Monday, October 12, 2009

“Hands On founders battled 'greed is good' philosophy - Atlanta Journal Constitution” plus 4 more

“Hands On founders battled 'greed is good' philosophy - Atlanta Journal Constitution” plus 4 more

Hands On founders battled 'greed is good' philosophy - Atlanta Journal Constitution

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 07:40 AM PDT

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Elise Eplan, busy 20 years ago as a newly minted investment banker, had trouble finding time to volunteer at service organizations.

"It was the end of the '80s with 'greed is good' and all of that and there were many of us who were rebelling and saying that is not us. We still have a heart and a soul and we care about this city," she said.

But Eplan's and her friends' work schedules clashed with nonprofits' programs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays

"There was nothing flexible enough for my peers," she said.

So she and 11 acquaintances mixed practicality with idealism and came up with a more organized and flexible business model for volunteering.

The 12 volunteered as a group. If an agency needed a weekly volunteer, rather than one person having to make a weekly commitment, the group worked together to fill that slot. That gave them flexibility. They also offered to work weekends, promising agencies they could supply a number of people.

The idea, which began in that informal meeting in Eplan's Atlanta apartment in 1989, has turned into the largest volunteer coordinating agency in the U.S.

Hands On Atlanta became a one-stop shop to bring together volunteers and nonprofits and has grown to include more than 250 affiliates across the U.S. and 11 international cities. Its volunteers delivered more than 30 million hours of service valued at $615 million in 2008. Volunteers in Atlanta have worked more than 6 million hours since 1989.

The agency helps support more than 30,000 projects a month at nonprofit, faith, education and community-based organizations. Its biggest events are Hands On days across the country, when volunteers take on projects like planting trees, painting schools and tutoring children.

Kent Alexander, one of the founders, said, "I never expected to see Hands On Singapore or Tokyo or Hands On Manila. We just wanted to do a lot for Atlanta and thought there was a pent-up demand. We just did not realize how great that demand was."

After determining their system worked, they invited friends to join them. Their numbers went from 12 to about 60. They began to get a few small grants to help with postage, phones and other costs.

With success came new problems. They were growing beyond what they could manage out of Eplan's apartment and began looking for someone to run the organization.

Deva Hirsch, one of the founders, said, "We had heard about this great young woman, Michelle Nunn, who was considering going to law school but had her heart in nonprofits."

She and Eplan met Nunn for lunch.

Hirsch laughed as she remembered telling Nunn, "We can pay you $7 an hour for about 10 hours a week."

Nunn was weighing going to law school and a Peace Corps assignment. She did not have to think twice about the Hands On offer, she said.

She told them yes.

"It did feel like a big adventure," Nunn said.

And there were the perks.

"You know, I was an executive director," she said. "Of course, shortly after I realized it was a glorified internship."

Nunn led the organization through the founding of the national Hands On Network in 1992 and through the agency's merger with the Points of Light Foundation in 2007. She now is CEO of the foundation, which is the umbrella organization for Hands On affiliates.

Hands On has gone from its first grant 20 years ago of $2,500 to Points of Light's $39 million budget. Collectively, all Hands On affiliates have a budget of $180 million, Nunn said.

Eplan and other founders credit Nunn's vision, tenacity and spirit with helping grow the organization from 12 friends to one with international impact and tens of thousands of volunteers.

Eplan, who moved from banking to help run the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and now is a nonprofit consultant, said, "At our first Hands On Day, we had 200 people and we were overwhelmed. That to us was a huge success. We could never had envisioned it would be dozens of Hands On organizations across the U.S. and around the world."

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WaPo's Perry Bacon demonstrates how reporters cover for politicians ... - Media Matters

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 09:35 AM PDT

During an online Q&A today, Washington Post reporter Perry Bacon gave a pretty good demonstration of how the media does a lousy job of holding politicians accountable.

Bacon was first asked why, after "The Republicans, media talking heads, and some conservative Democrats, have focused intensely on the cost of health care (to taxpayers and to the deficit)" CBO estimates that show a public health insurance option would "save the country money" have been all but ignored.  The questioner also asked whether the dynamic in which politicians who oppose a public option claim to be concerned about costs shows that they're really just "bought and paid for by the insurance industry."

In response, Bacon essentially denied the politicians in question have talked about costs. Here's his whole answer:

Perry Bacon Jr.: I think people have reported on the public option saving money. I think conservative Democrats and Republicans have said they don't want such as an intervention of the government into the health care system, an argument more about philosophy than about cost saving.

Now, anybody who has paid the slightest bit of attention has heard countless "conservative Democrats and Republicans" invoking costs and deficits as reasons for being skeptical about a public health insurance option.  In early July, for example, members of the self-described "fiscally conservative Democratic Blue Dog Coalition" sent House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer a letter about health care reform.  Their very first demand?  That reform contain "deficit neutrality."  

Here's another example: "Lincoln: Public Option Too Expensive" -- that's the headline on an article about conservative Democratic Senator Blanche Lincoln.  The article quotes Lincoln declaring: "I would not support a solely government-funded public option. We can't afford that."

That's pretty explicit.  And, with no real effort at all, you could easily find many more examples of conservative Democrats and Republicans -- not to mention media figures -- saying similar things.

But Perry Bacon pretends that never happened; that those politicians opposed a public option because of "philosophy" rather than making arguments about "cost saving."  In doing so, he lets them off the hook for making giving factually incorrect reasons for opposing a public plan.

This is not exactly an arcane concept.  It's been obvious for months.  Paul Krugman spelled it out in July, and even then it was already understood by many who had been paying attention.  Here's Krugman in July:

So what are the objections of the Blue Dogs?

Well, they talk a lot about fiscal responsibility, which basically boils down to worrying about the cost of those subsidies. ... even as they complain about the plan's cost, the Blue Dogs are making demands that would greatly increase that cost.

There has been a lot of publicity about Blue Dog opposition to the public option, and rightly so: a plan without a public option to hold down insurance premiums would cost taxpayers more than a plan with such an option.

Anyway, another reader called Bacon on this:

What's that "philosophy," Perry: They're fiscal conservatives only until it's a -government- plan that saves the most of their constituents' tax money over the long haul? They want things to be revenue neutral, until it means their insurance-industry backers have to make changes and act competitively in a free market with a private option? What kind of twisted "philosophy" is that?

Perry Bacon Jr.: Not sure what to say about to you public option advocates, who have frustated with the Blue Dogs and other Dem opponents of the public option for months. I feel like these arguments have been aired for months, and the conservative Democrats simply feel they can't back the public option for political reasons.

Again, Bacon refuses to acknowledge the obvious: that one of the primary reasons given for opposing a public option is simply false -- and he appears exasperated with readers who ask him about that obvious truth.  Note, however, that he shifts his explanation for the conservatives' opposition to a public option -- it's no longer about "philosophy"; now it's "for political reasons."

That, too, lets them off the hook.  Polling has shown that a public option is popular in the home states of people like Sen. Lincoln.  So what are the "political reasons"?  Maybe it has something to do with the campaign contributions from the insurance industry Bacon was asked about, and ignored?

Instead of doing his job -- holding politicians accountable for their statements and assessing whether those statements square with reality -- Bacon just keeps ignoring the obvious and inventing excuses for them.

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St. Margaret Mercy receives excellence awards - NWI.com

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 01:31 PM PDT

St. Margaret Mercy Healthcare Centers received top national ratings in pulmonary services and cardiac surgery, the hospital announced Monday.

HealthGrades, the leading health care ratings organization, placed the Hammond campus in the top 5 percent of the nation for overall pulmonary services and in the top 10 percent in the nation for cardiac surgery. The Dyer campus was recognized for being in the top 10 percent in the nation for overall pulmonary services.

The independent group gives quality ratings on the nation's 5,000 hospitals and 16,000 nursing homes. Additional awards and rankings for St. Margaret Mercy and other hospitals can be found at http://www.healthgrades.com.

"All of these designations mean a great deal to our patients and to us within the Northern Indiana Region of the Sisters of St. Francis Health Services," said Gene Diamond, CEO of Sisters of St. Francis Health Systems Northern Region. "We've got the bar set high and we'll continue to push it even higher."

Dr. George Hodakowski said the award reflected a team effort by the all the cardiac surgeons.

"Our philosophy is taken very seriously on the heart surgeon team," he said. "We strive to take care of each patient like they are our family member."

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New York State Senate Honours Nkrumah - GhanaHomePage

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 12:34 PM PDT

The New York State Senate has honoured Ghana''s first President and Pan-African Icon and Activist, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah with a Legislative Resolution celebrating Nkrumah''s 100th Birthday. The resolution was proposed and led by Senator Bill Perkins of the 30th District of the New York State of the United States of America.

Below are the details of the resolution:

LEGISLATIVE RESOLUTION celebrating the 100th Birthday of the late Kwame Nkrumah, and paying tribute to his many contributions to Pan-Africanism on Monday, September 21, 2009

WHEREAS, It is the custom of this Legislative Body to honor those distinguished individuals whose lifework and civic endeavor served to enhance the quality of life in their communities; and

WHEREAS, Attendant to such concern, and in full accord with its long standing traditions, this Legislative Body is justly proud to celebrate the 100th Birthday of the late Kwame Nkrumah, and to pay tribute to his many contributions to Pan-Africanism on Monday, September 21, 2009; and

WHEREAS, In 1909, Kwame Nkrumah was born to Madam Nyaniba in Nkroful, Gold Coast; he graduated from the prestigious Achimota School in Accra in 1930, studied at a Roman Catholic Seminary, and taught at a Catholic school in Axim; in 1935, he left Ghana for the United States, receiving a BA degree from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania in 1939, where he pledged the Mu Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and later received an STB (Bachelor of Sacred Theology) degree in 1942; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Nkrumah earned a Master of Science degree in Education from the University of Pennsylvania in 1942, and a Master of Arts degree in Philosophy the following year; while lecturing in political science at Lincoln University, he was elected president of the African Students Organization of America and Canada; and

WHEREAS, As an undergraduate at Lincoln University, Kwame Nkrumah participated in at least one student theater production and published an essay on European government in Africa in the student newspaper, The Lincolnian; during his time in the United States, he preached at black Presbyterian Churches in Philadelphia and New York City, read books about politics and divinity, and tutored students in philosophy; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Nkrumah encountered the ideas of Marcus Garvey, and in 1943 met and began a lengthy correspondence with Trinidadian Marxist C.L.R. James, Russian expatriate Raya Dunayevskaya, and Chinese-American Grace Lee Boggs, all of whom were members of a US based Trotskyist intellectual cohort; Kwame Nkrumah later credited James with teaching him ''how an underground movement worked''; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Nkrumah arrived in London in May of 1945 intending to study at the LSE; after meeting with George Padmore, he helped organize the Fifth Pan-African Congress in Manchester, England; he then founded the West African National Secretariat to work for the decolonization of Africa; in addition, he served as Vice-President of the West African Students'' Union (WASU); and

WHEREAS, Returning to Ghana in 1947, Kwame Nkrumah became general secretary of the newly founded United Gold Coast Convention, but split from it in 1949 to form the Convention People''s Party (CPP); and

WHEREAS, After his ''positive action'' campaign created disturbances in 1950, Kwame Nkrumah was jailed, but when the CPP swept the 1951 elections, he was freed to form a government, and he led the colony to independence as Ghana in 1957; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Nkrumah was an influential 20th century advocate of Pan-Africanism, and the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966; over his lifetime, he was awarded honorary doctorates by Lincoln University; Moscow State university; Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt; Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland; Humboldt University in the former East Berlin; and several other institutions; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Nkrumah was the motivating force behind the movement for independence of Ghana, then British West Africa, and its first president when it became independent in 1957; his numerous writings address Africa''s political destiny; and

WHEREAS, A firm believer in African liberation, Kwame Nkrumah pursued a radical Pan-African policy, playing a key role in the formation of the Organization of African Unity in 1963; and

WHEREAS, In 1964, Kwame Nkrumah formed a one-party state; he was over thrown by the military in 1966, with the help of western backing and spent his last years in exile, dying in Bucharest, Romania, on April 27, 1972; his legacy and dream of a "United States of Africa" still remains a goal among many; and

WHEREAS, Kwame Nkrumah''s distinguished record merits the recognition and respectful tribute of this Legislative Body; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to celebrate the 100th Birthday of the late Kwame Nkrumah, and to pay tribute to his many contributions to Pan-Africanism on Monday, September 21, 2009.

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Higher U.S. postal rates would curb 'catalogue mania' - Bloggingstocks.com

Posted: 12 Oct 2009 01:17 PM PDT

What's one change the federal government should implement quickly to increase revenue and also end a needless subsidy? Increase mail rates for business.

Investors know it's the fall season - a time when students return to school and Americans get back to work. But it's also catalogue season – catalogues that consumers often have a hard time convincing companies to remove them from their lists, despite not having considered a purchase from them in eons.

And the reason the catalogues keep coming is obvious enough: commercial U.S. Postal Service mail rates are low: that 44-cent U.S. postage stamp you buy for a private, first-class letter subsidizes commercial mail delivery, which pays a dramatically lower rate on a per once basis.

Catalogue clutter

One by-product of the above? Catalogue mania. Although selected companies are no-doubt cutting back mailings as they trim marketing budgets during the recession, the generations-old trend is that catalogues seem to be glued to one's persona. Buy a gift for a significant female other from Lord & Taylor or Bloomingdale's and you're on their catalogue list for life.

Other stores mail you specialized catalogues that have zeroed-in on your interests, following purchases. For example: a catalogue featuring only men's clothes from an upscale department store, and one on a golf club sale at a sporting goods outlet.

Economic Analysis: A higher rate for commercial mail would have three benefits: 1) it would help the U.S. Postal Service become more self-sufficient, 2) it would really cut-down on unnecessary mailings, and 3) it would save many trees.

Finally, the intent of the above is not to stifle commerce, but rather to move businesses away from the taxpayer-costly, flood-the-market-with-catalogues philosophy because they're cheap, and toward a critical evaluation of who their most likely customers are, based on a higher catalogue mailing cost.

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