PassionatePuppy

How to Survive the Crash and Save the Earth
by Ran Prieur
December 19, 2004

How to Survive the Crash and Save the Earth
by Ran Prieur
December 19, 2004

Sunday, March 8, 2009
Are we Going to Prison? (Are we Already There?)
By Michael Goodspeed

From the page: "Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoevsky once observed, "The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons." More and more U.S. citizens are assessing the exactitude of Dostoevsky's ascertainment first hand. We have by far the largest prison population in the world - 2.3 million and growing, a staggering 25 PERCENT of the world's prisoners -- and by far the highest rate of incarceration -- counting only adults, one in 100 Americans is imprisoned."

GEO Group, Inc.: Despite a Crashing Economy, Private Prison Firm Turns a Handsome Profit
by Erin Rosa, Special to CorpWatch
March 1st, 2009
From the page: "GEO reported impressive quarterly earnings of $20 million on February 12, 2009, along with an annual income of $61 million for 2008 - up from $38 million the year before. But the company's share value is not the only thing that's growing. Behind the financial success and expansion of the for-profit prison firm, there are increasing charges of negligence, civil rights violations, abuse and even death"

"Food stamp enrollment jumps to record 31.8 million
Thu Mar 5, 2009 3:34pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A record 31.8 million Americans received food stamps at the latest count, an increase of 700,000 people in one month with the United States in recession, government figures showed on Thursday.

Food stamps, which help poor people buy groceries, are the major U.S. anti-hunger program, forecast to cost at least $51 billion in this fiscal year ending September 30, up $10 billion from fiscal 2008.

"A weakened economy means that many more individuals are turning to SNAP/food stamps," said the Food Research and Action Center. Last summer food stamps were renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

The average food stamp benefit is $115 a month for individuals and $255 a month per household.

Enrollment for food stamps in December was up 2.2 percent from the previous month with increases in all but three states. Ohio had the largest increase among large states, up 3.4 percent, to 1.26 million people. Texas had the largest enrollment, 3.05 million, up 1.8 percent.

The previous record for food stamp enrollment was 31.6 million last September, which included "disaster" stamps for states hit by hurricanes and floods.

In April, food stamp benefits will increase temporarily by 13 percent under provisions of the recently enacted economic stimulus law. Ellen Vollenger of the Food Research and Action Center said some families will see increases of $80 a month.

(Reporting by Charles Abbott; Editing by Chris Wilson)"