Transcript: Dick Cheney's First Interview After Heart Transplant

Dick Cheney on His New Heart

JONATHAN KARL: How you feeling?

DICK CHENEY: Excellent. I haven't felt this good in years.

JONATHAN KARL: So this is- you've gone through this heart transplant. You were- you were in end stage heart failure.

DICK CHENEY: Right. Two years ago this time I was- on a respirator, heavily sedated, just had had a pump, a left ventricular assist device installed on my heart 'cause my heart had gotten so weak after six heart attacks and 30-some years of heart disease that- it was, you know, it was at the end. And the transplant is just- it's- nothing short of a miracle what it does for you.

JONATHAN KARL: But when you go in for that surgery, you don't know if you're gonna come out alive.

DICK CHENEY: Well- that's one way to look at it. I've got- one scar, but I've had- three operations through that one scar, a bypass of '88, the pump in 2010, and then this year- the transplant. And the pump proposition, that was the toughest of all the surgeries. I lost 40 pounds. I was- heavily sedated in the intensive care unit for weeks afterwards. I had pneumonia while I was in recovering from the- the surgery. And- by the time I came out from under- I looked in a mirror and what I saw was my dad shortly before he died.

He was in his 80s?when I went in to do the transplant; I was only in the hospital nine days. It was just four months ago. There's not been a single glitch, no sign of rejection. Everything's just gone perfectly.

JONATHAN KARL: And- and you're out, you're fishing again?

DICK CHENEY: Absolutely.

JONATHAN KARL: Incredible.

DICK CHENEY: Yep, every chance I get.

JONATHAN KARL Do you have any idea, do you know anything about the donor?

DICK CHENEY: I don't. They deliberately- maintain anonymity, at least at the outset. I think part of that has to do with the fact that it- it's such a dramatically different situation. From the standpoint of the recipient, obviously- it's- it's a tremendous gift. And- I'll always be grateful to the donor and the donor family for- for having made possible several additional years of life.

From the standpoint of the donor's family at that point- they'd just been through a terrible tragedy and they'd lost a loved one, a family member. And- so they don't encourage contact at that point. But there is a process- where you can go through a third party. It's- an organization that encourages transplants. And they'll be an intermediary to see if the other- party wants to- to- meet or exchange information or be in contact. And- it's something you can do down the road.

JONATHAN KARL: And will you do that?

DICK CHENEY: At some point- I- would be, you know, certainly amenable to- contact with the family. But- but we have not at this point exchanged any information.

JONATHAN KARL: What would you say to them?

DICK CHENEY: Well- the main thing I'd say is thank you. I've done it publicly not knowing precisely who it was or which family- every chance I get publicly is to express my gratitude for what's a magnificent gift. I can't think of- of a more magnificent gift than to be given additional years of life. And that's what it is. The transplant then, you know, gives you- all of a sudden- the- expectation of several years of additional life that I never thought I'd have. I can't think of a more- magnificent or generous gift.

JONATHAN KARL: So what are you gonna do with those additional years?

DICK CHENEY: Well- I'm- spending time with my family? I don't have full-time work - if that's what you're asking. This summer we're enjoying very much being at home here in- in Wyoming. So I'm, I'm sort of back to normal life I guess would be the- the best way to describe it. And- you know, there are all kinds of possibilities out there. Maybe write another book- certainly plan to fish a lot and- probably do some speaking.

Advice for Mitt Romney and Why McCain Picking Sarah Palin Was "A Mistake"

JONATHAN KARL: Beth Myers- told me that she called you- for some advice on handling the vice-presidential search which she's doing for Romney of course. What- what- what is your advice to Mitt Romney as he makes this decision?

DICK CHENEY: Well, that's the kind of thing- in terms of any specifics- it's valuable if I give it to him but in confidence and don't talk to others about what I said to him. I can talk generally about the way I think about the-

(OVERTALK)

JONATHAN KARL: Let me put it this way. How- how important is it for him to do this in a way that is different than the way John McCain handled his vice-presidential search?

DICK CHENEY: Pretty important. That one I don't think was well handled. And-

JONATHAN KARL: Why?

DICK CHENEY: I sort of think of it as- there are- there are two lists, is the way I always thought about it. And- and I don't know whether the Romney people are- are operating this way or not. I assume they're being very careful and cautious. I certainly would expect that. But there's- there's the big list that's got a lot of folks on it.

I actually, when I was doing it for- well, I did it for Ford in '76. But then again for- George W. Bush in 2000. I had a couple of calls from pro- politicians who'd say, "You know, it'd really help me in my race back home, Dick, if I was on the list." Done. You're on the list. Then somebody could go leak the fact that they were on the list. 00:08:56:00 But that was the big list. It was easy to get on the big list. The tough part is the- the small list, the one that's really under active consideration. And the test to get on that small list has to be is this person capable of being president of the United States? If something happened tomorrow, do they have the experience and the know-how and the qualities you'd wanna have in- in somebody who was asked to take over- the government- at- under one of the most difficult sets of circumstances without election, in effect, all of a sudden that something happens to the president and the vice-president has to step in? And that's usually a very, very short list.

JONATHAN KARL: What about the other considerations? Can you bring a state? You know, can you- can you reach out to a specific demographic, woman, Hispanic? I mean, what- what about some of those other-

DICK CHENEY: Well, I think those will be thought about. And they're important considerations. But I wouldn't waste time focusing on those issues until you've got somebody who- can pass that- that first test. Could they be president of the United States? And- so then you get into the question of geography or certain wing of the party or gender, race, those kinds of issues.

And those are important issues, but they should never be allowed to override that first proposition. And- I think that- that that was one of the problems McCain had. I like- Governor Palin. I've met her. I know her. She- attractive candidate. But based on her background, she'd only been governor for, what, two years. I don't think she passed that test. And I think -

JONATHAN KARL: Of being ready?

DICK CHENEY: Of being ready to take over. And- I think that was- a mistake.

Cheney Released Ten Years of Tax Returns, But Romney is Find Releasing Two

JONATHAN KARL: Romney's said no more tax returns. Two years, that's it. I looked back. You asked every vice-presidential- potential vice-presidential pick to give ten years in tax returns. You released ten years of tax returns.

President Bush, Governor Bush at that time, released ten years of tax returns. What do you think? As a practical matter, should Romney just bite the bullet?

DICK CHENEY: Well, there- there's a standard out there you have to meet. There's a requirement that you put out, what is it? One year? And also release a financial disclosure statement. You have to do that when you become a candidate. And- and he's done that. Now, you can argue should it be one? Should it be five? Should it be ten?

If he had two years out, they'd want four. If he had four years out, they'd want six. If he had six years out, they'd want ten. He's made his judgment. I'm confident- I have great confidence in- in- what he's put out there. He's been a very successful man. And- there's no evidence of any kind that he's done anything improper or inappropriate.

JONATHAN KARL: What would you tell him to do?

DICK CHENEY: It's a distraction. I'd say do what he feels like doing. If this is his decision, fine. Let's get on with it.

JONATHAN KARL: Why did you release ten years?

DICK CHENEY: I have no idea. I didn't really think about it. (LAUGHTER) I think the standard was probably set by- President Bush, then Governor Bush. And I did what he did. In other words, you weren't gonna have the presidential candidate do ten years and the vice-presidential candidate not do that. So.

JONATHAN KARL: That would have been a problem.

DICK CHENEY: Might have been.

On Osama Bin Laden, How "Nobody Trusts" Barack Obama and Why the U.S. Shouldn't "Run for the Exits in the Middle East:

JONATHAN KARL: You- you've had some time to- you had an opportunity to talk to Romney when he was out here for the fundraiser. What's your sense on his foreign policy, national security? Is it gonna be- does he have- is he gonna have the same approach that you had?

DICK CHENEY: Well-

JONATHAN KARL: What's your gut? I mean, what's your- what's your gut?

DICK CHENEY: This- some people might think that's a good idea. Some people might think-

JONATHAN KARL: Some people might not.

DICK CHENEY: -it's a bad idea, yeah. I- you know, for what- I have obviously strong views about- what's going on in the world based on past experience. And people I think for the most part- anybody who knows me- knows what those views are. I believe that- as we go forward, there's no question in my mind but what- Mitt Romney would be much better as a commander in chief than- is Barack Obama.

I think Obama's made some big mistakes. I look, for example, at the Middle East situation today. It's- seems to be growing increasingly chaotic. We've seen the Muslim Brotherhood elected in Egypt. We've got the ongoing conflict in Syria where thousands of people have died. Looks like the Assad regime's gonna collapse. We don't know what ultimately is gonna replace it.

There's continuing problems in Iraq. I look at what the Obama administration's done and it's basically head for the exits. I think we have a significantly diminished capacity to influence events in that part of the world because of the way this administration has operated or failed to operate. I think what is crucial is to remember that the U.S. still has vital interests in the Middle East and those haven't gone away. We've got a lot of good allies and friends out there- both the Israelis obviously but also a number of our friends in the Arab world, the Saudis, the United Arab Emirates and- and so forth.

And- those folks- I think have doubts about how valuable a U.S. commitment is at this point because, you know, Barack Obama, among other things, went to Cairo and apologized for past U.S. behavior in the region. He has withdrawn everything from Iraq and failed to negotiate the follow on agreement that had been the cornerstone of what was gonna be left behind to make certain that the Iraqis could take care of their own situation.

And- with respect to Afghanistan, you know, we're in a similar situation now. It's tough. It's hard. It's difficult. I know the public's tired of conflict. But- if we turn our backs and walk away- we're just headed for trouble down the road eventually. And- this administration is not in a position- frankly, to do anything about it because nobody trusts them.

JONATHAN KARL: Doesn't President Obama deserve credit for the long term? I mean, you've got 20, 24 so high-value al-Qaeda targets have been taken out. Bin Laden's dead. I mean, you can't say he's been soft on terror, can you?

DICK CHENEY: I have- I wouldn't say he's been soft on terror. But I think there- I think he's made a number of mistakes. Bin Laden, fine. I went out and congratulated him when he did it. Said it on camera. A lot of that, as Leon Panetta said at the time, he was CIA director, and-others was- a lot of that intelligence that laid the groundwork for what ultimately led to the capture of Bin Laden came as a result of programs we had in place in the Bush administration.

Took a long time and a lot of groundwork by our intelligence professionals and by the military to get to the point where we could take down Bin Laden. So it was- a continuous effort over a ten-year period of time. Fine. What I worry about is that- where if you remember what happened, for example, back in Afghanistan, we were actively involved there in the '80s after the Soviets withdrew. Everybody was involved in helping the Mujahideen against the Soviets, turned around and walked away.

Taliban came to power. Then there was a civil war and they- they won. They invited in Osama bin Laden in '96. He set up training camps, trained 20-some thousand terrorists in the late '90s. And that was the base from which they launched the attack of 9/11 that killed 3,000 Americans. That's the reason we went in back in- in 2001. And- as we now turn our backs and walk away and say, "Gee, we've been there a long time or it's been too costly," we very much run the risk of seeing bad things happen in that part of the world.

That is the part of the world where we're most likely to see the proliferation of nuclear capability come from. AQ Khan, who was running the black market operation, we took him down our watch in our first term. He said- within the last year in- in the press, in public, that the Pakistanis had sold uranium enrichment technology to the North Koreans. And we know the North Koreans now have 2,000 centrifuges operating enriching uranium to- to- weapons grade status.

That is- a cesspool, if you will, of the kinds of developments in WMD. Today we see the Syrian situation- civil war and- the government talking about the possibility of using chemical and biological agents against their own people. Can you imagine what would have happened if they had the nuclear rector that the Israelis took out five years ago? I mean, it is a very important part of the world for us to be actively and aggressively engaged in.

We should not be running for the exits. We should not be turning our backs on our friends in that part of the world. We ought to be prepared to aggressively engage, if we have to, to- halt the further spread of nuclear capability.

Obama: Worse than Carter

JONATHAN KARL: Your overall assessment of President Obama. We're almost through a first term.

DICK CHENEY: I obviously I'm not a big fan of President Obama. I think he's been one of our weakest presidents. I just fundamentally disagree with him philosophically. I- be hard put to find any Democratic president that I've disagreed with more-

JONATHAN KARL: Really?

DICK CHENEY: Than Barack Obama. Yeah.

JONATHAN KARL: Worse than Jimmy Carter, from your perspective?

DICK CHENEY: Yes.

Gay Marriage and His Daughter Mary's Wedding

JONATHAN KARL: Does he deserve some credit on the issue of gay marriage, being the first president to come out and say he's in favor of gay marriage?

DICK CHENEY: You know, that's- that's- up to him. I made my statement on that subject 12 years ago.

JONATHAN KARL: What's your stance? Is that a generational thing? I mean, are we getting to the point- one thing President Obama said is that- his daughters were kind of influential in- in coming out. They- they didn't understand why could there be a problem. I mean, is- is that issue even gonna be relevant in 20 or 30 years?

DICK CHENEY: I don't know that it's relevant now. You know? There are a lot of big issues. And I'm sure that's a big issue for some people obviously. But I don't think the election's gonna turn on that issue.

JONATHAN KARL: Do you wish you had pushed a little harder on that issue?

DICK CHENEY: Why?

JONATHAN KARL: Well, I mean, it's-

(OVERTALK)

DICK CHENEY: If I was out there 12 years ago in the first- campaign in 2000- in the debate with Joe Lieberman in front of millions of Americans on live television and I laid out my position then and it hasn't changed- no. I've addressed it and moved on.

JONATHAN KARL: How was- how was Mary's wedding?

DICK CHENEY: I'm sure it was fine. We wished them well. She wanted to avoid- having it be a media circus or having it become part of the political debate. And- so- Lynn and I were very proud and happy and congratulated them. They've been an important part of the family for a long time. Provided us with two of our seven grandkids.

JONATHAN KARL: And you're proud of her?

DICK CHENEY: Absolutely.

The Legacy of Cheney and the Bush Administration

JONATHAN KARL: How is Dick Cheney gonna be remembered?

DICK CHENEY: Oh, I- I- let somebody else- worry about that. I wrote my book, John. You- you ought to read it. It's a good book.

JONATHAN KARL: I have read it.

DICK CHENEY: You have read it. But- no, I- you know, the historians, others will decide on what my legacy is. I had- had a fantastic career. I went to Washington to stay 12 months in 1968. And I spent the better part of the last 40 years there. I got to be White House chief of staff, ten years of congressman, secretary of defense, vice-president.

If you're a political junkie like I obviously am- that was- every one of those was just a tremendous experience.

I'm very comfortable with what I did and why I did it and how I did it. And- I'll let others judge- whether they liked it or not.

JONATHAN KARL: Do you have any regrets?

DICK CHENEY: Not really.

JONATHAN KARL: Really?

DICK CHENEY: Unh-uh (NEGATIVE).

JONATHAN KARL: I mean, you left office as one of the most unpopular vice-presidents modern time.

DICK CHENEY: You can't be judged and shouldn't judge- people in those senior levels by the polls. Journalists do it all the time. That's one of the- the things that's out there that's sort of quantitative and there's a lot of people spending money on polls and so forth. And so, you know, once a week or twice a week when new polls come out, there's probably, you know, a couple polls every day.

It gives you something to work with. But it's not a very effective way to judge- the performance of individuals. And- I never worried about the polls. If I had, you know, I- I was in the wrong line of work.

JONATHAN KARL: Well, I- I get the sense we haven't heard the last from you. So.

DICK CHENEY: Well, that- that could be. I probably- Democrats out there- I saw one commentator the other day on- who shall remain unnamed saying, "My gosh, he's back." (LAUGHTER) They were of the more liberal persuasion.

JONATHAN KARL: Yeah, yeah. Well, you're back and you're with us. And thank you very much, Mr. Vice-President.

DICK CHENEY: All right, John.

JONATHAN KARL: Really appreciate your time.

Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a lighter take on the news at OTUSNews.com

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/transcript-dick-cheneys-first-interview-heart-transplant-142242521--abc-news-politics.html

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Broken guitar spawns viral song, book, business

By Herb Weisbaum, ConsumerMan

Dave Carroll never intended to become a consumer advocate. The singer/songwriter found himself thrust into the role three years ago, when United Airlines broke his guitar and wouldn't pay for the damage.

Carroll famously struck back with?a music video, "United Breaks Guitars," that turned into an unlikely breakthrough hit on YouTube. And his world has never been the same.

In addition to the video with its 12 million views (and counting), Carroll has now turned the experience into a book and a website that aims to empower other consumers to strike back as he did, even if they don't sing and play guitar.

Carroll is a member of the Canadian band Sons of Maxwell. In March 2008, the group was flying from Halifax to Nebraska for a one-week tour. Carroll was not allowed to bring his $3,500 Taylor acoustic guitar onboard. When changing planes at Chicago?s O?Hare International Airport, United Airlines? baggage handlers on the tarmac threw or dropped the guitar case, badly damaging the guitar.

?That turned into a nine-month ordeal of trying to get the airline to take responsibility for the damage," Carroll recalled. "And when they wouldn?t take any responsibility and in fact shut down the conversation, I had two choices: to do nothing or to do something else."

His something else, posted on YouTube July 6, 2009, used a humorous approach to his customer service nightmare that touched a nerve.

"It immediately went viral, changed my life and has had effects in social media and customer service and branding ever since," Carroll told me me.

After the video took off, the airline agreed to reimburse Carroll for the cost of repairing the guitar, plus $1,200 in travel vouchers. He thanked them, but turned them down.

?The matter was closed as far as they were concerned,? Carroll said. ?It?s completely because of the video that they got back to me.?

To help others with customer complaints, Carroll has now launched the Web site Gripevine.com. In his new book ?United Breaks Guitars: The Power of One Voice in the Age of Social Media? (Hay House USA, $19.95), he retells the frustrating experience and explains his philosophy about good customer service.

Carroll now consults with companies, including United Airlines, about listening to customers and responding to their complaints.

Lessons learned
It isn?t easy to get a big company to respond to your complaint. Customer service agents are often trained to stonewall. Social media has dramatically changed the playing field. Carroll says it gave him a voice and he?s convinced it can do the same for others.

?We can all be heard today thanks to social media. It?s so easy to tell people your story,? he said.

A recent online survey by the advertising agency Arnold Worldwide found that almost half the people surveyed in the U.S. (48 percent) have posted a positive or negative social media comment about a customer service experience. Most of those surveyed expect a company to respond to their comments.

Mari Smith, a social media expert and author of many books including ?The New Relationship in Marketing,? has read Carroll?s new book. And she agrees that social media have forever changed the relationship between businesses and their customers.

?Consumers now have the power to voice their opinions, frustrations and concerns about any brand at any time,? she said. ?It?s all about word of mouth, so if somebody has something negative to say they can do that.?

Smith says companies need to train their staffs to promptly and courteously respond to tweets and other online comments and questions.

?People just want to be heard and to know that somebody is listening and understands,? she explained. ?Businesses must be able to listen and step in and take appropriate actions or they will miss out.?

Gripevine is there to help
During the last three years, people from all over the world have contacted Carroll to help them with their customer service problems. So he launched the Gripevine Web site.

?Gripevine is all about solving problems and not just brand-bashing and tearing a company down,? Carroll said. ?Companies are encouraged to interact with these people because they?re notified when someone plants a gripe.?

The person posting the gripe gets to explain the problem and what they would like the company to do for them. The list of options: an apology, compensation, improvement, policy change, refund, repair or replacement. It?s possible to choose more than one preferred resolution.

Anyone can go on the site, read the gripes (arranged by company) and comment on them. A status bar indicates if they?ve been resolved. Gripes range from a defective cell phone to a dirty fast food restaurant.

?Every customer with a problem deserves to be heard and addressed,? Carroll said. ?Some companies are and some aren?t doing that. And the ones who aren?t will become less relevant as we go forward.?

Source: http://bottomline.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/07/31/13034555-broken-guitar-spawns-viral-song-book-business?lite

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July Everything Microsoft at EMC Newsletter

This newsletter is designed to summarize in a single document key activities around the Everything Microsoft at EMC community. All events from product releases, to new solutions . Reference architectures are also key highlights of this newsletter, as well as important updates from our Alliance Team, various articles posted via social media and much more.

Source: https://community.emc.com/docs/DOC-17970

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PST: Is Brazil's Neymar showing his future greatness?

As expected, Neymar is making the Men?s Olympic soccer tournament his own, though as Spain?s shocking exit reminds us, Olympic soccer shouldn?t be taken for granted. This may be a turbo charged under-23 tournament, but there?s plenty of talent involved.

That?s what makes what Neymar?s doing so special. The 20-year-old Brazilian attacker, already acclaimed as one of the world?s best (without having set foot in Europe), as two goals in two games, a description which vastly understates his influence. He?s been the key cog in a Brazil attack that?s scored six goals in two games.

You could argue that a world class player dominating the Olympics isn?t so newsworthy, but when somebody like Luis Suarez goes scoreless in two games, it?s difficult to argue goals are there for the taking. A look back at the recent history of stars in the Olympics shows there are just as many Suarezes as Neymars. While some legends have used the summer games to build their legacy, others have failed to make their mark.

(MORE: A few words on the men?s soccer tournament)

Here?s a quick look at the recent history:

2008 ? Lionel Messi was just beginning his ascent to world domination when he touched down in China. He scored Argentina?s first goal of the tournament in a win over Cote d?Ivoire but only managed one more in the Albiceleste?s final five games (a gift presented him by a Dutch giveaway). Finishing a perfect 6-0-0 record, Argentina claimed gold, their only hiccup a penalty kick shootout win over the Netherlands in the quarterfinals.

2004 ? Cristiano Ronaldo was only 19 when he represented Portugal at the Athens games. The Seleccao disappointed, finishing at the bottom of Group D, though the young Ronaldo got on the scoresheet in the 40th minute of a Portugal win over Morocco. Coming off his first year at Manchester United, Ronaldo still impressed, putting on a memorable display of skill in his team?s opener against Iraq. The Iraqis went on to win the game, 4-2.

2000 ? The Sydney games were star-studded, in hindsight. Ronaldinho was on Brazil?s squad, scoring in the 94th minute to earn the Selecao extra time in the quarterfinals (they?d lose to Cameroon on a golden goal). A 20-year-old Xavi Hern?ndez helped Spain to silver, scoring twice (including in the final) as La Roja averaged two goals per game. But Samuel Eto?o, then 19, would end up claiming gold, scoring his only goal of the tournament in the final, eventually converting a penalty kick in the shootout.

1996 ? Real Madrid legend Ra?l scored twice for Spain, but a 20-year-old Ronaldo, fresh off his second season at PSV, was the man to watch. In six games, Ronaldo scored five times as Brazil took home bronze. Only Hern?n Crespo and teammate Bebeto had more goals in the tournament.

1988 ? Two strikers that would go on to win world titles featured in South Korea. Jurgen Klinsmann scored four times for one of West Germany?s final teams, the squad claiming the bronze in a 3-0 third-place match win over Italy. Brazil?s Romario, however, would be the tournament?s leading scorer, posting seven goals. Unfortunately, it was one too few, as Brazil lost the gold medal match to the Soviet Union, 2-1.

1984 ? Roger Milla got Cameroon?s Olympics off to a strong start, scoring 32 minutes in to the Indomitable Lions? first match (against powerhouse Yugoslavia). Cameroon would eventually lose that match and fail to get out of group, with Canada beating them 3-1 in Boston in Group B?s third game. Milla finished with that one goal.

1976 ? Michel Platini and Hugo Sanchez were drawn into the same group, with only Platini?s France making it out. He scored three times in group play before Les Bleus ran into East Germany in the quarterfinals, losing 4-0. Sanchez had a late consolation goal in his meeting with Platini?s France, but he would be kept off the scoresheet against Israel and Guatemala.

1972 ? Falc?o?started two of Brazil?s three games (and appeared in all of them), but it was a poor tournament for the Selecao. Only 19 years old and yet to start his professional career with Internacional, Falc?o wasn?t in much of a position to help. They finished bottom of a group that included Hungary, Denmark, and Iraq. The tournament?s star was Poland?s Kazimierz Deyna, who scored nine goals in seven games, leading his team to gold. Deyna would eventually become a star in the NASL with San Diego, ending his career with the team as it moved into the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Source: http://prosoccertalk.nbcsports.com/2012/07/29/neymar-summer-olympics/related

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Studying Genetic Basis Of Normal Variable Traits In Humans And Human Disease Risk Reveals Ancient Interbreeding In Africa's Hunter-Gatherers

Main Category: Genetics
Article Date: 29 Jul 2012 - 0:00 PDT

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Studying Genetic Basis Of Normal Variable Traits In Humans And Human Disease Risk Reveals Ancient Interbreeding In Africa's Hunter-Gatherers

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Human diversity in Africa is greater than any place else on Earth. Differing food sources, geographies, diseases and climates offered many targets for natural selection to exert powerful forces on Africans to change and adapt to their local environments. The individuals who adapted best were the most likely to reproduce and pass on their genomes to the generations who followed.

That history of inheritance is written in the DNA of modern Africans, but it takes some investigative work to interpret. In a report to be featured on the cover of the Aug. 3 issue of the journal Cell, University of Pennsylvania geneticists and their colleagues analyze the fully sequenced genomes of 15 Africans belonging to three different hunter-gatherer groups and decipher some of what these genetic codes have to say about human diversity and evolution.

The study, led by Sarah Tishkoff, a Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor with appointments in the School of Arts and Sciences' biology department and the Perelman School of Medicine's genetics department, tells several stories.

It identifies several million previously unknown genetic mutations in humans. It finds evidence that the direct ancestors of modern humans may have interbred with members of an unknown ancestral group of hominins. It suggests that different groups evolved distinctly in order to reap nutrition from local foods and defend against infectious disease. And it identifies new candidate genes that likely play a major role in making Pygmies short in stature.

"Our analysis sheds light on human evolution, because the individuals we sampled are descended from groups that may have been ancestral to all other modern humans," Tishkoff said. "A message we're seeing is that even though all the individuals we sampled are hunter-gatherers, natural selection has acted differently in these different groups."

Joining Tishkoff in the work from Penn was first author Joseph Lachance as well as Clara Elbers, Bart Ferwerda and Timothy Rebbeck. Their collaborators include Benjamin Vernot, Wenqing Fu and Joshua Akey of the University of Washington; Alain Froment of France's Mus?e de L'Homme; Jean-Marie Bodo of Cameroon's Minist?re de la Recherche Scientifique et de l'Innovation; Godfrey Lema and Thomas B. Nyambo of Tanzania's Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences; and Kun Zhang of the University of California at San Diego.

The researchers sequenced the genomes of five men from each of three hunter-gatherer groups: the Hadza and the Sandawe of Tanzania and the Western Pygmies of Cameroon. The three differ greatly from one another in appearance, in language, in the environments they occupy and in cultural practices, though the Hadza and the Sandawe live just 200 kilometers apart.

"We purposefully picked three of the most diverse hunter-gatherer groups," Tishkoff said, "because they have not been very well represented in other genome sequencing projects, which tend to focus on majority populations in Africa. This is a unique and important dataset."

The researchers used a method that involves sequencing each strand of DNA more than 60 times on average. This redundancy makes the sequencing highly accurate, giving the geneticists confidence that any mutations they identify are real and not errors. Scanning these sequences, the researchers found 13.4 million genetic variants, or locations in the genome where a single nucleotide differed from other human sequences; at the time they were discovered, 5 million were new to science.

"It was awe-inspiring," Lachance, a postdoctoral researcher, said, "to find millions of new variants that we never knew existed in our species. It's humbling but invigorating to think about how to make sense of all this diversity."

Only about 72,000 of these variants were in regions of the DNA that code for genes. The rest were in non-coding regions, which may influence how and whether genes are expressed.

"Our study underscores the importance of noncoding regions of the genome, particularly for regulating gene expression," Tishkoff said. "That has important implications for anyone doing biomedical research because, if they're only looking at the coding regions, they're missing information that may be critically important for normal human variation as well as disease susceptibility."

The researchers also used the genomes to investigate ancient human interbreeding.

Using a statistical method, the team detected partial sequences in all three populations that appear to have derived from a hominin different from Homo sapiens. Much as recent studies have found evidence that modern humans interbred with Neanderthals, these new findings suggest that the ancestors of modern humans in Africa mated with individuals from another hominin lineage. This archaic lineage appears to have diverged from the modern human lineage several hundred thousand years ago, around the same time that Neanderthals diverged from Homo sapiens.

"Fossils degrade fast in Africa so we don't have a reference genome for this ancestral lineage," Akey said, "but one of the things we're thinking is it could have been a sibling species to Neanderthals."

Evidence of interbreeding with an archaic lineage, known as introgression, was found in all three groups tested.

"Given that introgression is present in these very diverse groups," Vernot said, "I think we can now say that this seems to be a pretty universal aspect of human history."

In an additional analysis, the researchers looked for major differences among the genomes of the three groups, signs that the populations evolved differently to adapt to their specific environments. Among the variations that stood out were genes related to immune-system function, smell and taste. These findings suggest that adaptations to local diseases and local foods were important in how the groups evolved.

Finally, building on previous research from Tishkoff and colleagues that sought an explanation for why Pygmies are all short - men standing only 4'11" on average - the researchers looked for variants that were common in the Pygmies of Cameroon but rare or absent in the other groups. They found several genes located near these mutations that act on the pituitary gland, a "master regulator" responsible for metabolism, growth, sexual development and immunity.

"We would have never found these strong candidate genes for short stature," Lachance said, "if we hadn't looked at multiple genomic sequences from these isolated populations. It hints at the power of what you can do when you sample multiple genomes and compare them at a population scale."

Tishkoff's group plans to sequence the genomes from more Africans - a task that new technology has made faster and cheaper than ever before - to increase their sample size. With more genomic data, scientists will better their understanding of how evolution acted on humans throughout the last several hundred thousand years and even how certain mutations may predispose certain people to disease.

"Our study emphasizes the critically important role of next-generation genome sequencing for elucidating the genetic basis of both normal variable traits in humans as well as identifying the genetic basis of human disease risk," Tishkoff said.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Click 'references' tab above for source.
Visit our genetics section for the latest news on this subject. The study was supported by the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Netherlands Organization of Scientific Research.
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Autoresponder Netiquette ? 3 Great Ways to Ensure Trouble Free ...

An autoresponder?s power and versatility should never be taken for granted, nor abused. Believe it or not, marketers get into trouble every day because of improper autoresponder use. While minor transgressions are often quickly rectified with warnings or perhaps a small penalty, some violations are so serious, they could jeopardize your entire online business.

So, as you embark on your next autoresponder campaign, please keep the following three rules of conduct in mind:

1. NEVER sign up to a newsletter, e-course, affiliate campaign, etc. using your autoresponder?s e-mail Address.

As an online business owner or entrepreneur looking to exploit the Internet to generate leads and sales, you expect real, unique subscribers to enter genuine contact information into your autoresponder opt-in. How else are you going to nurture a ?one-to-one? relationship with them? Conversely, you must respect your fellow marketers by giving them a valid email address ? not unsolicited access to your list! Just imagine the complications of autoresponder-autoresponder correspondence:

A message is sent to your entire list (not just you!), which includes another autoresponder address. The second autoresponder replies to your autoresponder that in turn responds to the autoresponder of the original marketer. This ?loop? persists until all the services and software involved close it down and clean up the damage left behind.

Simply put, consider this rule is the autoresponder equivalent of ?Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.?

2. NEVER sign up to discussion groups or forums with an autoresponder e-mail address.

You join special interest online groups to share information with like-minded folks, build your reputation, and market yourself as a trustworthy businessperson. So, why risk your good name and betray your subscribers? trust by exposing them to something they never asked for? Signing up with your autoresponder address will lead to spamming accusations; when forum members send you a message, you AND your entire list receive it. Suffice to say that you are ruining the social networking experience for everyone. Forum administrators despise this practice and will banish you without hesitation.

3. Learn and Understand CAN-SPAM Act Basics.

Reputable third party autoresponder services have incorporated the relevant parts of the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act since it became law January 1, 2004. Still, being aware of its requirements can help you avoid being reported for spam; i.e., unsolicited commercial email (UCE). If you have any doubts about what constitutes proper autoresponder etiquette, check if you presently:

Require a double opt-in when setting up your opt-in forms (recommended by most but not mandatory).

Offer an ?unsubscribe? link with every autoresponder message.

Include a valid postal mailing address in each message.

As your online activity expands, you will inevitably come across troublemakers who enjoy giving Internet Marketing a bad name. Frankly, some list subscribers are not worth having, so if you receive complaints about them, be responsible and just let them go. Don?t give anyone an excuse to ruin your reputation. Use your autoresponder as if your livelihood depended on it. In a manner of speaking, perhaps it already does.

Rahul Majumdar is an Information Marketing Specialist focused on writing services, list-building techniques, and information product creation.

Rahul is putting together a comprehensive series on autoresponders that will answer all your questions about this fundamental online tool.

To keep up with his latest project developments and more, sign up for his insights at:

http://www.info-entrepreneur-rm.net

Copyright ? 2009 ? Info-entrepreneur RM. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Reprint Rights: You may reprint this article provided you leave all of the links active, do not edit the article in any way, give author name credit and follow all EzineArticles.com?s Terms of Service for Publishers.

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Key role for Bill Clinton at Democratic convention

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Former President Bill Clinton will have a marquee role in this summer's Democratic National Convention, where he will make a forceful case for President Barack Obama's re-election and his economic vision for the country, several Obama campaign and Democratic party officials said Sunday.

The move gives the Obama campaign an opportunity to take advantage of the former president's immense popularity and remind voters that a Democrat was in the White House the last time the American economy was thriving.

Obama personally asked Clinton to speak at the convention and place Obama's name in nomination, and Clinton enthusiastically accepted, officials said. Clinton speaks regularly to Obama and to campaign officials about strategy.

Clinton's prominent role at the convention will also allow Democrats to embrace party unity in a way that is impossible for Republican rival Mitt Romney.

George W. Bush, the last Republican to hold the White House, remains politically toxic in some circles. While Bush has endorsed Romney, he is not involved in his campaign and has said he does not plan to attend the GOP convention.

Clinton will speak in prime-time at the Democratic convention in Charlotte, N.C., on Sept. 5, the night before Obama formally accepts the party nomination. While the number two on the ticket often speaks that night, the Obama campaign has instead decided that Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will speak on the same night.

Biden will speak before Obama on Sept. 6, in front of tens of thousands of people expected to fill an outdoor stadium in Charlotte, and millions more on television.

The vice president's speech will focus on outlining many of the challenges the White House has faced over the past four years and the decisions Obama made to address them, officials said.

"To us it's about deploying our assets in the most effective way," Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod said. "To have President Clinton on Wednesday night laying out the choice facing voters, and then having Vice President Biden speak right before the president in prime time on Thursday, giving a testimony to the decisions the president has made, the character of his leadership and the battle to rebuild the middle class that's so central to our message."

Clinton's role at the convention was to be formally announced Monday. It was first reported by The New York Times.

Clinton spoke at the 2008 convention, part of a healing process for the Democratic party following the heated primary battle between Obama and the former president's wife, Hillary Rodham Clinton.

Since then, the ties between Obama and Bill Clinton have strengthened significantly. Obama has called on the former president for advice several times during his term and the two have appeared together this year at campaign fundraisers for Obama's re-election bid.

___

Associated Press writer Beth Fouhy in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/key-role-bill-clinton-democratic-convention-025214796.html

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Planning A Vacation And Making It A Big Success!

By: Mohd Zaheer There may be many reasons to call off holiday plans at any point of time and this may upset you and your family really badly for once you make up your mind it gets very difficult to follow the opposite. The reasons may be finance issues, time constraint because of emergency or crisis at work, or even may be the sudden health issues. If the reason is related to finance or budget then of course you should feel bad about it because you could have it the better way and thus have avoided such a situation. Any vacation shall be suitably planned much in advance so that you have ample time to execute it. Once you are sure you have to go for a vacation, you can start with the planning browsing through the internet, searching for all possible things, you think, will be best for you. Remember, there is a huge range of options, you have to pick from so, be sure as you search that in a matter of time you will be flooded with some really nice offers. Its you who have to make the choice wisely considering you are sure even about minutest of things.

As you search, make sure you know exactly what are you looking for. First make choice of the destination you wish to go for. Shortlist all the popular destinations of your choice and then depending upon the availability of tickets or hotels, you can make the final choice. The first thing you shall look for is the availability of flight tickets or railway reservation. The early you book the tickets, the cheaper they will be to you. So better decide timely and go for quick online travel booking as it will save you enough of both time as well as money. You can have better deals if you look for all-inclusive holiday packages that comprise of travel, accommodation, sight-seeing, meals and everything just in one single cost. These packages are offered with complete itineraries. So you dont have to bother about anything at all and just need to follow the itinerary. In fact, such packages leave no scope for extra charges, you just have to pay one amount and its done.

To book reasonable air tickets, hotel or holiday tour packages of a particular destination, you can also consider factors like peak season and off-season. Various airlines reduce their prices during certain seasons so that more and more people can opt for them. You can also benefit from such offers and schemes that keep coming up time to time. You can make the best choice for you by comparing the prices mentioned in different websites and the services offered within these prices. By doing so, you will get to know ongoing market rate of these deals and the discount you will be getting on a particular one. If for you, the constraint is about the time then you can go for some nice weekend getaways which you can find in travel-based websites only that offer them at budget prices. Whatever is your constraint, you can very well find an easy way out by making adequate research and choosing wisely. So without investing much time and money you can make a holiday plan and execute it, to have a great deal of cool fun with your family.

---

About the Author:
Mohd Zaheer writes about Lushtrip that offres discount on holiday tour packages, online travel booking, airfare online, tour packages, budget hotels, cheap airfare, Weekend getaways, travel deals, honeymoon tours, last minute travel deals and for more information about travel packages & deals please check our site Lushtrip.com .

Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com

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'Dancing With The Stars' Welcomes Back Bristol Palin, Kirstie Alley

Reality dancing competition brings back seasoned dancers like Pamela Anderson and Joey Fatone for its 'all-star' 15th season.
By Kara Warner

Bristol Palin
Photo: ABC

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1690702/dancing-with-the-stars-all-star-cast-revealed.jhtml

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Everyone hates billboards - except the Bill Stouffer camp

Politicians run on a variety of platforms and issues, but Bill Stouffer's may be the most ingenious yet. Stouffer, a Republican candidate for Missouri secretary of state, is focusing a big part of his campaign around saving the state's roadside billboards, a stance that, if nothing else, has earned the candidate a whole lot of free advertising.

Stouffer has secured an estimated $118,000 in free advertising through Missouri billboard owners. The majority of that support has come through Lamar Companies, one of Missouri's largest billboard owners, and the Missouri Outdoor Advertising Association has also thrown its support behind his campaign.

While many are less than enthusiastic about billboards, Stouffer and his campaign make a point of praising the advantages of outdoor advertising. "Billboards promote the state and promote tourism," Chasen Bullock, Stouffer's campaign manager, said. "That's why [Stouffer has] been a long time supporter of billboards."

At the base rate of $1,500 that Lamar's website quotes for four weeks' ownership of a one-panel billboard in Missouri, Stouffer's campaign has amassed about 78 billboards' worth of donations from billboard companies alone. A representative of the Missouri Outdoor Advertising Association estimated that there were between 8,800 and 8,900 billboards in Missouri as of this spring.

Want a different take on politics? Check out OTUS on Facebook and follow us on Twitter @OTUSNews. As a state senator, Stouffer pushed through legislation that allowed electronic billboards and that protected existing billboards from being destroyed during highway expansions. The money-saving measure, which, according to Huffington Post reports, could save Missouri $60 million in billboard destruction costs by allowing governments to choose to relocate them instead, a much more cost-effective strategy. The move has also saved Stouffer a bundle in campaign costs this year.

Bullock believes that Stouffer's record will help him not only in terms of fundraising, but also come November. "This bill saved taxpayer dollars," he said. "Any bill that saves taxpayers helps communicate with the voters." While that may be true, Stouffer's billboard-friendly stance may not go over well with some voters - many drivers feel less than friendly toward what's been called the "spam of the open road."

While not a conventional donation, Stouffer's campaign will certainly still benefit from free billboard space, according to Bullock. "Our donors decided to help out our campaign by donating billboard space - and we are utilizing it as part of our discussions with voters," he said.

Stouffer's platform focuses on protecting small Missouri businesses, and with money-saving legislation under his belt, the campaign is confident that its message will reach voters this time around as well. And, you know, the free billboards don't hurt.

Stouffer faces two opponents in the Aug. 7 Republican primary. The nominee will then square off against Democratic Rep. Jason Kander in November.

Also Read

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/everyone-hates-billboards-except-bill-stouffer-campaign-194202387--abc-news-politics.html

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Haiku Real Estate Market Midyear Update ? Maui Real Estate Team ...

In the second installment of our mid-year Maui market updates, we decided to take a look at the North Shore community of Haiku. Haiku is a rural community situated to the East of Paia. It is a geographically expansive area in the windward area of Maui. The community is favored for its natural tropical beauty, property with acreage, peace and quiet, proximity to wind and wave sports and accessibility to Central Maui. Here are the real estate sales numbers for the first half of 2012 and the first half of 2011 for context. The numbers are followed by a few thoughts on the Haiku real estate market and it?s prospects for the second half of 2012.

The chart above compares Haiku Real Estate Sales Volumes for homes and land in the first six months of 2011 and 2012

There were 33 homes sold in Haiku during the first six months of 2012 at a median price of $620,000. By comparison, there were 22 homes sold in the first half of 2011 at a median price of $673,000. That calculates to a 50% increase in sales volume and an 8% decrease in median price. There were 12 Haiku Land Sales for the first half of 2012 with a median price of $393,750. There were 5 land sales during the first half of 2011 at a median price of $300,000. That is a 140% increase in sales volume and a 31% increase in median prices.

Here are a few other numbers worth noting from the first six month of Haiku Real Estate sales:

• The high sale in the first of 2012 for Haiku was $1,900,000. This property is a 3,800 square foot, ocean view, luxury home on just over two acres. It has a pool and a detached ohana. During the same period last year, Haiku?s top sale was $1,150,000. This home is a 1,700 square foot high quality finish home home with detached cottage on almost three and a half acres.
• The low sale for the first half of 2012 was $256,000. This property is a modest off the grid cottage on around a third of an acre. The low for the first half of 2011 was $236,000. That home is a small Bali kit house on just under a tenth of an acre.
• There were five homes sold over $1,000,000 during the first half of 2012. There were also five homes sold over $1,000,000 during the first six months of 2011.
• Three of the properties that closed in the first half of 2012 were bank owned properties. There were also three successful short sale transactions. By comparison, there were two short sales during the first half of 2012 and no REO closes.
• The high sale for land in the first half of 2012 was $854,000 for 14 acres at the edge of the rainforest in upper Haiku. The high sale for the first half of 2011 was $900,000 for 38.49 acres with preliminary approval for a six lot subdivision.

Compared to last year, there has been a distinct uptick in activity in the Haiku Real Estate market. Sales volumes have increased significantly with a 50% increase in volume for homes and a 140% increase for land. Values are a little more muddled. While the median for homes was down 8%, it can be argued that the composition of sales is driving medians just as much as changes in values. The same can be said for land values where the 31% increase in medians is by no means a true reflection of changes in property values. Our feeling is that home values may be down a little in the Haiku market, but we are close to some sort of bottom. Whether that bottom is definitive or not depends in part on the overall global economic picture. Land prices are mixed. There haven?t been as many bottom dollar land sales opportunities that we saw a year or two ago, but the overall trajectory seems lower.

The big question is what can we expect for the rest of 2012? There are 49 active homes for sale in Haiku with 27 homes pending. Of the active homes, 25 homes are listed over $1,000,000. That is over half the inventory. That includes 13 homes over $2,000,000 and 7 homes over $3,000,000. If you are looking at the high end of the market, there appears to be a fair amount of inventory and a smaller pool of potential buyers. Keep in mind that there were only five home sales above $1,000,000 and none above $2,000,000 in the first six months of the year.

The lower the price range, the more scarce the inventory becomes within the Haiku Real Estate market. There are only six homes active under the median sales price of $673,000. That limited inventory may well constrain sales volumes. It may or may not have an impact on values. Scarcity will often drive prices up. It remains to be seen if that will happen with lower priced Haiku homes. We have seen some signs that buyers are opting to remain patient vs. stretching or reaching on prices. Buyers are holding out for quality and value. It will be interesting to see if we see any bumps in inventory. It has been surmised that we may see an increase in bank owned inventory at some point this summer. We haven?t seen any clear signs of that yet.

On the land front, there are 41 active lots for sale and 4 lots pending in Haiku. Twelve of the 41 active lots are priced over $1,000,000. It appears as if there is healthy inventory to choose from in all segments of the Haiku land market. However, it could be argued that there is a lack of premium view lots that are well located and market priced. I can?t see the threat of price increases in the Haiku land market at any point in the near future.

Contact The Maui Real Estate Team with questions or for assistance with Haiku properties. You can check out the inventory of Haiku Real Estate.

Tags: Haiku, Haiku Homes for Sale, Haiku Land for Sale, Haiku Real Estate, Maui North Shore

Source: http://www.mauirealestate.com/blog/2012/07/28/haiku-real-estate-market-midyear-update/

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Building a Culture of Religious Freedom ? Public Discourse

If we want a culture of religious freedom, we need to begin it here, today, now. We live it by giving ourselves wholeheartedly to God with passion and joy, confidence and courage; and by holding nothing back. God will take care of the rest. Adapted from remarks delivered yesterday at the Napa Institute?s 2012 annual conference.

A friend of mine, a political scientist, recently posed two very good questions. They go right to the heart of our discussion today. He wondered, first, if the religious freedom debate had ?crossed a Rubicon? in our country?s political life. And second, he asked if Catholic bishops now found themselves opposed?in a new and fundamental way?to the spirit of American society.

We should begin by recalling that even at the height of anti-Catholic bigotry, Catholics have always served our country with distinction. More than eighty Catholic chaplains died in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. All four chaplains who won the Medal of Honor in those wars were Catholic priests.

Time and again, Catholics have proven their love of our nation with their talent, hard work, and blood. So if the bishops of the United States ever find themselves opposed, in a fundamental way, to the spirit of our country, the fault won?t lie with our bishops. It will lie with political and cultural leaders who turned our country into something it was never meant to be.

That said, let?s turn to my friend?s first question. The Rubicon is a river in northern Italy. It?s small and forgettable, except for one thing. During the Roman Republic, it marked a border. To the south lay Italy, ruled directly by the Roman Senate. To the north lay Gaul, ruled by a governor. Under Roman law, no general could enter Italy with an army. Doing so carried the death penalty. In 49 BC, when Julius Caesar crossed the Rubicon with his Thirteenth Legion and marched on Rome, he triggered a civil war and changed the course of history. Ever since then, ?crossing the Rubicon? has meant passing a point of no return.

Caesar?s march on Rome is a very long way from our nation?s current disputes over religious liberty. But ?crossing the Rubicon? is still a useful image. My friend?s point is this: Have we, in fact, crossed a border in our country?s history?the line between a religion-friendly past, and an emerging America much less welcoming to Christian faith and witness?

Let me describe the nation we were, and the nation we?re becoming. Then you can judge for yourselves.

People often argue about whether America?s Founders were mainly Christian, mainly Deist, or both of the above. It?s a reasonable debate. It won?t end any time soon. But no one can reasonably dispute that the Founders? moral framework was overwhelmingly shaped by Christian faith. And that makes sense because America was largely built by Christians. The world of the American Founders was heavily Christian, and they saw the value of publicly engaged religious faith because they experienced its influence themselves. They created a nation designed in advance to depend on the moral convictions of religious believers, and to welcome their active role in public life.

The Founders also knew that religion is not just a matter of private conviction. It can?t be reduced to personal prayer or Sunday worship. It has social implications. The Founders welcomed those implications. Christian faith demands preaching, teaching, public witness, and service to others?by each of us alone, and by acting in cooperation with fellow believers. As a result, religious freedom is never just freedom from repression but also?and more importantly?freedom for active discipleship. It includes the right of religious believers, leaders, and communities to engage society and to work actively in the public square. For the first 160 years of the republic, cooperation between government and religious entities was the norm in addressing America?s social problems. And that brings us to our country?s current situation.

Americans have always been a religious people. They still are. Roughly 80 percent of Americans call themselves Christians. Millions of Americans take their faith seriously. Millions act on it accordingly. Religious practice remains high. That?s the good news. But there?s also bad news. In our courts, in our lawmaking, in our popular entertainment, and even in the way many of us live our daily lives, America is steadily growing more secular. Mainline churches are losing ground. Many of our young people spurn Christianity. Many of our young adults lack any coherent moral formation. Even many Christians who do practice their religion follow a kind of easy, self-designed gospel that led author Ross Douthat to call us a ?nation of heretics.?¹ Taken together, these facts suggest an American future very different from anything in our nation?s past.

There?s more. Contempt for religious faith has been growing in America?s leadership classes for many decades, as scholars such as Christian Smith and Christopher Lasch have shown.² But in recent years, government pressure on religious entities has become a pattern, and it goes well beyond the current administration?s Health and Human Services mandate. It involves interfering with the conscience rights of medical providers, private employers, and individual citizens. And it includes attacks on the policies, hiring practices, and tax statuses of religious charities, hospitals, and other ministries. These attacks are real. They?re happening now. And they?ll get worse as America?s religious character weakens.

This trend is more than sad. It?s dangerous. Our political system presumes a civil society that pre-exists and stands outside the full control of the state. In the American model, the state is meant to be modest in scope and constrained by checks and balances. Mediating institutions such as the family, churches, and fraternal organizations feed the life of the civic community. They stand between the individual and the state. And when they decline, the state fills the vacuum they leave. Protecting these mediating institutions is therefore vital to our political freedom. The state rarely fears individuals, because alone, individuals have little power. They can be isolated or ignored. But organized communities are a different matter. They can resist. And they can?t be ignored.

This is why, for example, if you want to rewrite the American story into a different kind of social experiment, the Catholic Church is such an annoying problem. She?s a very big community. She has strong beliefs. And she has an authority structure that?s very hard to break?the kind that seems to survive every prejudice and persecution, and even the worst sins of her own leaders. Critics of the Church have attacked America?s bishops so bitterly, for so long, over so many different issues?including the abuse scandal, but by no means limited to it?for very practical reasons. If a wedge can be driven between the pastors of the Church and her people, then a strong Catholic witness on controversial issues breaks down into much weaker groups of discordant voices.

Having said all this, the title of my comments is ?building a culture of religious freedom.? So how do we do that?

We can start by changing the way we habitually think. Democracy is not an end in itself. Majority opinion does not determine what is good and true. Like every other form of social organization and power, democracy can become a form of repression and idolatry. The problems we now face in our country didn?t happen overnight. They?ve been growing for decades, and they have moral roots. America?s bishops named the exile of God from public consciousness as ?the root of the world?s travail today? nearly sixty-five years ago. And they accurately predicted the effects of a life without God on the individual, the family, education, economic activity, and the international community.³ Obviously, too few people listened.

We also need to change the way we act. We need to understand that we can?t quick-fix our way out of problems we behaved ourselves into. Catholics have done very well in the United States. As I said earlier, most of us have a deep love for our country, its freedoms, and its best ideals. But this is not our final home. There is no automatic harmony between Christian faith and American democracy. The eagerness of Catholics to push their way into our country?s mainstream over the past half century, to climb the ladder of social and economic success, has done very little to Christianize American culture. But it?s done a great deal to weaken the power of our Catholic witness.

In the words of scholar Robert Kraynak, democracy?for all of its strengths?also ?has within it the potential for its own kind of ?social tyranny.?? The reason is simple. Democracy advances ?the forces of mass culture which lower the tone of society . . . by lowering the aims of life from classical beauty, heroic virtues and otherworldly transcendence to the pursuits of work, material consumption and entertainment.? This inevitably tends to ?[reduce] human life to a one-dimensional materialism and [an] animal existence that undermines human dignity and eventually leads to the ?abolition of man.??⁴

To put it another way: The right to pursue happiness does not include a right to excuse or ignore evil in ourselves or anyone else. When we divorce our politics from a grounding in virtue and truth, we transform our country from a living moral organism into a kind of golem of legal machinery without a soul.

This is why working for good laws is so important. This is why getting involved politically is so urgent. This is why every one of our votes matters. We need to elect the best public leaders, who then create the best policies and appoint the best judges. This has a huge impact on the kind of nation we become. Democracies depend for their survival on people of conviction fighting for what they believe in the public square?legally and peacefully, but zealously and without apologies. That includes you and me.

Critics often accuse faithful Christians of pursuing a ?culture war? on issues such as abortion, sexuality, marriage and the family, and religious liberty. And in a sense, they?re right. We are fighting for what we believe. But of course, so are advocates on the other side of all these issues?and neither they nor we should feel uneasy about it. Democracy thrives on the struggle of competing ideas. We steal from ourselves and from everyone else if we try to avoid that struggle. In fact, two of the worst qualities in any human being are cowardice and acedia?and by acedia I mean the kind of moral sloth that masquerades as ?tolerance? and leaves a human soul so empty of courage and character that even the devil Screwtape would spit it out.⁵

In real life, democracy is built on two practical pillars: cooperation and conflict. It requires both. Cooperation, because people have a natural hunger for solidarity that makes all community possible. And conflict, because people have competing visions of what is right and true. The more deeply they hold their convictions, the more naturally people seek to have those convictions shape society.

What that means for Catholics is this: We have a duty to treat all persons with charity and justice. We have a duty to seek common ground where possible. But that?s never an excuse for compromising with grave evil. It?s never an excuse for being naive. And it?s never an excuse for standing idly by while our liberty to preach and serve God in the public square is whittled away. We need to work vigorously in law and politics to form our culture in a Christian understanding of human dignity and the purpose of human freedom. Otherwise, we should stop trying to fool ourselves that we really believe what we claim to believe.

There?s more. To work as it was intended, America needs a special kind of citizenry; a mature, well-informed electorate of persons able to reason clearly and rule themselves prudently. If that?s true?and it is?then the greatest danger to American liberty in our day is not religious extremism. It?s something very different. It?s a culture of narcissism that cocoons us in dumbed-down, bigoted news, vulgarity, distraction, and noise, while methodically excluding God from the human imagination. Kierkegaard once wrote that ?the introspection of silence is the condition of all educated intercourse,? and that ?talkativeness is afraid of the silence which reveals its emptiness.?⁶ Silence feeds the soul. Silence invites God to speak. And silence is exactly what American culture no longer allows. Securing the place of religious freedom in our society is therefore not just a matter of law and politics, but of prayer, interior renewal?and also education.

We need to re-examine the spirit that has ruled the Catholic approach to American life for the past sixty years. In forming our priests, deacons, teachers, and catechists?and especially the young people in our schools and religious education programs?we need to be much more penetrating and critical in our attitudes toward the culture around us. We need to recover our distinctive Catholic identity and history. Then we need to act on them. America is becoming a very different country, and as Ross Douthat argues so well in his excellent book Bad Religion, a renewed American Christianity needs to be ecumenical, but also confessional. Why? Because ?in an age of institutional weakness and doctrinal drift, American Christianity has much more to gain from a robust Catholicism and a robust Calvinism, than it does from even the most fruitful Catholic-Calvinist theological dialogue.?⁷

America is now mission territory. Our own failures helped to make it that way. We need to admit that. Then we need to re-engage the work of discipleship to change it.

I want to close by returning to the second of my friend?s two questions. He asked if our nation?s Catholic bishops now find themselves opposed?in a new and fundamental way?to the spirit of American society. I can speak only for myself. But I suspect that for many of my brother American bishops, the answer to that question is a mix of both no and yes.

The answer is ?no? in the sense that the Catholic Church has always thrived in the United States, even in the face of violent bigotry. Catholics love and thank God for this country. They revere the American legacy of democracy, law, and ordered liberty. As the bishops wrote in 1940 on the eve of World War II, ?[we] renew [our] most sacred and sincere loyalty to our government and to the basic ideals of the American Republic . . . [and we] are again resolved to give [ourselves] unstintingly to its defense and its lasting endurance and welfare.?⁸ Hundreds of thousands of American Catholics did exactly that on the battlefields of Europe and the South Pacific.

But the answer is ?yes? in the sense that the America of Catholic memory is not the America of the present moment or the emerging future. Sooner or later, a nation based on a degraded notion of liberty, on license rather than real freedom?in other words, a nation of abortion, disordered sexuality, consumer greed, and indifference to immigrants and the poor?will not be worthy of its founding ideals. And on that day, it will have no claim on virtuous hearts.

In many ways I believe my own generation, the boomer generation, has been one of the most problematic in our nation?s history because of our spirit of entitlement and moral superiority; our appetite for material comfort unmoored from humility; our refusal to acknowledge personal sin and accept our obligations to the past.

But we can change that. Nothing about life is predetermined except the victory of Jesus Christ. We create the future. We do it not just by our actions, but by what we really believe?because what we believe shapes the kind of people we are. In a way, ?growing a culture of religious freedom? is the better title for these comments. A culture is more than what we make or do or build. A culture grows organically out of the spirit of a people?how we live, what we cherish, what we?re willing to die for.

If we want a culture of religious freedom, we need to begin it here, today, now. We live it by giving ourselves wholeheartedly to God and the Gospel of Jesus Christ?by loving God with passion and joy, confidence and courage; and by holding nothing back. God will take care of the rest. Scripture says, ?Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain? (Ps 127:1). In the end, God is the builder. We?re the living stones. The firmer our faith, the deeper our love, the purer our zeal for God?s will?then the stronger the house of freedom will be that rises in our own lives, and in the life of our nation.

Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., Roman Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia, is the author of Render Unto Caesar: Serving the Nation by Living Our Catholic Beliefs in Political Life.This essay is adapted from a lecture Archbishop Chaput delivered yesterday at the Napa Institute?s 2012 annual conference.

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[1] For patterns of religious belief in various age groups, see Barna Group and Pew Research Center data. For the state of moral formation among young adults, see Christian Smith, editor, Lost in Transition: The Dark Side of Emerging Adulthood, Oxford University Press, New York, 2011. For an overview of American religious trends and their meaning, see Ross Douthat, Bad Religion: How We Became a Nation of Heretics, Free Press, New York, 2012

[2] See Christopher Lasch, The Revolt of the Elites and the Betrayal of Democracy, W.W. Norton, New York, 1995; and Christian Smith, editor, The Secular Revolution: Power, Interests and Conflict in the Secularization of American Public Life, University of California Press, Los Angeles, 2003

[3] ?Secularism,? a pastoral statement by the Administrative Board of the National Catholic Welfare Conference, on behalf of the bishops of the United States, November 14, 1947; as collected in Pastoral Letters of the American Hierarchy, 1792-1970, Hugh J. Nolan, editor, Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, IN, 1971

[4] Robert Kraynak, ?Citizenship in Two Worlds: On the Tensions between Christian Faith and American Democracy,? Josephinum Journal of Theology, Vol. 16, No. 2, 2009; see also a more extensive discussion of this theme in his book, Christian Faith and Modern Democracy: God and Politics in the Fallen World, University of Notre Dame Press, Notre Dame, IN, 2001

[5] C.S. Lewis, see his ?Screwtape Proposes a Toast? in The Screwtape Letters, HarperCollins, New York, 2001

[6] Soren Kierkegaard, The Present Age: On the Death of Rebellion, HarperPerennial, New York, 2010, p. 44-45

[7] Douthat, Bad Religion, p. 286-287

[8] ?The American Republic,? a statement by the bishops of the United States, November 13, 1940; as collected in Pastoral Letters of the American Hierarchy, 1792-1970

Source: http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/2012/07/6013

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