US families now worth less

  According to the Federal Reserve, the net worth of American families decreased 40% between 2007 and 2010 (Source: US Watch, Wall Street Journal, June 12, 2012, page A5). This is the lowest level since 1992.

    “Families’ median net worth, the difference between their assets and their liabilities, fell to $77,300 in 2010 from $126,400 in 2007.” The major elements of assets are home, furnishings, automobiles, real estates, stocks, and bonds (and funds with such elements). Liabilities consist primarily of mortgages, car payments, household bills and credit card purchases. This was the largest decline since the Survey of Consumer Finances began tracking this statistic in 1989.

   “Median family income also fell in this period. The wealthiest 10% by net value saw median income fall 1.4%; the poorest 25%, by 3.7%. For the families in between, median income declined by a range of 7.7% and 13.6%.

  What this means to those of us in mid Michigan, is that the rich felt little, if any pain, the poor felt the most pain, and the rest felt moderate pain. Remember, however, that during this time more families were slipping from the middle class to the poor because of the indifferent actions of large banks and international corporations.

  The entire world has cascaded into a downward tumble, because we exist in a global market. Everything is connected to everything else. The rich have nothing to gain by helping us; they will prosper regardless.

  We will need a strong central government to steer us through these desperate times. The ship of state is gigantic and awkward in troubled waters. Keep her on course through cooperation and not through stalemate.

Day Lilies bid farewell to Spring

Sen. Emmons secures $50,000 for CMU's CALL program

LANSING: Sen. Judy Emmons announced Wednesday that she was successful in securing $50,000 in state funding for a Central Michigan University initiative that aids in diagnosis and instructional planning for young children with low-incidence disabilities.

  CMU's Central Assessment Lending Library (CALL) program provides tests, rating scales and instructional materials appropriate for use with children from birth through age 8 who have low-incidence disabilities, including those with autism or hearing, motor, visual or severe cognitive impairments.

 "This program provides important services to meet the unique needs of children with certain disabilities, including an extensive library of up-to-date tests designed specifically for these children," said Emmons, R-Sheridan. "The CALL program is one of many CMU programs that provide a great service to K-12 school districts throughout Michigan. I worked to secure this funding for the initiative because of its positive impact on our most vulnerable citizens. 

 "The program is also cost-efficient. For a relatively small investment, this program can make an enormous difference in a child's life and academic success." 

 The CALL program is a supplement to psychoeducational assessment services and instruction provided by all Michigan school districts. It also offers consultation on planning assessments and interpreting results. Areas addressed include: cognitive, behavior and emotional development; early academic and social skills; and family assessment.

 Funding for the program was included in the state's higher education budget approved by the Senate on Tuesday. 

Sari Khoury Retrospective

Art Reach of Mid Michigan is exhibiting a wonderful retrospective of the work of local artist, Professor Sari Khoury (1941-1997) in the Gallery, 111 East Broadway, Mt. Pleasant, from June 1 through 30, 2012. Gallery hours are: Monday-Friday, 10 am to 5:30 pm; Saturday, 10 am to 4 pm. Please join us at an Artist Reception, June 7, at Art Reach on Broadway, 5-6:30 pm.

Michigan Republican war on women

League of Women Voters:

The attack on women’s health is alive and well in Michigan. This Thursday, the Michigan House Health Policy Committee is considering legislation which, if passed, would result in the biggest assault on women’s health in our state’s history!

House Bills 5711, 5712, and 5713 represent a sweeping and unprecedented attack on women’s reproductive health. It is vague, poorly drafted, and will have incredibly serious ramifications for women’s access to health care services. It is being rushed through with only a week from introduction to committee and will require a strong response from YOU to ensure defeat. Michigan women need your help today! Take a stand today and tell your representative to treat women with the respect they deserve!

The legislation includes but is not limited to:

•  Back Door Abortion Ban

The intention of this legislation is to completely shut down all abortion providers by instituting targeted, harmful, and medically unnecessary regulation on health centers that provide abortion services. Supporters of these regulations are political organizations who believe that all abortion care should be illegal, no exceptions. This is an attempt to shut down all abortion providers in the state in a backdoor attempt to ban abortion. If these attacks succeed, women will pay the price. They will pay with their rights, their health, and their lives.

•  Attack on Doctors

This legislation is an outright attack on physician’s ability to practice medicine. Under these bills, doctors would be forced to go against their best medical knowledge when providing services to patients. It allows medicine to be dictated by politics, not by science.

Furthermore, the legislation singles out doctors that perform abortion care. It is filled with many aspects that violate standard obstetric practice, interfere with the doctor-patient relationship ans are dangerous to women’s health. It puts increased liability on physicians and sends the message that politicians, not doctors, know what is best for women.

•  Jeopardizes Women’s Health

Included in this legislation is a restrictive ban seeking to limit access to abortion services. The ban goes against the ruling of Roe v. Wade. Moreover, it does NOT include an exemption for rape, incest, fetal anomaly, or health of the woman, and it leaves women in an emergency situation in peril.

Make no mistake—this legislation is about politics. When women do not have access to abortion services, it doesn’t go away. Women still have abortions—just less safe abortions. Making abortion a crime puts women’s lives and health at great risk. Politically motivated legislation that makes it more difficult for health centers to provide high-quality health care only makes it harder for women and couples to access critical reproductive health care services, including lifesaving cancer screenings, contraception, STD prevention and treatment, and continued access to safe and compassionate abortion care.

Chelsea Chipmunk’s Father’s Day Gift

 Chelsea Chipmunk was the prettiest of her sisters and better mannered than any of her brothers, and that is a fact. Her sparkling eyes and glossy fur made her father proud. They all lived with Mom Chip in the Palace in the crawl space beneath the family room of Those Who Lived Above.

  Her nest was a pile of swamp oak and maple leaves tucked against the far wall of the Palace, where it was cozy on damp, icky days such as today.

  Chipmunk families have long traditions and the children sat and listened to Mom Chip each morning, as she taught them the lessons they needed to know in order to survive. First and perhaps most important was the need to gather and store food for the long, white, frosty winter, often too thick of cloud and too thin of sunshine, and always coming when you didn’t expect it. Chipmunks don’t hibernate in that gloomy part of the year, but sleep a lot, and must eat every day. Snow often blocked the two gates to the Palace, so they needed to store enough to get them through. There never was such a thing as too much food.

  Those Who Lived Above had a daily habit of putting sunflower seeds in a large bird feeder in the backyard. Why they did this Mom could not explain. Perhaps they had so many that the ones in the feeder were defective in some way. Well, for whatever reason, this proved a boon to chipmunks in the neighborhood. The little chippies were taught how to go to the feeder and tuck seeds into their cheek pouches. At first they could only hold five or six seeds, but as they grew, so too did their pouches. Adults could carry two or three dozen seeds with no trouble at all.

  It was nearly summer now, and Father’s Day was just a few days away. Chelsea’s father was on a visit to the faraway place where he had been born, but would be home in time for that fine day. Chelsea thought and thought about what special thing she could give her dear dad, but had not a solitary idea.

  It was time for her to trot to the feeder and fill up on sunflower seeds. Off she went determined to bring back TEN seeds in her bulging pouches, yes she would. When she got to the feeder she could not believe her young eyes. What were those light brown, rumpled, lumpy things? She sniffed them. She didn’t know their names but knew from the wonderful smell that they were nuts. Peanuts! Huge, fragrant, light, and assuredly delicious: just the presents for Chelsea’s father.

   She picked up one and tried to stuff it into her cheek. The nut was so big and her cheek too small, but she opened her mouth wide and in it went. Off she jogged to the Palace, through the west gate, and to her nest. She hid the peanut in the leaves. “Two more,” she thought would make a wonderful gift!

  Back she scampered to the feeder. This time she was determined to take two. She crammed one into her left cheek and bit into the second, holding it in her tiny mouth. Joyfully, off she went.

  Blocking her path to the Palace was Scarlet O’Hairy, a mean tempered, sly, vicious female red squirrel who bullied just about everyone in the back yard. Larger than a chipmunk but smaller that other squirrels, reds have a mean streak wider than the Mississippi, a temper shorter than a millimeter, a memory for slights longer than any TV commercial, and sharp dagger teeth and claws.

  “Well, look at the pretty presents you brought me,” snickered Scarlet, “Give them to me and I won’t bite you.” Poor Chelsea knew it was impolite to talk with your mouth full, so she just sputtered.

  “I wouldn’t hamper the child,” spoke a boisterous voice. It was Blue Jay Dad, cocking his head to glare at Scarlet. Blue jays are not afraid of red squirrels. They are brazen, brash, and colorful characters that come and go as they please, except of course, when there is a Cooper’s hawk in the neighborhood, which means the blue jays are smart as well.

  And so it was that Chelsea Chipmunk collected peanuts for Father’s Day. Her dad was pleased, and quite proud of his little daughter.

League of Women Voters to meet in Washington

Next Friday, League of Women Voters’ leaders from across the country will gather in Washington, DC, for our 50th National Convention! As we prepare for five busy days of discussions and decisions, the issues that concern us in this 2012 presidential election year are foremost in our minds. Witness our Convention theme – Power the Vote: Imagine, Commit, Act!

We launched our Power the Vote initiative earlier this year and are hard at work to ensure all voters are protected and prepared to participate fully in this year’s elections across the nation as you can see below. Also this month, because the flood of money in elections is drowning out deliberate discussion, we began airing new radio ads in Maine and Tennessee to urge U.S. Senators in those states to help close the floodgates. On the clean air front, your comments to the EPA helped surpass the one million mark on its proposed new industrial carbon rule! Read about these issues and much more below to find out what’s been happening in May. And let us know what you’ve been doing by connecting with us on Facebook and Twitter.

Elisabeth MacNamara