SOCIOCULTURAL NOTES A New Problem for Farmers and all of us - too few veterinarians who care for the animals in our food chain. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/us/06vets.html <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/06/us/06vets.html>
After years of decline, youth suicide rates are up The data are worrisome, but it's too soon to know if they're anything more than a statistical blip, said Dr. John March, a Duke University psychiatry professor. He led landmark National Institute of Mental Health research linking antidepressant use with an increased risk for suicidal behavior, but also showing that getting psychotherapy at the same time canceled out that risk. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003558523_suicide06.html <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003558523_suicide06.html > Gallup poll on the role of religion: Americans are divided in their opinions about the current level of influence displayed by organized religion in America today. Thirty-two percent would like organized religion to have less influence in this nation, 27% would like it to have more, and 39% say that the current amount of influence should be kept as is. During the last three years, Americans continued to say that organized religion should have less rather than more influence. [ ] There has been a modest change over time in the responses to this organized religion question. Between 2001 and 2004, Americans were slightly more likely to say that organized religion should have more influence rather than less influence in the country. Since 2005, however, the lines have crossed, and now slightly more Americans say that organized religion should have less influence rather than more influence. A majority of those who are dissatisfied with the influence of organized religion in America say that religion should have less influence. In short, those who feel most strongly about wanting the role of religion changed are those who tend to say it has too much influence. Those who are satisfied with the role of religion today tend to be those who -- even though they're currently satisfied -- would like religion to have still more influence. Dissatisfied, want less: 23% Dissatisfied, want more: 6% About the same: 10% http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=26311 <http://www.galluppoll.com/content/?ci=26311> NOTE: When Bush took office Jan 2001, 22% of Americans wanted less organized religion. Now 32% want less organized religion. See any connection? KKK is growing again, report says Huge street protests made millions of immigrants more visible and powerful last year, but they also seem to have revived a hateful counter force: white supremacists. Old Klan chapters have been revived and new ones started throughout the South, historically the heart of the group, and in other places such as Michigan, Iowa and New Jersey, says the report. Between 2000 and 2005, the number of hate groups mushroomed by 33% and Klan chapters by 63%, said Mark Potok, director of the Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate crimes. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003558522_hate06.html <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003558522_hate06.html> For The First Time, Poverty Shifts To The Suburbs Once prized as a leafy haven from the social ills of urban life, the suburbs are now grappling with a new outbreak of an old problem: poverty. Currently, 38 million Americans live below the poverty line, which the federal government defines as an annual income of $20,000 or less for a family of four. But for the first time in history, more of America's poor are living in the suburbs than the cities1.2 million more, according to a 2005 survey. "The suburbs have reached a tipping point," says Brookings Institution analyst Alan Berube, who compiled the data. For example, five years ago, a Hunger Network food pantry in Bedford Heights, a struggling suburb of Cleveland, served 50 families a month. Now more than 700 families depend on it for food. That's not to say that all suburbs are struggling. In areas such as New York and Los Angeles where the regional economies are booming, the surrounding suburbs are doing just fine. It's another story altogether in the South and Midwest. As the nation's manufacturing sector continues to contract, cities like Cleveland, Dallas and Detroit are feeling the pain, and so are the suburbs that surround them. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16960673/site/newsweek/ <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16960673/site/newsweek/> Purity Balls? Is this the Middle Ages? Good intentions done badly. This is a recipe for unhealthy sexuality in later relationships. In a chandelier-lit ballroom overlooking the Rocky Mountains one recent evening, some hundred couples feast on herb-crusted chicken and julienned vegetables. The men look dapper in tuxedos; their dates are resplendent in floor-length gowns, long white gloves and tiaras framing twirly, ornate updos. Seated at a table with four couples, I watch as the gray-haired man next to me reaches into his breast pocket, pulls out a small satin box and flips it open to check out a gold ring he's about to place on the finger of the woman sitting to his right. Her eyes well up with tears as she is overcome by emotion. The man's date? His 25-year-old daughter. Welcome to Colorado Springs' Seventh Annual Father-Daughter Purity Ball, held at the five-star Broadmoor Hotel. The event's purpose is, in part, to celebrate dad-daughter bonding, but the main agenda is for fathers to vow to protect the girls' chastity until they marry and for the daughters to promise to stay pure. Pastor Randy Wilson, host of the event and cofounder of the ball, strides to the front of the room, takes the microphone and asks the men, "Are you ready to war for your daughters' purity?" http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2007/01/purityballs07feb <http://www.glamour.com/news/articles/2007/01/purityballs07feb>
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
