See how the other half lives? For the GOP, they’re making it like the other four-fifths, with the have and have-not ratio. (Update: And based on today’s actions, the doomsday may be coming even sooner than expected. —– See the end of this post, newly tacked on, for a survival plan.)
And now, after a (pending) act of Congress, many of those may have to live in their kitchens without some of what might be considered life’s essentials.
Yes, it may be hard, (or even excruciating), but it can be done, if I am an example. So very much like chopping up those oh-so-now-needed, because of GOP legislation, veggies with just an ordinary table knife. (Or merely chopsticks.)
— So bring a booster to the table. The midsummer night’s dream, a trio of main festivals has begun. Going beyond Main Street in each city.
Hudson Booster Days is underway, a strong leader over The Fourth, but I swear if I hear any Lee Greenwood played by its several bands right now, I just might kindly kick his country ass! And it wasn’t quite dope to hear God Bless The USA at karaoke last night. Too soon.
That was in New Richmond, where there will be Fun Fest all next weekend. New of note is that the safe cab ride sponsored by local bars is up to seven participating venues. So party hardy!
With Shane Martin? This relatively new name, to me, featured as a quartet as the main band on Friday night at River Falls Day on that same weekend, July 10-13. Also agape with gonzo games. —
The beauty of the Big Beautiful Budget Bill is now being weighed by lawmakers, and the cuts will slice what’s in many people’s grocery carts, because the amount of what is often called food stamps will likely be reduced — if you are looking at the overall federal budget devoted to it.
As one of its users, I am fully aware of the fact that this is not on my dime. So it’s more pork loin and no porthouse, at all, and I’m OK with that, as I’m not the one paying the grocery tab. I can live on mostly cheap veggies and make it work.
— Where Eagles dare, and not foodies and politicians. Thusly flies a much needed pundit. We need less Donald Trump huffing lines and more Don Henley writing lyrics, (sorry Mojo Nixon and his joking call for the demise of Don, if not Donald,) about how the mighty would and should fall. When a Molotav cocktail is the local (veggie) drink. Or to quote Black Sabbath: “The world of full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams, it’s heaven and hell. They’ll tell you black is really white. The moon is just the sun at night. In when you walk in golden halls, you get to keep the gold that falls …” —
I am on disability, and because of that get a basically full EBT rate. But that is not true of everyone on the program, especially in some states, as which one of the 50 you are in will make a big difference. I have to live on $175 of SNAP dollars, and for me it’s not that overly tight. But the average American reportedly spends upwards of $400 a month on groceries. Let’s use up some of that waste, as in wasted food.
I simply can’t work because of severe pain, which comes around almost daily and is too unpredictable for any 8-to-5 job, but I can gather the gumption to cook.
That’s tricky for people in some cases. An example profiled on ABC News, is a middle-aged woman who suffered two strokes and uses a scooter. (I’d think it would be hard for her to get her arms over the top of a kitchen counter, and maybe also to even use a can opener, putting many foods basically off-limits.)
She only gets $30 of food stamps a month. It goes almost exclusively for certain fruits and vegetables. Myself, I need to rely mostly on potatoes, bananas, carrots and iceberg lettuce.
Better get used to salad. And possibly more salad. Maybe an onion. And not much else. Since many of you will no longer be able to afford meat and so much more, that you had been getting via SNAP.
In this new era of low-income American grocery shopping, you’ll likely have to get only some of what’s on special, and even with that, and if that, just the very cheapest of staples, and very little variety with no splurges at all.
Potatoes, no more popcorn. Lettuce, and only iceberg, forget latte. A staple of what’s given out at food shelves, and you might have to get used to, is generic and cheap spaghetti sauce that’s largely very thin tomato paste, if you can even call it paste. Not Ragu or Prego. And lots of sodium-packed, watered down chicken soup.
Let’s call it what it is: The people who decide whether you get SSDI or not, for example, have as much of a vested interest in preserving taxpayer money as those GOP lawmakers, who stand up to no political foe. (As one food shelf worker bluntly put it: If our leaders had some balls …) They are all paid to keep you from getting paid.
The conclusion, when it came to my case, of the people who make SSDI decisions? (They later reneged, but I had to fight it.) “He can work but it’s hard for him.”
Hey buddy, I’d like to see you try it.
So it varies by state, and some want you to literally live on the food amount that slave wages can buy … So can all states be trusted? Like to live in Louisiana, if you’re lacking a leg?
Kids don’t understand budgeting, and that you have to buy this and not that, but this can become a teaching tool, for them and us, although that’s small consolation.
Do you want to be the one to tell little Johnnie or Jainie that there will be no Easter chocolate rabbit (maybe just a scant few jelly beans) or (fancy?) Christmas candy.
What if there could be a quarterly additional amount, distributed for that designated purpose, and families might choose one holiday in each three-month period to dispense with a bit of flexibility — say Easter, Memorial Day, Halloween and Christmas.
All this might force/teach budgeting and thereby nutrition skills, and older kids could even be brought into that fold.
It’s proposed, under legislation, to add a work and/or volunteerism requirement of 80 hours per month for able-bodied adults to get benefits. OK, but with concerns.
I fear that not all volunteerism types and reimbursement would qualify. What if, for example, a task’s hours are not supervised and thus documented? Like driving people around (who pays for the gas) and even sorting through your gently-worn clothes carefully and washing them well (again, cost of laundry soap) and donating what you don’t need. The same with distributing the food you don’t use, and it works especially well when they are boxed or canned. That’s a whole, another story.
How do you define “able bodied?” Not everyone who seems as such may actually be so. Ill health and pain, and all disability, can take many forms.
What if a person trying to get disability benefits is in severe pain, or depression, but can, for the most part, move about, a big room but not a warehouse.
Also, we could add individualized tutoring to SNAP’s enhancement-training list, as now to the best of my knowledge your option is to get into an existing course. No specialized training if you have problems with fractions, just isng up for Algebra II.
We will also have to enhance the scope of reasonable disability accommodation under ADA rules, if people are required to be employed, so the people on the margins who are forced into the work-force can find it doable. They may need extra child care help too, so suddenly a cost-saving program is anything but.
A last suggestion: Allow junk foods purchases, one of the main things the Republicans are going after, for people who can show they have a medically aiding reason for eating it. For example, I find that spicy potato or tortilla chips help tremendously with my severe anxiety, although the reason is left up to interpretation. So this too would need to be flexible, not from being on a pre-set list established by someone sitting behind a desk.
Let me tell you about a recent conversation, with someone who could be described as a liberal though traditional, although she would not like that first term.
I actively promoted the idea of throwing the term “in lockstep” and such into the vernacular more and more. (Controversial, it may be, but punchy and potent, biting and direct.) Nothing said on the other end.
I added that I am really full of useless ideas. To that she agreed, although probably if only partially, in gest, and added that in the rural areas not only food shelves, if there are any, but hospitals would be overtaxed and/or closed.
Possibly this conversation and its negative tone had gone on long enough. As per the fact that both our cell phones were on low juice. Sending us a message? The phone on her end just would not shut off, and the telltale although accidental beep beep was very slow in coming.
But it’s time to go for broke. And connecting things we once would not.
We’re just ending waste, fraud and abuse? That’s probably what the likes of Hitler and Stalin said, at least at the very starts of their reigns, and marching toward total tyranny — the time at which they and theirs became the masters of meth, too, forget more mere magic mushrooms, but men gone mad with power. That historical tidbit as well as their lying speaks to their character, so do you trust them with your life, not just your food? And people of anti-intellect who don’t know any descriptive word other than “amazing?”
Again, we need less Donald Trump huffing lines and more Don Henley writing lyrics, (sorry Mojo Nixon and his joking call for the demise of Don, if not Donald.)
— So here is your immediate “to do” list, or even call it a survival plan. And look at the number of times I use the word “even.” That should be a clue.
Stockpile food, that you get via SNAP and other sources. If you plan ahead — which is now — and buy in bulk, and maybe team together with your friends and family and even neighbors, you can often get “dollars off” discounts. Gang up and get the ten for $10 special, then split it up and share the wealth. Many canned goods can in actuality be used months past their listed expiration date. That will also allow you to stave off using a lot of those, and make fuller use of perishable goods in the very short term, using them to full advantage. Even many prime, and cheap, staples like potatoes and carrots can be bought in canned form.
Make use of produce giveaways, and use them first to incorporate into the above strategy.
See your local (and regional too and maybe you can do both with following residency requirements) food shelf(s) early and often. Be wary that they sometimes offer “extras” if you keep your eyes and ears open.
Get creative with your cooking and try out things like new recipes before the D-day hits. Especially with spicing up your dishes (oregano and “Italian” seasoning taste much the same.) A key take for your recipe list: Try thawing out from the freezer some of that pork loin you now will need even more, cutting it into slices with a thick knife and putting the rest back into the freezer, then sauteing it with veggies such as carrots, onions (there are various forms) and bell peppers (green are the cheapest) and even stuff like green beans (the fresh and even frozen kind come in big bags and are hard to use up, before they get moldy.) But even then you might consider cutting off the edges. Cauliflower and broccoli will work too.
And now we will get to that behemoth that is Medicaid. There may soon be coming down the pike a $35 co-pay for virtually every doc visit. So if you have been waiting to see that specialist, or schedule a visit to your primary to check out care on that “long term” list, get it slated now before the requirement hits. You might be able to use a grandfather clause, so if you have been meaning to get onboard, get on it. Especially if you live in a rural area, where facilities are at risk of closing, arrange transportation now to get into the city. Don’t be a Fool For The City.
Work requirements will be coming too, so especially if you are between ages 50 and 64 and will again have to slave away, exercise and get fit. (Your health insurance plan may even have a gym membership provision, so even if you have to throw in a few bucks, it might be worth it in the long haul.) Make a plan, that’s important, then start the next day. And eat healthier, too. Via the above. —