LET'S STARVE THE POOR

I think I'm going to have a heart attack if the news continues in this vein. Every day is a fresh horror. When I read the latest sadistic method that Trump and his Nazis have devised to hurt the poor, sick, disabled, elderly and marginalized, my heart starts to race, and I seriously wonder if it is damaging my heart.

Donald Trump's new budget slashes food to the poor, ESPECIALLY to the unemployed. That's right, Donald, kick them while they are down.

Further cuts will be made by forcing people to eat what the government provides, in the form of canned food delivered in government boxes, paid for at cut rates, with no fresh fruits or vegetables. It may have calories, but anyone who has watched television for more than a few months in their life has surely absorbed enough information about a healthy diet to know that this diet would make people sick. Canned food has almost no nutrients whatsoever, and the older one gets, the less able one is to digest many things. Everyone seems to have their own special diet after age 50 or so.

I have no dog in this fight. My Social Security income is slightly too high to qualify for food stamps or any other assistance that our government is slashing right now, except perhaps for a small reduction in rent, if I were to sign up for HUD housing vouchers during the two weeks a year that they are available. I would then have to wait 3 to 5 years before getting a voucher and would have 30 days to use it or lose it.

No, I am one of those older disabled people who fall through the cracks. My illnesses create a lot of (expensive) needs, but my income falls just over the cutoff line because I worked for more than 30 years to support myself, and my Social Security is about the same as the income of someone living on minimum wage. If I was WORKING, I would qualify for food stamps and Medicaid and other programs, but because my income is (supposedly) "unearned," I don't get anything. Thank God for kind Catholic friends who help me, otherwise my survival would be in question.

Anyway, I am not hysterical with grief over Trump's hatred of the poor because he is cutting programs upon which I rely, because I don't. No. I cry every day for the poor people who are being smashed into the dirt. I cry every day at the gross, disgusting prejudice and hatred for the poor that is being cultivated by the well fed. I cry every day that these well fed people consider themselves Christian but they will surely go to Hell for participating in making the lives of the poor an abject misery.

On some level, these people must know that when they blame the poor for their conditions that they are lying and giving false witness. I have to believe that one day they will wake up and realize how cruel they have been, repent and change their ways.

In addition to prayers for the poor, which are needed now more than ever, I ask you to pray for the hard hearted, well fed, hateful Americans who take the bread out of the mouths of the poor while impugning their character at the same time.

Silver Rose Parnell
(c) copyright 2018
All rights reserved.

SLICE OF LIFE - TODAY IN THE NEWS

SUPER BLUE BLOOD MOON OVER NORWAY

picture by Heiko Junge / EPA

Recently, I watched the amazing super blue blood moon, as it was eclipsed over Albuquerque. It was the first in more than 100 years, so it was a special event.

Today, there is an article in the Washington Post that Donald Trump has ordered that the U.S. plant boots on the moon again. No one knows why this is important at this time in history. It will cost billions, maybe trillions of dollars, but perhaps he was inspired by the super blue blood moon and got carried away.

The picture, above, was taken in Norway. Donald Trump likes Norway and has said that he would prefer that we get immigrants from Norway instead of "shit hole countries" like predominately black or brown places - like Haiti.

40 million poor people in the U.S. often go without food or have to eat cheap but unhealthy substitutes. 1 out of every 4 children in the United States goes to bed hungry.

On television, I watched a special report on NBC about how Hostess, among other companies, is giving their employees a bonus and a year's supply of Twinkies and other manufactured treats.

Poor people are not getting bonuses or Twinkies.

Those with 401Ks are getting a little something in their accounts also.

Poor people do not have 401Ks.

During Trump's brief tenure, many services to the poor have been cut and/or eliminated.

There is a lot of celebration on Facebook among the middle class who are getting a smidgen of a raise, a modest bonus, or a little money in their 401K. "Trump is doing a good job for America!" they've written.

When these people say that Trump is doing a good job for America, which America is it, exactly? At least 40 million people are not included in their vision of America - in Trump's version of America, which is all white and rich.

The tax package that Trump pushed through gave great benefits to the wealthy, a few benefits to the middle class, and nothing to the millions of poor Americans that are struggling to survive. Under Donald Trump's administration, the more wealth you have, the more benefits you are getting from the tax plan and his removal of protections for the environment and the health of human beings around the world. Rich people benefit mightily from the removal of regulations. It isn't a benign benefit. Everyone else must SUFFER in order to push more wealth to the wealthy.

Even the benefits to the middle class are actually booby trapped. They're engineered to expire after a short time, after which there will be a balloon payment that the middle class are stuck with paying. They don't realize that the bonus or the little raise they see today are being given to them ON CREDIT. They've kept the blinders on, but in a year or two they'll be screaming about it and will find a way to blame Democrats tomorrow for the booby trap that the Trump administration laid for them today.

What is YOUR vision of America? Is it a small cadre of rich white folk, with thousands of wan, hungry servants servicing all their needs and desires?

I am praying for the intercession of Saint Francis during these difficult times, when Americans' worst instincts are being triggered. I am talking to Jesus CONSTANTLY throughout the day, asking for him to do something to enlighten these people who call themselves Christian but believe in Satan's values.

What is your vision of a supposedly Christian America? Please think about it.

God save us all

Silver Rose Parnell

Copyright (c) 2018, All rights reserved.

GIVING ALMS TO THE POOR IS NOT CHARITY

"Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal 

from them and deprive them of life.  The goods we 

possess are not ours, but theirs.  The demands of justice 

must be satisfied first of all; that which is already due in 

justice is not to be offered as a gift of charity."  "When we 

attend to the needs of those in want, we give them what is 

theirs, not ours.  More than performing works of mercy, 

we are paying a debt of justice."

~ CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, No. 2446

Once again, the tide of hateful rhetoric against the poor has risen, and I have to write another post to remind Catholics of what our faith teaches us, which is that whatever money or assets we possess beyond which is necessary for our own survival belongs to those who do not have enough for their survival.  Read the catechism.  "Not to enable the poor to share in our goods is to steal from them and deprive them of life."

The internet can give us a horrible glimpse into the darkness of evil, where the poor are characterized as "lazy and just waiting for a handout."  In some Facebook posts, people complain that their tax dollars go to help the poor, robbing them of the ability to decide from themselves who is worthy and who is not.  They advocate for the removal of the already inadequate systems we have in place to feed children, the elderly and the disabled and claim that individuals and the church will take over the care and feeding of millions of people.  This is a fantasy.

Before Social Security and its associated social programs, individuals and churches already had the opportunity to take care of the poor and they didn't do it.  Unless we want history to repeat itself, it is best to leave in place those systems that have prevented our country from looking like India, with millions of people living and dying on the street or in tiny shacks made of corrugated tin.

I exhort my brothers and sisters to stop worrying about whether or not some "lazy" person will slip through the system and receive the gigantic sum of $240 a month, which is the amount of welfare paid to able-bodied persons in New Mexico - a sum they have to pay for by working at least 20 hours for the state.

Millions of people are under the ridiculous assumption that scores of able-bodied people are making a killing on "welfare."  It simply is not true.  If you are an American citizen who is able-bodied and you have a child and the household is poor, then the child can receive about $540 a month, food stamps and Medicaid, but the parents, if able bodied, receive NO MONEY other than the afore-mentioned $240 a month, for which they must work.  If poor enough, they may receive food stamps of about $80 per person, but even the spending habits of those with food stamps are criticized right and left.  Have you been to the grocery store lately?  What, exactly, can you buy with $80?

The reason why that woman paying for groceries with food stamps is wearing a piece of jewelry or has a cell phone is that someone else purchased it for her.  Family and friends have to step in and supply some of the needs of the poor because the miserly sums they receive are simply not enough.  In my case, nearly everything I own was given to me or left behind by the previous tenant in this apartment.  My apartment is adorable and I have internet and cell phone, thanks to my friends Jane, Betty, Kathy, Debbie, and others.  I have a car, thanks to my friend Judy, who GAVE me her old car when she bought a new one.  Although very low income, I don't qualify for food stamps, so some of my friends help me with some food items.  I can't imagine what it is like for those whose income is less than mine.

We have more than 40 million poor people in our country right now.  More than half of them are elderly.  Another 20% are severely disabled.  At least 18% are what is called "the working poor" who are living on minimum wage.  Less than 3% of people who received entitlement income are able-bodied people that are not in the previous three categories.  Within that percentage is contained the vast number of unemployed in our country who are receiving unemployment insurance.

The most shocking statistic of all is that one out of every four children in America goes to bed hungry every night.  I am going to repeat that so you can meditate on it.   One out of four children goes to bed hungry in America every night.  

When you criticize the poor, you are making it more difficult for these children to get the food, housing and education they need.  When you criticize the poor, you encourage people to be more stingy.  When you criticize the poor, you paint a huge number of people with a brush that only belongs to a tiny minority.

Where are these lazy people who are just sitting around waiting for a handout and then buying luxury items with the boatload of money they get from the state?  I will tell you where they are.  They are in the imaginations of people who lack charity and generosity of spirit.  Some of them, sad to say, are Catholic.  Participating in this poor-bashing that is so popular right now is participation in the plan of Satan.  Just stop it.

Silver Rose Parnell