Doctor Who: The Bells Of? Oh, I Give Up - Mindless Ones

I usually try to say something interesting about the episodes of New Doctor Who I review here. Even if I don?t like it, I try to find some reason to say *why* I don?t like it. I at least engage enough with it to try to see what it?s trying to do.

But if Steven Moffat won?t try, then why should I?

It?s a shame, because everyone else on the programme is clearly trying. Matt Smith is an astonishingly good actor. Jenna-Louise Coleman is perfectly capable of pulling the ?quirky? face that?s the sum total of what she?s asked to do in the story. The effects people are clearly working hard.

But Moffat? Moffat is someone who clearly *can* write. He?s not as good as his reputation suggests, mind, but he can pull together a script that makes some kind of sense. I?ve seen it.

Yet this?

They?re ?hacking? people and ?uploading? them. How? ?Wi-fi?.

Words have meanings. Writers, of all people, should be aware of this. If you make something up, say ?their minds are being controlled because of quartronic energy?, then OK, fine, we?ll go with that. We don?t know what quartronic energy is, so maybe it can do that.

We know what wi-fi is, though. Everyone knows it *doesn?t* do that ? even if you show a shot of someone typing *really* fast.

That?s not to say that I expect Doctor Who to be technologically accurate ? while I winced at the scene where the Doctor says ?I?ve hacked their base operating system, but I can?t find their geographic location?, that?s because I?m someone who just spent five years working as a software engineer and now works for a firm of computer security consultants. It?s annoying that they?d get that kind of thing wrong, but no more so than, say, when Robert Holmes used to confuse the terms ?galaxy?, ?solar system? and ?universe?. I just expect that the writers at least make a tiny bit of an effort to sound plausible. ?They?re uploading everyone?s mind (and also mind-controlling everyone in London, and also controlling all the power and the planes) because of wi-fi? just isn?t trying.

And this lack of trying is evident throughout the script, from Moffat?s reuse of his tired trope of having a character speaking out of a screen they?re trapped in, to the random sexist joke thrown in for no good reason at the beginning, to the fact that the villain of the story turns out to be the Great Intelligence. The Great Intelligence was a villain from two stories from the late 1960s, both of which have been wiped, so nobody under about the age of fifty has ever seen them. His modus operandi was also different in those stories (and much better ? he had robot Yeti that lived in the London Underground and shot webs), and the only reason I can see for having the Great Intelligence in the story at all is to make a couple of dozen nerds say ?Ah, I see what he?s done. The Great Intelligence was in The Web Of Fear, and this is a story about the World Wide Web. I am clever.?

The epitome of this comes in the scene where the Doctor suddenly reveals that his motorbike has antigravity, and drives it up the Shard (which is, for the 54,466,900 people in Britain who, like myself, don?t live in London and pay rapt attention to everything that goes on in that most omphaloskeptic of cities, a new building there and thus absolutely fascinating).

People have been referring to this sort of thing, wrongly, as a deus ex machina. I don?t think that?s quite the correct term. Rather, I think it?s sort of an inverse Chekov?s gun. Normally, if you?re an actual writer, one who?s bothered about such trifling things as coherence, if you wanted the Doctor to have an antigravity motorbike, you?d set it up in some way, perhaps by having a scene at the beginning where the Doctor is riding his antigravity motorbike.

Then, when at the end he uses an antigravity motorbike, it would seem like something that was a logical consequence of events leading up to that point, rather than, as it does, like something improvised by a six-year-old playing with action figures:

?My man says that the Doctor can?t come in and he?s bigger than the Doctor so he wins.?
?Oh yeah? Well? the Doctor?s got a flying spacebike, so he just flies up there and *he* wins!?

The worst thing about this is that there?s a scene earlier in the story where he?s talking to Clara and the dialogue goes something like:

?I fixed your quadricycle?
?What??
?All those quadricycle bits you had lying around. I put them back together.?
?We didn?t have any quadricycle bits.?
??I invented the quadricycle!?

Well, firstly, of course, quadricycles have existed for over a hundred years (we?re back to the words meaning things thing again, aren?t we?) but secondly, replace ?quadricycle? with ?anti-gravity bike? in that exchange, and what happens? The joke works ? possibly even better than it did. It certainly does the same job as a character exchange.

But it also then means that later when the Doctor starts riding up the Shard, instead of just being something Moffat pulled out of his arse that doesn?t make any sense, it becomes a clever call-back to something that we originally thought was just an offhand joke. The script becomes tighter, the plot becomes more coherent, and you?ve made a piece of dialogue do double-duty.

Now, I thought of that straight away. I am not a professional screenwriter. Steven Moffat has been writing TV shows for over twenty years. Had he bothered even to read over what he?d typed out without thinking, just to give it the same kind of basic checks I give one of these blog posts, before having a huge crew of technicians, directors, actors, musicians and so on work on this thing and broadcasting it to an audience of millions, he would have thought of that too.

Clearly, though, it doesn?t matter. The Hugo nominations were announced today. In the short-form dramatic category, three of the five nominations were Steven Moffat Doctor Who scripts.

Clearly this is what the people want. Clearly this is somehow considered ?good?.

At this point, I?m only watching this programme because I?ve agreed to write these posts for Mindless Ones. I think that once this series is over, I won?t ever watch it again.

It couldn?t get any worse, could it?

Oh, wait?

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Source: http://mindlessones.com/2013/03/31/doctor-who-the-bells-of-oh-i-give-up/

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Mark Kelly: Gun control bills need better background checks

Giffords and Kelly appear at a hearing on Capitol Hill, Jan. 30, 2013. (AP/File)

Mark Kelly, retired astronaut and husband of former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, told "Fox News Sunday" that gun control legislation currently being discussed in Congress needs to include a background check that carries better mental health screening.

Kelly argued that a recent poll showing 90 percent of Americans support a universal background check should be a signal to Congress to take action, and that mental health records need to be considered when selling someone a gun.

?I would love to work with leadership of [the National Rifle Association] to make sure we get those records in the system," Kelly said Sunday.

Had such a system been in place in January 2011, Kelly said, his wife would not have been shot in the head and six people would not have been killed in a mass shooting in Tucson.

Jared Loughner, who pleaded guilty to the killings, passed a background check "despite evidence of his agitated mental state," the Associated Press reported.

The NRA has argued that additional legislation for background checks punish law-abiding gun owners. On Sunday, Kelly said a recent video showing a 5-minute background check proves it is ?not the burden that the NRA leadership says it is."

On NBC's "Meet The Press," Sen. Chuck Schumer called the proposed universal background check bill a ?sweet spot? because it ?would do a whole lot of good and had a good chance of passing."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/kelly-giffords-gun-control-background-checks-nra-161223691.html

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HTC Droid DNA retired?

Has the HTC Droid DNA been given its gold watch and sent packing? Verizon CS says yes, and it's no longer listed for sale

Update: And ... it's back on Verizon's site. Take that to mean whatever you want.

Original: A reader sent in a pretty interesting screenshot, accompanied by some equally interesting information about the HTC Droid DNA. According to Verizon customer service, the DNA is now officially retired. The screenshot of chat with a CS (you can find it after the break) actually uses the word retired, and subsequent inquiries led to a statement from Verizon saying "HTC halted production in efforts to push out an upcoming project on the horizon".

Now normally, we would place little to no faith in the words of an online chat with customer care from any provider. We're not judging, they have a difficult job and get way more harassment than anyone deserves. But after hearing about this, we went looking on Verizon's website, and found that the DNA is nowhere to be seen. You can't buy one from Big Red. Verizon loves to take our money, so there must be a reason they don't want to sell us a Droid DNA.

Now consider the on and off rumors about the HTC One coming to Verizon. We're pretty sure that you'll never be able to buy an "HTC One" for use on Verizon. But ask us if you'll be able to buy a premium HTC device with Sense 5, the new camera, Boomsound, a kick-ass display, and all the other goodies that come with the HTC One and our answer would be different. Don't let semantics like official names fool you. We're pretty confident that something very close to the HTC One is "on the horizon" for Verizon Wireless.

We never pretend that we know what goes on inside the minds of carrier corporate executives. We certainly question many of their decisions, but we're not at the meetings and don't have access to the data they use when they decide things like which phones to sell, and when to stop selling them. And of course, all this could be wrong and the DNA is simply out of stock for a while. We're just going to keep watching this, and when it all works out, we'll let you know.

Thanks, Robert!

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Ejx-FCTmuy0/story01.htm

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Pincam (for iPhone)

When Twitter's video sharing app Vine launched last month to great fanfare, what you often heard was that it was "like Instagram for video." (Around the same time, Twitter actually stopped allowing Instagram photos to show up on users' streams.) But the comparison doesn't flesh out very well, since a big part of Instagram is its ability to enhance your mobile photos with effect filters and retro looks.

Pincam, a recent free iPhone app from the South Korean firm SK Planet, steps in to give us a closer video analog for Instagram, complete with filters and direct uploading to YouTube and Facebook. This is in spite of the app's frequent use of the term "pin," which would suggest a tie-in with Pinterest. Even the app's logo resembles that social network's, but I found no real tie-ins or resemblances. In any case, the video pinning you do with Pincam, though initially somewhat perplexing, can definitely provide moments of enjoyment with your iPhone's video camera.

Interface
Pincam's initial interface is pretty spare. Its most prominent element is a big, universally understood, red Record button. Other controls grace the corners of the screen: At the top you see Settings and Flash on the left, and switch camera on the right.? The most interesting button is at lower-right?Filters. This lets you see effects like Blue Vintage, Vanilla Sky, Dotty, Mozaic, Tooner, and Sketchbook. The last two are pretty impressive, letting you see and record drawing-like versions of your scene in real time. In all, there are a baker's dozen of effects to choose from.

Recording Video
When you hit that big Record button, a progress bar starts running along the bottom and large Pinterest-like button appears in the right side of the screen. Pressing the latter starts an on-screen timer counting down from three seconds, with the word "Highlight!" superimposed on the recording video.

In some ways, I prefer Vine's ability to let you press the screen to choose when recording should happen. That way, you can easily create clever stop-motion effects. But then there's Vine's stingy six-second limit?.Pincam has you start recording, and then pick the best three-second intervals. You can keep the camera rolling as long as you like, but when you stop it by hitting Record again, you'll see an Encoding message and progress bar. When you then watch the final product, you'll see that Pincam has edited your footage to just the Highlighted sections, with one second added to the start, since it's likely that you missed the very beginning of the interesting bits before hitting the button.

You can't do trimming at specific points in the video, but the Highlight button handles that for you. You can open previously recorded video from your Camera Roll, but only to select and edit down to Hightlights in the clip?you can't add one of Pincam's effects.

My results were more impressive if less pithy than what I'd been able to do with Vine. The filters are a definite plus, and it will be interesting to see whether the app can do for mobile video what Instagram did for mobile photos.

Sharing
After signing into a YouTube account and giving permission for Pincam to access it, you'll be able to add a text caption, which by default just says "via Pincam." I didn't appreciate that you can't choose whether the viddy should be public or private, or choose a category before uploading. After a few minutes, a message informed me that my five-second test upload was Successful! The category was set to Entertainment, and the privacy to Public. Again, I wish I'd been able to choose those before uploading. Facebook uploading is even more streamlined, and my video showed up with an HD viewing option.

A Pincam representative told me that SK Planet would be adding its own online sharing service, so the app will become an even more accurate analog to Instagram. The new service will allow private sharing and have a Facebook tie-in.

Stick a Pin in It
Pincam solved the problem of recording video with monotonous sections you want to ditch. And its cool live filter effects go beyond what you get in Vine, as does its longer time limit. But using Pincam is a bit trickier than shooting with Vine or Lightt, and for that reason, I'd be less likely to use it often. I'd probably prefer a post-shooting video editor such as Apple iMovie for iOS, but video editing on phones remains problematic. Pincam's sharing abilities are reasonable, but I look forward to seeing the app's own upcoming online service. For its superior image capabilities, I give Pincam a higher rating than Vine, but for now the PCMag Editors' Choice is still up for grabs in this still emerging category.

When Twitter's video sharing app Vine launched last month to great fanfare, what you often heard was that it was "like Instagram for video." (Around the same time, Twitter actually stopped allowing Instagram photos to show up on users' streams.) But the comparison doesn't flesh out very well, since a big part of Instagram is its ability to enhance your mobile photos with effect filters and retro looks.

?

Pincam, a recent free iPhone app from the South Korean firm SK Planet, steps in to give us a closer video analog for Instagram, complete with filters and direct uploading to YouTube and Facebook. This is in spite of the app's frequent use of the term "pin," which would suggest a tie-in with Pinterest. Even the app's logo resembles that social network's, but I found no real tie-ins or resemblances. In any case, the video pinning you do with Pincam, though initially somewhat perplexing, can definitely provide moments of enjoyment with your iPhone's video camera.

?

Interface

Pincam's initial interface is pretty spare. Its most prominent element is a big, universally understood, red Record button. Other controls grace the corners of the screen: At the top you see Settings and Flash on the left, and switch camera on the right.? The most interesting button is at lower-right?Filters. This lets you see effects like Blue Vintage, Vanilla Sky, Dotty, Mozaic, Tooner, and Sketchbook. The last two are pretty impressive, letting you see and record drawing-like versions of your scene in real time. In all, there are a baker's dozen of effects to choose from.

?

Recording Video
When you hit that big Record button, a progress bar starts running along the bottom and large Pinterest-like button appears in the right side of the screen. Pressing the latter starts an on-screen timer counting down from three seconds, with the word "Highlight!"ighlight" superimposed.

Hit the Record button again and? another progress bar with the text Encoding

?superimposed on the recording video.

?

In some ways, I prefer Vine's ability to let you press the screen to choose when recording should happen. That way, you can easily create clever stop-motion effects. But then there's Vine's stingy six-second limit?.Pincam has you start recording, and then pick the best three-second intervals. You can keep the camera rolling as long as you like, but when you stop it by hitting Record again, you'll see an Encoding message and progress bar. When you then watch the final product, you'll see that Pincam has edited your footage to just the Highlighted sections, with one second added to the start, since it's likely that you missed the very beginning of the interesting bits before hitting the button.

?

You can't do trimming at specific points in the video, but the Highlight button handles that for you. You can open previously recorded video from your Camera Roll, but only to select and edit down to Hightlights in the clip?you can't add one of Pincam's effects.

?

My results were more impressive if less pithy than what I'd been able to do with Vine. The filters are a definite plus, and it will be interesting to see whether the app can do for mobile video what Instagram did for mobile photos.

?

Sharing
After signing into a YouTube account and giving permission for Pincam to access it, you'll be able to add a text caption, which by default just says "via Pincam." I didn't appreciate that you can't choose whether the viddy should be public or private, or choose a category before uploading. After a few minutes, a message informed me that my five-second test upload was Successful! The category was set to Entertainment, and the privacy to Public. Again, I wish I'd been able to choose those before uploading. Facebook uploading is even more streamlined, and my video showed up with an HD viewing option.

?

A Pincam representative told me that SK Planet would be adding its own online sharing service, so the app will become an even more accurate analog to Instagram. The new service will allow private sharing and have a Facebook tie-in.

?

Stick a Pin in it

Pincam solved the problem of recording video with monotonous sections you want to ditch. And its cool live filter effects go beyond what you get in Vine, as does its longer time limit. But using Pincam is a bit trickier than shooting with Vine or Lightt, and for that reason, I'd be less likely to use it often. I'd probably prefer a post-shooting video editor such as Apple iMovie for iOS, but video editing on phones remains problematic. Pincam's sharing abilities are reasonable, but I look forward to seeing the app's own upcoming online service. For its superior image capabilities, I give Pincam a higher rating than Vine, but for now the PCMag Editors' Choice is still up for grabs in this still emerging category.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/8rF7PaHV-1A/0,2817,2417201,00.asp

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Business, Labor Reach Deal on Guest Worker Program (ABC News)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295672136?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Millennials poised to redefine the auto market

Paul A. Eisenstein , NBC News contributor ? ? ? 1 day

For most automakers, baby boomers are the proverbial 800-pound gorilla that still drives the industry, the biggest buying group in terms of raw vehicle sales and, in particular, the generation spending the most for each of the cars they buy.

But manufacturers are preparing for the arrival of a new group that could soon not only outnumber the boomers but also demand some big changes in the type and size of vehicles the industry produces. Generation Y, also known as the millennials, offer both tantalizing opportunities and major challenges, according to executives at this year?s New York International Auto Show.

Slideshow: The 2013 New York Auto Show

Millennials are becoming ?the new face? of American auto buyers, asserted Jim Farley, Ford Motor Co.?s global sales and marketing chief, during his keynote speech at the auto show. ?And we?ll be surprised,? he added, ?by what they choose.?

According to U.S. Census Bureau data, there are more than 80 million American consumers approaching age 30, which means that each year millions more are moving into the new vehicle buying demographic. Indeed, according to the recent ?Gen Y in the Driver?s Seat? study by consulting firm Deloitte, they already represent about 40 percent of the nation?s potential car buying population ? though they are still well outnumbered by boomers when it comes to the number of new vehicles sold each year.

Chevy Rolls Out New 2014 Camaro

In fact, that ?potential? doesn?t necessarily translate into the same mindset toward buying and owning cars that was seen when boomers came of age. Nearly a third of American 19-year-olds haven?t bothered to get a driver?s license, according to a new study, continuing a downward trend that finds fewer and fewer millennials plugging into the American car culture.

?Virtual contact reduces the need for actual contact,? suggested Michael Sivak, co-author of the study by the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute. ?We found that the percentage of young drivers was inversely related to the availability of the Internet.?

In 1983, well before the advent of texting, e-mail and online gaming, 83 percent of American 19-year-olds were licensed. By 2010, found UMTRI, that was down to around 70 percent.

Another study, jointly carried out by General Motors and Viacom?s MTV Scratch unit, found just 32 percent of 3,000 American millennials surveyed saying they were interested in cars ? though it also showed 69 percnet viewing the purchase of a car a ?milestone? in becoming an adult.

Which brand millennials turn to is also up in the air. Auto data-tracking service Edmunds.com finds that Japanese makers have steadily lost ground with millennials at the expense of Detroit and Korean makers ? a sharp reversal of the trend when baby boomers were first entering the new car market.

?Don?t think we have the millennials figured out," Ford senior marketing executive Amy Marentec recently said, but she added that domestic automakers are beginning to show signs of ?cracking the code.?

The market data suggest that younger buyers are generally more interested in green technology than their parents? generation, something that could drive demand for hybrids, plug-ins and battery vehicles. On the other hand, the higher cost for such technologies is so far restricting sales.

Millennials are downsizing, several executives said. That?s one of the reasons why Audi has such big hopes for the next-generation A3 sedan it showed reporters during a sneak peek in New York. It will become ?the third leg? for the brand, said Audi of America chief Scott Keogh, and should drive other makers to rethink the future of their bigger products.

Booming Sales Put Volkswagen of America Back in the Black

Keogh also emphasized that the new generation of buyers ?isn?t willing to compromise,? even though they?re on a tighter budget than boomers. They expect that even entry-level products have a much higher level of refinement ? and advanced features like infotainment systems capable of accessing social media services.

The new generation has ?an incredible taste for luxury,? echoed Ford?s Farley, adding that millennials now expect to get more for less, no longer expecting that they have to pay a substantial premium for high-line brands. ?And as the price of luxury cars drops,? he said, ?don?t be surprised if they make luxury cars their first (new vehicle) purchase.?

For the industry, delivering on those expectations could be challenging. It could strain resources in the short-term, but those brands which can meet the demand could come to dominate the new generation much as marques like Toyota, Nissan and Honda were the favorites of the boomers.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/millennials-poised-redefine-auto-market-1C9144290

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Apple's Long-Rumored Game Controller May Soon See The Light Of Day

I've long believed that touchscreens leave a certain something to be desired when it comes to playing games, and if a new (and very curious) report holds true, Apple may feel the same way. According to PocketGamer.biz's Jon Jordan, Apple has been meeting with developers on-site at this year's Game Developers Conference in San Francisco to talk about a forthcoming Apple game controller.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/AKAG9ajrNIs/

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What Amazon Really Paid For Goodreads - Business Insider

Bloomberg Businessweek just published a very strange article trying to guess how much Amazon paid for Goodreads, a social network where people share what books they're reading.

In essence, the writer, Kyle Stock, tried to find comparables in recent IPOs and private financings to arrive at a value per user for social websites, comparing Goodreads to Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram. He came up with a figure of $880 million, which he rounded up to $1 billion.

Three problems with that:

• Amazon did not disclose a price for the acquisition. Had it been as high as $880 million, let alone $1 billion, the company would likely have had to disclose it as a material transaction. (Stock acknowledges the materiality issue in an aside, but that observation should have prompted him to rethink the entire premise of his story.)

• Investors value different companies in different ways. Instagram, for example, was valued so highly by Facebook not because of its revenues?it had none?but because it threatened Facebook's core photo-sharing franchise. LinkedIn, by contrast, is valued highly by investors not primarily based on its number of users but how well it monetizes them through diversified revenue streams.Technology consultant Anil Dash tore Stock apart in a comment on the piece:"This valuation is preposterous, because the methodology is preposterous. There is zero evidence that either the markets or investors use some arbitrary 'multiply users by a dollar amount' calculation to determine a valuation for these companies. Using such a formula to arrive at an absurd number is especially egregious here because people will now use the authority of this publication to say 'Businessweek reports that Goodreads sold for a billion dollars,' though that's almost certainly not the case."

• Lastly, AllThingsD's Kara Swisher actually talked to some sources and asked them how much Amazon paid for Goodreads, which raised almost $3 million from angel investors and True Ventures. They told her the real number was $150 million.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-goodreads-purchase-price-2013-3

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Former Atlanta schools chief, others indicted in cheating scandal

By David Beasley

ATLANTA (Reuters) - A grand jury indicted 35 former Atlanta public school educators, including an award-winning former superintendent, on Friday for allegedly conspiring to cheat on standardized test scores to obtain cash bonuses.

Former Superintendent Beverly Hall was named National Superintendent of the Year by the American Association of School Administrators in 2009, the same year prosecutors contend widespread cheating took place.

Hall received a $78,000 bonus that year for improving the school system's test scores, prosecutors said.

"The money she received, we are alleging, was ill gotten and it was theft," Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard said at a news conference.

Besides Hall, those indicted included administrators, principals and teachers. The 65-count indictment said "test answer sheets were altered, fabricated and falsely certified."

Hall was charged with racketeering, making false statements, theft by taking and false swearing. She and others could face up to 45 years in prison if convicted, Howard said.

A state investigation of test results in 2009 found cheating in 44 of the 56 Atlanta public schools examined. The cheating was prompted primarily by pressure to meet targets in a data-driven environment, according to a investigation conducted by Georgia Governor Nathan Deal's office.

The 2009 cheating was said to include teachers erasing incorrect answers on state standardized tests.

The 2011 state report concluded that there was a "major failure of leadership throughout Atlanta Public Schools with regard to the ethical administration" of the 2009 standardized exams known as the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests.

Amid the investigation, Hall stepped down after nearly 12 years as superintendent of the Atlanta Public Schools. Her successor, Erroll Davis, said on Friday the school system now has extensive training and other safeguards to prevent cheating.

He said 95 percent of the school system's staff was not implicated in the scandal.

Justina Collins, the mother of an Atlanta public school student, told the news conference her daughter had trouble reading yet scored well on the standardized tests.

Collins said when she asked the superintendent about the discrepancy, Hall told her, "Your daughter is simply the kind of person who tests well."

Collins' daughter is now in the ninth grade but reads on a fifth-grade level, Howard told reporters, adding that the real victims of the cheating scandal were the children.

"Her example points out the plight of many children" in the scandal, said the prosecutor.

Richard Deane, Hall's attorney, could not be reached for comment.

(Editing by Ian Simpson and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/former-atlanta-schools-chief-others-indicted-cheating-scandal-010308965.html

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The South: A near-solid block against 'Obamacare' (The Arizona Republic)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/295668105?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Cardinal Dolan: Catholic Church's nature means it will be out of touch sometimes

Dolan on This Week

During an interview for "This Week," Archbishop of New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that the Catholic Church's very nature means it will be - from time to time - out of touch with the concerns of its followers.

"Sometimes by nature, the Church has got to be out of touch with concerns, because we're always supposed to be thinking of the beyond, the eternal, the changeless," Dolan said. "Our major challenge is to continue in a credible way to present the eternal concerns to people in a timeless attractive way. And sometimes there is a disconnect - between what they're going through and what Jesus and his Church is teaching. And that's a challenge for us."

Dolan was responding to a question from Stephanopoulos about a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, which found that 60 percent of Catholics "describe the church as 'out of touch' with the views of Catholics in America."

As much of the country celebrates the Christian holiday of Easter, Stephanopoulos asked Dolan about the rise of people with no religious affiliation and if the church can bring people back toward God.

"What I'm afraid is that that's afflicting society in general. That's afflicting families. That's afflicting - communities. People want privacy. People crave isolation. We're hearing parents say that they can't even get their kids to talk anymore," he said. "They're - they're tweeting one another. So, this - kinda this craving of individualism, being alone, be - aloofness, that's afflicting all of culture, all of society. We're feeling it in the Church, too, because we're not about 'me.' We're about 'us.' We're about the 'our.' We say 'Our Father.' But society is saying, 'It's me, myself and I.'"

Stephanopoulos also asked Dolan what the Catholic Church can say to gays and lesbians, who feel unwelcomed by the Church, which does not support same-sex marriage.

"Well, the first thing I'd say to them is, 'I love you, too. And God loves you. And you are made in God's image and likeness. And - and we - we want your happiness. But - and you're entitled to friendship.' But we also know that God has told us that the way to happiness, that - especially when it comes to sexual love - that is intended only for a man and woman in marriage, where children can come about naturally," Dolan said. "We got to be - we got to do better to see that our defense of marriage is not reduced to an attack on gay people. And I admit, we haven't been too good at that. We try our darndest to make sure we're not an anti-anybody."

Dolan also addressed the new reality of having both a newly elected pope and also a former pope living at the same time. Stephanopoulos asked him about a recent photo of the two men together and if it was unsettling to see two Popes side-by-side.

"I think it was unsettling to a lot of us, because we're just not used to having two - two popes, even though one of them is retired. But I don't think it was unsettling to him. They almost tried to out-class each other in showing deference to one another. And that's not bad," Dolan said.

Finally, Dolan praised Nelson Mandela - who was hospitalized this week with a lung infection - and said he was praying for him.

"I'm praying with and for him. I had the honor of meeting him once. And what the word that comes to mind when you speak of a giant like Nelson Mandela is reconciliation. And that's a good thing to remember about Easter," Dolan said.

"We say that Jesus came to reconcile the world. He wanted to embrace the world and bring them to his Father. And the world took those hands and put them on a cross, because they don't like being reconciled. Nelson Mandela was one of those who could take his hands and embrace a nation. The world is in his debt, because he taught us the power of reconciliation and forgiveness," he said.

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/cardinal-timothy-dolan-catholic-churchs-105607541.html

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Veterans fight changes to disability payments

In this March 24, 2013 photo, former Marine Corps Cpl. Marshall Archer, left, a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, speaks to a man on a street in Portland. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this March 24, 2013 photo, former Marine Corps Cpl. Marshall Archer, left, a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, speaks to a man on a street in Portland. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

In this March 24, 2013 photo, veterans' liaison Marshall Archer, a former Marine Corps corporal, poses for a photo in Portland, Maine. Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Veterans groups are rallying to fight any proposal to change disability payments as the federal government attempts to address its long-term debt problem. They say they've sacrificed already.

Government benefits are adjusted according to inflation, and President Barack Obama has endorsed using a slightly different measure of inflation to calculate Social Security benefits. Benefits would still grow but at a slower rate.

Advocates for the nation's 22 million veterans fear that the alternative inflation measure would also apply to disability payments to nearly 4 million veterans as well as pension payments for an additional 500,000 low-income veterans and surviving families.

"I think veterans have already paid their fair share to support this nation," said the American Legion's Louis Celli. "They've paid it in lower wages while serving, they've paid it through their wounds and sacrifices on the battlefield and they're paying it now as they try to recover from those wounds."

Economists generally agree that projected long-term debt increases stemming largely from the growth in federal health care programs pose a threat to the country's economic competitiveness. Addressing the threat means difficult decisions for lawmakers and pain for many constituents in the decades ahead.

But the veterans groups point out that their members bore the burden of a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the past month, they've held news conferences on Capitol Hill and raised the issue in meetings with lawmakers and their staffs. They'll be closely watching the unveiling of the president's budget next month to see whether he continues to recommend the change.

Obama and others support changing the benefit calculations to a variation of the Consumer Price Index, a measure called "chained CPI." The conventional CPI measures changes in retail prices of a constant marketbasket of goods and services. Chained CPI considers changes in the quantity of goods purchased as well as the prices of those goods. If the price of steak goes up, for example, many consumers will buy more chicken, a cheaper alternative to steak, rather than buying less steak or going without meat.

Supporters argue that chained CPI is a truer indication of inflation because it measures changes in consumer behavior. It also tends to be less than the conventional CPI, which would impact how cost-of-living raises are computed.

Under the current inflation update, monthly disability and pension payments increased 1.7 percent this year. Under chained CPI, those payments would have increased 1.4 percent.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that moving to chained CPI would trim the deficit by nearly $340 billion over the next decade. About two-thirds of the deficit closing would come from less spending and the other third would come from additional revenue because of adjustments that tax brackets would undergo.

Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow in economic studies at The Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, said she understands why veterans, senior citizens and others have come out against the change, but she believes it's necessary.

"We are in an era where benefits are going to be reduced and revenues are going to rise. There's just no way around that. We're on an unsustainable fiscal course," Sawhill said. "Dealing with it is going to be painful, and the American public has not yet accepted that. As long as every group keeps saying, 'I need a carve-out, I need an exception,' this is not going to work."

Sawhill argued that making changes now will actually make it easier for veterans in the long run.

"The longer we wait to make these changes, the worse the hole we'll be in and the more draconian the cuts will have to be," she said.

That's not the way Sen. Bernie Sanders sees it. The chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs said he recently warned Obama that every veterans group he knows of has come out strongly against changing the benefit calculations for disability benefits and pensions by using chained CPI.

"I don't believe the American people want to see our budget balanced on the backs of disabled veterans. It's especially absurd for the White House, which has been quite generous in terms of funding for the VA," said Sanders, I-Vt. "Why they now want to do this, I just don't understand."

Sanders succeeded in getting the Senate to approve an amendment last week against changing how the cost-of-living increases are calculated, but the vote was largely symbolic. Lawmakers would still have a decision to make if moving to chained CPI were to be included as part of a bargain on taxes and spending.

Sanders' counterpart on the House side, Rep. Jeff Miller, R-Fla., the chairman of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, appears at least open to the idea of going to chained CPI.

"My first priority is ensuring that America's more than 20 million veterans receive the care and benefits they have earned, but with a national debt fast approaching $17 trillion, Washington's fiscal irresponsibility may threaten the very provision of veterans' benefits," Miller said. "Achieving a balanced budget and reducing our national debt will help us keep the promises America has made to those who have worn the uniform, and I am committed to working with Democrats and Republicans to do just that."

Marshall Archer, 30, a former Marine Corps corporal who served two stints in Iraq, has a unique perspective about the impact of slowing the growth of veterans' benefits. He collects disability payments to compensate him for damaged knees and shoulders as well as post-traumatic stress disorder. He also works as a veterans' liaison for the city of Portland, Maine, helping some 200 low-income veterans find housing.

Archer notes that on a personal level, the reduction in future disability payments would also be accompanied down the road by a smaller Social Security check when he retires. That means he would take a double hit to his income.

"We all volunteered to serve, so we all volunteered to sacrifice," he said. "I don't believe that you should ever ask those who have already volunteered to sacrifice to then sacrifice again."

That said, Archer indicated he would be willing to "chip in" if he believes that everyone is required to give as well.

He said he's more worried about the veterans he's trying to help find a place to sleep. About a third of his clients rely on VA pension payments averaging just over $1,000 a month. He said their VA pension allows them to pay rent, heat their home and buy groceries, but that's about it.

"This policy, if it ever went into effect, would actually place those already in poverty in even more poverty," Archer said.

The changes that would occur by using the slower inflation calculation seem modest at first. For a veteran with no dependents who has a 60 percent disability rating, the use of chained CPI this year would have lowered the veteran's monthly payments by $3 a month. Instead of getting $1,026 a month, the veteran would have received $1,023.

Raymond Kelly, legislative director for Veterans of Foreign Wars, acknowledged that veterans would see little change in their income during the first few years of the change. But even a $36 hit over the course of a year is "huge" for many of the disabled veterans living on the edge, he said.

The amount lost over time becomes more substantial as the years go by. Sanders said that a veteran with a 100 percent disability rating who begins getting payments at age 30 would see their annual payments trimmed by more than $2,300 a year when they turn 55.

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Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-30-US-Budget-Battle-Veterans/id-05819c3ebd0c4cbf8ae5701f9cf62fc5

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