dagblog - Comments for "Setting a Place at the Table"

In Defense of Food Stamps A

artappraiser — Wed, 06 Nov 2013 19:30:31 +0000

In reply to Setting a Place at the Table

In Defense of Food Stamps
A successful poverty program is being unfairly criticized. Here are the facts
By William A. Galston, Op-Ed, Wall Street Journal, Nov. 5, 2013

We are entering a divisive debate on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), popularly known as food stamps. Unless facts drive the debate, it will be destructive as well.

Here are the basic facts [....]

She is pretty good at this,

Richard Day — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 21:00:58 +0000

In reply to This is a great blog Momoe,

She is pretty good at this, isn't she. haahah

Check out her blog.

I cannot figure out this picture thing without wiki.

At any rate Momoe does this stuff all the time!

Steve Sutherland FL-2 is a

trkingmomoe — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 09:38:18 +0000

In reply to Thanks for bringing the food

Steve Sutherland FL-2 is a head of the charge to cut SNAP in the farm bill. Gwen Graham is running against him. She is the daughter of the former Gov,/Senator Bob Grahm of Florida. We hope to have him gone in 2014. I found this on you tube from a couple of months ago. At least this one he is not holding up a bible, He usually peppers his statements with religious references.

His district has some of the poorest people in the state. I know I spent my share of time in that part of the state. There is plenty of food desserts in the rural areas. Infant mortality rate is high also because of lack of health care. His facts are fairy tails. I don't know where he found those figures. Most likely from the Heritage Foundation. USDA and Labor Dept. keeps good tract of who is on Assistance. Most of the people who qualify for SNAP are working poor who hold down jobs. Most households that get food stamps has some one working but have children, a disabled person or a elderly person.

Thank you. Yes I made the

trkingmomoe — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 08:50:02 +0000

In reply to This is a great blog Momoe,

Thank you. Yes I made the fish. It is orange glazed baked fish. Recipe is over at Word press blog. If you saw my diary from last week you get to see how poorly many of the poor eat. $1.75 a meal isn't much.

Thanks for bringing the food

Ramona — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 03:01:48 +0000

In reply to Setting a Place at the Table

Thanks for bringing the food problem to light again. How can they even think of cutting food stamps? It's as if they love the idea of the worst kind of low cruelty. I don't know what else would motivate them.

Maybe we should send all those damned politicians copies of your diaries. They like to isolate themselves in all the places where they'll never have to come in contact with poor people hurting because of their own actions. We may have to smoke them out if we want to get anywhere with this.

This is a great blog Momoe,

tmccarthy0 — Thu, 31 Oct 2013 01:29:24 +0000

In reply to Setting a Place at the Table

This is a great blog Momoe, really great. I wasn't able to respond, I really hate what happened to the lady in your grocery line. I don't think most people fully understand poverty and the struggle to get enough food and the correct nutrition, it's really disturbing. It does really irk me to no end that Congresspeople are so wiling to further penalize the lives of people who are struggling to get by day to day.

Thanks for this blog Momoe, and also.. the picture up there, did you make that? It looks great!

I love this story for so many

Richard Day — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 09:23:17 +0000

In reply to I have also seen the

I love this story for so many reasons.

We live in the 'real world' and then we live in the computer age or the virtual world.

THEY, whoever they are, control everything.

I know we are still as a nation manufacturing pennies for ten times their value and we put codes on paper money and we attempt to control fraud with regard to that paper money.

But plastic is everything.

I mean I get just under $1200/month and my bank (Wells Fargo) gets me into 4 different accounts? and for what reason?

The Feds demand that they charge me nothing for the privilege of banking with me and you can see the regs keeping WF from charging me everytime I use the ATM or the grocers or the local drug store. So many rules. I mean I cannot use any other ATM other than WF but I mean that is where I get my money and it is 6 blocks away. Where else am I going to go except when the machine is down?

If plastic is everything, which it will be, what are the alternatives?

We have very little crime up here in the middle of nowhere.

I guess, if I were pissed off and 20 years of age I might stand by our ATM in the nighttime with a hoody and prey upon 'users', but there are video apparatuses and forty bucks aint gonna help anyone over the 'long run' hahahahahah.

I think of all these sci-fi movies and all humanity has to deal with is 'credits'.

We have reached that tier I guess?

So if the 'machine' says no, it might be a good idea to have ten other pieces of 'plastic' with ten different 'codes' and a bunch of pennies, I guess?

THE END

I just wish these southern

trkingmomoe — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 00:46:24 +0000

In reply to I know these things. People

I just wish these southern republicans would behave themselves in grocery lines. We do need to keep an eye on what is going on with the farm bill. If Democrats give too much away with SNAP that may lead to a lousy Grand Bargain cuts in SS and Medicare. SNAP is needed to keep stimulus in the economy. By the way 30% of the county's homelessness is in Florida and the SNAP program use has doubled in the country since 2007. The numbers of users has not dropped even with a recovery. There has been no recovery for the bottom quarter of our society's economy. I was just trying to keep the thread on topic.

I know these things. People

artappraiser — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 00:19:03 +0000

In reply to My diary is about SNAP and

I know these things. People shouldn't be ashamed of using EBT or SNAP. I know from the store signs that many people in my neighborhood do and there is little shame in it here and I think that is good, all payers are equal. I know many of them don't have access to cars and I know how hard it is for them to get food and get it home, especially when they have full time jobs. I don't always have access to a car, can't afford to, that is something that has had to be cut, and I know what that does to one's life and how much more difficult it is to live on a tight budget without one. (Throw in when there are little kids that have to be brought along when going out to do anything and I don't know how people do it sometimes.)

I believe the change from "stamps" to cards started out for that very reason, to make the transaction look like anyone else's, so you can't judge, so there is no shame. I told the story I did because I do think it's wrong to judge anyone's situation from how they pay in a grocery store checkout line. Because you can't know the real situation. Someone using credit to pay may also be food insecure (diapers for example, are a difficult expense for many which are not covered by "food stamps".) Sorry if me going in that direction upset you. To be clear: I think there should be no shame in using EBT or SNAP. Just as there should be no shame in getting Earned Income Credit on your income tax.

My diary is about SNAP and

trkingmomoe — Tue, 29 Oct 2013 23:52:16 +0000

In reply to I have also seen the

My diary is about SNAP and the farm bill. Is there shame? Yes, ever since Regan called people who qualified for Food Stamps "Welfare Queens," there is public shame. Republicans have been beating that drum ever since. I have heard the nasty comments from people in line behind some one using a EBT card or WIX coupons. I have even heard nasty remarks about purchasing a child's birthday cake using a EBT card. It was probably the only thing that parent could do to make a nice birthday. People who live in poverty don't travel much unless it is to visit family. That usually means a bus ticket, packed lunch and enough cash to see you through the trip. Being food insecure is a hard path to walk in.