Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: LaRouche Warned, When Everybody Was in Denial

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/21/palin.rape.exams/?ire f=hpmostpop

Excerpts From the CNN article:

" Interviews and a review of records turned up no evidence that Palin knew that rape victims were being charged in her town. But Croft, the former state representative who sponsored the law changing the practice, says it seems unlikely Palin was not aware of the issue. "

_________________________

" During the time Palin was mayor of Wasilla, her city was not the only one in Alaska charging rape victims. Experts testified before the Legislature that in a handful of small cities across Alaska, law enforcement agencies were charging victims or their insurance "more than sporadically."

One woman who wrote in support of the legislation says she was charged for her rape exam by a police department in the city of Juneau, which is hundreds of miles from Wasilla.

But Wasilla stood out. Tara Henry, a forensic nurse who has been treating rape victims across Alaska for the last 12 years, told CNN that opposition to Croft's bill from Wasilla Police Chief Charlie Fannon was memorable.

"Several municipal law enforcement agencies in the state did have trouble budgeting and paying for the evidence collection for sexual assault victims," Henry said. "What I recall is that the chief of police in the Wasilla police department seemed to be the most vocal about how it was going to affect their budget." "

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" After it became law, Wasilla's police chief told the local paper, The Frontiersman, that it would cost the city $5,000 to $14,000 a year -- money that he'd have to find.

"In the past, we've charged the cost of the exams to the victim's insurance company when possible," Fannon was quoted as saying. "I just don't want to see any more burden on the taxpayer."

He suggested the criminals should pay as restitution if and when they're convicted. Repeated attempts to reach Fannon for comment were unsuccessful. "

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" Judy Patrick, who was Palin's deputy mayor and friend, blames the state.

"The bigger picture of what was going on at the time was that the state was trying to cut their own budget, and one of the things that they were doing was passing on costs to cities, and that was one of the many things that they were passing on, the cost to the city," said Patrick, who recalls enormous pressure to keep the city's budget down.

But the state was never responsible for paying the costs of local investigations. Patrick was also a member of Wasilla City Council, and she doesn't recall the issue coming before council members, nor does she remember discussing the issue with Palin.

She does recall Palin going through the budget in detail. She said Palin would review each department's budget line by line and send it back to department heads with her changes.

"Sarah is a fiscal conservative, and so she had seen that the city was heading in a direction of bigger projects, costing taxpayers more money, and she was determined to change that," Patrick said.

Before Palin came to City Hall, the Wasilla Police Department paid for rape kits out of a fund for miscellaneous costs, according to the police chief who preceded Fannon and was fired by Palin. That budget line was cut by more than half during Palin's tenure, but it did not specifically mention rape exams. "

World Hunger and Poverty: How They Fit Together

• 862 million people across the world are hungry, up from 852 million a year ago. ³
  

• Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes--one child every five seconds. ¹²

• In essence, hunger is the most extreme form of poverty, where individuals or families cannot afford to meet their most basic need for food. ¹
  
  
• Hunger manifests itself in many ways other than starvation and famine. Most poor people who battle hunger deal with chronic undernourishment and vitamin or mineral deficiencies, which result in stunted growth, weakness and heightened susceptibility to illness. ¹
  
  
• Countries in which a large portion of the population battles hunger daily are usually poor and often lack the social safety nets we enjoy, such as soup kitchens, food stamps, and job training programs. When a family that lives in a poor country cannot grow enough food or earn enough money to buy food, there is nowhere to turn for help. ¹

Facts and Figures on Population

• Today our world is home to 6.6 billion people. ²
  
  
• The United States is a part of the high-income group of nations, which consists of about 65 countries with a combined population of about 1 billion, less than one sixth of the world’s population.  ⁴
• In contrast, approximately 4.7 billion people live in low and middle-low income economies. This world, earning under $3,705 GNI per capita, is made up of about 99 low and middle-income countries in which people generally have a lower standard of living with access to fewer goods and services than people in high-income countries. ⁴

Facts and Figures on Hunger and Poverty

• In 2005, almost 1.4 billion people lived below the international poverty line, earning less than $1.25 per day. ⁹
• Among this group of poor people, many have problems obtaining adequate, nutritious food for themselves and their families. As a result, 820 million people in the developing world are undernourished. They consume less than the minimum amount of calories essential for sound health and growth. ³
• Undernourishment negatively affects people’s health, productivity, sense of hope and overall well-being. A lack of food can stunt growth, slow thinking, sap energy, hinder fetal development and contribute to mental retardation. ¹
• Economically, the constant securing of food consumes valuable time and energy of poor people, allowing less time for work and earning income. ¹
  
  
• Socially, the lack of food erodes relationships and feeds shame so that those most in need of support are often least able to call on it. ¹
  
  
• Go to the World Food Programme website and click on either "Counting the Hungry" or "Interactive Hunger Map" for presentations on hunger and poverty around the world.

Facts and Figures on Health

• Poor nutrition and calorie deficiencies cause nearly one in three people to die prematurely or have disabilities, according to the World Health Organization. ⁵
• Pregnant women, new mothers who breastfeed infants, and children are among the most at risk of undernourishment. ⁵
• In 2006, about 9.7 million children died before they reached their fifth birthday. Almost all of these deaths occured in developing countries, 4/5 of them in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, the two regions that also suffer from the highest rates of hunger and malnutrition. ⁷
• Most of these deaths are attributed, not to outright starvation, but to diseases that move in on vulnerable children whose bodies have been weakened by hunger. ⁶
  
  
• Every year, more than 20 million low-birth weight babies are born in developing countries. These babies risk dying in infancy, while those who survive often suffer lifelong physical and cognitive disabilities. ¹³

• The four most common childhood illnesses are diarrhea, acute respiratory illness, malaria and measles. Each of these illnesses is both preventable and treatable. Yet, again, poverty interferes in parents’ ability to access immunizations and medicines. Chronic undernourishment on top of insufficient treatment greatly increases a child’s risk of death. ⁶ 
• In the developing world, 26 percent of children under 5 are moderately to severely underweight. 10 percent are severely underweight. 11 percent of children under 5 are moderately to severely wasted, or seriously below weight for one’s height, and an overwhelming 32 percent are moderately to severely stunted, or seriously below normal height for one’s age. ⁷

Facts and Figures on HIV/AIDS

• The spreading HIV/AIDS epidemic has quickly become a major obstacle in the fight against hunger and poverty in developing countries. 
• Because the majority of those falling sick with AIDS are young adults who normally harvest crops, food production has dropped dramatically in countries with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates. ¹⁰
• In half of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa, per capita economic growth is estimated to be falling by between 0.5 and 1.2 percent each year as a direct result of AIDS. ³
• Infected adults also leave behind children and elderly relatives, who have little means to provide for themselves. In 2003, 12 million children were newly orphaned in southern Africa, a number expected to rise to 18 million in 2010. ³
• Since the epidemic began, 25 million people have died from AIDS, which has caused more than 15 million children to lose at least one parent. For its analysis, UNICEF uses a term that illustrates the gravity of the situation; child-headed households, or minors orphaned by HIV/AIDS who are raising their siblings. ¹⁰, ⁸
  
  
• 1 % (ages 15-49) of the world is HIV prevalent (2005 data). ⁴
  
  
• 1.1 % (ages 15-49) of developing countries are HIV prevalent (2005 data). ⁴
  
  
• Approximately 39.5 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in the world. Of this figure, 63 percent live in Sub-Saharan Africa. ³
  
  
• In 2006, 4.3 million people become infected with HIV and 2.9 million people died of AIDS.

Cites and links to source material:

¹  Are We On Track To End Hunger? Hunger Report 2004. Bread for the World Institute. 2004.

²  2007 World Population Data Sheet.  Population Reference Bureau. 2007.

³  State of Food Insecurity in the World 2006.  Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. 2006.

⁴ World Development Indicators 2007. The World Bank. March 2007.

⁵  "Malnutrition". World Health Organization.

⁶ State of Food Insecurity in the World 2002. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.   

⁷   State of the World's Children 2008--Child Survival. UNICEF. January 2008.  

^{8  "}Protect and Support Children Affected By HIV/AIDS." UNICEF. March 2006.

⁹   Global Purchasing Power Parities and Real Expenditures. The World Bank. 2005 International Comparison Program. August 2008.

¹⁰  "The Global Challenge of HIV/AIDS." The Population Bulletin Vol. 61, No. 1. Population Reference Bureau. March 2006.

¹¹ 2006 AIDS Epidemic Update. Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS. December 2006.

¹² Black, Robert, Morris, Saul, & Jennifer Bryce. "Where and Why Are 10 Million Children Dying Every Year?" The Lancet 361:2226-2234. 2003.

¹³ Low Birthweight: Country, Regional and Global Estimates. World Health Organization. 2004.

Last updated: August 27, 2008

Hunger persists in the U.S.

• 35.5 million people—including 12.6 million children—live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents more than one in ten households in the United States (10.9 percent). ¹
  
  
• 4.0 percent of U.S. households experience hunger. Some people in these households frequently skip meals or eat too little, sometimes going without food for a whole day. 11.1 million people, including 430 thousand children, live in these homes.¹
  
  
• 6.9 percent of U.S. households are at risk of hunger. Members of these households have lower quality diets or must resort to seeking emergency food because they cannot always afford the food they need. 24.4 million people, including 12.2 million children, live in these homes.¹
  
  
• Research shows that preschool and school-aged children who experience severe hunger have higher levels of chronic illness, anxiety and depression, and behavior problems than children with no hunger. ²

People facing hunger are increasingly turning to the Food Stamp Program for assistance in feeding their families.

• In 2006, the most recent year for which data is available, approximately 38 million people were eligible to participate in the Food Stamp Program. About 65 percent of these actually participated, a rate that has increased by 16 percent since 2001.³ 
  
  
• In 2007, an average of 26.5 million people used food stamps each month.⁶ 
  
  
• Declining poverty and unemployment since 2004 have likely contributed to more economic opportunities for many low-income Americans. The increases in food stamp participation since 2005 may well be the result of successful outreach efforts that have encouraged a greater number of eligible individuals to participate in the program.

Churches and charities are straining to serve rising requests for food from their pantries and soup kitchens, especially from working people.

• The U.S. Conference of Mayors reports that in 2006 requests for emergency food assistance increased an average of 7 percent. The study also found that 48 percent of those requesting emergency food assistance were members of families with children and that 37 percent of adults requesting such assistance were employed. Unemployment, high housing costs, poverty or lack of income, and high medical costs led the list of reasons contributing to the rise.⁴
  
  
• Almost half the cities surveyed in the Mayors' report (45 percent) said they are not able to provide an adequate quantity of food to those in need. And 63 percent of surveyed cities reported they had to decrease the quantity of food provided and/or the number of times people can come to get food assistance. An average of 23 percent of the demand for emergency food assistance is estimated to have gone unmet in the survey cities, up from 18 percent last year.⁴
  
  
• America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest network of food banks, reports an estimated 24 to 27 million people turned to the agencies they serve, as accounted for in their 2006 findings. ⁵

Cites and links to source material:

¹   Household Food Security in the United States, 2005. USDA Economic Research Service. November 2006.

²  Pediatrics,Vol. 110 No. 4. October 2002. 

3  Trends in Food Stamp Participation Rates:1999-2005 . USDA Food and Nutrition Service. June 2007.

⁴  Hunger and Homelessness Survey 2006. US Conference of Mayors. December 2006.

⁵  Hunger in America 2006. America's Second Harvest. March 2006.

⁶  “Food Stamp Program Average Monthy Participation." USDA Food and Nutrition Service. February 2008.

Page last updated: February, 2008

WHEREAS, keeping people in their homes and preventing predatory lending practices are values long supported by the Democratic Party, and are present in the rights established in the general welfare clause in the Preamble of our Constitution; and

WHEREAS, the projected number of foreclosures in 2007 is up to two million homes (John Burns Real Estate Consulting, May 22, 2007), many due to unethical lending practices; and

WHEREAS, the collapse of hedge funds, e.g., Bear Stearns, heavily invested in sub-prime mortgages, threatens to set off a chain reaction collapse of the Mortgage Backed Securities (MBS) and Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDO) markets, jeopardizing many national programs such as student loans and pensions, causing ultimately, the blow out of the global monetary and financial system;

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the California Democratic Party ask the California Congressional delegation to lead the way in creating governmental institutions whose purpose is to direct credit and other lending organizations to keep people in their homes, in a manner similar to Franklin Roosevelt's Home Owners Loan Corporation; and

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/09/the-story-be hin.html

Biden's story of his helicopter in afghanistan being 'forced down'

Obama has been running ads lately stating that women should get equal pay to men, which is most definitely a just cause.  That's what makes this article so surprising.

http://news.aol.com/political-machine/2008/09/13/mccain-pays -female-staffers-better-than-obama/

Obama's 28 male staffers divided among themselves total payroll expenditures of $1,523,120. Thus, Obama's average male employee earned $54,397.

Obama's 30 female employees split $1,354,580 among themselves, or $45,152, on average.

On average, Obama's female staffers earn just 83 cents for every dollar his male staffers make. This figure certainly exceeds the 77-cent threshold that Obama's campaign website condemns. However, 83 cents do not equal $1.

By contrast, female employees of Sen. John McCain fare much better. They actually average more in salary, $55,878, than their male counterparts. Women in McCain's Senate office make $1.04 for every dollar men take home. Furthermore, LegiStorm's figures show that McCain places more women in positions of influence than Obama does.