Tag: Poverty
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Falling through the cracks
She’s hung on for about ten days so far, but likely won’t be alive much longer. Annie is the spouse of Nansi, a same sex couple in the Amish country in Pennsylvania. They live in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, which is not too far from Allentown. If you’ve heard Billy Joel’s song about Allentown, you have a…
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The needless suffering all around us
My wife is volunteering at the local survival center. Twice a week during the dinner hour she volunteers there, helping to serve 40 to 80 families (sometimes more) survive during her shift. The center takes all comers, so the undocumented and homeless are served. It’s not mostly these people that the center serves though. It’s…
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Report from some so-called “shithole” countries
Seeing Central America has been on my bucket list of a long time. Curiously Central America is largely not visited by cruise ships, but that’s changing. This Holland America 15-day cruise we’re on is mostly about getting up close and personal with Central America, or as close as you can get given that you will…
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Why do we hate the poor?
Have you ever been poor? I’m not sure where the dividing line is between poor and not poor, but if you are poor you will know it. By that standard I have been poor. One thing I learned during those years is that being poor totally sucked. Anyone who has ever been poor has every…
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The rags to riches myth
And that myth would be: “In America, you can raise yourself from rags to riches.” The myth did not begin with Horatio Alger, Jr. but he did a lot to spread it. The 19th century American author wrote dozens of rags to riches books that proved financially rewarding for Alger. However, Alger himself was not…
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Save a human life and eat less meat
Rising food and gas prices have been much on my mind lately. Unlike many Americans, rising gas prices do not bother me that much. I feel like we have been getting discount rates for gasoline for far too long. The effect has been counterproductive, encouraging urban sprawl and environmental degradation. I would like to see…
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Overpaid at $11.59 an hour
I am very grateful that I did not make retail a career. It is a scummy business, operating on very low margins and subject to the constantly changing whims of consumer demand. If you do decide to make retail a career then with a few exceptions expect to be treated shabbily. We need no further…
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Fiddling while Rome burns
It is that time of year when I start writing checks to charities. One of my favorite charities is local: So Others Might Eat. SOME is an interfaith effort in Washington D.C. that provides for the basic needs of the area’s poor and homeless. As their name suggests they spend much of their money providing…
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New Thinking Needed on Child Support
A comment left on my Red vs. Blue: Myth vs. Reality entry a couple weeks ago got me thinking. Our child support laws and procedures need a major overhaul. They are not working very well. Scofflaws aside, pretty much all of us would agree that those who choose to have sex that results in a…
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Red vs. Blue: Myth vs. Reality
This diary on DailyKos got me thinking, and then it sent me Googling. It posits a number of theses, but the general thrust of the arguments is that things are better overall in blue states. It also suggests that the family values so espoused in red states are not as widely practiced in blue states.…
Occam's Razor 