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Tuesday, October 15, 2013
Janet Yellen the Right Choice for Fed Chair
President Obama’s nomination last week of Janet Yellen to be chairman of the Federal Reserve System should be welcomed by our nation.
As a former colleague for a decade on the Federal Open Market Committee, I can say that Yellen brings enormous strengths to the role. She is deeply knowledgeable about both economic theory and how it plays out in the real world.
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Pledge Of Allegiance Past Its Prime?
Millions of American school children begin the day with the pledge of allegiance. But do they, or their teachers, really understand what it means? Host Michel Martin discusses the issue with journalist Mary Plummer, of KPCC, and Peter Levine, director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement.
Copyright © 2013 NPR. For personal, noncommercial use only. See Terms of Use. For other uses, prior permission required.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Coming up, your grandmother might have told you that a messy house leads to a messy life. Well, our next guest grew up with parents who were hoarders and the mess became a matter of life and death. We'll hear from the author of "Coming Clean" in just a few minutes. But first, please put your hands on your hearts.
(SOUNDBITE OF PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE)
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENTS: I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
MARTIN: Well, I think most of us recognize those words as the Pledge of Allegiance. The original Pledge was first published in 1892. Millions of American children still begin their school day with those words, but many do not. And now as the country continues to argue over issues like immigration and assimilation, some people are wondering if teaching the Pledge is really the best way to teach children about their country.
We wanted to know more about that, so we've called Mary Plummer who's been reporting on this from member station KPCC in Pasadena, California. Also with us is Peter Levine. He is the director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University. And they're both with us now. Welcome to you both. Thank you for joining us.
MARY PLUMMER: Thank you.
PETER LEVINE: Thanks.
MARTIN: Mary, let me start with some facts that I learned through you. The author of the Pledge, Francis Bellamy, actually did not intend for the Pledge to be said on a daily basis. I did not know that. What was the idea?
PLUMMER: So basically the Pledge was unveiled at the Chicago World's Fair's Columbian Exposition back in 1892. And the idea at that time was to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the discovery of America. So, you know, it was aimed at schoolchildren, but I was also surprised to learn that it was not at all aimed, you know, to be said every day. The daily basis idea didn't come in until much later.
MARTIN: Is it a requirement? I understand that at one time it was - that schoolchildren could actually be expelled for not saying it in school.
PLUMMER: Right. Well, here in California, the Pledge of Allegiance actually isn't required, but California students are required to conduct a daily patriotic act. And, you know, what exactly does that mean? It's really up to school districts to kind of determine how they want to enforce that. So students are required to do some sort of daily patriotism, and most of them - from my reporting - it seems are doing the Pledge of Allegiance. But the state doesn't specifically require it.
MARTIN: Peter, what about that? I mean, one of your subjects is of course civic engagement and how to teach civic engagement. What is your thought about the Pledge? Do you think it's an effective way to teach kids about their country and the values that - what it means to be an American?
LEVINE: I don't think it's very well thought out if it's supposed to be educational. I mean, I think when people drop it as, for example, some schools do in California, the criticism is, oh, they don't care about patriotism or they don't care about the flag or they're objecting to God, who's mentioned in it. So it becomes a test of how patriotic you are. But I think if you ask the question, is it a good educational device for teaching patriotism? I'm pretty skeptical.
MARTIN: Well, then, Mary, I know that your reporting stands on its own. It's not meant to kind of answer or critique any of these issues, but you did ask kids in your reporting what the Pledge meant. I just want to play a short clip from some of the things you found out. Here it is.
(SOUNDBITE OF REPORT)
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #1: It means that - it's, like, good for things.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #2: Come on now. I cannot do this.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #3: I don't know. Represents America.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #4: To be nice to God.
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT #5: It's a little boring.
MARTIN: Aw, OK. And how old were these kids, Mary?
PLUMMER: Those are kindergarten and first-graders. So, you know, many of those students - you know, it was the early days of the new school year and they were really still learning how to, you know, kind of tie their shoes and hold their pencils as they're also grappling with kind of the daily recitation of the Pledge.
MARTIN: So they were just learning it at this stage? Kindergarten, yeah.
PLUMMER: Yes. Yes. Some of them had kind of just started exactly.
MARTIN: What about some of the older kids? I mean, some of the schools you visited had large members of students who were first-generation Americans. Did they have a different feeling about it?
PLUMMER: Yeah. Absolutely. I talked with some third-graders, and, you know, I think by third grade, kids had a little bit better understanding of what the Pledge means. It was interesting, I spoke with a lot of first-generation Americans. You know, one little girl told me that she actually says the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at home with her family. So she was saying it, you know, twice - once at school, once at home with her family. You know, also I spoke with a kindergarten teacher who told me that she was sensitive to the fact that not all of her students are U.S. citizens. So when she was teaching the Pledge and kind of the ideas of citizenship, she was sensitive to the fact that, you know, not all kids' parents were able to vote and that not all of the students in her class were citizens.
MARTIN: Peter, talk a little bit more about that if you would. Are the kinds of conversations that we're having here about the utility of it, the educational value of it, is that a rich conversation? I know that one of the other things I learned from Mary's reporting is that teachers could be fired for not leading the Pledge, but now it's been established by the Supreme Court that your right to free speech includes the right not to speak, so that you cannot be required to say the Pledge. So, Peter, is this discussion over the utility of teaching the Pledge every day and reciting it every day, is that something that's going on all over the country?
LEVINE: No. I mean, I don't think people really talk about what the Pledge accomplishes - do kids learn, do they know what indivisible means, do they learn more, you know, in fifth grade than they do in third grade. Are alienated teenagers who have to do it actually learning to not like the flag? So we don't really study that. I think, basically, it's quite a hot-button issue, and if you're against it, you're taken to be unpatriotic.
MARTIN: Well, so, Peter, while we have you, in your ideal world - having studied this whole question of civic engagement, civic learning - do you have a better idea?
LEVINE: I'm not necessarily against the Pledge, but I do think there's something more important, which is to actually have a conversation, an appreciative conversation but a thoughtful conversation about what liberty and justice for all means. So to actually take some of those words, like liberty and justice, which are very complicated and controversial, and talk about them and understand them.
MARTIN: So what would you envision? Would you envision - and at what age would you start doing this kind of teaching?
LEVINE: I would start in kindergarten for sure. I mean, you can talk about both liberty and justice in kindergarten. I wouldn't necessarily have kids say the same thing every day - the same 30 words every day and then not talk about what it means - but I would definitely talk about what does it means to be just in a kindergarten circle and in the country as a whole and in the world. And I think that kids are actually quite good at talking about that.
MARTIN: Mary, thank you for your reporting on this. What's the most surprising thing you learned about the Pledge in the course of doing your reports?
PLUMMER: You know, one thing that was interesting for me - it was kind of an opportunity for me to think about my own relationship with the Pledge of Allegiance, which is something that I think in our everyday lives we don't necessarily spend a lot of time on. I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska and at my elementary school, there were two students who were selected, you know, periodically to lead the morning Pledge and the morning announcements. And, you know, I remember that so vividly.
I remember the process of getting up and getting to school a little early and helping with that process and helping kind of lead the school in something. But I don't remember ever learning about the Pledge in school. You know, in my mind, it's something that was just kind of always there. I don't even remember how I learned the words to the Pledge. So I think I did take something away from this idea of routine and ritual and I think kind of for better or worse from teachers and students I talked with, you know, there is something about that process of reciting something together every morning that means something.
MARTIN: Mary Plummer is a reporter for KPCC in Pasadena, California. She's been reporting on the Pledge as part of a project on civic engagement. She was with us from KPCC. Peter Levine was also with us. He's the director of the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, and we caught up with him at his office in Medford, Massachusetts. Thank you both so much for speaking with us.
LEVINE: Thanks.
PLUMMER: Thank you so much.
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Senators close in on deal as threat of default nears
By Richard Cowan and Thomas Ferraro
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. senators said they were closing in on a deal Monday that would reopen the government and push back a possible default for several months, though many hurdles remained as a Thursday deadline drew near.
The Senate's top Democrat and top Republican both said they hoped they could soon reach an agreement that would allow them to avert a looming default and end a partial government shutdown that has dragged on for 14 days so far.
"I'm very optimistic that we that we will reach an agreement that's reasonable in nature this week," Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor.
Lawmakers are racing against the clock, with U.S. officials estimating that the federal government could run out of borrowing capacity on October 17.
The plan under discussion would raise the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling by enough to cover the nation's borrowing needs at least through mid-February 2014, according to a source familiar with the negotiations.
It also would fund government operations through the middle of January, keeping in place the across-the-board "sequester" spending cuts that took effect in March, though government agencies would have more latitude to ease their impact. It would also set up a new round of budget talks that would try to strike a bargain by year's end.
Any deal would also have to win approval in the House of Representatives, where conservative Republicans have insisted that any continued government funding must include measures to undercut President Barack Obama's signature health law - a nonstarter for Democrats.
The deal would not resolve the disagreements over long-term spending and health care that led to the crisis in the first place. It would amount to a clear retreat for Republicans who have sought to tie any continued funding and borrowing authority to measures that would undercut Obama's Affordable Care Act.
Republicans have taken a hit in opinion polls since the standoff began and some in the party worry it could hurt their chances to win control of the Senate in next year's midterm elections.
A Washington Post/ABC News poll released on Monday found that 74 percent of Americans disapprove of the way congressional Republicans have handled the standoff, compared with a 53 percent disapproval rating for Obama.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky echoed Reid's comments that a deal could come together soon.
"I share his optimism that we we're going to get a result that will be acceptable to both sides," he said on the Senate floor.
The White House postponed a planned 3 p.m. (1900 GMT) meeting with congressional leaders in order to give negotiators more time to work out a deal.
The Treasury Department says it cannot guarantee that the U.S. government will be able to pay its bills past October 17 if Congress does not raise the debt ceiling by then.
A default would likely come by November 1 as Treasury would not have enough tax revenue coming in to cover interest payments, retirement benefits and other obligations.
WEIGHING ON THE ECONOMY
It is unclear whether Congress can meet that October 17 deadline. Even if Republicans and Democrats in the Senate reach agreement on Monday, hard-liners such as Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz might be able to exploit Senate rules to delay a vote for several days.
House Speaker John Boehner also could face an insurrection that could threaten his position as Washington's top Republican if he tries to advance a bill over the objections of rank-and-file conservatives in that chamber.
"If the Senate comes to an agreement, we'll review it with our members," Boehner spokesman Kevin Smith said.
Though Treasury likely will have enough cash on hand to meet its obligations for a week or so, it might be forced to pay a higher interest rate on debt it is due to issue on Thursday.
Banks and money market funds are already shunning some government securities that are often used as collateral for short-term loans and to facilitate many other transactions. In China, the largest foreign holder of U.S. debt, the state news agency Xinhua said it was time for a "de-Americanized world."
Though some Republicans have argued that the government could avoid serious consequences by prioritizing interest payments over other types of spending, that view is not widely held by the public.
A Reuters/IPSOS poll released on Tuesday found that only 25 percent believe the debt ceiling issue is "overblown."
U.S. stocks were buoyed by prospects of a deal. The S&P 500 Index closed up 0.41 percent while the Nasdaq Composite Index ended 0.62 percent higher.
The government shutdown, now in its 14th day, is beginning to weigh on the economy. The hundreds of thousands of federal employees who have been temporarily thrown out of work are likely to get back-pay when the standoff is resolved. But they aren't getting paid now, forcing many to dial back on personal spending and cancel holiday travel plans.
The crisis is only the latest in a series of budget battles in recent years that have repeatedly spooked investors and consumers. The uncertainty has weighed on the economy and boosted the unemployment rate by 0.6 of a percentage point, or the equivalent of 900,000 jobs since late 2009, according to a new estimate by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a think tank.
Foreign leaders and business executives have urged Washington to resolve the crisis before it does further damage.
"This is all bad for America, bad for the economy, bad for job growth, bad for consumer confidence, and the quicker we get it resolved, the better," Terry Lundgren, chief executive of retailer Macy's Inc, told Reuters.
Republicans in the Senate are pushing to include slight modifications to the Affordable Care Act. One would toughen income verification for those seeking health insurance subsidies under the law. Another could delay a reinsurance fee included in the law that otherwise would start in 2014, according to a labor-union source.
Throughout the shutdown, Obama has said Republicans must agree to reopen the government and extend the debt ceiling before the two sides can begin talks on spending or tweaks to his Affordable Care Act.
That position has not changed.
"We will not pay a ransom for Congress reopening the government and raising the debt limit," the White House said in a statement on Monday morning.
(Additional reporting by Roberta Rampton, Tim Reid, David Lawder, Amanda Becker, Lisa Lambert and Susan Heavey and Steve Holland in Washington and Phil Wahba in New York; Writing by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Karey Van Hall, Claudia Parsons and Tim Dobbyn)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-senate-leader-sees-chance-breaking-fiscal-impasse-083114324--business.html
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Sunday, October 13, 2013
Afghan in uniform shoots at U.S. soldiers in country's east
KABUL (Reuters) - An Afghan man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot at U.S. soldiers in eastern Afghanistan, killing at least one serviceman on Sunday, local officials and the NATO-led coalition said.
The so-called "insider attack" in Paktika province is the fourth in less than a month and is likely to strain already tense ties between coalition troops and their allies, with most foreign troops scheduled to withdraw by the end of next year.
A Reuters tally shows Sunday's incident was the tenth this year, and took the death toll of foreign personnel to 15.
"A man wearing an Afghan army uniform shot at Americans in Sharana city (the provincial capital) near the governor's office," said an Afghan official, adding that two soldiers had been hit by the gunfire.
The NATO-led coalition confirmed one soldier had been shot by a man in security forces uniform, but did not comment on his nationality or whether the Afghan was wearing a army uniform.
Insider attacks threaten to further undermine waning support for the war among Western nations sending troops to Afghanistan.
A similar flurry of attacks last year prompted the NATO-led force to briefly suspend all joint activities and take steps to curb interaction between foreign and Afghan troops.
That has cut down the number of incidents, but some soldiers say the measures have further eroded the hard-won trust painstakingly nurtured between the allies over more than 12 years of war.
Late on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced they had reached preliminary agreement on a bilateral security pact that now depends on the approval of Afghanistan's tribal leaders.
(Reporting by Mirwais Harooni; Writing by Jessica Donati; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afghan-uniform-shoots-u-soldiers-countrys-east-101900927.html
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Friday, October 11, 2013
India's Shyam Benegal to Head Six-Member Asia Pacific Screen Awards Jury
SYDNEY -- Swiss writer-director Christoph Schaub is joining the jury of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSAs) as a representative of the European Film Academy, which is forging closer links with the Brisbane-based APSA and its own Academy.
The six-member jury was announced at an Australian Embassy event this week at the Busan International Film Festival.
The seventh annual APSA Awards Jury will be overseen by Indian writer-director Shyam Benegal, with other jury members to include Korean screenwriter and director Kim Tae-yong, the “Queen of Sri Lankan Cinema” actress Malini Fonseka, Turkish actor Tamer Levent and Hong Kong producer Albert Lee.
“As India celebrates 100 years of cinema, it is fitting that the International Jury be led by a filmmaker of such gravitas as Shyam Benegal. The important task of determining the winners of the region’s highest accolade in film is being undertaken by a truly remarkable group of eminent filmmakers,” APSA executive chairman Michael Hawkins said.
“Brisbane’s Lord Mayor Graham Quirk is thrilled that Mr Benegal accepted our invitation, and looks forward to welcoming him and his fellow jurors to Brisbane.”
The City of Brisbane, through its economic development board, Brisbane Marketing, has taken over management of the APSAs from state-based body Queensland Events, and continues to collaborate on the awards with Paris-based UNESCO and the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF).
The APSA Academy in conjunction with the Motion Picture Association (MPA) also runs the MPA APSA Academy Film Fund. Four $25,000 grants will be awarded to projects to further their stories from treatment stage to final script.
Over seven years, the APSAs have built a reputation as the region’s pre-eminent film awards recognizing and promoting the cinematic excellence and cultural diversity of the world’s fastest-growing film region, comprising 70 countries and areas -- 4.5 billion people -- and responsible for half of the world’s film output.
The seventh APSA Awards will be held Dec. 12 in Brisbane, Australia.
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Tuesday, April 16, 2013
China criticizes US force strengthening in Asia
BEIJING (AP) ? In its latest account of national defense efforts, China said Tuesday that the United States is destabilizing the Asia-Pacific region by strengthening its military alliances and sending more ships, planes, and troops to the area.
The U.S. policy known as the "pivot" to Asia runs counter to regional trends and "frequently makes the situation tenser," the Defense Ministry said in its report on the state of China's defense posture and armed forces.
"Certain efforts made to highlight the military agenda, enhance military deployment and also strengthen alliances are not in line with the calling of the times and are not conducive to the upholding of peace and stability in the region," spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters at a news conference marking the report's release.
"We hope that the relevant parties would do more to enhance the mutual trust between countries in the region and contribute to peace and stability," Yang said.
China has consistently criticized Washington's deployment of additional ships and personnel to Asia, along with increasing cooperation both with treaty partners, including Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines, as well other countries such as Vietnam that aren't traditional allies.
The U.S. is winding down its fighting in Afghanistan and calls the restructuring a natural reallocation of resources to the world's most economically dynamic region.
Beijing, however, sees it as specifically designed to contain China's diplomatic, military, and economic rise, and has sought to reassure Asian nations that China poses no threat to them. Despite that, China's fast-growing military and increasingly firm assertions of its territorial claims have concerned many countries, pushing them to seek stronger relations with the U.S., the region's traditional military superpower.
The pivot will see 60 percent of the Navy's fleet be deployed to the Pacific by 2020. Singapore will be home to four new U.S. Littoral Combat Ships designed to fight close to shorelines, while Indonesia is looking to buy a broad range of American hardware and take part in joint maneuvers. The Philippines is seeking to host more U.S. troops on a rotating basis and Australia has agreed to allow up to 2,500 Marines to deploy to the northern city of Darwin.
Meanwhile, in the face of natural disasters and North Korean threats, U.S. military relations with treaty partners South Korea and Japan are closer than ever.
In its report, the Defense Ministry again sought to assuage concerns about its more than 500 percent increase in defense spending over the past 14 years. China's defense budget is now the second largest in the world after the U.S., allowing it to acquire everything from better submarines and missiles to state-of-the-art fighters, aircraft carriers and electronic warfare systems, and helping spawn an arms race across Asia.
Much of the report was devoted to the military's contribution to U.N. peacekeeping efforts and disaster relief, portraying the People's Liberation Army as a force for regional and global stability.
Yet it also asserted the PLA's role as a guarantor of China's core interests, vowing to tolerate no violation of those.
"'We will not attack unless we are attacked, but we will surely counterattack if attacked. Following this principle, China will resolutely take all necessary measures to safeguard its national sovereignty and territorial integrity," the report said.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/china-criticizes-us-force-strengthening-asia-064629411.html
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