Mark;

It has been thirty years since I graduated from college. I studied a number of things and one that seems to be worse today then in 1975 is the position of the family. I think we should attempt to understand the fabric of our country. Why are there so many black Americans in jail, marriage is not very popular or does not last long, and believe it or not many people are marginalized regardless of how much money the government throws at them.

Now tell me, have you ever been in a poor area of the United States or are you able to recognize such a place? Do poor areas exist? If they exist then why are they evident? Has anyone done much to address issues to solve what perpetuates poverty?

If you have your share of the pie then I am sure you could care less about the poor in this nation. You like to make excuses and give titles to serious issues. Everything is all right because the government has taken care of the problem. You are unable to articulate or address real issues that face our nation. Your attitude is one typical of too many: “Every dog for himself”! If there is a problem then you place the blame elsewhere and walk off. A bit of smoke is left and that is all.

By the way your awareness of what I stated about “social problems which have not been addressed” is what I was talking about. If you read and understood what I said then I would expect a much different answer from you or anyone else. Throwing money at a problem does not solve it. It is a great way to feel as if the problem was solved and go off to enjoy your life.

So what is your solution to the poor in this country? Eliminate them by not addressing the issues or put them in the gas chambers?

We can put hundreds of billions of dollars into Iraq and Afghanistan but we cannot take care of our own people. It is the Republicans who spend money for things that have little benefit for our nation. The Republicans are putting us into a hole and we have little to show for it except a growing national debt, corruption and indifference to the needs of our country.

Regardless of our exchange I leave you with a smile! :)

This topic is too vast for a few lines on the Internet. I apologize if I have offended you as that is not my intent.

Tom





>>To change the subject, the media just discovered recently that there are poor people in the southern United States. The media of today has not brought our nation to the reality that we have social problems which have not been addressed. More important is the big stories that advertisers are willing to pay for.
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>How can you say "not being addressed"??? Since LBJ's War on Poverty, "we" have spent trillions of tax dollars to "fight" poverty. The issue here is not throwing more money at this very real problem. We need to do some real soul searching as to why this has been such a colossal gov't failure. (key word here is "gov't").
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>>Additionally, we are so caught up in trying to pay our bills and survive we prefer to be entertained rather than be socially aware. Social awareness is the first step in improving our society. We can help other people but we cannot help ourselves.
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>Why should we worry about poverty in our own country when we see hundreds of billions of our tax dollars going to D.C. to address this issue. Haven't we all been assimilated and brainwashed into thinking more gov't is the solution to all our ills? All sarcasm aside, poverty will only be alleviated when voters wake up and start asking hard questions of these so-called leaders (some of us call them poverty pimps). The media does us no favors either since most of them have political axes to grind instead. About the only exceptions I have seen are Stone Phillips and John Stocel (sp?).