August 12, 2007
Federal Funding for GOP S&M
Looks like the White House’s Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives has been sending your tax dollars to Love Demonstrated Ministries, the evangelical S&M youth camp where a counselor dragged an allegedly lackadaisical teenage girl from a truck. This is from the 2003 White House budget for HHS:
Partnering with Faith-based and Community Organizations
The San Antonio Weed & Seed Coalition consists of 120 community, neighborhood, and law enforcement organizations whose mission is to reduce drug-related crime and victimization. The coalition has helped to reduce crime in San Antonio by 43.5 percent from 1992–2000. One of the coalition partners, Love Demonstrated Ministries (LDMI), is a faith-based organization which focuses on youth offenders, gang members, and high risk youth. Over the past three years, 135 of 165 young offenders entering its Life Skills and Parenting Camp have graduated from LDMI, a success rate of 82 percent.
August 13th, 2007 at 10:04 am
To clarify, the original post said the girl was
dragged “behind” a truck, surely different (and worse)
that being dragged “from” one.
August 14th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
Glad to see my tax dollars are being equally wasted on torture, both in Iraq and here at home…
August 14th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
“135 of 165 young offenders entering its Life Skills and Parenting Camp have graduated from LDMI, a success rate of 82 percent.”
- What happened to the other 30? Did they fail after they were dragged behind trucks, or called authorities with charges of abuse?
August 15th, 2007 at 9:00 am
Apparently, she was dragged more than once. The only reason we’re hearing about this outrageous behavior is that it is a crime. I have little doubt, that if Love Demonstrated Ministries was a licensed facility, it would have been shut down long ago, even by Texas. However, they dodge any sort of state regulation by exploiting a loophole on class duration. So we must wait until something truely awful happens, to even get a sense of the danger.
Love demonstrated Ministries?! More like Love Demented Industries. This incident is just the very brutal tip of the very ugly dominionist iceberg looming before the ship of state.
August 15th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
I am disturbed by this story, but not greatly shocked.
Mr. Blumenthal, I heard your remarks on Thom Hartmann’s
program and I am very troubled by the increasing power of
dominonists, especially in America’s military. I would
like to urge everyone who wishes to learn more to read
the Tikkun interview with Mikey Weinstein, founder of the
Military Religious Freedom Foundation and to visit the
foundation’s website.
August 17th, 2007 at 1:19 am
After struggling for years [including a “born again where I thanked Jesus for everything, including Miracle Whip, because it’s tangier than real mayonnaise, I finally found athieism. I’m much more tolerant now, however I still don’t much care for real mayonnaise.
August 17th, 2007 at 10:53 am
“Faith Based” Dragging ?
August 21st, 2007 at 10:19 pm
Ah, you all seem to be forgetting the Parable
of the Teenage Girl Dragged Behind the Conversion Van.
That’s my favorite Bible story.
Very nice catch, BTW.
HJ