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No Place Like No Home

By Pat Racimora on September 7, 2009 at 9:01 AM in Current Affairs

webrhomeless-kids_edited-2

For lots of kids, school starts tomorrow. As a parent, I was struck by a sad statistic and had to share it. Do you know how many school aged children are homeless? It’s a pretty grim number, and poses challenges for already strapped pubic school systems.


Erik Eckholm, writing for the New York Times, reports that over one million kids live in unstable situations—in cars and vans, motels, parks, with friends, often moving around while parents try to find work. This staggering figure is almost double from what it was in 2006-2007.

Trying to learn while worrying about one’s parents and what will happen next takes a huge toll on these children. Social life is disrupted frequently, and stigma often dogs their quests for friendships. Schools try to do their best, often going out of their way to help families find shelter and other resources, but they are already operating on thin budgets. Staff and teachers have been cut from many districts, meaning larger classes with more kids to try to manage.

Those of us who kiss our kids at bed time, have stable places to rest our own heads every night, and trust that tomorrow night will be exactly the same as tonight probably cannot even begin to imagine what its like to be a homeless child at school. Count your blessings.

  • Sassy

    Thank you Pat for the lovely art, and also for the reminder of the stress on youngsters who are in this position.
    We have several homes near us that are in foreclosure, and there were school age children in these families.
    Were they even able to remain in their school district?
    Even the very youngest children know when their families are in serious trouble.
    This is a really sad time!

  • Diana L. C.

    Thanks, Pat, for this reminder.

    I remember a young pre-teen I had in a public school reading class. She was basically homeless, living for some time with her mother and extended family, sometime in a rundown motel rented weekly, etc. We always knew when she was gone, it was because she was relocating. She tried, but her problems mostly overwhelmed her.

  • Arabella Trefoil

    This country does not value families, no matter how very much people protend that it does. What is Obama doing to help people manage in these difficult times?

    Oh, yes. He is going to give a speech to the children.

    • Ferd Berfle

      First, thank you Pat for reminding us that our country is only as strong as the weakest among us. Your post is a sobering reminder that we have a lot to do.

      Oh, yes. He is going to give a speech to the children.

      Sad, isn’t it, Arabella, that this administration, rather than actually doing something about the ills plaguing our society, instead resorts to talking about about those problems in vague terms, promising vague policy changes at some vague point in the future. This cynical Administration thinks that the American public was, is, and will be satisfied by That One’s ceaseless gum-beating. These fellow citizens need real help and not a package of fluff. I don’t think those suffering will be impressed, either, that this substitute for action is tied with a pretty bow.

      • Peggy Sue

        Pat, I’ve been relegated to the dumpster again. I’m sending an email.

      • ~~JustMe~~

        yes instead of speaking about what he can do for our children he asks what the children can do for him!

        • Frikken’s Lunch Box

          Yes, JustMe, I think that part is the most galling of all…he asks what the children can do for him. It is disgusting. I am honestly feeling as if there are constantly “little pieces of glass” in my head from the constant barrage of evidence before us that this POTUS is intent on destroying America. He has everyone so confused and anxious that it is difficult to keep track of what needs done next. We are constantly putting out fires,here and there.

    • Peggy Sue

      The speech the President will give live tomorrow to school children is up at White House.gov.

      I’ve read the text. Despite all the screeching, the presentation is nothing more than an inspirational message to kids: stay in school, study hard, this is your path to success.

      I’m not an Obama fan, but the Republican attacks on this one is much to do about nothing.

      The important speech to listen to is the one to Congress on healthcare. This is Obama’s chance to be clear and unequivocal about what he wants and expects to see in the reform package and to sell the vision.

      If he can’t do it now, he’ll never do it.

      But the school speech? It’s the sort of thing countless presidents have said in the past, Dem and Republicans. A simple peptalk. Hardly dangerous.

      • ~~JustMe~~

        Peggy I think u will find the speech has changed considerably since parents have voiced their concern over what the original speech was due to cover.

        • Peggy Sue

          But what was it to cover? Other than the rumors and smears that Republicans are famous for making and serving up. They did it to Bill and Hillary Clinton. Remember the nonsense regarding Vince Foster? Whitewater? Travelgate?

          The only objectionable item I heard was the workbook questions: What can you do to help President Obama? Without the text, people jumped to conclusions that this was a political speech, propaganda directed at our kids. And I admit, when I heard about it I thought it was creepy.

          Why? Because Obama is losing the trust of the American public. He has yet to make a clear and convincing case for what he stands for, if anything, beyond the flowery and well-scripted speeches.

          Nature hates a void. And right now Republicans are filling that void up, making our fears and suspicions all the worse. And this latest business doesn’t help: a Green Czar who’s a self-proclaimed Marxist and anarchist? Who the hell was doing the vetting? Obviously, no one. Incompetence does not inspire trust.

          I think we have to be on guard from both sides of the aisle. Hold Obama’s feet to the fire, demand that he be a leader or step aside. But I’m not about to drink the Republican kool-aide because it’s just as bitter. All we need do is think back to the last 8 years.

          Not pretty.

          • Frikken’s Lunch Box

            I don’t think it was the speech parents were so concerned about, it was the somewhat creepy questions and activities package that were recommended by the Dept. of Education for teachers to use after the speech. I am not a Republican, but I do have a problem with my child writing an essay about what “they” can do for President Obama. How about what “they” can do for their country, the community, their school? I don’t want my children doing ANYTHING to promote BO’s policies or plan. They are all suspect.

            • Peggy Sue

              I think that single question [and I understand that both Obama's staff and the Dept of Education fashioned the workbook] was completely ill-advised and downright creepy because people had no idea what was in the text.

              But then, the Far Right ran with it and had people thinking this was an underhanded plot to seduce and indoctrinate our kids. The original mistake rests with Obama’s staff. No doubt about it. But the flames were fanned into a full wildfire by the Republicans.

              And the speech? It’s an ordinary inspirational peptalk. This is probably the first time I agree with Gibbs: we’ve entered the “silly season” on this one.

              • oowawa

                I look at it this way: the salesman will say anything to get his foot in the door. I’m sure it will be an innocent and benign speech. But it will get his foot in the door of the elementary school, and I don’t want to let him in.

                • inconsiderable wretch

                  Yes, oowawa, I agree with you completely. Also, have the handlers directed BHO to do anything that didn’t have ulterior motives and sinister implications, etc.?

                  • Ferd Berfle

                    Therein lies the rub. That One doesn’t do anything that hasn’t been calculated to the very last digit. I’m sure Axelrove could find the final digit of pi, were he so inclined, and That One would take credit.

              • barry bums a ciggie

                So, what if George W. Bush, during the lowest point of the Iraq war decided to give an inspirational speech to the kiddies, with the dept. of education coming out to say “how can you help the president”. Would you think that’s appropriate and good timing? You can’t tell me that there wouldn’t be outrage and the Dems running away with it. It’s hypocrisy. I’m not a republican, and I said goodbye to the dem last May. It creeps me out when this followed the whole fiasco of the “fishy” email to the WH. I want him to focus on the economy and keep my kids out of his PR campaign.

                • ~~JustMe~~

                  I agree Jobs should be his main priority after all a speech to the children at this point is like poking the siblings of the parents that have been let down by the state of the economic meltdown through no fault of their own!

                  • ~~JustMe~~

                    siblings = children

                    • ~~JustMe~~

                      a “Hopey Look at me Speech” means nothing when parents don’t have 2 quarters to rub together.

        • Peggy Sue

          Pat, I had another spam gobble. Sending the requisite email.

      • Diana L. C.

        Peggy Sue,

        I always thought the speech was just pablum. But I didn’t like the idea at all. One of Denver’s top columnists, Tina Griego, has written an award-winning series about the problems in Denver Public Schools, largely in the Hispanci areas. About kids not attending, kids not studying, not graduating, etc. So when this whole uproar came about, she also wrote a commentary about how Obama’s life was such a good example for these kinds of kids and a speech from him should be welcomed.

        Here’s what I wrote her:

        Ms. Griego,

        As an ex-educator, I am opposed to Obama’s address to the nation’s school kids on several grounds.

        First, let me commend you for your sincere concern for education, especially in the Hispanic community. I have admired your work on that issue. But on this I think you miss the mark.

        In this instance, I like Vincent Carroll’s column today better. The part about the Asian students may jar your Hispanic readers, but as a Caucasian teacher who last taught in a high school with a large Asian population, I do have to admit that I wish all American kids would follow their lead. Just pay attention and STUDY!

        My main reason for not wanting Obama to give his speech is this: It is just another event that will “feed” the students nothing but pablum and waste time in school that they should spend on LEARNING. That was always one of my biggest gripes as an educator–all the little social programs (don’t even get me started on the D.A.R.E. program that has been proved a failure) for which schools are forced to give up valuable learning time in the academics.

        Secondly, while I dislike Obama something awful, I know he would not dare to try to do any of his really far-left maneuvers during his speech. But it will be pablum coming from a person who is not honest. Many students will grow up to know that. It will seem just like all the other hypocritical speeches from people in government they will hear over and over in life.

        First, Obama’s memoirs are so full of exaggeration and lies that Oprah should get him on her program and castigate him as she did that other guy (forget his name) who lied in his memoir. Please look it up; people have come forward to make clear that he did lie. I don’t like liars speaking to my children.

        Secondly, while you think Obama’s background makes him a good example, I don’t. Don’t even get me started about his claim that his mother was on welfare. His mother came from a fairly wealthy family in Hawaii. Her parents put Obama in an expensive private school. He attended expensive schools, and who knows really how well he did in school. You are taking other people’s word for this without an ounce of real evidence. Unlike all other recent presidential candidates and presidents who have released their transcripts, masters theses, etc., Obama has refused. You may think the birthers are crazy. I do believe that Obama was born in America, but he does indeed have something to hide because he does refuse to release the COLB.

        If he wants to put a stop to the rumors, why doesn’t he do that simple thing? Maybe because his official name was not Obama. Maybe he was listed as Caucasion like his mother. Who knows? How did he get into some of those colleges? Maybe by that time he was using his then Indonesian citizenship to attend as a foreign student. Who knows? But that might explain the trip he took to Indonesia in college when most Americans were denied visas to go there. (He quickly stopped mentioning that trip as one of his foreign credentials whlie laughing at Hillary’s trips as First Lady.) You just don’t hear him talk about that much anymore. Why? Would he have to explain something that doesn’t jive with the false persona he tries o create? He is the biggest phony we’ve ever elected as president.

        I just feel this controversy is another way he has not lived up on his promise to UNITE our nation and to provide transparency. He has divided it more than I’ve ever seen it divided before. And please, please don’t pull out the race card, as that is an insult to the many African Americans who did not vote for him, as well as the many Hispanic and Asian Americans who also did not support him. This controversy came up because he still believes he is talking to an entire nation of obots who don’t think critically and just want to chant stupid slogans.

        Diana Croissant

        • barry bums a ciggie

          I interviewed with her once before the general election, you’re wasting your breath. She smells, breath and live Obobo. She attacked me because I dared thought Palin was just as qualified as her savior. Didn’t the newspaper she worked for went out of business? Tough luck.

          • Diana L. C.

            The Rocky Mountain News did stop publication. She used to write for that paper. But many writers from that paper moved over to the Denver Post after.

            She exchanged emails with me during the primary when I told her my reasons, as a Hillary supporter, for not being able to switch to Obama. She is all “issues” and not too concerned about the phony who she thinks is in favor of her “issues.” That was my whole argument to her. We will not have good government until we have honest, well-educated, knowledgeable, and ethical people in government. The issues are secondary.

            I know she will not agree with me, but I keep needling. Vincent Carroll’s article was much better: sit down, pay attention, do your homework, and don’t believe the blather that ALL students should strive for college.

        • barry bums a ciggie

          I interviewed with her once before the general election, you’re wasting your breath. She smells, breaths and lives Obobo. She attacked me because I dared thought Palin was just as qualified as her savior. Didn’t the newspaper she worked for went out of business? Tough luck.

  • mark connette

    Obamba wont be speaking to my children. No F^%$ way

  • Texas Playwright

    I wonder how much of that Pelosi porkulus bill–$787 Billion, went to help families with living wage jobs, homes/apts within their budgets and jobs.

    • Ferd Berfle

      In round figures, I’d say $0.00.

  • carolhaka

    New Low for Rasmussen PAI -13%

    I wonder what it really is if they were able to poll the homeless.

    CAROL HAKA :evil:

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  • Sassy

    Dang, my internet has been crashing for three days. The feds must be onto me! LOL!
    Happy Labor Day to those who have jobs!
    For those who don’t, may your circumstances change for the better soon!
    Stay strong!

  • Tammy

    I wish I could help some of those families. I have plenty of room in my house to let someone stay.

    Obama doesn’t give a crap about the homeless or poor. Look what he did for the poor in Chicago? Nothing.

    • Ellen D

      That is very kind of you, Tammy.

      My daughter took in a friend with a school-age child last year when her marriage suddenly and violently disintegrated. It’s taken her this long to be placed in a public services home while she tries to find a job. Last Christmas they spent Christmas with us.

      Let’s all try to reach out in some way to anyone we have any connection with. It’s tough, because you don’t know how long this economic crisis will last, but we need to be kind to everyone. We don’t know what burdens people are carrying privately.

      To be unselfish tells more about your character to others than you know.

    • Animal Control

      I’ll be right over, thanks.

      • oowawa

        I got dibs on the upper bunk!

  • Katmoon

    Thank you Pat, this is painful; how can anyone in a position of power continue on to assimilate more power and wealth without nary a thought to their countrymen. Add to the mix of the proposed health care bill and h1n1 vaccine, wouldn’t you imagine proof of residency is required to qualify for any one these things? Our course shelters, and parking spots are not considered addresses; what will be done to help? Perhaps a handful of churches, and good-hearted people will do what they can to see the homeless in our country have some of what is barely needed for survival. It is nauseating to see as the holidays approach, still those who would charge their gifts, those who would never know and end to their wants disguised as needs…perhaps they may write a chunky check to a charity, which more than likely will pay the administrative costs out of the donation with only about .5 going to the intended. Makes for ripe pickings when a hired citizen force can be garnered from desperate times.

  • JohnnyB

    Pat, thanks for this grim reminder. The Number One nation in the World, isn’t that what we think of ourselves? The U.S. ranks 38th in the world on the percentage spent on Education of the total budget.
    Beaten out by such illustrious countries like Iran, El Salvador, Kenya, Cuba, Bolivia, Fiji, etc. (see: http://tinyurl.com/yo865l)

    We spend over $200 MILLION per day in Iraq and Afghanistan, not counting taking care of our wounded soldiers upon their return home. With over 350,000 suffering from some form of brain damage, and surely more will be added to that, we need to change our priorities. ALL THE OIL IN THE GULF AREA IS NOT WORTH THE PRICE WE ARE PAYING.

    • Ellen D

      Your education graph tells me more than you intended.

      It’s not necessarily HOW MUCH in percentages but also other factors.

      YEMEN is first. But Yemen is getting to be a major terrorist problem. Just WHAT are they teaching with all this money?

      U.S. is 17%. Denmark is 15%. But Denmark has free University education. Shouldn’t they be spending more? What are we spending all our money on?

      I think we are overdue for a comprehensive analysis of how we are spending our money.

  • oowawa

    Government could do this: co-ordinate a national database matching homeless families with people with houses who are willing to provide them shelter. There are, for example, retired old folks and empty-nesters who have rooms available and are willing to share. Just a thought.

    The focus of this administration is on making sure the “too big to fail” folks have an easy glide path and are well taken care of, even though many of these same people are largely responsible for the mess we’re in. If a small fraction of the same energy and money was dedicated to helping the homeless, we would start to see some effective and compassionate solutions. But the administration is dancing with the same powerful people who paid their way into the dance, and homelessness is not a problem with them.

    I cannot imagine the empty horror of being a homeless child, or of being a despairing parent incapable of protecting that beloved child!

    It is also a national disgrace that so many houses are standing empty or are being bulldozed when so many people are homeless.

    • Ferd Berfle

      It is also a national disgrace that so many houses are standing empty or are being bulldozed when so many people are homeless.

      It certainly is a disgrace. And apparently things haven’t changed much. In 1999 I was at the former Loring AFB working on a cleanup project. The Air Force, in its infinite wisdom, razed perfectly good housing that could have been used for any number of things, including housing the homeless. However, the local realtors raised such a stink that the Air Force caved. The utter and unmitigated waste was appalling.

      • oowawa

        Yes, Ferd. Lots of military bases have been closed in the past 20-30 years, and what has happened to the housing? I remember a large ghost city of empty housing north of Monterey Bay, CA (I forget the name of the “Fort”). Who heads the “War on Homelessness” in this country? Who is the Homelessness Czar? Come on, Thee One, let’s hear an impassioned speech talking about the disgrace of homeless children!

        • TeakWoodKite

          Hamilton AFB is another example.

          Homelessness Czar, the list grows.

          Pat thanks for the reminder. I have seen these children upclose and personal, it sucks being homless.

          • Ferd Berfle

            There were many BRAC projects where the same thing occurred.

          • oowawa

            Yes, Teak. I grew up around Hamilton, and still live not far away. Prime Marin County real estate! The “Fort” I was thinking of is Fort Ord–a huge abandoned base. The public can freely drive through there and see all the abandoned ranch-style suburban homes boarded up, block after block–weeds growing through the nice suburban streets. California State University, Monterey Bay, now occupies a small part of the base. Like Hamilton, this real estate puts dollar signs in everybody’s eyes. Far too valuable to allow the homeless to live in those neighborhoods.

            • Ferd Berfle

              weeds growing through the nice suburban streets.

              This is patent waste, fraud, and abuse and should be reported as such. Perhaps a few well-placed commentaries might help. The cretins who make these decisions would rather have these well-built houses rot than to actually make sound use of them. This is immoral, wasteful, and appalling.

              • Seattle Moss

                Will start with your neighborhood..

                The rise of the suburban slum is at hand.
                By allowing folks that who otherwise could not get in a house to dwell in houses foreclosed will bring crime drugs and devaluation to other properties.
                Rewarding bad behavior by giving people houses they did not deserve only brings down everyone else.

                As for putting people in cities that look like bombed out war zones just think of the logistics and how these people will be supported with services…
                Much more money than you can imagine

                • Seattle Moss

                  Housing has been one of my hot topics of study…
                  The McMansions and the 3000ft houses will be tomorrows blight.
                  Folks that live in them will not have the money to commute nor the money to heat and fix these structures.
                  Moving people into houses where there is no jobs plus higher costs to maintain is a recipe for disaster.
                  http://news.aol.com/newsbloggers/2008/03/03/are-suburbs-the-new-slums/

                  • Seattle Moss

                    As for hard working families with kids that need a home…

                    I’m all in favor of condo conversions being turned back into rental housing and low income housing. Most of these condo conversions are in big cities where services are available and jobs are near by..

                • Ferd Berfle

                  Rewarding bad behavior by giving people houses they did not deserve only brings down everyone else.

                  Your assumption is that all these people have some sort of behavioral problems, which is a bit hasty. Moreover, these former military bases are overgrown and rotting. Irrespective of your point of view, it is waste, fraud, and abuse because some of my tax dollars when to build them, I’d rather see them used than abandoned. Are you so certain of your position, that you think allowing their continued rot is acceptable?

                  And who said anything about giving? They would be expected to contribute something, as a sort of 21st century homestead act.

                • oowawa

                  As for putting people in cities that look like bombed out war zones just think of the logistics and how these people will be supported with services…
                  Much more money than you can imagine

                  Well Gee Whiz–the money it cost to bail out AIG is much more money than I can imagine. When you get into the trillions, well, I have a good imagination, but I can’t picture it. But then, AIG was “too big to fail.” A homeless family is just the right size to fail–little.

                  You are making lots of assumptions about the worthlessness of the homeless, and that somebody here is advocating “rewarding bad behavior by giving people houses they did not deserve.” What “bad behavior” are you speaking of? I don’t think I saw anyone here suggesting that anybody be given any houses . . .

                  • Seattle Moss

                    Considering I have been on the front lines of feeding 100k homeless through my church I can tell you quite a bit and yes I went through a very rough patch in my life also.
                    You start moving people into established neighborhoods and watch property values go down and crime go sky high..Once your poor you associate with all the rest good and bad that are poor..Not so easy putting them on bases either as they are usually in places where there is no jobs or extended services.
                    Solution is to take the condo boom and convert to affordable housing in the cities where services are available.

                    • Ferd Berfle

                      You start moving people into established neighborhoods and watch property values go down and crime go sky high

                      Unlike you, I moved into a small town where some of the houses are in disrepair. The people who are moving in would probably fit into your “moving people into established neighborhoods” category–the one I live in is over 100 years old and on the national historic registry. Unlike you, however, I find them industrious, thrifty, and hard workers. The 113 year old house across the street has a new metal roof and is soon to get a coat of paint–all thanks to those “people moving in and lowering the property values” types you so eloquently described. I’d have them next door to me anytime–the only thing they’re guilty of is wanting a place to call home and someone across the street to call them neighbor..

                      Seattle, for all your pious talk of feeding 100K homeless, your compartmentalizing of people based on preconceived notions of what their moving into your neighborhood would do to your property values is truly uncharitable, at best.

                    • Seattle Moss

                      I have been around the block way more than you bud.
                      and unlike you I see the world for what it is…
                      Move them into YOUR neighborhood and see what happens..

                      Who chooses who is good and bad in your system..Maybe find out the hard way right!

                    • Seattle Moss

                      Ferd,
                      When was the last time you got off your ass and fed the homeless or gave them inspirational guidance or even money.
                      I do it every week..The best you can do is look out your window thinking that everything revolves around you.
                      Your not my style dude!

                      Later!

                    • Seattle Moss

                      compartmentalizing of people based on preconceived notions of what their moving into your neighborhood would do to your property values is truly uncharitable, at best.

                      As for my property values going down…Sorry buddy..I sold my properties several years ago before the bust as I saw it coming…
                      I rent the 100 year house I’m in now..

                      Property values are going down no matter what happens as the other shoe in commercial is about ready to fall

                    • Katmoon

                      You have no idea, who or what Ferd does, and there has been far more altruistic action probably in a day on his part than you could ever dream of. Wouldn’t want to be your style, if I recall, homelessness ok, torture ok…hmmm no thanks.

                    • Seattle Moss

                      Who really cares what you self righteous types do anymore. This blog is dying and everybody that is gone has gone over to FB and joined with me where the real revolution is taking place. I’m having so much fun and it is an amazing phenomena
                      Keep talking to yourselves…in ever decreasing numbers…Good bye!!

                      It was fun though…But this place is an antique!

                    • Ferd Berfle

                      Oh, spare me. You come here, claiming to help 100K homeless people, yet wouldn’t have them move into your neighborhood but don’t consider that self-righteous behavior? I don’t parade my charitable work around on my shirtsleeve as you are wont to do. I think you toot your own horn a bit much and such pride often precedes a fall.

                    • oowawa

                      Well Ferd, you’re about “my style, dude.” I agree with your POV, and your points in this exchange. I guess we “righteous types” will just have to continue “talking to ourselves” in “ever decreasing numbers” while the avant garde moves on to where the elite meet. Here’s to “antique” places like No Quarter, a “dying blog.” I’m an antique too, and I’m definitely “dying.” Reckon I’ll be here tomorrow, too.

                    • Seattle Moss

                      You mean the Glenn Beck elites that are fighting to protect liberty..
                      You mean the Tea party elites which I happen to be a leader

                      Those are the people I’m hanging with.
                      along with other elites like Onofree

                      You guys are stuck while I’m mobilizing people to action to stop the elites…
                      Some of you will never learn!

                    • MOLLY MOBSTER

                      Wow…the “Angry Mob.” As I recall we were all friends here. I can’t help but think that so much of this country is snippy and snitty because we’re all watching our country go down in flames. Ferd, Oowawa, Katmoon, Moss, wow. I’m sure glad the left put “the great uniter” in office. I mean, that must explain why I no longer have liberal friends because they don’t like what I say. Don’t be like them.

                    • Solara 9

                      Seattle Moss–what has happened to you? You used to be one of my favorite commenters. Why so mean now? People argue. So what? That’s the spice of life.

                      Besides I REALLY like No Quarter. Facebook is fun but I like the articles (and cartoons)and what people say.

                    • Solara 9

                      Seattle Moss–what has happened to you? You used to be one of my favorite commenters. Why so mean now? People argue. So what? That’s the spice of life.

                      Besides I REALLY like No Quarter. Facebook is fun but I like the articles here (and cartoons)and what people say.

                    • Seattle Moss

                      Molly,
                      We can’t change everyone..Some are destined to sit around and complain while others like ourselves are actually doing something to take this country back.
                      I’m so proud to be part of the movement and you are a great Patriot and thinker.
                      I’m glad you turned me onto to FB as the thousands of patriots keep me very busy…

                    • Ferd Berfle

                      Thank you so much, Oowawa–it means a lot to me. I’ll stay with these “antiques” here at NQ any day of the week. I could not be in better company than with the regulars here at NQ who really think about the issues and comment accordingly. I will stay with the “antiques” by the name of Diane LC, Rev Amy, Larry Johnson, Carol Haka, Animal Control, Justme, Pat Racimora, pm317, AGII, Peggy Sue, Ellen D, Barry Bums a Ciggie, Donna Brazile, Teakwood, Stodgie, Buzz, Tricia Spiegel, Martha W Collier, patience, LisaB, Steve_in_KC, Larry Doyle, Linda Anselmi, Arabella Trefoil, Felizarte, sowsear, yttik, Kenosha Marge, Justsayin, Lady Dawnelle, beebop, HARP, painkillerjayne, sonic ninja kitty, donjo, nobamanoway, nobama, I’m a Linda, Too, oxycon, AF Catfish, Doclelder, Doc99, sassy, Mountainairres, and Katmoon. If I left anyone out, my apologies as I think you are the greatest.

                    • Seattle Moss

                      Why so mean..I’m sick of liberals..Period!!!

                      Especially self righteous ones that keep to the notion that those that don’t want prosecutions somehow agree with torture.
                      Or those that believe that i don’t care about homelessness for pointing out the logistic nightmare.
                      This place has become a yadi yadi site.

                    • Seattle Moss

                      Folks..If you want to expand your horizons..Let me know
                      Several on Ferd’s most recent list have also joined..I’m not saying leave NQ as it has it’s benefits but you guys are missing so much more.
                      Clint Cox
                      clintdcox@comcast.net

                      The time is now for mobilization!!!!

                    • MOLLY MOBSTER

                      I have very fond memories from here. Ferd made me laugh 100 times a day. It was a blast picking on that nut UBM, etc. Harp is highlarious, and so is Oowawa – and Buzz, andrew, etc.

                      Oowawa, I stole your line and use it every day – I happen to know I will be one of the first ones carted to Camp FEMA and one time you said to Ferd “look for me, I’ll be the geezer with bunny slippers and a toothbrush.” I still giggle.

                      It’s been a horrible two years. Horrible. All everyone has is each other and the gallows humor they can share. Wishing you all the best.

                    • ~~JustMe~~

                      Seattle you know full well I have had a good rapport with you here at NQ however today you are stepping over the mark.
                      There is no point coming here to belittle others that have too been as strong as you on many points.

                      If NQ is frustrating you in some way you need to move out and move on. Offering so much negative energy is not helping any situation.

                      Just because all are not on FB in your huge group does not mean we are not adding our input elsewhere and here at NQ.

                      Your bigger than these insults SM you need to take time out and consider this trashing of others does not look good for your own morale or wellbeing.

                    • Animal Control

                      Damn Seattle, up-comment you said you were leaving–why is it taking so long. When I don’t like a place I just leave.

                    • ~~JustMe~~

                      I ended up in the trash machine let me out I need to breath.

                    • Seattle Moss

                      Molly,
                      Good points!
                      My writing and involvement started right here and as a result both of us have seen an explosion in the growth of patriots being mobilized to action through our good works.
                      The fight has just begun and now we take it to the next level. The facts are out the talking has been done and the counter revolution against the Marxists and America hating self loathers is job one.
                      I too have no problem with anyone here and do consider everyone family even though we misunderstand sometimes where we actually stand on the issues.

                    • ~~JustMe~~

                      Seattle you know full well I have had a good rapport with you here at NQ however today you are stepping over the mark.
                      There is no point coming here to belittle others that have too been as strong as you on many points.

                      If NQ is frustrating you in some way you need to move out and move on. Offering so much negative energy is not helping any situation.

                      Just because all are not on FB in your huge group does not mean we are not adding our input elsewhere and here at NQ.

                      Your bigger than these insults SM you need to take time out and consider this trashing of others does not look good for your own morale and wellbeing.

                    • Seattle Moss

                      I left weeks ago AC

                      I’m just here to spread the good news about the revolution and the technology that’s leading to Van Jones and others being ousted and the coming collapse of the entire obama communist agenda

                    • http://deleted BuzzisbackLatte

                      Moss lives in the land of the uber liberals and the not so in the closet anymore marxists.

                      We can cut him some slack.

                    • Seattle Moss

                      You’re always so fun Buzz

                      Except that Seattle is now turning to the right along with the rest of the country..
                      Our Nanny mayor dismissed
                      The proposed insane bag tax defeated
                      Christian Susan Hutchinson winning first round for Ron Sims job.

                      The Marxists are on the run

                      Two years from now the word Liberal will be a dirty word and those that cling to this will be considered Public Enemy Number1

                    • http://deleted BuzzisbackLatte

                      Ah, that is good news!

                    • Seattle Moss

                      Come over and see me at FB and see exactly how this revolution is taking shape

                      Clint Cox

                  • Ferd Berfle

                    I just noticed, oowawa, the similarity in our concerns. Yours is an excellent comment, as always.

        • ritamary

          Fort Ord – I remember it also.

          • Katmoon

            Residential area of Loring AFB-Maine

        • Diana L. C.

          Another example is in Blytheville, Arkansas. It was a large base for some military planes (sorry, I’m not a plane nerd, like my son). We drove through that abandoned base. I swear, it looked like a movie set for a Night of the Living Dead sequel.

    • mark connette

      heres a good idea: you take care of your own family…Ill take of mine. You cant be serious about “giving” people houses. We already have h.u.d. and people buying homes they knew they couldnt afford is a big part of the economic problems we have now. Heres a clue: cant afford a house? get an apartment. Cant afford an apartment?.. rent a room. Cant afford a room? go live with family…dont have a family? start praying.

      • Ferd Berfle

        You are only marginally qualified to take out trash, boy. That you don’t care about the plight of your fellow American, much of which was caused by that drunken-spender Shrub you so f-ing adore, speaks more about your lack of empathy, your inability to reason, and your Cro-Magnon attitude than it does about this topic. You are nothing more than an obamabot with an even more piss-poor attitude.

        Since your ability is limited to moving trash around, take your Fascist drivel to the nearest landfill, throw it in and then jump in after it.

        • Ellen D

          You’re in fine form this morning, Ferd!

          you take care of your own family…Ill take of mine

          Yes, I believe when I taught Sunday School, that

          Jesus said that. (snark)

          • Ferd Berfle

            My apologies for the off-color rant, Ellen, but Lil’ Markie is to the right wing botsphere as Prime Obot is to the left. Why is it that these trolls devoid of humanity aren’t content with polluting their own backyards but find it necessary to defile those belonging to others?

            I’m surprised Little Markle Farkle didn’t get in his usual off-topic dig at HRC.

          • Ferd Berfle

            Administrator: I lost a response here.

            Ellen–When Mark says “I’ll take of mine”, I think he means it.

        • Animal Control

          Ferd, you the man!

          • Ferd Berfle

            LMAO. Thanks, AC.

        • mark connette

          name calling again?…..I win

          • Ferd Berfle

            They don’t give prizes for being stupid like you, Markie.

        • mark connette

          I have to laugh. Since when was personal responsibility a bad thing?

          • Ferd Berfle

            Responsibility is a two-way street, dickweed, which you should try taking occasionally. Moreover, a set of ethical standards by which to conduct oneself is also a good thing. Too bad you are bereft of any. You’re one of those who wants yours to the exclusion of all else. You and That One are two peas in a pod.

      • Tricia Spiegel

        Mark, please tell is you are just having fun being snarky.

      • oowawa

        dont have a family? start praying.

        Thanks for the advice, strange unfinished human facsimile. I’ll pray:

        Dear God, please put it in the President’s heart to care half as much about the poor homeless children as he does for the wealthy investment bankers on Wall Street. Amen.

        • Ferd Berfle

          Amen

          • TeakWoodKite

            Amen

            • ~~JustMe~~

              mark connette said I have to laugh. Since when was personal responsibility a bad thing?

              Many of these families were responsible for their children. Sad thing here mark connette both parents lost their jobs. With no income to pay the house payment and no help in that direction they ended up either with families or on the streets. have u ever took the time visit Tent City in say in Sacramento or Monterey? or anywhere around the country???

              I suggest to go along and speak to some of these parents and you need to pray you don’t end up like them and your children become homeless.

              Actually why don’t you swap places with a homeless family for a while maybe your heart may become more open to the plight of many! UGH you heartless soul.

              • Ferd Berfle

                Actually why don’t you swap places with a homeless family for a while maybe your heart may become more open to the plight of many! UGH you heartless soul.

                I second that.

              • TeakWoodKite

                swap places with a homeless family for a while

                Reality TV?

                • ~~JustMe~~

                  no let him suffer in real life why on TV!

                  he needs bringing down to earth with a bang!

          • Peggy Sue

            Amen indeed, oowawa!

  • Rich

    Very powerful cartoon!

    How many of these children do not have even the nice clothes the two girls in the cartoon had or enough food to eat so that they will not go to school and to bed hungry? If one is willing to increase the budget deficit then let us do it for the children, just like we did when we created a health care for children.

    If the children are our future, and everyone says they are, then how are we treating our future when children do not have a stable place to live, food to eat, and decent clothes to wear? When our schools, that are supposed to be preparing our children to handle the future, are being robbed of what they need to do a good job and our school systems are rated at the bottom? Does anyone believe that having these children in a classroom will make it easier for teachers to teach and will improve our overall school success rate?

    Creating good long-lasting jobs in the U.S., not giving companies bail out money so they can close their plants in the U.S. and move to Mexico, is one answer. Giving schools lunch programs with good food that the children will actually eat, instead of fast and efficient foods, is another answer. Giving schools supplies they need to be able to teach, is an answer. Holding teachers accountable and offering support programs for teachers who need help to be able to continue to teach well, is an answer.

    So what is our government doing about that? You know. Cutting school funding.

    Rich

    • Ferd Berfle

      Thanks for the spot-on commentary, Rich. I agree.

      So what is our government doing about that? You know. Cutting school funding.

      That and giving a lot of lip service concerning the problems you mentioned.

    • Animal Control

      If one is willing to increase the budget deficit then let us do it for the children, just like we did when we created a health care for children.

      Excellent, and may I add: Whether or not one is willing this should be our National Priority!

  • jeremy

    where is the article about clinton and bo knowing about the lockerbie bomber being released and crying foul. you were upset at the release of him and know britain is saying hillary and bo knew about it. love to hear your thoughts on this

    • Ferd Berfle

      You’re off topic, Markie, yet again. Nice try with the new moniker, though.

      My thoughts on it are that you are a troll who lives in a dank basement with nothing to do but dream up new and unique ways to demonstrate your ignorance and new approaches to parading said ignorance around. And these “facts” you post are nothing more than voices echoing around your cranial cavity.

      • Animal Control

        Nice catch Ferd.

        • Ferd Berfle

          Thanks, AC. The trolls just don’t quite get it that posting under one name with an immediate follow-up under another name with the same diction and and prefabricated talking points is a dead giveaway.

  • oowawa

    (from Annie)

    It’s the hard-knock life for us!
    ‘Steada treated,
    We get tricked!
    ‘Steada kisses,]
    We get kicked!
    Cotton blankets,
    ‘Stead of wool!
    Empty Bellies
    ‘Stead of full!
    It’s the hard-knock life!
    Don’t it feel like the wind is always howl’n?
    Don’t it seem like there’s never any light!
    Once a day, don’t you wanna throw the towel in?
    It’s easier than puttin’ up a fight. . . .
    Ohhhh!!!!!!!
    Empty belly life!
    Rotten smelly life!
    Full of sorrow life!
    No tomorrow life!
    Santa Claus we never see
    Santa Claus, what’s that?
    Who’s he?

    Okay, now how much do each of these waifs owe for bailing out AIG & the rest of the “too big to fail” guys?

    • Ferd Berfle

      Okay, now how much do each of these waifs owe for bailing out AIG & the rest of the “too big to fail” guys?

      More than they’ll ever be able to pay in a lifetime. Generations to come will pay for the excesses of Shrub and That One. Next thing you know, they’ll bring back the debtor’s prison, where they’ll incarcerate those who didn’t pay for something they didn’t ask for at a time when they weren’t even born.

      • oowawa

        Next thing you know, they’ll bring back the debtor’s prison,

        This evokes “A Christmas Carol” and Dickens’s England. What does Scrooge say to the gentlemen who are collecting alms for the poor? Something like “and the debtor’s prisons, are they not still functioning?” Well, fortunately in this country we have lots of bridges, and the sheltered area beneath many of them is still available for family occupancy. Thank God for our national infrastructure! At least those little girls will be able to keep their schoolbooks dry . . .

        • Ferd Berfle

          Well, fortunately in this country we have lots of bridges, and the sheltered area beneath many of them is still available for family occupancy.

          Yep, oowawa, there are a lot of bridges but I’m afraid some of them around here aren’t quite in good repair. I think might take my chances on the Emory River a la Huck Finn. At least the scenery would be pleasant and the fish aren’t too bad.

        • Katmoon

          Thank God for our national infrastructure! At least those little girls will be able to keep their schoolbooks dry . .

          At this point our entire community is rather homeless in the sense of we have no industry we had the ash spill and there is little or no hope for any prospect of jobs coming to our area that will hire the locals in the near future. That is how this community functions. The rates of houses dropped as well, not only because of the economy, but the city lowered the taxes and thus lowered the value, so people could at least try to stay in their homes. We have very few homeless people in this town. Because it was humbled quite awhile ago, and from what I can see that the lesson of charity begins at home, was quite literal here. Ferd referred to our neighbors who took on a house that was abandoned, purchased for a mere 5,000. They work hard and it takes time to put in a days work then come home and work on a roof; but I see many come to help, as friends and neighbors. We are glad to see the house occupied by a family who can use it and one who clearly isn’t there to turn it over anytime in the near future for quick profit. He works on cars, and she cleans houses. They own their house and cars outright, not shiny new, but theirs. They are only one example.
          Yes, some homeless people put themselves in the situation that they are in, but certainly their children had nothing to do with it, save being born into the family. Further I have never met an addict to date, that recalls wanting to be a junkie or addict when they grew up, or an alcoholic for that matter. Some of the nicest neighborhoods house some of the foulest evil this country has ever known. Poor is out in the open it can’t be hidden. When it comes to children the reasons why, simply do not matter. How about a program called “No Child Left Outside”.

          • Ferd Berfle

            I could not have said it better or with more empathy, my dear.

          • Animal Control

            “No Child Left Outside”

            Definitely overdue.

            • Katmoon

              I know Animal Control. I don’t ever recall seeing anyone homeless as a child, Hobo’s yes, but families and children, never. I think it was during the 80′s, when “Greyhound Therapy” started that the huge influx of homelessness really took a foothold, and has increased ever since.

              • TeakWoodKite

                Well said Katmooon, can I borrow it?

                “No Child Left Outside”

                • Katmoon

                  Teakwood, you go right ahead.

  • Clara

    Earlier this year, my small office had an inservice with a social worker with a homeless advocacy group. Their job is to actually count and know where the homeless can be found. We have several persons who call our alley home during the workday and I assumed they were all “homeless”. I learned that technically, one is not considered homeless if they have a designated shelter to go to at night or bad weather.

  • Don X

    Important issue, Pat. Rich, as usual, your comments are intelligent and on target. Children, the aged and the sick usually get shortchanged because they are vulnerable and easily taken advantage of. Maybe we need a children’s union headed by older children who can organize to protect the interests of all children. Would adults support children fighting for their own rights? Probably not. But the only way powerless outsiders can gain any ground is to organize. Otherwise, they will be trampled on by the rich and powerful who love to sit among their wealth and pontificate

  • Peggy Sue

    Thank you, Pat, for the sad reminder that the recession is pinching and scaring everyone, but that our most vulnerable citizens are hurt the most. I read the NYT piece the other day. Can’t say I was surprised. The homeless problem has been around for several decades. With the housing and employment tailspin, it only makes sense that more and more families have no place to go.

    Someone made a suggestion, Ferd maybe, that using some of that Stim money to rehab houses and buildings being demolished would provide some temporary relief for these families, also provide contracting jobs to those unemployed. No one’s children should be living on the streets or in a broken down car. No one.

    Even if we think merely from an economic point of view, it will cost far less to offer help now to a child than dealing with the fallout of neglect and abandonment later down the road.

    Good article!

    • Tricia Spiegel

      Agreed Peggy Sue. I was thinking about that also. These kids are struggling now, but without a consistent education and home life, who will they become later? What chance will they have in this competitive society?

      Tragic beyond words…

    • Ferd Berfle

      Even if we think merely from an economic point of view, it will cost far less to offer help now to a child than dealing with the fallout of neglect and abandonment later down the road.

      You’re so right. Our government is penny-wise and pound foolish. Democrat or Republican, it seems bent on the maintenance of the status quo into perpetuity. We will spend enormous sums on incarceration facilities but a pittance on education and basic human needs. We teach our children morality and the Golden and Silver Rules out of one side of our collective mouths but turn a blind eye to corporate fraud, graft, and outright theft but excuse it with the old worn-out “that’s just business” schtick. The list goes on and on.

  • TeakWoodKite

    I have seen the sadness in those eyes and their is nothing worse than it.

    Weakest link indeed Ferd, innocence lost because, “I’ll take care of mine and you take care of yours”, is the cause of the misery.

    Makes me wonder if Mark is adverse to the sound of a ticking clock.

    • Ferd Berfle

      Weakest link indeed Ferd, innocence lost because, “I’ll take care of mine and you take care of yours”, is the cause of the misery.

      Makes me wonder if Mark is adverse to the sound of a ticking clock.

      You’re quite right, teak. That “I’ll take care…” nonsense is myopic, in the best of cases. Are we *really* better off with a lot of idle unemployed? Are we *really* better off with people, now out of work, who were sold the American Dream and encouraged to spend, spend, spend by sharks resembling Markie, who then pull the plug on them as fast as they inserted it? They got theirs all right and not through ethical means. As for the ticking clock, cause and effect will get Markie’s attention at some point. By then it may be too late.

      • ~~JustMe~~

        and markie needs to remember the people at the bottom are the ones who put the like of him et al at the top.

        The moral of the story is to remember those at the top always meet the same people on the way back down when the bubble bursts!!!

        • http://deleted BuzzisbackLatte

          Hate to burst too many bubbles, but I volunteered for a couple of months at a school district sponsored Homeless School with classrooms at a YWCA in a medium-sized city with a lower than average unemployment rate at the time.

          Many times the hidden or real reason the families were homeless was because the parent was engaging in some type of addiction problem. Some were running from abusive situations and the homelessness was temporary. Some were in between construction jobs and so their lives were boom and bust.

          Many times it was because the parent hadn’t finished high school, had no marketable skills, or had a raging addiction problem so all of the extra money went to feed the addiction rather than the kids. Or, it was a combination of all three issues that kept the family from finding a permanent address. Then there was the family that chose to live in a small trailer with no running water and two kids because they liked the “lifestyle”. The father – for once there was a father in the picture – had a good paying job. The kids just never took a bath unless it was in a creek nearby. Just as bad, are the rent hoppers, the ones who have enough credibility to find housing only to never pay the rent and then skip out after two or three months.

          So while the numbers are tragic and believe me I know that the kids are stressed about being homeless, the hidden story that isn’t so mystical.

          Granted, low income housing is a good solution, but it can’t be the only solution.

          • ~~JustMe~~

            There are people in society who will never take responsibility be it for themselves or their children and raising children in this environment unfortunately allows the trickledown effect. So it continues. These people never started out by taking ANY responsibility towards offering anything better for either themselves or their children! With respect there was no bubble here to start with to burst.

            Here I am talking of families that did right. Bought houses they could afford when the market was right. Both parents went out to work paid their bills on time and looked after the children. Being responsible when the job market collapsed made no difference to these families they lost the roof over their heads and they became homeless. Tent cities sprang up all over this was the only place for these responsible parents to take their children.
            I saw it here right in our neighborhood so one can speak from experience when we watched families lose everything they had ever worked for.

            • Ferd Berfle

              I concur with you JustMe. Every middle class family in this country is potentially one step away from disaster. I see it every day in my neighborhood. When the middle class goes, the rest of the country goes with them.

            • http://deleted BuzzisbackLatte

              But why did they lose it all? Had to have the two new cars? The fifty inch HDTV? The house they couldn’t really afford because they didn’t want to be bothered with the starter home? Had a shopping addiction, gambling, or substance addiction?

              Didn’t watch the signs? Didn’t take responsibility that way?

              When do we stop excusing it all away?

              • Ferd Berfle

                Going from two jobs to one or two jobs to none would be difficult for any family. The price of necessities such as gasoline, electricity, water, medical bills, etc., can put any family under.

                It is hard to make a mortgage payment on $0.00 per day. Really, Buzz, you can’t simply lump everyone in the category of shiftless, lazy, and incompetent. Some have circumstances which overwhelm them.

              • ~~JustMe~~

                What you talking about Buzz? Most families are 2 house payments away from disaster. SOME ONE PAYMENT. Health payments, rising gas prices this was what many regular middle class families had in front of them. I never saw many fifty inch HDTV’s? coming out of these homes.

                Yes some had 2 cars otherwise work would of been hard to travel to. The economic collapse drove many middle class families into a deep hole nothing more nothing less.

                • http://deleted BuzzisbackLatte

                  Here’s a good place to start to get a picture of the middle class.

                  Especially interesting is the poll on the externals – ie: toys -
                  that people identified as being important to be part of the middle class. Remember: They spent money on them rather than saving or scaling back when the economy started to sour and then the utilities bills DID get impossible to pay…

                  http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/706/middle-class-poll

                  Yep. We watched it fall all around us, too. Watched the houses they tried to pay for with 25,000 year jobs with no down and interest only mortgages, two cars – better yet, pick-ups and SUVs less than five years old – and the boat, the four wheelers, the RVs, and the 50 inch screens.

                  Of note is how many were also paying for private school and household cleaning services as of 2008 compared to 1970.

                  The perception of many was that they needed all that stuff.

              • TeakWoodKite

                The fifty inch HDTV? Bigger.

                • ~~JustMe~~

                  LOL Teak… took 4 men to carry them out!

                  • http://deleted BuzzisbackLatte

                    spammy ate my comment apparently.

                    Here’s a good snapshot of middle class America.

                    http://pewsocialtrends.org/pubs/706/middle-class-polls

                    Of particular note is what Americans considered important as externals (read: toys) to identify themselves as middle class.

  • TeakWoodKite

    I know that feeling. When I was young, my family lived in Indonesia for a few years, and my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school. So she decided to teach me extra lessons herself, Monday through Friday – at 4:30 in the morning.
    Now I wasn’t too happy about getting up that early. A lot of times, I’d fall asleep right there at the kitchen table. But whenever I’d complain, my mother would just give me one of those looks and say, “This is no picnic for me either, buster.”

    .

    This is from BO’s prepared remarks to the Chiiillllldren.

    Not once does he metion being the plight of homeless school children.

    But ;

    I get it. I know what that’s like. My father left my family when I was two years old, and I was raised by a single mother who struggled at times to pay the bills and wasn’t always able to give us things the other kids had. There were times when I missed having a father in my life. There were times when I was lonely and felt like I didn’t fit in.
    So I wasn’t always as focused as I should have been. I did some things I’m not proud of, and got in more trouble than I should have. And my life could have easily taken a turn for the worse.

    .

    What about these two quotes are “inaccurate”?

    • Ferd Berfle

      The one that jumps out at me is that his mother did not have to struggle. That One went to well-to-do schools.

      • TeakWoodKite

        my mother didn’t have the money to send me where all the American kids went to school.

        This is a lie. Lying to children is the mark of the beast.

        First off, as been chronicled, he was adopted by Soetoro and was in fact Indonesian. Birther or not, BO has NOT shown any evidence that he is a Natural born American, and at this point all I can tell is he is one passport stamp shy of Hawaii.

        He hides the fact that his mother was employed and did not want for much more than acceptance from “the big kids”.

        Our children deserve no less than the truth. He doesn’t speak it.

        • Ferd Berfle

          Our children deserve no less than the truth. He doesn’t speak it.

          You’re quite right about that. I still cannot fathom the adoration he gets from his fawning minions. He has failed to make their mortgage or car payments as they believed he would so why haven’t they turned on him en-masse? Oh, because it’s all Hillary’s fault. never mind, Teak.

        • Ferd Berfle

          Now I’m the brown shoes in a Tuxedo world. Can someone such as an administrator please extricate me from the comment purgatory?

        • http://firefox Martha Washington Collier

          It was the stepfather who enrolled him in the Indonesian school (remember the copy of the registration form with Islam listed as his religion?). Soetoro worked as an oil company executive. Don’t tell me he couldn’t go to the schools….blah, blah, blah. The whole speech is geared to speaking to the underdog…Comrade Obama. They’re not all cutting school or looking out the window.

    • mary

      Don’t forget Obambi’s mother was working for the Ford Foundation and micromanagement economics theories were her forte. They never used ‘stamps’ to survive.

      Obama was a SPOILED BRAT whose grandmother (under the bus with uncle Jeremiah and a gang of other ex-loved ones) was the first female Vice Presidnet of a Bank. He used affirmative action to get in Harvard, Columbia as his marks were in the low C’s. That’s why he is refusing to unseal his thesis, medicals and all personal records.
      He’d rather spend $800,000 fighting a law suit…..
      The fraud of the Century!
      (And the Warmonger in the fine tradition of Bush butcherism. His Vietnam is now called Af-Pak)

  • Patience

    Thanks for the reminder to count our blessings Pat!

    I had a discussion about joblessness the other day with my husband, who’s still a fan of the POTUS. I asked him why, when things are so bad for a lot of people right now, so much stimulus spending is deferred by design? He caught my drift and said surely, politicians wouldn’t let people suffer if it could be avoided. My response was that I could believe Political Animals like Pelosi would.

    I’m cynical enough to suspect the timing of stimulus spending was designed for optimal political impact, i.e., the 2010 and 2012 elections. In the meantime, the stimulus is as good as spent as far as the credit market is concerned, and it crowds out other borrowers like small businesses who create most of our jobs.

  • I’m a Linda too

    You know, I’m going to rant, so you may want to scroll.

    My first reaction is, “how horribly sad. That children are in these situations and conditions.” And it is. Especially not anything they did to be in these conditions. And, I feel for the parents that are forced in these conditions.

    But, I have to say, how absolutely SHOCKED that there are so many parents that seem to CHOOSE this lifestyle. That so often, they put themselves and their desires before the children they brought in to this world. That so many of these supposed parents are selfish, uncarings and ignorant.

    Yesterday I was driving over to a friends house and there was a car in front of us in the next lane. It was swaying and coming in to our lane. As we approached it and I looked over, I yelled to my hubby, two adults in the front, with a baby on a womans lap in the passenger seat, facing her, while she played with her hands and smiled. The baby’s head just an inch from the dashboard, no protection and apparently viewed as entertainment while they drive, hense the driver swaying all over the place.

    I’m loosing faith in our population.

  • Linda Anselmi

    Great toon Pat. The silent casualties of our financial crisis. Not a whole lot is being said about the how it all affects the children.

  • ~~JustMe~~

    I ended up in the trash machine upthread. Please let me out I need to breath.

    • Ferd Berfle

      Please let me out I need to breath.

      Don’t you just feel like that pair of brown shoes with a tuxedo at times, ~~justme~~. I’ve had that feeling a couple of times already today. (With apologies to George Gobel?)

  • ~~JustMe~~

    Yes I know the feeling too well Ferd !
    and BTW Thankyou you always make me smile!

    • Ferd Berfle

      And thank you, ~~JustMe~~. The feeling is mutual. Hell, even the commentary over the wrong-way Spamminator is just too much fun, considering all the pithy things said whilst those entrapped therein curse it. Hell even Larry responded to me the other day about it. Apparently it is a riddle within a conundrum in web format.

      • ~~JustMe~~

        Yes seems it’s a riddle me riddle you kind of format! LOL

  • mary

    Very good article here! We must all count our blessings….
    I just read over Hillary’s paper on Children’s rights which she wrote in her 20s. She really dedicated her life to this issue. Her mother’s mother was abandoned apparently and had very difficult time growing up……

  • Marvin

    The little things are often “big” things when you stop and think about it, Pat. Thanks for this reflective piece. . .

  • Ferd Berfle

    Test

  • tarma

    Thank you for highlighting the plight of so many children.

    I worked with homeless families for a stretch back in the 80′s. They were “sheltered” in welfare hotels and congregate facilities, i.e., warehouse style with three feet between the beds assigned to each family.

    The cost of these temporary solutions is obscene and astromomical, both in terms of money and the toll on the families.

    Some personal highlights:
    Children sleeping in cardboard boxes, sheltered in hotel rooms for which the city was paying thousands of dollars per week (for each room)…
    Walking through the hallways of a welfare hotel, and being stopped by a small girl of about 7 or 8, who said, “Lady, be careful, there are rapers in this building”…
    Walking out onto the streets of the South Bronx and being struck by the relative QUIET of the mean streets in contrast with the constant noise level of the congregate shelter where men, women and children ate and slept and lived in quarters with less personal space that we require for animals…
    Children who were marginzalized by teachers who refused to even attempt to teach them or provide school materials – like books – because they were only in the school temporarily…

    While some of these families were homeless due to poor choices made by the adults, even more were homeless due to problems including displacement related to increased rents or fire, job loss, illness or domestic violence. Regardless, the children, who suffered greatly, were always the innocents.

    There but for the grace of God, go I…

    • Tricia Spiegel

      Thank you for this wise comment tarma