Thursday, November 16, 2006
"Food Insecurity" Shows Little Improvement
A report released yesterday by the United States government shows that some 35 million Americans could not put food on the table at some time last year, 2005.
That's right, nearly 12% of American households lacked food; looked at another way, that's over one in ten.
Skeptics have frequently claimed in the past that the annual report by the USDA was fabricated. According to an article in the Washington Post, Texas governor George Bush said words to that effect in 1999, accusing the democratically controlled administration of trying to cast Texas in a bad light. Texas is one of the worst states for "food insecurity," which is the current term used to obfuscate the issue. This year, the report was delayed until after the election, and Democrats charged the department with political motives.
Politicians can attack the motives behind the report, but curiously, there does not seem to be specific criticism of the methodology and process used to compile the figures.
Nearly 11 million Americans reported actually going hungry in 2005.
The data bolsters my contention that we are becoming more like a third world nation every day.
The statistics show some improvement of the problem; the current "food insecure" figure of 11% is higher than the previous year's 11.9%.
We can only hope and pray that God softens the hearts our people; for Americans are a stiff-necked people, unable to hear the words of hope and unable to answer the call to compassion.
(The report itself can be found here.)
That's right, nearly 12% of American households lacked food; looked at another way, that's over one in ten.
Skeptics have frequently claimed in the past that the annual report by the USDA was fabricated. According to an article in the Washington Post, Texas governor George Bush said words to that effect in 1999, accusing the democratically controlled administration of trying to cast Texas in a bad light. Texas is one of the worst states for "food insecurity," which is the current term used to obfuscate the issue. This year, the report was delayed until after the election, and Democrats charged the department with political motives.
Politicians can attack the motives behind the report, but curiously, there does not seem to be specific criticism of the methodology and process used to compile the figures.
Nearly 11 million Americans reported actually going hungry in 2005.
The data bolsters my contention that we are becoming more like a third world nation every day.
The statistics show some improvement of the problem; the current "food insecure" figure of 11% is higher than the previous year's 11.9%.
We can only hope and pray that God softens the hearts our people; for Americans are a stiff-necked people, unable to hear the words of hope and unable to answer the call to compassion.
(The report itself can be found here.)
Labels: Bush, food insecurity, hunger, Texas
