A Quick Look at Negative Campaign Ads

Something weighing on my mind recently is how much of recent presidential campaign advertising focuses on the opponent's perceived flaws rather than the candidate's strengths. If our biggest strength in a healthy democracy is an informed citezenship, isn't this tactic undermining us well-intentioned voters?

Fortunately, brighter minds than my own are tackling this subject. Take a look at the this brief video in which marketing professor Joel Urbany takes a quick look at the rationale for and effectiveness of this particular flavor of political advertising. Timely and interesting!

The video is currently off the ND homepage: http://www.nd.edu/
Scroll to the panel titled ND Expert: Joe Urbany. Or you can find it on YouTube.

20 Questions (actually 12) with Bill Evans

On October 23, 2008, Bill Evans will introduce himself and the House of Bread at our club luncheon. The House of Bread provides free meals to those in need, and Bill is its Executive Director. Dayton Domer Digest had the chance to ask Bill some questions:


What is your background?

My wife Rosemary and I are both UD grads (History and Social work majors respectively). We owned Evans Bakery for thirty-five years. We sold that business so that I could have this very challenging and rewarding second career as the Executive Director of the House of Bread.

How did House of Bread begin?

Our founder Sister Dorothy Kammerer started the House of Bread December 3, 1983. She said our guests did not have to show us a picture ID, have a proof of income, a place of residence, nor suffer through a lengthy interrogation. All were welcome. I have simply carried on with her original intentions.

How many meals does House of Bread serve?

Currently the House of Bread serves around 260+ meals per day or 80,000 meals annually in our dining room, plus 8200 children’s meals.

Where does House of Bread get its food?

The Food Bank is our major source of food. Our main private sector sources are Trader Joe and Gordon Food Service. Food drives and private donations from selected sources make up the balance.

How many people work at House of Bread?

The House of Bread employs five people: a full time Executive Director (me), a full time kitchen Director, a part time volunteer coordinator who doubles as an administrative assistant, a part time dish room/dining room coordinator, and a part time salaried bookkeeper. We have a very lean, dedicated staff indeed.

Are any of the employees former guests at House of Bread?

We reserve a part time dish room position for the hard to employ. We are very proud of that effort.

On whom do you depend for your funding?

Seventy percent of our budget comes from individuals, churches, and small business/organizations. Twenty percent of our funding comes from United Way, Combined Federal Campaign and FEMA. Ten percent of our funding comes from private and public grant sources. Our total budget is $ 270-300K

How has House of Bread changed over the years?

First of all, demand has increased and we have become more efficient. We wish to be the high volume low accost meal provider. We want to share our successes with others and learn to be even more attentive to detail as we serve the hungry. The great strength of the organization is that we have not changed very much at all. There is a simplicity and consistency to our mission that makes it easy to understand and get involved.

What has been House of Bread’s biggest challenge that it has overcome?

The House of Bread, faced with great challenges, moved into its own permanent location at 9 Orth Avenue on August 2, 2002. With a business plan in place, we secured a construction loan and then converted it to a mortgage. We now have the next major challenge to pay off the $275K mortgage balance so that we can expand necessary meal programs. Our current mortgage payment is $2900/month; current interest expense is $25K per year.

What are House of Bread’s goals for the future?

We want to continue to reach out to underserved populations. We want to further expand our children’s nutrition programs. The acronym SMART (Science and Math Attracting Ready Talent) is a well thought out enhancement to our core mission of nourishing hungry people.

What is the most significant challenge that House of Bread’s guests currently face?

More people who hardly ever imagined that they would be “food insecure” will face that difficult situation. We need to be responsive to changing needs and we need to be yet another bridge to beneficial community resources.

What is the most effective way to address those concerns?

We need to be able to build capacity, assure that we have adequate reserves and have the right people in place to insure that we will be always ready and available whatever the need may be.

How can we assist House of Bread?

The House of Bread looks for the same three resources from this organization as it looks for from any organization. I call it M and M and M’s. That would be money, muscle (manpower or womanpower) and momentum (special talent to assist us with our goals and objectives).

Thank you for the opportunity to submit answers to these questions.

Bill Evans
Executive Director
226-1520 or 673-0303

http://www.houseofbread.org/

Voting goodbye TWC and hello to a new president

First, my thanks to Marty Foos for offering me the opportunity to be a “poster” for our club blog. Marty said he was trying recruit bloggers from a variety of backgrounds in order to fully represent the make-up of the entire Notre Dame Club of Dayton. I guess I represent the over-50, computer impaired group.

Time-Warner. Thanks to the dropping of WDTN from the Time-Warner programming list, I’ve switched to Dish-TV. As it turns out, we will be spending less money for more stations. I’ll let you all know how it works out for us.

The Big (Catholic) Read. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in a Big (Catholic) Read discussion of the book The Catholic Vote—A Guide for the Perplexed at my home parish of St Luke in Beavercreek. The book, co-authored by Clarke E. Cochran and David Carroll Cochran, purports to illuminate a statement by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops entitled Forming Consciences for Faithful Citizenship: A Call to Political Responsibility from the Catholic Bishops of the United States. The series is being encouraged by the Cincinnati Archdiocese so hopefully some other club members have participated in these discussions in their home parishes. If so, I would love to hear your thoughts on the series. If not, and your parish is sponsoring the discussions, I would highly encourage you to look into it!

The purpose of the bishop’s statement is to provide a succinct summary of Catholic social teaching and how a faithful Catholic should look apply Catholic social teaching to specific policy issues. The bishops delineate seven “key themes” in the Church’s social teaching. These include:
- The Right to Life and the Dignity of the Human Person
- Call to Family, Community, and Participation
- Human Rights and Responsibilities
- The (Preferential) Option for the Poor
- Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers
- Solidarity (the “oneness” of the human family)
- Stewardship of God’s Creation

The bishops go on to apply these themes to specific issues. Some of these connections follow with crystal clarity such as the Right to Life = Abortion is always wrong. Other applications require a bit more discussion such as the Call to Family = Parental Choice in Schools. In short, the bishop’s statement leaves the Catholic conscious with a fair amount of latitude it sorting out the issues. It is clearly neither a Democrat nor a Republican document. It is a “must read” for any Catholic voter, however, prior to November 4th.

Unfortunately, the accompanying Big Read text is not quite so non-partisan and this opinion seemed to be the consensus in my group. Without going into a book report, I found the book to be quite left-of-center. I will defer further comment pending discussion from any readers who may have come to a different conclusion. I believe a thoughtful person will have a satisfactory understanding of the Church’s position by reading the bishop’s statement (link above) and foregoing the Big Read “amplifying material”. The real value of the Big Read is in the discussion with fellow parishioners. Be aware that the discussion material is completely issue-based and there is little to no discussion of the weighing of issues versus the candidate’s character and value system. I know when I hire a new employee that the individual’s character and value system (as their past associates and references will testify to) is at least as important as their experience.

Again, if you have the opportunity to participate in a voter discussion group at your parish, I’d love to hear from you!

Answers about the Sub-Prime Mortgage Mess

What happened last week with the bailout? What's happening this week with the stock market? Get practical answers from the Chair of Notre Dame's Economic and Econometrics Department, Christopher J. Waller, Ph.D. (Professor Waller is also part of the Kellogg Institute for International Studies.)

Professor Waller gave a talk on the Saturday before the Stanford game as part of the Saturday Scholar Series. Little did he know that his talk on the Sub-Prime Mortgage Mess would come one day after the bailout passed Congress.

Professor Waller is interesting and objective. He does not get into politics, just facts. Yet his talk is extremely interesting and informative. He explains the situation in terms that nonacademics can understand. This talk is simply the best explanation for our current economic condition hands down. I saw it in person and have been thinking and talking about it ever since.

Fortunately, the University videotaped the presentation and put it online. It takes about an hour and 15 minutes to listen to, and it is worth every minute.

Professor Waller explains that there is only a 2.7 % default rate on mortgages nationwide, and why all of us are feeling the pinch. He explains why the bailout is not really a bailout and why it is not likely to cost $700 billion. He gives actual figures for how much and why the investment firms were overleveraged. He reviews the history of mortgage markets since the Great Depression and explains how some of the problems from that time are resurfacing. The presentation describes what happened on the day credit froze -- September 17, 2008 -- and compares mortgage backed securities to Beanie Babies: "Nobody wants them, so no one knows what they're worth." (He also compared the onslaught of problems to Jimmy Clausen getting chased by defensive linemen in 2007.) Professor Waller answers questions about which regulatory changes and accounting rules had an effect on creating this problem and which did not. Finally, he disclaims knowledge of what will happen in the future, but indicates which problem areas might be on the horizon.

After the Stanford game, my friends and I spent more time discussing this presentation than we did the game (and if you knew the intellectual capacity of my friends and I, you would be doubly astounded). I highly recommend that you listen to his presentation.

Notre Dame Law School Professor Featured During Victory Over Purdue

For those of you who may have missed it last weekend, Notre Dame Law School professor Jimmy Gurule was featured in a video clip during the Notre Dame/Purdue game. The clip can be found here.

I do not know Jimmy Gurule as the former Under Secretary for Enforcement for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, or as the one-time Deputy Chief of the Major Narcotics Section of the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s Office (where he was dubbed the "Eagle of the Courtroom"). I only know Professor Gurule as one of the most well-respected (and often intimidating) criminal law professor at the law school. I had Professor Gurule for criminal law my first year at Notre Dame Law School, and whether we were discussing the far-reaching impact of anti-gang loitering statutes on society, or truly exploring the concept of self-defense from both a legal and moral standpoint, his class helped me become the "different kind of lawyer" referred to in the video clip.

More information regarding Professor Gurule can be found at his faculty bio page. As for the TV commercial, I feel it presents the law school (and Notre Dame) in a good light by focusing on one special member of its impressive faculty (and a voice-over by Regis never hurts anything).

The Catholic Guy: Live from ND!

If any of you have Sirius Satellite Radio, the satellite radio home of Notre Dame football (you know the one with the little dog as the logo), then you know about the Catholic Channel. All the ND games are on it, but so are a series of pretty fun hosts. It's sponsored by the Archdiocese of New York. It's entertaining, which is not always the case with religious programming.

The host who has the main timeslot (from 4 to 7 weekdays) will be broadcasting live from Gate 3 of Notre Dame Stadium this weekend! His name is Lino Rulli; he's also known as the Catholic guy. His guests have included Ed McMahon, twelve-time World Wrestling Federation champion Kurt Angle, and Vincent Sapore from "the Sopranos" (as well as several bishops). Callers answer trivia questions with the hopes of getting a Pope Bottle Opener or choose "Who is the Better Catholic?" a competition each week between Lino and a New York priest.

Here is one of his segments:

Genesis 1:26 says:God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle, and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."Well since the show is called "The Catholic Guy", it seems that a Catholic guy should follow what the Bible says. We not only have dominion over the animals, but God even wants us to name the animals.Name an animal? Well, that's the latest contest we played on our show: "Name Your Pet Lino". We got lots of great offers...

-Lino the Lobster. It would be a short, but meaningful relationship. (Kinda like all my relationships!)

-Lino the Labrador. A seeing-eye dog. (Because I spiritually guide people? Please play along.)

-Lino the Cat. Its owner described the cat as: "Cute, yet strange looking all at the same time. He is always doing things to crack us up and finally he is not too bright." (That defines me.)

-Lino the annoying neighbor's dog who yaps all day long. (Annoying? Yapping? Yep, that's me.)

-Lino the Angelfish. A guy called all the way from Rome, Italy to offer that one. (And my real name is Angelo.)

The winner of "Name Your Pet Lino" is...Drum roll, please...

Lino the Boer Goat!

This 6 month old boer goat is now named Lino. And get this...he's got about 3 more
months to prove that he's good with the female boer goats. And if he isn't? He
will soon be goat meat for lunch.

If you are going to the game, look for the Catholic Guy!