February 23, 2010
Corine Alvarez
“What Would Jesus Do About the International Debt Crisis?” That was the title of the winning essay in the MCC Washington Office annual High School Essay Contest. The essay was written by Corine Alvarez, a senior at Bethany Christian School in Goshen, Indiana.
In the essay, Alvarez addressed the challenges facing developing countries that owe exorbitant sums of money to international financial institutions and Western governments:
Debt causes governing bodies to focus more on repaying the debt than caring for the people of the countries… This dangerous cycle will not be broken unless change is implemented.
As contest winner, Alvarez will receive a trip to Washington, D.C., which will include a visit to her congressional representative’s office.
Read more.
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Global Economic Justice, News Stories | 
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Posted by Tammy Alexander
February 18, 2010
Border Wall
From the Los Angeles Times:
The border barrier dips and curves, zigs and zags, hugging the mountain’s contours like a slimmed-down version of the Great Wall of China.
Among the costliest stretch of fencing ever built on the U.S.-Mexico border, the 3.6-mile wall of steel completed last fall is meant to block trafficking routes over Otay Mountain, just east of San Diego.
People seeking to enter the country illegally have hiked the scrub-covered, tarantula-infested peak for years, trying to get to roads leading to San Diego.
“We’re no longer conceding this area to smugglers,” said Jerome C. Conlin, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman.
But critics are bewildered. Why, they ask, would people determined to scale a rugged, 3,500-foot peak be deterred by an 18-foot-high fence? Read more.
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Posted by Tammy Alexander
February 12, 2010
But if we hope for what is still unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure. (Romans 8: 25)
There are several items to report on this week:
Faith Sign-On Letter: Add your voice to those calling on Congress to keep working on health care reform. Faithful Reform in Health Care is taking individual and organizational signatures through next Friday, Feb. 19.
New Poll: A new Washington Post/ABC poll shows that 63% of Americans want Congress to keep working on health care reform. This includes 88% of Democrats, 56% of Independents, and 42% of Republicans.
Summit: Before the Super Bowl on Sunday, President Obama announced a bipartisan summit on health care to take place on February 25. Republican leaders are urging the president to start “by shelving the current health spending bill.” Read more.
California HMO raises premiums 39%: As another stark reminder of why health care reform is needed, Anthem Blue Cross announced they will raise rates by as much as 39% for individual policies.
Insurance Industry Reports Record Profits: At the same time premiums are being hiked and millions are losing insurance, the biggest health insurance companies increased their profits by 56% in 2009.
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Tammy Alexander
January 29, 2010
1/29 Virtual Vigil – Call your members of Congress today!
On Monday, 56 national and state faith organizations, including the Mennonite Central Committee Washington Office, sent a letter to Congress, urging members to move forward with comprehensive health insurance reform.
As people of faith, we envision a society where every person is afforded health, wholeness and human dignity. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose birthday we just commemorated, famously wrote in his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.” Less well known is his admonition that “of all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhumane.”
Read the entire letter.
On Wednesday, President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address, renewing his call for Congress to pass comprehensive health care reform:
By the time I’m finished speaking tonight, more Americans will have lost their health insurance. Millions will lose it this year. Our deficit will grow. Premiums will go up. Patients will be denied the care they need. Small business owners will continue to drop coverage altogether. I will not walk away from these Americans, and neither should the people in this chamber.
Thus far, there have been no positive signs from either the House or the Senate that legislation will be moving soon. Leaders in both houses are pledging to act but giving few specifics (read more).
Join the push for real health care reform. Call your members of Congress today!
For additional resources on health care reform, visit the Abundant Life health care page.
Leave a Comment » | Abundant Life, Action Alerts, Capital Quotes, Health Care, Legislative Updates, News Stories, Sign-on Letters | Permalink
Posted by Tammy Alexander
January 29, 2010
US Army
A year after President Barack Obama’s inauguration, the administration has failed to change course from disastrous U.S. policies that privilege expanding military ties rather than promoting economic development and democracy in Africa. A recent article by Daniel Volman notes that the Obama administration’s FY 10 budget request
“proposed significant increases in US arms sales and military training programs for African countries, as well as for regional programs on the continent.”
The budget of Africom (the US military command for Africa) far exceeds that of the State Department and the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The United States must reverse this trend by revitalizing the capacity and resources of these critical agencies, rather than prioritizing military assistance and training programs. In addition to over militarizing underdeveloped African nations with limited infrastructure, investing in military programs diverts scarce resources from efforts to consolidate democracy, uphold human rights, and spur economic growth on the continent.
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Posted by Mary Stata
January 28, 2010
Dr. Jane Aronson, founder of the Worldwide Orphans Foundation, speaks about the dilemma of how best to help Haitian orphans in the New York Times:
“This is not a time for adopting orphan children in droves,” she says. Instead, the answer is “to care for the children where they are, and allow them to find their aunts, their uncles, their grandparents, their cousins.”
She proposes “conscripting an army of grannies” — Haitian women who can be given stipends to foster one or two children at a time. It would be a worthy use of the money pouring into the country from around the world, she says, and her organization is in the process of recruiting American social workers to head to Haiti to build such a project quickly.
Read more.
Also, see this helpful fact sheet from the International Reference Centre for the Rights of Children Deprived of their Family (ISS/IRC).
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Posted by Tammy Alexander
January 25, 2010
"I feel like we live in an occupied zone now." -Eloisa Tamez (Photo by Eugenio del Bosque)
Read how Brownsville’s battle against the federal government’s border fence ended in defeat and disillusionment:
The rust-colored, steel-and-cement wall has become a surreal fixture on Brownsville’s skyline. It cleaves downtown Hope Park, built as a symbol of unity between the United States and Mexico. It stops and starts, without rhyme or reason, along the Rio Grande River’s levees, leaving miles of gaps. It highlights the city’s economic divide: It’s the first thing folks in the poorer barrios see when they look out their windows, while richer folks enjoy unaltered views of palm trees and manicured fairways when they tee off on private golf courses. It zigs and zags through residents’ backyards, through citrus orchards—an ugly red scar on a green, subtropical landscape.
– Texas Observer, Jan. 22, 2010, Melissa del Bosque
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Posted by Tammy Alexander
January 22, 2010
ACTION ALERT: Pass the Senate Health Care Bill
Where to begin… On Tuesday, the special election to fill Senator Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts resulted in a victory for Republican Scott Brown. This means that the Democrats will no longer have a 60-seat filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Which means that the path health care reform was taking – House-Senate negotiations on a “merged” bill and subsequent votes in the House and the Senate – has been, quite frankly, derailed. A few options remain:
(1) The House could pass the Senate bill as is and send that bill to the President. Pros: many major reforms would be enacted; 31 million uninsured would get health insurance. Cons: many of the provisions in the Senate bill are weaker, most notably the Medicaid expansion and subsidies to low-income individuals (there is a possibility these could be fixed in a budget “reconciliation” process).
Read the rest of this entry »
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Posted by Tammy Alexander
January 15, 2010
Virtual Vigil for Health Care Reform 1/29 – Read the Alert
The White House met with Democratic leaders from the House and the Senate in several marathon sessions this week, trying to hammer out a final deal on health care reform. As the meetings are taking place behind closed doors, rumors are rampant but details are scant. From news reports:
- With adjustments to address labor union concerns, it appears that the 40% tax on high-cost, “Cadillac” health plans will be in the final bill. Read more.
- Talks are reportedly leaning in favor of a national insurance exchange (House plan) rather than 50 state exchanges (Senate plan).
- New revenue ideas include applying Medicare payroll taxes to investment income for families earning more than $250,000 a year.
- The pharmaceutical industry may make additional concessions to help close the Medicare prescription drug doughnut hole. Read more.
As soon as a final deal is reached, as early as this weekend, the package will be sent to the Congressional Budget Office for a cost analysis. Congressional leaders are still hoping to have a bill ready for President Obama to sign by the time he delivers the State of the Union address in late January or early February.
Virtual Vigil for Health Care Reform 1/29 – Read the Alert
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Posted by Tammy Alexander
