RIP: Food Stamps

On June 17, 2009 all food stamps expire as they will all be replaced by EBT cards (debit cards). These are easier to deal with, they are more discreet, and grocery stores don’t have to deal with change.

Here are some other facts about the food stamp program:

1. 28 million people use them

2. There has been a name change from “The Federal Food Stamp Program” to SNAP – “supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program” since no stamps are involved any more

3.  You can see if you qualify for food stamps using the “Pre-Screening Eligibility Tool”   here http://www.snap-step1.usda.gov/fns/

4. You must have made less than $32,244 for 5 people in the household (and then meet a complicated net income test) last year. (130% of the poverty rate)

5. The maximum monthly allotment is $952 for a family of 6.

7. I got this information here: http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/ on May 27, 2009.

8. I wonder how long it will take before people stop talking about food stamps and start calling them SNAP.

9. The first food stamp program was put in place during WW II, because there was more food than money. It was restarted in 1961 under Kennedy and has grown since then.

10. Food stamps are now worthless from the government’s point of view. They are also not very valuable as collector’s items. There are too many of them compared to the number of people collecting them.  WW II food stamps are about $10 on ebay.

RIP: Delara Darabi – September 29, 1986-May 1, 2009

(begins in silence)

http://www.iranian.com/main/node/63030

Stop Child Executions sadly regrets to confirm that the Iranian female juvenile Delara Darabi was executed early morning today in the prison yard of the northern city of Rasht, Iran.

Delara Darabi was convicted of a alleged murder when she was 17 years old.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8030437.stm

RIP: John P. Prior – Heroic Healer and writer

Major John P. Prior, 42,  from Philadelphia, was killed on Christmas day in Iraq by enemy fire. He leaves behind a wife and three children. He is a medical hero. Before he went to Iraq with the Army Reserves – he was the the dedicated leader of the University of Pennsylvania trauma team. He wrote elequently about about his experiences in both Baghdad and Philadelphia. I found one of his stories here.

Here are some quotes:

In the swirl of screams and moving figures, my mind drifted to my recent experience in Iraq as an Army surgeon. There we dealt regularly with “mascals,” or mass-casualty situations. In Iraq, ironically, I found myself drawing on my experience as a civilian trauma surgeon each time mascals would overrun the combat hospital. As nine or 10 patients from a firefight rolled in, I sometimes caught myself saying “just like another Friday night in West Philadelphia.”

The wounds and nationalities of the patients are different, but the feelings of helplessness, despair and loss are the same. In Iraq, soldiers die for freedom, for honor, for their country and for their buddies. Here in Philadelphia, they die without honor, without purpose, for no country, for no one.

More young men are killed each day on the streets of America than on the worst days of carnage and loss in Iraq. There is a war at home raging every day, filling our trauma centers with so many wounded children that it sometimes makes Baghdad seem like a quiet city in Iowa.

He also writes about the “Lex Street Massacre” where 10 people were lined up against a wall and shot execution style in Philadelphia.  It was not covered in the newspapers because of our “double standard” and “triage of campassion and empathy” so “the war on the streets of America continues unabated”.

RIP: Arthur C. Clarke 1918-2008

The last of the big three has died (Asimov, Heinlien, Clarke). It is the end of an era. The golden age of Science Fiction is officially over. There are no SF authors the equal of these writing today.

He is preceded in death by his dog Pepsi which he said:

I’m still missing and mourning my beloved Chihuahua Pepsi, who left us more than a year ago. I’ve just heard that dogs aren’t allowed in Heaven, so I’m not going there.

but I said:

I have just heard that dogs *ARE* allowed to go to heaven and that’s where Pepsi is going!

so, God willing, Clarke and Pepsi are reunited!

http://markcole.wordpress.com/2007/09/26/arthur-c-clarkes-2007-egogram/

RIP: Larry Norman April 8, 1947- Feb 24, 2008

 Larry Norman, one of the fathers of Christian Rock music, died this weekend at age 60. I listened to his music over and over again when I was in high school. He made a huge contribution to Christian music and the power of being genuine. Here is the words of one of my favorite songs of his:

He’s an unidentified flying object.
You will see Him in the air.
He’s an unidentified flying object.
You will drop your hands and stare.You will be afraid to tell your neighbor.
He might think that it’s not true.
But when they open up the morning paper.
You will know they’ve seen Him too.CHORUS I         Gm
He will come back like He promised.
With the price already paid.
He will gather up his followers.
And take them all away.He’s an unidentified flying object.
He will sweep down from the sky.
He’s an unidentified flying object.
And some will sleep, but will not die.He’s an unidentified flying object.
Coming back to take you home.
He’s an unidentified flying object.
He will roll away your stone.

CHORUS II                Gm
And if there’s life on other planets.
I’m sure that He must know.
And He’s been there once already.
And has died to save their souls.

For more information and to read a letter he wrote recently:

http://www.larrynorman.combyGoodbye, farewell, we’ll meet

RIP: the 55,490,538 people who died in 2007

…but the news is not all bad. There were also 133,201,704 births for a plus change of 77,711,166 people in the world’s population. My source is Schott’s Miscellany 2008 An Almanac by Ben Schott p 79 World Birth and Death Rates.

Dave Dougherty’s 13 year-old daughter Clare dies in ski accident

Dave was my roommate and one of my closest friends in college. I just found out that his daughter Clare Dougherty died in a ski accident yesterday, December 25. Here is a newspaper article about it:

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071226/UPDATE/712260419

Please keep Dave and his family in your prayers.

December 27 UPDATE:  http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071227/METRO/712270381

December 28 UPDATE: Guest book for Dougherty services:
http://www.detroitnewspapers.com/deathnotices/guestbook.cfm?id=169056

Funeral is this Saturday, Dec 29, 2007 11AM at the Neely-Turowski Funeral home in Canton, MI.

RIP: Madeleine L’Engle (1918-2007)

Author of one of my favorite books – A Wrinkle in Time. It would have been the To The Moon book of the year! It is one of the greatest books of the twentieth century – and stands up nicely with other classics such as Have Space Suit will Travel, Black Beauty, Rats of NIMH, Harriet the Spy, Mixed up files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, and other great and awesome books. She wrote over 50 books, and I read a lot of them. Read more about her life here.

RIP: Luciano Pavarotti (1935-2007) and Dr. James Kennedy (1930-2007)

Two notable people died today: Luciano Pavarotti, famous opera singer,  and Dr. James Kennedy, famous pastor of the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida,

My 92 year-old friend Bill will be sad about Kennedy, and my mother-in-law will be sad about Pavarotti

Update: Bono talks about Pavarotti

Lilian Nabors

update: Lawrence Journal World: Obituary for Lilian Bravo Nabors 1960-2007

Lilian Nabors, the wife of Greg Nabors – one of my college roomates at KU and good Lawrence High School friend, went to dwell with the Lord forever last night. She has been suffering with cancer for many months, but she finished strong. Greg told me in an email:

Lilian indeed has fought the good fight, finished the course, and has kept the faith. I am far richer for having known her, and far poorer this evening as I write these words.

Lilian’s memorial service is:

Saturday, August 18, 2:00 pm
Southwest Community Church
8951 SW 44th St.
Miami, FL 33165
305-223-3816

http://www.caringbridge.org/cb/inputSiteName.do?method=search&siteName=liliannabors

So please pray for my friend Greg and his family during this difficult time.