If you can't change the law honestly, playing by the rules ...
well, then just change it anyway, in the obscure gray recesses of government bureaucracy.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal housing officials [bureaucrats who do not have the legal authority to do this] said Wednesday they're developing regulations to ensure that gays and lesbians aren't denied access to federally subsidized housing based on their sexual orientation. The department announced that the regulations concerning HUD's housing and voucher programs would clarify that the term "family" also applies to lesbian and gay couples.

The Housing and Urban Development Department will also commission a first-ever nationwide study to determine the extent of discrimination based on sexual orientation in housing sales and rental programs.

Officials said the Fair Housing Act, which prohibits discrimination in the sale and rental of homes, doesn't specifically cite gays and lesbians when it comes to the groups protected. The department wants to make sure that gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people are treated the same as everyone else when it comes to eligibility for housing programs.

The extent of such discrimination is unknown [but we intend to spend millions of taxpayer dollars fabricating "evidence" and inventing "studies" to prove that] "it undoubtedly exists", said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. "The evidence is clear that some are denied the opportunity to make housing choices in our nation based on who they are and that must end," said Donovan. Department officials pointed to a [single, unverified] study from Michigan's Fair Housing Centers that found nearly 30 percent of same-sex couples were treated differently when trying to buy or rent a home.

 

a CAMEL through the EYE of the NEEDLE
 
Howard Buffett.
Ever heard of him?
Son of Susie and Warren Buffett.
Photographer. Philanthropist. Billionaire.
No?
I hadn't either, until seeing Charlie Rose interview him the other night.
What a wonderful man.
He proves that, although it is exceedingly rare, one can be super-rich and still sincerely serve Jesus Christ.

Howard Buffett farming in Burandi, Africa (photo: WSJ)

Howard Buffett, son of famed Wall Street guru and billionaire Warren Buffett, is spending not just his finances but also his life fighting hunger in Africa.


According to the Wall Street Journal:

It was ordained that Howard and his two siblings would see the family fortune given away rather than have it to spend on themselves.

His father, who lives far below his means in a modest Omaha house, has argued publicly that it does little good for society when children inherit great wealth by virtue of an ‘ovarian lottery’…Of his middle child, he says, ‘he’s got my money and his mother’s heart’…

It’s hard to measure the impact of Howard Buffett’s foundation, something Mr. Buffett himself acknowledges. He does most of the work finding and visiting projects…. He employs eight people, mostly in administrative roles. One man is based in South Africa overseeing research on Mr. Buffett’s 6,000 acres of farmland outside Johannesburg. It was there on a wildlife preserve that he set up that a cheetah bit him.

Mr. Buffett figures his foundation’s projects have helped about 1.5 million Africans so far. He hopes that the crop-breeding work he is supporting will eventually help millions more African farmers feed their families.

P.S.
A thoughtful post from Jill Carattini of Ravi Zacharias Ministries.
Here’s the nut of it:

In our impervious boxes and minimalist depictions of the Christian story, we comfortably live as if in our own world, blind and unconcerned with the world of suffering around us, intent to tell our feel-good stories while withdrawing from the harder scenes of life…

In reality, the stories Jesus left us with are so much more than wishful thinking and his proclamations of the kingdom among us are far from declarations of escapism.

The story of Rachel weeping for her slaughtered children and Lazarus waiting in agony at the gate of someone who could make a difference are two stories among many that refuse to let us sweep the suffering of the world under the rug of unimportance. The fact that they are included in the gospel that brings us the hope of Christ …

For Christ brings the kind of hope that can reach even the most hopeless among us. And Jesus hasn’t overlooked the suffering of the world anymore than he has invited his followers to do so; it is a part of the very story we tell.

Thus, precisely because the faith we proclaim is not a drug that anesthetizes or a dream that deludes, we must tell the whole story and not merely the parts that lessen our own pain. We must also live as people watchful and ready to be near those who weep and wait–the poor, the demoralized, and the suffering.
There are far too many Rachels who are still weeping and Lazaruses who are still waiting, waiting for men and women of faith to be the good news they proclaim.


 

HATE WHAT IS EVIL

Do headlines and stories like these offend you?
 

They should.

Federal official says time is right for gay rights

ORLANDO (AP) -- The climate for passing gay civil rights laws has never been better... “and shame on us if we don't succeed," said John Berry, director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. His speech at the Orlando conference came a day before President Barack Obama was set to address the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group.

Gay rights advocates march on DC

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Tens of thousands of gay rights supporters marched Sunday from the White House to the Capitol, demanding that President Barack Obama keep his promises to allow gays to serve openly in the military and work to end discrimination against gays.

Jason Yanowitz, a 37-year-old computer programmer from Chicago, held his daughter, 5-year-old Amira, on his shoulders. His partner, Annie, had their 2-year-old son, Isiah, in a stroller. Yanowitz said more straight people were turning out to show their support for gay rights. "For all I know, she's gay or he's gay," he added, pointing to his children.

Excuse me while I throw up.

These poor, pathetic, deluded people have exchanged the truth for a lie. In Romans 1:26-28, the apostle Paul describes a very similar culture: "Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones. In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion."

I hate what John Berry and Jason Yanowitz represent (not the men, themselves, but what they are promoting and advocating).

Romans 12:9 commands us to "hate what is evil; cling to what is good."

Have you been so desensitized over the years that you simply accept this as the status quo?

But is homosexuality "evil"?
"Do not be deceived: ... neither homosexuals nor the greedy ...nor slanderers ...will inherit the kingdom of God. --1 Corinthians 6:9-10
Open your Bible. Read it for yourself.
If it is bad enough to keep a person out of heaven, to prevent a person from obtaining eternal life, is that bad enough to qualify as evil?

Now let me ask you again: Do you hate what this man represents -- the evil that he advocates and promotes?

Or are you afraid of being called "intolerant"?
The sinners' favorite attack word. 

Many people, including Christians, are so afraid of being "called names" (like "bigoted" or "homophobic" or "intolerant") that they are unwilling to speak up against even the most vile sin.

Romans 12:2 urges you to "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."

The rest of the world interprets your silence on issues like this as tacit approval. At the very least, you are tolerating the official promotion of evil. Why do you think homosexuals have made so much "progress" in this country recently? Because they have been doing all the public speaking, while Christians attend their church meetings and Bible studies and spend all their time talking to each other.

Preface to the good news: Hell and the Lake of Fire are real and many souls will burn.
The Good News: We can be spared from it, rescued ... saved.

"Do not be surprised if the world hates you."  --1 John 3:13
Are you willing to be hated by "the world" (by unbelievers), or will you remain silent in order to secure its approval?

Would you call homosexuality evil, wrong, perverted or sinful if your employer, or your neighbors or the government threatened to publish what you said for all the world to read?

What if they threatened to alienate you socially?

What if they threatened to fire you from your job?

And what if they threatened to prosecute you for a "hate crime"?

These may be more than just hypothetical questions in the very near future.
This society is moving toward officially punishing people for asserting that homosexual behavior is sin. We already unofficially punish people for it.

By the way, I refuse to use the ridiculous euphemism "gay", because there is NOTHING gay about burning in a lake of fire.

Me?

I admit it.

I announce it.

I agree with God.

I am INTOLERANT of homosexuality.

It's wrong ... and, yes, it does hurt other people.  When someone gets shut out of heaven, that hurts ... in the most extreme sense.

To be perfectly clear about this: While I denounce homosexual behavior, and denounce the promotion of such behavior and lifestyles, I do not condemn homosexuals themselves.
There's a significant difference.


 

SELF-PROMOTING HOT DOGS
 ATHENS, Ga. (AP) -- The rule was put in place in the mid-1990s when then-Georgia athletic director Vince Dooley was head of the NCAA rules committee. Fourteen years later, the now-retired Dooley still believes it's a much-needed roadblock to some of the antics that go on in the NFL - even though he was at Saturday night's game cheering on the Bulldogs.

"A player such as T.O. has no place in college football," he said, referring to flamboyant receiver Terrell Owens, who took end zone celebrations to new levels. "It's a good rule for college football. I think it has really helped us from going down the path we were going. There's no telling what we would have today if we didn't have that rule."

The rule, which falls under the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, basically covers any actions that are directed at the fans, draw attention to an individual player or taunt an opponent.

"These guys are watching the pros. That's what they're imitating. And they're thinking, 'If the pros can do it and get away with it, they think it's cute and it draws attention to themselves, why shouldn't we be able to do it?'" the former coach said. "But I don't think that's what college football ought to be."

Well, guess what? ... I don't think that's what pro football ought to be either.
I rarely watch a professional football game any more for that very reason: because I can't stand to see all those guys drawing attention to themselves every time they do nothing more than make a tackle or catch a pass. Big deal. Isn't that your job? Isn't that why they pay you so much money? So you made a tackle. Get over yourself and realize that its a team game. There were ten other teammates involved in that play, you immature, self-centered punk.

It didn't bother me as much when I was playing, because I could just make a mental note of who was doing all the "hot-dogging" and then do my best to "punish" him for it later in the game by putting my helmet right in his ear hole at bone-jarring velocity. And I usually succeeded. But to just sit there and watch those muscle-headed idiots jump around the field and jerk off in front of 50,000 people (people who are dumb enough to get excited and cheer for them when they act that way) ... no thanks.