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Tuesday, November 04, 2003

Kucinich, Ohio and Hunger in America  

Kucinich in Rolling Stone and hunger in America, via the Guardian.co.uk.

Why do I link these two? Because the guardian talks to people in a soup line Ohio, Dennis's home state, and cites the soaring statistics of poverty in Ohio:

In Ohio, hunger is an epidemic. Since George Bush won Ohio in the 2000 presidential elections, the state has lost one in six of its manufacturing jobs. Two million of the state's 11 million population resorted to food charities last year, an increase of more than 18% from 2001.

In Logan, over 500 families regularly turn out twice monthly at the food pantry run by the Smith Chapel United Methodist Church.

"In all our history starting in the mid-80s we've never seen these numbers," said Dannie Devol, who runs the pantry. The food comes from a regional food bank, which is stocked by a mix of private donations and food bought from local farmers by the government.

Dennis is getting a lot of "star" attention right now. Does he have the gumption to stand in the soup line in his home state and talk to the people who are being drastically affected by Bush's economic policies? It would bring much needed attention to the most basic symptom of a failed economic policy: a rise in hunger in America. And, it would bring attention to a state suffering a great deal from one of the basic causes of the demise of our economy, the loss of manufacturing jobs in America.

I don't begrudge Dennis his moments in the sun, by the way. I'm actually kinda proud of him. I just happen to believe it would be a good campaign strategy, as well as humanely necessary, to visit the soup kitchen in his home state: It would show a certain quality of courage, and illuminate issues.

# posted by scorpiorising : 8:13 AM |

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