Salem-News.com Poverty articles Page 22

Buyer Beware Of Prayer

Do your research, don't waste money on religious facilities or materials that are needless.

(LOS ANGELES) - There is no question that western religion and money go hand in hand. For many the church is represented by the passing of the plate; the expectation that you more or less have to pay to be there.

This is not the plan of God, this is the plan of man. Of course there are reasons to support a religious institution that you know turns around and helps others with those funds.

Votes and Money on the Unemployment Benefits Bill

MAPLIGHT.org examines votes and money on Unemployment Benefits Bill for each member of the House.

(BERKELEY, Calif.) - An analysis by MAPLight.org, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization, found that interest groups supporting HR 4213, the unemployment benefits bill, gave, on average, $42,687 to members of the House voting 'Yes' compared to $13,586 to members voting 'No,' or three times more.

Interest groups opposing the bill gave, on average, $26,239 to 'No' votes and $20,549 to 'Yes' votes.

19 Organizations Tell Obama: Share Goldman Sachs Settlement With Struggling Homeowners

Letter Calls For Treasury’s Share of Settlement to Go to Principal Reduction, Mortgage Counseling, Reclaiming Foreclosed Homes as Affordable Housing.

(BERKELEY, Calif.) - In a letter sent Friday to President Obama and Secretary of the Treasury Timothy Geithner, a coalition of 19 organizations led by the Greenlining Institute call the just-announced settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Goldman Sachs “disappointing,” arguing that it “does nothing for struggling homeowners.”

The settlement as announced contains no aid for homeowners struggling to avert foreclosure.

Hungry Children

One out of 7 children born in underdeveloped countries is sentenced to die before reaching the age of 5.

(MADRID) - Every 6 seconds a child of less than 5 years dies of hunger. Every 3 minutes 30 children die from pauperization.

According to a report published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), 6 million children of less than 5 years suffer from malnutrition every year. More than 180 million children of less than 10 years suffer from hunger, because they do not have anything to eat.

Civil Society Asks Government to Liberate Afghan Citizens

Groups seek freedom from the burdens of corruption by passing an Act of Access to Information.

(KABUL, Afghanistan) - According to a recent survey in 2010, bribery has doubled in the last three years and amounts close to one billion dollars.

The lack of information provides a prosperous environment for corruption, bribery and deprives citizens from accessing public services provided by the Afghan government and foreign assistance.

There`s No Future Without Learning From the Past

Starvation so severe that bodies were piled onto trucks every day and people resorted to cannibalism: a family story of the Soviet Famine that began in 1932.

(SACRAMENTO) - 1933 was the year of the worst nightmare from which so many didn’t wake up. My father was a talented man. He could fix anything, build anything.

Today you would probably call him a jack of all trades. Before 1933 came, he had already lost his first wife and a son. Left with 2 kids, he married my mother and had a big family.

Innovation of the Week: Slow and Steady Irrigation Wins the Race

Since installing her own drip kit, Elizabeth has seen her income rise to between Z$1 million (US$10) and Z$4 million (US$40) per week.

(ZIMBABWE) - After Elizabeth Samhembere’s husband passed away in 2004, she struggled to feed her family. A small-scale farmer in Zimbabwe, Elizabeth had trouble getting water to her crops, and her children were too young to help with the labor-intensive task of irrigating the vegetables and strawberries she grew.

Improving Farmer Livelihoods and Wildlife Conservation

The latest good news from West Africa.

(OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso) - Earlier this month, we highlighted Nicholas Kristof’s op-ed in the New York Times about Gabon, a country in West-Central Africa where the rights of farmers are frequently in conflict with wildlife conservation efforts.

One young village chief and farmer, Evelyn Kinga explained that she doesn’t like elephants because they eat her cassava plants—a crop her livelihood depends on—because she doesn’t benefit from rich foreigners who come to Gabon for eco-tourism.

Innovations that Nourish the Planet

Feeding Communities by Focusing on Women‏.

(DAKAR, Senegal) - Revolutionary conspiracy theorists within the southwest hemisphere could be getting closer to connecting the graphic dots of murder and violence with impunity, narcotics trafficking as revenue, and an ideology that seeks to go beyond just financial enrichment and wealth.

Mexico's Los Zetas movement is becoming clearly more violent, using direct military confrontation and intimidation in attempts at neutralizing government and taking control of national territory.

Lives Lived and Lost in Time- Remembering Chatila

When will the time come when justice is addressed for this outrage against humanity?

(TRIPOLI) - As I walked the alleyways of Chatila yesterday, I could not help but reflect on the consequences of the mentality that justified it or the consequences caused by those devastated by it.

As I wait here 30 years later to board a boat to defy the Israeli’s continuing occupation and oppression of the Palestinian people in Gaza, I cannot avoid the reality on the ground that Israel has created.