Record number need heating help

[wicket]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=677&e=23&u=/usatoday/20041210/bs_usatoday/recordnumberneedheatinghelp

Demand for heating assistance from low-income households is expected to jump to the highest level in two decades this winter, putting a significant strain on government and charitable groups, according to state energy directors.

The National Energy Assistance Directors' Association (NEADA) estimates the number of households receiving heating bill aid will rise 5.3% to 5.1 million this winter. That's up from a 4.7% gain last year and the highest level since the 1980s.

NEADA attributes the rise to higher bills and an increase in poverty. The government says the winter tab for households that use heating oil is expected to be up an average 34% from a year ago, while those that use natural gas can expect a 9% rise. The Census Bureau (news - web sites) earlier this year said the number of Americans in poverty rose 1.3 million to 35.9 million in 2003.

Not everyone who needs assistance will be able to be served this year, NEADA Executive Director Mark Wolfe says. He says energy costs have risen so quickly that many families who never had trouble in the past are struggling.

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This is so sad :(

[aquart]

1. And wasn't a federal heating aid program allowed to lapse?

In Bush's first term?

[hyphenate]

2. Yeah, tell me about it

Last year, one of the coldest winters on record, and the cost to keep the house at a bare maximum of 64 degrees was nearly $1000 last year. The government helped out with $335 last year, so it took some creative imagination to find ways to get the funding for the rest of that. Not working, in the middle of applying for disability meant I barely had money, period. Thank god for food stamps. This year, that amount increased, but the cost also went up from about $1.24 last year to $1.86 a gallon this year. It means an uncomfortable, cold winter all over again. But I'm sure others are in worse shape--at the very least, I have a roof over my head, and if I can get the fireplace checked out, I can move myself into the middle room if things get really bad. It's just a matter of being creative.

Wearing sweat clothes as pajamas also helps out, and there is the chance to have several comforters below and on top of me in bed. Perhaps if I hibernate for the next three months I might actually survive. :\

[Ian David]

3. Southerners don't need heat

How can we end a federal air conditioning program?

Oh, I've got it...

Let's cut way back on mosquito eradication.

It's better for the environment anyway.

[wicket]

6. That's horrible :(

I am so sorry to hear that :( :hug:

[hyphenate]

11. Thanks

but it's just status quo in our country right now. The fact is, too many people don't have any sympathy for those of us in the lower classes. I've tried to tell some pukes to take a walk in someone else's shoes for awhile, but they're too goddamned selfish to give a shit.

[Erika]

4. Bush's America -

But where are Hugo, Zola, and Dickens to explain it?

Four more years of hell.

[VegasWolf]

5. No Cold Person Left Behind. If any of them voted for awol, they

should pray for the rapture before winter hits.

[Just Me]

7. "Compassionate conservatives" at their most hypocritical well-being.

Get over it. Life's unfair.

Yes. Life is unfair.

We, human beings, have been graced with the power of either creating a more just life or a more unjust life.

What have we done? What have we become? What "grace" and power have we given away to those who would spend, spend, spend our lives and this earth's resources,...into oblivion?

"Insanity" has been defined as doing the same thing over and over again expecting the same results.

I define "insanity" as "giving up".

[wicket]

8. Here's what really screwed up:

My Grampa owns a farm, and if he was unable to heat the barn that contains the animals, he would be charged with animal abuse. And yet humans are allowed to freeze, it's so wrong :(

[Erika]

9. Your post says it all

At one time, people could be prosecuted for not providing warmth for their animals. Under Bush, he could care less if its the people who suffer. If those lazy Americans had only worked they could have heat. So F them and let them freeze. Bush is tired of the rich being drained of our tax monies redistributed to them.

[Just Me]

10. The American people have worked harder to survive,...

,...than this pResident did to just get a free ride for a "degree".

Gosh,...it's such hard freakin' work to be GWB.

Meanwhile, the rest of us MUST be grateful,...to exist and survive,...and to empty our hearts and souls, lives and pockets,...to this man,...who never had to struggle like the rest of us!!!

Without the "fortune" that he had,...he would be a back-alley drunk that could never drag himself out of that pit. He has no sense of "reality",...his mother (who protects her "beautiful" mind) would never allow THAT!!!!

[GoldenOldie]

13. Animals vs Humans

How about if all those activists concerned with human welfare were to start voicing ....loudly and repeatedly to their elected officials, their local and national media. Sitting quietly and accepting what they handout, that is even if they acknowledge there is a problem, is not beneficial to those in need.

A good example is the troops in Iraq, finally questioning their requests for armored vehicles....all the families have known about it, anyone that has been listening to documentaries and searching the websites have known about it, yet our media and the politicians seemed suddenly surprised that the troops don't have what they need to survive.

The animal rights activists have fought for years for the protections and defense of animals. They have been willing to protest and march on those sacred institutions such as the circus's, zoos, pet stores, animal labratories, and god forbid....fur stores. They have been willing to look like fools, be portrayed by comics, journalists, etc., as quacks but they slowly made little inroads to protect the animals.

Protection of our fellow human beings for the basic daily needs to survive has become another joke for the greedy politician /representative, comic, journalist, etc. They have began with the attact on the welfare mother....lumping all those mother's who came upon hard times as lazy, worthless slobs living off the dole of the hardworking, taxpaying citizen. Now they have risen to include: Minimum wage workers, who may be working 2-3 jobs due to the outsourcing of once very technical, well paying positions. The individuals have to pay mortgages that were initially taken on during better times. CEO's of these outsourced jobs continue to draw and even increase their millions of dollars pay with full benefits???

Cheney the illustrious leader who held secret energy meetings within the Whitehouse and laid down plans along with the top energy corporation CEO's, is nowhere to be seen or heard as this crisis is now coming home to roost with millions of American citizens (HUMANS).

We now have millions of Americans living on minimum wages who have to
find ways to buy drugs and health care for their families, find ways to heat their homes and survive the winter and still buy food. All of these items are required basics just to survive.....lets see some of our elected reps or our overpaid mediawhores do it for one month on a minimum wage.

Don't get distracted by comparing animal rights vs human rights, that will not get the needs met for humans that are having problems. It only plays into the needs of those who need this distration to keep the light off of them such as Cheney and his energy commission/panel.

[Malva Zebrina]

12. Significant "strain" on government?

Excuse me? How many billions are we spending on killing innocent people and making a huge mess in Iraq? How many corporations like Halliburton are making huge profits by operating in Iraq? Soon, we will have the most highly financed inauguration ball(s)ever in the history of the White House and providing some assistance to those in lower income brackets who will struggle for necessesities because of the outrageous costs of heating their homes in the predicted cold weather to come is a gaddam strain on the government?

This will be a strain on the people,involved, not the government.

The government says it is a strain because smaller government is desired on the part of the conservatives, one that demands people fend for themself, even if it means they go around all day in their own homes, with cold hands.

After all, why should they pay to heat the home of an eighty year old, fragile woman who lives on SS? That's communism. <sarcasm>

[prolesunited]

14. Just another useless eater

She has no value, so she might as well be dead. Love those Christian values at work.

[Mari333]

15. We have our heat turned down to very little

because we just cannot afford it. Way too expensive. Michigan , so far, has been milder then usual, but its only December. Local taxes have gone thru the roof, but cutbacks have occured in every area, including help for the poor. The food pantries empty out every week. Its impossible to make it on 2 jobs making minimum wage, and trying to keep a roof over your kids head , pay mandatory car insurance, health care (dont get sick!!)...
In the meantime, Bush is being treated to 1 mill dollar a plate dinners in his king's mansion on 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue....

[wicket]

16. kick

:kick:

[flygal]

17. Can we thank the Mc Mansion owners for this?

I swear I see homes you could play volleyball in the front entry way. This is in Montana - lowest per capita income in the country. Those homes are heated about 6 months of the year. And they were probably the people insisting on deregulating Montana Power which has tripled heating costs, bankrupted pension funds, and lost a shit ton of dough for the investors. Grrrrrr.. I need some cocoa.

[Bouncy Ball]

18. See, this is why I'm a Democrat

I have no doubt if Democrats were in power right now, they'd be doing something about this. We don't let people just hang out in the wind to dry (or freeze, as the case may be).

What happened to those faith-based initiatives, huh? Where are THEY (WHAT are they, anyway?) right now? I thought faith-based initiatives were going to take care of people when they cut government to the bone?

No? Oh well, I guess the repuke way is just to let them freeze.

And by the way, we are NOT low income and it's still hard to pay our gas bill in the winter. And we live in a SOUTHERN state. We keep the thermostat turned down low and just wear heavy pajamas to bed with loads of blankets. We never run the fireplace because it's a gas log, it's expensive and it puts out almost no heat. It got down to 34 here last night but we just piled on the blankets.

Nothing wrong with that, but we struggle to pay the gas bill otherwise. And I can only imagine how bad it is for those who have less than us, and for the elderly on a fixed income. They CAN'T turn up that heat, can't pay it.

Sheesh. Richest nation on earth. Watch, there will be elderly people freezing to death this winter, but what does bush care? He's nice and toasty in the White House, doesn't give a flying shit about them.