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According to Julia Duin, a religion reporter for the Washington Times, greater amount of and more evangelicals are in deed fleeing their churches. Indeed, Ms. Duin regards church-quitting, at least among evangelicals, as nothing less than some epidemic. The enigma, in her view, is not in the souls of the church quitters but in the character of the churches they choose to leave. "Something," she observes, "is not right with . . . evangelical church life."The faults she points to–relying on her own reporting and survey data–are many. They are surprising, too, running counter to the stereotype of evangelicals bonding happily in their churches. She reports, among other things: a be in need of of a feeling of common among church members, inducing loneliness and boredom; church instruction that fails to go beyond the basics of the faith or to space members grappling with inconvenience or unanswered prayer; pastors who are either out of touch through their parishioners or themselves unhappy, or who not answer the expectation of to shepherd their flocks, or who are caught up in scandal, or who try to control the lives of meeting-house members in a high-handed way. She claims that many churches desire "inefficient leadership models" and that many, preoccupied with the care of families, neglect single people.Women in particular adieu evangelical churches, Ms. Duin says, because they are asked to do too scanty by their churches. Ms. Duin, who has a school degree, writes: "I have been one of those unwanted women for years." In fact, Ms. Duin's interest in her subject is in part autobiographical: She left a church in 2001 and didn't find a new one to the time when 2007. She has lived through the process of church-quitting, and she has interviewed a lot of people with the same experience.There is in no degree doubt more conformity to fact in what Ms. Duin reports. But is in that place truly an prevalent of church-quitting? She says that evangelical churches, which for decades increased their numbers at impressive rates, are today growing "only appreciably." If so, church-quitting may be one reason. But so, too, may be the undisputed demographic fact–not explored in "Quitting Church"–that evangelical parents are having fewer children these days. And the church-membership surveys Ms. Duin cites do not include nondenominational churches. They lean to be large and evangelical, and their growth rate remains strong.If the trend Ms. Duin describes is not as big as she thinks, her concern is still understandable. It is truly disturbing–to else of us, anyway–to hear of a longtime church-goer deciding to remain home on Sunday mornings and read, yes, the New York Times; or to hear of a best-selling evangelical author quitting his church and arguing that leaving the institutional house of god is something that "mature Christians" should translate. Whatever the incidence of church-quitting, it is not a happy development for those who regard general worship as essential to the Christian life.What is the answer? For Ms. Duin, churches power of choosing have to become places that people feel eager to attend–"decent" churches, as she puts it. She calls for better teaching, better preaching and better pastors, who are in affect with the lives of their worshippers–in short, on account of better churches, where "community" is cultivated, women are taken more seriously and singles can find mates. With such changes, "people will break the ice craving house of god in the room of quitting church, and the great emigration decision be no more."Perhaps, but Ms. Duin's brief is more sociological than theological, since if a church exists to "serve needs," like any other common organization. It does so in a tendency of action, of course, but it exists primarily to serve biblical purposes. Ms. Duin does say that churches should "concentrate steady discipleship," and in the present life she hits upon a theological point: The church's mission–as defined in the Gospel of Matthew–is to make disciples of whole nations by teaching them everything that Christ commanded. That obligatory entails breeding what is termed "the whole counsel of God" and not the Christianity lite that Ms. Duin finds in manifold evangelical churches.According to Ms. Duin, churches dedicated to material disciples will "do well in this era of dumbed-down, purpose-driven, seeker-friendly Christianity." But is that really stanch? From a theological perspective, there is no guarantee that churches will prosper as they make trial to make disciples–if we judge prosperity by house of god membership alone. A church might conscientiously carry out its biblical tasks and yet, by measures of popularity, do poorly in this world. Such a church would not be doing right granting that it adjusted its mission for the sake of higher attendance records. Note that through the end of his ministry the number of disciples with Jesus was into disfavor to 12. Now in that place was a decent house of god, one might say, if a puny one.Terry Eastland is publisher of THE WEEKLY STANDARD. This portion first appeared in the Wall Street Journal.

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Treasury prices rose moderately Thursday, as a plummeting cravat market sent investors hindmost into safer, fixed-income government securities.

A Labor Department report showing that new applications for unemployment benefits rose through 15,000 last week from the previous week indicated to many investors that the economy main be worsening. The mart was anticipating another week of declines in jobless claims.

Poor back-to-school sales from teen retailers and similarly anemic August figures from luxury stores also herd money out of the stock market. And with oil and most other commodities prices declining as well on Thursday, much of the cash cast its way into Treasurys.

“We’re following equities today,” said T.J. Marta, fixed-income analyst at RBC Capital Markets. He said Treasurys sold off a bit later the Institute for Supply Management reported a better-than-expected August performance for the service sector, but that buying returned as stocks headed sink.

Furthermore, although the ISM’s service sector lection of 50.6 was an meliorating over the previous month’s reading of 49.5 in July, it still showed very weak expansion.

“We silent expect that the economy is going to continue to slow,” Marta said.

In late commercial, the benchmark 10-year Treasury scholium rose 22/32 to 103 4/32. Its yield fell to 3.62 percent from 3.70 percent late Wednesday, according to BGCantor Market Data. Yields move in the opposite direction from prices.

The 30-year drawn out bond rose 31/32 to 103 31/32, while its give place bloody to 4.26 percent from 4.32 percent on Wednesday.

The 2-year note rose 5/32 to 100 12/32, while its yield fell to 2.18 percent from 2.27 percent.

The 3-month Treasury evidence of debt yielded 1.67 percent, and its discount tax was at 1.64 percent.

On Friday, the Labor Department releases its highly anticipated employment report, which economists count upon to indicate another drop in payrolls and another uptick in the unemployment rate.

From Standard & Poor’s Equity Research

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CREDIT SUISSE DOWNGRADES LEGG MASON TO UNDERPERFORM FROM NEUTRAL

Credit Suisse algebraist Craig Siegenthaler says his downgrade of Legg Mason (LM) follows the restructuring of more of the large structured investment vehicles (SIVs) and rebound in LM share price.

Siegenthaler notes that over the next year, his expectations that LM will miss EPS estimates (or face negative revisions) and experience highest level of net redemptions as a percentage of possessions under management among the public managers are the core arguments supporting his underperform rating. He believes the potential increase in supply of investment address institutions as being sale, including three Ohio bank subsidiaries (National City (NCC), Fifth Third Bancorp (FITB) and KeyCorp (KEY)) and Neuberger Berman (by Lehman Brothers (LEH)), has lowered the private market value for LM.

He keeps $1.90 fiscal year 2009 (March) and $3.30 fiscal year 2010 EPS estimates.

GOLDMAN DOWNGRADES ITS VIEW ON STEEL INDUSTRY TO NEUTRAL FROM ATTRACTIVE

Goldman Sachs analyst Sal Tharani says that fresh concerns about a global economic slowdown, inflation fears in emerging economies, a seasonal slowdown in carbonized iron demand and thus softening of prices in the near term, and fuzzy data out of China could, in his view, overshadow relatively salubrious longer term fundamentals.

He lowers poniard price estimates through any average of 6% beneficial to the second half of 2008 and 2009. He also lowers 2008 and 2009 EPS estimates by 1% and 7%, particularly. And he cuts mark prices by an medium of 18% across his coverage universe (he cuts United States Steel (X) target to $182 from $244.)

He says Nucor (NUE) and United States Steel remain buys, but he removes United States Steel from his Conviction Buy List. He upgrades Steel Dynamics (STLD) to buy, replacing Commercial Metals (CMC), which is now rated neutral. Worthington Industries (WOR), and Gibraltar Industries (ROCK) dwell sells.

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The cover was sent to select information organizations by the agency of Mark Neschis, the head of corporate communications for Wenner Media and former director of television in the Clinton White House. An email from Neschis that accompanied the case read: "Thought I would send over our Us Weekly/Sarah Palin cover novel, on stands Friday, allowing that helpful in your coverage. Might be useful as an exemplification of how the news is playing out. (Us Weekly has 12 million, mostly female readers)""How the tidings is playing out." That's an interesting way of putting it. In one sense, it's accurate. The mainstream media have been focused on pseudo-scandals about McCain's running mate. Does it truly matter at all that Palin's husband, Todd, had a DUI in 1986? Who cares? And yet I've seen and heard news organizations mention — unruffled discuss — the issue several times over the past connect of days.The "news is playing out" that way because irresponsible journalists publish cover stories promoting "Babies, Lies and Scandal," without any evidence of an actual "scandal." Maybe US Weekly will make public news of an actual "scandal" by Friday, when the magazine is scheduled to hit the newsstands. But the three it mentions on its contain are not scandals. ("Under attack, admits daughter, 17, is pregnant" and "Investigated for firing of sister's ex-husband" and "Mom of Five: New embarrassing surprises.")There are legitimate questions encircling how Palin was vetted. But many news organizations are using the vetting issue as an excuse to make insinuations about Palin's family and her role as a chief. Instead of asking whether McCain knew that Palin wanted "an going off plan" from Iraq in December of 2006, by reason of example, reporters are obsessing here and there Bristol Palin's fiancé and whether Sarah Palin can serve taken in the character of vice president and be a good mother.It's ironic, of methodical arrangement, that the same establishment news organizations consumed by such tabloid issues not long gone refused to investigate reports that John Edwards was having common contest and had a child out of wedlock. Why? The rehearsal was originally lowly by the National Enquirer and deemed too showy to touch. And, perhaps as of moment, Edwards was running for the Democratic nomination on this account that president, with an agenda favored by the agency of the liberal media establishment.Stephen F. Hayes is a senior scribbler at THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

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BOSTON

Talk about rolling the dice. The idea was to connect with the Hillary supporters. These women, dismayed by dint of. the idea that the experienced female was passed over for a fresh staminate part, were supposed to be won over by the agency of a patently inexperienced fresh female face. Never mind that this feisty working mom leans

The Straight Talk Express twisted itself into a pretzel trying to defend her qualifications to be commander in chief. More to the point, the dam of five had a personal story meant to capture the imagination of the American people, whose minds were beginning to range about ominously to so non-entertaining narratives as the Iraq War and the economy.

Not that I don’t find the Sarah Palin figment engaging. Mom to mayor to governor to VP nominee? There’s one woman who didn’t have trouble raising her skill in class. There’s individual woman who didn’t determine she had to be twice as companionable as a one to people.

Be troubled what you wish in favor of.

I shifted into high dudgeon over the Sexism in the Media, Part II, the blogcreeps and cablescum sneering at her beauty-queen bio and her working-mom credentials. Then along came the news that her 17-year-old daughter Bristol was pregnant. Immediately, the “parents and children values” folks who have fashioned a political wedge out of intellectual judgments began insisting that anyone who remarked on her baby bump was an insensitive invader of privacy.

What did James Dobson of Focus on the Family say? This teen pregnancy showed that “she and her subdivision of an order are human.” Tony Perkins at the Family Research Council praised Bristol for “choosing life in the midst of a difficult situation.” A spokeswoman for the Campaign for Family Values called the Palins “an American family out in that place living out their values.”

Meanwhile Obama himself, the son of an 18-year-old originating, reported strongly that “People’s families are off-limits and people’s children are especially off-limits.” Well, OK. But let’s not forget that it’s the right pinion that made social issues into a public issue. The right wing decided that pregnancy was not a matter of private decision-making but a ungracious and unrelenting national battle.

Sarah Palin had her youngest bantling after a prenatal test showed he had Down syndrome. But she doesn’t believe that other women should have existence allowed to make their own choice. Palin’s daughter got the “advice that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever planned,” bound her mother opposes sex-education programs that go about your business beyond abstinence-only.

McCain, an unsparing opposite of abortion, was once asked whether the government should provide contraception and replied, “You’ve stumped me.” The Republican platform is not similarly stumped with its implacable opposition to every disappointment and it’s renewed “call because of replacing ‘family-planning’ programs for teens with increased funding for abstinence education, which teaches abstaining until marriage as the liable and expected standard of behavior.”

Pregnancy is indeed privy. Decisions are to be discussed and determined in a family. But the party meeting in St. Paul, Minn., would put decisions about pregnancy in the hands of the government and replace sex information with disinformation. No, you don’t have to pass sagacity on a 17-year-old to pass judgment on these unrelenting policymakers.

As for Palin, is it beyond the pale to amazement whether she and her husband should have thought first of shielding their pregnant daughter from a media lens that they know have a mind focus on the bump and a marriage that will attract place during a national campaign? Has the candidate who mocked Obama toward his celebrity status created the newest Jamie Lynn Spears?

I remember on the frontier when the late Elizabeth Janeway, a doyenne of the women’s movement, imagined the primeval woman president. She would be a vice president picked for “balance” and elevated by fate to the Oval Office. More to the characteristic, Janeway fantasized archly and knowingly, she would be a conservative Republican who believes in the status quo.

Sarah Palin? So far, she looks like a Bridge to Nowhere.

ellengoodman@orb.com

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McCain advisers expect that he exist disposed address the issue in his speech to the convention tomorrow evening. McCain's campaign has increasingly turned its sights on the media in recent days as journalists go on to probe Palin's personal life and discuss her performance as a origin. McCain is personally offended by the controversy.Earlier Wednesday, campaign chief Steve Schmidt blasted the media for its treatment of Palin. "Governor Sarah Palin is an exceptional regulator with a record of accomplishment that exceeds, by far, the governing accomplishments of Senator Obama," Schmidt said it a statement. He added: "This vetting altercation is a faux media reproach designed to destroy the first female Republican nominee on the side of Vice President of the United States who has not been a part of the sensible boys' network that has come to predominate the word establishment in this country."And late Wednesday afternoon, Schmidt made a second statement threatening legalized action against the National Enquirer for its report that Palin had an extramarital affair."The smearing of the Palin parents and children must end. The allegations contained on the cover of the National Enquirer insinuating that Governor Palin had an extramarital affair are categorically false. It is a vicious malicious. Governor Palin is the greatest number popular governor in the home. She is a proven leader, an accomplished executive, a protector with a view to ethics reform, and a fighter against corruption. The efforts of the media and tabloids to destroy this fine and fashionable public servant are a disgrace. The American people will cast aside it.Senator McCain and Governor Palin look ship to discussing the issues that Americans care in regard to, fixing broken government, creating jobs, making our country energy independent and securing the public tranquillity for the next generation by bringing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to a victorious end. Legal action will be considered with regard to this disgraceful smear.Congressman Ed Royce, a conservative from California, says that the attacks on Palin will backfire. "Senator McCain's choice of Sarah Palin not only energized and excited the Republican base, it sent the disinterested media into making-panic-induced personal attacks on her family that are beyond the pale. The more they have a fling at, the more they reinforce her image as an outsider and a reformer and the more fascinating she is to independent voters who rightfully mistrust the mainstream media."Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at THE WEEKLY STANDARD.

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Get ready conducive to another hike in copays and deductibles.

A survey inmost nature released Thursday by the Mercer consulting firm found 59 percent of companies intend to keep down rising health care costs in 2009 by raising workers’ deductibles, copays or out-of-pocket expenditure limits.

On average, health care costs will mode up by any estimated 5.7 percent next year as being both workers and their employers, the study found. That repeats this year’s 5.7 percent hike and a 6.1 percent jump in 2007.

The growth of health care costs has hovered at around 6 percent inasmuch as 2005, according to Mercer. While that’s down from the double-digit growth in previous years, it’s still impressive at a faster clip than inflation or workers wages.

“It’s not something to merriment. about, especially since costs are getting passed put on to employees,” said Blaine Bos, author of the supervise.

The results were preliminary findings, through about half of the 3,000 comprehensive companies surveyed reporting. Preliminary findings for the annual survey have historically been in line with final results.

Between 2003 and 2007, the average deductible for some individual grew from $250 to $400. For a family, it rose from $1,000 to $1,500, according to Mercer.

Deductibles are the amount workers pay as antidote to medical care aloud of endure. Once workers spend that aggregate, they begin sharing costs with employers, by the company covering an average of 80 percent.

Health plans are fatiguing to rein in costs by sacrifice choices such as disease management plans and incentives for greater exercise of prescription drugs, before-mentioned Robert Zirkelbach, a spokesman for America’s Health Insurance Plans, a handicraft association representing nearly 1,300 insurers.

“But there’s certainly still other thing work to be done,” Zirkelbach said.

He before-mentioned AHIP has proposed a number of policies and measures to to a greater distance curb costs.

The Mercer survey also found 47 percent of companies are encouraging enrollment in plans with lower premiums and higher deductibles.

Additionally, the survey found 19 percent of employers will start offering a consumer-directed soundness plan. These are high-deductible plans with employee-controlled expenditure accounts. They encourage employees to consider costs when by letting them save account money they don’t spend for future needs.

Last year, 12 percent of all employers reported they were “very likely” to implement such a plan by 2009.

HARARE, Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe will name his own Cabinet grant that his opposition does not omen onto a power-sharing deal Thursday, a state-owned newspaper reported. The diversity expressed concern Mugabe was turning his on the frontier on talks.

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“We are a government, and we are a government that is empowered by the agency of elections,” The Herald, a governing party mouthpiece, quoted Mugabe as powerful reporters Wednesday when he was in Zambia for the exequies of Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa. “So we should form a Cabinet. We will not own a category to which place we will not have a Cabinet forever.

“If after tomorrow (opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai) does not want to wonder, we enjoin certainly present together a Cabinet. We feel frozen at the factor.”

Tendai Biti, Tsvangirai’s chief negotiator in the power-sharing talks, said Thursday the Herald story was the only word the opposition Movement for Democratic Change had had of any plans by Mugabe to unilaterally name a Cabinet. That raised the possibility the Herald fable was every attempt by Mugabe to constraining force the opposition to try to break a deadlock in the talks.

Biti said the talks were stalled, but would not elaborate on what was preventing agreement.

“We remain committed to these talks. We want these talks to succeed,” Biti said in a telephone interview.

Biti said that if Mugabe formed a Cabinet on his own, it would have existence “the final nail into the carcass of this dialogue.” He said Mugabe could not negotiate “while holding a gun to our head.”

The two sides have remained at odds steady the question of who should bring forth issue order in any unity government.

Tsvangirai has proposed he have being a powerful prime minister, leaving a largely ceremonial presidency to Mugabe. Mugabe, though, appears to exist resisting surrendering much of the capability he has wielded since independence in 1980.

The Herald story by Caesar Zvayi, a Zimbabwean journalist seen as close to Mugabe, accused Tsvangirai of “demanding a influence transfer instead of the power-sharing agreed to during the talks.”

Tsvangirai came first in a field of four in the first round of presidential voting in March, but did not win by dint of. the margin necessary to avoid a runoff against second-place finisher Mugabe. Tsvangirai withdrew from the June 27 runoff because of attacks on his supporters blamed on Mugabe’s party militants and security forces.

Mugabe held the runoff, and was declared the overwhelming winner, though the exercise was widely denounced.

The European Parliament has proposed reforming the rules to hearten a transition to fiber in cross-country Internet services

by Natasha Lomas

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The European Parliament has been debating EU Telecoms reform proposals ahead of a vote later this month which could usher in an era of fibre broadband for European citizens and mandatory data breach reporting for the continent’s operators.

The European Commission first proposed reforming the EU Telecoms rules, which have been in lay since 2003, in November in conclusion year with a view to reinforcing competition and investment as well as creating a single telecoms market to encourage innovative cross-border services.

As component of the mooted reforms, a numerate of important changes that could affect period users are being debated—including quicker mobile number porting; easier to understand tariffs and pricing; better data preservation and mandatory notification of security breaches. The EC believes telecoms operators should be obliged to inform their customers in the absence of delay whenever their personal data has been compromised—in order to boost consumer be credulous in the security of comms services.

As well as improved security, the reforms are in addition seeking to overcome the hindrances to wider uptake of fibre broadband in Europe.

In a conversation to the European Parliament this week, Viviane Reding, the EC’s telecoms commissioner, said: “I applaud the Parliament’s moves to encourage infrastructure competition on these ‘next generation interview’ networks by proactively promoting the sharing of the ducts that house the new fibres and encouraging risk sharing of new facilities.

“These efforts are welcome and are in note with a recommendation that I am currently preparing to accord. guidance for public regulators on these issues. But the upgrading of the choke point in the high speed internet must not become a new and enduring bottleneck for competition in the future.”

However, Reding warned that any legislation around next generation networks will have to represent a balancing exist operative between promoting competition and securing the necessary investment in fibre.

“We consider abundance of evidence that the transition to fibre will practise the business inflection in favor of alternative investors much more difficult,” she continued.

“Unbundling of fibre is currently neither technically nor economically possible that means that alternative operators must invest in their own fibre or use a bitstream service of the weighing down… In the many geographic zones whither infrastructure competition proves not to subsist practicable, appropriate regulation give by dint of. direct continue to be the only manner to keep competition live.”

According to the EC the most material reform proposals still under discussion between the Parliament and the Council include spectrum management; investment in next-generation telecoms networks; and tonic the independence of national telecoms regulators.

The EC hopes more efficient and consistent care of spectrum will boost wireless innovation and could achieve high-speed “broadband for all” internet access in Europe. It is also keen on co-ordinating the EU’s approach to spectrum freed up by the switchover from counterpart to digital TV.

Reding said: “We be seized of to make secure that while member states manage their national image, which is a very precious resort, they realise social and housekeeping benefits because their management is cause, transparent and flexible and because there is a more suitable co-ordination at EU level.”

Following the European Parliament’s first reading of the EU Telecoms reform proposals on 23 September, the European Council of Telecoms Ministers will then canvass the proposals on 27 November.

The EC reckons a political agreement on the final legislative texts could be achieved by the end of the year, through a new regulatory framework potentially becoming law in all 27 EU Member States by 2010.

Sizable home markets and strong state put up with on this account that foreign investment are bolstering semiconductor sales in these two hotspots

by Vivian Yeo

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India is tipped to be the world’s fastest growing semiconductor emporium, by a compound occurring once a year growth censure (CAGR) of 19.2 percent between 2007 and 2012, Phillip Koh, Gartner’s research vice president for semiconductors in the Asia-Pacific part, said Tuesday at the company’s 14th yearly semiconductors roadshow here. This means that globally, the Indian market has the highest increase in semiconductors required in devices.

Another fast-growing segment was what Gartner termed as “other Asia-Pacific” markets, that include Southeast Asian nations such in the same proportion that Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. Among this form into groups, Vietnam scored the highest CAGR at 46 percent.

Separately, in a statement Monday, Gartner said that the Asia-Pacific market will grow 6.4 percent this year to reach US$160 billion. The analyst house also forecast the regional market to generate a income of US$203 billion by 2012.

Koh on Tuesday singled out growing domestic demand for electronic equipment and a supportive investment meteorological character, to the degree that drivers for the strong forecast for India and Vietnam. According to him, the Indian semiconductor mart is expected to reach US$9.8 billion in 2012, more than double that of US$4.1 billion in 2007, while Vietnam’s semiconductor market, added Koh, will be credit US$6.6 billion in 2012.

Over in India, the government has initiated investment policy changes to encourage companies to set up manufacturing presence-chamber in the country, noted Koh. It also has growing chip design competencies, accounting for nearly 25 percent of global semiconductor trace out services revenues with regard to 2008.

Similarly, Vietnam has enjoyed “a lot of investment” within the final brace years. The government has also provided much prop to drive investment, he uttered. However, to be able to attract more investors and semiconductor players, the country needs to improve in continuance various aspects of infrastructure such as transportation, as well in the same manner with intellectual property safeguard.

“We expect that India is going to prosecute semiconductor growth [for the region] from one side to the other the next one to three years; emerging markets like Vietnam will [be a momentous contributor] from hand to hand the longer term,” noted Koh.

By 2012, India direct give 5 percent of the region’s semiconductor revenues, up from 3 percent in 2007, while Southeast Asian markets will contribute the majority of the 13 percent forecast for the Asia-Pacific region. China, however, will continue its lion’s share of the regional market at 62 percent, up from 59 percent last year.