Coming in a distant second to my love of baseball is college football, which officially began the season last night. What football season also means is that my favorite non-baseball blog also starts. Tuesday Morning Quarterback, which comes out on Tuesday's (I know shocking) covers the weekends NFL games, but more interestingly also covers everything else going on in the world. The author, Gregg Easterbrook, is a fellow at the Brookings Institute and a contributing editor for The New Republic, The Atlantic Monthly and The Washington Monthly. Even if you don't like football it is a must read, and you can skip over the football parts. You can find him here.
Here is a bit from one of his most recent postings:
A Cosmic Thought: Researchers led by Swinburne University of Technology, in Australia, released this map of the "nearby" cosmos. The map contains about 100,000 dots. The dots are not stars; each dot represents a galaxy, and galaxies are thought to average about 100 billion stars each. Thus the area depicted contains holds roughly 10 to the 15th power stars, a number far too huge to bother attempting to fathom. And the map merely shows galaxies nearby. Our galaxy, the Milky Way, is at the center of the map. On the cosmic scale, a place with 100 billion stars is a dot.
His book The Progress Paradox is excellent. Read it some time when you are pessimistic about the world. Go here for some of his other writings.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
MMM MMM Good
Some people have asked what I did on vacation, and one of the most important things, besides trying to get some down time, was eating Mexican food. Although to be specific in this case it was to eat New Mexican and Sonoran food. I know people will disagree but you can't find good Mexican food in New England, and here is the perfect story to illustrate the point:
Before moving to New England I was working for Kinko's and so I transferred to work at the Coolidge Corner location in Brookline. Shortly after I started the two brothers who run the Phantom Gourmet came in to have some work done. Of course, since I was new to town, I had never heard of them so they began telling me all about what they do and their new television show. Since we were new in town and didn't know where to eat I decided to ask them where to go for good Mexican food. They both began to rattle off four or five restaurants and then they asked me where I was from. I said New Mexico, and they then told me "oh, never mind, your not going to like anything here." So there you have it, not only do I say you can't get really good Mexican food here but so does the Phantom Gourmet; and so while on vacation we ate really good Mexican food almost every evening. Besides for wide open skies it is what I miss the most about the Southwest.
Before moving to New England I was working for Kinko's and so I transferred to work at the Coolidge Corner location in Brookline. Shortly after I started the two brothers who run the Phantom Gourmet came in to have some work done. Of course, since I was new to town, I had never heard of them so they began telling me all about what they do and their new television show. Since we were new in town and didn't know where to eat I decided to ask them where to go for good Mexican food. They both began to rattle off four or five restaurants and then they asked me where I was from. I said New Mexico, and they then told me "oh, never mind, your not going to like anything here." So there you have it, not only do I say you can't get really good Mexican food here but so does the Phantom Gourmet; and so while on vacation we ate really good Mexican food almost every evening. Besides for wide open skies it is what I miss the most about the Southwest.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Catching Up
Well I'm back at it. With more than 210 emails waiting for me yesterday, as well as a memorial service to plan I did not have a chance to write.
What's happened since I've been away: The Yanks took 2 out of 3 from the Sox, we saw an unassisted triple play (the 15th in history and only the second to end a game), and Andy Pettite flirted with perfection. Like I've said every time you go to the ballpark you have the chance to see something you've never seen before, and here is the perfect example:
We went to see the Diamondbacks play the Astros in Phoenix. In the bottom of the sixth inning, John Hester, who was just called up from the AAA team, came in to pinch hit for his first major league at bat. With a full-count he smashed a home run to center field. With that swing he became the 101st player in major league history to hit a home run in his first at bat. With nearly 17000 people having played major league baseball that means that 1/2 of one percent of major leaguers hit a home run in their first at bat. I had never seen it before and will probably never see it again. (of those 101, 3 hit grand slams, and 19 never hit another homer).
The weather's getting cooler and the sun is going down earlier, which means the season is winding to a close. But, nothing like a September pennant race to get your blood warmed up....
What's happened since I've been away: The Yanks took 2 out of 3 from the Sox, we saw an unassisted triple play (the 15th in history and only the second to end a game), and Andy Pettite flirted with perfection. Like I've said every time you go to the ballpark you have the chance to see something you've never seen before, and here is the perfect example:
We went to see the Diamondbacks play the Astros in Phoenix. In the bottom of the sixth inning, John Hester, who was just called up from the AAA team, came in to pinch hit for his first major league at bat. With a full-count he smashed a home run to center field. With that swing he became the 101st player in major league history to hit a home run in his first at bat. With nearly 17000 people having played major league baseball that means that 1/2 of one percent of major leaguers hit a home run in their first at bat. I had never seen it before and will probably never see it again. (of those 101, 3 hit grand slams, and 19 never hit another homer).
The weather's getting cooler and the sun is going down earlier, which means the season is winding to a close. But, nothing like a September pennant race to get your blood warmed up....
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Disparities
For the second time in a month I will be working on a wedding and a funeral in the same day. As you might guess this is not the easiest thing to do. I've only been at this for a short time and I hope this does not become a regular occurrence because the emotional swing is very exhausting to the system and I don't usually have enough time to recuperate. But I am off to vacation on Monday so I don't know when my next post will be. Definitely check back after the 31st when I return to work.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Making Changes
Here is my pastoral letter from this week's Chronicle:
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Sudbury UMC is becoming known as one of the most exciting churches in the community. There is a Jewish real estate agent who is telling her clients that if they are looking for a Protestant church that they need to give us a try. We recently had some visitors who were told by someone in a coffee shop in Concord that if they wanted to attend a vibrant church they needed to come here. And we had another person say they wanted to attend on Easter but didn’t stay because of the crowds, so they came when we were a little slower. These are wonderful comments and are a great indicator that we are doing the right things.
A recent study found the median church in the US has a regular Sunday attendance of 75 people. The study also found that 50% of people who attend church go to ones that have more than 350 in attendance. We stand on the precipice of church sizes. We are obviously bigger than 75 and on many Sundays we have more than 350. We are no longer small but not quite large. The problem with this, learned through experience, is that churches cannot stay in this in-between position. We either have to decide to get larger and make the changes necessary to facilitate that change, or we can begin to get smaller and put up with the changes that will also bring.
This is not the first time this congregation has stood on the precipice of change, nor will it be the last. In the 1950’s and 60’s a vision was set which brought us to where we are today. Some were happy with this vision and others were not, but change came regardless of what people thought. Change will come to us as well whether we like change or not and even whether we want to deal with these changes.
Pastor Joel and I, of course, are in agreement of which direction we would like to see this congregation go, and you’ll be hearing more from us in the coming months and years about how we carry this out, what it might look like, and what it means. One of the biggest things that will change is how we do things around the church. So, for example, we will not often be able to have only one event scheduled at the church during key hours, but instead will have several events taking place at the same time. There are many advantages to this especially in being able to show our size and vitality, but there are also some disadvantages which are sure to leave some people upset.
We will also have to have much greater and more deliberate conversations and interactions between groups. We can no longer afford to be siloed in our activities. Church growth will need to be working with worship, membership needs to be working with stewardship, education needs to be working conflict management, social justice needs to be working with health ministries, and on and on. We all need to be in greater communication in order to make sure the parts are all working together effectively and efficiently. In other words we have to work on becoming greater than the sum of our parts.
All of these things will require us to think of things in new ways, to stretch beyond our comfort zones and work to live into a new vision. What the future holds for us is unknown, but let us never forget what God is calling us to, that the Spirit is moving amongst us and that with Christ all things are possible.
Grace and Blessings,
John
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Sudbury UMC is becoming known as one of the most exciting churches in the community. There is a Jewish real estate agent who is telling her clients that if they are looking for a Protestant church that they need to give us a try. We recently had some visitors who were told by someone in a coffee shop in Concord that if they wanted to attend a vibrant church they needed to come here. And we had another person say they wanted to attend on Easter but didn’t stay because of the crowds, so they came when we were a little slower. These are wonderful comments and are a great indicator that we are doing the right things.
A recent study found the median church in the US has a regular Sunday attendance of 75 people. The study also found that 50% of people who attend church go to ones that have more than 350 in attendance. We stand on the precipice of church sizes. We are obviously bigger than 75 and on many Sundays we have more than 350. We are no longer small but not quite large. The problem with this, learned through experience, is that churches cannot stay in this in-between position. We either have to decide to get larger and make the changes necessary to facilitate that change, or we can begin to get smaller and put up with the changes that will also bring.
This is not the first time this congregation has stood on the precipice of change, nor will it be the last. In the 1950’s and 60’s a vision was set which brought us to where we are today. Some were happy with this vision and others were not, but change came regardless of what people thought. Change will come to us as well whether we like change or not and even whether we want to deal with these changes.
Pastor Joel and I, of course, are in agreement of which direction we would like to see this congregation go, and you’ll be hearing more from us in the coming months and years about how we carry this out, what it might look like, and what it means. One of the biggest things that will change is how we do things around the church. So, for example, we will not often be able to have only one event scheduled at the church during key hours, but instead will have several events taking place at the same time. There are many advantages to this especially in being able to show our size and vitality, but there are also some disadvantages which are sure to leave some people upset.
We will also have to have much greater and more deliberate conversations and interactions between groups. We can no longer afford to be siloed in our activities. Church growth will need to be working with worship, membership needs to be working with stewardship, education needs to be working conflict management, social justice needs to be working with health ministries, and on and on. We all need to be in greater communication in order to make sure the parts are all working together effectively and efficiently. In other words we have to work on becoming greater than the sum of our parts.
All of these things will require us to think of things in new ways, to stretch beyond our comfort zones and work to live into a new vision. What the future holds for us is unknown, but let us never forget what God is calling us to, that the Spirit is moving amongst us and that with Christ all things are possible.
Grace and Blessings,
John
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Yankee wins good for America
Just saw this on another blog:
So apparently the Yankees winning is good for the economy which is good for America. What do you think of that Red Sox Nation? (LOL)
Yankees in First Shows Winning Plan Without Bonds: Chart of Day 2009-08-12
By Mason Levinson and Jeff Kearns Aug. 12
(Bloomberg) -- The New York Yankees' front-running status might lead to
some joyous months in the Bronx and profitable ones on Wall Street. 'The CHART
OF THE DAY compares the historical performance of the S&P 500 Index, the
benchmark index for American equities, from Aug. 12 to year's end when the
Yankees are in first place, as they are today, to when they trail.
During the 33 years since 1928 that the Major League Baseball team led its
division on Aug. 12, the S&P 500 had average gains of 3.3 percent for the
remainder of the year. That's five times higher than the 0.64 percent average
gains the index had during the 48 seasons the Yankees weren't in first place.
"As a Yankees fan I can tell you why that happens: because the Yankees are
always in the lead and the market goes up two-thirds of the time," said Richard
Bernstein, chief investment officer of New York-based Richard Bernstein Capital
Management LLC and former chief investment strategist of Merrill Lynch &
Co. "You can put it up there with such other notable buy signals as who
wins the Super Bowl."
"One shouldn't underestimate the strength of spurious correlations."The Yankees, following a four-game sweep of division rival Boston last weekend, led
the Red Sox by 5 1/2 games through Aug. 10 in the American League East.
Of the team's 26 World Series titles, 22 came after holding a first-place
lead on Aug. 12.
With assistance from Rodney Yap in Los Angeles. Editors:
Michael Sillup, Jay Beberman
So apparently the Yankees winning is good for the economy which is good for America. What do you think of that Red Sox Nation? (LOL)
Religious Illiteracy
Currently reading a book by Stephen Prothero on religious illiteracy in America. This is more than just not knowing about other religions but also the lack of knowledge about Judaism and Christianity. Here is a literacy quiz that he gave to his students :
1. Name the four gospels. List as many as you can.
2. Name a sacred text of Hinduism.
3. What is the name of the holy book of Islam?
4. Where, according to the Bible, was Jesus born?
5. President George W. Bush spoke in his first inaugural address of the Jericho road. What Bible story was he invoking?
6. What are the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Old Testament?
7. What is the Golden Rule?
8. "God helps those who help themselves": Does this appear in the Bible? If so where?
9. "Blessed in the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God": Does this appear in the Bible? If so where?
10. Name the Ten Commandments. List as many as you can.
11. Name the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. List as many as you can.
12. What are the seven sacraments of Catholicism? List as many as you can.
13. The First Amendment says two things about religion, each it's own "clause." What are the two clauses?
14. What is Ramadan? In what religion is it celebrated?
15. Match the Bible characters with the stories in which they appear. Hint: Some characters may be matched with more than one story or vice versa.
Adam and Eve Exodus
Paul Binding of Isaac
Moses Olive Branch
Noah Garden of Eden
Jesus Parting of the Red Sea
Abraham Road to Damascus
Serpent Garden of Gethsemane
How do you think you did? Email me for the answers and scoring.
1. Name the four gospels. List as many as you can.
2. Name a sacred text of Hinduism.
3. What is the name of the holy book of Islam?
4. Where, according to the Bible, was Jesus born?
5. President George W. Bush spoke in his first inaugural address of the Jericho road. What Bible story was he invoking?
6. What are the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Old Testament?
7. What is the Golden Rule?
8. "God helps those who help themselves": Does this appear in the Bible? If so where?
9. "Blessed in the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of God": Does this appear in the Bible? If so where?
10. Name the Ten Commandments. List as many as you can.
11. Name the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism. List as many as you can.
12. What are the seven sacraments of Catholicism? List as many as you can.
13. The First Amendment says two things about religion, each it's own "clause." What are the two clauses?
14. What is Ramadan? In what religion is it celebrated?
15. Match the Bible characters with the stories in which they appear. Hint: Some characters may be matched with more than one story or vice versa.
Adam and Eve Exodus
Paul Binding of Isaac
Moses Olive Branch
Noah Garden of Eden
Jesus Parting of the Red Sea
Abraham Road to Damascus
Serpent Garden of Gethsemane
How do you think you did? Email me for the answers and scoring.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Legionnaire's Disease
Just saw in "today in history" that on today's date in 1976 the bacteria causing Legionnaire's Disease was identified by the CDC. (it's good when you read what's on your own page.) In what could have been a very different scenario, the MLB had used this hotel just a few weeks before as their hub for the All-Star game which was held in Philly that year. If the All-Star game had been a few weeks later, or the bacteria had spread a few weeks earlier we could have had a differently named disease. Major League Disease? Baseballitis? (Linda would say I have both of these)
Something else to note is how different the AIDS outbreak might have been had the health community, the CDC and the rest of the government focused as much attention on that disease and finding its cause as they did to finding the cause of what was killing the Legionnaires. Would it have made a huge difference, maybe not, but my guess is that it would have, but no one outside of the gay community was concerned about gay men dying. You know that whole "it's forbidden in the Bible and they deserve their punishment" thing.
Until very recently I have had more friends and acquaintances die of AIDS than from anything else, so it's of interest and concern to me. For what I think is the best treatment of the AIDS epidemic in the 80's read And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts, who himself died of AIDS. When I saw Milk and then read Shilt's biography of Harvey Milk (The Mayor of Castro Street)I couldn't help but wonder if the epidemic might also have been different had he not been assassinated.
Here is a prayer from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops on HIV/AIDS (altered):
Something else to note is how different the AIDS outbreak might have been had the health community, the CDC and the rest of the government focused as much attention on that disease and finding its cause as they did to finding the cause of what was killing the Legionnaires. Would it have made a huge difference, maybe not, but my guess is that it would have, but no one outside of the gay community was concerned about gay men dying. You know that whole "it's forbidden in the Bible and they deserve their punishment" thing.
Until very recently I have had more friends and acquaintances die of AIDS than from anything else, so it's of interest and concern to me. For what I think is the best treatment of the AIDS epidemic in the 80's read And the Band Played On by Randy Shilts, who himself died of AIDS. When I saw Milk and then read Shilt's biography of Harvey Milk (The Mayor of Castro Street)I couldn't help but wonder if the epidemic might also have been different had he not been assassinated.
Here is a prayer from the US Conference of Catholic Bishops on HIV/AIDS (altered):
God of our weary years,
God of our silent tears,
you are the God of health and wholeness.
In the plan of your creation,
you call us to struggle in our sickness
and to cling always to the cross of your Son.
Holy God, we are your servants.
Many of us are now suffering with HIV or AIDS.
We come before you, and ask you, if it is your holy will,
to take away this suffering from us,
restore us to health
and lead us to know you and your powerful healing.
We ask you also to be with those of us who nurse your sick ones.
We are the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers,
children, and friends of your suffering people.
It is so hard for us to see those whom we love suffer.
You know what it is to suffer.
Help us to minister in loving care, support, and patience
to your people who suffer with HIV and AIDS.
Lead us to do whatever it will take to eradicate this illness
from the lives of those who are touched by it,
both directly and indirectly.
Trusting in you and the strength of your Spirit,
we pray these things in the name of Jesus.
Amen.
In Decline
There has been a lot of talk in most mainline churches (including the UMC) lately about decreasing numbers and what this means for the future of these denominations. But contrary to popular opinion, some recent articles indicate that these denominations are not alone in these declines.
A recent statement by Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention said that if nothing is done, they will lose 22,000 churches by the year 2030. No, that is not a typo, he did say 22,000 churches. That is half the churches they currently have. This year they also had their third year of decline in baptisms, reaching the lowest number since 1987. Since believers baptism is the key piece of how Baptists identify themselves this is a crucial statistic.
While current membership stands at just over 16 million, many people believe this is an inflated number. There have recently been several motions to have churches purge their membership roles of inactive people, but these have been rejected for fear of what the true numbers would like look. They, like the Methodists of years past, like being the largest Protestant denomination in the country.
Another conservative denomination has also seen a drop-off in membership. The Presbyterian Church in America (this is not the PCUSA which is the one most people are familiar with) saw their first numerical decline last year since their founding in 1973. The moderator said this loss was attributable to a purge in membership rolls from a megachurch in Florida, but that they should be concerned about deeper trends. The PCUSA also recorded their largest one year loss ever.
So what do we do about this? That is a topic we will spend a lot more time discussing in the near future.
A recent statement by Frank Page, president of the Southern Baptist Convention said that if nothing is done, they will lose 22,000 churches by the year 2030. No, that is not a typo, he did say 22,000 churches. That is half the churches they currently have. This year they also had their third year of decline in baptisms, reaching the lowest number since 1987. Since believers baptism is the key piece of how Baptists identify themselves this is a crucial statistic.
While current membership stands at just over 16 million, many people believe this is an inflated number. There have recently been several motions to have churches purge their membership roles of inactive people, but these have been rejected for fear of what the true numbers would like look. They, like the Methodists of years past, like being the largest Protestant denomination in the country.
Another conservative denomination has also seen a drop-off in membership. The Presbyterian Church in America (this is not the PCUSA which is the one most people are familiar with) saw their first numerical decline last year since their founding in 1973. The moderator said this loss was attributable to a purge in membership rolls from a megachurch in Florida, but that they should be concerned about deeper trends. The PCUSA also recorded their largest one year loss ever.
So what do we do about this? That is a topic we will spend a lot more time discussing in the near future.
Monday, August 10, 2009
Oh the cost...
The USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion just published a report estimating the cost of raising a child from birth to age 17. According to the study, a two-parent family that earns less than $57,000 annually will spend $160,000, those with incomes between $57,000-$99,000 spend $221,000 and those higher than $99,000 will spend $367,000. (Median family income for 2008 for a 4-person family is $67,019.)
Since the USDA began tracking these figures in 1960, the largest growth has been in the cost for child care, although no costs are given for this amount. The fact that this issue is not more of a public debate is very strange. Linda and I pay more than $28,000 a year to send the girls to daycare. In other words, we spend roughly what I make as take home pay to send them to daycare. We are not in the lowest costing daycare in the area, but we aren't even close to the highest costing. We could be spending a lot more if we wanted to, but we simply can't afford it. We could also be paying less, but we weren't happy with those programs. These are incredibly important years in their lives and I want to have them working with the best we can afford. I don't want our daycare to be competing with McDonald's as an employer. (no offense to those who work at McDonald's. Linda and I both worked there.)
Why aren't we as a nation talking about affordable, quality childcare? Why aren't we talking about getting good teachers teaching our infants and toddlers just as we are talking about for the regular school system? Why aren't we up in arms about how people of lower incomes aren't able to afford childcare for their kids? When I write my check every month I wonder how people making minimum wage or just a little above are able to pay someone to take care of their children and still have anything left to pay the other bills.
The simple fact is many of them can't. Every year there will be a story in the news about a child who died from exposure in a car while their parent, usually a single mother, was inside working because they couldn't afford to send them somewhere. The response is usually two-fold. One group will talk about the need for affordable childcare and the other group will blame the parent and say they just didn't try hard enough to find a place for them to go. But, the news is quickly forgotten and we move on to the next news cycle. Well the problem is not going away, in fact, it's probably getting worse, and we are going to have to confront it sooner or later.
To show you how much this problem seems to be ignored, I looked in the Book of Discipline and the Book of Resolutions for what the UMC has to say about this issue. While a resolution says "The church has important responsibilities in initiating, encouraging, and participating in the highest quality of child care for children and families, not only in the local community but also nationwide," there is not a direct call for groups to deal with this directly other than to be "diligent advocates." There is not even a call for greater funding for Head Start. To be honest, I'm a little stunned by this and will be thinking about how we should approach this, and what should be submitted, for the next General Conference.
Sunday Schools were originally started in order to give children a place to go to learn how to read and write on the only day they had off from working. The church was instrumental not only in getting child labor laws instituted but also in pushing for universal education. Often the first hospital, school and college built in a town were built by the Methodist church. Why are we silent on this issue? I think some of it is because people who don't have small children do not realize how insanely expensive child care is, and I think there is also the traditional argument that if society helps assist with these costs more women will go out to work and their place is in the home.
As I already said this is not an issue which is going to go away, and unfortunately it is probably waiting for a tragedy to happen before it is addressed.
This will be an issue I will address again. I will also discuss the $207,000 gap between those at the top and those at the bottom. I would venture to guess that a large portion of this is directly attributable to educational issues.
Since the USDA began tracking these figures in 1960, the largest growth has been in the cost for child care, although no costs are given for this amount. The fact that this issue is not more of a public debate is very strange. Linda and I pay more than $28,000 a year to send the girls to daycare. In other words, we spend roughly what I make as take home pay to send them to daycare. We are not in the lowest costing daycare in the area, but we aren't even close to the highest costing. We could be spending a lot more if we wanted to, but we simply can't afford it. We could also be paying less, but we weren't happy with those programs. These are incredibly important years in their lives and I want to have them working with the best we can afford. I don't want our daycare to be competing with McDonald's as an employer. (no offense to those who work at McDonald's. Linda and I both worked there.)
Why aren't we as a nation talking about affordable, quality childcare? Why aren't we talking about getting good teachers teaching our infants and toddlers just as we are talking about for the regular school system? Why aren't we up in arms about how people of lower incomes aren't able to afford childcare for their kids? When I write my check every month I wonder how people making minimum wage or just a little above are able to pay someone to take care of their children and still have anything left to pay the other bills.
The simple fact is many of them can't. Every year there will be a story in the news about a child who died from exposure in a car while their parent, usually a single mother, was inside working because they couldn't afford to send them somewhere. The response is usually two-fold. One group will talk about the need for affordable childcare and the other group will blame the parent and say they just didn't try hard enough to find a place for them to go. But, the news is quickly forgotten and we move on to the next news cycle. Well the problem is not going away, in fact, it's probably getting worse, and we are going to have to confront it sooner or later.
To show you how much this problem seems to be ignored, I looked in the Book of Discipline and the Book of Resolutions for what the UMC has to say about this issue. While a resolution says "The church has important responsibilities in initiating, encouraging, and participating in the highest quality of child care for children and families, not only in the local community but also nationwide," there is not a direct call for groups to deal with this directly other than to be "diligent advocates." There is not even a call for greater funding for Head Start. To be honest, I'm a little stunned by this and will be thinking about how we should approach this, and what should be submitted, for the next General Conference.
Sunday Schools were originally started in order to give children a place to go to learn how to read and write on the only day they had off from working. The church was instrumental not only in getting child labor laws instituted but also in pushing for universal education. Often the first hospital, school and college built in a town were built by the Methodist church. Why are we silent on this issue? I think some of it is because people who don't have small children do not realize how insanely expensive child care is, and I think there is also the traditional argument that if society helps assist with these costs more women will go out to work and their place is in the home.
As I already said this is not an issue which is going to go away, and unfortunately it is probably waiting for a tragedy to happen before it is addressed.
This will be an issue I will address again. I will also discuss the $207,000 gap between those at the top and those at the bottom. I would venture to guess that a large portion of this is directly attributable to educational issues.
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