States Should Get Out Of The Gambling Business

$48 MILLION

estimated cash value: $30 MILLION
odds of winning are 1 in 258,890,850

In light of all of the negative social consequences associated with gambling, legal or otherwise, should we find it disturbing that Virginia, like other states, aggressively promotes this kind of kind of tax on the poor (and the mathematically challenged)? 

If citizens really understood that the odds of a big win are comparable to being struck by lightning in a snow storm, and if they realized that spending even modest amounts each week on lottery tickets resulted in a huge total loss over a lifetime, they would wisely choose not to participate and invest that money elsewhere.

According to a October 16, 2014 article in the Richmond Times, the Virginia Lottery Commission hires not just one but six different advertising agencies to promote this unseemly enterprise, In the case of alcohol, the Commonwealth doesn't prohibit drinking but regulates the sale of spirits. But at least it doesn't advertise its ABC outlets and actively promote alcohol addiction. So why should it spend millions promoting gambling, knowing that it, too, is a highly addictive behavior that can be equally destructive to individuals and families?

According to a Salon article "Ten Reasons State Lotteries Ruin The Economy", state-sponsored gambling siphons some $50 million from local economies, and the negative effect on those rare few who do win huge jackpots is most often disastrous.

So shouldn't governments just get out of the gambling business as a means of helping to pay for public education, and instead start educating people against engaging in this irrational behavior? Or at the very least, to stop its aggressive advertising?

Sadly, our tax-aversive legislators have become as addicted to the lottery as are the poor and the ignorant who are deluded into investing in it.

Feel free to comment and share.

Jesus In Disguise

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Today I post one of my Pittsburgh-based singer-songwriter son's recent songs that I really like. It's based on the following statement by Mother Teresa:

“If we recognize [Jesus] under the appearance of bread, we will have no difficulty recognizing him in the disguise of the suffering poor.” 

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there's a book some of us pray from,

with a message that we stray from,

standing right before our eyes:

   Jesus in disguise.

lofty songs, sung on the weekend,

don't last long once trouble sets in,

but that comes as no surprise

   to Jesus in disguise.

     Master, when did we see you,

     and not clothe you, and not feed you?

     if we had known, we would have tried,

     if only you had given us a sign,

    standing there, in plain sight..

if there's a hell, it's just a courtyard,

behind the wall around a safe heart,

we built so tall, it blocks the light,

     tell us, when did we see you,

     and not help, or even greet you?

     how were we supposed to trust?

     you did not look or sound like us,

    lock the door, who's left outside?.

.

in that book some try to follow

you'll find a truth that's hard to swallow,

he was right before our eyes,

   to Jesus in disguise,

standing there, in plain sight...

- Brad Yoder, all rights reserved

Local Marriage/Divorce Ratio: 955/474 in 2015

Rockingham County Court House

Every January since 1996 the clerk of the local Circuit Court has kindly provided me with statistics of marriage licenses issued and divorces granted each year in Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

Since our population has increased significantly in the past two decades one would expect a steady rise in marriage numbers, but that isn't the case. Those numbers have been flat even though our population has increased by some 25% over the past two decades.

That hardly means fewer couples are pairing up, but simply that we have ever more people hooking up and breaking up in undocumented (common law) relationships. Unfortunately, we have no record of how many of cohabiting couples go through their own "divorces", with consequences often being just as distressing (if not more so) as those experienced by their legally married counterparts.

With fewer registered marriages we should also be able to expect fewer registered divorces. But that isn't true, either, as shown below:

Year           Marriages     Divorces

1996            873                 387

1997            950                 405

1998            964                 396

1999            932                 405

2000           947                 365

2001         1003                438     (most annual marriages)

2002           976                 421

2003           961                 399

2004           959                 437

2005           889                 381

2006           929                 389

2007           925                 434

2008           950                 405

2009           903                 347     (fewest annual divorces)

2010           879                 358     (fewest annual marriages since 1996)

2011            933                 433

2012            995                 445

2013            924                 484     (most annual divorces)
2014            972                 427
2015            955                 474

Given the fact that every divorce, documented or otherwise, profoundly impacts not only the couple involved, but the lives of parents, siblings, friends and especially any children involved, the number of our neighbors scarred by dysfunctional marriages and destructive divorces each year is incalculable.

I'm not prepared to make a cause and effect case here, but I can't help but note that as the percentage of adults who marry has steadily decreased relative to our population, the number of inmates in our jail has increased by over 500%! Of course that is much more likely a result of a criminal justice system gone awry than anything else, but neither mass incarceration nor more and more family breakups are signs of a truly healthy community.

Click here for additional posts on divorce.

Here's a graph showing trends to the year 2012:

Here's our population growth during that time:

Clarification: Marriage numbers include those who come here from another county or state to marry, whereas divorce numbers include only the breakups of residents of the City or County. However, it seems logical to assume that a roughly equal number of residents marry in other jurisdictions as marry here from other communities, so in my opinion the numbers above should be reasonably valid for comparison purposes.

When Our Neighbors Are Caught In A Sting, Who Will Cast The First Stone?

Lady Justice, Rockingham Court House

A recent prostitution sting operation in our town has resulted in the arrest of ten of our local citizens. Nine remain, the tenth, at age 75, has committed suicide. The lives of the others, along with their families, will never be the same. 

From one perspective, a sting operation of this kind may seem perfectly justified (see extensive front page piece in today's Daily News-Record), especially in cases where it can nab predators who are taking advantage of disempowered individuals as prey, whether they be children, coworkers or street walkers. Choices have consequences, and predators must be brought to justice. 

But should such operations be used to indict and publicly name citizens who have had no prior record of the kind of wrongdoings for which they are now presumed guilty--and even before having the benefit of a trial? Or should they be used only to help apprehend people already suspected of being engaged in criminal activity?

Our criminal justice system is by its very nature "tough on crime", and in the case of offenders who persist in wrongdoing, it should be. We should all be outraged over those who shamelessly abuse their power at the expense of the powerless.

But Jesus also teaches us not to be quick to "cast the first stone”. For while few of us may ever have our names listed on the National Sex Offender Registry, none of us is without sin in this area. Whether in word, deed or in X-rated imagination, we have compiled our own record of wrongs.

So let us favor grace, but without resorting to "cheap grace". Let's support forgiveness, but not forgiveness as in "let's pretend this never happened". True forgiveness is in response to a demonstration of a 180-degree about face and a commitment to strict and ongoing accountability of the kind that ensures that everyone is safe, including the former perpetrator.

But without the possibility of redemption, there is no hope for any of us. For in thought, word, or deed, we are all sex offenders.

Affirming And Celebrating The Dream Of Shalom/Salem/Peace/Reconciliation

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Community "People's Day" at Emmanuel Episcopal 1/18/16

"He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance... Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody."  

(Ephesians 2, the Message)

On Monday at 11:30 people from all over the community will be gathering in the parking lot of the Emmanuel Episcopal Church on the corner of Main Street and Martin Luther King, Jr., Way. There they will hear the well known "I Have A Dream" speech, walk together to Memorial Hall (former Harrisonburg High School building) and then return to enjoy a community meeting and potluck meal at the church.

The vision of both ancient and contemporary prophets has been of a world blessed with shalom, or salem, in which "nothing is marred and nothing is missing". Their constant theme has been that someday soon all barriers will be broken down, all enmities resolved and all hunger and want banished.

This is certainly far from a reality today, but it remains a dream that people of faith and goodwill affirm as being "too good not to be true", a dream they intend to boldly announce, live by and celebrate no matter what the cost or what the consequence.

Salem, or shalom, is not just the absence of war and violence, but the presence of spiritual and emotional wholeness, relational and family harmony, community and international health, and physical and even financial wellbeing. And it is not the kind of peace that can be fully experienced by an individual alone. Personal salvation is a necessary first step, but our full deliverance will come when all of humanity the world over is saved from the effects of evil and brokenness.

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Here is a copy of the the Interfaith Association's recent statement that will be available for signatures Monday, along with an opportunity to help pay for a full-page ad in the Daily News-Record:

A CALL FOR ACTION TO CREATE MUTUAL UNDERSTANDING AND ACCEPTANCE IN HARRISONBURG AND ROCKINGHAM COUNTY

The organizations and individuals endorsing this statement are deeply saddened by the recent hatred expressed toward immigrants by citizens emboldened by presidential candidates and amplified by media outlets. We are deeply saddened by the violence that is taking place at home and abroad. We desperately need a productive public struggle over our different ethical and social choices. Productive politics can only happen within a commitment to live together in respect.

It is time to stop and recover our shared values. We are a nation of immigrants of different cultural, linguistic, and religious backgrounds, which makes our communities rich, diverse, and productive. Our community of Harrisonburg and Rockingham has a long lasting history of welcoming immigrants and celebrating the role that everyone contributes to our society, and we will not lose our souls to hate. Our call is not only to pray, but also to educate and engage in loving one another, as is the mandate of all of our faith communities.

We would like to let our community know that we intend to work together to stop religious intolerance, bigotry, religious discrimination, and fear of strangers from taking over the hearts of our institutions and members of our community.

We add our voice to the call of many others in the country who seek to promote common understanding, to love our neighbor, to dialogue with those who are different from us, to recognize and celebrate our differences, and to demand that our political parties return to civil discourse in society.

Post Office Box 964

Harrisonburg, Virginia 22803

Virginia's Secretary Of Public Safety Could Derail One Of The Governor's Key Parole Commission Recommendations

Lady Justice

Here's a recent AP article based on the long awaited report of the Governor's Parole Review Commission:

RICHMOND, Va (AP)

Virginia abolished parole in 1995, but judges weren't required to tell jurors about that change until 2000.

Now, Gov. Terry McAuliffe's administration and advocates hope to give a second chance to inmates they say may have been unfairly punished.

Advocates and attorneys say that uninformed jurors gave some offenders inflated sentences between 1995 and 2000, thinking they'd serve just part of their term before being paroled.

Advocates now want law makers to consider allowing those inmates to be re-sentenced.

Brian Moran, secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security, says the administration is committed to addressing the issue, but he questions how the state would re-sentence all those inmates.

He said the administration is crafting legislation that would instead make them eligible for parole.

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Charles Zellers, Sr., a current parole eligible inmate, responds as follows:

"Brian Moran stating that the inmates should just be eligible for parole would not be accomplishing what advocates and the Governor had in mind because the parole board would illegally keep not granting the inmates parole (currently at a less than 3% release rate) until they have served 85 percent of their time anyway, just as they are doing with the parole eligible inmates in prisons now (all who were incarcerated before 1995).

"...This is just like the Virginia law Section 17.1-805, that retroactively enhances inmates sentences by 100, 300, and 500 percent. How can lawmakers increase an inmates sentence that was not agreed to in the plea bargin, by a jury or judge? How illegal is this? This is just like you getting a speeding ticket and go to court and the judge gives you 30 days in jail and while you are in jail lawmakers come up with a law that states if it was you first offense you serve 100%, second offense you serve 300% and third or more offense you serve 500%. If it was you third traffic offense, now your time to serve is 150 days. This is absurd and illegal. Please bring this to light. Refer to Code of Virginia 17.1-805.

"Also, Virginia has sex offenders laws that enhance an inmates sentence because of the crimes they were convicted for. How can these individuals add to sentences ordered by their plea bargain, jury of peers or judge?"

Here's the link to express your concern to the Governor's Office: 
https://governor.virginia.gov/constituent-services/communicating-with-the-governors-office
(Under "Message Information" select "Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security" and for the item "Response Required" mark "Yes")

Your message could be as follows (put this in your own words):

Brian Moran stating that inmates who were sentenced prior to 2000 (when judges were not required to instruct juries that parole had been abolished) should not have a re-sentencing hearing but simply be made eligible for parole would not be accomplishing what advocates and the Governor's Commission recommends. The parole board could illegally continue not granting the inmates parole (currently at a less than 3% release rate) until they have served 85 percent of their time anyway, just as they are doing now with parole eligible inmates (all who were incarcerated before 1995).


This is similar to the Virginia law Section 17.1-805, that retroactively enhances inmates sentences by 100, 300, and 500 percent. This cannot be either legal or just.

And here is a link to some other posts on parole reform.

Elections vs. Insurrections: Is The Second Amendment About Overthrowing Government?

As a former history and social studies teacher, recent public controversies about the Second Amendment have added to my interest in what the US founders meant when they wrote the following into their Bill of Rights:

"A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

The most controversial questions currently being debated seem to be, Who or what constitutes the "militia"? How are such militia formed, organized and led? What does "well-regulated" mean, and to whom do citizen militia answer? And are they ever meant to be for the purpose of citizens overthrowing their government by force (instead of by ballot)?

I'm not a constitutional scholar by any stretch, but here is what the founders explain in plain English in the Constitution itself (emphases mine):

Article I, Section 8, lists the following as being among the powers of Congress:  

"To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

"To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress..."

Article II, Section 2, further states:  

"The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States..."

Amendment 5 of the Bill of Rights contains the only other reference to the militia in the US Constitution, as follows:  

"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger..."

That's it. There is not even a hint of the people bearing arms for the purpose of insurrections, but for quite the opposite, to suppress them, through state appointed, controlled and trained organizations like the National Guard.

Then there's this text from an even more authoritative source, first written to Christians living under the Roman tyrant Nero:

"Be a good citizen. All governments are under God. Insofar as there is peace and order, it’s God’s order. So live responsibly as a citizen. If you’re irresponsible to the state, then you’re irresponsible with God, and God will hold you responsible. Duly constituted authorities are only a threat if you’re trying to get by with something. Decent citizens should have nothing to fear.

"Do you want to be on good terms with the government? Be a responsible citizen and you’ll get on just fine, the government working to your advantage. But if you’re breaking the rules right and left, watch out. The police aren’t there just to be admired in their uniforms. God also has an interest in keeping order, and he uses them to do it. That’s why you must live responsibly—not just to avoid punishment but also because it’s the right way to live.

"That’s also why you pay taxes—so that an orderly way of life can be maintained. Fulfill your obligations as a citizen. Pay your taxes, pay your bills, respect your leaders."

- Romans 13:-17 9 (the Message)