While the rich get even richer, the poor go hungry

[theHandpuppet]

from today's Cincinnati Enquirer: http://news.enquirer.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060801/NEWS01/608010377

For many, cupboards often bare
About 1 in 6 region families often can't afford to buy food
BY PEGGY O'FARRELL | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

More than 17 percent of families in the region said they regularly couldn't afford to buy food last year, according to a survey from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.

In Cincinnati, 22 percent of households reduced servings or skipped meals because they couldn't afford to buy food - more than twice the rate (10.2 percent) for the region as a whole, data from the 2005 Child Well Being Survey showed. The survey region includes 22 counties in Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southern Indiana.

Liz Carter, executive director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Cincinnati Council, said she is saddened by the results but not surprised.

Since the beginning of the year, Carter said, the agency has seen a 30 percent increase in families seeking help at its West End food bank....

MORE

[theHandpuppet]

1. Another excerpt...

... and another shining legacy of the Bush presidency.

"Nationally, the estimate of families who can't afford to keep their cupboards stocked has been increasing since 2001, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"In 2004, 11.9 percent of families nationally reported that they couldn't afford to buy food in the past 12 months."

[elehhhhna]

32. Imagine the shame and hopelessness some of our fellow Americans must feel.

[bobbolink]

52. A big part of the hopelessness comes from the lack of interest

from the larger population, and that includes "liberals" and "progressives".

It's just no longer an issue of importance, and that is shown right here on DU.

I'm cheered to see how many responses here on this thread, but.... when it comes time to make calls about budget, etc., there's very little response.

People know when their fellow citizens just aren't interested, and it hurts.

[theHandpuppet]

65. Yep, I agree

I was determined to keep this thread alive and am very thankful that others joined in to what I believe is a very important topic which is largely ignored not only by the MSM but the public at large. Poverty and hunger aren't "fashionable" causes anymore and our leaders aren't inclined to move on it in the way they would something of such vital importance as flag burning. <sarcasm alert> Meanwhile, the number of hungry people in America has increased dramatically under the watch of the Bushreich and virtually no one has even noticed. I wish there was a more organized effort from the liberal/progressive folks in this country to rekindle the war on poverty. That's one war worth fighting for!

[bobbolink]

87. I can tell that you it affected me personally. The lack of interest

among "progressives" caused me to lose hope, and could have very well ended ... well, I'd say "tragically", except I guess that would be in the eye of the beholder. I"ve gleaned from this forum that there are those who would just as soon I be gone.

I'm beyond sad that the Dems have dropped poverty as an issue... I'm livid! :nuke:

There are going to have to be a few of us who band together determinedly, and keep pushing and pushing to get our party and "progressives" back on track doing the right thing.

Thanks for your efforts, good and faithful servant!!

[vickitulsa]

77. Unfortunately (for those who go hungry or eat poorly), you are right

about this. Just as most Americans don't like to think about the burden of poverty under which many in this "rich nation" labor every single day of their lives, these same otherwise-"good-citizens"-and-"good-people" especially don't wish to trouble their beautiful minds with thoughts of those who are literally going hungry on a regular basis.

I can speak with some authority on this subject because I am one of that number -- of the poor, not the oblivious. I may sound like an educated, articulate person to others (including my fellow DUers who I consider to be my friends), so oftentimes people have difficulty understanding that I am also someone who struggles daily with the stresses poverty places upon me.

Like many, I never expected to find myself in this position, although I should have heeded the warnings. What warnings?, you may ask. The implied warnings inherent in the simple fact that I worked all my adult life in a career that paid a barely-above-poverty-level salary. Everyone who lives from paycheck to paycheck knows that a sudden interruption in employment can result in immediate financial disaster. Loss of two paychecks in a row can move a person -- and often a family -- right out of a home and into the street, where life then becomes so much more difficult than it was, it's almost incomprehensible to most folks.

Three months ago, the government abruptly and without any explanation whatsoever cut off my food stamps. I'm disabled and getting old fast as my health continues to crash just at the time when my earning power has dropped to zero. I'm a chronic pain patient with very limited walking ability and crippled hands -- mostly from all the typing I did during my career. I have to use a voice recognition program to type more than a few sentences, and I live a pretty isolated life since I can't get out much any more -- and couldn't afford the gasoline to go far even if I could still drive like I used to, that is, without pain in my hands and knee that forced me to stop after only a few miles.

Isolation is another of the huge problems that complicates a life of poverty for many of us, too, by the way. The further down the ladder you slide, the less others want to acknowledge your existence or remain close friends with you. It may not be that they don't LIKE you as they used to -- rather they simply don't like to be reminded that you who formerly lived much as they do are now suffering from visible -- nay, glaring poverty. This is either a reminder that "it could happen to them" or that they needn't worry about such things, and the latter also makes them very uncomfortable.

A few days ago when we had a break in the extreme heat here in Oklahoma and I was able to use my computer for more than a couple of hours, I participated in a thread in which the OP posed several questions asking if others here at DU had ever needed to go to a doctor but couldn't afford to do so. Most of the responses were from those of us who had definitely had that problem; in fact, most replies were from DUers who were presently experiencing that awful dilemma.

But one or two posters seemed to think it necessary to get snarky with the originator of the thread and the rest of us, insinuating that there was no point in talking about the issue unless it had a definite "point" or goal such as to organize a campaign to combat the problem. A disruptive and heartbreaking subthread developed then, and it turned out to be one which highlighted a big part of the problem -- namely, the fact that even those who were very close to poverty themselves simply did not want to think about it until they couldn't avoid it!

Anyone with a smidgeon of self-respect quite naturally loathes having to admit a position of such vulnerability because there is an unspoken understanding -- wrong though it most often is -- that somehow it's the fault of the poor that they ARE poor. In this country, some would argue, one need be poor and hungry and unable to see a doctor only if one failed to take the steps necessary to obtain help. --And that would be, of course, after such a person had already failed in his or her responsibility to "get an education" (also presumably affordable) and then get a decent job, AND THEN keep that job by working hard.

None of these assumptions takes into account the many circumstances that can put even an educated, hard-working person out of the running when it comes to decent, steady employment. And what about those whose circumstances in life from their earliest memories have never promoted a drive toward a good education and regular work as a cog in the system of worker exploitation we now have in this country....

One more point: Those who haven't "been there, done that" don't realize that all the government programs which purportedly exist to assist Americans when they slip into genuine poverty simply do NOT meet the need. Staffers of these agencies are coached by their superiors to do everything possible to discourage citizens from applying for assistance in the first place, while the system actively seeks to disqualify everyone it can from obtaining relief from that source once they do apply. What "they" want, indeed, is that the poor who are a "drag" on society should quite literally GIVE UP AND GO AWAY.

Without proper diets, the poor get sick more often and are even injured more often, since their strength is not up to par. Once ill or injured, they have no safety net to keep their lives going, and they rapidly fall into the dark and frightful spiral of decay of their wellbeing. If no one reaches out to interrupt this fall, it can quickly turn into a fatal one -- and I maintain that is precisely what the government agencies and our fellow citizens WANT.

This cruel set-up in its entirety makes it utterly clear to anyone living in poverty that he or she is not valued by the wider culture. We know that most people would rather we just disappeared. After all, the fewer of us there are who "drink at the government trough" as the sick and injured, the children of the poor, and the elderly regularly do, the more there is left for the rest of the population, right?

I can testify to the fact that it's a cold, hard world out here once a person falls into poverty, even for a short stint. Those doomed to remain there learn very quickly that their lives are not worth as much as the lives of their fellow citizens who are NOT poor.

And yes, it does hurt.

[theHandpuppet]

78. BLESS YOU, VICKITULSA

That was a truly eloquent and moving testimony which I'm sure was difiicult to share. I'm going to try and keep this thread kicked so as many DUers as possible will have the chance to read it.

In the meanwhile, I would hope that there are some DUers out there who are from the Tulsa area who would be honored to offer a hand up. What can the rest of us do to help?

Edited to add: Please feel free to PM me if you like.

[vickitulsa]

82. You are a truly kind one, Handpuppet -- and one who clearly speaks

from a deep understanding of "the poverty problem" in our country (as well as around the world, I'm sure).

And yes, you're right, it is very hard to share such facts of life as it now is for me. However, I've come to believe that I have one thing a great many of the poor do not: an articulate voice. And I've concluded that it's my DUTY to speak for others who cannot express their desperation very well -- they just live in it.

I don't feel I have a right to give out publicly a lot of details of the lives of others I know who live in poverty, especially knowing as I do that most of them would NOT want their destitution known to strangers they have good reason to believe would NOT CARE or want to help and in fact would likely judge them harshly. It's hard enough when one is forced to go "begging" to the agencies and organizations established for the very purpose of assisting the poor. Many find they are simply unable to make themselves do it -- so they perish much sooner (and much to the satisfaction of those who consider us expendable if not outright undesirable).

I've never quite understood the attitude of many of the people who work in these organizations, by the way. The same is true of most churches here in Tulsa, which probably has more of the ultra-rightwing "megachurches" per capita than any other city in the nation. Why is it that those tasked with the job of directly interviewing poor people applying for help often seem to have their noses so high in the air while they're doing it?

Obviously I'm not referring here to volunteers and workers who honestly RELATE to the poor and their life-and-death struggles and truly want to help however they can. Your journal piece you posted here talks about the churchmembers in WV, for instance, who do a great deal to help the poor among them. But long before I fell below the poverty line, I had many friends who were already there, and I remember the many times some of them tried turning to churches in the Tulsa area for help them with groceries and clothes. These folks truly needed this assistance, and it was clear from the way they looked, the garments they wore, the gauntness of many of them. Yet almost every time they went to a church and asked, they were met with one question which halted their effort in its tracks and turned them around, sent them out the door:

"Are you a member of this church?"

I used to wonder what would happen if one of these friends of mine joined a church, attended there as best they could (considering they have no reliable transportation), and THEN asked for assistance. Almost every church I've ever been in in the past used to have at least one big room filled with donated foodstuffs and clothing, freely given to anyone who turned up on their doorstep in need, NOT JUST MEMBERS of that congregation.

In most cases nowadays, at the very least any poor and hungry person seeking help is compelled FIRST to sit through a long sermon, one that often condemns those who suffer, blames the victims. Instead of quoting Jesus, the "lecturer" quotes Paul or some other Bible verses that say things like "he who doesn't work shouldn't get to eat."

Of course, "won't" work is very different from "can't" work, but some fail to see the distinction!

Many poor people are so sick and tired of being accused of being lazy bums they simply can't bring themselves to ask for help anymore. Or they're too worn down from the many rejections they receive. Their faith in their fellow humans grows weaker with every "NO!" they hear, and they sink into deep depressions that get harder and harder to come out of. HOPE becomes a memory and no longer a viable, well-nourished FEELING.

So when you ask me, "what can we do?," I hardly know how to respond! It's so uncommon to be asked that question, I'm sort of stunned.

I'm not sure how to answer, so I'll think about it and PM you (if I don't lose my nerve, but you can PM me -- I always reply even when I can't make a first approach).

I can tell you this: A couple of weeks ago I noticed that there was a gold star by my name in my posts here on DU, and knowing how those are acquired, I was amazed. I am legally blind and often miss stuff, so I had no idea how long that star had been there, even! I finally wrote Skinner and asked if someone had donated to DU in my name and when, and he said it happened last NOVEMBER!

Again I was stunned -- and sad that I had not seen it sooner so I could speak up immediately and write a thank-you post to the group, hoping the one who donated for me saw it. What is kinda crazy about this is how deeply it TOUCHED ME that someone here had done this for me. Clearly whoever it was must have read one of my posts where I revealed my poverty. What that person couldn't have known was how much I have wanted to donate to DU! :) This place has kept my spirits up so many times when I was flagging and losing all hope.

For many of us who are desperately poor now but were hard-working and independent even if poor for most of our lives, asking for help in itself is just so hard. And at some point, after many rejections, a lot of us just cease all efforts to turn to programs or organizations or churches we had once thought would certainly help the truly needy.

But the oddest thing of all is that, when someone DOES offer to help and really means it -- and especially if they offer some kind and understanding words and maybe even a hug when they do it -- I and many like me break down, fall apart, and cry. It's like a dam breaks and the hurt and sorrow and desperation that have built up just flow out in a rush, in a flood. The whole process can be so overwhelmingly emotional it's actually kind of scary.

Fact is, there's not really a way to offer me "a hand up," if you mean a way to enable me to move into a decent dwelling where I'd actually have hot water and a flushing toilet because I simply could not afford to keep staying there, paying the rent. I live on a fixed income from SSDI that is $718/month, and my lot rent in this RV park is $350/month. I have my own motorhome -- but it's a 1973 model, only 25 feet long and deteriorating faster every year now, and the engine probably won't start anymore.

I parked it here three years ago knowing however long I stayed here in it would be my last days of any privacy and independence in my life. I have a brother who lives in Tulsa but he tries very hard to forget I exist. He could help me, but he has made it clear he will not do more than the tiny bit he does now -- which is basically to let me bathe at his place once every couple of weeks and do a load of laundry there.

Also, paradoxically, if I were to openly receive money or even goods from caring friends, it could put me at risk of losing my healthcare insurance through Medicare and Medicaid! Poor as it is, inadequate and difficult to obtain, it's the only healthcare available to me, and I desperately need it to continue. I couldn't even accept the car my mother wanted to give me when she could no longer drive because if it had been put in my name, I would have a "net worth" of more than $4,000, which is the cut-off for allowing me to get assistance....

I understand my brother's thinking -- the same dad we had raised me, too, and this is my dad's attitude coming out in my brother. Dad trained him well in his sexist beliefs and hard-hearted views. But if others were to help me, I'm not sure how I could avoid losing my healthcare.

Sorry to run on so much, and I must stop now because the temp outside is already approaching 90 degrees so my PC will crash on me any minute now. But thanks for encouraging me to get some of these feelings out, Handpuppet -- it has done a lot for my spirit to be understood and welcomed as you have done. Reading this whole thread has been very helpful and encouraging to me, and I've bookmarked it so I'll always be able to find it when I'm discouraged. Also the many helpful sources you linked may prove very valuable to me, ya never know! :)

Thanks again, to you and others here who care. It is most appreciated!

[Sapphire Blue]

84. vickitulsa, thank you so very much for your voice!

A belated, but very warm welcome to DU! :hi: :hug: :loveya: I am so glad that you're here :) .

[AbbyR]

91. You are so right about people not understanding

that one does not have to be uneducated and lazy to be poor.
My husband had to stop working last - April, I think? He is a research chemist with an advanced degree, but he got to the point where he absolutely could not work. He has a degenerative neuromuscular disease and COPD. He could not walk and had to take a wheel chair to work and sit all day, and that's when he could get out of bed. Why did he work so long? His medical insurance would have died if he retired, and he was so sick he could not do without the care. He finally had to quit, just couldn't work any more, and we held our breath until he aged into Medicare in May.

He could not get disability, even with letters from a half dozen doctors, and he finally aged into the system. The forms are lengthy, and have questions like "How long can you stand?" and we had to answer "He can't stand at all. He can't WALK, he's in the bed."

He is now bedridden, getting some (very limited) hospice care, and was diagnosed about three weeks ago with untreatable colon cancer.

I can't stay at home with him. I have to work at a low-paying job, and I have a graduate degree. I work at a small, award-winning newspaper, and it just doesn't pay much. I am too old to get another job - people want young writers and editors.

With Social Security and my salary, we can manage to make the mortgage payment and utilities, but it is very, very hard, and when the Social Security stops coming in, I will probably lose the house.

I didn't ask to be here. I did everything right. I got the education, I took care of my family and cared for my mother at home until she died.

I'm old enough now to know that I'm not the only person in this country who followed all the rules and still didn't make it. Being poor is not a choice. We all need to stick together and make this government realize that they are making it so much harder for all of us.

[theHandpuppet]

92. Thank you for sharing your story, Abby

And be assured there are people out here who DO care, people who will continue to fight for the rights of all people that none of us should ever go hungry or homeless. It is the obligation of every one of us to see that none of our fellow human beings go without these basic necessities of life, nor shamed for finding themselves in need. "There but for the grace of God.." is the old saying. It could happen to any one of us at any time.

Thoughts and prayers for you and you loved ones.

[vickitulsa]

105. You're so right, Abby, we need to stick together!

I can't think of any other way we stand even a remote chance of changing the trend in this country.

My heart goes out to you and your husband. I know so well the helplessness you feel every single day. My first thought when you described the illnesses he's been diagnosed with and how long he kept working in spite of the debilitating symptoms he suffers was, "How hard it must be for him!"

Of course I identify with you because I'm a woman, too, but I recognize from friends who've been through this sort of thing that for MEN, the blows to their pride and sense of independence are just unbearable. Our culture grooms men to be strong and not to complain, yet when serious illness or injury strikes, they have no choice but to ask for help. I believe it's even harder for them than it is for us.

If I hadn't helped a couple of friends long ago to win their appeals after they'd been denied for SSDI, I wouldn't have won my own case in the "mere" two years it took me. I had already learned The System to a great extent by working through it for others. I know exactly what you mean about all the paperwork and forms they make people fill out, the rigid requirements for qualifying that they present, the difficulty of wording things JUST RIGHT in your responses so you don't "disqualify yourself."

The process is so foreboding and daunting that many just never even try it, or give up with the first denial -- which is virtually automatic, as I'm sure you learned. Many have to resort to hiring lawyers who specialize in this particular field because there is such a need for them. This means that the individual must then fork over up to ONE THIRD of their backpayment amount when they are finally approved. The backpayment amount is what you accrued from the date you first applied for SSDI to the date when you worked through the appeals process and were approved. It can be as much as FIVE YEARS for some, so that amount is sometimes substantial -- hence the attorneys' interest in working such cases for a percentage.

Everywhere we turn, others are trying to skim off a share of the benefits to the poor to line their own pockets! The government does it regularly, with the way they cut funding to programs that help the poor, often eliminating such programs altogether, while they find no problem approving several BILLION dollars PER WEEK for their voluntary war in Iraq!

I have a feeling that as more of the so-called "Baby Boomers" like me reach their senior years and need the Social Security programs they've counted on all their lives -- and paid into all their lives -- to BE THERE for them, something's gonna have to give in this situation. There are so damn many of us, I just don't see how we would all go quietly to our graves, suffering way more than necessary due to lack of medical care, without raising bloody hell about it.

I am very heartened by the responses in this thread, and thankful to you and Handpuppet and Sapphire Blue and Bobbolink and EVERYONE who has been reaching out here. I've put you four on my buddy list and hope to keep in touch. Sometimes just knowing there is someone "out there" who understands and will listen can make the difference in keeping up hope or giving in to despair.

HANG IN THERE, all of you!

[bobbolink]

106. We need to put all these stories together! How can libertarians and RW be

so callous in cutting all the safety net into teensy pieces, when so many of us are suffering in this way??!!

You are so right about going by the rules, and still not making it! I know that's why I had so much guilt for a while... I couldn't figure out what I had done wrong.

Turns out I did nothing wrong --it's the results of a lousy system!! When other countries can protect people like you and me, surely the "best" country in the world can do likewise???

I read your story, and I don't know how you are making it. Both of you must be very strong people, indeed, and I hope you are at least getting emotional support from those around you!

You'll be in my thoughts -- please be very good to yourself, and send your dear husband my best, also!

:hug:

[theHandpuppet]

85. We are with you, Vickitulsa

You don't realize how much your missive has meant to me personally, it is a gift that you have offered to all of us. I for one am so glad you are here and bless the DUer who gave you that well-deserved star.

If in any way I can ever help, please feel free to PM me.

Thank you, vickitulsa. You are a treasure.

[bobbolink]

88. Thanks so much, vickitulsa! I'm so pleased to meet you, as I'm

in your shoes, also. Not exact, but very similar. I'm also homeless at this point, and don't know how much longer I can hang on with this.

My heart goes out to you :pals: and I hope we can pool our small strengths to push this issue!!

It isn't the "oblivious" population "out there" that hurts me so much... it's all the Dems and "progressives" who don't give a rip, and just don't have time for us!!! I worked on two "progressive" campaigns in 2004, and found out the hard way that we just aren't important to them, so I said NO MORE. They don't get any more of my energy and time until they have energy and time for me!!

That's what hurts me the most -- those who pride themselves on being so aware and so activist, yet can't be bothered to, for instance, call and write about the danged budget cuts!!

Let's keep in touch, pleeeez?!!

:hug:

[babylonsister]

2. And this is just one region. Consider that. America could do and

be so much better than this. :cry:

[ikojo]

58. This is OHIO...how many of these people

voted for their current Republican leadership? How many voted against their class interests and voted for Bushco? When oh when will people begin to look beyond abortion and other single issues?

[theHandpuppet]

66. It's a nationwide problem, not just Ohio

See posts #9 and #11. Ohio isn't even among the states with the worst hunger crises.

[theHandpuppet]

3. Hunger in America rose 43% between 2000-2005

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051029093925.htm

Source: Brandeis University
Posted: October 29, 2005

Hunger In America Rises By 43 Percent Over Last Five Years

Hunger in American households has risen by 43 percent over the last five years, according to an analysis of US Department of Agriculture (USDA) data released today. The analysis, completed by the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University, shows that more than 7 million people have joined the ranks of the hungry since 1999.

The USDA report, Household Food Security in the United States, 2004, says that 38.2 million Americans live in households that suffer directly from hunger and food insecurity, including nearly 14 million children. That figure is up from 31 million Americans in 1999.

"This is an unexpected and even stunning outcome," noted center director Dr. J. Larry Brown, a leading scholarly authority on domestic hunger. "This chronic level of hunger so long after the recession ended means that it is a man-made problem. Congress and the White House urgently need to address growing income inequality and the weakening of the safety net in order to get this epidemic under control." According to the Center on Hunger and Poverty, food insecurity increased by nearly a million households from 2003 to 2004. Rates of hunger increased in almost every single category of household during the same time, with single mothers and those living in or near poverty continuing to suffer from severely high rates of both food insecurity and hunger..." MORE

[bobbolink]

50. great study -- thanks for the link!

Could you also post this in the poverty forum?

We need to collect all these resources!

Thanks!

[theHandpuppet]

74. Please feel free to glean anything you like

... and post it to the poverty forum. :hi:

[bobbolink]

86. CAn an old lady say.... "You Rock"? ^_^

:yourock:

I hope I live long enough to see so many links to poverty articles that I can no longer save them!!!

There has been a serious dearth, and you don't know how you've raised my spirits by posting all this!

Unfortunately, the poverty forum is pretty skinny, so I was going to encourage you to post your links there, also.

See, same minds and all that.... :hi:

Keep on keeping on!

:bounce:

[theHandpuppet]

94. This would seem like a good time for an invitation to all DUers...

...to make regular visits and contributions to the Poverty Forum on DU!

Thanks and best to you, bobbolink!

[bobbolink]

98. Absolutely! Let's vow now to make the Poverty Forum one of the

most active and ACCOMPLISHED forums around!

If we put our minds and hearts to it, we can start turning this party around, and make life a bit easier for poor folk!

More so, we need to be more vocal, so poor folk regain some hope that they are Not Alone, and can reach out a hand to hang on with!!

:pals:

[theHandpuppet]

56. HUNGER IN AMERICA ROSE 43% BETWEEN 2000-2005

I'm repeating myself here because this should be a headline on every damn news outlet in this country and on the lips of Congressional Dems who are fighting to raise the minimum wage.

So much for a "pro-life", so-called Christian president who would let children in his own country go to bed hungry while our tax money is spent on bombs used to kill Lebanese children in their beds. Maybe he ought to go back and read his own second inaugural address. "Good Samaritan" my ass.

FOOD not BOMBS you hypocrite!

[ikojo]

60. The minute the Democrats start talking about

income inequality the corporate media elites will scream class warfare. Unfortunately many working class Americans swallow that hook,line and sinker and vote against their class interests.

[theHandpuppet]

64. Well, in essence it IS class warfare

The Republicans have declared war on the working classes and the poor.

I liken working class folks who vote for Republicans to lobsters who are being prepared for a feast -- the Repukes show them a pot of water and the lobster thinks, "Swell! This guy is giving me my very own private pool!" Poor lobster is happily swimming about in a sea of delusion, not noticing that slowly but surely that pot is becoming more and more uncomfortable. Yep, it's getting hot in there all right. Too bad the lobster doesn't realize until it's too late he's been played for pate'. So sorry, little lobster, because the Repukes know there are plenty more where you came from and they're always hungry.

To paraphrase P.T.Barnum, "There's a lobster born every minute!"

[acmejack]

4. This is America!

Tax cuts for the rich, starvation for the poor. How many years before they have to shoot the poor in the streets? Starving people are desperate people, history proves hunger does get the masses off of their butts and into the streets.

[coalition_unwilling]

46. Qu'ils mangent de la galettes! (Let them eat cake!) -- eom

[theHandpuppet]

5. Organizations trying to help and reports on hunger in the USA

I figure if pit bulls merit some dozen threads and 1,170 posts on GD then millions of hungry children in America deserve one thread that can stay on the front page for more than two hours -- and I'll keep it here if I have to do it myself!

Organizations which serve the hungry:
http://www.secondharvest.org/
http://www.fhfh.org/hunger.html
http://www.uri.edu/endhunger/
http://www.uri.edu/volunteer/endhunger/
http://www.dannon.com/dn/dnstore/cgi-bin/ProdSubEV_Cat_240865_SubCat_241488_NavRoot_200_NavID_486924.htm

Studies and reports:
http://www.hungerinamerica.org/
http://www.centeronhunger.org/
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err11/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5023829
http://www.frac.org/html/hunger_in_the_us/hunger_index.html
http://www.anotherperspective.org/advoc209.html
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5018670
http://www.mathematica-mpr.com/nutrition/secondharvest.asp

Note the sick irony of the Google ads accompanying this article on Hunger in America from Science Daily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/10/051029093925.htm

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[babylonsister]

6. You got it, Handpuppet! RECOMMEND! nt

[theHandpuppet]

7. Thank you, Babylonsister. Here's more....

http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/128407/1/?

Incomes Fall, Hunger Worsens as Bush Says 'We're Doing Fine'
Abid Aslam
OneWorld US
Tue., Feb. 28, 2006

WASHINGTON, D.C., Feb 27 (OneWorld) - The average American family has taken a financial tumble and millions in the country go hungry despite President George W. Bush's sunny assessment of the U.S. economy, say federal data and economists.

Bush talked up the nation's wealth last week during a speech in Milwaukee. ''We're doing fine,'' he said and described the economy as ''strong and gaining steam.''

Economic growth had clocked a respectable 3.5 percent, unemployment had been held down to 4.7 percent with more than four million new jobs created in the past 30 months, and after-tax income had risen eight percent since 2001, he said.

Within days, however, the Federal Reserve reported that average incomes after adjusting for inflation actually had fallen between 2001 and 2004.

At the same time, the number of Americans who need emergency food aid to survive had swollen to more than 25 million even before hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck, the nation's largest network of food banks said in a separate report....

[SammyWinstonJack]

19. Clueless **

It's not that he's mean. It's just that when it comes to seeing how his policies affect people, George W. Bush doesn't have a clue.

I don't understand how poor people think and had described himself as a "white republican guy who doesn't get it, but I'd like to."


http://blogs.salon.com/0002255/2003/12/02.html


on edit: K & R

[theHandpuppet]

23. There's clueless and then there's the deliberately clueless

I put George Bush in the latter category.

But let's hear what a former professor of the young Herr Bush has to say about him: http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=503181

Former HBS Prof Blasts Bush
Business scholar says president was 'shallow,' 'flippant' in 1970s class
Published On Friday, July 16, 2004 12:00 AM
By SIMON W. VOZICK-LEVINSON
Crimson Staff Writer

As the race for the White House heats up and the nation’s left-leaning heads come together to unearth potential skeletons in President Bush’s closet, one line in his resume has avoided major scrutiny: the time Bush spent just across the Charles River, earning an MBA at the Harvard Business School (HBS) in the 1970s. Now, as some fervently question the commander-in-chief’s performance in the Texas National Guard decades ago and more current-minded politicos take aim at the events surrounding Sept. 11, 2001 and the invasion of Iraq, one former HBS professor is doing his best to publicize his recollections of what he calls a sarcastic, mediocre student who went on to lead the United States.

Yoshihiro Tsurumi, an avowed opponent of Bush’s current views and policies who was a visiting associate professor of international business at HBS between 1972 and 1976, said Bush was among 85 students he taught one year in a required first-year course. In the class on “Environment Analysis for Management,” incorporating elements of macroeconomics, industrial policy and international business, Tsurumi said students discussed and debated case studies for 90 minutes several times a week.

Tsurumi—now a professor of international business at Baruch College in the City University of New York—said he remembers the future president as scoring in the bottom 10 percent of students in the class.

Thirty years after teaching the class, Tsurumi said the twenty-something Bush’s statements and behavior—“always very shallow”—still stand out in his mind.

(snipping)

Tsurumi said he particularly recalls Bush’s right-wing extremism at the time, which he said was reflected in off-hand comments equating the New Deal of the 1930s with socialism and the corporation-regulating Securities and Exchange Commission with “an enemy of capitalism.”

“I vividly remember that he made a comment saying that people are poor because they’re lazy,” Tsurumi said.

MORE

Also see: "The Dunce" http://dir.salon.com/story/news/feature/2004/09/16/tsurumi/index.html
"Bush: Poor People Are Lazy" http://editor-at-large.blogspot.com/2005/11/bush-poor-people-are-lazy.html

[mcscajun]

29. Tsurami nails it...

Bush is not as dumb as many people think, Tsurumi said. "He was just badly brought up, with no discipline, and no compassion."

[Amonester]

39. Being badly brought up, with no discipline, and no compassion...

(as well as many other character flaws), and never even feeling a desire to learn anything about discipline, and compassion (as well as many other good human values) fully qualifies him as being dumb in most of the world's view.

Being dumb the way he is is the perfect path to become a criminal sociopath (as he is now).

[theHandpuppet]

68. A total lack of empathy

Isn't that one of the definitions of sociopathy?

[theHandpuppet]

28. This excerpt pretty much sums it up

"On the few occasions when Bush does directly encounter the down-and-out, he seems to empathize. But then, in what is becoming a recurring, almost nightmare-type scenario, the minute he visits some constructive program and praises it (AmeriCorps, the Boys and Girls Club, job training), he turns around and cuts the budget for it. It's the kiss of death if the president comes to praise your program. During the presidential debate in Boston in 2000, Bush said, "First and foremost, we've got to make sure we fully fund LIHEAP , which is a way to help low-income folks, particularly here in the East, pay their high fuel bills." He then sliced $300 million out of that sucker, even as people were dying of hypothermia, or, to put it bluntly, freezing to death."

Thanks for the link!

[AbbyR]

107. "You've got to be carefully taught"

Remember that song from "South Pacific"? I believe it.

When my family was doing MUCH better than we are now, we spent some of our holidays serving dinner and eating at the Salvation Army shelter. We always "adopted" a needed family for gifts at Christmas, and gave (and still give) regularly to local food banks.

As a result, my children DO understand and do give and I hope always will have a deep concern for others.

The Bush family and many of our wealthy lawmakers have no idea what it means to be poor and hungry, and were never taught that, in fact, "I am my brother's keeper."

If Mama and Daddy don't teach you, how will you ever learn?

[elehhhhna]

34. Look at the bright side, handpup:

One day soon some hungery children might attack & eat a neighbor. Once they're desperate enough to act like abused pitbulls, we'll have several serious threads about hunger in America.














:sarcasm:

[theHandpuppet]

36. Sadly, you may be right

What do people do when they become desperate, when they can't put food on the table or pay the rent? They take desperate measures, that's what, and our solution is to incarcerate them much as Scrooge would have suggested as the solution to hunger. The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate IN THE WORLD and millons of our fellow citizens go hungry. Yet how is this being addressed by the MSM? How many discussions concern this national crisis right here at home? Of course George Bush doesn't discuss poverty anymore -- even mentioning it might get folks to actually thinking about it and how his so-called moral leadership has utterly failed us. Better to talk about bringing democracy to Iraq or fearing the next attack from the "axis of evil" et al ad infinitum. Smoke and mirrors. Bloody and costly distractions to keep our outrage aimed at targets outside our own borders while our country rots from within.

Until a couple of years ago there was a little girl on our block who would go house to house asking for food. Sometimes she'd just walk in folks' houses and head straight for the kitchen and rummage through their cabinets. I'd always try to give her something or bake cookies for her, make hot dogs, anything to fill her stomach, but then some neighbors advised us that as a gay couple we ought to be careful letting a little 3 or 4 year old girl into our home. It was sickening.

The family since moved to a housing project and I do know that at least once her parents "lost" her, only to find her in the home of someone else in the complex who offered her some pizza. I still worry about her -- she was a tiny kid and trusting of strangers and would do anything for food. I can hardly stand to think about it. And there are plenty of kids around here just as hungry.

[elehhhhna]

37. Bless you, handpup. I hope you;ve moved, though...

some of your "concerned" neighbors sound like real assholes.

[theHandpuppet]

38. Actually, most of them are nice or at least leave us alone

There are always a few assholes, almost without exception the fundies and Repukes. When you're gay you always have to deal with shit like this but it always hurts, no matter what. But the only person I feel sorry for is that little kid.

[Sapphire Blue]

45. Thank you so much for posting these links & bringing attention to hunger..

... in America. Hunger is in everyone's backyard, if not in one's own home. Let's do something about it!

[theHandpuppet]

53. If you have any links to groups who combat hunger...

Please post them here. I'm sure there are folks who would like to volunteer/donate if they only knew how and where.

Thanks!

[Sapphire Blue]

54. Bread for the World has many excellent links @

http://www.bread.org/learn/links.html

We can help our neighbors, both near & far!

[theHandpuppet]

69. Thanks very much, sapphire blue

I'll definitely check that out.

[1932]

8. Ah, Cinci. ...cauldron of RW policy experiments, like destroying schools

guess they're not working.

[theHandpuppet]

9. No doubt. But the problem is a national one, not just a local one

How many of your local papers are reporting on the hungry in America? In your town? Do the hungry only make the headlines when new laws are passed telling people not to feed them? At least the Cincy Enquirer, admittedly a total RW rag, is putting the story right where it belongs -- ON THE FRONT PAGE.

Here's another report:

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1210-22.htm

Published on Friday, December 10, 2004 by CommonDreams.org
Hunger in America
by Anuradha Mittal
 

December 10, 2004 marks the 56th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which established universal standards and aspirations for human dignity. Inspired by the belief that human dignity requires freedom of expression and freedom from poverty and hunger, the UDHR proclaimed the interdependence and indivisibility of civil-political and economic-social human rights. Regrettably, 56 years later, original commitment to human rights interdependence remains in rhetoric only. The U.S. is no different.

Today, as the U.S. integrates the language of "human rights" into international diplomacy and politics, it continues to spurn social and economic human rights guaranteed by the UDHR. The United States faces a hidden epidemic. It is striking Americans of every age group and ethnicity, whether they live in cities or rural areas. And despite the diversity of targets, those suffering in this silent epidemic have two things in common: they are poor or low-income, and they are increasingly going without enough food.

Although politicians talk about "poverty in America", decision-makers avoid specifically mentioning the growing, and often deadly problem of hunger. George McGovern said in 1972, "To admit the existence of hunger in America is to confess that we have failed in meeting the most sensitive and painful of human needs. To admit the existence of widespread hunger is to cast doubt on the efficacy of our whole system." Three decades later, evidence indicates that the existing system is failing a vast number of Americans.... MORE

[1932]

10. It's everywhere, thanks to federal-level policy decisions, but I bet it's

going to be worse in communities that have governments that have actively decided to devalue labor and lower tax burdens on wealthy by destroying public schools and health services...like Ohio, and Cincinatti.

[theHandpuppet]

11. According to the USDA report...

"California, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma and South Carolina all have food insecurity and hunger rates that are significantly higher than the national average. The lone bright spot in the nation is Oregon. Once considered to have the worst hunger in the country, Oregon has shown significant decreases in food insecurity and hunger since 1999-2001."

The Bushreich's policies have hit some communities more than others:

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/view/2231/1/132

Labor Researchers: Bush Policies Perpetuate Black Poverty

By AFL-CIO

?11-18-05,11:14am

Nov. 17—Bush administration policies that cut education and basic anti-poverty programs in favor of tax cuts for the wealthy have exacerbated sharp differences in job opportunities for white and black workers, according to a new report by the Labor Research Association (LRA), a New York-based research and advocacy group....

(snipping))
Republican leaders in the U.S. House on Nov. 10 postponed action on a budget bill that would cut more than $50 billion from vital working family programs because they failed to find the votes to win. But House leaders and the Bush administration are expected to continue pressuring lawmakers to pass the budget cuts before the Thanksgiving recess.

The House bill includes $10 billion in cuts for Medicaid health services for poor children and long-term care patients and would raise the costs of prescription drugs for beneficiaries. It also would take some $5 billion from child support enforcement, $1.3 billion from foster care and Social Security disability payments and $844 million from food stamps.

Earlier that day, the Senate Finance Committee refused to move a $70 billion package of tax cuts for the wealthy promoted by congressional leaders and the Bush administration. Republican leaders, unable to secure enough votes on the 11-Republican, nine-Democrat panel to move the bill to the full Senate, postponed the vote on the tax cuts....

MORE

[ikojo]

61. In America people think about the hungry only

on Thanksgiving and Christmas and then it's to make themselves feel good because they put a can in a bag or whatever. When we do food drives at work during the "holidays" I mention that people are hungry year round. Why are there no food drives in the summer?

[Sapphire Blue]

67. You or anyone else can hold one. Anytime. Just do it. As often as you can.

[Sapphire Blue]

70. Also check posts #5 & 54 for links if you wish to & are able to donate.

[theHandpuppet]

71. You bring up a good point

Especially since it's in the summer that children who normally get a balanced meal via the school lunch program don't have that option during the summertime when school is in recess.

[Tsiyu]

12. I don't know how some familes can make it

With high gas prices, higher food costs and overpriced meds for the uninsured and insured alike ( my mom's meds are $400 a month!) how are Americans supposed to cope?

Oh, yeah, give the rich another tax break; THEY shouldn't have to pay for a war that benefits only themselves. We little people should have to pay for THEIR war, THEIR roads, THEIR golf courses and THEIR lavish lifestyles.


We should be flattered to give up food so that the uber-rich can have more.

[theHandpuppet]

13. The poor AREN'T making it, not that the Bushreich gives a damn...

... As long as those profits and windfalls keep rolling in for the rich. Yet it's the sons and daughters of the poor who are being sacrificed for their damn wars. They are literally taking food out of the mouths of hungry children to feed their insatiable appetite for wealth.

From the Carpetbagger Report:
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/7983.html

July 20, 2006
Bush's half-hearted interest in poverty faded fast

The list of examples is exceedingly long, but for every Bush commitment to a reasonably progressive goal, there's overwhelming evidence that the president's rhetoric is hollow and meaningless. Kevin Drum had a terrific post about this last month, highlighting the president's alleged concerns about a series of issues (counterproliferation, deficits, democracy promotion) that completely contradict the administration's actions. As Kevin concluded, "It's this simple: these guys say a lot of stuff they don't believe. Their words are largely meaningless."

Let's be sure to add poverty to the list.

Poverty forced its way to the top of President Bush's agenda in the confusing days after Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast and flooded New Orleans. Confronted with one of the most pressing political crises of his presidency, Bush, who in the past had faced withering criticism for speaking little about the poor, said the nation has a solemn duty to help them.

(snipping)

Of course, that was nearly a year ago. "Bold action" turned into "timid indifference." The president not only didn't follow through on his rhetorical commitments; he doesn't even offer any more rhetoric. As the WaPo noted, Bush doesn't even mention poverty anymore. There's been plenty of talk about tax cuts for people who don't need them, but discussions of poverty were used just long enough to stop the political bleeding after he and his administration dramatically bungled the Katrina crisis... MORE

[ikojo]

62. Caring little about the poor is a bipartisan affair

Remember it was CLINTON a DEMOCRAT who championed "welfare reform" in the 1990s. Many people have exhausted their five year LIFETIME limit of aid and we are only now witnessing the fallout from Democrats adopting Republican initiatives.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

24. Hi, Don't forget

we little people have to pay for their church's too.

[Tsiyu]

42. yeah, since they get a tax break

to build gigunda structures that sit empty six days of the year.

Yet we have babies sleeping on the streets.

Extreme Jeezuss simply ADORES those ostentatious structures with their basketball courts and gift shops brimming with white people.

He sez "Fergit the Bobble verses about feedin' the hungered and clothin' the po and visitin' those in prison. If them thar po folks ain't got no bootstraps that's thar own problemo."

The Book of Repuke 6:66

[area51]

14. k&r

I think we're in the 2nd Great Depression, w/hunger increasing & jobs hard to come by.

[theHandpuppet]

16. Reminds me of this old classic...

... with Bush & Cheney playing the parts of Scrooge and old Marley's ghost

"Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses?"

The clerk, in letting Scrooge's nephew out, had let two other people in. They were portly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooge's office. They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him.

'Scrooge and Marley's, I believe,' said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list. 'Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr Scrooge, or Mr Marley?'

'Mr Marley has been dead these seven years,' Scrooge replied. 'He died seven years ago, this very night.'

'We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner,' said the gentleman, presenting his credentials.

'It certainly was, for they had been two kindred spirits. At the ominous word liberality, Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handed the credentials back.

'They are. Still,' returned the gentleman,' I wish I could say they were not.'

'The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?' said Scrooge.

'At this festive season of the year, Mr Scrooge,' said the gentleman, taking up a pen, 'it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Poor and destitute, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands are in want of common necessaries; hundreds of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.'

'Are there no prisons?"

'Plenty of prisons,' said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.
'And the Union workhouses.' demanded Scrooge. 'Are they still in operation?'

'Both very busy, sir.'

'Oh. I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course,' said Scrooge. 'I'm very glad to hear it.'

'Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,' returned the gentleman, 'a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink, and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoices. What shall I put you down for?'

'Nothing!' Scrooge replied.

'You wish to be anonymous?'

'I wish to be left alone,' said Scrooge. 'Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't afford to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishments I have mentioned-they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.'

'Many can't go there; and many would rather die.'

'If they would rather die,' said Scrooge, 'they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

---from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

[Lars39]

15. Recommended.

Excellent links,tHP!

[meganmonkey]

17. I work in hunger relief in my county

and I have been getting more calls in the last few weeks about affiliate programs shutting down from lack of funding, and other affiliates needing MUCH more food than usual (partly because of the shutdowns) than I have ever had in the time I have worked here.

It is NOT good. :(

[theHandpuppet]

18. I hear you, meganmonkey

Bless you for caring.

My partner and I deliver foodstuffs every week to our local food pantry for the poor. We clip coupons, shop the "buy one, get one free" sales and offer fresh produce from our garden. I wish we could do more, because the need is only growing... and growing. Used to be I'd see the pantry shelves pretty full with donations of foodstuffs. Now when I go the shelves are half empty, both because donations are down and requests are up. WAY up. Some of the volunteers at the pantry told me donations have steadily and significantly dropped since 9-11. Go figure. I guess our government figures if you make people hungry and desperate enough you can fill the ranks of our "all volunteer" armed services or they'll be willing to work for slave wages and be too afraid to complain about it. This is a national disgrace.

[theHandpuppet]

20. "After all, the goal is prosperity"

You have to wonder how some of these BushCo slimebags can even make pronouncements like that without getting struck by a bolt of lightning!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/19/AR2006071901735.html

Bush's Poverty Talk Is Now All but Silent
Aiding Poor Was Brief Priority After Katrina

By Michael A. Fletcher
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 20, 2006; Page A04

Poverty forced its way to the top of President Bush's agenda in the confusing days after Hurricane Katrina battered the Gulf Coast and flooded New Orleans. Confronted with one of the most pressing political crises of his presidency, Bush, who in the past had faced withering criticism for speaking little about the poor, said the nation has a solemn duty to help them.

"All of us saw on television, there's . . . some deep, persistent poverty in this region," he said in a prime-time speech from New Orleans's Jackson Square, 17 days after the Aug. 29 hurricane. "That poverty has roots in a history of racial discrimination, which cut off generations from the opportunity of America. We have a duty to confront this poverty with bold action."

As it happened, poverty's turn in the presidential limelight was brief. Bush has talked little about the issue since the immediate crisis passed, while pursuing policies that his liberal critics say will hurt the poor. He has publicly mentioned domestic poverty six times since giving back-to-back speeches on the issue in September. Domestic poverty did not come up in his State of the Union address in January, and his most recent budget included no new initiatives directed at the poor.

Tony Snow, the president's press secretary, said Bush is unlikely to invoke poverty when he addresses the national convention of the NAACP today, and instead will focus on opportunities available to everyone. "After all, the goal is prosperity," Snow said....

MORE

[mom cat]

22. Thank you for this post and for all the work you do!

[theHandpuppet]

27. You're very welcome

I just hope some folks realize that it's an old trick to create distractions abroad, even wars, to take folks' minds off any mounting problems at home. The neocons are very good at playing this game.

[ikojo]

63. Summer is always a difficult time for food pantries

Kids, who would otherwise get one perhaps two meals at school, are at home and they need to be fed. It puts a strain on already meager resources.

[ananda]

21. The sad thing is..

.. that a lot of poor people voted for Bush and the GOP.

Conservatives know how to appeal to the poor in a way that makes them vote against their own best interests... and don't be surprised if they defend it and go ahead and go hungry for it.

It's a crazy world right now.

Sue

[theHandpuppet]

25. In fact, I've tackled this very subject several times

There are several threads tucked away in my DU journal which address this particular conundrum.

Here is one:

Yet from another perspective...
Posted by theHandpuppet in General Discussion: Politics
Fri Oct 22nd 2004, 09:01 AM

To many folks in the rural mountain communities in WV, the impact of the church on their everyday lives is infinitely greater than that of the federal government. The church is their living community, where members depend on one another to see them through times of sickness and need. When disaster strikes, as it does all too often in the mountains, it is to the neighbor and the congregation these people turn, as one can't wait for the federal government to find you (and how much media coverage did the disastrous flooding this year in WV and eastern KY receive -- good thing it didn't happen in NY, eh, where people were touted by the media as "heroic" for enduring the horrible trial of losing power for a day!).

No, I don't think it's a matter of "not thinking" about how either party's agenda will effect them; the fact is, these are folks who have been largely abandoned by both parties, by their own federal govt. What has stood by them through thick and thin is their church, living and tangible. It is the source of their nourishment, the center of their social life, their one unshakable faith, yet it never asks more of them than they can give. These folks aren't voting Republican or Democratic, for those are mere labels for an abstract, but they are voting for their church. It's by adopting the image, rather than the substance, of the church that the Republicans have made such headway into previously Dem strongholds. "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves." -- the book of Matthew

To truly understand what has happened (politically speaking) in places like WV there first has to be an understanding of the role the church has had and still plays in community life and some acknowledgment that these are the folks who will be "left behind" no matter which party takes office. Progressives and social activists can best establish some common ground in places like rural WV by working with rather than competing with the church as a *community* dynamic. I'm not talking about the slick, religious leeches like the Falwells and Robertsons, but the minister who delivers sermons on Sunday and digs coal on a Monday.

As a young Loretta Lynn once said, "I may be ignorant but I ain't stupid." Ask these folks to either abandon their political party or their church and I can tell you right now which one they'll choose. It matters not a whit whether I would personally agree with that decision, but I do understand where they're coming from.
Discuss (0 comments) | Remove from Journal | Edit intro

Here are a couple of other threads you muight find pertinent to the discussion:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4641857&mesg_id=4646854

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4397294&mesg_id=4398664

[bobbolink]

97. I wondered who it would be in this thread to put out this old accusation..

Yanno, being poor myself, I'm really sick and tired of this same tired attack.

Think just a minute.... Who was it who stood in line for HOURS to vote in 2004???? Do you think it was rich folk? Do you think it was a lot of you muddleclass folk???? Do you really think that???

What we know is that inner city areas, the poor folk, who vote decidedly DEMOCRATIC, were the ones who were shortchanged with voting machines, and malfunctioning machines, and stood in line hour after hour just to vote.

Remember that???

I could go on with other examples, but would you please register this, and respond?

I'd appreciate your acknowledging that it was poor folk who waited much longer than you had to just to cast one vote!

Thank you.

[theHandpuppet]

26. In America, every fourth person standing in a soup kitchen line is a child

According to http://www.strength.org/gabs/hunger/

Now I'd like everyone to consider this: what do you think happens to those children whose only decent meal comes as the result of the school lunch program? Do you think they're hungry now, wishing for school to start again so they can have something to eat? Summer is crisis time for food pantries for the poor and hungry. PLEASE consider volunteering or donating and in the meanwhile, keep fighting for the hungry in America!

[Hubert Flottz]

30. Congress got a big raise

And the wealthy have gotten several tax cuts. Life is good if you're in the Crony Corps!

[theHandpuppet]

35. Yep, they don't mind giving themselves big fat raises

But god forbid you should offer the working people in this nation a living wage unless you first make sure the millionaires' kids get bigger inheritances.

I'm with Barney Frank on this. See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2749771

Frank was only allotted about a minute to speak on Friday on the House Republican's shameful attaching of a minimum wage increase to their bill to give another tax cut to the wealthiest Americans, but he made the most of it.

Frank called their proposal exactly what it is -- "the most ethically repugnant, intellectually dishonest, morally bankrupt ploy I have ever seen in a legislative body." He went on to say to House Speaker Dennis Hastert that "… apparently shame has become entirely irrelevant to you and your party."

[Hubert Flottz]

40. Barney isn't a coward!

He's not afraid to defend his country against reich wing political terrorism in Washington.

[Boomer]

31. K&R

No comment, 'cause theHandpuppet has said it all, and most eloquently.

[porphyrian]

33. Don't talk about the poor, it's distracting to all those who are...

...trying to feel White and Christian.

[theHandpuppet]

41. Things have only gotten worse since this was published

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0209-26.htm

Published on Wednesday, February 9, 2005 by the Los Angeles Times
Bush's Budget Transforms the War on Poverty Into a War on the Poor
by Eric Garcetti

President Bush refers to himself as a wartime president, and he has shown resolve not to back down on the battlefield. But the budget he released this week waves a flag of surrender in another war, the 40-year "war on poverty."

The budget announces cuts of 28% — or $1.4 billion — from our arsenal of critical social programs. The largest and most vital to Los Angeles is the Community Development Block Grant. As more cities draw on poverty-fighting grants each year, Los Angeles' allocation has steadily decreased, from $88.6 million in 2003 to $82.7 million this year. Under the proposed cuts, our allocation would plummet by at least $15 million.

Alongside previously proposed cuts to Section 8 housing assistance, these reductions send a stark message to the country's poor, its elderly and its urban youth: You're no longer our problem.

In Los Angeles, these grants pay for after-school programs, home repairs for the elderly in blighted neighborhoods and intervention programs for youth on the brink of joining or already in gangs. They spur economic development projects and fund outreach to the homeless.

Now the president wants to cut these groups off from the prospects of economic recovery. That represents a radical departure from a nation's commitment to its most vulnerable citizens.... MORE

[undergroundpanther]

43. One of the many reasons

I hate most rich people.If I won a huge amount of money,I could not in good conscience hoard it. I may put some away,but dammit so many people suffer,I'd want to help them. I'd be as wise and far reaching as I could with it.

I'd buy space,land row houses storefronts,abandoned buildings..

I'd use that to open up alot of "free stores"..and free grocery stores ect..Open up community support places,where people in trouble could go to get peer to peer counseling and access to the free stores,help in any way that helps them.I would buy vacant lots and turn them into gardens and orchards.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_store

And I would buy up cheesy properties,like vacant landlord,row homes,get people who need a home to work together to fix them up to be communal type places where many people can live rent free. The only money they'd have to to gather up together would be their portion of enough cash when the cost burdens are evenly split evenly between all the residents to maintain the place,so it passes health inspections etc.. and to pay property tax so the state does not confiscate the house.The rules in these places would be minimal but crystal clear, The rules I would put there would exist to make sure the place is not raided,busted or shut down by the state,and to ensure people can get along ok ,share cooperate,and negotiate...And..they'd all be asshole free zones too.They would have to be drug booze free.There are plenty of places in the world for people to get drunk or high I want to create a real refuge from this crappy world for good people weary of the world as it is.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=276x900

Which means, no one who is a sociopath,a bully..no,dominators,
authoritarians,sadists,addicts not active in desiring to recover,no charismatic zealots 'guru' bullies or their sycophants(true believers), no con men,psychopaths,manipulators, ,narcissists,abusers of trust or power,are not wanted. These types of personalities or combos of them will not not admitted as part of these communities,because the bullies can shit on people everywhere else. .I have found these types of personalities when they are welcomed as part of a group, they divide it,cause strife and they will ruin relationships and make the group's power dynamics sick.

If you want to make another culture,I think securing buildings and land is the first step,the second is teaching people to see a way to relate beyond what the asshole world teaches by example..

[theHandpuppet]

44. Interesting idea, undergroundpanther

Are there projects like that currently in the U.S. upon which to base a model?

Which means, no one who is a sociopath, a bully, no dominators,
authoritarians, sadists, addicts not active in desiring to recover, no charismatic zealots 'guru' bullies or their sycophants(true believers), no con men, psychopaths, manipulators, narcissists, abusers of trust or power, are not wanted.

If we applied those standards to D.C. the place would be a ghost town.

[undergroundpanther]

57. No

I just thought about what a community would be like without bullies,self appointed arrogant"leaders" and the types of abusive personalities that make relationships go toxic.Sometimes I think racists and bigots use the asshole free zone idea to hook frustrated people looking for a scapegoat into accepting bigoted attitudes,but they use race gender sex,religion as their sociopath/bully criteria,as if a personality is confined to one race religion etc.. So the point of what the problem really is,a personality problem,in humans of any stripe is missed. But if you LOOK at the demonized images bigots make of the scapegoats,they are always painted up as sociopaths,rapists, bullies,sadists, con men and abusers of trust and power.

I think what people
really seek is a community without assholes in it.

[Tsiyu]

47. here's hoping you win the lottery UP

:hug:

[theHandpuppet]

48. More stories, stats and links

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030818/lieberman
article | posted July 31, 2003 (August 18, 2003 issue)

Hungry in America
Trudy Lieberman

I have no heart for somebody who starves his folks. --George W. Bush discussing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and US food donations on CNN (January 2, 2003)

Ellen Spearman lives in a trailer at the edge of Morrill, Nebraska, a tiny dusty town near the Wyoming state line. A few years ago she was a member of the working poor, earning $9.10 an hour at a local energy company. Then she got sick and had four surgeries for what turned out to be a benign facial tumor. New owners took over the company and told her she was a medical liability and could not work full time with benefits. For a while she worked part time without benefits until the company eliminated her position. So the 49-year-old single mother of five, with two teenage boys still at home, now lives on $21,300 a year from Social Security disability, child support and payments from the company's long-term disability policy she got as a benefit when she was first hired. That's about $6,000 above the federal poverty level, and too high to qualify for food stamps. But it is not enough to feed her family.

Food is the expendable item in a poor person's budget. With the need to pay for gasoline, car insurance, trailer rent, clothes, medicine and utilities, and to make payments on a car loan and $10,000 in medical bills, Spearman says three meals a day "take a back seat." She says she and her family eat a lot of rice with biscuits and gravy. Their diet is more interesting only when a local supermarket sells eight pieces of chicken for $3.99 or chuck roast for $1.49 a pound. "This country doesn't want to admit there's poverty," she says. "We can feed the world but not our own." MORE

And some links
http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/20726/
http://mmondlin.home.mindspring.com/No-Child-Hungry-MM.html
http://larryjamesurbandaily.blogspot.com/2005/06/working-and-hungry-in-america.html
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0603-03.htm

[theHandpuppet]

49. Recommended reading on hunger/poverty -- submit your own

Here's mine:

Recommended Reading:

http://www.henryholt.com/holt/nickelanddimed.htm

Nickel and Dimed
On (Not) Getting By in America
by Barbara Ehrenreich

(from the website)
Millions of Americans work full-time, year-round, for poverty-level wages. In 1998, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to join them. She was inspired in part by the rhetoric surrounding welfare reform, which promised that a job -- any job -- could be the ticket to a better life. But how does anyone survive, let alone prosper, on six to seven dollars an hour? To find out, Ehrenreich left her home, took the cheapest lodgings she could find, and accepted whatever jobs she was offered as a woefully inexperienced homemaker returning to the workforce. So began a grueling, hair raising, and darkly funny odyssey through the underside of working America. 

Moving from Florida to Maine to Minnesota, Ehrenreich worked as a waitress, a hotel maid, a cleaning woman, a nursing home aide, and a Wal-Mart sales clerk. Very quickly, she discovered that no job is truly "unskilled," that even the lowliest occupations require exhausting mental and muscular effort. She also learned that one job is not enough; you need at least two if you intend to live indoors. 

Nickel and Dimed reveals low-wage America in all its tenacity, anxiety, and surprising generosity -- a land of Big Boxes, fast food, and a thousand desperate stratagems for survival. Read it for the smoldering clarity of Ehrenreich's perspective and for a rare view of how "prosperity" looks from the bottom. You will never see anything -- from a motel bathroom to a restaurant meal -- quite the same way again. 

[EFerrari]

51. Great thread, the Handpuppet!

:kick: and rec

[B Calm]

55. Republicans America = Desperate hungry people willing to work cheap

[Benhurst]

59. So the New World Order is starting to show results.

I guess we should all pitch in more, as Pickles is so quick to tell us.

Yeah. Sure. Won't be long before we're all begging for food.

Wake up America!

[theHandpuppet]

73. And this is going to get so much worse, Benhurst

The rising cost of petroleum products means the cost of producing that food (most commercial fertilizers are petroleum based) and transporting it will result in higher prices at the market. Not to mention the ongoing heat and drought in the breadbasket states is causing massive crop and livestock losses. We'll all have to tighten our belts, but the poor will be hit worst of all.

[MoseyWalker]

72. of course the poor go hungry

they see too many people in the world, and we are just obstacles.

Obstacles.

Remember that.

[krkaufman]

75. Have I mentioned tonight ....

... how much I hate these Right Wing bastards?

[bobbolink]

96. I hope you hate 'em enough, and love poor folk enough, to CALL

now to tell them to vote NO on HR 5970!!

See my other post on this in this thread, and please call and pass the info on today! Vote coming up soon!

Make your hate a long and healthy hate (to quote Hawkeye)and use it to fight the basturds!! :bounce:

Thanks!

:hi:

[Starfury]

76. K&R - Student Hunger Conference - Los Angeles (at USC) - 10/27-29/06

Students in the LA area interested in participating can check out their link http://www.studentsagainsthunger.org/conference/conf.asp?id2=23750

We are pleased to announce that the 19th Annual Conference of the National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness will be held at University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

Regarded for its strong academic and community commitments, as well as an exceptional sports program, USC is a picturesque campus located in the heart of Los Angeles. You don't need to wander too far off campus to see the glaring disparity between the rich and poor. Not only is Los Angeles the home of countless celebrities but it also hosts the largest population of individuals experiencing homelessness in the U.S. In addition, the city of Los Angeles is home to some of the most innovative anti-hunger and homelessness programs and organizations in the country. Plus, the student organizing committee is filled with dynamic young activists with a lot of great ideas and passion. We guarantee that this combination will make for a unique and memorable conference experience.

Join hundreds of college students from across the country for this amazing event. Throughout the weekend, you will learn the most current information on domestic and international hunger and poverty from some of the top activists, organizers, and advocates in the country as well as new skills and strategies to run effective campaigns. You will also be able to network with students who are already organizing around these issues and others who have never volunteered but want to make a difference.

We look forward to seeing you in Los Angeles this fall!

From http://www.lahsc.org/la.htm
The United Kingdom: 25,000 homeless 60,441,457 population
Los Angeles County: 90,000 homeless 9,937,739 population

[Totally Committed]

79. Thank you for this thread...

Poverty and hunger in the richest country on earth are abominations.

TC

[theHandpuppet]

80. When I think of the monies we spend on bullets and bombs...

... while millions of our own children go to bed hungry, our people cannot afford medicines, and others must choose between food and heat -- there simply are no words to describe how I feel.

Take a look at this: http://www.warresisters.org/piechart.htm

[theHandpuppet]

81. FOOD not BOMBS!

From http://www.globalissues.org/Geopolitics/ArmsTrade/Spending.asp

U.S. Military Spending
The United States, being the most formidable military power, it is worth looking at their spending.

The U.S. military budget request by the Bush Administration for Fiscal Year 2007 is $462.7 billion. (This includes the Defense Department budget, funding for the Department of Energy (which includes nuclear weapons) and “other” which the source does not define. It does not include other items such as money for the Afghan and Iraq wars—$50 billion for Fiscal Year 2007 and an extra $70 billion for FY 2006, on top of the $50 billion approved by Congress.)

For Fiscal Year 2006 it was $441.6 billion
For Fiscal Year 2005 it was $420.7 billion
For Fiscal Year 2004 it was $399.1 billion .
For Fiscal Year 2003 it was $396.1 billion.
For Fiscal Year 2002 it was $343.2 billion.
For Fiscal Year 2001 it was $305 billion. And Congress had increased that budget request to $310 billion.
This was up from approximately $288.8 billion, in 2000.

From http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/02/07/deep_cuts_sought_for_social_programs/?page=2

Deep cuts sought for social programs
$2.77 trillion plan boosts military
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | February 7, 2006

WASHINGTON -- President Bush yesterday unveiled a $2.77 trillion spending plan for the next fiscal year that would slash healthcare and education spending, and that would enact deep cuts to scores of other federal programs, while boosting the military budget and making permanent a series of tax cuts that Congress has passed in recent years.

The budget would shave $35.9 billion over five years from Medicare, the politically sensitive healthcare program for the elderly. The Medicare cuts, along with a $4.5 billion reduction in the Medicaid budget, are part of $65.2 billion in savings culled from entitlement programs, the fastest-growing part of the federal budget. By law, the government is required to spend money on those programs, like Medicare, to cover those who are eligible.

Bush also has proposed saving $14.7 billion by eliminating or significantly scaling back 141 government programs, including antidrug efforts in schools, food stamps, vocational education, and housing benefits for the elderly and the disabled.

(snipping)

The Department of Education's spending on basic programs would fall by $2.1 billion, or 3.8 percent, and the president would save about $3.5 billion by cutting a range of programs designed to promote the arts, technology, and after-school programs. Meanwhile, federally based programs to help pay for higher education would take significant hits: The Perkins Loan program would be eliminated, and Pell grant funding for college students would drop by $4.6 billion.

(snipping)

The Department of Defense would get the biggest funding increase; Bush has asked for a record $439.3 billion budget -- 7 percent more than this year, and 48 percent above the level of spending in 2001. In addition, Bush is seeking $50 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2007, along with nearly $2 billion more in assistance programs for the two nations.

On taxes, the president wants Congress to make permanent a series of reductions to taxes on income, capital gains, dividends, and estates of the deceased that were passed in 2001 and 2003. Those cuts are scheduled to expire between now and 2010....

MORE

[Blue_Tires]

83. ttt !!

[bobbolink]

89. PLEASE, everyone on this thread--Call your Senators about HR 45970!!

Please refer to this thread:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1779153#1792788

Call today, and pass this on to everyone you can think of!!

I so very much appreciate all the wonderful posts in this thread, and this is what we need to do with this --take action!

WE NEED YOU ALL TO CALL!

:bounce:

Please keep that thread kicked, and keep those calls ringing their phones off the hook until they know they have really ticked us off!!

:) :hi: :)

[theHandpuppet]

95. WILL DO!

Let's get on the horn, DU!

[Sapphire Blue]

99. ... please refer also to these two threads:

*** URGENT *** CALL YOUR SENATORS NOW @ 800-459-1887 ***NO on H.R. 5970***: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1798765


Republican Minimum Wage Bill to Lower Wages in Seven States: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2753077

[bobbolink]

100. Thanks SapphireBlue! Keep these threads kicked, folks, PLEEZ!

Lives depend on it....literally!

[Nikki Stone 1]

90. kick

:kick:

[TAPat]

93. Thanks HP - Kick lest we forget....

All these wars serve as a nice diversion from the plight of our very own right here.
I am guilty myself - I've been in the "where is dinner coming from" place (as an adult trying to take care of my family) and I really try not to think about it too much... It hurts, but it hurts worse to not be able to feed your kids.

[theHandpuppet]

101. Remember this folks? Here's "compassionate conservatism" for you!

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Republicans plan to cut 40,000 kids from school lunch program to pay for ANOTHER tax cut in the next month
by Chris in Paris - 11/03/2005 01:27:00 PM

They're asking the poor to suck it up and do without because of those critical tax cuts for the wealthy, corporate welfare and a failing war of convenience are more important than food for the poor. How long before they change the child labor laws so the kids can go out and work for their food? Nice compassion and isn't it great to see that we're all in this together?

Don't believe me, read the article. The Republicans are planning on ANOTHER TAX cut in the next few weeks that will cost even MORE than the cuts to the poor and elderly that they're making today: But some Republicans worry that social service cuts, though relatively small, might have outsized political ramifications, especially when Republicans move in the coming weeks to cut taxes for the fifth time in as many years. Those tax cuts, totaling $70 billion over five years, would more than offset the deficit reduction that would result from the budget cuts.

More details on the planned Republican attack on the poor, the elderly and children... (long article) http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/republicans-plan-to-cut-40000-kids.html

[bobbolink]

102. It will have "political ramifications" ONLY IF THE DEMS, all of us,

make a lot of noise, and let poor folk know we're on their side!

Otherwise, they just get more despondent, give up, and more suicides.

We've let them down, and we MUST change that!

First of all for *their* sakes, and second because we NEED THEM if we're going to overturn the RW rule.

It's in our corner now.

[Sapphire Blue]

103. Back to the top!

:kick:

[theHandpuppet]

104. Staggering Reality of Senior Hunger Cited by Meals On Wheels

http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Nutrition-Vitamins/6-03-01-StaggeringReality.htm

Staggering Reality of Senior Hunger Cited by Meals On Wheels
One-Fourth of U.S. adults don't think hunger is a very big problem for seniors

March 1, 2006 - Today, more than three quarters of a million American senior citizens over 65 and living alone have difficulty providing themselves with a steady supply of food and experience some degree of hunger, according to the Meals On Wheels Association. Hunger can strike at any age, but many people are not aware of the devastating effects it has on our senior citizens, says MOWAA in kicking off March For Meals, the fifth annual nationwide public awareness and fundraising campaign...

(snipping)
"The United States is the only developed country with such a serious hunger problem," states Dr. J. Larry Brown, director of the Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University. "Ensuring adequate food and nutrition is essential to the prevention of chronic disease and disease-related disabilities among seniors. As the number of elderly Americans grows, this problem will continue to plague our country unless we take corrective action now."

Common Misconceptions about Senior Hunger in the U.S.

Meals On Wheels programs across the U.S. deliver more than 1 million meals each day to senior citizens and other homebound individuals. However, MOWAA estimates that 2 million additional meals are required to meet the growing demand for nutrition services.

A recent national survey shows that 58 percent of U.S. adults wrongly assume that most senior citizens who request food from senior nutrition programs receive it. The fact is: four out of 10 nutrition programs that feed the elderly, such as Meals On Wheels, have waiting lists for nutrition services due to lack of awareness, funding, and/or volunteers. As grim as that statistic is, it clearly shows the current unmet need amongst the senior population, the association says.

The survey also demonstrates that 24 percent of U.S. adults do not think hunger is a very big problem for seniors and four in five U.S. adults (80 percent) believe that hunger among senior citizens is most often caused by poverty.

(snipping)
Senior Hunger: A Life-Threatening Disease

Seniors who experience hunger are at risk for serious health problems. Hunger can be life-threatening by increasing the risk for stroke, prolonging recovery from illness, extending hospital stays, limiting the effects of prescription drugs, decreasing resistance to infection, and even increasing the occurrence of depression and isolation.

The majority of U.S. adults (71 percent) do not believe that they or their loved ones will ever experience some degree of hunger that will affect their health. However, with the first wave of baby boomers turning 65 in the next decade, there is certainly a chance that many older Americans could be affected by hunger in the future unless steps are taken to end this significant societal problem...

MORE

Other links:
Urban Institute: Hunger and Food Insecurity Among the Elderly
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/11/republicans-plan-to-cut-40000-kids.html

America's Second Harvest: Senior Hunger
http://www.secondharvest.org/learn_about_hunger/senior_hunger.html

A helpful link: http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Nutrition-Vitamins/5-04-06Hunger.htm

[Horse with no Name]

108. Thank you for bringing this to light

Some of these stories in this thread have broken my heart.
It is amazing how many people are hungry.
Recently, a transient was walking through town. This man stopped my daughter who was in the front yard, and asked if there were any shelters in our town that served food.
I believe it was on Memorial Day, and most of the town was closed anyway.After telling him no, she came in the house and he proceeded to walk down the road.
She came in and told me of his situation, we gathered a loaf of bread, some peanut butter, some ham and cheese and a bottle of mustard and drove down the road to find the man.
We handed him this food and figured he would at least be able to eat for the next couple of days.
I gave him a few bucks--I didn't have much money on me though.
This man cried like a baby. He was so thankful.
There truly isn't anything more satisfying than giving a hungry person food.

[theHandpuppet]

109. It seems too many people in this country want to ignore this problem

Too often it is a fight even on DU just to keep threads about hunger, poverty and homelessness on the front page of a discussion forum for more than an hour or two. Some DUers concerned about this human tragedy have gotten so discouraged about this that they have felt rejected and demoralized, so much so they've pretty much stopped posting about this outside the Poverty Forum.

Bless you for caring when someone was in need. I've had numerous experiences like the one you described and each is burned into my memory. We simply can't ignore this, no matter how many smoke and mirrors tricks the Bushreich creates to distract us from the fact that poverty and hunger are exploding here at home whilst social safety nets have been slashed to ribbons. It's past time to bring these problems to the attention of our nation and its elected leaders once again. There's only one real war that's worth fighting right now, and that's the war on poverty, hunger and homelessness.