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SNAP 
Tue Jan 18, 2011 at 21:15:31 PM PST
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Should food stamps (now called SNAP) pay for soda? That's not an easy question. Now, there are many easier questions to consider, like "Is soda good for you?" (No) and "Does soda have any place at all in a healthy diet?" (No) and even "Should people drink soda at all?" (Probably not, although some would argue that a small amount in moderation can't hurt... and then they'd probably call me the "food police" or a fascist)... but just because soda is bad for you, does that mean that our government should tell people they can't use their food stamps to buy pop?
Bob Waldrop, an activist in Oklahoma City, gives a very thoughtful answer to this question as he explains why he thinks food stamps should not pay for pop. You can see the original on his blog here and it is posted below with his permission.
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Fri Feb 19, 2010 at 13:42:58 PM PST
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If you are homeless, elderly, or disabled, you can use food stamps at some fast food joints in Los Angeles. According to the Restaurant Meals Program FAQ (hat tip to blogger Count), you cannot normally use food stamps for prepared meals but you can if you fall into one of the three eligible categories.
Restaurants in the program include Domino's Pizza, Papa John's, and other pizza places, Subway, El Pollo Loco, Jack in the Box, California Donuts, a number of burger joints, Popeye's Chicken, Church's Chicken, and other fried chicken restaurants, some BBQ restaurants, Denny's, Wendy's, some Chinese restaurants, and really not much else.
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Thu Jan 28, 2010 at 22:48:04 PM PST
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Here's the second half of this week's House Ag Committee panel on federal nutrition programs. (See part 1 at the link.) If nothing else, I recommend reading through my summary of Jessup's testimony because it is AWESOME.
Panel II:
Guillermo Valenzuela, MD
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
Webster Wong, MD
Arrowhead Regional Medical Center
Matthew Sharp, Senior Advocate
California Food Policy Advocates, Los Angeles, California
Edie Jessup, Program Development Specialist
Central California Regional Obesity Prevention Project of Central California Center for Health and Human Services, Fresno, California
Mathew Marsom, Director of Public Health Policy and Advocacy
Public Health Institute, Oakland, California
Claudia Page, Co-Director
The Center to Promote HealthCare Access, Oakland, California
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Thu Jan 28, 2010 at 17:44:24 PM PST
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The House Ag Committee held a hearing on Federal Nutrition Programs on Monday of this week (January 25, 2010). There were two panels. This diary covers the first panel, which mostly focuses on food stamps (SNAP) and the USDA and other agencies' efforts to increase participation among those who are eligible.
Panel 1
Lisa Pino, Deputy Administrator
USDA's Food and Nutrition Service
Christine Webb-Curtis, Chief
California Department of Social Services, Food Stamp Branch
Nancy Swanson, Director
Human Services Transitional Assistance Department of San Bernardino, CA
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Mon Apr 20, 2009 at 10:00:00 AM PDT
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Want to make sure your citizens don't participate in food stamps even though they are eligible? It's a dumb idea because food stamps add so much to the economy, but apparently that's what San Diego wants to do. So, in addition to fingerprinting food stamp applicants they also check your home to ensure eligibility.
The San Diego district attorney adopted a policy in 1997 under which applicants for welfare benefits must agree to a "walk through" of their residence while they are present. The inspectors check on whether the applicant has an eligible dependent child and has the amount of assets claimed. They also check on whether a supposedly "absent" parent lives at the residence. If residents refuse to permit a home visit, they can lose their benefits.
So that's how you get the distinguished title of "lowest food stamp participation rate" in the U.S. And a judge ruled that this is legal because they aren't searching for evidence of a crime. Legal, perhaps - but smart? Definitely not. How many kids are going hungry because of this insane policy?
(Hat tip to Lucas for sending this story my way.)
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Mon Mar 23, 2009 at 16:00:00 PM PDT
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- A new restaurant near the University of Texas at Arlington, which uses locally grown, organic ingredients as much as possible, has a no-set-price policy, and asks customers to discreetly pay (in an envelope) afterwards for what they thought the meal was worth. The idea is based upon an existing Salt Lake City non-profit community kitchen's model. Can it work for a commercial establishment? So far, the restaurant is coming up just short, although it's only two months old and the business itself is always a rough one.
- The City of Berkeley, CA may soon transform all of its parks and open spaces into habitats for bees, in an effort to reverse the recent global decline of pollinators.
- If you're in Kansas, you can vote for the best food in the state from now until March 31. Unfortunately, restaurants must be at least a decade old in order to be considered, so that rules out Lawrence's Local Burger for at least the next 7 years. I'm sure there's something else worth considering in Lawrence, though...
- USDA will update its Plant Hardiness Zone Map later this year, for the first time since 1990, to reflect the climate-change induced shifts of planting zones northward.
More below the fold...
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Tue Mar 17, 2009 at 12:00:00 PM PDT
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Anybody wanna swing by my place later for colcannon and a local stout? Here's an afternoon sampler platter...
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Sat Mar 07, 2009 at 18:38:12 PM PST
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Billionaire New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is fighting to deny extended food stamp benefits to single New Yorkers without children -
A fight is brewing over federal money earmarked for food stamps. Part of the stimulus package would bring about $155 million to the city to cover food stamps through September 2010.
But so far, Mayor Michael Bloomberg hasn't signed a waiver to extend those benefits to single adults who don't have dependents.
Because I guess if you lost your job due in large part to the shenanigans of many of Mayor Mike's own buddies, and you don't have any kids - it follows that you don't have to (or shouldn't be able to) eat. At least, that's the case in his fantasy world. The same one where wealthy New Yorkers would leave the City if they had to start paying their fair share in taxes. Where would they move, New Jersey (I can say that, I grew up there)? I doubt that.
Like many of his other friends who've largely put us into this mess in the first place, Bloomberg also doesn't seem to have much of a grasp on basic economic facts. Either that, or he puts his cherished (and failed) conservative ideology ahead of all else -
Increased income support has been part of the federal response to most recessions, and for good reason: It is the most efficient way to prime the economy's pump ... Boosting food stamp payments by $1 increases GDP by $1.73 (see Table 2). People who receive these benefits are hard pressed and will spend any financial aid they receive very quickly.
So Bloomberg also apparently has something against food retailers and other businesspeople in the City, as well. I have a suggestion, though - since Michael Bloomberg is worth roughly 20 billion dollars, maybe he can take all of those people he's denying food stamps for out to breakfast, lunch and dinner on his own dime (I mean, he's only got about 200 billion dimes...) until they find one of the numerous jobs he claims are out there just waiting to be filled?
Or maybe he can stop being a giant Jindal-ian dick, and let struggling people eat while they continue to look for work in this terrible climate which was largely created by the greed and arrogance of wealthy conservatives like Bloomberg himself.
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Tue Feb 24, 2009 at 19:02:16 PM PST
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When you look at food stamp (now called SNAP) participation rates, California as a state ranks 4th from the bottom. And if you look at the food stamp participation rates of the 24 largest metropolitan areas in the nation, San Diego ranks dead last. This means hungry people don't eat, but it also means that San Diego county loses $144 million annually. And that's $144 million in the form of the very best economic stimulus the government can give us - each dollar of food stamps generates about $1.80 in economic activity.
Let's take a look at San Diego as a case study: Why aren't San Diegoans getting food stamps? And what can we learn from San Diego that might help us increase the participation rate nationally.
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