An Unfortunate Sign of the Times we live in

Mom who shot kids, self had been denied food stamps

The mother after being denied food stamps since July shot herself and then her children. The kids though in critical condition are still alive for now, but their mother is now dead.

During the 1980s I knew several people who were either on Welfare or collected food stamps because this was a pretty common thing especially in the winters if you live in a small town with mostly seasonal work for most people. What they told me then really opened my eyes. They said that you sort of needed a 2 year college degree to know how to fill out the forms and if you weren't really smart and street wise or had someone who already got food stamps that you were unlikely to get them and this was even out in the country in California. I can only imagine that a state like Texas would be more more poor unfriendly than California in regard to this for many reasons. Also, even in the 1980s in California I was told that how things worked on this level varied greatly from county to county even then here in California. (IN the early 1980s national unemployment was around 10% like recently here in the U.S.)

So, it is quite likely that there will be more suicides of people who just aren't smart enough (or are just too upset by what is happening in their lives) to be able to collect food stamps so they and their children don't starve. Since 1 in 5 children presently in the U.S. are on Food stamps this is something for all of us to think about.