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?