More Hoosiers are struggling

[UpInArms]

http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051117/NEWS01/511170493

Indiana's sluggish economy is exacting a toll on working families, according to a new report. Among the findings: Food stamp enrollment jumped 74 percent, and the number of students eligible for free school lunches grew by 30 percent from 2000 to 2004.

While the state's poverty rate remained steady during that period, the "Kids Count in Indiana 2005" data book reveals a boom in the ranks of working poor seeking help in Indiana. The report is being released today by the Indiana Youth Institute, an agency that provides research, training and resource services to groups in the youth development field.

<snip>

"When you have parents tired from working one, or two or three jobs and still living hand-to-mouth, nurturing is one of the first things to go," she said.

<snip>

Based on that research, Warren said, "41 percent of Indiana's children -- about 735,000 kids -- are living in families that can't meet their basic needs."

...more...

I thought only Kim Jong Il starved his people?

[xchrom]

1. when you're a republican you blame kim jong il

and liberal elitists for your troubles.

[goforit]

35. And who will be blamed now?

[GCP]

2. "It's my money, the government should let me keep more of it"

Maybe as more and more people are needing help from food stamps and free school lunches, we'll be hearing a lot less of that pathetic repuke meme.
It's a real pity so many people bought into the repuke anti-tax argument. I hope Grover Norquist someday needs help from a government that's been "shrunk so it can be drowned in the bath-tub".

[kurth]

12. Yep, time to kill the estate tax and make dividends tax-free...

[vonslagle]

3. I didn't see

Anything in that article about Hoosiers eating corpses.

There's a big difference between not meeting "basic needs" and starving to death.

[UpInArms]

5. for your edification

http://www.watchingamerica.com/digitalchosun000003.html

U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday called North Korea’s Kim Jong-il a “dangerous man” a person who “starves his people” and runs “huge concentration camps.” He said, “There is concern about his capacity to deliver a nuclear weapon. We don't know if he can or not, but I think it's best, when you're dealing with a tyrant like Kim Jong-il, to assume he can.”

...more...

What's with the "eating corpses" line?

[vonslagle]

10. yes, eating corpses

http://www.iht.com/articles/1999/02/24/kor.2.t_0.php

"When Kim Il Sung was alive, when people died, the government provided a coffin," said Kim Chul Soo, who worked in a factory near the port of Hamhung until all the factories were shut. "Now people are just put in the ground. At night people go to the burial of a recent corpse, dig it up, cut it apart, cook it and eat it. It happens. It really happens."

[UpInArms]

11. gack!

thanks for the link on that - I was merely referring to *Co's criticism of Kim Jong Il - Kim Il Sung was his father - guess it's somewhat similar in the dynastic world - Poppy/dimson

Il Sung/Jong Il -

all them suck and belong in those cells under the Hague.

[vonslagle]

16. Sorry to get so disgusting,

but there's just no way to compare the real misery citizens of North Korea experience, with life here in the US. We have it so good, that we forget how awful it is in the rest of the world. Thanks to the wisdom of our forebears, emperors here can only stick around for eight years at a time, and there's a limited amount of damage they can commit in such a short window. Over there, they are named "Divinely Beautiful Emperor for Eternity" or some megalomaniacally ludicrous title like that, and they can really make their people suffer over the decades they rule.

There's no way to compare their concentration camps to ours either. If we were citizens of North Korea, some of the stuff we post on this blog would have had us all tied to a water board in the torture chambers long ago. How many North Koreans are allowed to call their leader "Kim Orangutan Il" publicly, and get to keep their fingernails?

[DS1]

14. I heard that newborn babies are delivered between two loaves of bread

:eyes:

[daleo]

47. Sounds like propaganda to me

Stories this lurid are never true. Accusations of cannibalism is a sure sign of propaganda. Eventually you learn this.

[0007]

7. Why don't you read the article and find out?

You have a very ghoulish attitude here, what gives?



[redqueen]

27. The comparison stands.

Just because they're not AS starving doesn't mean their suffering is meaningless.

Yes, we have it much better than much of the world. However to have a country where a tiny minority own more of the wealth than 40% of the population is a crime, and it needs to be addressed. No amount of pointing at the other guy and saying "but he's worse!" will change it.

[vonslagle]

31. Oh please!

If you can compare a State where people are so hungry that children are slaughtered and sold on the black market as pork; with a State where children don't get fed until after they get to school; and find both States equally opressive; then you have mastered the skill of Doublethink.

Big Brother Loves You Double Plus Good!

[redqueen]

32. The comparison doesn't have to be complete.

One is worse, but they're both bad.

Nice theatrics. Makes for a very convincing argument.

[BiggJawn]

4. It's a "Hoosier Thang"

"It's OK if the kids cain't git no free lunch at skool, at least they's gonna learn about that Intellignet Design, and them damn Homos still cain't git married."

Your average Hoosier can't make the connection between not having enough money to pay off their credit cards and ReTHUGlicans in power. Rush tells 'em it's all "Klintoon" and "Hitlery's" fault.

Disclosure: I have lived in this fucking third-world backwater annex of Harlan County for 47 3/4 of my 48 years.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

9. Marion County myself . . .

Don't know Harlan County, but it sounds worse than Marion County!

And your portrayal is pretty much right on--even for Marion County.

[salin]

40. belated welcome to DU from another hoosier

I split my time between very center township marion county and bloomington. Due to my odd circumstances, I believe I experience a very different Indiana than most hoosiers. My urban life is surrounded by those hit hardest - and who seem to have a greater awareness of some of the whys than others (granted I work with urban poor vs. rural poor which can be very different in perspectives and 'awareness' of news and how it connects to life.) My other life is among very well educated, well informed folks - who miss some news - but who are quite savvy. Were it not for growing up here, living in other areas and coming back (I am a reverse brain-drainer... got my highest levels of ed out of state and came back to be close to family), I don't know that I would a) recognize the Indiana often (and correctly) described - or that b) I would recognize how unique my experiences and interactions with other hoosiers are and recognize that what I experience is so very, very different than what most other hoosiers experience on a day to day basis.

[raccoon]

13. You--and other posters from Indiana--did Indiana used to have

a lot of well-paid union jobs? I always thought IN did, at least in America's glory days.

Or is it IN never had them to begin with?

[BiggJawn]

15. You betchur Sweet Ass we had a LOT of Union Jobs!

IBEW member, 1977-1982 myself.

We had Western Electric, Chrysler had an electrical components plant and foundry, Ford is still in Indy, Anderson had Guide Lamp, Kokomo still has Chrysler and Delphi (who is trying to break the Union). RCA might have been Union, both in Indy and Bloomington.
And that's just what I can remember within an hour's drive of Indianapolis.

[raccoon]

17. Thanks, Biggjawn. nt

[salin]

41. my socially conservative bro-in-law turned on the republicans

when they worked to break the unions in Indiana in the 1980s. Can't always bring himself to vote dem (due to religious/political indoctrination) - but he doesn't vote republican. (For example, he supported buchanon in 2000...)

[thinkingwoman]

20. Yes they did

Indiana was heavily manufacturing...lots of industry/factory jobs with strong unions.

Of course, NAFTA killed that.

Now Indiana is ill-equipped (to put it mildly) to deal with the shift in the economy. Except for the pockets of tolerance like Bloomington, most of the state is full of bigots and they wonder why companies don't want to locate here. :eyes:

[thinkingwoman]

21. P.S.

and the school systems suck ass. At least if they taught ID they'd be "teaching" something. :sarcasm:

[doodadem]

24. I went to school in southern Indiana

About 30 miles north of Louisville, and many years ago. I had excellent teachers! They took a very personal interest, and cared about their students for the most part. I understand things have changed since then, but that has happened everywhere.
My little brother still lives there, and is a good redneck Repuglican--hates gays, minorities, and anyone who he thinks may take his gun. We have some knockdown arguments, I can tell you! However, he is the main caretaker for my ailing parents, and he sees what has happened to them with Medicare, Medicaid, and VA. At least on some things, he's starting to open his eyes.
Most of Indiana is still small town and rural. People are born and die in the same areas. Unless you meet other people who can provide differing ideas and insight, you are just not exposed to enlightenment. My brother is raising his two kids to think just like him. I tried to get my high school age neice to come out here and spend the summer with us in Calif. No interest.

[thinkingwoman]

30. I grew up an hour and 1/2 north of Louisville

I know just what you're describing. My sympathies about your brother.

I am finding that more than a few people in S. Indiana are experiencing things like your brother and slowly waking up to reality. If the national Democrats would stop writing Indiana off as a lost cause and start some basic pr, we might enlighten a few more of them.

[shrike]

26. My husband was a union guy for years

Steelworkers. He had a great local that secured him a great pension -- they fixed it so the company could never get its hands on it, though they've tried since, believe me. And the union dude who led the whole thing was a Mao Communist, no joke.

My SIL is a union plumber. Know a few union electricians and pipefitters, too. The trades are doing okay where we live, but the mills and plants, that's another story ...

[Gemini Cat]

19. Don't forget the mega churches.

There's one on every block.

Anyway, thank-fully we have a Democratic mayor in my town. She is the bright spot in an otherwise dismal state.

[thinkingwoman]

22. There's a democratic mayor

in the small town I used to live in (yes, I used the small d on purpose) who, I swear, was as bad or worse than a repuke.

This mayor promotes placing the 10 commandments on the courthouse lawn and is so corrupt he rivals GW. It's unbelievable.

[HughBeaumont]

6. All InDIEaner DU'ers excluded, of course . . .

You buys the ticket, you takes the ride. Stop voting for the machete that chops your hands and things will change.

[SpeedwayDemocrat]

8. And just who's gonna help us get these idiots out of office?

Hugh, Dems in Indiana don't get ANY support (monetary, strategy, etc.) from the DNC. They wrote us off a long time ago as a "red state", so they no longer even bother to try to help us. Guess Indiana is one of those "fly-over" states that just don't count.
After years of trying to beat these Repub-punks with shoe string budgets for our candidates and no help from national in Washington, what's left of the Indiana Democratic Party is fed up and most of us are about to throw in the towel. Just TODAY, I got my FIRST e-mail request from the Indiana Democratic Party to donate to the cause. Too little, too late, Dan Parker, Mr. IDP Chairman.

[HughBeaumont]

18. History is definitely not on the Dems side in that state.

The "give up hope" attitude is definitely prevelant, probably because there aren't enough electoral votes in that state for them to care, so candidates blindly just don't make it a priority. As this last election showed, EVERY state is important.

[thinkingwoman]

23. You are soooo right! nt

[Hoosier Democrat]

25. You are SOO Right!

I got the same e-mail from the Indiana Democratic Party, which is basically on life-support. The Dems here in Indiana just aren't willing to fight. Our Congressional recruiting sucks, statewide recruiting is non-existant. 2006 will be another year where the Dems get slaughtered by no-name Rethugs.

I live in St. Joseph County, once a shining becaon for Democrats in the northern part of the state. Even here, the Democratic Party is dying. It's not dying from GOP attacks, but from neglect. The party "leadership" is pretty much invisible and no efforts are made to look for younger people to "join the firm". We have one County-wide Democratic elected official in his 30's, and he's treated like a leper by the party because he's not part of the "machine". At the last Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, he wasn't even invited. Then they moan that republicans are picking up steam here.

I just want to live in a blue state!!!!!!

[redqueen]

29. That is shameful!

Makes me angry to hear things like that.

[politicat]

34. That's really sad, because Indiana was a strong Dem state

during the Depression, WWII, and into the 50s and 60s. I don't know when it changed, but I come from a solidly 5 generation Dem, Founding Indiana family. In my rather large family, many of whom still live in the state, only one is republican, and he doesn't get a lot of family respect, to say the least.

Indiana used to be populist-progressive. It may have changed when the Dems started talking more about the ultra left issues instead of farms, jobs, factories and a decent standard of living.

[salin]

42. late sixties, early seventies... 2 lib dem senators and the first person

in congress to oppose the Vietnam war.

Now all we can say on the plus side, is that Indiana (at least before the 2004 election, and I am not aware that it has changed) has the only predominantly white congressional district that is represented by an African American (Julia Carson.)

[MisterP]

45. but the DLC, led by Head Hoosier Hooker Bayh

has prevented any talk about "ultra left issues," and they're redder than ever before. There's no real split between supporting small farms and the "far left"--wimmins, peaceniks, and idealists.
And salin mentioned a strong tradition of super-lib senators--like Birch Bayh who was swept out by Dubya v1.0 in Great Ray-Gun's Great Leap Forward.

[underpants]

28. I had no idea there were that many black people in Indiana

:sarcasm:

[Mizmoon]

33. There are few good jobs in these rural places

These folks can't afford to relocate to LA or SF or NYC where the jobs are.

But their kids will. And the midwest will further become a ghost town.

[shrike]

36. It's sad

I'm a Hoosier by marriage, have lived here for almost a decade. Like the state very much, consider it my home now. It has its drawbacks, but every place does. The people are nice and there's plenty to do, especially for us who live near Chicago. However, it's true that manufacturing jobs are fleeing and nothing is taking their place.
Indiana has some very good universities -- IU-Bloomington, Purdue and Notre Dame come to mine -- but their students don't stay put. They go elsewhere; no future for them here.

[VegasWolf]

37. But, hey, at least gays can't get married in Indiana!

:sarcasm:

[lovuian]

38. People need to read more about the Depression and

when 80% of the US wealth was in the hands of a very rich corrupt few

thats what happens Depressions!!!

[SIU_Blue]

39. There's another thing that is not being said here:

Indiana has no state minimum wage, they go by the federal minimum wage, which is $5.15/hour. In Illinois, we have a $6.50/hour living wage, and the difference, while it may be small, is incredibly important.

[ignatius 2]

43. This is such an outrage but I know Mitch the Bitch Daniels and our

great Resident in Chief will have a solution..most likely more tax cuts for the rich,no taxes on capital gains from stock and bond sales, and more budget cuts for medicaid,welfare and food stamps.

"Let them eat cake," literally becomes this administrations mantra.

If there is a hell,this administration will have a room all their own.

[borlis]

44. Indiana is a red state

They got what they wanted as far as I am concerned. Welcome to George Bush's America! I feel sorry for all Indiana democrats. I think that state was not ever even close for Kerry to win in.

[PurityOfEssence]

46. But they'll vote for the nazis 'til the cows come home

What a baffling state.