Monthly Archives: August 2010

Andres Oppenheimer (Miami Herald)–The economics of Same Sex Marriage

From Alaska to Patagonia, supporters of same-sex weddings won important legal victories in recent days. And I would bet that ”” despite strong Roman Catholic Church opposition ”” gay marriages will be legal in most countries of the hemisphere sooner than you think.

Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled Aug. 5 that Mexico City’s six-month-old law authorizing same-sex marriage is constitutional, rejecting an appeal from federal prosecutors. Five Mexican states have passed laws allowing same-sex weddings recently, and the Supreme Court ruling is expected to drive several others to do so shortly.

On Aug. 4, a San Francisco federal judge overturned California’s ban on same-sex marriages, drawing celebrations there. The case is likely to end up in the Supreme Court, which would decide if gays have a constitutional right to marry in all U.S. states.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/08/10/98837/commentary-the-economics-of-gay.html#ixzz0wFVortvQ

Read it all.

Posted in Uncategorized

Reuters: American families are digging deep to pay for college

With the cost of private universities now topping $35,000 for tuition, fees, room and board each year, Americans are tapping retirement accounts, asking extended family members to help out with college costs and keeping kids at home for the first few years of school to cut down on living expenses. One worrisome trend: Parents who took money from their retirement accounts withdrew an average of $8,554 in 2010 compared to $5,318 in 2009.

To pay for college, families are also borrowing more heavily from traditional sources including financial aid. And usage of 529 college savings plans is on the rise. ”Families are digging deeper and taking a number of measures to make college more affordable,” says Bill Diggins, senior consultant with Gallup. “They see great value in college. It’s an investment in the future. Most strongly agree that a college degree is more important now than ever.”

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, Children, Consumer/consumer spending, Economy, Education, Marriage & Family, Personal Finance, Young Adults

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Clare of Assisi

O God, whose blessed Son became poor that we through his poverty might be rich: Deliver us, we pray thee, from an inordinate love of this world, that, inspired by the devotion of thy servant Clare, we may serve thee with singleness of heart, and attain to the riches of the age to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and ever.

Posted in Uncategorized

A Prayer to Begin the Day

Grant, O Lord, that we may cleave to thee without parting, worship thee without wearying, serve thee without failing; faithfully seek thee, happily find thee, and for ever possess thee, the one only God, blessed, world without end.

–Saint Anselm

Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, Church History, Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Scripture Readings

Therefore, brethren, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may appoint to this duty. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.” And what they said pleased the whole multitude, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Proch’orus, and Nica’nor, and Ti’mon, and Par’menas, and Nicola’us, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands upon them.

–Acts 6:3-6

Posted in Theology, Theology: Scripture

Despair of mother left 'penniless' after she turned to CofE cleric in hour of need

When her marriage fell apart and her sister died, Amanda Machin was left on the verge of suicide.

In her hour of darkness, the 50-year-old turned to someone she believed she could trust ”“ her local Anglican vicar.

But, Mrs Machin alleged, the Rev Steve Rankin persuaded her to part with £160,000 and left her ”˜penniless’.

Ugh–Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, Anglican Provinces, Church of England (CoE), Ethics / Moral Theology, Ministry of the Ordained, Parish Ministry, Pastoral Theology, Theology

From the You Could See This Coming Department

California City With $800,000 Salaried Manager Cut to Junk Credit Rating by S&PRead it all.

Posted in Uncategorized

Federal Reserve, Saying Recovery Has Slowed, Will Buy U.S. Debt

The Federal Reserve acknowledged on Tuesday that its confidence in the economic recovery had dimmed, and announced that it would use the proceeds from its huge mortgage-bond portfolio to buy long-term Treasury securities.

Saying it would buy relatively modest amounts of government debt, analysts said the Fed signaled that it had no intention to back away from steps that it took, starting in 2007, to prop up the financial and housing markets. While the central bank held off on taking more aggressive steps, like a new, huge round of asset purchases, it left open the possibility that additional easing of monetary policy could take place in the fall if the recovery were to continue to weaken.

The Fed’s new stance marked the completion of a turnabout from a few months ago, when officials were discussing when and how to eventually raise interest rates and gradually shrink the $2.3 trillion balance sheet the Fed amassed through its response to the 2008 financial crisis.

Read it all.

Posted in Uncategorized

Reuters: Small Business Optimism Sags in July

Small business owners became more downbeat in July as expectations of weaker economic growth in the second half of the year reinforced a reluctance to hire, according to a survey published on Tuesday.

The National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) said its optimism index fell 0.9 point to 88.1 in July.

“Virtually all of the decline was due to weaker expectations for business conditions six months from now,” said William Dunkleberg, the group’s chief economist.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, Corporations/Corporate Life, Economy, Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market, Psychology, The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

Philadelphia Inquirer–Mennonites have a Tradition of Service

Members of the Mennonite church first came together 90 years ago to ship tractors and plows to fellow Mennonite farmers in Russia and the Ukraine, starving because of war.

Later, in war-torn Vietnam, or when a tsunami ravaged Indonesia or, most recently, when an earthquake wreaked havoc in Haiti, they were there to help the general population.

The Mennonite Central Committee has evolved into a global disaster response relief and community-building enterprise.

Read it all.

Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, * Religion News & Commentary, Church History, Other Churches, Parish Ministry, Pastoral Care

Veteran General Convention Deputy Charles Crump Dies at 96

Charles M. Crump, former chancellor of the Diocese of West Tennessee and deputy to 17 General Conventions, has died in Memphis, Tenn. He was 96.

He retired from a 71-year career in law on his 95th birthday in October 2008. He resigned as the diocese’s chancellor at the same time, and declined to run for election to the 76th General Convention.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Episcopal Church (TEC)

Bishop Peter Lee Named Interim Dean at General Theological Seminary

The Rev. Lang Lowrey, Interim President of the General Theological Seminary (GTS) announced today the appointment of the Rt. Rev. Peter James Lee, as Interim Dean of GTS, the Episcopal Church’s oldest theological seminary. The former Bishop of Virginia and one of the Church’s longest-serving bishops, Bishop Lee currently serves San Francisco’s Grace Cathedral as Interim Dean.

After the Seminary’s 12th Dean and President, the Very Rev. Ward B. Ewing, announced in December of 2009 his intention to retire, Trustees of the Seminary formed a search committee under the leadership of trustee Dr. Michael Gilligan. Upon recommendation from the committee and in light of serious financial challenges faced by the school, Trustees decided in June 2010 to divide the post of Dean and President into separate positions. On June 9, 2010 the Rev. Lang Lowrey was selected as Interim President and charged with financial and administrative oversight of the school and was vested with all the constitutional powers previously lodged with the Dean and President. Meanwhile the search continued for a new Interim Dean to be responsible for day-to-day operations of the Seminary including oversight of its academic programs.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, Episcopal Church (TEC), Seminary / Theological Education, TEC Bishops, Theology

Local Paper Health Section–CDC, experts warn of obesity's dangers, costs

The latest news from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on America’s obesity epidemic is not good.

After crunching the numbers in 2009, more states got fatter.

Specifically, the number of states with an obesity rate of 30 percent or more has tripled to nine states in two years, according to the CDC report “Vital Signs: State-Specific Obesity Prevalence Among Adults — United States, 2009.”

To put the report in startling perspective, no state had a 30 percent obesity rate 10 years ago.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, America/U.S.A., Dieting/Food/Nutrition, Health & Medicine

For Baby Boomers, retirement jobs can be a tough fit

Baby Boomers approaching retirement age are in for a rude awakening.

Many want to keep working, knowing that they likely will live well into their 80s and 90s, stay healthier than previous generations and need more cash to keep paying the bills.

However, for Boomers ”” those 79 million Americans born from 1946 through 1964 ”” “the new retirement reality may be a messy proposition,” says Alicia Munnell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.

Jobs are scarce and many employers aren’t willing to hire older workers. Boomers who do land jobs often must settle for ones that are less fulfilling than desired.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, Corporations/Corporate Life, Economy, Labor/Labor Unions/Labor Market, Middle Age, The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

Belfast Telegraph–All eyes on the Pope as he visits ”˜Protestant Britannia’

On a global scale, Britain, the foremost Protestant nation through the rabid religiosity of the English and the Scots, mobilised its empire in aggressive opposition to papal power, while Catholic Ireland spawned its own spiritual diaspora by exporting generations of priests and people to the United States, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.

In the perspective of this fire and dungeon history, it is a stunning turnaround that Pope Benedict has selected ‘Protestant Britannia’ ahead of ‘Catholic Ireland’ for an official state visit next month.

Even more remarkably, Pope Benedict will meet his host, Queen Elizabeth, the head of the Anglican Church of England, in Edinburgh, the capital of Presbyterianism.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, * Religion News & Commentary, England / UK, Other Churches, Pope Benedict XVI, Religion & Culture, Roman Catholic

Lightning strike crumbles Episcopal church steeple in Iowa

The Rev. Cathi Bencken managed to crack a joke Monday after an apparent lightning strike zapped an iron cross and crumbled the steeple of Trinity Episcopal Church.

“I don’t think it was (because) of anything I said,” she said of the sermon she delivered Sunday.

Neighbors in a nearby downtown apartment told Bencken and other church leaders that lightning hit the church about 3:30 a.m.

Read it all.

Posted in * Anglican - Episcopal, * Christian Life / Church Life, * General Interest, Episcopal Church (TEC), Parish Ministry, TEC Parishes, Weather

California's same sex marriage decision unlikely to shift campaign focus from economy

At another time, the ruling overturning California’s ban on same-sex marriages might have been the political equivalent of an earthquake. Instead, the relatively restrained response underscores both the singular economic focus of this year’s elections and the shifting politics of one of the country’s major social issues.

Neither Democrats nor Republicans appear eager to try to turn the California decision into a November rallying cry. Many Democrats who otherwise strongly support gay rights are still reluctant to advocate for same-sex marriages, President Obama being the most prominent example. Many Republicans believe their conservative base is already well motivated. For now, they prefer to stay away from the kind of wedge-issue politics that were once a hallmark of their campaigns.

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Posted in * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, --Civil Unions & Partnerships, House of Representatives, Law & Legal Issues, Marriage & Family, Office of the President, Politics in General, President Barack Obama, Senate, Sexuality

Ross Douthat–The Marriage Ideal

…[What this debate is really about is]…a particular vision of marriage… This ideal holds up the commitment to lifelong fidelity and support by two sexually different human beings ”” a commitment that involves the mutual surrender, arguably, of their reproductive self-interest ”” as a uniquely admirable kind of relationship. It holds up the domestic life that can be created only by such unions, in which children grow up in intimate contact with both of their biological parents, as a uniquely admirable approach to child-rearing. And recognizing the difficulty of achieving these goals, it surrounds wedlock with a distinctive set of rituals, sanctions and taboos.

[This view] was a particularly Western understanding, derived from Jewish and Christian beliefs about the order of creation…

Lately [however, this view]… it has come to co-exist with a less idealistic, more accommodating approach, defined by no-fault divorce, frequent out-of-wedlock births, and serial monogamy.

In this landscape, gay-marriage critics who fret about a slippery slope to polygamy miss the point. Americans already have a kind of postmodern polygamy available to them.

Read it all.

Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, * Culture-Watch, * Religion News & Commentary, --Civil Unions & Partnerships, Children, Church History, Ethics / Moral Theology, History, Judaism, Law & Legal Issues, Marriage & Family, Other Churches, Other Faiths, Religion & Culture, Sexuality, Theology

At UNC Chapel Hill, a Black Theodicy Forum with Muslim and Christian Scholars

About 75 people showed up for the two-day event, organized by the Institute of African American Research. Among them was Umar Muhammad, a former assistant basketball coach at N.C. Central University in Durham.

“I came here to learn about how both religious traditions have common solutions to the problems of African-Americans,” said Muhammad, who is Muslim and lives in Durham.

As a sports consultant to young black men, he said, he wanted to be in a better position to offer spiritual solutions to some of the questions the men are asking.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * Religion News & Commentary, Islam, Muslim-Christian relations, Other Churches, Other Faiths, Religion & Culture, Theodicy, Theology

Girls reach puberty earlier, raising health concerns

American girls are hitting puberty earlier than ever ”” a change that puts them at higher risk for behavioral problems as adolescents and breast cancer as adults, a new study shows.

About 15% of 1,239 girls studied showed the beginnings of breast development at age 7, according to an article in today’s Pediatrics. One in 10 white girls, twice as many as in a 1997 study, showed breast growth by that age, as did 23% of black girls and 15% of Hispanic girls.

The median age of breast development fell from 10.9 years in 1991 to 9.9 in 2006, according to a Danish study published in Pediatrics last year.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, Children, Health & Medicine, Psychology, Sexuality, Women

Stephanie Paulsell–Wired and unwired

In 1993, not so terribly long ago, I signed up for my first e-mail account. I remember using it to compose and exchange haikus with other novice faculty about our daily travails, to keep up with friends from graduate school, and to sign up for more electronic mailing lists than I could possibly follow.

One year later, while I was still goofing around with my new electronic toy, cultural critic Sven Birkerts wrote in The Gutenberg Elegies, “Ten, fifteen years from now the world will be nothing like what we remember, nothing much like what we experience now. . . . We will be swimming in impulses and data””the microchip will make us offers that will be very hard to refuse.”

He must have had a crystal ball. In precisely the amount of time Birkerts predicted, I have gone from marveling at the novelty of e-mail to being simultaneously resentful of its hold on my life and unable to imagine how I would live without it.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, --Social Networking, Blogging & the Internet, Education, Globalization, Psychology, Religion & Culture, Science & Technology

Across America, Mosque Projects Meet Opposition

While a high-profile battle rages over a mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, heated confrontations have also broken out in communities across the country where mosques are proposed for far less hallowed locations.

In Murfreesboro, Tenn., Republican candidates have denounced plans for a large Muslim center proposed near a subdivision, and hundreds of protesters have turned out for a march and a county meeting.

In late June, in Temecula, Calif., members of a local Tea Party group took dogs and picket signs to Friday prayers at a mosque that is seeking to build a new worship center on a vacant lot nearby.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, * Religion News & Commentary, America/U.S.A., Islam, Other Faiths, Religion & Culture

Local Paper front page: Charleston County School Board to seek 6-year sales tax hike

The Charleston County School Board decided Monday night to scale back its request to voters and ask them to approve a six-year, one-penny sales tax increase to pay for construction projects.

Board members had planned to put an eight-year sales tax increase on voters’ ballots in November, but a lack of business community support and revised revenue figures led them to reduce it by two years. The six-year tax would generate an estimated $75 million per year for a total of $450 million.

The money would go toward building 14 new schools, renovating four schools, acquiring land in three developments, conducting seismic evaluations of six buildings, creating design plans for one school and improving existing schools’ athletic facilities.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * Economics, Politics, * South Carolina, City Government, Economy, Education, Politics in General, Taxes, The Credit Freeze Crisis of Fall 2008/The Recession of 2007--

NPR–Strange Fruit: The Anniversary Of A Lynching

This is a must-listen-to (reading it really won’t work here, it will ruin the real impact in this case). I caught it in the car by accident–it is unspeakably powerful. Please be advised that the contents would not be appropriate for some blog participants–KSH.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, America/U.S.A., History, Race/Race Relations, Violence

A Prayer for the Feast Day of Deacon Laurence

Almighty God, who didst call thy deacon Laurence to serve thee with deeds of love, and didst give him the crown of martyrdom: Grant, we beseech thee, that we, following his example, may fulfil thy commandments by defending and supporting the poor, and by loving thee with all our hearts, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, Church History, Spirituality/Prayer

A Prayer to begin the Day

Teach us, O God, to walk trustfully today in thy presence, that thy voice may encourage us, thine arm defend us, and thy love surround us; through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, Spirituality/Prayer

From the Morning Scripture Readings

And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, saying, “We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and you intend to bring this man’s blood upon us.” But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.

–Acts 5:27-29

Posted in Theology, Theology: Scripture

Jason Clemens: Canada, Land of Smaller Government

In 1995, the federal government, led by the Liberal Party, passed the most important budget in three generations. Federal spending was reduced almost 10% over two years and federal employment was slashed 14%. By 1998, the federal government was in surplus and reducing the nearly $650 billion national debt. Provincial governments similarly focused on eliminating deficits by paring spending and reducing debt, and then they started to offer tax relief.

All government spending peaked at 53% of Canadian GDP in 1992 and fell steadily to just under 40% by 2008. (Government spending in the U.S. was 38.8% of GDP that year.) The recession has caused government spending to increase in both countries. But if present trends continue, within two or three years Canada will have a smaller government as a share of its economy than the U.S.

Canadian taxes have also come down at the federal and provincial level. They were reduced with the stated goal of improving incentives for work effort, savings, investment and entrepreneurship.

Read it all.

Posted in * Economics, Politics, * International News & Commentary, America/U.S.A., Budget, Canada, Economy, Politics in General, Taxes, The National Deficit, The U.S. Government

India Asks, Should Food Be a Right for the Poor?

Inside the drab district hospital, where dogs patter down the corridors, sniffing for food, Ratan Bhuria’s children are curled together in the malnutrition ward, hovering at the edge of starvation. His daughter, Nani, is 4 and weighs 20 pounds. His son, Jogdiya, is 2 and weighs only eight.

Landless and illiterate, drowned by debt, Mr. Bhuria and his ailing children have staggered into the hospital ward after falling through India’s social safety net. They should receive subsidized government food and cooking fuel. They do not. The older children should be enrolled in school and receiving a free daily lunch. They are not. And they are hardly alone: India’s eight poorest states have more people in poverty ”” an estimated 421 million ”” than Africa’s 26 poorest nations, one study recently reported.

Read it all.

Posted in * Culture-Watch, * International News & Commentary, Asia, Dieting/Food/Nutrition, India, Poverty

Terry Mattingly–Manifesto explains how sanctuary designs can be updated

“The whole look was both modern and very bland,” said Matthew Alderman, a graduate of the University of Notre Dame’s classical-design program who works as a consultant on sacred art and architecture.

“It was a kind of beige Catholicism that was ugly, but not aggressively ugly … and these churches looked like they were in a chain that had franchises everywhere. It was that whole Our Lady of Pizza Hut look that started in the 1950s and then took over in the ’60s and ’70s….”

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Posted in * Christian Life / Church Life, * Culture-Watch, Architecture, Liturgy, Music, Worship, Religion & Culture