Hunger

On Thanksgiving Day, An Estimated 26 Million Are Going Hungry And Facing Eviction

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As the nation goes through the toughest situation on Thanksgiving Day since the Kennedy Assassination in 1963, an estimated 26 million Americans are going hungry and facing eviction from their homes.

This is the ultimate legacy of the Trump Presidency, at a time when 2,200 Americans died in 24 hours from the COVID 19 Pandemic, and when front line workers, both medical and others, are working harder than ever, with many of them falling fatally ill from the disease.

We have to look forward to a better Thanksgiving 2021, when the vaccine will have inoculated a majority of the American people; when the economy will have started to return to normal; and with a President and Vice President who will have put the American people ahead of their own greed and egotism, in their roles as the 46th President and 49th Vice President of the United States!

God bless Joe Biden and Kamala Harris!

George McGovern Birthday, What Would Have Been His 95th: A Moment To Remember

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Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, the 1972 Democratic Presidential nominee against President Richard Nixon, would have been 95 today, a moment to remember this great man, who passed away five years ago on October 21, 2012.

McGovern may have been an historic loser, winning only Massachusetts and the District of Columbia in his race against Nixon 45 years ago.

But McGovern was, in many ways, the most principled man ever to run for President.

He ran as an anti Vietnam War candidate, who had been a fighter pilot in World War II.

He ran as a person committed to the hungry, the poor, the disadvantaged in our society. He worked across the aisle with Bob Dole of Kansas to take action to help the most deprived in our society.

He ran as a principled and decent political leader who wanted to bring America back to its purpose, to promote equality, justice and compassion.

Americans instead voted for the most unprincipled and corrupt President in American history, until Donald Trump came along.

George McGovern was my idol, my hero, as a young man in graduate school, inspired by the fact that he had, like myself, pursued a PH. D. in American history, and had taught on the college level before entering politics.

What is it about America that too often they vote for the candidate who is far less principled, decent, and compassionate–as with Richard Nixon and Donald Trump as two examples?

Why is it that we have, as a nation, too often made the wrong choice?

This is something that will be repeated until the better side of our nature finally returns to the basic principles of America, and steers away from those who exploit our fears and insecurities and worsens the American condition!

Denial Of Health Care And Food Stamps Promotes Desperation, Depression, And Ultimate Violence!

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It is amazing how Republicans, Conservatives, and many so called “religious” people fail to understand what they are doing by working to destroy ObamaCare, and to make massive cuts in the Food Stamp program.

Lack of food promotes bad health, and lack of health care promotes wide spread illnesses and early death.

It also promotes a sense of desperation and depression, and the development of mental illness, as fear of not having enough food to eat creates insecurity in children, as well as adults, and the ultimate reality is that when people are denied basic needs out of a desire to punish those who are poor, down and out, degraded, it leads to widespread violence, which affects all of the rest of society.

How nasty, how mean spirited, how uncaring, can people be, so as not to care about people starving, losing all dignity and hope?

Ultimately, the rest of society suffers, and it makes America a place that we cannot be proud of, as a result!

NO ONE should be told to go hungry in a nation that sees itself as a model for other nations!

Commitment To Others (Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama) Vs. Commitment To One’s Own Wealth Acquisition (Mitt Romney)!

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Two former Democratic Presidents—Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton—have devoted their post Presidential lives to a commitment to help others, through the Carter Center and the Clinton Initiative.

They have both stood out for their efforts to promote peace, fight hunger and disease, improve the lives of others, rather than set out to add to their own wealth acquisition.

At the same time, Barack Obama seems likely to follow the same pursuits, because, after all, he devoted his early adult life to being a community organizer in the toughest neighborhoods of Chicago, dealing with poverty, hunger, and family problems of many Chicago residents. He has been ridiculed by the right wing of the Republican Party for doing so, but then the right wing of the GOP has also shown a lack of respect and deference toward both Carter and Clinton with their retirement years commitment to doing good for others!

Meanwhile, Mitt Romney has devoted his entire adult life simply to the acquisition of wealth for the sake of wealth, not concerning himself with the closing down of businesses by Bain Capital, and the loss of jobs by many thousands of workers. He also likes to flaunt wealth, as with the car elevator at his one of many homes in California, and his refusal to release his tax returns, because it would reveal just how manipulative and deceitful he has been, a man who has no ethics or morals when it comes to the making of money!

Of course, it is said that Mitt Romney gives to “charity”, but that “charity” is almost completely to his Mormon Church, which requires a tithe of ten percent from its membership. So that is not all voluntary, and in any case, giving “charity” solely to one’s church is not true charity, in the sense that he has shown no interest, with his vast wealth, to support good causes, as has Carter and Clinton, both far less wealthy than Romney.

And it is predictable that if Romney loses the Presidency, he will devote his life to his church and to the constant acquisition of wealth, as this is the trend of his life, not devoting time and effort to good causes, as Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton have done, and assuredly, that Barack Obama will do in his post Presidency!

As Republicans Push For Cuts To Food Stamp Program, Poverty Rises, Particularly In Red (Republican) States!

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The Republican Party is determined to cut the Food Stamp program as a boondoggle, wasteful spending, and used by recipients, it is claimed, in an abusive manner.

The reality, however, is that about one out of five Americans in polls have stated that they cannot afford their necessary food supply in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

And the irony is that inability to afford food, and the need for food stamps therefore, is most prevalent in the RED or Republican states of the South and Border states–including Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia and Louisiana!

So it is RED states that suffer from hunger, and the reality is that about 50 percent of the food stamp recipients are children, and another 8 percent are elderly.

Statistics show that 18 percent of recipients have no income at all; 41 percent have half the poverty level income; and only 14 percent have incomes above the poverty level. Also, less than 10 percent get a welfare payment along with food stamps. And the assets of these poor souls is less than $100 in savings per family!

Is this the best we can do, and is this what the Republican Party wishes to stand for–to undermine the groups and states that vote for them in state and national elections?

This is a disgrace, which is an understatement!

The “Buffett Rule” Is The “Reagan Rule”, But Instead Cut Food Stamps: Republican Party Message To America!

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The “Buffett Rule”, the idea that those who earn more than a million dollars a year should pay a tax rate of 30 percent, more than their secretaries and other workers, was defeated in the Senate on a party line vote on Monday, with only Susan Collins of Maine voting with Democrats, and Mark Pryor of Arkansas voting with the Republicans, and 60 votes needed to overcome a filibuster being unable to be accomplished.

Of course, the “Buffett Rule” is really a restatement of the “Reagan Rule”, the assertion of the 40th President that one should not expect an employee to pay a higher level of taxes than his or her employer. It is an embarrassment to the GOP of 2012, that they are actually defying their icon, their god, their “savior”, who they claim to be following and worshiping, but only when they choose to follow his lead. The fact that 72 percent of the American people in polls support the “Buffett Rule” has no effect at all on the Republicans, as they argue that $50 billion over ten years collected if the “Buffett Rule” went into effect is a “drop in the bucket”!

Meanwhile, the Republicans wish to cut spending on food stamps, the main source of funding for nutrition for poor families, attacked as socialism, but they insist that cutting it over ten years, saving $33.2 billion, is substantial, and must be done as part of the Paul Ryan budget plan in the House of Representatives.

The Republican Party has no conscience, as they are willing to take from the poor to give more tax cuts to the rich. They are Robin Hood in reverse, with no second thoughts!

So 4,000 families will benefit from the defeat of the “Buffett Rule”, while $46.4 million Americans, who are already dependent on food stamps for survival will see an 11 percent cut in monthly benefits after September 1.

The long term unemployed, who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, will now suffer even worse, as we now live in a society in which government leaders do not care about what hunger means, and do not care about the desperation of millions left behind, a large percentage of them children and single mothers, as long as the elite continue to get tax cuts!

Disgraceful Levels Of Hunger In America As Economic Crisis Worsens

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The US Agriculture Department reports the highest level of people facing a hunger crisis, in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the 1930s.

49 million Americans have had to go without a meal or have had problems buying food, with the food stamp allotment being only $133 per month for each person who is fortunate enough to get it, and many millions do not even have that assistance.

One third of the 49 million people face a major crisis, while the other two thirds have the problem of buying cheaper, less varied foods, or visiting a food pantry or soup kitchen.

Of course, many children are victims of this hunger problem, with so many single mothers being in particular hardship.

In the midst of these statistics, the highest in 14 years, a conservative group, The Heritage Foundation, denies there is a hunger crisis, claiming these people may have to buy cheaper food, but are not hungry. Again, this is an example of lack of concern, and a decision symbolically to put one’s head in the sand and refuse to acknowledge reality, since it goes against their philosophy.

Such reactions are despicable, but are part of the same mentality that sees millions of Americans having no health care as not a crisis. The Obama Administration, by alerting us to the reality of hunger, are calling our consciences and our government to do whatever can be done to rectify this disgraceful situation! 🙁