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	<title>John Creighton on Community Life and Public Leadership</title>
	<link>http://johncr8on.com</link>
	<description>Community Life and Public Leadership</description>
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		<title>Schleck and Contador Spark Global Ethics Debate</title>
		<description><![CDATA[LONGMONT, Colo. — I was surprised when Andy Schleck’s back wheel popped up and he jolted to a dead standstill in this morning’s stage of the Tour de France.  I was more surprised when Alberto Contador rode past without hesitation.  I had just said to my kids watching the tour with me, “Watch this, I bet Contador slows to a crawl.”  I was wrong. My favorite historical moments of the Tour are the occasions when Lance Armstrong waited for Jan [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johncr8on.com/dispatches/schleck-and-contador-spark-global-ethics-debate/</link>
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		<title>How Do You Measure Prosperity?</title>
		<description><![CDATA[LONGMONT, Colo. — Matt Miller makes a provocative assertion in his year-old book, The Tyranny of Dead Ideas.  He argues that Americans need to get over the idea that future generations will earn higher incomes than their parents and grandparents.  All the evidence suggests, Miller argues, that we will experience several decades of downward pressure on wages. Household incomes (after adjusting for inflation) have steadily climbed over the past four decades.  But the additional income is the result of more [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johncr8on.com/dispatches/how-do-you-measure-prosperity/</link>
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		<title>Community, Trust and Problem Solving</title>
		<description><![CDATA[LONGMONT, Colo. — I was walking from Boston&#8217;s Charles Street T (subway) to our apartment when the power of anonymity hit home for the first time.  I was on my regular graduate school meal plan at the time: Cheerios for breakfast; peanut butter sandwich for lunch; a Happy Hour supper (two dollar beer and free cheese, crackers and chickens wings), and a Snicker bar to hold me over for late night studies. I broke out the Snicker bar on my [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johncr8on.com/dispatches/community-trust-and-problem-solving/</link>
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		<title>We Are Free</title>
		<description><![CDATA[LONGMONT, Colo. — The Longmont Orchestra is playing again this year in Thompson Park to celebrate the Fourth of July.  It’s one of the traditions I love about this holiday.  My family makes a point of staying home for the Fourth so we can join our neighbors to celebrate America’s birthday.  Similar celebrations of picnics, music and fireworks will take place across the country.  The Fourth and Thanksgiving are the two uniquely American holidays. The Fourth of July is one [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johncr8on.com/dispatches/we-are-free/</link>
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		<title>Open Source Treatment Model</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Read an interesting article about Alcoholics Anonymous in Wired this morning.  AA strikes me as an example of an early open-source, patient centric model of treatment.]]></description>
		<link>http://johncr8on.com/warmup/open-source-treatment-model/</link>
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		<title>Participatory Systems</title>
		<description><![CDATA[LONGMONT, Colo. — Services provided by western nation welfare states play a significant role in creating the high quality of life we all enjoy.  We don’t like to admit it but facts belie complaints. Gregg Easterbrook, author of The Progress Paradox, declares that the great story of our era is that average people are far better off compared to generations past.  The current Great Recession not withstanding, Easterbrook compiles data to support his claim.  Here are some of the improvements [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johncr8on.com/dispatches/participatory-systems/</link>
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		<title>Managing a Surplus of Time, Money and Food</title>
		<description><![CDATA[It may seem odd to write an essay about surplus during a period we will long remember as the Great Recession.  Much of what I have to say may be dismissed or ignored.  It’s hard to hear a long term perspective when experiencing short term pain — especially when the pain is severe. But, as we’re all tightening our belts for the moment, now may be the best time to think through how we manage surplus.  Better times will return.  [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johncr8on.com/dispatches/managing-a-surplus-of-time-money-and-food/</link>
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		<title>What Are the Possibilities</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Clay Shirky’s talk on “Cognitive Surplus” challenged my views on people watching loads of television.  Brad Rourke brought my attention to this talk.  Shirky’s idea is that television is an outlet for more brain capacity than society can effectively put to use.  I recommend watching his entire 15 minute talk. I’m guilty, in my youth, of being a TV watcher.  I can recount far too many episodes of Gilligan&#8217;s Island, I Dream of Jeanie, The Brady Bunch, Beverly Hillbillies, Big [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johncr8on.com/dispatches/what-are-the-possibilities/</link>
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		<title>Eating Our Cake</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Politicians face a conundrum.  Their constituents want more government services without paying higher taxes.  How should a candidate for office respond?  Political strategists have a one word answer: pander.  Too often, we voters buy it. Consider these findings from a private survey I recently had the chance to review.  Fifty-three percent of survey participants agree with this statement: “Cutting vital public services during a recession hurts our families and economy.”  Sixty-one percent of respondents favor an increase in state funding [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johncr8on.com/dispatches/eating-our-cake/</link>
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		<title>Dealing with the downside&#8230; and up</title>
		<description><![CDATA[What do cell phones, the internet, and the pill have in common?  They all are structural changes in our lives that changed our culture.  And, they all have downsides&#8230; as well as upsides. A spring issue of Time Magazine reported on the 50th Anniversary of The Pill — the pharmaceutical contraceptive that has achieved the status of one name moniker enjoyed by icons such as Madonna, Pele and Lebron.  It is hard to argue that The Pill transformed society.  National [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://johncr8on.com/dispatches/dealing-with-the-downside-and-up/</link>
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