| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| March 8, 2006 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 9 Number 23 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| Grassroots Christianity Sweeps the Non-West |
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For 40 years Jim Rutz has been documenting an astounding phenomenon: the underreported explosive growth of the church worldwide. Rutz says time is up; God is taking over. In 1960 there were 24 nonbelievers for every
believer in the world. Now there are only six. In 1960, even the strongest part of the church was growing as slowly as the rest of the world. Now it is growing almost seven times as fast.
The church is morphing from an organization into an organism. After 1700 years of top-down, institutional structures, it is quickly becoming the body of Christ in a more New Testament sense. It is starting to recover its original form and functions. Groups in the movement are rapidly figuring out what to do with apostles, prophets, pastors, elders, and Christians with hundreds of varieties of giftings. They're discarding the usual sermons, programs, hierarchies, committees, buildings, and salaried pastors, none of which are in the Bible anyway. "It's a long-overdue step up from Protestantism, though our basic beliefs all remain the same." More of what's happening:
Source: Christian Broadcasting Network Story: Buddhist Monk's Near-Death Experience |
| Altruism Study Turns Up Dark Side |
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U Mass economist Herbert Gintis studies why people do the things they do using game theory and mathematical models. He believes that most people are predisposed to cooperate and be altruistic, and they aren’t even aware of it. Altruistic tendencies have a nastier flip side as well, but
that’s all part of what makes society work, according to Gintis.
Adapted from an interview: First, our working definition: An act is altruistic if it benefits another at a cost to yourself, where there is no possible mechanism whereby you could gain even in the long run somehow: Long term benefit to someone else with a long term cost to yourself. We call that altruism. By the way, it could be a long-term benefit to a group at a long-term cost to yourself. Economists have a model of choice that’s called the rational actor model. It generally assumes that people are selfish. In fact, that’s a very important part of it. And one of the things we wanted to do is test that assumption. We found it untrue. People tend to be predisposed to cooperate with others at a cost to themselves as long as others will also cooperate. And people are willing to punish others when they do not cooperate. The reason humans are so successful is normally attributed to the fact that they’re smart. The reason they’re smart is because humans operate in complex groups. The reason they can operate in complex groups is that they have strong reciprocity: Not only do they share, but they’re willing to punish non-sharers. If you look at the whole range of social species, you find that punishing is very important. Take bees. You always think of the hive as the big social collective, everybody does what they’re supposed to do. But that’s not true. Workers often try to lay eggs even though only the queen is supposed to lay eggs. If workers lay eggs, there are other workers that run around, eat the eggs, then punish the workers that laid the eggs. Wherever you find cooperation, you’ll also find punishment. Think of your own body. Each cell has its own self-interest to multiply. Why don’t they go berserk? How do you get cells to cooperate? The answer is, you punish cells that don’t cooperate. As far as we know, there is no other vertebrate species that punishes. Humans are by far the most social vertebrate species and we argue that that’s why humans are so cooperative. Source: Science & Theology News |
| Left and Right Unite on Eminent Domain |
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Adapted from a piece by Linda Chavez, chairman of the Center for Equal Opportunity:
The US Supreme Court's decision in Kelo v. City of New London sparked considerable controversy and may be the one recent public policy debate that united many conservatives and liberals. Conservatives generally don't like government interfering in private transactions anyway, and the thought that a city or county could decide to condemn otherwise sound property in order to increase tax revenue by replacing it with a more valuable property strikes many conservatives as a good example of the rapacious appetite of big government. Liberals, on the other hand, see this as government choosing the wealthy over the poor and middle class, big business triumphing over the common man, whites displacing blacks and other minorities. Ironically, though, most of the Supreme Court justices who sided with New London were from the liberal wing of the court. This type of strange bedfellows reaction has spurred a new coalition of groups fighting eminent domain abuse in the wake of Kelo. The NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens and the National Council of Churches have joined with the Institute for Justice (which represented plaintiffs in the original Kelo case), the Farm Bureau, and the National Federation of Independent Businesses, among others, to form the Castle Coalition, a grass-roots organization that hopes to stop eminent domain abuses in local communities. Unlike some Supreme Court decisions, the worst effects of Kelo can be limited if the citizenry acts. Unless states move quickly to stop the misuse of eminent domain, no one's home, farm or business will be safe. Source: TownHall.com |
| States Press for US Action on Illegal Immigrants |
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A growing number of governors, along the border and beyond, Republicans and Democrats alike, are sharpening their complaints about the flood of immigrants pouring into their
states, pushing the Bush administration and Congress for action. "This is a national issue," said Democrat Janet Napolitano of Arizona, on Feb 26 at the winter meeting of
the National Governors Association. In that state, 500,000 attempts to cross the border illegally were turned back last year, and an untold number got through. "We're absorbing through taxpayer dollars the incarceration costs, health care costs, education costs," Napolitano said.
In states as far from the southern border as Utah, Missouri, Tennessee and Vermont, governors said immigrants are costing states dollars and spurring state legislation. All agreed the answer lies in Washington. Western governors put together a multipoint plan that asks for tougher border enforcement that makes better use of technology, improvements in the visa system, adoption of a guest worker program, and cooperation with Mexico and other Latin America countries to tackle the root economic causes that send millions north looking for work. In Minnesota, Republican Tim Pawlenty wants the state to track immigrants and fine employers who knowingly hire illegal immigrants. Last year, illegal immigration spurred Napolitano and Democrat Bill Richardson of New Mexico to declare states of emergency in border counties in each state. At the same time, governors warn that harsh measures alone would cause severe damage to many states, especially where agriculture depends on immigrant labor. "Our industry really relies on foreign workers to be successful," said Republican Jim Douglas of Vermont, where low unemployment and an aging population makes it hard to find workers for the state's dairy farms. Source: Associated Press |
| On the Purim Holiday Tradition Matanot l'Evyonim |
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There are three main mitzvot (commandments) associated with the holiday of Purim, apart from the commandment to hear the reading of the parchment scroll Megillat Esther: feasting (seuda), sending portions to friends (mishloach manot), and sending gifts to the poor (matanot l’evyonim). ...
Why does matanot l’evyonim appear amongst the mitzvot of Purim? It is not merely tzedaka (charity). In fact it is specifically in addition to the usual mitzva of tzedaka. And it cannot be merely a matter of ensuring that the poor have food to eat, or even of ensuring that they have special holiday food, since the Rambam (Maimonides) has a general principle that there is an obligation that the poor be fed whenever there is a holiday seuda. Why then this additional, seemingly redundant mitzva? Note that the Rambam in his Mishneh Torah mentions the gifts to the poor in the same sentence with (and over against) mishloach manot and seuda. It must be that he sees these three as logically connected, and I think not merely by their being mentioned together in Esther. It seems to me that they are mentioned together in Esther and also by the Rambam because they have a common purpose. On Purim we celebrate not merely with the fine meal that we eat, but with sharing our meal and having other meals shared with us. We achieve this incredible feat -- simultaneously sharing many meals, as it were -- by means of mishloach manot. And the gifts to the poor help to put the poor person, at least for the day, on a par with every other Jew with respect to this form of celebration. Therefore this gift is on top of the usual requirement of tzedaka, so that the poor person on this day not only is to be provided with "all his needs," but more, so that he can generously share. Source: Sylvia Shaver |
| Bad News About Geico: Low Class Means High Rates |
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Geico's return to New Jersey was called a watershed moment in the state's effort to cut the nation's highest auto insurance rates. In fact, its August 2004 decision to end a 28-year walkout over what the company saw as excessive regulations was, according to auto insurance lobbyist Magdalena Padilla, "like having Hollywood arrive."
But consumer groups and some lawmakers are angry about a little-known provision in the deal. Geico uses a person's education and job status to figure out how much to charge. In short, blue-collar workers and those with less formal education pay more. "It is really unconscionable," said Phyllis Salowe-Kaye, executive director of New Jersey Citizen Action, a consumer coalition. "Everybody should be putting down that they are Rhodes scholars." "It is discriminatory and it has no relationship to how somebody drives," said Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), chairman of the Assembly Financial Institutions and Insurance Committee, Cohen said. "None of that should be considered." A document called "Geico Auto Group Guide to Company Placement" dated Feb. 3, 2004, shows how the company views a person's job and education: Accountants, architects, lawyers, teachers, engineers and dentists are listed as occupations that "have exhibited superior loss experience in the past." The worst risks mentioned include clerks, long haul drivers, route men, and "unskilled and semi-skilled blue- and gray-collar workers." As for education, "Risks who have achieved at least a high school diploma or its equivalent are more favorable than those without a high school education. Bachelors, masters and other advanced degrees are considered most favorable," the document says. Such factors can make a huge difference in rates. Using the company's Web site, The Star-Ledger found a 30-year-old single male from Newark would pay $1,686 a year if he is a lawyer with a master's degree. But the same man living at the same address, driving the same car and having the same coverage would pay $2,880 if he reported being a janitor with only a high school degree. Source: Newark Star-Ledger |
| Kill School Fees to Revive Schools |
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The elimination of school fees in developing countries is an extremely powerful and leveraged action because it can work to catalyze nationwide education sector reform. Eliminating school fees elevates the demand for more teachers, more supplies, and more classrooms. In short, it spurs the mobilization of internal and external resources to serve millions of girls, orphans and other vulnerable children; it shifts the burden of paying for primary school from vulnerable children and poor families. The alternative -- waiting for inadequate streams of funding, gradual scale-up, and the deepening of this regressive rationing system -- is unacceptable.
The elimination of school fees immediately draws attention to a country's educational system. In 2003, the Kenyan presidential race was won, in part, on a political platform that promised "no school fees." After the election, primary school fees were eliminated. Over a million children flowed into schools the very next day. This influx of students has forced increased internal and external investment in Kenya’s education system. Kenya reallocated some internal budget funds to education; additional aid flowed in from the World Bank and other donors when the needs of a million children were thrust into the limelight. In addition, Kenya used this opportunity to reallocate more teachers to rural areas and increase transparency of local school budgets. A number of other countries in Africa have eliminated school fees. They include Tanzania, Uganda, Ghana, Rwanda, Malawi, Lesotho, and Cameroon and, most recently, Burundi. The results have been stunning. Within a few days, Kenya’s student enrollment jumped by 22%, Uganda’s enrollment increased by 40% and Tanzania’s enrollment more than doubled, from 1.4 million to 3 million children. Growth, dramatic and nearly immediate, happened in gender parity as well. The elimination of school fees is a politically popular move in developing countries. There is widespread support throughout civil society for removing these fees. The experience of most countries that have eliminated fees is that while there is a transition period with a major influx of new students -- which challenges the existing education system -- this is followed by increased public and political attention that galvanizes an influx of resources and opens the way for powerful and much-needed reforms which serve poor families and children. Additional incentives, such as school feeding programs, immunizations, and other community resources, also become more available to children and families through schools and can mean the difference between a child who can't afford to go to school and a child who can't afford to stay away. Source: RESULTS |
| # LNN # Small # Hauls # |
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| Life-Net News Extra |
| Social Entrepreneurship Video Debut |
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Ashoka: Innovators for the Public announces the release of its new Social Entrepreneurship Series on Google's latest video service, Google Video Store. The Series, produced in partnership with the Skoll Foundation, is the first-ever video collection of interviews with leading global social entrepreneurs.
"This series is an opportunity to listen to stories and strategies of the global greats of social entrepreneurship -- a powerful new form of public leadership," stated David Gergen, Director, Center for Public Leadership, Harvard University. The 16-program series was produced by Ashoka's Global Academy to capture the strategies and insights of leading social entrepreneurs -- in their own words -- who have achieved global impact, including Muhammad Yunus, the power behind Grameen Bank and the global micro-credit movement; Peter Eigen, Transparency International founder and one of the world's most powerful corruption fighters; and Fazle Abed who founded BRAC, the world's largest citizen sector organization. These visionaries offer practical wisdom on how to tackle poverty, fight corruption, and improve the health and education of those living on less than $2 a day. The 40-minute films include autobiographies as well as cover corporate social responsibility, social-business ventures, methods for scaling, and global governance. Video: Social Entrepreneurship Series |
| Most material here is adapted, not quoted. Views expressed do not |
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