Posted in Barney Frank, Easy money, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis, Freddie Mac, Housing, Regulation, tagged Barney Frank, Basel Capital Standards, Chris Dodd, Easy money, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis, Freddie Mac, Housing, Monetary Policy, Regulation on September 14, 2010 |
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George Melloan’s column in the Wall Street Journal discusses the new Basel capital standards and correctly observes that 22 years of global banking regulations have not generated good results. This is not because requiring reserves is a bad thing, but rather because such policies do nothing to fix the real problem. In the case of the United States, easy money policy by the Fed and a corrupt system of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac subsidies caused the housing bubble and resulting financial crisis. Yet these problems have not been addressed, either in the Dodd-Frank bailout bill or the new Basel rules. Indeed, Melloan points out that Fannie and Freddie were exempted from the Dood-Frank legislation.
There’s something to be said for holding banks to higher capital standards, even at the cost of more constrained lending and slower economic growth. But the much-bruited idea that Basel rules will make the world freer of financial crises is highly doubtful, given current political circumstances. The 2008 financial meltdown was not primarily the result of lax regulation but of co-option and abuse of the U.S. financial system by the political class in Washington. The federal government’s “affordable housing” endeavors, beginning in the 1990s, allowed and even forced banks to make highly risky mortgage loans. Those loans were folded into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) sold in vast numbers throughout the world, most promiscuously by two government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Federal Reserve contributed a credit bubble that caused house prices to soar, a classic asset inflation. When the bubble began to deflate in 2007, the bad loans in mortgage securities became poisonous. The MBS market seized up, and financial institutions holding them became illiquid and began to crash. The Lehman Brothers collapse was the biggest shock. The only way Basel standards might have helped prevent this would have been if they had been applied to Fannie and Freddie as well as to banks. They weren’t. President Bill Clinton exempted the two giants from Basel capitalization rules because they were the primary instruments of a federal policy aimed at helping more lower-income people become homeowners. This was a laudable goal that ultimately wrecked the housing and banking industries. Washington has learned nothing from this debacle, which is why the next financial crisis is likely to have federal policy origins and may come sooner than we think. Fannie and Freddie—now fully controlled by Uncle Sam and exempt from the Dodd-Frank financial “reform” legislation—are still going strong, guaranteeing and restructuring loans while they continue to rack up huge losses for taxpayers. …The record since the Basel process began 22 years ago doesn’t generate faith in banking regulation either. Basel rules didn’t prevent the collapse of Japanese banking in 1990, they didn’t prevent the 2008 meltdown, and they are not preventing the banking failures that plague the financial system even today.
P.S. The bureaucrats and regulators who put together the Basel capital standards were the ones who decided that mortgage-backed securities were very safe assets and required less capital. That was a common assumption at the time, so the point is not that the Basel folks are particularly incompetent, but rather that regulation is a very poor substitute for market discipline. Letting financial firms go bankrupt instead of bailing them out would be a far better way of encouraging prudence.
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Posted in Barney Frank, Freedom, Obama, Pelosi, Reagan, Statism, tagged Biden, Frank, Freedom, Obama, Pelois, Reagan, Statism on August 16, 2010 |
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Here’s a very nice video mixing powerful statements by Ronald Reagan with the incoherent ramblings of the buffoons now in charge of Washington.
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Posted in Bailout, Barney Frank, Easy money, Economics, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve, Freddie Mac, Monetary Policy, Obama, tagged Bailouts, Barney Frank, Bush, Chris Dodd, Corruption, Easy money, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve, Freddie Mac, Monetary Policy, Obama, TARP on August 13, 2010 |
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Appearing on Fox Business News, I summarize the many reasons why the Bush-Paulson-Obama-Geithner TARP bailout was – and still is – bad policy.
I’m sure I have plenty of flaws, but at least I am philosophically consistent. Here’s what I said about the issue more than 18 months ago. The core message is the same (though I also notice I have a bad habit of starting too many sentences with “well”).
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Posted in Barney Frank, Freedom, Liberty, Statism, tagged Barney Frank, Freedom, Gambling, nanny state, Statism, Victimless Crime on August 1, 2010 |
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Since Barney Frank is one of the most collectivist and statist members of Congress, it is very unusual for me to write the words “I agree with Barney Frank.” But on the issue of Internet gambling, the Massachusetts Congressman actually has the right position. Steve Chapman elaborates on this topic in his column, concluding with wise words about getting out of way when someone like Barney Frank actually wants more freedom and less government.
Four years ago, Congress tried to stamp out online betting by forbidding banks from transferring funds to Internet gambling sites. But it was spitting into a gale. “Gamblers have used online payment processors, phone-based deposits and prepaid credit cards to circumvent the ban,” reports The New York Times. It’s an old problem: When lots of people are eager to enter transactions with other people that do no direct harm to anyone else, the government can’t realistically hope to prevent them. All the ban accomplishes is to push the industry offshore, leaving U.S. customers more vulnerable to fraud. Well, that’s not all it accomplishes. It also encourages Americans to do their gambling elsewhere: going to casinos (now found in 33 states), wagering at off-track parlors or buying lottery tickets peddled by state monopolies. The lotteries are a motive for governments to oppose legalization of online gambling, since it might take away customers looking for better odds. …there is no good reason for the federal government to prohibit citizens from engaging in a peaceful, popular and enjoyable activity that almost all of them can handle responsibly. Nor is there any point, since those citizens are going to do it anyway. Congress would be wise to accept that age-old reality and settle for harvesting the tax revenues Internet betting can generate. Maybe it would be the start of something even bigger. After all, it’s not every day you hear congressional Democrats making the case for more freedom and less government. When Barney Frank acts on the view that “most actions the government should stay out of,” it would be a shame to stand in his way.
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Posted in Bailout, Barney Frank, Easy money, Fannie Mae, Federal Reserve, Financial Crisis, Freddie Mac, Regulation, tagged Bailouts, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, Fannie Mae, Financial Crisis, Freddie Mac, Red Tape, Regulation on July 18, 2010 |
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The Wall Street Journal opines
about the number of new regulations that will be generated by the so-called financial reform legislation that has been approved by Congress. The big winners will by lawyers, the federal bureaucracy, and politicians. The big losers will be shareholders and consumers.
The Dodd-Frank financial reform bill passed by the Senate yesterday promises to generate historic levels of red tape. But apparently the 2,300 pages are so complicated that a debate has broken out over precisely how many new regulatory rule-makings it will require. This week we reported on an analysis by the Davis Polk & Wardwell law firm that at least 243 new federal rule-makings are on the way, not to mention 67 one-time studies and another 22 new periodic reports. The attorneys were careful to note that this was a low-ball estimate, counting only new regulations mandated by the bill. Now comes Tom Quaadman of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who doesn’t quarrel with the Davis Polk estimate but has added rule-makings authorized by this legislation to those that are mandated and says that American businesses should expect a whopping 533 new sets of rules. To put this number in perspective, Sarbanes-Oxley, Washington’s last exercise in financial regulatory overreach, demanded only 16 new regulations. Thus he reasons that Dodd-Frank “is over 30 times the size of SOX.” …While it might seem that the regulatory uncertainty created by the bill won’t last much longer than a decade as new rules are implemented, that also could be optimistic. When regulators are granted new authorities without expiration dates on their powers, the rule-making possibilities are infinite. …The most likely result of Dodd-Frank in the near term is a generally higher cost of credit, and a bigger market share for the largest banks that can more easily absorb the new regulatory costs. In the longer term, do not expect it to prevent the next financial mania and panic.
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Nicole Gelinas has been one of the most astute observers of how government has screwed up the financial system and her column in the Washington Examiner
is an excellent summary of why the Dodd-Frank bill is a step in the wrong direction.
For 25 years, Washington has done everything in its power to subsidize Americans’ profligate borrowing habits. Debt became the fuel for economic growth. Washington subsidized the financial industry’s borrowing through implicit guarantees against loss. The feds first started rescuing creditors to “too big to fail” banks in 1984. Since then, it’s become clear to lenders — Wall Street’s global bondholders and trading counterparties — that the government would save them anytime a large financial firm foundered. Indemnified against losses, bondholders could lend nearly infinitely to Wall Street. Wall Street found creative ways to lend that money right back to the public, through mortgage brokers and credit card marketers. …The Dodd-Frank bill is a monument to the status quo. Despite promises that the bill will end bailouts, it enshrines bailouts into law. It provides for an “orderly liquidation authority,” for example, which allows “systemically important” financial firms to escape bankruptcy and to escape, too, consistent losses for their creditors. It also sets up a fast-track procedure through which the White House can ask Congress for guarantees for Wall Street’s lenders in a future crisis. In effect, the government is saying to Wall Street’s lenders: Carry on as you did before 2008. Ordinary Americans, though, understand that they can’t go on as before. Since 2008, they’ve started paying their debt back. The process is painful. As Americans borrow less, they spend less and pay less for houses. But as Americans pare back their debt, the economy will begin to heal permanently. As house prices fall, for example, because less borrowed money exists to send them higher, Americans will have more money left over after paying the mortgage. They can invest that money in the stock market for retirement. Those funds, in turn, will go to entrepreneurs who create jobs outside of the financial industry. The Dodd-Frank bill would pervert this healthy process. It would pit Washington’s too-big-to-fail subsidies and Wall Street’s creativity against Americans who are trying to do the right thing for themselves and the country.
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Posted in Barney Frank, Big Government, Corruption, Economics, Executive pay, Fannie Mae, Financial Crisis, Freddie Mac, Obama, Uncategorized, tagged Bailout, Big Government, Corruption, Fannie Mae, Financial Crisis, Freddie Mac, Obama on December 26, 2009 |
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Even though politicians already have flushed $400 billion down the rathole, the Obama Administration has announced that it will now give unlimited amounts of our money to prop up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-created mortgage companies. While President Obama should be castigated for this decision, let’s not forget that this latest boondoggle is only possible because President Bush did not do the right thing and liquidate Fannie and Freddie when they collapsed last year. And, to add insult to injury, Obama’s pay czar played Santa Claus and announced that that a dozen top “executives” could divvy up $42 million of bonuses financed by you and me. Not a bad deal for a group of people that more properly should be classified as government bureaucrats. Here’s an excerpt from the Washington Post about the Administration’s latest punch in the gut for taxpayers:
The Obama administration pledged Thursday to provide unlimited financial assistance to mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, an eleventh-hour move that allows the government to exceed the current $400 billion cap on emergency aid without seeking permission from a bailout-weary Congress. The Christmas Eve announcement by the Treasury Department means that it can continue to run the companies, which were seized last year, as arms of the government for the rest of President Obama’s current term. But even as the administration was making this open-ended financial commitment, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac disclosed that they had received approval from their federal regulator to pay $42 million in Wall Street-style compensation packages to 12 top executives for 2009. The compensation packages, including up to $6 million each to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s chief executives, come amid an ongoing public debate about lavish payments to executives at banks and other financial firms that have received taxpayer aid. But while many firms on Wall Street have repaid the assistance, there is no prospect that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will do so.
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5 Essay Writing Tips For Newcomers
Essays allow student writers to express their own interpretations, thoughts and ideas about a specific topic. Most essays are formal, since they're written for a wide variety of assignments. Nowadays, many students write informal essays for assignments, or as permitted by their instructors.
Newcomers to essay writing have a tendency to write informal essays; the informal essay is the most common that beginners write. To start writing essays, it's important to get used to both essay writing styles to understand the writing format.
5 essay tips for newcomers
The essay is simple to write. Most people that write essays get training from their instructors; students can, however, get additional training by consulting alternative resources.
Here are five tips from an educational resource about essay writing for newcomers:
- Select a topic before writing
- Prepare an outline
- Write a thesis statement
- Write the body before the introduction
- Write the conclusion and finish
Before writing, it's important to select a topic or subject. Some students may have their topic picked for them, though most don't. After selecting the topic, choose how you're going to approach writing the topic or the purpose of writing about the topic. It's suggested to start researching the topic after selecting a purpose.
Organizing your ideas can help you write a better essay. The easiest way to plot an essay involves writing an outline. A basic outline generally consists of the topic and a list of main ideas you might want to write about. Underneath each main idea, list other related ideas to organize information you may want to include within those particular paragraphs.
The thesis statement of your essay is the statement that explains the point of your essay. A thesis statement generally has two parts: the first part states the topic of your essays and the second part states the main point of the work. Your thesis statement should clearly explain the topic and point of your essay, ensuring that readers understand your essay's topic before continuing to read.
Many essay newcomers assume that it's better to write the introduction first. It's better to write the introduction last. If you write the introduction after the body, you can easily craft an introduction that easily covers the body of the essay, in a way that will encourage readers to keep reading. The body itself should contain content that fully describes, explains or argues your thesis statement.
The conclusion is the closing paragraph. It brings closure to the essay, summing up the ideas within the work while providing a closing perspective on the topic. In the conclusion, you can review the main points of your essay and further reinforce the point of your entire essay to close.


Emily Hipp | SCDNR Heritage Trust Program | Archaeology Intern
Over the summer of 2022, I spent my time as an intern for the SCDNR Archeology team. We were tasked with working on three projects over the summer: sorting artifacts from Fort Frederick Heritage Preserve, preparing a tabby garden, and washing and mending Edgefield pottery. I, along with two other interns, worked on the Edgefield pottery. For our project, we washed jugs and pottery sherds then prepare them for mending. I have learned a lot about Edgefield and Pottersville pottery over the six weeks of my internship and have become fascinated with the history of these jugs and the people who created them.
Edgefield potters created commercial pottery to be used for storing goods and was famously known for its Alkaline-glazed stoneware. Edgefield potters researched many methods on how to make the finest pottery. Many practices and techniques were picked up from different cultures and countries, like China, England, and Africa. Alkaline-Glazed pottery was first made in America in the early 1800s in Edgefield, South Carolina. Edgefield was the perfect place to make Alkaline stoneware because it had high-quality clay similar to the clay found in China, where Alkaline-Glaze was traditionally used on stoneware. Edgefield also had kilns constructed in areas that would make use of kaolin clay found in the area. Along with kaolin, the pottery was made using sand, pine, and feldspars.
The kilns in Edgefield were also made to be quite large. Most of the kilns used to make pottery during the time were “groundhog kilns” which usually ranged from 16-20 feet in length and 6-8 feet in width. While Edgefield had these typical kilns, it also had dragon kilns. Dragon kilns were larger than groundhog kilns and could fire pottery at greater temperatures. The kiln in Edgefield was 105 feet in length and 12 feet in width. The people building this kiln most likely took inspiration from China, where dragon kilns are believed to have originated.
In the 19th century, a community known as “Pottersville” was established in Edgefield for the purpose of making stoneware pottery. The stoneware during this period also shows a very likely influence from African culture as it was made by enslaved individuals. African Americans were a part of every step of the pottery-making process, like building the kilns, digging out the clay, mixing and preparing the glaze, and shaping the vessels. The most famous individual to work in Pottersville was Dave Drake, also known as “Dave the potter”. In 1801, David Drake was born into slavery and was owned by Harvey Drake. Harvey Drake probably taught Dave how to read, write and make pottery, which would have been uncommon for the time. Dave created beautiful pots, some of which could hold up to 40 gallons, and were inscribe with poetry on some of them as well.
After High school I plan on attending college and getting a master’s degree in Anthropology.
George W. Calfas
Nineteenth century stoneware manufacturing at Pottersville, South Carolina: the discovery of a dragon kiln and the reinterpretation of a southern pottery tradition
Fennell, Christopher, Archaeology of Edgefield, South Carolina Pottery Communities. http://www.histarch.illinois.edu/Edgefield/ . Accessed on 15 July 2022
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on South Carolina Wild are solely those of the authors, and do not reflect official policies, positions, or endorsements of activity or products by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.


Reaching and maintaining a healthy weight is important for overall health and can help you prevent and control many diseases and conditions. If you are overweight or obese, you are at higher risk of developing serious health problems, including heart disease, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, gallstones, breathing problems, and certain cancers. That is why maintaining a healthy weight is so important: It helps you lower your risk for developing these problems, helps you feel good about yourself, and gives you more energy to enjoy life.
What Is Overweight and Obesity?
- Overweight is having extra body weight from muscle, bone, fat, and/or water. Obesity is having a high amount of extra body fat. Body mass index (BMI) is a useful measure of overweight and obesity. The information on this Web site will provide you with information about BMI (including limitations of this measure) and how to reach and stay at a healthy weight. Talk to your health care provider if you are concerned about your BMI.
What Factors Contribute To a Healthy Weight?
- Many factors can contribute to a person’s weight. These factors include environment, family history and genetics, metabolism (the way your body changes food and oxygen into energy), and behavior or habits.
- Energy balance is important for maintaining a healthy weight. The amount of energy or calories you get from food and drinks (energy IN) is balanced with the energy your body uses for things like breathing, digesting, and being physically active (energy OUT):
- The same amount of energy IN and energy OUT over time = weight stays the same (energy balance)
- More energy IN than OUT over time = weight gain
- More energy OUT than IN over time = weight loss
- To maintain a healthy weight, your energy IN and OUT don’t have to balance exactly every day. It’s the balance over time that helps you maintain a healthy weight.
You can reach and maintain a healthy weight if you:
- Follow a healthy diet, and if you are overweight or obese, reduce your daily intake by 500 calories for weight loss
- Are physically active
- Limit the time you spend being physically inactive


Classification: _Full Collection, Children & Youth, Concussion, Economic Burden, Physical Activity, Risky Play, Team Sports
Children and youth are at greater risk of concussions and more serious head injury than the general population. Concussions are the most common form of head injury, yet it is believed that they are under-reported owing to both a lack of consensus in the minimum requirements of the definition of a concussion and the presence of misconceptions among the general public regarding concussions. Nonetheless, concussions reportedly account for 3 to 8 percent of all sports-related injuries among youth presenting to urban emergency departments in Canada, which is expected to increase as public awareness rises. Furthermore, studies using national injury reporting databases in the United States indicate that sports-related injuries are responsible for 46 to 58 percent of all concussions suffered by youth between the ages of 8 and 19. Comparable Canadian data are not available.
Concussions, also known as mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), occur as a result of an impact to or forceful motion of the head or other part of the body, resulting in a jarring of the brain. This may lead to a brief alteration of mental status, which may include: confusion, loss of memory directly preceding the event, sensitivity to light, slurred speech and/or dizziness or emotional changes, and may or may not be accompanied by loss of consciousness or seizures.
Evidence exists that children and youth take longer than adults to recover following a concussion , and can permanently change the way a child or youth talks, walks, learns, works and interacts with others. Therefore, concussion management and appropriate return to activity is crucial, particularly in the paediatric and adolescent populations.
Active and timely rehabilitation is essential for concussion patients who remain symptomatic longer than a six week period. This may include physiotherapy, occupational therapy, educational support, neuropsychology and in some case neuropsychiatry. If an individual returns to activity too soon and a second concussion is sustained before recovering from the first, a condition known as second-impact syndrome (SIS) may occur: a swelling of the brain that can result in brain damage causing severe disability or even death. Furthermore, an individual is 3-times more likely to sustain a second concussion while in recovery from a concussion.
Although no information is currently available concerning the economic burden of concussion for children and youth, a study is currently being conducted at the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO). Assessing young athletes ages 12 to 17 while suffering from concussion for over three months regarding their quality of life, results using a standardized quality of life survey found similar findings as those for patients receiving chemotherapy treatments for cancer.
The purpose of this report is to provide details on the burden of concussion among children and youth in British Columbia (BC) as a supplement to the report The Burden of Concussion in British Columbia. This supplement will be used to facilitate discussion of the need for standardized concussion prevention, diagnosis and management in BC specific to children and youth.
Concussion as a health event is recognized to be under reported and inconsistently coded. Concussion may also be labelled as a minor traumatic brain injury (mTBI), or sometimes as a head injury (which may include other injuries not involving the brain).
For the purposes of this report, concussion is considered a subgroup of head injury. Mortality data are presented for head injury alone, as no data for concussion mortality are available. Hospitalization data are presented for both head injury and for concussion as a subgroup of head injury, and emergency department data are presented for concussion alone.


Poverty is such a longstanding, deeply-rooted problem that it’s hard to believe there could be a relatively straightforward way to address it. But here’s one: Give poor people money.
That’s a highly controversial idea here in the United States, where so many social programs are focused on helping people find work, rather than offering them services or sending them checks.
But elsewhere around the world, things work differently. Virtually every developed nation has a lower poverty rate than the US. That’s not because all their citizens have jobs and earn a decent living. It’s because they provide direct assistance to those at risk, in the form of cash, housing subsidies, pensions, and child benefits.
How do other countries fight poverty?
By collecting taxes and distributing the money to people who need it. And it really does seem to work.
One way to see the central role tax-and-transfer programs play is by looking at what would happen if they didn’t exist. In other words, how many people would be living in poverty if they had to survive on their paychecks alone?
It turns out that even in famously egalitarian European nations, lots of people would be left with poverty-level earnings if it weren’t for government support. One in every three people in France and Germany would be living in poverty, one in four in Sweden and Denmark. And by this measure, the United States fits right in, with a poverty rate of 28 percent.
No one, in other words, has been able to tackle poverty by building an economy that works for all involved. Yes, European countries tend to have higher unionization rates, tighter business regulations, and other mechanisms to ensure that workers get a meaningful share of the profit pie. But what the above chart shows is that if people had to rely on salary alone, poverty would be a massive social problem.
Now, look at what happens when you count government programs. Suddenly, the United States becomes an outlier, with a poverty rate 50 percent higher than the UK and Canada, twice as high as Germany, and three times that in Denmark. Tax and transfer programs in the United States just don’t have the same anti-poverty bite.
Doesn’t giving people money reduce their incentive to work?
There are certainly times when welfare programs interfere with work. Take the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which made it easier for people to get their own insurance coverage. With the act in place, people don’t need to have a job just to get health insurance, and consequently fewer people choose to work.
Yet, most people in poverty don’t really face this trade-off. Matt Bruenig, a poverty researcher at the liberal research center Demos, pored over the numbers and found that the majority are either kids, the elderly, or those with disabilities.
Of the rest, another big chunk are students. And it’s not clear that pushing kids, students, the elderly, and the disabled into the workforce — under penalty of poverty — would be good for them, or for the economy.
But you can’t give kids money, can you?
When it comes to addressing poverty among the elderly, the US takes the direct approach of just sending people money. It’s called Social Security, and it’s the most powerful anti-poverty program that we have, helping millions of seniors each year and driving the elderly poverty rate down from 35 percent, in 1960 to around 10 percent today. (In case you’re wondering, social security is very much an anti-poverty program, not just a forced savings vehicle. For years, most retirees have gotten more than they paid in, though future retirees may not be so lucky.)
Kids in poverty require a whole different approach. You can’t just deposit money in their bank accounts. Often, you have to route it through their parents, which makes things more complicated.
How, for instance, to ensure that the money is used to help kids, and not siphoned off for the pleasure of parents? This is one reason many states — including Massachusetts — place restrictions on how welfare benefits can be used: no spending on alcohol, tobacco, or lottery tickets, for instance.
But a study came out last month suggesting that some of these concerns may be overblown. It looked at poor, Native American families in North Carolina, who started receiving checks after the opening of a casino. The results were clear and positive. Parents drank less and spent more time with their kids — some were able to move to better neighborhoods. The kids, too, saw real benefits, including a large reduction in behavioral problems.
Can education help reduce poverty?
Education gives people valuable skills, which makes them more productive at their jobs. And having lots of productive, highly-skilled workers should help boost the economy and generate more money for everyone, including those at risk of falling into poverty.
Having said that, we’ve done a lot to improve education over the last 50 years. Three times as many adults hold a college degree, today, compared to the mid-1970s. Yet the market poverty rate — leaving out government programs — has actually gone up.
Is it really possible to tame poverty?
Over the last few decades, the United States has been experimenting with new kinds of anti-poverty measures, with an eye on helping people find work. We’ve expanded programs like the earned income tax credit, which go to working families, and changed our welfare system to encourage job-hunting.
These sorts of programs have their benefits — the earned income tax credit helps millions of Americans. Still, most countries take a different approach, and get better results. Judging from the rest of the world — and the effectiveness of Social Security — sometimes the best anti-poverty programs are the ones that provide direct support.
More from Evan Horowitz:
Evan Horowitz digs through data to find information that illuminates the policy issues facing Massachusetts and the US. He can be reached at email@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeHorowitz


What is play? It is voluntary engagement in self motivated activities that are normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment. It may be social or solitary interactions. It is also how children interact with the environment and people around them.
Playing allows your child to understand and build social kills as well as societal rules. As most games, there are winning and losing, these games teaches your child about playing fair while having fun.
How about social skills? It is made up of the skills that we use everyday to interact and communicate with others. Consisting of verbal or non verbal communications. Social skills also help someone understand how to behave in social situations and how best to communicate with others within that environment.
Social skills also help your child to learn and resolve social conflicts. Training him to be empathetic with other children and caring for them when they are seemingly upset.
How do you know if your child is having difficulties with play or social skills?
- Getting upset when playing games.
- Interrupts often.
- Doesn’t like to play with others.
- Unable to maintain a conversation.
- Has poor attention span.
- Has trouble taking turns.
- Unable to maintain friendships and make new ones.
- Needs an adult to be with them.
If you child seems to have a little trouble, do spend more time explaining to him why during certain circumstances he needs to act in certain ways, try to get him to relate and put himself in the other child’s shoes.
Always encourage them and guide them gently, that will allow them to pick up these cue slowly but surely.


DNA is the most powerful tool available for identification in forensic investigations. Because of its ability to line physical evidence found at a crime scene to a single person, it is often referred to as a “digital fingerprint”. This method is so precise that it can ensure pinpoint accuracy, down to one in over a billion. And, unlike fingerprints, which can only be found if a suspect touches something, DNA exists in every cell of the human body, from hair and blood, to skin and tears, and can be shed of deposited while committing a crime. That means it is often the only means for accurate identification.
DNA databases make it possible for law enforcement crime laboratories to electronically search and compare collected DNA profiles of individuals to crime scene evidence. In the United States, the Combined DNA Index System, known as CODIS, links local, state and national databases and contains more than 13 million records.
The process for collecting and analyzing DNA is minimally invasive and only takes a few steps:
- Lightly swab the inside of an arrestee’s cheek
- Analyze the sample to obtain a unique identifier containing only the 20 markers required to confirm identity.
- Enter the sample into CODIS, where it can be compared against forensic evidence from crime scenes across the country.
What makes up a DNA profile on CODIS?
Some have raised concerns about privacy rights surrounding DNA profiles. It is impossible to obtain medical information or any genetic information whatsoever. While the human genome contains over three billion base pairs, or markers, only twenty of these markers are digitalized to make up the CODIS DNA profile. These 20 markers were specifically chosen by genetic scientists because they contain NO medically predictive information nor genetic indicators. But when there is a match of these 20 markers between the crime scene evidence DNA profile and the offender profile, there is only one chance in 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 that it could be another person.
The DNA profile is stored in CODIS as a numeric file, with absolutely no access to personal information. The information below (in white) is the ONLY information that is uploaded to CODIS.
Only AFTER a crime scene evidence profile matches an offender profile and AFTER the profiles have been analyzed again to verify accuracy, is a name matched to the offender profile. The name is kept in the state crime lab in a separate, offline, heavily-protected computer file with very limited access. The name can only be released to the law enforcement team investigating the crime to which it was matched. This match is then used as an investigative lead. If and when enough evidence is gathered to officially charge the suspect with a crime, a warrant is issued to obtain another cheek swab from the suspect, which is analyzed to provide a DNA profile. This is the evidence that is used in court proceedings.
DNA is science. When evidence left at a crime scene matches to an offender DNA profile, it is scientific evidence that leads to the right suspect, regardless of race or economic status, thereby reducing the incidence of racial profiling, unreliable eye-witness identification and other objectionable means of developing suspects.
See the brochure for more comprehensive information.


Many celebrities are defined by their addictions. Japan's recent history is defined by an addiction to public borrowing, government spending and money printing to resuscitate its moribund economy.
Second-time Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is seeking to increase growth through an additional US$120 billion of public spending and aggressive yen printing by the Bank of Japan (BoJ) to create inflation to reduce the debt to GDP ratio and devalue the yen.
In the post-war period, Japan enjoyed decades of strong economic growth -- around 9.5 per cent per annum between 1955 and 1970 and around 3.8 per cent per annum between 1971 and 1990. This growth was underpinned by a weak yen. In 1985, under the Plaza Accord, Japan was forced to allow the yen to appreciate sharply, resulting in a fall exports and growth.
Subsequent efforts to restore growth resulted in a credit-fuelled stock and real estate bubble, which collapsed in 1990s.
Since the collapse of the Japanese debt bubble in 1989-90, Japanese growth has been sluggish, averaging around 0.8 per cent per annum. Nominal gross domestic product (GDP) is roughly the same as 1992.
Following the collapse of the bubble, policy-makers tried a variety of economic stimulus programs. Japan's budget surplus of 2.4 per cent in 1991 has become a chronic large budget deficit. Japan now spends more than 200 yen for every 100 yen of tax revenue received.
Japanese government gross debt has risen to around 240 per cent of GDP. Net debt (which excludes debt held by the government itself for monetary, pension and other reasons) is about 135 per cent.
The BoJ has tried unsuccessfully to increase inflation to reduce debt.
Japanese inflation has averaged minus 0.2 per cent in the 2000s, a decline from levels of 2.5 per cent in the 1980s and 1.2 per cent in the 1990s. The policies have failed to restore economic growth, trapping Japan in a period of economic stagnation.
Japan's large pool of savings, a large current account surplus and low interest rates allowed the build-up of government debt.
However, Japan's gross government debt will not be covered by domestic private-sector savings by around 2015, although net government debt will not reach this limit until after 2020. Even before this point is reached, the declining savings rate and increasing drawing on savings by aging households will reduce inflows into Japanese government bonds (JGBs), making domestic funding of the deficit more difficult.
Japan's large portfolio of foreign assets (around US$4 trillion including US$1 trillion U.S. Treasury) will cushion the effects for a time. But even if net income from foreign assets (interest payments, profits and dividends) stays constant, Japan's overall current account may move into deficit as soon as 2015.
As the drawdown on financial assets to finance retirement accelerates, Japan will initially run down its overseas investments.
Unless public finances improve, Japan ultimately will be forced to finance its budget deficit by borrowing overseas.
Where the marginal buyers of JGBs are foreign investors rather than domestic Japanese investors, interest rates may increase, perhaps significantly.
Even at current low interest rates, Japan spends around 25 to 30 per cent of its tax revenues on interest payments.
At higher borrowing costs, Japan's interest payments will be an unsustainable proportion of tax receipts.
Prime Minster Shinzo's policies will provide a short-term lift in economic activity, but is unlikely to create a sustainable recovery.
It will compound the ongoing problem of large budget deficits and government debt levels. The policies do not address the core problems.
Spending on social security accounts and interest expense now totals a major part of government spending.
Increasing health and aged-care costs are expected by 2025 to be around 10 to 12 per cent of GDP. An aging population and shrinking workforce will continue to drive slower growth and lower tax revenues.
Given its large domestic savings and also the ability of the BoJ to further monetize its debt, the status quo can be maintained for a little longer.
But eventually, Japan's toxic combination of weak economic performance, large budget deficits, high and increasing levels of government debt, declining household savings and looming current account deficits may prove unsustainable. Ultimately, Japan may have no option other than a de facto domestic default to reduce its debt to more manageable levels.
Faith in the new LDP government's new 'old' policies may prove a triumph of hope over experience.
Satyajit Das is a former banker and author of Extreme Money and Traders Guns & Money


– What is the definition for Kabbalah?
Kabbalah is the Jewish tradition that can be traced back to ancient times. It is an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought that also includes ciphers. The tradition includes the interpretation of the Bible in the mystical way. Kabbalah is the word originated from Hebrew and its literal meaning is receiving or tradition. The traditional Kabbalist who practices and follow Kabbala is called, Mekubbal.
– Kabbalah is a religion? Is it a belief? What is the Kabbalah?
Kabbalah is not a religion or faith. It is neither a belief, rather it’s a tradition that is passed from ancient Jews to their ancestors. It is an ancient wisdom that explains how the universe, the divine and the life work and their connection. In easy words Kabbalah is a tradition that enlightened on achieving the fulfillment in our lives.
Fulfillment in Kabbalah doesn’t only mean the happiness in this life that may end at any certain point and may not be permanent or might end with the soul leaving the body. But rather it depicts how the fulfillment can be achieved that may lead to the satisfaction and a wellbeing that is long lasting, connecting it to the realm of infinity. The tradition connects the energy and maintains the bridge of true and subtle long lasting fulfillment with the eternity.
Kabballah puts significance to the concept of how everything in our life is connected at the very core to one root or energy known as universal energy. According to it everything from our health, sense of self, relationships with others, our careers, our social behavior and life, all are just different stems that originates from that one core root.
Since Kabbalah is not a separate individual religion with its own belief system or values, it provides insights into world that can be applied to all faiths and religions. It is not bound to only Judaism or one sect or ethnicity. As long there is belief in its knowledge anyone can benefit from its teachings.
– What is the Kabbalah Tree of Life?
The Kabbalah Tree of Life is also known as Etz haChayim in Hebrew. According to Kabbalah the Tree of Life is a matrix of ten divine emanations that are used to by God to create everything, to sustain it and rule and control all the worlds. The tree exists in the world of infinite which is greater than the worldly dimensions and free from the boundries of the time. It is omnipresent and exists eternally. The emanations of this tree are called Sefirot or Sefirah, each of which is holographic and has the tree as whole. According to tradition these emanations are they invisible holy ways through which the sacred messages of God are revealed to us.
The teachings of the Tree of Life are said to be first originated in the time of Abraham but the actual scriptural forms were believed to be revealed later in time.
It teaches us about the relationships as a whole. The relationship are believed to be the very basic reason of our existence as we created on this world a man woman.
The Tree of Life furthermore is an elaborate map that organizes the consciousness in its divine way for our better understanding of our relationship with the divine and what is there in the heavens.
More close we come to recognition of Tree of Life’s presence more closer we become to recognize and believe in the divine presence of God and feel connected to Him. The tree is the source for light who believe in it and brings countless blessings and gives strength to stand in this world with our feet firm in its place with the support we get from the tree of life.
– Kabbalah mix number, symbols, colors, letters, how it works? (Basically)
The symbolism in Kabbalah is in Hebrew that belongs to ancient Judaism. There are letters in Hebrew that correspond to the numbers which leads to any word to be depicted in the form of numbers. These numbers can have significance separately or as a whole when they are added together. The words that have common numbers are believed to have shared meaning, or related somehow. These letters in Hebrew are believed to be caused by spiritual symbolism. The directions of lines in the letters in Kabbalah are believed to hold spiritual meaning, and so it goes for the shapes that are formed by these lines in the letters.
These letters, numbers and symbols are believed to hold spiritual meaning that the interpreter of the meaning receives from God. It is believed when the writer write these letters and numbers he is in fact perceiving it from the god himself. The color in the letters and numbers also signify towards the ways of creations harmony in Hebrew and Kabbalah. It entails how the creator and the writer work in harmony, without them both it is not easy to interpret the meaning of the story of the creation.
The Kabbalah and Hebrew symbolism in text is believed to be found in the book of Torah that is believed to be the oldest and most sacred book to hold the symbolism. Apart from Torah in Christianity the Old Testament holds the Hebrew symbolism.
– Can a person get help with the Kabbalah? How?
It is believed that Kabbalah can help people to improve their life. It can be used to shed light on different aspects of person’s life and helping a person understand the signs from the creator himself and how it all is connected to make the universe act in one harmony. To get benefit from Kabbalah one needs to perform Kabbalistic meditations. The Kabbalah text is full of imagery as well depicting male and female union. But the use of Kabbalistic meditation during the union is sinful and dangerous.
There are certain study groups or help groups that perform meditation in groups and help each other to pass from one stage to other. This helps in gaining more knowledge and sharing it with friends. The Kabbalah practices helps improve relations and to influence friends. But to influence others the spiritual stage of acquiring Kabbalistic wisdom is first to be attained through consistent effort, sustained focus and dire hard work.


Few things can be as uncomfortable as having difficulty breathing. Discomfort in your lungs can significantly impact your daily life and can be life-threatening in some situations. One cause of extreme lung discomfort or difficulty breathing is when fluid and air get trapped in your lungs, a condition known as pulmonary edema. The Metropolitan Vascular Institute specializes in treating many pulmonary issues and the complications they present. If you’ve struggled with lung discomfort, our office is here to help. Here are a few ways we can treat lung fluid and help restore your quality of life.
How Does Pulmonary Edema Happen?
Lung fluid buildup can occur for several reasons. One of the common causes of pulmonary edema is heart conditions such as congestive heart failure. Congestive heart failure occurs when the left side of the heart struggles to pump blood efficiently through your body. When this happens, blood backs up into the lungs and forces fluid into your air sacs, making breathing difficult. Other causes of pulmonary edema can include
- A chest injury
- Abnormal heart rhythm
- High blood pressure
How Dangerous is Pulmonary Edema?
It’s crucial to receive immediate medical attention if you’re experiencing symptoms consistent with pulmonary edema. Shortness of breath, difficulty speaking in complete sentences, wheezing, or coughing up blood may indicate that you’re dealing with pulmonary edema, making medical attention essential. If untreated, pulmonary edema can be life-threatening, so getting immediate professional help is crucial.
How We Can Help
Due to other medical conditions, some people deal with chronic pulmonary edema. Our office specializes in helping those with chronic lung conditions have a suitable quality of life. One strategy we employ to help is Thoracentesis procedures.
Thoracentesis procedures remove excess lung fluid by inserting a small needle between your ribs and using a suction device to drain fluid, helping to relieve shortness of breath and discomfort. The procedure typically takes less than 20 minutes, allowing you to resume your day quickly. The first step in finding out how our office can address your needs is to schedule an appointment. Please contact our Waldorf location today by calling us at (301) 374-8540.


Excerpted from 1001 Ways to Motivate Yourself and Others by Sang H. Kim
The teacher, like the team leader, is a role that often comes in disguise. You may not teach in school, but certainly you occasionally have the opportunity to pass along your knowledge of something to others. Perhaps you train new employees at your job or teach others a favorite hobby or sport. We all find ourselves sharing our knowledge with others from time to time, whether in a formal classroom setting or a more informal exchange of ideas.
Teaching can be one of the most frustrating tasks you can undertake. Although you can easily perform a skill yourself, you may find yourself perplexed when you try to get someone else to do it correctly. No matter how you explain it, they just cannot see it your way and you begin to wonder if it wouldn’t just be easier to do it yourself. This is a critical juncture in motivating your student to succeed. If you give up and berate the student (colleague, employee, . . . ) you will alienate him and block any further progress.
However, if you draw on your motivational skills to provide a good role model and plenty of encouragement interspersed with meaningful guidance, you may be surprised at the sudden turnaround in your student’s learning.
12 Tips for Motivating Your Students
- Make learning progressive and point out progress as it occurs.
- In the early stages of learning, recognize effort above results.
- If your students easily accomplish everything you teach them, your standards are too low.
- Make it hard for students to blend into the background. Require everyone to make quality contributions regularly.
- Criticize the behavior, not the behave-er.
- Motivate students to think and participate by asking open-ended questions. Example: Instead of asking “Any questions?”, ask “What questions do you have?”
- Praise progress as well as results.
- Select goals and rewards that are tied directly to student needs. Example: A woman signs up for a shooting course to learn self-protection. Setting goals related to basic proficiency and safety are more important to her than proper breathing techniques or learning to handle an exotic variety of weapons.
- Whenever possible use "hands on" methods to teach new concepts and skills.
- Make every effort to reduce the potential for failure or fear of failure associated with learning.
- Give students clear criteria that identify when they have reached their goal.
- Call attention to things done right rather than errors. Build successful habits around these positive things.


One of the most common criticisms of presidents — especially struggling ones during their second term — is that they have lost control of events.
This charge, which has been leveled at chief executives such as Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, has become a mantra lately in coverage of President Obama, who faces a stalled legislative agenda and crises in Ukraine, Gaza and at the border with Mexico.
This notion pervades commentary and debate on the presidency. We want to believe that the president is (or should be) in control. It’s the impulse behind holding the president responsible for a bad economy and giving him credit for a good one (the most important factor in presidential approval and election outcomes). The reassuring nature of presidential control is also why news media coverage of foreign policy crises and other events that rally the country tends to use language that depicts the president as being in command.
The flip side of the demand for presidential control is disappointment when he can’t magically work his will. Advocates of what I’ve called the Green Lantern theory of the presidency suggest that Mr. Obama’s failure to achieve his goals in Congress reflects a lack of effort or willpower. If he only tried harder or were tougher, they suggest, he could control events rather than being controlled by them.Continue reading the main story
These analyses get the direction of causality backward, however. Under favorable circumstances, presidents seem to be in command of events, but that’s largely a reflection of the context they face. It’s not hard to seem in control when the economy is booming, the president’s party has a large majority in Congress or the nation is rallying around the president after a national tragedy.
Once unfavorable circumstances arise, though, even the most accomplished chief executives seem to lose control. My research has found, for example, that scandals are not simply about misconduct. They are more likely to arise when presidents are unpopular with self-identified members of the opposition party or when there are few competing stories in the news.
Obviously, the modern presidency is a powerful office with enormous influence, especially in foreign policy. Iraq and Afghanistan, for instance, might look very different today if Mr. Bush had made different decisions. Even in the domestic realm, the president can have success with a supportive Congress, as Mr. Obama’s success in passing the Affordable Care Act demonstrates.
At the same time, the powers of the presidency are outstripped by the unrealistic expectations placed on the chief executive in the modern era. When problems arise, it’s only natural that people want the most powerful person in the country to fix them, but these demands often lack a plausible account of how the problem could be solved. And even when the president has a proposal that he thinks would provide a solution, he’s likely to struggle to persuade Congress or the public to support it, as Mr. Reagan discovered despite his reputation as the “Great Communicator.”
The limits of the president’s power can be scary — as human beings, we find a lack of control threatening — but the idea that they can control events is a comforting fiction, not an explanation for their success or failure. As Abraham Lincoln (perhaps our greatest president) wrote, “I claim not to have controlled events, but confess plainly that events controlled me.” Imagine what the pundits would do with that admission today!Continue reading the main story


Swine Flu Update as of 01/07/2010
The H1N1 FLU cases have been leveling off but it is still around & the FLU is expected to continue to spread. The CDC reports that the rate of infection in California is below the national average, even tough there are 4.3 million reported cases of H1N1. We need to be vigilant in preventing the spread of this serious disease. Continue to wash your hands often, cover your cough, stay away from those that are sick & stay home if you have flu-like illness.
The H1N1 vaccine supply has increased & it’s a good idea to get vaccinated now while supplies are available. SMC Health Services has the H1N1 vaccine available for students and staff (free). Our hours are Monday – Thursday, 7:30AM – 4PM. The vaccine is also available in various locations throughout the area. To locate where the vaccine is available log on to: www.cdph.ca.gov or call 1-888-865-0564.
Preventing the Spread
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends everyone to take precautions in protecting oneself against a contagious illness like the swine flu. Protect yourself from the swine flu by doing the same things you would do to protect yourself from any other flu. All members of the SMC community are asked to take the following precautions to help avoid contact and transmission of this virus:
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Throw the tissue in the trash after you use it.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water, especially after you cough or sneeze. Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are also effective.
- Avoid touching your eyes, nose or mouth. Germs spread this way.
- Try to avoid close contact with those who are sick.
- If you get sick with influenza, the CDC recommends that you stay home from work or school and limit contact with others to keep from infecting them.
- Practice good health habits, including hygiene and nutrition.
More information is available at: