Kruse Kronicle

Brazil Vote's Winners: Evangelicals

Wall Street Journal: Brazil Vote's Winners: Evangelicals

Candidates Courted Growing Bloc for Edge in Sunday Election Run-Off.

RIO DE JANEIRO—Brazilians will take to the polls Sunday to determine their next president, but already one big winner of this political season has emerged: evangelical Christians.

Former cabinet minister Dilma Rousseff is expected to win the run-off, with pollster Datafolha projecting a 56% to 44% spread against former São Paulo Gov. José Serra. The surprise is how much the final stretch of the campaign in this predominantly Catholic country was shaped by an increasingly powerful bloc of conservative Protestants.

Ever since Brazil returned to democracy in 1985, presidential elections have been dominated by economic concerns as the country lurched from crisis to crisis. Potentially explosive issues such as whether to legalize abortion and gay marriage were rarely on the front burner, though the nation of 190 million is often called the world's biggest Catholic country.

This time, a grass-roots campaign of sermons, Internet videos and DVDs distributed mainly by evangelical pastors thrust moral questions like abortion and gay marriage abruptly onto the political agenda and forced Ms. Rousseff and Mr. Serra to declare positions. Joined by some conservative Catholic bishops, the evangelicals mobilized at least partly in response to the government's approval last year of a broad social plan supported by Ms. Rousseff's party that included calling for greater gay rights and abortion rights.

In order to shore up support among religious conservatives, both Ms. Rousseff and her rival, Mr. Serra, added opposition to legal abortion to their campaign platforms. That meant a big move to the right for Ms. Rousseff, an ex-Marxist guerrilla who has supported legalizing abortion in the past. ...

 

A Board That Makes Sense

I'm presently serving as chair of the Genearal Assembly Mission Council of the Presbyterian Church, (USA). We had the first meeting of my term earlier this month but I was unable to attend due to my Mother's illness and passing. So instead, I did a written report to lay out my vision for the board over the next two years. It was read to the board Oct. 7. Several folks have asked for a copy. You can find it here in pdf as a GAMC information item but I'm also including the full text below.

*********************************

General Assembly Mission Council
Mike Kruse, Chair - Report

Hello friends. As you likely know by now, I will not be with you for this meeting. Family matters have emerged that prevent my attendance. Thank you for your prayers and words of encouragement.

Though I can’t be present in person, I wanted to share with you a vision for our next two years. You might call it the “Make Sense” initiative. What does that mean? Let me give some background.

The GAMC has been subject to a cycle of restructuring and reductions in force for more than twenty years. These actions have been necessary but they alone cannot give as sustainable vibrant GAMC. The world has changed and continues to change at an accelerating rate. We need to make better sense of our mission context and our ministry if we are to do sustainable ministry. But how do we go about making better sense? I believe a key to answering that question is better understanding of our role as board members of the GAMC.

A few months ago, I asked GAMC members who attended the new member orientation two years ago what improvements we might make. The most common response was a need for clarity on the role of board member. There is confusion. As I’ve listened and reflected on feedback, I think we are struggling with confusion between volunteerism and governance.

For many of us, the session or the presbytery is the only board experience we have had. How did we come into these leadership roles? We were active in the life of our local congregation or presbytery. We taught Sunday School, led mission teams, helped manage finances or contributed in host of other ways. We were devoted volunteers. Each of us participate in our congregations on a weekly basis, we see how the programs work, and we know the people doing the work. Volunteerism (participation in the programmatic work) and governance (setting policies, verifying performance, and setting overarching objective) are rolled into one.

But when we come to the GAMC there are more than one hundred programs, more than 500 staff (including mission workers), and a budget of $82 million. We don’t have an ongoing intimate knowledge of the programming. We don’t know the staff that well. Our experience is one of dropping into Louisville two or three times a year for meetings. There is no way we can have the relationship to the GAMC that we’ve had with our congregation or presbytery. Our inclination is to volunteer by “helping” to manage staff and programming. Yet we are cautioned from doing this. So what is our role?

Over the past two years, the executive committee has been reflecting on a book called Governance as Leadership by Chait, Ryan and Taylor. They define governance in terms of three responsibilities: Fiduciary, Strategic, and Generative.

Fiduciary governance is asking the question “What’s wrong?” Legal documents are reviewed, budgets are scrutinized, and compliance with policies is measured in pursuit of identifying problems. It is focused inward on the operations of the organization. It is vital work. But as important as this work is, it can be a bit like being a police officer who signed up to protect and serve, but finds herself parked by a highway causing drivers to be more attentive to their driving by her presence. It may be effective and important but it is hardly inspiring. Sometimes we may feel that way about our own role.

Strategic governance is about asking “What’s the plan?” A problem has been identified … or maybe an opportunity emerges. How will we address it? Strategic work involves looking outward to see how our organization can best interact with the world. For boards, this usually means setting a strategic direction at the broadest level. But board members are generalists. Strategy specifics are usually beyond our scope. So when we move from high level strategy our role becomes one of ensuring staff has a strategy that answers the “What’s the plan?” question.

These two modes of governance have dominated the work we have done in my six years of service on the GAMC. Is this all there is to being a member of the GAMC board? I don’t think so. We are missing a generative component.

Generative governance is asking “What’s the question?” We want to know if we are asking the right questions. Is our perspective broad enough? Have we correctly understood the environment we are living in and how that shapes our options? Generative governance is about framing problems in ways that enable us to make effective strategic decisions. It is about “making sense” of our context and our work.

Generative governance is also the work where we board members have a unique advantage. We have the bird’s eye view of the GAMC. We are not caught up in the day-to-day details of operations. We also have the perspective of our own congregations and presbyteries where we live and serve. Jointly we provide a unique resource to the GAMC in that we are able to see connections, or the lack thereof, between the work of the GAMC and our local contexts.

All three types of governance are essential and it is not as if we can neatly divide our work into three discrete categories. But it is possible to develop a culture that focuses on some types of governance to the neglect of others. And frankly, that is what we’ve been doing. We’ve been neglecting the generative work that we are so uniquely qualified to offer. It no longer makes sense for us not to be making sense of the GAMC’s work.

So the Executive Committee proposes that we become more of a “sense-making” body. The Executive Committee is exploring ways to transform our culture. We are taking some first steps with this meeting. You are meeting with our Middle Governing Body friends. You will hear a report on the Congregational Life Survey. We are encouraging committees to take specific time to focus on generative topics and identify topics the whole Council might engage. Friday morning, committees will be teeing up some of these topics. Friday afternoon we will have a variety of generative discussions you can pick from that have emerged from these prior discussions. More details on that later. What we want to emphasize is that the executive committee has decided to devote a minimum of 50% of our meeting time to focused on sense-making work.

But as I noted above, sense-making, or generative work, is not a discrete task. Rather, it is a frame of mind that needs to permeate all we do. We’ve copied two charts from “Leadership as Governance” for you that frame the differences in the three types of governance. I hope you will occasionally take a peek at these charts as you proceed through your work and reflect on the nature of the business you’re doing. What would it mean to put on a generative “sense-making” lens for the item of business you are considering?

I will also tell you that we want to create more of a retreat-like atmosphere for our meetings … possibly holding some GAMC meetings at retreat centers. We are looking for ways … possibly through the use of social media … to foster ongoing sense-making conversations between formal GAMC meetings. We also expect to incorporate more time for prayer in our work. We welcome your thoughts and ideas as well.

We’ve identified some important foci for GAMC. We need to be about inspiring, equipping, and connecting. We know some strategic actions we need to take. But if you’re looking for master plan that transforms the GAMC, neither the Executive Committee nor I have such a plan. Sorry. Maybe you’ve heard of the Jabez prayer? Well I’m more inclined toward the Jehoshaphat prayer. Jehoshaphat is about to be attacked by armies much larger than his. He calls the people to fasting and they meet in a large assembly. He offers a prayer on behalf of the people and concludes with these words, “Lord we do not know what do, but our eyes are upon you.”

So maybe if there is a theme verse for the next two years it is the Jehoshaphat Prayer, and our mission is to truly put our eyes on God as we seek to make sense of the mission to which he has called us. There are already many good things happening at the GAMC but I sense that if we are more willing to devote ourselves to seeking God’s Spirit, we will find there are opportunities before us we cannot yet imagine. And I hope that makes sense.

Grace and Peace,

Michael Kruse

Chair, General Assembly Mission Council

Wallis and Brooks Debate: Does Capitalism Have a Soul? (Jim Wallis and Arthur Brooks)

Wheaton College: Wallis and Brooks Debate: Does Capitalism Have a Soul?

The J. Dennis Hastert Center for Economics, Government and Public Policy invites the community to an informal debate on capitalism and morality at 7 p.m. Thursday, October 28. The debate features Jim Wallis of Sojourners magazine and Arthur Brooks, President of the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

Wallis is president and CEO of Sojourners. The editor-in-chief of Sojourners magazine, Wallis is a bestselling author, public theologian, speaker, and international commentator on ethics and public life. He has been named to serve on the White House Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. His latest book is Rediscovering Values: On Wall Street, Main Street, and Your Street — A Moral Compass for the New Economy. His two previous books, The Great Awakening: Reviving Faith & Politics in a Post–Religious Right America and God’s Politics: Why the Right Gets It Wrong and the Left Doesn’t Get It were both New York Times bestsellers.

Brooks, who became president of AEI in January 2009, was a professor of business and government policy at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. Brooks is the author of eight books, including Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism; and Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America—and How We Can Get More of It. His most recent book is The Battle: How the Fight between Free Enterprise and Big Government Will Shape America’s Future.

The debate will be moderated by Michael Gerson. Gerson, a fellow at the Hastert Center, is a columnist for The Washington Post and a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush.

Hastert Center director Dr. Seth Norton says the debate presents a unique opportunity to members of the community. “It’s a good chance to compare different visions of capitalism and market economies, and to discuss the role of government in those economies,” he says. “There is a lot of debate on these issues in secular venues, but this is a chance to hear two people who have a spiritual common denominator address complicated issues related to economic systems, and that’s a rare event.”

Norton says Gerson will moderate the debate as “a friendly inquisitor” who will ask Brooks and Wallis about the nuances in their positions.”These men are great communicators,” he says. “I expect that each speaker will share surprising phenomena as he builds his case.”

Free and open to the public, this event takes place in Edman Memorial Chapel, located on the northeast corner of Washington and Franklin streets in Wheaton. For more information, call 630.752.5975.

The J. Dennis Hastert Center of Economics, Government and Public Policy is a non-profit, non-partisan institution housed within Wheaton College. The Center aims to educate current and future leaders on the integration of economic and political analysis in order to address major challenges to the economy, public policy and ethics in the coming generations.

As I understand it, the event will be recorded and be available on the web.

Uganda cuts poverty by 15 pct in four years

Reuters: Uganda cuts poverty by 15 pct in four years

KAMPALA, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Uganda's sustained economic growth has reduced the number of people in poverty by 15 percent in four years, according to the state-run National Bureau of Statistics.

A 2009-10 survey seen by Reuters on Wednesday showed the number of people in poverty in east Africa's third largest economy was 7.1 million, down from 8.4 million at the time of the last survey in 2005-06, when the population was smaller.

Uganda's economy has been invigorated by the discovery of commercial oil deposits in the Albertine Rift basin on the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2006.

The lead explorer, Tullow Oil <TLW.L>, has said it expects to start commercial production in the last quarter of 2011, although a lingering tax dispute risks pushing back that target.

"Growth effect contributed more to poverty reduction than redistribution. In other words, poverty reduction continues to be driven by growth," one of the report's authors, Sarah Ssewanyana, said in a commentary.

With an estimated population of about 31 million, Uganda has maintained a strong growth momentum over the last decade, spurred by liberal economic policies, an expanding private sector and a steady inflow of aid and foreign investment.

The government forecasts growth will hit 6.7 percent in the 2010-11 (July-June) financial year and economic analysts say the anticipated petrodollar bonanza will turbo charge economic expansion and accelerate the reduction in poverty.

"Despite significant reduction in poverty, the northern region remains a home for the majority of the poor," Ssewanyana said. According to the survey, poverty levels there stood at 46.2 percent, down from 60.7 percent in the 2005-06 survey. ...

Irrigation Systems Deserve a Second Look, Say Experts

IPS: Irrigation Systems Deserve a Second Look, Say Experts

BANGKOK, Oct 27, 2010 (IPS) - Asia’s search for ways to feed over one billion new mouths in the next 40 years is prompting experts to call for renewed faith in its wide network of irrigation systems in order to ensure adequate food production.

This push by agriculture and water experts comes at a time when concern about the region’s irrigation systems have steadily entered discussions about the impact of climate change on food security.

Rain-fed agriculture is more vulnerable to erratic weather patterns, so that the use of irrigation systems is viewed as being more dependable to farmers across the rice bowls of South Asia, South-east Asia and East Asia.

"Irrigated agriculture is a more secure platform," says Thierry Facon, senior water management officer at the Asia-Pacific office of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). "Rain-fed agriculture is less productive."

This distinction has become more stark against the backdrop of uncertain weather patterns arising from climate change. "Farmers are reluctant to invest in good seeds and fertiliser in rain-fed areas because of climate change uncertainties," Facon explained to IPS. "It is in this area that you find most of the rural poor and vulnerable populations." ...

Campaign Ads Have Gone Too Far in Missouri

It's less than a week until the elections and the TV channels are saturated with political ads. The ads this year have gotten pretty mean and nasty. For example, take the race for senate in Missouri between Roy Blunt (R) and Robin Carnahan (D). In a nutshell, here is how the interation of campaign themes has unfolded.

Carnahan: Roy Blunt is part of the “Old Boy” network in D.C.

Blunt : Robin Carnahan  supports the same old failed Democrat policies.

Carnahan: Blunt took money from crooked lobbyists.

Blunt: Carnahan is a lapdog to unions.

Carnahan: Blunt takes candy from children and enjoys torturing small animals.

Blunt: Carnahan wants to kill your grandparents.

Carnahan: Blunt wants to lay waste to the planet.

Blunt: Carnahan wants to turn America into a communist state.

Carnahan: Blunt was a part of Bush’s secret plot to bring down the World Trade Center and blame it on Muslims.

Blunt: Carnahan is the Manchurian Candidate.

Carnahan: Blunt was artificially conceived using DNA from Adolf Hitler.

Blunt: Carnahan is the secret love-child of Satan worshipers and her name adds up to 666.

This may seem bad, but just look at where Carnahan has gone now:

Carnahan: Roy Blunt supported the New York Yankees in the American League Championship.

Folks, there has to be a limit on free speech. Things have just gone too far.

The Reality of Adam and the Story of Christ

Storied Theology (Daniel Kirk): The Reality of Adam and the Story of Christ

On Friday of last week, David Opderbeck asked a challenging question. I had posted on “Anthroposis,” the idea that what we really need is to become more truly human than we already are. Or, in the biblical narrative, to return to the humanity from which we have fallen. David asked,

Here’s a question: anthroposis Biblically is a recapitulation of the first man before sin. But, scientifically, there was no “first man”. How do we hold this missional narrative together if human evolution is true?

I have been wrestling with this question quite a bit lately. I just finished a book on narrative theology, and found that I couldn’t tell the story of Jesus without constantly conversing with Genesis 1-3. The Adam theology of the NT, the Jesus theology of the NT, is written in innumerable ways as an echo of the creation narratives of the first few chapters of Genesis. What, then, if these aren’t literal accounts of what happened? Where does that leave the story?

This is a difficult question, and I want to try to hold onto two things at the same time.

First, to say that they are not literal or historical accounts of how things came to be as they are now is not to say that these stories are not true. They are true narratives about the world. But how are they true and what truth do they teach is a more complex question.

Second, one of the ways that these stories work is that they tell the story of the past in such a way that it becomes clear that the people telling the stories are God’s present means for bringing the world/humanity to a destiny something like what the stories depict. ...

The Colbert Effect

Some profound economic analysis from Harvard of the Colbert Effect.

Time to Give Mark Driscoll a Sabbatical?

Prof. John Stackhouse's Weblog: Time to Give Mark Driscoll a Sabbatical?

... Alas, Brother Mark [Driscoll] responds to these valid concerns too often with bad preaching of a bad message. Recently he managed to demonstrate both problems in all of six minutes. This video clip shows Mr. and Mrs. Driscoll answering a question about the legitimacy of stay-at-home husbands (HT: J. Barrett Lee). In these six minutes, a number of theological problems, in fact, emerge. ...

... We are thus told, by Mrs. Driscoll as well as then by her husband, that a man who does not provide for his wife and children is flatly disobeying God. If she is out working and he isn’t–save only in extreme cases of injury, sickness, or other physical debility (unemployment is not mentioned as an excuse)–he is “worse than an unbeliever.”

That last phrase comes from the text–the one and only text–adduced by the Driscolls on behalf of their forbiddance of men staying home and women working: I Timothy 5:8. And now a cascade of basic exegetical, theological, and homiletical problems begins: ...

... 6. Finally, Brother Driscoll warns his audience that the Biblical teaching is so clear on this subject than any couple found departing from his interpretation would be subject to church discipline at Mars Hill. Really? Church discipline is being threatened (and, yes, “threatened” is the operative verb here) on a matter (badly) argued from a single passage? I’m all for church discipline–another important subject on which Brother Mark and I agree–but I would think that Mars Hill, like any contemporary church, would have its hands full with church disciplinary matters far more clear and far better evidenced from the Bible than this one.

I don’t know what theological training Mrs. Driscoll has received. The Mars Hill website claims that Brother Mark “received a B.A. in Speech Communications from Washington State University and holds a master’s degree in Exegetical Theology from Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon.” I confess to wondering what his professors at Western Seminary would think of this exercise in exegetical theology. ...

I public acknoledge that, by Driscoll's standards, I am worse than an unbeliever. Fortunately, Scripture teaches otherwise.

The End of the College Textbook as We Know It?

Carpe Diem: The End of the College Textbook as We Know It?

From today's Chronicle of Higher Education, a possible solution? 

"Here's the new plan: Colleges require students to pay a course-materials fee, which would be used to buy e-books for all of them (whatever text the professor recommends, just as in the old model).

Why electronic copies? Well, they're far cheaper to produce than printed texts (MP: $25-30 vs. $150-300), making a bulk purchase more feasible. By ordering books by the hundreds or thousands, colleges can negotiate a much better rate than students were able to get on their own, even for used books. And publishers could eliminate the used-book market and reduce incentives for students to illegally download copies as well.

Of course those who wanted to read the textbook on paper could print out the electronic version or pay an additional fee to buy an old-fashioned copy—a book."

New method yields more rice with less water: Oxfam

Reuters: New method yields more rice with less water: Oxfam

(Reuters) - Rice farmers could boost their yields by 50 percent with a new method that uses less water Oxfam America said on Wednesday as climate change and drought threaten the staple crop.

Growing rice -- considered the major calorie source for about half the world's population -- is water-intensive, accounting for as much as one-third of the planet's annual freshwater use, said Oxfam, a development group.

Rice farmers normally rely on flooding their fields to keep seeds covered in water throughout the growing season.

But the new method, known as the System of Rice Intensification, or SRI, involves planting seedlings farther apart, keeping fields moist instead of flooding them, transplanting seedlings to fields earlier and weeding manually, Oxfam said in a report.

Farmers using SRI in parts of Africa, Southeast Asia and India have been able to produce as much as 50 percent more rice with less water, and often with less labor, said the report, written with U.S.-based nonprofit Africare and the Worldwide Fund for Nature. ...

India’s Smaller Cities Show Off Growing Wealth

New York Times: India’s Smaller Cities Show Off Growing Wealth

... Economists and government officials have long acclaimed India’s so-called second-tier cities as new founts of prosperity and incubators of India’s growing middle class. Cities like Pune, a manufacturing and information technology hub a few hours outside of Mumbai, and Ahmadabad, the biggest city in India’s wealthiest state, Gujarat, have shown that smaller cities can attract big business.

But now even smaller cities in some of India’s most prosperous states are booming, too. Coimbatore, a city of about one million in Tamil Nadu near India’s southern tip, has expanded from textile manufacturing to software development and making auto parts.

Aurangabad, with 1.2 million people and a stable base of automotive assembly plants, factories and agribusiness, has long attracted the attention of companies selling small appliances, cellphones and economy cars. But as the city’s fortunes have grown, and cultural mores that once made ostentatious spending unseemly have shifted, companies selling luxury goods are also seeking out these newly flush consumers. A sprawling new mall just opened here, as well as new multiplex theaters and luxury hotels.

“The story of Aurangabad is the story of India,” said Debashish Mitra, head of sales and marketing for Mercedes-Benz in India. “There are many cities like Aurangabad, where Indians have money but were not indulging in luxury; they were always in a saving mode. But now that is changing. People want to spend, and feel they deserve luxury.” ...

The Party Movement and Christian Social Teaching

John H. Armstrong: The Party Movement and Christian Social Teaching

... One must understand that this is a movement, not a centralized party or the part of a political party. It is, if you read these blogs, a “starfish” organization. In fact, leaders have used this book to frame the tea party in its development. The movement focuses primarily on limited government and reduced taxation. It combines elements of political libertarianism and populism. While populist movements have grown out of a number of social factors in America’s past one thing makes the tea party movement different---it is not anti-Catholic. In fact, it is big enough to be religiously inclusive since a leading Mormon, Glenn Beck, is a darling to this movement. One recent survey showed that 28% of those in the tea party are Roman Catholics.

What seems to drive this movement is deep anxiety about the future. David O’Brien, professor of faith and culture at the University of Dayton (Catholic) says, “I don’t recall a broad-based Catholic populist upsurge of anything of this variety [in the past].”

Catholic social teaching, which I believe is sound at this point, sees an inseparable link between rights and responsibilities for both citizens and the government. Both should promote “the common good.” The tea party movement argues for rights based on liberty, not so much on responsibility. Catholic theology argues that government and citizen are their “brother’s keeper” in a balanced and healthy way. ...

... Father Sirico has taught me a great deal over the last decade. He does once again on this thorny issue. He adds:

The thing Catholics could teach the tea party is that not every social obligation needs to be viewed with suspicion. We recognize that human nature is social as well as individual, and we balance these things out. To say I have an obligation to the poor is [to say] society has an obligation to the poor. It’s not to say that the government should be the first resort for those problems but I think some of the tea party are a little too quick to just dismiss social justice out of hand.

This is why I have so often learned more about Christian social theory from Catholics, especially Catholics like Father Sirico, than from my evangelical friends and sources. Evangelicals, until quite recently, almost never developed such a theology since they were so busy rescuing people from the sinking ship of this cursed world. This strikes me as a primary reason why they jump into movements like the tea party and never stop to ask the kind of questions that thoughtful Catholics are asking. By this I find another compelling reason to embrace missional-ecumenism.

 

Should We Go to the Moon Again?

Pileus: Should We Go to the Moon Again?

... As might be expected, the Cato Institute has some sensible words on the subject of NASA: here, here, and here.   If you don’t want to believe these guys, see what Martin Rees, professor of cosmology and astrophysics at Cambridge University, has said about manned space flight: “The moon landings were an important impetus to technology but you have to ask the question, what is the case for sending people back into space?  I think that the practical case gets weaker and weaker with every advance in robotics and miniaturisation. It’s hard to see any particular reason or purpose in going back to the moon or indeed sending people into space at all.” 

Fortunately, President Obama has been eminently sensible on the moon, having already scrapped the moon landing project that had been in the works for some time.  Indeed, the announcement of this decision provided what might be my favorite – and most refreshing – quotation from our 44th President: ”Now, I understand that some believe that we should attempt a return to the surface of the Moon first, as previously planned.  But I just have to say pretty bluntly here:  We’ve been there before.”  I just wish he had scrapped most of the NASA missions, turned over what could be justified on national defense/public goods grounds to the Department of Defense and other agencies, and sold whatever was left over to private industry.  Now that would be change I could believe in!

But of course this just illustrates that Obama lies. We all know we've never been to the moon. It was all broadcast from a soundstage in Burbank, CA. How can you trust a guy who wasn't born in the U.S. <***Big grin with tongue firmly in cheek.***>

Bringing Clean Light to Poor Nations and Moving Beyond Charity

New York Times: Bringing Clean Light to Poor Nations and Moving Beyond Charity

... The poorest people on the planet together spent almost $40 billion last year on kerosene and other rudimentary and dangerous fuel-based lighting. Scientists say fuel-burning lanterns release 190 million tons of carbon dioxide each year: about the equivalent of 30 million cars.

Now leaders in the field of solar portable lighting believe they can push kerosene lamps out of markets in much of the developing world and make a profit while they're at it.

"If you compare what the poor spend on kerosene, it's 10,000 times more than what we pay when we use basic electricity from the grid. It's crazy when you think that the poorest people spend the most, and get so much poor light and poor health in return" said Patrick Avato, an energy specialist in Kenya with the International Finance Corp. (IFC). ...

... Ned Tozun, president and co-founder of the portable solar lighting company D.Light, said nonprofit groups have done tremendous work bringing solar lighting to poor villages. But he also argued that the charity route can't sustain the infrastructure communities need -- like maintenance education or supplies of new batteries -- if they are going to stick with the clean lighting.

"It's inherently non-scalable," Tozun said. He described visiting villages where people had been given free solar lamps, only to return to kerosene when the batteries ran out and no one in the village sold new ones. ...

... Avato said he's convinced it can happen. Companies already are well on their way to helping Lighting Africa meet its short-term goal of delivering 500,000 high-quality lanterns by 2012. World Bank officials note that just two years ago, there were only a handful of products available for the African market, most costing more than $50. Today, there are 79 products, a growing number of them costing less than $25.

According to a marketing trends report issued this year, the World Bank estimates that the African market for off-grid renewable lighting will double by 2015, and as many as 6 million households on the continent will own solar portable lights.

"These products have momentum and are reaching a tipping point in a number of African markets which justifies focused study and effort in commercializing their use," the authors wrote, adding: "The solar portable light market is poised for rapid growth over the next five years." ...

The Mystery of Economic Growth

New York Times: The Mystery of Economic Growth

...For all its temptations, however, the search for a policy toolkit toward development is fraught with pitfalls. Over the last 60 years or so, the international development community has come up with model after model, theory after theory, in search of just such a toolkit.

It has, at various times, promoted the benefits of huge, often conditional, inputs of foreign aid, the rigors of shock therapy, the virtues of free trade and the promise of the Washington Consensus (a set of policies prescribed and often imposed by agencies like the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the U.S. Treasury).

Yet for all the efforts to come up with a general theory of development, the truth is that economic growth remains something of a mystery. This is the conclusion of a recent anthology, “What Works in Development?”, published by the Brookings Institution. The essays lead to the conclusion that there is no clear way to ease poverty, and — as the editors, William Easterly and Jessica Cohen, state in their introduction — “no consensus on ‘what works’ for growth and development.”

Mr. Easterly, a former World Bank economist, has elsewhere shown that there is little correspondence between a nation’s economic growth and the extent to which it follows international development prescriptions. Analyzing data for 1980 to 2002, he found that countries that grew the fastest received considerably less foreign aid and spent less time under I.M.F. tutelage than those that grew the slowest. This doesn’t mean that following the orthodoxy harms development, but it does suggest that rapid growth is possible without international aid or advice.

Part of the problem, it turns out, may be the very attempt to follow a model. Progress — economic or otherwise — is a notoriously subjective phenomenon. It is context sensitive, and highly dependent on local conditions. It is, in particular, resistant to the uniformity implicit in even the most sophisticated models. ...

... Facts speak for themselves. It has become increasingly evident that many of the most successful growth stories have resulted not from slavishly following an external set of policy directives, but from pursuing u nconventional — and locally attuned — solutions.

The rise of Southeast Asia (and more recently China), for example, represented a repudiation of textbook views about the proper role of the government and of the relationship between markets and the state. ...

And I loved this part:

... Ultimately, it is this sensitivity, this ability to accommodate context and local detail, that works best in development. The type of grinding, sweaty work it implies — time in the field, in villages and on farms, learning about cultures and social structures — is certainly less glamorous than designing overarching theories to rid the world of poverty.

But poverty is an unglamorous business. It is only fitting that the most effective way to address it would be through small, low-key and often backbreaking interventions.

Amen.

 

NPR Chose Poorly (Juan Williams)

Huffington Post: NPR's Juan Williams Firing Prompts Conservative Backlash

NPR is facing a storm of criticism for its decision to fire Juan Williams after his comments about Muslims on Fox News, with several prominent conservatives calling for NPR's government funding to be cut and refusing to appear on the network anymore.

Speaking on Fox News, both Bill O'Reilly and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich called for Congress to investigate NPR and cut its government funding in the wake of Juan Williams' firing from the organization.

Williams, who said Monday that he gets "nervous" when he sees Muslims on planes, also spoke out Thursday morning, telling Fox News' "Happening Now" that nobody at NPR had spoken to him before making the choice to terminate his contract.

Speaking on the same program, O'Reilly told host Jon Scott that NPR had been trying to get rid of Williams for some time, due to his dual role as a contributor to Fox News. ...

NPR has been increidbly irresponsible. I actually saw the piece in question live while surfing between ballgames. Williams was making an honest statement about knee-jerk reactions when faced with people who dress and look a certain. Why is that offensive? The issue is not what initial reactions you have but what you chose to do in response to those initial reactions. As you listen to the whole exchange it is clear Williams is not justifying prejudice against Muslims.

Had Williams said "Gee, when I get on a plane and see a guy wearing a Tea Party T-Shirt and carrying  Glen Beck book I get nervous," does anyone think he would have  been fired? NPR's behavior is PC run amok and we can't have honest public discourse in such an environment.

NPR chose poorly. They should issue an apology and hire Williams back, assuming he wants to go back.

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A Different Way to Understand Our Political Differences

John Armstrong: A Different Way to Understand Our Political Differences

... Here is the point she [Kathleen Parker] makes about her recent move to New York City and CNN. Living in a city of 8.4 million people brings with it some distinct differences from living in a small town in South Carolina, where she lived for years, and a quiet neighborhood in D.C. here she previously lived and worked on her own. In New York City 8.4 million people live in 303 square miles of space. Parker writes that you can’t appreciate the dynamics of this city until “you’ve experienced it. For every individual action, there are four-typed, single-spaced pages of restrictions.” If half the residents of New York City decided to grill at the same time on a beautiful day it would present massive problems. So the city has regulations piled on regulations about such things. To some these regulations seem like a denial of personal liberty. To others they protect liberty in the city by keeping it from chaos.

The crunch, argues Parker, is that a lot of government directed decision-making denies more and more of our personal freedoms, thus creating a combination that becomes less and less pleasant for more and more people. Government programs aim, generally speaking, to aid people with real needs. But in the process they very often eliminate the options that freedom has brought to us. We do best, she argues, when we are free to direct our own lives in most areas. And this fundamentally where Democrats and Republicans differ. The main question here, which will not go away, remains: “At what point is the common good bad for people?”

But Parker takes this question to a different level when she says that people who live in more wide-open space in red states see less need for government than people who live in large cities. They do not want the government managing their lives so directly when they experience the open spaces. But those who live in dense population centers see this very differently. They will trade some freedom for “the convenience and cultural riches of city life.” I have found this to be true time and time again as I listen to my friends talk about this in terms of where they live and what they value.

The bottom line is this: these are two very different approaches to the role of government in particular. Parker is not sure the two can be reconciled. I think she is right. In a society where freedom allows citizens to elect their own leaders there will almost always be a kind of pendulum effect at work, as we will likely see again in November. But remember, we are likely to correct one problem by swinging in a different direction which only creates an opposite reaction and other problems. And all of this has a lot more to do with where we live, and how we understand our personal freedom and the role of government, than it does with our theology or personal sanity.

Am I off my rocker when I actually desire that the church understands things like this with a great deal more grace than with rage and anger? ...

... Remember, your view of the role of government is not tantamount to the gospel of the kingdom. When you think that it is you have made a fatal mistake that brings great harm upon the whole church. ...

Dead Sea scrolls going digital on Internet

Reuters: Dead Sea scrolls going digital on Internet

(Reuters) - Scholars and anyone with an Internet connection will be able to take a new look into the Biblical past through an online archive of high-resolution images of the 2,000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls.

Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), the custodian of the scrolls that shed light on the life of Jews and early Christians at the time of Jesus, said on Tuesday it was collaborating with Google's research and development center in Israel to upload digitized images of the entire collection.

Advanced imaging technology will be installed in the IAA's laboratories early next year and high-resolution images of each of the scrolls' 30,000 fragments will be freely accessible on the Internet. The IAA conducted a pilot imaging project in 2008.

"The images will be equal in quality to the actual physical viewing of the scrolls, thus eliminating the need for re-exposure of the Scrolls and allowing their preservation for future generations," the Authority said in a statement.

It said that the new technology would help to expose writing that has faded over the centuries and promote further research into one of the most important archaeological finds of the 20th century. ...

China charges into electric cars

Fortune: China charges into electric cars

... China has just launched an Apollo moon shot of sorts: The government recently decreed that 5 million electric cars will be traveling the nation's roads by 2020 -- up from basically none today. According to banking giant HSBC, that will equate to 35% of the global electric-vehicle market.

What that means is that China, which last year rocketed past the U.S. as the world's largest market for new-auto sales, is also determined to become its most innovative. As part of the country's 12th five-year plan (2011--2015), Beijing has pledged that it will do whatever it takes to help the Chinese car industry take the lead in electric vehicles (See: China vs. the U.S. in electric vehicles). (Its long-term plan also calls for building bullet trains, subways, and electric buses to alleviate traffic congestion.) "The Chinese are trailing in the development of internal-combustion engines," says Bill Russo, a senior adviser at Booz & Co. in Beijing who covers the car industry. "They figure, Why not leapfrog that technology and become a dominant global purveyor of battery-powered vehicles?"

Building an electric-car infrastructure won't be easy. Vehicle makers must work with a jumble of different players -- from the utilities, which will provide the power and smart-grid networks, to local governments, which will provide public charging stations. Standards must be set. But China, an authoritarian state, is particularly well positioned to help make the electric car a reality. "China's government is supporting electric-car technology more than any other country on earth," says Kevin Wale, head of GM China Group. ...

Charities: Donations fall by record amount for top nonprofits

Christian Science Monitor: Charities: Donations fall by record amount for top nonprofits

Charities' donations in 2009 fell 11 percent for the largest 400 US charitable groups.

A new ranking of the 400 biggest U.S. charities shows donations dropped by 11 percent overall last year as the Great Recession ended — the worst decline in 20 years since the Chronicle of Philanthropy began keeping a tally.

The Philanthropy 400 report to be released Monday shows such familiar names as the United Way and the Salvation Army, both based near Washington, continue to dominate the ranking, despite the 2009 declines. The survey accounts for $68.6 billion in charitable contributions.

An earlier report by the Giving USA Foundation found overall charitable giving declined 3.6 percent last year. That report included giving to private foundations and to smaller charities, while the Chronicle's survey only includes top charities raising money from the public.

"It shows that charities are really having a tough time, and this is some of the most successful charities in the United States," Chronicle Editor Stacy Palmer said. "Usually bigger charities are more resilient, so that's the part that is still surprising."

The top charities may have taken such a hit as giving shifted to smaller, local groups and because people gave less money to arts and cultural groups, Palmer said. Plus, even though the recession has officially ended, unemployment remains high at nearly 10 percent nationally and the economy continues to sputter.

The Salvation Army, based in Alexandria, Virginia, maintained its No. 2 ranking after the United Way, with $1.7 billion in contributions, despite a decline of 8.4 percent. ...

Micro-loan portal Kiva celebrates 5 years

SFGate.com: Micro-loan portal Kiva celebrates 5 years

... Micro-asset financing is a relatively recent innovation in micro-finance - which is best known for small loans issued to people trying to escape poverty by starting a business - and is an example of how the field has explored different loan models.

Kiva, celebrating its fifth anniversary on Wednesday, took that experimentation to a new level in 2005 when it coupled the Internet and large numbers of individual lenders with needy borrowers.

Using a Web portal, Kiva facilitates loans from individuals who can log onto its site and read borrowers' stories. Kiva partners with lending organizations in developing countries, which take the no-interest loans from Kiva and distribute them locally.

Kiva lenders are paid back if the borrower succeeds, but do not earn interest. Interest charged by the local lender typically goes toward operating costs and salaries.

In recent years, with the help of Kiva, micro-finance as an anti-poverty tool has quickly grown in popularity. But it also has developed critics. Some note that at least half the field is now occupied by private banks, which in the best case are seeking profits along with positive social impacts, and in the worst, are simply looking to make a buck off the poor - even from minute loans.

Others have complained that Kiva overstated the connection between its online lenders and needy borrowers.

Kiva and others in the micro-finance field agree that there have been bumps along the road. But they point to the growing number of websites modeled on Kiva as well as new programs - such as the asset financing helping Ndung'u in Kenya - as proof that the industry is evolving and is likely to continue influencing economic development worldwide. ...

‘Culture of Poverty’ Makes a Comeback

New York Times: ‘Culture of Poverty’ Makes a Comeback

For more than 40 years, social scientists investigating the causes of poverty have tended to treat cultural explanations like Lord Voldemort: That Which Must Not Be Named.

The reticence was a legacy of the ugly battles that erupted after Daniel Patrick Moynihan, then an assistant labor secretary in the Johnson administration, introduced the idea of a “culture of poverty” to the public in a startling 1965 report. Although Moynihan didn’t coin the phrase (that distinction belongs to the anthropologist Oscar Lewis), his description of the urban black family as caught in an inescapable “tangle of pathology” of unmarried mothers and welfare dependency was seen as attributing self-perpetuating moral deficiencies to black people, as if blaming them for their own misfortune.

Moynihan’s analysis never lost its appeal to conservative thinkers, whose arguments ultimately succeeded when President Bill Clinton signed a bill in 1996 “ending welfare as we know it.” But in the overwhelmingly liberal ranks of academic sociology and anthropology the word “culture” became a live grenade, and the idea that attitudes and behavior patterns kept people poor was shunned.

Now, after decades of silence, these scholars are speaking openly about you-know-what, conceding that culture and persistent poverty are enmeshed.

“We’ve finally reached the stage where people aren’t afraid of being politically incorrect,” said Douglas S. Massey, a sociologist at Princeton who has argued that Moynihan was unfairly maligned. ...

African-Americans’ place of worship changing

CNN: African-Americans’ place of worship changing

African-Americans go to religious services and pray daily more often than the general American population, studies show. And while those rates seem to be holding steady, the places of worship and the size of the groups are changing, says one expert.

Many people continue to attend mega churches, but the small communal gathering is rebounding in popularity, Teresa L. Fry Brown said.

“There is an increase now in house churches,” said Fry Brown, the director of black church studies at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia. “They kind of faded for about 20 years. But now more people are having small gatherings. And they may not even call it church - like Bible studies in homes.”

There are a couple of reasons for the change, she said. Some churchgoers find the bigger houses of worship too restrictive or simply don’t trust the leadership of the church.

She said people are meeting more often in club houses, homes and restaurants. And the gatherings aren’t always sponsored through a church.

In 2009, the Pew Research Center reported that 53 percent of African-Americans attended church regularly, compared with 39 percent of all Americans. ...

The New World Order

Newsweek: The New World Order

Tribal ties—race, ethnicity, and religion—are becoming more important than borders.

... Although tribal connections are as old as history, political upheaval and globalization are magnifying their impact. The world’s new contours began to emerge with the end of the Cold War. Maps designating separate blocs aligned to the United States or the Soviet Union were suddenly irrelevant. More recently, the notion of a united Third World has been supplanted by the rise of China and India. And newer concepts like the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) are undermined by the fact that these countries have vastly different histories and cultures.

The borders of this new world will remain protean, subject to change over time. Some places do not fit easily into wide categories—take that peculiar place called France—so we’ve defined them as Stand-Alones. And there are the successors to the great city-states of the Renaissance—places like London and Singapore. What unites them all are ties defined by affinity, not geography. ...

Meaningful Work and the Economics Nobel

Powerblog: Meaningful Work and the Economics Nobel Victor Claar

.... In some markets — where information is low-cost and individual buyers and sellers are not particularly unique — parties can quickly find each other and engage in mutually-beneficial exchanges. Any buyer is happy to trade with any seller as long as the price seems reasonable to each.

But in other markets the fit matters more. And, as Diamond’s early work in the 1970s suggested, sometimes fit matters a lot. An extreme example is the “market” for spouses. Because marriage is a lifelong joint endeavor, men and women search extensively for partners with whom their eventual marital union may fully flourish as God intends. ...

... All three recipients of this year’s prize have carefully extended Diamond’s work to better understand why we may observe persistent unemployment in the labor market even when there are plenty of job openings available, and with interesting policy implications — especially for unemployment insurance programs. Their work shows that more generous unemployment insurance programs will unambiguously lead to longer average unemployment spells: a result with very strong empirical support.

There are two ways to interpret this policy conclusion, and neither is incorrect. On one hand, quite generous welfare benefits may — at the margin — backfire in the sense that they make finding employment less urgent than it would be otherwise, resulting in less search effort by job seekers. This interpretation provided part of the motivation behind the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (the “welfare reform” bill), which shortened the amount of time individuals may receive welfare payments without working. The bill made unemployment look less attractive.

But on the other hand, meaningful work is a gift. God desires that men and women — the only creatures that He made in his image — imitate him through their creative work. Work is our collaboration with God’s creative purposes. Reformers such as John Calvin and Martin Luther stressed the idea, gleaned from Scripture, that every believer is called by God to certain work — a vocation — and has a duty to respond to that call. And John Paul II, in his letter on human labor, observed that work is “one of the fundamental dimensions of [a person’s] earthly existence and of his vocation.” Thus while low unemployment is an important goal, we should not be too quick to put policies in place that force unemployed persons to settle too quickly for jobs that are not a good match. Doing so would deny people the opportunity to pursue their unique callings — ones in which each person can exercise stewardship to the glory of the Creator. ...

Behind Colbert’s Right-wing Funny Man, a Quiet Faith

Ethics Daily: Behind Colbert’s Right-wing Funny Man, a Quiet Faith

... It was a different kind of religious message than Colbert typically delivers on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” where he often pokes fun at religion—even his own Catholic Church—in pursuit of a laugh.

Yet it was the kind of serious faith that some of his fellow Catholics say makes him a serious, covert and potent evangelist for their faith.

“Anytime you talk about Jesus or Christianity respectfully the way he does, it is evangelization,” said Jim Martin, the associate editor of the Jesuit magazine America, who has appeared on Colbert’s show four times.

“He is preaching the gospel, but I think he is doing it in a very post-modern way.” ...

... Colbert has said that he attends church, observes Lent and teaches Sunday school. “I love my church, and I’m a Catholic who was raised by intellectuals, who were very devout,” he told Time Out magazine. “I was raised to believe that you could question the church and still be a Catholic.”

His on-air persona is a bloviating holier-than-thou conservative whose orthodox Catholicism is part of what makes him funny. On air, Colbert has chided the pope as an “ecu-menace” for his outreach to other faiths, referred to non-Catholics as “heathens and the excommunicated” and calls those who believe in evolution “monkey men.”

Diane Houdek has tracked Colbert’s on-air references to Catholicism on her blog, Catholic Colbert. When he recites the Nicene Creed or Bible verses from memory, as he did in 2006, it shows how foundational his faith is, she said.

“He is moving in an extremely secular world—it is hard to get a lot more secular than Comedy Central,” Houdek said. “Yet I feel he is able to witness to his faith in a very subtle way, a very quiet way to an audience that has maybe never encountered this before.” ...

And of course it is Colbert who gave us the wonderful term "truthiness."

How churches can get rid of bats: baptise them

Telegraph: How churches can get rid of bats: baptise them

SIR – There is an easy solution for Simon Shouler, the clergyman who complained about badgers on church property and bats in his belfry (Letters, October 12).

He only has to baptise, confirm and marry them, and he will never see them again.

A Covenant with the Earth

Christianity Today: A Covenant with the Earth

Why the work of Christ makes all the difference in our care of creation.

... In light of the new covenant, all of our creation care is grounded in Christ. It is not grounded in our fear of ecological destruction or some romanticized view of nature—nor in political correctness. Because Christ has ushered us into this new covenant—between God and us and all of creation—our relationship to creation is inherently in Christ. The image of Adam has been reframed, restructured, and re-engineered in Christ's image. Thus, our "dominion" and "tending and keeping" of the earth is where we now work as new creation and for new creation. We are a restored kingdom of priests, and part of our mediation is between God and "every living creature," even the land itself. ...

An interesting and thoughtful article. I think his critique of two books early in the article expresses my objection to much of what is passing as Christian environmentalism. I think he is headed in a good direction.

But I still come back to God's two books of revelation: Scripture and nature. Scripture simply assumes a steady-state world were God created things pretty much as they are, there was a fall that corrupted things, and then there is new creation that restores everything to its intended state of being.

The book of nature tells of an ever evolving creation where many eco-systems have arisen and been wiped out. The God who seems to relish his creation also seems okay with volcanoes, asteriods, and other natural events destroying his creation.

What I don't see from Christian environmentalists is a reconcillation of these two revelations. Therefore, their conclusions often come off as trite. They seem to be more an effort to bless environmental ideologies with biblcial imagery rather than wrestling with the whole of God's revelation in Scripture and nature.

Four Ways Christians Relate to Society

Ethics Daily: Four Ways Christians Relate to Society

What is the role of the church in society? What does it mean for Christians to be in the world but not of the world? How do we remain faithful to our Christian confession and identity but also engage the culture around us?

These are important questions for us to consider, and they have been questions of considerable debate among Christians since the time of the early church.

 

·    Some Christians view the relationship the church should have with the culture as one of separation, isolation and abandonment. Inherent in this approach is an understanding of the world as evil and culture as the tool of evil. The world is a very evil place, full of evil ideas, and thus Christians should separate themselves, isolate themselves and, to some extent, abandon the culture.

 

·    A second approach is one in which Christians confront culture with power and judgment. Those who take this approach seek to use power, especially political power, to force what they believe to be Christian ideals onto the culture. Indeed, these types of groups would like to force Christianity itself on to culture. In America, these individuals and groups equate Christian ideals with American values, and, to a great extent, it is the latter that perhaps influences the former.

 

·    A third way that Christians have defined this relationship to culture is to embrace culture without any thought for the inherent biblical tension that lies between the Christian gospel and the culture. This view is a weak, "namby pamby" mentality that places hope solely in the togetherness of humanity. However, it fails to recognize sin and evil in our world, and it fails to see that culture has its inherent problems.

 

But is this all there is? Or is there another approach? One through which the church does not separate herself from the world, does not seek to have power over the world, and does not cower down to the point of having no prophetic voice in the world? ...

 

In Jeremiah 29:1-7, ...

 

... We can take the position of some who practice isolation, separation and abandonment of culture. Or we can relate to this culture with force and power through intolerance, judgment and coercion. And we may even choose to shrink from our call to be God's people in the world by quieting our prophet voice. But none of these is an authentic biblical response.

 

The most faithful relationship we can have to our culture is to do what we can to seek the common good for all. That, of course, is not an easy task, but it seems to be our clarion call from God, particularly as that call is revealed in the teachings of Jesus that command us to love others, to be peacemakers, to work for justice and to bear witness to the God who is on the side of the oppressed.

 

Seeking the common good, or seeking the shalom of the city, is possibly the most authentic way to be God's people in our culture.

The Christian Market?

PowerBlog: The Christian Market?  Jordan Ballor

... I do wonder, though, given that Joe acknowledges the role of free individuals (not to be abstracted from their social relationships and responsibilities, of course) whether we need a “third way” as he proposes, or simply a framework for evaluating a variety of acceptable ways of engaging the market (or maybe that’s precisely what he means by a “third way”).

That is, if there’s no single Christian view of the government, why would there be a single Christian view of the market? The question becomes here more one of prudence than of mandate, and the “Christian view” of the market simply outlines the broad strokes of acceptable approaches. ...

Bingo!

 

In US, Hispanics outlive whites, blacks by years

Projo.com: In US, Hispanics outlive whites, blacks by years

ATLANTA (AP) -- U.S. Hispanics can expect to outlive whites by more than two years and blacks by more than seven, government researchers say in a startling report that is the first to calculate Hispanic life expectancy in this country.

The report released Wednesday is the strongest evidence yet of what some experts call the "Hispanic paradox" - longevity for a population with a large share of poor, undereducated members. A leading theory is that Hispanics who manage to immigrate to the U.S. are among the healthiest from their countries.

A Hispanic born in 2006 could expect to live about 80 years and seven months, the government estimates. Life expectancy for a white is about 78, and for a black, just shy of 73 years.

Researchers have seen signs of Hispanic longevity for years. But until recently, the government didn't calculate life expectancy for Hispanics as a separate group; they were included among the black and white populations. The new report projecting future life spans is based on death certificates from 2006. ...

The Wealth Inequality Mirage

RealClearMarkets.com: The Wealth Inequality Mirage

... Mr. Reich is wrong. He and other levelers exaggerate economic inequality, eagerly, because they rely on pretax income, which omits the 97% of federal income taxes paid by the top half of income earners and the many "transfer payments," such as food stamps, housing assistance, Medicaid and Medicare. This exaggerated portrait of inequality undergirds the present effort by the Democrats to raise income tax rates for people with taxable incomes of $209,000 a year on joint returns and $171,000 a year on single returns.

A more meaningful measure of inequality comes from an examination of spending. On Wednesday the Labor Department presented 2009 data on consumer spending, based on income quintiles, or fifths. This analysis shows that economic inequality has not increased, contrary to what the levelers contend.

Differences in per-person spending from the lowest income fifth to the highest are not dramatically different from 20 years ago. These measures of spending show less inequality than do measures of income. ...

...The Labor Department data, which are published every year, track spending by income group. Spending is vital because it determines our current standard of living and our confidence in the future. It shows how much purchasing power Americans have. The usual pretax measures of income, on which most inequality studies are based, don't show how much purchasing power some Americans have because they omit other benefits, and so don't provide an accurate measure of purchasing power inequality.

Further, income quintiles have different demographic characteristics, so comparisons of quintiles can be misleading. In 2009, households in the lowest fifth had an average of 1.7 people, and in half these households there were no earners. The highest fifth, however, had 3.1 persons per household, with 2.0 earners.

Household size at the bottom has been shrinking faster than at the top, adding to a false perception of inequality. Over the past 20 years, the size of households in the bottom quintile has declined by 5.6% and the middle quintile by 3.8%, whereas the size of the top-quintile household has been unchanged. This is due not only to the increased longevity of today's seniors, but also to the higher numbers of divorced couples and single-parent households.

Calculating spending on a per-person basis (these are my calculations, from the official data) produces comparable measures. The average annual spending for a household in the lowest quintile was $21,611, or $12,712 per person. In contrast, the average spending for a household in the top quintile was $94,244, or $30,401 per person.

On a per person basis, the new Labor Department numbers show that in 2009 households in the top fifth of the income distribution spent 2.4 times the amount spent by the bottom quintile. That, Professor Reich might note, was about the same as 20 years ago. The top quintile spent 1.8 times what the middle quintile spent per person. And that ratio has not been increasing. ...

This is one area where I'd like to do some research with the primary data but it does fit what I've seen reported by others who study consumption data.

Thanks

Thanks to all my readers and friends for your prayers and support during my Mother's passing. Her funeral was yesterday morning. It was a beautiful day and a beautiful funeral. The funeral home has a website page for my mother that includes the obituary and a slide show tribute I created. You can find it here. 

Anyway, it's time to crank up the blog motor again and get it rolling. Thanks again, everyone.

Marie Kruse 1927-2010

My mother passed away this afternoon at 12:27. Here is her obituary:

Thelma Marie Kruse, 83, Olathe, KS, passed away Saturday, October 9, 2010, at her home, following a year-long battle with pancreatic cancer. Marie was born in Oklahoma City, March 12, 1927, the only child of Novey and Nola (Yates) Halford. She grew up in eastern Oklahoma, graduating from Ada High School in 1944. She attended Southern Nazarene University (then Bethany-Peniel Nazarene College) where she met Carl William Kruse. Marie and Carl were married in Ada, OK, September 1, 1949. They reared four children, primarily in Bartlesville, OK, and Olathe, KS. As the children grew older, Marie worked in a physician’s office and as a real estate agent. She also was active in the American Business Women’s Association. Marie and Carl moved to Champaign, IL, in 1977, where she briefly operated a used bookstore. They retired to Olathe in 1995 to be near family. Marie was an active member of every church she joined. For the last fifteen years she was a member of Christ Community Church of the Nazarene in Olathe where she was a small group leader. All through her life Marie enjoyed reading, and working in her flower gardens. Her proudest achievement was the four children she raised. She will be deeply missed by her family and friends.

Marie is survived by her husband of 61 years, Carl William Kruse; daughter Sandra Kruse-Smith and her husband Ron Smith of Leawood, KS; daughter Kathy Kruse of Olathe, KS; son Jim Kruse and his wife Rosa of Houston, TX; Michael Kruse and his wife Melissa of Kansas City, MO; four grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Visitation will be 6-8 p.m., October 11, 2010, at Penwell-Gabel Funeral Home at 14275 Blackbob Rd. in Olathe, KS, 66062. The funeral will be at 10:00 a.m., October 12, at Penwell-Gabel. In lieu of flowers the family requests contributions to OMC Hospice House (Olathe, KS), My Father’s House (Paola, KS) or Gideons International.

My dad went into the hospital Tuesday with walking pneumonia. My sister Kathy and I were at the hospital this morning getting his release in order. We got a call that my Mother's breathing was changing so we requested help at speeding up his paperwork. Olathe Medical Center was very helpful. My dad got home just after noon. The family was all there except my brother and we had a CD of hymns had recorded playing on the player. She opened her eyes and seemed recognize us and then she was gone. It was very special.

Here are a few pics. This is her at age 5:

The wedding in 1949:

This one is about 1950:

From 1959:

From the early 1980s:

Mother and Dad in Beijing, China, in 1997:

 

On their 60th wedding aniversary last year:

The family together two months ago:

Rev 21:1-6

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

"See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them;
they will be his peoples,
and God himself will be with them;
he will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
for the first things have passed away."

And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true."

Amen.

Penwell Gabel Funeral Home Website for Marie Kruse.

Taking a blogging break for my mother

I'm  suspending blog posts  for a few days. My mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last October and I think she is coming to the end of her journey this week. My family has been providing care with the help of a hospice service (and some friends) so she can pass away at home. A couple of days ago, my dad came down with what we suspect is walking pneumonia, so he entered the hospital yesterday to get treatment. You could say life has become a bit chaotic.

Anyway, I'll be back when the storm settles again. Peace!

Young people have 'faded memory of Christianity' says Church book

Telegraph: Young people have 'faded memory of Christianity' says Church book

Religion is largely irrelevant to most young people, who rely instead on a “secular trinity” of themselves, their family and their friends to give meaning to their lives, a new book claims.

The study published by the Church of England concludes that people born after 1982 - known as "Generation Y" - have only a “faded cultural memory” of Christianity.

For many young people, religious observance extends no further than praying in their bedrooms during moments of crisis, on a “need to believe basis”.

The findings are contained a new book, The Faith of Generation Y, whose authors include the Bishop of Coventry, the Rt Rev Christopher Cocksworth.

Sylvia Collins-Mayo, principal lecturer in sociology at Kingston University, said most of the 300 young people questioned for the study were not looking for answers to “ultimate questions”.

“For the majority, religion and spirituality was irrelevant for day-to-day living,” she said. “On the rare occasions when a religious perspective was required, for example coping with family illnesses or bereavements, they often ‘made do’ with a very faded, inherited cultural memory of Christianity in the absence of anything else.”

The authors described this approach as “bedroom spirituality”. Some teenagers prayed for the health of loved ones or for success in relationships and exams, while others made “confessions” in an attempt to express their anxieties.

But most young people today define themselves by a “secular trinity of family, friends and the reflexive self”, giving them an “immanent faith” based on relationships in this world, the study found. ...

Religious leaders, never underestimate your importance

Call and Response Blog: Religious leaders, never underestimate your importance  Michael Emerson

... A few days ago I led my class of college juniors and seniors through a discussion of secularization theory. I simply asked the students to imagine that we had become a completely secularized world, that John Lennon’s vision of no religion had come true. 

“What would be different about our world if religion ended?” ...

... The religious students were quite upset about the prospect of religion’s demise. What would provide them direction? How would they cope without their religious community for support? Who would they turn to when they needed guidance about big life questions? Who would they look up to?

Instructive, but perhaps not that surprising.

It was the responses of the non-religious students that surprised me. I suppose I expected these students to celebrate “the triumph of reason over illusion,” and “the victory of science over superstition.” But they didn’t. Not at all.

It started with one of the spiritual-but-not-religious students saying that she had never been involved in a religious community. “But to be honest, I have always envied those of you who are. You seem to have more and deeper friendships, more people to turn to. A richer life.”

Next, an agnostic student spoke. “It would be sad if religion disappeared. What would bring people together? What would give them ultimate purpose? I just don’t see how a world with no religion would be much of a world.”

An atheist student gave the last word. “I don’t believe there is a god of any sort.  It just is not logical. But I wish I could believe in a god. I detest the religious bickering that goes on. But sitting here imagining a world without it, I don’t like what I see. Fact is, and I can hardly believe I am saying this, we need religion. It helps bring people together, give them hope, provide direction for people. We don’t need, and we should not wish for, a world without religion.” ...

... My point is simple: The next time you are tempted to think your calling is in vain, your faith and efforts fruitless, remember my class of students.  They need you.  

david m bailey succumbs to brain cancer

Presbyterian News Service: david m bailey succumbs to brain cancer

Singer/songwriter defied odds for a dozen years, inspired countless fans

david m bailey, a singer/songwriter who moved audiences as much with his story of personal courage in the face of terminal cancer as with his music, succumbed to Glioblastoma on Oct. 2 in hospice care near his home in Charlottesville, Va. He was 44.

The son of Presbyterian missionaries, Kenneth E. and Ethel Bailey, bailey was raised in Beirut, Lebanon. He spent some of his youth in Germany — where he learned to play the guitar and began writing songs — before returning to the United States, where he graduated from Grove City (Pa.) College.

bailey often joked that he "did all right in college but flunked corporate America." In July 1996, he was diagnosed with Glioblastoma, a particularly virulent form of brain cancer. He then quit his corporate job and turned to songwriting and performing full-time.

"They told me I had six months. They were wrong," bailey said. "Despite what you might hear, hope is a very real thing, and with every passing day, there are more and more reasons to hope."

For 14 years he defied that diagnosis, writing and performing virtually non-stop, covering 45 states and 21 countries. His concerts were deeply personal, brutally honest accounts — rendered in a musical style that has been compared to James Taylor and Cat Stevens — of his struggles with his illness and his determination to make the most of whatever time God gave him. ...

Genesis, Creation, and Ancient Interpreters, Part II

Science and the Sacred: Genesis, Creation, and Ancient Interpreters, Part II Peter Enns

We saw last week that wisdom was represented as a woman in Proverbs. (We looked at Proverbs 8:22-31, but you can see it almost anywhere in Proverbs 1-9.) This is called “personification,” i.e., when human traits are given to something abstract to make it seem more concrete. We do this today, for example by referring to death as the Grim Reaper. ...

... Some interpreters found a clever way of “seeing” Wisdom in Genesis 1:1, by associating her with the word “beginning.” Remember that in Proverbs 8:22 God made Wisdom “the beginning of his works.” “Beginning” is the same Hebrew word in Genesis 1:1. Some early interpreters saw this as a “hook” to bring the Wisdom of Proverbs 8 into Genesis 1:1.

This move is seen in two Targums to Genesis 1:1:

With wisdom did God create and perfect the heavens and the earth (Fragment Targum to Genesis 1:1)

In the beginning with wisdom did God create (Targum Neophyti to Genesis 1:1)

It is not clear whether wisdom is personified in these Targums, but that is neither here not there. In the minds of these interpreters, there was a need to see wisdom in Genesis 1 but not as a created being. “Beginning” is the hook that allows it. ...

... As much as we today might look at this imaginative approach as subjective and uncontrolled, ancient interpreters felt they were doing precisely what God wanted them to. Actually, these ancient interpreters felt that, by leaving things unsaid, God was actually inviting them to “fill in the gaps.”

But before we are too hard on these interpreters for “making things up,” we need to take the log out of our own interpretive eye first. We might agree or disagree with what ancient interpreters said about wisdom, but we should not be too hard on them for filling in the gaps. We also fill in the gaps when we read. Let me give one example.

If you talk to anyone who has grown up familiar with the story of Jesus’ birth, they will be able to recount the story with ease. Mary rides into Bethlehem on a donkey, led by Joseph. She is about to give birth but one insensitive innkeeper after another turns them away. They make their way to a manger, and after Jesus is born, the three wise men come and present him with gifts, surrounded by farm animals.

This is very familiar, but the problem is that much of this is not really in the text but in the “gaps.” Read Luke 2:1-7. There is no donkey, no mean innkeeper(s), no manger (rather a feeding trough), no three wise men (no number is not given, let alone the traditional names of Melchior, Caspar, and Belthasar), no farm animals.

We fill in the gaps, too....

Targums are Aramaic translations of the Hebrew Old Testament. By the time the Israelites came out of Babylonian exile in 539 B.C., Aramaic—a sister language to Hebrew—had become the dominant language of that part of the world. It was only a matter of time before it became difficult to understand Hebrew altogether, and so translations of the Hebrew Bible were made into Aramaic. The same thing happened after Alexander the Great brought Greek culture to Mesopotamia in the late 4th century B.C.: the Bible was translated into Greek (the Septuagint). What is interesting about Targums is that they are sort of a cross between translation and commentary. All translations have an interpretive dimension, but Targums sometimes inserted words, phrases, and even whole paragraphs to help people understand what they were reading. That is what we see in these examples here.

... Whatever ancient interpreters might have made up, at least they were typically very conscious of what they were doing and very intentional in how they did it. We today are not always as self-conscious about what we say the Bible says. ...

I'm looking forward to the rest of the series.

Denominations are in Flux

Clarkcowden's Weblog: Denominations are in Flux

"... Currently, denominations are in a state of flux. The organizational structures that were created, and that devolved into regulatory agencies, are no longer affordable or sufficient for the twenty-first-century church mission. Some are pessimistic about the future of denominations and have proclaimed their imminent death, while others are optimistic and have witnessed pockets of vitality and innovation. While opinions vary on the future status of denominations, one thing everyone agrees on is that denominations are in a state of transition. Transition is not something new for denominations; but, in order to move through this transition effectively, they have to address some key questions: “What is the mission of the church in the twenty-first century?” And “What is the role of denominations in the future?”

FBI Visits the Neighborhood

This morning I headed out to the pharmacist to pick up some items. As I came to a stop at the light at 33rd and Southwest Trafficway, just three block from my home, I found myself witness to the conclusion of a police chase.

Coming south in the southbound lanes, was a unmarked Tahoe weaving through the traffic, grill lights flashing. When he got to 33rd Street he executed an amazing U-turn right in front of me. It was just then that I noticed a white SUV coming south in the northbound lanes. The officer's Tahoe and the white SUV collided nearly head-on. The white SUV was knocked into the southbound lanes and came to a stop about half block away, two wheels atop the median. After a few seconds the officer jumped from his Tahoe and ran toward the white SUV. Only then did I notice that other unmarked cars had closed in on the white SUV and FBI agents were running about. Turns out the man had a woman and a six year old boy in the car with him. He was trying to escape a murder warrant (at least that is what the news said.) I waited around and gave my report to one of the agents.

Speaking of the news, Fox 4 showed up with a crew to report on the story and I gave them a brief interview. There was a 5 second segment where I was praising the officer for having executed a masterful U-turn to stop the SUV without endangering anyone. Unfortunately, the way the story reported it, sounds like I was praising the escaping vehicle. Oh well.

Here are a couple of photos. This first one shows what was left of the Tahoe the FBI agent was driving.

You can't make it out very well but the white SUV came to a stop at the light pole in the center median toward the right in the picture.

All in all it was an exciting day in the neighborhood.

Empire Versus Subsidiarity

When it comes to complex human organizations, the principle of subsidiarity is one the most important, and yet frequently violated, principles of governance. Wikipedia writes:

Subsidiarity is an organizing principle that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as the idea that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed effectively at a more immediate or local level. ...

That is as good a summary as any.

So when we look at the role of government, the federal government performs those functions that can't be done well or at all by less centralized entities. In fact, the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution is frequently given as an example of the subsidiary principle:

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

This morning I read a piece by columnist Barbara Shelly titled When Washington fails, average citizens step up. She bemoans the vitriolic paralysis of politics at the national level but is heartened by localized efforts she sees. Colin Powell has a foundation that promotes more community involvement in the lives of at-risk kids. She highlights efforts by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (Rep) and Newark mayor Cory Booker (Dem) to  reform the Newark school system. But notice her expectations of the role of the federal government. Who is the lead in solving problems? Look at the title again:

When Washington fails, average citizens step up

She writes:

Forward movement — how refreshing. Washington is stuck and is likely to remain so, regardless of which party takes control after the November elections. But outside of that self-absorbed, dysfunctional galaxy, people are looking at the big picture and getting things done.

and later:

It’s frustrating that we can’t look to Washington to solve problems. But we can look to governors of both parties; they are the most innovative of politicians. We can look to the nation’s mayors and county executives; they are closest to the pulse of real people. [My Emphasis]

We can look to faith leaders, business people, academics, brainy college graduates and energetic retirees, including one exceptional four-star general and his dynamic wife.

In Shelly's world, the desired state of affairs is that the federal government is the chief problem solver. When that breaks down, we have to "fall back" to more localized efforts .... efforts by people who "are closest to the pulse of real people." Seemingly implied in this is that if we can ever get past partisan gridlock, then we can revert back to the natural order of things where the federal government will solve our problems ... by people who are most distant from the pulse of real people.

Shelly is not alone in this mindset. She is expressing a progressive frame of mind. A couple of years ago Brian McLaren wrote in Everything Must Change that government is the lead societal entity in confronting social problems while volunteer community efforts fill-in at the edges. This perspective is implicit in the advocacy of Sojourners and Jim Wallis. If you read and listen closely you will see this perspective is simply assumed in progressive discussions.

And that brings me to my final point. For the past decade or so it has been common among progressives to speak "prophetically" against America as empire, grounded in Jesus' protest of empire. But curiously the empire refrain has tended to be only in terms of international expansionism. That caution has merit.

But what is peculiar is that international expansionism is not the empire that Jesus and the New Testament writers seem most concerned. Rather the New Testament seems more concerned with the pervasive influence of empire in the every day lives ... "Do not be conformed to the patterns of this world , ..." Ironically, those who speak most passionately about empire are frequently the same ones who advocate the loudest for centralized solutions to problems and provision for daily life from the empire. As Gerald Ford once noted, "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have." 

Subsidiarity is the principle that guides us between atomization and centralization as we pursue a more just society. While sharing many of the social concerns that many of my progressive brothers and sister have, it is their pervasive disregard of subsidiarity and by extension unwitting embrace of empire that I reject.