Feeding America
 

I'm putting this in the politics forum, because I believe poverty is a political issue. It could just as easily go into the philosphy section, as the roles of charity and government are both political and philosphical.

Anyhoo...

I am on the mailing list for the BreastCancerSite.com Pink Ribbon campaign. Today I got an update and a request for donations which is clearly aimed particularly at their American subscriber base. Amongst the schemes the e-letter was promoting was the Feeding America charity:

That's quite a stark picture; and whilst I understand that fundrasing letters are likely to egg the pudding a little, I also think it's likely that they are highlighting a genuine issue.

Does this suggest that it might be time to reassess the social safety nets currently in place?

Do you believe that this is a problem which should be tackled by the Government, or are you happy to see it stay in the hands of charitable benevolence?

This year in particular, local food banks in this area are very stressed. The people asking for assistance are at record levels.

PDX has it's share and there are a lot of people living (hidden camps) in the forests and high deserts between the coast and central Oregon.

TV reported for our first "Free Dental Clinic" people got in line early Sunday morning and they were still full up yesterday (Tues)afternoon

And as Glatt says, our local food banks are really stressed

Politically, Oregon is reported as "liberal" but that is because of just two large cities...the rest of the state is very "conservative". We've had Democratic Governors for quite a while, so there has been good use of state tax dollars being passed down to County Health Depts and food programs and school breakfast/lunch programs. etc. But those dollars have grown tighter and smaller now due to the recession.

PDX, like Seattle, has a migratory population of street-people during the summers, but they tend to go south when the cold/wet weather arrives. Publicly provided food and sleeping facilities for them are fair to good, but there is another interesting aspect to this. The liberal political tenor in Portland alloweds certain public areas to be used for "temporary" overnight stays, and the City Council negotiates with their self-appointed leaders about the facilities, safety, etc.

Our Hispanic community has done a lot to improve the agricultural migrant worker facilities throughout the state, and I think generally over the past 20 years the farm owners have greatly improved the living quarters for workers and their families. Ranchers (cattle) on the other hand seem to be very hard in their attitudes towards migrants, and so County governments in cattle country are too.

So Dana, YES, I do believe government has a major role to play. And over the 35 years we've lived in Oregon I believe there is a major difference between Democratic and Republican administrations in degree and quality of assistance given to the poor.

lighter...do you like, live at the airport? :confused:

Why are you using anonymous account to comment?

to piss you off? :lol:

Could it be Monster? Paranoid and likes to use that emoticon exclusively, but then the comments are maybe too tame for her. I could be wrong. :)

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In answer to the question by dana. No, government does enough. If the government needs to do anything it is to create jobs. The more people working the less need for people to use a food bank. In the state Oregon, the budget must be balanced every year. If we funded one more program, one more job will be cut to pay for it.

@ Lamplighter. As you know,Oregon almost elected a Republican governor. It was by 1% point that a democrat won, thanks to Multnomah county. Portland gets a big say in who the governor will be, and i.mo. Kitzhaber wasn't the best person for the job and much of Oregon felt the same way. Kitz was already governor once. When he left the first time he said Oregon was 'ungovernable'. For the Portland people to forget that fact and vote him in on their democratic laurels, instead of thinking about what was best for this economy, is maddening. The way these two democrat governors deal with the economy is by making wide sweeping job killing cuts. I hope the unions are happy. I hope they redouble their efforts for food drives.

oh and btw, I am registered democrat, ( I have not changed to independent yet but will) I am also an ex state worker and ex union member, who lost her job due the state balancing it's budget on my back. I have not had to use a food bank yet. Thankfully

Monster doesn't strike me as being bashful about bashing or saying what's on her mind. I suspect it is someone else.

Public assistance programs in my area are experiencing "very high call volume." We are already the poorest county in NY, how much poorer can we get. Ironically, we are republican for the most part.

Paranoia? It's one of my favorite past-times. You must be a little confused/paranoid, though, because I don't use that emotion, and I'm not bashful about pointing out wankerism, except when people are so stupid that it would just be a waist of my time, and then I just don't bother at all. :)

Sky, I absolutely agree with you about the way Oregon State employees were treated in the last biennium.
The public always wants to take their pound of flesh from them,
especially the front line employees and their "cushy" retirement plans.
Lots of problems, and sadly not all get settled equitably.

I mentioned this subject in a group of people, a couple days ago. One response I got was, "We do enough for the niggers and white trash on welfare". I explained that the people on welfare are being fed, this is about the people not on welfare. Many were employed until recently, and with their unemployment running out, even more will be hungry. I'm not sure he was convinced, I think he'd made up his mind.

State budget cuts are tough, they can't keep spending money they don't have. Sometimes it means cutting the jobs that serve the most people, to blackmail the taxpayers, but when it can't be avoided, cutting the jobs that serve the fewest people only makes sense. After all, you can't expect the politicians to cut their pay/perks.

I didn't say I thought she was shy or didn't have a big mouth.






So someone was hiding under anonymous but it wasn't you. You don't have to always be on a rant.
So you don't ever get paranoid or use the laughing emoticon but I would be paranoid if I was you. First person I thought of. * shrug* sorry


Lamp. You are always the diplomat. Thanks

Unlike some of the mouthbreathers who post on here, I can type with my trap shut. Can you? Sky you fucked up and you don't even have the grace to admit it. That is really pathetic. You should stay out of the kitchen.

I didn't fuck up. I just don't like you. You are a big mouthed ranting dike.

You soap box- preaching hypocrite.

LJ. Why do you do that shit?

Charities over here are stretched to the limit too. I guess it's a sign of the times. A lot of people don't have housing here either and are living in makeshift camps here and there. It's very sad.

A big mouthed ranting dyke?

Well, how terribly fucking homophobic of you.

Is that what we do now on the Cellar? Insult people by calling them gay?

Do I detect a new user title for monster?

Not dyke, dike. I didn't know beest was a little Dutch boy. :confused:

Its cowardly and dumb to try to stir up trouble under the anonymous account, but its just as dumb to be pointing fingers. I was just trying to get the anon user to fess up.

Sky and monnie, please knock it off. Sky, you had no right to point fingers at mon without any evidence I don't care how you feel about her personally. Mon, it was wrong of sky, we all know it and there is no reason for you to have to respond to that bullshit.
Same goes for BB's accusation to LJ.

Dyke and Dike are just variant spellings of the same word. Both can be used to describe a dam and both can be used to describe a lesbian. In the UK 'dyke' is a more common spelling for both. Don't know about over in the US

Not here, dyke is not a dam, only damned. :haha:

In my own defense I did say that I thought the comments were too tame to be her. Go look.

I also said I could be wrong.

I am not sorry for making a guess. She is the person who came to mind and her milder user attributes. It is hardly an accusation when the anon name is used to hide behind and hardly a reason to go ballistic. And she did. True to form.



@ bruce. You made me laugh. Dike. The greek goddess of moral justice.

Are you seriously suggesting you were using the word Dike to denote the Greek goddess of moral justice?

because 'a big mouthed ranting ...' would suggest otherwise.

I still think it would be an awesome user title.

WHY don't YOU just STOP and consider the words, mouth breather, stupid, lame and loser. Where is your social justice there? huh?

Do you think in the heat of the moment I could type out

'big mouthed ranting self appointed goddess of moral justice'

According to ghoul I cannot breath/think and type at the same time.


All you want to do is expound the virtue of political correctness and call me a homophobe to prove your right.

Don't be full of bullshit Dana. This isn't about you appeasing Monsters feelings;There is no way you think she is hurt over anything I have said. Not the way she is capable of talking.

Why don't you look at the big picture, if possible.

Drifting this thread even further away...

Skysidhe, is your user name related to anything like this:

:rolleyes:

I need more popcorn

nope sky, no matter how you try to pretty it up, accusing her of being the anon poster was an insult. she responded in kind, so and so on. very childish all around. trying to defend the use of any insult such as "dike" and then attacking dani when she called you out on it was extremely uncalled for. you need to learn to admit you're wrong and stfu. altho monnie used insults, they are not of the same disgusting caliber as "dike."

Yes, not bad enough to go to hell.

Cursed, evil or restless. Yup that's me

No, I will not stfu just because you say so little girl. I am not wrong. Monster is wrong for going on a rant. I am not going to just stand there and take her insults, which flow freely and often. I am tired seeing it. I know, I know, she is not the same disgusting caliber. Fuck that shit!

Do it! Take a shit on the stage!! ;)

more than pretty



Monster will never ever get my consideration or apologies because she never gives those to others. She is free with her insults and rantings so I don't feel bad. I know she is your guy's friend and you overlook her faults and attack who you think the enemy is. I get that

But what I really want to say is in the next paragraph, and I am not going to respond to anyone about this, anymore.

You though, I want to apologize to. You are young and that is a good thing. You are trying to do the right thing and I would feel bad if I damaged you in any way or made you feel bad. Not that I think you aren't made from stronger stuff but I really feel bad for yanking your chain by calling you a little girl. This isn't your problem ok?

Thank you. I think you are a sweetie. really , even if you told me to stfu. ( chuckle)

You're better than that. Just drop a deuce and leave us all (me) really happy.

:eyebrow:

...btw deleting your "Monster, shut your trap" comment after I replied to it was worse than pathetic. I don't need an apology. Don't drag my name into places I don't want to be and you'll be fine. Step on me and regret it. If you get it.

Monster prefers "shut your pie hole" to "shut your trap" read the FAQ.

(OT: The inch asked me this morning what a pie hole was)

Oh, and for what it's worth, my favorite Spice Girl was Dyke-a-licious Spice

shut your pumpkin pie hole.

(is what I prefer)

The only hole suitable for a pumpkin pie is the waste disposer.

uh-oh, we should be careful here, we're almost back on topic.

Thread eddy! paddle like mad!

Got fuck all to do with proving anybody right. Got fuck all to do with 'political correctness'. I found your use of the word dike as an insult, very offensive. Why? Because it's homophobic. It also has connotations of an accusation of gender non-conformity: suggesting that by being forthright and opinionated (loudmouthed and ranting) this is somehow 'masculine' and lacking in femininity.



I have no idea whether or not Monster was offended. I have no idea if she is hurt over anything. I rather suspect she isn't.

I didn't jump in because I though she was hurt. Nor did I jump in to defend her per se. I did jump in because I thought YOU were out of line and being a bitch. In a thread I'd started. For no apparent reason. A homophobic bitch at that.

You launched an unprovoked attack on another poster, and then when she came back at you, you called her a loud-mouthed ranting dike.

Now, you can sit here and say you didn't mean it as 'lesbian'. But the sentiment doesn't scan with the rest of what you said.

I honestly couldn't give a flying fuck about what you and Monster think of each other. Nor, generally, do I give a fuck about whether you insult each other. This isn;t to do with 'defending' Monster. In fact it has nothing to do with Monster at all. It's about you.

I was surprised and a little disappointed that someone I once thought well of would stoop to such a low.

But hey: you go right on ahead and keep defending your right to be a bitch. Defend your right to be insulting and homophobic. Defend your right to use the kinds of insults that help to underscore and strengthen accepted gender norms and set the person insulted outside of those norms.

And just to go back to your accusation that I am just being 'politically correct'. I am political. I have strong political beliefs that underscore everything i do and everything I am. You see 'political correctness' as somehow a bad thing and a small thing. I see a political awareness of the impact of one's language and a personal sense of responsibility to not cause social harm through the use of language as a good and positive thing: because I am looking at the big picture. You, however, clearly are not seeing beyond your little scrap with Monster.

LOLOL

Homophobic?



Hey, I know a ton of gay jokes. I know & love gay peeps.

You're weird.

And you are?



[eta] jokes are one thing. A cultural tendency to use homosexuality as the basis for deep insults is a different matter altogether. Had Sky jokingly called Monster a dike, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

What a luxury, to be so burdened with free time and opinions that we can waste them on an internet feud. This must be what they call a "rich people" problem.

So, about feeding the poor ...

Well this has been a fun read so far. You have to admit, dyke is kind of fun to say. Dyke dyke dyke dyke dyke dyke dyke dyke dyke

Well...I wasn't engaged in a feud. I was engaged in an argument. An Off Topic argument granted :P

Over in the Uk, our new coalition gobmint is busy dismantling the welfare state as fast as (questionably-)humanly possible. At a time when more and more people are losing their jobs and fewer and fewer new jobs are being created, the mechanisms of assistance are being rapidly curtailed. What assistance remains is being partnered up with a requirement for 'community service' and for accepting any job offered no matter what.

This is likely in my opinion, and based on what happened during the late 80s/early 90s, to have a dual effect. Firstly, much of what is being tagged as 'community service' is in fact work that is currently being done by various groups of employees from both the public and private sector. So rather than people being paid a living wage to clean up flytipping, or deliver meals-on-wheels to the housebound elderly, at least some of the time this will be done by people who are not being paid a living wage. They end up less economically active than the full-time worker who could be doing that work. At the same time budget strained councils and public organisations will be able to manage with fewer paid workers in some areas.

They're probably apocryphal, but I recall stories from the 90s of council workers being laid off then after a year of being unable to find work being sent to do some kind of unpaid 'work scheme' with the private firm that had taken over the refuse collections. Essentially doing the same job but for benefits instead of an hourly wage.

The other thing that will happen, I suspect, is that given the emphasis on timescales and the kinds of pressure applied both in terms of having to take any job whatever the score, and in terms of being highly unlikely to be able to succesfully reclaim should that job go wrong: the amount of basic leverage for employees and prospective employees will fall to an all time low. The minimum wage is apparently being reduced, so this will speed the process: this part of the plan will drive wages down.

What we are heading towards is what seems to be have already happened in the States: the re-appearance of large sectors of working poor. Where a family can have two adults in work, one of them with two jobs and still can't quite cover food, healthcare and rent.


[eta] For the record: i disapprove :P

Now if we could just get our Government to do the same thing...

Merc, how should we feel about reducing veterans' benefits "
like say,
- the VA medical care of veteran's family members ?
- the VA medical care of pre-existing conditions of veterans ?
or others that may come from the feds and/or the states

Mind you, I'm truly not in favor of such cuts, but sometimes it is a matter of "go gore someone else's ox"

Dana - it's too early for this to have trickled down to the Job Centres, but I can totally see where your concerns are. I sit in the Job Centre every week and hear other people talk. I'm sure someone in there must be work-shy dole-scum - according to the tabloids there are millions of them after all. But all I hear every week is people talking about the job they went for that had over 100 applicants so they wouldn't take any more applications (the sandwich shop "Just Baguettes") the person who did a qualification in Public Services in the hope of getting a job with the Police then was turned down for the medical, the woman who is obliged to take minimum wage offers but is worried about moving her daughter from the childcare she was previously in, and would rather hold out for a better paid job (she was previously a PA).

Also, I wonder if places like schools - who can't cope without unpaid help as it is - might decide to take on less paid help as budgets tighten.

Since I've had my job offer I've actually been trying harder to find work. Why? Because previously I was looking for a forever-job. I admit I was picking and choosing, so I would not end up depressed again, long term far less burden on the system. Oh and I'd be happier of course :) While waiting for my enhanced CRB however I passed the 6 month deadline and was required to search for other work and work within a 90 minute travelling radius. As a law abiding citizen I have done so. I've now applied for dozens of retail jobs (thinking my withdrawal would have less impact on them when I started my "real" work) and I have had ONE interview. For which I did not get the job. I have retail experience, cash handling and credit card processing experience, I've managed petty cash, I've been the keyholder for two retail establishments, I'm internet savvy, I'm of an age where women generally have school age children as opposed to pregnant-potential. Yes, I've had depression, but I now have a valid (basic) CRB and a food hygiene certificate. And I can't get a job in a jellybean concession.

I'm not bigging myself up here - "I'm too good for you so why aren't you offering me a job" - I'm just saying it really is hard.

On the flip side I am so grateful for my opportunity to volunteer.
I just doubt it would have helped if my volunteering was picking up litter or scrubbing graffiti off walls. Unless an electrically charged storm gave me super-powers when doing so of course (Misfits reference)

I would have no problem with increasing the amount we pay for our medical benefits but make no mistake, we gave something to get them, there is and was a contractual relationship between our service and what we now receive. There is no parallel in the social system.

Oh really? Every one of my pay stubs for the last 20 years would disagree with you.

No they wouldn't, because the few dollars you lost do not compare with the hardships of military service on you or your family. And BTW, all those dollars earned in the military are taxed at the same rate unless deployed. There is no way you can make such a comparison.

Why not? A contract is a contract, the terms, price, duration, promise of return don't matter, it shouldn't be canceled unilaterally.

I'm sorry this thread was back on topic before I posted this. I was anonymous, just really curious as to why lamp (who I like, btw) always referred to his location in the airport (PDX) sense.

Too shy to come back full on, knowing how badly I left, I didn't know posting this question anonymously would bring on such a shitstorm.

I am sorry to the community. I am mostly sorry to monster. In my opinion, she is a shining example of a real human being. As with the people I most admire in my life, I wonder... if you don't get along with them, then, the fault might be yours.

You will now resume your regular programming.

Shaw, you have emeritus status... it means, you can leave any way you like and come back any way you like...











...as long as you come back any way you like.

Trust me shaw, I don't think its you're fault the drama started...

Most of us knew you were anonymous. At least I did.