Todas las personas (all the people)

At a UCC communications team retreat...


Thinking of the UCC's new ad campaign scheduled to begin Oct. 5, 2008:

Rockin' the Flock!

Product Alert:

Is nothing sacred?

My 14 year old son (a MUCH better Christian than I am) has been totally inspired by the Guitar Hero franchise. His guitar skills and interest are enhanced by exposure to some great guitar music on the original Guitar Hero and GH3. "Anarchy in the U.K.", "Black Magic Woman", "The Seeker", "Bulls on Parade" - just to name a few - offer a broad overview of musical styles.

Too bad many "Christian" companies feel they have to either sanitize what our kids see and hear or "God it up" so that it barely resembles the thing they were trying to achieve.

The music and game industries are just that - industries. As is the Christian merchandising industry. They wouldn't be making what they are making unless it turned a buck. Profit and altruism are generally mutually exclusive. I don't think the Digital Praise Corporation is producing a quasi-Guitar Hero game because it will make converts or better disciples - they are producing it because they hope it will make money.

As an aspiring guitarist my son needs to know less about Petra's "Backsliding Blues" and more about Eric Johnson's "Cliffs of Dover" (as performed at this HS talent show - WOW!!!):


Or the hyper-guitarism of DragonForce's "Through the Fire and Flames":



Now those guitar skills are heroic!!!


I'll reserve my final opinion until I can actually test this product (hmm, I am soon to be the editor for a major denominations news sources.)

One final note - too bad it isn't compatible with existing Guitar Hero systems and controllers. It would have been really cool (and likely more profitable in the long run) if Digital Praise had partnered with Red Octane to produce a "Guitar Heroes - Christian Rock!" disk for their various platforms. There are lots of good rock guitarists recording on Christian labels - seems like that would have reached the broader audience that has already tapped into the craze and fame of Guitar Hero.

Admittedly, the song list for Guitar Praise (at the bottom of the project page) isn't bad. But why is it that "Christian" products feel the need to copy what "secular" companies have already perfected?

Saint Joseph - Sell our House!

OK, we're looking for some good house selling mojo now.

Our house has been on the market for over a month and we barely have a month left until we need to move to Cleveland! We've added a seller's agent incentive and dropped the price hoping to get more interest but no offers yet...

So in comes St. Joseph - patron saint of carpenters, homeowners and fathers. I couldn't find a statue so we'll give this medallion a week or so. If nothing happens I'm headed back to the Catholic book store hoping they have some more St. Joseph statues in stock by then!

I also printed some prayers with St. Joseph's picture on them to read then put under doormats and found a nifty St. Joseph prayer card (below) to put behind a valuable picture or under a pillow.

Border Volunteer Trial

July 22, 2008

Trial for Border Volunteer, Cited for Littering while Picking Up Trash


Tucson, AZ-Tuesday, July 22, 2008:

A humanitarian aid volunteer goes to federal court Friday over a littering citation received while picking up trash along the Arizona – Mexico border. No More Deaths volunteer Dan Millis, 29, has entered a plea of not guilty to the Class B Misdemeanor offense of littering on a National Wildlife Refuge. He faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and/or $5,000 in fines.

The trial is this Friday, July 25, at 9:30 a.m., at the DeConcini federal courthouse, 405 W. Congress, in Tucson. A press conference will be held in front of the courthouse at noon or immediately following the trial.

Millis and three other humanitarian aid volunteers were picking up trash and leaving jugs of drinking water along border trails in Brown Canyon north of Sasabe on February 22, 2008, when they were confronted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Law Enforcement. Officers informed volunteers that they could neither leave water nor recover trash without proper permits, and Millis was presented with a $175 ticket for littering.

“I didn't pay the ticket because I'm not guilty,” says Millis. “Littering is a crime, humanitarian aid is not.”

Millis, a volunteer with No More Deaths since 2005, has previously brought groups of high school students to the border to pick up trash. He coordinated an educational partnership with the Leave No Trace program and currently coordinates No More Deaths' participation in the Pima County Adopt-a-Roadway program.

“I felt especially compelled to leave drinking water out that day, because only two days earlier I found the body of a young girl in the desert. She was only fourteen,” states Millis. “It was heartbreaking.”

238 migrants were found dead in the Arizona borderlands during the 2007 fiscal year. During the summer of 2007, No More Deaths encountered 388 migrants along the Arizona – Mexico border, including twenty seven women, fourteen children, and one pregnant seventeen-year-old. Many required serious medical attention. No More Deaths has been working to provide humanitarian aid to people along the border since 2004, including the Brown Canyon area where Millis was cited.

“The Samaritans and No More Deaths have been working in Brown Canyon for several years. We've never had a problem like this before,” says Millis.

No More Deaths is concerned that vandalism and confiscation of life-saving water and other humanitarian aid supplies is an egregious offense that is becoming too common in the Arizona desert. U.S. government policies of walling people into the remotest deserts, continuing human rights abuses, and impeding attempts at direct relief are unjust and need to be stopped.

Southside Presbyterian Church Pastor Emeritus and No More Deaths co-founder John Fife states, “Regardless of the outcome of this trial, we're going to continue our humanitarian aid work whenever and wherever it is needed, until there are no more deaths in the desert.”

For more information, please visit www.nomoredeaths.org, write us at action@nomoredeaths.org, or (928) 821-0331.



En Español...

22 de Julio, 2008

Juicio el viernes de voluntario humanitario, multado mientras recogía basura


Tucson, AZ-Martes, 22 de Julio, 2008

Un voluntario de asistencia humanitaria va al juicio federal el viernes por una citación recibida mientras él recogía basura por la frontera de México y Arizona. Daniel Millis, 29, voluntario con No Más Muertes, se ha declarado no culpable al delito menor de Clase B de ensuciar espacio público en un Refugio Nacional. Millis se puede recibir una pena máxima de encarcelamiento de seis meses o una multa de $5,000 (US).

El juicio es a las nueve y media de la mañana, este viernes 25 de Julio en la corte federal DiConcini, 405 W. Congress en Tucson. Habrá una rueda de prensa a las doce o inmediatamente después del juicio frente a la corte.

Millis y tres más voluntarios de asistencia humanitaria estaban recogiendo basura y dejando jarras de agua en los caminos fronterizos de Brown Canyon al norte de Sasabe el 22 de febrero 2008 cuando se vieron enfrentados a oficiales policiales del U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Los oficiales les informaron a los voluntarios que no se permite recoger basura ni dejar agua sin permisos especiales y Millis fue presentado con una multa de $175 (US) por ensuciar espacio público.

“No pagué la multa porque no soy culpable,” dice Millis. “El ensuciamiento de espacios públicos es un delito, mientras la asistencia humanitaria no lo es.”

Millis, un voluntario con No Más Muertes desde el 2005, ha traído a grupos de estudiantes de escuela secundaria a la frontera para recoger basura. También coordinó una colaboración educativa con el programa Leave No Trace (No Dejar Rastro) y hoy en día coordina la participación de No Más Muertes con el programa de Adoptar una Carretera del Condado Pima.

“Me sentí especialmente animado y obligado a dejar agua en los caminos aquel día, porque dos días antes yo había encontrado el cadáver de una joven en el desierto. Solamente tenía catorce años,” dice Millis. “Sentí lástima en mi corazón.”

Se encontraron hasta 238 migrantes muertos en las tierras fronterizas de Arizona durante el año fiscal 2007. Durante el verano del 2007, No Más Muertes se encontró con 388 migrantes por la frontera de Arizona/Mexico, incluyendo veintisiete mujeres, catorce niños, y una joven de diecisiete años embarazada. Muchos requirieron atención médica muy grave. Desde el año 2004, No Más Muertes trabaja con la meta de proveer asistencia humanitaria a la gente por la frontera, incluyendo la región de Brown Canyon, donde Millis fue citado.

“Los Samaritanos y No Más Muertes han trabajado en Brown Canyon por varios años. Nunca antes nos ha pasado un problema tal como este,” dice Millis.

No Más Muertes se preocupa por el vandalismo y la confiscación del agua y otras provisiones de asistencia humanitaria. Opinan que tal vandalismo es una ofensa vergonzosa que se está haciendo demasiado común en el desierto de Arizona. La política del gobierno estadounidense de forzar a la gente a los desiertos más remotos, continuar los abusos de derechos humanos, e impedir los intentos de asistencia directa no es justo y necesita ponerse fin.

El Pastor Emeritus de la Iglesia Presbiteriana Southside y el co-fundador de No Más Muertes John Fife afirma, “A pesar de cualquier resultado de este juicio, vamos a continuar nuestro trabajo de asistencia humanitaria cuando sea y donde sea que se lo necesite, hasta que no haya más muertes en el desierto.”

Para mayor información, favor de visitar a sitio Web www.nomoredeaths.org, escribirnos a action@nomoredeaths.org, o (928) 821-0331

The History Behind the Hisotry (COOL Lent: 2008)

5 Minutes of Caring: The History Behind the History

The history behind February as "Black History Month" is the topic of today's CoolPeopleCare post. I mentioned it before, but one of the best books that I've encountered recently on the issue of Civil Rights is "No Turning Back" by Gurdon Brewster. As a whiteh nortnern Episcopalian seminarian he spent the summer of 1961 with "Daddy King" - Rev. Martin Luther King Sr. at Ebeneezer Baptist Church. It is a fascinating story of transformation and learning from both Rev. Kings Sr. and Jr.