Families Online Magazine

More employers declaring Thanksgiving and he day after a paid holiday in 2009. With more time off this year for the holidays families are spending more time together, make the most of your time together, see Thanksgiving Family Fun Activities and Family Fun Event Calendar.

Nearly eight in 10 surveyed employers (79 percent) have designated both Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) and the day after as paid holidays in 2009, up from the 73 percent that did so in 2008. This represents the highest percentage of employers granting two-day paid Thanksgiving leave since BNA began keeping records in 1980.

Almost all surveyed employers (98 percent) have scheduled Thanksgiving Day itself as a paid day off for employees, and employer requirements for work that day are at unprecedented lows. While three in 10 employers (28 percent) will require some employees to work on Thanksgiving Day, this year marks a 16-year low in employer-required Thanksgiving work. Security/public safety and service/maintenance staff are the most likely employee groups to be required to work on the holiday.

Among other survey findings are:

-- Workers in the manufacturing sector and unionized workers are the most
likely to enjoy a four-day holiday weekend. More than nine out of 10
manufacturers (95 percent) will treat both Thanksgiving Day and the
following Friday as paid holidays. This compares with three out of
four employers (75 percent) in nonbusiness concerns (e.g., hospitals,
educational facilities, and government organizations), and 71 percent
of employers in nonmanufacturing organizations

-- Smaller organizations -- those with fewer than 1,000 employees -- are
more likely to enjoy a four-day holiday weekend (83 percent) than are
larger concerns (64 percent of companies with more than 1,000
employees). The proportion that will offer a four-day weekend does not
differ significantly between unionized and nonunionized establishments
(82 percent and 78 percent, respectively).

-- Thanksgiving holiday gift giving is at historically low levels. Eleven
percent of employers plan to give their workers some kind of holiday
gift, nearly the same percentage as in 2006 through 2008. However, the
percentage of employers giving gifts is down sharply from the 23
percent observed in 2004, and the 15 to 18 percent range seen from
1995 to 2003. This year marks the lowest level of Thanksgiving holiday
gift giving since the "jobless recovery" in 1993 that followed the
1990-1991 recession.

-- Manufacturing organizations (25 percent) are most generous in their
gift giving, with nonmanufacturing (8 percent) and nonbusiness
concerns (4 percent) trailing far behind. None of the surveyed
employers in unionized workplaces reported that they would give
employees gifts this year, compared with 14 percent in nonunion
establishments. Gift giving this year does not differ significantly
between large and small organizations.

-- Gift certificates are the holiday gift of choice for employers. For
seven of the past nine years, gift certificates have been the most
frequently proffered employer offering for Thanksgiving and 2009
continues this pattern. Five percent of surveyed employers will give
gift certificates this Thanksgiving, with the venerable turkey,
offered by 4 percent of employers, coming in a close second.

Source: http://www.bna.com/

Groundbreaking Primate Study Links Mercury Vaccine Preservative to Brain Injury

Same preservative used in H1N1 Shots Puts Children at Risk for Brainstem Injury

A new study in the leading scientific journal NeuroToxicology lends further credence to parents and scientists concerned about an increasingly aggressive childhood vaccine schedule and toxic vaccine components. A team led by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh found that infant macaque monkeys receiving a single Hepatitis B vaccine containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal underwent significant delays in developing critical reflexes controlled by the brainstem. The infant macaques that did not receive vaccines developed normally.

Government vaccine guidelines were expanded in 1991 to include a Hepatitis B vaccine for infants within the first few days of life, even though the disease is primarily transmitted sexually or spread through the use of dirty needles. The introduction of the shot was part of a greatly accelerated vaccine schedule that coincides with the drastic increase in autism, which now affects one in 100 American children. Thimerosal was removed from U.S. Hepatitis B vaccines in 2000 but was not recalled from the market and was administered for approximately two more years. It still remains in other vaccines including all multi-dose shots for both the seasonal flu and H1N1.

Current government recommendations for seasonal flu and H1N1 call for pregnant women to receive both vaccines, and children as young as six months to receive as many as four separate flu shots. "This also doesn't take into account that nursing infants may be exposed to additional mercury through breastmilk should both mother and baby be vaccinated," says National Autism Association (NAA) board chair Lori McIlwain. "This study's outcome confirms that such an over-the-top toxic vaccine schedule is an assault on the developing brains of our children."

Specifically, the study found:

-- Thirteen newborn rhesus macaques were given a Hepatitis B vaccine
containing a standardized dose of thimerosal adjusted for their
weight, four received a saline placebo, and three were not given any
shots.
-- Vaccinated animals experienced a significant delay in the acquisition
of three survival reflexes compared to unvaccinated animals. Root,
snout, and suck reflexes, critical to animal survival in the wild,
were delayed in the vaccinated macaques.
-- These reflexes are controlled by the brainstem, a vital part of the
brain that regulates automatic functions such as breathing, heart
rate, and intestinal activity.
-- Neonatal responses in unvaccinated control animals were not delayed.

-- The delay in acquisition of three of the four survival reflexes was
not contingent on birth weight or gestational age.

For years, parents of children with autism have lobbied government health agencies to conduct research comparing the health of vaccinated children to that of unvaccinated children, and to remove thimerosal from all vaccines. Neither request has been met.

"This study underscores the lack of appropriate government action to ensure the safety of vaccines. Had our government agencies conducted the most basic research on the implications to children's health from the vaccines they rigorously promote, they could have spared thousands of children the neurological injuries they endure today," said Ms. McIlwain. "It's shameful."

For more information about autism, please visit www.nationalautism.org.

The U.S. Census Bureau recently announced that real median household income in the United States fell 3.6 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $52,163 to $50,303. This breaks a string of three years of annual income increases and coincides with the recession that started in December 2007.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090226/CENSUSLOGO)

The nation's official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007. There were 39.8 million people in poverty in 2008, up from 37.3 million in 2007.

Meanwhile, the number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008, while the percentage remained unchanged at 15.4 percent.

These findings are contained in the report Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008. The following results for the nation were compiled from information collected in the 2009 Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC):

Income

Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to people reporting a single race only. Hispanics can be of any race.)

* Between 2007 and 2008, the real median income of non-Hispanic white households declined 2.6 percent (to $55,530); for blacks, it declined 2.8 percent (to $34,218); for Asians, it declined 4.4 percent (to $65,637); and for Hispanics, it declined 5.6 percent (to $37,913). Except for the difference between the declines for non-Hispanic white and Hispanic households, all other differences between the declines were not statistically significant.

Regions

* Between 2007 and 2008, real median household income declined in the South by 4.9 percent (to $45,590), declined in the Midwest by 4.0 percent (to $50,112) and declined in the West by 2.0 percent (to $55,085). Income in the Northeast was statistically unchanged ($54,346). The apparent differences in the declines in median household income between the South and Midwest, and the Midwest and West were not statistically significant. The apparent difference between the median household incomes for the West and Northeast was not statistically significant.

Nativity

* Native- and foreign-born households, including those maintained by a naturalized citizen, had declines in real median income between 2007 and 2008. Income was statistically unchanged for households maintained by a noncitizen. The decline for native-born households was 3.5 percent; the decline for foreign-born households was 5.3 percent; and the decline for those maintained by a naturalized citizen was 4.8 percent. The apparent differences among the declines in median income for native-born, foreign-born and naturalized citizen households were not statistically significant.

Earnings

* In 2008, the earnings of women who worked full time, year-round was 77 percent of that for corresponding men, not statistically different from the 2007 ratio.

* The real median earnings of men who worked full time, year-round declined by 1.0 percent between 2007 and 2008, from $46,846 to $46,367. For women, the corresponding drop was 1.9 percent, from $36,451 to $35,745.

Income Inequality

* Income inequality was statistically unchanged between 2007 and 2008, as measured by shares of aggregate household income by quintiles and the Gini index. The Gini index was 0.466 in 2008. (The Gini index is a measure of household income inequality; 0 represents perfect income equality and 1 perfect inequality.)

  Poverty

  Overview

* The increase in the poverty rate between 2007 and 2008 was the first statistically significant annual increase since 2004. The 2008 poverty rate (13.2 percent) was the highest since 1997.

* In 2008, the family poverty rate and the number of families in poverty were 10.3 percent and 8.1 million, respectively, up from 9.8 percent and 7.6 million in 2007.

* For married-couple families, both the poverty rate and the number in poverty increased -- 5.5 percent (3.3 million) in 2008, up from 4.9 percent (2.8 million) in 2007. Both measures, however, showed no statistical change in 2008 for female-householder-with-no-husband-present families (28.7 percent and 4.2 million) and for male-householder-no wife-present families (13.8 percent and 723,000).

Thresholds

* As defined by the Office of Management and Budget and updated for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, the weighted average poverty threshold for a family of four in 2008 was $22,025; for a family of three, $17,163; for a family of two, $14,051; and for unrelated individuals, $10,991.

Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to people reporting a single race only. Hispanics can be of any race.)

* In 2008, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic whites (8.6 percent in 2008, up from 8.2 percent in 2007), Asians (11.8 percent in 2008, up from 10.2 percent in 2007) and Hispanics (23.2 percent in 2008, up from 21.5 percent in 2007). The poverty rate in 2008 was statistically unchanged for blacks (24.7 percent).

Age

* The poverty rate increased for children younger than 18 (19.0 percent in 2008, up from 18.0 percent in 2007) and people 18 to 64 (11.7 percent in 2008, up from 10.9 percent in 2007), while it remained statistically unchanged for people 65 and older (9.7 percent).

* Similar to the patterns observed for the poverty rate in 2008, the number of people in poverty increased for children younger than 18 (14.1 million in 2008, up from 13.3 million in 2007) and people 18 to 64 (22.1 million in 2008, up from 20.4 million in 2007) but remained statistically unchanged for seniors 65 and older (3.7 million).

Nativity

* Among the native-born population, 12.6 percent (33.3 million) were in poverty in 2008, up from 11.9 percent (31.1 million) in 2007.

* Among the foreign-born population, the poverty rate and the number in poverty increased to 17.8 percent and 6.5 million in 2008, up from 16.5 percent and 6.2 million, respectively, in 2007. The poverty rate in 2008 for naturalized citizens, 10.2 percent, was statistically unchanged from 2007, while the poverty rate for those who were not U.S. citizens rose to 23.3 percent in 2008, up from 21.3 percent in 2007.

Regions

* The Midwest and West experienced increases in both their poverty rate and the number in poverty. The Midwest poverty rate increased to 12.4 percent (8.1 million) in 2008, up from 11.1 percent (7.2 million) in 2007, and the West poverty rate increased to 13.5 percent (9.6 million) in 2008, up from 12.0 percent (8.4 million) in 2007. The poverty rates for the Northeast (11.6 percent) and the South (14.3 percent) were both statistically unchanged.

  Health Insurance Coverage

  Overview

* The number of people with health insurance increased from 253.4 million in 2007 to 255.1 million in 2008.

* The number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008.

* Between 2007 and 2008, the number of people covered by private health insurance decreased from 202.0 million to 201.0 million, while the number covered by government health insurance climbed from 83.0 million to 87.4 million. The number covered by employment-based health insurance declined from 177.4 million to 176.3 million.

* The number of uninsured children declined from 8.1 million (11.0 percent) in 2007 to 7.3 million (9.9 percent) in 2008. Both the uninsured rate and number of uninsured children are the lowest since 1987, the first year that comparable health insurance data were collected.

* Although the uninsured rate for children in poverty declined from 17.6 percent in 2007 to 15.7 percent in 2008, children in poverty were more likely to be uninsured than all children.

Race and Hispanic Origin (Race data refer to those reporting a single race only. Hispanics can be of any race.)

* The uninsured rate and number of uninsured for non-Hispanic whites increased in 2008 to 10.8 percent and 21.3 million, from 10.4 percent and 20.5 million in 2007. The uninsured rate and number of uninsured for blacks in 2008, meanwhile, were not statistically different from 2007, at 19.1 percent and 7.3 million. The uninsured rate for Asians in 2008 rose to 17.6 percent, up from 16.8 percent.

* The percentage of uninsured Hispanics decreased to 30.7 percent in 2008, from 32.1 percent in 2007. The number of uninsured Hispanics was not statistically different in 2008, at 14.6 million.

* Based on a three-year average (2006-2008), 31.7 percent of people who reported American Indian and Alaska Native as their race were without coverage. The three-year average uninsured rate for Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders was 18.5 percent.

Nativity

* The uninsured rates for the native-born and foreign-born populations were statistically unchanged at 12.9 percent and 33.5 percent, respectively, in 2008. Among the foreign-born population, the uninsured rates for both naturalized citizens (18.0 percent) and noncitizens (44.7 percent) were statistically unchanged.

Regions

* At 11.6 percent, the Northeast and the Midwest had lower uninsured rates in 2008 than the West (17.4 percent) and the South (18.2 percent). The 2008 rates for the Northeast, Midwest and South were not statistically different from their respective 2007 rates. The uninsured rate for the West increased to 17.4 percent in 2008, up from 16.9 percent in 2007.

The CPS ASEC is subject to sampling and nonsampling errors. All comparisons made in the report have been tested and found to be statistically significant at the 90 percent confidence level, unless otherwise noted.

For additional information on the source of the data and accuracy of the estimates for the CPS, visit <http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/p60_236sa.pdf>.

20-year investigation from Université de Montréal and University of Genoa researchers

Impulsive boys with inadequate supervision, poor families and deviant friends are more likely to commit criminal acts that land them in juvenile court, according to a new study published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. The most surprising finding from the 20-year study, conducted by researchers from the Université de Montréal and University of Genoa, was how help provided by the juvenile justice system substantially increased the risk of the boys engaging in criminal activities during early adulthood.

“For boys who had been through the juvenile justice system, compared to boys with similar histories without judicial involvement, the odds of adult judicial interventions increased almost seven-fold,” says study co-author Richard E. Tremblay, a professor of psychology, pediatrics and psychiatry at the Université de Montréal and a researcher at the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center.

The research team sought out boys from kindergarten who were at risk for delinquent behavior and who were enrolled at 53 schools from the poorest neighbourhoods in Montreal. Some 779 participants were interviewed annually from the age of 10 until 17 years. By their mid-20s, some 17.6 percent of participants ended up with adult criminal records for infractions that included homicide (17.9 percent); arson (31.2 percent); prostitution (25.5 percent); drug possession (16.4 percent) and impaired driving (8.8 percent).

“The more intense the help given by the juvenile justice system, the greater was its negative impact,” Dr. Tremblay stresses. “Our findings take on even greater importance given that the juvenile justice system in the province of Quebec has the reputation of being among the best. Most countries spend considerable financial resources to fund programs and institutions that group deviant youths together in order to help them. The problem is that delinquent behavior is contagious, especially among adolescents. Putting deviant adolescents together creates a culture of deviance, which increases the likelihood of continued criminal behavior.”

“Two solutions exist for this problem,” adds Dr Tremblay. “The first is to implement prevention programs before adolescence when problem children are more responsive. The second is to minimize the concentration of problem youths in juvenile justice programs, thereby reducing the risk of peer contagion.”

About the Study

The article, “Iatrogenic effect of juvenile justice,” published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, was authored by Uberto Gatti of the University of Genoa, (Italy) and Richard E. Tremblay and Frank Vitaro of the Université de Montréal / Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center (Canada).

Partners in Research

This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Fonds de la recherche en santé du Québec, the Fonds de recherche sur la société et la culture, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

On the Web:

About Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry

About the Université de Montréal

About the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Research Center

"This summer, nearly 15 million school children in this country will go without the lunchtime meals provided to them during the school year," said John J. Mack, Chairman and CEO of Morgan Stanley.

During the school year, more than half of the 31 million children who participate in the National School Lunch Program are low-income. Last year, the Department of Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program for Children (SFSP) provided nearly 130 million meals to 2.1 million children across the country. The program reimburses organizations for meals served, but often does not cover the infrastructure or programming costs organizations incur when operating a summer program for children.

"The Summer Food Service Program is a vital nutrition resource during the months students are not in school," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "We know that there are many children who need nutritious food but don't have access to a program in their area. We need more organizations to sponsor sites and sponsors need additional resources from the community in order to succeed in reaching children who need meals. Ongoing partnerships like this one are key to making sure our children have healthy meals during the school year, during the summer months, and all year long."

Boys & Girls Clubs of America, through its summer programs and network of more than 4,300 community-based Clubs, will distribute meals to hungry children.

"We are extremely grateful to the Morgan Stanley Foundation for their generous support that will ensure the young people we serve this summer will not go hungry," said Roxanne Spillett, president and CEO, Boys & Girls Clubs of America. "The economic downturn that has impacted the entire country has been deeply felt by our Clubs, and many summer food programs have been placed in jeopardy. Hopefully others will follow Morgan Stanley's lead."