As colleges nationwide review freshman applications over the next several weeks, many will face lopsided numbers of male and female candidates. Some colleges maintain a gender balance, but national data in recent years show a 57%-43% split favoring women, both in enrollments and graduation rates. Richard Whitmire, author of Why Boys Fail and a former USA TODAY editorial writer, talks to reporter Mary Beth Marklein about how we got there, why we should care, and what should be done about it.

Q: Why do boys fail, and how do we turn that around?

A: The reforms launched by the nation’s governors more than 20 years ago to get more students college-ready had an unintended consequence: Most girls adjusted nicely to the intensified verbal skills demanded in the early grades; most boys didn’t. We have to figure out a way to keep boys on track with reading and writing skills. Boys are failing because the world has gotten more verbal and they haven’t.

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Of the 30-odd attempted terrorist plots against the United States or American installations abroad that have been foiled since 9/11, roughly a third have been uncovered in the past year alone. What is new, and particularly frightening, about these recent attempts is that the budding perpetrators were initially indoctrinated inside the United States, with help from extremist websites or Islamic preachers. It was only after they had been brought some ways along the road to holy war that at least some of these would-be jihadists sought training and logistical support from al-Qaeda and others overseas. . . .

While they come from diverse ethnic and regional backgrounds, most of the men involved in homegrown plots fit a similar profile: they are middle class and well-educated. The same can be said of many, if not most, Islamist terrorists, whether it be the son of the former Nigerian finance minister who attempted to bring down a plane on Christmas Day near Detroit; the seven British doctors (and one medical technician) who plotted to carry out car bombings in 2007; or Osama bin Laden himself, whose family operates a massive construction empire worth billions of dollars. This reality contradicts the trendy, post-9/11 contention, as wrong then as it is now, that terrorism is caused by poverty.

–James Kirchick, “The Homegrown Terrorist Threat,” Commentary (February 2010), pp.17-18

…What`s so interesting at the same time is that what I think people…find so jarring about Omar Hammami is how familiar he is. When most people think about jihadists, they have this image of these people who are alien, otherworldly….People you can`t imagine knowing, who are at odds with the West. And Omar Hammami just turns that on his head, because he`s really straddling the divide. And not just him, but also a lot of these guys from Minneapolis. They get to Somalia and they continue to maintain contact with their friends and family via Facebook, via cell phones, via e-mail. All of the tools — this is a new generation, this is a generation that has come of age with the Internet. And so they remain connected to this wider modern world, while at the same time embracing this vision of utopia that goes back centuries. And while also seeing America as the enemy. And so, it`s the juxtaposition of those two things that I think people find so alarming, especially with Hammami, because, I mean, he could be the kid next door. For a lot of people who grew up with him, he is the kid next door. So he brings this home.

–Andrea Elliott of the New York Times in a recent Charlie Rose interview

The recent presidential elections in Sri Lanka violated democratic boundaries through “willful violations” of election laws and did not address the concerns of the Tamil minority, Catholic and Anglican bishops in the country have said in a joint statement.

Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa won a landslide victory over former army chief Sarath Foneska in January’s “acrimonious” elections, according to Caritas. The election followed the government victory over the Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels.

Since the elections, Foneska has been arrested, parliament has been dissolved and parliamentary elections have been called for April. Riots have occurred in the capital and a journalist has disappeared.

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The Winter Olympics tends to be heavy on glitz and fanfare, but this year much of the pageantry is taking place unusually close to one of the bleakest neighborhoods in North America.

Vancouver’s “Skid Road” is just a few blocks from the site of Friday’s opening ceremony, and the host city has found that proximity awkward, to say the least.

East Hastings Street is the main drag of a neighborhood often referred to as “Canada’s poorest postal code.” But it’s not just poverty that sets this area apart.

“It’s where a lot of people get their drugs; it’s a lot of dealing around here,” says Tillman Doiron, who lives nearby.

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Google, the world’s biggest online search engine, wants to turbocharge your Internet connection.

The company said Wednesday it is getting into the broadband service business with trials for fiber networks that will deliver Internet access speeds that are 100 times faster than what most Americans are getting today.

With its announcement, the Internet juggernaut added to a fast-growing list of industries it has barreled its way through. Tuesday, it announced a social networking feature directly aimed at Facebook. Late last year, it got into the cellphone business with a smartphone to rival Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry. The list goes on: The book, music, video, newspaper and map businesses have all been shaken by Google’s steady march to place its marker on those industries for the Web.

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Victory or defeat in Afghanistan will be determined by how the United States engages Pakistan this year.

In particular, the US counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan hinges on whether or not the “Afghan Taliban,” a Pashtun movement, maintains sanctuary and support from outside the country.

Currently, the Pakistani government is not denying that sanctuary to the Afghan Taliban, or the “Pakistan Taliban” (also Pashtun). I spent 10 days last month in Islamabad and Peshawar speaking with leaders from across society, including those with direct access to the Taliban.

Conversations revealed that there are three things that the US must understand in order to end the Taliban insurgencies on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border: respect, reconciliation, and religious freedom.

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Important viewing I think.

he Church of England voted on Wednesday to express “deep concern” about a drop in religious programmes on British television but drew back from solely targeting the BBC for criticism.

The Church’s General Synod, or parliament, had been asked by one of its members to pinpoint the publicly funded BBC for marginalising religion and treating religious shows on its non-core channels as “freak shows..”

But the Synod instead voted on an amendment which expressed its “deep concern about the overall reduction in religious broadcasting across British television in recent years.”

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Historian Robert Prichard of Virginia Theological Seminary described General Convention’s call, in the early 20th century, for more business-like models of management, which led to organizing dioceses into provinces; changing the Presiding Bishop from the longest-serving bishop to an elected executive; and establishing a national council, now known as Executive Council.

Dr. Prichard noted that The Living Church was the first publication, in response to those changes, to apply the courtesy title “the Most Rev.,” normally reserved for archbishops, to the Presiding Bishop.

The 20th century also led to greater ties with the Anglican Communion, Dr. Prichard said, including the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Stephen Bayne as the first executive officer of what is now the Anglican Communion Office.

The Episcopal Church’s two major trends of the 20th century ”” greater centralization and stronger ties with the Anglican Communion ”” are now at odds with each other, Dr. Prichard said.

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I caught this one on yesterday morning’s run–really wonderful stuff.

Update: There is also a penguin slideshow here.

It is worth a careful look.

Years ago I was visiting friends in the Episcopal Church in the United States. The diocese had just elected a new a bishop and my friend had been an elector in the House of Laity of the diocesan synod. What did he think of the new man? I asked. “Well”, he said, “he’s a bit of jerk but he’s our jerk”. This layman, in other words, responded like a grown-up, taking responsibility for decisions and acknowledging his accountability.

In the Church of England, unlike most of the Anglican Communion, we do not elect our bishops, but we are governed by a synodical structure in which the three “estates” of the church are represented in three houses: laity, clergy and bishops. This model is replicated in every diocese as well. That it is a cumbersome and often frustrating decision-making system is beyond dispute. What is less acknowledged is that lay participation and a (somewhat) democratic authority is nothing new and has been inherent in our structures since at least the Reformation.

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Iran’s telecommunications agency announced what it described as a permanent suspension of Google Inc.’s email services, saying a national email service for Iranian citizens would soon be rolled out.

It wasn’t clear late Wednesday what effect the order had on Gmail services in Iran, or even if Iran had implemented its new policy. Iranian officials have claimed technological advances in the past that they haven’t been able to execute.

Google didn’t have an immediate comment about the announcement.

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The Presbyterian Church USA’s statement of faith says God through Jesus Christ delivers followers “from death to life eternal.”

But one in three members of the nation’s largest Presbyterian denomination seem to believe there’s some wiggle room for non-Christians to get into heaven, according to a recent poll.

The Presbyterian Panel’s “Religious and Demographic Profile of Presbyterians” found that 36 percent of members disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement: “Only followers of Jesus Christ can be saved.” Another 39 percent, or about two-fifths, agreed or strongly agreed with the statement.

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The general synod ”“ the church’s parliament, meeting in London ”“ passed a motion recognising the breakaway group’s desire to remain Anglicans but declined to promise to ally with them in their ongoing wrangles with the mainstream US church.

In a two-hour debate, efforts by liberal supporters of the US Episcopal church failed in attempts to throw out or adjourn a motion supporting the breakaways, but succeeded in diluting it with the help of moderate bishops.

Supported and advised by conservative evangelical members of the synod, Lorna Ashworth, a lay member from Eastbourne who is of Canadian extraction, appealed to members to support the group, describing those involved as loyal, faithful Anglicans in North America.

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The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin has started a new round of lawsuits to get dissidents to return numerous Central Valley churches.

The dissidents split from the national Episcopal church to affiliate with a more conservative unit of the Anglican Church.

The lawsuits have been filed because invitations of the Diocesan Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Jerry Lamb, to discuss the orderly return of the churches have been largely ignored, the diocese says.

“It is particularly disappointing given the recent and unequivocal decisions of the California Supreme Court and Court of Appeals’ rulings that the properties and assets are held for the Episcopal Church and its Dioceses,” says Diocesan Chancellor Michael Glass, the lawyer for the diocese.

The litigation is focused on returning the properties and assets to the mission and ministry of the Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, he says.

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February 9, 2010

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Greetings in the strong name of Jesus Christ whose word calls us to conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day.

I write to announce a change in the date of our upcoming Diocesan Convention which was scheduled for March 4_5′” at St. Paul’s, Summerville. According to our Diocesan Constitution and Canons the Ecclesiastical Authority may “for sufficient cause” change the date of the Convention. I, with the unanimous concurrence of the Standing Committee, have so done. The 219′” Convention of the Diocese of South Carolina will now be held at St. Paul’s, Summerville on March 26, 2010.

The Chancellor of the diocese, Mr. Wade Logan, was informed in December of 2009 that a local attorney had been retained by the Chancellor of the Presiding Bishop to represent The Episcopal Church in some “local matters.” Then, beginning in January of 2010, a series of letters requesting various documents from our diocesan records were sent sequentially to our chancellor, leading us to believe that perhaps the Presiding Bishop’s Chancellor, if not the Presiding Bishop herself, is seeking to build a case against the Ecclesiastical Authorities of the Diocese (Bishop and Standing Committee) and some of our parishes. These requests (which can be viewed here) seek from the Diocese and about certain parishes: lists of all persons ordained since October 24, 2009; all parish bylaws and amendments since 2006; all Standing Committee Minutes since the episcopacy of Bishop Salmon; parish charters, parish founding documents, parish deeds, parish mortgages, documents evidencing parish participation in diocesan programs and others. In some cases, the stated reason for the information requested is the assertion that these parishes have left the Diocese of South Carolina because of changes made to their respective bylaws. However, these parishes have not made these changes with the intention of leaving the Diocese of South Carolina, nor have they left. I have been working with their clergy and lay leaders to find appropriate ways to resolve their struggles with the recent decisions of the General Convention in ways consistent with the Holy Scriptures, our common life and fellowship in Christ, as well as with the canons of the Church and the laws of the State of South Carolina.

As I have mentioned on more than one occasion, The Episcopal Diocese of South Carolina and many of its parishes have an established history predating that of The Episcopal Church. This Diocese was one of the founding members of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States. As the Bishop elected by the Convention of this Diocese, duly consented to and consecrated in accordance with historic precedent and polity, I am the only bishop with canonical jurisdiction here. Thus the Standing Committee and I believe this action is an unjust intrusion into the spiritual and jurisdictional affairs of this sovereign diocese of The Episcopal Church. This provocative interference has been pursued without the Presiding Bishop having communicated with me in a manner consistent with the Constitution of The Episcopal Church and the historical polity of this Church.

Among the many concerns that this action raises, is the apparent trajectory of the Presiding Bishop’s Office to extend powers not attendant with the office, which are unprecedented and contrary to the polity of The Protestant Episcopal Church of the United States of America. One example, which may be cited from the very letters that our chancellor has received, is that the attorney held himself out as “South Carolina counsel for The Episcopal Church”. He may be an attorney retained by the Chancellor for the Presiding Bishop, but it is hardly accurate in regards to the polity of this Church to claim to be an attorney of The Episcopal Church, as if the parishes, Standing Committee and Bishop of South Carolina are somehow something other than The Episcopal Church, much less to suggest he is South Carolina counsel for the Episcopal Church. Therefore, in order for the Bishop, Standing Committee and Diocese to adequately consider a response to this unprecedented incursion into the affairs of the Diocese of South Carolina, the Standing Committee and i have deemed it necessary to move the 219′” Annual Meeting of the Convention to the aforementioned date.

This is not a time for precipitous action; nor is it a time for our congregations or members to strike out in unilateral directions destructive to the common life and witness God has called us to make in the world and the Church. As St Paul encouraged the early Christians in Rome, it is a time to awake, to put on the armor of light, and to conduct ourselves becomingly as in the day.

The Standing Committee and I will be communicating with you in the days to come. There is much to be done regarding these challenges to our diocesan life and authority; and while it would be natural to allow these concerns to capture our attention, brothers and sisters, I refuse to allow it to consume all my energy or time, and I implore you through the mercies of Christ, do not let these ecclesiastical struggles keep us from proclaiming the Good News of Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Spirit. Our vision to make Biblical Anglicans for a global age has never been more crucial than it is at this time in our world, our nation and our diocese.

To the only wise God be glory for evermore through Jesus Christ,

Faithfully yours,

–(The Rt. Rev.) Mark Joseph Lawrence is Bishop of South Carolina

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Today, the General Synod, the national assembly of the Church of England, meeting in London February 8-12, affirmed the Anglican Church in North America’s desire “to remain within the Anglican family.”

The Most Rev. Robert Duncan, archbishop of the Anglican Church in North America, thanked Mrs. Lorna Ashworth of Chichester for bringing the church to the attention of the General Synod. “We are very grateful to Mrs. Ashworth and the scores of other friends in the Synod of the Church of England for all they did to give us this opportunity to tell our story to the mother church of the Anglican Communion. It is very encouraging that the synod recognizes our desire to remain within the Anglican family.” said Archbishop Duncan.

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