According to John Rossant in Business Week of October 6, 2003, "the book with the most buzz [in France] is La France qui Tombe (Falling France), by historian Nicolas Baverez. It's a merciless account of how shabby the French model has become: economic growth at zero, unemployment running near 10%, and public debt approaching $1.14 trilion, all stemming from a persistent inability to modernize."
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82% of U.S. households made a Wal-Mart purchase last year, says Business Week of October 6, 2003. I am in the 18% of U.S. households that did not.
September 19, 2003
"It is evident the problem of sexual abuse by priests and bishops, and its toleration at the highest levels, have brought into public view issues that have been simmering below the surface for many years," said the Rev. William P. Leahy, president of Boston College, as quoted by Michael Paulson in an article in the Boston Globe.
"The Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, head of Catholic Charities USA and a former acting dean of Harvard Divinity School, said it will take a long time for the church to overcome the effects of the abuse scandal," wrote Eric Convey in the Boston Herald. "Part of the solution, Hehir said, is for church leaders 'to treat adults as adults.'"
I don't think that that is going to happen. Church leaders want adults of the "Oh, whatever you say, Father," ilk.
September 14, 2003
"'Within six months of passing the Patriot Act, the Justice Department was conducting seminars on how to stretch the new wiretapping provisions to extend them beyond terror cases,' said Dan Dodson, a spokesman for the National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys. 'They say they want the Patriot Act to fight terrorism, then, within six months, they are teaching their people how to use it on ordinary citizens.'"--from an Associated Press article at yahoo.com.
September 9, 2003
As United States Attorney General John Ashcroft addressed law enforcement personnel inside Faneuil Hall in Boston about the Patriot Act, a crowd, which I would unscientifically estimate to number about three hundred, stood outside in protest. Among those briefly addressing the throng were United States Representative Michael Capuano of Massachusetts' Eighth Congressional District.
"Boston City Police estimate there were 1,200 protesters on hand outside Faneuil Hall during Ashcroft's speech," says an Associated Press article at boston.com. The police may be right, but the crowd did not appear so large to me.
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