Clark Responds to USDA Study Showing That Hunger is Growing Problem in US

[DoveTurnedHawk]

General Clark Responds to USDA Study Showing That Hunger is a Growing Problem in America

"President Bush's failure to offer leadership on the economy has had devastating consequences in this country. A recently released USDA study shows that since Bush took office, the number of families suffering from hunger has increased an alarming 13% to nearly 3.8 million families. Moreover, approximately 34.6 million Americans are living below the poverty line. Despite this evidence, Bush has offered tax cuts for our wealthiest citizens. That is not leadership. We need a President who will make the right choices for all Americans, not just the wealthy."

http://clark04.com/press/release/059/

DTH

[Closer]

1. Does this

REALLY merit "latest breaking news" ?


Perhaps you should post Clark Press Releases you receive in your email to the Politics thread, like most others do.

Just a suggestion.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

3. Nah

I'm sure your publicly-expressed hatred of Clark has nothing to do with your request, though.

DTH

[Closer]

5. So if you agree

that it doesn't merit breaking news, why post it here?

And you are correct, I am NOT a fan of opportunists like Clark.
But you are wrong, my dislike of him (and other Republicans) has nothing to do with the fact that this doesn't belong in this thread --common sense does.

Bye now.

[DoveTurnedHawk]

7. Please Read More Carefully

Where, exactly, do I agree that campaign press releases "hot off the presses" somehow does not merit breaking news?

DTH

[Voltaire99]

9. "News" in the US...

...is a pallid mixture of corporate utterances and party politics, I'm sure all will agree.

"Breaking news," however, is an even more abused sub-category: it's the wretched purview of cable sensationalism, the jerk on the leash of meager attention spans. Fires. Ambulances. Missing children. Oh my.

All of which is to say there's little case for complaint about Clark fans posting their candidates' press releases in the news section. It's just a naive complaint.

Good on Clark for highlighting hunger. When Dean gets around to observing this fundamental human need in America, I'll congratulate him, too.

[robbedvoter]

4. Wellm maybe not as good as the confederate flag, but since all media

crows of the unprecedented boom , maybe what a presidential candidate thinks about it is news. Even if it's someone else than Dean!

[robbedvoter]

2. But, but - will it not trickle on us?

Give them hell, General!

[VolcanoJen]

6. FYI: Official Campaign Press Releases are allowed in LBN.

There's been some confusion about the relative merit of Campaign Press Releases in LBN, but they are indeed allowed, as long as they are official releases from the various campaign camps.

Thanks,
VolcanoJen
DU Moderator

[xultar]

8. Well, glad that's settled

[FrenchieCat]

10. Me too....

Hunger is an important issue....even breaking news.....when you have nothing to eat, it's good that someone notices and thinks enough of the issue to respond.

[Forkboy]

11. It's very cool to hear someone,ANYONE,speak on this issue

props to Clark for this.

[Tatiana]

12. More good news regarding General Clark....

(Read down -- WOW! This sorta gives stronger meaning to those widespread rumors about Clark having broad support ;))

The outing by senior administration officials of Valerie Plame, an undercover C.I.A. counter-terrorism expert and wife of Bush critic and former ambassador Joseph Wilson, is undoubtedly the signature example of contemporary GOP vindictiveness. But there are others. For instance, there is Eric Massa, until recently on the majority staff of the House Armed Services Committee, chaired by Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.). Massa was a lifelong Republican whose first taste of politics was serving as a page to candidate Ronald Reagan during the 1976 presidential race. But before joining the committee staff, Massa had served in the armed forces, where, among other things, he was a top aide to Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.) during Clark's tenure as NATO supreme commander. The two were close, so when Clark came to Washington in early October to meet with Democratic congressional leaders at a private residence a few blocks from the Capitol, Massa walked over to say hello. But as the former comrades-in-arms greeted each other warmly on the street just outside the event--Massa never went inside, say other attendees--Republican operatives stationed nearby noticed his presence, and reported back to his staff director, Robert Rangel. Soon after, sources tell "Who's Who," Hunter and Rangel repeatedly told Massa that, given his friendship with Clark, he could no longer work at the committee, but when reporters from a few big-name newspapers heard the story and began calling around, Hunter claimed that Massa had never actually been fired. Fed-up, Massa resigned. No one from Hunter's office was available for comment. Contacted by WW, Massa commented, "I don't hold ill will for anybody. This is about issues, and Clark the man, and I'm going to do everything I can to get him elected."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2003/0311.whoswho.html

[WingNOT]

13. On the original topic... Guardian piece on food/poverty in USA under Dubya

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1076608,00.html

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/0,13918,1047353,00.html

Absolute must read... first of a 3 parter...

You guys on the presidential campaigns ought to be able to pull a few things from this !!

George Bush's America is the wealthiest and most powerful nation the world has ever known, but at home it is being gnawed away from the inside by persistent and rising poverty. The three million Americans who have lost their jobs since Mr Bush took office in January 2001 have yet to find new work in a largely jobless recovery, and they are finding that the safety net they assumed was beneath them has long since unravelled. There is not much left to stop them falling.

Last year alone, another 1.7 million Americans slipped below the poverty line, bringing the total to 34.6 million, one in eight of the population. Over 13 million of them are children. In fact, the US has the worst child poverty rate and the worst life expectancy of all the world's industrialised countries, and the plight of its poor is worsening.

The ranks of the hungry are increasing in step. About 31 million Americans were deemed to be "food insecure" (they literally did not know where their next meal was coming from). Of those, more than nine million were categorised by the US department of agriculture as experiencing real hunger, defined by the US department of agriculture as an "uneasy or painful sensation caused by lack of food due to lack of resources to obtain food."

That was two years ago, before the recession really began to bite. Partial surveys suggest the problem has deepened considerably since then. In 25 major cities the need for emergency food rose an average of 19% last year.