Elaine Chao (WSJ)—Another Unhappy Labor Day
Posted by Kendall Harmon

This coming Monday marks the second Labor Day of the Obama administration, and the American work force has little to show for it other than higher unemployment, stagnant wages, last year's $1.4 trillion federal deficit, this year's $1.3 trillion deficit, and next year's anticipated $1 trillion-plus deficit. Oh, and a slew of new federal regulations and programs—like ObamaCare—that will make it even more expensive for businesses to retain current workers, much less create new jobs.

No wonder American confidence in the future is evaporating. And when confidence crumbles, consumers won't spend, lenders won't lend, investors won't invest, and businesses won't hire.

Today we see businesses husbanding cash rather than hiring. Nonfinancial S&P 500 companies are sitting on a record $837 billion. Personal savings are increasing dramatically, to over 6% of income today compared to barely 1% in 2005. Those small businesses still willing to take on more debt to expand are having tremendous difficulty finding credit.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • The U.S. Government • Federal Reserve • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate

September 2, 2010 at 7:30 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A.S. Haley—Tiptoeing Through the Tulips: Lack of Oversight for ECUSA’s Lawsuit Expenses
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Frank Kirkpatrick, professor of religion at Trinity College, wrote in a survey article in 2008 that "there were, as of December [2007], 55 [Episcopal Church] property disputes in one state or another of resolution around the country." (You may find a listing of those lawsuits in this post from August 2008, and see also the latest report from the American Anglican Council.) Of those fifty-five lawsuits, I estimate that ECUSA itself was a party to about half of them. Thus from the five lawsuits to which it was a party as Bishop Griswold ended his term in November 2006 (the Pawley's Island case in South Carolina, the three Los Angeles lawsuits, and a case involving St. James Church in Elmhurst, in the Diocese of Long Island), the number increased by five times in the first full year of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori's term.

Under Bishop Jefferts Schori, ECUSA did not just passively stand by as the property disputes emerged, and allow the diocese involved to carry the laboring oar. It aggressively prosecuted the cases in both California and Virginia, joined in filings in Connecticut, Georgia and New York (where it intervened as the DFMS against St. Andrew's, in Syracuse, and filed an amicus brief in this case in New York's highest court), became enmeshed in additional litigation in San Diego and Colorado, and threatened litigation against the dioceses of San Joaquin, Fort Worth and Quincy if they dared to withdraw from the Church. (The latter two threats were issued by the Presiding Bishop's Chancellor on his own initiative, as discussed in this earlier post.)

There are no records in the minutes of the Executive Council during this period to show that it was ever consulted before any of these multiple filings in the name of the Church took place; as quoted in the previous post, the Presiding Bishop held the view that only she personally, and neither the Council, nor even General Convention, had any authority over litigation. Thus she simply gave her Chancellor free rein -- and ECUSA's legal bills began to mount exponentially.

Read it all (and please note it is part of a series all parts of which need to be perused).

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori • TEC Bishops • TEC Conflicts • TEC Conflicts-Quincy • TEC Conflicts: Fort Worth • TEC Conflicts: Pittsburgh • TEC Conflicts: San Joaquin • TEC Departing Parishes • TEC Data • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Stewardship • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology • Pastoral Theology

September 2, 2010 at 7:00 am - 13 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Professionals support each other in great recession, share tips, new connections
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Glenn Manjorin, a Ringwood resident, hosts one of the many groups that take place around the New York/New Jersey metro area, and invited Suburban Trends to the Christ Episcopal Church in Suffern, N.Y. to take a look at how the other side of the recession is coping with what the media labels as "the new normal."

Manjorin, who previously was a computer disaster recovery specialist and business continuity planner at IBM, is no stranger to how the recession is making people adjust their habits.

He explained that the group helps members out with what they labeled as the "elevator speech," which emphasizes saying your name at the beginning and end of the speech, as well as keeping your work details within a 30-second timeframe to pitch to potential employers.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Personal Finance • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

September 2, 2010 at 5:27 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

James Pethokoukis: Tax Cuts considered—Obama’s September surprise?
Posted by Kendall Harmon

2) Payroll tax cut is not a bad idea for stimulus, but U.S. has longer-term job and growth problem that needs to be addressed.

3) Payroll tax cut for $400 billion in early 2009 would have been better than Obama’s $862 billion plan.

4) Any short-term tax cut should be coupled with long-term deficit reduction plan.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Taxes • The U.S. Government • Politics in General • Office of the President • President Barack Obama

September 1, 2010 at 5:48 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

David Leonhardt—Tax Cuts That Make a Difference
Posted by Kendall Harmon

...the most effective tax cut for putting people back to work quickly is one that businesses and households get only if they spend money. Last year’s cash-for-clunkers program was an example. So was a recent bipartisan tax credit for businesses that hired workers who had been unemployed for months. Perhaps the broadest example is a temporary cut in the payroll tax for businesses, which reduces the cost of employing people.

Any of these steps would increase the budget deficit, obviously. But relative to the multitrillion-dollar, Medicare-driven, long-term deficit, a temporary tax cut costing a couple of hundred billion dollars isn’t significant. The more pressing problem today, by far, is the weak economy.

The great historical lesson of financial crises is that governments are usually not aggressive enough in responding. That was Japan’s mistake in 1990s, Herbert Hoover’s in the early 1930s and even Franklin Roosevelt’s in the mid-1930s.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Personal Finance • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • The U.S. Government • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate

September 1, 2010 at 5:38 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

NPR—35 Years On, Vietnam Heroes Reunited, Decorated
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The 260 officers and men on the Kirk did even grander things than that. When they returned to Vietnam to rescue the South Vietnamese navy, they found 30 ships, dozens of fishing boats and a few cargo ships with them. The ships were crowded with refugees, some 20,000 to 30,000 in all.

But it has been an untold history. It just wasn't something people wanted to talk about 35 years ago. Jan Herman, a historian with the U.S. Navy Medical Department, says people wanted to forget the Vietnam War.

"It was a time to forget a very unhappy war and to move on. And so the story of the Kirk, as good as it was, was kind of left in the dust. No one really looked at it," he says.

Read or listen to it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * International News & Commentary • Asia

September 1, 2010 at 3:54 pm - 1 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Local newspaper Editorial: Post-Lockerbie shame
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The "compassionate release" of a convicted PanAm bomber in 2009 was an affront to justice and to the families of the 270 people who died in Lockerbie, Scotland, on Dec. 21, 1988. It looks even worse given the perspective that the following year has provided....

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Libya • America/U.S.A. • England / UK • --Scotland

September 1, 2010 at 5:18 am - 3 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

For Many, a New Job Means Lower Wages, Studies Find
Posted by Kendall Harmon

After being out of work for more than a year, Donna Ings, 47, finally landed a job in February as a home health aide, earning about $10 an hour, with a company in Lexington, Mass.

Chelsea Nelson, 21, started two weeks ago as a waitress at a truck stop in Mountainburg, Ark., making around $7 or $8 an hour, depending on tips, ending a lengthy job search that took her young family to California and back.

Both are ostensibly economic success stories, people who were able to find work in a difficult labor market. Ms. Ing’s employer, Home Instead Senior Care, a company with franchises across the country, has been aggressively expanding. Ms. Nelson’s restaurant, Silver Bridge Truck Stop, recently reopened and hired about 20 people last month in an area thirsty for jobs.

Both women, however, took large pay cuts from their old jobs — Ms. Ing worked in the office of a wholesale tuxedo distributor; Ms. Nelson used to be a secretary. And both remain worried about how they will make ends meet in the long run.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

August 31, 2010 at 11:44 am - 7 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

David Brooks: Nation Building Works
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Iraq ranks fourth in the Middle East on the Index of Political Freedom from The Economist’s Intelligence Unit — behind Israel, Lebanon and Morocco, but ahead of Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and Tunisia. Nearly two-thirds of Iraqis say they want a democracy, while only 19 percent want an Islamic state.

In short, there has been substantial progress on the things development efforts can touch most directly: economic growth, basic security, and political and legal institutions. After the disaster of the first few years, nation building, much derided, has been a success. When President Obama speaks to the country on Iraq, he’ll be able to point to a large national project that has contributed to measurable, positive results.

Of course, to be honest, he’ll also have to say how fragile and incomplete this success is. Iraqi material conditions are better, but the Iraqi mind has not caught up with the Iraqi opportunity.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Iraq War • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • Asia • Afghanistan • Middle East • Iraq

August 31, 2010 at 7:51 am - 5 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

BBC: Iraq ‘independent’ as US combat operations end
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Iraq's prime minister has said the country is "independent" as the US formally ends combat operations.

Nouri Maliki said the country's security forces would now deal with all threats, domestic or other.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Iraq War • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • Middle East

August 31, 2010 at 6:09 am - 3 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Elizabeth Lowry reviews Juliet Nicolson’s new book on the aftermath of WWI, “The Great Silence”
Posted by Kendall Harmon

"They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old"—we are all familiar with Laurence Binyon's lament for the fallen of World War I. "The Great Silence" is the less-known story of the aftermath of that war: of those who were left and who did grow old. It complements Juliet Nicolson's earlier account, in "The Perfect Summer," of the golden period prefacing the outbreak of hostilities, an interlude of prosperity that only served to throw the horror of the conflict and the social disintegration that followed into sharper relief.

Of the five million British servicemen who went out to fight in the European trenches, 1.5 million came back with permanent injuries and disfigurements; others were traumatized in less immediately obvious ways. Taking stock, the Illustrated London News wrote at the time that the war had "destroyed millions of men, broken millions of lives, ruined great cities and hamlets"; it had left "a belt of earth ravaged, crowded the world with maimed men, blind, mad, sick men, flinging empires into anarchy." Those who did return, anticipating the "land fit for heroes" promised by the British Prime Minister Lloyd George, found that neither glory nor reward were forthcoming. The economy had collapsed, jobs were scarce and housing was in short supply. Once the euphoria following the Armistice had run its course, the silence that descended when the guns finally stopped was largely one of stunned bewilderment.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Books • History • * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

August 30, 2010 at 5:31 pm - 10 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Mark Helprin (WSJ): The World Trade Center Mosque and the Constitution
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Mosques have commemoratively been established upon the ruins or in the shells of the sacred buildings of other religions—most notably but not exclusively in Cordoba, Jerusalem, Istanbul, and India. When sited in this fashion they are monuments to victory, and the chief objection to this one is not to its existence but that it would be near the site of atrocities—not just one—closely associated with mosques because they were planned and at times celebrated in them.

Building close to Ground Zero disregards the passions, grief and preferences not only of most of the families of September 11th but, because we are all the families of September 11th, those of the American people as well, even if not the whole of the American people. If the project is to promote moderate Islam, why have its sponsors so relentlessly, without the slightest compromise, insisted upon such a sensitive and inflammatory setting? That is not moderate. It is aggressively militant.

Disregarding pleas to build it at a sufficient remove so as not to be linked to an abomination committed, widely praised, and throughout the world seldom condemned in the name of Islam, the militant proponents of the World Trade Center mosque are guilty of a poorly concealed provocation. They dare Americans to appear anti-Islamic and intolerant or just to roll over.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • City Government • Terrorism • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

August 30, 2010 at 6:41 am - 28 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Local Paper front Page—the S.C. Economy along the I-95 corridor: From bad to worse
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Every seat in the Clarendon County unemployment office is taken on a typical weekday afternoon, and many of these people won't find new jobs any time soon. That's just the way it is here along South Carolina's poor and rural Interstate 95 corridor.

So far this year, only one job opens for every three people sitting in the seats at the satellite office where folks travel for miles to file unemployment claims and apply for new work.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • * South Carolina

August 30, 2010 at 6:20 am - 1 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Bankers Told Recovery May Be Slow
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The American economy could experience painfully slow growth and stubbornly high unemployment for a decade or longer as a result of the 2007 collapse of the housing market and the economic turmoil that followed, according to an authority on the history of financial crises.

That finding, contained in a new paper by Carmen M. Reinhart, an economist at the University of Maryland, generated considerable debate during an annual policy symposium here, organized by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, which concluded on Saturday.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Personal Finance • The Banking System/Sector • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • The U.S. Government • Politics in General

August 30, 2010 at 6:00 am - 4 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Policy Options Dwindle as Economic Fears Grow
Posted by Kendall Harmon

It increasingly seems as if the policy makers attending like physicians to the American economy are peering into their medical kits and coming up empty, their arsenal of pharmaceuticals largely exhausted and the few that remain deemed too experimental or laden with risky side effects. The patient — who started in critical care — was showing signs of improvement in the convalescent ward earlier this year, but has since deteriorated. The doctors cannot agree on a diagnosis, let alone administer an antidote with confidence.

This is where the Great Recession has taken the world’s largest economy, to a Great Ambiguity over what lies ahead, and what can be done now. Economists debate the benefits of previous policy prescriptions, but in the political realm a rare consensus has emerged: The future is now so colored in red ink that running up the debt seems politically risky in the months before the Congressional elections, even in the name of creating jobs and generating economic growth. The result is that Democrats and Republicans have foresworn virtually any course that involves spending serious money.

The growing impression of a weakening economy combined with a dearth of policy options has reinvigorated concerns that the United States risks sinking into the sort of economic stagnation that captured Japan during its so-called Lost Decade in the 1990s.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Credit Markets • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Stock Market • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • The U.S. Government • Budget • Federal Reserve • The National Deficit • The United States Currency (Dollar etc) • Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate

August 29, 2010 at 6:11 pm - 6 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

U.S. Iraq Commander Fears Political Stalemate
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The outgoing commander of American forces in Iraq, Gen. Ray Odierno, said Sunday that a new Iraqi government could still be two months away and warned that a stalemate beyond that could create demands for a new election to break the deadlock that has lasted since March.

While General Odierno said he believed negotiations had picked up and would prove successful, he predicted politicians still required “four to six to eight weeks.”

“That’s a guess,” he said in an interview at his headquarters, whose plaster roof is still engraved with the initials of Saddam Hussein. “If it goes beyond 1 October, what does that mean? Could there be a call for another election? I worry about that a little bit.”

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Iraq War • * International News & Commentary • Middle East • Iraq

August 29, 2010 at 4:56 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

FT: Google plans pay-per-view films
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Google’s YouTube video site is in negotiations with Hollywood’s leading movie studios to launch a global pay-per-view video service by the end of 2010, putting it head-to-head with Apple in the race to dominate the digital distribution of film and television content.

Google has been pitching to the studios on the international appeal of a streaming, on-demand movie service pegged to the world’s most popular search engine and YouTube, according to several people with knowledge of the situation.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Movies & Television • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life

August 29, 2010 at 3:00 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

(New Vision) African Bishops told to boost development
Posted by Kendall Harmon

President Yoweri Museveni on Wednesday evening hosted the visiting African and foreign Bishops to a dinner at State House Entebbe. The prelates are here for the second All Africa Bishops Conference in Entebbe at Imperial Resort Beach Hotel which ends tomorrow.

As they arrived atop the hill at snail pace in three minibuses, many were awe struck by the breath taking beauty of the palatial structure, imposing majestically over Entebbe town. They ate and drank, with the President who called on them to champion social economic transformation.

“It is very important that the church leaders, political leaders and traditional leaders understand that social-economic transformation is the main problem in Africa”, the President said.

Read it all

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of Uganda • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • Africa

August 29, 2010 at 1:03 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Housing Market Woes Bring Familial Strife
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Until recently, homeownership was celebrated as a hallmark of upward social mobility. Today, many millions of people who owe more than their homes are worth feel it's become quite the opposite. It prevents many people from being able to seek a better job. And in many cases, it's taking a harsh emotional toll on families who find themselves stuck.

Among those frozen in place is Kelly Christensen, who was set to marry her longtime love, Joel Nerenberg. They bought a house in Burnsville, Minn., three years ago. They had wedding invitations printed. Then they broke up.

Two years later, they still own their home. Christensen's wedding dress now hangs in her ex-fiance's closet. He lives across the hall.

Read or listen to it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Marriage & Family • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Housing/Real Estate Market • Personal Finance

August 29, 2010 at 12:14 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

NPR—Midlevel Providers Fill Primary Care Doctors’ Shoes
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Increasingly, the doctor is not in when it comes to delivering primary care. But the nurse practitioner or physician assistant is often taking the doctor's place.

"We are ideally suited for it. And it's so cost-effective compared to any other form of medical provider," says Jim Love, a physician assistant from rural Pittsfield, Maine. "We need to be educating a lot more of us."

Michael McDonald, the primary care physician who supervises Love from 25 miles up the road in Dexter, Maine, agrees.

Read or listen to it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market

August 28, 2010 at 4:10 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Struggling Cities Shut Firehouses in Budget Crisis
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Fire departments around the nation are cutting jobs, closing firehouses and increasingly resorting to “rolling brownouts” in which they shut different fire companies on different days as the economic downturn forces many cities and towns to make deep cuts that are slowing their responses to fires and other emergencies.

Philadelphia began rolling brownouts this month, joining cities from Baltimore to Sacramento that now shut some units every day. San Jose, Calif., laid off 49 firefighters last month. And Lawrence, Mass., north of Boston, has laid off firefighters and shut down half of its six firehouses, forcing the city to rely on help from neighboring departments each time a fire goes to a second alarm.

Fire chiefs and union officials alike say it is the first time they have seen such deep cuts in so many parts of the country. “I’ve never seen it so widespread,” said Harold A. Schaitberger, the general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters.

Read it all from the front page of yesterday's NY Times.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • Politics in General • City Government

August 28, 2010 at 12:40 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Vacation Travel Recovers, but Frugality Is Focus
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Vacations have become a luxury for many Americans trying to make ends meet in this economic downturn, but there are signs that people are slowly, even timidly, on the move again.

Families who postponed trips last year are making modest vacation plans, travel agents say. And business owners or executives who felt it was insensitive to travel as they cut costs and laid off workers are again making plans to get away, leisure industry experts added.

Stacy H. Small, president of Elite Travel International, said at least half of her clients who were business owners cut back last year. “I had a lot of clients say ‘I just don’t feel right,’ ” she said. This year, nearly all have returned.

Read it all

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Travel • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Personal Finance • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

August 28, 2010 at 12:15 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

AP—Imam behind NYC mosque faces divisions over center
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf has long worked to bridge divisions, be they fissures between interfaith husbands and wives or political chasms separating the United States and the Muslim world.

The 61-year-old clergyman is now in the midst of a polarizing political, religious and cultural debate over plans for a multistory Islamic center that will feature a mosque, health club and theater about two blocks north of ground zero. He is one of the leaders of the Park51 project, but has largely been absent from the national debate over the implications of building a Muslim house of worship so close to where terrorists killed more than 2,700 people.

Though Rauf has said the center, which could cost more than $100 million, would serve as a space for interfaith dialogue, moderate Muslim practice and peaceful prayer, critics say it will create a base for radical, anti-American Islam. Some critics have also asked where the funding for the center might originate and whether it may come from sources linked to Muslim extremists.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • City Government • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

August 28, 2010 at 12:00 pm - 2 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

A Terrific NBC Video Report on the Transformation of New Orleans’ Schools
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



As far as I am concerned, Tulane University President Scott Cowen is a national hero--someone needs to give the man a medal--KSH.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Hurricane Katrina • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • City Government

August 28, 2010 at 11:29 am - 3 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Facebook alternative Diaspora eyes launch date
Posted by Kendall Harmon

An open alternative to Facebook will be launched on 15 September, the developers of the project have said.

Diaspora describes itself as a "privacy-aware, personally-controlled" social network.

The open-source project made headlines earlier this year when Facebook was forced to simplify its privacy settings, after they were criticised for being overly complex and confusing.

The project, developed by four US students, raised $200,000 (£140,000).

Read it all

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Blogging & the Internet • --Social Networking • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life

August 28, 2010 at 11:00 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Bloomberg—Recession Babies Wane as U.S. Births Decline for Second Year
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The number of women giving birth in the U.S. declined for the second year in a row as more women delayed motherhood during the worst recession since the 1930s.

The number of births dropped 2.6 percent to 4.14 million in 2009, even as the U.S. population rose slightly, according to the annual report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. The national birthrate declined to 13.5 for every 1,000 people, from 14.3 in 2007, when the collapse of subprime loans led to falling home prices and the loss of more than 8 million jobs.

Read it all

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Marriage & Family • * Economics, Politics • Economy • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

August 28, 2010 at 8:02 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

David Brooks on the Economy, Germany and the U.S.: The Parent Model
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The crucial issue [on the economy] is getting the fundamentals right. The Germans are doing better because during the past decade, they took care of their fundamentals and the Americans didn’t.

The situation can be expressed this way: German policy makers inherited a certain consensus-based economic model. That model has advantages. It fosters gradual innovation (of the sort useful in metallurgy). It also has disadvantages. It sometimes leads to rigidity and high unemployment.

Over the past few years, the Germans have built on their advantages. They effectively support basic research and worker training. They have also taken brave measures to minimize their disadvantages. As an editorial from the superb online think tank e21 reminds us, the Germans have recently reduced labor market regulation, increased wage flexibility and taken strong measures to balance budgets.

In the U.S., policy makers inherited a different economic model, one that also has certain advantages. It fosters disruptive innovation (of the sort useful in Silicon Valley). It also has certain disadvantages — a penchant for over-consumption and short term thinking.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Psychology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • The U.S. Government • * International News & Commentary • Europe • Germany

August 27, 2010 at 6:07 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

AP: Snapshot of U.S. Economy about to get a lot bleaker
Posted by Kendall Harmon

"The economy is going to limp along for the next few months," said Gus Faucher, an economist at Moody's Analytics. There's even a one in three chance it could slip back into recession, he said.

Many temporary factors that boosted the economy earlier this year are fading. Companies built up their inventories after cutting them sharply in the recession to match slower sales. The increase provided a boost to manufacturers, but now many companies' stockpiles are in line with sales and don't need to grow as much. In addition, the impact of the government's $862 billion fiscal stimulus program is lessening. That leaves the private sector to pick up the slack. But businesses are cutting back on their spending on machines, computers and software, according to a government report earlier this week. And the housing sector is slumping again after a popular home buyer's tax credit expired in April.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • Credit Markets • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Personal Finance • Stock Market • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • The Fiscal Stimulus Package of 2009 • The U.S. Government • Federal Reserve • Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate

August 27, 2010 at 6:00 am - 6 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Looking at Islamic Center Debate, World Sees U.S.
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Across the world, the bruising struggle over an Islamic center near ground zero has elicited some unexpected reactions.

For many in Europe, where much more bitter struggles have taken place over bans on facial veils in France and minarets in Switzerland, America’s fight over Park51 seems small fry, essentially a zoning spat in a culture war.

But others, especially in countries with nothing similar to the constitutional separation of church and state, find it puzzling that there is any controversy at all. In most Muslim nations, the state not only determines where mosques are built, but what the clerics inside can say.

The one constant expressed, regardless of geography, is that even though many in the United States have framed the future of the community center as a pivotal referendum on the core issues of religion, tolerance and free speech, those outside its borders see the debate as a confirmation of their pre-existing feelings about the country, whether good or bad.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • City Government • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

August 27, 2010 at 5:19 am - 6 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Canadian police charge three in suspected terror plot
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Three Canadians arrested in an alleged terrorist conspiracy had bomb parts and plans and posed a "real and serious threat", Canadian police have said.

The trio, arrested this week, were charged with supporting terrorism.

Hiva Alizadeh and Misbahuddin Ahmed were jailed following a court appearance on Thursday.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Terrorism • * International News & Commentary • Canada

August 26, 2010 at 6:04 pm - 20 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Anthem Blue Cross is allowed to move ahead with rate hikes in California
Posted by Kendall Harmon

California insurance regulators cleared the way Wednesday for Anthem Blue Cross to implement scaled-back rate hikes after a previous increase was canceled amid an uproar over its size.

Anthem said it intends to put the new rates — averaging 14% and as high as 20% — into effect Oct. 1 for nearly 800,000 individual California policyholders.

Regulators also allowed one of Anthem's nonprofit competitors, Blue Shield of California, to move ahead with rate increases — averaging 19% and as high as 29% — for 250,000 individual policyholders.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Corporations/Corporate Life • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007-- • Politics in General • State Government

August 26, 2010 at 4:02 pm - 4 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Scarcity of jobs puts more at risk of foreclosure
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The number of Americans who are missing payments and falling into foreclosure has followed the upward trend in unemployment. The jobless rate has remained near double digits all year.

"Ultimately, the housing story, whether it is delinquencies, homes sales or housing starts, is an employment story," Jay Brinkmann, the Mortgage Bankers Association's top economist, said in a statement. "Only when we see a consistent increase in employment will we see an increase in sales and starts, and a sustained improvement in the delinquency numbers."

More than 2.3 million homes have been repossessed by lenders since the recession began in December 2007, according to foreclosure listing service RealtyTrac Inc. Economists expect the number of foreclosures to grow well into next year.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

August 26, 2010 at 3:28 pm - 9 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

(Miami Herald) Miami pastors pray, strategize over inner-city violence
Posted by Kendall Harmon

The wake-up call comes after a series of police-involved shootings since early July that have left four men dead and a community asking hard questions.

On July 5, a rookie police officer shot and killed DeCarlos Moore in Overtown as Moore disobeyed an order and returned to his car. He had no weapon.

The most recent case involved Tarnorris Tyrell Gaye, 19, who was shot and killed last Friday by the same officer who shot and killed a man during a sting-gone-bad nine days earlier.

That day, police say, 16-year-old Joell Lee Johnson was killed during an undercover police operation involving holdups of fast-food deliverers after the teen pointed a gun at the officer.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Ministry of the Ordained • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • City Government

August 26, 2010 at 11:30 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Wisconsin’s Holy Apostles Episcopal Church Locked in a debate with their town over property taxes
Posted by Kendall Harmon

It's church versus state in a local taxation battle.

Episcopal church officials say the property tax assessment on land next to Holy Apostles Church on the Oneida Indian Reservation is unlawful because it's designated a cemetery.

Village of Hobart assessor Mike Denor says 23 acres that have a 2010 property tax obligation of about $600 are mostly woods, and even calling it a cemetery "is kind of a stretch."

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Episcopal Church (TEC) • TEC Parishes • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Church/State Matters • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Taxes • Politics in General • City Government

August 25, 2010 at 11:34 am - 2 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Intel CEO: U.S. faces looming tech decline
Posted by Kendall Harmon

[Paul] Otellini singled out the political state of affairs in Democrat-dominated Washington, saying: "I think this group does not understand what it takes to create jobs. And I think they're flummoxed by their experiment in Keynesian economics not working."

Since an unusually sharp downturn accelerated in late 2008, the Obama administration and its allies in the U.S. Congress have enacted trillions in deficit spending they say will create an economic stimulus -- but have not extended the Bush tax cuts and have pushed to levy extensive new health care and carbon regulations on businesses.

"They're in a 'Do' loop right now trying to figure out what the answer is," Otellini said.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Corporations/Corporate Life • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • The U.S. Government • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate

August 25, 2010 at 11:20 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

BBC—Wave of deadly bombings in Iraq
Posted by Kendall Harmon

More than 30 people have been killed and dozens injured in a series of bomb attacks across Iraq.

There have been several blasts in Baghdad, including one in which 15 people died. At least 15 were killed in a suicide attack in Kut in the south.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Defense, National Security, Military • Foreign Relations • Iraq War • * International News & Commentary • Middle East

August 25, 2010 at 6:57 am - 2 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Your Brain on Computers: Overuse of Digital Devices May Lead to Brain Fatigue
Posted by Kendall Harmon

It’s 1 p.m. on a Thursday and Dianne Bates, 40, juggles three screens. She listens to a few songs on her iPod, then taps out a quick e-mail on her iPhone and turns her attention to the high-definition television.

Just another day at the gym.

As Ms. Bates multitasks, she is also churning her legs in fast loops on an elliptical machine in a downtown fitness center. She is in good company. In gyms and elsewhere, people use phones and other electronic devices to get work done — and as a reliable antidote to boredom.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Psychology • Science & Technology • * Economics, Politics • Economy • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

August 25, 2010 at 5:16 am - 2 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Norihiro Kato—Japan and the Ancient Art of Shrugging
Posted by Kendall Harmon

Three years ago, I saw a television program about a new breed of youngster: the nonconsumer. Japanese in their late teens and early 20s, it said, did not have cars. They didn’t drink alcohol. They didn’t spend Christmas Eve with their boyfriends or girlfriends at fancy hotels downtown the way earlier generations did. I have taught many students who fit this mold. They work hard at part-time jobs, spend hours at McDonald’s sipping cheap coffee, eat fast food lunches at Yoshinoya. They save their money for the future.

These are the Japanese who came of age after the bubble, never having known Japan as a flourishing economy. They are accustomed to being frugal. Today’s youths, living in a society older than any in the world, are the first since the late 19th century to feel so uneasy about the future.

I saw young Japanese in Paris, of course, vacationing or studying, but statistics show that they don’t travel the way we used to. Perhaps it’s a reaction against their globalizing elders who are still zealously pushing English-language education and overseas employment. Young people have grown less interested in studying foreign languages. They seem not to feel the urge to grow outward. Look, they say, Japan is a small country. And we’re O.K. with small.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • History • Psychology • Young Adults • * Economics, Politics • Economy • * International News & Commentary • Asia • Japan

August 25, 2010 at 5:00 am - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

David Brooks: A Case of Mental Courage
Posted by Kendall Harmon

This [19th century] emphasis on mental character lasted for a time, but it has abated. There’s less talk of sin and frailty these days. Capitalism has also undermined this ethos. In the media competition for eyeballs, everyone is rewarded for producing enjoyable and affirming content. Output is measured by ratings and page views, so much of the media, and even the academy, is more geared toward pleasuring consumers, not putting them on some arduous character-building regime.

In this atmosphere, we’re all less conscious of our severe mental shortcomings and less inclined to be skeptical of our own opinions. Occasionally you surf around the Web and find someone who takes mental limitations seriously. For example, Charlie Munger of Berkshire Hathaway once gave a speech called “The Psychology of Human Misjudgment.” He and others list our natural weaknesses: We have confirmation bias; we pick out evidence that supports our views. We are cognitive misers; we try to think as little as possible. We are herd thinkers and conform our perceptions to fit in with the group.

But, in general, the culture places less emphasis on the need to struggle against one’s own mental feebleness. Today’s culture is better in most ways, but in this way it is worse.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • History • Philosophy • Psychology • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

August 25, 2010 at 4:41 am - 4 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

Steve Kerch—Why nobody wants to buy a house
Posted by Kendall Harmon

...the only thing that will turn this mess around is jobs. Until this economy can put people back to work -- and put them back to work gainfully, full-time, using their skills and not merely temping in some capacity way beneath their experience -- it won't be able to instill any confidence that buying a house is a good idea.

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Filed under: * Economics, Politics • Economy • Consumer/consumer spending • Housing/Real Estate Market • Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market • Personal Finance • The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

August 24, 2010 at 4:46 pm - 0 comments - [link] [Printer Friendly] [Print w/ comments]

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