Roger,<br><br>Perhaps you need to find better and more comprehensive sources of information than the Genesee Grange.<br><br>"Do not feed the animals" signs in national parks have little to do with wild animals becoming on dependent on humans to feed them.<br>
<br>They are wild animals. Feeding them by humans has leesd to many attacks on humans, and due this, tragically many such animals having to be put down.<br><br>They are wild animals. They cannot digest many of the things people give them. Some sicken and die. Others just sicken.<br>
<br><br>Ron Force has given you one set of statistics showing your belief that there are jobs for everyone is a cruel and dangerous myth. Just below is an article with further sets of data about jobs and the poor.<br><br>
Further, "able bodied" is not the whole story either, even if there were jobs enough for everyone. Mental health issues make it difficult for some adults to get and to hold jobs.<br><br>There are some that are physically and mentally able to work at jobs that are available, but these are but a very small percentage. About 85% of government aid (welfare) goes to children, the disabled, and the elderly.<br>
<br>W.<br><br>
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<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/misc/nytlogo153x23.gif" alt="The New York Times" border="0" hspace="0" vspace="0" align="left"></a></div><br></div>
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<div class="timestamp">December 2, 2011</div>
<h1>Newt’s War on Poor Children</h1>
<h6 class="byline">By CHARLES M. BLOW</h6>
<div id="articleBody">
<p>
Newt Gingrich has reached a new low, and that is hard for him to do. </p>
<p>
Nearly two weeks after claiming that child labor laws are “<a title="A video" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvCXwjj3Uf0">truly stupid</a>” and implying that poor children should be put to work as janitors in their schools, he <a href="http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/12/01/newt-poor-children-have-no-habits-working">now claims</a> that poor children don’t understand work unless they’re doing something illegal. </p>
<p>
On Thursday, at a campaign stop in Iowa, the former House speaker said,
“Start with the following two facts: Really poor children in really poor
neighborhoods have no habits of working and have nobody around them who
works. So they literally have no habit of showing up on Monday. They
have no habit of staying all day. They have no habit of ‘I do this and
you give me cash’ unless it’s illegal.” (His second “fact” was that
every first generational person he knew started work early.) </p>
<p>
This statement isn’t only cruel and, broadly speaking, incorrect, it’s
mind-numbingly tone-deaf at a time when poverty is rising in this
country. He comes across as a callous Dickensian character in his
attitude toward America’s most vulnerable — our poor children. This is
the kind of statement that shines light on the soul of a man and shows
how dark it is. </p>
<p>
Gingrich wants to start with the facts? O.K. </p>
<p>
First, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/17/opinion/blow-for-jobs-its-war.html?_r=2">as I’ve pointed out before</a>,
three out of four poor working-aged adults — ages 18 to 64 — work. Half
of them have full-time jobs and a quarter work part time. </p>
<p>
Furthermore, according to an analysis of census data by Andrew A.
Beveridge, a sociologist at Queens College, most poor children live in a
household where at least one parent is employed. And even among
children who live in extreme poverty — defined here as a household with
income less than 50 percent of the poverty level — a third have at least
one working parent. And even among extremely poor children who live in
extremely poor areas — those in which 30 percent or more of the
population is poor — nearly a third live with at least one working
parent. </p>
<p>
For this analysis, the most granular national data available — census
areas with 100,000 or more people — were compared. For reference, New
York City has 55 of these areas. You’d have to slice the definition of
neighborhoods rather thinly to find a few areas that support Gingrich’s
position. </p>
<p>
Lastly, Gingrich vastly overreaches by suggesting that a lack of money
universally correlates to a lack of morals. Yes, poverty presents
increased risk factors for crime. But, encouragingly, data show that
even as more Americans have fallen into poverty in recent years, <a href="http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2010-crime-statistics">the crime rate over all</a> — and, specifically, among juveniles — has dropped. </p>
<p>
“Facts” are not Gingrich’s forte. Yet he is now the Republican
front-runner. It just goes to show how bankrupt of compassion and
allergic to accuracy that party is becoming. </p>
<div class="authorIdentification">
<p style="text-align:center">•</p> <p>I invite you to join me on
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/CharlesMBlow">Facebook</a> and follow me on <a href="http://twitter.com/CharlesMBlow">Twitter</a>, or e-mail me at <a href="mailto:chblow@nytimes.com">chblow@nytimes.com</a>. </p> </div>
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<br><br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 7:45 PM, Donovan Arnold <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com">donovanjarnold2005@yahoo.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div><div style="font-size:10pt;font-family:arial,helvetica,sans-serif"><div><span>Roger,</span></div>
<div><span></span> </div>
<div><span>The problem isn't that people in dire need of assistance aren't looking for work, it is that they already have two jobs and still cannot afford basic needs. Corporations have found it easier to spend money on <span><span>politicians</span></span> keeping wages low than to pay workers a wage that they can subsist on. It is easier to let the government house and feed your workers than to pay them enough to do it on their own. </span></div>
<div><span></span> </div>
<div><span>Working full time doesn't mean you get what you need to survive. </span></div>
<div><span></span> </div>
<div><span>Do the math, a wage of $7.50 an hour, 19% federal and state income tax, 6% tax on all food and items purchased, and you take home $5.65 a hour, x 35 hours and you get $197 a week to live on. That isn't going to cover your living expenses. Medical alone can easily run $200-$1000 a month. Food can be $200-$500, and housing is gonna be around $500 per adult plus <span><span>utilities</span></span>. Without assistance, most lower income families would not make it. </span></div>
<div><span></span> </div>
<div><span>I really do not understand WHY people get so upset about hard working poor people accepting a few dollars of assistance to feed their children when we have large greedy corporations sucking 100s of billions off the taxpayers, slashing jobs, stealing houses, and refusing to pay workers a living wage? Where is the focus here? Paying a person $7.25 an hour for their time and labor is theft and <span><span>exploitation</span></span> of the worker. </span></div>
<div><span></span> <var></var></div>
<div><span>Donovan Arnold</span></div>
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</div><b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">From:</span></b> lfalen <<a href="mailto:lfalen@turbonet.com" target="_blank">lfalen@turbonet.com</a>><br><b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">To:</span></b> <a href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">vision2020@moscow.com</a> <br>
</div><b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Sent:</span></b> Saturday, March 3, 2012 6:22 PM<div class="im"><br><b><span style="FONT-WEIGHT:bold">Subject:</span></b> [Vision2020] <span>Fw</span>: Isn't it ironic<br></div>
</font></div><div class="im"><br>Please note before you land all over me for posting this, that I do not have a problem with helping the truly needy and the disabled. I also support our local food banks. The problem is that a lot of able bodied people that could find work do
not.<br>Roger<br>-----Original message---<br>Subject: Isn't it ironic.........<br><br><br>The SNAP/Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever.<br>
<br>Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us to "Please Do Not Feed The Animals." This is because the animals may grow dependent on handouts and not learn to take care of themselves.<br>
<br>Thus <span>endeth</span> today’s Lesson.<br><br><br><br><br><br>
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<div><font color="#000000" face="Arial"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:transparent" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="3"><b>Subject: </b> Isn't it ironic.........<br><br><br>The SNAP/Food Stamp Program, administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is pleased to be distributing the greatest amount of free meals and food stamps ever.<br>
<br>Meanwhile, the National Park Service, administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior, asks us to "Please Do Not Feed The Animals." This is because the animals may grow dependent on handouts and not learn to take care of themselves.<br>
<br>Thus <span>endeth</span> today’s Lesson.<br><br></font></font></div><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:transparent" color="#000000" face="Arial" size="3"></font>
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