Lining up for free food.. (Miramar Marine families)

[SoCalDem]

The documentary was on FSTV.. The marines are "off fighting in Iraq", and the families are "queing for food".. This documentary was produced by BBC3, and I'd bet that FSTV is the ONLY place you will see this..

Duncan Hunter was interviewed and here are his statements:

"Americans are different.. we believe in rugged individualism and self-accountability..we believe in neighbors & strong family for help"
(translation: Let the families beg for food..the government has no responsibility for these people)


They also showed footage of boy scouts delivering food to "poor people" (as one beaming boy put it).. They were ON BASE handing out canned food and basic supplies like toothpaste, toilet paper, etc..

This is so shameful...

The report also pointed out that the US soldiers make about ONE THIRD the comparable salary of a British soldier..

The workers at a food pantry said their numbers grow every week, and they routinely "service" 3-4 thousand families a week.

A quick scan of the food they give out also points up another problem.. LOTS of boxed potato products, donated white bread, and NO fresh foods in sight..

Depressed, lonely, broke family members living on an almost all carbohydrate diet, cannot be good for the children..

The really sad thing about this, is that as a pantry worker chimed in that soldiers were paid too little, she was silenced by a military guy who said that it was really just "an issue of proper budgeting":puke:

I googled many alternatives of this , and came up with ZERO..

Amazing how "news" outlets have time for runaway brides, bronzing of Disney figures, coma patients, and so many other frivolities, but the mal(non)nourishment of military families is not even a blip on anyone's radar screen..

[wakeme2008]

1. Bad Clinton... Less GIs on food stamps than when he took office

Good Bush fixed that and got them lined up to go back on Food Stamps.

:sarcasm:

[Djinn]

14. there shouldn't be any surely

It was most likely better before Bush but it's pretty shameful that there were military families going hungry under the Dem's as well.

I'm the last person that could be considered "pro-troops" but it seems only fair that if you're accepting the chance of being sent to war and getting shot at that your family can afford fresh food.

A friend of mine recently left the Aust army and after 5 years at the lowest rank he'd bought a house (almost paid off already) and had enough to fund his world travels for a year or two

[Blue Belle]

2. It's stories like this...

That make me want to rip all those yellow-ribbon "Support the Troops!" bumper magnets off their SUV's!! It really pisses me off the hypocrisy in this country!! They show their support by putting a stupid magnet on their car... but tsk-tsks a soldier's family who has to take food bank items just to survive. To simply chalk up the hardships of Military families to "poor household budgeting" shows the breadth of their shallow character. These pious Republican idiots are just SO fucking noble!! ITS BULLSHIT!!

A low ranking enlisted service man makes roughly $17,000 a year, and if he/she has a family, you can count on not much being left after rent, utilities, and other bills are paid. But thanks to our Republican Congress, Servicemen will have a tougher time declaring bankruptcy, and will have even fewer benefits for sticking their ass out for their country. Heaven help the the families should that serviceman get killed - or worse, wounded.

I'm thinking of creating a new bumper sticker: "Support the troops - Vote for Democrats!"

[ConsAreLiars]

15. Thank you

Well said and Right On! And a great bumper sticker idea.

[gratuitous]

3. Starving people are SUCH a downer!

Unless of course it's Paris Hilton, and there's a chance we might get to see her naughty bits.

[Roland99]

4. Is there a link for that?

[SoCalDem]

5. Nope.. media won't cover it.. It's part of a 2 hour special on FSTV

Free Speech TV.. on Dish & Direct(I think).. It's called Bush Family Fortunes: Best democracy Money can Buy. w/ Greg palast

BB3 provided that footage..but it's never been seen here (US) on any channel:(

[Roland99]

6. I was wondering if there was a link on the FSTV site

I didn't see one.

[SoCalDem]

7. Try here at BBC3

http://www.bbc.co.uk/cgi-bin/search/results.pl?q=bush+family&uri=%2Fbbcthree%2F

[sandnsea]

17. Local Cable Access

You can check and see if yours shows FSTV.

http://www.freespeech.org/fsitv/html/affiliates.shtml

[caligirl]

8. we saw this long ago in 1980 to 1990 without a war. It has always been

harsh for the lowest ranks. There was a time along time ago when the lowest ranks did not have wives and children(during the draft when they didn't take married soldiers, that changed over time too. Then the all volunteer service started and the guy from east jesus who graduated from HS, married his HS sweetheart and then couldn't find a job there in an economically depressed town miles from anywhere went into the military to support his family, no other options in a shit hole town sometimes. So the youngest and least paid had a wife to support. So now he and she both work(she has to get a new job with every move 7-8 jobs in 10 years), and he gets another part time job at the base doing bar tending or something. So the couple has three jobs and can make it. BUT he then goes on deployment and has to quit his part time job, if her job required his help with a kid or two she may (and they do) have to quit that job too. So the least paid guy leaves his wife and possibly kids on a fraction of the income while bullets are flying at him. My phone bill one deployment,it was very difficult to get through, was over $5O0 just for the long distance to various ports. And that is typical. In California many average income families have three jobs to get by. If they loose one or both they are screwed. I use to get pissed off at the housing offered to young enlisted families at Pearl Harbor, it sucked, disgusting as it was that is what they had and Uncle SAM saw no need to improve it.

I can't count the times I saw these wives, thin and pale and looking malnourished, in the commissary at Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps Air Base buying the least amount to get by on with food stamps. Navy Relief was a life line for these families. While I lived there a kid hung himself so his family would have one less mouth to feed. It happened to other families too. Lots of psycho social economic family problems in military families are found.

Sad Truth is they never treated these people well, never cared too.

[musette_sf]

9. more of that "uniquely American"

bootstrapper, Horatio Alger, pure-D Bull Sh!t.

[KamaAina]

10. Way to support the troops, chickenhawks!

:sarcasm:

Tell me again why so many military dependents voted **?

[SoCalDem]

11. Limbaugh piped in on base for hours and hours every day

and plain ole brainwashing:(

[FlemingsGhost]

12. They CAN"T be Republicans. THEY don't believe in hand-outs.

Are Americans the biggest fools on the planet, or what?

[anarchy1999]

13. Thank you, SoCalDem. What a story and what a shame. Can you make

it to the Vets for Peace National Convention in August? Dallas. I know you can.

[oasis]

16. Standing in a food line will give them a chance to think about who put

them there. Next Christmas they will see images of Bush grinning as he lights that big xmas tree at the White House. The lights will go off in their heads---"Hey, Bush is grinning 'cause the jokes on me."

[Charon]

18. Free Food

This is hardly new. When I went in the Service in the late 60s, most married E1-E4 qualified for food stamps if they had children. When I left the Service in the early 90s, the situation had not been significantly altered.