| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| 2004 May 26 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 8 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." |
| Jobs Boom in the States |
|
Over the last month, from March to April, total nonfarm
payroll employment rose in 45 states, according to Labor
Department data released Monday. Over the last year, the
gains have been equally powerful, with 44 states reporting
net job growth. Keep in mind that these payroll jobs
numbers suffer from undercounting due to turnover declines
after 9/11 and ignoring the new workforce of self-employed
consultants. That means the rise in payroll jobs
represents much higher gains.
The four states with the largest monthly increases in absolute terms are Florida, North Carolina, Missouri, and Michigan, with an average gain of 22,000 jobs each. Of the five states where employment declined, none lost more than 2,000 jobs. The biggest surprise in Monday’s report, however, was the dramatic drop of the unemployment rates in a handful of large northern states. Michigan’s unemployment rate is 6.1%, down from March’s 6.9%. Minnesota’s rate fell by 0.7%; Maine’s by 0.6%. Wisconsin, Oregon, and South Dakota each had 0.5% drops. These monthly changes are part of a deeper, positive trend. Michigan’s unemployment rate, for example, has declined by 1.2% over the last year. Oregon’s rate of unemployment has declined by almost 2 full percentage points. This trend is important because naysayers argue that dropping unemployment rates are a misleading reflection of a contracting, discouraged labor force. A few states saw unemployment rates rise over April, notably Mississippi by 0.8%. Yet Mississippi’s unemployment rate remains 1.8% lower than in April 2003. Source: Heritage Foundation |
| Gap Owns Up to Worker Mistreatment by its Suppliers |
|
Gap, Incorporated has acknowledged its connection with an
international manufacturing group that treats workers
unethically. A faith-based shareholder's group is calling
the corporate confession a step in the right direction.
Gap admits the global manufacturing network it uses to make its clothes offers low-paying work under often hazardous conditions. In an unusual report compiled with the assistance of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility, the clothing retailer said it found a range of workplace violations during inspections of more than 3,000 factories worldwide. The company had previously defended those plants that supply its Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic chains. The Interfaith Center's David Schilling says Gap has now set up a process to rate the factories it uses on labor standards. He hopes other companies will follow the retailer's example in monitoring and reforming sweatshops. Source: AgapePress Relevant Link: Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility |
| A Life-Net Radio Cryptogram |
|
I remember when I read about George Bernard Shaw's attempt
to reform our language's chaotic spelling. He invented a
phonetic writing system. I've finally had a go at it
myself using ordinary letters only.
I've written a Life-Net Radio behind-the-scenes anecdote and re-written it to make letters correspond with the speech sounds of American English, probably tinted with South Jerseyan. I present the results now as Life-Net News's first puzzle: evry wunts in c wayl in prcdoosyng c luyfnet reydyoh shoh ay get too meyk c fun prases haapin foor egzaampl foor dhc joon 9 episohd ay went too dhc lyp ckaadcmy tshardr skool in kaamdin in midmey foor a pryprcdukshn seshn with ther kcmyoonidy scrvis klub tshildrin fcrst ay tohld dhcm ay wxd nat by dhc bos but dhey wxd by ay geyv dhcm c list uv jencrcl sugjestshnz cbaaoot reydyoh dhen wy breynstoormd foor aydycz roolyng aaoot nun until wy haad payld up fiftyn oor twenty aydycz ay orgcnayzd a voht yoozyng dhc kwestshn haaoo meny uv yoo luv dhis aydyc on ytsh aydcm roolyng aaoot dhc les papyclcr wunz ges wut kaynd wcr left syrycs soshl-prablcm tapiks in udhr wcrdz dhc kidz on ther ohn haad meyd sumthyng dhaat lxkt layk c luyfnet reydyoh tapik listyng end aat dhc seym taym ufcrmd ther intrist in kcmyoonidy scrvis |
| Hollywood Hogwash on Climate Change |
|
In the film The Day After Tomorrow, CO2 causes global
warming. An Antarctic ice sheet melts. The oceans cool
and the Gulf Stream stops. A massive summer snowstorm
buries much of North America in hundreds of feet of snow.
No one is prepared for these changes, since they happen
over just three days.
It gets worse. Eventually, the ice melts and inland areas flood. Ireland endures hurricanes while huge hailstones pummel Japan. The entire scenario hinges on the shutdown of the Gulf Stream. In a recent letter to Nature magazine, MIT professor Carl Wunsch points out, "the occurrence of a climate state without the Gulf Stream any time soon -- within tens of millions of years -- has a probability of little more than zero." Self-proclaimed expert Al Gore claims that climate change is "an emergency that seems to be unfolding in slow motion but actually is occurring very swiftly -- not as swiftly as the movie portrays, but swiftly in the context of human history." Human history? Galileo didn’t invent the thermometer until the 1590s. We’ve been keeping detailed temperature records for a mere century or so. The only thing swift about global warming is how swiftly it’s replaced the idea of global cooling. As recently as the 1970s, scientists were worried about another ice age: "During the last 20 to 30 years, world temperature has fallen, irregularly at first but more sharply over the last decade," the National Science Board announced in 1974. "Judging from the record of the past interglacial ages, the present time of high temperatures should be drawing to an end ... leading into the next glacial age." The average temperature measured at the earth’s surface has risen about one degree Fahrenheit in the last 100 years. But satellite measurements haven’t shown a comparable trend and, in fact, show a slight cooling in the last 20 years. So while global warming may be a problem, and we should keep studying it, it’s too soon to take radical, expensive steps. The real risk today isn’t global warming. It is that we’ll overreact and damage our economy in an unnecessary attempt to prevent climate change. Source: Heritage Foundation |
| A Republican Resolution of Apology to Amerindians |
|
Tex Hall was in North Dakota last fall when he received a
call on his cell phone. He was surprised to hear who the
caller was: Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), whose name rarely
appears on legislation affecting Indians. In recent years,
in fact, the conservative lawmaker has opposed tribes,
particularly when it comes to gaming.
The call ended with Brownback wholeheartedly accepting a suggestion to introduce a resolution of apology to the first Americans. For several months after the call, his staff worked with NCAI and some tribes to develop the apology. Introduced last month, it is "a resolution of apology and a resolution of reconciliation," according to Brownback. It cites a number of "official depredations and ill-conceived policies" towards American Indians and Alaska Natives, e.g.:
Source: Indianz.com |
| Villagers Buck Uzbek Border Controls |
|
Uzbekistan, citing security concerns connected with
"Islamic" radicalism, has sought to curtail cross-border
traffic with neighboring states, especially Kyrgyzstan.
Residents on both sides of the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border,
however, have not accepted the stricter controls.
Rather than tolerate the tighter border-crossing regulations, Uzbeks and Kyrgyz alike have become more adept at evasion. The defiance is often driven by economic necessity, as many living in border areas continue to derive income from so-called shuttle trading. Border trading tricks employed range from very traditional to unorthodox. In one village, for example, while Uzbek border guards do not allow cars through, they wave horse or donkey-carts across, and so this form of transport is booming. In another village, men smuggle goods into Uzbekistan over the river by horseback when the current is low. Cross-border commerce has even been restored at the Kyrgyz trading center of Kara-Suu, where Uzbek authorities blew up two bridges that spanned a canal separating the town from Uzbekistan. Residents have erected rope bridges, and in one case, a pulley system, to get people and goods across. Such means have proven dangerous: Several would-be smugglers have reportedly slipped into the canal and drowned. Illicit trade is often carried on with the collusion of border guards and customs officials eager to supplement their low incomes with bribes. Gulnoza, an Osh resident who travels regularly to Uzbekistan, said that even after the supposed border closure following the Tashkent bombings in March, it was easy to bypass the border controls. Uzbek guards had put a plank over a stream and "stood there taking 100 som from anyone who wanted to cross." Daily bus service recently resumed, so smuggling has decreased. A fresh grassroots campaign has begun this time to either open a corridor to Kyrgyzstan to allow villagers unimpeded access or move Barak’s entire population from Uzbekistan to Kyrgyzstan. Source: EurasiaNet |
| Heartless Charity |
|
Super-rich athletes tend to have slippery fingers when
clutching a wad of cash. They splurge on mansions, boats,
cars, women, exotic vacations ... and charities. It can
seem as if it's just another bill they're paying, something
they do to fulfill a societal expectation or soothe a
guilty conscience. Then they go out and get arrested or
make fools of themselves on the field.
They can write the check, but they can't cash it. They can't live up to the supposedly selfless example they've set with their wallets. What good are you doing if you're reading Dr. Seuss to kindergarteners in the morning and fighting at the strip club that night? Mixed messages like that will be taken one of two ways by kids (or adults): It's OK to go to strip joints as long as you atone for it by helping someone; or, trust is lost and disillusionment sets in. Giving back to the community doesn't make you a good person. It might make you a nice person, but public displays of charity are, under normal circumstances, sometimes nothing more than acts of self-indulgence. The Bible warns sternly against such behavior: "Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others," Jesus said in Matthew 6:2. "Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward." Source: AgapePress |
| Israeli Justice Minister Attacks Demolitions |
|
Justice Minister Yosef Lapid, a Holocaust survivor, caused
uproar in the cabinet Sunday when he likened pictures of an
elderly woman rummaging through her destroyed home in Rafah
looking for medicine to his grandmother: "The destruction
of homes has to stop," Lapid said. "It is not humane and
is contrary to Jewish values." He warned that the end
result of the policy of demolishing homes will be that
Israel will be kicked out of the UN, those responsible will
be tried at the International Court of Justice in the
Hague, and "no one will want to talk to us."
Lapid's reference to his grandmother angered Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Finance Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who, among others, slammed Lapid for his statement. Mofaz told Lapid this is a very grave comment about the IDF and called on him to retract. Lapid said, "There is no atonement for suffering caused an elderly, defenseless woman." "When the army says that to widen the Philadelphi Route it needs to destroy thousands of buildings, I get worried," said Lapid. "The army is talking about widening the corridor by 300 meters, but this will mean demolishing thousands of homes. This is totally out of the question. I was in the US last week, and we look very bad. But the question is not how we look, but who we are. These days we can't talk to anyone." "Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told us today that we destroyed only a few houses in Rafah, but have a look at the pictures," he said. "I don't know if I believe him. The army has requested permission to demolish thousands of homes, and if we allow this, world opinion is going to fall on our heads like a thousand-pound hammer." Source: Jerusalem Post |
| Livin' Small |
|
"Do what you love and the money will follow" is an
irresponsible lie, a denial of the deep opposition between
money and love. The real rule is, "If you're doing what
you love, you won't care if you never make a cent from it,
because that's what love means -- but you still need
money!"
Coldly sever your love from your income. One part of your life is to make only as much money as you need with as little stress as possible. A separate part, the important part, is to do just exactly what you love with zero pressure to make money. And if you're lucky, you'll eventually make money anyway. In a temperate climate, you have only five physical needs: food, water, clothing, shelter, and fuel. (If you're a raw-foodist and don't mind the cold, you can skip the fuel.) Everything else that costs money is a luxury or a manufactured need. Manufactured needs have fancy names: entertainment, transportation, education, employment, housing, "health care." In every case these are creations of, and enablers of, an alienating and dominating system, a world of lost wholeness. If you love your normal activities, you don't need to tack on "entertainment." If you aren't forced to travel many miles a day, you don't need "transportation." If you are permitted to learn on your own, you don't need "education." If you can meet all your physical needs through the direct action of yourself and your friends, you don't need to go do someone else's work all day. If you're permitted to merely occupy physical space and build something to keep the wind and rain out, you don't need to pay someone to "provide" it. Expensive health care is especially insidious: Not only is our toxic and stressful society the primary cause of sickness, but the enormous expenses that have been added in the last hundred years are mostly profit-making scams that cause and prolong sickness far more than they heal it. Source: Ran Prieur |
| Life-Net News Extras |
| Harbingers of Global Warming |
|
Spreading disease: Warmer temperatures allow mosquitoes that transmit diseases such as malaria and dengue fever to extend their ranges and increase both their biting rate and their ability to infect humans. Mosquito-borne disease has invaded previously unexposed highland communities where temperatures have risen during the past century.
Earlier spring arrival: Spring now arrives earlier in many parts of the world. Evidence of this comes from earlier thaw dates for rivers and lakes; earlier dates for plant blooming and leafing; and earlier animal egg-laying, spawning and migration. An earlier spring may disrupt animal migrations, alter competitive balances among species, and cause other unforeseen problems. Plant and animal range shifts and population changes: Plants and animals generally react to consistently warmer temperatures by moving to higher latitudes and elevations. Recent studies reveal that some species have already started to shift their ranges, consistent with warming trends. Many populations and species may become more vulnerable to declining numbers or extinction if warming occurs faster than they can respond or if human development presents barriers to their migration. Coral reef bleaching: Reefs in 32 countries experienced dramatic bleaching in 1997-98. Bleaching results from the loss of microscopic algae that both color and nourish living corals. Water that is warmer than normal by only 2 to 3 F (1.1 to 1.6 C) has been linked to bleaching. Other factors that contribute to coral reef bleaching include nutrient and sediment runoff, pollution, coastal development, dynamiting of reefs, and natural storm damage. Downpours, heavy snowfalls, and flooding: A warmer climate will bring an increase in precipitation worldwide, especially during winter and in mid- to high latitudes, according to climate model projections. In addition, more precipitation is expected to fall in downpours and heavy snowstorms leading to increased flooding and damages. The area of the US affected by extreme rainfall has increased significantly since 1910. Heavy rainfalls have also increased in Japan, the former Soviet Union, China, and Australia. Droughts and fires: As the climate heats up, droughts are expected to become more frequent and severe in some locations. Sustained drought makes wildfires more likely and makes crops and trees more vulnerable to pest infestations and disease. Source: Global Warming: Early Warning Signs |
| Big Success for Philly Gun Turn-In Program |
|
A Philadelphia gun turn-in program exceeded the expectations of its organizers. So many gift certificates were given away to those turning in their guns, that the group running the program happily announced that they had run out of money.
Ray Jones, co-founder of "Men for A Better Philadelphia", said that in two weeks of the program his group of graduate students had collected more than 800 guns from people of all different backgrounds and ages: "We had a woman who turned in two guns. Her husband was a law-abiding citizen, he passed on. She felt very unconfortable having guns in her house because she has quite frequently her grandchildren come over." In exchange for their guns, people are given $100 and a $50 gift certificate: "We've been so successful that we ran through our additional funding." But, Jones said, more sponsors were expected to join the program by this week. Source: KYW Newsradio |
| Most material here is adapted, not quoted. Views expressed do not |
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