| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| 2003 February 12 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 6 Number 4 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| 354 Cities to See Protests This Saturday |
|
Anti-war protests are being organized on every continent
for Feb. 15, and the list of host cities is growing rapidly,
says organizing group United for Peace and Justice. Globally,
they say, February 15 will likely be the single largest day of
protest in world history. Wherever you are, you can find
information about the event nearest you on this page:
http://unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=725
Life-Net News & Radio urges you to let your voice be heard this Saturday. True to our non-partisan spirit, we make this plea to you regardless of which side you take. Against our will, you and I have been placed on the front line of war, so we have a vital obligation to make our voices heard. In the Philadelphia area, the demonstration happens (Saturday the 15th) at noon, and its Web page lists the following demands:
Location: From the State Office Bldg (Broad & Spring Garden) to the Liberty Bell (5th & Market). Hot drinks & networking at the end at 4th & Arch St Mtghouse (approx 3pm). Vans will ride along for those unable to march. |
| U.S. Loathed by World, Says Top Bishop |
|
The top bishop of the Episcopal Church, in a stinging
rebuke of American foreign policy, said the United States is
rightly "hated and loathed" around the world for its
"reprehensible" rhetoric and blind eye toward poverty and
suffering.
"We are loathed, and I think the world has every right to loathe us, because they see us as greedy, self-interested and almost totally unconcerned about poverty, disease and suffering," Episcopal Presiding Bishop Frank T. Griswold III said in a speech last month at the Washington National Cathedral to mark his fifth anniversary as presiding bishop. In an interview after his talk, Griswold amplified his remarks, saying, "I'd like to be able to go somewhere in the world and not have to apologize for being from the United States." In many ways, Griswold reserved his strongest condemnations for what he sees as a disconnect between the country's "God-talk" and the values of the Christian Gospel, which emphasize care for the poor, the downtrodden and the hungry. (Religion News Service) |
| Critical Welfare Rule Up for Public Debate |
|
To the New Jersey Department of Human Services, "Standard
of Need" means the minimum amount of income and in-kind
benefits or services needed by families and single persons
living in the state in order to maintain a decent and healthy
standard of living, as established by regulation of the
commissioner, and shall include necessary items such as
housing, utilities, food, work-related transportation, clothing
and personal household essentials.
The Standard of Need law is a part of the New Jersey welfare law, known as Work First New Jersey. But the law says that the Standard of Need must show what it costs average "families and single persons" to live in New Jersey, not just people on public assistance. Life-Net Radio covered one of the public hearings last March, at which representatives of various organizations said the proposed Standard was too low. For example, $1,465 a month for a family of three. On February 20th in Newark and Mercerville, and on the 21st in Westampton, the issue will come up again in new hearings. For more information, call the DHS at 609-588-2289, or select the announcement link on http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/grantan.html (Anti-Poverty Network) |
| Food-Poorer Countries Weapons-Richer |
|
A report by the US State Department says developing
countries are spending a record amount of money on weapons.
The study looks at military spending worldwide at the end of the 1990s, and reveals an 18% increase in expenditure by developing countries over the previous decade. The State Department study reveals a baffling array of figures on defence spending around the world, but some interesting trends emerge from the statistical fog. The end of the Cold War led to a collapse in military investment in Eastern Europe. But in the subsequent decade it grew significantly in China, India and Pakistan. (BBC) |
| Hunger and Homelessness Up in U.S. Cities |
|
The US Conference of Mayors has been reporting for the
last 20 years that hunger and homelessness are up in America.
In their 18th report, recently released, for the first time
ever, the numbers were up--in most cases by double digits--in
every city surveyed.
Requests for emergency food assistance in 2002 rose by an average of 19%, a little less than last year--but the two years compounded together confront the nation's mayors. In 2002, 16% of the requests for food are estimated to have gone unmet, with 32% of cities reporting that they may have to turn people away this year because of the lack of resources. Driving the rise in food need are high housing costs, low-paying jobs, high unemployment, other employment-related problems, the economic downturn, weakening of the economy, and a variety of other factors that vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, Requests for emergency shelter increased 19% in 2002, the largest increase in 12 years. 88% of cities, the largest proportion in 10 years, reported that demand increased within their boundaries. An average of 30% of the demand for shelter went unmet, the second highest recorded in the history of the survey. In 56% of the cities, shelters may have to turn people away this year. The lack of affordable housing, previously cited by the Conference's leadership, is now being tagged by its members as being a primary source of homelessness in their cities. All cities surveyed expect demand for both emergency food and shelter to rise in the year ahead. Nearly all of them also expect increases in requests for food and shelter by families with children. A large portion of these demands will come from people who are working. City officials are generally pessimistic about the weak economy, and all agree that it will continue to aggravate hunger and homelessness. (C-SPAN) |
| Girls Flee Mutilation |
|
At least 100 Kenyan girls are in hiding from their
parents as they seek to escape forced Female Genital Mutilation
(FGM).
Churches in south-western Kenya have been sheltering them after they ran away from their homes. It is said that there are some 700 others in the south-west alone, who have not yet run away but are in dispute with their parents who want them to undergo FGM. FGM, traditionally known as circumcision, remains widespread in much of rural Kenya, even though it was outlawed among young girls in 2001, with girls above the age of 16 able to make their own decision. Some 14 countries in Africa have now banned FGM. Campaigners have sought to replace the traditional practice with a coming of age ceremony. (BBC News Online) |
| Fair Fish Trade |
|
Pietro Parravano, small-boat fisherman and president of
the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman's Associations, said
the following to the Canadian Council of Professional Fish
Harvesters on January 31 in Ottawa:
In Canada and the U.S., there has been the common mindset that the living condition of each new generation will improve. For European settlers, as well as those from Asia and now Latin America, our nations were the land of opportunity. Indeed, for most generations, the lot of our people did improve. Now there is a question of whether that will continue or whether conditions will begin to decline for succeeding generations. For our fisheries, conditions have certainly deteriorated in the past score of years. There have been the closures of the fisheries of Newfoundland, as much as half of the British Columbia fleet is being eliminated and fish stocks from cod and Atlantic salmon to groundfish are in sad shape. The stocks, however, can be rebuilt and though the fishing activity may be less, in theory, a healthy industry should come back. The problem, however, for a healthy fishery is that there must also be markets for the product and a fair price paid. In that regard, it has not just been the lot of fishing men and women in many fisheries that have declined, but of all food producers--particularly family farmers. Primary food producers throughout the world are being squeezed--mainly by processors and middlemen--with dramatic declines in the price paid for fish and farm products. Globalization has done nothing but exacerbate this fact of life. How can we fight this trend of lower producer prices and more consolidation in our industry that threatens to make paupers of what was once a proud middle class industry? Our challenge is to find ways to more directly market our products, so our prices reflect those paid by consumers. Our challenge is to better educate consumers, so they can distinguish between that fish that we take the time and effort to harvest sustainably, versus that which is not, to have labels in the market so they can choose our wild fish over the crap coming out of the net pens. Yes, we need certification such as that provided by the Marine Stewardship Council for sustainably harvested fish. But we also need a fair trade label for our fish. Coffee growers deserve a fair price; fishermen deserve a fair price. Our challenge, too, is to make sure fishing men and women are at the negotiating table on trade deals. Issues of trade in fish, should not be left up to free-trade theorists, globalization ideologues, much less processing conglomerates or fish importers and exporters. ... Our survival for this century, depends not simply on abundant stocks, but markets paying a fair price for the fish we catch. Our challenge is to find ways to more directly link with seafood consumers and educate them. Our challenge is to make sure fish are traded fairly, not just freely. Our challenge is to assure fair prices are paid fishing men and women in the developed and developing world alike. (Fishfolk) |
| Life-Net News Extras |
| Is the Drug War Worse than the Drugs? |
|
John Stossel, in introducing a TV special we hope will be
re-run, wrote:
We know the terrible things drug abuse does, but we rarely consider the terrible things drug prohibition does. The government declaring drugs illegal doesn't mean people can't get them. (We cannot even keep the drugs out of prisons-- how could we keep them out of America?) It only means people get drugs on the black market, where they pay more for them. This creates the nasty, unintended consequences of the drug war:
I talk to a Bronx priest who argues that life would be better if drugs were legal. "Legal means control," says Father Joseph Kane. "Illegal means the bad guys have control." California Judge James Gray agrees. "Hold people accountable for what they do, not for what they put into their bodies," he says. The head of the DEA, Asa Hutchinson, calls these arguments "giving in." I go to Europe to look at the "Dutch experiment" which separated "hard" and "soft" drugs by legalizing the sale of marijuana in licensed "coffee shops." The menus offer marijuana joints, baggies, teas and chocolates. Despite legalization, fewer Dutch teens use marijuana than American teens. ... Whose decision is it to control what we put in our own bodies? Ours? Or the state's? (ABC News) |
| Oversimplification |
|
Karen Heller wrote the following in Philadelphia Inquirer
Magazine, January 5:
Simplicity is the rage. It's a theme in politics. Republicans tending to seek simple solutions, while Democrats view everything as complex. (Notice how the Republicans are in power and the Democrats are trying to act more like them.) And it's everywhere on newsstands. There's Real Simple and Chic Simple, Organic Style and Budget Style, all promising to de-clutter our lives and "make them more," as they like to say in Yoga, the alpha activity of the simple life. Here's the problem. The simple life works in the two-dimensional world of magazines big on nubby sweaters (and free of moth holes) and high thread-count linens (with nary a wrinkle or peanut-butter stain). It doesn't work in the real world. Some reasons:
The current issue features a handsome family wearing nubby sweaters in a huge, dust-free house. One of the things the Moore-Frontinis do themselves--to feed their souls and save money--is make their own furniture. This is simple? Of course not. Real life is messy and complicated and, no matter how much you administer discipline, often petulant. ... Curious how the ascetic life is advocated by the wealthy, people with staffs and second houses in which to stash their stuff, and never by the poor. ... The simplicity movement has a curious way of making everything about shopping, which is the acquisition of more. There's a boom in yoga togs, even shoes, though yoga is practiced in bare feet and has been for centuries by Indians with barely a rupee to their name. |
| Life-Net News weekly newspage, Club LIFENET online, the Web site |
| www.lifenetradio.org, and broadcast Life-Net Radio (where you can star!) |
| together make up Mr. Ret Z.'s private charitable enterprise. To get Life-Net |
| e-mail free, or to unsubscribe, just ask: retiarius7@yahoo.com |
| + Iesous Khristos Theou Huios Soter + |