From Human Rights Watch
(New York) – Aging men and women are the most rapidly growing group in US prisons, and prison officials are hard-pressed to provide them appropriate housing and medical care, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Because of their higher rates of illness and impairments, older prisoners incur medical costs that are three to nine times as high as those for younger prisoners.
The 104-page report, “Old Behind Bars: The Aging Prison Population in the United States,” includes new data Human Rights Watch developed from a variety of federal and state sources that document dramatic increases in the number of older US prisoners.
Human Rights Watch found that the number of sentenced state and federal prisoners age 65 or older grew at 94 times the rate of the overall prison population between 2007 and 2010. The number of sentenced prisoners age 55 or older grew at six times the rate of the overall prison population between 1995 and 2010.
From the New Priorities Network
Senator John McCain wants to keep us from bringing military spending under control.
Don’t let him do it.
Under last year’s deficit deal, military and domestic programs are supposed to be cut equally over the next ten years. The Pentagon has barely been nicked. Its budget will shrink for one year, then start growing again. But domestic programs have suffered massive cuts.
Now McCain wants to stop the clock, suspend next year’s cuts, and establish the principle that military spending cannot be touched.
It’s up to us to say: NO!
McCain is just one loud voice in a huge pro-war choir. The whole military-industrial-Congressional complex is rejecting limits on military spending. They’ve churned out a distortion-packed video, filed “stop the cuts” legislation in the House, and released a study on the economic impact of Pentagon cuts.
If they succeed, we’re cooked. The Pentagon will keep growing and eating up more of the federal budget. There is no way we can recover from the recession if we don’t cut military spending and shift hundreds of billions of dollars to the jobs and services we need in our communities.
The hawks are drawing a clear line. It’s the Pentagon or us. Let’s help Congress make the right choice.
1. Write your Senators and Representative. Click here for a sample email to your Senators and Representative. Tell them to speak out for real Pentagon cuts and real domestic spending increases.
2. Write a letter to the editor. Click here for a sample letter, talking points, a fact sheet, and tips for writing letters to the editor. Click here for a link to your local newspaper.
And please forward this to everyone you can. Together we can win this. Almost half of Americans say we can cut military spending safely. Let’s get that message to Congress and into the media.
By Fr. John Rausch, Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace
The U.S. Congress comprises 30 percent Catholics, and leaders of both the Republican and Democrat Parties in the House of Representatives are Catholic, as is the sitting vice-president. Yet, despite a common faith that teaches social principles like an option for the poor, solidarity and subsidiarity, these lawmakers differ significantly over how to address the current economic needs of our time. Some favor a more market driven approach with less regulation and lower taxes, while others suggest enhanced revenues and targeted programs for those in need..
Twenty-five years ago when one in four American children lived in poverty and unemployment hovered at 7 percent, the U.S. bishops issued a pastoral letter on the economy addressing those issues from the perspective of human dignity. In their pastoral, Economic Justice For All, the bishops recognized that market imperfections can skew the distribution of resources and the concentration of power in the marketplace can hamper opportunity.
At the heart of their pastoral the bishops asked three fundamental questions about the economy: “What does the economy do for people? What does it do to people? And how do people participate in it?” While Catholic lawmakers from libertarian to progressive perspectives may justify their positions in regards to these questions, the bishops seem focused about what makes Catholic social teachings concrete.
Take just one question: what does a recession do to people? When the economy contracts, there is less economic activity which leads to higher unemployment. Studies show that the unemployed experience increased incidents of hypertension, cardiovascular problems, spouse abuse, child abuse, drug abuse, alcoholism and suicide, while the children of the unemployed are sick more frequently and for a longer duration of time. Economists may track numbers and assure us that in the long run the economy will rebound, but people of faith look at the sufferings of people and the struggles of families and demand some relief in the short run. As John Maynard Keynes famously said, “In the long run we’re all dead.”
History reveals an economic ebb and flow to the market, good times followed by hard times. Economists call this the business cycle when stable prosperity for whatever reason suddenly dips and causes a reduction in trade. The business cycle is endemic to the market system itself. Originally when prices, rents and wages fell, academics labeled this an economic “crisis.” But, later as economic actors scurried to protect their interests, they chose another description: economic “panic.” In the 1930s they employed a psychologically more benign word, “depression,” till the bite of that experience begged for the lighter 1950s term, “recession.” Perhaps other words like “downturn” or “adjustment” might lower the stress, but the business cycle with all its dislocations and pain is what the market system brings.
During these downturns people suffer, so the Catholic bishops occasionally make specific recommendations for social intervention in the market. In 1919 when millions of sailors and soldiers were returning from World War I with little prospect for civilian employment, the bishops boldly proposed a “Program for Social Reconstruction.” Those returning could work on millions of acres of arid or swamp land to prepare them for development. The country could set a minimum wage and establish social insurance to guard against “illness, invalidity, unemployment and old age.” A significant portion of their ten-point plan became part of the New Deal.
Because the church’s role rests with promoting moral principles and not a specific political or economic system, it cannot call for bigger or smaller government, only appropriate government. Morally speaking, lawmakers must put people before politics.
The following quiz was put together by Bill Quigley, Pax Christi Teacher of Peace. Answers follow the questions at the bottom.
Question One. The combined pay of the 299 highest paid CEOs in the US is enough to support how many median salary jobs?
Two. The median net worth of black households in the US is $2,200. What is the median net worth of white households in the US?
Three. The US Department of Housing and Urban Development issues a national survey every year listing fair market rents for every county in the US. HUD also suggests renters should pay no more than 30 percent of their income on housing costs. In how many of the USA’s 3068 counties can someone who works full-time and earns the federal minimum wage pay 30% of their income and find a one-bedroom apartment at the fair market rental amount?
Four. How much must the typical U.S. worker earn per hour to rent a two-bedroom apartment if that worker dedicates thirty percent of his income, as HUD suggests, to rent and utilities?
Five. The wealthiest 1 percent of the US has a net worth which is how many times greater than the median or typical household’s net worth?
Six. Which of these countries puts the highest percentage of their people in jails and prisons?
Seven. In 2012, the US will pay out about $620 billion for old age Social Security benefits to 45 million families. How much is budgeted for military spending by the US in 2012?
Eight. The US is number one in the world in military spending. How much more does the US spend compared to the top 15 countries in the world in military spending?
Nine. How many people in the world live on less than $1.25 a day?
Ten. How many people in the world live without electricity?
Eleven. The US government donates over $30 billion a year in official development assistance (foreign aid) to poor countries. Where does that rank the US government in percentage of giving among the richest 23 countries?
Twelve. The US government donates over $30 billion a year to poor countries. How much do US consumers spend on pets and pet supplies each year?
Thirteen. The poverty rate among children in the US is over 20 percent. How does US compare with the rest of the 30 nations surveyed by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development?
Answers to Social Justice Quiz 2012:
One. Answer – 3. The combined pay of the top 299 CEOs is enough to support 102,325 average jobs. Source: Corporate Paywatch.
Two. Answer – 3. The median net worth of white households in the US is $97,900. Source: Economic Policy Institute.
Three. Answer – 1. Except for eleven counties in Illinois and another eight in Puerto Rico (19 total), there is no county in the US where a one bedroom fair market rate apartment is available to a person working full-time at the minimum wage. Source: The National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Four. Answer – 3. The typical worker must earn $18.46 an hour to rent a two bedroom apartment. Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Five. Answer – 3. In the last numbers reported, the top 1 percent had net worth 225 times greater than the median or typical household’s net worth, the highest ever recorded. Source: Economic Policy Institute.
Six. Answer – 6. The rate of incarceration per 100,000 people is: USA 730, Russian 534, Iran 334, China 122, Iraq 101, and Germany 86. Source: International Centre for Prison Studies, University of Essex.
Seven. Answer – 3. $836 billion. Over $713 billion on military programs and another $123 for veterans affairs. Source: US Office of Management and Budget, Fiscal Year 2012.
Eight. Answer – 3. The US spends $100 billion more on our military than the next highest 15 countries combined. More than China, UK, France, Russia, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Germany, India, Italy, Brazil, South Korea, Australia, Canada and Turkey combined. Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2011 Yearbook.
Nine. Answer – 3. 1.4 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day. Source: United National Development Program, Human Development Report 2010.
Ten. Answer – 3. One and half billion people, more than one of every five people in the world, live without electricity. Source: United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report 2011.
Eleven. Answer – 3. The US government ranks 19th out of 23 countries in assistance to poor nations, giving about two-tenths of one percent of US gross national income to poor countries. Source: Global Issues: Foreign Aid for Development Assistance.
Twelve. Answer – 3. US consumers spend $67 billion each year on pets, pet products and services. Source: US Census Bureau 2012 Statistical Abstract.
Thirteen. Answer – 3. The US poverty rate among children ranks the US 26th among 30 nations in the rate of poverty among children. Source: Poverty among children. OECD.
Bill Quigley teaches law at Loyola University New Orleans and works with the Center for Constitutional Rights. Sam is a law student at University of Montana School of Law. A version of this with full sources is available. You can reach Bill at quigley77@gmail.com.
Posted in Economic Justice, Federal Budget, Poverty, Resources
Tagged 2012, Bill Quigley, Social Justice quiz
from Change.org
A dozen people gathered outside of Essex County Correctional Facility in Newark, New Jersey, on Tuesday to hold vigil for the release of Charbel “Charley” Chehoud. Among the people who attended and shared stories about Charley were faith leaders, advocates, friends and family, and even a Jersey City police officer. Charley has been in detention for over a year and has spent the last 32 days in solitary confinement. But he has committed no crimes. In fact, he helped solve them. After exhausting her resources fighting for Charley’s release, his fiance Veronica Garcia started a Change.org petition that to date has nearly 15,000 signatures.
Charley is known as a local hero in his community. New Jersey police had deemed a brutal murder an accident, but Charley bravely came forward with a tip he heard from a co-worker that solved the case. Since then, he has worked undercover as a police informant for years, risking his life to make his community safer.
Posted in Immigration
Tagged detention, Immigration, Kathy O'Leary, Pax Christi New Jersey
Have you been thinking about what PCUSA is doing with its anti-racism work? More than presentations around the country in PCUSA groups, regions, and the national conference, the Pax Christi Anti-Racism Team (PCART) continues the work of dismantling racism at all levels of the organization. The Team is in critical need of workers on this most locally important way to stop the violence that divides the human family along the lines of a socially-constructed invention of race. Would you like to be part of this transforming work for peace with justice? If yes, PCART is accepting applications now through May 15, 2012. The application is posted below in MSWord and PDF formats. If you have any questions, contact Isaac Chandler at scholar3_06@hotmail.com.
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