| The Kensington Review |
15 June 2005 |
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Latest Commentary:
Schwarzenegger Calls Special Election for Reform -- California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, a Republican, announced on Monday that he was appealing over the heads of the legislature and taking his reform package directly to the people of the state. He wants to put a spending cap in place, which would undo minimum funding levels for schools that a 2000 referendum enacted, to have retired judges and not legislators draw electoral boundaries and extend the time teachers need to put in before winning tenure from 2 to 5 years. Even if he loses, it is a stroke of political genius. South African Deputy President Sacked over Corruption Worries -- There is a sense in the US that once apartheid ended, all South Africans lived happily ever after. However, crime is up, AIDS is a major concern, and the deputy president, Jacob Zuma, has been tied to a financier who has been convicted of corruption and fraud. Crime and AIDS persist in South Africa, but as of yesterday, Mr. Zuma is not deputy president of the nation any longer. Guilty or innocent, he had to go. Purcell Departs Morgan Stanley -- Philip Purcell, the head of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, is quitting after a long campaign against him by several former investment bankers who are shareholders. Rather than claim he was going to spend more time with his family or that he was off to pursue other opportunities, he quit because, as he said, he couldn’t fix things. American Charitable Donations Set Record in 2004 -- Stinginess is not among the shortcomings in the American character. According to the Giving USA Foundation, which keeps track of this kind of thing, Americans gave a record $249 billion to charity in 2004, up 5% over 2003. Of that, individual giving was $187.92 billion. Meaning that 80% of the American population or thereabouts are philanthropists. © Copyright 2005 by The Kensington Review, J. Myhre, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux. |
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