When our money goes to them, it is gone for good, or as is often the case with the government, bad.

We know we cannot expect all the money that the government is given to go toward securing our rights.

Unless we refuse to pay taxes that are the vehicle of paying for our government to secure our rights and provide for our well being, we can kiss it goodbye and do what we are able besides this terrible growing inequity.

That is all we can do, knowing this vast quantity of resources becomes theirs to do with as they please in our day and age, we are left with whatever is left over to take care of ourselves. Government is a place to send thirty percent of your money if you are poor and you are left with the other 70 percent to take care of yourself and your fellow human.

This has been happening now for years, we just don't want to admit it because it is pretty sad to admit. But by admitting it we can free ourselves from the massive expenditure of energy hoping they will change, and instead change ourselves.

It boils down to the fact that we have these greedy people on some kind of strange reverse welfare system. Where we pay to keep them extremely rich. With the rest of our money we should be careful to create a system to take care of the rest of us until we can alter the dynamic of welfare for the greedy.

It's a sad day in America when protecting the wealth of only one percent of the population comes at the expense of those most deserving of consideration, support and protection. And even sadder yet is that that one percent isn't happy with just pulling off their scam here in this country, they are set on spreading this warped system throughout the world.

This is about the only complaint I have about Common Dreams. Somehow the people running this site think there are Republicans in Washington that care about the poor and the lower middle class. Sure their just might be a couple, but I don't think there is even a majority in the Democratic Party who cares about those people.

The Democrats have had plenty of chances over the years to give a helping hand up, and the same is true about the Republicans. We were the richest country on the globe, and look at us. We are now trying to make ends meet by taking food from the poor. Why do we have such a huge poor population? Because both political parties have ignored this problem for decades.

Both political parties have to pay the people who put them in office and both parties are paying the same people. That would be Wall Street, the Big Banks, International Corporations, and the Military Industrial Complex.

Looks like the Reagan Revolution has come home to roost.

“The only way you can rationalize what the American policy makers are doing is to see it in the context of a suicide cult,” Max Keiser said in an interview with Press TV.

The Bohner/Ryan Congress' spending cuts, with a majority of Democrats going along, have nothing to do with fiscal responsibility or reducing deficit spending, thay have to do with putting the worker back in his place as a slave for the profit-making system.

Period.

Yes, by all means, let's starve the children in this country so the Pentagon can have more money to plan and execute more wars in the name of "National Security".

A country with starving children and no place to live resulting from a lack of jobs wouldn't exactly be in the best interest of our "National Security".

I eat my pizza with a Gold Fork, thank you very much.

A 1.5% tax on the top 1% of Americans would result in a $1.5 trillion increase in government revenues. (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/jun2011/pers-j01.shtml)

The Afghanistan war is costing us more than $2 billion a week. The $900 million in GOP cuts to nutritional programs is equivalent to just 3 days worth of killing innocent people in Afghanistan.

Now is the time for us to grow food.
Now is the time to learn a skill.
then Teach someone to grow food.
Share the skills.

Remember " the trouble with empire is that they (empire) needs us (the workers) more than we need them. They (empire) just don't know it" Sadly neither do we.
hence the desire to teach others to not depend too much on empire.
Sadly most americans I talk too don't get it, though some do. What I preach is called socialism ( at least).

A few facts about the rich: they have no respect for human life or families. They will throw anyone--man, woman or child--under the bus for a profit. Let's be clear about what a capitalist system entails: broken families, hungry children, homeless people, an illiterate and unhealthy population...and a few very, very rich individuals who have 10 or more houses, eat gourmet everyday, have the best health care money can buy, and receive the best education. Capitalism---privatization, free market---is not democracy, but just the opposite of democracy. If we hold on to this system because of a fear of increasing public ownership, we are suckers and deserve the consequences.

In order to maintain and expand their worldwide empire and insure a free ride for the most criminal corporations on the planet the Americans must demand sacrifice from the poor and the working class people of their country many of whom still believe that they live in the greatest country on earth and that Jesus will save them even as their rights are being taken away and they are getting more screwed everyday. This is the kind of society that massive stupidity produces.

Abby sez: "Positively Orwellian."

***
... or, perhaps, "Negatively Dickensian"?

This type of CD article is getting boring. Abbey, you can't criticize Repubs for being greedy and selfish. THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT THEY VALUE! It's like criticizing a scorpion for being such a good stinger.

You have to point out the inconsistency of their own positions, and that's where religion can play a part. If they go to church and believe in Jesus, then by definition they can't be greedy and selfish. When they are, criticize THAT! Call into question their belief in jesus, in god, etc.

It's all about priorities. There are more important things than starving children. For example --

Massive amounts of cash are being funneled into Less-Lethal-Weapons, drone technology and biometrics. Recently, the FBI was given 1 billion dollars for the following purpose --

"The Federal Bureau of Investigations announced recently that it is dedicating up to $1 billion for a Lockheed Martin-developed system that will enable on-the-fly analysis of detailed identification information that can be instantaneously shared with law enforcement all around the world."

The most paranoid visions of far right wing crackpots are becoming reality. Children and old ladies are being molested at airports. Technology is being developed that can identify you by the way you walk and make you shit your pants at the press of a button. You thought tasers were bad? Wait till you see what's coming down the pike.

We're talking about the most sophisticated and brutal police state in the history of the world. Yet there's a glimmer of hope...

In addition to exposing the moral degeneracy of elites, these spending priorities tell us that they are themselves scared shitless. It's like the old adage about a wild animal being more frightened of you than you are of it. The ruling class is not all-powerful. Certainly they do not consider themselves such, otherwise they wouldn't be spending such massive sums on all of this warped technology.

Michael Parenti suggests that the "super-rich class" comprises about 150,000 people. On a planet of billions. By now the number is probably far less, with corresponding concentration of wealth. It gives new meaning to the word "minority". The ruling class may be compared to a virus. That's how small they are, and how deadly.

A few years ago the Pentagon's report on Global Warming was leaked. It did not paint a pretty picture. These fuckers are well aware of what's coming.

One of the most interesting stories of recent years was the corporate media coverage of the mini-revolt in Wisconsin. There wasn't any. That's extremely telling imo. They were so frightened by a show of solidarity in their own house that they wouldn't even put pictures of it on TV. Lest the other plebs get any ideas.

All the money from food stamps goes into the coffers of The Wal Marts of the world who then pay their workers a pittance so that they too need food stamps which goes into the coffers of wal mart.

This isn't Orwellian; it's Nazism. The most bizarre aspect of this Amurkan Nazism is that it's strongest proponents in the Republikannischer and Tea Bagger Parties are WHITE people pushing this Nazism on, among other ethnic groups, millions of other WHITE people with the same religions, language and general social customs as them and their own parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, etc., in many if not most cases.

The second most bizarre aspect of all this is that these policies are for the exclusive benefit of themselves (their political careers) and the most right-wing plutocrats in the country who back them (overwhelmingly white and more affluent) in a country whose electorate is rapidly becoming poorer and more ethnically diverse. They are counting on their control of most of the mass media and the ignorance and brainwashed nature of most of the electorate to instill the FEAR necessary to push their agenda of national self-destruction over the top.

Many of the political bag men taking the fascist plutocrats' money to run with it probably know there will come a time of national reckoning and they hope to flee the country to some Club Med destination or oil sheikdom like Dubai along with their plutocrat benefactors. It is my sincere hope that as many of them as possible are ultimately strung up upside down for their fascist crimes just like Mussolini.

I can be just about the dirtiest mouth on the planet and would love to demonstrate my skills on the 'people' in Washington who who are supposed to be our hired help, but have managed to elevate themselves to royalty.

This is proof that republicans want to punish women for having sex out wedlock, without a husband, to support the baby or any other children, she may have. Therefore, American women must be forced to give birth, against their will. Then, according to Anti-abortion republicans, the woman, her fetus, baby and children must be deprived of the good nutrition, that would ward off hunger and sickness. The woman's family must suffer to pay for the sins of the woman who got pregnant out wedlock. Never mind the man , he is not responsible for the" immaculate conception" or is it the "original sin" of the woman, who got pregnant without a husband. Never mind U.S. culture: books, T.V., movies, internet that exploits sexuality as recreation to amuse people for profit. Never mind the politicians, sports heroes, and entertainment celebrities who are bad examples of sexual, self control. All republicans know, is that single, pregnant, women and single mothers must be punished for their sins ,not by God but by them,the ruling class- hypocrites.The Republican budget has nothing to do with the deficit or protecting babies.

I'm so glad the US is a country of family values

Why do people hate the less fortunate? http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/06/02/234878/gop-nutrition-cuts-one-week/

The poor are easy targets, and those with children seem to be dealt with the harshest. Single parent families are the hardest hit and need help. It seems some government officials need to be enlightened on this subject.

Babies and children who are not fed well at an early age do not die or just go away. They still manage to thrive and grow. For poorer families struggling nowadays to stay intact this is a miracle in its self. However, a child’s brain, the seat of intelligence, wit and intellect may have suffered in development due to the lack of nutritional requirements.

Doing the best they can, families still must send their children off to school, where if one were to look closer the damage becomes apparent. The malnourished brain cannot learn, cannot read, and cannot cope. Children with such learning disabilities ends up leaving the educational system long before they have acquired the skills they need to live in this world.

But survive they do. Their needs are basic for their continued existence, and they will use any means necessary to survive in this life. Some will just get by; however, others may end up stealing from or harming any in their path. The instinct to stay alive is insurmountable, and that is the truth of it.

Therefore, our society first creates criminals and then punishes the creatures of our creation. To feed and to educate one child in this society is cheaper in the end than to capture and incarcerate that individual after the damage is done.

To imprison one person in this society may costs anywhere from $40,000 to $80,000 a year. That is a college education in its self. Then there are no guarantees that when this person leaves the “prison industrial complex”, that they will not go back out and do the same thing again. So recidivism, the repeated returning to prison has become very profitable for some corporations using our tax dollars. This is another issue for another time.

In short, we do not allow programs that help feed children and families to be killed by ignorant legislative morons. If you deny the upfront care, then you are going to have to pay for it at the back door.

Think about it. We are creating vast armies of children who are “compromised”. That means in the future that the chances of you and your children of being exposed to and affected by this behavior are astronomical. Walls and gated communities will not protect nor save us.

I understand as others do that things are not getting any better in this economy no matter what the politicians tell us. However, our support in the form of taxes must be going to where we deem it. Our money must be used wisely.

We must see to it that our resources are used for the common good of the people. We must prevent our children from becoming just another burnt offering on the altar of greed.

"Thou hast entertained a fox to be the shepherd of the lambs."
Shakespeare's - Two Gentlemen of Verona. Act 4 , Sc. 4

That lady in the picture looks like the girl in the play bill for Les Mis.

Taking food out of the mouths of babes. They call it "respect for life." Republicans believe life begins at conception ... and ends at birth.

Obama doesn't care when life begins, as long as America’s 300,000 millionaires get their tax cut.

Americans do not seem to mind paying trillions of tax dollars for sending young Americans, to kill a lying president's declared enemy and civilians, and be killed under the pretax of protecting women and children in the U.S.A through endless wars. But they hate to pay taxes to protect poor women and children from disabling health effects of a lack of nutritious food. As Michelle Obama designs a plate to help Americans know what food groups are necessary for good health, members of congress cut funds necessary to buy the nutritious foods she recommends.