When does Hunger Not Mean Hunger? When the Bushies Rewrite the Dictionary!

Monday, January 29, 2006



I bet you thought that when poor folk in America did not have sufficient food to eat, that it was called “hunger”. No longer. The USDA, embracing compassionate conservatism, has determined that the word hunger has no “metric” value ( funny how that word keeps popping up…I thought metric was that other funny way of measuring). The new terminology is “very low food security”. I guess we can say that all those below the poverty line individuals who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina were also victims of very low food security. It’s some kind of gobbledegook language that sounds technically correct but really means “Mama…I’m hungry”.

The group of persons suffering from very low food security is growing larger by the year. Currently, 12 % of Americans…35 million… can be included in that group. Yep…the uniter has sure tackled the issues of poverty and hunger in his administration. Just one week’s worth of Iraq expenditures would have made a significant dent in helping to feed these persons. One month’s worth of Iraq expenditures would have made an even bigger difference.

The reality, however, is that this administration has turned a blind eye to the suffering of the poor, the marginalized and the disenfranchised. Yet, oil companies get kickbacks and subsidies, the pharmaceutical companies get sweetheart deals, and the wealthiest Americans get tax cuts. Uh huh…compassionate conservatism. The last State of the Union address not only did not mention poverty, it did not mention Katrina recovery. I seem to remember a promise that had been made…Oh yeah…the same promise George Bush made to help address the issues of poverty and “very low food security”.

This is just another example of the Bush administration’s obfuscation of the truth; very low food security instead of hunger…climate change instead of the more realistic term “global warming”…insurgency instead of civil war. And…we are told that everything is perfectly fine…a strong economy at home, a sensible foreign policy abroad, a war we are not “just wining” but “will win”. George Orwell should be turning over in his grave!!

trickster108