For 1 in 8 Americans, hunger is a reality.

Right now, millions of Americans are struggling with hunger. We all know and are in contact with people affected by hunger, even though we might not be aware of it.

These are often hard-working adults, children and seniors who simply cannot make ends meet and are forced to go without food for several meals, or even days. Most of us simply have no idea.

It’s time to educate ourselves about America’s hunger problem.

HUNGER FACT SHEETS

Hunger in America is a big issue. Feeding America researched and compiled sources for more information on specific areas of study below.

• Hunger and Poverty Statistics
• Child Hunger Facts
• Hunger in the Suburbs
• Rural Hunger
• Senior Hunger
• Working Poor
• Child Hunger Implications

In January 2010, Feeding America (FA, formerly America’s Second Harvest) released its disturbing new report on growing hunger titled, “Hunger in America 2010.”

Hunger In America 2010 Key Findings

• The 37 million Americans served annually by Feeding America include nearly 14 million children and nearly 3 million seniors.
• Each week, approximately 5.7 million people receive emergency food assistance from an agency served by a Feeding America member. This is a 27 percent increase over numbers reported in Hunger in America 2006, which reported that 4.5 million people were served each week.
• These numbers are based on surveys conducted at emergency feeding centers, such as soup kitchens and food pantries, but do not factor in many individuals also served at non-emergency locations, such as Kids Cafe programs and senior centers.

Client Households

• 76 percent (10 million) of client households served are food insecure, meaning they do not always know where they will find their next meal.
• 36 percent of these client households are experiencing food insecurity with hunger, meaning they are sometimes completely without a source of food.
• 79 percent (11 million) of households with children served are also food insecure.
• Of the 37 million people the Feeding America  network serves:
  • • 70 percent of households have incomes below the federal poverty line.
    • The average monthly income for client households is $940.
    • 36 percent of households have one or more adults who is working.
    • 10 percent of client households are homeless.

Tough Choices

Many of the client households served by Feeding America food banks report that their household incomes are inadequate to cover their basic household expenses.

• 46 percent of client households served report having to choose between paying for utilities or heating fuel and food.
• 39 percent of client households said they had to choose between paying for rent or a mortgage and food.
• 34 percent of client households report having to choose between paying for medical bills and food.
• 35 percent of client households must choose between transportation and food.

One in four client households (24 percent) do not have health insurance and nearly half of our adult clients report that they have unpaid medical and hospital bills.

Thirty percent of households report having at least one member of their household in poor health.

from Wikipedia:

Feeding America is a United States-based non-profit organization. It consists of a nation-wide network of more than 200 food banks and food rescue organizations that serve virtually every county in the United States as well as Puerto Rico.

It is the nation’s leading hunger-relief charity, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. The current president and CEO is Vicki B. Escarra. Feeding America was known as America’s Second Harvest until August 31, 2008.

In the late 1960s, John van Hengel, a retired businessman in Phoenix, Arizona began volunteering at a local soup kitchen, and began soliciting food donations for the kitchen. He ended up with far more food than the kitchen could use in its operations.

Around this time, he spoke with one of the clients, who told him that she regularly fed her family with discarded items from the grocery store’s garbage bins. She told him that the food quality was fine, but that there should be a place where unwanted food could be stored and later accessed by people who needed it, similar to how banks store money.

Van Hengel began to actively solicit this unwanted food from grocery stores, local gardens, and nearby produce farms. His effort led to the creation of St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix, the nation’s first food bank.

In 1975, St. Mary’s was given a federal grant to assist in developing food banks across the nation. This effort was formally incorporated into a separate non-profit organization in 1976.

In 2001, America’s Second Harvest merged with Foodchain, at that time the nation’s largest food-rescue organization.

In May 2007, it was featured on American Idol, named as a charity in the Idol Gives Back charity program.

In September 2008, the organization name was changed to Feeding America. The new name conveys the mission—providing food to Americans living with hunger—and will be supported through expansive public outreach campaigns that will raise awareness of domestic hunger and Feeding America’s work.

Feeding America has an “A” rating at charitywatch.org.

In August 2009, Columbia Records announced that all U.S. royalties from Bob Dylan’s album ‘Christmas in the Heart’ would be donated to Feeding America, in perpetuity.

The many medical benefits of marijuana…

click for larger image

…cannot be denied by anyone any longer.

Over and over and over again independent contemporary medical researchers add to the ancient medical knowledge of Cannabis Hemp Marijuana. Without a doubt a great deal of human pain and suffering can be stopped now with simple decriminalization of Cannabis Hemp Marijuana.

Who and What does it serve
to continue Cannabis Hemp Marijuana criminalization?

Certainly this question must be asked in a time when Presidential candidates lend lip service to Cannabis Hemp Marijuana decriminalization (even if in fact they continue the unjust persecution of this plant when elected). The time is overdue to examine both those who continue to demonize the plant and those who arrest and jail people who use it.

The following issues have been widely examined and publicly debated:

1. Cannabis the multipurpose industrial Raw Material
2. Hemp the versatile food source
3. Marijuana the comprehensive medicine

and in all cases the plant has been more than vindicated, its usefulness and value far exceeding its risks and liabilities to either society or its individuals.

Yet Cannabis Hemp Marijuana criminalization continues.

>>> Why? <<<

As the United States of America, once home of the brave and land of the free, becomes history’s largest jailer of its own citizens on the back of Cannabis Hemp Marijuana prohibition, the bottom line of mass incarceration cannot be ignored.

It appears the object of Cannabis Hemp Marijuana oppression serves the ends of inducing the understandable fear of real persecution, violent arrest, vigorous prosecution and cruel and unusual punishment. Of course, impoverishment and public humiliation for the whole family goes along with this almost without mention.

It seems the government of the United States of America, once held high as the prime example of a representational government, finds Cannabis Hemp Marijuana criminalization useful in inducing fear based control of the population.

Otherwise, what reason exists for continued criminalization?

The fraud perpetrated by high government leaders, powerful industrialists and financiers to criminalize Cannabis Hemp Marijuana in the first place has been public record since the beginning, if any bothered to read it.

Now that its damage spans generations, and the guilty escaped prosecution with the assistance of time and death, it seems timely to reverse this miscarriage of justice.

Now that the value and usefulness of Cannabis Hemp Marijuana can no longer be concealed, certainly the powers that be will right this obvious wrong, ASAP.

And yet Cannabis Hemp Marijuana criminalization continues.

How does this make you feel about your government?

The backroom deals, disinformation and political slight-of-hand that ushered in the era of cannabis hemp marijuana criminalization has been fully revealed as a fraud perpetrated upon the United States population. The falsehoods stand bare and truly show that The Emperor Wears No Clothes.

The Emperor Wears No Clothes, backed by H.E.M.P. (America), Hanf Haus (Germany), Sensi Seeds/Hash Marijuana Museum (Netherlands), and T.H.C., the Texas Hemp Campaign (America), offers $100,000 to anyone who can disprove the claims made within. To quote the back cover:

If all fossil fuels and their derivatives, as well as trees for paper and construction were banned in order to save the planet, reverse the Greenhouse Effect and stop deforestation; then there is only one known annually renewable natural resource that is capable of providing the overall majority of the world’s paper and textiles; meet all of the world’s transportation, industrial and home energy needs, while simultaneously reducing pollution, rebuilding the soil, and cleaning the atmosphere all at the same time… and that substance is — the same one that did it all before — Cannabis Hemp… Marijuana!

If President Obama wishes to restore faith in his administration then it seems to me that freeing cannabis hemp marijuana from unjust and unwarranted persecution by the United States Government would be a step in the right direction. However, it seems President Obama has other ideas on how to treat the population of the United States.

For those hoping that Barack Obama would wage the war on drugs less aggressively than his predecessor, this is not a good sign: Yesterday he announced that the new head of the Drug Enforcement Administration will be Michele Leonhart, a career DEA agent who has been the agency’s deputy administrator since March 2004 and its acting administrator since November 2007. [Reason]

Steve Lendman says:

Obama’s Outreach to Americans:
Empty Rhetoric, Business As Usual

As a candidate, Obama promised change, a new course, sweeping government reforms, addressing people needs, and “ensur(ing) that the hopes and concerns of average Americans speak louder in Washington than the hallway whispers of high-priced lobbyists….”

A year later, hope is disillusion, frustration, and anger over promises made, then broken with a growing awareness that Obama represents business as usual, a reality rhetoric can’t change. …

He presides over a bogus democracy under a homeland police state apparatus, embraces torture and political persecution like his predecessor, and continues unbridled militarism, imperial wars, and a shocking disregard for the law.

A January 27 Dana Priest Washington Post article revealed a secret Obama “hit list,” the same policy George Bush authorized to kill US citizens abroad claimed to be supporting terrorism “against the United States or US interests,” whether or not it’s true. …

He embraces the same Bush administration policies, targets dissenters, Muslims, Latino immigrants, environmental and animal rights activists, and lawyers who defend them too vigorously.

He spies illegally on Americans, …

He wants all Americans monitored with a national ID card, favors preventive detentions for uncharged detainees, and opposes protection for whistleblowers and journalists to protect their identity. …

Smooth rhetoric belies Obama’s failed agenda, one he’ll continue without progressive change under new leadership that cares, what neither party offers nor ever will with priorities leaving millions out of luck and on their own.

It certainly seems President Obama and his Administration have yet to hear the population of the United States clearly. Please do what you can to raise the volume on this important central issue.

Free Cannabis Hemp Marijuana Now

The USA Hemp Museum provides convincing arguments backed up with literally books full of documented evidence on the multitude of mistakes we make as a country by allowing cannabis hemp marijuana criminalization to continue.

Become informed and you will be compelled to act.

Hemp For Victory: The Trillion Dollar Crop

Hemp For Victory: A Global Warming Solution

Hemp For Victory: The Wonder Herb

We can no longer afford the mistake of allowing cannabis hemp marijuana criminalization to harm our country, especially now when we could all benefit so greatly from this most useful of all plants.

IFCO / Pastors for Peace
January 21, 2010

Dear Friends:

We are writing to you with a special appeal for Haiti — asking you to help us right away to send a group of young physicians to provide desperately-needed emergency medical services in Haiti.

A group of the recent US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine is ready to go and provide vitally needed medical attention to victims of the earthquake.

More than 300 Cuban doctors have been in Haiti for more than ten years now working in areas of Haiti that have no other access to healthcare. In addition, Cuba has also trained 400 young Haitian doctors who are now on the ground responding to this crisis.

Since the earthquake, the Cuban doctors have been working around the clock. They have set up three operating rooms that are in service 24/7, performing hundreds of surgeries per day.

The US graduates of the Latin American School of Medicine are eager to do whatever they can to help in Haiti. They are prepared to spend several weeks working alongside the Cuban medical team saving lives.

These dedicated and skilled young doctors are ready to serve. They received their MD degrees in Cuba, and they are uniquely prepared for the multiple challenges of this urgent mission. We will send them with backpacks full of medicines and supplies.

We just have to raise the funds to get them there. Can you help us to do that? You can make a contribution yourself, or take up a collection in your community.

ANY AMOUNT you send will help.

You can make a credit card donation by calling IFCO at 212-926-5757 or by clicking on the purple “donate now” button on our home page – write in IFCO/Haiti Medical Service Project in the space for “on behalf of”.

You can also mail a check to:
IFCO/Haiti Medical Service Project
418 West 145th Street
New York NY 10031

We are asking for your support for this extraordinary example of international cooperation and solidarity.

We desperately hope that you will help support this unprecedented opportunity for four nations —the US, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Haiti — to work together in solidarity with the Haitian people.

You are a valuable and indispensable part of this work.

Please send your generous donation today!

The need for medical assistance in Haiti is critical right now. Our partners in Haiti and the Dominican Republic stand ready to deliver medical aid and the doctors into Haiti as soon as they arrive. They know how dire the situation is because they have been traveling over the border since the earthquake to deliver what they can.

Your contribution will be carried on the backs of young doctors prepared to heal the sick and wounded in Haiti. Your gift will make a huge difference in alleviating the pain and suffering of thousands of Haitian people.

Sincerely,
Rev. Lucius Walker, Jr.

p.s. Please see the enclosed list of specialized medicines and medical supplies which will be essential for the direct service our doctors will be giving to the Haitian people.

Please consider transferring your frequent flier miles for volunteers travel!

MEDICINES
Acedimedifin
Albendazol
Amoxicillin
Antacids
Anti allergy medication
Anti diarrhea medication
Anti flu medication
Anti Malarial (Malaron)
Anti Tetanus
Cipro
Diclofenac
Doxycycline
Dramamine
Dual lotion
Furosemide
Ibuprofen
Mebendazol
Metronidazol
Pediatric Neomycin cream
Penicillin and Procaine
Rehydration solutions
Topical antibiotics

MEDICAL SUPPLIES
Ace bandages
Alcohol wipes
Anti bacterial gels
Anti fungal cream
Aspirators for babies
Bandages
Bandaids
Butterfly needles
Catheters
Eyedrops/eyewash
Flashlights
Gauze
Cotton
Gloves
Neosporin
Saline/irrigation solution
Scalpels
Scissors
Sheets
Suture equipment
Sutures
Syringes
Tape

GENERAL NEEDS
Bars of soap
Blood pressure cuffs
Disposable head caps
Facemasks
Gloves
Heavy duty boots
Notebooks
Pens and pencils
Scrubs
Stethoscopes
Tea Light candles & quality batteries (AA&D)
Tents
Thermometers

Brand new under wear -adult (small & med.) and children sizes
Sanitary napkins
Toothpaste and tooth brushes

John Waller
Cuba Caravan Coordinator
IFCO-Pastors for Peace
Cell 831-512-6688
email: cucaravan@igc.org
www.pastorsforpeace.org
418 W 145th Street
New York, NY, 10031

Alfred Habdank Skarbek Korzybski believed some human suffering originates from the confusion between linguistic representations of reality and reality itself. The need to communicate this understanding of language using language itself provides additional opportunities for confusion.

His work noticeably influenced the development of E-Prime, Gestalt Therapy, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, and Neuro-linguistic programming. Alfred Korzybski influenced the thinking and writing of a broad spectrum of contemporary humanists, including Robert Anton Wilson.

Studia Humanitatis

being the study of human beings, includes not only what things they do but also why they do them. Christopher Bear Beam continues in this honored tradition below.

* * * * * Guest Article * * * * *

Perpetrators Of Afghanistan And Iraq Occupations
Use Flawed Logic

Patriotism is a funny thing. It’s often used for a hyper vigilant cover for ignorance and fear. The current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq follow the same, sick pattern of thinking we’ve always followed when conflicts are the result of the imprisoned, colonized mind, consumerism, racism, and power. It’s unconscionable that President Obama has just ordered 30,000 troops to Afghanistan. This on the heals of pious promises to the American people that we would drop troop occupation, bring the troops home, and focus on the real problems: universal healthcare, insuring all Americans a living wage, and prosecuting members of the prior Administration for war crimes or crimes of lying and falsifying information.

Patriotism may be a bias that creates a commitment to denial and the glory of imperious empowerment at the expense of smaller countries that are rich in natural resources, like oil, and have suffered under the jackboot of occupation and injustice. These occupations are wars of the rich, the connected and the elites, and the rest of us who oppose them aren’t being listened to. One organization, March Forward, urges all troops to refuse orders to go to Afghanistan. A sad result is that more troops back from Iraq have committed suicide than have been killed in battle.

Those claiming to be patriotic appear to have cases of selected memory. They will claim to be loyal to the U.S. Constitution, following the Commander-in-Chief’s orders on blind faith, but they ignore the constitutional imperative that both Houses must declare a legal war. They intone that recruits signed a contract to unthinkingly follow all orders. They say that those who refuse to go to war, after experiencing the reality of way, should have never signed those contracts, and have full knowledge they’re now breaking the law.

This is an example of Western, white-based, linear reasoning; it’s rigid and doesn’t allow for any change on the part of Conscientious Objectors (CO) to military service and war. The way the world works is that it’s in process constantly of change, death, and growth.  It’s dynamic is cyclic, not linear. The fact that a soldier has fought in Iraq or Afghanistan, seen the death of innocents, participated in interrogation techniques that may be torturous, and have known the racism and injustice firsthand has every right to respond like an intelligent human being and change his/her mind from a political, philosophical, or spiritual motivation. This is dissonant to the super-patriots’ tunnel-vision view of patriotism and sacrifice, so it cuts no ice with them; in fact, it creates division within themselves, and all they can do is to push back with paranoid, parroted, reactionary ideas, given to them by their social conditioning and the corporation’s cry for help!

I would argue that dissenters and COs are living out the real definition of patriotism.  A loyal person isn’t one who never rocks the boat. True loyalty is born out of living out one’s truth even when under attack; true allegiance is not found in a ‘go along to get along’ philosophy. It’s found in the minds and actions of the nitty-gritting saying “no” philosophy in order that truth and justice has a tangible and demonstrable example of a person who believes that an illegal war will take more life in the end.

I know. I was a Vietnam Era Vet who became a CO.  I was a CO when I was ordered by my local draft board in 1969 to be inducted into the U.S. Army. Did I remain the same throughout my entire military experience? Absolutely not. I grew as a human being in my core beliefs.  In the final analysis, this is what it’s all about. I was a human being first, and a soldier second. I took personal responsibility for my own life, and the position in which I placed myself in: would I be a mindless, subservient killer, or a thoughtful person who had to consider whether any form of violence, abuse, or colonial domination would save lives. The ethical adage of do no harm was one guideline I followed, and almost forty years later I’m glad I did. Patriotism that feeds off illegal wars has never worked and it never will.

If you aren’t military or ex-military, you as an ordinary citizen must decide how you come down on this issue. If you decide or have already decided that we must get out of these racist, illegal conflicts, you must act. You can partner with other anti-war groups in their efforts to stop the war machine, or you can act alone by whatever means you choose. This is your choice. This is our choice, and choose we must.  Do not let your speaking truth to power be shut down. Life is the most sacred essence we have, so we must take life by the horns, and pass it along in whatever form of protest we think is best.

© Christopher Bear Beam, M.A.  December 2009

* * * * * Artist’s Statement * * * * *

For the last thirty years I have worked in some capacity as an educator, trained group facilitator, and counselor. I have a Masters Degree from Trinity Theological Seminary in Counseling. I presently work for the Austin Travis County MHMR serving those with “intellectual disabilities.”

After studying and reading General Semantics material in the early seventies, I began using General Semantics principles and strategies in my work with “at potential” adolescents. I was very excited to find a discipline that was grounded in the structure of life and natural systems; I also was amazed at how pragmatic General Semantics was in terms of helping young folks learn to think extensionally rather than intentionally. I did the General Semantics seminar in 1995 (my memory may need some readjustment counseling here!) at Hofsbrau University. I met many wonderful people there and got even more turned on with the possibilities General Semantics offered in terms of thinking with more maturity.

I have also used General Semantics concepts in my work as a co-facilitator with The Center for the Healing of Racism, Houston, TX. In fact, I wrote a book in 2003 entitled “The Crazymaking Disease,” that explored how racism (or any other “ism” for that matter) is so integrally related to one’s mental health as well as the cultures. The book (published by Xlibris.Com) has a General Semantics foundation. Since then I’ve been thinking of how General Semantics can have so many positive results in terms of our social problems.

Other interests include Family Systems Theory, Zen Buddhism, Daoism, Cultural Anthropology and the Mind-Body connection. I am married, with three adult children, and presently live in Austin, TX. I can be contacted by email at: cosmicbeam@hotmail.com; my books may be seen by going to www.xlibris.com or www.chrisbearbeam.com.