Friday, April 11, 2014


News Clips For The Day



Bush: Achievement Gap an Urgent Civil Rights Issue – NBC
By Andrew Rafferty


The disparity in access to a quality education between white and black children remains one of America’s “most urgent civil rights issues,” former President George W. Bush said Tuesday.

“Education in America is no longer legally separate, but it is still not effectively equal,” Bush said during a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. “Quality education of everyone of every background remains one of the most urgent civil rights issues of our time.”

The “achievement gap,” as it has been dubbed, is something Bush attempted to address early into his presidency with the “No Child Left Behind Act.”

Though the legislation passed with bipartisan support, the law drew criticism from educators who said it focused too much on improving student test scores and not enough on helping them learn.

Every legislative instrument eventually requires adjustment. But the problem comes when people start to give up on the goal,” Bush said.

“I fear that the soft bigotry of low expectations is returning,” he added.
President Barack Obama and former presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter also spoke at the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library. The event celebrated both LBJ’s work to reform the country’s civil and voting rights laws and the progress the country has made over the past half century.

But each of the presidents who spoke warned that the country still has plenty of work to do before the goals of Civil Rights Era are met.


“Education in America is no longer legally separate, but it is still not effectively equal,” said George W. Bush in a speech during the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. He referred to “the soft bigotry of low expectations” as a sign that educators have given up on the goal of educating the entire student population equally well. There was a belief among some teachers in the 1970s that black and brown skinned students were not equally capable of learning. That is racism pure and simple.




I don't always agree with Bush, but I do think that this is one of the greatest and most basic problems in the educational system today. Teachers have stopped teaching to their higher level students, slowing down the whole class, supposedly to meet the needs of those who are less well prepared. The schools in their budgetary strictures have never invested enough money in placing teacher helpers in the classroom or co-teachers who actively aid the teacher in teaching the whole class by increasing the achievement of individualized learning. If tutoring is needed, it should be given in the early grades when students are learning their basic skills, which will form the foundation of their later education in the much more difficult subjects of Middle School and High School. Those skills are probably more important than some later coursework because without an ever increasing math, vocabulary and sight reading ability, no student can read on his own or even keep up with the class.

The fact that the school no longer enforces discipline as it needs to on the campus is another problem – not only does it make students relatively unsafe during their school day, but it prevents the whole student population from being able to focus on their classroom activities and studies as they should. A student who is being bullied will be less able to achieve academically, and the bullies are cheated out of an important experience – that of facing responsibility for their actions and learning about good human interactions.

Then, of course, there is the fact that a persistently large number of immigrant students are deficient in their English language skills. Years ago this problem was being examined, with the possibility of teaching in both Spanish and English, and laws mandating some foreign language teaching at least until the student could merge into a situation of English only teaching was considered. The present law, No Child Left Behind of 2001, limits that teaching to three years, according to this excellent historical summary of bilingual education laws at – http://www.freewebs.com/cerdahdz/legislationtimeline.htm. I suggest anyone who is interested in the problem read this web site – it isn't very long and is very clearly written.




Russian Economy Hammered by Massive Money Drain
By John W. Schoen
First published April 10 2014

While Russian President Vladimir Putin plots his next move into Ukraine, capital is fleeing Russia.

Russia's central bank this week confirmed that some $64 billion in assets held by Russians headed for the exits in the first three months of this year — roughly matching the total for all of 2013. That amounts to roughly 12 percent of Russia's gross domestic product.

The hemorrhaging is expected to continue if the turmoil in the Ukraine continues. Officials at the World Bank have warned that Russia could watch another $150 billion in capital leave the country if the crisis deepens. Since 2008, nearly half a trillion dollars has fled the country.

As the money flowing out of Russia surges, the upheaval in Ukraine has put a damper on investment coming into the country. The cash squeeze comes as Russia's economy is barely growing, inflation is rising fast and the central bank has been forced to raise interest rates to prop up a sagging ruble.

Earlier this week, Russia's Economy Ministry predicted that GDP growth could slow to around 0.5 percent — from 1.3 percent last year.

The U.S. and Western countries seeking to thwart Putin's Ukrainian ambitions have threatened economic sanctions if the Russian aggression continues. So far those have been limited to freezing the holdings of a handful of Putin's political allies.
"The Achilles' heel of the Russian economy remains the flow abroad of Russian capital following any shock," Goldman Sachs analysts Clemens Grafe and Andrew Matheny said in a recent note. "We would also think that any sanctions or even the threat of sanctions will be ultimately targeted at these flows."

But Western leaders' tough talk of wider asset freezes and threats of broader economic sanctions are complicated by Europe's dependence on Russia for roughly 30 percent of its natural gas demand supplies, half of which flows through Ukraine.
Putin played that trump card again Thursday, warning European leaders that the Kremlin would cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine if it did not pay up on a $2.2 billion gas debt.




Even before President Obama's applying economic sanctions on Russia the movement of “the Market” is having an effect. “Russia's central bank this week confirmed that some $64 billion in assets held by Russians headed for the exits in the first three months of this year — roughly matching the total for all of 2013. That amounts to roughly 12 percent of Russia's gross domestic product.” According to the World Bank another $150 billion may follow. Likewise new investments in Russia has been slowed by their moves in Ukraine. Inflation is growing, the growth rate of the Russian economy is at 1.3% and predicted to fall to .5%, and the ruble is devalued.

I would expect that in this situation Russia might well fear harsh economic sanctions in addition. The fear among European nations which depend on Russia for their fuel needs will experience greater expense or a cutoff of the supplies, is holding back the application of EU severe economic sanctions, according to this article. I wonder if the US has considered applying stricter sanctions unilaterally. Putin a few weeks ago warned the US not to do that. I wonder what his threat involved.




Scientific Tests Show 'Gospel of Jesus' Wife' Wasn't Faked
By Alan Boyle
First published April 10 2014

Never has so much paper been devoted to such a little scrap of papyrus — a scrap that suggests some Christians thought Jesus was a married man.

Here's the bottom line from more than 60 pages of studies focusing on a piece of papyrus inscribed with a text quoting Jesus as referring to "my wife": Months of lab tests show that document is not a modern-day forgery, as skeptics had claimed. The papyrus and the ink go back at least 1,100 years. But despite all that, some of the skeptics will never be convinced.

The studies, published Thursday in the Harvard Theological Review, represent the latest chapter in the years-long saga surrounding what Harvard theologian Karen King has dubbed the Gospel of Jesus' Wife. King brought the text into the global spotlight in September 2012, at a symposium in Rome, but the publication of her analysis was held up for more than a year when questions were raised about the text's authenticity.

For King and other scholars, the point is not to determine whether the historical Jesus was actually married. That's an impossible task. Rather, scholars are interested in how the various versions of the gospel story influenced the lives of early Christians. Such issues could affect contemporary debates as well: For example, if the early Christians saw nothing wrong with married church leaders, why should we?

"I do hope that the very good work that scientists have done on this will help turn the conversation away from the issue of forgery, and toward the papyrus itself," King told NBC News.

The fragmentary text, written in an Egyptian Coptic language, is controversial not only because Jesus appears to refer to his wife, but also because it discusses the worthiness of a woman named Mary for what might have been a leadership role. Here are a couple of other intriguing phrases: "she will be able to be my disciple" ... "I am with her," as in "I dwell with her."

Science addresses the skepticism
The papyrus fragment was purportedly acquired by an East German collector in the 1960s, sold to its current owner in 1999, and made available to King for study in 2011. The owner has remained anonymous, adding to the mystery surrounding the scrap's origins.

Skeptics, including Vatican officials, insisted that the text was a modern-day forgery because the phrases were ungrammatical and appeared to be inexpertly cribbed from other apocryphal scriptures in circulation.

To settle the argument, researchers subjected the business-card-sized scrap of papyrus to radiocarbon tests and micro-Raman spectroscopy. One of the carbon-dating tests indicated that the papyrus went back somewhere between the year 659 and 869, with the most likely date around 741. Other tests showed that the chemical makeup of the ink was consistent with inks that were used between the first and the eighth century.

The radiocarbon dates are centuries later than King initially thought, but they do suggest that the papyrus is authentic. In one of the papers published Thursday, Macquarie University's Malcolm Choat, an expert on ancient writing, said he saw no "smoking gun" suggesting that the Coptic script was an elaborate forgery. However, he emphasized that he couldn't prove it was genuine.

A scriptural scholar at Brown University, Leo Depuydt, declared in a different paper that he was still "100 percent convinced" the text was a forgery. He said it was assembled from words and phrases taken from the Gospel of Thomas. That gospel is part of the early church's Gnostic tradition, which is not accepted as part of the canonical New Testament.

Women, marriage and the church
Depuydt speculated that the forger "wanted to put his or her own spin on modern theological issues," such as priestly celibacy and female priesthood.
Such issues aren't exclusively modern. King noted that the early Christians argued over how they should adapt their lives to their newfound beliefs. Some suggested that men and women should no longer marry or reproduce, but try to remain celibate and wait for the end times. Others complained that such teachings came from "hypocritical liars."

Christians on both sides of the argument quoted scripture to support their case. Gnostic scriptures in particular promoted the idea that Jesus had a close companionship with Mary Magdalene — an idea that novelist Dan Brown incorporated into the plot for "The Da Vinci Code."

"Certain Gnostic groups in the second, third and fourth centuries did think of Mary as Jesus' companion. We just didn't have that word 'wife.'"

James Tabor, a religious scholar at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, said it wouldn't be surprising if the Gospel of Jesus' Wife echoed other Gnostic texts, such as the Gospel of Thomas or the Gospel of Philip.

"These kinds of texts are notoriously repetitious," he told NBC News. "The problem is, this gets sensationalized. What it proves is something we already knew, that certain Gnostic groups in the second, third and fourth centuries did think of Mary as Jesus' companion. We just didn't have that word 'wife.'"

Although the papyrus itself goes back only as far as the eighth century or so, King said it appears to reflect the "pro-reproductive" side of the early Christian debate, going back to the second century. "The date of the manuscript is not the date of composition," she noted.

If the Gospel of Jesus' Wife was copied onto the papyrus in the eighth century, it could have been in circulation among Egyptian Coptic Christians just as Islam was on the rise in the region. Muslims would have had no problem with a married Jesus. After all, even the Prophet Muhammad was married with children.

Might there have been an interfaith dialogue over the issue? "How interesting that could potentially be," King said.




“The studies, published Thursday in the Harvard Theological Review, represent the latest chapter in the years-long saga surrounding what Harvard theologian Karen King has dubbed the Gospel of Jesus' Wife.” Her proof is a small piece of papyrus which has been dated to 1,100 years BP. The main thrust of the issue is whether or not early Christians believed it to be acceptable for the idea that Jesus and other church members may have been married, and whether “a woman called Mary” was his companion and worthy of a leadership role in the early church.

The small piece of papyrus was examined using radiocarbon tests and micro-Raman spectroscopy (see the Wikipedia article below) – which “indicated that the papyrus went back somewhere between the year 659 and 869, with the most likely date around 741. Other tests showed that the chemical makeup of the ink was consistent with inks that were used between the first and the eighth century.

Gnostic scriptures in particular promoted the idea that Jesus had a close companionship with Mary Magdalene, in effect a marriage, but according to James Tabor of UNC-Charlotte the word “wife” has not been found in any source so far. This article refers to the “Gospel of Jesus' Wife” which is discussed in the Wikipedia article by that name. See below.

King said the fragmentary reference to the term “my wife” appears to reflect the "pro-reproductive side of the early Christian debate.” It is not clear from this article what King means by that phrase and I could find no good reference to it on the Net except this same news article. One of the subjects in the Net articles is about the question of whether sexual activity would be part of the “resurrected body.” I found no reference to Jesus as a sexual being except as a part of Mormon belief.


Gospel of Jesus' Wife
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The "Gospel of Jesus' Wife" is the name given to the text on a papyrus fragment with writing in Egyptian Coptic that includes the words, "Jesus said to them, 'my wife...'".[1] The text on the fragment is alleged to be a fourth-century translation of what is said to be "a gospel probably written in Greek in the second half of the second century."[2]

Professor Karen L. King (who announced the existence of the papyrus in 2012) and her colleague AnneMarie Luijendijk named the fragment the "Gospel of Jesus's Wife" for reference purposes[3] but have since acknowledged the name was controversial.[note 1] King has insisted that the fragment, "should not be taken as proof that Jesus, the historical person, was actually married".[4] Luijendijk and fellow papyrologist Roger Bagnall authenticated the papyrus with Luijendijk suggesting it would have been impossible to forge.




Chimpanzees get loose at Kansas City Zoo
CBS News April 10, 2014

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - An ingenious chimpanzee fashioned a ladder out of a tree limb to break out of an enclosure at the Kansas City Zoo on Thursday afternoon - and then convinced six other chimps to bolt with her, zoo officials said.

The great escape began about 4 p.m. after the ringleader was able to break a roughly 6-foot limb from a tree and use it to climb to the top of the outdoor enclosure wall, zoo spokeswoman Julie Neemeyer.

"That chimp then enticed six other chimps to join the first chimp," Neemeyer said.
The chimpanzees never left the immediate area of the zoo's Africa section and they were quickly surrounded by zoo staff in enclosed vehicles, Neemeyer said.

Visitors to the Africa section, meanwhile, were held inside various zoo buildings to keep them safe, she said.

Within about 1 1/2 hours all of the chimpanzees had been lured back into their holding building, she said.

What did the trick?
The chimps succumbed to offerings of food -- carrots, celery, lettuce and especially, Milk-Bone dog biscuits, she said.

The zoo isn't taking any chances of another breakout. On Friday, the chimpanzee exhibit will be closed while staff check for any additional tree limbs that could cause problems.




This article says the chimp “fashioned a ladder out of a tree limb,” but actually she just saw the tree limb where she could reach it and, realizing the use she could put it to, then broke it off, leaning it up against the wall. It was still smart enough. Imagining the tree limb being removed from the tree and placed up against the wall is very bright for an animal. In my psych book of the 1970s a chimp had been tested with a situation in which food was placed up about 20 feet high on a platform and in the same enclosure the psychologists had put a wooden crate and a long stick. That chimp moved the crate to a position right under the food platform and picked up the stick, then stood on the crate while reaching up with the stick and succeeded in dropping the food down to the ground. Both cases are examples of problem-solving intelligence.

It is also important that the original chimp, either through sounds or hand signs, convinced six others to follow her out. One other thing shows intelligence, too, and that is the initial insight to realize that she was imprisoned at the zoo even though she was in a large enclosure, and if she could just get over the wall she could achieve freedom. The basic homeliness of the great apes makes humans downgrade their intelligence. We like beautiful animals like horses, cats and some dogs. One has to work closely with apes to appreciate them properly.

The keeper knew how to convince them to come back, though – a mix of vegetables and Milk Bone dog biscuits! Luckily those chimps weren't feeling hostile or very mischievous, because chimps are quite capable of killing a human. The life of a zoo keeper is very interesting and rewarding – like the church it tends to be a “calling,” because otherwise feeding the animals and cleaning up after them would be just another dirty job. There was a very good show I used to watch on Animal Planet called “That's My Baby,” which featured a different pregnant mammal each week in a zoo setting. The babies were really precious, and the innate affection of the moms for their offspring was heartwarming. I do miss my cable TV.




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'I Knew It Wouldn't Be Easy,' Outgoing Health Secretary Sebelius Says – NPR
by Mark Memmott
April 11, 2014

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, who has borne the brunt of criticism for the troubled rollout of the HealthCare.gov website, said Friday that as she prepares to leave that agency she is thankful to have had the chance to work on "the cause of my life."

Her agency, Sebelius said, has been "in the front lines of a long overdue national change — fixing a broken health system."

President Obama, at a White House ceremony in which he formally announced Sebelius' decision to step down and nominated her successor, conceded that both he and Sebelius have had their share of bumps from the hard political fights over health care and the Affordable Care Act. But, Obama insisted, Sebelius "got the job done."
Obama is nominating his budget chief, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, to succeed Sebelius.

We updated this post as the White House event was happening. Scroll down to see what was said and to see some of the reaction to the news of Sebelius' departure.

Update at 11:15 a.m. ET. Burwell Is "Humbled":
Saying she is "humbled, honored and excited ... by the opportunity to build on the achievements" of Sebelius and Obama, Burwell thanks the president.

Update at 11:12 a.m. ET. "I Knew It Wouldn't Be Easy," Sebelius Says:
After thanking Obama for "the opportunity of a lifetime," Sebelius says she "got to be a leader of HHS during these most historic times. ... We are in the front lines of a long overdue national change — fixing a broken health system." It was "the cause of my life," she says, and "I knew it wouldn't be easy."

Update at 11:07 a.m. ET. Burwell Is A "Proven Manager":
Of his nominee, Obama says Burwell is a "proven manager and she knows how to deliver results."
"I hope the Senate confirms Sylvia without delay," Obama adds.

Update at 11 a.m. ET. "She's Got Bumps, I've Got Bumps," But She "Got The Job Done":
Addressing the health care act's troubled launch, Obama says of Sebelius that "she's got bumps; I've got bumps." But, the president continues, Sebelius "turned the corner, got it fixed, got the job done, and the final score speaks for itself." He cites administration statistics showing 7.5 million people signing up for Obamacare as evidence.

Update at 10:57 a.m. Cheers For Sebelius:
As the president, Sebelius and Burwell come to the podium in the White House Rose Garden, there are cheers from the staff in attendance for the outgoing secretary.
Of Sebelius, Obama says he will "miss her advice ... friendship ... and wit." Burwell, he adds, has those traits "in abundance."

Meanwhile:
— Fox News reports that "Republicans responded to news of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius' resignation from the Obama administration on Thursday with fresh calls to repeal the president's health care law."

— The Wall Street Journal predicts that the 48-year-old Burwell, "a veteran of the Clinton White House and Treasury Department who has held senior roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Walmart Foundation, will face close scrutiny because the agency she has been tapped to run oversees some of the most polarizing and expensive parts of the federal budget."

Still, The Washington Post notes that Burwell "is popular on Capitol Hill. The Senate confirmed her as OMB director 96 to 0 almost exactly a year ago." She will need to be confirmed by the Senate before becoming HHS secretary.

— Politico says that "for all of the accomplishments Sebelius could have been remembered for — getting the massive pieces of the Affordable Care Act underway, negotiating with the states, writing the complicated rules needed to make its interconnected parts work — the one thing that will always define her legacy is the website disaster that happened on her watch."




Budget chief, Sylvia Mathews Burwell, has been nominated to succeed Sibelius as Secretary of HHS. Sibelius said, “We are in the front lines of a long overdue national change — fixing a broken health system." It was "the cause of my life," she says, and "I knew it wouldn't be easy." It has taken courage and a thick skin to absorb all the criticism that has been aimed at her, and as far as I can remember she never became angry at the press or defensive, doing her job with grace. Sibelius left her old post to the sound of cheers from her co-workers. Burwell is expected to face a difficult time as she handles “some of the most polarizing and expensive parts of the federal budget," and she still has to be confirmed by the Senate. Her background is extensive, both in the government and in private business, and according to this writer she is “popular on Capitol Hill.” I had heard that Obama was trying for a pick who would be confirmed easily by the Senate, so maybe he has succeeded in that.

One other thing, the task that Sibelius faced was truly daunting, and hopefully Burwell won't have so many issues to solve. Once the plan is working it should go more smoothly than the problem-filled development of the computer system and the legal problems of the past.




U.S. Denies Visa To Iran's Controversial U.N. Envoy – NPR
by Scott Neuman
April 11, 2014

The United States has told Iran that it won't issue a visa to Hamid Aboutalebi, Tehran's controversial choice for the United Nations.

Aboutalebi acknowledges that he served as an interpreter for a group of radical students who seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979, taking 52 American diplomats hostage and holding them for 444 days.

The rare move to deny him a visa to take up a diplomatic post comes from the White House after Congress approved legislation authorizing the government to do so.

Here's our earlier post:
Congress has unanimously approved a bill that would deny entry to Iran's U.N. ambassador, who in 1979 was a member of a student group that seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

The legislation is a blanket prohibition to "deny admission to the United States to any representative to the United Nations who has engaged in espionage activities against the United States, poses a threat to United States national security interests or has engaged in a terrorist activity against the United States."

It passed in the House late Thursday after a voice vote in the Senate and now goes to President Obama, who must decide whether to sign it into law and upset diplomatic convention, or veto it and face a likely political backlash.

At immediate issue is Iran's choice of Hamid Aboutalebi as its U.N. ambassador. Aboutalebi says he only served as an interpreter for the student group that held 52 Americans hostage for 444 days during the takeover.

But the White House has opposed Aboutalebi and "communicated to the Iranians that the selection they've put forward is not viable," White House press secretary Jay Carney said Thursday.

Iran has called the rejection of Aboutalebi "not acceptable," insisting that he is among its most able diplomats and that international protocols would be thwarted if the U.S. denied him entry to take up his post at United Nations headquarters in New York.

As The Associated Press reports:
"In past, problematic cases — such as with a previous Iranian nominee in the early 1990s and more recently with Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir — the U.S. has either signaled opposition to the applicant and the request has been withdrawn, or the State Department has simply declined to process the application. Those options, as well as approving or denying the application, are available in the current case."

The Senate bill was sponsored by Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. As the National Journal writes:
"Cruz doesn't often find friends on the opposite side of the aisle, but his bill had the backing of the third-ranking Senate Democrat, New York's Chuck Schumer. 'It may be a case of strange bedfellows, but I'm glad Senator Cruz and I were able to work out a bill that would prevent this terrorist from stepping foot on American soil,' Schumer said in a statement."

NPR's Michele Kelemen examined the controversy surrounding Aboutalebi in this report last week.




Hamid Aboutalebi acknowledges that he held the position of interpreter during the 1979 US Embassy takeover. The move to deny him a visa is sure to rub people in Iran the wrong way, as the two nations try to put together some common ground. The move is to refuse the right to enter the US to anyone “who has engaged in espionage activities against the United States, poses a threat to United States national security interests or has engaged in a terrorist activity against the United States."

If Obama refuses to sign the bill, Iran will be happy; if he does sign, the legislature will be pleased. Aboutalebi stresses that he was only an interpreter, and not, I assume, therefore a partisan member of the student group. The bill was sponsored by a Republican Sen. Ted Cruz and endorsed by Democrat Chuck Schumer. I await Obama's move with keen interest. I do think Iran's choosing this particular man as ambassador is an affront to the US whether or not it was deliberate, and as such we should probably oppose it. Let Iran choose some other person for the position.