Economist Article: "Who Runs Britain?"

"Gordon Brown is simultaneously at the peak of his power and bereft of it."

A 'Tsunami' of Boomer Teacher Retirements is on the Horizon

"More than half the nation's teachers are Baby Boomers ages 50 and older and eligible for retirement over the next decade, a report says today. It warns that a retirement "tsunami" could rob schools of valuable experience. The report by the National Commission on Teaching and America's Future calls for school administrators to take immediate action to lower attrition rates and establish programs that pass along valuable information from teaching veterans to new teachers."

The End of Christian America

"The percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. How that statistic explains who we are now—and what, as a nation, we are about to become."

How Obama Is Using the Science of Change

". . .President Obama is still relying on behavioral science. But now his Administration is using it to try to transform the country. Because when you know what makes people tick, it's a lot easier to help them change. . ."

In Japan, More CEOs Share the Pain of Tough Times

"While Merrill Lynch's John Thain was splurging on a $1.2 million office makeover and Lehman Bros.' Richard Fuld was drawing a $22 million bonus, the president of Japan Airlines was riding the bus to work, eating in the company cafeteria and cutting his salary to $98,000.
'I wanted to share the pain with my colleagues,' JAL President Haruka Nishimatsu, 61, says by e-mail. Nishimatsu had just imposed an early-retirement program that ended the careers of 'many staff of my generation.'"

Who Moved My Bonus? Executive Pay Makes a U-Turn

"BIG corporations, buffeted by widespread economic pain and heightened scrutiny of lush compensation packages, appear to be paying attention to a longstanding complaint from shareholders: When it comes to executive pay, greed — even the appearance of it — is not good. Executive compensation for the highest-paid chief executives at public companies fell in 2008, the first such downturn in five years. And the bottom dropped out of the bonus pool, the incentive that angered investors after the controversial bonus payouts at the American International Group."

Sick of Compromise, Christian Right Drops Politics

"A new generation of religious conservatives is turning its back on political activism, Kathleen Parker writes in the Washington Post. Today's Moral Majority accuses Christian leaders like James Dobson of bringing the cultural wars from churches to Congress and compromising their beliefs. Now, 'Dobson and the Christian right political movement is a failure,' said one, calling the loss 'self-inflicted.'"