Thanks Terri

I don't have any advice really, but more of an affirmation maybe. My wife and I co-lead a small adult literacy site that has an hour each week were we connect with our volunteers. We've used this time for a variety of things including language learning, tutoring tips, learning about the culture. This past year we started doing book studies about Islam and building relationships.

My point... this is a group of people who came together out of a shared interest and we've clicked well and created an environment safe for discussion and exploration.

I had written more, but when I logged into intensedebate it lost it and I can't remember it!

We have the same problem here, luckily I live near a hospital and they keep their sidewalks pretty dry. I've contemplated doing laps around there campus, but haven't done that yet!

I'd be happy to let you guest post.

Agreed. And if he gets the asking price for his house he could easily buy a few house for his administration to use as well!

I've taken part in Blog Action Day and would be potentially interested in something with a smaller group of bloggers. Have you ever heard of RESULTS? It is a similar idea except the meet monthly for an hour or so and take an action around global poverty. Their actions include letters to the editor, writing congress, and getting publicity around issues. I think it would be an easily tweakable model for an "online" community.

I think it is fair to say that Obama didn't have much of a choice with TARP. My understanding is that to get the second half of TARP funds CONGRESS had to approve of their release not Obama. This being the case it would have taken a tremendous amount of work to stop it on behalf of Obama. If you are bored you can read the Jan 23 GAO report about TARP. http://www.scribd.com/doc/11549064/GAO-Status-Rep... This first page is interesting enough!
I spent some time trying to find out more details about the status of TARP, I'm curious as well, but none of the government websites were that helpful!

Nice. And now your blog is blocked by the firewall.

I think part of the reason we are seeing more e-mails about this current stimulus package is that it contains money for "pro-choice" ideals and there was also concern about Obama taking away some of the faith-based hiring practices that many Christian orgs take for granted.

I think part of our role is to not get caught up in the dire predictions that fly all around us but to rest assured in the peace of Christ and to share that calm and peace to our neighbors via relationships. Obviously that can be more than just sharing the spiritual peace but also the physical bread and butter as well.

Thanks for the post, that is very helpful. Do you know of any good posts for using Google Notebook?