Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

Lady Freedom Returns

(14,120 posts)
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 07:07 PM Apr 2013

“American Dream”: Food loaded into Dumpsters while Hundreds of Hungry Americans Restrained by Police

Last edited Sun Apr 7, 2013, 02:51 PM - Edit history (1)


Hundreds of poor people waiting outside of a closed grocery store for the possibility of getting the remaining food is not the picture of the “American Dream.” Yet on March 23, outside the Laney Walker Supermarket in Augusta, Ga., that is exactly what happened...

Read more:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/american-dream-food-loaded-into-dumpsters-while-hundreds-of-hungry-americans-restrained-by-police/5329966


ADD)


93 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
“American Dream”: Food loaded into Dumpsters while Hundreds of Hungry Americans Restrained by Police (Original Post) Lady Freedom Returns Apr 2013 OP
"If they didn't pay for it they have no right to it. Occulus Apr 2013 #1
Please tell that to the police that can go through people's trash. Lady Freedom Returns Apr 2013 #3
EVERYTHING is property of the police, should they decide it so. Occulus Apr 2013 #5
dumpster kardonb Apr 2013 #13
Ironically, taking weight out of the dumpster may have saved them money Dragonfli Apr 2013 #91
Hungry people, sulphurdunn Apr 2013 #19
And first, that's the problem with being a "centrist..." VPStoltz Apr 2013 #51
that makes me want to cry. barbtries Apr 2013 #2
Me too ! fishing gal Apr 2013 #55
I couldn't do it. I just couldn't. tblue Apr 2013 #79
That's a sin. I really hate what this country has come to. n/t Cleita Apr 2013 #4
I hate this world undergroundpanther Apr 2013 #6
Agree, sadly. antiquie Apr 2013 #8
It's a lot easier to go from being Poor formercia Apr 2013 #17
Our whole economy is based on artificial scarcity. wickerwoman Apr 2013 #23
Amen to that IrishAyes Apr 2013 #53
Right. If we did the right thing, rich people might not get richer, and making valerief Apr 2013 #60
It's only a matter of time. defacto7 Apr 2013 #46
Sickening, heartbreaking, and morally bankrupt. n/t Joe Shlabotnik Apr 2013 #7
Did someone say this is Christian country? Downwinder Apr 2013 #9
Yes, many have. Lady Freedom Returns Apr 2013 #10
They find it rather easy IrishAyes Apr 2013 #38
The fuckbagggers who call themselves Christian.... 47of74 Apr 2013 #56
Leviticus 23:22.... paleotn Apr 2013 #21
But didn't you know IrishAyes Apr 2013 #42
Oh it is... zeemike Apr 2013 #29
Gotta love Al Franken IrishAyes Apr 2013 #54
As I should have guessed, Curmudgeoness Apr 2013 #11
I can tell you for a fact that many of the homeless are getting far to restless. Lady Freedom Returns Apr 2013 #14
if it scares you, think about how the Corporate perpatraters feel... Volaris Apr 2013 #31
It's just that I have had a small taste of what people in a desperate atmosphere can be like. Lady Freedom Returns Apr 2013 #34
It's amazing how an empty stomach can put starch in a person's backbone IrishAyes Apr 2013 #57
V for Vendetta. And the Graphic Novel was much, much better. Volaris Apr 2013 #61
Thank you, I shall IrishAyes Apr 2013 #64
I dont think so. The rich dont have countries anymore. They are 'global". robinlynne Apr 2013 #93
I have a feeling that you are right Curmudgeoness Apr 2013 #33
Right now there is no leader... Lady Freedom Returns Apr 2013 #35
That's the false calm before the storm. IrishAyes Apr 2013 #58
It should scare everyone IrishAyes Apr 2013 #45
That isn't what amazes me. Or, should I say, what saddens me. Occulus Apr 2013 #73
I shudder. Curmudgeoness Apr 2013 #89
That is beyond sad it is mean spirited and evil azurnoir Apr 2013 #12
Just one example IrishAyes Apr 2013 #62
Should Have Given It Away erpowers Apr 2013 #15
Sorry, The capitalist world system is morally bankrupt and always has been. blackspade Apr 2013 #27
which is why in order for it to be sustainable long-term, Volaris Apr 2013 #44
Does Not Have To Be That Way erpowers Apr 2013 #83
The system IS the problem IrishAyes Apr 2013 #47
The bank and their lawyers most likely saw giving the food away R. Daneel Olivaw Apr 2013 #16
That's the sorriest excuse I have heard .. you really think these people who accepted .. YOHABLO Apr 2013 #32
Try reading what I actually wrote. You just read my words back to me. R. Daneel Olivaw Apr 2013 #70
The banks' INSURANCE COMPANIES think that. Occulus Apr 2013 #74
People are eating out of dumpsters, Curmudgeoness Apr 2013 #37
I read the article, and I understood that as well. R. Daneel Olivaw Apr 2013 #71
And a lot of municipalities have made dumpster diving a crime IrishAyes Apr 2013 #48
It's been a crime in my neck of the woods a lot longer than the new millennium. R. Daneel Olivaw Apr 2013 #72
+1 I am sure that was exactly the reason LiberalLoner Apr 2013 #18
When one of our local (western PA) supermarkets went out of buy started weeks maddiemom Apr 2013 #20
Sorry. Meant "went out of BUSINESS". maddiemom Apr 2013 #22
Your phone too, huh? Occulus Apr 2013 #75
I think, "Let them eat cake," applies. MsPithy Apr 2013 #24
If things like this keep up with so many starting to go without... Lady Freedom Returns Apr 2013 #26
History does repeat itself IrishAyes Apr 2013 #49
But... they WANTED to eat cake. Occulus Apr 2013 #76
They are going to deliver us the tar sands oil, Downwinder Apr 2013 #84
The bank is made up of disgusting scumbags. blackspade Apr 2013 #25
"World's Highest Standard of Living" photo - eighty years later. leveymg Apr 2013 #28
My husband nearly had a breakdown yellerpup Apr 2013 #30
For capitalism to function..... DeSwiss Apr 2013 #36
Too true IrishAyes Apr 2013 #50
food is thrown Niceguy1 Apr 2013 #39
Waste and Want: Grapes of Wrath revisited UnrepentantLiberal Apr 2013 #40
That was exactly my memory when I read this. MannyGoldstein Apr 2013 #52
That should be criminal RoccoR5955 Apr 2013 #41
There is such a thing as "not following orders".... Spitfire of ATJ Apr 2013 #43
In a central scene in "The Grapes of Wrath," some farmers let their crops rot to keep prices up, tclambert Apr 2013 #59
What bastards we have residing on this planet. lonestarnot Apr 2013 #63
And the longer we tolerate the status quo IrishAyes Apr 2013 #67
Did the pigs get the donuts? n/t L0oniX Apr 2013 #65
Just FYI for all of you posting here the nonperishables were not thrown out cstanleytech Apr 2013 #66
Read the first graph of the story in your link carefully. Lady Freedom Returns Apr 2013 #78
Well thank goodness I never claimed otherwise cstanleytech Apr 2013 #87
This is why bankers need to be hanged regularly. mbperrin Apr 2013 #68
Another FYI Purplehazed Apr 2013 #69
All that proves is how much police think of the public as dangerous animals who need protection Occulus Apr 2013 #77
My point... Purplehazed Apr 2013 #86
Is there another llink? xxqqqzme Apr 2013 #80
Try this one. Lady Freedom Returns Apr 2013 #88
Another option other than the sole link Lady Freedom cstanleytech Apr 2013 #92
Earn a Bible degree ad at top of the link page. Mnemosyne Apr 2013 #81
This is outrageous Nika Apr 2013 #82
Reminds me of this Woody Guthrie song: raccoon Apr 2013 #85
VIDEO! Lady Freedom Returns Apr 2013 #90

Occulus

(20,599 posts)
1. "If they didn't pay for it they have no right to it.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 07:11 PM
Apr 2013

It's property, see, and even when it goes into the trash, it's still someone's property."

- DU's Very Serious Centrist Brigade

Lady Freedom Returns

(14,120 posts)
3. Please tell that to the police that can go through people's trash.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 07:15 PM
Apr 2013

When it is discarded the police can go through it for whatever evidence they want.

"When it is discarded you have no legal clam anymore", as I have been told by one of Tucson's finest.

Occulus

(20,599 posts)
5. EVERYTHING is property of the police, should they decide it so.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 07:19 PM
Apr 2013

Who has legal claim to what's in a landfill?

 

kardonb

(777 posts)
13. dumpster
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:08 PM
Apr 2013

I assume then that the dumpster paid for the food ? Charity and common sense have truly gone out the window .

Dragonfli

(10,622 posts)
91. Ironically, taking weight out of the dumpster may have saved them money
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 04:00 PM
Apr 2013

I can't be sure in this case because locations and waste removal companies may differ from how it works here.

In my neck of the woods, the waste you take to the transfer station or landfill is weighed and you pay a fee based on that weight. Most of the removal companies here that provide dumpsters to businesses are contracted and agree to empty them usually on a schedule, the waste removal company in this arrangement gets paid a flat rate by the contract and pay the weight charges themselves. Less weight, same contracted fee, but less expense to the company as their weight charges would be less, more profit.

VPStoltz

(1,295 posts)
51. And first, that's the problem with being a "centrist..."
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:38 PM
Apr 2013

You will never at something as anything other than that WHICH BELONGS TO SOMEONE.
Second, that store may have gone out of business, but you know for a fact that the owner is writing off that food as a loss when he could have DONATED IT AN STILL WRITTEN IT OFF.

fishing gal

(4 posts)
55. Me too !
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:44 PM
Apr 2013

Last edited Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:37 PM - Edit history (1)

So pointless . Such a needless waste . Yes the pickup group let these people down big time but common sense, a sense of humanity, compassion should have allowed the bank to say to the people, take it and what is left will be dumped .

The bank's issue was a possible liability law suit if the people got sick or some other bad thing happened allowing them to have it ? Personal injury law suit are very common from those we try to help sometimes ?

Still, They could have had them sigh a waiver of sorts or something with a little fast effort to try and do the right thing instead of being hard jerks .

tblue

(16,350 posts)
79. I couldn't do it. I just couldn't.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:30 PM
Apr 2013

If I was a cop or the ones with the trucks, I couldn't do it. I'd have to say, "Just take me the fuck to jail."

undergroundpanther

(11,925 posts)
6. I hate this world
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 07:22 PM
Apr 2013

I hate the insane zero-sum economy.I want it all gone.I want the belief in money to die.I want the rich to go hungry and forced to stand by the 100 or so people,watching dinner being taken when they can't buy food I want the rich to feel the desperation and misery THEY cause..to be nobodies like the rest of us.

formercia

(18,479 posts)
17. It's a lot easier to go from being Poor
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:21 PM
Apr 2013

to being Poor than it is from being Rich to being Poor.

One of these days, the Economic Recovery Bubble, fueled by funny money and zero percent interest rates is going to pop.

Living la Vida Loca is only good, as long as you have the money to sustain the Lifestyle. When the money runs out, The Gated Community you thought was protection, becomes just another unwelcoming place.

wickerwoman

(5,662 posts)
23. Our whole economy is based on artificial scarcity.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:40 PM
Apr 2013

I just started getting into gardening and this is what I realised. On my little 1/5 of an acre lot, I could grow more food than I could eat if I wanted to. One little packet of seeds had the potential for hundreds of plants that could feed dozens of people.

We have the ability to feed everyone but we choose not to because it would drive the prices down. We have the ability to cloth and house everyone. We have the technology to let anyone talk to anyone else in the world or to sit down and watch any movie ever made or listen to any song or read any book but we choose to deny all of those things to the most unfortunate amongst us so that the more fortunate can get richer and richer. And the only excuse we give is that the poor haven't "earned" those things which we could easily share with everyone.

IrishAyes

(6,151 posts)
53. Amen to that
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:40 PM
Apr 2013

Like you, I have a good sized lot and can grow the things that are so expensive in the supermarket that it makes me want to scream. One of the greatest pleasures on earth is to pick your own tomatoes warmed by the afternoon sun - and eat more at the bush than you put in the basket!

valerief

(53,235 posts)
60. Right. If we did the right thing, rich people might not get richer, and making
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:58 PM
Apr 2013

rich people richer is the most important thing in the world.

defacto7

(13,610 posts)
46. It's only a matter of time.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:30 PM
Apr 2013

Time is not on anyone’s side and the earth is bigger than all of us including them.

IrishAyes

(6,151 posts)
38. They find it rather easy
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:19 PM
Apr 2013

... because they consider themselves Christ's mouthpiece, and they really worship themselves. If Christ appeared and reminded them that everything they were doing was evil, they'd switch labels like a spinning top. I've heard many say that if they ever find out one thing in the Bible is wrong, they won't believe anymore. They don't worship Jesus, and they don't even really worship the Bible (they'll burn you at the stake if you accuse them of bibliolatry); what they DO worship is themselves and their beliefs, which are acutely attuned to their own desires. PERIOD.

Now, see how easy that was?

 

47of74

(18,470 posts)
56. The fuckbagggers who call themselves Christian....
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:49 PM
Apr 2013

....would crucify Jesus Christ if he came back tomorrow and tried to get these gasbags to change their ways. Or worse.

paleotn

(19,187 posts)
21. Leviticus 23:22....
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:33 PM
Apr 2013

"When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Leave them for the poor and for the foreigner residing among you. I am the LORD your God."

Leviticus 19: 9 "When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest."

Leviticus 19:10 "Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God."

Leviticus 24:19 "When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands."

Leviticus 24:20 "When you beat the olives from your trees, do not go over the branches a second time. Leave what remains for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow."

Deuteronomy 24:19 "When you are harvesting in your field and you overlook a sheaf, do not go back to get it. Leave it for the foreigner, the fatherless and the widow, so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands."

Looks like a pretty explicit Christian doctrine to me.

IrishAyes

(6,151 posts)
42. But didn't you know
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:22 PM
Apr 2013

Dick Cheney's wife and daughter have been hard at work on a 'Conservatives' Bible translation which they promise has been stripped of any references to being your brother's keeper or any other hint of social justice. Once that's published all the conservatives can switch to their translation and then deny there is any other valid one in existence.

zeemike

(18,998 posts)
29. Oh it is...
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:05 PM
Apr 2013

But you obviously don't know the scriptures of Supply Side Jesus...

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="

" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
11. As I should have guessed,
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 07:55 PM
Apr 2013

"The bank ordered the food to be loaded into dumpsters and hauled to a landfill instead of distributed. The people that gathered had to be restrained by police as they saw perfectly good food destroyed. Local Sheriff Richard Roundtree told the news “a potential for a riot was extremely high.” "

I wondered whose plan this was....SunTrust Bank. I figures.

And I am shocked that there was not a riot. It is about time for one and it is amazing that these people had that much self-restraint.

Lady Freedom Returns

(14,120 posts)
14. I can tell you for a fact that many of the homeless are getting far to restless.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:10 PM
Apr 2013

Far to many of the homeless are not the old stereotype. Many had jobs, saved, did all a person is supposed to do. Then things happened and now, even though they did their part, they worked very hard, they are with nothing.

We also have old Vets on the streets. We have Vets coming back to nothing. This too will add to the unrest.

We also have those with no job, and are losing everything no mater how hard they fight. They go out every day and place applications and yet no call for even a quick interview.

Last but not lest is those that are hanging on a thread. They are the ones fight to keep 2-3 jobs to keep a roof of some sort. Yet, they keep fall behind the old "eight ball".

I keep posting on other sites about how we must use words and use good old MLK type of Civil Disobedience to change things. But with what I have heard at the food pantry, the unemployment / job hunt help office , even outside on the street and on the bus, I don't think many will keep peaceful for long.

And that scares me.

Volaris

(10,599 posts)
31. if it scares you, think about how the Corporate perpatraters feel...
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:08 PM
Apr 2013

they know if the lid comes off, they will be completely fucked for at least another 50 years in America, as much of their wealth and power will be (rightly) stripped from them. They seek to strike a balance between you being scared of the rioting, and your NEEDING to participate in those same riots.

Lady Freedom Returns

(14,120 posts)
34. It's just that I have had a small taste of what people in a desperate atmosphere can be like.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:13 PM
Apr 2013

When it does blow...

IrishAyes

(6,151 posts)
57. It's amazing how an empty stomach can put starch in a person's backbone
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:52 PM
Apr 2013

And when the lid does blow off, as it must and shall, for a time there will be no containing the understandable rage of the masses.

If I might drop a note about the blind stupidity of conservatives, though, let me tell you the story of one I met here who tried to tell me the evil fascist dictator in 'V Is For Vengeance' (or whatever the movie was called) represented liberals and not the rightwingers! This was a woman who virtually worships all the Bushies.

I'm trying to say, some people are dumber than dirt and you can't change that. Even when the present system crashes down around them, they'll still deny responsibility.

I've probably got the name wrong, but I love the movie. It's late for an old lady to be up, and my new meds are kicking in. Sorry.

Volaris

(10,599 posts)
61. V for Vendetta. And the Graphic Novel was much, much better.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:02 PM
Apr 2013

If you have a head for processing what some people don't consider literature, get a copy.

IrishAyes

(6,151 posts)
64. Thank you, I shall
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:06 PM
Apr 2013

Sorry I couldn't think of the correct title. Sometimes when I'm tired enough - in this case angry enough, too - I'm lucky to be able to think at all.

robinlynne

(15,481 posts)
93. I dont think so. The rich dont have countries anymore. They are 'global".
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 05:41 PM
Apr 2013

Their money isnt here. They have homes in several countries. They arent really from here anymore.

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
33. I have a feeling that you are right
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:13 PM
Apr 2013

that it would not be peaceful for long, because the only reason it was kept peaceful during MLK's time was that he was such a powerful leader. And you need a strong, respected leader to keep people focussed. I see no one at this time.

But I also do not see people moving toward change. It may be hidden under the surface, but I don't even see waves.....it is like everyone has given up. For now.

Lady Freedom Returns

(14,120 posts)
35. Right now there is no leader...
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:17 PM
Apr 2013

When all the people that are getting restless start to act on their own, and many are getting to that point, their will be anarchy like the world has not seen for a long time. And that is what really scares me the most.

Occulus

(20,599 posts)
73. That isn't what amazes me. Or, should I say, what saddens me.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:57 PM
Apr 2013

What amazes, saddens, and shocks me is that they and we have become convinced that in such a situation a riot is not considered appropriate; that we have become so cowed that hunger in the face of discarded, unwanted, and literally trashed (but perfectly good) food is not enough justification by Very Serious And Reasonable People to defy Order and Authority with massed force and fully righteous rage.

What use has a bank for discarded food bound for a landfill? What use has a bank for an unowned and unused home, car, or boat? Banks should not be able to own such things. Banks should not be able to own things it cannot, by any applicable logic, ever actually use.

When the dam breaks, it will break loose hell itself. Banks themselves will be one of the first targets for wholesale destruction. I don't know whether to shudder at that prospect with trepidation, or with anticipation.

Or both...

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
89. I shudder.
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 01:28 PM
Apr 2013

I am one of those people who try to do the law-abiding thing. And I do not think that riots are the answer. But I also agree that one of these days, it will be inevitable. And I worry about that day.

azurnoir

(45,850 posts)
12. That is beyond sad it is mean spirited and evil
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 07:59 PM
Apr 2013

it follows the thought of those who would rather see people go hungry than someone get something for nothing

IrishAyes

(6,151 posts)
62. Just one example
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:02 PM
Apr 2013

.... of plutocrat thinking. When I was married, my ex went to work for one of the most powerful forces of conservatism. You might guess we divorced soon after. But meanwhile, this woman proudly gave me a large amount of premium honey even though I kept insisting it was far more than my family could use in a lifetime.

So I turned around and gave most of it to the farmhands who'd cared for the bees who made the honey. When Ms. RichBich found out, she screamed at me in a purple rage. "Why did you do that? Those people don't even know what to do with it!"

I looked at her with my awful faux-confusion and mumbled, "Well.... I figured they'd just eat it, same as I did with my part."

It was her husband, a state senator, who told me in public later that the only good Democrat was a dead one. Though I do have to admit I'd chained myself to his booth at the state fair.

erpowers

(9,358 posts)
15. Should Have Given It Away
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:17 PM
Apr 2013

Sun Trust Bank should have allowed the police to give the food away. What was the point of throwing away good food. However, the police should have just disobeyed the order and given as much of the food away as possible. What would have happened to the police? I think that if Sun Trust would have tried to retaliate against the police they (Sun Trust) would have had supporters, but I think more people who have supported the police. I think most people would have said it was better for good food to be given away than for it to be thrown in the trash.

On another note, we have to stop blaming things like this on Capitalism. This did not happen because of Capitalism. This happened because of a few individuals who made a decision. You can give things away in a Capitalist society. Yes, most things are sold for a profit, but you can, under certain circumstances, give some things away. We have to start blaming individuals who make certain decisions and not the system.

blackspade

(10,056 posts)
27. Sorry, The capitalist world system is morally bankrupt and always has been.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:00 PM
Apr 2013

It is an unsustainable system that siphons capital from the many to give to the few.

Volaris

(10,599 posts)
44. which is why in order for it to be sustainable long-term,
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:24 PM
Apr 2013

it needs an external, guiding Moral Compass that is NOT Avarice. (FDR figured that out, and in so doing, saved the Wealth of his own class, even if the rest of his "class" were too dumb to see that at the time. )

The Christian Conservative block in this country think that that Moral Compass is the Bible, and the rest of us think it's the will of a Moral People, excercised by the Proxy Arm of the State, empowered to act, again, by Our Free Will. It's why they don't think that programs like the New Deal are even MORALLY acceptable, (as it seeks to remove even the need for INDIVIDUAL Morality) let alone Constitutionally legal. And for the record, when they say to me "thats EXACTLY correct", I ask them to explain to me why they favor outlawing Abortion, and thats usually when they get REALLY PISSED and walk away.

The GOP and thier idiots believe the immorality of Randian greed (and if you press them, they admit that's what it is) can be countered by many acts of individual morality. Liberals believe a SINGLE act (elected Empowerment of Government) of MASS Moral Conscience is better suited to the task.

It must suck for them that the Structure of our Government clearly lends itself to our way of thinking.

erpowers

(9,358 posts)
83. Does Not Have To Be That Way
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 12:57 AM
Apr 2013

The Capitalist system does not have to take from the many to give to the few. We just need more people to try to empower the many.

IrishAyes

(6,151 posts)
47. The system IS the problem
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:30 PM
Apr 2013

It encourages and enables massive greed of the plutocrats and economic slavery of everyone else. Not my notion of 'freedom and justice for all'. The 1% must be restrained to a far greater degree than the law allows now, and you know they won't do right voluntarily. If Warren Buffet sits there and sounds sympathetic to any degree, it's only because he knows fat cows give more milk. I'm tired of the rest of us being considered valuable livestock at best, with no inherent rights our masters don't choose to bestow on us.

 

R. Daneel Olivaw

(12,606 posts)
16. The bank and their lawyers most likely saw giving the food away
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:20 PM
Apr 2013

as a liability where somebody could sue them later if the became ill from spoiled food: no matter if it was a non-perishable.

I'm not condoning what the bank did as just. Too many people are suffering while stupid shit like this happens day in and day out.


I'm not sure of the amount, but businesses throw away good food at the end of the night simply because they can't sell it the next day, and they won't give it away for free.

There are businesses that do give food to homeless shelters, but what are the percentages involved in that?


Sucks.

 

YOHABLO

(7,358 posts)
32. That's the sorriest excuse I have heard .. you really think these people who accepted ..
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:13 PM
Apr 2013

the free food could hold the bank liable for some sickness? Come on. Would a food bank be liable for a food born illness? Has anyone sued the soup kitchen yet? You see that's what this country has come to .. cover your own ass .. people who are hungry and poor be damned. Don't you get it. It is ALL ABOUT CAPITALISM .. CAPITALISM HAS EATEN, AND IS EATING, US ALIVE !!

 

R. Daneel Olivaw

(12,606 posts)
70. Try reading what I actually wrote. You just read my words back to me.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:43 PM
Apr 2013

The banks and lawyers do this shit on a daily basis. Are you going to tell me they don't? They're heartless.

Banks are not there to be food banks. They buy properties. They sell properties. They grow fat on other people's misery, and frankly they don't care. Are you going to tell me they don't? Too big to fail and all that?

Spend you ammo on somebody else, and try to read first and ask questions later.

Occulus

(20,599 posts)
74. The banks' INSURANCE COMPANIES think that.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:05 PM
Apr 2013

Interesting how that fucking industry keeps ending up holding the reins, isn't it?

Fucking interesting. Like a purple legion on one's skin.

Curmudgeoness

(18,219 posts)
37. People are eating out of dumpsters,
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:19 PM
Apr 2013

if they can find any that are not under lock and key----because people do not want to see this happening in this, the greatest country in the world.

This was put out at the curb. It belonged to no one. It was the equivalent of a dumpster, with food that was still good and not covered in crap.

 

R. Daneel Olivaw

(12,606 posts)
71. I read the article, and I understood that as well.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:44 PM
Apr 2013

America isn't the greatest country in the world. It may be the most bloated.
 

R. Daneel Olivaw

(12,606 posts)
72. It's been a crime in my neck of the woods a lot longer than the new millennium.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:46 PM
Apr 2013

When times were good I knew a father and two kids that would go to big retail stores in the 70's to dumpster dive. They were chased off sometimes. Sometimes not.

maddiemom

(5,106 posts)
20. When one of our local (western PA) supermarkets went out of buy started weeks
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:33 PM
Apr 2013

ahead of time, reducing nonperishable food items at reductions finally down to below 75% off until everything was gone. Some grocery stores donate outdated stuff to charities. The Laney Walker people could have found a much better solution. My experience in retail has indicated that damaged or outdated items must be "written off," but trashing unsold food to this extent is criminal.

Occulus

(20,599 posts)
75. Your phone too, huh?
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:08 PM
Apr 2013

Mine's been predicting stupid shit to me lately, too, and in exactly that way. So has my sister's.

I'm starting to wonder if we all got a really really bad update somehow....

Occulus

(20,599 posts)
76. But... they WANTED to eat cake.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:09 PM
Apr 2013

The bank said, "Let them take the cake to the landfill."

Guillotine?

No.

Stake. Wood. Flame. Burn. Goodbye.

blackspade

(10,056 posts)
25. The bank is made up of disgusting scumbags.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 08:52 PM
Apr 2013

The fact that this could even happen is indicative of how the capitalist world system has corrupted civic society.
The folks emptying the building could have handed toe food over, the driver of the truck could have stopped and let the food be removed. Any number of decisions could have gotten this food into the hands of the people that need it.

yellerpup

(12,263 posts)
30. My husband nearly had a breakdown
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:07 PM
Apr 2013

(before I knew him) when his employer instructed him to break/destroy the toys that didn't sell over Christmas. How heartless can you be to prevent hungry people from picking up discarded food? Criminal.

 

DeSwiss

(27,137 posts)
36. For capitalism to function.....
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:19 PM
Apr 2013

...at all, there must be maintained a lack/inadequacy within the people of the society as a whole. Too much lack/inadequacy risks social upheaval and insurrection and the imposition of the Police State.

But with a sustained level of poverty that lies just under the tipping point of a lack and/or inadequacy of the basic requirements of a normal life with nutritious food, shelter and clothing (as the planet is more than capable of providing us all), the more solidified capitalism's position becomes. And since no one wishes to be the one to upset the apple cart (because we've been taught that any other system will surely result in utter chaos) we tolerate its moral insufficiency out of FEAR.


- And yet that is why capitalism's end is inevitable. It is SOCIETAL CANCER and if not cut out it will kill its hosts......

K&R

Zombie Bankers Eat Brainz!!!

Niceguy1

(2,467 posts)
39. food is thrown
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:19 PM
Apr 2013

Away every day due to the rampant amount of litigation in this country. Even entire truckloads are sent to landfills if fhe trailer is damaged in transit.even if there is nothing wrong with the product.

Not defending this just explaining why.

 

UnrepentantLiberal

(11,700 posts)
40. Waste and Want: Grapes of Wrath revisited
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:20 PM
Apr 2013

In his famous novel The Grapes of Wrath (Chapter 25), John Steinbeck described how food was destroyed during the Great Depression:

“Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people come for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges... A million people hungry, needing the fruit – and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains. And the smell of rot fills the country.

Burn coffee for fuel in the ships... Dump potatoes in the rivers and place guards along the banks to keep the hungry people from fishing them out [with nets]. Slaughter the pigs and bury them... And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificates – died of malnutrition – because the food must be forced to rot.”

A few more facts. In 1933 alone, the US federal government bought 6 million hogs and destroyed them. Vast quantities of milk were poured down the sewers. 25 million acres of crops (the area of a square with sides 200 miles long) were ploughed under. In Brazil, 69 million bags of coffee, equivalent to two years’ output, were destroyed. All to keep up prices.

More: http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2010/no-1272-august-2010/material-worldwaste-and-want-grapes-wrath-revisite

 

RoccoR5955

(12,471 posts)
41. That should be criminal
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:22 PM
Apr 2013

Where has the America that I grew up in gone?
Has runaway capitalism killed it, while making a few greedy individuals rich?
I seem to think so.

 

Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
43. There is such a thing as "not following orders"....
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:22 PM
Apr 2013

I suppose if the bank ordered the cops to open fire on the poor they would have to do that too.

tclambert

(11,136 posts)
59. In a central scene in "The Grapes of Wrath," some farmers let their crops rot to keep prices up,
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 09:54 PM
Apr 2013

while hungry farm workers starved. The farmers spray oranges with kerosene, throw potatoes in the river, slaughter and bury excess pigs. They overproduced and to reduce the excess supply and increase prices, the market demands that they let food rot.

"There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success. The fertile earth, the straight tree rows, the sturdy trunks, and the ripe fruit. And children dying of pellagra must die because a profit cannot be taken from an orange. And coroners must fill in the certificate- died of malnutrition- because the food must rot, must be forced to rot. The people come with nets to fish for potatoes in the river, and the guards hold them back; they come in rattling cars to get the dumped oranges, but the kerosene is sprayed. And they stand still and watch the potatoes float by, listen to the screaming pigs being killed in a ditch and covered with quick-lime, watch the mountains of oranges slop down to a putrefying ooze; and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; and in the eyes of the hungry there is a growing wrath. In the souls of the people the grapes of wrath are filling and growing heavy, growing heavy for the vintage." --from chapter 25

This struck me as a failure of our free market system. Here we had food available for picking. We had workers willing to work. We had hungry people who needed the food. And our banks and business people and the whole capitalist system could not figure out how to bring these ingredients together. The economics of the situation demanded that children starve to death with food rotting on the ground. The farmers had to, felt forced to, poison that food because the "invisible hand" of the marketplace could not allow people to have food for free.

Lady Freedom Returns

(14,120 posts)
78. Read the first graph of the story in your link carefully.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:15 PM
Apr 2013
Nonperishable groceries once destined for the Richmond County landfill after a Laney-Walker grocery store in Augusta was evicted Tuesday are heading to the Golden Harvest Food Bank.


Think all those angry people had something with the change of heart? I do.

mbperrin

(7,672 posts)
68. This is why bankers need to be hanged regularly.
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:14 PM
Apr 2013

Thank God I've had no dealings with banks since 1978.

North Korea? Nah, no worries. BANKERS have a long history of abuse and killing and generally damaging human beings. THEM I worry about, and this story is a perfect example.

Purplehazed

(179 posts)
69. Another FYI
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 10:25 PM
Apr 2013

"The normal process is once law enforcement leaves, it becomes public property. But again, with 400 people out with items such as these. These were brand new items from the store. We saw that the potential for a riot was extremely high," says Sheriff Richard Roundtree.

From: http://www.wjbf.com/story/21800863/laney-supermarket-gets-evicted

I think quite a few hear got spun up by spin.

Occulus

(20,599 posts)
77. All that proves is how much police think of the public as dangerous animals who need protection
Sat Apr 6, 2013, 11:14 PM
Apr 2013

FROM THEMSELVES.

That's a heap of bullshit right there. They KNEW- THEY FUCKING WELL KNEW- there were hungry people, people with kids, there that day.

There were too many, so nobody gets anything?

Bull. Shit.

They would have done the exact same goddamned thing if there had been two, or twenty, or none at all. How do I know this?

Because it's happened before, out of sight, with nobody there to glean from the discards.

Purplehazed

(179 posts)
86. My point...
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 08:01 AM
Apr 2013

Is that here is a legitimate news article that says that the sheriffs office made the decision to keep people away.

So while many are spewing anti-centrist, anti-bank, anti-rich, world hating, anti-christian, anti-corporate, anti-capitalist, business hating rhetoric, they didn't read the majority of the more mainstream articles out there. They describe the bank as asking the Sheriffs office to have the store left overs removed from the premises. So the Bank had no claim on that stuff. The store owner was willing to give it away, after all, it belonged to him. It was the sheriffs office that made the call to not let people have it.

So get mad at the sheriff, yell and scream, he deserves it. The chaotic ranting so far is like the liberal version of a teabagger rally. It doesn't aid in spreading a liberal ideal IMO.

raccoon

(31,457 posts)
85. Reminds me of this Woody Guthrie song:
Sun Apr 7, 2013, 07:17 AM
Apr 2013

Ramblin' Round
by Woody Guthrie

Ramblin' around your city
Ramblin' around your town
I never see a friend I know
As I go ramblin' 'round boys
As I go ramblin' 'round

My mother hoped that I might be
A man of some renown
But I am just a refugee
As I go ramblin' 'round boys
As I go ramblin' 'round

The peach trees they are loaded
The branches bending down
I pick 'em all day for a dollar boys
As I go 'ramblin 'round
As I go 'ramblin' 'round

Sometimes the fruit gets rotten
And falls on to the ground
There's a hungry mouth for every peach
As I go ramblin' 'round boys
As I go ramblin' 'round


©1962 TRO-Ludlow Music, Inc. (ASCAP)

Latest Discussions»Issue Forums»Occupy Underground»“American Dream”: Food lo...