Heritage Analyst on 49 Million in 'Food Insecurity': 'Very few of these people are hungry.'

[BurtWorm]

The Indiscreet Charm of America's Bourgeoisie, noted by Hullabaloo's tristero:

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/49-million-americans-by-tristero-i-am.html


49 Million Americans

by tristero

I am so glad that Wall Street is on track for such huge bonuses this year. That's because they can use all that money to buy food for the 49 million Americans - 49 million Americans! Jesus! who "lacked consistent access to adequate food" by the end of the Bush administration.

49 million Americans. Shameful. Shameful!

And check this out towards the end:

“Very few of these people are hungry,” said Robert Rector, an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “When they lose jobs, they constrain the kind of food they buy. That is regrettable, but it’s a far cry from a hunger crisis.”

49 million Americans have been "struggling with hunger" - as the director of the food center who sponsored the study says - and all conservatives can say is, "Hey, that's not so bad."

Jesus.

My God, that anyone takes conservatives seriously on anything simply boggles the mind. 49 million Americans can't eat well on a regular basis - not won't, but can't - and this asshole pooh-poohs the problem. (By the way, you might want to Google "Robert Rector Heritage Foundation" for a good idea of how wrong someone can be. Authoring flawed studies on immigration. Advocating worthless sex education programs. He's one more extreme-right conservative clown clone.)

...

[tonysam]

1. I am sure this guy subscribes to Reagan's belief

these people are all on a diet.

[tblue]

4. Oh no. Did President "Ketchup is a Vegetable" actually say that?

These evil idiots!

[tonysam]

5. Yes, he did. Here's the quote:

In a speech, 10/27/64:

"We were told four years ago that 17 million people went to bed hungry every night. Well, that was probably true. They were all on a diet."


Quoted in "Ronald Reagan's Reign of Error," 1983, page 84.

[Sabriel]

2. LIke I said in an earlier thread, can't the poor just eat their bootstraps?

If they're not going to pull themselves up by them, they might as well get some nutrition out of them.

Fuck the Heritage Foundation, home to quite a bit of the nastiest "research"-based justification for harmful, dehumanizing policies.

[tblue]

3. So let's take away his food and see how he likes "struggling with hunger."

What's "regrettable" is that this Robert Rectum channels Barbara Bush's dismissal of human suffering with no shame. The clown!

[guitar man]

6. I'm sure that's easy for him to say

I have no doubt this clown has never spent a hungry day in his goddamned life. Why anybody would lend credibility to such a miserable excuse for a human being is beyond me. :grr:

[Hidden Stillness]

7. More Rich-Corporate-Think-Tank Cruelty

This is another example of the fact that corporate conservatives are totally cold and heartless--they don't even pay any attention to the issue, it bothers them so little--and also of the neverending flood of disinformation and propaganda overwhelming every issue. Remember the recent statement about how people "choose" not to buy health insurance as a "strategic" choice, their own "life-style preference," and not that they can't afford anything or that there is something wrong with the system. They pretend that people are heavily in debt or go bankrupt, not because of medical bills, foreclosure, criminal-fraud mortgages or loans, flat wages, outsourcing/unemployment, etc.--no, it is all because they are "buying luxuries," TVs, etc. They get the think-tank/corporate-media propaganda out first, poison the well, and make it impossible to think of the issue or problem anymore, so it can't be solved. It doesn't help when Obama coldly refers to the deepening recession as "recovery," either.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

8. I was hungry this weekend --

Payday was on Monday instead of Friday, and I entered the weekend with $4 and a panty/fridge that was all but empty. Friday I had my last can of veggie chili. On Satuday I had my last two frozen waffles and a veggie whopper Jr. and small fries. On Sunday I had my last two hash brown patties and got a Taco Bell tostada. It was either that or buy a box of pancake mix and have pancakes all weekend, but I had no margarine or syrup. Fast food stinks but, at times like this, it totally worked for me.

Yes, I had food but it wasn't nearly enough (I do very physical work) and I was hungry as hell the entire weekend. By Monday morning I was ready to eat my desk. And I have more than a few days like that in the past year as my finances have gotten strained.

I am a working American who has been hungry, Heritage Foundation. We do exist.

[damntexdem]

9. Poverty: the diet plan that really works!

The GOP's plan to end obesity in America: starvation!

;-)