Tagged: Hunger in America: The Myth

Posted: July 10, 2012 at 8:08 am

TEA Bagger Ramps Up His Crusade to Create Massive Food Police Bureacracy

Using his signature method of anecdotes and unsupported claims, Rep. Burnett (R-Bozeman) is ramping up his crusade for a massive food police bureaucracy to restrict food to needy children.

The Montana TEA Party legislator stated in a Wisconsin newspaper this week that we shouldn’t be helping needy kids who don’t get school lunch because school is out–in spite of the increase in hungry kids seeking food in the last five years.

As the Green Bay Press Gazette reports:

But some, like Montana legislator Tom Burnett, think the numbers are inflated. He argues that the spike in summer food program growth comes from a “relaxing of restrictions” that is allowing students of any income bracket to receive a free lunch.“One of my daughters went to a park with her friend where food was served, and the friend ran up and got a free lunch no problem,” said Burnett, a Republican

Burnett’s statement to a Wisconsin paper makes it clear that he appears to be the one person in the U.S. willing speak out publicly against feeding hungry kids. Apparently no one in Wisconsin was willing to sign their name to such a ludicrous statement.

Perhaps he believes that a team of bureaucrats at summer food sites and making kids carry around their parents proof of income statements is what is called for. Maybe the kids of low-income people should be tattooed with a mark so that we can make sure no friend of a poor child gets a baggie of carrots and a turkey sandwich. Perhaps he doesn’t understand that the cost of creating such a system is astronomical compared to a few pieces of bread that were shared with a friend or dropped on accident.

Burnett has penned bizarre 53-page treatise in favor of massive federal food police bureaucracy to crack down on the poor to stop them from getting food that Burnett feels they don’t deserve. In “Hunger in America: The Myth [word doc].” Burnett writes that hunger doesn’t exist because he hasn’t seen it:

No advocates parade a line of emaciated children at any school or playground. They just can’t be found.

But that’s not the only reason Representative Burnett has come to the conclusion that no one is really going hungry. He also bases his case on…wait for it…pictures of fat people he found on the Internet (see right), which he includes in his article as “evidence.”

In addition to claiming that hunger doesn’t exist. He also sanely tells us that not being hungry “kills,”

Hunger is a normal part of a healthy person’s day. One should expect to be hungry six hours per day, the two hours preceding each meal. Satiety kills.

Those in need, says Burnett are characterized by “Indolence. Shirking responsibility. Indulgence. Enabled laziness.”

They don’t budget or plan. Lack of foresight is common in this population. They don’t restrain their impulses, one of the definitions of management problems. They don’t discipline themselves to stay in school, to turn in their homework, to get out of bed on time, to study when they’d rather watch movies.

Republicans in Congress and the Montana Legislature have made several recent attempts slash the budget for help for hungry kids.

Posted: May 21, 2012 at 12:11 pm

TEA Party Republican Embarrasses Montana in the Wall Street Journal

TEA Party Republican legislator Tom Burnett has a letter in the Wall Street Journal last week calling for slashing school food for poor and hungry children.

Burnett’s letter comes in the wake of calls to reverse Congress’s idiotic declaration that pizza counts as a vegetable. Rep. Tom Burnett, of Bozeman, argues that instead of improving school nutrition, he has “a better reform.” Burnett wants to reduce the food assistance given to poor kids to help them afford school meals.

“To be practical, reforms must re-examine the over-abundance of food offered to children, not just nutritional quality. Too much food, too often, harms.”

For some kids, meals at school are the only food they get.

The Wall Street Journal letter is a follow-up to the bizarre 53-page treatise Burnett penned recently to convince others of his belief that we should cut food for needy kids. In “Hunger in America: The Myth [PDF].” Burnett writes that hunger doesn’t exist because he hasn’t seen it:

No advocates parade a line of emaciated children at any school or playground. They just can’t be found.

In addition to claiming that hunger doesn’t exist. He also sanely tells us that not being hungry “kills,”

Hunger is a normal part of a healthy person’s day. One should expect to be hungry six hours per day, the two hours preceding each meal. Satiety kills.

In the treatise, Burnett proposed to create a massive federal food police bureaucracy to crack down on the poor to stop them from buying items that Burnett feels they don’t deserve. Those in need, says Burnett are characterized by “Indolence. Shirking responsibility. Indulgence. Enabled laziness.”

They don’t budget or plan. Lack of foresight is common in this population. They don’t restrain their impulses, one of the definitions of management problems. They don’t discipline themselves to stay in school, to turn in their homework, to get out of bed on time, to study when they’d rather watch movies.

Republicans in Congress and the Montana Legislature have made several recent attempts slash the budget for help for hungry kids.

Posted: December 2, 2011 at 12:34 pm

Republican Calls for Less Food for Montanans in Need

Happy Holidays from TEA Party Republican State Representative Tom Burnett, of Bozeman.

To celebrate the spirit of the season, Burnett has penned a bizarre 53-page treatise on his beliefs that we should cut food for needy families. In “Hunger in America: The Myth,” which has been making the email rounds this week, Burnett writes that hunger doesn’t exist because he hasn’t seen it:

No advocates parade a line of emaciated children at any school or playground. They just can’t be found.

But that’s not the only reason Representative Burnett has come to the conclusion that no one is really going hungry. He also bases his case on…wait for it…pictures of fat people he found on the internet (see right), which he includes in his article as “evidence.”

Burnett has apparently decided to decided to ignore the studies showing the increased risk of obesity among the nation’s poor, who must rely on cheap starchy and higher fat foods to feed their families. A box of mac and cheese will last on the shelf a lot longer than a cucumber.
In addition to claiming that hunger doesn’t exist. He also sanely tells us that not being hungry “kills,”

Hunger is a normal part of a healthy person’s day. One should expect to be hungry six hours per day, the two hours preceding each meal. Satiety kills.

He proposes to create a massive federal food police bureaucracy to crack down on the poor to stop them from buying items that Burnett feels they don’t deserve. Those in need, says Burnett are characterized by “Indolence. Shirking responsibility. Indulgence. Enabled laziness.”

They don’t budget or plan. Lack of foresight is common in this population. They don’t restrain their impulses, one of the definitions of management problems. They don’t discipline themselves to stay in school, to turn in their homework, to get out of bed on time, to study when they’d rather watch movies.

There have been attempts by Republicans in Congress and the Montana Legislature to slash the budget for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), but this just might be the oddest attempt to make the case.

Meanwhile, Congressional candidate and State Representative Franke Wilmer is working to shed light on the issue and those Americans suffering the most in these harsh economic times. Wilmer has been living off of $31.50 worth of food ($4.50 per day), the average weekly benefit the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program program provides to help hungry people in need to buy food.

Don’t expect this kind of compassion from Tom Burnett, who has only stern advice to hungry Montanans. Here it is:

Nine kids. One income, a teacher’s income. Federal Poverty Level.

Work 17-hour days. Expect little entertainment.
Work a full-time job, seasonal jobs, and home businesses.
No whining.
Get out of bed early. Stay out of bed and off the couch.
Glean potatoes, apples. Gather wild berries. Hunt.
When conditions allow, raise a garden. Raise rabbits, a calf, geese, chickens.
Slaughter. Butcher.
Can, dry, freeze and store food.
Cook from scratch. Use basic ingredients; flour, rice, beans, vegetables.
Cook in large batches. Goulash, Spanish rice, soups, stews, pan muffins, fried or baked potatoes, pancakes, waffles, bread, casseroles. Hot cereal is cheap. Boil wheat.
Plan ahead. Budget. Stretch a budget. Never buy junk food, prepared food.
Avoid fast food and restaurants.
Never waste a morsel. Keep and serve later. Meld into future dishes.
Refuse government aid, free school lunch, church charity.
Lunch: One peanut butter and honey sandwich, four carrot sticks, an apple.
Expect occasional hunger.
Fast two meals per month. Give money saved to “the poor” through the church.
Glean tomatoes and beans on the church welfare farm, “for the poor.”
Forego other spending. Wear undershirts until holes gape. Shop for clothes at the thrift store.
Never waste money on drugs, alcohol, tobacco, or electronic entertainment.
The dignity of self-reliance is not cheap. It is priceless.