October 29, 2010 Immigrants Benefit as Economy Recovers [From WSJ by Jihwan Kim]

Immigrants Benefit as Economy Recovers .

 

By MIRIAM JORDAN

For Gustavo Torres, head of an immigrant employment center near Washington, D.C., the uptick in the economy is measured by the surge in demand for his blue-collar workers, who hail mainly from Latin America and Africa.

 

"The recovery is working for our community," said Mr. Torres, executive director of Casa de Maryland, which boasts five job centers in the state. "It's unbelievable how many jobs are becoming available."

 

In the year that ended June 2010, Casa placed 19,000 immigrants in jobs, compared with 16,000 in the year-earlier period.

 

A new study released Friday by the Pew Hispanic Center confirms that immigrants are benefiting before native-born workers from the slow-paced economic recovery.

 

Foreigners gained 656,000 jobs in the first year following the official end of the recession in June 2009. Native-born workers lost 1.2 million jobs, according to an analysis of government data by Pew, a nonpartisan research group.

 

As a result, the unemployment rate for immigrant workers fell to 8.7% from 9.3% between June 2009 and June 2010. For native-born workers, the rate rose to 9.7% from 9.2%.

 

"The bottom line is simple: There is a substantial difference in how economic recovery is working for native-born and foreign-born workers," said Rakesh Kochhar, Pew's associate director of research. "For the native born, you see ongoing discouragement in their job search."

 

The study—based on analysis of the Current Population Survey, conducted jointly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau—also reveals that a greater proportion of working-age immigrants, 16 years and older, were employed recently than last year—62.3% in June 2010, compared with 61.7% in June 2009. In contrast, the share of employed native-born workers shrunk: 58.3% in June 2010 compared to 59.3% in June 2009.

 

Immigrant presence in the U.S. labor force has been increasing for several decades, with foreign-born workers now representing 16% of the U.S. labor force, up from 10% in 1995.

 

As the economy improves, foreign-born workers have taken different sorts of jobs than those available at the height of the economic boom, when more than half their job gains were in construction.During the recovery, more immigrants have taken jobs in hospital services, education and other sectors, the Pew report notes.

 

"For many immigrants, sending money back to their home country is a key part of working here," says Mr. Kochhar. "This makes them more open to doing different jobs."

 

Immigrants also tend to be more flexible about their wage expectations and more mobile than native-born workers.

 

From 2009 to 2010, the median weekly earnings of foreign-born workers slipped 4.5% to $525 compared with a loss of less than 1% for native-born workers to $653, according to the Pew study.

 

In addition, immigrants working in the U.S. illegally are more likely to take jobs for lower wages than during the economic boom because they aren't eligible to receive unemployment benefits.

 

Despite the brighter prospects, the job recovery for immigrants is far from complete.

 

The 656,000 jobs gained by immigrants in the first year since the end of the recession still weren't enough to compensate for the 1.1 million jobs they lost the previous year. And the unemployment rate for immigrants is still more than double the rate that it was before the onset of the recession.

 

Write to Miriam Jordan at miriam.jordan@wsj.com

 

 

20101102, Article, contributied by Juhye, Lyu

U.S. Works to Ease China-Japan Conflict By MARK LANDLER Published: October 30, 2010 RECOMMEND TWITTER SIGN IN TO E-MAIL PRINT REPRINTS SHARE HANOI, Vietnam — With tensions between China and Japan spilling out at an East Asian summit meeting here, the United States is trying to defuse an escalating diplomatic row over their competing claims to a cluster of small islands in the East China Sea. On Saturday, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed a three-way meeting with China and Japan to resolve the dispute, which has raged since last month when Japan detained the captain of a Chinese fishing vessel that struck two Japanese patrol boats near the islands. "We have certainly encouraged both Japan and China to seek peaceful resolution of any disagreements that they have," Mrs. Clinton said at a news conference after the summit meeting ended. "It is in all of our interest for China and Japan to have stable, peaceful relations." In private conversations with Chinese and Japanese diplomats, Mrs. Clinton "made very clear to both sides that we want the temperature to go down on these issues," a senior official said. American officials said they were troubled by what one called a sudden, drastic increase in tensions. As the United States, Russia and 16 Asian nations gathered in Hanoi to discuss regional cooperation, China's aggressive maritime and territorial claims were sowing unease with several of its neighbors. When Japan last week reasserted its sovereignty over the islands — which it calls the Senkaku and China calls the Diaoyu — a senior Chinese official accused it of ruining the atmosphere of the summit meeting. The United States, which had been mostly a bystander in such disputes, has taken a more active role under the Obama administration. Though it has no position on the sovereignty claims, Mrs. Clinton said the United States viewed the islands as protected under the terms of its defense treaty with Japan, which means it will defend them from any foreign attack. That statement brought a rebuke from the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman, Ma Zhaoxu, who said China "will never accept any word or deed that includes the Diaoyu Islands within the scope" of the treaty. On another issue that has caused friction lately — China's halting of shipments of strategically important minerals to the United States, Japan and Europe — the Chinese government seemed eager to reassure. In a meeting with Mrs. Clinton, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi gave "very clear indications" that China would fulfill its contracts and be a "reliable supplier," according to an American official. "While we're pleased by the clarification received from the Chinese government," Mrs. Clinton said, "we still think the world as a whole needs to find alternatives" to China as a supplier of the minerals, known as rare earth metals. China began curtailing shipments to the United States and Europe of these minerals, which are used to make products like cellphones and wind turbines, after the dispute with Japan and a trade investigation by the Obama administration. Then last week, without explanation, Chinese officials said the shipments would resume. Japan, which released the Chinese captain under heavy pressure from Beijing, had proposed a meeting with Chinese leaders in Hanoi to clear the air. But hopes for that were dashed when Japan's foreign minister, Seiji Maehara, asserted Japan's control over the islands last week. Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China refused to meet one-on-one with Prime MinisterNaoto Kan of Japan, though Mr. Yang said China would consider Mrs. Clinton's proposed trilateral meeting. In her formal remarks to the Asian leaders, Mrs. Clinton reiterated that the United States stood ready to help resolve another territorial dispute: one that pits China against Vietnam, the Philippines and other countries over a string of strategically significant islands in the South China Sea. "The United States has a national interest in the freedom of navigation and unimpeded lawful commerce," she said. "And when disputes arise over maritime territory, we are committed to resolving them peacefully based on customary international law." The administration's position angers China, which has also sparred with the United States over currency policy and trade. Chinese officials have expressed concern that all the friction could get in the way of a visit to the United States early next year by President Hu Jintao. At Beijing's request, Mrs. Clinton added a last-minute China stop to her itinerary, meeting the state councilor for foreign affairs, Dai Bingguo, on Saturday on Hainan Island, east of Vietnam. She pressed Mr. Dai to use Beijing's influence on North Korea to discourage it from "provocative" acts before the Group of 20 leaders' meeting in Seoul next month. A version of this article appeared in print on October 31, 2010, on page A8 of the New York edition.

20101019 quotation contributed by Rho Inseon

Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat
 
-F. Scott Fitzgarald-

20101026, Word, contributed by Juhye Lyu

ransack v. to search or examine thoroughly.

October 23, 2010 Dispute Over Succession Clouds Megachurch [From NYT, By Jihwan Kim]

October 23, 2010

Dispute Over Succession Clouds Megachurch

By LAURIE GOODSTEIN

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — The 10,664 windows did not get washed this year at the Crystal Cathedral, the iconic glass church founded by the Rev. Robert H. Schuller, one of the original religious broadcasters. Volunteers are tending the church's 40 landscaped acres, now that the gardeners have been laid off. And its renowned Christmas pageant — with live camels and horses, and angels flying overhead on cables — has been canceled for now.

 

The empire that Mr. Schuller built may be in jeopardy, tarnished by an unseemly family feud and a $43 million debt that even by megachurch standards is serious.

 

When the Crystal Cathedral, which many church historians call the nation's first modern megachurch, filed for bankruptcy protection last week, Sheila Schuller Coleman, the senior pastor and Mr. Schuller's eldest daughter, blamed the bad economy.

 

But the church was in trouble long before the economic downturn, according to church insiders and family members interviewed last week. It was already suffering from the botched succession of Mr. Schuller, one too many vanity building projects and changes in the religious broadcasting industry.

 

When Mr. Schuller announced in 2006 that he was turning over the pulpit to his only son, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller, the church was already carrying a huge debt from its last lavish building project. But in a little more than two years, the son was pushed out before he ever really took the reins, and some of his sisters and their husbands stepped in.

 

The family feud left the church without clear leadership, just when its programs badly needed a makeover to attract a new generation of followers.

 

At stake is the legacy of the senior Mr. Schuller, who at 84 is still occasionally preaching his brand of upbeat, inspirational Christianity. His Sunday program, "Hour of Power," has been broadcast for 40 years and was the nation's most-watched weekly religious program for more than a decade. Unlike other religious broadcasters, Mr. Schuller largely steered clear of politics, and avoided the sexual and financial scandals that brought down competitors like Jimmy Swaggart.

 

Until now, the younger Mr. Schuller, pained by the rift with his family, has avoided speaking publicly about what happened. But in a lengthy interview this week in Los Angeles, he explained the sequence of events, later confirmed by others, that preceded the current turmoil.

 

"It boiled down to, they weren't ready to accept my leadership," he said of his relatives and some of the other board members of the cathedral. "And had they been, they wouldn't be where they are today."

 

Both the elder Mr. Schuller and Ms. Schuller Coleman declined all interview requests last week, said the church's spokesman John Charles.

 

Handing down leadership from founding father to son is common in the world of celebrity ministry. The offspring of Billy Graham, Oral Roberts, Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell have all inherited pieces of their father's empires. But few can remember a succession as messy as the one at the Crystal Cathedral.

 

"Making transitions in any congregation, from one pastor to another, and especially from a founding pastor, is always terribly difficult," said the Rev. Wesley Granberg-Michaelson, a former board member and leader of the Reformed Church in America, the mainline Protestant denomination to which the Crystal Cathedral belongs.

 

"It's so important that transitions be done well — and when they're not done well, it can harm ministry," he said. "This ministry has touched the lives of millions. There are few like it. That just makes the situation they presently face such a deep tragedy."

 

The younger Mr. Schuller, 56, said he was groomed to succeed his father from early on. He has four sisters; Ms. Schuller Coleman is the oldest, he was the second-born. Before he was 20, he began preaching in his father's church. For many years he was the senior pastor of a church in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., affiliated with the Crystal Cathedral (a property the cathedral sold in May for $22.5 million to help reduce debt). And from 2004 to 2006, his father introduced him to donors at lunches and dinners around the country as his chosen successor.

 

But by the time the younger Mr. Schuller took over in 2006, the church's broadcast audience was shrinking, eclipsed by preachers with a more contemporary format, like Joel Osteen at Lakewood Church in Houston, who leans more heavily on self-help than Scripture.

 

Mr. Schuller said that when he came on board, a meticulous effort to straighten out the membership rolls found only 900 to 1,100 regular congregants at Crystal Cathedral — which would mean that it was about 1,500 people short of even qualifying as a megachurch. (The church spokesman, Mr. Charles, said Mr. Schuller's figures were misleadingly low because he counted only those who attended every week. He said the church currently has about 10,000 congregation members.)

 

Mr. Schuller said he also inherited a sizable debt. His father, he said, had believed that striking new buildings attracted donors who would continue giving. It worked with the church's original building, designed by the midcentury modern architect Richard Neutra, which enabled Mr. Schuller to preach from a balcony to people sitting in their cars in the parking lot below. It worked with the Crystal Cathedral sanctuary dedicated in 1980, designed by the famed architect Philip Johnson and quickly paid off by thousands of donors who had their names inscribed on windows, seats and even the struts that support the glass.

 

But the strategy failed with the church's "welcoming center," designed by Richard Meier. It was finished in 2003, and when some major donations fell through, the church still owed $40 million for it, according to the younger Mr. Schuller.

 

Meanwhile, the audience for "Hour of Power" — who provided the bulk of the ministry's income — was shrinking. At its peak in the early 1980s, before cable TV became dominant, it had about two million viewers on 190 stations. Now the audience is down to about one million in the United States. With millions more globally, the show is carried primarily on cable and satellite.

 

But there was an unspoken problem facing the ministry. Where the elder Mr. Schuller exuded charisma and optimism, his son — looking like a Southern California golf pro, tall, fit and tanned, with a full head of brown hair — was more subdued and businesslike. Several insiders said in interviews that the older Mr. Schuller and his wife, Arvella, badly wanted their son to inherit the ministry, but were never completely convinced that he was up to it.

 

"You cannot replace Dr. Schuller," said the spokesman, Mr. Charles. "It's like you cannot replace Billy Graham. I think he was put in a hard position."

 

The younger Mr. Schuller envisioned using new technologies to expand the ministry's capacities and reach a younger audience. The average viewer of "Hour of Power" is a 53-year-old woman. But some board members saw his high-tech strategies as vague and distracting.

 

Things fell apart when the younger Mr. Schuller tried to institute basic good governance rules used by many nonprofit organizations. He wanted to remove anyone with a conflict of interest from the board. That meant unseating some of his sisters and their husbands as well as his parents, who were also employees.

 

The coup came in July 2008. Mr. Schuller said he was told his preaching was "not anointed." A three-person Office of the President — two of whose members were his brothers-in-law — was created to run the cathedral. He was given the limited role of pastor of the local congregation, and removed from preaching on "Hour of Power." He quit.

 

"When you mix faith and fame and family, there's room for a really toxic dynamic," said Robert A. Schuller's daughter, Angie Schuller Wyatt, who is 32. She has degrees in ministry and counseling, but has intentionally worked in churches other than the Crystal Cathedral and is starting spiritualwellness.com.

 

The lead preaching role on the "Hour of Power" broadcast is now filled by a revolving cast of guest preachers — the elder Mr. Schuller, Ms. Schuller Coleman and a son-in-law. In 2009, Ms. Schuller Coleman was made the senior pastor of the Crystal Cathedral.

 

The younger Mr. Schuller is writing a book, "When You're Down to Nothing, God's Up to Something," and creating a new Christian media network with his son-in-law, Chris Wyatt. They acquired AmericanLife TV from the Unification Church, and plan "family friendly programming," including R-rated movies edited for a G-rated audience.

 

They soon plan to broadcast a new preaching program featuring a member of the third generation of Schullers in ministry: Robert V. Schuller, the 29-year-old grandson of the founder of Crystal Cathedral and the son of Robert A. Schuller. The grandson leads a growing congregation geared toward a younger crowd, which meets in rented space in an American Legion hall.

 

Many people involved with the Crystal Cathedral, asked about Robert V. Schuller, immediately brighten and say he has his grandfather's gifts.

 

 

 

20101026, Article, contributied by Juhye, Lyu

Britain Plans Deepest Cuts to Spending in 60 Years By SARAH LYALL and ALAN COWELL Published: October 20, 2010 RECOMMEND TWITTER COMMENTS(255) SIGN IN TO E-MAIL PRINT REPRINTS SHARE LONDON — The British government on Wednesday unveiled the country's steepest public spending cuts in more than 60 years, reducing costs in government departments by an average of 19 percent, sharply curtailing welfare benefits, raising the retirement age to 66 by 2020 and eliminating hundreds of thousands of public sector jobs in an effort to bring down the bloated budget deficit. Enlarge This Image Luke Macgregor/Reuters George Osborne, right, chancellor of the Exchequer, announced $130 billion in cuts that he called vital to avoiding economic ruin.  Audio Interview: Sarah Lyall on the British Austerity Plan Multimedia Interactive Feature The Austerity Zone: Life in the New Europe Related The British Ax, if Imported Here(October 24, 2010) Europe Seen Avoiding Keynes's Cure for Recession (October 21, 2010) Sarkozy Strengthens Moves Against French Protesters(October 21, 2010) The Lede Blog: This Time, London's Not Burning (October 20, 2010) The Lede Blog: Full Text of British Spending Review and Video From Parliament (October 20, 2010) Enlarge This Image Dan Kitwood/Getty Images People protested government spending cuts near Parliament on Wednesday in London. Readers' Comments Readers shared their thoughts on this article. Read All Comments (255) ≫ "Today is the day when Britain steps back from the brink," a confident George Osborne, who as chancellor of the Exchequer is Britain's top finance minister, told the House of Commons. "To back down now and abandon our plans would be the road to economic ruin." Wednesday's announcement of ￡83 billion, about $130 billion, in cuts by 2015 represents a big political gamble for Britain's fledgling Conservative-led coalition government. Britain's public deficit is one of the highest among developed economies, running at 11.5 percent of total economic output, compared with 10.7 percent for the United States and 5.4 percent for Germany. Though the Conservatives have so far made a persuasive case for the deep cuts, outmaneuvering a weakened Labour opposition, the country has yet to feel anything like the pain that is to come as the retrenchment begins to take hold. "There's a growing acceptance and public awareness that this is necessary, that these measures are needed," Helen Cleary, deputy political director for the Ipsos Mori polltakers, said in an interview. "But I don't think people will really understand what it all means until the cuts start to bite." The coalition government is also gambling that the reductions in public outlays will stimulate the private sector and restart growth, rather than send the economy back into a tailspin, as liberal economists have warned. Britain has been bracing for the cuts for months, after Mr. Osborne announced in June the details of the so-called spending review, but Wednesday was the first time the government had set out its plans, department by department. Mr. Osborne said that 490,000 public sector jobs would be lost over the next four years, some to attrition. At the same time, payments to the long-term unemployed who fail to seek jobs will be cut, he said, saving $11 billion a year. Additionally, he said, a new 12-month limit will be imposed on long-term jobless benefits, and measures will be taken to curb benefit fraud. Mr. Osborne said an increase in the official retirement age to 66 from 65 would start in 2020 — four years sooner than planned — saving $8 billion a year. Britain has already said it will stop paying child benefit payments to people earning more than around $70,000 a year. But while the government has sought to rein in welfare costs, Mr. Osborne announced that several politically sacred benefits for the elderly, including free eye tests, prescription drugs and bus passes, would remain. Britain has about six million public sector jobs, about one fifth of all jobs in the economy, according to the Office for National Statistics. But it was not clear what the impact of shedding 490,000 of them — about 8 percent of the total — would have on unemployment. Mr. Osborne has continually said that the private sector will take up the slack, employing more people as the economy emerges from the doldrums. Mr. Osborne promised annual savings of 7.1 percent in the budgets of local government councils and said there would be a freeze followed by a 14 percent cut in tax money allocated to maintaining Queen Elizabeth II's household. Public housing tenants, he said, will face higher rents closer to the market rates for private housing. Military spending will be cut by 8 percent by 2014, he said, but he promised not to reduce spending on British forces in the Afghanistan war. But, he said, the National Health Service — one of the most politically delicate institutions in Britain — will be allocated more money, rather than less. He also said the "resource money" for schools would increase "in real terms" every year. Spending on the police will be cut by 4 percent a year, he said, but spending on intelligence and security agencies will be strengthened to guard against terrorism and protect London during the 2012 Olympic Games. He also promised to spend about $1.4 billion on measures to curb tax fraud, which cost the tax service about $11 billion a year. Mr. Osborne said Britain's diplomatic corps — the Foreign Office — would lose 24 percent of its financing and cut the number of workers at the headquarters in London. Additionally, the BBC will take over financing the BBC World Service and several other responsibilities, saving the government about $539 million a year, while the BBC's own mandatory license fee levied on owners of television sets will be frozen for six years. People in the arts had been bracing themselves for deep cuts in government subsidies. But, while Mr. Osborne said that administrative costs in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and in quasigovernmental arts organizations would be reduced by 41 percent, money for "core programs" like museums would be cut by just 15 percent. "We have had to make choices, choices in the things we support," Mr. Osborne said. "We have taken our country back from the brink of bankruptcy." The average cut in the budgets of government departments, he said, will be 19 percent, not the 25 percent he had initially threatened. He said a temporary tax on bank balance sheets would be made permanent. Many Britons, like Americans, are angry with big banks for their role in the world financial crisis. Mr. Osborne said the government would seek to extract "the maximum sustainable taxes" from financial institutions. In June, Mr. Osborne also said that the value-added tax — a tax paid on most consumer goods in Britain — would increase in January, to 20 percent from 17.5 percent. Sarah Lyall reported from London, and Alan Cowell from Paris. Julia Werdigier contributed reporting from London

Article, 20101026, "French Senate Approves Pansion Change Amid Protests", contributed by Kyung Jin Lee

French Senate Approves Pension Change Amid Protests

(October 22, 2010, The Wall Street Journal)

-Kyung Jin, Lee-

PARIS—France's Senate approved President Nicolas Sarkozy's unpopular state pension overhaul Friday, but the country remains gripped by fuel shortages, sporadic violence and continued industrial action arising from organized and ad-hoc antigovernment protests.

The legislation will now move back to the lower house, the national assembly, which Mr. Sarkozy's UMP conservative party and allies comfortably control.

But on the eve of the French school-vacation period that will be inconvenienced by long lines at those service stations fortunate enough to be stocked with fuel, a fresh poll showed more than two-thirds of the French population supports the continuing strike action against Mr. Sarkozy. And unions indicated Thursday that they don't intend to ease pressure on the government, as they called for yet another national strike and day of protest next Thursday and for a weekend protest on Nov. 6.

Riot police were deployed in force in France's third-largest city, Lyon, on Friday to contain continued, though diminished, violence from gangs of protesters who have been active this week, Agence France Press reported.

Meanwhile, as French riot police continued to break up blockades erected by union-backed protesters at fuel depots, French Energy Minister Jean-Louis Borloo said the fuel supply is improving, although around 20% of the country's 12,300 service stations remain dry. As many as 40% of the service stations had been short of fuel at one point earlier this week.

After meeting with French oil-industry executives, Prime Minister François Fillon said it would take several more days to get fuel supplies back to normal. He ordered the nation's prefects, senior administrative officials in the regions, to take charge of replenishing service stations in their areas, in partnership with the oil companies to make sure supplies are being allocated efficiently and evenly.

Mr. Fillon had won the agreement of oil companies on Wednesday to share fuel supplies to right skewed distribution patterns. It wasn't immediately clear if Mr. Fillon is unhappy with the progress the oil industry is making in sorting out the supply problems.

Representatives of the French fuel-suppliers' association were reported by Agence France Press to have said after the oil-industry meeting with Mr. Fillon that it is taking longer than planned to reallocate motor fuels to service stations in need, and that they have set motorway service stations as their highest priority.

In his statement, Mr. Fillon said the western and eastern parts of France, along with the Paris region, are the hardest hit by supply disruptions. Mr. Fillon also said oil companies have committed to ensure crucial services are well supplied with fuel.

Earlier this week, the oil companies agreed to share fuel stocks to help right skewed distribution of gasoline and diesel fuel. There has been panic buying by French motorists, who have been draining service stations of fuel as quickly as the oil companies have been able to replenish forecourt tanks.

Ironically, as expected, a French appeals court Friday gave permission to French oil giant Total SA to shut down its oil-refining operations at a big facility near Dunkirk, to transform it into a storage and research facility because of refining overcapacity in Europe.

Senators, 177-153, passed the legislation, which among other things would raise the age when the French can receive state retirement benefits to 62 years old from 60. The legislation could become law by the end of the month, although that isn't likely to stop unions and others from extending their protests, which are now embracing other issues such as education and port reforms. Moreover, Mr. Sarkozy plans to embark on a potentially contentious overhaul of France's tax system in 2011, just one year before national elections in mid-2012.

The BVA market-research organization Friday published its latest poll, which showed France's tradition of public protest remains strong, with 69% of respondents polled in the past 48 hours saying they support the movement against the government's pension reform, despite all the inconveniences the action has caused. The poll showed that 52% of the French public even support the public-transport strikes.

 

20101026 article contributed Rho Inseon

Judge Orders U.S. Military to Stop 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'

By JOHN SCHWARTZ

Published: October 12, 2010

 

A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the United States military to stop enforcing the "don't ask, don't tell" law that prohibits openly gay men and women from serving.
 
Judge Virginia A. Phillips of Federal District Court for the Central District of California issued an injunction banning enforcement of the law and ordered the military to immediately "suspend and discontinue" any investigations or proceedings to dismiss service members.
In language much like that in her Sept. 9 ruling declaring the law unconstitutional, Judge Phillips wrote that the 17-year-old policy "infringes the fundamental rights of United States service members and prospective service members" and violates their rights of due process and freedom of speech.
While the decision is likely to be appealed by the government, the new ruling represents a significant milestone for gay rights in the United States.
Two other recent decisions have overturned restrictions on gay rights at the state and federal levels. Tuesday's ruling, in Log Cabin Republicans v. United States of America, could have a potentially sweeping impact, as it would apply to all United States service members anywhere in the world.
Christian Berle, the acting executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay organization, applauded the judge's action, saying it would make the armed forces stronger.
"Lifting the ban on open service will allow our armed forces to recruit the best and brightest," Mr. Berle said, "and not have their hands tied because of an individual's sexual orientation."
Alexander Nicholson, the named plaintiff in the lawsuit, said "we sort of won the lottery," considering the breadth of the decision. Mr. Nicholson is executive director of Servicemembers United, an organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans.
The government has 60 days to file an appeal. "We're reviewing it," said Tracy Schmaler, a Justice Department spokeswoman, adding that there would be no other immediate comment. The government is expected, however, to appeal the injunction to the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to try to keep it from taking effect pending an appeal of the overall case.
Such a move would carry risks, said Richard Socarides, who was an adviser to President Bill Clinton on gay rights issues. "There will be an increasingly high price to pay politically for enforcing a law which 70 percent of the American people oppose and a core Democratic constituency abhors," he said.
Critics of the ruling include Tony Perkins, the president of the Family Research Council and a proponent of the don't ask, don't tell law, who accused Judge Phillips of "playing politics with our national defense."
In a statement, Mr. Perkins, a former Marine, said that "once again, an activist federal judge is using the military to advance a liberal social agenda," and noted that there was still "strong opposition" to changing the law from military leaders.
Mr. Perkins predicted that the decision would have wide-ranging effects in the coming elections. "This move will only further the desire of voters to change Congress," he said. "Americans are upset and want to change Congress and the face of government because of activist judges and arrogant politicians who will not listen to the convictions of most Americans and, as importantly, the Constitution's limits on what the courts and Congress can and cannot do."
The don't ask, don't tell law was originally proposed as a compromise measure to loosen military policies regarding homosexuality. Departing from a decades-old policy of banning service by gay, lesbian and bisexual recruits, the new law allowed service and prohibited superiors from asking about sexual orientation. But the law also held that service members could be dismissed from the military if they revealed their sexual orientation or engaged in homosexual acts.
Since 1993, some 14,000 gay men and lesbians have been discharged from the service when their sexual orientation became known, according to Mr. Nicholson's group.
The law has long been a point of contention, and President Obama has asked Congress to repeal it.
At an afternoon briefing on Tuesday, the White House press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said the injunction was under review, but that "the president will continue to work as hard as he can to change the law that he believes is fundamentally unfair."
The Department of Justice, however, is required to defend laws passed by Congress under most circumstances.
In February, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, asked Congress to repeal the law.

20101019 Article contributed by Rho Inseon

'Too many Korean restaurants in NY'

KumGangSan restaurant offers Korean food, or hansik, in New York. Koreans there are not so enthusiastic about the Korean government's idea of establishing a flagship hansik restaurant in the heart of Manhattan. / Korea Times Negative reactions to Seoul's Manhattan restaurant plan By Jane Han NEW YORK — The Korean government plans to open a mega restaurant in downtown Manhattan next year, a key item on its growing list of ingredients to globalizing Korean cuisine. But how does the plan sound to existing restaurateurs? Not too tasty. For many business owners, the newcomer is seen as just another competitor — only a lot bigger in size and scale. The government announced last month that it will invest 5 billion won ($4.4 million) to launch a 330-square-meter flagship Korean restaurant in Manhattan with up to 150 seats. If the New York venture turns out successful, the Korean government plans to kick off a series of overseas restaurants as part of its efforts to promote "hansik," or Korean food. "We'll put significant emphasis on the flagship restaurant as it is highlighted as a central measure of our hansik globalization plan next year," said an official of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. The new eatery will be an addition to the existing 20-some Korean restaurants in Manhattan, where names such as New York Kom Tang, Kang Suh Restaurant and KumGangSan have been around since the 1980s. "There are already too many restaurants that have similar offerings," said Kim Yu-bong, owner of New York Kom Tang. "Hansik won't be globalized just because the government gets its hands on the restaurant business. What about all the existing restaurants? What have we been doing?" He said more support should be given to the established businesses since they're already familiar with the market and industry. "I welcome the fact that the Korean government is channeling so much effort into globalizing hansik, but it should first direct its attention to the forerunning businesses and seeks ways to improve and help them," said another owner of a long-standing Korean bistro in Manhattan, who didn't want to be named. "We've been around for more than 20 years. Does the government think we haven't tried all kinds of measures?" she added. "The New York restaurant scene is a fierce market to break into." A majority of restaurateurs echoed the need for support and interest in the existing businesses, but some acknowledged that a governmental effort would boost the general perception of Korean food in the U.S. "If the government builds a luxurious bistro at a completely new level, it's probably going to help the image of hansik," said Lee Hee-sook, owner of BCD Tofu House. "It's going to be effective marketing for us minus the cost"

'Too many Korean restaurants in NY'  10-18-2010 17:52
 
Negative reactions to Seoul's Manhattan restaurant plan

By Jane Han



NEW YORK — The Korean government plans to open a mega restaurant in downtown Manhattan next year, a key item on its growing list of ingredients to globalizing Korean cuisine. But how does the plan sound to existing restaurateurs? Not too tasty.

For many business owners, the newcomer is seen as just another competitor — only a lot bigger in size and scale.

The government announced last month that it will invest 5 billion won ($4.4 million) to launch a 330-square-meter flagship Korean restaurant in Manhattan with up to 150 seats. If the New York venture turns out successful, the Korean government plans to kick off a series of overseas restaurants as part of its efforts to promote "hansik," or Korean food.

"We'll put significant emphasis on the flagship restaurant as it is highlighted as a central measure of our hansik globalization plan next year," said an official of the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries.

The new eatery will be an addition to the existing 20-some Korean restaurants in Manhattan, where names such as New York Kom Tang, Kang Suh Restaurant and KumGangSan have been around since the 1980s.

"There are already too many restaurants that have similar offerings," said Kim Yu-bong, owner of New York Kom Tang. "Hansik won't be globalized just because the government gets its hands on the restaurant business. What about all the existing restaurants? What have we been doing?"

He said more support should be given to the established businesses since they're already familiar with the market and industry.

"I welcome the fact that the Korean government is channeling so much effort into globalizing hansik, but it should first direct its attention to the forerunning businesses and seeks ways to improve and help them," said another owner of a long-standing Korean bistro in Manhattan, who didn't want to be named.

"We've been around for more than 20 years. Does the government think we haven't tried all kinds of measures?" she added. "The New York restaurant scene is a fierce market to break into."

A majority of restaurateurs echoed the need for support and interest in the existing businesses, but some acknowledged that a governmental effort would boost the general perception of Korean food in the U.S.

"If the government builds a luxurious bistro at a completely new level, it's probably going to help the image of hansik," said Lee Hee-sook, owner of BCD Tofu House. "It's going to be effective marketing for us minus the cost"