Where are all the starving people in america?

a reply to: deadeyedick

Interesting perspective. I think its a puddle of poo myself. I don't think that the average American is filled with pride over Manifest Destiny or its accoutrements of carnage but if knowing we murdered over 90% of the indigenous population makes you beam with pride who am I to stop you. It just seems like one of the oddest rationalizations I've seen on this board in awhile.

a reply to: peter vlar It has always been called american pride. That which is viewed about ourselves that makes us great while ignoring the fact that it cost the world much blood and future strife.

a reply to: deadeyedick

Just because you and others ignore the cost of this wonderous concept of "American Exceptionalism" doesn't mean the entire country is populated by the willfully ignorant who are oblivious to the costs of concepts like manifest destiny. But you go ahead and keep on keepin' on

The people that are fighting to either get here or get their kids here still believe in the myth of the Land Of Opportunity...

I find it hard to blame them for that. What we are starting to see, though, is something I talked to my wife about around 20 years ago. In the old days, people that wanted to live here came to Ellis Island (or whatever the West Coast version was) and willingly submitted to physical inspections that make me literally shiver... I would never be able to wear contacts. Don't even tell me you need to be a touchin' my eyes! The glaucoma test is barely tolerable to me. Whatever parasite it was, they used to let the "officials" take a tool and turn all four of their eyelids inside-out to check for some worm. [shuddering]

What are people like the ones I know that jumped through all the legal hoops to become naturalized or the rest of the student body that heard a certain "someone" say the Dr*amers in the crowd are our future supposed to think?

It's like I've said before. When my friend retired as Chief of Police, the kids in our town suddenly had two strikes against them. The cops don't mess with anyone but the ones born and raised here if they can keep from it...

A fellow musician went to report having a gun stuck in the window of his car (and his face) outside of a local bar while he'd been on break and he was asked, "You didn't look him straight in the eye did you?"

Like any sane person would ask, he said, "What the F*CK does that have to do with ANYTHING ???".

He was told that in "Their" culture it is considered confrontational and it was his own fault!!!!

I can agree with a lot of stuff. For example, I like the fact that both sides of the political spectrum are volunteering to go out with deputies to look for (I can't bring myself to be that PC at the moment fill in the blank yourself) ________, because politics is no comfort once you've seen a pregnant mother or toddlers out there dead in the desert because someone turned them loose to make it the rest of the way on their own.

But giving the country away? We're almost there. Like in the old movie with Dan Akroyd, "You REALLY wanna see some people going hungry or hurting?" Try knocking on some doors and meet some of your neighbors!!!

a reply to: CornShucker

I can only speak of my small area, but the bets are always in favor of the obese person having an EBT card. We had one chunky chubby down the street from us, his whole household each had one of those cards, and he was dealing scrap metal in the abandoned house next door to him.
It's not that we have don't have starving in America, I'm positive in places we do, i.e., Appalachia, but in the more populated area, simply due the to statistics, the abusers are more obvious.
We do have technically more "Homeless' people. Four families on my block alone lost their homes, and to see the humiliation of once having a home, then losing it, is awful. In the city we have the real homeless, though I always wonder about the decisions made to be homeless.
One woman asked me if I had a sandwich in my briefcase, or better yet, do I have ten dollars? Twenty would be great, she said, but if I only had ten, that would be nice. Didn't even bother to cover her track marks on her arms.
I'm in the same bag as some of the users on here, I'm a peanut butter worker- put in my hours, and then extra hours, and eat PBJ a lot of the time.
The working class is a hell of a lot skinnier than the impoverished on my street.

Go to any major American city over 250,000 people after dark, and look under the bridges and in the dark alleys, where you will find your homeless and your starving, trying to keep warm and dry. You might want to take a few blankets with you, and maybe some food that doesn't require heating up.

I can't believe that someone in this day and age denies there are people starving in America.

originally posted by: liejunkie01
They are at school.

Thanks to Mrs Obama kids come home starving.

It's not thanks to Mrs Obama, who is trying to promote healthy eating in school.

Try looking at your Republican Congressperson or Senator, who is trying to ensure that junk food stays in schools and that money for school lunch programs is cut back.

Meanwhile, that same Republican gives a multi million dollar no bid Government contract and a huge tax break to a publisher to print books that teach that creationism is science, and then give the same thing to companies to build private prisons with a guarantee that they will be "at least 80% full" and then pay off judges to make sure that kids with ridiculous charges against them end up in those prisons.

And you blame Mrs Obama?

a reply to: babybunnies I am not denying that people are starving. I am thinking that we have less here in the u.s. than other countries and we do have social programs that try to help. I am saying that charity is very great here and many of those suffering can get help.

a reply to: babybunnies
That's why I included in my post "In the city we have the real homeless".
You are dear.

I used to carry blankets my mother would pick up at garage sales, then I had to start using them myself, the costing of heating a home is different than it was in the eighties, when I regularly worked in the big cities, before the internet made it possible for me to work anywhere.
I actually used to give cigarettes and money- once I encountered Jerry Springer dressed as homeless, sitting next to a real homeless guy. I did a double take and recognized him because he refused the smokes. No homeless person I ever encountered ever refused smokes before.

I keep my bleeding heart next to the jelly in the fridge, so that I can recall it when I fix another sandwich for dinner.

originally posted by: peter vlar
a reply to: deadeyedick



Just because you and others ignore the cost of this wonderous concept of "American Exceptionalism" doesn't mean the entire country is populated by the willfully ignorant who are oblivious to the costs of concepts like manifest destiny. But you go ahead and keep on keepin' on

You should not take this personal. I am not ignoring anything i am aware of.

a reply to: TheCounselor

My wife and I consider ourselves extremely fortunate. Going back at least 15-18 we've had some fantastic Hispanic neighbors. We've made lifelong friendships that are as genuine as it gets. Not everyone is that lucky, but accept your blessings when you can. Being invited to baby showers and weddings by friends that moved to the "better" side of town but never forgot you is something special. I'm getting some coals going now for some chops, chicken & rib eyes and our neighbor that is testing out his English classes on me just got home from work a while ago. (Before anyone gets snarky, I use one of those vacuum seal dealies to save up what is on special. You can freeze meat up to three years as long as it is never thawed without worry about frostbite.) Having him wave and holler, "You eat good tonight, neighbor?" means a lot to me. His lady friend had to go back home and, even though he has friends sharing the rent, I know he is lonely. People are just people and when the ones I know are hurting I hurt too regardless of who they are or where they are from.

Friends are like Jello, there's always room for one more!

originally posted by: deadeyedick
a reply to: babybunnies I am not denying that people are starving. I am thinking that we have less here in the u.s. than other countries and we do have social programs that try to help. I am saying that charity is very great here and many of those suffering can get help.

I gave you a star because I think I understand what you mean.

Somewhere in this vast little community we have here you'll find my extensive post about the Carter Depression.

It boils down to asking a state employee, "Let me get this straight... I have a car with 100K+ miles but it's paid for and a house over 80 years old that needs a lot of work but my wife and I have to lose EVERYTHING we've been working for but a guy that has a car that he owes at least $5,000 on and is renting a furnished apartment gets help immediately so he doesn't have to lose any of that sh*t that HE DOESN'T EVEN OWN ??????

She said, "I'm not saying it's fair, that's just how it is..."

So I asked her, "What if I could show you three people making more dealing drugs in a week than I did working a month that are getting everything than they can and getting away with it?"

Her response was (direct quote), "I'd say don't tell me because I can't do a d@mned thing about it!"

It's only gotten worse in the last 40 years. That's why every presidential election since has been nothing but a protest vote from me.

a reply to: CornShucker

I'm not quite sure how your Hispanic neighbors fit into this, but I appreciate that you have a good pantry.
And I'm glad you are happy.

originally posted by: deadeyedick
Suffering will never be eliminated. Things will only get worse unless we expand. If we close ourselves off to the rest of the world then we will implode.

Oh please that is not even close to being reality. Even if we closed ourselves off to the rest of the world we could still make do. We can grow enough food to easily feed everyone. We can produce enough oil and gas to keep everything running and we have enough empty houses that we can put a roof over everyone's head. The only reason we don't do these things is because there is no profit in it. Except for banks like JP Morgan that make money off the poor because they control the food stamps.

a reply to: buster2010 Yes you are correct but my point is that if you take into account our past and our seemingly inability to change then we will need to take over everything to continue on our path. our current system does not allow for your post to be a likely scenerio.

originally posted by: deadeyedick
a reply to: buster2010 Yes you are correct but my point is that if you take into account our past and our seemingly inability to change then we will need to take over everything to continue on our path. our current system does not allow for your post to be a likely scenerio.

The only reason why people think we need to take over something to continue is because our bought and paid for politicians say so. Remember our government doesn't work for the people they work for the millionaires and billionaires that fill their coffers with money. These are the people that make money off of war and raping these other countries of their natural resources. So of course we are going to hear we need to expand to survive.

originally posted by: TheCounselor
a reply to: CornShucker

I'm not quite sure how your Hispanic neighbors fit into this, but I appreciate that you have a good pantry.
And I'm glad you are happy.

The local poultry processor (that has changed hands several times since I supported their network in the early '90s) has brought a considerable amount of Hispanic workers into our area, especially the last 10-15 years. We've finally had gang tagging and tension in our local school. There will always be some people that don't want to get along and expect special treatment. There are some apartment areas in town you couldn't pay me to live in...

a reply to: buster2010

I find the reason to be in our foundation as in we started this whole thing by brute force and it led to what we have now. It is a tried and proven method and deep inside many of us we have a drive to bully others. You are right though and our leaders do not let the peaceful way prosper. The funny thing is that if someone came along and started making real global change that kept everyone safe with a full belly then he would be deemed the antichrist and sought and killed. The whole thing is well thought out and well controlled and leads to one world order. it is just a question of who has the balls to be the bad guy.(good guy)

a reply to: deadeyedick
Speak for yourself. I do not have any drive to bully others. I was raised with concepts such as the golden rule. What good is living the higher life while everyone around you suffers? I would rather build those around me up, than to tear them down just to raise my own personal status a tiny bit higher. I don't see the point in it. In a perfect world, everyone would get the bare minimum to live life, people want more than they work more. Why does the perfect world not exist? Because of greedy people, who equate things as their worth, and can never have enough.

a reply to: deadeyedick

There have been times where I have gone hungry to make sure my daughter has something to eat. I work more than full time but I have a daughter to support, my wife cannot work, i have a car payment, rent and more bills on top of school. There have been times where I just didn't have the money for food or time to go to a food pantry. In those times my daughter ALWAYS had something to eat, however I cannot say the same about myself. I am a normal US citizen, I just happen to be low income.