Mr. Gralnick's presentation focused on two particular issues impacting older Pennsylvanians: their economic security and emergency preparedness needs. Reviewing the issue of economic security, he stated that "older Pennsylvanians living on fixed incomes are dealing with a rising cost of living that is .... outpacing traditional income supports and measures of income sufficiency." For example, the average Social Security payment for a retired elder in the Commonwealth in 2007 was $12,900, less than 75% of what is needed to cover basic expenses. Other aspects of the economic security issue include the heavy burden for elders of housing and health care costs and the uncertainty of making ends meet if life circumstances change.

On the subject of emergency preparedness for elders, Mr. Gralnick stressed that "preparedness before the emergency is just as important as planning for long-term living is before retirement.".... He pointed out that many of the larger home health agencies have a disaster recovery or continuity of operations plan, but the smaller ones, including senior centers, personal care homes and assisted living facilities, are without such plans.

Finally Mr. Gralnick addressed the importance of "empowering older Pennsylvanians, including those from diverse communities, to stay active and healthy." He urged Secretary Dowd Eisenhower to consider the placement of a video game system, the Nintendo Wii, in senior community centers across the state. He explained that there is "a plethora of anecdotal and qualitative evidence that its system is an excellent tool in ........ promot(ing) healthy and active aging. It also provides an ample opportunity for intergeneration activity between older adults and school-aged children."

In conclusion Mr, Gralnick reminded those present that "JSPAN stands ready to assist the Department (of Aging) in its efforts ..... (to address) the needs and challenges of older Pennsylvanians."

To read Brian Gralnick's testimony before the PA Department of Aging in its entirety, click here.

To read the draft Pennsylvania State Plan on Aging 2008 - 2012, click here.

I was initially asked to be a JSPAN expert on the death penalty, as I have represented those charged with or convicted of capital crimes for the last 22 years. At that time, I resided in North Carolina. In May, 2007, I moved to Pittsburgh, so JSPAN was no longer an organization in another state, but was of my new home state. Therefore, the board asked if I was interested in joining the board itself.

I jumped at the opportunity to help grow and lead a politically progressive organization of Jews who accept the Prophetic command to engage in improving the quality of life of others, to speak up for, to speak out on behalf of, those whose voices can be heard less well than our voices, and to insist that government truly serve all its constituents, even and particularly the least fortunate among us.

I am quite proud of our amicus program, which lends a Jewish voice to important civil rights/civil liberties litigation, to our educational programs, both within the Jewish community and in our larger community as a whole, and I hope that we can expand our lobbying work through the creation of an adjunct 501(c)(4) organization that can engage in more direct political activity. Thanks for the opportunity to introduce myself to our membership and our larger community.

On May 12, 2008, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided the facilities of Agriprocessors in Postville, Iowa. Agriprocessors is the largest processing center for Kosher beef, turkey, lamb, chicken and veal in the United States. In what has been described as the most extensive immigration raid on a single facility in the United States, approximately 400 employees were detained. The raid, as well as previous events, disclosed abuse of child labor laws, failure to pay workers their earnings, and the presence of unsafe working conditions. In March of this year, the Iowa Division of Labor cited Agriprocessors for a broad range of health and safety violations and imposed a fine of $182,000.

As a result of the labor conditions at Agriprocessors disclosed by these events, various Jewish organizations have considered whether to call for a boycott of Agriprocessors’ products. The Jewish Labor Committee has issued a statement urging consumers to seek alternative sources of kosher meat. On May 22, 2008 the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism and the Rabbinical Assembly jointly called “for a thorough evaluation by kosher consumers of the appropriateness of purchasing and consuming meat products produced by [Agriprocessors].” The statement also endorsed the Movement’s Hekhsher Tzdek Commission that seeks to create “an ethical certification process for kosher food.” Students at the liberal Orthodox Yeshivat Chovevei Torah circulated a petition pledging not to consume Agriprocessors’ meat until the company’s practices are changed. The petition asks the company to pay workers at least the federal minimum wage, to abide by laws pertaining to workers’ rights and to treat employees according to Torah standards. Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of the Orthodox Union’s kosher department, the largest certifier of Agriprocessors, said the O.U. was awaiting the outcome of legal proceedings against the company before coming to any decision. If Agriprocessors is found guilty of criminal charges, Rabbi Genack said the O.U. would withdraw its kosher certification.

Meanwhile, Postville’s St. Bridget’s Roman Catholic Church has undertaken to provide relief and services to those affected by the raid, including food, clothing and shelter. Shelter was also provided by Postville’s Community Presbyterian Church. In response to the humanitarian needs of families disrupted by the ICE raid, the Postville Diversity Council is asking those interested in making monetary donations to send them to St. Bridget’s Hispanic Ministry, P.O. Box 369, Postville, IA 52162.

Early this year, 1,201 adults were interviewed in Hebrew, Arabic and Russian for the survey. The findings reveal growing mistrust of government institutions and strong anti-political feelings, together with a demand for the state to improve its functioning and resume its central role in the political-social-economic arena.

According to the findings of the Democracy Index, the Israeli public still continues to show interest in politics and feels a sense of belonging to the state. At the same time, however, the level of trust in decision-makers is at its lowest since the survey was begun. The public is also frustrated by the reduction of the state's involvement in, and its shirking of responsibility for, the economic and social welfare of its citizens.

Some statistics from the study:

• Only about 60% of the public report that they are interested in politics - representing a drop of some 15 percentage points compared with last year.
• 57% believe that the services that the civil organizations provide are better than those provided by the state, but nevertheless, the majority of the public wishes to receive those services from the state.
• For the first time, the media, at 36%, overtakes the Supreme Court by one percentage point, as the "institution which best safeguards Israeli democracy."
• One third of the participants in the study expressed feelings of disgust when asked what they felt or thought about the word "politics."
• Another third of those interviewed said they instinctively associated politics with corruption, betrayal or deceit.

To read more of the findings in the 2008 Democracy Index, click here.

To read "Survey of Israelis' Attitudes Toward Politics Finds Disgust and a Growing Apathy" by Isabel Kershner of The New York Times, click here.

Lack of adequate insurance coverage, the study finds, is not a problem limited to low-income people. Adults with incomes below the poverty level were at the highest risk of being uninsured or underinsured, but "insurance erosion has spread up the income distribution well in to the middle-income range," the authors say.

More than half of the underinsured (53%) and two-thirds of the uninsured (68%) went without needed care at some point - including not seeing a doctor when sick, not filling prescriptions, and not following up on recommended tests or treatment. In comparison, only 31% of insured adults went without such care.

The survey found that middle-income families have increasingly been hit hard. The rates of underinsurance among families earning more than $40,000 a year nearly tripled from 2003 to 2007. Families with health coverage all year were still spending approximately 10% of their incomes for out-of-pocket medical expenses.

The New York Times in an editorial on June 12, 2008 summed up the issue: "Cutting health care costs and reducing the number of uninsured Americans are critical priorities for this country. But the health care debate needs a wider focus to also address the plight of the underinsured. Insurance plans that discourage needed care will only cause greater sickness and higher costs down the road."

To read a more extensive analysis of the Commonwealth Fund survey, click here.

To read The New York Times editorial, "The Plight of the Underinsured," click here.

Visiting border shows human face of migrants
By Rabbi Steve Gutow
Special to the Arizona Daily Star

The immigration debate has been raging for quite some time and Congress still lacks consensus on meaningful, comprehensive immigration reform. The system is broken, and there are no quick fixes. The Jewish Council for Public Affairs has worked extensively on the immigration issue, but I realized that working from New York, there is much I don't understand. So last month I took a trip to the Arizona border with the Jewish Community Relations chair from Tucson and two members of a group called the Samaritans.

Almost 40 years ago, President Richard Nixon held the first and only White House Summit addressing a national nutrition policy. Since then, we've seen rampant hunger addressed in the United States through the establishment of and improvements in the Food Stamp, school meals and WIC programs, as well as the food bank and food pantry systems. As a result of that first Summit and Congressional action, widespread starvation has been eliminated from the United States. No longer do we find in our great nation the swollen bellies and sunken eyes that so shocked America in the 1960s and 70s.

The sad reality, however, is that we still have over 35 million people in the United States who go without food at some point during the year. For this reason, the House has introduced H.R. 6127, a bill requiring a White House Conference on Food and Nutrition to be held by December 31, 2010.

This summit would bring together experts in food, health, nutrition, and economic security to develop a plan not only to end hunger once and for all in the United States, but also require that proper nutrition be taken into account in such a plan. Ending hunger is the moral thing to do, but it's also critical that we address the issues associated with the rising cost of food and health care, increased obesity rates, and the health problems associated with obesity, poor nutrition, and hunger.

Contact your Representative and urge him/her to co-sponsor H.R. 6127. Help make hunger history in America.

The Pennsylvania Senate may soon consider legislation requiring the reporting of lost or stolen handguns to the police - a deterrent sought by police and law enforcement in their efforts to crack down on "straw purchases" of illegal handguns. Senator Mike Stack of Philadelphia is drafting legislation that requires handgun owners to report lost or stolen handguns to the police.

The pending legislation is expected to mirror a similar bill offered in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives earlier this year by Rep. David Levdansky of Allegheny County. This common sense reform led to a historic debate on the House floor and attracted bipartisan support from legislators across Pennsylvania.

Senator Stack is also considering legislation that would increase criminal penalties for using assault weapons during the commission of a crime. The bill would be named in honor of Philadelphia Police Officer Steve Liczbinski, who was murdered in the line of duty with an SKS assault rifle.

YOUR voice can help convince legislators to support common sense reforms to make our Commonwealth safer for the public and our police.

CeaseFirePA's web site offers information about lost and stolen handgun reporting.

Lost and Stolen Facts

Join this growing coalition of Pennsylvanians - including law enforcement, police officers, mayors, and health care professionals - to urge your Senator to help make our Commonwealth safer for the public and our police.

Here are two things you can do:

Call your State Senator and urge them to support a lost-or-stolen handgun reporting requirement when it's considered in the Senate. Click on the attached link to find out who your legislator is. Call them today.

Send this Email Alert to every friend or colleague who believes Pennsylvania needs stronger handgun safety laws to protect the public and our police from the violence caused by illegal handguns.

The document declares, "The revised (PCUSA) statement is infused with the very bias that the original statement condemned. We are disappointed that after taking steps toward better relations, the church has rescinded many of the positive statements it made about rooting out anti-Jewish invective. It is even more disturbing that this occurs after Jewish groups had warmly welcomed the original statement, and only days before the church's upcoming biennial. As such, we can no longer welcome its publication and must rescind the letters and statements in which we welcomed the original document."

To view the complete statement which the national Jewish agencies sent to the PCUSA, click here.

To view a document that compares the original and revised PCUSA statements, click here.

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