Maybe it's because I just watched Roger & Me last night, or maybe the heat is making me cranky, but really - to say that children go hungry in the US because their parents are dumb is, quite frankly, the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Okay, maybe not the dumbest thing, but certainly naive, and reeking of priviledge.

Lots of families go hungy, not because they are too stupid, or too lazy, or don't give a shit about their kids. Truth is, for a lot of people, the American Dream is a big, fat lie. The romantic notion that the only thing standing in the way of a white picket fence and two cars in the driveway is some elbow grease and good ole fashioned ingenuity is, quite simply, bullshit. Equal opportunity for all is a nice idea on paper, but really, the playing field sure as hell isn't equal, and a small group of people have the ball, and they aren't sharing.

Imagine this, if you will:

You work at a factory, making whatever. The money is decent - you can raise your family on your income. Your family, your friends, everyone works there. Whatever industry this factory is in, it is the only game in town. Every other business serve the employees of the factory. The grocery stores, the retail stores, the car lots, the real estate agents, the restaurants, all make their money from the factory's wages. So then, the layoffs start. A couple thousand people in one day. Then a couple thousand more. Then a few more, for good measure. The great thing is, you aren't being laid off because business is bad, but instead because your company realized that they can pay people in Mexico 70 cents an hour to do your job! What a great deal!

There are only a couple hundred jobs to be found, so the rest get unemployment. Frightened that people will start to leave town to find better jobs, the local government tells people not to worry, the job market will pick up, it will be okay. But it's not okay. Soon people realize that the jobs they found making half what they made at the factory don't pay their rent. Unemployment will maybe cover your mortgage, or your bills, but not both. The local economy becomes depressed, retailers start losing their businesses. More and more stores close, and more and more people become unemployed. Crime goes up - way up, depressing the economy even more. You can't sell your house, because the market is for shit. Your trapped with a mortgage you can no longer afford. You can either pay your rent or feed your kids, but if you don't pay your rent, you'll get evicted and won't be able to feed them anyways. Your choice is either to abandon your house, and hope you can find a job elsewhere, or wait till the bank forecloses and you end up on the street. You can't get unemployment if you move out of state to try and find a job, even if you could afford the expenses of moving. Then again, you can't get unemployment if you live in a cardboard box, either, so whichever way you look, you're screwed. You can't borrow money from your friends or family to help you get back on your feet, because they all lost their jobs, too, and are facing the same thing.

Everyone knows, though, that the only reason your kids are going to school hungry is because you are dumb. Yeah, right, whatever.