For more than a decade, NewWork News has surveyed the world's news having to do with life and work in the revolutionary new world economy. Over all these years, we have not made a significant effort to distinguish between straight reporting and editorial comment.

Written by Gary Johnson, NewWork News each day is more like a newspaper or magazine column than a newspaper's front page. However, nearly every item is linked to at least one original story from somebody else's "front page" so as to enable our readers easily to examine the original story without deliberate interpretation or commentary.

Some NewWork News items are highly analytical. Several of these have been gathered together for presentation below. All have been written by Gary Johnson.

Paulson and the Administration's new plan (Monday, 3/31/08)
Today, at least, the Bush administration is looking more like the Roosevelt administration, providing more evidence that words like "liberal" and "conservative" are quite a lot like Rorschach Ink Blots.

While the President has insisted that he is "conservative" and his political enemies frequently use the word "conservative" as an epithet when referring to President Bush, he is proposing the sort of governmental intervention more often associated with Democratic administrations.

Treasury Secretary Paulson has announced the Administration's proposal for overhauling the American financial system more than at any time since the stock market collapse of 1929 and the Great Depression that followed. Among other things, it would give the Federal Reserve sweeping new regulatory powers. In fact, Ambrose Evans-Pritchard of the UK's Telegraph claims that the Fed has been examining Nordic-style nationalization of U. S. banks.

Here is a summary of the Administration's proposal from the Associated Press.

Film and television actors will negotiate separately from now on (Sunday, 3/30/08)
The human tendency to establish status hierarchies also applies to people who pretend to be somebody else for a living.

Traditionally, Broadway stage actors in what they like to call the "legitimate theater" have looked down on actors in movies, and movie actors have looked down on actors on television, although all this has broken down somewhat during recent years.

The traditions may have arisen, in part, because live theatrical productions have been under the control of actors once curtains go up. In some cases, directors aren't even allowed in the building once the performance has begun.

Moreover, even though it may take years for dozens of people to plan, produce, and distribute a feature film, the filming itself usually lasts only a few months, while actors in episodic television productions may have to work most of the year.

At any rate, the new distinction between unions representing film actors and TV actors isn't likely to do much to bring everybody together. Andrew Dalton writes from Los Angeles about the decision on the part of TV actors to sever their relationship with the union representing film actors so that they can negotiate independently with producers.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: All in the Family (Thursday, 3/27/08)
According to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, the three leading presidential candidates have an interesting collection of relatives.

We're not sure if this is remarkable or not. How many famous people are YOU remotely related to? How many are related to any randomly-selected American? The fact that the Society found famous relatives of ALL THREE major presidential candidates suggests that the phenomenon might be fairly common.

Decades ago, Stanley Milgram, who was best-known for his famous "obedience studies," conducted a series of experiments which came to be known as his "small world" study. There was growing evidence at the time that American society was becoming more interconnected.

It appeared from Professor Milgram's results that odds are that any two randomly selected individuals in the American population are connected by only 5 or 6 intermediaries, although there have been many criticisms of his research methodology over the years since.

His results gave rise to a play and a feature film called "Six Degrees of Separation," although Milgram himself didn't use that phrase. We suspect that Dr. Milgram would have some comments about the Society's findings about relatives of the current presidential candidates, but he died in 1984.

The New England Historic Genealogical Society claims to be the oldest genealogical organization in the United States.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: The Infinite Mind (Wednesday, 3/26/08)
A public television series years ago opened each episode with "The mind IS what the brain DOES."

National Public Radio has been running a contemporary series called "The Infinite Mind," and you can listen to some of the programs online.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: RAND California (Tuesday, 3/25/08)
Here are the latest economic data from one of the world's largest economies, which also happens to be America's most populous state: California. This compilation comes from the famed RAND Corporation, which was started in 1946 by the U. S. military in conjunction with Douglas Aircraft. In 1948, it became an independent nonprofit organization. Its founding after World War II essentially marked the invention of the private "think tank," of which there are many now. "RAND" stands for "RESEARCH and DEVELOPMENT."

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Prehistoric Time Line (Monday, 3/24/08)
It puts things into perspective to examine the history of the Earth and how recently humans arrived on it. Moreover, the historical period--the past six thousand years or so--makes up only a tiny part of the time that humans have walked the planet.

Finally, the modern period with which we are familiar, including the entire history of modern science and technology, make up only a fraction of a second on the geologic time scale. We shouldn't take anything for granted.

Here's the prehistoric time line from National Geographic.

Whoops--er, sorry (Sunday, 3/23/08)
It will be another century before North America will have been without slavery longer than it had it. While no living black Americans have ever been slaves and no living white Americans have ever been slave holders, is it time for America to apologize anyway?

In recent years, many states have taken upon themselves responsibility for a number of things, rather than waiting GKHL (translation: "god knows how long") for the federal government to get around to it. Apologizing for slavery is one of those things, even though Congress is expected to consider the possibility this year.

During the past year, several states have approved apology resolutions, and similar resolutions are pending in several additional states. One of the latest is Nebraska, as Martha Stoddard of the Omaha World Herald reports.

New solutions and the new problems they produce (Sunday, 3/23/08)
As Kermit has said, "It isn't easy being green." He was more right than he knew. For instance, there has been great enthusiasm for solar power and the use of those new fluorescent light bulbs. However, as the Wall Street Journal reports, silicon shortages may not be over as quickly as many people seem to think, and this could hamper development of the solar power industry.

Also, while those twisted fluorescent light bulbs DO last longer and DO cost less to use, JUST DON'T DROP THEM! The reason? Mercury. Here's more from the Boston Globe via the Philadelphia Enquirer.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Universal Leonardo (Sunday, 3/23/08)
Leonardo da Vinci was the person for whom the term "renaissance man" was invented. He has one of history's greatest artists, as well as one of history's greatest scientists, and he was one of history's greatest inventors. Art, science, technology--he was centuries ahead of his time in all three areas. Well, in science and technology anyway.

Among nature's principal "dirty tricks" is that people don't live very long. We all have reason to regret that Leonardo could not have lived to experience--and participate in, contribute to--the frantic scientific and technical developments of the past few centuries.

What does Leonardo have to tell us in the 21st century? What can we learn from him? A lot. He anticipated much of what we now take for granted, but which only the past few generations have been able to experience. Here's the wonderful Universal Leonardo site.

The Fed's recent actions have brought universal praise. Well, no, NOT universal (Saturday, 3/22/08)
As we've pointed out elsewhere, it took tens of thousands of years of human experience before the American Constitution could be written. Moreover, it might not have happened at all if the early Americans hadn't struggled through several years of misery under the Articles of Confederation. Most political leaders around the world expected the American experiment with democracy to fail, and many Americans expected it to fail too.

However, the founders' genius was to distribute power through the American Constitutional system. Power was not highly concentrated or centralized. Instead, there were "checks and balances." There were three branches of the federal government, and one of these, the Congress, also had two branches. The States also had power, as did localities. Even juries drawn from the general population had tremendous power in America's courts.

True, the Supreme Court's present role evolved over time, and the Federal Reserve was created less than a century ago. The founders knew nothing about the Fed, and may or may not have approved of the fact that this independent government agency at times can exercise more power than the Congress or the President of the United States.

On the one hand, the Supreme Court and the Fed are examples of how great flexibility can exist within the context of tremendous political stability. In a world where 50 years can be a political eternity, the American Constitution continues as the envy of the world in its third century.

On the other hand, as has been the case since the earliest days of the Republic, there is no unanimity of opinion on how much power should be concentrated in various parts of the American system. Tom Raum writes from Washington about those who aren't entirely enthusiastic about the speed with which the Fed acted the other day, or the fact that it was able to take action that could affect the entire American economy or even that of the world.

Borrowed money and borrowed time? (Saturday, 3/22/08)
By the first half of the 1970s, England's standard of living hadn't increased much over what it was right after World War II, while what was then West Germany had an economy that was booming. People were saying, "Tell me again, who won the war?"

During recent years, though, many Brits have been living fairly "high on the hog," as some Americans like to say. However, Julia Werdigier writes from London for the New York Times many of those have been living on borrowed money too, and, again, as many Americans like to say, "the chickens are coming home to roost." Honest, Dan Rather isn't the only American who talks this way.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence (Saturday, 3/22/08)
Is America becoming mostly a video culture? Do you care? If you don't, maybe you should. Language is a key element of human culture and a key element of human life.

It isn't simply a matter of having an impressive vocabulary. Courses for people in business and other lines of work that emphasize the enlargement of vocabulary seem a little like those old TV ads that pushed bound volumes that looked good on a shelf, but were empty books. There was nothing on their pages. Not that the books were filled with vacuous ideas. THEY WERE BLANK SHEETS OF PAPER!

The ability to use and interpret words with facility is fundamental to the quality of life in society. Given the intimate relationship between thought and language, the ability to read well--and the tendency to do a lot of it--has to do with a culture's sophistication.

The National Endowment for the Arts believes that reading is at risk in American society, as well as in many other societies around the world. In fact, they published an influential report a few years ago with the title, "Reading at Risk." Now, there is a follow-up called "To Read or Not To Read: A Question of National Consequence."

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: National Annenberg Survey of Youth (Friday, 3/21/08)
Older adults have been complaining about the "younger generation" at least since the time of Socrates. However, rather than simply allowing warm gas to escape from their heads, the Annenberg Foundation has been conducting an in-depth survey of hundreds of young people on a variety of topics. Here's the National Annenberg Survey of Youth.

Did you just help JPMorgan buy Bear Stearns? (Monday, 3/17/08)
Deposits in commercial banks are insured by the federal government up to $100,000, so you won't have to worry about old-fashioned "bank runs." However, the same cannot be said of investment banks. Bear Stearns went under mostly because a lot of people believed that it was going under, and it became a self-fulfilled prophecy.

JPMorgan Chase got a tremendous bargain when the purchased Bear Stearns, but the Federal Reserve helped. Does this mean that American taxpayers funded the bailout of an investment bank? Alan Zibel and Jeremy Herron of BusinessWeek provide some questions and answers.

Interventionism defended (Sunday, 3/16/08)
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is named for the man who served as a Cabinet member in the Harding, Coolidge, and Hoover administrations. He was President Hoover's Secretary of the Treasurer and advised a laissez-faire approach to the Great Depression.

To this day, Herbert Hoover is blamed by many for allowing the Great Depression to worsen by maintaining a "hands-off" approach. Contrary to popular belief, though, President Hoover was opposed to Secretary Mellon's advice to "do nothing," but he never planned to do as much as President Roosevelt did, who followed him in the White House.

Incidentally, there continues to be disagreement over whether Roosevelt's policies really had any practical effect on ending the Depression either. Many people credit--if that's the right word--World War II for doing that.

Many experts believe that the American financial system now is in its greatest crisis since the 1930s. The current Secretary of the Treasury, Henry Paulson, is quick to point out that, despite the fact that there is a Republican President now, as there was during the depth of the Great Depression in the early 1930s, the current Administration IS doing something. Jeannine Aversa in Washington reports on Secretary Paulson's defense the government's efforts to save Bear Stearns.

Donna Smith also reports from Washington that Mr. Paulson insists that the government is prepared to do whatever it takes to maintain stability in the American financial system.

Has the real estate "bubble" been artificially inflated, and is it time to let the air out? (Sunday, 3/16/08)
Fannie and Freddie have been in court, and Kenneth Harney reports in the Chicago Tribune how the settlement may profoundly affect the property appraisal process.

Incidentally, along related lines, some homeowners have been seeing their property taxes increase at the same time that their house values have been going down.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Women and Nation-Building (Sunday, 3/16/08)
Many people believe that it's remarkable that a woman finally has a serious chance of becoming President of the United States 232 years after the signing of the Declaration of Independence and 88 years after women finally got to vote in federal elections. Why has it taken so long?

There are more women in law schools now than men, more women in college, and women are outperforming men in college and university courses, including those in which men traditionally are assumed to have inherent advantages, such as mathematics and engineering. Moreover, many professors will tell you that a numerical majority of their best students in most classes are women, not men. Yet, men continue to dominate in American political and business life, as well as other fields of endeavor. Why?

It has to do with the enormous power of culture and the very long shadow that it casts. It's likely that men originally came to dominate in so many cultures simply because they tend to be bigger, heavier, and stronger, as well as because many women are tied down more by the burdens of procreation. Moreover, masculine dominance is not simply a U. S. phenomenon. In fact, many other parts of the world, these traditions appear to be far stronger than in America.

For instance, some people are using many of the same arguments in opposition to a stronger role for women in "nation building" as were used by people who opposed women's suffrage in the U. S. a century ago. However, a new report from RAND disagrees. Here's RAND's recently-released Women and Nation-Building.

Another big cut may be coming this week (Saturday, 3/15/08)
We're not referring to job cuts, although there may be plenty of those too. We've been watching the Federal Reserve, and so has Jeannine Aversa in Washington. She says that another big interest rate cut is likely to come on Tuesday.

A currency has value only if large numbers of people BELIEVE that it has value. In fact, this is basically the way that much of economics operates. Expectations and belief play major roles. Stimulating economic growth means stimulating economic activity. People need to be buying, selling, loaning, investing, rather than holding back. But, under what conditions will they do that? Under what conditions will they take risks? Under what conditions will they remain highly cautious?

The Fed is trying to encourage the right kinds of attitudes with its rate cuts and "liquidity injections." Very smart people at the Federal Reserve know that government agencies HAVE to do something to deal with a genuine and growing crisis, but nobody really knows what to do.

The economic circumstances faced by the United States right now are unusual if not unique in modern times. Are we faced with a brief, shallow recession like the last two, or are we going into the worst recession since the Second World War. It's easy to find experts will to argue either position.

Buying low (Saturday, 3/15/08)
This is a good time to buy houses, if you have the cash and won't need a mortgage. It may be a good time to buy stocks too. Those who get into the market now may end up making a lot of money, even if values go down more before they go up. Eileen Connelly says that many experts believe that the stock values may be getting close to their lowest levels. Will they begin heading back up soon? Stay tuned.

The Fed bails out a firm that lives up to its name (Friday, 3/14/08)
We've always thought that it might be better if Bear Stearns were called "Bull Stearns," but we were as surprised as anyone else to hear that the Wall Street stalwart nearly failed within only a few hours. The Federal Reserve and one of Bear Stearns competitors, but mostly the Fed, quickly threw out a lifeline.

Why would the federal government, particularly during a Republican administration, be party to the bailout of a private sector firm? Because the failure of Bear Stearns might threaten the entire financial system of the United States. Martin Crutsinger describes the extraordinary circumstances that led the government to take actions that might be more associated with the Roosevelt administration of 70 years ago.

Incidentally, are other major firms teetering? Stay tuned, and swallow some aspirin.

Spitzer's reminder (Friday, 3/14/08)
William Shakespeare captured the essential idea when he had one of his characters say, "Methinks she doth protest too much." Moreover, recent American political history is filled with examples of people whose behavior conflicts with what they spend so much of their energy railing against.

Beware of people who are rigidly moralistic and who seem to be preoccupied with other people's illegality, immorality, or sin. In other words, if they're talking about it nearly all the time and being against it nearly all of the time, it must be fairly important to them, and we have every right to wonder why this might be so.

Eliot Spitzer is only the latest high-profile example of a politician who has built his career opposing behavior that he's apparently been engaging in himself for a long time. However, Rick Newman writes in U. S. News that, at the peak of his career, Mr. Spitzer had a theatrical flair, but a "spotty record" as the Wall Street reformer that he held himself out to be.

When stupid people do stupid things, there's not a whole lot to explain. However, when smart people do stupid things, there's quite a lot that should attract our attention and require explanation. Eliot Spitzer is plenty smart. His very high-risk behaviors which have resulted in enormous personal costs and serious legal jeopardy have NOT occurred because he's not smart enough, or because he doesn't understand politics or the law.

So, why do political observers and pundits still insist on apologizing for "psychobabble" whenever psychological explanations are brought up for what are clearly psychological issues?

For heaven's sake, we've had Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Clinton in the White House within the memory of many of us, as well as a steady stream of people in other powerful political positions during recent years, some of whose behavior can be understood only in terms of what we know from contemporary research about how the human brain functions.

Some fake psychological talk deserves to be called "psychobabble," but many politicians and journalists don't seem to be able to distinguish it from several decades of serious research and its relevance in Washington, D. C., as well as most other places.

More on America's declining standard of living (Wednesday, 3/12/08)
It's too early to tell whether the "belt-tightening" is permanent or temporary, although those Americans who are fortunate enough to have jobs are finding that their money isn't going nearly so far as it was a while back.

House prices have been falling, which is bad news for many people who are finding that their houses are worth less than they still owe on them. For those who would like to buy a house, the enormous range of choices right now is nice, and falling prices are nice too, but it has become much harder to get a mortgage. For those who can't pay cash, it's a problem.

Of course, the price of gasoline at the pump is causing many motorists shock and awe, as the dollar weakens and crude oil prices escalate for people who live in U. S. dollar economies. Moreover, get used to it, because, even though crude oil prices may dip a bit now and then, other major consumers of energy have come on the scene in recent years as available oil supplies dwindle. Translated into economic terms, this means that demand has been increasing as supplies have been decreasing, and you know what that means.

At the beginning of World War II, America was seen as the "sleeping giant," which it was, and as it stood up and flexed its muscles, the rest of the world quaked. Once America got over its isolationism, there wasn't much doubt about who was going to win the War.

The same thing could happen with respect to energy. It's remarkable how fast things could change if Americans suddenly become conservationists with less voracious appetites and less inclination to waste precious resources. The Earth could be made to shake again if Americans got really good at developing new technologies for exploiting the vast energy sources that don't depend on the remains of life from the time of the dinosaurs and before and don't transfer enormous amounts of carbon from inside the Earth to its thin and fragile atmosphere.

The problem with this scenario is that America seems to be cutting back on education at exactly the wrong time. Even Billionaire Bill is concerned that the United States could lose its position as the world's principal innovator.

And, oh yes, have you thought about giving up eating lately? Gasoline isn't the only thing that has gotten more expensive. The idea of tapping whatever equity might still remain in your house each time you go through the supermarket checkout lane may have crossed your mind. Emily Kaiser says that the people who run warehouse retail stores are saying that their steak sales are down while chicken sales are up.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Breathing Earth (Wednesday, 3/12/08)
Increasingly, Breathing Earth probably could be called "Gasping Earth." However, CO2 emissions aren't uniform throughout the world, to say the very least. Some countries load the atmosphere with "greenhouse gasses" far more rapidly than others, as anyone who moves their cursor over the world map on this site can readily see. This visual simulation uses data from a variety of sources, including the World Factbook and the United Nations.

Is the American standard of living in permanent decline? (Tuesday, 3/11/08)
House values are down, food prices are up, and the price that Americans are having to pay for gas at the pump is moving in the direction of $4.00 per gallon, even though Europeans and others around the world still have reason to see gasoline at American pumps as a tremendous bargain. Jeannine Aversa reports that new Commerce Department data show that America's trade deficit increased in January as crude-oil prices and oil imports reached record highs.

Still, Treasury Secretary Paulson remains positive, saying that long-term economic fundaments in the U. S. are sound.

Among the items of good news is that the Anderson Forecast from the University of California at Los Angeles indicates that the California economy, while slowing, isn't likely to slip into recession. California is America's most populous state and, by itself, has one of the largest economies in the world.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Center for Applied Linguistics (Monday, 3/10/08)
Language is central to human nature, because it is central to culture, and humans are cultural creatures. Until very recently, over tens of thousands of years, groups of modern humans have spent most of their lives isolated from one another. This helps explain why there are thousands of languages still in use in the world, although their number is diminishing now that geography has become irrelevant for an increasing number of purposes.

Everybody should be concerned about languages, and, since 1959, the Center for Applied Linguistics has been helping those who want to explore one of the most fascinating and important sets of topics in the world.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Race, Immigration and America's Changing Electorate (Sunday, 3/9/08)
The United States is a greatly different country from what it was only a few years ago. For instance, African Americans are no longer America's largest minority, and whites of European ancestry will be a minority in a few years too. The rapidly changing demographics are resulting in a greatly changed electorate. The Washington, D. C.-based Brookings Institution takes a look at the political issues in Race, Immigration and America's Changing Electorate.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: British Museum: The Americas (Saturday, 3/8/08)
The British Museum is one of the world's principal treasure troves, but the means by which it has acquired some of its holdings are not without controversy. People travel thousands of miles to visit the Museum's collections from all over the world.

The items from The Americas will be of particular interest to people who live in, well, The Americas. A vast geographical region is represented in this exhibition, though. There are parts of the Americas which are farther from New York, say, than New York is from the British Museum. Nonetheless, if you can't visit the Museum itself, check out its web sites instead.

How to work alone with other people (Wednesday, 3/5/08)
Research indicates that it's a bad idea to use the same space for working as you use for other purposes. This is why students are often advised to stake out a consistent place in the college library and to do nothing there other than studying.

However, there are other reasons you might not want to work at home too. Chris Gaylord in Massachusetts writes about telecommuters who are renting work spaces so that they can work surrounded by other workers who have nothing to do with their companies.

Does it remind you of small children who play in isolation while surrounded by other children doing the same thing?

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Shift Happens 2.0 (Wednesday, 3/5/08)
We've been aware of Shift Happens for a long time, and now it's in its second edition. The main thrust of the piece clearly is accurate. Changes are occurring at a truly breathtaking rate, and the world has become a different place in only a few years

Nonetheless, we've held off recommending it to you because we've been concerned about where all the quoted numbers come from. We've been in touch with the site's creator, and we feel much better about his sources now.

For instance, some of the ideas are from Tom Friedman's best-selling book, The World is Flat, and others are from Ray Kurzweil's important book, The Singularity is Near. We've felt for sometime that, while these were not intended as companion books, they should be read together.

So we suggest that you take a look at Shift Happens 2.0, while keeping in mind our frequent admonitions about what it takes to be right about something. It's a good "conversation starter," particularly for people who assume that the world and America's place in it haven't changed since 1965 or so.

Are you feeling less well-off? (Monday, 3/3/08)
As the great Peter Drucker used to point out, a far larger proportion of Americans now own stocks than a hundred years ago or so, when only a few "capitalists" owned "the means of production," in Marx's words. In fact, Karl Marx might be disappointed with the way things turned out. At least, things haven't been as he expected. It didn't require a socialist revolution to change the most successful capitalist nation on Earth and to broaden participation.

Trouble is, a lot of people lose now during bad times when stock values decline. Tim Paradis reports that investors don't like the latest economic data.

What raises the cost of oil for Americans? (Monday, 3/3/08)
Well, when brokers bid up the price of crude, that will do it. However, a decline in the value of the U. S. dollar in relation to other major currencies will do it too. With a "cheaper" dollar, more of them are needed to buy a barrel of oil, and, as John Wilen reports, the dollar's decline has meant a new record price for oil.

But, have oil prices been higher lately than ever before? No, they haven't. In fact, taking inflation into account--and why on Earth wouldn't we want to take inflation into account?--the record oil price was set in the 1980s. Here's more about that from Jad Mouawad of the New York Times.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: Electoral Geography 2.0 (Monday, 3/3/08)
Why are there "red states" and "blue states" in the first place? Well, okay, so this represents an oversimplification which ignores variability--most states really are some shade of "purple." To put it another way, why are there more Lutherans in Minneapolis than in Calcutta?

It all has to do with the enormous power of culture. It's what happens when human brains interact with one another, particularly across generations. However, when we're talking about politics or religion, we tend to ignore cultural realities and pretend that each person has reached his or her conclusions based on personal analysis and decision-making.

The geographical distribution of cultures is represented in the distribution of attitudes over geographical regions. Here is the latest version of the excellent Electoral Geography site, which doesn't confine itself to American political life, but doesn't ignore it either.

Why the recession this time? Does an expensive war have something to do with it? (Sunday, 3/2/08)
Toward the beginning of President Bush's first term, Vice President Dick Cheney remarked that Bush would have a "consequential" presidency. At this point, even the President's most vigorous and outspoken political opponents might agree that he had THAT right.

In fact, Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate in economics, is saying that the cost of the war in Iraq has had quite a lot to do with creating the messy American economy we have now. The government has seriously underestimated the cost of the war, he says.

How to make many American neighborhoods resemble New Orleans' lower ninth ward (Saturday, 3/1/08)
There are so many foreclosed houses in the Untied States that nobody can keep them all from abandonment and from slipping into decrepitude. If there are foreclosures in your neighborhood, they probably won't enhance your own property values, particularly if some become "crack houses." Adam Geller in Cleveland tells about activist groups that are concerned, but not subtle.

Today's NewWork News Web Tip: UN Action To Counter Terrorism (Saturday, 3/1/08)
Thomas Friedman has remarked that "some things may be true, even if George W. Bush believes them." One of these may have to do with the growing threat of international terrorism. Member states of the United Nations adopted a global program to counter terrorism in 2006.