Businessweek:  If ever there was a car made for the times, this would seem to be it: a sporty subcompact that seats five, offers a navigation system, and gets a whopping 65 miles to the gallon. Oh yes, and the car is made by Ford Motor (F), known widely for lumbering gas hogs. Ford’s 2009 Fiesta ECOnetic goes on sale in November. But here’s the catch: Despite the car’s potential to transform Ford’s image and help it compete with Toyota Motor (TM) and Honda Motor (HMC) in its home market, the company will sell the little fuel sipper only in Europe.

“We know it’s an awesome vehicle,” says Ford America President Mark Fields. “But there are business reasons why we can’t sell it in the U.S.” The main one: The Fiesta ECOnetic runs on diesel. Automakers such as Volkswagen (VLKAY) and Mercedes-Benz (DAI) have predicted for years that a technology called “clean diesel” would overcome many Americans’ antipathy to a fuel still often thought of as the smelly stuff that powers tractor trailers. Diesel vehicles now hitting the market with pollution-fighting technology are as clean or cleaner than gasoline and at least 30% more fuel-efficient. Yet while half of all cars sold in Europe last year ran on diesel, the U.S. market remains relatively unfriendly to the fuel. [Read more...]

As we are in the political season where each politican wants to use the federal government numbers to bolster his or her tax increase or tax cut, I thought I would share with you the plain facts about who pays taxes in the U.S.

In 2006, the latest year to get actual numbers, there were 135.7 million tax returns filed, and of those, IRS data, shows that in 2006, 92.7 million (68.3%) of the tax returns came from people who paid taxes into the Treasury.

More than  43 million tax returns (or 31.7%) were filed by people with positive adjusted gross income (AGI) who used exemptions, deductions and tax credits to completely wipe out their federal income tax liability. Not only did they get back every dollar that the federal government withheld from their paychecks during 2005, but some even received more back from the IRS. This is a result of refundable tax credits like the Earned Income Tax Credit, which are not included in the aggregate percentile data here. (For more on the limitations of the data on this page, see the notes below. For a detailed paper on the distribution of the entire U.S. fiscal system, including all federal, state and local taxes, read Who Pays Taxes and Who Receives Government Spending? An Analysis of Federal, State and Local Tax and Spending Distributions, 1991 – 2004.)

Tax year 2006′s numbers (see below) show that both the income share earned by the top 1 percent of tax returns and the tax share paid by that top 1 percent have once again reached all-time highs. In 2006, the top 1 percent of tax returns paid 39.9 percent of all federal individual income taxes but only earned 22.1 percent of adjusted gross income, both of which are significantly higher than 2004 when the top 1 percent earned 19 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI) and paid 36.9 percent of federal individual income taxes. The bottom 50% of all tax return filers paid less than 3% of federal income taxes in 2006.

The top-earning 25 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $64,702) earned 68.2 percent of the nation’s income, but they paid more than four out of every five dollars collected by the federal income tax (86.3 percent). The top 1 percent of taxpayers (AGI over $388,806) earned approximately 22.1 percent of the nation’s income (as defined by AGI), yet paid 39.9 percent of all federal income taxes. That means the top 1 percent of tax returns paid about the same amount of federal individual income taxes as the bottom 95 percent of tax returns.

As we get ready head to the fall and the cooling temperatures, it is awards time in the Chicago theater community and the Jeff Awards committee has made their selections for the 2007-2008 Equity Awards.  Once again, Provision Theater Company has garnered a nomination.

This year, Brad Armacost was nominated for best solo performance in C.S. Lewis on Stage, performed at the Royal George Theater.

This one-man show captured the personality and writing of the author of THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA and SCREWTAPE LETTERS so well as Brad gave us an intimate look at the Oxford man who could make his audience think as deeply as he made them laugh.  Congrats to Brad!

This represents the 6th nomination (7th total) for this highly-regarded Chicago theater company in its short four year history.

Provision Theater Company burst onto the Chicago theater scene in March 2004 with the opening of Harry Chapin’s off-Broadway smash hit Cotton Patch Gospel, which played to packed houses and unanimous critical praise from numerous publications, including: Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Reader and more. The production was also nominated for a Joseph Jefferson Award.  Provision Theater Company followed that with two more Joseph Jefferson Award nominations for their critically-acclaimed production of A Christmas Carol. Other highly praised and Joseph Jefferson nominated productions include: The Boys Next Door, The Spitfire Grill, The Gospel of John and Beast on the Moon. Check out their 2 minute promo video to learn more about the company.

Previous Awards and Nominations for this excellent theater company include:

• Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Musical (Timothy Gregory), 2004 – Cotton Patch Gospel
• After Dark Award for Best Actor (Timothy Gregory), 2004 – Cotton Patch Gospel
• Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination for Best New Adaptation (Timothy Gregory and David H. Bell), 2006 – A Christmas Carol
• Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination for Best Actor in a Musical (Bradley Armacost), 2006 – A Christmas Carol
• Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Musical (Susan Moniz), 2006 – The Spitfire Grill
• Joseph Jefferson Award Nomination for Best Actress in a Principal Role (Tiffany Scott), 2007 – Beast on the Moon

I was greatly touched by JR Kerr’s message yesterday about grace. As an example, he told the story about Sara Tucholsky of the Western Oregon University softball team, who hit a home run in a game against Central Washington this year, but as she was headed to first base, her knee buckled and she went down. It’s against the rules for your own team to help you around the bases, so since she was unable to run herself, it looked as though the home run wouldn’t count. But, two players from Central Washington actually picked Sara up and carried her around the bases stopping on each base so she could touch the bag with her foot. This selfless act of grace moved Sara’s teammates to tears, but it also cost Central Washington the playoffs because they were disqualified. But, doing the right thing was the only thing to do.  Central Washington may have lost out on the playoffs, but their character was stronger than ever and what grace they showed.

It reminded me of an act of grace at Park a number of years ago that shows what the body of Christ should be — read and be inspired:

———————————————————————————————————–

Joe Barrett — His unusual donation saved a life — by Christine Tatum

(reprinted from Today’s Christian, September/October 1997)

Brad Szczecinski was looking for God when he wandered into a prayer meeting at Park Community Church in Chicago back in 1996. He figured the Lord owed him a few explanations for the troubles in his life. Chief among them, kidney failure. Joe Barrett, the group’s leader, took one look at the pale, chisel-cheeked visitor and wondered how to help him. Prayer seemed simple enough, so he invited Brad to stay after the group dismissed.”I had never considered myself the type to be able to sit down with another guy, hold hands, and pray,” Brad said. “But that’s what we did. And that night at church changed my entire life.” The Lord rattled Joe Barrett, too. He went home with Brad’s health weighing on his heart.

“I kept praying for healing for Brad,” Joe said. “Then it occurred to me that God has infinite ways of solving problems, and with his help, I had the power to be one of them.”Two weeks after their first meeting, Joe offered to give Brad one of his kidneys. But because five relatives already had volunteered to become donors, Brad didn’t think he would need to accept his new friend’s offer.  He was wrong. Doctors ruled out Brad’s mother, aunt, and uncle right away, focusing instead on his brother and a cousin. The testing process took months; Brad was put on dialysis three times a week. Joe spent much of that time at his side, reading the Bible and praying. Brad’s younger brother seemed to be the ideal match until doctors discovered an undiagnosed heart condition. The day after that announcement, Brad’s cousin was rushed to the hospital with gall bladder trouble. She, too, was an unsuitable donor.

“I was going nuts and called Joe just to say I was pulling my hair out,” Brad said. “He had been my sounding board and knew what I was going through.”Joe wasted little time. Tests showed he was a suitable donor, and doctors performed the kidney transplant in November 1996. But, Joe admits, the operation never would have happened two years earlier.”I would’ve felt sorry for him and maybe wished him luck and then gone about my business,” said Joe, the owner of an international finance company. “Because that was my life—business. Being very self-centered, I did what I wanted. But that was before Christ entered my heart and changed my priorities.”Both men spent much of the winter recovering from the surgery. Brad successfully fought episodes of organ rejection. Joe said the pain he endured cannot compare to the joy he feels every time he sees a spring in Brad’s step or color in his cheeks.  “God’s love has so powerfully moved this entire process,” Joe explains. “At first, I just prayed for him to perform a miracle and heal Brad. But that would have had such a limited effect.”We tend to think miracles are things that happen to others, not us,” he adds. “But I’m here to tell you that isn’t so.”

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate,
but that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us.
We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant,
gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of God within us.
It is not just in some; it is in everyone.

And, as we let our own light shine, we consciously give
other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.
—– Marianne Williamson

My kids and I watched “Akeelah and the Bee,” last week, in which an 11-year-old, African-American girl comes to embrace her talent as a speller with the help of a mentor played by Laurence Fishburne. His character uses the Williamson quote to help inspire Akeelah toward her quest of becoming a spelling-bee champion. What a great reminder on this Friday that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

I am a travel-holic and when I see a good deal, I love to tell people about it. Travelzoo.com tells us this week that there is a big sale at Rock Resorts.

$96 — 96-Hour Sale at 7 Upscale Resorts^*

Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, Caribbean

Travel dates: Select dates Aug. 17 – Jan. 31

By Travelzoo Staff

Through 11:59PM MT on Sunday, July 27, RockResorts has put its collection of luxurious resorts on sale for as little as $96 per night. This represents a huge savings, with rooms discounted between 30%-70% OFF regular rates.

Located in spectacular destinations in Colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming and the Caribbean, many of these upscale resorts are AAA 4-Diamond award-winners and members of Preferred Hotels & Resorts or The Leading Hotels of the World.

This sale is valid for Sunday-Thursday nights between Aug. 17 and Jan. 31. Some weekends are available as well, depending on each resort’s availability. The 7 participating $96 properties include:

• Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colorado (reg. $279)
• The Pines Lodge in Beaver Creek, Colorado (reg. $219)
• Keystone Lodge & Spa in Keystone, Colorado (reg. $249)
• The Lodge at Vail, Vail Village, Colorado (reg. $229)
• La Posada de Santa Fe Resort & Spa in Santa Fe, New Mexico (reg. $335)
• Snake River Lodge & Spa in Jackson Hole, Wyoming (reg. $260)
• The Landings St. Lucia, West Indies (reg. $420)

Also available:

• The Arrabelle at Vail Square, Colorado, starts at $136 (reg. $425)
• The brand-new Osprey at Beaver Creek, Colorado, which opens Dec. 19 and starts at $295 (reg. $395)

Blackout Dates: These will vary by property. To find the valid travel dates for each property, visit RockResorts’ Web site and click “Available dates” below the corresponding resort.

Travelzoo Tip: If you are already planning for next season’s ski trip to Beaver Creek, Keystone, Vail or Jackson Hole, note that this sale includes discounted dates at the Colorado and Wyoming resorts through Jan. 15.

Click here for full details and to book with RockResorts. Note: All stays must be booked online by 11:59PM MT on Sunday, July 27, must be pre-paid and are nonrefundable.

I love to find little quizzes and tests to take on the web.

This week, I came across this one and thought I would share it with the 135 readers of this blog.

Test Your Instincts is a free (brought to you by Samsung Instinct!) quiz that gauges a person’s wildlife savvy: what do you do when a jellyfish stings, when a shark comes angling for your surfboard, or when you’re stuck in quicksand (which happens to me all the time)?

The scenarios are wordy, but you’ll at least learn something and there’s no registration process.

I fared poorly, getting 6 out of 13 — it says I am ready for camping in my own backyard!

(HT: Mashable)

If you’re looking for an official US-friendly capture, Mashable has put together a great list of sources.

Versus is doing a decent job of presenting the first two stages live. The first stage is over with, so tomorrow’s racing will be the last available. Rise and shine bright and early, because the man-powered rubber meets many many miles of road starting at a sprightly 7:00AM ET and will run to about 8:30AM ET. Post Sunday’s leg of Le Tour, Versus will only be spreading full-on coverage to cable television subscribers.

If you want to take your Web video viewing past the weekend, there are a few sites that’ll help you get what you need, depending on your operating system and additional software installed, some of which in fact carry over from the top sources for Euro 2008 championship match coverage between Spain and Germany last weekend:

Cyclingfans.com – A compendium of options. Links abound, with video and audio choices available from multiple sources. Find one that suits.

MyP2P.eu – Simple construction, but who needs extras. Video is what you’re after, eh? If you’re watching on a Mac, download Flip4Mac for Windows Media conversion or get yourself Sopcast. Both are free.

Channelsurfing – Another basic choice that also plays with Windows and Mac-based machines alike.

Veetle – requires a player download. Do that, return to the site, click where you must, then sit back and watch wheels spin

ITV – Only UK-based fans will get this feed. Enjoy, mates!

On June 29, Matt Heard returned as our first guest speaker at our Crosby Campus. Many of you know that Matt was the founding pastor of Park Community Church back in 1987 when he took 50 people up to the Geneva Youth Camp to talk about launching a new work in the city of Chicago. He served as pastor until 1990 and presently serves as the lead pastor of Woodmen Valley Chapel in Colorado Springs.

It was an emotional time for Matt, as he saw Park through its first three years, then left to get his seminary degree in Florida. “I want to congratulate and affirm you for continuing a vision and unpacking it in powerful ways in this city,” Matt said. He challenged us through a message on the ‘theology of plumbing’ of what our role here in the city is. Matt defined the theology of plumbing as the difference between a pipe and a bucket: what goes into a bucket stays in a bucket, but what goes into a pipe flows through that pipe somewhere else. In the context of our Christian life, we’re not called to be buckets. Buckets keep what God has done in our lives to ourselves, and what flows into a bucket stagnates. Rather, we’re called to be pipes, and let what God is doing in us flow out of us into the lives of those around us.

In closing, Matt encouraged us saying, “We don’t fully comprehend how significant these days are for Park Community Church. It’s a moment of celebration for what God has provided, but it’s also a moment of decision of how you will steward what God has provided in this new building. Realize this building is to be a tool in God’s hands in facilitating a community of ‘pipes’ who will be conduits of who God is and what He’s done in the city.”

We encourage you to take a moment and listen to the entire message and share your thoughts and reactions to the message in the comments section.

(HT: Park Facebook)

One of the things I am most excited about Park Community Church is our vision — to be a biblical community where the Gospel of Jesus Christ transforms live, renews the city and impacts the world.

As we opened up our building last week, it was great to hear that the building is a tool, a gathering place, but we are the church and we need to take the Gospel to others in this city of 77 community areas. As we look to launch other campuses in the city, I came across this and thought many would find it interesting.

He spoke about In last week’s issue of Rick Warren’s Ministry Toolbox, the right column had a banner button that linked to an interview by Tony Steward with Scott Hitzel and Randy Craft, two guys that actually implement the hands-on efforts at Saddleback Church‘s multi-site location in San Clemente.In this spontaneous 16-minute interview, you’ll hear the first-hand report of nuts & bolts involved at a remote campus. At around the 5:00 mark on the clip, Scott gives an overview of 4 models for how they have distributed content between the Lake Forest location and the San Clemente location.

I think this video clip can be particularly helpful as we think about launching a multi-site campus.

Recently, Coastal Living Magazine ranked the Top 10 Artists Colonies in North America which made me begin to think — where would I like to live if I wanted to be around other artists in a closde-knit community?

I still think Chicago has one of the most vibrant art scenes — check out the 29th Annual Fountain Square Art Festival in Evanston this weekend —

Check out the Coastal Living list — – what do you think?  If I have to leave Chicago, I am partial to the last on the list — Todos Santos in the Baja of Mexico — below the orphanage in Colonia Vincente Guererro where I met my wife on a church trip called “vacation with a Purpose”

Some of the best things (and worst things — why would anyone load up 50+ apps on their profile?) about Facebook are the Facebook applications. Facebook users have a wide variety of really cool Facebook applications to enhance their Facebook experience. There are nearly 5,000 Facebook applications, and the top applications have tens of millions of installs and millions of active users. The bad news, alas, is that 87% of the usage goes to only 84 applications! Only 45 applications have more than 100,000 active users.  What do you like best?

Here are the top 10 most active Facebook applications:

1. Super Wall – The Super Wall application is an enhancement to Facebook’s original wall feature. Super Wall allows Facebook users to write messages, post photos and post videos on their wall.

2. Funwall – Funwall is very similar to Super Wall, but it allows for tagging photos and embedding YouTube videos.

3. Top Friends – The Top Friends application allows Facebook users to create a widget with up to 32 friends photos. By clicking on a friend’s photo you are taken directly to their profile page.

4. Video – Facebook Video allows you to publish videos to Facebook and send video messages to your friends.

5. SuperPoke – The SuperPoke Facebook application allow users to send enhanced pokes to their friends. Facebook pokes are a way of telling your friends that you are thinking of them.

6. Flixter Movies – Flixter Movies is a cool application that allows you to see what movies your friends’ like and how their taste compares to yours.

7. Are You Interested??? – This application allows you to ask people the question “Are you interested??? Why this is popular I am not sure.

8. iLike – The iLike Facebook application lets you add music and videos to your profile, dedicate songs to your friends, and see what concerts your friends are going to. This is a nice way of finding cool music.

9. X Me – This application allows your friends to do things to you. For example, you can add a button to your profile page to allow your friends to give you a hug.

10. Bumper Sticker – This is a really cool application. With the Bumper Sticker Facebook application you can create a bumper sticker and stick it to a friend’s profile page.

One of my favorite speakers is Louie Giglio, of Passion Conferences and this is part of a great message entitled “How great is our God!”. This is pretty mind blowing…the first 3 minutes are standard sermon; but, then, it gets really interesting when he starts talking about the molecule Laminin, an amazing molecule in the human body. The pic on the left below is the scientific diagram and the one on the right is the actual molecule under an electron microscope. The stuff that holds our bodies together is in the shape of the cross!  He quotes the verse Colossians 1:17 “He (Christ) is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.”

What do you think? How does Colossians 1:15-17 read to you? let me know…

After lying on a beach, then getting a call that he would line up 7 days later, Alberto Contador did the nearly impossible by winning the Giro D’Italia by 1:57 over his next nearest competitor.  He deserves the right to defend his crown at the Tour de France next month….but sadly, this is now a sport about power and the French do not having the American and American teams win their tour each year.  Let’s hope there is someone who says “let the best rider win” not “let the best rider who is allowed into the race win”

I went last night with my wfie and parents to see Smoke on the Mountain, the latest offering from Provision Theater and it is a rip-roaring funny musical! Go check it out Thursday to Sun at the Viaduct Theater, 3111 N Western Ave.

Smoke on the Mountain is the story of the 1938 North Carolina Mount Pleasant Church’s first Saturday night ”sing.” Reverend Mervin Ogethorpe (Alex Goodrich, a traffic banjo player) has invited the “Singing Sanders’ family to lead the church’s first ‘sing.’ Burl Sanders (Richard Marlatt) and wife Vera Sanders (Susan Moniz) together with Burl’s brother Stanley (Jeff Harms) and their children June (Amber Burgess), Denise (Christine Barnes) and her twin Dennis (Shaun Whitley) form a gospel bluegrass band. The Sanders’ family play guitar, fiddle, bass, mandolin and piano and all have excellent voices. They mix their wide range of white gospel tunes with down-home personal antidotes and religious ‘testimonies.’ These sentimentally sweet stories are humorous adding a spiritual revival element to the show. The musicianship here is first class.

The cast have a blend of fine voices (Susan Moniz and Richard Marlatt are terrific), offering truthful performances, especially from Shaun Whitley and Christine Barnes as the teen twins smitten with the spirit of the Lord. There were rich harmonies and a nice mixture of bluegrass and gospel tunes. These rural folks’ lives are centered on their religion in small town North Carolina in 1938 and their faith explodes through their music and their general store and auto garage in rural North Carlonia.

RECOMMENDED BY THE CHICAGO READER

Here is what the Chicago Reader says “SMOKE ON THE MOUNTAIN, Provision Theater’s gospel musical can be an awfully sweet treat–but every time my teeth started to itch, one of writer Connie Ray’s hairpin turns to comedy saved the day. Set in 1938, the show transforms the audience into the congregation of a Baptist church at its first-ever Saturday night sing, hosted by the annoyingly earnest Reverend Oglethorpe. His invited guests, the musical Sanders family, play and sing a range of traditional numbers, from the familiar (“Rock of Ages”) to the oddball (“The Filling Station”), the touching (“Blood Medley”) to the rousing (“Angel Band”). In between, family members relate their generally hilarious inspirational stories. Director Tim Gregory keeps things precise but light, and all the performers are chock-full of the musical and comic spirit. –Laura Molzahn Through 6/8: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM, Viaduct Theater, 3111 N. Western, 773-506-4429, $20-$25, industry shows Thu,

What a great street performance-sort of thing — could we pull this off in Chicago as a happening?

(Please wait for it to load in its entirety) — (HT: Scott Hodge)

Check out Google Sky

This is excellent and does not require additional software!

Explore the universe with Google Sky.

Whether you are starting a new company (like me at FanFuego.com, a social network for sports fans) or growing a ministry, knowing what kind of person you are and what kind of people those around you are can bring some great insights. According to the Jung – Myers-Briggs typology all people can be classified using four criteria:

Favorite world: Do you prefer to focus on the outer world or on your own inner world? This is called Extraversion (E) or Introversion (I).

Information: Do you prefer to focus on the basic information you take in or do you prefer to interpret and add meaning? This is called Sensing (S) or Intuition (N).

Decisions: When making decisions, do you prefer to first look at logic and consistency or first look at the people and special circumstances? This is called Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).

Structure: In dealing with the outside world, do you prefer to get things decided or do you prefer to stay open to new information and options? This is called Judging (J) or Perceiving (P).

Your Personality Type: When you decide on your preference in each category, you have your own personality type, which can be expressed as a code with four letters. For example: ISTJ is an Introvert Sensing Thinking Judging. Upon completing Jung Typology Test you will obtain your type formula, strengths of the preferences and type description. It may help you to identify your life style in general and with respect to specific fields of activity. You will also obtain a list of the most suitable career choices based on your personality, along with some educational institutions where you can receive a relevant degree or training.

Read a Full description

Take the test