Social Justice

Harbor to the Bay is a one day bike ride from Boston to Provincetown that improves community awareness and care for people living with HIV and AIDS. Their mission is to give 100% of what they raise to beneficiaries! No politics, no elaborate production and no bull! — just a dedicated group of individuals who want to ride and make a difference in our community. This is a grass roots initiative, and we are solely run by volunteers!

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Beck’s Cafe supporter and fellow coffee swiller, June, will be in the ride making her butt sore for this great cause.   Who’s June?  Why none other than Fenway Women’s Dinner Co-Chair that ‘s which June!   So here’s what I need my loyal and long-suffering readers to do:  Sponsor Her.  Yep, crack open those wallets boys and girls!  Here’s the link to get to her sponsor page and support a great cause: June’s Harbor to the Bay Sponsor Page

It’s law.  Or at least it’s been agreed to by the House of Representatives after having been approved by the Senate in December.  So now the health care bill goes to the President to sign.

Here’s a bit of news coverage to bring you up to speed here:

CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/03/22/health.care.main/index.html?hpt=T1

Foxnews: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/03/21/house-leaders-make-impassioned-pleas-final-health-care-vote/

On both the Democrat and the Republican side there were many facts and many non-facts.  We’ve got some reading for you to hopefully steer your way through the morass of fogginess at FactCheck.org Among their findings:

• Premiums? Some health care premiums will increase and some will decrease.  Basically, for those who get insurance through their employer, it does not appear as though it will change; for those who can afford to buy their own insurance, it may change 10 to 13%
• Government  Run? When the BBC asked a Republican House Member today on an interview if this was in fact a Government  takeover for the U.S. Healthcare he said, “well, it’s about where we are going with healthcare”.   So what is the deal?   Well it is not government run nor aimed in that way.  And that fact made alot of liberal Democrats angry as a caffeine addict being served de-caff coffee here at Beck’s Cafe.   See Fact Check for the straight perk.
• You Can Keep Your Old Plan? Well President Obama really didn’t give it to us straight on that one.  Under this plan employers may drop employees and plans (as they can today anyway by the way); but there’s a safety net here that let’s people dropped from their employers roles buy their own plans.  See Fact Check for the inforama.
• Some plans are taxed: And what is up with THAT?  Well here’s the scoop – there’s a 40 percent tax on the value of plans above $10,200 for individuals and $27,500 for families, starting in 2018. The tax falls on insurers, but would be passed along to policyholders one way or another.  The tax would affect mainly nonunion workers, according to an analysis partly authored by a former Bush adviser.”  See Fact Check for the full report on this one.

Here is the link to Fact Check’s coverage:  A Final Weekend of Whoppers? Health care legislation coverage.

There’s alot we need to sit down and understand over way more coffee than this.  What about women’s reproductive rights?  What about breast cancer screening?  Are trans-persons helped or at least not-hindered by this legislation?  Lots of questions and we’ll have some follow up in the coming days.

When I think of hunger for a group of people I don’t split the people up between men and women or adults and children. I just think of a mass of people starving. But not so. These statistics on women and hunger may surprise you ad they did me:

• 60% of the worlds chronically hungry people are women and girls
• And yet 8 out of 10 people involved in farming in Africa, and 6 out of 10 in Asia are women
• In one of three households in the world, women are the sole breadwinners
• Babies born to hungry mothers are 20% more likely to die in infancy and those who survive face a childhood of continual malnourishment and being victims of diseases
• A woman or girl will re-invest 90% of her income into her family while a man will only re-invest 30% to 40%

So a strategy is being rolled out, selectively and by hunger program, to target the women and girls. The data seems to support this as the best way to positively effect the whole problem. I’m not sure this is a universal approach, but, given the extent of the problem it appears to be a new angle in process that might make a real dent.

You can read more at Causecast at the article: Empowering Women as an Effective Way to Fight Global Hunger

Photo courtesy of Pulguta’s Photos

I remember when my library card was one of my most cherished possessions and it still is!  While the internet and Google Books opens up alot of reading to me, there’s nothing quite like the experience of going to the library and browsing, and then reading a book or magazine in a quiet place dedicated to books.   But that reading is more important than just for the enjoyment.  It’s about education, opening minds, and giving people a chance to grow and Room to Read is all about that.

Room to read, from their web site:

Over 300 million children around the world do not have access to education and most likely will never learn to read or write. Room to Read believes that all children, regardless of gender or background, have a right to education. By empowering children through this lifelong gift, we see a world in which people are able to realize their full potential.

Room to Read had its humble origins in Nepal in 2000, where we began bringing donated books to rural communities. Today, we are a global organization dedicated to promoting and enabling education through four core programs.

The importance of reading, according to the University of Michigan, for children is that:

• It improves their chances for success in school itself and in working
• It’s a fun and imaginative activity for children (so it exercises their brains)
• It’s an important way to use language and to communicate

Those are all great goals to help kids anywhere certainly; but helping them in some of the most impoverished places on the planet can be important to start seeing the changes that make for a better world.  Sadly, 2/3 of the 770 million illiterate people in the world are girls and women and Room to Read is an important part in changing that terrible statistic.  You can learn more about this terrific program at their web site Room to Read