Care and Feeding of Those in Need

Driving home from work, a local public radio segment informed me that the federal government has reduced the funding for a program that provides low-income elderly people with some food staples--such as rice, pasta, beans, canned meat and fruit--on a monthly basis.

These are retired people who have worked most of their lives contributing to society, and now that society is not going to help them out when they need it. Something like 59000 people currently receiving benefits will no longer be covered by the program, and people signing up for the program for the first time are being put on a waiting list.

The wealthiest country in the world can not . . . wait . . . make that *will* not feed its own people.

In a similar vein, there is apparently also an appalling lack of support for the families of the men and women overseas fighting for . . . or against . . . whatever it is that they have been sent to fight for . . . or against. Then when soldiers come home, they are more likely to be neglected or marginalized than they are to be taken care of, at least not without navigating a complicated, dense bureaucracy.

Maybe the people highlighted in news stories are the exceptions rather than the rule because the sad stories and/or shocking stories are what get people's attention, but all I can think is that there *has* to be a better way to allocate the resources of this country and all I can wonder is how tax payer dollars are *really* being used.