Lower Non-Violent Incarceration and Save Money: “As state and local governments grapple with record budget shortfalls, a new study from the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) finds that the high rate of incarceration in the U.S. is a significant factor in these budgetary strains.  The report, ‘The High Budgetary Costs of Incarceration,’ estimates that cutting the incarceration rate for non-violent offenders would reduce state and local budgets by almost $15 billion per year, about one-fourth of their annual corrections budgets.  The study finds that the rate of incarceration in 2008 – 753 per 100,000 people – was 350 percent higher than it was in 1980.  According to the report, the United States has the highest incarceration rate in the world, a rate that is seven times higher than the average for other rich countries. …
 
“The study points out that some of the main causes of the rise in incarceration rates are policies such as ‘mandatory minimums’ and ‘three strikes’ laws that often lead to long prison terms for non-violent offenders.  Earlier research on the connection between crime and incarceration suggests that state and local governments could shift non-violent offenders from jail and prison to probation and parole with little or no deterioration in public safety.  Among the key findings are: In 2008, one of every 48 working-age men were in prison or jail; Non-violent offenders make up over 60 percent of the prison and jail population; non-violent drug offenders account for one-fourth of all offenders behind bars; The total number of violent crimes in the United States was only about three percent higher in 2008 than it was in 1980.  Over the same period, the U.S. population increased by 33 percent while the prison and jail population skyrocketed by more than 350 percent. …”
 
(From Center for Economic and Policy Research, June 8, 2010)

Main Street Still Waits for Recovery: “Wall Street is flying high after March 2009 lows; worker productivity and economic growth are up; and there are some indications of a housing market that could be recovering from its tailspin.  But a new report from Catholic Charities USA suggests” that the recovery hasn’t reached Middle America. “Emergency federal support allowed many states to delay a fiscal reckoning, but now cash-strapped states are building 2011 budgets that promise a brutal impact on the nation’s most at-risk communities, particularly children, whose health, educational and other social services are likely to be profoundly diminished if not eliminated altogether.  The jobless recovery has left previously reliable breadwinners and charitable donors seeking help themselves.  The Catholic Charities USA survey paints a vivid picture of the new realities of an increasingly distressed American middle class. Of the agencies responding to the survey, 61 percent report an increase in middle-class families seeking assistance; 72 percent report an increase in the working poor coming for assistance.  More than half reported that more homeless people need their help….
 
“Keeping a roof over their heads appears to be the biggest issue for U.S. families as 75 percent of agencies report an increase in requests for rent and mortgage assistance since the fourth quarter of 2009. …The results of the survey align with a national real unemployment rate stuck at about 18 percent… According to respondents, a lack of jobs paying a livable wage (83 percent) and a lack of jobs in general (64 percent) are huge barriers to employment and self-sufficiency.” Rev. Larry Snyder, president of Catholic Charities USA “called for a new values base in the country, one where the common values of caring for one another replaces the ‘greed is good’ mantra that has dominated Wall Street for the last 30 years….”

 (From America, May 31, 2010)

Organic Food Labeling Strengthened: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently finalized regulations that will give consumers confidence that milk and meat bearingthe ‘Certified Organic’ label have been produced in ways that actually benefit people, animals, and the environment….The existing standards required producers to provide livestock with access to pasture, but did not say for how long.  This allowed livestock in CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations) to receive organic certification even if they rarely set foot outdoors.  Under the new rule, set to take effect in June, livestock must have year-round access to the outdoors and be on pasture a minimum of 120 days.  The rule also eliminates the loopholes that producers have used in the past to deny animals access to pasture. In addition, the rule specifies the minimum amount of an animal’s food that must come from pasture. UCS analysis has shown that pasture feeding is better for livestock health and less damaging to the environment, and that meat and milk from grass-fed cows can contain higher levels of good fats that may provide health benefits to humans.”
 
(From earthwise, Union of Concerned Scientists, summer 2010)

Clean Air Act Faces New Threats: In the decades before Congress passed the Clean Air Act, toxic air frequently caused health problems and death in American cities. “Take the town of Donora, Pennsylvania, 20 miles south of Pittsburgh.  In October 1948, an air inversion trapped a blanket of toxic yellow smog from the town’s steel mills that was so thick, locals needed flashlights in the middle of the afternoon.  Five days later, 20 people had died and almost half of Donora’s 14,000 residents had become sick. If most Americans can no longer remember a time when the simple act of breathing could kill you, that’s thanks in large part to the Clean Air Act.  Although it took Congress more than 20 years after Donora’s ‘killer fog’ to pass the historic law,  in the four decades since, it has proven to be one of the most important and successful pieces of environmental legislation ever enacted.  Since 1990 alone, emissions of six of the most common air pollutants are down 41 percent, while such major sources of pollution as cars, trucks and heavy-duty diesel engines are 95 percent cleaner than in the past.
 
“In 1970, Congress charged the newly created Environmental Protection Agency with regulating five harmful pollutants.  But lawmakers understood that as science proved the hazards of other emissions, more would have to be added to the list.  Today, the agency protects the public from more than 300 pollutants.  Among those most recently added are carbon dioxide and other gases that cause global warming.” But these protections are currently at risk. “Earlier this year, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) introduced a resolution that would effectively overturn a 2007 Supreme Court ruling and block the EPA from using the Clean Air Act to regulate emissions that are contributing to drastic climate change.  A separate bill proposed by Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) would prevent the EPA from working to address greenhouse gases for a minimum of two years. …”

 (From Nature’s Voice, Natural Resources Defense Council, May/June 2010)

Honduras Urged to Protect Journalists: “A group of U.N. human rights experts urged the Honduran government to take immediate action to end violence against journalists.  Seven media professionals have been killed during April and May alone, and several others have been threatened.  ‘We urge the government to take all necessary measures to thoroughly investigate these killings and threats, prosecute those responsible and ensure the physical and psychological integrity of all journalists under threat,’ the U.N. special rapporteurs said in a statement issued in Geneva on May 10.  ‘In particular, we call upon
the government to establish an independent inquiry aimed at shedding light on these issues, as well as at identifying measures that could be taken to better protect the journalists.’  Honduran authorities classified a report on the killings, but Public Security Minister Oscar Alvarez insisted that they were not motivated by politics or ideology.”
 
(From America, June 7-14, 2010)

New Class of Global Refugees:  “The international tug-of-war over carbon emission thresholds and other instruments meant to limit the climate effects of greenhouse gases has generated a lot of talk – and some reluctant commitments.  But one pressing item related to climate change has so far escaped serious discussion among international policymakers: how to respond to potential waves of ‘climate refugees,’ people forced from their homes because of climate change.  If even moderate effects from climate change occur as predicted, millions of people will be uprooted in the near future by rising sea levels, extreme weather events, droughts and water scarcity. …
 
“Finding the right word to describe people who will be forced to migrate because of deteriorating climatic conditions is the first difficulty on the road toward building protocols that could be codified in international law. …Similarly a specific international regime is needed for the people uprooted by climate change …Climate refugees will not be able to return to their homeland after a temporary asylum; they are likely to migrate in large numbers,…and most important, they have a strong moral and legal claim against the international community, since the world’s richest nations have done the most to cause their problems.” More urgency is required, as some resettlement is already in process. In 2003, the government of Papua New Guinea ordered the evacuation of the Carteret Islanders.
 
(From America, May 24, 2010)

U.S.-Mexico Border Not That Dangerous: “It’s one of the safest parts of America, and it’s getting safer. It’s the U.S.-Mexico border, and even as politicians say more federal troops are needed to fight rising violence, government data show it actually isn’t so dangerous after all. The top four big cities in America with the lowest rates of violent crime are all in border states: San Diego, Phoenix, El Paso and Austin, according to a new FBI report.  And an in-house Customs and Border Protection report shows that Border Patrol agents face far less danger than street cops in most U.S. cities.  The Customs and Border Protection study…shows 3 percent of Border Patrol agents and officers were assaulted last year, mostly when assailants threw rocks at them.  That compares with 11 percent of police officers and sheriff’s deputies assaulted during the same period, usually with guns and knives. In addition, violent attacks against agents declined in 2009 along most of the border for the first time in seven years.  So far this year assaults are slightly up, but data is incomplete. ‘The border is safer now than it’s ever been,’ said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Lloyd Easterling. He said one factor is that with fewer jobs available amid the U.S. recession, illegal immigration has dropped.  And responding to security concerns after 9/11, the Border Patrol has doubled the number of agents in the region since 2004….
 
“But FBI crime reports for 2009 say violent crime in Arizona declined.  And violent crimes in southwest border counties are among the lowest in the nation per capita – they’ve dropped by more than 30 percent in the last two decades.  Of America’s 25 largest cities, San Diego – with one out of four residents an immigrant- has the lowest number of violent crimes per capita. …Concerns about danger come, in part, from Mexico, where raging cartel violence has taken 23,000 lives in three years, often within view of the U.S. border.  There’s frequent talk of the potential for that violence to spread across the border, although so far it hasn’t happened to any significant degree.” Edward Alden of the Council on Foreign Relations says, “‘Border security has become the most overused, and least understood, concept in the struggle over what to do about our broken immigration system. While an election year may not be the best time, the United States finally needs an honest debate over what it means to secure the country’s borders.’”
 
(From The Cincinnati Enquirer, June 4, 2010)

Worker Suicides Rock Sweatshop System: “Apple’s been all over the news these days…. For weeks, reports have been emerging about a high number of worker suicides at the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China.  The Taiwanese-owned company is the largest final assembler of mobile phones in the world…. More than a half million people work for the company in China alone. Many first equated Foxconn with suicides last summer when Sun Danyong, a 25-year-old worker who allegedly lost a prototype of the fourth-generation iPhone, jumped to his death.  Now, the suicides have built into a crisis for Apple and Foxconn, one that activists could push to crack the abusive relationship between corporations and their suppliers that drives wages and working conditions ever downward across the globe. A shocking 12 Foxconn workers have now ended their lives this year, mostly by jumping from the massive multi-story dormitories they live in during the precious few off hours they have.  The crisis is so deep the company has installed safety nets between dorm buildings.
 
“All those who have committed suicide have been between the ages of 18 and 24 and are part of a young generation of migrant workers attracted to jobs in the cities who face terrible conditions….A report…by Students and Scholars against Corporate Misbehavior (SACOM), a Hong Kong-based workers’ rights non-profit created in 2005, details the exhaustion caused by 12-hour shifts, alienation from not being allowed to speak to co-workers, and a rapid just-in-time production model that has workers putting in a phone motherboard every seven seconds to meet the global demand for high-priced gadgets. While the workers are technically unionized, the union’s chair is also the CEO’s secretary, making a call to the union hotline futile….”
 
(From LABORnotes, June 2, 2010)

Can Small Organic Farms Feed the World?: “Can small-scale organic farms feed the world? Most people would agree that diverse family farms practicing sustainable agriculture are better – better for the environment, better for society – than large, pesticide-drenched monocultures that provide few jobs, destroy biodiversity, and contaminate the environment.  Many would be concerned, however, that those small, sustainable family farmers might not be able to produce enough to feed the world.  This was our assumption as well – until we took our class ‘Food, Land, and Society’ to visit organic farmers in southeastern Michigan.  There, we saw the vast amount of food that could be grown in small and medium-sized organic farms.  One farmer produced 27 tons of vegetables in one acre.  Another had a 40-acre ‘community supported agriculture’ operation that provided fresh produce to 350 subscribing families during the growing season, with plenty left over every week to take to two local farmers markets.” Further investigation followed.
 
“We gathered close to 300 scientific comparisons of yields by organic and nonorganic methods in farms from all over the world. What we found surprised us. Not only could organic farming feed the world using the same cultivated land area, but in developing countries, organic agriculture could potentially increase food production by 80 percent or more from current traditional practices….the biggest potential for increasing crop yields is in developing countries, precisely where the need is greater.  In areas where farmers can’t afford to buy the agrochemicals and seeds needed for conventional agriculture, we found that applying organic methods could increase grain production by almost 60 percent; legume production could almost quadruple. …farmers could intensify their farms using organic methods rather than agrochemicals. Organic intensification is more accessible to small-scale farmers and increases yields without the expense and negative impacts of conventional agriculture.”
 
(From Sojourners, June 2010)

Local Agriculture Needed, Not Free Trade: Former President Bill Clinton acknowledged to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the policy of rich countries selling food to poor countries rather than helping them grow their own food has not worked and was a mistake. “‘You just can’t take the food chain out of production. And it also undermines a lot of the culture, the fabric of life, the sense of self-determination….So we genuinely thought we were helping Haiti when we restored President Aristide, made a commitment to help rebuild the infrastructure…and do a lot of other things…And it wasn’t the right thing to do. We should have continued to work to help them be self-sufficient in agriculture…that’s a lot of what we’re doing now.’” He continues saying that they are trying to increase Haiti’s production of coffee, mangoes, avocados, etc.
 
“An alliance of Haitian farmer groups has identified different solutions.  They want to grow food to feed the Haitian people before moving to export crops.  Most importantly, they call for food sovereignty for Haiti: the right of a people to grow and consume its own food.  They call for land reform with technical support to help farmers stay on the land.  They also call for decentralization of public services that today are almost exclusively available in the capital Port-au-Prince, technical training in sustainable, ecological farming methods, credit to help buy equipment, and support with storage, marketing and water management. Finally, because most of Haiti’s seed stocks have been used to feed people after the earthquake, they need seeds, insisting that they not be genetically modified. As one farmer said, ‘If people start sending hybrid [and/or] GMO seeds, that’s the end of Haitian agriculture.’”
 
(From NewsNotes, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, May-June 2010)

Vatican Cautious on Synthetic Cell: “The successful development of a synthetic cell can have many practical applications, but the technology must be regulated, said the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, commenting on a recent and long-sought scientific breakthrough in the United States that has already provoked a vigorous debate among bioethicists.  After almost 15 years of work and the expenditure of $40 million, researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute, a not-for-profit genomic research organization, announced on May 20 that they had successfully constructed the first self-replicating, synthetic bacterial cell.  The synthetic cell is proof of the principle that genomes can be designed on a computer, chemically made in a laboratory and transplanted into a recipient cell to produce a new self-replicating cell controlled only by the synthetic genome.
 
“The breakthrough is significant because scientists believe such synthetic cells could lead to the development of many important applications and products, including biofuels and vaccines and new pharmaceutical water purification and food products….Venter’s creation has produced ‘an interesting result,’ which could have many applications, but the new technology ‘must have rules just like everything that lies at the heart of life,’ L’Osservatore Romano said on May 23.  ‘Genetic engineering can be used for good,’ particularly in treating genetic diseases, it said.  But caution must be exercised, as ‘many people in fact are concerned about the possible future developments of genetically modified organisms.’ L’Osservatore Romano emphasized that Venter’s scientists had not created life, but had ‘substituted one of its engines.’…”
 
(From America, June 7-14, 2010)

Catholics Call for Prayers as Korean Tensions Escalate: “Catholic leaders have called for prayers as tensions in the Korean peninsula escalate, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News.  South Korea’s president raised the stakes in the standoff by slashing trade to communist North Korea in retaliation for a torpedo attack by the North that killed 46 South Korean sailors.  North Korea accused the South of a smear campaign and said May 25 that it would sever all ties with the South.  ‘With Christian faith, we view this as another ordeal on the way toward national reconciliation and we must keep hope.  We need to pray for peace and reconciliation,’ said Fabiano Choi Hong-jun, chairman of the Catholic Lay Apostolate Council of Korea.  He said the tensions have thrown cold water on efforts for national reconciliation.  The sinking of the South Korean warship Cheonan March 26 in the Yellow Sea was the country’s worst military loss since the 1950-53 Korean War.  An international team of investigators determined a torpedo from a North Korean submarine sank the ship.”
 
(From The Catholic Telegraph, June 4, 2010)

Acapulco Bishops Urge U.S.-Mexico Cooperation: “The bishops of Acapulco are urging the governments of Mexico and the United States to work together to solve problems resulting from migration and arms trafficking that negatively affect both countries.  In a communiqué…titled ‘Pending Accounts Between Mexico and the United States,’ the Archdiocese of Acapulco described the recent visit of President Felipe Calderon of Mexico to the United States as an ‘opportunity to put on the table two critical and painful points that represent pending accounts between the two countries: the treatment of Mexican migrants and the violence in Mexico linked to arms trafficking coming from the northern neighbor.’  The communiqué noted that Calderon appealed to the U.S. Congress for two things: to stop arms trafficking from the United States to Mexico, and to pass comprehensive immigration reform. …
 
“‘On the part of the Mexican government, there must be a more ample and integral vision of the struggle against organized crime that goes beyond the repression of criminal groups,’ the bishops state. ‘Preventive measures are needed to reduce the consumption of drugs and the levels of violence. There must also be a change in the economic model that offers more opportunities to Mexicans to reduce the need to migrate. And on the part of the North American government, a more solidaristic and responsible attitude is needed.  Its power must be felt not in a greater management of international affairs for its own economic or political profit, but a greater sense of humanity and of support for the poorer countries.’”
 
(From Zenit, May 26, 2010)

Benedict XVI: Violence Does Not Lead to Peace: “Violence does not lead to peace, Benedict XVI repeated ‘with a heartbroken spirit’ days after Israeli soldiers and pro-Palestinian activists clashed aboard a Turkish ship.  The Pope made the appeal at the general audience in St. Peter’s Square in which he said he was following with ‘profound trepidation […] the tragic events that happened in the proximity of the Gaza Strip.’  On Monday, six ships with some 700 passengers, known as the ‘Gaza Freedom Flotilla,’ attempted to break through an Israeli naval blockade in order to deliver supplies to Gaza.  Although the details are still being confirmed, the confrontation broke out in violence aboard one of the ships.  Media sources are reporting that between ten and 20 lives were lost, and up to 70 others from both sides were injured.
 
“‘I feel the need to express my profound grief for the victims of the most painful events, which preoccupy all those who have at heart peace in the area,’ he said.  ‘Once again, I repeat with a heartbroken spirit that violence does not resolve controversies, but increases the tragic consequences and generates more violence.  I appeal to all those who have political responsibility at the local and international level, to search incessantly for just solutions through dialogue, in order to guarantee to the peoples of the area better conditions of life, in concord and serenity.  I invite you to join my prayer for the victims, for their families and for all who suffer.  May the Lord sustain the efforts of those who do not tire of working for reconciliation and peace.’”
 
(From Zenit, June 2, 2010)

SJB Friars Commit to Refugees, Migrants and Victims of Human Trafficking: The Franciscan Friars of St. John the Baptist Province based in Cincinnati, Ohio, held their 2008 Chapter at St. Meinrad Archabbey in Indiana May 19-23. Of the many proposals passed, the Chapter delegates affirmed a resolution to learn more about the issues of migrants, refugees and victims of human trafficking in order to better be able to respond to their needs. The resolution says:
 “We, the Franciscans of St. John the Baptist Province, commit ourselves to increase our awareness of issues surrounding refugees, migrants and victims of human trafficking in order to develop more proactive Franciscan responses on the provincial, friary and personal level.”

SJB Friars Commit to Non-violence: The Franciscan Friars of St. John the Baptist Province based in Cincinnati, Ohio, held their 2005 Chapter at the University of Dayton, May 23-27. Among the many proposals that were passed, the Chapter delegates affirmed a resolution introduced by their JPIC Office in which they committed themselves to “continued conversion to a life of Franciscan non-violence in support of a consistent ethic of life.” The complete resolution follows.

“As Franciscans, we affirm the sacredness of all human life and the inherent value of all creation. In a world where violence is rampant, we wish to be a sign of hope, actively promoting the preservation of life, peace among people and nations, justice for all and reconciliation. We commit ourselves to continued conversion to a life of Franciscan non-violence in support of a consistent ethic of life.”