LIFE-NET NEWS

by Ret Z.

Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices

2003 April 23	No Profit; No Proceeds
Volume 6 Number 13	All-Volunteer

"Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal;  give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life."

Execs Prosper While Workers Pay, Studies Suggest

In 1980, the average CEO of a large American firm made 42 times as much as a non-supervisory worker. Top management guru Peter Drucker noted at the time that such a large pay gap could compromise the integrity of corporate leadership. It makes a mockery of the role of all the other workers in making the company hum, Drucker warned.       By 1995, the ratio of inequality between the shop floor and the executive suite had increased to a multiple of 160. Then, over the next five years, CEO compensation went through the roof; in 2000, they were paid 458 times as much as ordinary workers.       A Financial Times study found that senior executives and directors in the top 25 companies to go bankrupt from January 2000 to June 2001 amassed a collective fortune of $3.3 billion, even as hundreds of billions in shareholder value and well over 100,000 jobs were lost.       In a separate study of corporate annual reports, The Wall Street Journal discovered that while many companies warn rank-and-file workers they may face pension cuts, those same companies have taken steps to protect the jumbo pensions promised to top executives.       Said paper mill worker Robert Hemsley in a New York Times op-ed piece, "I wonder if corporate executives appreciate the role workers play in their success. Free enterprise is a system of risks and rewards. As it now stands, employees suffer most of the risks, while executives enjoy most of the rewards."       Source:  Sojourners

US Opened Doors to Iraq Looting, Witnesses Say

These accounts may or may not be true, but they certainly offer a different angle:       In an attempt to show popular support for the US invasion, the US government staged the toppling of the statue of Saddam Hussein in Farduus Square. Oddly enough for a "popular" event the toppling of the statue was carried out by the US Marines with a US mechanized vehicle. The crowd that was present was made up of about 150 Iraqis (many identified as being members of Chalabi's INC flown into the country by the CIA). The Marines excluded the Baghdad public from the event, cordoning off the square with tanks.       So began the vandalism and looting of Baghdad led and often carried out by US forces. The lack of scenes of joy at the US invasion had the US forces in need of images of Iraqis who, in different ways, demonstrated their disgust with Saddam Hussein's regime.       The top Swedish daily paper, Dagens Nyheter, published an article by Ole Rothenborg where Khaled Bayomi states, "I happened to be there just as the US forces told people to commence looting. The US soldiers shot two Sudanese guards, who were posted in front of a local administrative building, on the other side of Haifa Avenue. I was just 300 meters away when the guards were murdered. Then they shot the building entrance to pieces, and their Arabic translators in the tanks told people to run for what they could grab inside the building. Rumors spread rapidly and the house was cleaned out. Moments later, tanks broke down the doors to the Justice Department, residing in the neighboring building, and looting was brought over there."       Khaled Bayomi went on to state, "I was standing in a big crowd of civilians that saw all this together with me. They did not take any part in the looting, but were too afraid to take any action against it. Many of them had tears of shame in their eyes. The next morning looting spread to the Museum of Modern Art, which lies another 500 meters to the north. There were also two crowds in place, one that was looting and another one that saw it happen in disgrace." Iraqis are ready to testify that American tanks destroyed the heavy metal doors at the Museum of Antiquities so the looting crowds could get in and smash and loot the priceless art and records of the last 7,000 years of human civilization.       While US forces were destroying the irreplaceable heritage of Iraq and the world, as well as many other important Iraqi ministries, those same forces kept the records at the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Oil well guarded and safe.       Source:  Liberation News       Via:  New Jersey Independent Media Center

Another View

From "Iraq Diaries: Kathy Kelly Iraq Peace Team", April 21, one of the last reports from activists who went to Iraq as international human shields:       I am sitting in Amman now because of Sattar. Yesterday morning, he drove me here, from Baghdad. Silently, we passed through the shattered and wrecked streets. ...       His eyes welled up with tears when describing what he saw on the roads while driving in Baghdad. "I saw myself many tanks protecting the Ministry of Oil. They need the maps, the information. But they do nothing to help the people, the hospitals, the food storage. American companies are already trying to repair the oil refineries so that they can produce 2 million to 6 million barrels per day; this will bring the price of oil down. They can control the price of oil to serve American interests."       He also encountered a US tank in front of a huge storage site, where one to two years worth of grain and rice were stored. He heard a US officer with a Kuwaiti accent order the tank to blast open the entrance and then tell people standing there, "Take what you need. Then you can burn it."       Source:  Electronic Iraq

Renewed Opposition to St. Lawrence Cement

The landmark St. Lawrence Cement case--which occupied a number of Life-Net Radio air slots on both sides of the controversy--was all but given up for dead until last Wednesday (April 16), when a federal judge upheld key claims filed by minority residents that should clear the way for a new trial in the case.       South Camden Citizens in Action claims the state Department of Environmental Protection discriminated against their mostly black and Hispanic neighborhood by approving an air-pollution permit allowing the plant to discharge fine particles of dust. The plant is along the Delaware River in the Waterfront South neighborhood.       US District Judge Stephen M. Orlofsky upheld a critical intentional-discrimination claim as well as a secondary claim that the plant creates a private nuisance. He dismissed claims that the permit violates the federal Fair Housing Act and that the plant creates a public nuisance. The decision comes about 10 months after the US Supreme Court refused to hear the South Camden group's case.       The St. Lawrence case has been a lightning rod for environmental and civil rights groups, who argued government policies across the nation have resulted in pollution-generating facilities in poor, minority areas.       Olga Pomar, an attorney for the Camden citizens group, was pleased by Orlofsky's decision. "It really is good news," she said. "St. Lawrence, to me, has been acting like this case was over."       Source:   [Camden] Courier-Post

Micro-Enterprise Flourishes in Philippines

There is a growing sector of cooperative-based, micro-enterprise initiatives around the world which are quietly working to bring about a decentralized and sustainable economic system. One such initiative is that of the Baba's Foundation, Inc., located in Davao City, Philippines.       With three separate departments devoted to rural, urban and child welfare development, BFI has already created five farmers cooperatives in five different communities with more than 540 member farmers and estimated assets of US $25,650. Seventy percent of these farmers are practising sustainable agriculture. With technical guidance from BFI they have been able to acquire new technologies and greater solidarity through collective marketing.       BFI's Urban Development division has organized six cooperatives for 248 poor women entrepreneurs, who accumulated assets of US $32,800 over a five-year period. BFI has also provided training and low-interest loans to 218 beneficiaries since 1989. This program received an award from the Asian Development Bank in 1991 for its high loan return rate (98%).       The division for Children's Welfare runs four pre-schools for 150 disadvantaged children. It sponsors the elementary education of a further 50 children each school year and also actively advocates for the Rights of the Child as mandated by the UN's Convention on the Rights of the Child.       Source:  New Renaissance Magazine       Via:  Global Village News & Resources

Vieques Gets Navy to Vow to Vacate

A long-term nonviolent action campaign in Puerto Rico "has now won a commitment from the US Navy to stop testing bombs and other weapons on the island of Vieques." If the Navy keeps this commitment, this is a major success. However, follow-up work must continue since "decades of destructive tests, including the use of depleted uranium 238, napalm, and the placement on Vieques' shallow waters of a sunken ship once used as a target in an atomic bomb test, have left a devastated ecology and rates of illness notably higher than those in the rest of Puerto Rico. Continued pressure is needed to ensure that the Navy and the EPA clean up the contamination to protect health and the environment."       Source:  Fellowship of Reconciliation, via Peace Piece

Local Solutions to Global Water Shortages

Throwing a lot of money at undeveloped countries can make their water access problems worse, according to UN water policy advisor Ingbar Andersson, by allowing countries to build water systems that they may not be able to maintain in the future. Instead, Andersson suggests "very basic improvements in health and hygiene education," as well as teaching local governments how to build the most suitable and efficient distribution systems for a particular environment.       Managing the source of irrigation water is one solution. "It's not necessary to irrigate fields with quality drinking water," said Chris Landry, American Red Cross program manager for El Salvador. Sometimes untreated river water can be just as safe and effective.       Another solution relies on cheap toilets. In poor, rural areas, flush toilets are not always necessary, he said, especially when clean drinking water is already a scarce commodity. "It's time to rethink that concept of taking perfectly good water and literally flushing it down the toilet," Landry said.       The construction of cheap composting toilets is one alternative. These toilets basically turn human feces into fertilizer, and they don't require any water. Andersson said such toilets can be built for less than $30 US.       Another simple trick involves just water, vinegar and salt. A powerful disinfectant, sodium hypochlorite, can be created when a small electrical current is passed through a solution of these three basic substances. The solution can be used in water tanks, yielding water clean enough to wash vegetables.       Then there is another sanitation method that requires merely a scrap of cloth. A study in the new Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that women in Bangladesh who filtered their drinking water through a sari cloth helped cut new cholera cases in half.       What is most critical, said Andersson, is making sure that these simple ideas are transmitted to the people who could use them to the most advantage. In short, education is essential for preserving the future of the world's water supply. "It's an issue of developing local knowledge."       Source:  Disaster News Network

Wealthy New Jerseyans Offer to Absorb Tax Hike

A group of wealthy New Jerseyans, including the owner of the defunct Trenton Shooting Stars professional basketball team, said today they are willing to pay more in income taxes to help with the state's financial crisis and to stop planned budget cuts. They back a plan by the special-interest group the Fairness Alliance that calls for a three-year increase in the top rate of the state income tax.       The alliance said nearly $1 billion would be raised by boosting the income tax from 6.37% to 7.5% on incomes over $400,000; to 8.5% over $600,000; and to 9.5% over $1 million, affecting about 50,000 households.       Princeton Township resident Herbert Greenberg, who owns the disbanded Trenton basketball team and who describes himself as a millionaire, said his lifestyle wouldn't suffer if he had to pay a few thousand dollars more. When a rich man gets a tax cut, said Greenberg, he typically saves the money or buys some stock, while a middle-class or poor person plows the money right back into the economy.       Source:  Trenton Times

Life-Net News Extras

Good News and Bad About World Population

First, the good news. UN estimates released last month show that the global population in 2050 will be 400 million people smaller than it predicted two years ago, reaching 8.9 billion, instead of 9.3 billion, providing cause for cautious optimism. Women today have half as many children as their mothers, a turnabout that stems from gains in access to reproductive health services, including family planning, education and increases in women's power to make decisions about their lives (often after considerable struggle).       This trend toward smaller families in the developing regions of Africa, Asia and Latin America accounts for about half the change in the UN numbers.       Now the bad news. At the same time, AIDS deaths are rising, tragically, and are the reason for the rest of the decline.       Despite the slowing of global growth, by mid-century, 2.6 billion people will join the planet, most of them in the world's poorest countries. Here, governments are already hard-pressed to provide health care, education, housing, clean water and employment. Women's status is often low, and ecological stress considerable.       The population of the industrialized world (1.2 billion) will be largely unchanged, although consumers in wealthy countries have vast power to reshape the natural world. Their annual "ecological footprint" (amount of natural resources used) is six times that of people in low-income countries.       Source:  TomPaine.com

The Biggest Tax People Don't Talk About

The payroll tax is the largest federal tax paid by most Americans. It amounts to over 15% of the first $80,000 of a worker's earnings, evenly split between the worker and the employer--though, in the end, workers also pay the employer's share indirectly in the form of lower wages and salaries. The tax is regressive by any reckoning: those earning $80,000 or less pay more tax in percentage terms that those with higher earnings.       The alleged purpose of the payroll tax is to fund the Social Security and Medicare programs. Since these programs are due to begin running large deficits in the next decade and beyond, when baby boomers begin retiring, large surpluses are now accumulating in the program funds to cover the unavoidable fiscal crunch down the road.       But if the Bush tax cut plan becomes law, the entire $3 trillion surplus in retirement programs for the current decade will be needed just to finance Bush Administration tax cuts--the $1.35 trillion already passed by Congress, the new $1.5 trillion package just proposed by the president, plus extra interest payments on the new federal debt that will be created.       Let's bring this back home. Middle-income taxpayers, particularly those earning less than $80,000 a year, will be funding income tax cuts primarily for those earning $200,000 a year or more. The huge Social Security and Medicare obligations coming due around 2010 and beyond will be almost impossible to meet as annual deficits continue, long-term debt swells, and defense and homeland security bills mount. And Social Security and Medicare eligibility will no doubt have to be cut dramatically, even though lower- and middle-income Americans will have paid high payroll taxes for decades.       Source:  Urban Institute

Old-Fashioned Potlucks Bridge Ethnic Barriers

In South Africa, it’s called Koinonia--a meal-sharing project that attempts to counter apartheid by bringing black and white people together. In San Mateo, California, it’s a good old-fashioned potluck that brought two black couples and two white couples together several years ago to share food and personal histories. The four couples soon became friends and their efforts laid the foundation for a nationwide movement that brings together diverse ethnic and religious groups at the local level, to share food and personal stories.       The evenings in San Mateo began simply enough with an invitation. Inspired by the idea of Koinonia, Ricki McGlashan contacted Millie Swann of Foster City--her colleague at Aragon High School--to see if she and her husband, Willie, would be interested in a similar project here. Libby Traubman, meanwhile, found Mysie and Freemon Hollands by contacting their church. The process of getting together wasn’t that easy, however. Although the white families had previous contact with black families through various school and community activities, "We realized we never have been invited into a black family’s home to eat," said Len Traubman.       The first meeting was awkward, the couples report, but the effort was made easier when they began to tell their personal life stories. "We talked about our high and low points. The things that affected us, our values, the way we were brought up. It helped us to understand each other in a way you don’t get in a meeting," said Doug McGlashan. Beyond trading life stories, the couples have had lively discussion on the issues of the day--child rearing, prejudice, Washington, D.C., local politics, police harassment and religion among them.       The subject of racial intolerance came up early, as the couples knew it would. Still, the two white couples were shocked to hear about various incidents that have occurred right here in their hometown. The black couples were not. In matter-of-fact terms, they related stories of being the focus of racial slurs; and of having their children falsely accused of crimes. When Ricki McGlashan wondered how they could not help but hate white people, Millie Swann responded, "I can’t imagine going through life hating people. I’d be miserable." Freemon Hollands added, "That’s when our Christianity kicks in. That helps a lot. We have to have something."       Aside from getting to know one another and breaking down prejudices, Doug McGlashan said the evening potlucks have increased his community awareness. When he picks up the Times and reads about an issue in the North Central neighborhood, for example, he says he wonders what Freemon and Mysie think about it--and realizes it is also his community.       If you would like to reach out to other ethnic and racial groups in your city in the hopes of starting other mealsharing potlucks, you can contact Libby and Len Traubman. Details of how to start a new group are on their Web site.       Source:  Global Village News & Resources

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