[Vision2020] Leaving a few children behind

Thu Jul 22 07:21:21 PDT 2004

Wow, Pat.  You manage to label migrant workers "ingrates", you call Keely a 
"twit", and heartily recommend we read "The Enemy Within" by ultra 
right-winger Michael Savage.  I tell you what, Pat.  I'll read that if you 
read "Shrub" by Molly Ivins.  Deal?                                          

          Carl Westberg Jr.

>From: "Pat Kraut" <pkraut at moscow.com>
>To: "vision2020" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Leaving a few children behind
>Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2004 23:53:48 -0700
>
>Of all the silly answers...I am poor, twit! The only bitterness I feel is 
>that of a regular tax payer who is having their hardearned pay sucked into 
>programs for the 'poor' with no end in sight. I can assure you there are 
>many more programs to 'help' the poor (that do not much more than keep them 
>poor) than there is for the middle class barely able to make ends meet for 
>helping those poor souls.  As to my faith, your comments are the ones of 
>someone who knows nothing about it. I use the word ingrate because any time 
>these migrant workers protest anything they wave the Mexican flag in our 
>faces. Well, go back to Mexico if its so great! Try reading "The Enemy 
>Within" by Donald Savage. You just might learn something to make you think 
>more deeply about this subject. It is as always multi-faceted.
>PK
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Leaving a few children behind
>
>   Diving in as someone who spent 1990-2001 working with Mexican immigrants 
>in Western Washington, many of whom were considered migrant agricultural 
>workers by the government . . .
>
>   I am sad but not surprised that this program would be cut.  I am sad but 
>not surprised that Ms. Kraut would voice her support of cutting programs 
>that benefit migrant farmworker families.  I am sad and astonished that Ms. 
>Kraut would say the things she says without apparent shame, and I trust 
>that she receives this in the spirit in which I intend it:
>
>   Pat, how hard a heart can you have while still professing to worship 
>God?
>
>   Given that you are almost assuredly a citizen of the United States, are 
>obviously literate, very likely didn't grow up in a family of illiterate 
>and perhaps undocumented migrant farmworkers, and seem to have grasped a 
>kernel of education from the husks of poverty, it is beyond my 
>comprehension how any dire circumstances of your youth could compare with 
>those experienced by the thousands and thousands of children who would have 
>benefited from this program.  You have my sympathy for whatever hardships 
>you undoubtedly suffered and my sincerest regrets that your education and 
>subsequent adulthood left you with a paucity of argument and a parched 
>spirit.  Perhaps some things cannot be cultivated by government help after 
>all.
>
>   I would love to meet with you and try to understand the bitterness 
>you've evinced toward the poor, and I would be happy to tell you the 
>difference education has made in the lives of scores of my friends and 
>acquaintances in Washington who have entered adulthood with options other 
>than picking berries or milking cows for a living.  No need to debate 
>programs and policies -- I just want to hear from you, and I invite you to 
>contact me off-list.  And for those of you wondering how I, as a Christian, 
>could avoid the model of Matthew 18 in my response to Ms. Kraut, I would 
>point out that public comment often calls for public rebuke, particularly 
>when the public rebuke might serve as an apologetic for (defense of) the 
>Gospel.
>
>   How ironic that we don't use the word "ingrate" to describe someone who 
>has benefited utterly from the mercy of her Savior, and yet delights in 
>hurling invective at the poor He weeps for.
>
>   keely emerine mix
>
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     From: Pat Kraut
>     To: vision2020
>     Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 2:48 PM
>     Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Leaving a few children behind
>
>
>     I gotta tell ya that I think that this is one of those programs that 
>needs
>     to fail. Paying them to stay in school proves nothing because they are
>     passed through the grades without really learning anything. If they 
>have a
>     real desire to stay in school they can without being paid for it. I 
>know
>     that you all will have lots of comments and complaints about my 
>attitude but
>     I stayed in school even with bad circumstances and made it out on my 
>own. I
>     know they can do it and appreciate their education even more. I am 
>also
>     tired of paying ingrates to go to schools that are only keeping them 
>in to
>     pad their funds and not really teaching them anything.
>     Oh, here it comes!
>     Pat
>     ----- Original Message -----
>     From: "Melynda Huskey" <mghuskey at msn.com>
>     To: <Vision2020 at moscow.com>
>     Sent: Wednesday, July 21, 2004 11:22 AM
>     Subject: [Vision2020] Leaving a few children behind
>
>
>     > I found this news extremely disturbing . . I hope others who do so 
>will
>     > contact legislators and express their concern.  If the Bush tax cuts 
>have
>     > been so beneficial to the economy, and if we are indeed in an 
>economic
>     > recovery, why are we reduced to cutting educational programs for 
>extremely
>     > vulnerable children--programs which would enhance the earning 
>potential
>     and
>     > productivity, and hence the tax base, of our nation?
>     >
>     > Melynda Huskey
>     >
>     >
>     > AP Wire:
>     >
>     > DES MOINES, Iowa - Funding is being eliminated for a federal program 
>that
>     > pays the children of migrant workers across the country to stay in 
>school
>     > instead of working in fields.
>     >
>     > The Department of Labor program pays some young people minimum wage 
>to
>     stay
>     > in school while migrating with their parents, who travel across the
>     country
>     > looking for seasonal farm work.
>     >
>     > Coordinators in 31 states and Puerto Rico were told there was no 
>money to
>     > operate the program this year, leaving them to find alternate 
>sources,
>     > petition Congress or drop the program.
>     >
>     > "This is a remarkable abandonment of the most vulnerable youth," 
>said
>     David
>     > Strauss, executive director of the Association of Farmworker 
>Opportunity
>     > Programs. "I don't know what's going to happen to those kids."
>     >
>     > Repeated telephone messages left this week for Labor Department 
>officials
>     > weren't returned.
>     >
>     > The Migrant and Seasonal Farmworker Youth Program is designed to 
>combat
>     > extraordinarily high dropout rates among seasonal migrant youth 
>workers
>     and
>     > the children of adult seasonal migrant workers. It also attempts to 
>end
>     > cyclical poverty and low socio-economic levels plaguing that 
>population.
>     >
>     > The school dropout rate is understandable, Strauss said. "If you 
>look at
>     > their lives they're in multiple schools because their families 
>travel to
>     > work."
>     >
>     > Dropout rates among migrant youths are estimated at 60 percent, 
>according
>     to
>     > the federal Office of Migrant Education in the U.S. Department of
>     Education.
>     >
>     > Students are pulled from school early because their parents move to 
>where
>     > work is more plentiful, disrupting their academic progress and 
>causing
>     many
>     > to fall behind or become discouraged.
>     >
>     > "They're pulled out of school or start back late," said Terry Meek 
>of
>     > Proteus Inc., a nonprofit organization that oversees the Iowa 
>program.
>     "Some
>     > of them are here for June, July, August and part of September 
>because
>     > they're coming to work with seed corn."
>     >
>     > Despite the stipends, most of the young people still work because 
>their
>     > families need supplemental income. The average income of an adult 
>farm
>     > worker is less than $10,000 a year.
>     >
>     > Nationally, more than 2,500 youth ages 14 to 21 participated in the
>     program
>     > last year. Many came from California, Texas and Florida.
>     >
>     > The program also provides job placement, tutoring, mentoring, 
>vocational
>     > training and career counseling services. It also funds child care 
>and
>     health
>     > care.
>     >
>     > Four years ago, programs across the country were dividing a healthy 
>$10
>     > million a year. This year, all funding was eliminated and 
>coordinators
>     were
>     > told to use money from last year until it dries up.
>     >
>     > ___
>     >
>     > On the Net:
>     >
>     > U.S. Department of Labor:
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     > http://www.dol.gov/
>     >
>     >
>     > U.S. Department of Education:
>     >
>     > http://www.ed.gov/
>     >
>     > Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs
>     >
>     > http://www.afop.org/
>     >
>     >
>     > Melynda Huskey
>     >
>     >
>     > _____________________________________________________
>     >  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>     >  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>     >                http://www.fsr.net
>     >           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
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>     >
>
>
>     _____________________________________________________
>      List services made available by First Step Internet,
>      serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                    http://www.fsr.net
>               mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>     ¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
>_____________________________________________________
>  List services made available by First Step Internet,
>  serving the communities of the Palouse since 1994.
>                http://www.fsr.net
>           mailto:Vision2020 at moscow.com
>¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯

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