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Hinduism in Africa: The Times of India reports on the rapid growth of Hinduism in Ghana and neighboring Togo, exploding from just small group in the 1970s to between 2000 and 3000 families today. How did Hinduism grow in Ghana, which is 70% Christian? Through example.
"We have not achieved this through the winning of souls as other religions do, but have attracted people into the practice of Hinduism simply by the lives we lead," [Kwesi Anamoah] said, adding: "Our lives shine in the community to attract people." […] "We do not evangelise like other faiths do, but we have attracted people because they see how we live our lives as Hindus and come to make enquiries and then find their way into our folds."
One has to wonder if this is something we'll see more and more of in the future. In Indonesia the ancestor-worshipping religion of Borneo's indigenous forest people, the Dayak, is being cannily re-branded as Hinduism in order to stave off Christian missionaries and cultural eradication. Could African forms of Hinduism be providing a similar umbrella to indigenous forms of religion and spirituality in Ghana and Togo as well? What new religious hybrids will emerge from the intersections of Hinduism and indigenous beliefs? As India grows as a world power could we see Hinduism became a new alternative for those seeking to escape missionary efforts from the dominant monotheisms? We should keep an eye on this trend.
Michigan's Bullying Law: An increasing amount of attention has been paid recently to Michigan's proposed anti-bullying law, which recently passed through the Senate, due to the "moral" and "religious" exemptions inserted into the language. These exemptions, critics argue, make the law a meaningless piece of paper, giving bullies a loophole they can easily exploit.
"The Senate Republicans took an already ineffective bill and made it an abusive bill that justifies bullying against our students. While the national spotlight is on the neglectful actions of the Senate Republicans, House Republicans can pass the strong, comprehensive, enumerated bill Governor Snyder references when he recommends Michigan legislators model this legislation after the State Board of Education policy. Oregon wasted ten years following a policy that accomplished almost nothing before it took responsibility for Oregon kids and passed the effective enumerated language Michigan advocates are requesting. Michigan has the data and case studies to do what is right for our students the first time. The nation is watching."
These exemptions bring the case of Tempest Smith immediately to mind, a 12-year-old girl who committed suicide after being repeatedly bullied for her interest in Wicca, and manner of dress. The Michigan law, as it stands, would simply allow religiously-motivated harassment of kids like Tempest, you can almost see the scenario of ineffectual school officials saying they can do nothing. All students should have 1st Amendment freedoms, but a bullying law that exempts "moral" bullying under the guise of free speech is worthless. One can only hope that the language is refined to close off loopholes, and becomes something truly useful in empowering teachers and officials to stop bullying in their schools.
Keystone XL Pipeline: On Thursday the State Department announced that it was postponing construction of a new pipeline that would move tar sands oil from Canada to Texas refineries. The pipeline, known as Keystone XL, was hugely controversial among environmentalists and American Indian groups due to its proposed path through sensitive areas and reservation land. Now, with the pipeline postponed for further study, Native American activists are voicing cautious optimism at the development.
"I have come here to be part of this peaceful circle of people to shine a light on President Obama to be visionary and deny a corporate plan whose promise of destruction of our lands is certain," Lakota activist Debra White Plume said in a speech at the protest. "President Obama will be an Earth Warrior, standing in the way of something bad coming toward the people, or he will step aside for TransCanada to foul our water, land, and health for generations to come."
The Pagan Newswire Collective's nature and environment blog, No Unsacred Place, has been covering the pipeline and its environmental ramifications, with contributor John Beckett noting that "it's hard to look at the photos of tar sands extraction and not think it's bad. It's hard to calculate the risk to the Ogallala Aquifer and not think it's bad. It's hard to think about exacerbating climate change and not think it's bad." Here's hoping that this delay will result in a compromise that's acceptable to all parties interested in this issue.
That's all I have for right now, have a great day!


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Cokie Roberts on Obama's vacation: "I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state," but it looks "foreign, exotic"
On the August 10 edition of ABC's This Week, ABC News political analyst Cokie Roberts criticized Sen. Barack Obama -- who was born in Hawaii -- for "going off this week to a vacation in Hawaii," which she said "does not make any sense whatsoever." Roberts stated: "I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place." Roberts continued: "He should be in Myrtle Beach, and, you know, if he's going to take a vacation at this time."
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported on August 9 that "[a]fter delivering a campaign speech, Sen. Barack Obama's first stop on his Hawaii vacation was a visit to his grandmother's Makiki apartment, where he also lived during his youth."
From the August 10 edition of ABC's This Week with George Stephanopoulos:
JAKE TAPPER (ABC News senior national political correspondent): A lot of Democrats on Capitol Hill wringing their hands about Obama. He's not hitting back hard enough. Do you agree?
WILL: I don't. Part of his charm, such as it is for those who feel it, is his aristocratic languor, his sort of relaxed, laid-back attitude, and as a result, he gives the impression sometimes as a candidate, not with an instinct for the jugular, but for the capillaries, that he goes for small responses. You pointed one out one this morning, talking about a war going on in Europe and he's worried about some lobbyist working for McCain. But I don't think this is his main problem.
TAPPER: What is his main problem?
GEORGE WILL (Washington Post columnist): His main problem is that people have not yet decided that he ought to be the one sitting across the table from -- to pick a name out of the ether -- Putin.
ROBERTS: Yeah, that he has certainly come nowhere near closing the deal. As we've talked about before, in this year that should be such a Democratic year given all the other indices, he is tied in the polls and stage-sided in the polls and going off this week to a vacation in Hawaii --
VICTORIA CLARKE (former Pentagon spokeswoman): Right.
ROBERTS: -- does not make any sense whatsoever. I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place. He should be in Myrtle Beach, and, you know, if he's going to take a vacation at this time.
CLARKE: Well, and --
ROBERTS: And I just think that, you know, this is not the time to do that.
CLARKE: And there's plenty of time left. I mean, let's not forget, Barack Obama and his campaign beat the Clintons, which is no easy feat in any year. They beat them, and they beat by being pretty tough on Hillary Clinton sometimes when they felt they needed to. I think they realize that most people right now aren't paying attention. They don't need to do it quite yet. There is plenty of time after the conventions to do that, and I think you'll see the surrogates coming out of the woodwork just ready to redefine McCain. Buried in some of these stories in the last few days, one of the Obama advisers, of course on background, saying, just wait, by the time November comes around, people are going to have a different picture of John McCain.

subset: commoncrawl


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Accrediting Commission Letter of Warning 2008-06-30
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video: WSCH and W/F! 2010-01-29


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For single mother in affluent Greenwich, getting by is a daily struggle
One-time teen mom faces unrelenting struggles amidst Greenwich's affluence
GREENWICH -- Chelsea Squire sinks into her used gray Cadillac sedan, gazes past the check-engine light and cruises through a hometown she barely knows.
Even before she picks up her two young sons on this cold winter night, she drives carefully. She can't afford an accident.
Downtown, near the Rolls-Royce and Lexus dealerships, she watches the train rumble in from New York City. She admires the high heels of a woman standing tall at the curb. When the light turns, she puts her sneaker to the gas pedal.
Minutes later, at First Steps preschool, the teachers tell her K'den and Collin behaved well today. Chelsea hopes they'll do so tonight, when she'll cook tacos, wash the kids in the tub and read them bedtime stories. If all goes well, she'll get a moment of quiet for herself.
Back in the parking lot, she gauges her chances.
"How was school today?" she asks.
Instead of answering, K'den, 4, and Collin, 3, point excitedly at a gleaming yellow motorcycle, a top-of-the-line racer.
"A bike!" Collin shouts. "That's what I want for Christmas!"
When she's not too tired or busy to notice, Chelsea marvels that she is sleeping each night in a town renowned for its incredible wealth.
She came to Greenwich in 2003, amid a construction bonanza in which mansions practically sprouted on top of each other. Fueling the frenzy was a hedge-fund boom that by 2005 had concentrated 10 percent control of the global industry's trillion dollars in this town of 61,000.
The 28-year-old single mother and her four sons are part of the 4 percent of residents watching from the sidelines, from the roughly 760 units of low-income public housing scattered around Greenwich. Most were built in the 1940s and '50s for soldiers returning from far-off war. Today, they're supposed to be a refuge from economic battles.
Chelsea loves sending her kids to Greenwich schools. She loves how the classrooms are filled with technology and textbooks instead of youth gangs. She enjoys her chance encounters around town with the likes of Regis Philbin, whom she once met at CVS. "Hi, how are you?" he said with a smile.
But Greenwich can also alienate. Last year, when about 50 homes sold for more than $5 million each, Chelsea struggled to pay her $50-a-month rent. She hates how some residents seem too high up the economic ladder to notice how hard she and people like her struggle to get by.
With the holidays nearing, she finds herself in one of the darkest chapters of her adulthood. Hoping to cheer herself, she hangs a wreath from her faded front door. She puts up a tree in her sparsely decorated living room, beside her second-hand, half-broken couch. Then she frets.
That is all the Christmas spirit she can afford.
To explain how she got here, how she can get up to $650 in monthly food stamps, but can't find her favorite potato chips at Whole Foods, she has to recall her childhood.
It's filled with memories she'd rather forget, memories that every day threaten to pull her back.
She didn't grow up with a father. She only met him years later, at a prison in North Carolina where he's serving life for a double murder.
She ran away from her Waterbury home at 9, from her mother's boyfriend, who threatened to kick her and her mom to the street if Chelsea told anyone how she had to touch him. Back then, she would yearn for the next night her uncle would take her to McDonald's. She felt true joy pulling a plastic toy from her Happy Meal.
After returning home for a time, she moved in with her great aunt. There she learned what dinner is like as a family, what December is like when you flip through a Sears catalog, circling everything you want. She learned what it's like to wake up abuzz with excitement on Christmas.
In seventh grade, her life fell off the track. She moved back in with her mother in Stamford. Self-conscious about her caramel-hued skin, she feared she'd never fit in with the black girls or the white girls. She put up walls and got into fights. Hung with an older crowd. Wandered the streets late at night.
At 15, she dropped out of school. She gave birth to Zaire a year later.
On her 18th birthday, her mom handed her garbage bags and told her to pack up her stuff. Chelsea made it as far as the homeless shelter. For nearly two years, she slept beside her son at night, dreaming of better times and places.
She nearly cried when she got a letter from the Greenwich Housing Authority.
When she first saw her apartment, she nearly cried again.
She'd be living at Wilbur Peck Court, four blocks from Greenwich Avenue, the mile-long showcase of fancy cars, pricey boutiques, high-end restaurants and sweeping views of Long Island Sound.
She liked some things about Wilbur Peck's brick, boxy three-story buildings. She liked the scattering of tall pines and the boulders that protrude from the grassy campus. She liked how the pavement wasn't littered with broken glass or little plastic bags.
But Greenwich is complex.
She cringed at the dark, outdoor staircases, the battered outdoor walkways. Chelsea could hear the constant droning of traffic on Interstate 95. She also could peer over the back fence at what seemed like another universe -- the gated community of Milbrook, with its private security patrol, swan-filled ponds, swimming pool, tennis courts, and even its own nine-hole golf course.
To be sure, she never expected luxury for herself. But she also never expected how cramped and dated her Greenwich apartment would feel. She never imagined the endless battles with mice and cockroaches.
"I felt sort of like when I'd walked into the homeless shelter at 18," she recalls.
Even so, she soon settled into a routine. She got a job paying $200 a week to clean a $2 million home on North Street, the long, mansion-lined road winding to the old estates of backcountry Greenwich. She enrolled Zaire in public schools. Took out $23,000 in loans to study office management at Gibbs College in Norwalk.
She also fell in love with Keith, a guy from Stamford -- a man she insists she's still in love with today.
They didn't exactly plan it, but after Keith moved in, they had three sons together inside of four years: K'den, Collin and Knowa.
To manage it all, Keith watched the boys by day, working nights at Stop & Shop. Chelsea came home from her $11-an-hour receptionist job, cleaned up after dinner and bathed the boys, before reading them "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "The Three Little Pigs" in bed.
If you asked her back then how she felt about life, she'd experience a surge of pride.
Greenwich was becoming home.
The troubles came quickly, like a storm blowing in from the Sound.
They began one morning last spring, when the pipe in Zaire's room burst, scattering the shirts he'd hung from it and drenching the apartment. Chelsea watched from the balcony with dread as fire trucks screamed into Wilbur Peck Court, waking neighbors and illuminating the predawn sky. The flood also ruined two apartments beneath them. Chelsea got a bill for $2,500.
By midsummer, the mounting bills and hectic work schedules weighed on her relationship with Keith. The couple started fighting, one time worse than the others. Chelsea told Keith he had to go, then quit her job to raise her boys.
Weeks later, as she drove to preschool, the engine of her Cadillac gave out. The car, which had over 125,000 miles from its previous owner, had needed an oil change. Chelsea had never learned how to do that.
For days she rode the city bus with K'den and Collin to and from preschool. She'd walk the other way, two miles, to save on fare. She dropped $1,500 for a replacement engine, promising the mechanic she'd pay for installation as soon as she could.
Meanwhile, she fell behind on her flood damage payments and rent. Before long, she got another letter in the mail from the town -- this time, an eviction notice.
Panicking, she pledged to use her coming tax return to dig out from her missed payments. That worked, but deeper down, her self-doubts were less negotiable.
Even in Greenwich, she wondered, did she have what it takes to give her kids the foundation they need in life?
Back home in her kitchen, the ground beef sizzles in her frying pan for tonight's taco dinner. She's glad her boys behaved in school today, impossible as it seems at the moment.
Fresh crayon is smeared across a wall that Chelsea just painted white. K'den, recently obsessed with Power Rangers, is leaping about the kitchen, jump-kicking the refrigerator. Collin fires his foam airplane at the cabinets. Knowa, nearly 2, is sucking on his pacifier -- and repeatedly knocking his sippy cup of juice to the floor.
Exactly when it can't seem to get any louder, Zaire bounces into the apartment, still dressed for choir practice.
"Important news, mom!" he says. "Remember Hershey Park?"
Chelsea's face stiffens. Zaire's in seventh grade, now, of an age which itself has her on edge.
She gets nervous enough when he hangs out with friends on Greenwich Avenue. Lately, he's also been going to events at the town's Arch Street teen center, a trendy home for dances and concerts in a converted building on Greenwich Harbor. In two years, some two dozen teens have been shuttled from the center to the emergency room because of alcohol consumption. That alone is trying Chelsea's patience. But now Zaire's talking about a choir trip to Pennsylvania.
"We gotta pay," he says. "It's $150. Mom, I want to go!"
"Zaire," Chelsea snaps. "I'm working on it!"
In fact, she's slowly resigning herself to something worse. Zaire recently gave her a Christmas list that includes a PlayStation Portable, Gap jeans and a gift card for Urban Outfitters. That's less than Chelsea used to request from the Sears catalogs, but she still can't afford it. She's called people in hopes of finding help. She's begged her mother. She's started patching things up with Keith.
Fortunately, her luck turns in the coming week. Her mother pledges to take care of Zaire, and Keith buys tricycles for the small ones. Then one day, Chelsea receives an unexpected phone call.
"This is Liz," says a strange voice. "I'm your Secret Santa."
The next morning, two men from a Greenwich private school arrive with bags of gifts. Chelsea gets a bundle of more toys donated through the Greenwich Social Services Department and the state Department of Children and Families.
On Christmas morning, the gifts are piled halfway to the top of the tree.
Nights later, in a fleeting moment of silence after dinner, Knowa lugs one of the toys up the hallway. It's a foot-tall Mickey Mouse, decked out in baggy pants and a sideways baseball cap. Chelsea stops wiping the stove and sits in a chair. K'den stops karate-chopping the couch. Collin leans in and squeezes Mickey's nose.
"Are you ready to dance?" the toy says, captivating the four of them. "You gotta move it to prove it!"
With that, music plays and Mickey twirls his hips. He climbs on his hands, helicoptering his legs. The boys jump up and down, giggling and dancing.
For a moment, Chelsea's anxieties melt away. She seems reconciled with the present and the path she sees before her. In a year or two, all her boys will be in school. She'll get to work full time again. She is hopeful she can repair her relationship with Keith.
For now, she sits wide-eyed, watching her boys, clapping and chanting.
"Go Mickey! Go Mickey!" she says. "Best Christmas present ever!"
Days later, on the first Saturday of a new year, Chelsea invites Keith to watch the kids, which gives her a rare couple of hours to herself.
Feeling a bit more at ease, she drives to Greenwich Avenue and treats herself to her first-ever meal at Chipotle. Back outside, in her winter coat, worn jeans and sneakers, she strolls the sidewalk. She picks her way past shoppers in expensive shoes and coats, carrying expensive-looking bags. She peers into the window of Tiffany. Saks Fifth Avenue. Ralph Lauren.
"Oh my God," she says at another. "Michael Kors. I love you."
Back in the car, she steers downhill, beneath the train tracks and highway, to where the salty air hangs over the water. She drives past the Delamar Greenwich Harbor hotel, rising in all its Mediterranean splendor like it's in the south of France. She drives past brick condos that fetch millions of dollars. Parks near the Indian Harbor Yacht Club. Climbs out and walks to the edge of a rocky pier jutting into Long Island Sound.
To her left, crowning another peninsula, is a $27 million mansion, with stately balconies, tall porticoes and a colonnade with landscaping descending on an even carpet of grass to the sapphire surf. For a moment, she stands there, staring at it.
"If I ever get married," she says, "I want to get married there."
Then her cellphone rings. Back home at Wilbur Peck Court, one of her sons has gashed his foot. Could she come home to stop the bleeding?
Chelsea Squire sighs and turns for her old Cadillac.
"I'll be home in 20 minutes," she says. "I have to buy some Band-Aids first."
Staff writer Lisa Chamoff and researcher Erin Walsh contributed to this story.
email@example.com; twitter.com/timloh


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Become a member of the online community .... We'd love to see you there, it's FREE!
THAT's RIGHT, you can become a community member of the site for FREE! This will give you access to be able to interact in the online community as well as access some really cool stuff too.
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text:
Begi anything evolving you usually ends up with trouble and trolling.Begi wrote:Thanks for twisting my post.BastAmv wrote: The only thing I disagree with is the beta testing sub-forum. And Nikola shut the fuck up , in any case you're late and we've been talking about this for ages.
A random sub-forum would encourage "editors to interact with each other" in every way, doesn't have to be about amvs on this site all the time. I know a couple folks get sick of that. A sub forum will encourage closure more fun around the community . I swear this would make the org a much better place rather than a beta-testing forum.
"encourage editors to interact with eachother about AMVs"
If this site wasn't for AMVs, I'm pretty sure the name of the damn website wouldn't include the words "anime music videos" in it . The donator's forum is pretty much everything unreleated to AMVs (even though I am not a donator and don't really know what goes on there). If people are sick of AMVs, why in the living fuck would they come to this site? That makes no sense at all.
And please explain how a random sub-forum would help? If you wanna chat with editors about random bullshit, there is a chatroom for that. If you don't wanna use the chatroom then you should probably give a few bucks to use the donator's forum. We don't want your bullshit spammed all over the front pages of the forum.
How would it hurt to give more variety to this site? You clearly are never on the chatrooms nor do you know anybody here and you wouldn't know what many people would want so shut the fuck up and listen. Random-sub forum would get users to interact with each other far much more than a beta testing forum. Always expect fun and different topics, it could be from jokes to people talking about there perspectives towards different subjects etc. Socialization around this site would boost up things. And from what I know random topics on the amv general get much more response than beta testing topics on the op exchange but they end up being moved to the donater's forum.
Anyways, people have already addressed this issue, and this is not going to lead anywhere besides more arguing, I know you and you will always stand by your statements, so if you still want to discuss this matter take to the pms or msn.


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South African Journal of Science
On-line version ISSN 1996-7489
Print version ISSN 0038-2353
S. Afr. j. sci. vol.104 n.5-6 Pretoria May./Jun. 2008
Palaeobiological implications of the bone microstructure of South American traversodontids (Therapsida: Cynodontia)
Anusuya ChinsamyI, *; Fernando AbdalaII
IZoology Department, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa
IIBernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, WITS 2050, South Africa
We document the bone microstructure of traversodontids from Argentina and Brazil and make detailed comparisons of the bone microstructure of these cynodonts with that of other traversodontids, nonmammaliaform therapsids (including cynodonts), and Mesozoic mammalian taxa. Our analysis provides information on traversodontid ontogenetic age, growth patterns and life-style adaptations. The osteohistological data derived from the current study, as well as data on other nonmammaliaform cynodonts, provide an understanding of the evolution of life-history patterns among the therapsids. We show that many of the nonmammaliaform cynodonts (including some traversodontids) formed bone at rapid rates but retained flexible developmental growth patterns. In addition, although we observe a trend of increasingly rapid osteogenesis among the traversodontids, our findings do not discern a particular bone tissue type as a synapomorphy of the clade. This reinforces earlier hypotheses that the microscopic structure of bone is influenced by several intrinsic and extrinsic factors, and is not constrained by phylogeny alone.
Over the past several years, there has been a growing interest in using bone microstructure to interpret aspects of the biology of extinct animals.14 Although investigations of the bone microstructure of nonmammaliaform therapsids began fairly early,59 in recent years there has been a surge of such studies on nonmammaliaform therapsids from the Karoo Basin of South Africa (dicynodonts,1012 cynodonts,1316 and gorgonopsians and therecephalians16). Even more recently, studies of fossil bone microstructure have been undertaken in five Mesozoic mammaliaform taxa.17 However, it is noteworthy that except for an earlier study by De Ricqlès,8 the bone microstructure of traversodontid cynodonts, which are the most diverse group of nonmammaliaform cynodonts, has been poorly sampled.
The study reported here documents the bone microstructure of three South American traversodontid cynodonts from Argentina (Table 1): Andescynodon mendozensis Bonaparte;18 Masseto- gnathus pascu ali Romer;19 and Exaeretodon frenguellii Cabrera.20 Material of Exaeretodon riograndensis Abdala, Barberena and Dornelles21 from Brazil was also prepared for this study, but unfortunately the material was diagenetically altered during fossilization, and its histological details were obliterated. Detailed comparisons of our study material are made with earlier osteohistological findings of nonmammalian therapsids, including other traversodontids,8 as well as with that of Mesozoic mammaliaform taxa.17 Thus, the current study of these three species expands our understanding of nonmammaliaform cynodont biology, and provides valuable palaeobiological insight into the Traversodontidae.
Materials and methods
Each of the traversodontid taxa studied is described separately below, and a description of the histological method follows thereafter.
Andescynodon mendozensis Bonaparte, 1969
Andescynodon is the most abundant taxon from the Cerro de las Cabras Formation.22 The largest skulls of Andescynodon range from 80 to 90 mm and its body length was probably between 400 and 500 mm. On the basis of its dental morphology, Andescynodon is considered to be an omnivorous cynodont.23,24 The femur (PVL 3836, Table 1) is the smallest femur known of this taxon and was associated with a skull of A. mendozensis that had a basal skull length of 65 mm (Table 2). Considering its skull length, the individual that we studied is estimated to be about 72% of adult body size, and therefore of subadult ontogenetic status. Indeed, the Andescynodon femur studied here is 80% of the length of the largest traversodontid femur known from Cerro de las Cabras Formation (since this bone was not associated with a skull, however, it could be either from Andescynodon or another traversodontid, such as Rusconiodon, which is also known from these deposits).
Massetognathus pascuali Romer, 1967
Abundant remains of Massetognathus are known from the Chañares Formation of Argentina.19,25,26 The maximum skull length of this taxon is about 205 mm and its estimated body length is 1.3 m.25 The femur included in this study (PVL 4613, Table 1) is part of a skeleton of a diagnostic Massetognathus specimen. The estimated length of PVL 4613 (see Table 2) is 66% of the largest femur known, and it is similar in size to that of MCZ 3691 R, which is a virtually complete and articulated skeleton of Massetognathus that Abdala and Giannini25 have proposed is subadult in age.
Exaeretodon frenguellii Cabrera, 1943
Exaeretodon is one of the best representatives of the Traversodontidae, and one of the common forms in the Ischigualasto Formation.27 The species is well known and it has been well-studied anatomically.2830 The skull length of the species reaches 400 mm and an estimated body length of 2.5 m. Exaeretodon were omnivores, showing the expanded upper postcanines with a high and sharp sectorial crest. A distal portion of the fibula was included in the analysis (PVL 2162, Table 1). Considering the size of the element, the specimen is probably from an adult.
Exaeretodon riograndensis Abdala, Barberena and Dornelles 2002
Exaeretodon riograndensis is represented by a few specimens recovered from the Santa Maria Formation in southern Brazil.21 A complete tibia (MCNPV 10001, Table 1) was included in the current histological analysis.
Histological methods
As a consequence of limited diagnostic material available for histological analyses, we were unable to study the same skeletal element for each taxon. However, since several studies have found that long bones (such femora, tibiae and humeri) are especially well suited for histological analysis as they reliably preserve the histological record of growth processes,3,4 we limited this analysis by selecting representative long bones of each taxon. The sampled traversodontid bones were embedded in a clear epoxy resin and thin sections were prepared according to the method outlined in Chinsamy and Raath.31 Transverse sections were made in the diaphyseal regions of all the sampled bones, and in addition we were able to make longitudinal sections of the femora of Andescynodon, Massetognathus, and the tibia of Exaeretodon riograndensis. The thin sections were examined under ordinary light and polarized microscopes. Image analysis and measurements were conducted using NIS-Elements (version 2.2).
Andescynodon mendozensis
Transverse sections of the femur show a central medullary cavity that is surrounded by a fairly thick compact bone wall that measures on average about 1239 µm (Fig. 1). Although the bone is somewhat fragmented, the bone wall thickness is deducible and is about 29% of the diameter. A large number of radially organized blood vessels are visible in the compacta (Fig. 1). These tend to be simple blood vessels, without any osteonal development around them. The overall bone tissue has a lamellar texture. In the peripheral region, one line of arrested growth (LAG) is visible. In longitudinal sections of the bone, columns of calcified cartilage are present at the distal ends, and islands of calcified cartilage are present in some bony struts.
Massetognathus pascuali
Transverse sections of the femur reveals a fairly thick bone wall (980 µm), of which about 47% consists of compacted coarse cancellous bone tissue (Fig. 2A). The periosteal bone tissue comprises parallel-fibred bone with a predominance of simple blood vessels that are mainly longitudinally arranged. Some circumferentially orientated blood vessels occur. A large number of erosion cavities are present around the medullary cavity (Fig. 2A). Compacted coarse cancellous bone is present in more distally located sections (Fig. 2A). Longitudinal thin sections of the femur showed struts of endochondral bone, and a narrow layer of calcified cartilage at the 'articular' end of the bone (Fig. 2B).
Exaeretodon riograndensis
Unfortunately, even though the gross morphology of the tibia is well preserved, the thin sections of the bone reveal that the bone has been diagenetically altered,3 and no histological detail is preserved.
Exaeretodon frenguellii
Thin sections of the fibula revealed that although the bone wall is quite fragmented, the histology is still discernible. The bone wall is fairly thick and consists of a compact bone region (measures about 880 µm), which is well vascularized by predominantly longitudinally orientated vascular canals (Fig. 3). Under polarized light, the osteonal structure around the vascular channels is clearly visible. There appear to be 12 rather faint growth rings visible, but these cannot be followed around the entire compacta. Bone around the medullary cavity comprises fibrolamellar bone tissue, whereas bone nearer the periosteal surface is more lamellar in structure. More distally located sections have much more cancellous bone present. A large number of erosion cavities are present around the medullary cavity, but few show secondary deposits of bone.
The microscopic structure of the fossilized bone (bone histology/osteohistology) provides a host of information about various aspects of the life history of extinct animals.14,16 For example, deductions about an ontogenetic age, developmental patterns and growth strategies can be assessed directly from the histology of fossil bones. More specifically, different types of bone tissue permit deductions about the relative rate at which the bone was formed.32 Thus, a fast rate of bone formation results in fibrolamellar bone tissue in which the collagen fibres are haphazardly arranged and form a woven bone matrix wherein numerous primary osteons occur.13 A slower rate of bone formation results in a more lamellar type of bone tissue with a more organized arrangement of collagen fibres, and distinctly flattened osteocytes. Intermediates between these two bone tissue types occur and result in different, easily distinguishable types of tissues.13 In recent years, bone depositional rates of different tissue types have been quantified using fluorochrome staining techniques in a variety of modern vertebrates.3335 From these analyses it appears that bone depositional rates of particular tissue types are quite variable and depend on several factors, including ontogeny, location in the skeleton, and environment. As a result, extrapolating actual bone depositional rates directly from modern vertebrates to extinct animals is questionable.3,4,34 In the current study of traversodontid osteohistology, therefore, we use qualitative, relative rates of bone deposition for comparisons between the taxa.
The palaeobiological implications of the bone microstructure for each of the study animals are discussed separately below. This is followed by a general description of traversodontid bone microstructure considering both previously published material and specimens in the current study, and a then by comparison of traversodontid bone microstructure with nonmammaliaform cynodonts, and Mesozoic mammaliaforms.
Bone microstructure of the South American traversodontids
Andescynodon mendozensis. The Andescynodon femoral microstructure is distinctive from that of the other traversodontids studied in that it has the thickest bone wall (almost 30% of the cross-sectional diameter of the bone), and also in having a number of radially orientated 'vascular canals' in a lamellar matrix of bone. The latter characteristic suggests that bone formation occurred in this animal at a much slower rate when compared with the other traversodontids studied. Interestingly, thick bone walls in terrestrial animals have been documented in the nonmammaliaform cynodonts, Thrinaxodon15 and Trirachodon,14 and have been interpreted as suggesting a fossorial lifestyle a deduction additionally supported by the fact that both these cynodonts have been found associated with burrows.36,37 Furthermore, modern burrowing vertebrates (e.g. the naked mole rat, Heterocephalus glaber, the porcupine, Erethizon; as well as burrowing or digging lizards: Gerrhonotus grantis, Heloderma suspectum and Phyrynosoma doublassi) are also known to have thick bone walls.38,14,17 It is possible that Andescynodon, with its small body size, may also have been fossorial, but it should be noted that its skeletal remains have not been associated with burrows, and as in the majority of nonmammaliaform cynodonts (including possibly 'burrowing forms', Trirachodon and Thrinaxodon), there are no anatomical features in its skeleton suggestive of this type of lifestyle.
The columns of calcified cartilage near the articular surfaces, as well as islands of calcified cartilage within bony struts near the ends of the bone in the longitudinal sections of the femur, suggest that the specimen examined is an individual that was still growing at the time of its death, and agrees with the size-based deduction that it is a subadult individual.
Massetognathus pascuali. The Massetognathus femoral bone microstructure suggests a faster rate of osteogenesis than that of Andescynodon, and a slower rate of bone formation compared with Exaeretodon. The large number of peri-medullary erosion cavities also suggests that secondary resorption of bone was well under way. Longitudinal sections of the femur revealed the presence of calcified cartilage nearest the 'articular surface' of the bone, which suggest that maximum skeletal size had not yet been attained. The sparse occurrence of calcified cartilage and its restriction to a narrow region at the ends of the bone suggests that the individual was not very young and, more likely, subadult in ontogenetic status. These histological findings support the assumption that PVL 4613, like MCZ 3691 R, is a subadult.25
Exaeretodon frenguellii. The bone microstructure of the fibula of Exaeretodon frenguellii provides information regarding its growth dynamics. The initial deposition of a well-vascularized bone tissue in a woven bone matrix indicates a rapid growth phase, which was followed by a slower rate of growth as indicated by the parallel-fibred bone tissue. During the latter phase of growth, it is not certain but it seems that periodic pauses in the rate of bone deposition may have occurred. This type of growth pattern, with a rapid initial growth and subsequent slower growth, has been observed in several nonmammaliaform therapsids,16 as well as in mammaliaforms such as Morganucodon and the multituberculates Kryptobaatar and Nemegtbaatar.17 Resorption of bone is indicated by the presence of a large number of erosion cavities. The sparse occurrence of secondary osteons is indicative of a slower rate of re-deposition of bone in the erosion cavities.
Traversodontid bone microstructure and developmental growth patterns
The analysis of diagnostic traversodontid taxa permits some overall deductions about traversodontid bone microstructure and developmental patterns. A distinctive feature of the bone microstructure of the traversodontid taxa is that they are comprised essentially of primary bone tissue. Some peri-medullary erosion cavities are evident in Exaeretodon and Massetognathus, but secondary osteons tend to be sparse. These findings with regard to the compact bone tissues are consistent with that described by De Ricqlès8 for Gomphodontosuchus and Traversodon, suggesting that calcium metabolism among the traversodontids was not intensive, and appears not to have imposed heavy demands on their skeletons.1,2 In addition, because Andescynodon and Massetognathus appear to be subadults, we would not expect extensive development of secondary reconstructed bone (which tends to increase with increasing maturity). The Exaeretodon sample, on the other hand, is from an older individualthis is evident from the change in texture of the bone, that is, from a fibrolamellar tissue type to a lamellar type. Interestingly, in this individual, large peri-medullary erosion cavities occur, but secondary deposits therein have not yet formed.
The osteohistology of the traversodontids suggest that the different taxa experienced different growth strategiesAndescynodon mendozensis with its characteristic lamellar textured bone and the absence of osteonal development around the channels in the bone that housed blood vessels, suggests that bone formation and hence growth occurred at a slower rate than in both Massetognathus pascuali and Exaeretodon frenguellii. The compacta of M. pascuali tends to be uninterrupted, and consists of parallel-fibred bone tissue with simple blood vesselsthese features suggest a faster rate of bone formation than in A. mendozensis. It is possible that an earlier, more rapid (and perhaps cyclical) phase of growth has been eroded away by secondary reconstruction, but this cannot be ascertained from the material at hand. If additional juvenile samples become available for histological study, it would be worth verifying whether indeed this was the case. If the initial phase of rapid growth were absent, then it would appear that Massetognathus has the distinctive characteristic of intermediate, but sustained rate of bone formation (and hence growth). The presence of fibrolamellar bone and primary osteons in the compacta of Exaeretodon frenguellii suggests that it had the fastest rate of growth as compared with the traversodontids in this study. The initial fast rate of bone growth is followed by more slowly formed lamellar bone tissue (and as mentioned above, it is uncertain whether growth was interrupted). These histological features of Exaeretodon suggest that the individual had passed its rapid phase of growth, and that its growth was slowing down. The fact that closely spaced peripheral rest lines (indicative of the attainment of maximum body size)24 are not visible in the compacta imply that the Exaeretodon fibula had not yet reached its maximum size.
The longitudinal sections of the bones provided an assessment of growth in length, and permitted deductions regarding relative ages of individuals: the calcified cartilage in the Andescynodon and Massetognathus specimens examined suggests that they were still growing at the time of death, being more likely subadults. However, the more extensive development of the calcified cartilage at the extremity suggests that the Andescynodon femur was growing more rapidly in length than the Massetognathus specimen. This is particularly noteworthy as the Andescynodon femur is 80% as long as the largest femur from the deposit whereas the Massetognathus bone is 66% of the largest known. This raises the intriguing possibility that perhaps the largest traversodontid femur known from the Cerro de las Cabras Formation is not representative of the largest, adult size of Andescynodon, as the histological features in the femur studied clearly suggest that it was still rapidly growing in length.
Thus, our analysis of the bone microstructure of these Argentinian traversodontids showed that although Andescynodon and Massetognathus clearly passed their most rapid phases of growth, they had not yet reached skeletal maturity. The Exaeretodon fibula suggests that this individual was more mature, and appositional growth had visibly slowed. Curiously, it is also apparent that there seems to be a trend of increasing the rate at which bone is deposited, i.e. from the most basal traversodontid to the more derived forms such as Exaeretodon and Gomphodontosuchus.8 This seems to parallel the trend found among the more basal nonmammaliaform cynodonts.39
It is also worth noting that palaeoenvironmental analyses suggest that both Andescynodon and Exaeretodon lived in humid, warm climates.40,41 However, the alluvial plain, with lakes, swamps and marshes interpreted for the Cerro de las Cabras Formation40 from which Andescynodon was recovered, represents a more equable humid environment than the predominantly fluvial Ischigualasto Formation (from which Exaeretodon was obtained) that shows seasonal variations in water availability.26,41 Differences observed in the bone microstructure of these taxa, and hence bone growth, therefore possibly reflect innate biological differences between the taxa.
Growth patterns of the traversodontids within the context of the nonmammaliaform cynodonts and mammaliaforms
Earlier studies of the bone microstructure of nonmammaliaform cynodonts have shown that they have variable patterns of bone microstructure, ranging from a lamellar-zonal bone in Procynosuchus16,39 to zonal bone with fibrolamellar bone tissue (e.g. Diademodon13 and Trirachodon14) and to uninterrupted fibrolamellar bone tissue (e.g. Cynognathus;13 and the tritylodontids,Tritylodon,16 Bienotherium and Oligokyphus).8 These findings suggest an increasing trend towards more rapid growth as reflected by uninterrupted fibrolamellar bone tissues. However, it is noteworthy that the ability to form fibrolamellar bone (albeit periodically) seems to have been an early innovation among the nonmammaliaform therapsids, and is already present in Scylacops, a Late Permian gorgonopsian,16 as well as among the dicynodonts1012 (Fig. 4).
Our results on the bone microstructure of the traversodontids Exaeretodon frenguellii, Massetognathus pascuali and Andescynodon mendozensis, as well as those of Gomphodontosuchus brasiliensis and Traversodon stahleckeri, previously studied by De Ricqlès,8 show heterogeneous patterns of bone microstructure. This concurs with findings in several other nonmammaliaform cynodonts and therapsids,1116,39 and appears to be a trend also in the basal mammaliaforms17 (Fig. 4).
Examined within a phylogenetic framework, the osteohistological data of traversodontids derived from the current study, as well as those of other nonmammaliaform cynodonts provided by previous contributions,8,1316 permits comparisons of growth dynamics within these clades and provides an understanding of the evolution of life-history patterns among the therapsids. As a result of these studies, it appears that the ability to grow rapidly evolved fairly early in the Therapsida. Indeed, the widespread occurrence of fibrolamellar bone in Permian dicynodonts10,11 and gorgonopsians16 suggests that this 'innovation' extends deep into the therapsid lineage.
However, it appears that many of the nonmammalian cynodonts (including some traversodontids), although having the ability to form bone at rapid rates, retained flexible growth trajectories (developmental plasticity), which may have been dictated by prevailing environmental conditions. This plasticity also appears to have been present among some Mesozoic eutherians (Barunlestes and Zalambdalestes17). Although most modern mammals grow rapidly without periodic interruptions, some living mammals that experience stressful environments such as harsh seasonal conditions (e.g. polar bears and small rodents), can have periodic interruptions in bone growth.3,42
Thus, although there appears to be an increase in the rate of bone formation from basal nonmammaliaform cynodonts to more derived forms,16,39 and also among the traversodontids studied here, the plesiomorphic pattern of bone microstructure among the Therapsida is one of developmental plasticity.16,34 Within this general pattern, however, there are variations in the rate at which bone is deposited within the zonal region (i.e. whether fibrolamellar bone or lamellar bone forms) and whether the growth cycles are marked by abrupt pauses (indicated by lines of arrested growth) or simply a decrease in the rate of bone formation. It is also apparent that some therapsids (and particularly some nonmammaliaform cynodonts) have independently acquired the ability to grow along inflexible growth trajectories.13,16 Given the variability that occurs in the Cynodontia where the bone histology is known, it is apparent that there is not one particular type of bone tissue that can be regarded as a synapomorphy for the clade. Thus, the microscopic structure of bone appears to be highly variable even among closely related forms, and therefore not constrained by phylogeny alone. On the contrary, the overall texture and nature of bone appears to be dependent on a host of extrinsic and intrinsic factors.3,4
Access to materials for this study was permitted by Ana Maria Ribeiro (Fundação Zoobotânica de Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil), and Jaime Powell (Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina). Charles Schaff (Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University) provided information and measurements of material of Massetognathus housed in the MCZ. Sarah Werning provided comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript. This research was funded by the National Research Foundation (to A.C.) and by PAST and the Oppenheimer Foundation (to F.A.).
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Received 10 December 2007. Accepted 18 May 2008.
Institutional abbreviations: MCN-PV, Museu de Ciências Naturais, Fundação Zoobotânica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil; MCZ, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts; PVL, Colección Paleontología de Vertebrados Lillo, Universidad Nacional de Tucumán, Argentina.
* Author for correspondence. E-mail: email@example.com


text:
Presented by Charles I. Plosser, President and Chief Executive Officer
Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
CFA Society of Philadelphia
The Bond Club of Philadelphia
September 25, 2012
PDF version (125 KB, 12 pages)
Let me welcome you all to the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and to thank both the CFA Society and the Bond Club for inviting me to speak today. In October of 2006, I gave my first speech as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia to the CFA Society of Philadelphia. Well, a lot has happened since then, and the world is a different place. So I will use my time with you today to offer my perspective on the current state of the economy and monetary policy.
Our gathering comes at an opportune time, since less than two weeks ago, I participated in the most recent meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee, or the FOMC, which, as you know, is the body within the Federal Reserve responsible for determining monetary policy.
Four times a year, and most recently at our last meeting, FOMC participants submit their economic projections for output growth, inflation, and unemployment, based on their latest assessments of appropriate monetary policy. The Summary of Economic Projections, or SEP, gives a perspective on participants' views of how monetary policy can best achieve the goals that Congress has set forth for it. Specifically, the Federal Reserve Act states that the Fed should conduct monetary policy to "promote effectively the goals of maximum employment, stable prices, and moderate long-term interest rates." Since moderate long-term interest rates generally result when prices are stable and the economy is operating at full employment, it is often said that Congress has given the Fed a dual mandate.
Monetary policy actions generally affect the economy with a lag, so the FOMC must be forward-looking in calibrating the appropriate stance of policy. Therefore, I want to begin my remarks with a review of the nation's economic recovery and my outlook for growth and inflation. I will then offer some observations on current monetary policy, including the actions announced at our last meeting.
Before continuing, I should note that my views are my own and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Board or my colleagues on the FOMC.
So let me begin with the state of our economy. We have now seen three years of economic expansion since mid-2009 when the recession officially ended. Yet, no one would describe our nation's economic state of affairs as satisfactory. Economic growth has come in fits and starts, taking two steps forward, only to then take one step back. Most disheartening is that the unemployment rate remains high, affecting millions of Americans and their families.
After finishing 2011 with 4.1 percent growth in the fourth quarter, growth of real gross domestic product slowed to 2 percent in the first quarter of this year, and then to 1.7 percent in the second quarter. We are likely on a trajectory that will lead to growth of about 2 percent for the full year.
Looking out a little further, I anticipate that the pace of growth will pick up somewhat to about 3 percent in 2013 and 2014 — a pace that is slightly above trend. That outlook places me near the high end of the central tendency of FOMC participants' forecasts for 2013 and near the low end for 2014. In September's projections, the central tendency showed real GDP growth of 1.7 to 2 percent this year, followed by growth of 2.5 to 3 percent in 2013 and 3 to 3.8 percent in 2014 and 2015.
One temporary factor contributing to sluggish growth in the very near term is the drought in the Midwest and its effects on this year's crops. Estimates vary, but the drought will probably cut about half a percentage point off growth in the second half of this year.
Sluggish manufacturing activity has been another reason for the recent moderating growth estimates. The Philadelphia Fed's monthly Business Outlook Survey of manufacturers has been a useful barometer of national trends in manufacturing over many years. The survey's general activity index posted a few negative readings last summer and then returned to positive numbers through this spring. We saw a return to negative territory this summer. While the readings for the past five months have been negative, the recent readings have been improving, and the latest survey suggests that manufacturing activity in the region was essentially flat from August to September. Despite weak current activity, the survey's indicators of activity six months ahead have remained positive throughout this recovery and showed a nice bounce up in the September report, suggesting that manufacturers are optimistic about the future.
Consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 percent of the nation's GDP, also continues to make modest gains. In July, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported that personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $46 billion, or 0.4 percent. That followed a weak reading in June, when consumer spending increased just $3.5 billion.
We need to keep in mind, though, the extent of the shocks from the financial crisis and the ensuing recession. The housing bust that precipitated the crisis destroyed a lot of household wealth. It is only natural for consumers to want to rebuild the savings that were lost as a result of the decline in housing wealth — savings they might have used to send their children to college or to help fund their retirement. Consequently, private savings rates have risen substantially. Between 2000 and 2007, private savings averaged less than 5 percent of GDP, and between 2008 and 2011, the savings rate averaged 7½ percent. Thus, it is not surprising that consumers are not the engine of growth they normally are in economic expansions. And they are unlikely to provide a very robust boost to demand until the health of their balance sheets has been significantly improved.
There are, however, encouraging signs that the housing sector is beginning to improve. Of course, we entered the recession over-invested in residential real estate, and we are not likely to see a strong housing recovery until the surplus inventory of foreclosed and distressed properties declines. Moreover, we should not want housing activity to return to those heady days of 2005 and 2006. Such activity was unsustainable and a prime contributor to the financial meltdown.
On the labor front, the pace of employment growth this year hasn't been strong enough to have much of an effect on the unemployment rate. Firms added an average of 226,000 jobs per month in the first quarter of the year. This slowed considerably to just 67,000 jobs a month, on average, in the second quarter. Through the first two months of the third quarter, employment has picked up slightly, to about 118,000 a month. At 8.1 percent, the unemployment rate is still elevated, but we should remember that it is a full percentage point lower than it was at this time last year.
In the FOMC's economic projections in September, the FOMC participants' central tendency suggested that unemployment in the fourth quarter would be close to where we are now, between 8 and 8.2 percent, and then fall gradually to between 6 and 6.8 percent by the end of 2015. My own forecast is at the low end of that central tendency.
I wish we had better numbers to report. The sizable shocks that hit the economy resulted in a loss of 8.8 million jobs from the peak of employment in January 2008 to the employment trough in February 2010. We have regained fewer than half of these jobs. In my view, unfortunately the frictions and structural adjustments that are holding back improvements in labor markets cannot be cured by monetary policy, nor can monetary policy do much to speed up the slow progress we are making on the labor front.
Turning to inflation, it has been running near our longer-term goal of 2 percent. Although the drought in the Midwest and higher gasoline prices are likely to push up inflation in the near term, these effects should be transitory. Thus, I do not see much evidence that we will have an outbreak of inflation in the near term, nor do I see elevated risks of deflation. Indeed, over the medium to longer term, I expect inflation to be near our 2 percent target. But this expectation is incumbent on appropriate monetary policy, and my assessment is that the appropriate policy is likely to be tighter going forward than anticipated by the Committee at this point. Thus, I do see some risks to inflation in the longer run given the current stance of monetary policy, as I will discuss in a few moments.
Of course, other risks cloud the forecast. While the recent policy actions in Europe may have calmed markets and eased financial conditions somewhat, many fundamental issues remain unresolved. Thus, there is still a great deal of uncertainty as to whether the Europeans will make the difficult choices needed to put Europe back on a sustainable fiscal path.
Our own fiscal policy is also uncertain. While I believe we will avoid the worst-case scenarios related to falling off the fiscal cliff, the U.S. needs to forge a path toward sustainable fiscal policy. These uncertainties constitute significant hurdles for the economy and are retarding near-term growth.
Let me now turn to some thoughts on monetary policy. Even before the actions taken this month, the Fed had put into place an extraordinary amount of accommodation to support the recovery. The Fed has kept the federal funds rate near zero for more than 45 months; it has completed two rounds of asset purchases that more than tripled the size of the Fed's balance sheet; and it is implementing a maturity extension program, known as "operation twist," which is lengthening the maturity of our holdings of Treasury securities. These actions have changed the composition of the portfolio from mainly short-term Treasuries before the crisis to mostly longer-term Treasuries and housing-related securities today.
Many of these actions were taken at the height of the financial crisis and during the ensuing deep recession. But the financial crisis has substantially abated and the economy has been healing, if somewhat more slowly than we would like. In fact, if you compare today's economic and financial conditions to the conditions that prevailed when the FOMC previously took bold actions, you will see that the economy is undoubtedly in a better position.
At its latest meeting in September, the FOMC decided to begin a third round of quantitative easing, commonly known as QE3, with the purchase of additional agency mortgage-backed securities at a pace of $40 billion per month. The FOMC statement indicated that if the outlook for the labor market does not improve substantially, the Fed would make these purchases and more and would employ other policy tools as appropriate until such improvement is achieved within a context of price stability. I interpret "within a context of price stability" to mean so long as the inflation outlook remains near the Committee's goal of 2 percent. The FOMC statement also said that the Committee expects a highly accommodative stance of monetary policy to remain appropriate for a considerable period after the economic recovery strengthens. It also stated that the Committee currently anticipates that exceptionally low levels for the federal funds rate are likely to be warranted at least through mid-2015.
The Committee's decision was based on the view that with unemployment far above the level typically seen in normal times and inflation near its goal, increasing the amount of monetary accommodation should help bring unemployment down without jeopardizing our inflation goal. And since the Fed said it expects to keep substantial accommodation in place even after the recovery strengthens, people and businesses should be reassured that the recovery will remain intact, even in the face of future adverse shocks. This should make households and firms comfortable spending more today rather than saving, which should, in turn, spur hiring.
I opposed the Committee's actions in September because I believe that increasing monetary policy accommodation is neither appropriate nor likely to be effective in the current environment. Every monetary policy action has costs and benefits, and my assessment is that the potential costs and risks associated with these actions outweigh the potential meager benefits.
Given the magnitude and nature of the shocks that hit our economy, one should not be particularly surprised by the slow recovery. Both the housing and the financial sectors suffered large declines, and it will take time for the economy to adjust. While unemployment is expected to remain above FOMC participants' range of estimates of its longer-run level for some time, it is not at all clear that monetary policy can speed up that transition. In other words, the slow pace of the recovery should not be taken as evidence that the stance of monetary policy is inappropriate or that ever more aggressive accommodation can speed up that pace.
Indeed, many economists expect that further asset purchases by the Fed are unlikely to reduce long-term interest rates by a significant amount; some studies suggest that the effect will be quite small and transitory. Given our current economic situation and my reading of the empirical evidence, I do not believe that lowering interest rates by a few more basis points will spur further growth or higher employment. Business leaders who have talked to me continue to cite uncertainty about fiscal decisions — here and abroad — as the greatest hindrance to hiring and investment. Hopefully these uncertainties will abate over time, but the central bank can do little to alleviate them.
And as far as households are concerned, they continue to try to repair their balance sheets in the wake of substantial losses of housing wealth, as I indicated earlier. They are deleveraging and saving more. It seems unlikely that a small drop in interest rates will overturn the strong desire to save and, instead, induce households to spend more. In fact, driving down interest rates even further may encourage consumers to save even more to make up for lower returns.
Thus, in my view, we are unlikely to see much benefit to growth or to employment from further asset purchases. If I am right, then conveying the idea that such action will have a substantive impact on labor markets and the speed of the recovery risks the Fed's credibility. This is quite costly: If the public loses confidence in the central bank, our ability to set effective monetary policy in the future will be harmed and households and businesses will feel the consequences.
The recent actions risk the Fed's credibility in other ways as well. The rationale for the actions leading to increased spending today depends on the Fed's ability to convince the public that it will conduct policy in a fundamentally different way than it has in the past. People must believe that we will delay raising interest rates compared to when we normally would and, by so doing, make the economy stronger than it otherwise would be. At the same time, people must believe that we will ensure that inflation expectations do not take off and threaten longer-run price stability. Making such a change in the policy regime believable will be very hard to do. If the public doesn't believe that we will delay raising rates, they won't bring spending forward and the policy will be ineffective. But if they do believe we will delay raising rates, they may infer that the Fed is willing to tolerate considerably higher inflation. This may spur an increase in inflation expectations, which would require a response from the FOMC, or else risk the credibility of its commitment to keep inflation low and stable. I do not think it prudent to risk that hard-won credibility. The subtlety and complexity of successfully managing expectations in this manner make this quite a risky policy strategy in my view, with little evidence of quantitatively meaningful results for employment.
Continued expansion of the Fed's balance sheet has other costs as well. By greatly expanding the size of the Fed's balance sheet, the new asset-purchase program will exacerbate the challenges that the Fed will face when it comes time to exit this period of extraordinary accommodation, risking higher inflation and harm to the Fed's reputation and credibility. I have been a student of monetary theory and policy for over 30 years. One constant is that central banks tend to find it easier to lower interest rates than to raise them. Moreover, identifying turning points is difficult even in the best of times, so timing the change in the direction of policy is always a challenge. But this time, exit will be even more complicated and risky. With such a large balance sheet, our transition from very accommodative policies to less accommodative policies will involve using tools we have not used before, such as the interest rate on reserves, term deposits, and asset sales. Once the recovery takes off, long rates will begin to rise and banks will begin lending the large volume of excess reserves sitting in their accounts at the Fed. This loan growth can be quite rapid, as was true after the banking crisis in the 1930s, and there is some risk that the Fed will need to withdraw accommodation very aggressively in order to contain inflation. At this point, it is impossible to know whether such asset sales will be disruptive to the market. A rapid tightening of monetary policy may also entail political risks for the Fed. We would likely be selling the longer maturity assets in our portfolio at a loss, meaning that we may be unable to make any remittances to the U.S. Treasury for some years. Yet, if we don't tighten quickly enough, we could find ourselves far behind the curve in restraining inflation.
While these risks are very hard to quantify, it is clear that the larger the Fed's portfolio becomes, the higher the risk and the potential costs when it comes time to exit. And based on my economic outlook, that time may come well before mid-2015. In my view, to keep the funds rate at zero that long would risk destabilizing inflation expectations and lead to an unwanted increase in inflation. In fact, some are interpreting the FOMC's statement that we will keep accommodation in place for a considerable time after the recovery strengthens as an indication that the Fed is focused on trying to lower the unemployment rate and is willing to tolerate higher inflation to do so. This is another risk to the hard-won credibility the institution has built up over many years, which, if lost, will undermine economic stability.
Some of my colleagues on the FOMC have advocated giving quantitative triggers or thresholds for the level of unemployment and inflation to explain the economic conditions that would lead the Fed to consider a change in policy stance. For example, the Fed might indicate that extraordinary accommodation would remain in place if unemployment were above, say, X percent, so long as its outlook for medium-run inflation was not higher than, say, Y percent.
I believe that policy should be state-contingent and systematic, and that the FOMC should strive to explain its policy reaction function — how it expects to change policy as economic conditions change. A Taylor rule is one such reaction function, but research indicates that other simple rules are good guides to policy even when the true model of the economy is uncertain. These rules involve policy responding aggressively to deviations of inflation from its target and also responding to deviations of output from some concept of its potential. In addition, the rules tend to involve some smoothing of the policy rate over time rather than sharp jumps in rates. Using such robust rules as guides to policy is, in my view, the appropriate way to communicate policy guidance. As a result, as many of you know, I have never been an advocate of calendar-date forward guidance. I thought it was a mistake when we implemented that language, and it remains a nettlesome communication problem.
But while the unemployment-inflation thresholds do move away from calendar-date guidance and toward economic conditions, they fall short of a reaction function that I would like to see, since they say nothing about how monetary policy will change after such levels are reached. Will the FOMC tighten quickly? Or slowly? How will the Committee decide? In addition, the unemployment rate is not the only factor to consider in judging the state of labor markets. Indeed, it fell two-tenths of a percentage point in August, yet few think that represented improved labor market conditions. The reduction stemmed from a decrease in the participation rate rather than an increase in employment. In addition, I am not convinced that the inflation trigger would prove to be much of a constraint. While the unemployment trigger is based on the current value, the inflation trigger is based on the outlook for inflation, and if monetary policy is being set appropriately, this outlook should be consistent with price stability. Thus, I believe that using thresholds or triggers could easily put us behind the curve, if we have a tendency to underestimate future inflation.
Finally, I also opposed September's decision to purchase additional mortgage-backed securities. In general, central banks should refrain from preferential support for one sector or industry over another. Those types of credit-allocation decisions rightfully belong to the fiscal authorities, not the central bank. Engaging in such actions endangers our independence and the effectiveness of monetary policy.
In summary, the U.S. economy is continuing to grow at a moderate pace. I expect annual growth of around 3 percent in 2013 and 2014.
Prospects for labor markets will continue to improve only gradually. I believe inflation expectations will be relatively stable and inflation will remain at moderate levels in the near term. However, with the very accommodative stance of monetary policy in place for nearly four years, we must guard against the medium- and longer-term risks of inflation and the further distortions such accommodation can create.
The Fed's most recent actions carry with them significant risks. I am not forecasting that those risks will necessarily materialize and I hope they will not. But if they do, they could prove quite costly to the economy. It is therefore important that we understand those risks and evaluate them in assessing policy. A common error in policymaking is an excessive focus on the short term and an underestimation of the longer-term consequences of policy choices. I take the longer-term risks I have outlined today quite seriously. In my view, the potential costs outweigh what appear to be meager potential benefits of further asset purchases and extended forward guidance.
It is important that the Fed's policymaking remain credible to the public. This has important benefits to our economy. I believe the FOMC should continue to work toward increasing the public's understanding of how policy will react systematically to changes in economic conditions using robust rules. Improving the transparency of our monetary policy decision-making process will help to improve the effectiveness of monetary policy and the Fed's accountability to the public. Thus, I would prefer that we pursue such systematic rules rather than simple thresholds or triggers.


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The estimated cost of hardwood flooring refinishing in Narragansett can be from $3,743 up to $4,081 per 300 square feet. There are some factors that can affect the cost of hardwood flooring refinishing. Some of which are the condition of the floor, quality of finish or coating, number of finishes or coats required, flooring removal and the accessibility of the floor. There are several refinishing and recoating processes available depending on the condition of the floor. There's a screening that can cost $200 to $250, sanding, staining the hardwood and the finishing or coating. The most popular finishing is the polyurethane that can cost around $40 per gallon for water-based and $25 for the oil based.
Estimated final cost for hardwood flooring refinishing
|Fair Price
|Finished Floor Labor
|57.8 Hours
|Finished Floor Job Materials and Supplies
|1200 Square Feet
|Finished Floor Equipment Allowance
|Totals - Cost to Refinish Hardwood Floors - 1282 Square Feet
|Average Cost Per Square Foot


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Wolf Blitzer delivers the most important breaking news and political, international, and national security stories of the day. Tune to The Situation Room weekdays 5-7pm ET on CNN.
CNN's Jim Sciutto reports on the collapse of the 72 hour cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
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Pope Encourages Notre Dame to Continue Honoring Its Catholic Identity
The Holy Father addressed trustees and administrators who were in Rome to inaugurate the university's Rome Center
Pope Francis encouraged the University of Notre Dame to continue honoring its Catholic identity in the future, through a strong commitment to education and witness to Church moral teaching.
"It is my hope that the University of Notre Dame will continue to offer unambiguous testimony to this aspect of its foundational Catholic identity, especially in the face of efforts, from whatever quarter, to dilute that indispensable witness," Pope Francis said in a Jan. 30 address.
His words were directed to a delegation of 140 trustees and administrators from the University of Notre Dame, including university president Father John Jenkins, who had traveled from Indiana to Italy in order to inaugurate the school's new Rome Center.
The Pope welcomed the new center with the hope that it would expose students "to the unique historical, cultural and spiritual riches" of Rome and that it would open "their minds and hearts to the impressive continuity between the faith of Sts. Peter and Paul and the confessors and martyrs of every age" of the Catholic Church, including in the world today.
The Holy Father asked the trustees to "defend," "preserve" and "advance" the Catholic identity of the school "as it was intended from the beginning."
He said that, from its founding, by Father Edward Sorin, "Notre Dame has made an outstanding contribution to the Church" in the United States through its commitment to religious education as well as its "serious scholarship inspired by confidence in the harmony of faith and reason in the pursuit of truth and virtue."
Pope Francis voiced appreciation for Notre Dame's role in improving Catholic education at all levels, particularly in light of the "critical importance" of education in the New Evangelization.
He emphasized that this vision of Catholic education remains central to Notre Dame's "distinctive identity and its service to the Church and American society," even "in the changed circumstances of the 21st century."
Essential to the testimony of Catholic universities, the Pope continued, "is the uncompromising witness of Catholic universities to the Church's moral teaching" as well as the "defense of her freedom."
This defense, both "in and through her institutions," he added, must "uphold that teaching as authoritatively proclaimed by the magisterium of her pastors."
Patrick Reilly, president of the Cardinal Newman Society, which monitors and supports faithful identity in Catholic education, told CNA that Pope Francis seems to be calling Notre Dame to a path of fidelity, which begins with an institutional commitment to the faith and the Church's vision for Catholic universities.
While Reilly said that the school has experienced problems with Catholic identity in the past, he added that "there is a faithful cohort of students and faculty present on campus."
In 2009, the university came under pressure for inviting U.S. President Barack Obama to speak at the school's commencement and awarding him an honorary degree, despite his vocal support for legal abortion.
The university has also drawn criticism for its announcement earlier this month that it will comply with provisions of the federal contraception mandate that will result in free contraception, sterilization and early abortion drugs being given to those under university health-insurance policies.
Notre Dame has filed a lawsuit over the mandate and had unsuccessfully sought a court order to block the mandate's enforcement while its case worked its way through the court system. The lawsuit will continue, but the university is cooperating with the mandate, pending a ruling. Failure to comply could have resulted in massive fines.
In a Jan. 30 statement, Reilly described the university as being "at a crossroads," where it must choose between compromise and fidelity.
"The Holy Father has clearly called Notre Dame to the better path," he said, "as have hundreds of thousands of American Catholics who treasure faithful Catholic education."


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I agree with your assessment and I would not bring up Mattel (I worked there for 5 years so I know their practices well.) HTS profit margins are insane, there is no retailer middleman so that balances out the sales overall and makes it very profitable for their mass product line. I do not think Joe was the best example or idea because they invested in a lot of tooling that could not pay for itself in the long run, plus Joe was really dead at that time which did not help either. I would also venture to say the figures sucked too when you see what they are now.
If they were willing to sell it through HTS they could set up a presell for this item. Once enough orders are placed and they know they can make it with a profit your credit card is then charged. They could proceed to tooling & ship it when it's made 8-10 months later. (If they were really buttoned up, locked down costing and secured a factory they really could ship this in 6 months, difficult to do but not impossible.)<snip>
I know I would sign up without question for at least 2. I can see this as a Diamond or EE Exclusive but I do not see Target, Wal-Mart, TRU doing this. As someone posted earlier, the fact that this is a cremation toy. It will make this harder to fly with parents but more importantly will this be desired by kids. I do not think so. They would enjoy a ROTS Anakin with melt away skin/body part but not dead Darth Vader roasting with molded on flames. This is the ultimate in direct to collector type of item.
So what praytell is with your crusade across the collecting community against this offering Adam? I've seen you arguing vociferously against Funeral Pyre Vader on at least a couple of forums. But surprisingly not at the site where you're on staff.
Obviously given your position, this will not be something that Entertainment Earth will pick up. But why are you campaigning so hard to convince other collectors that they shouldn't back the Funeral Pyre Vader idea? Is it really that much of an affront to Star Wars collecting? One of your fellow GH staffers clearly disagrees with you.
...You absolutely should disagree with me if you like this piece, that's exactly what Hasbro needs to hear in order for an item like this to get produced-- that you would buy it, as it is, at the prices being projected, with no additional changes.(And if I'm totally out of line, this comes out and is a huge hit at a standard exclusive edition size and not as a super-limited item, I'll be the first to admit I was wronger than wrong.)
No additional changes? Are they/you serious? Of course there will be changes. We are going to balk at that price for sure. Hasbro will defend it "due to the added electronics," sculpt will almost certainly change.
<snip>So again for the record, I'm for this set coming out, but at a fair price of $20.
Personally, I don't see a lot of difference between this set and the DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE exclusive. You've basically got one poseable figure, and another that's inextricably linked to a light and sound effects base. Where were the objections to that particular SDCC exclusive?
Personally, I don't see a lot of difference between this set and the DISTURBANCE IN THE FORCE exclusive. You've basically got one poseable figure, and another that's inextricably linked to a light and sound effects base. Where were the objections to that particular SDCC exclusive?
<snip>So again for the record, I'm for this set coming out, but at a fair price of $20.(Colbert voice) I'll put you down for "no.".
And I absolutely HATE Colbert...vile obnoxious twit that he is. He's getting something named for him on the next shuttle or space station. Some have joked the toilet. I think that's quite appropriate since all that comes out of him is crap.Yeah, I've had a bad day, sorry folks, but I needed to vent it off a little.
Keep it in the Pit, fellas.
I really do not get the hesitation or disdain. I think big picture, if we support this we may get crispy Jawas, Moisture Farmers and possibly more mainstream scenes like a Bespin Dining Table. We supported the BMF, AT-TE and we got the Turbo Tank. If we support that lets see what we get next. We supported the fans choice sans Yarna and we got the the ICMG (Thanks Scott).
Adam, and I'll be as nice here as I can be, DON'T put words in my mouth or in this case text.
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The Dream Act is expected to soon come before the U.S. Senate as a stand-alone bill. The act would provide a path to conditional permanent legal resident status to those who were brought into the country by their parents, have lived here for more than five years, stayed out of trouble, completed high school or GED and who commit to attending college or military service.
Today, Kansas City – St. Joseph Bishop Robert W. Finn wrote to members of Missouri's congressional delegation urging them to support passage of the Dream Act. Following is his letter to Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO):
Dear Senator McCaskill,
Thank you for your previous commitment to vote for the DREAM Act, which would benefit thousands of young people here in the United States. I understand that the issue of immigration is a controversial one and one which the nation has grappled with for many years. To date, our elected officials have not been able to come to a fruitful compromise, one which protects the integrity of our nation's borders and security but also provides a humane solution for the millions of persons now in limbo. It might take more time before the nation reaches consensus on how best to fix our national immigration system.
At the current moment, however, our federal elected officials can provide a remedy for a very vulnerable group of immigrants – young persons who entered the United States with their parents years ago. Their futures are limited because of their undocumented status, yet they have so much to give to our communities and nation.
These young people entered the United States as children, following the direction of their parents, as we would all do in the same situation. The United States is the only country that they know. They have incredible talent and energy and are waiting for the chance to fully contribute their skills to our country. We would be foolhardy to deny them that chance.
The United States is a great country because it is a land of opportunity. We have given newcomers the opportunity to work hard and be successful, and it has benefited our country immensely.
Today, I am asking you to remember how we are all immigrants or descendants of immigrants and that we, too, have benefited from this opportunity and the American values of fairness, compassion, and hard work. With the passage of the DREAM Act, we can welcome a new generation of Americans who will one day become the leaders of our communities.
In the past attempts have been made to attach the DREAM Act to legislation that would fund abortions at military hospitals and legislation that would repeal the military policy "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" regarding homosexuals serving in the military. I, along with the entire body of U.S. Bishops, oppose these other pieces of legislation and therefore I could not ask you to vote for the DREAM Act if it were attached to such policies that are contrary to the teachings of the Catholic Church. It is my hope that the DREAM Act could be removed from such politics and receive a fair vote on its own merits.
I also ask you to put aside politics in this instance and to vote on the merits of the proposal. There are times when a proposal should be enacted because, simply put, it is the right thing to do. This legislation is one of those times. On behalf of the Catholic community of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, I urge you to vote in favor of the DREAM Act.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration.
In Christ and Mary,
Most Reverend Robert W. Finn
Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph