msgadget
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Wed Sep-07-05 09:24 PM
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| Okay, this may be stumping but the 'other' Christians finally have a say |
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at least the DNC has spoken to the issue of class and race:
Race was a factor in the rising death toll from Hurricane Katrina, Howard Dean told members of the National Baptist Convention of America on Wednesday at the group's annual meeting.
Dean, Democratic party chairman, made the comments to the Baptists' Political and Social Justice Commission. The Baptist Convention has an estimated 3.5 million members representing 3,000 churches and is one of the largest black religious groups in the country. ... Dean said that instead of considering proposed estate tax breaks, the Senate should channel the $760 billion savings into disaster relief funds.
"Shall we give that to the wealthiest people in the country, or should we rebuild New Orleans?" Dean said.
He also said the funds that now support the Iraq war could be used to reconstruct New Orleans or to aid the poor and elderly.
Dean urged the government to exempt victims of Hurricane Katrina from a stricter new bankruptcy law for one year.
"I hope Chairman Dean will match his rhetoric with his support for reforms that replace bureaucracy and entitlement with hope and opportunity," said Ken Mehlman, Dean's counterpart in the Republican National Committee.
Stephen J. Thurston, president of the Baptist Convention, said there was a lack of response and sensitivity by the government toward the Gulf Coast disaster.
Thurston's group and three other Baptist organizations representing 15 million churchgoers will hold a joint meeting in January 2008 before the next presidential election, Thurston said.
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