| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| January 30, 2008 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 11 Number 19 | All-Volunteer |
| "Give a family a fish, and they'll eat a meal; give them a Net, and they'll have fish for Life." |
| Hungry Mothers Risk Addiction in their Adult Children |
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Babies conceived during a period of famine are at risk of developing addictions later in life, according to new research published in the international journal Addiction.
Researchers from the Dutch mental health care organization Bouman GGZ and from Erasmus University studied men and women born in Rotterdam during the Dutch "hunger winter".
Those whose mothers had suffered severe food shortages and starvation during early pregnancy were significantly more likely to be receiving treatment for addictive disorders.
The hunger winter which lasted from mid-October 1944 until May 12, 1945 has been said to cause a range of chronic disorders among adults in later life. These include physical conditions such as coronary heart disease, and psychiatric ones such as schizophrenia and clinical depression. It came about when the German authorities imposed a total embargo on occupied Netherlands in retaliation for Dutch support for the Allied forces after the failed parachute attack at Arnhem in September 1944. Food rations declined to a point where the average daily food consumption dropped to below 1,000 calories (vs 2,300-2,900 normal). Pregnant and nursing mothers were at first entitled to supplementary rations, but at the peak of the emergency the extra rations could no longer be sustained. 22,000 people in the western Netherlands died because of the famine. Modern brain research has shown that if the brain is not able to develop at normal rates in utero, neuro-developmental abnormalities can occur which give rise to susceptibility to addiction. Ernst Franzek, the study's lead author, observes that "exposure to famine beyond the first three months did not result in a higher risk of addiction, which supports the view that the first trimester is crucial in the development of the reward system in the human brain that is involved in addictive behavior." He further comments that the research findings "point up the adverse influence of maternal malnutrition on the mental health of the adult offspring, and give rise to great concern about the possible future consequences for the hunger regions in our world." Source: Wiley-Blackwell |
| Semantics Debate Keeps Homeless Out in the Cold |
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When they proposed opening a "daytime empowerment center" for homeless people near downtown Elkton MD last summer, organizers of the nonprofit Meeting Ground (MG) considered it a church mission. To be located in a five-bedroom house at 410 North St, the center would be a place for Bible study and Christian fellowship, a place where the
community's most destitute could hear the Gospel.
It would also be a refuge. During daylight, people with nowhere else to go could stop by to use the bathroom or take a shower, do laundry, or eat a hot meal. According to town leaders, that's not church; it's charity. The Elkton Board of Zoning Appeals consulted a dictionary before making the distinction. Their decision has kept the center from opening during winter, when the homeless need it most. "It is painful for us to know that we have a warm building, and substantial help, but cannot open our doors even to pray with those in our community who are suffering greatly," MG executive director Carl Mazza said in a Dec 10 letter to Mayor Joe Fisona and other town leaders. Earlier in December, the Zoning Board of Appeals upheld a ruling that the group needs a "special exception for philanthropic use" to operate a day center at the property, which is zoned commercial. MG has filed an appeal in Cecil County Circuit Court. It's just the most recent squabble over homelessness in Elkton, which has had a public struggle with the issue ever since the summer of 2006, when officials cleared a makeshift camp in the woods behind a Bridge St shopping center. About a dozen homeless men and women lost all their belongings, including irreplaceables such as a wedding ring and family photographs. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against the town, citing "cruel and indefensible" treatment of the homeless. MG, which operates several homeless shelters in Cecil County, bought the North St house last summer, filing for a permit of occupancy in August. The organization invested thousands of dollars and volunteer hours into the house before work stopped last autumn. At an Oct 18 zoning appeals board meeting, town leaders quibbled with group representatives over semantics. Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary defines church as a "place of worship," the zoning board noted. Philanthropy is defined as "loving or helping mankind," and "good will to fellow men, especially an active effort to promote human welfare." "The key is to share the Gospel, and I guess that's the freedom that we're looking for," MG attorney Dennis Clower told the board. "I think they're trying to do a good thing," said Mary Jo Jablonski, a town commissioner and director of the Elkton Alliance and Chamber of Commerce. "It's the location I have a problem with. And it's not just me. It's a lot of people." Source: Wilmington News Journal |
| Resettlement Offer Unsettles Bhutanese Refugees |
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The first of more than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees who have spent the last 17 years living in camps in Nepal are bound for the USA. Those they leave behind are experiencing intimidation and violence. The refugees are ethnic Nepalese forced out of Bhutan in the 1990s by the government, which was concerned with the rising influence of a sizeable Hindu minority in the Buddhist country.
Bhutan and Nepal have been at loggerheads over the problem ever since. The refugees have been presented with the option of resettlement abroad -- 60,000 of them in the US. This has caused divisions among the refugees, with supporters of the move threatened with intimidation and violence. Mahindra -- not his real name -- said how a mob of 40 people came to his hut armed with knives, calling him an American agent. "My mum was dragged to the ground; my clothes were torn, ripped up with knives. "They did this because I support resettlement to America." Mahindra is based at Beldangi Refugee Camp, home to some 20,000 refugees. There, the children sing about returning to a motherland they have never seen -- Bhutan. Many feel it will spell the death of their dream to return home if the refugees accept a move abroad. As a result, rumors spread, for example, that the outbound flights are a trick, that when refugees arrive in the US, they'll be used as slave labor. Tek Nath Rijal, the self-appointed leader of the refugees, speaks out against resettlement. He denied any sense of responsibility for what happened to Mahindra: "I am not in favor of these sorts of activities." He said that the people under attack are Bhutanese agents, working in a government effort to persuade people to resettle, meaning that Bhutan would not have to take them back. But in the camp, refugees simply feel confused, with the undecided facing more threats. A man was shot in the latest violence. As the first of the refugees settle in America, their reports back will determine the likely future of those they leave behind. Source: BBC |
| More Illegal Immigrants Bypass Border States |
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More of the Latin Americans who cross the US border illegally are heading deeper into the country to find work and avoid deportation as crackdowns in border states like
Texas and Arizona make life more difficult for them. The US Border Patrol, aided by National Guard troops, has ramped up surveillance along the porous Mexican border
since 2005; police and state legislatures have increasingly targeted illegal immigrants in some border states.
"Texas is crawling with Border Patrol agents," said Joe Reyes, 45, who lived for seven years in Houston before being deported, "and the locals are so tuned in that if they see you walking down the street, they phone the Border Patrol, who come and deport you." "I'm heading for North Carolina if I can get back across," he said at the Catholic-run migrant shelter in Nuevo Laredo, across the border from Laredo TX. Washington hired thousands more Border Patrol agents last year to help deport immigrants who entered illegally or outstayed their visas, carry out workplace raids, jail illegals, and push police to enforce immigration laws. Arizona and Texas are now arguably the toughest places for undocumented immigrants. Arizona was once a popular state for fresh arrivals due to its desert border with Mexico. Since a new law came into effect on Jan 1 punishing companies who hire illegal immigrants, Arizona companies are laying off undocumented workers. Family networks in border states are still a strong pull for new immigrants. Some are willing to risk living in Texas because of its Hispanic heritage and its big Hispanic population. But migrant shelters and people smugglers are warning illegal immigrants that they need to go farther north to last long in the US. "Our message to new migrants, and those trying to get back to the United States after being deported, is that if they really want to go, avoid California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas," said Nuevo Laredo shelter volunteer Eduardo Carrera. Better wages in northern states like Virginia, Maryland, and Washington provide "a growing economic incentive to migrate to non-traditional destinations," said Wayne Cornelius, an immigration expert at the University of California, San Diego. "The fact that surveillance may be less intense in these areas is an added benefit." People smugglers in Tijuana near San Diego say they are taking more migrants north to Oregon and Illinois, bypassing California. Source: Reuters |
| Class Divide Hardens in Argentina |
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Florencia Tedin grew up wealthy but says she never felt any distinction between her prospects and those of her cleaning lady's children. For years, it was a common Argentine assumption that a taxi driver's son could become a lawyer, the plumber's daughter a psychoanalyst.
Not any more. On a recent day, in their rambling home in a gated community outside Buenos Aires, Tedin looks at the woman caring for her four small children and shakes her head sadly. Today, she says, maids' children will be maids. The gap between rich and poor has slowly expanded over the decades in a society that has always thought of itself as Latin America's model for egalitarianism. But the financial crisis that exploded in 2001 -- plunging half of the population into poverty and leading to a spike in crime that pushed city dwellers into gated communities -- has caused many to face Argentina's new reality: The family you are born into will largely determine where you end up in life. "During the crisis, everyone fell," says Osvaldo Giordano, an economist at the Argentinean Institute of Social Development. Argentina is recovering, with extended economic growth and poverty rates falling to 25%, but the improvements have not spread to all; visible inequality remains. "People think we are moving back to the old dream, but we aren't." While unemployment has halved, from around 20% at the height of the crisis, half of all jobs are in the informal sector. Few provide benefits, protection, or true prospects for mobility. "The poor are working more to gain the same amount," says Agustin Salvia, a sociologist at the Catholic University of Argentina. "In the '90s, there was poverty because of unemployment. It's not the same today." The income divide is apparent just beyond the gates Tedin must pass to get to her driveway. Her family relocated to this gated community, where 100 families live on 100 plots of land, for security. "It's a little bit like The Truman Show," says Tedin, whose manicured lawn looks out on an artificial lake. Only a few blocks away, on the main road, Nieve Barrio lives in a simple concrete home. Many of her neighborhood's streets are unpaved alleys that become giant puddles when it rains. Most residents are domestic workers, like Barrio, or bricklayers and gardeners, and many work in the gated communities nearby. Source: Christian Science Monitor |
| New Jersey's Slack Economic Sails |
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New Jersey is caught in "the economic doldrums" and its economy likely will perform worse than the rest of the nation's through at least 2012, according to a Rutgers
University semiannual economic forecast. The Rutgers Economic Advisory Service forecast, released on Jan 17, predicts slow job growth and rising unemployment, with a
quick turnaround unlikely.
Nancy Mantell, the service's director, said although NJ's 2007 unemployment rate of 4.3% was below the 4.6% national average, the workforce is shrinking. She said in a statement, "People appear to be dropping out of the labor force rather than looking for work." She expects an average jobless rate of 5% this year, followed by 5.2% over the next decade: "The average unemployment rate is expected to exceed the national rate in 2008, as well as through the 2017 forecast period." On the bright side, steady growth in personal income is forecast through 2017, with an average of nearly 5% per year -- well above the expected annual inflation rate of 2%. That category includes income from wages, investments, and other sources. Source: Associated Press |
| Romanian Children Caught in Dickensian Crime Schemes |
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Eleven Romanian children living in Britain were taken into police custody and another 25 Romanian nationals were arrested on Thursday after police raided 17 homes in Slough, Berkshire, a suburb west of London. The operation was an effort co-ordinated by several task forces, including the Metropolitan Police and Romanian officers, to crack down on Fagin-style criminal gangs reportedly trafficking children from Romania and implicating them in petty crime schemes.
"While many of these crimes committed appear to be low-level," said Westminster district police commander Steve Allen, "we have evidence that organized crime networks are exploiting and driving the most vulnerable members of their own community." Police have been tracking a surge of gang-related thefts in the Westminster district of London. They suspect poor families in Romania surrender their children to gangs with promises of financial return. They say gangs then force the youngsters into a gypsy lifestyle, coaching them to pickpocket from transit passengers and passersby on busy London streets. Romania joined the European Union in 2007 and is one of its poorest members. In recent years, up to two million Romanians have left their country in hopes of better jobs and improved standards of living. According to the Associated Press, police believe many Romanians have been led to Britain by false pretenses, only to find themselves forced into labor and crime. Source: CBC News |
| Activists No Longer Besiege World Economic Forum |
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There was a time in the 1990s that the World Economic Forum had little time for what was then called the anti-globalization movement. Protests prompted a security lock-down and at times managed to shut down parts of the Forum's annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
That has changed. Activists prefer to aim their energy elsewhere nowadays. Many of the activists who might have picketed outside the Davos Congress Center have come in to talk. Nowhere more than at a panel on income and wealth inequality did it seem clearer that the issues raised by activists are now taken seriously at Davos. (Far too late, some of them would no doubt add.) Philip Jennings, general secretary of the UNI Global Union in Switzerland, said groups like his now help shape the agenda by discussing topics with Davos organizers in advance. He said the group sticks to principles: "We don’t change who we are because we are inside this building." Still, Davos has a ways to go, said Supachai Panitchpakdi, head of the UN Conference on Trade and Development: "I do wish that we would have more time to spend on these structural issues" like income inequality. Supachai noted that the subprime crisis and sovereign wealth funds were dominating this year's Forum. (He could have added that the panel on inequality was in one of the smaller conference rooms.) Coca-Cola president and COO Muhtar Kent said that years of demonstrations and other protest movements had "nothing to do" with the newfound focus on inequality and the costs of globalization at Davos. Instead, elites have become active on the subject "so that the fault lines do not become earthquakes." Source: New York Times |
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| Subprime Mortgage Crisis to Cause Record Losses for African-Americans |
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A new report says the subprime mortgage crisis will cause African-Americans to experience wealth losses of between $71 billion and $122 billion over its duration. The
racial bias of subprime mortgage lenders accounts for a 40% difference in losses between whites and people of color.
"It's important to realize how much ground middle- and working-class Americans have lost in the subprime crisis," said Amaad Rivera, Program Leader for the Racial Wealth Divide team at UFE and a report co-author. "Our estimates indicate that it will cause the greatest loss of wealth for African-Americans in modern US history." "The dream of economic stability and opportunity for everyone living in the US, so eloquently described by Martin Luther King Jr, is bound up with homeownership, the most significant source of wealth for most people," said Dedrick Muhammad, senior organizer and research associate at the Institute for Policy Studies, a co-author of the report. "As a result of cold-blooded targeting of people of color, and low-income people in general, by the subprime mortgage industry," said Brenda Cotto-Escalera, co-executive director of United for a Fair Economy (UFE) and a co-author of the report, "communities across the nation are being torn apart. As mortgages go into foreclosure, people move out, houses are boarded up, crime and fires increase, neighboring properties are devalued, and the tax base erodes." Source: United for a Fair Economy |
| Muslims Unite with Christians in Grief for Slain Priest |
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Hundreds of Muslims and Christians filled the Holy Rosary Church in the Tawi-Tawi capital of Bongao, Philippines, where the remains of Fr Jesus Reynaldo "Rey" Roda were taken, said Fr Bert Layson, parish priest of Pikit, North Cotabato. "They were united. Even the Muslims there brought food, according to our colleagues in Bongao."
Aleem Abdulwahid Inju, head of the Darul Ifta (House of Opinion) in Tawi-Tawi, said Muslims in the entire province were in mourning: "We lost a dear friend. The Darul Ifta condemns the killing. Father Roda was well loved because he was so kind. In fact, he built a mosque for Muslim students on the Notre Dame [campus]." Roda, a member of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) congregation, was director of the Notre Dame school in Tabawan town and head of the mission station there. He was to turn 54 next month. The OMI runs not only the Notre Dame school but also community outreach humanitarian projects, including money-lending for the livelihood of Samah and Tausug fisherfolk. Inju said it was not certain if the extremist Abu Sayyaf was behind the murder, as believed. "There was no reason to kill Father Roda. Allah is not happy with this incident. The police must find and prosecute his killers." As they fled, the 10 gunmen who murdered Roda seized Omar Taup, a teacher at Notre Dame, and fisherman Hussin Sahirul. Dozens of policemen and Marines were sent to track down the gunmen and their two captives. "The provincial board strongly condemns the brutal murder of Father Roda, who had been helping improve the lives of people in one of the towns in Tawi-Tawi," wrote Tawi-Tawi Vice Gov Ruby Sahali-Tan. Sheikh Mohammad Muntassir, head of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front's Da'wah (Call to Islam) Committee, said the lives of noncombatants, including priests, were held inviolable in Islam. He said the murder of Roda was an indication of the worsening situation in the country where no one was now spared. "We condemn this killing in the highest possible terms, and the killers deserve hell for their barbaric act." The Philippine Council for Islam and Democracy (PCID) also denounced the killing as barbaric. "We appeal to the authorities to exhaust all legal means to ensure that justice is served. The last thing we want is to desecrate the sacrifice made by Father Rey and the others who gave their lives so that the people of Muslim Mindanao can finally enjoy the decent life they deserve." Fr Ramon Bernabe, head of the OMI in the Philippines, said the congregation was deeply grieved by the death of a dedicated missionary who offered his life for the poor. Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer |
| Voorhees Eases Restrictions on Where Sex Offenders Can Live |
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For more than two years, most of Voorhees NJ was off-limits to any convicted sex offender who wanted to live in the township. If they were caught residing within 2,500 feet of a school, park, playground or day-care center in the township, they faced up to a $1,000 fine or a three-month lockup in the county jail.
Today, however, most convicted sex offenders can move into any neighborhood without retribution because the township's residency restrictions now apply only to Tier 3, or high-risk, offenders who pose the greatest community danger. Tier 3 includes crimes such as rape and multiple offenses. The change went into effect the last week of December when the township committee amended Voorhees' sex offender ordinance under legal advice. "A lot of these ordinances in other towns have been struck down by the courts," said Howard Long, the committee's solicitor. "Rather than be left without any protection, we decided to narrow the ordinance so it applies only to the worst offenders," Mayor Michael Mignogna explained. "We think it can withstand a legal challenge." Ordinances like what Voorhees had before the revision "don't make communities safer because they're based on flawed thinking. Most sex offenders don't attack strangers," said Ken Singer, a licensed clinical social worker and director of the New Jersey Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. He noted that research has shown 90% of sex assault victims know their perpetrator. The ordinances also often force offenders to move away from their support system -- family, friends, jobs, social workers, and counselors -- which can put them more at risk of reoffending, said Singer. He added that some have ended up homeless after being ordered to move out of housing they could afford. Source: Courier-Post |
| Mentally Disabled Residents Routinely Abused |
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Staff at a Japanese home for people with mental disabilities habitually beat and kicked residents into submission, sources said. Senior employees of the Takaida-en home in Kashiwara, Osaka Prefecture, often told subordinates that "power is essential" to maintaining the upper hand over residents, the sources said.
The Osaka prefectural government late last year conducted an on-the-spot inspection at Takaida-en after alarming reports of daily abuse surfaced in November. The Osaka Bar Association is also looking into the allegations. About 50 people with mental disabilities live in the home, where they are supposed to learn to take care of themselves and engage in light tasks. They are in their 20s to 50s. Some have serious disabilities. The facility, run by the social welfare entity Takedajuku, has about 20 employees. According to prefectural officials and staff members of the home, senior employees encouraged strong-arm tactics to maintain control over the people in their care. When residents did not obey workers or became violent against others, staff members often slapped or punched them, and on occasion kicked them. They would also grab residents by the lapels and scream abuse at them when they dodged work. Senior officials would often preach the need to force residents into submission, saying, "They don't obey you when they look down on you," according to the sources. More than one current or former employee said senior staff members compared residents to animals when talking about the need for discipline, such as, "Toilet training will work even on dogs and cats." One was quoted as saying, "Residents have a keen sense like an animal with which to tell which member is easy to deal with." One current employee, who asked to remain anonymous, was clearly upset at such behavior, explaining that it suggested a mind-set in which residents are regarded as having no mental faculties whatsoever. The employee said this seemed to lie at the core of such uncompassionate behavior by staff members. Yoshiya Kumon, head of the home, denied that violence was systematic at the facility, but: "Residents do not follow us if we are on equal footing. There must be something they are afraid of." The use of violence stopped after the prefectural government intervened, the sources said. Source: Asahi Shimbun |
| NY Town Pushes Plan to Let Seniors Work Off Taxes |
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Audrey Davison lives alone, gets a $620 Social Security check each month, and worries about the sharply rising taxes on her four-bedroom house. Davison, 76, raised her family there, and after 43 years, she really doesn't want to leave Greenburgh NY.
Greenburgh doesn't want her to leave, either. The town is pushing a program that would let seniors work part-time, for $7 an hour, to help pay off some of their property taxes. "People shouldn't have to sell their house, move away to a place with less taxes, leave behind their family and friends," said Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. He envisions retired doctors mentoring schoolchildren, retired accountants helping with the town's finances, retired lawyers offering their services for a discount. But there are plenty of less-skilled jobs that need doing, he said. "It's not like we're going to see grandma running the snowplow," he said. "There are lots of things people can do for the town and it wouldn't cost us that much to pay them." The proposal has caused a stir in Greenburgh, a town of 90,000 in Westchester County, which has the nation's third-highest homeowner property taxes. The plan would be unusual if not unique in New York, but similar programs are considered successes in Colorado, Massachusetts, South Carolina, and elsewhere. Scott Parkin, spokesman for the National Council on Aging, said the program sounded interesting, as long as it wasn't limited to menial work. "It's certainly in line with what we stand for, keeping seniors involved in work or volunteering as a part of healthy aging." Feiner is suggesting creating about 25 slots for seniors and letting them work off $500 or so a year. His proposal faces some obstacles. If the wages earned are to be tax-free and directly credited to the property tax bill, the state Legislature would have to approve. In addition, unions would have to be convinced that the program is no threat to their members' job security. Feiner is hoping for at least a pilot program next year. Eventually, he said, he would like to see the county and the local school districts adopt similar plans. "If we got seniors working for the schools, there might be a more intergenerational feeling there," he said. "It might be easier to pass the school budgets." Janet Goodman, a retired teacher and travel agent who was leading a knitting class at a Greenburgh community center, said paying the bills at her town house in Hartsdale, one of Greenburgh's seven villages, is "a constant struggle." She said she would gladly take part in a tax workoff program "as long as the work is interesting." Source: Associated Press |
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