LIFE-NET NEWS

by Ret Z.

Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices

June 14, 2006	No Profit; No Proceeds
Volume 10 Number 3	All-Volunteer

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

World Needs 430 Million New Jobs by 2015

Some 430 million new jobs will be required over the next decade to keep pace with a growing labor force, mostly in developing countries, through policies replacing jobless with "job-rich" growth, according to the head of the United Nations labor agency (ILO). "The global economy is not delivering enough decent jobs that people need," ILO Director-General Juan Somavia told the agency’s annual conference in Geneva on June 5.       "Despite the many benefits of globalization, we see again and again how the dignity of work has been devalued. Economic optimism for some is matched with profound social pessimism for many. This is why we must put in place policies that replace jobless growth with quality, 'job-rich' growth," he added, noting that 80% of the world’s work force live in developing countries.       "That job creation challenge comes on top of the pressure of a continuing large-scale shift out of agriculture and rural areas towards cities, pushed by poverty and pulled by the hope of a better job," he told more than 4,000 delegates representing governments, workers and employers from ILO member states.       Somavia cited the service economy as a "major growth area for employment." He linked it to "another virtually global phenomenon -- skill shortages side-by-side with rising unemployment."       "The hardware of the new technologies is spreading much faster than the human software of manager and worker skills to make full use of its potential," he said.       Among other challenges facing the global economy is the need to come to terms with an aging population, discrimination, migration, and the fact that six out of 10 workers in the world lack social protection.       Source: United Nations

Earned Income Tax Credit Now Advanceable

If you qualify for the Earned Income Tax Credit in 2006, you may be able to start receiving part of the credit in your paycheck now, instead of waiting until you file your 2006 tax return in 2007. It's possible with the Advance Earned Income Tax Credit. Generally, if you qualify for EITC, you qualify for AEITC.       You have to be employed and expect to earn an annual income of $32,001 (or $34,001 for married workers filing jointly) or less and have at least one qualifying child. IRS Form W-5, Earned Income Credit Advance Payment Certificate, explains the qualifying criteria for AEITC.       For 2006, the advance payment can be as much as $1,648. The credit will appear in each paycheck, equally paid throughout the year. People who qualify could see their take-home pay increased by an average of $137 per month.       Source: Courier-Post

Call Centers Brighten Employment Picture in Tunisia

French IT firms keen to lower their costs are increasingly looking to base themselves in former colony Tunisia, which offers political stability, low overheads, and well-educated young people keen to work.       Seated before a computer screen in a small, busy room in north Africa, Fatma Khalfallah asks the Frenchman at the other end of the telephone line whether he would like to receive a free catalogue of frozen meals. Khalfallah's new job at the Maghreb Call Center (M2C) in Tunisia's capital, Tunis, has opened a window on the future for the 26-year-old, who had been unable to find work despite holding a degree in finance and a masters in quality management. "I chose to be a telemarketer to escape unemployment," she said, "instead of wasting time and waiting at home for a miracle to happen."       The government says there were 49,000 university graduates in 2005, up from just 3,600 in the early 1980s. The number is expected to jump to 300,000 by 2009.       France is Tunisia's top foreign trading partner and investor. Most Tunisians learn French from the age of seven, emerging from school with the fluency and flawless accents needed to sell insurance, phone lines, or apartments to even the most reluctant customers. As a result, more than 40 call centers have sprung up in the country of 10 million, absorbing 5,000 job seekers.       Tunisia has welcomed foreign investors to boost growth and fight unemployment. Over the past decade, foreign investment has created an average of 260,000 jobs a year.       The agents at M2C work for eight hours a day, logging up to 250 calls, with a 15-minute break every two hours. Their basic wage is about $340 a month, compared to the French minimum wage of $1,545.       "Before, I saw the call center work as just a way to get some pocket money," says employee Mustapha Nehdi. "But now I'm keen to have a good career in this field, which should develop strongly in the coming years."       Some business analysts predict major growth in Africa's call center industry thanks to cheap labor, good language skills, and time zones that align with western Europe. In research published this month, London-based market analysis firm Datamonitor said the number of call center agent positions in north Africa -- which includes Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia -- would triple by 2010 to around 23,000.       Creating jobs is a priority in Tunisia. According to government data, unemployment stands at 13.9%, with university graduates accounting for 60% of the jobless.       Source: Agence France-Presse

Police Forcibly Shut Down Largest Urban Farm in US

Hundreds of police officers in riot gear shut down a 14-acre urban farm in South Central Los Angeles yesterday. More than 40 protesters, including actress Darryl Hannah, were arrested as they staged an encampment to resist removal from what is considered the largest urban farm in the US.       It took authorities nearly eight hours to forcibly clear the farm. Police bulldozed vegetable gardens and used bolt cutters to remove the protesters who had chained themselves to trees and picnic tables on the property.       Since an eviction order last month, occupants have staged an encampment to resist removal from the land. Some 350 families in South Central LA have used the farm to grow a multitude of crops over the past decade. It was leased to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank following the 1992 Rodney King riots. In 2003, the land was sold back to a real estate developer who now wants to turn it into commercial property. The owner -- Ralph Horowitz -- recently turned down a $16 million offer for the site.       The encampment has attracted celebrity supporters including singers Joan Baez, Ben Harper, and Willie Nelson and actors Danny Glover, Alicia Silverstone, and Martin Sheen. Darryl Hannah was among those protesting the eviction. She camped out in a tree on the farm. During the raid she said, "I don't know why they're wasting taxpayers' money this way. These are families who depend on this food. Literally, they're subsistence farmers." Hannah was later arrested along with dozens of other protesters.       Source: Democracy Now

Diseases Moving North to Areas Unprepared for Them

Valere Rommelaere, 82, survived the D-Day invasion in Normandy, but not a mosquito bite. Six decades after the war, the hardy Saskatchewan farmer was bitten by a bug carrying a disease that has spread from the equator to Canada as temperatures have risen. Within weeks, he died from West Nile virus.       Global warming -- with an accompanying rise in floods and droughts -- is fueling the spread of epidemics in areas unprepared for the diseases, say many health experts worldwide. Mosquitoes, ticks, mice, and other carriers are surviving warmer winters and expanding their range, bringing health threats with them.       Global warming is a factor in the spread of insect- and water-borne diseases, scientists say. For instance, West Nile virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, arrived in New York in 1999 and then migrated to the US and Canadian west coasts.       Malaria is climbing the mountains to reach populations in higher elevations in Africa and Latin America. Cholera is growing in warmer seas. Dengue fever and Lyme disease are moving north. West Nile virus, never seen on this continent until seven years ago, has infected more than 21,000 people in the US and Canada and killed more than 800.       The World Health Organization has identified more than 30 new or resurgent diseases in the last three decades. It's the sort of explosion some experts say has not happened since the Industrial Revolution brought masses of people together in cities.       "We didn't even know West Nile virus existed here," said Maria Bujak, 63, of Toronto. Her husband, Andrew, contracted the disease in their garden in 2002. He never fully recovered, she said, and died two years later.       "Tropical diseases are here to stay in Canada. We needed our government to wake up and tell us that," said Douglas Elliott, a Toronto lawyer who has brought suit against the Ontario government on behalf of about 40 victims, contending that the government did not do enough to inform the public about the dangers of West Nile.       Scientists have warned for more than a decade that climate change would broaden the range of many diseases. But the warnings were couched in the future, and qualified. The spread of disease is affected by many uncertainties, including unforeseen resistance to antibiotics, failures of public health systems, population movement, and yearly climate swings. For that reason, some scientists have been cautious about the link between disease and global warming.       But Paul Epstein, a physician who worked in Africa and is now on the faculty of Harvard Medical School, said that, if anything, scientists weren't worried enough about the problem. "Things we projected to occur in 2080 are happening in 2006."       Source: Washington Post

Bed Tax Bad News for Many South Jersey Hospitals

On first reading, NJ Gov Jon Corzine's plan to impose a per-patient bed tax appears to be a win-win for taxpayers and hospitals. But the fine print looks a lot different for South Jersey hospitals from Underwood Memorial in Woodbury to Virtua-Memorial Hospital Burlington County in Mount Holly, which would end up losers. They would be forced to pay more in new taxes than they would receive back in medical reimbursements. Ultimately, their patients might pay the price in reduced services.       A better outcome must be found. Certainly, Corzine's goal is worth pursuing. He is seeking to raise $430 million a year, with half of that money earmarked to snag federal Medicaid matching funds. The other half in new taxes would be used to help balance the state budget, which includes closing a $4.5 billion deficit.       NJ hospitals are long overdue for an increase in Medicaid reimbursements. On average, they receive just 60 cents for every dollar of care they provide Medicaid patients.       Hospitals here receive smaller reimbursements than facilities in other states because NJ is relatively affluent. But the state's overall wealth masks the large number of people in NJ who are not covered by Medicaid but cannot afford medical insurance. By law, NJ hospitals must provide them treatment. NJ hospitals provide about $1 billion a year in charity care to those without health insurance. The state reimburses hospitals just $583 million.       Some 40% of hospitals lost money last year. Since 1995, 18 hospitals have closed or merged with other facilities.       Under the Corzine proposal, 49 hospitals would lose more money, some as much as $6 million a year, according to Gary Carter, president of the New Jersey Hospital Association.       Only 25 hospitals would see Medicaid reimbursements increase. That's not a formula that would benefit a majority of NJ patients. While the state cannot afford to leave federal Medicaid matching funds on the table, it must look into spreading the burden for raising additional state money.       Hospital association officials and executives have suggested that health insurers and large employers that do not provide affordable employee health plans pay some of the proposed hospital tax.       Source: Courier-Post

Hawking Urges Humanity to Colonize Mars to Survive

The survival of the human race depends on its ability to find new homes elsewhere in the universe, because there is an increasing risk that a disaster will destroy Earth, Stephen Hawking said yesterday. Humans could have a permanent base on the moon in 20 years and a colony on Mars in the next 40 years, the British scientist told a news conference in Hong Kong.       "We won't find anywhere as nice as Earth unless we go to another star system," Hawking said.       If humans can avoid killing themselves in the next century, he said, they should have space settlements that can continue without support from Earth. "It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species. Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of."       Hawking, whose best-known book is A Brief History of Time, has done groundbreaking research on black holes and the origins of the universe, proposing that space and time have no beginning and no end.       Alan Guth, a physics professor at MIT, said Hawking's latest observations were something of a departure from his usual research and more applicable to survival over the long term. "It is a new area for him to look at," Guth said. "If he's talking about the next 100 years and beyond, it does make sense to think about space as the ultimate lifeboat."       But, he said, "I don't see the likely possibility within the next 50 years of science technology making it easier to survive on Mars and on the moon than it would be to survive on Earth. I would still think that an underground base, for example in Antarctica, would be easier to build than building on the moon."       Source: Associated Press

#  LNN  #  Small  #  Hauls  #

The people screamed, the officials stumbled, and the bulldozers will have to wait a lot longer to chew up a little less of Cramer Hill, Camden. Just last year, city officials were giddy at the thought of building 5,000 suburban-style homes, a marina, and a golf course to lure the monied masses back to town. Now, two years and a quarter of a million dollars into a losing legal battle, they're starting over again, asking whether Cramer Hill even needs to be redeveloped. Camden has seen three of its grand redevelopment plans -- Bergen Square and Lanning Square being the other two -- scuttled by a judge all because city leaders don't know how to conduct a proper meeting. (Philadelphia Inquirer) "All the discrimination, all the injustices that women are subject to are becoming now so blatant, are becoming so directly linked to death -- they always have been -- but it is now so obvious, that I think we have an opportunity here, and when I see the leadership of women in many, many countries in terms of fighting AIDS, it’s obvious," said Peter Piot, the head of UNAIDS, in launching a new agenda on women and AIDS. "The ultimate criterion to judge all AIDS programs is 'Does this work for women and girls?'" (United Nations) In a vote of 321 to 101, the House voted on Thursday to pass the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act, known as the COPE bill. This legislation would permit phone and cable companies to operate Internet and other digital communications services as private networks, free of policy safeguards or governmental oversight. The bill would effectively end what is known as "net neutrality" which is the concept that everyone, everywhere, should have free, universal and non-discriminatory access to the Internet. The bill would also cut back the obligation of cable TV companies to devote channels to public access and fund the facilities to run them. And the COPE bill would replace local cable franchises with national franchises. (Democracy Now) Some 360 refugee girls and boys are enrolled this year at Kibogora Secondary School, the first of its kind in Tanzania's Kibondo Region, where Burundian refugee children study alongside their Tanzanian hosts. Post-primary education is rarely available to refugees. (Church World Service) The Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons argues the country’s prison system has fallen victim to overcrowding, overzealous incarceration, abuse, unaccountability, and inadequate health care. Among its recommendations are to dramatically reduce the use of physical force and prisoner segregation. It also calls for expanding prisoner access to Medicare and Medicaid. The report singles out treatment for the 400,000 prisoners suffering from mental illness, calling jails "the new asylums." The report also concludes, "we should be astonished by the size of the prisoner population, troubled by the disproportionate incarceration of African Americans and Latinos, and saddened by the waste of human potential." (Democracy Now) A tiny biosciences company, 16-employee Ventria Bioscience, is developing a promising drug to fight diarrhea, but it has made an astonishing number of powerful enemies because it grows the experimental drug in rice genetically engineered with a human gene. Ventria's rice produces two human proteins found in mother's milk, saliva and tears, which help people hydrate and lessen the severity and duration of diarrhea attacks, a top killer of children in developing countries. (Associated Press)

Life-Net News Extras

UN Agency Boosts Palestinian Food Help

Facing "an escalating humanitarian crisis" in the occupied Palestinian territory due to the non-payment of 150,000 government employees and more frequent Israeli crossing closures, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) announced on June 2 that it would increase the number of non-refugees it feeds by 25%, from 480,000 to 600,000. "We are seeing increasing numbers of impoverished people whose means of survival are being pushed to the limit. Many families are being forced to reduce their number of meals to just one a day," WFP Country Director Arnold Vercken warned, noting that the Agency’s $103 million appeal for its two-year operation had so far been only 29% funded since it began last September.       "We are in a race against time to reach the most vulnerable with food aid and avoid an escalation of this crisis. Urgent assistance now can really make a difference," he added, stressing that WFP had no money beyond July to fund its current operation.       The announcement came just two days after the UN and NGOs revised their appeal for aid to Palestinians upwards by 80% from $215 million to $385 million to counter the crisis facing the Palestinian Authority (PA) after the Hamas victory in the January election. Israel had stopped the transfer of Palestinian value added taxes and customs taxes it is obligated to pass over, which comprise around 50% of the PA budget. Other countries had also suspended contributions to the PA. The 150,000 employees on its payroll support 1 million people, or more than 25% of the population.       According to a recent study by WFP and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, food insecurity -- the measure of physical and economic access to sufficient food -- had grown by 14% since last year, meaning nearly 2 million Palestinians, 51% of the population, cannot meet their daily food needs without assistance. "Many people are now living on only bread and the cheapest vegetables, usually those left unsold at the end of the day," said Vercken. "We are also very concerned about the growing numbers of people, often children, rummaging through garbage cans."       Vercken recognized Israel’s need for security but said it was essential that all major crossing points into the Gaza Strip remain open for humanitarian aid.       Source: United Nations

High Density Antidote to Sprawl and Congestion

Adapted from a piece by Joe Riggs, group president of K. Hovnanian Homes, Edison:       Picture this: You're in a newly built village where you meet your neighbors as you walk down the street to the local hardware store. The home in which you live is one of several styles that accommodate an assortment of people. Your neighbors include a company president and a young woman who works at the beauty salon around the corner.       Your children can walk safely to the neighborhood park, located right next to their school. And instead of sitting on a highway for two hours every day, you drive five minutes to the train station. Your neighbor walks to his office.       In more and more places, this is the type of development or redevelopment being proposed. It's what New Jersey needs to help solve its housing issues and address many of its economic woes. But in too many places, neighborhoods like this are bitterly opposed because they require increased density.       It's ironic that density has become a dirty word. Density could be the solution to other dirty words, such as commute, housing prices and sprawl. It's time to change how we think about density.       New Jersey is coping with a variety of crises. Our acute shortage of homes that people can afford is causing residents to move to Pennsylvania, New York or other places where homes are more affordable. That could lead to a shortage of workers. And that will lead to an exodus of businesses following the workers they need.       Wiser use of our land could yield more homes, de-emphasize cars, increase municipal revenues, save more open space and help break this downward spiral.       Today's density is about airy, bright, walkable communities, not brick urban-style high-rises that some envision when the topic comes up. Today's density is created with single-family homes, town houses, apartment and condominium buildings in a variety of chic architectural styles. If appropriate, stores, offices and transportation hubs are part of the community.       The streetscape is shaped with elegant and creatively designed buildings that are two or several stories high and combine state-of-the-art homes, offices and high-quality stores. Properly planned with eight to 15 homes per acre, density mixes this variety to create beautiful, diverse neighborhoods with homes that more of us can afford, while preserving land for parks, walkways and school yards.       Some people are afraid of this type of development and concerned it will damage their community. Quite the opposite, these neighborhoods bring financial and social benefits to municipalities. Because they need less infrastructure, they cost less to build, maintain and service. These traditional neighborhoods provide homes people really want.       Census experts say the US will swell by an additional 94 million people in 2030, compared to 2000. Our population in New Jersey is part of that growth. The Garden State will grow by a million people in the next decade. Demand is overwhelming supply and that's one reason why homes are so expensive in New Jersey. Our housing shortage forces about 1 million New Jersey households to live in substandard, overcrowded housing.       Development patterns of the past 50 years are obsolete. Organizations like the Urban Land Institute and the Sierra Club find agreement in their advocacy of the use of higher density, smart growth communities.       Source: Asbury Park Press

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