| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| 2005 June 29 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 9 Number 5 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| Pro, Con & Neither: The New Eminent Domain |
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By a 5-4 vote, deciding a Connecticut case that pitted homeowners versus the City of New London, the US Supreme Court said Thursday that a community that simply wanted to improve its tax base or bring in jobs could force out homeowners who stand in the way. The court concluded that it is up to elected officials, not the courts, to determine the "public interest" that justifies eminent domain.
Here's a compilation of quotes from various vantage points: Justice Paul Stevens, writing for the majority: "Promoting economic development is a traditional and long accepted function of government, and there is no principled way of distinguishing it from the other public purposes the court has recognized." The court's ruling giving localities discretion does not mean they may simply "take property under the mere pretext of a public purpose, when its actual purpose was to bestow a private benefit." Jim Maley, redevelopment law attorney, mayor of Collingswood NJ: "The New Jersey Constitution has a higher standard," requiring a blight determination before eminent domain can be invoked, something that is not required in Connecticut. Glenn Zeitz, Haddonfield NJ lawyer: "I'm sure developers will try to use this decision to erode property rights, but I'm confident that under state constitutional law, they will have to show a valid public purpose." Anthony Williams, mayor, Washington DC, president, National League of Cities: "It's important to note that the court did not expand the power, but reaffirmed its current use, which has been indispensable for revitalizing local economies, creating much-needed jobs, and generating revenue that enables cities to provide essential service." David Snyder, Philadelphia lawyer specializing in property-seizure cases: "The ruling here is definitive. So long as they dot their 'i's' and cross their 't's' to prove that the economic development will help, the court is saying there's no problem." Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, writing for the minority: "The beneficiaries are likely to be those citizens with disproportionate influence and power in the political process, including large corporations and development firms." "All private property is now vulnerable to being taken and transferred to another private owner, so long as it is upgraded." "The government now has license to transfer property from those with fewer resources to those with more. The founders cannot have intended this perverse result." Justice Clarence Thomas, in a separate dissent: "Urban renewal projects have long been associated with the displacement of blacks." Scott Bullock, senior attorney, Institute for Justice, representing the plaintiffs: "Under the court's rationale, any property may now be taken for the benefit of another private property, so long as they claim that some public benefit is going to come from it." "With today's ruling, the poor and middle class will be the most vulnerable to eminent domain abuse by government and its corporate allies." Peter Herzberg, New Jersey attorney, expert on land use law: "This takes away one further hurdle that could have been out there for redevelopment of core areas in New Jersey and around the country. The ruling falls on the side of the municipalities." Bill Potter, Princeton Borough NJ attorney who represents property owners fighting such takeovers: Government is "no longer judging property by whether it is detrimental to the public good, which is how blight was interpreted." Instead, government "is judging (property) by what it is not. Single-family homes are not high-priced condominiums. This trailer park in Lodi is not a new condominium development. The (municipal) parking lot in Princeton is not a five-story parking garage. By that standard, the front lawn of (Princeton University's) Nassau Hall is underutilized." Carmen Rivera, president, Cramer Hill Residents Association, Camden: "They didn't take into account how elected officials are influenced by developers. I'm saddened." Jeff Tittel, president, New Jersey Sierra Club: "It's an ominous decision that will lead to open season on our homes and neighborhoods for developers." "Under this ruling it doesn't have to be a blighted neighborhood" to be condemned. "It can even be a nice neighborhood. It can be anywhere a town council or mayor wants their developer buddies who contribute to them to be able to develop a big project." Jared Leland, legal adviser, Becket Fund for Religious Liberty: "Because all houses of worship are tax-exempt, they will continue to be attractive targets for seizure by revenue-hungry local governments. We've already seen attempts to take them." Olga Pomar, lawyer, South Jersey Legal Services: "The decision underscores the need to look at what's happening in New Jersey." "The Legislature could provide a meaningful remedy by revising the redevelopment law." Sources: AgapePress, Courier-Post, Times of Trenton, Newark Star-Ledger, Philadelphia Inquirer |
| African Sands 'Set for Upheaval' |
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One of the first studies to examine how climate change might alter the land surface of Africa over the next century has been published by scientists from Oxford University. The research details how the immense dunefields of the Kalahari could be stirred up by global warming. The investigation, reported in the journal Nature, warns that large areas of currently productive land could become engulfed by shifting sands.
"The social consequences of these changes could be drastic," they say. The team, led by Professor David Thomas, urges politicians in the region not to pursue development policies that might exacerbate the coming problems, turning currently semi-arid areas into desert: "We've seen in Botswana, for example, with European Union support, an enormous growth in livestock production using groundwater. That in itself has put great pressure on the Botswana landscape. [The shifting sands] will make those Western-sponsored programs very unsuccessful into the future." The Kalahari dunes punctuate 2.5 million sq km of Africa -- from the northern end of South Africa, right up through Angola, Botswana and Namibia, to western Zimbabwe and western Zambia. "These landscapes are potentially very dynamic and they can kick in with a form of activity that is rather hostile to farming," said Thomas. He and colleagues found that no matter which general climate model data they used, their simulator came out with projections for dramatic increases in dune "activity": dunes will start to erode and move as precipitation falls and wind speeds rise. The southern dunefields of Botswana and Namibia become activated by 2040, while the more northerly and easterly dunes in Angola, Zimbabwe and Zambia begin to shift significantly by 2070. By 2100, all the dunes from South Africa to Zambia and Angola are likely to be reactivated. "The Kalahari is a large area that supports a reasonably big rural population that lives by farming," said Thomas. It's these people who are vulnerable to their currently savannah-like environment becoming a rather more hostile, active, dune landscape than it is today." Source: BBC |
| Bill Adds Parents to NJ FamilyCare Plan |
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FamilyCare, New Jersey's low-cost health insurance program for the working poor, would simplify its enrollment procedures and be allowed to enroll up to 80,000 more parents over the next four years under a revised bill that passed the state Senate on Friday. The popular program stopped enrolling adults three years ago because of high costs and a budget crisis.
"This represents the single most significant advance in health care coverage for children and families in many years in New Jersey," said state Child Advocate Kevin M. Ryan, whose office collaborated on the bill. Sen. Joseph Vitale, (D-Middlesex), the bill's sponsor, had hoped to enroll 103,000 parents in the program over the next three years. But to allay concerns about costs, he changed the bill to enrolling a maximum of 80,000 more parents over four years. The bill (S2236/A3724) also pledges to enroll 101,400 more children over three years. The compromise gave the bill the momentum it lacked since its introduction five months ago. The bill then cleared the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee easily, then it passed the full Senate, 38-0, following an emergency resolution allowing the vote. The bill's prospects also looked positive in the Assembly. "With an emergency vote and unanimous approval of legislation designed to revolutionize New Jersey's FamilyCare health insurance program for the working poor," said Vitale, "we are in line to become the second state in the nation, behind Vermont, to ensure that all of our state's children have a shot at decent health care coverage." Source: Newark Star-Ledger |
| Why Bolivia Boils |
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Ever since Carlos Mesa took over the Bolivian presidency in October 2003, hardly a day has passed without some sort of demonstration. Even in this country where protests happen often, it's unusual: According to the president's own calculations, there have been more protests than days in power.
To the surprise of many, Bolivia has enjoyed relative stability in the last 20 years. Bolivia used to have a reputation for coups, suffering more of them than years since independence from Spain at the start of the 19th century. But from 1985 onwards, elections were held regularly and power was shared mainly between three parties. All three broadly followed free-market economic policies to to pull Bolivia out of poverty, and won about 70% of the vote. Most analysts agree that although this consensus gave Bolivia some stability, two decades of democracy in this land of strong regional tensions did not see a rise of political parties which satisfied people's expectations. As John Crabtree, author of a new book on Bolivia, argues, the traditional parties were more interested in carving up government positions, which left them with an "awful reputation". While mistrust of the parties grew, protest movements gained confidence, helped in part by a proliferation of non-governmental organizations. Bolivia stands out with its large number of grass-roots organizations, often based on Indian community traditions. Many Bolivians were prepared to put up with the economic shock therapy introduced in 1985 to control hyperinflation which had reached the dizzying heights of 24,000%. Short-term pain for long-term gain, many said at the time. But 20 years later, there are few tangible gains. Observers say some social indicators like infant mortality have improved, but income levels remain stagnant or worse. Bolivia is still the poorest country in South America, with around 30% of the population living on incomes of less than $1 a day. Inequality reigns, with poverty concentrated amongst the 62% of the population of indigenous descent. Given this simultaneous failure of both the economic and political models, it is no surprise that the immediate cause of the current unrest is the row over a new hydrocarbons law, and more precisely what should be role of the state and foreign companies in exploiting Bolivia's rich gas reserves. Many Bolivians blame the "saqueo" or plunder of their resources by foreigners; a common theme of many recent protest movements has been against foreign companies and in particular their control of water supplies. Source: BBC |
| Iraqi Labor Leaders on US Tour Speak Out |
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Six Iraqi union leaders toured the US this month and spoke to numerous audiences. The 17-day, 25-city tour, sponsored by US Labor Against the War, introduced representatives of three major labor organizations in Iraq.
At a Washington press conference, Faleh Abbood Umara, general secretary of the Basra-based General Union of Oil Employees (GUOE), said the US occupation aims "to manipulate and control the Iraqi economy in the interests of the American government. We will oppose it all the way." The GUOE by a three-day strike in August 2003 won workers a doubling of their wages at KBR, a Halliburton subsidiary. Adnan Rashed, executive officer of the Union of Mechanics, Printing and Metals Workers, representing the Iraqi Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU), said, "In the Iraqi labor movement, we made it clear that change through war will produce complex issues and not bring democracy." Falah Alwan, president of the Federation of Workers Councils and Unions of Iraq (FWCUI), noted that, with unemployment as high as 70% in Iraq and steep wage and benefit cuts imposed by the US Coalition Provisional Authority, the employers’ strongest weapon against workers seeking to organize is to threaten them with replacement by the unemployed. A key demand is revocation of Saddam Hussein’s 1987 law barring unionization of the public sector -- which still includes most of the Iraqi economy, notably the oil industry -- as well as anti-labor edicts issued by US occupation boss Paul Bremer. The unions want a labor code drafted by the unions themselves. In New York, Rashed said, "The Iraqi people have all the resources, qualities, education, expertise to rebuild Iraq. We will not accept the hegemony of a foreign power." Besides ending the occupation, Rashed said, "our three economic fronts are to confront all privatization, the introduction of market economy, and the intervention of international institutions like the World Bank." In Chicago, Alwan and Amjad Ali Aljawhry of the FWCUI said that the Iraqi labor movement "has its own alternative" to the occupation. "We are establishing a new labor tradition," Alwan said. "I will not exaggerate -- this is the first time we are electing representatives and leaders. The tradition in Iraq was to have unions under total regime control." "In order to build a secular and progressive labor movement," Alwan said, "we need the world labor movement to stand by us." Source: People's Weekly World |
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| Life-Net News Extra |
| US Accuses China of Using UN Funds for Forced Abortions |
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The US urged the UN population agency to end its family planning program in China until Beijing stops using coercion, forced abortions, and punishment to enforce its one-child policy. The Bush administration has for the last three years barred all US funding for the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), charging that its support for China's population planning programs allows Beijing to implement its policies of coercive abortion.
The fund has repeatedly called the allegations baseless, and uses money from other donors for its program in China. The UN agency has cited a US government report that found no evidence that it "knowingly supported or participated in ... coercive abortion or involuntary sterilization" in China. But Kelly Ryan, deputy assistant secretary of state for the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, told UNFPA's executive board last Wednesday that its continued funding for China's coercive reproductive health program "gives it a UN 'seal of approval'" which is very important to Beijing and which it doesn't deserve. The Bush administration wants China's provinces to abolish regulations that, among other things, punish unplanned births, require couples to use contraception and require pregnancies be terminated if prenatal exams show the fetus to be severely deformed, said Ryan, whose speech included translations of regulations from several provinces. China's deputy UN ambassador Zhang Yishan countered that China's 1.3 billion people account for one-fifth of the world's population, and its per capita income is only 2.8% of the US' so family planning is essential for development. Without its population policy, he said, China's population over the last 30 years would have grown by more than 300 million additional people, he said, "which equals the entire US population." Source: Taipei Times |
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