Remember when Alan Grayson used irony and symbolism, and just plain disgust, when he described the Republican Health Care Plan on the floor of Congress a while back?
He mockingly stated that their Plan was "1) Don't get Sick."
(And step two of their compassionate-bootstraps Plan: "2) If you do get sick, Die Quickly.")
Well, given their calloused, self-centered treatment regarding selective rollbacks of Sequester Cuts, we just may need to extend the Grayson logical symbolism for their Austerity mindset to:
"3) And don't get Hungry, either." (... if you are home-bound, that is.)
[...]
John Hearne was among those who recently received meals on a route delivered by Nelson.
The 90-year-old man, who uses an aging metal walker to navigate the small home he has lived in for 60 years, said he wouldn't have many food options if the program had to cut back on home deliveries.
His two daughters take turns checking in on him every day when they get off work. If the program didn't deliver food to him then he might have to wait until late afternoon or evening for his first meal of the day.
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kansascity.com
I don't know about you -- but I can't remember that last time I had to wait to the end of the day -- for my first meal of the day. Just. couldn't. do. it. Home-bound or no.
[...]
“More senior adults are applying for Meals on Wheels than ever before,” Meals on Wheels Executive Director Alan Winstead said in a statement. “Cuts in federal funding means that we must leave qualified participants on a waiting list and potentially cut current clients. The reality is that we need more money to buy more nutritious meals for more people. The last thing our most vulnerable neighbors and family members need is to lose this essential service.”
Meals on Wheels of Wake County services are open to any senior citizen over age 60 who lives in the county. The agency has about 2,200 volunteers who deliver more than 1,300 meals each weekday.
“At a time when more people are turning 60, more seniors are living longer, and more seniors are at risk for going hungry, we need more, not fewer, resources to meet the needs of our community,” Winstead said.
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Raleigh NC
As with most things Austerity-related, Congress is cutting the very things we need to help grow -- out of some mis-guided notion that somehow investing in our Society is wrong!?
I heard it put recently that Austerity Cuts are like "putting a wet-blanket on a campfire" -- when we need exactly the opposite -- to throw some more logs on the fire. To stoke the economic engine.
By cutting Meal on Wheels funding all across the country, how long will it be before seniors, by the thousands, start falling ill -- due to malnutrition? (the Austerity "wet-blanket" solution.)
How much Austerity-money will we really save -- when these very famished and fainting seniors -- start showing up in Emergency Rooms and ICUs -- by the busload?
I can't wait to see what the number four on their pound-foolish Austerity Hunger Plan will be:
"4) If you do get Hungry, faint quickly, quietly, and completely. (Psst! and don't call 911 either.)"
I wouldn't put past them -- these jet-setting, Austerity-for-everyone-but-me, government-hating, always-on-vacation, hypocrites.