University of Michigan (class work 64-65; thesis finished and degree awarded in 1971, I believe);
Awarded Certified Illinois Assessing Officer designation in 1970.
Taught State and Local Government at Rockford and Harper Colleges
Please list civic, professional, fraternal or other types of organizations to which you belong. I am a member of the First United Church of Crystal Lake, the Northern Illinois Emmaus Community and the McHenry County Defenders. I was a charter member of the Woodstock Rotary Club and the Kiwanis Morning Breakfast Club.
Have you held elective or appointive political office or have you been employed by any branch of government?
United States Bureau of the Budget (65-66),
McHenry County Treasurer (66-70), GOP precinct committeeman (70-72, 86-00), Illinois House Appropriations Committee Staff (70-71),
State Representative, 33rd District (73-81), Unsuccessful challenger to Republican congressman (80), Transportation Consultant to Speaker George Ryan (81-83), Unsuccessful GOP nominee for State Comptroller (82),
Bureau of Benefits Manager, IL Dept. of Central Management Services (80-85), In-house management consultant and special projects for CMS including initiation of direct purchase of natural gas for state government (85-87), Advisor & research consultant to various state legislators (87-92),
State Representative, 64th District (93-01).
Please list jobs or contracts you, members of your immediate family or business partners have had with government. Please see question above. This information is listed there. Before I was married to her, my wife Michele worked for the University of Illinois Hospital as a lab technologist and taught that subject at the university.
What is your campaign budget? $300,000
Name your biggest campaign contributors and the amount they contributed:
Ted Semon, $90,000
Matt Beauchamp $26,000
Dan O'Connell, $5500
Joseph Dempsey, Jr., $1000
Bruce Green, $1000
Dave Hughes, $1000
Dave Simpson, $1000
Sue Wells, $1000
If elected, what would be your immediate priorities in office?
Besides replacing the Tollway and Gambling Boards, my first priority would be stopping the pork that is not in a specific line item that can be understood by taxpayers. I am the only candidate proposing that the 274 miles of tollways be made freeways. Tollway drivers have been double taxed since the tollway began. They pay tolls, plus state and federal motor fuel taxes. Those state motor fuel taxes paid by Tollway drivers exceed the amount needed to pay off the tollway bonds over the next 15 years. Repair and maintenance can be financed by allocating to the 274 miles of Interstate tollways the federal highway assistance attributable to them. If more money is needed, there will continue to be at least $8 million in concession revenue.
The Gambling Board must be replaced because neither it nor Jim Ryan can figure out what "open bidding" means. Here's a clue: the gamblers who invested should no more get their money back than should lottery losers, Enron or Worldcom investors. Neither should the politically-connected "minorities" in the current deal be guaranteed a "piece of the action" in the next casino deal.
What is your position on these Illinois issues:
The state's responsibility to fund public education: Would you reduce the state's reliance on property taxes to fund education? If you believe this is not a proper approach, is there an alternative?
I am the only candidate you can count on not to sign an income tax increase.
Property taxes certainly have their drawbacks, but all of the money is spent locally. That is obviously not the case with the state income tax.
The question is not reducing the state's reliance on property taxes to fund education, it is, "How can we improve educational outcomes in Illinois?"
I think the answer is clearly to allow competition with government schools. I endorse the Heartland Institute's scholarship plan. The plan freezes school operating fund property taxes and gives every parent whatever the local school district would have spent on the child in the local public school system, regardless of whether the money comes from real estate taxes, state or federal assistance. Local control is assured because the plan would have to be authorized by local referendum. The plan would be phased in over a seven year period and require no new taxes. If the General Assembly wished to provide more money for education, it could. No restriction is put upon what a private school could charge for tuition, but any amount less than the amount spent by the student's public school system would be earmarked for college tuition for the child. This program is well thought out and, in my opinion, would work to bring better education to all Illinois students, whether their parents decided to send them to public or private school.
The best way to expand health insurance for uninsured families:
Private enterprise is the answer. Jewel provides checkers working as little as twelve hours a week with health benefits.
Expansion of O'Hare International Airport and/or a third airport in the Chicago region:
I shall not be led down the primrose path to Peotone. If a reliever airport is needed, Gary and Rockford are already built. Gary is 35 minutes from the Loop. Libertarians do not favor wasting money. While Illinois politicians and their contributors are lusting for Peotone and an expanded O'Hare, the 90% of the cost that would come from the Federal government is still tax money. It may not be state tax dollars, but we taxpayers have still paid it. Development is moving toward Rockford several miles per year. It will soon be a logical airport for northwest suburban air traffic, as Gary certainly could be for southeast Chicago passengers. Any expansion of O'Hare must not demolish Bensenville or Elk Grove Village. I will have to be convinced that new runways are being proposed as something more than a way to enrich the Richard Daley machine's coffers.
The moratorium on the death penalty:
If George Ryan decides to commute everyone's death sentence, then the subject will be moot. If he doesn't, I see no reason not to allow the wheels of justice to move again. I do propose that an advisory referendum be held-as one was in 1970 when the new constitution was voted upon-to determine what Illinois voters think about continuation of the death penalty. Personally, I favor the death penalty.
What limits, if any, should be placed on access to abortions?
I am pro-life. For better or worse, the U.S. Supreme Court has sharply circumscribed what protections may be offered to unborn babies. Babies obviously have no choice in the matter of whether they should be allowed to be born or not. My wife Michele and I shall be eternally grateful that our adopted son's mother loved him enough to give him life five years ago. I favor giving unborn children whatever protections that the U.S. Supreme Court allows state governments to provide. I am horrified that Rod Blagojevich supports allowing women to have an abortion during delivery. (That's what partial birth abortion is.) I think when people learn he favors no protections whatsoever, even going so far as to favoring allowing women to have an abortion at 8 months and 29 days into her pregnancy, they will conclude that he is the real extremist on the abortion issue.
In the face of the economic downturn, how do you intend to balance the budget? Raise fees or taxes, or make budget cuts? Please be specific about which taxes, fees?
In fact, there was no budget crisis in Springfield this year. General Revenue Fund receipts were down a mere 2%. No manager worthy of the title couldn't cut his budget 2%. I have visited with 80% of the daily newspapers in the state. I asked managers if they had ever cut their budget 2%. They answered in the affirmative. I asked if they had ever had to cut their budget 5%. Most answered, "Yes." One well-known Downstate daily offered, "How about 7%?" No business person in the state can have any empathy or sympathy with the spendoholics in Springfield, who always find it easier to raise taxes than to cut spending.
If we have continued economic problems, I'll tell you what I won't do. I won't blame it on cigarette smokers, as the Republicans and Democrats did this year. While I was campaigning all over Illinois against raising taxes this spring the two Golden Gloves boxers would not even get in the ring-just as they won't get in the debate ring with me now. They threw in the towel and allowed their Republican and Democratic colleagues in Springfield to hike taxes without objection.
As I stated earlier, I am the only candidate for Governor you can be certain will veto an income tax hike. Considering Rod Blagojevich's public employee supporters, you know he will be pressured to raise taxes. While loyal Republicans might like to believe that Republican governors will oppose tax hikes, every Republican governor for the last fifty years has raised taxes, regardless of what he said before he was elected.
As for budget cuts, I have a major proposal in the field of providing health care to state dependents. I propose bulk purchasing of medical care and commodities for those financed by state government and the administration of such health care by entities for various geographic areas throughout Illinois. Only the campaign contributions of pharmaceutical companies to Republicans can explain why state government has separate contracts to purchase prescription drugs for each separate department. Think of the purchasing power of buying the health care needs of state employees, prisoners, Medicaid, DCFS wards, retired teachers, retired state employees, etc. It is estimated that merely buying pharmaceutical drugs on one contact per company would save from $120-180 million. I have no way of estimating how much would be saved by having entities bid for the right to provide all health care for those for whom the state pays from conception to death for various geographic areas in Illinois. I do know that it will save money at the end of life, because the administrating entity will spend up to the cost of keeping someone in a nursing home ($35,000 per year average cost now) to keep someone out of a nursing home. (This has the side benefit of making a lot of seniors and disabled persons happier.) After conception, the entity will figure out how to get teens to deliver their babies as close to nine months as possible in order to avoid the cost of neonatal hospitalization. (Certainly, public health officials have had their chance to solve this problem.) The entity will similarly figure out how to keep people with doctors from using expensive emergency room care. Probably, on-site general practitioner availability will result. All will save large amounts of money. I don't believe either Blagojevich or Ryan is capable of making this happen. Both would rather "milk" the current system. Perhaps we can save enough to provide the kind of tax cut that a "welfare reform dividend" should have already provided.
In addition, it obviously makes no sense to have $126 million of pork still in the budget. And, that's just what the State Journal-Register could find. I doubt items like the $133,000 gift to a Tennessee entrepreneur to build a $6 million water park on Rend Lake next to a state-subsidized failing hotel are included in the $126 million. How on earth could money be spent on such a project if Illinois really has a budget problem? Is it some legislator's pork project?
What could the Governor's office do to raise standards and improve teacher education in state run colleges and universities?
One thing I find outrageous about the current system is that state schools of education allow students to graduate before they have a teachers' certificate. Do you agree with me that this makes no sense? It ought to be part of the cost of the degree.
Should Illinois laws make it easier to confiscate and impound vehicles when a driver has his or her license suspended? Please explain your answer.
I think Illinois already has too much confiscation of property without due process.
Have you visited a state park in the past 12 months? If so, please describe any concerns:
As a matter of fact, I did drive down the county line road between Randolph and Perry Counties. The road divides the biggest state park in Illinois. It was just purchased from a coal mining company and probably is over 20,000 acres of mined out strip mine. A local newspaper publisher said the coal mine company should have been forced to pay the state to take the land. I also visited Jim Edgar State Park in Cass County and stayed at Illinois Beach State Park in Zion for a weekend. The biggest problem I see with the first two state parks is that they are inconveniently located for most citizens of Illinois. As to Zion, the hotel room we stayed in could have used a functioning lock.
What the state park system needs is more parkland in Chicagoland. I propose the state purchase 2000-3000 acres of mined-out or soon-to-be-mined out gravel pits between Crystal Lake, Lake-in-the-Hills, Algonquin and Cary for development into a unique metropolitan state park. I suggest it be named "Gravel Gertie State Park" after Chester Gould's 1950's character in the Dick Tracy cartoon. Mr. Gould told me that he got the idea of Gravel Gertie while driving past the old Crystal Lake dump, which is in the area.
This would be an untraditional state park, but surely no more untraditional than an old strip mine. Virtually any type of recreation one can imagine could take place in these old gravel pits. Consider the possibilities of the many lakes-large and small-for swimming, fishing, sail and motor boating in the summer, and ice fishing, ice boating, skiing for beginners, and ice skating in the winter. Almost any water sport except surfing would be possible. Water slides would be easy to incorporate into the sides of the gravel pits, as would toboggan runs, sledding hills, and protected lakes where one could skate on near perfect ice. Snowmobiling would not endanger the flora, if only because there is not much. I could even see a bobsled, if there were enough interest.
Imagine the recreational opportunities in late fall. Of course, hiking and bicycling and camping would be possible, but, in addition, in some lakes shaped like solar ovens, it would be warm enough to swim until very late fall.
Motorcycles, horse riders and dirt bikes could find a home in parts of the proposed park--in different areas, of course. Those who like to put their motor homes close to water would be able to find pads. (The Lake County Forest Preserve District has announced that such a site overlooking the Fox River will be closed to mobile homes.)
The one thing this park would not have much of would be trees…at least in the beginning. I am certain that Department of Natural Resources foresters could transform the esthetics of the area as time passes.
The park would be located a short bus ride from the Cary train station, as well as being easily accessible from the Northwest Tollway.
What book have you read most recently?
My most recent "summer" book was Clive Cussler's "Fire Ice." I am now reading the latest in the "Left Behind" series.
Do you have a hobby?
Now that I am retired, politics is my hobby. There certainly is enough going on that is displeasing to keep me busy in McHenry County and the state arena for the foreseeable future. After the election, whether or not I am elected, I shall be soliciting petition signatures to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot to limit the number of terms the Mike Madigans, Lee Daniels, Pate Philips and Emil Joneses of the world can serve as a caucus leader to six years (prospectively). I shall also be fighting any attempt to raise the income tax and expand the sales tax.
Do you have a handgun in your home? If so, why?
I hold a Firearm Owners' Identification Card and, whether I do or don't own a handgun, I can tell you that I am not going to put a sign in my yard saying, "No gun within." Instead, I propose the only plan to reduce violent crime by over 2% per year and rape by over 3% per year. It is based on solid social science research of similar plans in twenty other states. I call on the legislature to enact a Personal Security Act, which will allow law-abiding citizens who have taken a short-course in how to use a gun in self-defense to obtain a permit to use a gun to protect themselves. The sad fact is that the police cannot always be where you need them when you need them. Every state that has enacted such a proposal has seen a drop in violent crime. Michigan's law has been in effect almost fifteen months. From my searches of the Detroit papers, I cannot find that its enactment was an issue in either party in the recent, hotly contested primary elections.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 7:48 AM
Saturday, January 13, 2007
Rockford Rescue Mission Commitment
Rockford Rescue Mission
Life Recovery Program
Commitment to Four Life Changing Practices
We as staff welcome you as you join us on the walk into the abundant life of a close relationship with Jesus Christ. , If you have not yet experienced spiritual life in Christ, you are still separated from God and dead in your sin. , We will point you to life discovery through faith in Jesus Christ. He is the life and the only way to heaven .
After receiving Christ, staying close to Him into abundant life is not easy. But being connected and surrendered to Him is much easier than trying to live life without Him.
You must decide if you are going to pay the price for entering and pursuing your own recovery from sinfulness and its life-destruction. If you are not willing to pay the price, you will stay stuck in death. But if you will continue to pay the price, you will be greatly enriched and rewarded.
For us to guide you into life recovery/transformation in Christ, you must join us in the following four-fold commitment:
1. To Remember I am a Child of God
“See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God.”
The Bible says we are all created in the image of God, belong to Him, and deserve to be treated with love and respect. When we received Christ, we became new creatures in Him. To be in Christ is a miracle of God’s amazing grace. Now by identity with Christ we are the children of God. To increasingly understand “God’s grace in all truth” is life transforming.
Therefore, we choose to teach and to encourage one another to know the fullness of our true identity in Christ Jesus. Then we will celebrate the wonder of God’s love and grace in making us His in Christ.
2. To Pursue Christlikeness as My Goal
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
We choose to be imitators of God. As we moment by moment so choose, by the Holy Spirit we will become more like Jesus Christ Who is “full of grace and truth.” He is our standard. We choose to “walk as children of light…trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” and to follow Him into love, faith, purity, and hope.
We as staff will model maturing Christ-likeness to you our residents. And you as residents will follow us as staff as we follow Christ.
3. To Practice Self-examination and Correction
“Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.” “If we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged.”
To change for good is hard. It’s easier to avoid the price and pain of change. We can follow the rules of the authorities over us and so give the appearance of cooperation, while our hearts can remain resistant, resentful, and rebellious to God and to one another. But we choose to not play this deadly game.
We choose to stop wasting time, to be for real, to embrace the truth, and to have the humility and courage to face our bondages. While experiences at the hands of others may have deeply hurt us and greatly influenced us, we confess that we are always fully responsible for our own thoughts, words, reactions and actions.
We invite God to make known to us any hurtful ways in us. We choose to confess our secrets and failures to God and to those we have offended.
4. To Be Mutually Encouraging and Accountable
“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today’, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
We cannot experience significant personal change alone. We need each other. Before God we are responsible for one another as brothers in Christ and members of Christ’s body.
So we choose to be accountable to one another, to hold each other accountable, and to accept the consequences for our wrong choices. Therefore, we choose to invite one another’s feedback of encouragement and correction, while remembering that it is easier for us to see the splinter in our brother’s eye than to see the beam in our own, to react with excuses, to blame others rather than to accept responsibility, and to be harsh or nice rather than to “…speak the truth in love.”
Through practicing self-examination and correction and mutual accountability, we will ask for God’s grace to learn from our failures and their consequences, to start over, to make better choices, and to change from the inside out as beloved children of God whom He has called to pursue Christ-likeness.
I chose this day, ___________________, to join the staff in this Four- Fold Commitment.______________________________________Signature
Genesis 1:26 26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Genesis3:12, 13 12The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” he woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 9:6 6“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.
Deuteronomy 30:19, 20 19This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Psalm 84:11 11For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
Psalm 139:23, 24 23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Proverbs 28:13 13He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Lamentations 3:40 40Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
Ezekiel1 8:4 4For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.
Matthew 5:1-12 1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them, saying:3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, or theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 7:1-5 & 12 1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 11:28-30 28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 22:34-40 34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”37Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
John 1:12, 14,17 & 18 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
John 10:10 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 14:6 6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 15:4-5 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Romans 3:23 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:5-8 5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
Romans 12:1-2 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will
1 Corinthians 11:31 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27 12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
2 Corinthians 3:18 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Ephesians 4:13 & 15 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 5:1, 2,8 & 10 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ...10and find out what pleases the Lord.
Philippians 2:12, 13 12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Philippians 3:7-16 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained
Colossians 1:6 6that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.
1 Thessalonians 1:6, 7 6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia
2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.
1 Timothy 6:11 11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
2 Timothy 2:22 22Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Hebrews 3:13 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
James 5:16 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
1 Peter 2:21 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
1 Peter 5:3 3not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
1 John 3:1a 1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
Life Recovery Program
Commitment to Four Life Changing Practices
We as staff welcome you as you join us on the walk into the abundant life of a close relationship with Jesus Christ. , If you have not yet experienced spiritual life in Christ, you are still separated from God and dead in your sin. , We will point you to life discovery through faith in Jesus Christ. He is the life and the only way to heaven .
After receiving Christ, staying close to Him into abundant life is not easy. But being connected and surrendered to Him is much easier than trying to live life without Him.
You must decide if you are going to pay the price for entering and pursuing your own recovery from sinfulness and its life-destruction. If you are not willing to pay the price, you will stay stuck in death. But if you will continue to pay the price, you will be greatly enriched and rewarded.
For us to guide you into life recovery/transformation in Christ, you must join us in the following four-fold commitment:
1. To Remember I am a Child of God
“See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God.”
The Bible says we are all created in the image of God, belong to Him, and deserve to be treated with love and respect. When we received Christ, we became new creatures in Him. To be in Christ is a miracle of God’s amazing grace. Now by identity with Christ we are the children of God. To increasingly understand “God’s grace in all truth” is life transforming.
Therefore, we choose to teach and to encourage one another to know the fullness of our true identity in Christ Jesus. Then we will celebrate the wonder of God’s love and grace in making us His in Christ.
2. To Pursue Christlikeness as My Goal
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and foremost commandment. And the second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
We choose to be imitators of God. As we moment by moment so choose, by the Holy Spirit we will become more like Jesus Christ Who is “full of grace and truth.” He is our standard. We choose to “walk as children of light…trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord” and to follow Him into love, faith, purity, and hope.
We as staff will model maturing Christ-likeness to you our residents. And you as residents will follow us as staff as we follow Christ.
3. To Practice Self-examination and Correction
“Let us examine and probe our ways, And let us return to the LORD.” “If we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged.”
To change for good is hard. It’s easier to avoid the price and pain of change. We can follow the rules of the authorities over us and so give the appearance of cooperation, while our hearts can remain resistant, resentful, and rebellious to God and to one another. But we choose to not play this deadly game.
We choose to stop wasting time, to be for real, to embrace the truth, and to have the humility and courage to face our bondages. While experiences at the hands of others may have deeply hurt us and greatly influenced us, we confess that we are always fully responsible for our own thoughts, words, reactions and actions.
We invite God to make known to us any hurtful ways in us. We choose to confess our secrets and failures to God and to those we have offended.
4. To Be Mutually Encouraging and Accountable
“But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called ‘Today’, lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.”
We cannot experience significant personal change alone. We need each other. Before God we are responsible for one another as brothers in Christ and members of Christ’s body.
So we choose to be accountable to one another, to hold each other accountable, and to accept the consequences for our wrong choices. Therefore, we choose to invite one another’s feedback of encouragement and correction, while remembering that it is easier for us to see the splinter in our brother’s eye than to see the beam in our own, to react with excuses, to blame others rather than to accept responsibility, and to be harsh or nice rather than to “…speak the truth in love.”
Through practicing self-examination and correction and mutual accountability, we will ask for God’s grace to learn from our failures and their consequences, to start over, to make better choices, and to change from the inside out as beloved children of God whom He has called to pursue Christ-likeness.
I chose this day, ___________________, to join the staff in this Four- Fold Commitment.______________________________________Signature
Genesis 1:26 26Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
Genesis3:12, 13 12The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” 13Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” he woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
Genesis 9:6 6“Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.
Deuteronomy 30:19, 20 19This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Psalm 84:11 11For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.
Psalm 139:23, 24 23Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. 24See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
Proverbs 28:13 13He who conceals his sins does not prosper, but whoever confesses and renounces them finds mercy.
Lamentations 3:40 40Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.
Ezekiel1 8:4 4For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.
Matthew 5:1-12 1Now when he saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2and he began to teach them, saying:3“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.4Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.5Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.6Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.7Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.8Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.9Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.10Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, or theirs is the kingdom of heaven.11“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Matthew 7:1-5 & 12 1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. 3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.12So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 11:28-30 28“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 22:34-40 34Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. 35One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: 36“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”37Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
John 1:12, 14,17 & 18 12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God14The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.17For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.
John 10:10 10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
John 14:6 6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 15:4-5 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Romans 3:23 23for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
Romans 6:23 23For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:5-8 5Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; 7the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
Romans 12:1-2 1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will
1 Corinthians 11:31 31But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27 12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
2 Corinthians 3:18 18And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Ephesians 4:13 & 15 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.
Ephesians 5:1, 2,8 & 10 1Be imitators of God, therefore, as dearly loved children 2and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.8For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light ...10and find out what pleases the Lord.
Philippians 2:12, 13 12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.
Philippians 3:7-16 7But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. 10I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead. 12Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. 15All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you. 16Only let us live up to what we have already attained
Colossians 1:6 6that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth.
1 Thessalonians 1:6, 7 6You became imitators of us and of the Lord; in spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia
2 Thessalonians 3:7-9 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone’s food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow.
1 Timothy 6:11 11But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.
2 Timothy 2:22 22Flee the evil desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
Hebrews 3:13 13But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.
James 5:16 16Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
1 Peter 2:21 21To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.
1 Peter 5:3 3not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
1 John 3:1a 1How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
# posted by Cal Skinner : 2:50 PM
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Illinois Financing African Schools: $12,500 to $40 Million
There has been so much publicity about Oprah Winfrey’s $40 million girls’ prep school in South Africa.
Now, the comparisons are starting.
The Chicago Sun-Times Tom McNamee had a column Monday about Chicago black children entitled,
The man interviewed, Tim King, is “president of a new public school on the South Side, Urban Prep Charter Academy,” according to McNamee.
He asks the
The contrast was so stark that I decided to look into it.
Started as the African Refugee Committee, the effort is now called RISE International. According to its August newsletter, $1.3 million has been raised.
Financing has been provided to build 105 schools. The buildings are
suitable for use as a primary school on weekdays and as a church or community centers at other times.
I wrote a first draft and then sent an email asking some questions.
Imagine my surprise when Lynn Cole, daughter-in-law of Moody Bible Institute’s Pastor Donald Cole, called me back.
Of course, I asked her what she could do with $40 million.
Let me put it in Lynn Cole's words:
These are the entities listed as partnering with the organization on its web site:
In addition to raising money stateside, the group sends people to Angola, for one of the unique elements of RISE is its focus on relationships.
= = = = =
The top photo is of excited students at school in village of Kambiambia, Benguela Province. Beneath to the right is a close-up of some of the waving children.
On the right is the 2006 Pilgrimage Team helping build school at village of Balambi. The $12,500 to pay for the school was raised by New Trier High School students.
Below, Lynn Cole is seen with students at school in Lomako, Benguela Province.
Next appears a teacher with his students at school in village of Kunje, Bie Province. A closer look at the teacher and some of his students can been seen directly below.
The three men are standing in the door of a school in Essoquela, Benguela Province. The odds are good that they helped build the school. Is that a hopeful mother in front of them?
Both the adults and the students below are from a school in Essoquela, Benguela Province. In the column of kids from the school, the tallest, dressed in blue, has a somber look on her face.
The little boy with his hands on the big brick is from the village of Balambi. This close-up was taken from the third picture from the top of the story.
Below the boy is a shipping container being filled with school supplies and clothing by those in the New Trier High School area. Besides raising money to pay for the building of schools, RISE International also encourages groups to donate such goods and material.
Next are enlagements of those who went to Angola to help build the school in Balambi, along with some residents whom they assisted in turning New Trier's cotribution into a school.
Finally, there is a map of Angola which shows the number of schools RISE expects to be ready for February classes.
For more McHenry County Blog, click here.
Now, the comparisons are starting.The Chicago Sun-Times Tom McNamee had a column Monday about Chicago black children entitled,
What would you do with $40 million?
Another Chicagoan also tries to improve education for blacks.
The man interviewed, Tim King, is “president of a new public school on the South Side, Urban Prep Charter Academy,” according to McNamee.He asks the
“If you ran a school in Chicago, what would you do with $40 million? "question.King’s reply?
"First thing I'd do is probably not use it all on one school,” which I consider the logical answer, but the columnist forces him to do it “the Oprah way.”This weekend Pam Reed, editor of “Stories from Katrinaland, God Responds to Disaster in New Orleans,” her sister Penny Pullen, my wife and I were discussing Oprah’s efforts and Pam told me of an Illinois-based effort to provide schools in Angola.
The contrast was so stark that I decided to look into it.
Started as the African Refugee Committee, the effort is now called RISE International. According to its August newsletter, $1.3 million has been raised.Financing has been provided to build 105 schools. The buildings are
suitable for use as a primary school on weekdays and as a church or community centers at other times.
I wrote a first draft and then sent an email asking some questions.
Imagine my surprise when Lynn Cole, daughter-in-law of Moody Bible Institute’s Pastor Donald Cole, called me back.
Of course, I asked her what she could do with $40 million.
With $40 million we could do amazing things. I think we could change a country with $40 million.But, what she said before I got to that question is instructive of the mission.
Let me put it in Lynn Cole's words:
And where does the money come from?The civil war continued in Angola for 27 years. The infrastructure lay in ruins, schools were destroyed or non-existent, and an entire generation has grown up unable to read and write. Our vision is to work together to rebuild lives and communities, reflecting Jesus’ charge to love others as we love ourselves.
Andrew, my husband was born and raised in Angola, the son of Don and Naomi Cole, missionaries there for 18 years.
After a 31 year absence, he returned with his Dad for a one time visit in 1997—they were moved by the people and the involvement could not end, but began anew.This journey began for me in May of 1998, as Andrew and I traveled to Angola to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary— I had never been out of the US, never to a third world war-torn country, never to a place that gripped me like Angola.
Amidst the devastation, Andrew dreamed of building a school at Chilonda, the place he had grown up.But in 1999, the war escalated and unable to enter Angola, we found Angolan refugees with whom we could be involved in the Osire Refugee Camp in Namibia, and thought it would be great to bring a “few friends” to join us.
Those “friends” became the first Pilgrimage of Service team in May of 2000, a group of 19 that traveled to Osire to work and serve.
Their experience and the relationships that were built moved that group to form a non-profit organization just one year later.
Subsequent mission trips to refugee camps in Zambia inspired passion and action. And when the war ended in 2002, the journey led RISE back to Angola, with a commitment to bring encouragement and hope through education.
We couldn’t get in so we went to refugee camps. When the war ended in 2002, we decided that we wanted to focus our efforts on rebuilding Angola.
The most effective way to do that was through education.
In the spring of 2003 a group of us sat in our living room to think about how this might unfold.The first school was built just three and a half years ago and highlights what can happen when we take a small step. Our mission is to partner with Angolan churches, community leaders and government officials to build primary schools in rural Angola.
It is a very simple partnership where we raised the funds in the United States to provide building materials and books and local villages in Angola are chosen by local leadership teams we have established. This is based on a partnership agreement.
Then the village volunteers the labor and the oversight.
February is the start of their school year. There will be about 45,000 kids in 105 schools that would not have had schools yet.
The reason is that we are building schools in various rural areas where they have not schools or the schools were destroyed. They haven’t had schools for 25 or 30 years in some of these villages and in some villages there never was a school.
The places where we are working are where there was a lot of fighting during the war. So the entire infrastructure was destroyed.We partner with a local village and a local church within the village and they provide labor and oversight.
The beauty of that is that the school belongs to them. They have ownership and investment.
The third part of the partnership is that the Angolan Ministry of Education provides and pays the teachers.
It’s really an effort to jumpstart the educational system.
The task of rebuilding is so enormous when a country is destroyed. The government is beginning to build schools in the cities and towns, but it will be years before they will be able to get to the rural areas as well.
We have begun in the rural areas and will meet in the middle.
That’s where this idea (comes from) that these kids would not have been in schools for years to come without outside assistance.
The schools we are building are about $12,500 apiece. They are in places where there is no electricity, no running water. The local village builds outhouses for the use of the schools.
The financing to this point has been primarily relationally based.
By that I mean, people who have known us or people who have traveled with us to Angola are touched by the story and the need and want to make a difference.Individuals, small groups, schools, churches and businesses have joined together.
It’s been an amazing process as well.
Initially we are involved in a number of schools. And there are several more becoming involved, including Prosser Academy, a Chicago public school.
The ones who have been involved to date have been New Trier, Wheeling High School and West Chicago Community High School.
The kids have been involved to raise money to build schools and to send shipping containers filled with school supplies and clothing.
We have very committed people in these schools.They are engaged because they see the money they raise actually makes a difference.
These are the entities listed as partnering with the organization on its web site:-Christian Heritage Academy in Northfield, IL
-Grace Community Church in Tucson, AZ
-Moody Broadcasting
-New Trier High School
-Starbucks
-West Chicago Community High School
-Wheeling High School
-Willow Creek Community Church – North Shore in Northfield
In addition to raising money stateside, the group sends people to Angola, for one of the unique elements of RISE is its focus on relationships. We take teams in the summer and those teams (including some teens) participate in both building schools and teacher training workshops.The cost?
So they are personally involved and take pictures and we get stories and we get input. They bring that back to the U.S. so that the kids in the schools see the schools they are actually building and the kids they are helping.
We have taken teams since May of 2000.These teams, we call them a “Pilgrimage of Service.” The idea is that we go to work and serve along side Angolans, but it is often those who go that are most deeply impacted.
Last summer’s cost was $4,700.And the future?
Over the next five years RISE wants to impact 100,000 additional students, building 250 more schools, and work to help the schools provide the best learning environment in rural Angola.Contributions to RISE International can be made via its web page.Education empowers people—we will remain focused on rebuilding lives and communities through education.
The schools and churches offer a network to disperse knowledge.
Exciting partnerships continue to unfold, with a plan to provide training and materials to educate about life skills, literacy and the prevention of AIDS. Angola is unique, having the lowest rate of AIDS in southern Africa because of the isolation of war. We can and must make a difference--education can save lives.
= = = = =
The top photo is of excited students at school in village of Kambiambia, Benguela Province. Beneath to the right is a close-up of some of the waving children.
On the right is the 2006 Pilgrimage Team helping build school at village of Balambi. The $12,500 to pay for the school was raised by New Trier High School students.
Below, Lynn Cole is seen with students at school in Lomako, Benguela Province.
Next appears a teacher with his students at school in village of Kunje, Bie Province. A closer look at the teacher and some of his students can been seen directly below.
The three men are standing in the door of a school in Essoquela, Benguela Province. The odds are good that they helped build the school. Is that a hopeful mother in front of them?
Both the adults and the students below are from a school in Essoquela, Benguela Province. In the column of kids from the school, the tallest, dressed in blue, has a somber look on her face.
The little boy with his hands on the big brick is from the village of Balambi. This close-up was taken from the third picture from the top of the story.
Below the boy is a shipping container being filled with school supplies and clothing by those in the New Trier High School area. Besides raising money to pay for the building of schools, RISE International also encourages groups to donate such goods and material.
Next are enlagements of those who went to Angola to help build the school in Balambi, along with some residents whom they assisted in turning New Trier's cotribution into a school.
Finally, there is a map of Angola which shows the number of schools RISE expects to be ready for February classes.
For more McHenry County Blog, click here.
# posted by Cal Skinner : 11:31 AM
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Illinois Financing African Schools: $12,500 to $40 Million
There has been so much publicity about Oprah Winfrey’s $40 million girls’ prep school in South Africa. Now, the comparisons are starting.
The Chicago Sun-Times Tom McNamee had a column Monday about Chicago black children entitled,
What would you do with $40 million?
Another Chicagoan also tries to improve education for blacks.
The man interviewed, Tim King, is “president of a new public school on the South Side, Urban Prep Charter Academy,” according to McNamee.He asks the
“If you ran a school in Chicago, what would you do with $40 million? "question.King’s reply?
"First thing I'd do is probably not use it all on one school,” which I consider the logical answer, but the columnist forces him to do it “the Oprah way.”This weekend Pam Reed, editor of “Stories from Katrinaland, God Responds to Disaster in New Orleans,” her sister Penny Pullen, my wife and I were discussing Oprah’s efforts and Pam told me of an Illinois-based effort to provide schools in Angola.
The contrast was so stark that I decided to look into it.
Started as the African Refugee Committee, the effort is now called RISE International. According to its August newsletter, $1.3 million has been raised.Financing has been provided to build 105 schools. The buildings are
suitable for use as a primary school on weekdays and as a church or community centers at other times.
I wrote a first draft and then sent an email asking some questions.
Imagine my surprise when Lynn Cole, daughter-in-law of Moody Bible Institute’s Pastor Donald Cole, called me back.
Of course, I asked her what she could do with $40 million.
With $40 million we could do amazing things. I think we could change a country with $40 million.But, what she said before I got to that question is instructive of the mission.
Let me put it in Lynn Cole's words:
And where does the money come from?
Andrew, my husband was born and raised in Angola, the son of Don and Naomi Cole, missionaries there for 18 years.
After a 31 year absence, he returned with his Dad for a one time visit in 1997—they were moved by the people and the involvement could not end, but began anew.
But in 1999, the war escalated and unable to enter Angola, we found Angolan refugees with whom we could be involved in the Osire Refugee Camp in Namibia, and thought it would be great to bring a “few friends” to join us.
Their experience and the relationships that were built moved that group to form a non-profit organization just one year later.
Subsequent mission trips to refugee camps in Zambia inspired passion and action. And when the war ended in 2002, the journey led RISE back to Angola, with a commitment to bring encouragement and hope through education.
We couldn’t get in so we went to refugee camps. When the war ended in 2002, we decided that we wanted to focus our efforts on rebuilding Angola.
The most effective way to do that was through education.
In the spring of 2003 a group of us sat in our living room to think about how this might unfold.
It was a very simple partnership where we raised the funds in the United States to provide building materials and books and local villages in Angola are chosen by local leadership teams we have established. This is based on a partnership agreement.
Then the village volunteers the labor and the oversight.
February is the start of their school year. There will be about 45,000 kids in 105 schools that would not have had schools yet.
The reason is that we are building schools in various rural areas where they have not schools or the schools were destroyed. They haven’t had schools for 25 or 30 years in some of these villages and in some villages there never was a school.
The places where we are working are where there was a lot of fighting during the war. So the entire infrastructure was destroyed.
The beauty of that is that the school belongs to them. They have ownership and investment.
The third part of the partnership is that the Angolan Ministry of Education provides and pays the teachers.
It’s really an effort to jumpstart the educational system.
The task of rebuilding is so enormous when a country is destroyed. The government is beginning to build schools in the cities and towns, but it will be years before they will be able to get to the rural areas as well.
We have begun in the rural areas and will meet in the middle.
That’s where this idea (comes from) that these kids would not have been in schools for years to come without outside assistance.
The schools we are building are about $12,500 apiece. They are in places where there is no electricity, no running water. The local village builds outhouses for the use of the schools.
The financing to this point has been primarily relationally based.
By that I mean, people who have known us or people who have traveled with us to Angola are touched by the story and the need and want to make a difference.
It’s been an amazing process as well.
Initially we are involved in a number of schools. And there are several more becoming involved, including Prosser Academy, a Chicago public school.
The ones who have been involved to date have been New Trier, Wheeling High School and West Chicago Community High School.
The kids have been involved to raise money to build schools and to send shipping containers filled with school supplies and clothing.
We have very committed people in these schools.They are engaged because they see the money they raise actually makes a difference.
These are the entities listed as partnering with the organization on its web site:-Christian Heritage Academy in Northfield, IL
-Grace Community Church in Tucson, AZ
-Moody Broadcasting
-New Trier High School
-Starbucks
-West Chicago Community High School
-Wheeling High School
-Willow Creek Community Church – North Shore in Northfield
In addition to raising money stateside, the group sends people to Angola, for one of the unique elements of RISE is its focus on relationships. We take teams in the summer and those teams (including some teens) participate in both building schools and teacher training workshops.The cost?
So they are personally involved and take pictures and we get stories and we get input. They bring that back to the U.S. so that the kids in the schools see the actually schools they are actually building and the kids they are helping.
We have taken teams since May of 2000.
Last summer’s cost was $4,700.And the future?
Over the next five years RISE wants to impact 100,000 additional students, building 250 more schools, and work to help the schools provide the best learning environment in rural Angola.Contributions to RISE International can be made via its web page.
The schools and churches offer a network to disperse knowledge.
Exciting partnerships continue to unfold, with a plan to provide training and materials to educate about life skills, literacy and the prevention of AIDS. Angola is unique, having the lowest rate of AIDS in southern Africa because of the isolation of war. We can and must make a difference--education can save lives.
= = = = =
The top photo is of excited students at school in village of Kambiambia, Benguela Province. Beneath to the right is a close-up of some of the waving children.
On the right is the 2006 Pilgrimage Team helping build school at village of Balambi. The $12,500 to pay for the school was raised by New Trier High School students.
Below, Lynn Cole is seen with students at school in Lomako, Benguela Province.
Next appears a teacher with his students at school in village of Kunje, Bie Province. A closer look at the teacher and some of his students can been seen directly below.
The three men are standing in the door of a school in Essoquela, Benguela Province. The odds are good that they helped build the school. Is that a hopeful mother in front of them?
Both the adults and the students below are from a school in Essoquela, Benguela Province. In the column of kids from the school, the tallest, dressed in blue, has a somber look on her face.
The little boy with his hands on the big brick is from the village of Balambi. This close-up was taken from the third picture from the top of the story.
Below the boy is a shipping container being filled with school supplies and clothing by those in the New Trier High School area. Besides raising money to pay for the building of schools, RISE International also encourages groups to donate such goods and material.
Next are enlagements of those who went to Angola to help build the school in Balambi, along with some residents whom they assisted in turning New Trier's cotribution into a school.
Finally, there is a map of Angola which shows the number of schools RISE expects to be ready for February classes.
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# posted by Cal Skinner : 7:04 PM
