tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13361933529265018032024-02-19T05:54:29.696-05:00know justice, be justicejoeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.comBlogger59125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-87378778846511622302008-12-21T02:29:00.002-05:002008-12-21T02:31:47.427-05:00dormantso bejustice is going to lie dormant for awhile as i focus on another blog for a bit:<br /><br /><a href="http://joeldaniel.wordpress.com">http://joeldaniel.wordpress.com</a><br /><br />i plan on covering many of the same topics there, but also dabbling in youth ministry & a few other odds & ends.<br /><br />i would like to maybe do more stuff with this sometime in dedicated venue, but for right now i only have so much time & wasn't really doing much of anything because i couldn't do everything. so i'm trying a bit of refocusing. we'll see how it works. please join me over at http://joeldaniel.wordpress.comjoeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com66tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-81681768789919075002008-11-29T13:15:00.001-05:002008-11-29T13:15:39.957-05:00World AIDS Day (repost from Facebook)Hey everyone...<br />I haven't been able to spend as much time this year researching and blogging in advance of World AIDS Day on December 1st, but I thought I'd take a couple minutes to post a few resources here. Please take some time in the next couple days to read, think, and pray for the millions of families and individuals around the world who suffer from or are affected by AIDS. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me...<br /><br />Every December 1st is World AIDS Day, a solemn day of awareness and response to the devastation of the AIDS pandemic world wide. There are a variety of opportunities to participate, including many online educational resources.<br /><br />Consider changing your Facebook profile picture (and other profile avatars) to a World AIDS Day ribbon for the next few days (or at least December 1st). You could also include it as part of your email signature. You can download one here:<br />http://www.chapelaids.org/d8<br /><br />As part of my responsibilities at The Chapel last year, I had the opportunity to put together a website that can act as a prayer path as you think about AIDS. Even though I've moved on, they've updated it and are promoting it (Yeah Chapel!) again this year. Take half an hour or an hour on the 1st and walk through it: http://www.chapelaids.org<br /><br />Last year I tried to blog once a day every day for the month prior to World AIDS Day on my blog, http://bejustice.blogspot.com. While I didn't succeed, I did blog about 2/3 of the days & put up lots of good resources and some questions to help us think through things. I started on October 31st (here: http://bejustice.blogspot.com/2007_10_01_archive.html) and then just click on the 2007, November archive on the right hand side of the screen to read any of the posts that you would like. <br /><br />A few general sites:<br />http://www.unaids.org<br />-the main UN AIDS site. great resources & lots of educational material.<br /><br />http://www.worldaidsday.org<br />-the main UK site for World AIDS Day. while being UK specific in some things, it has a lot of relevant international information as well.<br /><br />http://www.worldaidscampaign.org<br />-the main World AIDS Day site worldwide. Great resources & thoughts.<br /><br /><br />If you want to really learn a lot, watch this documentary the Frontline (on PBS) made in 2006. It's the most thorough overview of AIDS that I know of. It's 4 hours long, but is broken up into easily watchable pieces at their site. It's definitely worth the time it takes to watch:<br />http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/aids/<br /><br />There is SO MUCH info available about AIDS online if you take a look. I hope you'll join me in the next few days in thinking, learning & praying for this humanitarian crisis.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-8252633503750902812008-08-12T19:51:00.007-04:002008-08-12T20:08:50.147-04:00we live in an age of Jesus Junk...one of my hero's in middle school ministry is a guy named <a href="http://www.ysmarko.com">Marko</a>. he's got an ongoing series on his blog (which he updates at an unbelievable pace) called <a href="http://www.ysmarko.com/?p=2924">"Jesus Junk"</a>, where he posts for all his fine viewers (such as myself) some item that would be laughable if it weren't for the fact that it were real.<br /><br />anyway...was over at <a href="http://www.relevantmagazine.com">relevantmagazine.com</a> today and saw a link in their newsfeed to this article by abcnews.com about WWJB (what would Jesus buy) that reminded me of marko's posts. by the way, on a side note, can we let the WWJD puns die already? honestly. <br /><br />back on topic, though, the article got me thinking about the many ways in which we've lost sight of God's economy. i am well aware that money won't solve the many problems in the world today (poverty, health, slavery, torture, war, etc), but it seems to me that rather than providing or buying Christian kitschy crap (as if our consumeristic mentality needs anymore inspiration), we'd do well to come up with creative ways to throw our finances into ways that would tangibly help the majority of the world that isn't swimming in their resources Scrooge McDuck style.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/Scroogeswim.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/18/Scroogeswim.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br />now there are some really good places out there doing this in a variety of ways (a few of which are highlighted on my sidebar to the right). but i'm interested if anyone else know of any that they think are particularly novel or worthwhile in their pursuit of this? just throw your two cents into a comment...joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-52760684979563443872008-07-31T09:59:00.002-04:002008-07-31T10:32:02.419-04:00PEPFAR renewedPresident Bush signed an extension of PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) yesterday, tripling the amount committed to AIDS, Malaria, and Tuberculosis over the next three years. When Bush spoke about this in his State of the Union address during his first term in office, it was a historic moment for the fight against AIDS, being the largest ever monetary commitment by a US President to this cause. By expanding the amount committed and lowering the stipulations applied, Bush is, despite his many flaws in foreign policy, showing the possibility of what a truly compassionate, redemptive, and hopeful foreign policy could look like.<br /><br />-<a href="http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hkGPEdfvgOvd0WVnZMt0yea6PnnAD928DKOO0">Read the AP article here.</a><br />-<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/29/AR2008072901966.html">Michael Gerson's op-ed piece on the topic in yesterday's Washington Post</a>joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-33014436017411600672008-06-17T06:33:00.004-04:002008-06-17T07:17:43.224-04:00Envision the Future: A Declaration for the Common GoodEnvision...Part III of ???<br /><br />Last week I had the opportunity to help out with Envision '08, a gathering diverse Christ followers (racially, geographically, educationally, theologically) for 3 days of dreaming about how to live out the call God has placed on our lives to be his justice-bearers in the world. Here's the document that was settled upon on our final day...<br /><br /><a href="http://six19.org/media/1/Envision_08_Declaration.pdf">Envision the Future: A Declaration on the Common Good</a><br /><br />I still have more thoughts from the time to process, but I'm the midst of a service trip in North Carolina, so it'll have to wait. I might have some time tomorrow...joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-6002667235113720962008-06-12T16:56:00.002-04:002008-06-13T16:18:08.232-04:00interestingyou might want to watch this a couple times...<br /><br /><a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=AuK2A1ZqoWs">Flobots - No Handlebars</a><br /><br />might makes right?joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-56216507164085767732008-06-10T12:42:00.002-04:002008-06-10T14:36:27.337-04:00some other good quotes...Part II of ?? of my thoughts & responses to <a href="http://www.ev08.org">Envision '08</a><br /><br />"our response to temptation should be looking towards God's wooing of us rather than disciplining a resistance of our will alone" - Lisa Sharon Harper<br /><br />"all temptations are temptations are a temptation to do something good. The greatest temptations are not the temptation toward "the bad" but the temptation toward the almost god" - Shane Claiborne<br /><br />Shane talking about intentional community ... "everybody wants a revolution, but nobody wants to do the dishes..."<br /><br />"We are the Good News. We shouldn't be chasing people down the street to force the into the good news. They should be chasing us down the street because we live in such a way that we are the good news." - Brenda Salter-McNeil<br /><br />--<br /><br />i have a few other bigger ideas i want to blog about in response, but haven't had the time yet...but check back again & i will as soon as possible.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-51350866204693769142008-06-09T10:14:00.003-04:002008-06-09T10:28:09.974-04:00Envision 08so for 4 days i'm at Princeton University hanging out with 400 some odd folks from an incredibly diverse Christian background that care deeply about social justice and our engagement in the public square. i'm getting to sit in on incredible teaching and conversations like john perkins, ron sider, brian mclaren, shane claiborne, brenda salter-mcneil, jim wallis, vincent bacote, richard cizik, randall balmer and many, many others. (i'm fairly sure you could make an incredible panel of folks who are just here and aren't even speaking).<br /><br />part of the whole idea of Envision is to bring people together from the whole scope of faith (fundamental conservative evangelicals all the way to universalist unitarians...i've already met both). there's such a diversity of politics, gender, race, denomination, and approaches to envisioning what rich justice looks like in our world.<br /><br />so...i have some really good friends here (and making new ones) that i'm getting to process all of this with, BUT i really wanted to get all of your thoughts as well. so i hope that you'll check in whenever you can over the next few days and participate and respond. i'm going to try and post ideas & quotes that i hear & leave it open for discussion...<br /><br />that being said...here's some of my favorite quotes so far...feel free to respond to any or all...<br /><br />the church should be about the earthing of heaven... (you can google that & find all sorts of interesting articles) - Richard Cizik quoting others<br /><br />when we partner for God's purposes, we win no matter who we partner with...whether muslim, or homosexual, or a different vein of Christianity, or differing morality, etc. - Richard Cizik<br /><br />"Jesus didn't go around pimpin' it out that he was the son of God..." - Shane Claiborne<br /><br />"just as important as "making poverty history" is making poverty personal" - Shane Claiborne<br /><br />"we (Christians) don't have to agree on everything but we should be known for disagreeing well and respectfully" - Shane Claiborne<br /><br />teaching Intelligent Design according to a scientific understanding actually diminishes the faith... "I prefer to live in an enchanted universe where mystery reigns rather than denigrate God to the realm of science" - Randall Balmer<br /><br />"I would suggest that those who care so much about the concept of Intelligent Design should care more about the creation of that Intelligent Designer." - Randall Balmerjoeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-877363234914388442008-03-09T17:57:00.002-04:002008-03-09T18:01:11.033-04:00evangelical justicemore most of the last few decades, mainstream evangelicalism has not been a public friend of justice. we've been for justice in the lives of the unborn, but haven't said or done nearly enough in most of the rest of the ares of life. this isn't to say there haven't been evangelicals who cared about these issues. they were just the rare minority. thankfully, it seems as if that is slowly changing...<br /><br />Take a look <a href="http://www.pittsburghpostgazette.com/pg/08069/863710-103.stm">at this article </a>if you have the chance.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-88783803197468976582008-02-22T14:07:00.002-05:002008-02-22T14:09:59.281-05:00some good thoughts from a wise manWendell Berry writes all about justice, though he doesn't always refer to it as such. but caring for the earth, refusing to bow to corporate interest and consumerism, love of people...these are all acts of justice. so here's a manifesto regarding such things:<br /><br />Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front<br />by Wendell Berry<br /> <br /><br /> <br />Love the quick profit, the annual raise,<br />vacation with pay. Want more<br />of everything ready-made. Be afraid<br />to know your neighbors and to die.<br />And you will have a window in your head.<br />Not even your future will be a mystery<br />any more. Your mind will be punched in a card<br />and shut away in a little drawer.<br />When they want you to buy something<br />they will call you. When they want you<br />to die for profit they will let you know.<br />So, friends, every day do something<br />that won't compute. Love the Lord.<br />Love the world. Work for nothing.<br />Take all that you have and be poor.<br />Love someone who does not deserve it.<br />Denounce the government and embrace<br />the flag. Hope to live in that free<br />republic for which it stands.<br />Give your approval to all you cannot<br />understand. Praise ignorance, for what man<br />has not encountered he has not destroyed.<br />Ask the questions that have no answers.<br />Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias.<br />Say that your main crop is the forest<br />that you did not plant,<br />that you will not live to harvest.<br />Say that the leaves are harvested<br />when they have rotted into the mold.<br /><br />Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.<br />Put your faith in the two inches of humus<br />that will build under the trees<br />every thousand years.<br />Listen to carrion – put your ear<br />close, and hear the faint chattering<br />of the songs that are to come.<br />Expect the end of the world. Laugh.<br />Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful<br />though you have considered all the facts.<br />So long as women do not go cheap<br />for power, please women more than men.<br />Ask yourself: Will this satisfy<br />a woman satisfied to bear a child?<br />Will this disturb the sleep<br />of a woman near to giving birth?<br />Go with your love to the fields.<br />Lie easy in the shade. Rest your head<br />in her lap. Swear allegiance<br />to what is nighest your thoughts.<br />As soon as the generals and the politicos<br />can predict the motions of your mind,<br />lose it. Leave it as a sign<br />to mark the false trail, the way<br />you didn't go. Be like the fox<br />who makes more tracks than necessary,<br />some in the wrong direction.<br />Practice resurrection.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-69734903716012897812008-02-20T08:23:00.000-05:002008-02-20T08:24:52.622-05:00Water for the Wearythis past weekend i had the opportunity to attend the <a href="http://www.jubileeconference.com/">Jubilee Conference</a> in Pittsburgh, PA. Jubilee is run by the <a href="http://www.ccojubilee.org/">CCO</a>, an incredible organization that ministers to college students that i have the joy of serving as Associate Staff. Jubilee does better than most conferences at giving students practical, vocational training at how to integrate their faith with their jobs. i love their holistic view of life, work, and spirituality. there were a number of highlights from the weekend for me, which hopefully i'll be able to reflect on over the next several days on here.<br /><br />one piece of the main sessions each meeting was some time set aside to highlight 4 very solid organizations. this included <a href="http://www.compassion.com/">Compassion International</a>, who most people have heard of, <a href="http://www.ijm.org">International Justice Mission</a>, for whom I have an immense amount of respect, an indigenous orphanage ministry who's name i can't remember and <a href="http://www.bloodwatermission.com/">Blood:Water Mission</a>, the AIDS organization founded by Jars of Clay.<br /><br />Blood:Water Mission's primary mode of working in the AIDS crisis is to provide clean water, which directly impacts the spread not only of AIDS but of a variety of diseases. they have a goal of providing 1000 wells in communities all over Africa. the story of the woman who's running it, who's younger than i am, was very encouraging to hear. i have a small understanding of the need for accessible water from my time in Mozambique. when i was there i had a pretty incredible experience retrieving water one day...i wrote about it for Relevant Magazine...<a href="http://www.relevantmagazine.com/god_article.php?id=7154">take a look</a>.<br /><br />one of the things she mentioned was that for just $1, you can provide clean water for an African for a year. $1. wow. our host for the weekend brought that right to home when he mentioned that he'd drank three years worth of clean water with his Starbuck's latte that morning. surely we have much to do, much to give, much to change in ourselves to pursue a just world where everyone can have drinkable water.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-65347291080770879472008-02-19T16:40:00.000-05:002008-02-19T16:41:04.640-05:00i'm back...after a two month hiatus, i'm back to blogging on justice. between the holidays in december and a fairly extensive speaking schedule in January, my time for writing was somewhat cramped. however, i keep stumbling across articles, web sites, conversations, and people who speak, need, and seek justice. and i can't help but desire to share them, so here we go again...<br /><br />first off, here's <a href="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-monk26jan26,0,6544723.story">an interesting, honest take</a> on intentional community that was published in January in the LA Times. cheers to the Times for covering the topic.<br /><br />i can relate to much of what was written. reading the frustrations and difficulties, along with small glimpses of a great goodness of intentional community, i felt a deep affinity. the past year of living in my house with Malone undergrads has been much the same. at times i've questioned why i thought this was a good idea. at times i've been stoked to see solid growth and partake in worthwhile conversations. i think it has been worth it, but it's not been without its sacrifices.<br /><br />if you're unaware, we're currently facing some difficulties with the city regarding zoning issues and what it means to live as a single family unit. i'm taken aback by city officials who seem to miss that intentional communities add to the great community, not detract from it. i'm reminded of the need to live out what we're talking about not just among ourselves, but in our neighborhood. if we were serving our neighbors whole-heartedly, i'm pretty sure this wouldn't be an issue. but we're still sorting out what it means to serve. i watched the movie Michael Clayton last night, and at one point one of the main characters is asked how she finds balance between work and personal life. she laughs it off, saying that if you love what you do, that is balance. i'm constantly struck by this conundrum...trying to figure out how to balance life and ministry when really they're one and the same. <br /><br />well, there's a nice rambling post to get us started again. more to come...joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-90863574131551736942008-01-15T23:04:00.000-05:002008-01-15T23:05:23.187-05:00not forgottendear bejustice friends...<br />i have not forgotten about my (small) place in the blogosphere. i just have not had the time recently to post. hopefully again soon. <br /><br />jdhjoeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-57540304820196111832007-12-17T10:04:00.000-05:002008-12-09T15:53:30.063-05:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0AZSWtHBdy4OzueAk7AJ4E5VbCG30jSSv6dSLgq4Ore9kajvkSvuAQxgckQ3dVfvmeYo6MwfbMY2jGoT0_f9z6J3_wps0Y4DBBYXrH6y6SlDCFRE3oILHgUpdxJvIgci0YEH_lg2WwlMW/s1600-h/261432341_8bbd8a9e4c.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0AZSWtHBdy4OzueAk7AJ4E5VbCG30jSSv6dSLgq4Ore9kajvkSvuAQxgckQ3dVfvmeYo6MwfbMY2jGoT0_f9z6J3_wps0Y4DBBYXrH6y6SlDCFRE3oILHgUpdxJvIgci0YEH_lg2WwlMW/s400/261432341_8bbd8a9e4c.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5144958226008438706" /></a><br />i can't remember where i ran across this...<br /> <br />-correction-<br /><br />i originally ran across this on my good friend <a href="http://kingtech.wordpress.com/2007/10/24/activism-a-new-definition-for-missions-in-the-21st-century/">Matthias' blog</a>. he's a kindred spirit.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-46868429459207323282007-12-15T22:55:00.000-05:002007-12-15T23:08:01.375-05:00justice in real lifesorry about the delay in posts. i've been away with the guys from my house without my laptop the last several days.<br /><br />i live in a house with 7 other guys. they're all undergrads at Malone College and i bought this house and invited them to move in with me for a year to think about what it means to live intentionally together. there's three main thrusts to the house in my mind: community, leadership, and justice. <br /><br />one of the things that i've found as i've pursued this is that intentional living requires an awful lot of intentionality. this might seem somewhat obvious, but when you move in with a bunch of guys and you all agreed to intentional community as the precept behind why you joined forces, it's a bit of a surprise to find that it doesn't happen naturally. you have to work for it. <br /><br />one of the things that we didn't really talk about beforehand with everyone was that justice was going to be a theme. however, justice has been a theme of my life in the past year and, as one giving leadership to the house, it sort of goes with the territory. my apologies to anyone who didn't want to learn about justice.<br /><br />so we've spent time in Bible studies talking about AIDS and poverty and the environment. not your average Bible study topics, maybe.<br /><br />they all finished they're exams on thursday and so we got away for a few days to a house up on Lake Erie and holed up and played video games and ate junk food and generally were lazy. it was great. but on Friday night i pulled us all together to talk for awhile...to take a gander at where we were, where we'd come, and where we wanted to go.<br /><br />i won't go into all the details, because this isn't the time or place, but it was an intensely good conversation. challenging, thoughtful, provocative, encouraging. all of these things. we spent a lot of time talking about ways that we had failed each other and the house. and thinking about how we could lift each other up more effectively. <br /><br />and in some ways, this was the most effective "justice" conversation we've had all semester. because justice in theory isn't really justice at all. to sit around and talk about justice is fine, but it's not full. it's interesting that micah 6:8, the ultimate justice verse in the Bible, says "act justly," right? and so in this conversation we had, we enacted justice toward each other. we righted wrongs and we established (or began to establish) paths that will lead us in walking in righteousness with each other. only time will tell the fullness of this just living we began a conversation about. but it at least is a trailhead to the path.<br /><br />what are the ways that you pursue justice in your life in untraditional paths?joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-17296884599341990162007-12-11T00:53:00.000-05:002007-12-11T01:11:48.648-05:00celebrity defeating apathyfor the last few days the media has been immensely concerned with the influence of celebrities, particularly as it relates to the political process. will Oprah really get more votes for Obama? should Oprah get more votes for Obama?<br /><br />in the midst of that melee comes this interview by USA Today with George Clooney, who's interested in politics from a different angle. Clooney isn't campaigning for a specific candidate, but is instead focusing his celebrity on a cause. the interview, <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/life/people/2007-12-09-clooney-darfur_N.htm">found here</a>, has some interesting thoughts and quotes, including...<br /><br />"People can march and pat each other on the back, and concerts will happen, and the simple truth is there's still the exact same issues going on."<br /><br />"It certainly reminds you to be ridiculously happy with your life. Once you see people suffering in the way these people are suffering, you feel very guilty about not suffering at all."<br /><br />if you haven't been watching the news recently, several other celebrities have been brining a lot of attention to justice related issues including...<br />-<a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16846943">Brad Pitt</a> in New Orleans with an innovative and caring project<br />-<a href="http://www.amazon.com/NOT-OUR-WATCH-MISSION-GENOCIDE/dp/1401303358/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1197353333&sr=8-1">Don Cheadle</a>, also championing Darfur, recently authored a book<br />-<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/12/10/gore.nobel/?iref=mpstoryview">Al Gore</a>, who recently picked up his Nobel Peace Prize and had some worthwhile things to say<br />-<a href="http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=267060625&s=143441">Natalie Portman</a>, who just released a mix CD with the proceeds going to FINCA, a charity that supports developing world entrepreneursjoeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-74948889532139800712007-12-09T18:35:00.001-05:002007-12-17T10:11:05.687-05:00the stuff on stuff...*update*<br />here's an article from CNews about this site...didn't realize it was only a week old. that means that if you regularly read my blog, you've been on the cutting edge recently!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9833157-7.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-20">click here for the article</a><br /><br />the orginal post:<br /><br />materialism. <br /><br />it's a tough thing. especially around Christmas when it's hard not to think about what you want to get for people and what you hope that they'll get for you. <br /><br />materialism may not seem, at first glance, to be a justice issue. i'm convinced, however, that it's intricately tied to justice issues because things & stuff (the scientific components of materialism) don't just appear from nothing. they appear as the result of an intricate process that involves tons of people we don't know and through the use (and misuse) of the planet that we live on. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.storyofstuff.com/">this video</a> brilliantly (and, at times, humorously) illustrates that. i'm greatly interested in your thoughts...in some ways, parts of this seem overstated & to have an agenda, but at the very least, it's provocative enough that it ought to cause each of us to do a bit of a double take. i know there's some questions this raised that i haven't really thought about before.<br /><br />and this was all sparked by a very short blog by <a href="http://sethgodin.typepad.com/">seth godin</a> that asked the question "how long has it been since you went an entire day without buying anything at all?" maybe you'll answer that question while you comment on the video as well.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-56166417495101930892007-12-07T07:27:00.000-05:002007-12-07T07:31:29.597-05:00what??Senator Patrick Leahy had this to say the other day, in response to questions about the cut in funds for the Millennium Challenge Corporation's budget, an American run, Africa-based relief organization:<br /><br />“Do we cut maternal health?” he asked. “AIDS? Malaria? Do we cut refugees? The only thing that’s got a blank check is the war in Iraq.”<br /><br />It's good to know that we can drop billions into a war we created but can't deem it worthwhile for a world issue.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-30690494765536144492007-11-29T18:09:00.000-05:002007-12-11T01:12:26.135-05:00Google goodnessGoogle has long been acknowledged for their creative approach to technology. A creative approach that has found them incredible success. With that success came a lot of money. And with that money, believe it or not, has come a desire to give back. Google has become one of the more philanthropic businesses around and <a href="http://www.news.com/Spending-Googles-money-on-conscientious-causes---page-3/2008-13840_3-6220596-3.html?tag=st.num">this article</a> interviews the head of google.org, the charitable arm of the technology giant.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-2218132095272804752007-11-28T19:38:00.000-05:002007-11-28T19:38:48.579-05:00the next morning...three days until World AIDS Day...<br /><br />if you read regularly or subscribe to this site (and i know there's a couple of you), you may have noticed that my efforts to blog on AIDS issues throughout the month have significantly declined in the last few days. it's largely due to last week. over Thanksgiving weekend, between Wed & Sun, i logged something over 40 hours working on World AIDS Day. i packed it in around family time and turkey meals. i missed meals four days in a row and skipped out on sleep most of two nights.<br /><br />and so when i walked off the stage on Sunday and the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AL55mI_xA0">video</a> had been completed, the <a href="http://www.chapelaids.org">website</a> was up and runnning, and i'd finished presenting to both services in Green, i was tired. i didn't want to think about AIDS anymore. all the i'd been working toward and pushing toward for the last month was finished and now i just wanted to sit and see what the response was. <br /><br />it reminded me of the gulf between myself and the person who lives with the reality of AIDS every day. who misses their mother or father. who doesn't have the strength to get out of bed. who cares for the grandchildren, because there is no one else to do it.<br /><br />their fight doesn't finish on December 1st. they can't take a couple comp. days for working over vacation. they'll wake up to it the next morning whether they want to or not. or they won't wake up. and some child will have to raise themselves and become one more added to the millions of AIDS orphans.<br /><br />but this is also why i care about these things. because i can't NOT care. there's too much at stake. some may think i may appear idealistic and foolishly hopeful, spending my passions on world issues that i can barely influence, let alone solve. but i don't care. because it'll be worth it for the few i am able to influence. and i AM foolishly idealistic. and i love it. we can, i believe, really enact global change of gigantic proportions in the next generation. but it's not going to happen with me sitting on the couch. <br /><br />and so i take a deep breath and plunge back it...joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-26203570668761019012007-11-25T19:46:00.000-05:002007-11-25T19:53:36.544-05:00chapelaids.org<a href="http://www.chapelaids.org">www.chapelaids.org</a><br /><br />so this Saturday, as you've assuredly sorted out by now, is World AIDS Day. the church that i work at, <a href="http://www.the-chapel.org">The Chapel</a>, has given me quite a bit of freedom to promote WAD as part of my work there, including time in the services, passing out awareness ribbons, etc. kudos, Chapel. <br /><br />this year, they've allowed me to take this one step further by creating a website. my brother's company, <a href="http://www.intheround.com">In The Round Productions</a>, did all the site design and launch, and i provided all the content (text, resources, pictures, etc). a few years ago there's no way i would have been able to do this, but over the years i've stumbled across quite a few resources and it's exciting to be able to put them all out there in one place for other people to use.<br /><br />so i hope that you'll stop in on www.chapelaids.org sometime this week and spend some time praying, learning, and figuring out how to live love to AIDS victims all over the world.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-55710860342028262007-11-24T03:55:00.000-05:002007-11-25T22:17:49.887-05:00aidsprayers.wordpress.comone week till World AIDS Day...<br />a special announcement later today on here.<br /><br />but for now, please take a moment to visit <a href="http://aidsprayers.wordpress.com">aidsprayers.wordpress.com</a> and post a prayer as your sign of solidarity with World AIDS Day. this site will be going public through a variety of means in the near future, but for now you can sneak in before everyone else has the chance.<br /><br />please invite your friends to do likewise.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-79758775627801987412007-11-23T00:39:00.000-05:002007-11-23T00:42:04.507-05:00special...i'm going to be posting about a special resource for World AIDS Day in the next couple days (there's only 7 days left). it's been what's been taking all my time (thus the fewer posts recently). so check back soon for special announcement (Sunday at the lastest...hopefully sooner).joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-31598361553199060712007-11-21T13:55:00.000-05:002007-11-21T14:07:15.407-05:00UN significantly revises AIDS estimates9 days until World AIDS Day<br /><i>Each day of the month leading up to World AIDS Day, I'll be posting some sort of resource, thoughts or action for you to use.</i><br /><br />The UN has long been accused of inflating the number of AIDS infections in order to try and get more funding, public support, etc. Their most recent report, released just yesterday, helps to deflate some of those accusations by...deflating the number of infections reported. <br /><br />Most significantly, they've dropped the estimated number of people living with HIV/AIDS from over 40 million to 33.3 million. And they attribute this not to better containment of the virus but instead to better methods of gathering data.<br /><br />You can read more about this at <a href="http://www.economist.com/science/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10166149">The Economist</a>.<br /><br />or by taking a look at <a href="http://data.unaids.org/pub/EPISlides/2007/071119_epi_pressrelease_en.pdf">the UN Report Press Release</a>.<br /><br />So this is good news, in a weird way. Not good news that we've had bad information the last few years. But good news that we're figuring out better ways to research and good news that ultimately fewer people have AIDS, need treated, or can spread it to others.joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1336193352926501803.post-75822246931309611752007-11-19T10:52:00.000-05:002007-11-19T10:52:47.129-05:00Wal Mart = green ?most people know that Wal-Mart equals green when it comes to money. as the largest single retailer in the world, they've redefined what retail looks like, from pricing to distribution. but they've long been derided for their lack of social conscience. these accusations cover a number of fronts, from care for workers to environmental friendliness to the promotion of materialism to the use of poor working facilities abroad. <br /><br />in October 2005, Wal-Mart's CEO, Lee Scott, set three gigantic goals in the way of addressing environmental friendliness concerns, and just last week released their first report documenting their progress in this area. CNN has <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/11/16/walmart.green.report.ap/index.html">full article here</a>.<br /><br />though i have been (and will continue to be) a staunch advocate <i>against</i> Wal-Mart, i have to admit that i find the goals set in '05 admirable and the honesty of the report refreshing. they didn't try to say they've solved all the problems.<br /><br />that being said, i find this quote near the end of the article compelling:<br /><br /><i>"Our overall argument is that even if Wal-Mart achieved all of its stated goals, the company's business model is inherently unsustainable," said Sarah Anderson from the Institute for Policy Studies.</i><br /><br />--<br /><br />oh...and 11 days until World AIDS Day. more on that later...joeldanielhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16330524942456098847noreply@blogger.com4