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Speak Out!April 2010 -- Social Justice by Ann Ross Recently a part of the name of our organization, "Social Justice," has been making news. Some have decided "social justice" is a code for actually caring for others who have a hard time caring for themselves. And that leads to that naughty word we were taught to duck and cover our heads in fear of--the dreaded "socialism" and the even more scary "communism." So the circular logic goes like this: if you care for others in our society, you're not really a card-carrying selfish capitalist..... you're a dangerous "socialist." My son has recently called me his "Commie Mommy" because of my interest in social justice themes, even though, as a founder of a business, I call myself an "entrepreneur," the ultimate capitalist epithet. I have always loved his humor. As a group, Women's Voices Raised for Social Justice tries to learn more about social justice themes and then work toward fixing injustices. I have a hard time being afraid of that; in fact, I embrace our work. I believe "social justice" is becoming a code for "not right-wing enough," and it's disturbing when zealots distort the meaning of "social justice." So let's pay attention when our group's name gets thrown around. Let's see just who's throwing it around, too, and call them out for misusing our name to obscure their goals. February 2010 -- Payday Loans: Why Should We Care? by Ann Ross Families who borrowed from a payday lender in the past year were more likely to be minorities and single women than their counterparts. They also tended to be younger and have less education and access to other sources of credit. Such loans can hurt borrowers. According to Michelle Corey, president and CEO, Better Business Bureau of Eastern Missouri and Southern Illinois, "Desperate, unknowing people can get caught up in a downward financial spiral and end up in a worse conditions." Here is some information I have compiled from the Missouri Women's Leadership Coalition, Kansas City, MO:
According to the Missouri Better Business Bureau, more than 90 Missouri nursing homes have payday loan operations inside them, allowing the lender to deduct the loan, interest, and fees straight from the paychecks of nursing home workers. The Associated Press reports that the Community Financial Services Association, a national trade association for the payday loan industry, says it knows of no other states with similar arrangements between nursing homes and payday lenders. More information: The Center for American Progress presents information from a Federal Reserve Board study, on its website, http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/03/payday_lending.html November 2009 -- Is Profit All There Is? by Barbara Finch On November 12, 2009, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on a speech given by David Farr, CEO of Emerson, the St. Louis-based maker of electrical equipment. In his speech, to a group of executives attending an industrial outlook conference, Mr. Farr blasted the U.S. government for making it difficult for his company to do business. Citing "cap and trade, medical reform, and labor rules," he complained that "Washington is doing everything....to destroy U.S. manufacturing." Outlining his intention to move jobs to India, China, and other emerging markets, Mr. Farr said, "We as a company today are putting our best people, our best technology and our best investment in these marketplaces to grow. My job is to grow that top line, grow my earnings, grow my cash flow and grow my returns to the shareholders." And, he continued, "I'm not going to hire anybody in the United States. I'm moving." I imagine few of us were aware that Emerson was having such a difficult time. A recent news release from the company was headlined "Emerson Reports Fiscal 2009 Results With Improving Trends in 4th Quarter." The company's 4th quarter sales of $5.3 billion were up 4.6 percent from the 3rd quarter. Emerson generated $2.6 billion of "free cash flow." And last year the company received $43 million in government contracts (that's from the same government that Mr. Farr distains). The 54-year-old Mr. Farr probably isn't suffering personally, either. His compensation last year, including salary, stock options, and other benefits, totaled more than $12 million. It's hard to reconcile Mr. Farr's remarks with the reputation of his company in St. Louis. Emerson is usually thought of as a responsible corporate citizen. In 2007 the Emerson Charitable Trust gave $26.7 million to 2500 charities and non-profit organizations across the country, many of them in St. Louis. On the same day that Mr. Farr's remarks appeared in the paper, Rabbi Mark Shook of Congregation Temple Israel delivered a commentary on KWMU, the St. Louis public radio station. He called for public recognition of companies that "do the right thing." The rabbi said he would like to read about "local entrepreneurs who, in acts of selflessness and courage, forgo the quick buck or windfall profit that came at someone else's expense and put the money back into the community." He would also like to hear about "people who chose not to dodge their tax responsibilities or lobby against tax increases, but chose instead to pay them...because they knew that the city or county needed the money for better roads or schools." One day, two men, two totally different world views. If Mr. Farr's plans are carried out, it seems unlikely that the rabbi will be reading about Emerson in the context of "doing the right thing" for anyone other than Emerson. October 2009 -- Women: Why We Need to Vote Now by Ann Ross When women vote, women win. That's a "theme song" for the Women's Political Caucus, an organization that tries to get good pro-women women elected so eventually (or sooner) we get our half. One of my goals is political parity for women. I truly believe if women were half the decisionmakers sitting around the table when some man says, "Let's start a war," that the women would say in unison, "Are you crazy?" On Tuesday, November 3, we get another opportunity to exercise our hard-won right to vote. We get to decide on 911 upgrades and clean air-no smoking rules. For the ballot in St. Louis City, see the St. Louis Board of Election Commissioner's website. Polls are open 6 am to 7 pm, as usual. September 2009 -- What Will It Take? by Ann Ross Angry mobs at political information sessions? Demonstrators carrying guns, tombstone signs, and Nazi symbols run discussion types like me away. Ugly name-calling and death threats instead of rational discourse? TV shows escalating their usual rudeness into hate talk? I think we all agree our healthcare system is broken. Can't we find honest exchanges of ideas that might fix our health delivery system and redistribute our healthcare dollars more productively? I'm up for finding solutions, not causing anarchy. Didn't the current administration get the buy-in from the medical "players" (hospitals, docs, insurance companies, big pharma) first? They seemed to all agree, and then everything broke apart. I'm disgusted. I'm disgusted with so many myths and outright foolish lies coming from acquaintances who are generally fairly reasonable. I'm disgusted with the use of political whacko tactics and the online lying that shows up in my email. I want solid healthcare for everyone in our country. Period. Screaming at our elected officials isn't the way to get it. Insurance companies, corporations, and political proxy operatives have turned this into a partisan argument instead of working toward consensus. I'm feeling that old red-versus-blue rancor of the political silly season now. And I hate that divisiveness where I'm worried that my golf buddies are too full of ignorant misinformation to talk to. Will it take some outside country's attack or Martians to unite us earthlings? Isn't our broken healthcare system enemy enough to bring us together? When will we ever see our leaders do what is right, rather than what they think will further their careers? What kind of healthcare do we really want to work for? August 2009 -- Know the Truth about Health Care Reform by Mary O'Reilly If you all are getting half as many hysterical messages about the terrible things the proposed health care reform bills will do to us as I am, I'm sorry for you. I think it behooves each of us to know what's true and what isn't, and to pass it on when we do (or at least to know for ourselves). The following sites are all nonpartisan, equal-opportunity debunkers (or corroborators). We owe them a huge debt of gratitude and we need to take advantage of their hard work. This reform effort is far, far too important to not have the facts. These first two sites speak directly to the subject of one of the more ubiquitous messages flying around at the moment (among many other things they get to the bottom of): http://factcheck.org http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/euthanasia.asp This one addresses a message I received a couple of days ago that was filled with accusations about all the "terrible things" the House's version (so far) of a health care reform bill would do to us, if and when it's passed - after being hammered out with the eventual Senate version: http://politifact.com Here are some more very helpful sites specifically about the reform bills currently under consideration: A worthwhile overview -- text-only, or print link, or full page article with interesting sidebars A really lucid and simple site on which to discover high-level facts re: healthcare http://www.nchc.org/facts/coverage.shtml Here's the White House effort to clear the air: http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/RealityCheck July 2009 -- Time to Fix Health Care by Judy Arnold Ever since I had to go on the Medicare Part D drug program, I've asked, What happens when you pick a plan-carefully checking to be sure all your drugs are covered-and then your doctor prescribes something not in the plan's formulary? No one could ever give me an answer. Well, I got an answer when my physician prescribed a medication not covered by my insurance company. The saga began on May 26 and ended on June 23. The denial of coverage led to an appeal, which made for a lot of bother for a slew of people: me, my doctor, my doctor's "insurance person," my pharmacy's staff, and my insurance carrier's employees. I can only imagine the hundreds of dollars wasted on phone calls, forms, and staff time-probably enough to cover my prescription several times over. To make a long story short, after denying the drug and then approving it and then again denying it because I was to take it twice a day, my insurance company did finally agree to cover it and pay $320 of the cost for a one-month supply. That left $80 for me to pay out-of-pocket. A lot of money. But, even worse, I knew that the full monthly cost of $400 would be applied to my "initial coverage period," driving me close to the "donut hole," or coverage gap. Once in the hole, I would have to pay more than $4,000 out-of-pocket before insurance would again kick in. So, since my condition is not life-threatening at this point, I chose not to fill the prescription. I've always believed that it's dangerous to have pharmaceutical and insurance companies guiding the provision of health care. Now I'm even more certain that it's time for lawmakers to allow Medicare to negotiate prices with drug companies. It's time for Congress to pass meaningful reform that eliminates wasteful administrative spending and focuses on patients, and not on protecting the extravagant profits of the insurance companies. It's time for Congress to start serving the people's interests and stop playing politics with health care. June 2009 -- North St. Louis Plan Raises Questions by Barbara Finch For many thoughtful people throughout the St. Louis area, it's hard to know what to think about developer Paul McKee's proposal to re-make the entire near north side of the city. Like the city itself, McKee has his supporters and his detractors. Now that his dream (or his scheme, depending on how you think about it) has been made public, conversations about the future of north St. Louis are finally being held. Many of these conversations are likely to include the words, "Yes, but" or "On the other hand." It's the contradictions, as well as the massive scope of this project, that make it so difficult to grasp. On the one hand, most of north St. Louis cries out for attention. Many properties, especially those in the 5th and 19th wards, are a mess. On the other hand, many of them are a lot messier now than they were five years ago, when McKee began his buying spree. . So north St. Louis is ripe for development, has been for many years, and no one knows this better than the people who live there. And Paul McKee has stepped up to the plate, investing $46 million of his own money to purchase property to make the area a better place to live and work. But on the other hand, is the proposed plan really the kind of development the area needs? Can someone who has admittedly been successful with huge suburban projects, like Winghaven in St. Charles County, be sensitive to the difference between those and the needs of urban dwellers? Wouldn't it have been simpler, easier and less expensive to start small? Neighborhoods in other parts of the city have been slowly re-developed over time, one store, one church, one home at a time. This gives residents a chance to buy into the plan and it gives the developer a chance to prove himself to the people who live in the area. In re-development projects, as in life, outcomes are usually less successful when one person imposes his own personal vision on others. Paul McKee is well-known and highly respected by many in St. Louis. He is a successful businessman, a community leader, a man who has contributed both time and money to a variety of worthy causes. Yes, but: he has deliberately allowed houses, lots and entire blocks to deteriorate. He has refused to meet with many of the people who live in the area. And his neglect of the historic Clemens mansion on Cass Ave. borders on the criminal. "I can't fix it up overnight," he has said. But the fact is that he has owned it for five years. It's difficult to reconcile this man's personal reputation with his recent actions that put him in the same class as a slumlord. Finally, there is the issue of the men, women and children who live and work in this area. On the one hand, someone is finally paying attention to them. On the other hand, is this attention in their best interest? Many of them have called north St. Louis home for years and have no desire to live elsewhere. Others have invested time, money and energy into rehabbing homes and businesses. Can they endure 15 more years of uncertainty while their homes and businesses are being surrounded by "employment centers," all under the holy grail umbrella of economic development? The most crucial question arising out of McKee's proposal doesn't involve the streetscape or the highway interchange or the rebuilt sewer system. It involves the people, who have been severely damaged just because they live in north St. Louis. As members of the Board of Aldermen begin their deliberations this summer, they need to write some guarantees into this plan to protect these citizens. A Community Benefits Agreement is a starting point, but only a beginning. City leaders should be encouraged to think creatively about how to minimize future financial damage to residents of the area. Perhaps a re-development plan for existing owners could be carved out. Perhaps a fund could be created to provide low-cost home improvement loans (or at least pay for grass mowing and building maintenance that McKee has neglected). Perhaps some of the tax abatement could be passed along to existing owners. On the one hand, Paul McKee's plan for the development of north St. Louis is indeed transformational. On the other hand, if it is executed as planned, without specific financial, civic and environmental safeguards, it will destroy an important cultural sector of St. Louis, and the people who call that portion of our city "home." May 2009 -- A Solution for North St. Louis? by Ann Ross On the Women's Voices bus tour of three northside neighborhoods--Old North St. Louis, St. Louis Place, and Jeff Vander Lou--on March 14, our two tour guides were North City residents. They showed us empty lots where homes and businesses used to be, the brickworks where brick thieves had traded drugs for used bricks, and the rebuilding 14th Street Crown (Candy) mall. The owner of most of these derelict properties ringed with orange snow-fences is Paul McKee, former owner of Paric Construction Company; he has various straw-company identities. Another property owner is the City Land Clearance agency, which numbers their boarded up properties with white street address numerals but lets the roofs rot. The residents remaining here live in confusion and worry, but no plan, no explanation, no sense comes from elected officials nor news sources. Community meetings include only irate residents, not invited leaders with solutions or plans. I visited some women who work at McCormack Barron Salazar Realty, a three-pronged company that tries to revitalize the St. Louis city one area at a time. They are active in many other cities now in addition to ours. Their company tries to mix housing among various income and rental levels so that poverty is dispersed and living conditions are well controlled by such means as no-drugs policies. Their communities boast exercise rooms, nice playgrounds, and clean streets. Their approach seems to be the antidote to Paul McKee's tear-down spree. For more information on McCormak Barron Salazar Realty, see www.mccormackbaron.com/HTML/stl.html and www.mccormackbaron.com . May 2009 -- Does Voting Mean Anything in Missouri? by Mary Clemons The Missouri State Legislature is ignoring the mandate of its citizens. Perhaps we should remind our legislators that 58% of the voters chose Jay Nixon last November. We voted for change and we voted for Nixon because he promised to restore the Medicaid cuts. Yes, the economy is in crisis, but that does not change the fact that 100,000 low-income people lost their Medicaid coverage. And with the economy in crisis, more people are becoming uninsured. It was disheartening to read in the paper Thursday, February 26, 2009 that the House Budget Committee did not honor the governor's request to make it easier for children to enroll in the state Children's Health Insurance Program. Sixteen thousand more children can be covered by this program, which is funded largely by federal dollars. Our legislators are suggesting we ignore the federal dollars for SCHIP and forgo federal dollars from the economic recovery program because two years from now we may not be able to afford the programs. The reasoning escapes me. Let's let children remain uninsured and not expand the Medicaid for those in need now because we might not be able to maintain them in the programs in the future? Our economy is expected to recover in two years. If it doesn't, let's determine what to do at that time. Meanwhile we will have helped our children receive preventative and needed medical care. I would also like to remind our legislators that 76% of the voters in Missouri voted in 2006 to increase the hourly minimum wage. For workers who receive tips their wages were increased to $3.53. Now our legislators are trying to reduce that wage to $2.13. In the current economy fewer people are going to restaurants and those who do are reducing their tips. Do we care about the people who work in our service industry? Do we care about our children and uninsured neighbors? I am depressed; I am angry; and I wonder if voting means anything in Missouri. April 2 Letter to the Editor in the Post-Dispatch by Susan Hayman I'm mystified as to why the Missouri Legislature is rejecting free money. As I understand it, the federal government is offering money to our state for health care. The hospitals will pay the state's share of the funds. I've already paid taxes to the federal government, so part of their share is my money. But the Missouri Legislature is refusing the money. All the General Assembly needs to do is raise the income guidelines. This translates to $11,000 a year for a family of four. Eleven thousand dollars and some change, to support four people? Housing, groceries, utilities, transportation and medical bills - something has to give. But here's money to help pay those medical bills. This feels like partisan politics at its worst, and we need a clear, logical explanation from our legislators about why they will not accept this money. The perceived fear of 'big government' just isn't good enough, when our neighbors are sick and dying. April 2009 -- St. Louis "Had" by Nancy Cooksey The history of St. Louis can make a good case of how it has often shot itself in the foot and the bullets seem to keep flying. St. Louis HAD a thriving jazz musician community until the late 1950s when our stellar jazz musicians, tired of wrong-headed efforts to squelch their success, left town for welcoming venues elsewhere. St. Louis HAD another thriving jazz, folk music, theater and show community as a result of the development of Gaslight Square after the 1959 tornado damage to that area. But again, protection of this family entertainment venue did not exist and again the musicians who drove its success moved on. St. Louis HAD school buildings with fabulous architectural style, buildings meant to last for generations. But the education that took place inside those buildings was allowed to crumble and has never recovered. St. Louis HAD a system of hospitals ("City 1 and 2") perfectly located in areas within city limits that to this day, even if made more compact, could be providing effective and affordable preventive health care in neighborhoods that need it, and not just to lower income families, but to all families. Regional Hospital was the final brick that was allowed to disintegrate. Those hospitals did not crumble on their own, they were helped to crumble; helped by lack of vision and by lack of facing the facts that preventive health care saves money for all of us. St. Louis LOST far too many fine, brick and other architecturally attractive homes and buildings because it did not make far-sighted plans to protect and encourage their upkeep. St. Louis HAD a chance to incorporate light rail plans into the re-building of Interstate 64 but instead we have only new cement for cars. Now we have a chance to add to some of the positive aspects of St. Louis by expediting the enrollment of children in the SCHIP health insurance program and of re-instating Medicaid to those who qualify. Remember the facts stated above, that prevention of illness and identifying an illness at its onset saves all of us money. Successful management of mental illnesses is highly dependent on early identification and evidence-based treatment. Now we have a chance to oppose the plans to cut the number of school days to 4 per week. We have a chance to put in place visionary plans for our school students that should include educating them in art, music, and classic literature. Ensuring that they learn the skills of reading, composition, and debate. And, of becoming even more creative in providing safe, educational after school hours in our school buildings that sit too idle for too much of the year. Or, will it again be said about St. Louis, that....."St. Louis HAD or LOST......." March 2008 -- A Message to Congress by Ann Ross Does congressional spending make you nervous? It seems to me that it is your duty to do for the citizens what we can't seem to do for ourselves: build and repair roads, maintain public buildings and institutions such as schools, universities, prisons, libraries, parks, etc. When this economy is in the tank, it's time to get our infrastructure put back into running order with public funds, not dither about how much our grandchildren will have to pay to finish Congress's half-done job. If your political opponents put other ideas into this package for the betterment of most of us, such as health care for all, I hope you'll support them in their worthy fight to make our country healthier. We all drink from the same water taps and breathe the same air, so let's clean up our acts. You can help and I hope you do. Please put public money to work, NOW! February 2008 -- Food Pantry Clients Increase 58 Percent by Ann Ross I work every week at the Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry, a program of Jewish Family & Children's Service, just west of Lindbergh and Schuetz Roads. The pantry offers approximately a week's groceries to clients who may come every month. We never turn anyone away. If people say they are hungry, we believe them. We have a simple intake sheet that asks questions we need answered for our various (not enough) funding sources. From 2007 to 2008 we saw a 58% increase in clients. A lot of the increase was toward the end of last year. Lately, we have had many more new clients than usual, as the economic climate has pushed people to their hunger thresholds. We operate out of a small room in the Jewish Family and Children's Services building, where we have a large basement storage area for back-stock. Volunteers fill orders for the walk-in clients, and wheel carts of bagged groceries out a side door to their cars. Clients often carpool, so we have many orders to gather all at once. We also have a delivery van that makes regular runs to deliver food to invalids and to senior housing. We serve clients from over 89 different zip codes. Food stamps do not cover personal care items, so our clients are happy to receive our hotel room give-away bottles of shampoo, soap, and hand lotion. At the moment we're out of toilet paper, canned peas, and beef stew; but when we get low, we often buy the supplies to distribute to our needy clients. If the clients need more food during the month, some will go from pantry to pantry in order to make it thru the month. Some clients come for short rough spots in their lives, and some are hardy regulars. Often these regulars have mental or physical disabilities that keep them from earning enough to survive on their own. Many of our clients use other JF&CS services, especially the services of our wonderful counseling staff. To donate or volunteer: Jewish Family & Children's Service, 10950 Schuetz Rd., 63146; 314-993-1000. December 2008 -- Medicare's Insane Drug Plan by Judy Arnold As I write this, on December 26, I have five days to decide whether to keep my current Medicare Part D drug plan or choose one of the 47 others in Missouri-an opportunity Medicare gives you once a year. Why have I procrastinated so long? First, I was waiting to get information from my current plan?which in 2009 will almost double the monthly premium and copays?and from other insurers. Second, it's been hard to find time to sit down and try to compare the 48 plans. Why is this so difficult? Because the plans are all over the map in the amount of their monthly premiums, annual deductibles, prescription copays (which vary for preferred generics, preferred brands, nonpreferred brands, and specialty drugs), formularies (drugs that are covered), and coverage for the dreaded donut hole. The donut hole is a coverage gap--a truly evil idea that leaves you with no drug coverage once your total prescription costs [those paid by both you and your insurer] reach, in most plans, $2,700, which can happen pretty quickly. Insurance doesn't kick in again until your out-of-pocket outlay brings your costs up to $4,350. Two more complications: Some plans set lower amounts for reaching the donut hole and some plans do offer various types of coverage in the gap, but they charge substantially higher monthly premiums. I realize that prescription drug costs are a big problem for Medicare, but I find it hard to accept this situation when I see the federal government spending billions on an ill-conceived war; being forced to give billions in bailouts to greedy lenders and poorly managed automakers; and caving in to the insurance companies by making it illegal for Medicare to negotiate better prescription drug prices. So now I'll go back to the mountain of advertising brochures, many of them duplicates, I've been receiving over the past few weeks. I'll also try to find some understandable information on the many websites that purport to help the elderly make sense of this insanity. How many billions are wasted by the federal government in creating websites, paying personnel to handle complaints, and printing and mailing literature to "help" us? What nefarious reasons does the government have for not requiring insurance companies to make the plans easily comparable? In short, how much has having all these insurance companies with all their red tape and marketing costs raised the cost of health insurance for everyone, whether on Medicare or not? I pray that in the new year, reason will prevail. We'll finally acknowledge that health care is a right and that government should and can do much better by its citizens. In the meantime, I'm leaning toward a plan that appears to be much cheaper than my current one. But the catch is, the formulary includes fewer drugs. What if next year I should need a new medication that's not covered? There's no way I can sort through the plans, much less predict my future health needs. So I'll take a stab at picking a plan and hope I've chosen the best. I'll never know for sure. November 2008 -- Bring On the Bubbles -- Barbara Finch Remember the dot.com bubble? A lot of people made money; a lot of people lost money, and our country recovered to go on and produce the housing bubble. A lot of people made money, more people lost money, and now we're in the middle of a giant bubble of pain. As we look toward 2009, I'd personally like to see a few more bubbles. For starters, how about an intelligence bubble? Think what might happen if we all woke up one morning and everyone was a lot smarter! We'd realize that our fragile environment is on the verge of collapse. We'd invest time and talent in finding new ways to generate energy. We'd all happily reuse and recycle. We'd learn to live smarter. And how about a compassion bubble? What if we really started looking out for others? What if we made sure that everyone had a place to live, and decent clothes and food, and access to affordable health care? Some might call this "socalism," but I call it doing unto others. And while we're dreaming, how about an understanding bubble? What if we could stop thinking about people who are different as "other"? What if we could come to grips with the fact that the death penalty is state-sanctioned killing? What if we could really believe that one religion is not better than another? It would also be nice to have an ethics bubble, in which our elected officials outdid each other to demonstrate their high moral values. And we could certainly use a peace bubble, in which taking up arms would be the absolute last resort. And finally, I am wishing for an energy bubble. (No, not THAT kind of energy). I'm talking about an infusion of enthusiasm, joy, and zest as we face the seemingly insurmountable problems that loom large today. These are the kinds of bubbles I'd like to bathe in during the coming year. If you'd like to join me in the tub, I'll see you at a Women's Voices meeting. October 2008 -- Will the Poor Ever Be Heard? -- Barbara Finch What does it say about the state of affairs in Missouri when four newspapers, one television station, one radio station, and 19 civic and faith-based organizations in a major metropolitan area can't get the attention of the two leading candidates for governor at the height of the election season? That's what happened when Community Against Poverty, a broad-based coalition of local civic and religious organizations, planned a forum to ask the candidates about their ideas to fight the growing epidemic of poverty in Missouri. Journalists from respected media organizations agreed to pose the questions. However, the candidates were not available to answer. One did not respond to the invitation to participate; the other declined with a form letter. Maybe the problem was scheduling. Or maybe it was pure political calculus: the Democratic candidate felt that he didn't need to show up because the St. Louis metro area is his "base" and he doesn't need to work hard here; the Republican candidate felt like he'd never make inroads in the city so it would be a waste of time for him to come. But perhaps it was the topic that was off-putting. Maybe the candidates don't want to talk about the 740,000 Missourians who live in poverty. Maybe they don't have any ideas about how to increase access to health care, improve housing and education, create jobs and eliminate hunger. Maybe silence is safe. But the question remains: if a group as diverse, powerful, and respected as the one who planned this forum can't get the candidates to respond, what chance is there that the poor can ever be heard? People who live in poverty usually can't form coalitions. They're too busy trying to hold body and soul together and make it one day at a time, sometimes one hour at a time. So, it's up to us to speak up on the issues that impact them. The forum will go on, without the candidates, on Wednesday, September 24, at 7:00 pm at the Missouri History Museum. Come and learn the heartbreaking facts, and then be prepared to speak out. After all, that's why we're called Women's Voices. September 2008 -- Saddleback Would Horrify Constitution's Drafters -- Mary O'Reilly First Amendment of the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution: "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof......." The Founding Fathers of the great experiment that is our nation were the children of the Age of Enlightenment. The men who drafted the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights were deeply concerned with avoiding the sort of repression that the joining of the State with a particular religious viewpoint engendered in England and other European countries. The "establishment clause" of the Bill of Rights was intended to protect every citizen's right to worship his/her God as he or she saw fit. Or, of equal importance to that group of skeptics, to NOT worship if that was their choice. While "Judeo-Christian" principles are part of the collective Western knowledge base, they were not the only principles at work on the minds of the Founders and their intention was never to found a "Christian" nation in preference to any other religion. Our nation's laws have subsequently been written with the aim of keeping a distance between religion and politics, in order to protect the intent of the Founders, and the religious freedom of the citizens of the United States. Our politics in the last several election cycles have lost sight of this deeply important principle. The Founders would be appalled after the recent event at the Saddleback Church in California! The idea that the two candidates for president of the United States would agree to appear before the world in a Christian church and respond to questions about their relationship with Jesus Christ is deeply shocking and utterly inappropriate. Candidates are not meant to have to pass a religious litmus test. That is completely wrong and very troubling. My first response to the news that McCain and Obama had agreed to this event was that they would need to also appear at the churches of other Christian denominations and at Jewish Temples and Islamic Mosques and the houses of worship of Hindus, Buddhists, American Indians, and all other religious organizations. That might have softened the offensive nature of the Saddleback event somewhat. But the question about the candidates' relationship with Jesus really put the entire issue beyond the realm of being acceptable under the Constitution. I understand that Senator Obama may believe that he needs to counter the pernicious rumors that continue to be circulated about his religion, but both candidates need to be constantly mindful of the principle of separation of Church and State. To do otherwise is very dangerous territory. I am going to write to the campaigns and tell them so, and I suggest you consider doing the same: http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/contact2 http://www.johnmccain.com/Contact/ August 2008 -- Less Isn't More -- Barbara Finch This summer my husband and I spent a weekend at a retreat center in the mountains of North Carolina, where a group of youngsters was also having a camping experience. In the dining hall, there was a large poster on the wall above the garbage cans, where the children scraped their plates and put their silverware in tubs of soapy water. The poster was titled "The Ort Report." (The word "ort," as those who work crossword puzzles know, is defined as a leftover scrap of food.) Children at this camp were permitted to serve themselves from a buffet line, and camp counselors were trying to teach them to take only the food they would eat on their plates. To obtain "the ort report," table scraps were measured and the leftover quantities were graphed on the poster. The chart revealed that the children had gone from a few gallons of leftovers at the start of camp to just over a quart a day near the end. Clearly, the kids were learning to take only what they wanted and could eat, and not waste food. I've thought about "the ort report" a lot lately as I've eaten in restaurants and been astounded at the amount of food that is frequently served. My husband recently ordered a pasta entree and received a bowl, the size of a vegetable bowl, filled with at least a pound of cooked spaghetti. In another restaurant I ordered, from the appetizer menu, a crab cake sandwich called a "slider." When it appeared, I was astounded to see not one, not two, not three, but FOUR sandwich buns, each filled with at least a quarter-pound of faux crabmeat. If it had been any good, I could have made four lunches out of it. Much has been written about the super-sizing of Americans from a health standpoint, but food waste is clearly a social justice issue. Food that is served to customers and comes back into the kitchen cannot be donated to a food pantry. (When we were in China, we were told that leftover food is fed to the pigs, but I doubt that happens in St. Louis.) This culture of casual over-consumption is harmful to us and to the environment. We've become complacent about what we order and what we eat. In homage to business competition, we've encouraged restaurants to serve us more food for less money. And while we have become overstuffed, others in our community are forced to visit food pantries. We need to think carefully about the resources we consume, and those we throw away. There are ways to cope with restaurant overkill: split entrees with another person, order from the appetizer menu, or take your "orts" home for another meal. Until restaurant owners learn that more isn't better, we're going to have to learn how to be careful, thoughtful, deliberate diners. I have two suggestions: (1) cook and eat at home, or (2) buy a pig. August 2008 -- Judy Arnold Last week, I went to renew a prescription for which I had previously been charged a $20 copay. I had recently lost my retiree insurance and had just changed to a Medicare Part D plan (a story in itself). I was shocked when I was told my copay would now be $52. As I was resignedly taking out my credit card, I suddenly decided not to capitulate right away. I went home and called my doctor to find out if I could take something cheaper and was told that there was a generic for the brand-name medication I had been taking. I was furious! I went back to my pharmacy set to do battle because I'd been paying for that higher-priced brand-name for months. Fortunately, I was polite to the pharmacist as I inquired about why I hadn't been told about the generic (I knew that this pharmacy's policy was to inform clients about available generics). She checked my records and found that my former insurance company had a special contract with the maker of the brand-name product and would not allow the pharmacy to offer the generic to its subscribers. But my new insurance plan had no such constraint, so now I could get the generic drug for a $4 copay! I saved $48. This time, things came out in my favor, because I challenged the system, but what about the very elderly or very sick who don't have the energy or ability to fight back? In our opaque health care delivery nonsystem, there are just too many variables for people, especially the weakest, to make truly informed health care choices. Surely, as members of the richest society in the world we can do more to hold politicians accountable for preventing our country from creating a sane, open system for delivering care fairly to everyone--the well, the sick, the well-off, the poor, the young, the old. It is simply the ethical thing to do. But it is also the thing to do if we want to have a productive society in an increasingly competitive global economy. It is time for us to join the other developed countries and treat health care as a basic human right, not an optional consumer good. |
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