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Jon Stepanian
Huntington, NY
I am a community activist and co-founder of Long Island Food Not Bombs. Throughout the week I'm organizing distributions of organic groceries, clothing, books and other necessities to thousands of people in towns across the NYC/Long Island metro-area. I am also a believer in community direct action, or the process of a community coming together to fix its own problems.
So, if you have a problem in your community that you'd like to address ( like hunger, poverty, racism, sexism, etc... ), but you're not sure how to take action, I can help you out. Feel free to ask me questions, share your thoughts or just make suggestions.
You can find on the following social networks:
http://www.facebook.com/JonSTeps
http://twitter.com/JonSTeps
http://jonsteps.tumblr.com
Recent Activity
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Jon signed the petition | -
Jon commented on the article |Amber, I have no interest in arguing with you.
To address your questions:
1. It's not all put on Los Angeles, LA is just one of about 5 cities that records such data - thats why it's mentioned.
2. And yes, the $600,000 we spend on a single cruise missile can be spent in a much better ways, I go through some of them in my article.
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Jon commented on the article |
Yes, part of the article compares, how in 2005, 472 Americans died of homelessness in just LA county, while 56 Americans died of terrorism world-wide.
There aren't recorded numbers for how many Americans nation-wide died of poverty in 2005 almost all cities don't record that data. But the fact that one single city has so many more deaths attributed to poverty than compared to the world-wide deaths attributed to terrorism shows what's a greater threat.
There's no parsing here. You're just twisting facts.
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Jon commented on the article |
Amber, there isn't one reason why people are poor, there are many. Poverty is a serious problem that affects millions right here at home. You're the one that was blaming poverty on people being "drug addicts".
Trying to twist what I've written doesn't make your beliefs true.
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Jon commented on the article |
I'm sorry amber, but the vast majority of America's poor are not drug addicts and ignorance doesn't solve anything.
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Jon commented on the article |
Amber, For starters: Yes, our country is more than capable of providing basic necessities. Our country alone grows enough food to feed the world many times over. The problem is that we have very poor priorities (i.e. the point of my article, sending trillions on war).
Food is a right and not a privilege, to think otherwise is to deny the human condition. People need food to live, plan and simple. Poverty is also not a choice, its a reality for tens of millions of Americans and, being in the middle of a recession, any other statement on the matter seems pretty ignorant.
You are right, poverty isn't natural. It's man made. But it's not made by the vast majority of the poor, it's made by people in leadership positions who make really terrible choices - like building a single bomber that costs as much as much as a hundred schools. American is falling behind other countries for just that reason. We're not investing in our future.
And as for the numbers. Yes, 1 in 7 Americans is below the federal poverty line. But that doesn't change the reality that 1 in 4 Americans can't afford their basic necessities. The federal poverty line for a family of four is about $21,000 a year. That doesn't pay for food, rent, healthcare, the money it costs to get to work, clothing, etc... The sad truth is 1 in 4 Americans can't afford their basic necessities.
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Jon signed the petition | -
Jon commented on the article |
Amber, you can't say 10 million americans aren't doing enough to get themselves out of poverty because that's what 48% of people said in an NPR opinion poll. People believe lots of things that aren't true - opinions and facts are often very different things.
Poverty is not a choice. 1 in 4 americans don't want to choose between food or paying to get to work, or food or paying for rent, or food or paying for healthcare.
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Jon commented on the article |Greg, you said it as clear as anyone ever could. Thanks for reading, and please share your thoughts more often. Dialogue & action are so clearly needed in these times.
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Jon signed the petition |
Impact
19 Actions
0 Recruits
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Organizations
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go60mpg.org1 Action 0 Recruits -
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