By Kari Huus, msnbc.com

Arturo de los Santos lost his home to foreclosure more than a year ago and was evicted. But because he felt he was treated unfairly, he moved back into his home of 10 years in an effort to force the lender, Freddie Mac, to back down.

“I’m just a regular guy who gets up each day, takes the kids to school and goes to work,” said de los Santos, a long-time aerospace factory supervisor who served five years in the Marine Corps. Now he is hunkered down in the modest three-bedroom house in Riverside, Calif., surrounded by an encampment of Occupy Riverside protesters and community activists. “We’ve done everything the way we were supposed to. We’re not going to just sit back and let Freddie Mac steal our home.”

Full story: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/22/10472579-marine-makes-last-stand-in-foreclosed-home

“I think to myself, if I’m willing to give something up as somebody who’s been extraordinarily blessed, and give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy, I actually think that’s going to make economic sense,” Obama told the audience. “But for me, as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus’s teaching that ‘for unto whom much is given, much shall be required.’ ”

Finally the country and the media is starting to wake up to the fact that ‘Republican’ doesn’t automatically = ‘real Christian values.”

We thank God we have a President who feels this way in his heart towards the poor, and has these Christian convictions…

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Below are excerpts from the Huffington Post:

“Living by the principle that we are our brother’s keeper. Caring for the poor and those in need,” Obama said before an audience of about 3,000 at the Washington Hilton. These values, he said, “they’re the ones that have defined my own faith journey.”

Specifically, Obama said, they translate to policies that support research to fight disease and support foreign aid. His faith, he continued, inspires him “to give up some of the tax breaks that I enjoy.”

Flanked by first lady Michelle Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, Obama talked about his largely secular upbringing, and “finding Christ when I wasn’t even looking for him so many years ago.”

The President stood strong on jobs, unfair taxes, corruption in government, and asking Congress to take action. First Lady Michelle Obama’s box was full, with a school teacher, a woman who is unemployed and Warren Buffet’s secretary! The President made a clear point of addressing the “Buffet rule” and that the rich should be paying their fair share. He also addressed tuition hikes, true immigration reform including the Dream Act, and much more. Overall, it was a great State of the Union that fought for our values and those of the 99%.

Articles on the State of the Union:

Washington Post: 

In State of the Union address, Obama puts focus on economic inequality

LA Times:

Obama delivers a confrontational State of the Union address

From Whitehouse.gov:

Interactive Feature: Who’s in the First Lady’s Box, State of the Union Address 2012?

(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Washington Post –

By Peter Wallsten and Karen Tumulty, Published: January 10

A near-panic has taken hold among some core conservative activists, who are now scrambling to devise a strategy to deny Mitt Romney the Republican presidential nomination.

Many of these activists see South Carolina’s primary on Jan. 21 as their last best hope of stopping Romney by consolidating in a united front against him. But many acknowledge that they have yet to figure out which of the remaining conservative rivals to rally behind and which should get out.

The tension is exacerbated by the deep divisions between two key GOP wings: tea party groups yearning for a pure small-government conservative, and evangelical Christians who want a loyal social conservative.

In one sign of their desperation, some activists are holding out for what they acknowledge is a spectacular long shot: a late-entering savior who could still qualify for enough state ballots and win enough delegates to force a brokered GOP convention this summer.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/conservative-activists-scrambling-for-a-strategy-to-block-romney/2012/01/10/gIQAVFATpP_story.html

Manchester, New Hampshire (CNN) — Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary, according to CNN projections, after voters turned out in expected record numbers Tuesday in the second contest of the Republican presidential race.

Based on early results and exit poll data, CNN also projected that Texas Rep. Ron Paul will finish in second place and former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman will finish third. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum battled for fourth place, with Texas Gov. Rick Perry at the back of the pack.

Exit polls indicated Romney would get about 36% of the vote, with Paul receiving 23% and Huntsman 18%. Gingrich and Santorum came in with 10% and Perry with 1%, according to the exit polls.

With Romney’s victory expected, based on polling in recent weeks, the battle for second place and beyond became the focal point of the first-in-the-nation primary with implications for the next contest in South Carolina on January 21.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/10/politics/new-hampshire-main/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Reporting from Washington — President Obama moved to repair relations with a crucial voting bloc and opened another battle with Republican lawmakers by easing rules on the politically volatile issue of illegal immigration.

His proposal will probably affect tens of thousands — perhaps more than 100,000 — illegal residents. It would end a requirement that undocumented immigrants with parents or spouses in the United States leave the country first if they wish to file paperwork that would forestall deportation on the grounds of family hardship.

Without the so-called hardship waiver, illegal immigrants are barred from reentering the U.S. for up to 10 years. The existing rule often means that people seeking waivers must separate from their families for months or in some cases years while their applications are processed.

Under the new rule, which does not require congressional approval, immigrants would be allowed to stay in the U.S. and apply for a waiver, which can be granted if deporting an immigrant would cause undue hardship to his or her U.S. family. Once waivers are granted, immigrants may apply for green cards. They would still have to leave the U.S. to make those applications, but because they would have hardship waivers in hand, they would be very likely to gain readmission to the country.

Read the whole article here: http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jan/06/nation/la-na-obama-immigration-20120107.

Pieces of the article are below, but we encourage you to read it all.

From http://www.justbie.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Lady-Gaga-Free-As-My-Hair.jpg

From Richard Beck:

Well, Lady Gaga calls her fans “monsters.” Or “little monsters.” And by that she means freaks–the odd, the weird, the lonely, the rejects, the nerds, the castoffs. And you can’t help but wonder, in light of the gospels, about that demographic. In my book Unclean I have a chapter on monsters. And I’ve written about the theology of monsters on this blog. Consequently, Lady Gaga’s use of the label “monsters” caught my attention.

Because as I’ve written, the category “monster” is charged with ambivalence. On the surface the monster is a normative threat–a defilement, a degradation, a location of moral and communal harm. Thus, monsters are expelled from community. And yet, most monster stories suggest that the monster is often a scapegoat. That the monster is more victim than victimizer. Underneath, if we could but see it, the monster is one of us.

When Jamey Rodemeyer heard his peers, in person and online, say “Why don’t you kill yourself you queer?” (a fair summary of the stuff he was dealing with) I can’t help but assume that he thought that the Christian church supported and endorsed those sentiments. Because even if Christians weren’t directly involved in the bullying we certainly were complicit, if only in our collective silence and apathy. “Let the gays protect gay kids,” our collective silence declares, “and we’ll take care of our own.”

And that breaks my heart.

Who will protect the little monsters? Who will speak out for them? Who will welcome them? Who will weep for them?

I know Lady Gaga will.

What about the church?

Read the article here: http://www.sojo.net/blogs/2012/01/09/gospel-according-lady-gaga

Richard Cordray appointment ‘turns lights on’ at consumer bureau

The agency, which has been hobbled since opening last summer because the Senate wouldn’t confirm its director, can now begin to exercise its authority.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the centerpiece in the overhaul of financial regulations 18 months ago, was billed as a powerful new regulator to put the pocketbooks of average Americans ahead of the fat wallets on Wall Street.

But the agency has been hobbled since opening last summer because it couldn’t exercise some of its most important powers — such as new rules for mortgage brokers, payday lenders and financial firms outside the banking system — until the Senate confirmed its first director.

On Wednesday, President Obama broke through a Republican blockade on confirming any director by appointing Richard Cordray for the job during a Senate recess and giving the new agency its full authority.

The move was applauded by consumer advocates, who had been pushing the White House to take the muzzle off its new watchdog.

Read the whole article here: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-cordray-consumer-bureau-20120105,0,2888288.story

- Romney wins by 8 votes – Santorum and Romney Now contend for New Hampshire

- McCain Backs Romney After Santorum’s Surge in Iowa

- Perry, Fifth in Iowa, Decides to Push Forward

- Bachmann ends presidential bid

- AND a new term is coined from Santorum’s win… “TEAvangelicals”….seriously? Yes. http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/01/04/teavangelicals

——————————————————————————————————————————————

UPDATE: Romney and Santorum at a dead-heat with 99% reporting – Ron Paul coming in a close third. Santorum ahead by just 19 votes.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/03/politics/iowa-caucus/index.html?hpt=hp_t1

Meanwhile, Rick Perry is going home to “reevaluate” and Bachmann’s campaign is “conferencing.”

We will have respect for the one candidate that will not try to use God’s name to sway emotions and “engage in religious warfare.” Oh, and doesn’t insult the poor or the 99%. Is there one candidate that will meet that criteria?

We will update this post tonight when results and news come in.

From NY Times:

DES MOINES — With the caucuses just hours away, the Republican candidates for president hammered home their now-familiar pitches Tuesday morning before putting their political fates in the hands of Iowans.

After a final flurry of campaign rallies and back-to-back television interviews, the six Iowa hopefuls will find out which of them will head to New Hampshire with a head of steam, and which will have to find a way to explain a disappointing result.

Mitt Romney gathered about 100 supporters in downtown Des Moines Tuesday morning, and accused President Obama of turning the country into an entitlement society.

He said that society would “poison the American spirit by pitting one America against another and engaging in class warfare. I prefer an America that is one nation under God and I will keep it that way.”

Read the full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/us/politics/iowa-caucus-votes.html?_r=1&hp.

Evangelical Consistency and the 2012 Elections

One of the greatest failures of Christians in this country is when they don’t think and act as Christians first. Instead, they think first as Americans, consumers, partisans, and sometimes even as Red Sox fans. This leads to bending over backward to justify un-Christian behavior and attitudes to fit these other identities. The biblical name for this behavior is idolatry.

Now, Christians can and do identify as Americans, consumers, partisans, and even Red Sox fans (the latter being my particular temptation!). But, it should never be our first or primary identity. Those other identities should all be subservient and accountable to our identity in Christ.

A piece by Michelle Goldberg in Newsweek chronicles some evangelical voters in Iowa trying desperately to contort their values in order to justify supporting Newt Gingrich. She quotes Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council as saying, “Under normal circumstances, Gingrich would have some real problems with the social-conservative community… But these aren’t normal circumstances.”

In other words, this guy clearly doesn’t stand for our values but we are ready to jettison those in order to make sure our party wins the 2012 election.  Newt Gingrich’s three marriages – serving his first wife divorce papers while she was suffering from cancer, and cheating on his second wife while leading the impeachment battle against Bill Clinton for lying about his sexual sins – would normally be disqualifiers for family values conservatives. Later in the article, Ralph Reed discusses evangelical support for Ronald Reagan, our country’s first and only divorced President, and says, “These voters believe in forgiveness, they believe in redemption.”

Read the complete article: http://sojo.net/blogs/2011/11/30/evangelical-consistency-and-2012-elections.

From Sojourners:

Each Advent in recent years, around the time when those prefab, do-it-yourself gingerbread house kits appear on supermarket shelves, Fox News launches its (allegedly) defensive campaign commonly known as the “War on Christmas.”

Fox News’ “war” is designed to criticize the “secularization” of our culture wrought by atheists, agnostics, liberals, leftists, progressives, and separation of church and state zealots— i.e. Democrats. This irreligious coalition force is allegedly waging a strategic offensive on Christmas, trying to banish the sacred symbols of the season, denying our religious heritage, and even undermining the spiritual rubrics upon which our great nation is built.

But what we actually have here is a theological problem, where cultural and commercial symbols are confused with truly Christian ones, and the meaning of the holy season is missed all together.

The war on Christmas is really about what brand of “civil religion” America should have. The particular (read: biblical) meaning of Christmas, for Christians, has almost nothing to do with the media war.

Read the full article here: http://sojo.net/blogs/2011/12/15/real-war-christmas-fox-news.