It creeps in like a mouse...

What it means to be poor and hungry in America
By Pauline Arrillaga
The Associated Press
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.01.2009
link read the full story here, but just wanted to point out a few arguments...

'A mouse scurries by, but Chilton doesn't flinch.' What a poetic understatement about the creeping socialism our country is facing.

"And how, at times, she makes chicken for her children but eats Oodles of Noodles herself." Wait a second, I like Ramen - but here is a funny thing - Oodles of Noodles is the 'self-contained' ramen in a cup. It costs 4 times what a bag of ramen costs. Simple (and I mean simple) math tells us that she could be saving significant money buy buying smarter. Especially when 60 cents means the difference between one cup o noodles and 4 bags o noodles.

"Tianna Gaines is her name. She is 29, black, with twin babies and a toddler, facing eviction because she's $300 behind on rent." Again, why mention that she is black? Are we all not equal, the same, etc... so what does color have to do with it? Should everytime we mention Pres. Obama in paper, should it look like this. 'Today Pres. Obama, who is 45 and black, etc....' Yeah, that would go over well...

"Hers is not the picture of hunger that Americans are accustomed to seeing. She isn't emaciated, like those living in squalid conditions in famine-stricken countries, but she is underweight and malnourished, often fed chips and sugary drinks instead of milk and formula." Wow, chips and soda is expensive. Again, shop smart... not at the local convenience store, which I am sure is what is going on here - all to often I see folks shopping for groceries at the local Circle K. That's fine if you are on a road trip, don't know the area, and can afford paying extra for the convenience. But when you cannot, like most folks on food stamps, convenience should not take the place of frugality. Chips and a soda - $2.50 if you are lucky. $2.50 can buy a gallon of milk (on sale), 2 frozen juices, 2 loaves of bread, or a bunch of bananas. Or 3 cups o noodles. Or 15 bags of Ramen! (not that ramen is healthy, mind you, but better than chips and soda)

"What bothers Chilton is that the numbers, startling as they are in a country as rich as this one, seem to do little to bring about lasting change. And that's not an easy thing for a number-cruncher to admit." And the meat of the argument: Socialism does not make the poor richer. It makes the rich poorer.

"So when she learned she'd won a $100,000 award in late 2007, she ignored suggestions that she take a vacation and instead started work on "Witnesses to Hunger." She purchased digital cameras and distributed fliers to some of the mothers who had been interviewed over the years." Wow, a private sector solution! Someone WILLINGLY making the choice on how and to whom to spend their money, not government dictating how, when, where, and to whom. You can throw your own pearls into the slop, don't throw mine.

"If only it was that easy. Izquierdo pays $400 in housing every month, $80 for day care, $54 for the phone, $60 for electricity, $80 on Pampers and baby wipes, another $80 or so on transportation, leaving a few hundred dollars for food, health care and anything else she needs for herself, her 3-year-old daughter Leylanie and 1-year-old son Aidan." I don't mean to sound jaded, however, the breakdown of the family, and sexual promiscuity is at fault here - not unemployment, lack of services, etc... single parent, 2 count them 2 kids. Maybe there is something else to this story, we'll never know since it is not told. Yet, are we doing anything to combat the loss of family structure? The loss of sexual restraint? No, instead we create programs that teach our kids the "world" view on sex. We provide programs and welfare that reward based on numbers - and the wonder why these mothers have more kids then they can handle.

It's time to start treating the cause of the problem, instead of putting band-aids on the outcomes!