On Thu, 09 Feb 2012 08:14:20 -0800, Donn Messenheimer
wrote:

On 2/8/2012 8:07 PM, rangerssuck wrote:

Fer crissakes, you can walk around pretty much any suburban
neighborhood on garbage day and pick up perfectly serviceable TVs,
microwaves and computers for free. If you want to believe that there
are no poor people in America, fine. Go right ahead. But seriously,
John, you may want to take a walk through a homeless shelter some day.
Yeah, they're all livin' the high life there.

How about the families that are splitting a can of soup five ways and
calling it dinner? How about the people who are making a choice
between feeding their kids or buyng their medications? How about the
kids wearing hand me down clothes that are three sizes too large
because it was a choice between paying the rent or buying a pair of
pants at the salvation army?

This is a caricature. It doesn't even have the status of true
anecdotes, let alone an accurate description of a big problem.


I have met some of these people, right here in "affluent" Northern New
Jersey.

I'm sorry, I don't believe you. I don't believe you have met anyone who
has split a can of soup five ways and called it dinner. I don't believe
you have met people who have had to choose between food for their
children and medication.


And no, I'm not going to post their names, addresses and
pictures for your edification. I will, however, suggest that you spend
a little time outside your own comfort zone, and see what's going on
around you. Get some perspective.

Why don't you start from the perspective of telling the truth, rather
than taking extravagantly extremist and *untrue* political rhetoric and
treating it as evidence?

You're talking past each other with different definitions of "poor."
Late last year the Heritage Foundation (conservative) determined that
4% of those below the "poverty line" had no regular place to live and
had insufficient food. It looks like a good study. That's a big
number, actually, and right here in central NJ you can find plenty of
people who fit ranger's description. The church-run soup kitchen in
New Brunswick has plenty of them. My neighbor dishes out soup there
once or twice each week.

Want to see them? Get out from in front of your TV, go to your local
church (Presbyterian is good -- they're really into it) and ask where
they serve food to the homeless. As ranger says, getting out of your
comfort zone can be a real eye-opener.

Most of them are on drugs, or mentally disabled, or the victims of
abusive homes. They're not a pretty bunch. It's much more comforting
to ignore them, or to pretend they don't exist at all. They don't
always smell great, either.

The government agencies have gotten very good at counting the
homeless, and the number appears to be around 700,000 nationwide.
Heritage found that 1 person in 200 is permanently or temporarily
homeless in any given year. It's harder to put a number of how many
are hungry.

The government poverty-line numbers make for some dramatic headlines,
but you have to consider what they're measuring. The number in abject
poverty ought to be enough to raise concerns, without the window
dressing.

But it really doesn't. The average suburbanite can brush off and
ignore 700,000 or so people in a country of over 300 million. A drop
in the bucket.

Now you can return to your regularly-scheduled show, after the beer
commercial.

--
Ed Huntress