Dear Etty, 

(guest article by Steve Goldstein)

What a concept! Solicit funds from well-intentioned people from around the world to make small, low interest, loans to small entrepreneurs who want to begin start-up businesses in third-world countries. How have they fared? To date, over 675,000 lenders from 192 countries have made some 170,000 loans. These loans totaled over $121 million dollars with the average loan amounting to just $399. The rate of repayment is over 98 percent.

NoVES is planning to get feedback from our members as a means for helping to set Society priorities and to improve our effectiveness. Rather than using a written survey of the sort we have conducted in the recent past, we have decided to use focus group discussions.  These focus group discussions will be similar in some respects to the group discussions in member homes that NoVES used to get member input as to what we wanted in a new leader after Susan Bagot announced her retirement,.  

Due to the snow, which is expected to continue to accumulate into January 31 and remain on the ground, producing dangerous driving conditions, we are cancelling the platform meeting and Sunday School meeting for Sunday, January 31.

Dear Etty, 

I was with a friend when she learned that she failed a test.  I sympathized.  She offered a dour smile and changed the subject.  Do I just ignore my friend’s obvious pain?   

Stormy Weather   

Living in a state where "race" is still a box to fill in on marriage licenses, I'm often reminded how parallel today's marriage equality issues are, legally speaking.  Some of the same arguments are even used (see "Why the Ugly Rhetoric Against Gay Marriage Is Familiar to This Historian of Miscegenation").  How simple to allow marriage, regardless of the race or gender of the partner!

Certainly the issue cannot just be procreation.  We do not dissolve marriages automatically if the partners cannot procreate, nor do we require procreation of married couples where the partners are different sexes or genders.

The National Leaders Conference (NLC) of the American Ethical Union (AEU) approved a resolution on Afghanistan, opposing President Obama’s plan to send increased troops (see below). This is a good time to clarify the role of public affairs resolutions within the Ethical Movement.