CoverTheUninsuredWeek.org Weekly News Digest

CoverTheUninsuredWeek.org Weekly News Digest

The following is the Cover The Uninsured Week News Digest for the week of January 17, 2005.

We invite you to visit CoverTheUninsuredWeek.org where you will find news and information about Cover the Uninsured Week and other ongoing efforts to help get America covered. The site offers facts about the uninsured, personal stories, links to the participating organizations and resources for those seeking health care coverage.

Here are top stories from news sources across the country about the issue of the uninsured.

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News Summaries
A Weekly Digest of News on the Uninsured

News & Opinion

Incoming HHS Head Discusses Planned Medicaid Overhaul
Leavitt favors a cap on federal spending, but more flexibility in how states use funds
Source(s): Robert Pear, The New York Times (Jan. 19)

Health Care Costs Are Americans' Major Health Policy Concern, Survey Shows
Reducing the number of uninsured is one of the top three priorities; malpractice reform ranks low
Source(s): Jim Abrams, Associated Press (Jan. 11); The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jan. 11); Marsha Shuler, The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) (Jan. 12)

Kennedy Advocates for Universal Coverage with Medicare Expansion
Democrats' elder statesman rallies party to push reform agenda
Source(s): John O'Neil, The New York Times (Jan. 12); Charles Babington, The Washington Post (Jan. 13); Maura Reynolds, The Los Angeles Times (Jan. 13)

Gingrich Promotes Market-Based Health Reform
Former speaker was early supporter of HSAs
Source(s): Steve Lohr, The New York Times (Jan. 16)

Consumers Are Either Unaware of HSAs or Have Doubts about Them
14.3 million Americans spent more than one-quarter of their income on health care last year
Source(s): Sarah Rubenstein, Wall Street Journal (Jan. 12); Dina ElBoghdady, The Washington Post (Jan. 16)

OPINION: HSAs Will Not Solve Health Care Cost Problem
Employees are concerned they will end up paying more of the health care tab
Source(s): James Flanigan, The Los Angeles Times (Jan. 16)

OPINION: Rise in Health Care Spending Is Not a Concern
Employer-based system of coverage is what makes the system inefficient
Source(s): The Boston Herald

TennCare Cuts Illustrate National Medicaid Trend
Governors of New York and Florida also announce cuts
Source(s): Associated Press (Jan. 11); Alisa Ulferts, St. Petersburg Times (Jan. 12); Diane Hirth, Tallahassee Democrat; Tony Pugh, Tallahassee Democrat (Jan. 13); Andy Miller and Patrician Guthrie, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (Jan. 14); Alice Dembner and Rick Klein, The Boston Globe (Jan. 15); Al Baker, The New York Times (Jan. 18); Ceci Connolly, The Washington Post (Jan. 18)

Florida Papers Examine Governor Bush's Medicaid Privatization Plan
In a commentary, Bush describes proposal
Source(s): Jeb Bush, Orlando Sentinel (Jan. 12); Tallahassee Democrat (Jan. 12); Sun-Sentinel (Jan. 15)

Opinion: Medicaid Reform Needed in New York, but Pataki's Plan Raises Questions
Federal financing changes will affect outcome of plan
Source(s): The New York Times (Jan. 19)

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CoverTheUninsuredWeek.org a project of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Copyright © 2003 The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation   All rights reserved

Words of Wisdom From A Genius

Here's a little something to start your week. Enjoy. plk





"There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."





"It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer." ( this always encourages and gives me hope :) plk )





"All conditions and all circumstances in our lives are a result of a certain level of thinking. When you want to change the conditions and the circumstances, we have to change the level of thinking that is responsible for it."





"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."





-- Albert Einstein

In 2005, how to align your money with your values

 

.... in other words putting you money where your heart is.   I would encourage anyone interested in ethical investing to read this entire article. plk

 

 

In 2005, how to align your money with your values

Read the entire article:  http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0124/p13s02-wmgn.html?s=hns

 

Summary:

Hydrogen cars will become viable investments. Some ethical investing is elitist. Parts of the corporate-reform movement are dead. Those are a few of the strong positions taken by the Monitor's second annual ethical-investing panel. The panel, looking ahead to 2005, was cautious about the overall market. But some areas, such as environmentally friendly stocks, hold promise.

Ethical investing is not just about profit, it's about changing the world. One panelist introduced a new avenue for doing that: venture philanthropy, which brings business discipline to the nonprofit world. The panelists - (were) Anita Green, vice president of social research at Pax World Funds; Charles Harper, executive director of the John Templeton Foundation, and Jack Robinson, president of Winslow Management - talked with a Monitor editor and writer Jan. 18. Here's some of what they shared:

What's the 2005 outlook for ethical investors?

Jack Robinson: I think there are two broad categories: One is the overall investment climate, which is going to be relatively difficult in the face of rising interest rates, rising inflation, and other issues we are dealing with, such as terrorism and higher oil prices.

The tech sector is especially vulnerable to this.

But it may not be that they are actually engaged in weapons; it may be simply that the Department of Defense is buying the same technology that you or I can buy off the shelf.

In the area of environment, this is a good news/bad news [scenario] for investors.

The insurance companies are also issuing some statements on this, and investors are engaging companies in dialogue around this issue.

The bad news is that under this administration, what we've seen in the first four years is a rollback on environmental regulation.

Charles Harper: It's part of a movement to encourage people in philanthropy to think like businesspeople about what is innovation, what is efficiency, what is yield on philanthropic investment ...

One thing that's puzzling about the socially responsible investment community is that there's essentially nothing done in terms of hedging portfolios against decline.

One of our clients, four or five years ago, [asked]: "Why don't you go long on greens [environmentally friendly companies] and short the dirties [egregious polluters]?"

Microfinance is the tip of the iceberg for the development of business among the poor in places like India, huge markets in China - we're talking a billion people - and as those people emerge from poverty into the middle class, they will be big consumers, they will want to buy a lot of stuff.

Harper: There's an illusion, a scientific illusion here, that these cars are cleaner.

Fuel-cell economies are [mostly] based on breaking down hydrocarbons, so the source of the power is very similar to burning hydrocarbons.

But I think there are other ways to generate power, such as wind, solar, and biomass.

And if, indeed, you are in favor of nuclear, that could be used to do the same thing.

The difficulty is with the waste that is produced and the fact that we have no effective long-term way to deal with it except to bury it underground.

The technological challenge of flying me from Philadelphia to Boston is much more complicated and serious than the technological problem of storing nuclear waste.

Gambling and Hollywood [for example] have disproportionate impacts on poor people - people at the bottom - particularly Hollywood.

It gives people a vision of life, a way of thinking, a way of looking at the world, that's antithetical to their success in many ways.

However you look at it - whether it's locking them into sexual license, whether it's locking them into a vision of cynicism, or whether it's locking them into a materialism where they think that's the way to be human - the way to succeed is to have all this expensive stuff that you have to buy, some sort of ticket to the rat race.

There's a fascinating study that was done on states that had enacted a lottery, and the long-term financial, or economic, impacts on those states.

It's the poor people, it's the ones who can't afford it, who are taking the grocery money and using that to play the lottery.

Robinson: There are broad categories such as healthy living, which would include natural and organic foods, the largest of which is Whole Foods.

Green: Socially responsible investors in 2005 will see increased market share.

Even during the first three years of this decade, when the market was doing so terribly, the socially responsible funds saw new money coming in, and they saw that the investors that they already had stayed with them.

---

Summarized by Copernic Summarizer

 

Terrorism & Security - FBI expands its role in domestic spying

Sent: Friday, January 28, 2005 1:41 PM
Subject: Terrorism & Security - FBI expands its role in domestic spying
Should the CIA be worried about a power grab?
Read the entire story at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0128/dailyUpdate.html


Despite its recent $170 million computer software fiasco, the FBI will
significantly expand its intelligence-gathering activities in the US,
"including stepped-up efforts to collect and report intelligence on foreign
figures and governments, a function that long has been principally the CIA's
domain," reports the Los Angeles Times Friday.
The move comes despite the fact that months ago, some members of Congress
were debating whether to "strip the bureau of its ability to conduct
intelligence functions, after widespread bungling and intelligence failures
in the months before Sept. 11," reports the Times.

Ultimately, Congress and the Sept. 11 commission concluded that it was in
the interest of national security that the FBI's nascent intelligence arm
remain intact and be allowed to grow.

RFK Jr Bashes Bush for 'Crimes Against Nature'

RFK Jr Bashes Bush for 'Crimes Against Nature'
Read the entire article at:  http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0128-08.htm

Summary:

Kennedy believes most Americans, Republicans as well as Democrats, are environmentalists who support strong laws that protect nature.

But the majority of voters in November selected a president that Kennedy considers the single biggest hazard to the environment.

If the American people are so firmly behind the environment and environmental protections, why did they re-elect Bush?

Kennedy, who is speaking at the Wheeler Opera House today at 5:30 p.m., explained that paradox when reached on his cell phone while he rode the Ruthie's chairlift on Aspen Mountain yesterday.

He placed a big share of the blame for Bush's re-election squarely on the shoulders of the media.

It's more common to hear the media accused of a "liberal bias," but Kennedy claimed conservative influences have prevailed since 1987 when a policy called the Fairness Doctrine was abolished.

The Reagan administration gutted requirements that forced television stations to provide multiple sides in political coverage and required them to cover topics of community interest.

And looser controls on content freed the broadcasters to focus on "sex and celebrity gossip" rather than issues of public interest, Kennedy said.

So reporters trip over one another to cover the Kobe Bryant rape case and the Lacy Peterson murder case, but they "haven't done their job to tell the American public that the administration is destroying the environment," Kennedy said.

Kennedy considers this "a very troubling time" because of numerous ways that "corporate cronyism" dictates the Bush administration's actions without proper exposure.

Bush's "Healthy Forest Act," which was passed under the guise of thinning forests near populated areas to reduce risks of wildfires, is really an effort to weaken forest protection laws, he said.

Kennedy further noted that Steven Griles, deputy secretary of the Interior Department, is a former mining industry lobbyist.

He questioned whose interest Griles looks out for while he oversees management of millions of acres of public lands, including Bureau of Land Management holdings throughout western Colorado and Utah.

"The polluters have been put in charge of the agencies that are supposed to protect the public from pollution," he said.

They timed it to coincide with the Winter X Games so the message could directly and indirectly reach the broad, young audience that's invaded Aspen.

Kennedy, 51, is a senior attorney with the NRDC as well as the chief prosecuting attorney for an organization called Riverkeeper.

He is also founder and president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, which fights to protect the health of waterways across the country.

The NRDC is also in town for the X Games to raise awareness about global warming, according to John Steelman, the council's program manager.

He said he is convinced the ski industry isn't participating to "green wash" or make itself appear to be concerned about environmental issues to improve its image.

More than 70 ski areas, for example, endorsed federal legislation to reduce greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming.

---

Summarized by Copernic Summarizer

 

Free Trade Leaves World Food in Grip of Global Giants

"30 companies now account for a third of the world's processed food; five companies control 75% of the international grain trade; and six companies manage 75% of the global pesticide market."    Something to think about.  plk

 

 

Free Trade Leaves World Food in Grip of Global Giants
Read the entire article at: http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0127-02.htm

Summary:

Global food companies are aggravating poverty in developing countries by dominating markets, buying up seed firms and forcing down prices for staple goods including tea, coffee, milk, bananas and wheat, according to a report to be launched today.

As 50,000 people marched through Porto Alegre, in southern Brazil, to mark the opening of the annual World Social Forum on developing country issues, the report from ActionAid was set to highlight how power in the world food industry has become concentrated in a few hands.

An activist wearing a mask that resembles President Bush marches against Bush, the war in Iraq and corporations on the first day of the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 26, 2005.

The report will say that 30 companies now account for a third of the world's processed food; five companies control 75% of the international grain trade; and six companies manage 75% of the global pesticide market.

It finds that two companies dominate sales of half the world's bananas, three trade 85% of the world's tea, and one, Wal-mart, now controls 40% of Mexico's retail food sector.

It also found that Monsanto controls 91% of the global GM seed market.

Household names including Nestlé, Monsanto, Unilever, Tesco, Wal-mart, Bayer and Cargill are all said to have expanded hugely in size, power and influence in the past decade directly because of the trade liberalization policies being advanced by the US, Britain and other G8 countries whose leaders are meeting this week in Davos.

It accuses the companies of shutting local companies out of the market, driving down prices, setting international and domestic trade rules to suit themselves, imposing tough standards that poor farmers cannot meet, and charging consumers more.

The ActionAid report argues that many food behemoths are wealthier than the countries in which they do their business.

Nestlé, it says, recorded profits greater than Ghana's GDP in 2002, Unilever profits were a third larger than the national income of Mozambique and Wal-mart profits are bigger than the economies of both countries combined.

Prices for coffee, cocoa, rice, palm oil and sugar have fallen by more than 50% in the past 20 years.

A spokeswoman for the Food and Drink Federation, which represents British food businesses, yesterday recognized that the industry's success "is closely linked to those at the beginning of the food supply chain".

But she added: "Britain, the world's fourth largest food importing country, invests heavily and provides an enormous market for developing world farmers."

---

Summarized by Copernic Summarizer

 

RFK Jr Bashes Bush for 'Crimes Against Nature'

 

RFK Jr Bashes Bush for 'Crimes Against Nature'
Read the entire article at:  http://www.commondreams.org/headlines05/0128-08.htm

Concepts:

Kennedy, environment, protect, administration, Bush, ski, industry, forest, media, laws, American, re-election, nature, Steelman, management.

Summary:

Kennedy believes most Americans, Republicans as well as Democrats, are environmentalists who support strong laws that protect nature.

But the majority of voters in November selected a president that Kennedy considers the single biggest hazard to the environment.

If the American people are so firmly behind the environment and environmental protections, why did they re-elect Bush?

Kennedy, who is speaking at the Wheeler Opera House today at 5:30 p.m., explained that paradox when reached on his cell phone while he rode the Ruthie's chairlift on Aspen Mountain yesterday.

He placed a big share of the blame for Bush's re-election squarely on the shoulders of the media.

It's more common to hear the media accused of a "liberal bias," but Kennedy claimed conservative influences have prevailed since 1987 when a policy called the Fairness Doctrine was abolished.

The Reagan administration gutted requirements that forced television stations to provide multiple sides in political coverage and required them to cover topics of community interest.

And looser controls on content freed the broadcasters to focus on "sex and celebrity gossip" rather than issues of public interest, Kennedy said.

So reporters trip over one another to cover the Kobe Bryant rape case and the Lacy Peterson murder case, but they "haven't done their job to tell the American public that the administration is destroying the environment," Kennedy said.

Kennedy considers this "a very troubling time" because of numerous ways that "corporate cronyism" dictates the Bush administration's actions without proper exposure.

Bush's "Healthy Forest Act," which was passed under the guise of thinning forests near populated areas to reduce risks of wildfires, is really an effort to weaken forest protection laws, he said.

Kennedy further noted that Steven Griles, deputy secretary of the Interior Department, is a former mining industry lobbyist.

He questioned whose interest Griles looks out for while he oversees management of millions of acres of public lands, including Bureau of Land Management holdings throughout western Colorado and Utah.

"The polluters have been put in charge of the agencies that are supposed to protect the public from pollution," he said.

They timed it to coincide with the Winter X Games so the message could directly and indirectly reach the broad, young audience that's invaded Aspen.

Kennedy, 51, is a senior attorney with the NRDC as well as the chief prosecuting attorney for an organization called Riverkeeper.

He is also founder and president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, which fights to protect the health of waterways across the country.

The NRDC is also in town for the X Games to raise awareness about global warming, according to John Steelman, the council's program manager.

He said he is convinced the ski industry isn't participating to "green wash" or make itself appear to be concerned about environmental issues to improve its image.

More than 70 ski areas, for example, endorsed federal legislation to reduce greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming.

---

Summarized by Copernic Summarizer

 

Upcoming Events of Interest

Upcoming Chats on Amnesty International



Tuesday, January 25, 2005 -- all day



Opposition to the Death Penalty: States Leading the Way



More than 40 state legislatures convene in January for the start of the 2005 legislative session. Find out how state legislatures are leading the opposition to the death penalty and what you can do to get involved in the fight by participating in the Moving Ideas Network and Amnesty International online chat.



Submit your question now:

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=688418&l=11675





January, 31 2005 - all day



Taking 'Stock' of Corporate Behavior: Using shareholder activism to promote and defend human rights.



Since the 1970s, shareholders have used their power as stock owners to press companies for change on a wide range of human rights issues. These issues have included doing business under repressive regimes (such as apartheid South Africa or military ruled Burma); corporate use of security forces (as has occurred in Nigeria and Indonesia); and poor working conditions in factories.



Submit your question now:

http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/ctt.asp?u=688418&l=11676

Does Social Security Really Face an $11 Trillion Deficit?

From: "FactCheck.org"

Sent: Friday, January 21, 2005 12:52 PM



Subject: Does Social Security Really Face an $11 Trillion Deficit?



Bush and Cheney say yes. But actuaries say the figure is "likely to mislead" the public on the system's true financial state.



Summary:



President Bush and Vice President Cheney have told audiences that Social Security faces an $11 trillion shortfall if nothing is done to fix the current system. But they fail to mention that this is over the course of the "infinite future." Over the next 75 years -- still practically a lifetime -- the shortfall is projected to be $3.7 trillion.



The "infinite" projection is one that the American Academy of Actuaries says is likely to mislead the public into thinking the system "is in far worse financial condition than is actually indicated," and therefore should not be used to explain the long-term outlook.



Click the link below for the full survey:

http://www.factcheck.org/article302m.html



If the link does not work, copy and paste this link into your browser and hit "ENTER":

http://www.factcheck.org/article302m.html

Back in the 1960's

Dear God ! I've become one of those adults who uses the phrase "when I was growing up". Oh well here's a classic forwarded from my friend Rhonda.





Back in the 1960's



Here's a cute one to remember our childhood.



First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they carried us.



They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing and didn't get tested for diabetes.



Then after that trauma, our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paints.



We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes, we

had no helmets, not to mention, the risks we took hitchhiking.



As children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags.



Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a special treat.



We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.



We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and NO ONE actually died from this.



We ate cupcakes, bread and butter and drank soda pop with sugar in it, but we weren't overweight because WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!



We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.



No one was able to reach us all day. And we were O.K.



We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.



After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem.



We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no video games at all, no 99 channels on cable, no video tape movies, no surround sound, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or Internet chat rooms..........WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!



We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.



We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live in us forever.



We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!



Little league had tryouts and not everyone made the team.



Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!



The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!



This generation has produced some of the best risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!



The past 50 years have seen an explosion of innovation and new ideas.



We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL! And YOU are one of them!

CONGRATULATIONS!



Please pass this on to others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated our lives for our own good.



Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it?!

Economy Adds 157,000 Jobs, Ending Best Year Since 1999

Summary Report
Economy Adds 157,000 Jobs, Ending Best Year Since 1999

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

Published: January 7, 2005

Read the entire story at:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?tntget=2005/01/07/business/07cnd-econ.html&tntemail1



Summary:

WASHINGTON, Jan. 7 --- The economy added 157,000 jobs in December, the Labor
Department said today, a sign that job creation remains steady but that
employers in many industries are still cautious about hiring.

During all of 2004, the nation added about 2.2 million jobs --- the biggest
gain since 1999 and the first growth since 2000 --- but that was barely
enough to replace the jobs lost during President Bush's first term in
office.

Economists said the new report reinforced the likelihood that economic
growth would be moderate in 2005, but that growth as well as job creation
would be slower than they were in 2004.

"It's a wet firecracker," said Richard Yamarone, chief economist at Argus
Research, a forecasting firm in New York.

"This is positive job creation, but it pales in comparison with what we have
had in previous economic recoveries."

The good news in today's employment report was that job creation was
stronger than originally estimated in October and November, with the Labor
Department increasing its estimate for those two months by 34,000 jobs.

Weekly wages climbed slightly faster, because workers put in more hours on
average, but both measures of pay lagged behind the last year's inflation
rate of 3.5 percent.

Manufacturing companies, which shed more than two million jobs between 2000
and the end of 2003, added back only 96,000 jobs in 2004 --- possibly the
weakest rebound in factory employment of any economic recovery on record in
the United States.

Employment in health care services climbed 342,000.

But one notable weakness in the job market was in retail sales, which shed
roughly 20,000 jobs in December on a seasonally adjusted basis.

Retail sales rose 3.1 percent compared with those a year earlier, but only
after many merchants marked down a substantial portion of their inventories
just before Christmas.

Summarized by Copernic Summarizer

How the Tsunami is Being Reported in Egyptian Media

This article cites an example of one of the many reasons it is difficult for the US to win hearts in the Muslim world.  plk

 

 

Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World

Egyptian paper: Israel-India nuke test caused tsunami

By Joseph Nasr,  January 6, 2005

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/Printer&cid=1104981578311&p=1101615860782

Summary:

The earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean on December 26, triggering a series of huge waves called tsunami, "was possibly" caused by an Indian nuclear experiment in which "Israeli and American nuclear experts participated," an Egyptian weekly magazine reported Thursday.

According to Al-Osboa', India, in its heated nuclear race with Pakistan, has lately received sophisticated nuclear know-how from the United States and Israel, both of which "showed readiness to cooperate with India in experiments to exterminate humankind."

Since 1992, the magazine argued, leading geological centers in Britain, Turkey and other countries, warned of the need "not to hold nuclear experiments in the region of the Indian Ocean known as 'the Fire Belt,' in which the epicenter of the earthquake lies.

Geologists labeled that region 'The Fire Belt' for being "a dangerous terrain that can move at anytime, without human intervention," Al-Osboa' wrote.

Despite warnings not to carry out nuclear experiments in and around the 'Fire Belt', "Israel and India continue to conduct nuclear tests in the Indian Ocean, and the United States has recently decided to carry out similar tests in the Australian deserts, which is included in the 'Fire Belt', the Egyptian weekly magazine wrote.

"Last year only, Arab and Islamic states have asked the United States to stop its nuclear activities in that region, and to urge Israel and India to follow suite," Al-Osboa' reported.

Although Al-Osboa' does not rule out the possibility that the tsunami could have been caused by a natural earthquake it speculates however that, "while it has not been proved yet, there has been a joint Israeli-Indian secret nuclear experiment [conducted on December 26] that caused the earthquake."

The Egyptian weekly magazine concludes in its report that "the exchange of nuclear experts between Israel and India, and US pressure on Pakistan which is exerted by supplying India with state-of-the-art nuclear technology and preventing Islamabad from cooperating with Asian and Islamic states in the nuclear field, pose a big question mark on the causes behind the violent Asian earthquake."

Incitement against Israel and Jews in Egyptian media is usually limited to the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict yet exceptions are known to occur.

In August 2002, the Paris Supreme Court summoned Ibrahim Naafi', editor of the Egyptian daily Al-Ahram, for having authorized the publication of a controversial article entitled 'Jewish matza is made from Arab blood' in the October 28, 2000 edition of the paper.

Naafi' was charged with incitement to anti-Semitism and racist violence.

---

Summarized by Copernic Summarizer

 

On the Other Hand

On the other hand,  Middle East news online reports:

 

EGYPT CONDUCTS SECRET NUKE EXPERIMENTS

http://www.menewsline.com/stories/2005/january/01_07_1.html

 

WASHINGTON [MENL] -- Egypt was determined to have conducted nuclear experiments over the last 20 years in activities concealed from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

U.S. officials said the IAEA has found evidence of secret Egyptian nuclear experiments believed to have begun in the 1980s and continued through 2004. Agency sources said the evidence was found in inspections conducted by the IAEA in both Egypt and Libya over the last year.

"The Egyptian nuclear activity is not something we welcome," a U.S. official said. "But it did not cross any line in terms of Egypt's commitment to the NPT [Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty]."

[On Wednesday, Iran agreed to allow the IAEA to inspect the Parchin military complex about 40 kilometers southeast of Teheran, suspected of having harbored a nuclear weapons program. Agency director-general Mohammed El Baradei said inspectors could arrive in Parchin over the next few weeks.]

---

NOTE: The above is not the full item.

This service contains only a small portion of the information produced daily by Middle East Newsline. For a subscription to the full service, please contact Middle East Newsline at:  editor@menewsline.com for further details.

A Message of Hope from Motor Racing Outreach

As my friends and frequent readers of my blogs know, I am a serious sports fan. Over the years I developed an appreciation for the parallels between the lessons learned in sports and those learned in life. I would like to share the following message from the January 5th issue of Motor Racing Outreach which reminds us all to have hope. plk

*************

PIT NOTE



Without “hope” people literally give up on life. Give someone a little “hope” of improvement, and great things can happen. Depression is rampant when a person feels that whatever they attempt is doomed to fail. A simple change, such as a “New Year”, does wonders for people. Often times, they “forget the past” and “press toward the future” as written in Philippians 3:12-15.



Sadly, however, most individuals make New Year’s resolutions that relate to personal issues such as weight loss or money gains. The Apostle Paul had spiritual growth and success in mind when he penned the words, “Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me….I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”



In racing, only one of the numerous teams that begin the season with great expectations and hope will ultimately be the champion. In life, only a few will maintain their resolutions and meet the expectations and hopes they express on New Year’s Day. But in Christ, everyone can reach His “hope” for them. It is not accomplished by great resolve and determination, but by surrender of one’s will to the Lord’s will for them. Isaiah 40:31-32 reveals, “but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will walk and not be faint.”

****************

The purpose of Motor Racing Outreach (MRO) is to introduce the racing community to personal faith in Christ, to growth in Christlikeness and to active involvement in the church through relationships that provide care in times of stress, knowledge of God’s word and assistance in development of leadership skills.

You've probably seen this before but as a new year begins it deserves a reprint.



100 Years

=========



THE YEAR 1904



Maybe this will boggle your mind, I know it did mine!



The year is 1904, one hundred years ago.

What a difference a century makes!



Here are some of the U.S. statistics for 1904:



The average life expectancy in the U.S. was 47 years.



Only 14 percent of the homes in the U.S. had a bathtub.



Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.



A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven

dollars.



There were only 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of

paved roads.



The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.



Alabama, Mississippi, Iowa, and Tennessee were each more heavily

populated than California.



With a mere 1.4 million residents, California was only the 21st

most populous state in the Union.



The tallest structure in the world was the Eiffel Tower.



The average wage in the U.S. was 22 cents an hour.



The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.



A competent accountant could expect to earn $2000 per year,



a dentist $2,500 per year,



a veterinarian between $1,500 and $4,000 per year, and



a mechanical engineer about $5,000 per year.



More than 95 percent of all births in the U.S. took place at

home.



Ninety percent of all U.S. physicians had no college education.

Instead, they attended medical schools, many of which were

condemned in the press and by the government as "substandard."



Sugar cost four cents a pound.



Eggs were fourteen cents a dozen.



Coffee was fifteen cents a pound.



Most women only washed their hair once a month, and used borax

or egg yolks for shampoo.



Canada passed a law prohibiting poor people from entering the

country for any reason.



The five leading causes of death in the U.S. were:



1. Pneumonia and influenza



2. Tuberculosis



3. Diarrhea



4. Heart disease



5. Stroke



The American flag had 45 stars.



Arizona, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Alaska hadn't been

admitted to the Union yet.



The population of Las Vegas, Nevada, was 30.



Crossword puzzles, canned beer, and iced tea hadn't been

invented.



There was no Mother's Day or Father's Day.



Two of 10 U.S. adults couldn't read or write.



Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated high school.



Marijuana, heroin, and morphine were all available over the

counter at corner drugstores.



According to one pharmacist, "Heroin clears the complexion,

gives buoyancy to the mind, regulates the stomach and bowels,

and is, in fact, a perfect guardian of health."



Eighteen percent of households in the U.S had at least one full-

time servant or domestic.



There were only about 230 reported murders in the entire U.S.





And my friend Gloria forwarded this to me in a matter of seconds!

Try to imagine what it may be like in another 100 years ....

it staggers the mind.

As troops return home, a changing of the Guard

 

As troops return home, a changing of the Guard | csmonitor.com
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0106/p01s01-usmi.htm

 

Summary:

FORT BRAGG, N.C. - National Guardsman Scott Light was one of 150 anxious troops who returned stateside to wild cheers on the parquet floors of a Fort Bragg gym Wednesday - a tired smile lighting up his face.

During a 10-month stint, he saw the first combat of his life, spending most of his days patrolling the Iranian border and dodging roadside bombs.

Now, as part of the largest group of national guardsmen to return from Iraq, the tank mechanic is quitting the National Guard, having made his mark and his point.

This graduating class of Iraq veterans - thousands of whom are returning to North Carolina and New York this week - reveals the resolve that has helped erstwhile "weekend warriors" fulfill difficult and vital missions in Iraq.

But for many, a sense of duty coexists with disillusionment over long and hazardous deployments.

For these men and women, homecoming is a moment of celebration, but also the start of a challenging adjustment back to civilian life.

And for America's armed forces, it punctuates new difficulty in maintaining the Guard ranks that are now so vital when the nation goes to war.

Before their endless debriefs and connecting flights, the 3,100 returning soldiers of the 30th Heavy Separate Brigade had been part of a vast band in Iraq.

The National Guard now accounts for about 40 percent of troops there and has taken nearly 20 percent of casualties, an unprecedented role.

Though at least one Guard unit was left stateside in the Gulf War because it wasn't battle-ready, this time the Guard has "surpassed expectations" overall, says Cimbalo.

After all, many of these hometown cops, accountants, and mechanics found they hardly fit into the "hooah" military culture.

"The Guard and Reserve is still mired in structures that were fine in the cold war, but now we're having to reinvent them in the heat of battle," says Rick Stark, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

For many, even guardsmen who may have expected to see combat, the appeal of soldiering has worn thin.

The late Army Chief of Staff Creighton Abrams, father of the "all-volunteer" force, may not have foreseen this pickle in revamping US forces after Vietnam.

Experts say that's worked this time around.

And when one guardsman confronted Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld over armor shortages at a recent photo-op, albeit at the behest of a reporter, the exchange spoke volumes about the role of individualistic citizen soldiers in shaping not just the battle but the view from Washington.

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Summarized by Copernic Summarizer

Read the entire story at: http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0106/p01s01-usmi.html?s=hns

Is the Army Resrve a Broken Force?

 

US Army Reserve chief says 'dysfunctional military policies' hurting reserve.
by Tom Regan
http://csmonitor.com/2005/0106/dailyUpdate.html

 

Summary:

US Army Reserve chief says 'dysfunctional military policies' hurting reserve. The US Army Reserve, a force that is being counted on to provide troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, is "degenerating into a 'broken' force," according to Lt. Gen Helmly.

 

Reuters reports that Lt. Gen Helmly used the above description in a Dec. 20, 2004 memo written to Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter Schoomaker, which was made public Wednesday. .

"While ability to meet the current demands associated with OIF (Operational Iraqi Freedom) and OEF (Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan) is of great importance, the Army Reserve is additionally in grave danger of being unable to meet other operational requirements including those in named OPLANS (operational plans) and CONUS (continental United States) emergencies, and is rapidly degenerating into a 'broken' force," Helmly wrote.

According to the US Department of Defense website, as of Jan. 5, 2004, there are 162,007 Army National Guard and Army Reserve members currently on active duty in support of the partial mobilization in Iraq and Afghanistan.

About 52,000 of those are members of the Army Reserve, with 17,000 currently serving in Iraq.

Army Reserve usually provides "military police, civil affairs soldiers, medics, and truck drivers for the wars."

The BBC reports that in his memo, which originally appeared in Wednesday's Baltimore Sun newspaper on Wednesday, Helmly takes issue with what he calls several "dysfunctional" practices of the Department of Defense: Financial incentives to attract and retain reservists on active duty, which the general says confuses "volunteers" with "mercenaries" Reservists being called to active duty at only a few days' notice   Reserve troops being required to leave equipment for other forces after serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CNN reports that while many Army Reserve soldiers understand that being mobilized in times of war is "inherent" in their contract with the Army, Helmly says in the memo that many others have "expressed surprise and indignation at being mobilized for this war."

The result, says Helmly, is that Reserve commanders spend too much time trying to find ways to accommodate soliders who "don't want to serve" in places like Iraq and Afghanistan, "leaving the force unable to meet its mission requirements."

He says this is the result of policies that were designed for a reserve force in times of peace rather than war.

Richard I. Stark Jr., a senior fellow at the Center for International and Strategic Studies in Washington, D.C., and a retired Army colonel, writes in the Bangor Daily News that in May 2004, a defense survey found "a significant decline in spousal support for participation in the Reserves among Iraq-vet families."

He also noted that the Army National Guard missed its recruiting goals by 12 percent in 2004.

Mr. Stark says that if we're going to fix these problems, the chief goal must be to manage expectations.

... to establish predictability in the length and frequency of deployments. This will minimize disruptions to families and employers and allow more effective management of units. We must also ensure that we provide resources and training that are adequate for the missions assigned to them. Finally, personnel compensation and benefits need to be reconciled with the nature of Reserve duty, both to ensure equity and to assure that Reserve service remains competitive and attractive.

The Washington Post reports that Col. Joseph Curtin, a senior Army spokesman, said Helmly's concerns are "not new" and that "the Army is moving to resolve them."

---

Summarized by Copernic Summarizer

Read the entire story at:  http://csmonitor.com/2005/0106/dailyUpdate.html

CrisisWatch

When a natural disaster or military action occurs in the far corners of the world it reminds me of how little most of us know about our global neighbors.  The CrisisWatch Bulletin is a good resource for staying abreast of global developments.   Understanding a region can help you make decisions on issues from charitable giving to intercessory prayer to voting on issues affecting your nation's foreign policy.  plk

 

 

New CrisisWatch bulletin from the International Crisis Group

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01/01/2005

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CrisisWatch No.17, 1 January 2005

All conflict related developments around the world in December 2004 were overshadowed by the devastating natural disaster of the 26 December Indian Ocean tsunami, with a death toll now estimated at over 150,000. The longer term implications of the tragedy for conflicts in the countries most severely hit are as yet unclear. In Indonesia's Aceh, much will depend on how the relief and reconstruction effort is handled: if done well, the central government stands to win major new support, but if poor coordination continues, or serious corruption takes place, the GAM independence movement will be the major beneficiary. In Sri Lanka, despite some reported attempts by the LTTE to politicise aid delivery, early signs are of cooperation between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, and a return to open conflict is seen as unthinkable in the immediately foreseeable future.

Elsewhere, conflict situations deteriorated in six countries in December 2004 according to January's CrisisWatch bulletin. Violence surged in Iraq as insurgents stepped up their efforts to derail the 30 January elections, and fighting between Maoists and the military escalated across Nepal with the approach of a 13 January government deadline for the Maoists to agree to peace talks. The situations in Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Zimbabwe also worsened in December.

In Sudan, the long-awaited signing on 31 December in Naivasha of a final peace accord between the government and Southern SPLA rebels was offset by deteriorating security in Darfur.

Three conflict situations showed improvement in December. Victor Yushchenko's victory in the 26 December re-run of Ukraine's presidential election brought a so-far peaceful conclusion to the month-long political crisis, though challenges remain ahead. Newly elected Afghan president Hamid Karzai appointed a new cabinet, in which the influence of warlords was significantly reduced. And Russia brokered an agreement to end the standoff in the Abkhazia region of Georgia over a disputed presidential election.

For January 2005, CrisisWatch identifies Kosovo as a Conflict Risk Alert, or situation at particular risk of further conflict in the coming month; no new Conflict Resolution Opportunities are identified for the immediate future.

TRENDS AND WATCHLIST SUMMARY

DECEMBER 2004 TRENDS

Deteriorated Situations
Ecuador, Iraq, Nepal, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, Zimbabwe

Improved Situations
Afghanistan, Georgia, Ukraine

Unchanged Situations
Albania, Algeria, Angola, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Basque Country (Spain), Bolivia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Chechnya (Russia), China (internal), Colombia, Cote d'Ivoire, Cyprus, DR Congo, Egypt, Ethiopia/Eritrea, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, India (non-Kashmir), Indonesia, Iran, Israel/Occupied Territories, Kashmir, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Liberia, Macedonia, Maldives, Mauritania, Moldova, Myanmar/Burma, Nagorno-Karabakh (Azerbaijan), Nigeria, North Korea, Northern Ireland (UK), Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Rwanda, Serbia & Montenegro, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Syria, Taiwan Strait, Tajikistan, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Venezuela, Western Sahara, Yemen

JANUARY 2005 WATCHLIST

Conflict Risk Alert
Kosovo

Conflict Resolution Opportunity
None

Search current and all past editions of CrisisWatch by using the CrisisWatch database.

 

Reaching the World One Person At A Time

In a world full of tragedy and sadness,there are still stories that give us hope. plk





Christmas spirit is in the giving



By YONAT SHIMRON AND MICHAEL EASTERBROOK, Staff Writers

Published: Dec 25, 2004

Read the entire story at: http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/1961792p-8329854c.html



Summary:



The Rev. Ray Selker didn't know what to expect when he got a request to visit a gravely ill farm worker at WakeMed. So he packed communion, a rosary and holy oil to anoint the sick. When he arrived at the hospital, he found a shy 25-year-old man from Mexico lying in bed unable to communicate with the doctors and nurses bustling around him.



The man, Mario Heriberto Suárez Vela, had come to North Carolina from Mexico on a work visa to harvest tobacco. A month later he was diagnosed with leukemia. And by all appearances, not a soul was visiting him. Selker stepped forward and asked how he was doing."I feel a little better," he told the priest in Spanish. Not entirely convinced, Selker sprinkled him with holy water, rubbed his forehead and palms with oil and celebrated Mass in the Roman Catholic tradition with which Suárez was familiar.



Months later, the answer to that prayer would fill a season of giving with the true meaning of Christmas.



Mario Suárez came to the United States in mid-August to improve the life of his wife and children. Instead he found himself struggling to keep his own. Born and reared in Nanacamilpa, a town of 10,000 in southern Mexico, Suárez scratched out an existence farming corn and doing odd construction jobs. When the work dried up this year, he, his wife and two boys, ages 6 and 2, moved to the sprawling capital, Mexico City, about three hours away. There, Suárez found a job taking inventory at a discount store. But the pay wasn't enough, and he applied for a guest worker visa.In mid-August, soon after it arrived, he and 50 other men boarded a bus for North Carolina.



Farmers in North Carolina employed 8,000 such legal laborers this year -- more than any other state. That's how Suárez wound up on a 200-acre farm in Cumberland County harvesting tobacco.



Suárez began to feel sick two days after arriving. He lost his appetite and felt nauseated. He was so dizzy he could barely stand up. He thought it was the chemicals used to cure tobacco. Many other workers felt sick after their first exposure, so he pushed himself to go on. "I didn't know what I had, but I couldn't stop working," Suárez said. By the third week, he came down with a cough. A few days later, he began coughing blood. On Sept. 23, Suárez arrived at WakeMed, unconscious. Doctors thought he had congestive heart failure and attached him to a ventilator. It took more than a week to diagnose his illness: acute myelogenous leukemia, a cancer caused when malignant cells overtake healthy blood cells in the bone marrow.



He had no health insurance, no money.



Suárez could not have known then, but something new was beginning -- a season of giving and receiving.It started with Cumberland County farmer Arnold Smith.As soon as Suárez was admitted to the hospital, Smith contacted the N.C. Growers Association to see whether the group could get a family member to visit Suárez. "I didn't want him to die miles from home, alone," Smith said. The association arranged a visa for Yolanda Vela, Suárez's mother, and paid the airfare -- about $800. Later, the association and the other Mexican laborers donated another $1,600. On Oct. 9, Vela arrived from Mexico City and took her place at her son's bedside, sleeping in a recliner nearby. Later, he wired Suárez's wife $300 -- all his own money."I just couldn't believe the boy had probably spent his life savings to get here to make money for his family and was going to die and never see his children again," Smith said.



When Suárez asked for a priest, Selker, the associate pastor at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in North Raleigh, got into his car and drove in.Beginning in October, Selker, known to most as "Father Ray," began to visit daily -- especially as the effects of chemotherapy began to ravage Suárez's body. Before long, he brought others -- St. Francis parishioners -- with him.



Greg Mintel, a member of the church, nearly broke down when he first saw Suárez.In the years Mintel has volunteered for the church, he has discovered a simple rule: The more you give, the more you receive. These days, he seeks out opportunities to give. Mario Suárez was one of those opportunities. The day he heard that Suárez and his mother needed a place to stay, Mintel made some phone calls and found a couple from the church who had just renovated their attic. They spoke Spanish and were happy to take them in. In the two months Suárez and his mother spent in North Raleigh, they got to know the church community, learned some English and experienced a Thanksgiving meal. The two could hardly believe their good fortune.



"In Mexico, we didn't think there were people like this here," Vela said.





Suárez, too, has let people know in his own shy way how grateful he is. There was the time on Thanksgiving night when Suárez took Mintel aside, looked him in the eye and said, "Thank you," in English.



There are many hurdles ahead. Suárez is back in the hospital and still weak after his second round of chemotherapy. He will need at least one more round. Even then, his doctor, Robert Wehbie, said he has a 50 percent chance of a full recovery. "If he hadn't been getting the care he's getting, he wouldn't be alive," Wehbie said. In Mexico, Suárez would never have been able to afford the medical intervention he is receiving free at WakeMed. Though the hospital won't say how much the treatment costs, WakeMed wrote off $100 million in charity care this past fiscal year.



Last Sunday, members of St. Francis dropped by some Christmas gifts: a tree to hang in the window, a cowboy hat and 20 quarters bearing the state symbols. Suárez is collecting all 50.

On Friday, Father Ray visited. Today, Mintel and his daughters, Chloe, 11, and Rachel, 9, will also drop in.



As he lies in the hospital waiting for his red blood cell count to rise, Suárez has a gift he didn't have before -- hope. His friends, members of St. Francis of Assisi, were also given a gift -- the true meaning of Christmas.



Summarized by Copernic Summarizer

Action Call: : Demand cleaner, cheaper energy now

I just took action to encourage the Senate Energy Committee to use renewable sources to lower the cost energy.  Will you join me?

 

Right now the Senate is poised to make a big mistake by overlooking renewable energy sources in favor of dirty, expensive, foreign fossil fuels.  We need your help to convince them to reduce our energy bills and increase renewable energy usage at the same time! 

 

Senator Pete Domenici from New Mexico is the Chairman of the Senate Energy Committee and he wants to hear YOUR ideas on the best way to bring down the cost of natural gas before January 7th. 

 

Click the link below to tell Senator Domenici that the best way to reduce energy costs is to increase the use of solar, wind, and other renewable sources of energy! 
http://www.saveourenvironment.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=12918

 

You may have noticed the skyrocketing cost of natural gas (prices have doubled in the past four years!)  This huge increase has the Senate working on ways to lower the cost of natural gas, but unfortunately, it looks like their "solution" won't include using renewable energy to lower costs.

 

It would be a big mistake to overlook renewable energy as part of a solution to this problem.  Not only is renewable energy good for the environment, it's also good for our wallets!  Almost everyone agrees that fossil fuels will become more and more expensive over time, while renewable energy will become cheaper and cheaper.  Solar and wind power offer stable, predictable alternatives to dirty fossil fuels and will lower your energy bill over time.
 
The big energy companies and their allies in Congress are calling for more natural gas subsidies, more drilling, more imported natural gas, and more coal fired power plants.  But these "solutions" are merely a band aid for a bigger problem - we're already too dependent on non-renewable fossil fuels!

 

Click the link below to tell Senator Domenici that we need real solutions to the skyrocketing cost of natural gas, not subsidies for big energy companies!
http://www.saveourenvironment.org/action/index.asp?step=2&item=12918

 

The deadline to submit comments in January 7, 2005, so submit your comments today!

 

Thanks for your help!

Talk about a lesson in tolerance

Lessons from Noah's Ark

My internet buddies send me some of the greatest messages.



Everything I need to know about life, I learned from Noah's Ark



One: Don't miss the boat.

Two: Remember that we are all in the same boat.

Three: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.

Four: Stay fit. When you're 600 years old, someone may ask you to do something really big.

Five: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.

Six: Build your future on high ground.

Seven: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.

Eight: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.

Nine: When you're stressed, float a while.

Ten: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.

Eleven : No matter the storm, when you are with God, there's always a rainbow waiting...

Food Pantries Enjoy Feast

Food Pantries Enjoy Feast

by Amy Gardner

Published: Dec 23, 2004

 

The News & Observer

Raleigh - Durham- Cary - Chapel Hill

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/v-printer/story/1956452p-8322432c.html

Summary:

Anthony Brooks of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina keeps inventory at the organization's Raleigh warehouse.

Full-size tractor-trailers beep loudly as they ease up to the loading dock with full cargos of sweet potatoes and bananas.

Food pantries and soup kitchens relish their busyness this time of year.

But they also worry, because hunger is not a seasonal problem.

"This is the giving season," said Mary Frances Goddard, co-chairwoman of the Fuquay-Varina Emergency Food Pantry, which donates groceries to 250-300 families each month and adds about 25 more families during the holidays.

The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina estimates that 375,000 people are at risk of hunger in its 34-county service area.

What's more, those who fight hunger say, the federal food stamps program doesn't always meet the needs of low-income families.

That's one reason why, on Tuesday, Sylvia Wiggins of the Helping Hand Mission showed up at Haywood's apartment with a brimming box of groceries -- including a frozen turkey for the holidays.

"I think I got you a ham out in the van, too," Wiggins said to Haywood, heading back out the door at the Walnut Terrace public-housing complex, just south of downtown Raleigh.

In October, grocery-store-sponsored food drives at the State Fair draw in thousands of pounds of nonperishable goods.

Some even worry that the publicity of holiday-time food drives gives the public a false sense that hunger is not the year-round problem that it is.

"We have established a great network of food pantries, food banks, soup kitchens and so on," said Shirley Williams-McClain, who heads the North Carolina Hunger Network.

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Summarized by Copernic Summarizer

Visit http://www.pointofview316.com/make_a_difference.htm for information any ways to fight hunger throughout the year