Poor America

Howdy Ya'll,

I jest got done watchin' somethin' with gran'pa and let me tell ya, it's got me plum fired up an'fightin' mad. I got one of the young'uns to tell me how to add one of them link things so after I git through writin', I'll add it so's you can go watch it fer yerself. I'm hopin' ya'll will pass it along to all yer friends as well.

Now ya'll now I ain't no political person. I learned a long time ago that certain things jest ain't discussed in polite comp'ny, so I try to stay out of religion, politics and peoples bedrooms. But, to me, this here ain't political. It's a dad blamed shame.

What we watched was a documentry called Poor America. Some gal was the reporter and she went all over interviewin' people, even young'uns. She talked to'em about how they got to be in the situation they was in, how they managed to live day to day, even asked the young'uns if they'd ever gone to be with no supper.

The answers would jest break yer heart. There's a family with 3 young'uns livin' in a motel room cause their daddy cain't find a job. They talked to a couple that was livin' in a big'ol concrete storm drain. They talked to people that was livin' in what they called a tent city. They talked to the lunch lady at one of the schools and she said she saw young'uns taking handfuls of them ketchup packs. She asked'em what they were fer and they said to make ketchup soup with so's they'd have somethin' fer supper. They talked to a man that had a bad hernia and was riskin' gangrene but he didn't have no insurance. His wife was a cryin' cause she was so worried and said he jest kept goin' cause he knew he had a family to take care of and couldn't afford no bills. One of the young'uns they talked to was a little bitty gal and she said one time they ate a rat. Now ya'll know that with me bein' as southern and bein' as country as I am, I've probly ate stuff some of ya'll wouldn't dare, like gator, coon, er squirrel, but I ain't never ate no rat and I don't understand why a young'un here in the United States should have to either!

Here's where I might jest make some of ya'll mad at me, and if'n I do, I ain't apologizin' cause I got jest as much right to my opinion as ya'll do. And in my opinion, this here show was plum heartbreakin'. There jest ain't no excuse fer American people to have to live this way. The whole government has got things so messed up now that I don't know if any of them politicians has got brains enough to fix it. The sad part is, many Americans has got enough sense but the politicians won't listen cause it don't put no money in their pockets er the pockets of their cronies! The only way they'll ever listen is to have enough Americans get together and start makin' some demands and standin' up fer what is right, what aught to be, and jest plain ol'common sense!


A few months ago I had to go down to the local welfare office in town to pick up somethin' fer gran'pa's medicare. He worked all his life and paid in to it fer a lot of years, so I figer he deserves it. It ain't no hand-out, It ain't no welfare. Anyhow, whilst I was in there waitin', you'd be surprised as to what I saw. I saw a big ol'heavy set gal in there with 2 young'uns talkin' on one of them fancy cell phones in fancy new lookin' clothes and wearin' enough jewlry to choke a mule. With her talkin' so loud, ya couldn't help but hear and she said somethin' about them not sendin' her food stamps so she was there to git'em. There was two young gals in there that couldn't even grunt in English, one young'un with'em and one of the gals had one on the way. They had a bunch of gold on too. I saw a bunch more stuff whilst I was waitin', and the more I sat there, the madder I got! I got the papers fer pa and headed out. Remember the big gal? Well, she was ahead of me and she went out and got in one of them fancy caddilac escalade truck-car things. If'n she could afford to drive that, why does she git food stamps? Why don't she drive an ol'pick-up like we do?

The facts is this - the goverment has spent more than it takes in fer pure silliness, it's took out loans so many times that other countries now purdy much own us, and it seems the only thing the govenrment wants to do is spend more money on more silliness and make up fer it by cuttin' things like gran'pas medicaire and his Social Security that he worked fer all his life. The government is tryin' to pass a law so that all Americans git insurance, but they have to buy it, and I mean HAVE to buy it. Here's a question fer'em - if'n ya already ain't got 2 nickles to rub together, ya ain't got no job and yer livin' in one o'them tent cities, where do they think yer gonna get the moeny to buy insurance to go to the doctor?

Now how about some common sense. Back before many of ya'll was born, there was somethin' called the WPA (that stood fer Work Projects Administration). It was a governement program that put people to work doin' public services like buildin' roads, bridges, parks and buildin's. There was also somethin' called CCC (that means Civilian Conservation Corps) that put men to work in conservin' and developin' natural resources. Now tell me why we cain't do somethin' like that fer all the ones drawin' welfare? Make it simple - if'n ya cain't find work on yer own, ya go to work fer the WPA er the CCC. The WPA could build er fix up a buildin' in ever city and town, then when it's done, they can put women to work babysittin' the young'uns at the new buildin' so others can work doin' somethin' else. If ya don't want to work at the WPA or CCC, then ya don't git no welfare of no kind. Do you realize how much money that would save the government? Yeah, they'd be payin' the same people that they are now, but at least we'd all git somethin; fer our money! There ain't a town in the United States that couldn't use some road work, some grass cut, some trash picked up er some buildin's redone. Libarries is closin' - make'em work there so our young'uns got somewhere to learn besides school. Build nice parks fer the yougn'uns to give'em somewhere to go and somethin' to do besides gittin' in trouble.

As fer all the women out there that got young'uns and daddy jest took off, find the daddies and make'em support the young'uns. Make these fellers think about sleepin' around like they ain't got a care in the world. If'n the mama says she don't know who the daddy is, then she don't get no welfare. Jest that alone would make a huge differnce. And, it'd stop a lot of these gals from having 3, 4, er 5 young'uns jest to watch her welfare go up.

If'n we don't put a stop to this foolishness, we're all gonna be right back to a depression, 'cept this time it's gonna be a whole lot worse. People ain't got the make-do skills we had back then. Young'uns don't know nothin' about growin' their food er raisin' their own meat. Men folks ain't got the skills to keep a vehicle er washin' machine going. Women folks don't know about sewin' clothes to wear er even how to fix the ones they got.

If'n we let ourselves go into a another depression, it's gonna be real bad, a lot's worse than ya'll can imagine. So now is the time to get off'n yer butts and do somethin'. It's time to start writin' letter, havin' town meetin's, pullin' together as communities and make the government listen to some common sense. Good grief ya'll, this here is America, the greatest country on earth, and we're sellin' it out to greed and stupidity and other countries. How do you think your grandyoung'uns is gonna live? What are we gonna leave'em with? How many young'uns in the United States is gonna have to eat rats before we say enough is enough?

Till next time,

Gran'ma Gertie


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXaJKeYGzDU

The Texas Preacher and His Eatin'

Howdy ya'll,

Like usual, I ain't been here much. Seems time jest flies by faster n' faster and I git busier and busier instead of gittin' slowed down like old folks is s'possed to!

Well, I got somethin' new to discuss with ya. I met a preacher feller back in early January that seems to be catchin' quite a bit of flack fer his eatin' habits, er maybe I should say the not eatin' of certain things. He's from Texas and I reckon they eat differnt than we do.

He says things like pulled pork is good, it jest ain't bar-be-que. Bein'a Texan and all, he figers there ain't no bar-be-que but beef. I ain't gonna give'im no flack fer it, but I do disagree with'im.


He also says that grits ain't worth eatin'. Now bein' from Georgia, them's jest about fightin' words! I wonder if'n he eats oatmeal? Only way I'll eat that no-taste-slimey-ground up cardboard is if'n it mixed with flouer, spices, sugar and baked into a cookie!


I know that chili is made all differnt kinds of ways, even some kind thats white and made with chicken. (Now that don't even sound good!) Seems he was havin' a discussion about chili the other day on his facebook page. He says chili ain't s'possed to have beans in it, jest meat, 'maters and seasonin'. Well, that might be fine fer goin' on a hot dog, but not fer real eatin'! Besides, at todays prices fer meat, and the way my bunch can eat, who could afford to make it with no beans? Now I ain't sayin' that chili is got to be more beans than anything else, but gimmee a break - most of us have to use the beans jest to make it stretch fer enough! B'sides, the beans is good fer ya cholestrol, you know, yer veins and heart. And, before he reads this and says I don't know chili, I need to let'im know that I used to live in Texas! I DO know a thing er two about it, probly more than most southerners. Like the simple bit that chili meat ain't s'possed to be hamburger meat, it's s'possed to be real small cut up chunks of beef, not some ground up stuff. Kind of like carne asdada (bet'cha didn't think I knew such a word, huh?!)

He said somethin' about not eatin' his chili with soda crackers er crumblin' up corn bread in it either. To each his own I reckon. He don't think corn bread aught to be crumbled up in nothin'. What?! Not even in pot liker from greens? Not in pea juice? Not in milk? Again, to each his own. Now if'n I find out he's one of them that expect sugar in his corn bread, I may jest have to....well, I'll have to figer out somethin'.

I also found out he don't like boiled peanuts! From the way he described'em, I figer he got ahold to some that weren't made right. Either they was over cooked, over salted, er jest old. Good boiled peanuts should have firm shells, tender peanuts, and jest the right amount of salt. Maybe one day he'll get gutsy enough to try some good'uns.

My point in this writin' is to let people know that no matter where yer from, people from other places is gonna eat differnt. I been lucky and I've lived in a bunch of differnt places in my life, and I can testify to it! When I lived in Ohio and in Colorado, I purdy much figered I'd starve to death b'fore I could get back home! There weren't no grits, no smoked sausage, no country ham, no boiled peanuts, no field peas, no butter beans, no decent corn meal, oh, the list jest goes on and on!

Now I also have to tell ya I learned to eat a lot of things I'd never heard of before, like a lot of them mexican dishes. I payed close attention and learned how to make'em. Fer a old southern gal, let me tell ya, I can make a mean bunch of pork enchilladas! One of my favorites is the chili relano and a little resterant in New Mexico interduced me to a green chili cheeseburger that is some kind of good! Gotta be versa-tile I say! Learn differnt things, eat differnt things, live on the edge I think they call it. Keeps life interestin'!

I've eat all kinds of stuff in my life time, from baby octopus to possum, from gator to buffalo, from coon to tomales, from chinese lo mane to squirrel purloe. Now there's a few things I won't eat again cause I didn't like'em the first time, but there's a bunch I would. I may like a change ever now'n then, but I always come back to my roots - jest a regler ol'southern breakfast with grits'n eggs, country ham, good bacon er smoked sausage and homemade buttermilk biscuits with cane syrup. Fer dinner I like stuff like fried chicken er pork chops, field peas, butterbeans, mashed taters er rice and gravy and greens, with NO SUGAR cornbread. Supper can often be warmed up leftovers from dinner, er even somethin' simple like hoe cake and mater gravy. The point here is whilst it may seem strange as to what other people eat er don't eat, ya gotta figer the way you eat is strange to them, too. And when ya run up on somethin' differnt, give it a try. Ya might jest find ya like it! Life is too short to pass oppertunity by and miss out on things jest cause yer too stubborn an set in yer ways.

I think I'm gonna be makin' breakfast fer supper tonight - homemade buttermilk pancakes and smoke sausage. ya'll have a good day!

'Till next time,

Gran'ma Gertie