"…the House version of the farm bill making would throw nearly 2 million people off food stamps, most of whom are working families with children or senior citizens. More than 200,000 kids would lose access to free school lunches, according to the group." (NBC News see link below)
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Is there some lack of proper education on the part of Republicans? The market(s) crashed in 2008. Since then the Food Stamp roles have more than doubled. Is that a surprise to anyone? Poverty increases in time of economic collapse. Nobody is surprised, looking back at The Great Depression, that there were bread lines in every major city in America.
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We have, as a society and a people, moved passed making families with children stand in bread lines. Who is it, exactly, that wants to take the United States back to bread lines and poor houses? Social progress undone is evil winning and immorality replacing Christianity. Not since The Great Depression has hunger swept across America the way it is now. And this number will only grow if Food Stamp benefits are cut.
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America has fought hunger and poverty for the past three generations. Republican Presidents; Eisenhower, Nixon, and Regan all supported programs to feed the poor, the disabled, the elderly and vets. Literally every President since F.D.R. has supported feeding the hungry from the Federal level. It is a NATIONAL responsibility. When, again, did this change? When did this fundamental tenant of our society get overruled? Who is it that made this decision that the poor need go hungry when our debt is SHRINKING?
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Now two million Americans (including working poor families, they ARE WORKING FAMILIES) will be hungry? Just as a filter for this eventuality (if you do not act) 70% or Seven out of Ten Wal-Mart workers (that ring you up and help you in the store) will be without daily sustenance. Three out of ten college students will be without a proper diet. Why?
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Now there are some that will say “What about the food banks and churches? Shouldn’t they carry the load? Won’t they help?” I will let a representative with the Food Research and Action Center (A Food bank monitoring group) answer that question:
“James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, is working with food banks and organizations that focus on hunger issues to lobby Congress against slashing food stamp spending. For them, it is not a matter of politics or theories on the role of government, but a matter of getting people the assistance they need.
“People in the field know how much harm these cuts can cause,” said Weill. “Those who actually work with low-income Americans around the country know they can’t provide a sufficient amount of people with the help they need if these cuts take place.”
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So the short, and correct, answer is “No!” America’s churches and food banks are already stretched beyond capacity. Our social welfare safety net is in tatters, and the churches cannot assist further. No, this IS the responsibility of our Federal Government. So says President Dwight D. Eisenhower:
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final
sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities.
It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population.
It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway.
We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat.
We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people.
This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road. the world has been taking.
This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.”[1]
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President Richard M. Nixon had this to say about hunger in America:
“That hunger and malnutrition should persist in a land such as ours is embarrassing and intolerable.”[2]
Now for President Kennedy on hunger:
“"The war against hunger is truly mankind's war of liberation."[3] And ““There is only one rule by which to judge if God is near us or is far away – the rule that God's word is giving us today: everyone concerned for the hungry, the naked, the poor, for those who have vanished in police custody, for the tortured, for prisoners, for all flesh that suffers, has God close at hand. We have the ability, we have the means, and we have the capacity to eliminate hunger from the face of the earth. We need only the will."[4]
Now for President Carter:
"We know that a peaceful world cannot long exist, one-third rich and two-thirds hungry."[5]
Now for President Clinton he acted on hunger: ‘Mickey Leland Childhood Hunger Relief Act of 1993’[6]
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President George W. Bush on hunger in America:
"I also acted on this timeless belief, to whom much is given, much is required. We have been given a lot in our country. And it's not only in our strategic interests that we deal with hunger and disease, it is in our moral interest that we do so, as well. In the Western Hemisphere, we expanded trade and helped our fellow democracies deliver prosperity and social justice to their people. And around the world, we built a coalition of more than 90 nations to fight terror and advance the cause of freedom in the great ideological struggle of our time. In short, we've made our alliances stronger, we've made our nation safer, and we have made the world freer."
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President Obama has acted in the war against hunger, much like President Bill Clinton did with : ‘President Obama Signs Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 Into Law’[7]
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Well, if you have read this far I have captured your attention, and maybe your heart. Right now you might be asking yourself “Yes, Danny, but what can I DO?!” If you are, KUDOS! What you can do to help FIRST? Look around your circle of friends. Be they are work, at church, in your neighborhood or your old friends found-again on Facebook. Reach out and offer help. Believe me when I tell you that right now all around you are people; good honest hard working people, genuinely hungry people that you can easily reach out and help.
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Contrary to some ill-willed rhetoric not all poor people are drug addicts or alcoholics. There are good and honest people that would love to work, but their disabilities make it impossible to work, or are incapable of living/working without a caregiver. Reach out and help. Put some food in a box and mail it, leave it at a door or take it to a food bank. Get involved in a local church or business group’s support of food banks.
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Lastly? :Let your voice be heard. Call or write your Congressman and Senators. (I have posted the phone information below) Need to find out WHO to write or call? Go here: Find Your Representative
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HERE is the number to get a hold of your Senator: United States Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121
HERE is the number to get a hold of your Congressman: To call your Member of Congress: US Capitol Switchboard (202) 224-3121
that was the same number... I am going to leave that there... see if anyone... ;)
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Taking food from the already hungry is just wrong. Today is SUNDAY, the Day of Sabbath. Will you make a pledge to help protect food for the poor and hungry?
Will YOU call your Congressman and Senator? Will YOU reach out to someone you know is hungry or going without food? This level of hunger (One in SIX Americans depend on Food Stamps for all or part of their diet) demands Federal and grassroots action. It requires something from everybody. I stepped up to the plate and have spent four hours over two days preparing this article. I posted that I would be taking a break, but this issue would not let me rest. How about you, My Dear Readers?
Thank you for your time, your consideration and your efforts.
This article was inspired by the article linked below.
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http://inplainsight.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/19/18307642-ax-hovers-over-food-stamp-program-as-costs-grow?lite
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I make mention of the "national debt SHRINKING!" and I wanted to provide my documentation. Here:
ReplyDelete"New reports have shown that the nation’s debt has shrunk to a level not seen in 6 years, and the trend is continuing. Now our nation’s debt has dropped to $40 trillion, reducing our debt to GDP ratio to 3.29."
Read more: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/10/11/nations-debt-shrinks-to-lowest-in-6-years/#ixzz2TmcQFAtq