Good news, tonight at 10....

I try to stay non-political mainly because I don't like politics. I have lived my whole life in Chicago, a place of many scandals and imprisoned officials. We created a system of doing things known as machine politics, a unique style of corruption. I don't like what happens here and I don't like our current disposition in the capitol.

Anyway you cut it, food is political and increasingly so over the last many years. Corporations who manufacture food, food deserts, malnutrition, school lunch programs, charity food banks, inhuman slaughterhouse practises, factory farms, junk and fast foods, obesity rates, junk science around fad diets, culinary education, nutritional supplements, electronic exercise devices, access to health care, supplemental food programs, all boil down to economics and a dividing social structure that is eliminating the middle class. Unfortunately, food is political and often times it is unfairly distributed, wasted, horded, abused, and can often be misunderstood.

Politicians have proposed legislation to drug test supplemented food receivers, to limit 'luxury' food purchases such as steak and shrimp, and mandate sticker income verification making it harder to qualify for assistance. Hunger is always political, especially when working parents are not earning enough to adequately feed their families. Battles over raising the minimum wage are closely tied into the issue of feeding, if workers working full-time still qualify and need nutritional and housing assistance, then the minimum is no longer adequate.

Present day Chicago, we all are anticipating a teacher's strike, have seen and participated in rallies over minimum wage, police brutality, and racial profiling. It's like we are sitting on a powder keg while staring at a short fuse. I hate politics because of the inherent inequality and greed. Call me a revolutionary liberal, if you must, but no matter the label, I hate the political world around me.

Basic, the very least, everyday common human needs are required to be met, food, shelter, water, safety, and education. There should not be any debate over how we, as a society, a family, a government, make provisions for these needs. This major metropolis has a untold number of homeless people, kids that lack adequate nutrition both at home and at school, low graduation rates of our teens from high school, lack of employment opportunities for young people just entering the workforce, some of the highest taxes in the country, and several other obstacles that make living here difficult.

That's the bad news, now let's discuss the other side of the coin.  There are hundreds and thousands of our residents that are doing well, achieving, striving, and assisting others along their paths. But where is the news coverage of the awarding of diplomas and scholarships. Were are the press corp when our kids and young adults achieve despite the hardships, when they leap over the hurdles, and bust out of the barriers to success?  Who will show the world how talented, brilliant, and strong we are? What is the intent of the press to show so little of the great things that happen everyday? Are we being manipulated into believing all hope is lost?