The test of the morality of a society is what it does for its children

[greenbriar]

Dietrich Bonhoeffer



What are we doing for ours?????

Wic benefits cut
Welfare benefits cut
headstart cut
over crowded classrooms



What is Bushy and co teaching our children???

[Broken_Hero]

1. What they are teaching is this...

1. NO one cares about you
2. No one will help you out
3. Make it own your own, or die.
4. Money is more important than human life/treatment

The list goes on, its truly sad.....:(

[greenbriar]

2. so the morality is shit

but it isn't from

porn
abortion
gambling
tobacco
drugs

[Democrats_win]

3. "What you do to the least of these, you do to Christ" so says their Bible

Another failed test for the religious right.

[greenbriar]

4. so true

!

[wli]

5. execution, sentencing as adults, juvenile detention centers

Throw in some spr.org juvenile detention bits and we've got replays of Abu Ghraib rape rooms.

[greenbriar]

6. it continues to amaze me that the repukes get the label "religious"

they are not even close!!!

[oscar111]

7. Some, HOMELESS- sleep on school steps

surely some are among the hundred thousand hmlss who die per year... incld's hmlss of all ages.

PS globally, UN says

HALF OF HUMANITY'S KIDS

are either
orphans
face starvation
are dying of disease

incredble

[greenbriar]

8. yes it is sadly

incredible

[wli]

9. reminds me of college n/t

[oscar111]

13. "half humanity's" ref in my re above,

the UN source is linked in my post about it, which you can find in the Forum ... Poverty.

sorry i dont have it handy.. primitive cpr.

[Skidmore]

10. I would take that test a couple of steps further and point

out it is how the society also treats its elderly and those who cannot care for themselves in general. We warehouse our parents and grandparents and don't care for them in their old age under the excuse of independence. We've built whole industries around them and place them in conditions where there is a potential for them to be abused. We, as a nation, don't like inconvenience, particularly the inconvenience of carrying for family members who may need us to get our hands dirty to preserve their dignity in their later years. When you speak of loss of family in this nation, it is not the configuration of the family that is the issue, it is the quality and strengths of the bonds between family members--their understandings of the responsibilities of one to another. We have a responsibility to care for our families, birth and acquired. We have a responsibility which begins at home.

[oscar111]

11. OWS: how society treats OWS: Old, Weak, Sick

skidmore, you beat me to it.

I was going to say just what you did. Well said too.

Weak in the OWS thing, means to include

kids
disabled - phy. and mental as well
retarded and near ret'd
some might include any persecuted minorities

OWS comes from Freedom River commercial, Ed Asner narrator, yrs back.

Seems to me to mean "those with reason to say OW"

See demopedia page Great Depression, heading there,.. STARVATION DEATHS for data.. 225 died , well documented, poss thousands more. Ever heard that in school? Let me know in a reply here or PM me .

[bread_and_roses]

12. "Personal" and "Family" responsibility no protection for the vulnerable

Ask any Adult Protective Worker about the abuse cases they've seen in the home. Ask any Child Protective Worker about the abuse they've seen in the home.

We have no control over "the quality and strengths of the bonds between family members." We cannot enforce that "responsibility to care for our families, birth and acquired" be exercised in a humane manner.

The best protection for the frail and vulnerable of any age is not isolation in a "family" but rather multiple care-givers none of whom have sole and secret power over the powerless.

And while I do not think this is your intent, it is precisely the mantra of "personal" and "family" responsibility that the Right Wing has used as an excuse and justification for the very cuts in funding that have so harmed the vulnerable, especially children but also anyone else powerless in this society.

[oscar111]

15. "where is the outrage" - Who said it?

was it really Dole? why did he of all people say it?

the dole who killed off nationalized healthcare, killing thousands thereby.

maybe someone else said it.

[Skidmore]

16. We DO have a responsibilty to those we love and to whom

we have familial bonds. No, not all families are perfect and those which are not do need assistance from society. Perfect isn't 1950s perfect. I'm not suggesting "isolation" in the family but nurturance in the family. I cared for my mother as she was dying. She had worked for years in a nursing home and her only request was that she never be placed in one. I had a responsibility to this woman who birthed me and nurtured me as a child to care for her and provide her with a loving environment in which to pass her last days. She died at age 62, but I would have gladly taken her in at a much older age and in good health too.

[bread_and_roses]

17. I didn't say that we don't. I said we can't enforce it.

Your love, dedication, and personal responsibility is admirable. And I, too, of course, believe that "we" have such a responsibility - although your solution to the care of a parent is not right for everyone, even in loving families. But neither my agreement nor even your admirable actions protect ANYONE but those in our own circle.

What "we" "should" do or be is meaningless if "we" can't enforce or monitor actions. Again, where does most child abuse occur? And for every nursing home abuse case, I would bet there are a thousand elder abuse in the home cases (I don't have figures on this and it's a guess regarding elders - one cannot keep up with all issues and my own interest lies more in child welfare issues.)

Love, care, dedication, are all admirable and beautiful on the personal level. But we have ample evidence that Society cannot rely on them to provide for the helpless.

Humans have a very bad history of succumbing to our worst impulses and behavior any time we have power over the helpless. We should learn from it.

[Skidmore]

18. Our societal solutions for our parents, as with our children, now derive

from an set of choices we make as a nation to pursue wealth at all costs over what is necessary to provide comfortably. This is how we ended up in two income families who are still bankrupt, economically and emotionally. We have McMansions, his and her SUVs, elaborate vacations, the best furniture, gourmet food, and no time for each other. Being a soccer mom does not make you a mom, but we program our kids to the nth degree because a busy kid is a happy kid and forget to love them in all their developmental flaws. That's what I'm talking about.

[oscar111]

20. $1O9 Trillion is US wealth

see demopedia page, "Capital" for source link.. unimpeachable gov source. LOL.

trillions.. how is that for chasing wealth?
=====================
wealth up every year.. so how is bush jusifing cuts to the programs in the OP? Hmmmmmm??

WEALTH UP OVERALL {FOR SOME} BUT WAGES DOWN {FOR US MIDDLE CLASS-ERS}
The odd result of reaganomics. Never a rise in wages. Other paths needed for prosperity.. such as FDR's "invest in the midde class" Keynesian economics.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
====================
KEY MEME ---
wages lower now than when reaganomics began.... adjusted for inflation. Reaganomics is a flop. Toss it.
====================
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

25 years of flopping is enough. "what's that giant flopping sound?"

"Wages lower" ... reaganomics is zero benefit to the middle class. Worse than zero, really.
Reaganomics is a flop. Face down in the dirt flop. Toss it.

Nothing will get better for the midde and lower class, till Joe Voter stops believeing in reaganomics.

Memorize this and focus on reaganomics.

[bvar22]

14. Its worse than that!

Bush* and his merry band of sociopaths are sending the Bill for Iraq TO YOUR CHILDREN!
And not just the Bill for Iraq, but the Bill for the Repeal of the Estate Tax, and the Tax Cut for the Rich WILL BE PAID FOR by the Middle Class Children as long as the US Government is in deficit!

Bush* and the Republicans are NOT PAYING for ANYTHING. Everything is going on the Nation's Credit Card. The Bill is going to be sent to YOUR CHILDREN!!!!

Tell your children to send a nice "Thank You Note" to George Bush* and the Republicans!

[oscar111]

19. GOBBLE/STARVE: "state must be there when family fails"

two good memes for the above replies bet skidmore and kenzee
========================
the greed society one describes, is well summed up as the

GOBBLE/STARVE society.

top gobbles, bottom starves. Bottom starves as a downward pressure on wages.

---
and a meme for the chat about the family duties,
=====================
"the state must be there when the family fails"
======================

so many families are dysfunctional.

I think both in the repartee above agree with this meme. So i am not bashing either one.