It's sad when something that should be self evident is controversial

A recent dialog I had has me thinking about fatherless children. It's amazing how culturally we believe that it is fine for children to be raised without fathers, but not okay for children to be raised without mothers. Of course, mothers are soon also going to be unnecessary, too.

This is my source, and these stats are kind of old.

• 63% of youth suicides are from fatherless homes.

[U. S. D.H.H.S. Bureau of the Census]

• 90% of all homeless and runaway children are from fatherless homes.
• 85% of all children that exhibit behavioral disorders come from fatherless homes.

[Center for Disease Control]

• 80% of rapists motivated with displaced anger come from fatherless homes.

[Criminal Justice and Behavior, Vol. 14 p. 403-26]

• 71% of all high school dropouts come from fatherless homes.

[National Principals Association Report on the State of High Schools]

• 70% of juveniles in state operated institutions come from fatherless homes

[U.S. Dept. of Justice, Special Report, Sept., 1988]

• 85% of all youths sitting in prisons grew up in a fatherless home.

[Fulton County Georgia Jail Populations and Texas Dept. of Corrections, 1992]

• Nearly 2 of every 5 children in America do not live with their fathers.

[US News and World Report, February 27, 1995, p.39]

What does this mean? Children from fatherless homes are:

• 4.6 times more likely to commit suicide,

• 6.6 times to become teenaged mothers (if they are girls, of course),
• 24.3 times more likely to run away,
• 15.3 times more likely to have behavioral disorders,
• 6.3 times more likely to be in a state-operated institutions,
• 10.8 times more likely to commit rape,
• 6.6 times more likely to drop out of school,
• 15.3 times more likely to end up in prison while a teenager.

I'm currently out of the office rant

I am blown away that a sales rep for a vendor does not leave an "out of office" message on his voicemail or e-mail, nor does he check either one. I am not one of these people who expect you to return my call or e-mail within 30 seconds of getting it, but come on. No out of office message!? While I have a six figure bid I'm working on using their products. Then I find out their offices close at 1:30 on Fridays. Either they have a very high opinion of themselves and a long weekend or they have to cut hours and don't want to tell anyone.

How I contact my Congressmen

Leonard Boswell 202-225-3806
Charles Grassley 202-224-3744
Tom Harkin 202-224-3254

The numbers above are for their D.C. offices. I call during business hours. I tell the person that answers the phone that I am a constituent and I want to give my opinion on an issue. They say, "ok" and I say what I think about given legislation. If they aren't being rude, they get my name and address and I receive a written form letter back.

This is how I do it. I'm sure some of you look up the bill numbers and all of that. I figure they know what I'm talking about when I name a very specific piece of legislation ("the health care bill that recently passed out of House committee").

Your cell phone has no long distance charges, it takes about 2 minutes to do, so there's no excuse for not doing it. I always contact them regardless of their position or party.

Christian Business Man

I resist the notion of being a Christian business man. I resist the idea of marketing myself as a Christian business man, or expecting people to trust me based on the fact that I am a Christian. Part of this is just my rebellion against silly Evangelical trends, like "Christian Business Directories" or those don't do business with unbelievers. Some who market themselves as Christian business people are actually some of the most shady people you have ever met.

So I have these wonderful customers right now. They have made it evident they are Christians. They are just great people, in both a business and personal sense it seems. I keep being tempted to drop a line about my faith, as some sort of connection to them. However, as I said above, I just have this aversion to do this. Now, if this is for genuine motives, this is because I want my actions to be so evident of Christ, that people come to this conclusion on their own. Sometimes I've shared about it after we are done doing business. Then they are judging me on the results, and not on a sales ploy to try to building my credibility.

Just thinking out loud.