WHAT? MORE Fs? ... Man, oh, man, we get so tired of reporting the neverending string of Fs our state and its leaders are earning in various realms. Here are the two latest:
1. U.S. Public Interest Research Group (U.S. PIRG) recently released its annual Congressional Scorecard of U.S. Senators and Representatives on major public interest issues. Idaho stayed true to from:
Larry Craig 0% Lifetime score: 4%
Mike Crapo 0% Lifetime score: 4%
Butch Otter 10% Life time score: n/a
Mike Simpson 5% …
Global markets rose Monday after the U.S. government proposed a US$700 billion plan to solve the world financial crisis by rescuing banks from billions of dollars in risky mortgage debt.
European markets edged higher in early trading, then slumped slightly before rising again. Britain's FTSE 100 gained 0.22 percent to 5,323.17, Germany's DAX advanced 0.42 percent to 6,215.70 and France's CAC 40 strengthened 0.27 percent to 4,336.47.
"There was massive reaction on Friday, today there is an element of profit-taking and a bit of reality of people worrying about the world economy as we see the price of oil move higher again," said Stephen Pope, chief …
BASEBALL
South Atlantic League
Northern Division
W L Pct. GB
x-Lakewood (Phillies) 24 15 .615 -
Hickory (Rangers) 22 16 .579 11/2
Greensboro (Marlins) 20 19 .513 4
Kannapolis (White Sox) 18 21 .462 6
West Virginia (Pirates) 17 21 .447 61/2
Delmarva (Orioles) 16 22 .421 71/2
Hagerstown (Nationals) 13 25 .342 101/2
Southern Division
W L Pct. GB
Asheville (Rockies) 23 16 .590 -
Greenville (Red Sox) 23 16 .590 -
Charleston (Yankees) 21 18 .538 2
Lexington (Astros) 20 18 .526 21/2
Augusta (Giants) 19 19 .500 31/2
Rome (Braves) 19 20 .487 4
x-Savannah (Mets) 15 24 …
MALIBU, Calif. - A midlevel pro cyclist testified he was a drug cheat at the Floyd Landis arbitration hearing Friday, describing in detail how synthetic testosterone helped him recover in multi-day stage races like the Tour de France.
Joe Papp, who received a two-year doping suspension that hadn't been made public until this testimony, was brought to the witness stand by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
USADA used his testimony to refute earlier claims made by Landis' attorneys that testosterone couldn't help Landis win the 2006 Tour and that he'd be crazy to use it if he knew he might be tested.
"It's such a false statement that it makes me angry," Papp said. "Why …
Sales at Volkswagen AG motored ahead in the second quarter thanks in part to strong demand from China, pushing the automaker's earnings sharply higher to euro1.25 billion ($1.6 billion), the company said Thursday.
The company, based in Wolfsburg, Germany, had earnings of euro283 million in last year's April-June period.
Revenue was up 21.9 percent, rising to euro33.16 billion from euro27.2 billion.
Volkswagen sold 12.6 percent more cars, rising to 1.86 million from 1.66 million.
Volkswagen cautioned that "the dynamic growth in ... revenue and …
Life extends to everyone countless opportunities to help others. Most people find that these divine invitations are too inconvenient, but not Deval Patrick. He is committed to fairness, compassion and justice.
In 1998, Patrick wrote a letter on behalf of Benjamin LaGuer, a convicted rapist who had already served 15 years in prison and was eligible for parole. Patrick became involved for two reasons. There was substantial evidence that the prosecution was flawed, and he became convinced that LaGuer had attained a state of mind that made it unlikely that he could commit such a crime in the future.
For some inexplicable reason, a Boston journalist seems to believe that such …
| Edmonton 0 1 2 0_4 | |||||
| Florida 1 0 2 0_3 | |||||
| Edmonton won shootout 1-0 | |||||
| First Period_1, Florida, Campbell 5, 1:18 (sh). Penalties_Jokinen, Fla (slashing), 1:00 | Hemsky, Edm (tripping), 7:49. | ||||
| Second Period_2, Edmonton, Moreau 4, 16:31. Penalties_Salei, Fla (cross-checking), 4:40 | Jokinen, Fla (hooking), 7:44 | Penner, Edm (goalie interference), 8:09 | Moreau, Edm (unsportsmanlike conduct), 14:18 | Horton, Fla (interference), 15:08 | Cogliano, Edm (hooking), 15:40. |
It is not for nothing that advertisers bet big bucks on sports ontelevision. And it's not for nothing that broadcasters commitmillions of dollars for sports acquisition rights; the per dayacquisition cost of India-cricket (read: cricket for which the rightsvest with Board of Control for Cricket in India or BCCI) is around Rs11 crore a day. Cricket alone accounted for 9 per cent of the totalad spend on tv (Rs 9,000 crore) in 2003. That was a whopping Rs 800-odd crore. The amount came down to Rs 450-500 crore last year; 2003saw the World Cup, and in the Indian broadcasting firmament 2004 wascharacterised by legal squabbling over cricket broadcast rights.
Fact is, no one, …
STATE
Rule's repeal will jolt business, homebuilders say
Regional homebuilders expect new-home sales to increase since a state sprinkler system mandate was repealed this week.
They didn't say by how much they expect sales to grow, but the regulation that affected single-family homebuilders as of Jan. 1 already was helping to depress the market, builders said.
The mandate was added to the state's Uniform Construction Code in 2009. It required multifamily residential developers to include sprinklers in three or more attached units built last year, and singlefamily and duplex homebuilders had to include sprinklers in houses this year.
The Pennsylvania …
Nuclear negotiators from Japan, the United States and South Korea met Thursday and reaffirmed the need to push forward six-party talks with North Korea that have been stalled for months.
The meeting came after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Wednesday that she expected North Korea to soon provide a delayed account of its nuclear weapons activities. In return, Washington may take the North off of its list of terror-supporting nations.
"Obviously we are at a very important phase in the six-party talks," chief U.S. negotiator Christopher Hill said after meeting with his Japanese counterpart, Akitaka Saiki, and South Korea's Kim Sook at …
B. Jan. 2, 1972 in Inverness, N.S. S. of Alex Angus and Elizabeth Ann. Ed. at St. Francis Xavier Univ. (B.Sc.Ph.Ed.). M. Dec. 30, 1994 to Lori Ann Gillis. One child: Ryan. Political Career: First elected to the N.S. Leg. g.e. 1999. Re-elected g.e. 2003. Appt'd: Min. of Tourism and Culture, Min. in charge of the administration of the Heritage Property Act and Min. resp. for the administration of the Liquor Control Act, Aug. 13, 1999 and Min. resp. for the N.S. Sport and …
Firefighters find apparent meth lab
St. Albans firefighters found what appeared to be amethamphetamine lab after responding to a blaze at a home on the 1400block of Pennsylvania Avenue.
Firefighters made the discovery after extinguishing the blaze,which caused minimal damage to the home's kitchen and dining room,said Sgt. James Agee of the St. Albans Police Department
Once the apparent lab was noticed, Agee said an officer from theMetro Drug Unit was called in to collect samples and remove them fortesting.
"Lab tests will have to be done to determine whether or not it wasa meth lab," Agee said, "but there are indications that it could be."
No one was home at the time of the fire, which emergency crewsresponded to about 11:30 p.m. Sunday, and no injuries were reported.Two dogs staying at the home had to be taken to the Kanawha-Charleston Humane Association Animal Shelter, Agee said.
The fire department's arson investigator is still trying todetermine what caused the blaze, Agee said.
A judge on Monday ordered the return of more than 400 children taken from their parents at a polygamist group's ranch, following the state Supreme Court ruling that the state's seizure of the youngsters wasn't justified.
The order signed by Texas District Judge Barbara Walther allowed parents to begin picking up their children from foster care at 10 a.m. CDT.
In exchange for regaining custody, the parents are not being allowed to leave Texas without court permission and must participate in parenting classes. They were also ordered not to interfere with any child abuse investigation and to allow the children to undergo psychiatric or medical exams if required.
"We're really grateful to get the order signed," said Willie Jessop, an elder of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the sect that runs the ranch in West Texas.
The judge's order requires that parents allow children's welfare workers to make unannounced visits and that the families notify CPS if they plan to travel more than 100 miles from their homes.
Jessop said without elaborating that he had hoped for a less restrictive order.
The order comes just days after the Texas Supreme Court said Texas Child Protective Services overreached its authority in seizing custody of the children nearly two months ago.
The group denies any abuse of the children. Church officials say they are being persecuted for their religious beliefs. The FLDS, whose members believe polygamy earns glorification in heaven, is a breakaway sect of the Mormon church, which renounced polygamy more than a century ago.
The Supreme Court on Thursday affirmed an appeals court ruling ordering Walther to reverse her decision in April putting all children from the ranch into foster case. The Supreme Court and the appeals court rejected the state's argument that all the children were in immediate danger from what it said was a cycle of sexual abuse of teenage girls at the ranch.
Half the children sent to foster care were no older than 5.
The Third Court of Appeals last week ruled that the state failed to show that any more than five of the teenage girls were being sexually abused, and that it had offered no evidence of sexual or physical abuse against the other children.
Roughly 430 children from the ranch are in foster care after two births, numerous reclassifications of adult women initially held as minors and a handful of agreements allowing parents to keep custody while the Supreme Court considered the case.
It's not clear how many might return to the ranch right away. Many of the parents have purchased or rented homes in Amarillo, San Antonio and other places around the state where the children were placed in foster facilities.
EQUIPMENT TECHNOLOGY
Swagelok Co. (Solon, OH; www.swagelok.com) has enhanced its 40 series one-piece instrumentation ball valve, a workhorse that has served the chemical industry for over 40 years, to address customer requirements for a wider range of operating temperatures and improved performances under thermal cycling conditions. The result, launched at ChemShow (New York; Nov. 1-3, 2005) under the 40G moniker, features working pressures up to 3,000 psig (206 bar) and temperatures from -65 to 300�F (-53 to 148�C); a two-way valve configuration for shut-off service in both a straight and angle pattern; and a three-way valve for switching service. With equivalent dimensions to the 40 series (1/16-3/8-in. and 3-8-mm end connections), 40G valves are dimensionally interchangeable with their predecessors for drop-in field service.
The versatility of Swagelok's 40G series is related directly to its seal design, which includes: (1) an encapsulated patent pending single-piece packing to improve leak resistance and optimize sealing pressure; (2) enlarged, equal-sized trunnions to reduce the amount of packing material; (3) a live-loaded packing system that reduces the need for packing adjustment and improves thermal cycle performance; (4) modified polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) packing material (referred by Swagelok as TFM), which exhibits higher resistance to cold-flow deformation during thermal cycling vs. standard PTFE. "The ball and trunnion portion of the valve ball stem are encapsulated in a single-piece packing that is subsequently pressed into the valve cavity, creating a functional seal without the need for system pressure. "This design reduces potential leak points and allows bi-directional flow," notes Mike Adkins, Swagelok product manager.
The next step of the assembly process is the placement of a packing gland over the upper trunnion to rest directly on top of the packing material. With a close fit around the trunnion and within the valve cavity, the gland fully contains the packing material, thereby preventing it from extruding during thermal cycling. The upper and lower trunnions also better align the valve element within the valve cavity and provides more directed, balanced loading on the packing for improved sealing.
A patent-pending direct-load assembly method is another factor in the 40G series' consistent, enhanced performance from valve to valve. It eliminates torque from the assembly process and allows for repeatable application of a predetermined load. This combined with a series of springs allow the valve to function in a repeatable manner over a thermal cycle range. As the temperature drops, the packing contracts and the springs maintain the sealing load on the packing. As temperatures rise, the packing expands, pushing up on the gland, and in turn, the springs compress. "The load is also more likely to be retained during valve actuation, which means users will have less need to adjust the valve in the field," says Adkins.
Bond was denied today for a 54-year-old Glendale Heights womancharged with shooting her estranged husband to death Sunday as heslept.
Ann M. Jones already faced attempted murder charges forallegedly wounding her husband, Michael T. Jones, on Feb. 26.
Jones was freed on bond after the February attack and had beenliving in Glendale Heights. Authorities said she went to the familyhome in Bloomingdale around 6 a.m. Sunday and shot her 50-year-oldhusband with a 9-mm. handgun as he slept.
He was shot six or seven times at close range, authorities said.
The couple's grown son, who was sleeping in another room,struggled with his mother and detained her until police arrived,authorities said.
The killing illustrates how difficult it can be to preventdomestic violence, authorities said, noting that Michael Jones tooklegal steps to protect himself after the February attack.
Those measures included immediately filing for divorce andobtaining an order of protection barring his wife from having anycontact with him.
"There's no explanation how this can happen (not) once, buttwice," DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett said today.
Birkett and other officials said no legal lapses contributed toSunday's killing.
"Regardless of every effort that's taken by judges, policeofficers and prosecutors to protect innocent victims, some people aregoing to violate every condition and seek to carry out their plan,"Birkett said.
Authorities wouldn't disclose a motive for Sunday's attack butsaid the February shooting occurred only three days after the Jonesesapparently had agreed to divorce. The couple still were livingtogether at the time, police said.
Ann Jones was released in April after a relative posted therequired 10 percent of her $500,000 bond.
She moved to an apartment in Glendale Heights.
Police said today that they still were trying to determine whenand where Ann Jones obtained the handgun allegedly used to kill herhusband. Michael Jones was a ground crew supervisor for UnitedAirlines.
Authorities said Ann Jones could have purchased the weaponlegally, even though she was facing attempted murder charges stemmingfrom the earlier attack on her husband.
Young people are being invited to take part in an online surveyto help shape health policy for their age group in the North-east.
The Grampian Youth Lifestyle survey has been undertaken insecondary schools throughout Grampian every three years from 1992 to2001.
It includes questions on areas such as diet, activity, alcohol,smoking, relationships, sexual health and drugs.
Now, after a six-year gap, researchers at NHS Grampian andAberdeen University are carrying out the survey again in schools butalso targeting 18 to 25-year-olds.
Director of public health Dr Lesley Wilkie said: "The informationfrom this survey and from previous surveys allows us to keep intouch with the health needs and behaviour of young people inGrampian.
"By returning our questionnaires, they will be helping shapefuture health promotion services in the area."
Questionnaires need to be completed by December 24.
While there is almost certainly a contract extension in the worksfor manager Gene Lamont, who is signed through next season, generalmanager Ron Schueler said Tuesday nothing will be done "until the endof the season."
The future of White Sox reliever Bobby Thigpen might be resolvedsooner, however, if the number of scouts attending Comiskey Park thishomestand is any indication.
"We've been hit more in the last 10 days with scouts than allseason," Schueler said. "There have been clubs from both leagues inhere to see him."
As for any trade talks on the horizon, Schueler said the current"quiet" time might soon change.
"It might pick up," Schueler said. "I'm hoping it does."
HOT TIMES: Maybe it was the weather, but what started as somegood-natured kidding between Ozzie Guillen and Frank Thomas duringTuesday's batting practice, turned into a heated discussion asThomas, the White Sox first baseman, was taking ground balls atshortstop - the injured Guillen's position.
What ensued for the next few minutes was a pointed discussion oneach player's defensive and offensive capabilities.
"I didn't see any problem myself," said Lamont, when asked aboutthe confrontation. "I think guys ride each other more than peopleknow.
"Sometimes they're kidding - sometimes not. But to me, it wasno big deal."
INVITATION ONLY: Expect Brian Drahman to be one of the "two orthree" minor league players Schueler indicated will be joining theWhite Sox from Class AAA Vancouver Sept. 1 when the major leaguerosters expand.
After the season, Schueler said a total of "six or seven"players from the farm system would be added to the White Sox roster.
SVEUM REBOUNDING: Shortstop Dale Sveum, who has lost sevenpounds over the course of his week-long battle with a virus, said hefelt much better Tuesday.
"At least I was able to eat something today," he said. "Beforethat, I wasn't able to swallow."
OWNERS' RIGHTS: White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf said he hadn'tmade up his mind on whether Fay Vincent should be forced out ascommissioner, but said he believed he could be fired by the owners.
"Every lawyer that I have spoken to has concluded that acommissioner can be removed from office," Reinsdorf said. "But let'sdeal with that if we get to that point. We haven't gotten to thatpoint yet."
Contributing: Associated Press
Bennett Stewart, 76, former congressman and South Side alderman,died Tuesday in the University of Chicago Hospitals.
Mr. Stewart, of Chatham, represented the 21st Ward from 1971 to1979 in the era of Mayor Richard J. Daley. He was elected toCongress from the 1st District and served from 1979 to 1981, when heretired.
A onetime farm boy from a Huntsville, Ala., family of five sonsand four daughters, Stewart graduated from Miles College, Birmingham,Ala., where his wife, Pattye, was a classmate. Mr. Stewart laterbecame a member of the board of trustees of Miles.
He taught high school in Birmingham and later taught at Miles.He gave up teaching to become a door-to-door insurance salesman.
In 1968, he became a building inspector and later an urbanrenewal specialist advising property owners on financing renovations.
A redistricting after the 1970 census opened a City Councilvacancy in the 21st Ward, and Stewart, by that time a top precinctcaptain, was chosen. He easily defeated three opponents.
After the death of U.S. Rep. Ralph Metcalfe, Bennett brushedaside young tigers like Aldermen Eugene Sawyer (6th) and Timothy C.Evans (4th) and in a showdown vote won the congressional nominationover County Commissioner John H. Stroger Jr. and Timuel Black, a citycollege professor.
In addition to his wife, survivors include two sons, Bennett Jr.and Ronald; a daughter, Miriam Stewart-Early; a brother, and fourgrandchildren.
Services will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday in St. Paul CME Church,4644 S. Dearborn. Visitation will be at 1 p.m in the church beforeservices. Burial will be in Birmingham.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Ichiro Suzuki and Jose Vidro homered and the Seattle Mariners hit seven doubles in a 10-2 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday night in a game that saw both starters leave with stiff lower backs.
Felix Hernandez (3-2) pitched five strong innings for Seattle in his third start since coming off the disabled list. He gave up an RBI triple to Shane Costa and an RBI double to Alex Gordon in the sixth and was relieved after a lengthy conference on the mound that included assistant trainer Rob Nodine.
The Mariners said he had tightness in the lower back, which was also what the Royals announced about Gil Meche when he left in the fifth.
Meche (3-3) gave up 11 hits and seven runs in 4 1-3 innings, his poorest outing in 11 starts. His ERA climbed from 2.44, third-best in the league, to 3.18.
Suzuki, stretching his hitting streak to 18 games, homered on Meche's second pitch. He and Vidro had RBI singles in the 18-hit attack. The seven doubles were one short of the team record.
By the time they finished batting in the sixth, every Mariner in the starting lineup had at least one hit. Only Richie Sexson did not score. Adrian Beltre and Yuniesky Betancourt both had three hits and Suzuki and Vidro were among five Mariners who had two hits.
Hernandez, who had a one-hit complete-game shutout at Boston in his only other road start this season, gave up seven hits and two runs in 5 1-3 innings.
Sexson made it 2-0 in the second with an RBI double. Jose Lopez had an RBI double and Vidro an RBI single in the fourth. The Mariners took a 10-0 lead with three runs in the sixth on Vidro's homer, consecutive doubles by Jose Guillen and Raul Ibanez and Sexson's RBI single.
Notes:@ It was the 24th leadoff home run for Ichiro, tying him with Lou Brock for 15th all-time. He also made a terrific running catch of David DeJesus' drive to right-center in the fifth. ... Seattle put LHP Horacio Ramirez on the 15-day DL with left shoulder tendinitis and recalled LHP Jon Huber from Triple-A Tacoma. ... The Royals' 17 triples are tied with Florida for the most in the majors.
Italy has approved the use of the abortion drug RU-486, capping years of debate and defying opposition from the Vatican, which warned of immediate excommunication for doctors prescribing the pill and for women who use it.
The pill is already available in a number of other European countries. Its approval by Italy's drug regulation authorities was praised by women's groups and pro-choice organizations, which say the pill will provide women with an additional, noninvasive procedure.
It drew the immediate protest of the Catholic Church, which opposes abortion and contraception.
"That's not how you alleviate human suffering, that's not how you help women, that's not how you help mankind," Monsignor Elio Sgreccia, a senior church bioethicist, said in an interview Friday with Associated Press Television News.
The Italian Drug Agency ruled after a meeting that ended late Thursday that the drug, which terminates pregnancy by causing the embryo to detach from the uterine wall, cannot be sold in pharmacies but can only be administered by doctors in a hospital.
The agency said in a statement that the pill can only be taken up to the seventh week of pregnancy, and not up to the ninth as is the case in other countries. Women who used the pill between the seventh and the ninth week of pregnancy incurred more risks and had often needed surgery, it said.
The decision is expected to be effective in about two months, the agency said.
In a nod to the ethical implications associated with the decision and the controversy surrounding it, the agency noted that "the task of protecting the well-being of citizens ... must take precedence over personal convictions."
The 4-1 vote at the agency's executive branch comes about two years after the agency first started looking at the issue. The pill became available in some parts of Italy on an experimental basis in 2006.
For the Catholic Church, the agency's decision was the latest defeat in its efforts to ban or restrict abortion in the nation that hosts the Vatican.
Italy legalized abortion on demand through the end of the third month of pregnancy in 1978, after a long battle between secular forces and the church. Abortion after three months is allowed when the pregnancy is deemed a grave danger to the woman's mental or physical health.
Three years later, Italians voted in a referendum to keep the law, again defying a church-backed campaign.
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Academy for Life, issued a strong condemnation of abortion and the RU-486 pill in a front-page article in Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano on Friday. He said the church cannot passively sit back, and insisted the ethical implications of the pill could not be overlooked.
"An embryo is not a bunch of cells," Fisichella wrote. "It's real and full human life. Suppressing it is a responsibility nobody can take without fully knowing the consequences."
Sgreccia, who called the RU-486 "not a drug, but poison," said that women taking the pill or doctors administering are automatically excommunicated under church law.
There were about 121,000 abortions on demand in Italy in 2008, according to figures provided by Italy's health authorities. That number was down 48 percent from 1982 _ the year when the number peaked after the referendum upholding the abortion law _ and down 4 percent compared to the previous year.
But critics of RU-486 say that taking a pill might reverse that trend because it would make interrupting a pregnancy easier. They also fear that it would be possible to avert a mandatory hospitalization policy and effectively go back to the pre-legislation days of clandestine abortions performed at home without medical supervision.
"The apparent ease of this pharmacological method will inevitably lower the level of caution and responsibility," Romano Colozzi, the only member of the agency to vote against the use of the pill, told the ANSA news agency.
Supporters say it has no significant side effects and is safe.
Gabriella Pacini, a doctor with the Woman's Life group that provides medical counseling to women, said that RU-486 "has been used for years in Europe, on millions of women and is considered safe and effective."
"Why not give Italian women a choice between pharmacological abortion and surgical abortion?" she said.
The RU-486 pill, first introduced in France two decades ago, is known chemically as mifepristone and causes an embryo to detach from the uterine wall. A second pill, misoprostol, is used afterward to cause contractions and push the embryo out of the uterus.
Doctors can declare themselves conscientious objectors and refuse to carry out abortions.
Since 2000, Italy also allows the so-called morning-after pill, which prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall and growing into an embryo.
I fail to see the humor in your July 26 cartoondepicting the nursing shortage by using Chuck, the boiler man, toassist with surgery in the operating room. You have, however,unwittingly succeeded in capturing the truth behind the nationalnursing deficit, and that is the low salaries.
Why don't you feature another cartoon showing Chuck the boilerman's salary, in comparison to the operating room nurse's? Thatwould be a real stitch!
I am especially angry this week because I just paid $60 to aplumber who sat on the edge of my tub for one hour trying, in vain,to fix a leaky faucet - and that was only to diagnose the problem."They'll be back," just like the evil spirits in "Poltergeist," andthe final bill will be something with three figures or I'll eat mynursing license!
For many nurses, $60 is a full day's salary, and for thoseunderpaid professionals too exhausted to protest your lack of tastein publishing the cartoon, I dedicate this letter. Cathy Albert,RN, Orland Park
TEL AVIV -- Former Israeli President Ezer Weizman, a flying acewho helped bring about the Jewish state's first peace treaty with anArab country, died Sunday. He was 80.
Mr. Weizman, president from 1993 to 2000, had suffered fromrespiratory infections in recent months. He died Sunday night at hishome in the northern Israeli resort town of Caesarea, according to astatement by his successor, President Moshe Katsav.
Israeli radio said services are tentatively scheduled for Tuesday.
In three decades in political life, Mr. Weizman made a highlypublic transition from hawk to dove, saying Jews had to learn to"share this part of the world" with Arabs.
As defense minister in 1979, he was instrumental in negotiatingIsrael's peace treaty with Egypt.
Mr. Weizman, a political moderate, later resigned from then-PrimeMinister Menachem Begin's Cabinet, complaining about Begin's strictinterpretation of interim peace accords with Egypt.
Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres, a onetime political ally, saidMr. Weizman was unique. "In war, he showed incredible bravery, andwhen peace appeared on the horizon, he enlisted for it," Peres said.
Mr. Weizman was born in Haifa on June 15, 1924. His uncle ChaimWeizmann was Israel's first president.
He learned to fly at 16 and in World War II underwent flighttraining in the British army, later serving as a fighter pilot inEgypt and India. Returning to Palestine in 1946, he became one of theIsraeli army's first pilots.
In 1969, he retired from the military and joined the nationalistHerut Party. He was appointed transportation minister in thecoalition government of Golda Meir but lost his job when Herut, whichlater became the Likud bloc, walked out of the Cabinet in 1970.
Invited Arafat
In 1977, Mr. Weizman headed the campaign that launched the right-wing Begin to power after the 29-year reign of the Labor Party.
On Dec. 20 of that year, Mr. Weizman made a secret trip to Egypt.That trip -- and the friendship he formed with Egyptian PresidentAnwar Sadat -- served as a catalyst to the negotiations thatculminated in the U.S.-sponsored Camp David agreements between Israeland Egypt in 1978.
That same year, he resigned abruptly from Begin's Cabinet becausehe failed to win government approval for a plan to grant Palestiniansautonomy in the occupied West Bank -- one of the major points of theCamp David accords.
Mr. Weizman believed in the need to expand the peace with Egypt toinclude Jordan and Israel's other neighbors. It constituted a pillarof his platform when he returned to politics in the 1984 elections atthe head of the centrist Yahad (Together) Party.
He won only two seats in parliament and joined forces with PrimeMinister Peres' Labor Party.
After the Palestinian uprising began in 1987, Mr. Weizman brokeparty lines and advocated negotiations with the Palestine LiberationOrganization, then outlawed in Israel as a terrorist organization,and its leader, Yasser Arafat.
Israeli peace crusaders were delighted when Mr. Weizman waselected president in 1993. But when Israel signed a peace accord withthe PLO later that year, he said it was done in haste. After a seriesof deadly suicide bombs by Islamic militants, Mr. Weizman defied theLabor government line by calling for the suspension of peace talks.
After the election of hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahuin 1996, however, Mr. Weizman pushed Netanyahu to meet with Arafat byinviting the Palestinian leader to a meeting at the president'sseaside villa -- Arafat's first public visit to Israel.
AP
Demolition of the International Amphitheatre, where the Beatlesonce played and where the Democrats held their historymaking 1968convention, began Tuesday.
Chicago Planning Department officials are reviewing severalproposals to develop the 14-acre parcel at 42nd and Halsted. Theyexpect to choose a developer within the next few weeks, a departmentspokeswoman said.
Once the city's premier entertainment spot, the building had mostrecently been a site for concerts and other events targeted to theLatino community, along with African-American rodeos, flea marketsand boxing matches.
The site sits in the middle of a tax-increment financing districtcreated to stimulate development.
A.J. Burnett is getting stronger as Toronto's other starters struggle to stay healthy. C.C. Sabathia has been solid all year for Cleveland and didn't waste any time getting over his worst outing of the season.
Burnett pitched a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts, Troy Glaus singled home the go-ahead run and the Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles 2-1 Wednesday night for their first three-game sweep of the season.
Burnett (4-3) walked two in his 17th career complete game and first since Sept. 2 at Boston. He also struck out 10 in his previous start, a 5-1 victory over Tampa Bay that ended Toronto's nine-game losing streak.
"That was dominating," Blue Jays manager John Gibbons said. "He was a little erratic early on, but then he kicked it into gear."
Sabathia, pitching five days after allowing six runs in a loss to Oakland, went eight sharp innings and Trot Nixon drove in three runs to lead the Indians to a 7-1 victory over the Minnesota Twins.
"I didn't pitch well (in Oakland)," he said of his only loss. "I felt a lot better tonight. I was throwing all my pitches for strikes. Hopefully, I can keep it going."
Detroit's Jeremy Bonderman and Boston's Josh Beckett both aren't feeling so good, and will miss their next turn. Beckett, baseball's winningest pitcher at 7-0, has a torn flap of skin that hasn't completely healed. Bonderman, who had two blisters in spring training, went on the Tigers' disabled list, retroactive to May 9, with a blister.
Detroit's game at Boston was rained out.
In Chicago, the Yankees and the White Sox split a day-night doubleheader, with Chicago winning 5-3 in the opener and New York taking the second game 8-1.
In other AL games, it was: Los Angeles Angels 5, Seattle 0; Kansas City 4, Oakland 3; and Tampa Bay 11, Texas 8.
Burnett has found success at the right time for Toronto, which has seven pitchers on the disabled list, including starters Gustavo Chacin (shoulder), Roy Halladay (appendectomy), John Thomson (shoulder) and Victor Zambrano (forearm).
Burnett has won consecutive starts for the first time this year and Toronto has won five of six since ending its nine-game slide.
"He was able to throw that curveball real tight today and he kept it down," Baltimore outfielder Jay Gibbons said. "It came out of his hand like a heater."
Baltimore wasted a credible outing by Brian Burres (1-2) and lost its fifth straight, matching its longest skid of the year. The visiting Orioles managed only five runs in the series.
At Cleveland, Sabathia (6-1) allowed five hits, struck out five, walked one and hit a batter with a pitch. He retired the last 12 hitters he faced.
Carlos Silva (2-4) allowed five runs in six innings for the Twins, who have lost six of seven.
White Sox 5, Yankees 3, 1st game
Yankees 8, White Sox 1, 2nd game
Chien-Ming Wang allowed six hits and a run over seven innings and Hideki Matsui drove in four runs to help the Yankees gain a split of the day-night doubleheader.
Wang (2-3) beat Jose Contreras (3-4), who gave up five hits and four runs - two earned - in 6 2-3 innings.
In the first game, rookie left-hander John Danks (2-4) worked out of a couple of jams and outpitched Mike Mussina (2-2) to give the White Sox the win.
The second game was delayed at the start for one hour, 15 minutes by rain.
In the nightcap, Matsui had a two-out, two-run double in the third, an inning aided by shortstop Juan Uribe's error on Derek Jeter's grounder, making both runs unearned.
Danks (2-4) struck out a career-high seven in 6 1-3 innings. He gave up two runs and seven hits in winning his second straight start.
A.J. Pierzynski hit a tiebreaking homer to start a three-run sixth and Paul Konerko also homered for the White Sox.
Devil Rays 11, Rangers 8
At Kissimmee, Fla., Carl Crawford tripled with the bases loaded and Delmon Young drove in three runs for Tampa Bay.
Sammy Sosa hit his 597th homer in the fourth for the Rangers, who led 6-4 before the Devil Rays scored six runs in the fifth - the last three on Crawford's third triple of the season.
Sosa's two-run shot off Casey Fossum (3-3) was his ninth of the year and extended his major league record for most ballparks homered in to 45. Victor Diaz and Mark Teixeira also homered off Fossum, who allowed six runs and nine hits in five innings.
Al Reyes pitched the ninth for the Devil Rays, picking up his 12th save in 12 opportunities.
Vicente Padilla (1-6) allowed eight runs and 12 hits in four-plus innings for Texas.
The second night of a three-game series the Devil Rays moved to Disney to step up marketing efforts in the Orlando area drew a crowd of 8,839, slightly more than the opener.
Angels 5, Mariners 0
At Seattle, John Lackey handcuffed the Mariners for six innings and combined with two relievers on a four-hitter.
Lackey (6-3) retired 14 straight batters after Ichiro Suzuki lined his first pitch into center field for a single. He allowed four hits, struck out four and issued an intentional walk. He has won four of his last five decisions.
Dustin Moseley worked two perfect innings and Scot Shields pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to finish Los Angeles' third shutout this season.
Cha Seung Baek (1-1) allowed six hits and three runs in 6 1-3 innings.
Royals 4, Athletics 3
Ryan Shealy, taken off the disabled list earlier in the day, hit a go-ahead RBI single in the ninth for visiting Kansas City.
After Esteban German drew a one-out walk, John Buck's run-scoring double tied the game. Pinch-runner Paul Phillips then scored on Shealy's second hit of the night. Shealy, who was out since May 1 with a strained left hamstring, had his rehabilitation stint cut short after the Royals lost first baseman Ross Gload to injury Monday.
Kiko Calero (0-3) entered in the ninth for the A's - who are missing injured closer Huston Street - and blew his second save in as many tries when he allowed the hits to Buck and Shealy.
The A's had gone ahead in the eighth on Jack Cust's seventh homer in just 10 games, a solo shot to center off Jimmy Gobble (3-1) with one out.
NEW YORK - The nickel-and-diming never stopped.
The fees were constant: $28 to cash a paycheck. $1.50 for a moneyorder. A dollar or more every time I swiped the prepaid cash card Ibought at the drug store.
In all, I racked up $93 in fees in a monthlong experiment ofliving without a bank and making a go of it on the economic fringe.That works out to $1,100 a year just to spend my own money.
It may be hard to fathom why anyone would live this way, but afederal study last year found that about one in four U.S. householdsskirts banks and relies on services such as check-cashing and paydayloans. Many of these households bring in less than $30,000 a year.
Some do it because they believe they don't have enough money toopen a bank account or were burned by fees in the past. But it's notalways a matter of choice: Many can't open an account because of ahistory of bad checks or damaged credit.
There are other reasons too. Language barriers intimidate somewould-be customers, or they simply feel banks aren't welcoming. Forothers, literally handling their own money offers a sense of controlat a time of financial anxiety.
Federal and local governments want to bring this group into thetraditional banking world. The fear is that the chronic use of high-fee services keeps the country's poorest from moving up.
Yet there are signs that the slow economic recovery is leadingmore people to rely on certain alternative services. And it's notjust the poor.
Americans are expected to load $37 billion this year on toprepaid cards, which function like bankless debit cards and areavailable at drug stores and discounters. That's twice as much aslast year and four times the amount in 2008.
The tradeoff is often a tangle of fees. Some cards charge adollar a minute to call customer service and $5 just to add money tothe card. The still nascent prepaid card industry will come undernew federal oversight as part of this year's financial overhaul.
To find out what it's like to survive on these services I decidedto put away my credit and debit cards for one month. I suspended mydirect deposit in favor of paper paychecks.
In that time, I got by using only cash and services such as moneyorders.
It turns out fees were only part of the problem.
The costs
I don't recall the last time I had to cash a check, so I had noidea how expensive it could be. I forked over $56 to cash twopaychecks at grimy check-cashing stores. This accounted for morethan half my total fees.
And I was lucky. The check-cashing fee in New York is capped at1.83 percent. In Florida and Maine, where the cap is 5 percent,check cashing could have cost almost three times as much. About halfof states set no limits.
Most of my remaining costs, about $34, went to fees on prepaidcards.
These charges were the most frustrating because they were sounpredictable. The two cards I used each cost $4.95 - on top of themoney I was putting on the card - but came with wildly differentterms. Some cards cost as much as $29.95 upfront.
The first card I bought, a NexisCard, was the only option at thecheck-cashing place I pass everyday in my neighborhood onManhattan's West Side. I had to pay a $1 fee for each purchase. If Iused the PIN code to authorize a purchase, it was $1.50. And if Iwanted cash back at the register, it was $1.95. The card could alsobe used at bank ATMs for a fee. That's on top of the fee the bankcharges for out-of-network cards. I did this just once for a totalcost of $5.
The second card I bought was issued by Green Dot Corp., one ofthe bigger players in the prepaid market. This one had better termsbut still charged $4.95 each time I wanted to reload it.
Paying rent was also a process. I couldn't mail a wad of cash tomy landlord, so I went to a nearby Western Union to buy money orderswith cash from one of my paychecks. Each money order is limited to$1,000, so I needed two for my $1,300 rent.
This cost a total of $3.50.
The hassles
When you don't have a bank, you spend a lot more time managingyour money.
So many of my finances are automated - direct deposit, automaticbill pay - that it was jarring to spend so much time waiting inSoviet-style lines to cash checks and pay rent.
At the check-cashing place, I squirmed when the clerk counted outmy money by snapping each $100 bill high in the air. In my mind, theline of customers behind me was counting along in unison.
I also felt self-conscious when using my temporary prepaid card,which looked cheap, even fake. It didn't have my name on it and theaccount number wasn't raised as on most credit cards. A permanentcard wouldn't arrive for six weeks.
If a cashier's eyes lingered too long, I wanted to pull out myBank of America rewards credit card, which has "Platinum" in italicsacross the top.
Then there was the time a hotel charged my NexisCard $400 in caseI incurred any incidentals. I was told the charge would be refundedat checkout. But it took multiple calls over three weeks to get mymoney back. NexisCard refused to lift the hold until the hotel faxedthem an official release form.
The appearance of mystery transactions made me paranoid too. WhenI was checking the NexisCard account online, I spotted a $3 entryfor a "retail reload." This confused me because I never reloaded thecard. I filed a dispute and was told I'd get a call back withinthree days. The call never came.
A few days later, another $3 entry appeared. The customer servicerepresentative was as stumped as I was.
It turns out both "retail reloads" were credits for my priorcomplaints about incorrect fee charges. I learned this only aftertalking with the CEO of the company, Andrew Siden, weeks later aspart of the reporting process.
We determined that one credit was an error that worked in myfavor.
He agreed that the transactions can be confusing and thatmistakes happen. Siden noted that the company operates on thinmargins and does its best to fix mistakes when they're pointed out.
But I only caught the mistakes on my account because it was partof my job. Would I keep chasing down a few dollars here and therefor much longer?
I'm glad I don't have to find out.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
JACKSON, Mich. (AP) — Police have caught a 6-foot-long alligator that was spotted roaming the property of a southern Michigan church.
A motorist driving past the Pathway Community Church near Jackson Monday saw the reptile Monday and called the police.
The Jackson Citizen Patriot reports (http://bit.ly/u2A1xB ) that officers slipped a noose around the alligator's head and secured its mouth with duct tape.
Police say the alligator is in good health and will be sent to a sanctuary.
Blackman-Leoni Township public safety department Deputy Director Jon Johnston says the alligator was probably only recently released into the wild. Johnston says the animal would not have been able to survive the harsh temperatures of the approaching Michigan winter.
MALIBU, Calif. - Former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and other celebrities gathered Sunday to protest a natural gas facility proposed for a site 14 miles off the Malibu coast.
"We have to use our voices and band together and stop this," said Oscar winner Halle Berry.
The gathering - also attended by Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke and Tea Leoni - was intended to raise awareness about how the energy industry has invested billions to liquefy and ship natural gas across oceans.
There are five facilities proposed for California, with three along the Southern California coastline. One of the world's largest energy companies, Australian-based BHP Billiton, is seeking to build the terminal off the coast of Malibu and Oxnard. A decision is expected next year.
BHP officials say the terminals would provide a reliable source of low-polluting energy. Opponents, however, say the terminals would not meet clean air requirements and could be terrorist targets.
Brosnan, who hosted the protest, said his opposition to the terminals extends beyond the beach in his backyard. He plans to oppose other proposed terminals, including one in Long Beach and one in Port Hueneme.
Mark Massara, a lawyer and director of the Sierra Club's California Coastal Program, said the recent celebrity interest in the terminals has helped their cause tremendously.
"This is the greatest thing that has happened to our effort," he said. "We have struggled over the last three years."
Following a pancake breakfast, dozens of surfers, including actress Daryl Hannah on her pink board, paddled out to a sign bobbing in the water. The message to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has the power to veto the proposal, had a picture of the proposed terminal with a red line through it and the words: "Terminate it!"
Celebrities Protest Malibu Gas FacilityMALIBU, Calif. - Former James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan and other celebrities gathered Sunday to protest a natural gas facility proposed for a site 14 miles off the Malibu coast.
"We have to use our voices and band together and stop this," said Oscar winner Halle Berry.
The gathering - also attended by Cindy Crawford, Jane Seymour, Dick Van Dyke and Tea Leoni - was intended to raise awareness about how the energy industry has invested billions to liquefy and ship natural gas across oceans.
There are five facilities proposed for California, with three along the Southern California coastline. One of the world's largest energy companies, Australian-based BHP Billiton, is seeking to build the terminal off the coast of Malibu and Oxnard. A decision is expected next year.
BHP officials say the terminals would provide a reliable source of low-polluting energy. Opponents, however, say the terminals would not meet clean air requirements and could be terrorist targets.
Brosnan, who hosted the protest, said his opposition to the terminals extends beyond the beach in his backyard. He plans to oppose other proposed terminals, including one in Long Beach and one in Port Hueneme.
Mark Massara, a lawyer and director of the Sierra Club's California Coastal Program, said the recent celebrity interest in the terminals has helped their cause tremendously.
"This is the greatest thing that has happened to our effort," he said. "We have struggled over the last three years."
Following a pancake breakfast, dozens of surfers, including actress Daryl Hannah on her pink board, paddled out to a sign bobbing in the water. The message to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has the power to veto the proposal, had a picture of the proposed terminal with a red line through it and the words: "Terminate it!"
The entrepreneurship field is still in search of its own identity. At the same time, entrepreneurship is not only capturing the time and passion of an increasing number of scholars but also the public resources that national and international entities devote to fostering entrepreneurship as an engine for economic development and growth. As a consequence of this fast-growing interest in entrepreneurship, academics are in search of conceptual and theoretical clarity while policymakers require guidelines for designing and evaluating their entrepreneurship policies.
The definition of the phenomenon under study and object of policymaking is a fist step for defining the boundaries of a field of study and building theories to explain that phenomenon (cf. Whetten, 1989; Busenitz et al., 2003). An important part of this search for meaning is making explicit the assumptions underlying the conceptualization of the phenomenon (cf. Gartner, 2001; Alvarez, 2005).
Following this line of reasoning, we argue that one of the obstacles for understanding the entrepreneurship phenomenon is the lack of integration of different assumptions, units, and levels of analysis that are implicit in different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship that underlie current theoretical perspectives, empirical work, and public policies.
In other words, making explicit and integrating the disparate phenomena underlying the conceptualizations of entrepreneurship provided by different scholars is a necessary condition for enhancing our collective understanding about it.
Based on this research need and complementing previous work (cf. Wennekers and Thurik, 1999; Davidsson and Wiklund, 2001; Gartner, 2001; Busenitz et al., 2003; Alvarez, 2005), we adopt a phenomenon driven approach at the ontological level for building a framework that makes explicit the different phenomena or units of analysis, their associated levels of analysis, stage, and disciplines that are implicit in different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship (Figure 2.1).
Our contribution is threefold. First, assuming that the different perspectives--i.e., descriptive or explanatory coherent frameworks--on entrepreneurship are not incommensurable (Kuhn, 1962) but complementary, we contribute a complementary articulation (Smelser and Swedberg, 1994) or a scholarship of integration (Boyer, 1990) approach to capture and understand the phenomena underlying the different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship. We provide a bi-dimensional framework based on the implicit level of analysis and stage of the entrepreneurial process that integrates the different entrepreneurship-related phenomena in order to capture their underlying connections.
Second, this integration is not limited to a richer description of units of analysis and assumptions presented by different entrepreneurship perspectives. We trace back each phenomenon to its most related discipline and theoretical paradigm in order to build the link between its ontological and epistemological dimensions. This is a necessary step in any research field (cf. Busenitz et al., 2003), because each perspective contributes its own vocabulary and set of assumptions, stresses different dimensions of the same phenomena (for example, creation of organizations and corporate venture as different modes of organizing the entrepreneurial activity) or emphasizes different entrepreneurship-related phenomena (for example, entrepreneurship as the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship as the SME). This conceptual and phenomenological variety contributes a richer vision of entrepreneurship, but creates lack of understanding because different units of analysis and assumptions are handled as if they were the same. Figure 2.1 links the seven different conceptions of entrepreneurship and maps them in relation to their associated disciplines and theories, which helps to make explicit and understand their assumptions in terms of units and levels of analysis and stage in the entrepreneurial process.
Third and finally, the mapping out of different entrepreneurship-related phenomena or different aspects of the same phenomenon and their associated perspectives pave the way for establishing a clearer connection between entrepreneurship domain, theory, method, and policymaking. In effect, the seven units and eight perspectives in Figure 2.1 provides a road map for establishing the theoretical boundaries to delineate the entrepreneurship domain, building theories and formulating hypotheses consistent with the phenomenon under study (i.e. theoretical validity), identifying the most appropriate measures for each phenomenon (i.e. construct validity), and designing and implementing more coherent entrepreneurship policies.
This latter contribution opens up new horizons for future studies on entrepreneurship at the ontological, theoretical, and methodological levels. At the entrepreneurship domain or ontological level, future work could deepen the analysis of what phenomena and dimensions constitute the core of the entrepreneurship field and what phenomena and dimensions are contingent or not essential.
This work at the ontological level will have a necessary impact at the epistemological level. In effect, the nature of the phenomenon would drive the more appropriate theoretical lenses and levels of analysis to approach it. For example, if alertness to profit opportunities is the essence of entrepreneurship, economics and psychology would be the most important lenses for studying the entrepreneurship phenomenon, and the individual the most prominent level of analysis. Future work could deepen the analysis of different combinations of phenomenon-perspective-level of analysis and their interrelationship in order to increase our collective understanding of their overlapping patterns. A benchmark could be the work that Baum and Rowley (2002) have done in the organization studies field. Based on a phenomenon-driven or scientific realist epistemological approach, they focus on capturing the domain of each organization perspective and the overlapping among domains. This approach creates a fish-scale pattern in which, although "each perspective does not overlap directly with every other one, adjacent perspectives share problem domains, and frequently complements each other" (Baum and Rowley, 2002:21).
In addition, given the multilevel nature of the entrepreneurship phenomenon and the emphasis of policymakers on fostering entrepreneurship as an engine for economic development and growth, more work is needed on the micro-peso-macro links and on the impact of entrepreneurship at different levels. For example, if institutions shape the entreprenuer's cognitive and motivational properties (cf. Baumol, 1968; Harper, 2004), the link between the institutional context and individual behavior constitutes an interesting multilevel area of research.
The interaction between the individual and the environment or the micro-macro link is key, not only to understanding the emergence of entrepreneurship but also to linking entrepreneurship to societal out comes. In effect, this latter topic is not only one of the proposed purposes of entrepreneurship research Low and MacMillan (1988); Low (2001) but also the criterion to analyze whether entrepreneurship is productive, unproductive, or destructive (Baumol, 1990). New firms' productivity (Shane, 2003:5) does not mean that entrepreneurship is beneficial at the societal level, unless it is assumed that firm level outcomes automatically translate to societal outcomes through an automatic coordination of self-interested individuals in a world without externalities. This assumption is neither real nor useful for prediction (Rocha and Ghoshal, 2006) and therefore it is necessary to develop a better understanding of how entrepreneurial outcomes are distributed and what kind of institutions are necessary to mediate the process. In effect, "entrepreneurial talent is not automatically dedicated to socially desirable ends--it requires institutions to accomplish this" (McGrath, 2003:527; cf. Stinchcombe, 1997).
At the methodological level, future work could focus on the link between the phenomenon under study, its specify measures, and the associated results. For example, some studies adopting a contextual or demand-side perspective of entrepreneurship have found opposite results in terms of the level of entrepreneurship due to different ways of defining and measuring entrepreneurship. For instance, population ecology predicts an inverted U relationship between density and foundings (Hannan and Freeman, 1989; Shane, 2003), while the incubator regions literature and the regional literature in general show a positive association between increasing density, as measured by specialization indices or proportion of SMEs, and firm births (Reynolds et al., 1994; Audretsch and Fritsch, 1994; Thornton, 1999). These disparate results are a consequence of differences in conceptual definitions and units of analysis, which in population ecology studies are foundings and industry or industry-region while in regional studies are generally new firms and regions, respectively. (1)
As a final word, we hope that making explicit what scholars are studying and testing and what policy makers are designing will contribute not only to a better understanding of entrepreneurship but also to an increasing dialogue between academics, practitioners, and policy makers to understand and change reality for the better.
(1) Note that these disparate results are not driven by a different research method, which in the case of population ecology is longitudinal and in that of regional studies is generally cross-sectional. In effect, the issue is that population ecology predicts decreasing rate of foundings at higher densities, while regional studies predict the opposite.
3 Conclusions and directions for future research.(Entrepreneurship safari: a phenomenon-driven search for meaning)The entrepreneurship field is still in search of its own identity. At the same time, entrepreneurship is not only capturing the time and passion of an increasing number of scholars but also the public resources that national and international entities devote to fostering entrepreneurship as an engine for economic development and growth. As a consequence of this fast-growing interest in entrepreneurship, academics are in search of conceptual and theoretical clarity while policymakers require guidelines for designing and evaluating their entrepreneurship policies.
The definition of the phenomenon under study and object of policymaking is a fist step for defining the boundaries of a field of study and building theories to explain that phenomenon (cf. Whetten, 1989; Busenitz et al., 2003). An important part of this search for meaning is making explicit the assumptions underlying the conceptualization of the phenomenon (cf. Gartner, 2001; Alvarez, 2005).
Following this line of reasoning, we argue that one of the obstacles for understanding the entrepreneurship phenomenon is the lack of integration of different assumptions, units, and levels of analysis that are implicit in different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship that underlie current theoretical perspectives, empirical work, and public policies.
In other words, making explicit and integrating the disparate phenomena underlying the conceptualizations of entrepreneurship provided by different scholars is a necessary condition for enhancing our collective understanding about it.
Based on this research need and complementing previous work (cf. Wennekers and Thurik, 1999; Davidsson and Wiklund, 2001; Gartner, 2001; Busenitz et al., 2003; Alvarez, 2005), we adopt a phenomenon driven approach at the ontological level for building a framework that makes explicit the different phenomena or units of analysis, their associated levels of analysis, stage, and disciplines that are implicit in different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship (Figure 2.1).
Our contribution is threefold. First, assuming that the different perspectives--i.e., descriptive or explanatory coherent frameworks--on entrepreneurship are not incommensurable (Kuhn, 1962) but complementary, we contribute a complementary articulation (Smelser and Swedberg, 1994) or a scholarship of integration (Boyer, 1990) approach to capture and understand the phenomena underlying the different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship. We provide a bi-dimensional framework based on the implicit level of analysis and stage of the entrepreneurial process that integrates the different entrepreneurship-related phenomena in order to capture their underlying connections.
Second, this integration is not limited to a richer description of units of analysis and assumptions presented by different entrepreneurship perspectives. We trace back each phenomenon to its most related discipline and theoretical paradigm in order to build the link between its ontological and epistemological dimensions. This is a necessary step in any research field (cf. Busenitz et al., 2003), because each perspective contributes its own vocabulary and set of assumptions, stresses different dimensions of the same phenomena (for example, creation of organizations and corporate venture as different modes of organizing the entrepreneurial activity) or emphasizes different entrepreneurship-related phenomena (for example, entrepreneurship as the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship as the SME). This conceptual and phenomenological variety contributes a richer vision of entrepreneurship, but creates lack of understanding because different units of analysis and assumptions are handled as if they were the same. Figure 2.1 links the seven different conceptions of entrepreneurship and maps them in relation to their associated disciplines and theories, which helps to make explicit and understand their assumptions in terms of units and levels of analysis and stage in the entrepreneurial process.
Third and finally, the mapping out of different entrepreneurship-related phenomena or different aspects of the same phenomenon and their associated perspectives pave the way for establishing a clearer connection between entrepreneurship domain, theory, method, and policymaking. In effect, the seven units and eight perspectives in Figure 2.1 provides a road map for establishing the theoretical boundaries to delineate the entrepreneurship domain, building theories and formulating hypotheses consistent with the phenomenon under study (i.e. theoretical validity), identifying the most appropriate measures for each phenomenon (i.e. construct validity), and designing and implementing more coherent entrepreneurship policies.
This latter contribution opens up new horizons for future studies on entrepreneurship at the ontological, theoretical, and methodological levels. At the entrepreneurship domain or ontological level, future work could deepen the analysis of what phenomena and dimensions constitute the core of the entrepreneurship field and what phenomena and dimensions are contingent or not essential.
This work at the ontological level will have a necessary impact at the epistemological level. In effect, the nature of the phenomenon would drive the more appropriate theoretical lenses and levels of analysis to approach it. For example, if alertness to profit opportunities is the essence of entrepreneurship, economics and psychology would be the most important lenses for studying the entrepreneurship phenomenon, and the individual the most prominent level of analysis. Future work could deepen the analysis of different combinations of phenomenon-perspective-level of analysis and their interrelationship in order to increase our collective understanding of their overlapping patterns. A benchmark could be the work that Baum and Rowley (2002) have done in the organization studies field. Based on a phenomenon-driven or scientific realist epistemological approach, they focus on capturing the domain of each organization perspective and the overlapping among domains. This approach creates a fish-scale pattern in which, although "each perspective does not overlap directly with every other one, adjacent perspectives share problem domains, and frequently complements each other" (Baum and Rowley, 2002:21).
In addition, given the multilevel nature of the entrepreneurship phenomenon and the emphasis of policymakers on fostering entrepreneurship as an engine for economic development and growth, more work is needed on the micro-peso-macro links and on the impact of entrepreneurship at different levels. For example, if institutions shape the entreprenuer's cognitive and motivational properties (cf. Baumol, 1968; Harper, 2004), the link between the institutional context and individual behavior constitutes an interesting multilevel area of research.
The interaction between the individual and the environment or the micro-macro link is key, not only to understanding the emergence of entrepreneurship but also to linking entrepreneurship to societal out comes. In effect, this latter topic is not only one of the proposed purposes of entrepreneurship research Low and MacMillan (1988); Low (2001) but also the criterion to analyze whether entrepreneurship is productive, unproductive, or destructive (Baumol, 1990). New firms' productivity (Shane, 2003:5) does not mean that entrepreneurship is beneficial at the societal level, unless it is assumed that firm level outcomes automatically translate to societal outcomes through an automatic coordination of self-interested individuals in a world without externalities. This assumption is neither real nor useful for prediction (Rocha and Ghoshal, 2006) and therefore it is necessary to develop a better understanding of how entrepreneurial outcomes are distributed and what kind of institutions are necessary to mediate the process. In effect, "entrepreneurial talent is not automatically dedicated to socially desirable ends--it requires institutions to accomplish this" (McGrath, 2003:527; cf. Stinchcombe, 1997).
At the methodological level, future work could focus on the link between the phenomenon under study, its specify measures, and the associated results. For example, some studies adopting a contextual or demand-side perspective of entrepreneurship have found opposite results in terms of the level of entrepreneurship due to different ways of defining and measuring entrepreneurship. For instance, population ecology predicts an inverted U relationship between density and foundings (Hannan and Freeman, 1989; Shane, 2003), while the incubator regions literature and the regional literature in general show a positive association between increasing density, as measured by specialization indices or proportion of SMEs, and firm births (Reynolds et al., 1994; Audretsch and Fritsch, 1994; Thornton, 1999). These disparate results are a consequence of differences in conceptual definitions and units of analysis, which in population ecology studies are foundings and industry or industry-region while in regional studies are generally new firms and regions, respectively. (1)
As a final word, we hope that making explicit what scholars are studying and testing and what policy makers are designing will contribute not only to a better understanding of entrepreneurship but also to an increasing dialogue between academics, practitioners, and policy makers to understand and change reality for the better.
(1) Note that these disparate results are not driven by a different research method, which in the case of population ecology is longitudinal and in that of regional studies is generally cross-sectional. In effect, the issue is that population ecology predicts decreasing rate of foundings at higher densities, while regional studies predict the opposite.
3 Conclusions and directions for future research.(Entrepreneurship safari: a phenomenon-driven search for meaning)The entrepreneurship field is still in search of its own identity. At the same time, entrepreneurship is not only capturing the time and passion of an increasing number of scholars but also the public resources that national and international entities devote to fostering entrepreneurship as an engine for economic development and growth. As a consequence of this fast-growing interest in entrepreneurship, academics are in search of conceptual and theoretical clarity while policymakers require guidelines for designing and evaluating their entrepreneurship policies.
The definition of the phenomenon under study and object of policymaking is a fist step for defining the boundaries of a field of study and building theories to explain that phenomenon (cf. Whetten, 1989; Busenitz et al., 2003). An important part of this search for meaning is making explicit the assumptions underlying the conceptualization of the phenomenon (cf. Gartner, 2001; Alvarez, 2005).
Following this line of reasoning, we argue that one of the obstacles for understanding the entrepreneurship phenomenon is the lack of integration of different assumptions, units, and levels of analysis that are implicit in different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship that underlie current theoretical perspectives, empirical work, and public policies.
In other words, making explicit and integrating the disparate phenomena underlying the conceptualizations of entrepreneurship provided by different scholars is a necessary condition for enhancing our collective understanding about it.
Based on this research need and complementing previous work (cf. Wennekers and Thurik, 1999; Davidsson and Wiklund, 2001; Gartner, 2001; Busenitz et al., 2003; Alvarez, 2005), we adopt a phenomenon driven approach at the ontological level for building a framework that makes explicit the different phenomena or units of analysis, their associated levels of analysis, stage, and disciplines that are implicit in different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship (Figure 2.1).
Our contribution is threefold. First, assuming that the different perspectives--i.e., descriptive or explanatory coherent frameworks--on entrepreneurship are not incommensurable (Kuhn, 1962) but complementary, we contribute a complementary articulation (Smelser and Swedberg, 1994) or a scholarship of integration (Boyer, 1990) approach to capture and understand the phenomena underlying the different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship. We provide a bi-dimensional framework based on the implicit level of analysis and stage of the entrepreneurial process that integrates the different entrepreneurship-related phenomena in order to capture their underlying connections.
Second, this integration is not limited to a richer description of units of analysis and assumptions presented by different entrepreneurship perspectives. We trace back each phenomenon to its most related discipline and theoretical paradigm in order to build the link between its ontological and epistemological dimensions. This is a necessary step in any research field (cf. Busenitz et al., 2003), because each perspective contributes its own vocabulary and set of assumptions, stresses different dimensions of the same phenomena (for example, creation of organizations and corporate venture as different modes of organizing the entrepreneurial activity) or emphasizes different entrepreneurship-related phenomena (for example, entrepreneurship as the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship as the SME). This conceptual and phenomenological variety contributes a richer vision of entrepreneurship, but creates lack of understanding because different units of analysis and assumptions are handled as if they were the same. Figure 2.1 links the seven different conceptions of entrepreneurship and maps them in relation to their associated disciplines and theories, which helps to make explicit and understand their assumptions in terms of units and levels of analysis and stage in the entrepreneurial process.
Third and finally, the mapping out of different entrepreneurship-related phenomena or different aspects of the same phenomenon and their associated perspectives pave the way for establishing a clearer connection between entrepreneurship domain, theory, method, and policymaking. In effect, the seven units and eight perspectives in Figure 2.1 provides a road map for establishing the theoretical boundaries to delineate the entrepreneurship domain, building theories and formulating hypotheses consistent with the phenomenon under study (i.e. theoretical validity), identifying the most appropriate measures for each phenomenon (i.e. construct validity), and designing and implementing more coherent entrepreneurship policies.
This latter contribution opens up new horizons for future studies on entrepreneurship at the ontological, theoretical, and methodological levels. At the entrepreneurship domain or ontological level, future work could deepen the analysis of what phenomena and dimensions constitute the core of the entrepreneurship field and what phenomena and dimensions are contingent or not essential.
This work at the ontological level will have a necessary impact at the epistemological level. In effect, the nature of the phenomenon would drive the more appropriate theoretical lenses and levels of analysis to approach it. For example, if alertness to profit opportunities is the essence of entrepreneurship, economics and psychology would be the most important lenses for studying the entrepreneurship phenomenon, and the individual the most prominent level of analysis. Future work could deepen the analysis of different combinations of phenomenon-perspective-level of analysis and their interrelationship in order to increase our collective understanding of their overlapping patterns. A benchmark could be the work that Baum and Rowley (2002) have done in the organization studies field. Based on a phenomenon-driven or scientific realist epistemological approach, they focus on capturing the domain of each organization perspective and the overlapping among domains. This approach creates a fish-scale pattern in which, although "each perspective does not overlap directly with every other one, adjacent perspectives share problem domains, and frequently complements each other" (Baum and Rowley, 2002:21).
In addition, given the multilevel nature of the entrepreneurship phenomenon and the emphasis of policymakers on fostering entrepreneurship as an engine for economic development and growth, more work is needed on the micro-peso-macro links and on the impact of entrepreneurship at different levels. For example, if institutions shape the entreprenuer's cognitive and motivational properties (cf. Baumol, 1968; Harper, 2004), the link between the institutional context and individual behavior constitutes an interesting multilevel area of research.
The interaction between the individual and the environment or the micro-macro link is key, not only to understanding the emergence of entrepreneurship but also to linking entrepreneurship to societal out comes. In effect, this latter topic is not only one of the proposed purposes of entrepreneurship research Low and MacMillan (1988); Low (2001) but also the criterion to analyze whether entrepreneurship is productive, unproductive, or destructive (Baumol, 1990). New firms' productivity (Shane, 2003:5) does not mean that entrepreneurship is beneficial at the societal level, unless it is assumed that firm level outcomes automatically translate to societal outcomes through an automatic coordination of self-interested individuals in a world without externalities. This assumption is neither real nor useful for prediction (Rocha and Ghoshal, 2006) and therefore it is necessary to develop a better understanding of how entrepreneurial outcomes are distributed and what kind of institutions are necessary to mediate the process. In effect, "entrepreneurial talent is not automatically dedicated to socially desirable ends--it requires institutions to accomplish this" (McGrath, 2003:527; cf. Stinchcombe, 1997).
At the methodological level, future work could focus on the link between the phenomenon under study, its specify measures, and the associated results. For example, some studies adopting a contextual or demand-side perspective of entrepreneurship have found opposite results in terms of the level of entrepreneurship due to different ways of defining and measuring entrepreneurship. For instance, population ecology predicts an inverted U relationship between density and foundings (Hannan and Freeman, 1989; Shane, 2003), while the incubator regions literature and the regional literature in general show a positive association between increasing density, as measured by specialization indices or proportion of SMEs, and firm births (Reynolds et al., 1994; Audretsch and Fritsch, 1994; Thornton, 1999). These disparate results are a consequence of differences in conceptual definitions and units of analysis, which in population ecology studies are foundings and industry or industry-region while in regional studies are generally new firms and regions, respectively. (1)
As a final word, we hope that making explicit what scholars are studying and testing and what policy makers are designing will contribute not only to a better understanding of entrepreneurship but also to an increasing dialogue between academics, practitioners, and policy makers to understand and change reality for the better.
(1) Note that these disparate results are not driven by a different research method, which in the case of population ecology is longitudinal and in that of regional studies is generally cross-sectional. In effect, the issue is that population ecology predicts decreasing rate of foundings at higher densities, while regional studies predict the opposite.
3 Conclusions and directions for future research.(Entrepreneurship safari: a phenomenon-driven search for meaning)The entrepreneurship field is still in search of its own identity. At the same time, entrepreneurship is not only capturing the time and passion of an increasing number of scholars but also the public resources that national and international entities devote to fostering entrepreneurship as an engine for economic development and growth. As a consequence of this fast-growing interest in entrepreneurship, academics are in search of conceptual and theoretical clarity while policymakers require guidelines for designing and evaluating their entrepreneurship policies.
The definition of the phenomenon under study and object of policymaking is a fist step for defining the boundaries of a field of study and building theories to explain that phenomenon (cf. Whetten, 1989; Busenitz et al., 2003). An important part of this search for meaning is making explicit the assumptions underlying the conceptualization of the phenomenon (cf. Gartner, 2001; Alvarez, 2005).
Following this line of reasoning, we argue that one of the obstacles for understanding the entrepreneurship phenomenon is the lack of integration of different assumptions, units, and levels of analysis that are implicit in different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship that underlie current theoretical perspectives, empirical work, and public policies.
In other words, making explicit and integrating the disparate phenomena underlying the conceptualizations of entrepreneurship provided by different scholars is a necessary condition for enhancing our collective understanding about it.
Based on this research need and complementing previous work (cf. Wennekers and Thurik, 1999; Davidsson and Wiklund, 2001; Gartner, 2001; Busenitz et al., 2003; Alvarez, 2005), we adopt a phenomenon driven approach at the ontological level for building a framework that makes explicit the different phenomena or units of analysis, their associated levels of analysis, stage, and disciplines that are implicit in different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship (Figure 2.1).
Our contribution is threefold. First, assuming that the different perspectives--i.e., descriptive or explanatory coherent frameworks--on entrepreneurship are not incommensurable (Kuhn, 1962) but complementary, we contribute a complementary articulation (Smelser and Swedberg, 1994) or a scholarship of integration (Boyer, 1990) approach to capture and understand the phenomena underlying the different conceptualizations of entrepreneurship. We provide a bi-dimensional framework based on the implicit level of analysis and stage of the entrepreneurial process that integrates the different entrepreneurship-related phenomena in order to capture their underlying connections.
Second, this integration is not limited to a richer description of units of analysis and assumptions presented by different entrepreneurship perspectives. We trace back each phenomenon to its most related discipline and theoretical paradigm in order to build the link between its ontological and epistemological dimensions. This is a necessary step in any research field (cf. Busenitz et al., 2003), because each perspective contributes its own vocabulary and set of assumptions, stresses different dimensions of the same phenomena (for example, creation of organizations and corporate venture as different modes of organizing the entrepreneurial activity) or emphasizes different entrepreneurship-related phenomena (for example, entrepreneurship as the entrepreneur and entrepreneurship as the SME). This conceptual and phenomenological variety contributes a richer vision of entrepreneurship, but creates lack of understanding because different units of analysis and assumptions are handled as if they were the same. Figure 2.1 links the seven different conceptions of entrepreneurship and maps them in relation to their associated disciplines and theories, which helps to make explicit and understand their assumptions in terms of units and levels of analysis and stage in the entrepreneurial process.
Third and finally, the mapping out of different entrepreneurship-related phenomena or different aspects of the same phenomenon and their associated perspectives pave the way for establishing a clearer connection between entrepreneurship domain, theory, method, and policymaking. In effect, the seven units and eight perspectives in Figure 2.1 provides a road map for establishing the theoretical boundaries to delineate the entrepreneurship domain, building theories and formulating hypotheses consistent with the phenomenon under study (i.e. theoretical validity), identifying the most appropriate measures for each phenomenon (i.e. construct validity), and designing and implementing more coherent entrepreneurship policies.
This latter contribution opens up new horizons for future studies on entrepreneurship at the ontological, theoretical, and methodological levels. At the entrepreneurship domain or ontological level, future work could deepen the analysis of what phenomena and dimensions constitute the core of the entrepreneurship field and what phenomena and dimensions are contingent or not essential.
This work at the ontological level will have a necessary impact at the epistemological level. In effect, the nature of the phenomenon would drive the more appropriate theoretical lenses and levels of analysis to approach it. For example, if alertness to profit opportunities is the essence of entrepreneurship, economics and psychology would be the most important lenses for studying the entrepreneurship phenomenon, and the individual the most prominent level of analysis. Future work could deepen the analysis of different combinations of phenomenon-perspective-level of analysis and their interrelationship in order to increase our collective understanding of their overlapping patterns. A benchmark could be the work that Baum and Rowley (2002) have done in the organization studies field. Based on a phenomenon-driven or scientific realist epistemological approach, they focus on capturing the domain of each organization perspective and the overlapping among domains. This approach creates a fish-scale pattern in which, although "each perspective does not overlap directly with every other one, adjacent perspectives share problem domains, and frequently complements each other" (Baum and Rowley, 2002:21).
In addition, given the multilevel nature of the entrepreneurship phenomenon and the emphasis of policymakers on fostering entrepreneurship as an engine for economic development and growth, more work is needed on the micro-peso-macro links and on the impact of entrepreneurship at different levels. For example, if institutions shape the entreprenuer's cognitive and motivational properties (cf. Baumol, 1968; Harper, 2004), the link between the institutional context and individual behavior constitutes an interesting multilevel area of research.
The interaction between the individual and the environment or the micro-macro link is key, not only to understanding the emergence of entrepreneurship but also to linking entrepreneurship to societal out comes. In effect, this latter topic is not only one of the proposed purposes of entrepreneurship research Low and MacMillan (1988); Low (2001) but also the criterion to analyze whether entrepreneurship is productive, unproductive, or destructive (Baumol, 1990). New firms' productivity (Shane, 2003:5) does not mean that entrepreneurship is beneficial at the societal level, unless it is assumed that firm level outcomes automatically translate to societal outcomes through an automatic coordination of self-interested individuals in a world without externalities. This assumption is neither real nor useful for prediction (Rocha and Ghoshal, 2006) and therefore it is necessary to develop a better understanding of how entrepreneurial outcomes are distributed and what kind of institutions are necessary to mediate the process. In effect, "entrepreneurial talent is not automatically dedicated to socially desirable ends--it requires institutions to accomplish this" (McGrath, 2003:527; cf. Stinchcombe, 1997).
At the methodological level, future work could focus on the link between the phenomenon under study, its specify measures, and the associated results. For example, some studies adopting a contextual or demand-side perspective of entrepreneurship have found opposite results in terms of the level of entrepreneurship due to different ways of defining and measuring entrepreneurship. For instance, population ecology predicts an inverted U relationship between density and foundings (Hannan and Freeman, 1989; Shane, 2003), while the incubator regions literature and the regional literature in general show a positive association between increasing density, as measured by specialization indices or proportion of SMEs, and firm births (Reynolds et al., 1994; Audretsch and Fritsch, 1994; Thornton, 1999). These disparate results are a consequence of differences in conceptual definitions and units of analysis, which in population ecology studies are foundings and industry or industry-region while in regional studies are generally new firms and regions, respectively. (1)
As a final word, we hope that making explicit what scholars are studying and testing and what policy makers are designing will contribute not only to a better understanding of entrepreneurship but also to an increasing dialogue between academics, practitioners, and policy makers to understand and change reality for the better.
(1) Note that these disparate results are not driven by a different research method, which in the case of population ecology is longitudinal and in that of regional studies is generally cross-sectional. In effect, the issue is that population ecology predicts decreasing rate of foundings at higher densities, while regional studies predict the opposite.
