Are You Low Food Insecure?

Once, when someone returned from war mentally and emotionally wounded and scarred, we called it shell-shocked and treated them as though they had something very serious that we needed to be sensitive to and to treat. Now we call it PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder and we try to gloss over the true absolute, unspeakable horror suffered by these people.

Now come another word we are watering down. Hunger. Yes, hunger. Now, the U. S. government, in an effort to keep the offiical numbers of people without nourishing food three times a day on a daily basis.......is calling it LOW FOOD SECURITY.

Approximately 12% of U.S. citizens does not have nourishing thrice-daily meals, or the economic means to purchase and prepare the necessary food for those meals.

Makes you sick, doesn't it?

From the New York Times:

November 20, 2006
Editorial

Brother, Can You Spare a Word?

First the good news: the government’s annual hunger report shows a slight decline last year in the number of citizens in need of food. Now the bad news: the annual hunger report has dropped the word “hunger.”

Instead, there were 35 million Americans last year suffering from “low food security,” meaning they chronically lacked the resources to be able to eat enough food. Of these, 10.8 million lived with “very low food security,” meaning they were the hungriest among the hungry, so to speak.

Bureaucratic terminology about food security has always been a part of the hunger report, but so was the plain word “hunger.” The Agriculture Department decided that variations of “hungry” are not scientifically accurate, following the advice of the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies. The specialists advised that being hungry was too amorphous a way to refer to “a potential consequence of food insecurity that, because of prolonged, involuntary lack of food, results in discomfort, illness, weakness or pain that goes beyond the usual uneasy sensation.”

The government insists that no Orwellian plot is in the works to mask a national blight. The goal has been to cut what we’ll call the hungry households to no more than 6 percent of the population. But hungry people persist at nearly twice that rate, despite the slight drop last year. To the extent that more public empathy is needed to prod a stronger attack on low food security, we opt for “hunger” as a most stirring word.

Are You Low Food Insecure?

Once, when someone returned from war mentally and emotionally wounded and scarred, we called it shell-shocked and treated them as though they ahd something very serious that we needed to be sensitive to and to treat. Now we call it PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder nad we try to gloss over the true absolute, unspeakable horror suffered by these people.

Now come another word we are watering down. Hunger. Yes, hunger. Now, the U. S. government, in an effort to keep the offiical numbers of people without nourishing food three times a day on a daily basis.......is calling it LOW FOOD SECURITY.

Approximately 12% of U.S. citizens doe snot have nourishing thrice-daily meals, or the economic means to purchase and prepare the necessary food for those meals.

Makes you sick, doesn't it?

From the New York Times:

November 20, 2006
Editorial

Brother, Can You Spare a Word?

First the good news: the government’s annual hunger report shows a slight decline last year in the number of citizens in need of food. Now the bad news: the annual hunger report has dropped the word “hunger.”

Instead, there were 35 million Americans last year suffering from “low food security,” meaning they chronically lacked the resources to be able to eat enough food. Of these, 10.8 million lived with “very low food security,” meaning they were the hungriest among the hungry, so to speak.

Bureaucratic terminology about food security has always been a part of the hunger report, but so was the plain word “hunger.” The Agriculture Department decided that variations of “hungry” are not scientifically accurate, following the advice of the Committee on National Statistics of the National Academies. The specialists advised that being hungry was too amorphous a way to refer to “a potential consequence of food insecurity that, because of prolonged, involuntary lack of food, results in discomfort, illness, weakness or pain that goes beyond the usual uneasy sensation.”

The government insists that no Orwellian plot is in the works to mask a national blight. The goal has been to cut what we’ll call the hungry households to no more than 6 percent of the population. But hungry people persist at nearly twice that rate, despite the slight drop last year. To the extent that more public empathy is needed to prod a stronger attack on low food security, we opt for “hunger” as a most stirring word.

Jupiter Transits Sagittarius

Jupiter is about to be IN THE HOUSE.

That’s right. On November 23, 2006, Jupiter comes home to the sign it rules, Sagittarius. This transit occurs once every 12 years and last for about 13 months. This means this transit of Jupiter in Sagittarius will last until the end of December 2007. Jupiter’s transit through this sign empowers us to feel more optimistic, hopeful, adventurous, and interested in matters of faith and spirituality. Our inner world is expanded.

We humans categorize our lives in terms of what is familiar and what is strange or different. We view things in terms of “us and “them” or “other”. For the last few years Jupiter has been transiting through the signs of the zodiac that represent “them”, taking the focus off us. We are being offered the opportunity to expand our world through our connection with others. With Jupiter in Libra we learned about expanding and enhancing our relationships and partnerships, how to create negotiate, the benefits of beauty and balance. With Jupiter in Scorpio we learned about sharing bodies and souls, as well as our material possessions with others. It was an intense learning experience. With Jupiter in Sagittarius we will learn about the values and beliefs of “them” (just as “they” will learn the same about “us").

The good news is that Jupiter can make this learn look and feel fun. The bad news is that if we over-expand, Jupiter can bring the pain of excess.

Jupiter, the big red planet, is your jolly, rich grandfather, coming to visit. He rolls up in the driveway in his luxury car with a booming laugh, lots of hugs, many bags of sweet candy and lots of money in his pockets. He is here to dispense his wisdom and lots of good cheer.

They key is, do not overlook the wisdom in an attempt to enjoy all the obvious goodies Jupiter brings. The wisdom is actually the most valuable gift he is bringing. There will be more about that in a moment.

A closer look at the naturally expansive nature of Jupiter reveals a tendency to increase our desire to better understand our world through education, religion and spirituality, legal issues, culture and philosophical principles.

Everyone will approach this in a different way. For some this may mean learning foreign languages, learning about other cultures, traveling long distances to get an education, studying concepts that are “foreign” to us or studying under someone who is of a different culture.

International politics and current events will be in the forefront during this transit on a personal and global level. Just as Saturn’s mission is to enhance our world through contraction - removal of people, places and things that are unnecessary and hinder our growth – Jupiter’s mission is to expand our world. What is happening in places other than our backyard will be noticed unlike previous times and such distant and/or global events will have a more noticeable effect on individuals.

Remember that gift of wisdom mentioned earlier? That is crucial in any Jupiter transit but now more so than ever while Jupiter is in the sign it rules. We must not be naïve in our belief in others or in our faith in ourselves. We must not be too puffed up with pride or too cocky in our behavior. We must be realistic and then make a decision to move forward. We must measure how much we have and what we can possibly learn so we can grow and progress. The door of opportunity is available to us in many areas, and now is the time to go to/return college, take a night course, learn a foreign language, study another culture, investigate a new spiritual path, open yourself to the ideas and philosophy of others and/or connect with people of cultures, backgrounds or ethnicities different from ourselves. During this time, those who heed the wisdom and take risks to grow will find themselves highlighted in a big way, perhaps even on the international stage.

If you want to make the most of Jupiter in Sagittarius, look to where Saturn in Leo is transiting your chart. The key to the wisdom is in Saturn. Jupiter expands and Saturn contracts, so they balance one another. The key to a successful and healthy life is maintaining balance. The lessons of Saturn in Leo and Saturn in Virgo will show the ways in which you should shape the way you expand your life under Jupiter in Sagittarius. All work and no play, or too much play and no work will result in pain – emotionally, psychologically, intellectually or physically.

PERSONALIZED REPORT: If you would like to know how Jupiter in Sagittarius is opening the door to your wildest dreams, how you can best take advantage of this energy over the next year and what Saturn in Leo and Saturn in Virgo are revealing about how to shape your progress, order a report today. It can be purchased in the shop.

Tear Across the Land, Tears Across the Globe

Can you hear the crying? It is loud and clear across the globe. The tears are coming from the USA. Tear of anger and resentment by Republicans and their supporters because the Democrats are in control of Congress (yes – both Senate and House of Representatives); and tears of joy from people who are relived and joyous about the turnover and the hope it gives that USA can be turned off the path George W. Bush, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice have taken it on…a destructive and malevolent path that has destroyed anyone and anything its way.

The Democrats had better not mess it up and waste time on things the people who elected them do not want. This is the opportunity. Do it right or you will possibly never get a chance to have power again in the USA. Stop the partisanship and govern like adults with consciences and the remembrance that you are elected to SERVE the people of the USA, not abuse them and then tell them you kow what is best for htem. Undo Guantanomo. Undo the secret rendition flghts and expose them. Undo the unconstitutional Homeland Security/Patriot Act.

The world is watching (and also crying in relief and hope).

Make the USA a proud country from which to hail once again.

Leading helm of this new day is Nancy Pelosi, newly-elected Speaker of the House and a WOMAN for the first time in United States history! Bush must now make nice with the Democrats and especially make nice with Pelosi. Rumsfeld has now resigned (too late in most people’s view, inside and outside the Bush Administration)….but will his arrogant, lying, deceitful ways continue?

Here is a transcript of an interview Pelosi did with MSNBC:

Interview with Nancy Pelosi