WASHINGTON – In a victory for President Barack Obama, the Democratic-controlled House narrowly passed landmark health care legislation Saturday night to expand coverage to tens of millions who lack it and place tough new restrictions on the insurance industry. Republican opposition was nearly unanimous.

The 220-215 vote cleared the way for the Senate to begin a long-delayed debate on the issue that has come to overshadow all others in Congress.

A triumphant Speaker Nancy Pelosi likened the legislation to the passage of Social Security in 1935 and Medicare 30 years later — and Obama issued a statement saying, “I look forward to signing it into law by the end of the year.”

“It provides coverage for 96 percent of Americans. It offers everyone, regardless of health or income, the peace of mind that comes from knowing they will have access to affordable health care when they need it,” said Rep. John Dingell, the 83-year-old Michigan lawmaker who has introduced national health insurance in every Congress since succeeding his father in 1955.

In the run-up to a final vote, conservatives from the two political parties joined forces to impose tough new restrictions on abortion coverage in insurance policies to be sold to many individuals and small groups. They prevailed on a roll call of 240-194.

Ironically, that only solidified support for the legislation, clearing the way for conservative Democrats to vote for it.

The legislation would require most Americans to carry insurance and provide federal subsidies to those who otherwise could not afford it. Large companies would have to offer coverage to their employees. Both consumers and companies would be slapped with penalties if they defied the government’s mandates.

Insurance industry practices such as denying coverage on the basis of pre-existing medical conditions would be banned, and insurers would no longer be able to charge higher premiums on the basis of gender or medical history. In a further slap, the industry would lose its exemption from federal antitrust restrictions on price fixing and market allocation.

At its core, the measure would create a federally regulated marketplace where consumers could shop for coverage. In the bill’s most controversial provision, the government would sell insurance, although the Congressional Budget Office forecasts that premiums for it would be more expensive than for policies sold by private firms.

A cheer went up from the Democratic side of the House when the bill gained 218 votes, a majority. Moments later, Democrats counted down the final seconds of the voting period in unison, and let loose an even louder roar when Pelosi grabbed the gavel and declared, “the bill is passed.”

The bill drew the votes of 219 Democrats and Rep. Joseph Cao, a first-term Republican who holds an overwhelmingly Democratic seat in New Orleans. Opposed were 176 Republicans and 39 Democrats.

From the Senate, Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada issued a statement saying, “We realize the strong will for reform that exists, and we are energized that we stand closer than ever to reforming our broken health insurance system.”

In his written statement, Obama praised the House’s action and said, “now the United State Senate must follow suit and pass its version of the legislation. I am absolutely confident it will.”

Nearly unanimous in their opposition, minority Republicans cataloged their objections across hours of debate on the 1,990-page, $1.2 trillion legislation.

United in opposition, minority Republicans cataloged their objections across hours of debate on the 1,990-page, $1.2 trillion legislation.

“We are going to have a complete government takeover of our health care system faster than you can say, `this is making me sick,’” jabbed Rep. Candice Miller, R-Mich., adding that Democrats were intent on passing “a jobs-killing, tax-hiking, deficit-exploding” bill.

But with little doubt about the outcome, the rhetoric lacked the fire of last summer’s town hall meetings, when some critics accused Democrats of plotting “death panels” to hasten the demise of senior citizens.

The bill is projected to expand coverage to 36 million uninsured, resulting in 96 percent of the nation’s eligible population having insurance.

To pay for the expansion of coverage, the bill cuts Medicare’s projected spending by more than $400 billion over a decade. It also imposes a tax surcharge of 5.4 percent on income over $500,000 in the case of individuals and $1 million for families.

The bill was estimated to reduce federal deficits by about $104 billion over a decade, although it lacked two of the key cost-cutting provisions under consideration in the Senate, and its longer-term impact on government red ink was far from clear.

Democrats lined up a range of outside groups behind their legislation, none more important than the AARP, whose support promises political cover against the cuts to Medicare in next year’s congressional elections.

The nation’s drug companies generally support health care overhaul. And while the powerful insurance industry opposed the legislation, it did so quietly, and the result was that Republicans could not count on the type of advertising campaign that might have peeled away skittish Democrats in swing districts.

Over all, the bill envisioned the most sweeping set of changes to the health care system in more than a generation, and Democrats said it marked the culmination of a campaign that Harry Truman began when he sat in the White House 60 years ago.

Debate on the House floor had already begun when Obama strode into a closed-door meeting of the Democratic rank and file across the street from the Capitol to make a final personal appeal to them to pass his top domestic priority.

Later, in an appearance at the White House, he said he had told lawmakers, “to rise to this moment. Answer the call of history, and vote yes for health insurance reform for America.”

It appeared that a compromise brokered Friday night on the volatile issue of abortion had finally secured the votes needed to pass the legislation.

As drafted, the measure denied the use of federal subsidies to purchase abortion coverage in policies sold by private insurers in the new insurance exchange, except in cases of incest, rape or when the life of the mother was in danger.

But abortion foes won far stronger restrictions that would rule out abortion coverage except in those three categories in any government-sold plan. It would also ban abortion coverage in any private plan purchased by consumers receiving federal subsidies.

Disappointed Democratic abortion rights supporters grumbled about the turn of events, but pulled back quickly from any thought of opposing the health care bill in protest.

One, Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., detailed numerous other benefits for women in the bill, including free medical preventive services and better prescription drug coverage under Medicare. “Women need health care reform,” she concluded in remarks on the House floor.

A Republican alternative was rejected on a near party line vote of 258-176.

It relied heavily on loosening regulations on private insurers to reduce costs for those who currently have insurance, in some cases by as much as 10 percent. But congressional budget analysts said the plan would make no dent in the ranks of the uninsured, an assessment that highlighted the difference in priorities between the two political parties.”

The following new reviews have been added to the Review of Biblical Literature and listed on the RBL blog (http://rblnewsletter.blogspot.com/):

Jason S. DeRouchie
A Call to Covenant Love: Text Grammar and Literary Structure in Deuteronomy 5-11
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7004  Author(s
Reviewed by Max Rogland

Geert Hallbäck and Annika Hvithamar, eds.
Recent Releases: The Bible in Contemporary Cinema
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6928
Reviewed by Diane Apostolos-Cappadona

Larry R. Helyer
The Witness of Jesus, Paul and John: An Exploration in Biblical Theology
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6909
Reviewed by William Wilson

Richard S. Hess, Gerald A. Klingbeil, and Paul J. Ray Jr., eds.
Critical Issues in Early Israelite History
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6942
Reviewed by Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer

Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton
A Survey of the Old Testament
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7091
Reviewed by William Barrick

Øystein Lund
Way Metaphors and Way Topics in Isaiah 40-55
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6915
Reviewed by James M. Kennedy

Jacob Neusner, Bruce D. Chilton, and Baruch A. Levine
Torah Revealed, Torah Fulfilled: Scriptural Laws in Formative Judaism and Earliest Christianity
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7035
Reviewed by James D. G. Dunn

Neil R. Parker
The Marcan Portrayal of the “Jewish” Unbeliever: A Function of the Marcan References to Jewish Scripture: The Theological Basis of a Literary Construct
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6639
Reviewed by Adam Winn

Daniel Patte, ed.
Global Bible Commentary
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6489
Reviewed by Gerrie Snyman

Robert M. Price
Jesus Is Dead
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7049
Reviewed by Tony Costa

Émile Puech, ed.
Qumran Grotte 4.XXVII: Textes Araméens, deuxième partie
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7071
Reviewed by Aaron Rubin

Paul A. Rainbow
The Pith of the Apocalypse: Essential Message and Principles for Interpretation
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=7013
Reviewed by Tobias Nicklas

Jacqueline C. R. de Roo
Works of the Law at Qumran and in Paul
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5997
Reviewed by Jörg Frey

Lothar Ruppert
Genesis: Ein kritischer und theologischer Kommentar 4. Teilband: Gen 37,1-50,26
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=6706
Reviewed by Mark Elliott

Susannah Ticciati
Job and the Disruption of Identity: Reading Beyond Barth
http://www.bookreviews.org/bookdetail.asp?TitleId=5202
Reviewed by Francis Dalrymple-Hamilton

How Eurocentric Is Your Day?

by M. Shahid Alam / November 5th, 2009

“History will have to record that the greatest tragedy of this period of social transition was not the strident clamor of the bad people, but the appalling silence of the good people.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.

“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.”

Nelson Mandela

“I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?”

Mother Teresa

The following two positions are posted on Higher Ed Jobs website.

• Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies

Salary:
Negotiable

Job Description:
Primary teaching responsibility will be Biblical Studies. Candidates should be able to teach introductory courses in Christian and Jewish biblical texts as well as upper level courses in the original languages. A broad background in the religious traditions of the Mediterranean and Near East is desirable.

Ohio University is a Research-Extensive institution, enrolling 19,500 students on the Athens campus and more than 8,000 students on five regional campuses. The College of Arts and Sciences includes 340 tenured and tenure-track faculty members and contains 19 departments. (http://www.ohio.edu). We seek a candidate with a commitment in working effectively with students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds. Ohio University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.

Minimum Qualifications:
We seek a candidate with the ability to teach both New Testament and Old Testament texts each in translation and the original. Research specialization is open within the field of Biblical Studies. We are looking for a committed teacher; someone whose intellectual interests are far-ranging and who will contribute to the development of a new program and major in World Religions.

Preferred Qualifications:
Ph.D. expected

To Apply:
Please use this link to view the posting details and apply online:
www.ohiouniversityjobs.com/applicants/Central?quickFind=54738

Application Deadline:
Position will remain open until filled. For full consideration, complete applications should be received by January 5, 2010.

Application Information

• Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

Job Details:
Candidates should have an emphasis in World Religions and also be able to teach Religious Ethics, and Biblical area courses. Doctoral degree required, 4/4 teaching load.

Review of applications will begin February 1, 2010.

How to Apply:
Candidates are asked to electronically submit a letter of application, curriculum vitae, along with the names and contact information of three references to the attention of Dr. M. Ruth Kelly, Chair, Department of Liberal Arts. Candidates of diverse backgrounds are encouraged to apply. See dyc.edu for additional information.

Application Information

Apply for this Position through My HigherEdJobs

Postal Address:	Linda Moretti Office of Human Resources D’Youville College 631 Niagara Street Buffalo, NY 14201
Phone:	716-829-7811
Fax:	716-829-7821
Email Address:	humanresources@dyc.edu

Can scientists make a space elevator?

(CNN) — It sounds like science fiction. And it was.

Now, 30 years after “2001″ author Arthur C. Clarke wrote about an elevator that rises into outer space, serious research is happening all over the world in an effort to make the far-fetched-sounding idea a reality.

The benefits of a fully realized elevator would make carrying people and goods into space cheaper, easier and safer than with rocket launches, proponents say, opening up a host of possibilities.

Restaurants and hotels for space tourists. Wind turbines that provide energy by spinning 24 hours a day. A cheaper, easier and more environmentally friendly way to launch rockets.

Scientists envision all of the above — possibly within our lifetimes.

“Space elevator-related research is valid, but there are hurdles to overcome,” said David Smitherman, a space architect at NASA’s George C. Marshall Space Flight Center.

This week in the Mojave Desert, three teams of engineers are competing for $2 million offered up by NASA for anyone who can build a prototype of an elevator able to crawl up a kilometer-high tether while hauling a heavy payload.

“We haven’t had any winners yet, but we truly do expect to have at least one winner, probably more [this year],” said Ted Semon, spokesman for The Spaceward Foundation, which has run the competition for the past several years.

Most models for an elevator into space involve attaching a cable from a satellite, space station or other counterweight to a base on Earth’s surface.

Scientists say inertia would keep the cable tight enough to allow an elevator to climb it.

The inspiration for researchers to pursue a space elevator started, as many scientific advances have, in the fantastical world of science fiction.

In Clarke’s 1979 novel “The Fountains of Paradise,” he writes about a scientist battling technological, political and ethical difficulties involved in creating a space elevator.

In the years that followed, Clarke, who died last year, remained an outspoken advocate for researching and funding the elevator.

Others are now carrying the torch.

“Space elevator research is important because it is a way to build a bridge to space instead of ferrying everything by rocket,” said Smitherman, who has conducted research and published findings on the effort.

“Look at the cost and efficiency of a bridge versus a ferry on Earth and then look at the cost and inefficiency of the rocket ferries we use today and you will see why so many people are looking for a ‘bridge’ solution like the space elevator.”

Microsoft is among the sponsors an annual space elevator conference, and teams in Japan and Russia are among those working to turn the theory into reality — even if they all admit they have a long way to go.

Even the most avid proponents of the research admit there are big hurdles that need to be overcome.

The first, scientists say, is that there’s currently not a viable material strong enough to make the cables that will support heavy loads of passengers or cargo into orbit. According to NASA research, the space elevator cable would need to be about 22,000 miles long. That’s how far away a satellite must be to maintain orbit above a fixed spot on the Earth’s equator.

“Right now, if you use the strongest material in the world, the weight of the tether would be so much that it would actually snap,” said Semon, a retired software engineer. He said the super-light material would probably need to be about 25 times stronger than what’s now commercially available.

In a separate competition, his group offers a prize to any team that can build a tether that’s at least twice as strong as what’s currently on the market.

Another issue, scientists say, is how to keep the cable, or the elevator itself, from getting clobbered by meteorites or space junk floating around in space. Some suggest a massive cleanup of Earth’s near orbit would be required.

And then there’s the cost. Estimates are as high as $20 billion for a working system that would stretch into orbit.

Many think it would be private enterprise, not a government, that would spring for the earliest versions of the elevator.

Professor Brendan Quine and his team at York University in Toronto, Canada, think they have the answers to at least some of those problems.

They’ve built a three-story high prototype of an elevator tower that would rise roughly 13 miles (20 kilometers) — high enough to escape most of the earth’s atmosphere.

“At 20 kilometers, you still have gravity; you’re not in orbit,” Quine said. “But for a tourist, you can see basically the same things an astronaut sees — the blackness of space, the horizon of the Earth.”

In the stratosphere, the tower also could potentially be used to launch rockets, he said. The most expensive and energy-sucking part of any space launch now is blasting from the ground out of the atmosphere.

Constructed from Kevlar, the free-standing structure would use pneumatically inflated sections pressurized with a lightweight gas, such as hydrogen or helium, to actively stabilize itself and allow for flexibility. A series of platforms or pods, supported by the elevator, would be used to launch payloads into Earth’s orbit.

Quine acknowledged that the prototype is just a first step toward realizing the elevator and that several more prototypes are needed to fine-tune details.

He estimated that the cost of the basic tower would be about $2 billion — the equivalent of a massive skyscraper in places like New York — and that the technology to build it could be ready in less than 10 years.

He said a more advanced — and expensive — elevator tower could be built to go higher into the stratosphere.

But for the purposes of actually ferrying everyday people into space, 20 kilometers makes the most sense, Quine said.

“The tower might be economically viable if you’re able to transport 1,000 people a day to the to of it for about $1,000 a ticket,” he said. “At the top, you’d probably want amenities — hotels, restaurants. It could be a very pleasant experience, in contrast to zero gravity, which makes many people sick.”

For now, advocates of making the elevator a reality say they’ll keep at it. They’ll continue reminding themselves that they wouldn’t be the first to turn what started as an outlandish idea into good science.

“Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction,” Clarke once said. “They may be summed up by the phrases: One, it’s completely impossible. Two, it’s possible, but it’s not worth doing. Three, I said it was a good idea all along.”

I received the following review copies from Abigail Davison of WinePress Group. A million thanks to Abigail.

One A Day Spiritual Warfare by William Mallory

Product Description

The Gosple of Christ in Romans: Righteousness and Life From Grace by Jerry Seright

Product Description

Is Yeshau the Prophesied Messiah of the Hebrew Bible? by Dan Kane

La mort de Claude Lévi-Strauss

We need more African-American men to step forward and serve as mentors to young kids,” Colin Powell says.

CNN) — On the first anniversary of the historic 2008 election, retired Gen. Colin Powell, the first African-American secretary of state, talks one-on-one with CNN’s Don Lemon about on the most pressing issues facing black men in the age of President Obama.

Don Lemon: President Barack Obama issued a national call to service. Do you think African-Americans have answered that call?

Colin Powell: I really don’t know that I know the answer to that question. I do know that in the work that I do and my wife does as the chair of America’s Promise, we are seeing more and more people step forward to try to deal with the problems that we have, to include African-Americans and Hispanics stepping forward.

But it’s not just a one-time thing. You can’t just have, let’s have a day of service on Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday or a day of service. We’ve got to get deeply involved in working with our kids on a continuing basis and not just one day a year.

We need more African-American men, for example, to step forward and serve as mentors to young kids who don’t have a responsible, caring adult male in their lives. If I could snap my finger and do one thing, I would make sure that every young American boy or girl, but especially African-American [children], have a responsible, caring adult in their lives.

Hopefully, it’s their parents, even if it’s a single parent. … But without that kind of family support, then we need Boys and Girls Clubs. We need Big Brothers and Big Sisters. We need mentors. Otherwise, these kids will find bad adults to copy from, and we’re going to lose them.

Lemon: I recently reported on youth violence and gangs in Chicago, Illinois. Most of the young men didn’t have role models at home. Would it help if more African-American men had picked up the torch to help those young men?

Powell: Of course it would. President Obama has spoken out rather clearly about this: Fathers have got to start doing their jobs.

Every child has a father, and some of those fathers don’t want to live up to the responsibility of being a father. Whether it’s a father in a marriage or a father in a good home, that father is a father and owes that child financial support, owes that child companionship, owes that child an example in life.

Those of us who have been blessed with some success … you can look back and see family members who kept you in play. If it hadn’t been for my relatives and my parents and my cousins and my priest and all the other people in my neighborhood, I wouldn’t have made it. But they had a level of expectation for me.

Lemon: How do you convince African-American men, especially, that service is a worthwhile effort?

Powell: You tell them that without that effort, all of our achievements over the last 50 or 60 years are being put at risk. The statistics are frightening. Fifty percent of our African-American youngsters are not graduating from high school. And of that 50 percent, a higher percentage of boys are not graduating than girls.

And when they get out of high school, if we can get them into the college, you will find six girls in college for every three or four boys who are in college. And those six girls will graduate at a higher rate than the three or four boys.

This is a moral disaster for the African-American community. This is not why Rosa Parks rode in the back of the bus or why Martin Luther King Jr. and all of his colleagues marched. We didn’t do it so that these kids could fail because they don’t have adults in their life, teaching them how to succeed.

We’ve got to teach them that you’ve got to behave. You’ve got to learn what it means to “mind” somebody. You’ve got to read to your kids. You’ve got to act like responsible fathers.

Lemon: How did you become involved in President Obama’s Renew America Together initiative, and what is your role?

Powell: The president-elect was aware of the work that Alma and I had done together on America’s Promise. As part of the transition effort, he intended to make this an important part of his administration, and he wanted to get started earlier.

The White House asked if I would work with transition officials to launch his first initiative, which was called Renew America Together.

I launched that for him on the 9th of January, 11 days before the inauguration. We also announced the Web site where people could sign up to get involved in service to their community. It’s called usaservice.org.

I’m so pleased that he has made this a major part of his administration and his agenda, because it fits right into what my wife and I have been doing for many years.

LEMON: Did you have any African-American role models? What did they teach you?

POWELL: They were, first and foremost, my family. When I was a young kid, born in Harlem, raised in the Bronx, it was my family that taught me how to behave, taught me what they expected of me, gave me a sense of shame and told me to “mind.” It’s a word that’s not used enough anymore.

I tried to observe people who were successful in life. In the black community, we didn’t have that many in those days. You had Joe Louis, Jackie Robinson, Ralph Bunche, Willie Mays, a lot of athletes. … You had Gen. Benjamin O. Davis Sr., the first black general in World War II. But it was still a country where people of color could not reach the heights.

I was nevertheless inspired by these folks who did the best they could in the time in which they lived and showed that if you do your very, very best, you will be recognized and rewarded for it.

I entered the Army five years after the last segregated unit was closed down. I entered in 1958, and at that time, the Army was fully integrated, the most integrated institution in American society.

And what my commander said to me: “We don’t want to hear any sad stories about you were born in Harlem and raised in the Bronx. Don’t tell us anything about your immigrant family. We know you didn’t go to West Point.

“We don’t care where you went, and we don’t care if you’re black, white, blue. … The only color we care about now is green. You’re in the Army.”

The only thing that counts is performance. You can’t perform if you don’t get your education. You can’t perform if you don’t speak the English language well. You can’t perform if you’re not respectful. You can’t perform and you won’t get the opportunity to perform if you walk around with your pants dragging around your ankles and you’re not behaving in a proper manner.

Lemon: Amen, General. Thank you.

Caring for needy children