Why did you vote for Obama or not...?

[Edwina's Secretary]

Facts, as we percieve them, create opinions.

Nicely put, Liz. Especially as I was struggling over "perceived facts." I thought a fact to be a fact and a perception to be a perception.

"Perceived Fact" sounds like some kind of double speak to me.

[carole]

Thank you Catland, i value your comments.

Just something i wish to ask, Do any of you honestly think there are any americans and NZers for that matter, who live as a third world country, no sanitation,no water, no food, no home,no electricity, no future, i mean yes there are NZers here who are homeless and who i would consider live on the poverty line, but i still cannot compare them to a third world country, IMO they are still far better off than those poor souls.,anyhow that is just my opinion for what it is worth, we are the blessed i think.,and yes slightly off topic here, but then i am responding to anothers post in this thread.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

We have thousands of homeless people who have no shelter and no idea where their next meal is coming from who live in unsafe and unsanitary conditions every second. More are becoming homeless every day. Seems to me, we are on the verge of becoming a third world country.

What is the number who have to live in those conditions before we qualify?

[carole]

In answer to your question, well i really don't know, sure it exists, but there is so much wealth in both our countries too,in most third world countries they are just surrounded by poverty, it is everywhere,I guess i just don't see it as being quite the same,or to the same extent, i sure hope it does not become so..

[momoffuzzyfaces]

Maybe I'm wrong about this, but doesn't wealth exist in third world countries too? It just belongs to a few in power though?

[Marigold2]

There is a vast difference between being poor in America and being poor in India or Africia.
If you are poor in America you might only have one car, one TV and you shop at Walmart and go to a free clinic.
Being poor in Africia means you don't have shoes, have never seen a tooth brush, you have never been full, had an orange or apple, clean water to drink and spend your short and miserable life without seeing a Dr or having any meds at all. It's not having a bowl to put rice in.
There are different types of poor for sure. Here in America you have free education, free birth control, and many other opinions that millions in the world never have or dream off. As a woman you can wear the cloths you want, marry whom you want and practice the reglion you want, in Iran and Iraq being poor means being in fearof your life from gunfire and being afraid you will die of hunger. We are blessed and spoiled, we are one of the fattest and least educated people in the modern world. High crime, high teenage pregency rate, it goes on and on, we are poor in brains it seems often.

Maybe I'm wrong about this, but doesn't wealth exist in third world countries too? It just belongs to a few in power though?

[Karen]

There is a vast difference between being poor in America and being poor in India or Africia.
If you are poor in America you might only have one car, one TV and you shop at Walmart and go to a free clinic.

I have to disagree. Being poor in America can mean being homeless, staying in a shelter when you can get a bed, worrying how you will feed your children, choosing between paying the rent and feeding your family, often means having no car, never mind a TV. And with no car, you have no access or ability to get to that "free clinic" ... it can mean working two jobs and still falling further into debt, it can mean leaving your children with someone you cannot trust so you can work to get money to feed them ...

If you are homeless, you don't get that "free education" as you have no address from which to register your kids for school.

That doesn't mean being poor in India or Africa is any less horrific, or tragic. I was speaking with the woman who runs the ecumenical food pantry that is housed in our church basement, as she said not only is the need increasing dramatically, but that there are still people who don't believe that there are hungry people in their town.

[lizbud]

In answer to your question, well i really don't know, sure it exists, but there is so much wealth in both our countries too,in most third world countries they are just surrounded by poverty, it is everywhere,I guess i just don't see it as being quite the same,or to the same extent, i sure hope it does not become so..

Homeless people have become the "invisable people" in my city. I see
news reports, complete with film clips, around the holidays reporting on
their dire circumstances. They say there are whole familes who live under
bridges & highway ramps. I do think national averages are underrated.

[carole]

ok thanks for answering my question, I think it is becoming worse in every country for sure and of course wealth exists in third world countries,I just think in NZ and the United States it is on a lesser scale, i have no facts to back myself up, but it is just how i think i guess.