Archives

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

400-408 – Fr. Robert "Bob" Spitzer, is the Founder and President of the Magis Center of Reason and Faith (magisreasonfaith.org) and the Spitzer Center for Ethical Leadership (spitzercenter.org), both in Irvine.  Magis is "dedicated to showing the close connection between faith and reason in contemporary astrophysics, philosophy, and the historical study of the New Testament."  Personally, Fr. Bob is "dedicated to personal and cultural transformation that supports principle-based ethics and leads to noble and enduring success."  [I heard about Magis and Fr. Spitzer from his Chief of Staff, Joan Marie Jacoby, at the Legatus (legatus.org) event at the Pacific Club, on September 14, 2010.]

• He was born and raised in Hawaii before going on to earn four graduate degrees:  an M.A. in Philosophy from St. Louis University, an M. Div. in Theology from Gregorian University in Rome, a Th.M. in Theology from Cambridge, and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Catholic University.  He joined the Jesuits in 1974, at the age of 22, and has been ordained since 1983.  He's published 5 books, numerous scholarly articles, started 6 national institutes, and from 1998 to 2009 was the President of Gonzaga University (pdf bio).

• His academic specialties are:  
1) Philosophy of Science, particularly space-time theory and the transcendent implications of big bang cosmology.
2) Metaphysics, particularly the theory of time and the philosophy of God.
3) Organizational Ethics, particularly its relationship to personal and cultural transformation.

• His books are:  
1) Spirit of Leadership: Optimizing Creativity and Change in Organizations (Executive Excellence, 2000);  
2) Healing the Culture: A Commonsense Philosophy of Happiness, Freedom and the Life Issues (Ignatius, 2000);  
3) Five Pillars of the Spiritual Life: A Practical Guide to Prayer for Active People (Ignatius, 2007);  
4) New Proofs for the Existence of God: Contributions of Contemporary Physics and Philosophy (Eerdmans, 2010);  
5) Ten Universal Principles: A Brief Philosophy of the Life Issues (Ignatius, 2011).

413-423 – Fr. Robert "Bob" Spitzer, Why is it important to get the hypostatic union correct?

428-437 – Fr. Robert "Bob" Spitzer, Early heresies?

443-452 – Fr. Robert "Bob" Spitzer, The Chalcedonian Creed?

458-508 – Thom Miller, (thommiller.org) is a Cleveland mobster turned minister, who now runs the international prison ministry Special Visit (specialvisit.org), and the ministry Kids Tears (kidstears.org) that helps protect children from sexual abuse at the hands of family and friends.  Thom was indicted 52 times, convicted 36 times, and the 52nd indictment was for killing a guy in a bar fight.  He came to Christ on his own, in solitary, on death row, on his 37th birthday, while serving a 15 year prison term, while reading a King James New Testament as a dyslexic.

• In August 2009, Thom's world was rocked when the youngest of his two step-daughters, just 9 at the time and her older sister was 11, handed him a note that said basically, that the bad man was grandpa and he had been hurting them.  They had been having a discussion about "no touch areas" and the "bad people" who hurt children, when the little girl ran into the kitchen and handed him a note and ran off.  It ended up that grandpa had been raping them for years, he's now in prison.  As a result, Thom is driven to expose the reality of child sexual abuse through his ministry kidstears.org, where he has a lot of free, downloadable resources.

512-523 – Thom Miller,

528-539 – Thom Miller, Calls – Were you molested as a child?

• Kids Tears, "Shocking Statistics."

Nearly 25% of child victimizers were age 40 or older, but about 10% of the inmates with adult victims fell in that age range.

Convicted rape and sexual assault offenders serving time in State prisons report that two-thirds of their victims were under the age of 18, and 58% of those--or nearly 6 in 10 imprisoned violent sex offenders--said their victims were aged 12 or younger.

In over 90% of the rapes of children less than 12 years old, the child knew the offender, according to police-recorded incident data.

This problem affects all of us, whether you have children or not. According to the Center for Sex Offender Management, 30 percent of adult sex offenders were sexually abused as children. If we each do our part, we can break the cycle and protect our children from sexual predators.

Here are some other statistics about sex offenders and their young victims that may surprise you and debunk some myths.  According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, in the U.S.:

- Two-thirds (67 percent) of all victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies were under the age of 18 at the time of the crime.

- One of every seven victims of sexual assault reported to law enforcement agencies was under age 6.

- The year in a male's life when he is most likely to be the victim of a sexual assault is age 4; a female's greatest risk is at age 14.

- Nearly half (49 percent) of the offenders of victims under age 6 were family members.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the typical sex offender molests an average of 117 children, although most offenses are never reported.

- 80 percent of convicted adult rapists admit to molesting children.

- 80 to 95 percent of sex offenders assault people they know.

- Less than 30 percent of sex crimes are reported.

- Young victims who know or are related to the offender are least likely to report the crime.

It is estimated that in America there are 60 million childhood sexual abuse survivors. 

• If you suspect abuse is occurring in a situation you've seen or heard about, if you see something suspicious, you can call one of these hotlines anonymously, and they'll followup on your tip.

(800) 540-4000 – Los Angeles Child Abuse Hotline

(800) 207-4464 – Orange County Child Abuse Hotline

(800) 442-4918 – Riverside Child Abuse Hotline

544-554 – Thom Miller, Calls – Were you molested as a child?

558-608 – Thom Miller, Calls – Were you molested as a child?

612-623 – Thom Miller, Calls – Were you molested as a child?

628-639 – Thom Miller, Calls – Were you molested as a child?

644-656 – Thom Miller, Calls – Were you molested as a child?

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NPR Chairman of the Board Dave Edwards accepted the resignation of NPR CEO Vivian Schiller today following yesterday's release of James O'Keefe's undercover video in which NPR Foundation President Ron Schiller (no relation) said, "The current Republican Party, particularly the Tea Party, is fanatically involved with people's personal lives, and very fundamental Christian.  Basically, they are white, middle America, gun-toting, they're pretty scary...They're seriously racist, racist people... Liberals today might be more educated, fair and balanced than conservatives... NPR would be better off it it did not receive federal funding."  Schiller made these comments to two men posing as radical Muslims who wanted to donate $5 million to NPR.

•• Jim Demint (WSJ, 3/4/2010) Public Broadcasting Should Go Private:  If these outfits can afford to pay lavish salaries to their heads, they don't need taxpayer help.  Senator Jim Demint is a Republican from South Carolina.

When presidents of government-funded broadcasting are making more than the president of the United States, it's time to get the government out of public broadcasting. //

// PBS President Paula Kerger made $632,233 in 2009.

// The executives at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), which distributes the taxpayer money allocated for public broadcasting to other stations, are also generously compensated. According to CPB's 2009 tax forms, President and CEO Patricia de Stacy Harrison received $298,884 in reportable compensation and another $70,630 in other compensation from the organization and related organizations that year. That's practically a pittance compared to Kevin Klose, president emeritus of NPR, who received more than $1.2 million in compensation, according to the tax forms the nonprofit filed in 2009.

// In 2001, the federal government appropriated $340 million for CPB. Last year it got $420 million.  Obama wants to raise it to $451 million in his latest budget.

// Meanwhile, highly successful, brand-name public programs like Sesame Street make millions on their own. Sesame Street, for example, made more than $211 million from toy and consumer product sales from 2003-2006. Sesame Workshop President and CEO Gary Knell received $956,513 in compensation in 2008. With earnings like that, Big Bird doesn't need the taxpayers to help him compete against the Nickelodeon cable channel's Dora the Explorer. //

• Washington Times (3/7/2011) NPR, PBS campaigns to keep federal funds called unlawful.

NPR and PBS stations nationwide are rallying their audiences to contact Congress to fight against Republicans' proposed spending cuts, but some affiliates' pleas may violate laws preventing nonprofits or government-funded groups from lobbying.

Interrupting popular programs, the stations air warnings that cuts could end beloved children's television shows such as "Sesame Street." Some stations urge their audience to call and let Congress know their feelings, while others go further, instructing viewers to "stop the Senate" or "defend federal funding" for public broadcasting.

The ad campaigns are a direct response to House Republicans' push to eliminate all Corporation for Public Broadcasting funds for the rest of the fiscal year. Democrats have fought the cuts and President Obama asked for $451 million for CPB in his 2012 budget request — a $6 million increase.

But lawmakers and conservative critics argue the stations are breaking two laws, one that prohibits using taxpayer-funded grants to petition Congress for more taxpayer money and the other that bans nonprofits from doing much lobbying of any kind. //

NJ.com (3/8/2011) N.J. activist James O'Keefe's video shows NPR executive slamming tea party movement.

(2:45) NPR Vivian full. (NPR CEO Vivian Schiller speaks in Washington DC at the National Press Club on 3/7/2011.)

(:37) NPR Vivian 1.  Is NPR biased?

(:54) NPR Vivian 2.  We get criticism for being too conservative too.  We do journalism with no particular bias.

(:18) NPR Vivian 3.  Give me specifics for being too liberal.

(:55) NPR Vivian 4.  So, is it a perception problem?  Absolutely, and it happens with all news organizations.

(:19) NPR Sting. (Ron Schiller, President of the NPR Foundation and Senior VP of Development, gets caught in a sting talking about Republicans and the Tea Party on 2/22/2011 at Georgetown's Café Milano in Washington DC.  Link to the full video and details is here.)

• Fox News (3/9/2011) Schiller Forced Out as NPR President Following Hidden-Camera Sting.

• Fox News (3/8/2011) Battle Grows Over Obama Administration's Health Care Law Accounting.

• KPTV (3/9/2011) Deputies: 911-Calling Intruder Arrested Again.

Fugitive.com (3/8/2011) BURGLAR TIMOTHY CHAPEK CALLS 911 ON HIMSELF IN PORTLAND, OREGON.

(1:31) Burglar Timothy Chapek calls 911 on himself.