Student Loans and Really Enough About Me

There's a lot of talk right now about debt and the problems of debt repayment, etc.

Well, one of the things they don't talk about is student loans.

Here is my advice to anyone considering to go to school on student loans:

DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TAKE OUT A STUDENT LOAN!!!!

Here's why -- if you have a homeowner's loan, they can repossess your home. Debt paid. If you have an unsecured loan, you can declare bankruptcy. Debt paid.

If you have a student loan, the reality is, bankruptcy or not, home or not, whatever or not -- they will never let you go. If you cannot pay, they will still garnish your wages - administrative garnishment - under "national standards" at so ridiculous an amount that no one could possibly meet them - unless they had enough to pay already.

That's right. They don't care what you make, but how much they think you ought to spend in a crazy theoretical world.

In addition, you will be given a "grace period" to apply for a "hearing" that doesn't possibly give you enough time to gather the bills and invoices they want and figure the absurdly detailed amounts they want to know about in the time of the "grace period."

The reality of "don't have enough" and "working poor" and "emotionally disabled" means nothing. They'll take it anyway. It's the modern-day equivalent of debtor's prison. You. Have. No. Hope.

In short, we're in a tanking economy, the job market is ever-changing and ever unstable, our public representatives are removed from us and insulated by money - even insulated from being voted out.

You won't win.

How do I know? Because it's what I'm going through now, and the very real, very calm reality of suicide as necessity is rising before me.

I'm not mewling, wailing, self-pitying -- I'm just warning. It's not a cry for help, since none can help. I don't want to die, but there really is no option. No money. No help. It's a calm thought, though terrifying. I'm not despairing, simply looking realistically at what I can do, once the "appeals" have failed, as I fear they will.

Do not allow yourself to fall into this. Don't allow your children to come to this.

Hildegarde of Bingen

As usual, it took a visit to Grandmere Mimi to remind me to acknowledge a saint's day, even though I've said the saint's collect twice today.

So, here's my favorite icon of Hildegard:

Here's my favorite film depiction of Hildegard, played by Patricia Routledge (aka: Hyacinth Bucket):

Another Response!

This one is an actual letter from Bp. Shaw of Massachusetts - a gentleman I had the great honor of meeting during a stay at the SSJE monastery in Boston.

Dear Mr. Brunson:

Thank you for your letter of August 19 concerning your views on the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lambeth Conference. I will certainly consider what you have said as we move forward in our discussions specifically at the House of Bishops meeting in September.

Please know of my prayers for you.

Faithfully yours,

M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE

Thank you Bishop Shaw, and my prayers are with you and the HoB, as well.

Your Lab Can Fetch? HA!!!!

Website Recommendation

I received, out of the blue, a catalog called Monastery Greetings

It is wonderful!

It brings together, in one "clearing house," so-to-speak, various Christian monastic traditions and products. Though the RC orders comprise the lion's share of the catalog, both Orthodox and Episcopal are represented, as well.

Take a look!

I TOLD you what this was about!

It is, indeed, about racism and imperialism - just reversed.

It's a sad cycle of ignorance - they did it to us, so we hate them back and will do it to them.

MadPriest has the whole story here from the Sunday Sun concerning a meeting of Nigerian clergy and their unqualified approbation of "Big Pete" Akinola.

Here is my favorite quote:

Why did white people get involved in the gay issue?
They are very funny people. They keep animals as pets. They kiss animals and carry them like humans. As for their human level, I don’t know what to say, but their Christian level is another thing. They are not good Christians. This is why they are re-evangelizing them. We have our ministers in Britain, America and all parts of the world who are re-evangelizing the white people.

They Always Talk About Their Numbers, So . . .

Just a little PR idea for them.

AN IMPORTANT ELECTION-SEASON ANNOUNCEMENT

This was posted by IT, a respected, measured and highly intelligent poster in various blogs, who, from my experience, is given neither to hyperbole or rash rumor-mongering:

Another example of egregious behavior.
here's a special election for Senator in Mississippi, filling the seat that until recently was held for-freakin'-ever by Senate fixture Trent Lott. The newly appointed Republican interim Senator is facing a formidable Democratic challenger, and may in fact lose.

So what does Republican Gov. Haley Barbour (the former RNC chair) and the Republican Secretary of State do? They shuffle the placement of the race on the ballot in order to bury it. They put it last, under all the local and minor races, things like school board races and so on, so that it's difficult to find. They do their best to hide it, knowing that it will lower the response rate and help the Republican incumbent.

The problem is, it's plainly illegal. It's not "arguably" illegal, or "a little" illegal. It's just plain illegal.

In otherwords to reduce the likelihood that people will vote for the Democrat, the Republicans will try to "hide" the election. But the LAW REQUIRES Federal elections are at the top of the ballot.

This is CORRUPTION, people. Election-stealing LIES AND CORRUPTION.

The commenter goes on,
This isn't "political hardball", or "an aggressive campaign strategy", or any of those other rancid euphemisms that we've taken to using in our national discourse instead of calling corruption out as corruption. Haley Barbour is doing an illegal thing because he thinks he can, and because doing an illegal thing will help his Party.

More at Daily Kos

Are you outraged yet???? THees people may WIN ifyou aren't.

And, as I've said elsewhere, if McCain wins, The Handmaid's Tale will become reality.

At First I Felt Bad

Listening to yesterday's reading ". . . if your brother won't even listen to the church . . . " I mean, the church in terms of the AC has said "moratoria."

Then I remembered:

We did do what the church asked. We listened to the church. We were gracious and accomodating to the Reasserters in our midst.

In return, we were still ostracized, victimized, brutalized and villified -- by our "brothers."

Now, as most of you know, at most times I'm fairly suicidal, at current, moreso than usual, but the "loving words" of our good christian "brothers and sisters" makes me want to cut my wrists and stand in the middle of the street laughing with joy that I'll be off this planet soon. Really . . . that's what Reasserters and Rowan Williams put into my mind.


Conclusion:

These are NOT our brothers and sisters - christian or otherwise - and the AC is no longer "church" in any sense of the word.