| LIFE-NET NEWS |
| by Ret Z. |
| Covering Poverty Widely in a Net of Many Voices |
| October 1, 2008 | No Profit; No Proceeds |
| Volume 12 Number 9 | 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 Poverty and Wealth Both Grow |
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There is a lot more poverty in the world than previously
thought. The World Bank reported in August that in 2005, there were 1.4 billion people living below the poverty line -- that is, living on less than $1.25 a day. That's more than a quarter of the developing world's population and 430 million more people living in extreme poverty than previously estimated. The World Bank warned that the number is unlikely to drop below one billion before 2015.
The poverty estimate soared after a careful study of the prices people in developing countries pay for goods and services. The study revealed that the World Bank had been grossly underestimating the cost of living in the poorest nations for decades. As a result, it was grossly overestimating the ability of people to buy things. And the new research doesn't account for the soaring prices of energy and food in the past two years. The poverty described in the World Bank's measure is so abject that it is hard for citizens of the industrial world to comprehend. The new count underscores how much more the developed world needs to do to help the world's most vulnerable people. It should also serve as a jarring reminder to the leaders of the world's much-touted new economic powers, India and China, about the inequities growing amid their growing wealth. 42% of India's people live below the World Bank's poverty line, as do 16% of China's. India has more people in extreme poverty than it did 25 years ago. On the flip side, the world's richest got richer last year, according to a global wealth report released early last month by Boston Consulting Group (BCG). Even as world financial markets broke down, personal wealth around the world grew 5% to $109.5 trillion. It was the sixth consecutive year of expanding wealth. The fastest growth was among households in developing regions, such as China and the Gulf States, and among families who were already rich. The wealth is increasingly concentrated among the richest. The top 1% of all households owned 35% of the world's wealth last year. Meanwhile, the top 0.001%, ultra-rich households holding at least $5 million in assets, commanded $21 trillion -- a fifth of the world's wealth. The planet continues to mint new millionaires rapidly. The biggest jumps in 2007 came from emerging countries in Asia and Latin America. Overall, the number of millionaire households grew 11% to 10.7 million last year. BCG, which advises banks and wealth managers, forecasts that personal wealth will continue growing, but at a slower pace. It projected a growth in personal wealth of more than 3% annually -- well off the 8.5% of 2002-07. Wealth is growing much faster in some regions. Households in Asia, the Pacific Rim excluding Japan, and Latin America saw the greatest growth, with wealth rising 14%. That growth was fueled by manufacturing in Asia and commodities in Latin America and the Middle East, as well as more currency and political stability. Source: New York Times Source: Reuters |
| Ex-Crime Fighter Opens His Home to Sex Offenders |
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A former tough-on-crime Pennsylvania lawmaker has adopted a new and unpopular cause, taking into his Marietta home three sex offenders who couldn't find a place to live. His stand has angered neighbors, drawn pickets, and touched off a zoning dispute. As cities across the nation pass ever-tighter laws to keep out people convicted of sex crimes, Tom Armstrong said he is drawing on his religious belief in forgiveness and sheltering the three men until he can open a halfway house for sex offenders.
"I think that our system is trying to treat everybody under a particular brand, and it doesn't work," he said. "And because of that we're creating housing problems, we're creating employment problems, we're creating community problems, and it's needless and it's not warranted." In early June, Armstrong quietly allowed a rapist and two other sex offenders who had served prison time to move into his 15-room, century-old home 75 miles west of Philadelphia after another town blocked his plans for the halfway house. Soon, word got out when Armstrong's address was found on the state Web site that lists the whereabouts of convicted sex offenders. Residents of this former mill town of 2,700 on the Susquehanna River packed community meetings, circulated fliers with the men's mug shots, and pressed officials for action. The town's zoning officer promptly taped a violation notice to the former lawmaker's door, citing an ordinance that limits the number of unrelated people who can live together. Armstrong is fighting the violation. A 49-year-old Republican, Armstrong served 12 years in the Legislature before he was defeated in a primary in 2002. He was known for taking conservative positions on abortion, taxes, and crime but also for his role in later years supporting prisoner rights. Over the past two decades, he also took in homeless veterans, and more recently he has been a mentor to ex-cons. Municipalities across the country and at least a dozen states, from Georgia to Arizona, have placed limits on where sex offenders can live, sharply narrowing their options. In some cases, the rules have made entire cities off limits. "It's what I call a tough policy that's not smart," said John Q La Fond, a retired professor of law and an expert on sex offender policies. He said there is no evidence that the laws reduce the number of offenders who commit another crime, and he said they frustrate efforts by ex-convicts to find housing, jobs, and treatment. Source: Associated Press |
| The Ultimate in Recycling |
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Adapted from a piece by anthropologist and columnist Meredith F Small:
The other day I was walking through a store that specializes in ethnic goods from around the world, when my hands found a magnificent serving tray from Zimbabwe. It was about two feet across, a spiral of tightly woven white material marked with bright spots of blue and orange. "What's this made of?" I asked the clerk, expecting him to name some exotic reeds, or maybe branches from a tree found only on the African savanna. "Plastic bags" was his answer. I looked closer. Even then, I couldn't tell. But now that I knew, I could imagine the artist gathering up all those plastic bags that dot the roadsides of Africa. In my mind's eye I saw that artist devise a way to make something useful, and beautiful, out of someone else's trash. In Western culture, we think recycling is all about putting your newspapers and bottles in the right bins, and maybe using recycled paper in the printer or the copier. But in other countries, ones that are not so awash in material goods, anything and everything has a second, third, and maybe a fourth life. In Bali, Indonesia, for example, a coke bottle is not just returned for deposit. Instead, all soda bottles are washed by hand at home and then refilled with all kinds of drinks from water to tea. These bottles also come in handy for transporting gasoline to a stalled moped. In most other countries, used car tires don't just stack up. They are cut into pieces and crafted into flip flops, becoming sandals with all-weather tread. In East Africa, people make good use out of discarded tins. I've seen bright yellow Penzoil cans cut and reformed into votive lamps and palm oil cans flattened and used for roofing material. Kids take meat tins and beer cans and fashion them into toy cars and boats. Along the roadside and in tourist camps, these kids scrounging for materials and with a little time and workmanship morph them into something just as good -- and often more interesting -- than a toy from a box. My favorite type of recycled good is the object of beauty. I own a pair of Maasai earrings that I bought from a woman in Tanzania. They are flaps of leather eight inches long and two inches wide. The leather is covered with an intricate design of red, blue, and orange glass beads and set with several white shirt buttons. Hanging off the sides are arrowheads made of hammered metal from a can that probably held tuna, or peaches, or spam. The earrings were already in my possession for a long time when one day it dawned on me that the outline of each earring is made by one half of a zipper, presumably torn from an old pair of trousers left by the road by someone who had no idea of their artistic potential. Source: Live Science |
| When Life Is Already Hard, A Hurricane |
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It stinks to get run over by a hurricane. Even when you have access to all the money, food, lodging, transportation, and rain gear you need to ride it out locally or from a safer distance, it still takes a lot out of you. For many of us, a simple change in our routine sends us for a loop. God forbid that we ever lose our ability to take a shower or wash our hair!
The truth is, it could be much worse. For many people in central Louisiana, the facts prove it so. For them, it is much worse when an emergency hits, because their everyday lives are already difficult. The region has staggering numbers of working poor and impoverished. They can't afford even the basics -- food, shelter, medicine. In Rapides Parish, for example, the poverty rate was 21.2%, according to the 2000 US Census and the 2005 American Community Survey. People who identified themselves as black or African-American on the latest census experienced the highest poverty rate (39.7%) among all demographic segments in the parish. Being poor is its own special challenge. Being poor when the hurricanes come and the wind blows and the roof comes off and the children get sick -- that is not a challenge. That is a heavy cross which no one should have to bear alone in this wealthy nation. Help does exist -- through sundry and limited channels. Government agencies provide food stamps and utility payments. Government programs provide basic medical treatment. Local nonprofits stock food banks and church cupboards. People deduct money from their paychecks to support numerous community organizations. One might be able to live on that -- assuming the resources are consistently available -- but what kind of life is that? People need to work to make money, which means they need clothes to interview, transportation to and from interviews and the workplace, and money to pay for meals while away from home and to feed the bus, the taxi, or the gas tank. Still, these are just the basics, and when a hurricane comes calling, then life as it is becomes all the more intolerable. Take some time on your next day off to think about how it stinks to be stuck in a hurricane situation. Many of us really have no idea how bad it can be. Source: The Town Talk |
| Climate Change Could Be Huge Jobs Generator |
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Tackling climate change could potentially generate millions of new employment opportunities, according to a new UN-backed study -- the first of its kind on the emergence of a "green economy" and its impact on labor -- released last week. Entitled "Green Jobs: Towards Decent Work in a Sustainable, Low-Carbon World," the publication shows how efforts to address global warming and slash greenhouse gas emissions are leading to new "green" jobs in many sectors. This, in turn, has increased investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
"What this report is about from the perspective of sustainability is to show the policymakers that with the right incentives, the right research and development support programs, there is massive potential here for new economic sectors to emerge," said Achim Steiner of the UN Environment Program. "Imagine for a moment if some of the [economic] stimulus packages that are now being developed could be targeted towards not maintaining and sustaining the old economy of the 20th century but investing in the new economy of the 21st century." The report highlights the importance of boosting investment access for developing countries and increasing energy efficiency in buildings and industry, among other things. It also points to how climate change is adversely affecting workers and their families who depend on agriculture and tourism. Too few green jobs are being created for the most vulnerable, the study warns, with 1.3 billion of the world's working poor, or 43% of the global workforce, earning less than $2 a day. "We need to make sure that green jobs are decent jobs," said Juan Somavia of the International Labor Organization. "As the report makes clear, building a low-carbon economy is not only about technology or finances, it's about peoples and societies." It's about a cultural change to a greater environmental consciousness; it's about opportunities for decent work. "New jobs will be created, others adapted, and some will fade out. In order to keep the political will and the public support, we will have to put policies in place that have to focus from the beginning on those at the receiving end of this transition." Source: United Nations |
| Man Admits Recruiting Homeless for Medical Fraud |
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A man has pleaded guilty to recruiting and paying homeless people to pose as phony hospital patients in a scheme that billed government programs millions of dollars in unnecessary health services. Estill Mitts, 64, admitted in US District Court to running a fraudulent assessment center called the 7th Street Christian Day Center in the gritty Skid Row area of Los Angeles.
At the center, homeless people were recruited and paid for undergoing medical care at the City of Angels hospital. The hospital then charged millions of dollars to federally subsidized health care benefit programs for unnecessary treatments or procedures that were not performed, prosecutors said. It also allegedly paid referral fees to Mitts through two shell companies. The hospital was run by Mitts' co-defendant, Dr Rudra Sabaratnam, whose trial began yesterday. Charges were filed against both after police spotted five patients being dumped on Skid Row in October 2006. Mitts pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion. He faces up to 25 years in prison. He also could be fined $600,000 and required to pay more than $11 million in restitution. Source: Associated Press |
| Computer Giant IBM Pledges Huge Volunteer Service |
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IBM has pledged to contribute $250 million in pro bono
services and employees' time over a period of three years to charities and nonprofit groups, expanding a program that sends rising stars within the company to developing countries to polish their leadership skills in diverse environments. The Armonk NY-based company announced the commitment in conjunction with a speech by President Bush at the White House. In the speech on volunteerism, the President praised the innovation of IBM's Corporate Services Corps.
IBM describes the program as a corporate version of the Peace Corps. Interested employees apply for a limited number of slots. If selected -- IBM says its acceptance rate is sometimes lower than that of Harvard University -- they are sent off to work with groups in emerging countries on a variety of business and technology problems, such as building out information technology infrastructure or starting microfinancing programs. Source: TownHall |
| WIC Being Upgraded |
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Clients of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), administered locally by the Warren County NC Health Department, will notice a number of changes in the upcoming months.
Susan Gray of the health department said that the office has implemented a new method of scheduling appointments in order to better serve its 800 Warren County clients. Before, since WIC began 30 years ago, appointments were scheduled three months in advance. Gray said, "No one knows what they will do in three months." Today, more and more health departments are using what is called "open access," meaning that clients are being given a five-day time period to call WIC for an appointment. Gray said that they call WIC for a day that they know they have arranged for transportation and can come, and their visit will be scheduled for that day. The one exception is when somebody needs an interpreter. In another change, the federally-mandated Value Enhanced Nutritional Assessment (VENA) reworks the way that nutritionists talk to WIC clients to ensure that they and their children maintain healthy eating habits. Gray said that previously, nutritionists would tell clients what they should do and why. Often, having so much information presented at once would be overwhelming. With VENA, in a new style known as motivational interviewing, nutritionists ask questions. Clients can then think for themselves about how to make healthier choices. Gray said, "We ask, 'what can you do, what might hinder you,' (ask) about special concerns, if you have trouble buying groceries, if you have to substitute (foods) due to high prices." Also changing are the food packages that clients receive in the form of vouchers. WIC food packages have additional nutritious items that clients could not otherwise afford. But nutritional guidelines change over time, and, as Gray said, "Food packages have not changed in 30 years." She said that the federal government will add products to the vouchers at no additional expense to the client. However, to do this, changes must be made, such as reducing the amount of milk, cheese, juice, and eggs that are included. No longer will a client have to obtain a separate voucher for each of their children. Gray said that the state will install computer software that should allow clients to obtain one voucher that covers all of their children. "There are nice changes coming up," said Gray. "Being more client-centered and giving more client care is the way we wanted to go in Warren County." Source: Warren Record |
| Under the Unforgiving Sun |
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Adapted from a piece by Romanian columnist Tudor Octavian:
On a vacant lot behind the block of flats I live in, two buildings which will be 14 stories high when completed are feverishly being built. For the past four months I've contemplated the mayhem from the window of my room as the workers bending the iron to make the cast for the concrete walls shout and swear at the top of their lungs. It looked as if we, the construction site's innocent neighbors, were to bear the brunt of a curse. But in the end, I realized that I had forgotten what physical work looked like, and I understood that the real brunt of a curse sat on the shoulders of the workers bending iron and casting concrete for days on end under the unforgiving sun. There were days when I could not even look at the half-naked workers, for shame and a sliver of fear creeping into my heart. I wondered what would happen if one day they would not be able to bear anymore the new form of slavery, prophesied by the wild capitalism in Romania. Would a true revolution take place? I understood, once more, how easily man forgets circumstances or events that recall his own state of slavery, for I myself was once such an unskilled worker. It may be true what positive-thinking textbooks teach us, that work moves mankind forward. But more often than not, the individual performing hard, physical labor is not uplifted by the effort. For him there is no progress: Bending iron under the scorching sun seems closer to punishment than to civilization building -- closer to alcoholism, violence in the family, and brushes with the law. The findings of a sociological study into what goes on in the minds of such workers, and what they truly think of the white-collars, would scare us all, I'm sure. From the 1990s onwards, the media here dropped the overused references to the "working class". The workers went out of the public mind, as if the country would now consist only of television networks, banks, bureaucrats, computers, electoral slogans, and tabloid news about expensive hookers. The working class did not vanish into thin air. It was only numbed into not knowing it existed. Source: Jurnalul National |
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| Religious Leaders Spend a Week Against Poverty |
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Faith leaders from 21 national organizations, led by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and Catholic Charities USA, joined forces last month to spend a week urging local, state, and national politicians to make anti-poverty efforts a top priority. Called "Fighting Poverty with Faith: A Week of Action," the grass-roots effort included a range of activities, from a poverty symposium in Nashville TN to a letter-writing campaign in Rhode Island. The week culminated with a September 16 gathering on the steps of the US Capitol.
With the McCain and Obama campaigns heading into the final two months before Election Day, Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, said the interfaith coalition can "hold the candidates responsible" for coming up with strategies to help the 37 million Americans who live below the federal poverty line. The timing also coincided with the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and the weeks leading up to the Jewish high holidays, further highlighting the commitment that faith groups have towards helping others, he said. "It's a time when we're really investigating what we need to do in this world," Gutow said. "We can solve poverty with political leadership powered by a citizen movement." The effort was lauded by several Democratic lawmakers, including Rep John Lewis (D-GA) and Rep Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). "Our faith needs to guide our [conscience] in what we are doing," DeLauro said, adding that the coalition's efforts could rally support for legislation to increase tax credits for struggling families with children, aid to farmers, pay equity for women, and other issues she supports. "I know an organized campaign like yours can make a difference." Earlier this summer, a smaller coalition led by JCPA and Catholic Charities sent letters signed by nine faith leaders to the McCain and Obama campaigns, requesting that their national conventions include a prime-time speech addressing poverty. Source: Religion News Service |
| Immigrants Face Poor Work Conditions in Canada |
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Recent immigrants not only have poorer job situations than Canadian-born workers, but immigrant men are also twice as likely to sustain workplace injuries that require medical care compared with men born in Canada. So say two new Institute for Work & Health (IWH) studies that compare work conditions and injury rates between immigrants and workers born in Canada.
a; "Immigrants with five or fewer years in Canada are more likely to have higher qualifications than their jobs require, to have physically demanding jobs, and to work fewer hours than they want to," says Peter Smith, a scientist at IWH and the lead researcher of both studies. New immigrants are also less likely to have supervisory responsibilities, to be unionized, or to have benefits. Results from the study were presented at Statistics Canada's socioeconomic conference. The findings were based on interviews with more than 76,000 workers from four waves of Statistics Canada's Survey of Labor and Income Dynamics. The second study, published in the journal Occupational and Environmental Medicine, looked at work-related injuries in immigrants. The researchers analyzed information from more than 97,000 workers who took part in the Canadian Community Health Survey in 2003 and 2005. This study shows that new immigrant men report a high rate of medically treated injuries resulting from work. One explanation might be that new immigrants get injured more severely because they work in more hazardous settings, suggest Smith and co-author Cameron Mustard, the president of IWH. More information on immigrants' work hazards and injury risks is needed to confirm this explanation. Both IWH studies highlight work-related issues in immigrants that can also affect their health. "Being overqualified for your job, for instance, is associated with declines in health," notes Smith. Limited access to non-wage employment benefits, such as disability insurance, may result in financial insecurity if a person is unable to work. The research also shows that conditions may be worse for certain types of immigrants, and may linger for years. Immigrants who are visible minorities, whose mother tongue is not English, or whose highest degree is from outside Canada are more likely to be overqualified, to lack supervisory responsibilities, and to be underemployed. Up to 20 years later, immigrants are still less likely to receive non-wage benefits or be unionized. Source: People's Voice |
| Ike Damage Hobbles Gulf Seafood Industry |
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Last week, on the eve of October's peak seafood harvesting season, migrant fishermen were sweeping debris from gutted bayside homes instead of scooping shrimp and oysters from the lucrative Gulf floor. The $100 million fishing industry in Galveston Bay had been virtually paralyzed.
Gulf harvesters and state officials predicted that Hurricane Ike's impact will be felt from distributors to the dinner table. "It's like a bomb went off," said Lisa Halili, owner of Prestige Oysters Inc, which is among the largest seafood harvesters in Texas and Louisiana. "This is going to be the biggest challenge the seafood industry in Texas ever had to deal with." Some feared that it will take as long as two years for the industry to recover. "Certainly it's a disruption," said Lance Robinson, a coastal fisheries director with the Texas Department of Parks and Wildlife. "For others it's devastating." Galveston Bay fishermen haul about 9 million pounds of Gulf shrimp and 3 million pounds of oysters each year, Robinson said. About 60% of oysters sold in the eastern US come from Texas and Louisiana, the bulk from Galveston Bay. Louisiana landed more than 499,000 tons of fish worth $278 million last year. Texas brought in nearly 42,500 tons worth $174.3 million. Ike heavily affected fisheries throughout south Louisiana, killing fish in large areas, creating habitat loss across the Louisiana coastline. Boats were also lost. Early estimates indicated that the industry had sustained up to $300 million in economic losses due to Gustav and Ike. Ike killed hundreds of acres of oyster reefs with waves of shocking saltwater. It suffocated others by scraping grass off the Bolivar Peninsula and washing it into the Gulf. Michael Ivic, who runs Misho's Oyster Company in San Leon with his father, was desperate last week to drive a boat out and pull up oysters. But the bay was still closed post-Ike. Some fisherman who had already tried salvaging whatever was left in the Gulf were saying don't bother. "Pictures and clothes down there," said Juaquin Patila, 24. "But there's no more reef." Most fisherman make between $100 and $150 a day working in the marinas in San Leon, with hundreds of migrants with work visas arriving between the peak harvesting months of October and April. The trailers where they lived, and their jobs, are gone. Wearing rubber fishing boots and a shirt stained by oyster meat, Martin Duran looked like he was headed to the docks just as he's done each day for 12 years in San Leon. Instead he was going to clean battered houses, the only work he could find. "I've got no job, no paycheck," said Duran, who has four kids. "I don't know what's going to happen here." Source: Associated Press |
| Reduce Global Warming Sooner: Eat Less Meat |
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A UN expert has advised people to cut their consumption of meat to help combat climate change. Rajendra Pachauri, who chairs the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), told the London Observer that people should start by having one meat-free day per week then cut back further.
The 68-year-old scientist, who is a vegetarian himself, said diet change was important in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and environmental problems associated with rearing cattle and other animals. "Give up meat for one day (per week) initially, and decrease it from there." "In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity." Other small-scale lifestyle changes would also help to combat climate change, he said without elaborating. "That's what I want to emphasize: We really have to bring about reductions in every sector of the economy." Pachauri was recently re-elected for a second six-year term as IPCC chairman. He has headed the organization since 2002 and oversaw its seminal assessment report in 2007 which gave graphic forecasts of the risks posed by global warming. Source: Al-Jazeera |
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