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Article by Julian I. Taber, Ph.D.,

If mental health professionals find problems with my ideas, senior members of the various Twelve Step groups may well join them in the complaint department because I suggest, in the pages to follow, some re-wording of those basic Twelve Steps.

Times and people have changed in the seventy years or so since William Wilson wrote his program for recovery in Alcoholics Anonymous. Our courts have increasingly classified Alcoholics Anonymous, and, by extension, all similar Twelve Step programs, as religious organizations. The words Godand Higher Powerappear in the steps for recovery, and meetings often begin and/or end with group prayer. The problem with this arises when professional treatment programs order their patients to attend such groups as a part of treatment. It amounts, in the eyes of the law, to enforced religious attendance, and the courts have ruled in favor of those who filed complaints.

We may not like what the federal courts decide, but it is the law. Learning to obey and respect the law, it seems to me, is fundamental to personality development and to the recovery of normal living. In the United States, we practice the separation of church and state and so, by extension, we cannot use government money to force religious participation. Fortunately, I think there is a good way out of this problem.

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By ALLISON LINN, AP Business Writer
20 minutes ago

SEATTLE - Microsoft Corp. plans software to help workers simultaneously find information on their computer desktop, the Internet and corporate network, the latest effort to counter competitors such as search engine leader Google Inc.

The free download, to be announced Wednesday and released in test form later this summer, also is designed to help manage information overload.

It will be called Windows Live Search, said Kirk Koenigsbauer, a general manager in Microsoft’s information worker division. That’s the same name of Microsoft’s new Internet-only search product, also in test form, but Koenigsbauer said there are no plans to combine the two.

This product will be an add-on to Microsoft’s current product for scouring the PC desktop, available now as a free download and slated to be included in the next version of Windows, called Vista. The ability to search corporate networks will be available only to those who use Microsoft’s SharePoint server software, which is designed to help companies find and share information.

For about a year, Google has offered a similar free download, which can be used with Google’s own search technology for businesses, as well as those from a few other companies. Matthew Glotzbach, head of products for Google enterprise, said he had expected Microsoft to follow with its own offering.

Microsoft also plans to announce Wednesday that it will offer a scaled-down version of SharePoint for corporate search. It will be available this fall, when Microsoft releases a slew of new Office products and server software to businesses. Consumer versions of Office and Windows are due out early next year.

The announcements will come during Microsoft’s 10th CEO Summit, an annual gathering of corporate leaders at Microsoft’s Redmond campus. This year, the networking event will include bigwigs from Motorola Inc. and Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., among others.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates is expected to kick off the summit by talking about the problems companies will face in the coming decade — including the difficulty of finding and using the ever-expanding mountains of electronic data.

Source: www.news.yahoo.com

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