Taxing Working-Poor Families
By Fred Kammer, S.J.
Dr. Martin Luther King's Enduring Challenge to Fund American Promises!
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<p>"It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note in so far as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check: a check which has come back marked “insufficient funds.”</p>
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By Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.
Book Review: Jane H. Hill, The Everyday Language of White Racism
By Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.
Whatsoever you do...
<p>Today in our society, immigration is a most complex subject that arouses many heated discussions. While there may be valid arguments on both sides of the fence, as disciples of Jesus Christ our first and foremost concern must be for the welfare of the migrant, a human person like ourselves who comes in search of food and sustenance, arriving here “thirsty after crossing merciless deserts, naked after being robbed even of their clothing by smugglers at the border, sick from heat-related illnesses, imprisoned in the detention centers.”<a id="_ftnref1" title="" href="#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1">1</a> Whatsoever we do to them, we do to Jesus, for the immigrant in our midst is the very presence of Christ among us.</p>
<p>In 2006, to stop the flow of undocumented immigrants, Congress passed the Secure Fence Act authorizing the plan to construct a multi-billion dollar fence across hundreds of miles of the southern border of the United States.</p>
Immigration realities and the call of the Gospel
By Anna Alicia Chavez, M.Th. , Migration Specialist
Wage Theft and Worker Exploitation
<p>Wage theft occurs when workers are underpaid or not paid. It is illegal. Millions of workers suffer from wage theft each year. It is a form of theft and also exploitation by those in power of those with much less power—usually the poor, women, undocumented workers, and especially those in apparel and textile manufacturing, personal and repair services, and in private households. Child care workers are particularly vulnerable to wage theft. Wage theft also creates an uneven field between honest and dishonest employers, and it robs government of tax revenue, thus harming all of us.</p>
How unscrupulous employers steal from poor workers
by Fred Kammer, S.J.
You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brethren or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns; you shall give him his hire on the day he earns it, before the sun goes down (for he is poor, and sets his heart on it); lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin in you. Deuteronomy 24:14-15
Wage Theft and Exploitation
Gulf South Children at the Bottom of 2009 KIDS COUNT Report
African-American and Hispanic Children Even Worse Off
By Fred Kammer, S.J.
In its report released July 28, 2009, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 20th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book reveals once again the serious plight of children in the five Gulf South states. Together, Mississippi (50th), Louisiana (49th), and Alabama (48th) ranked last in the ratings, and both Florida (36th) and Texas (34th) were in the bottom third of U.S. states in the condition of their children.
Prison Doesn’t Pay
<p>The Gulf South states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, and Florida rank 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 respectively for the rate of adult incarceration among all fifty states. The growth in the incarceration rate among Gulf South states between 1982 and 2007 is also high: Louisiana (272%), Mississippi (256%), Texas (203%), Alabama (176%), and Florida (127%). This growth is highly significant for the associated increases in federal and state correctional costs, diminishing returns for public safety, and exacerbating racial inequities.</p>
Gulf States Need to Shift Public Policy and Funding from Incarceration to Alternatives
By Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.
The Gulf South states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, and Florida rank 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 respectively for the rate of adult incarceration among all fifty states. The growth in the incarceration rate among Gulf South states between 1982 and 2007 is also high: Louisiana (272%), Mississippi (256%), Texas (203%), Alabama (176%), and Florida (127%).
Hijacking Health Care for All--Again!
<p>The current effort to reform our health care system recalls the failure of the 1990s. The U.S. bishops have urged reform since 1919. Powerful interests combined to block reform in the last decade and they are committed to doing so again. In the early nineties, some thirty-two to thirty-four million Americans were without health coverage. Since then the number of uninsured has grown by about a million people a year and now is estimated to be forty-seven million without health care (and a whopping 86 million uninsured at some point in the 2007-2008 period)! The bishops repeatedly have reminded us that health care is a fundamental human right, one which we all share and which we all have a duty to promote for the common good. That right should shape the contours of the national debate and not the kind of self-interests and misleading information which abounds. Real reform must deal with at least several key issues simultaneously: access, costs, coverage, and quality. The current system fails to do so.</p>
Millions of Gulf South Children and Families without Health Coverage
By Fred Kammer, S.J.
The Quest for National Health Care Reform
Pope's new social encyclical
<p>On July 7th, 2009, the Vatican released the third encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI entitled Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), which focuses on integral human development in a globalizing world now in economic crisis. Touted as his first “social encyclical,” the document actually builds on the emphasis on love in his first encyclical letter, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), which itself addressed the mission of charity and justice of the Church.</p>
<p>The encyclical prompted a barrage of short commentaries the first day or two after the encyclical, many of which seemed to reflect more of the ideas of the commentators than those of the pope. Today, the Jesuit Social Research Institute releases two lengthy commentaries on the encyclical.</p>
Two commentaries
On July 7th, 2009, the Vatican released the third encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI entitled Caritas in Veritate (Charity in Truth), which focuses on integral human development in a globalizing world now in economic crisis. Touted as his first “social encyclical,” the document actually builds on the emphasis on love in his first encyclical letter, Deus Caritas Est (God Is Love), which itself addressed the mission of charity and justice of the Church.
Louisiana governor vetoes homeless assistance bill
<p>On July 7, 2009, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal vetoed HB 781, Homeless Assistance and Prevention Act which created the first statewide Director of Homeless Assistance and Prevention, as well as the Interagency Council on Homelessness.</p>
Governor Jindal and proponents disagree over costs
On July 7, 2009, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal vetoed HB 781, Homeless Assistance and Prevention Act which created the first statewide Director of Homeless Assistance and Prevention, as well as the Interagency Council on Homelessness.
A July 7, an Associated Press report by Doug Simpson indicated the following: