Coming to Grips

Praised
Muslim leaders in many cities rushed to hold news conferences and preach sermons at mosques denouncing the bombing suspects, mourning the victims and praising the response of law enforcement and the community in Boston. They were eager to dissociate their faith from the Muslim suspects, and to head off a backlash against Muslims in the United States. (NYT, 4/20/2013)

We were absolutely thrilled to read this. Condemnation by Muslims of acts of terrorism committed in the name of Islam must occur more frequently and/or be publicized more widely. 


Stunted
It began as a stunt intended to prove that hardship and poverty still existed in this small, wealthy country, but it backfired badly. Visit a single mother of two on welfare, a liberal member of Parliament goaded a skeptical political opponent, see for yourself how hard it is.

It turned out, however, that life on welfare was not so hard. The 36-year-old single mother, given the pseudonym “Carina” in the news media, had more money to spend than many of the country’s full-time workers. All told, she was getting about $2,700 a month, and she had been on welfare since she was 16. (NYT, 4/20/2013)

Good piece about how Denmark is being forced to rethink its cradle-to-grave welfare state. The threats are two-fold: the abuse of the system as described above and the aging of the population which means fewer workers supporting a larger group of beneficiaries. Lessons that the U.S. would do well to heed....but won't.