Bu$h Legacy: Long Lines at the Soup Kitchen - MUST READ

[Triana]

This will make you SICK - literally. It's an article from the UK Guardian about how BAD poverty and unemployment really ARE in the U.S. You won't get this stark, unembellished, unsoftened news from the U.S. Plutocrat Propoganda Agencies. They would never reveal to the American People how badly King George the W has screwed them over and ruined their lives:

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George Bush's America, the wealthiest nation in history, faces a growing poverty crisis. In the first of a three-part series Julian Borger takes the pulse of the US with elections just a year away.

Monday November 3, 2003
The Guardian

The free food is handed out at nine, but the queue starts forming hours earlier. By dawn, there is a line of cars stretching half a mile back. In Logan, it is what passes for rush hour - a traffic jam driven by poverty and hunger.

The cars come out of the Ohio hills in all shapes and sizes, from the old jalopies of the chronically poor, to the newer, sleeker models of the new members of the club, who only months ago considered themselves middle class, before jobs and their retirement funds evaporated.

Dan Larkin is sitting in his middle-of-the-range pick-up truck. Since the glassware company he worked for closed its doors this time last year, he has found it hard to pay his bills. His unemployment benefits ran out six months ago and his groceries bill is the only part of his budget that has some give. He and his wife sometimes skip meals or eat less to make sure their six-year-old daughter has enough.

"I would have a real problem putting food on the table if it wasn't for this," Mr Larkin said, his car inching towards Logan's church-run food pantry. As the queue rolled forward, he reflected on the ironies of being a citizen of the world's sole superpower.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

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

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. They may be poor, but they can vote!

I'm hoping that every one of these folks register and go to the polls. There are a heck of a lot more poor people than rich in this country, and if they can be educated-and politicized-we can easily defeat the Gang of Bush.

[rfranklin]

2. Unfortunately, most of these people do not vote...

That is the tragedy of this "great nation." Unlike most industrialized nationas, we have no labor party because half of the blue collar workers do not vote. And most of the poor do not vote. As Gore Vidal said, we have a one party system in this country. The Democrats are the conservative wing and the Republicans are the reactionary wing. The oligarchy has been in control since day one of this nation's history (as the founding, rich, white fathers intended). Until we have a leader that says 'let's soak the rich and stop giving them a free ride,' we ain't never gonna have democracy in this country. You know, democracy, as in, the majority of people control the government, not the privileged few.

[Triana]

3. that'a a good argument for GOV efforts...

...those unemployed and blue collars are what we've gotta reach with those...

:|

[muriel_volestrangler]

4. but the Democrats need to reach them

"Americans who see themselves as middle class are much more likely to vote than those who know they are poor. Mrs Chriss thinks all parties should be abolished. Angela Cooper, also queuing with a young child, complains that families like hers have been forgotten. But then again, she has relatives posted in Iraq and feels she ought to "support our troops" by voting for the president."

It's like watching a horror movie - No, Ms. Cooper! Don't do it! Don't punch that chad! You don't support the troops by voting for the moron who made up a war for them in the first place!