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"Thanks for a different perspective on things! I was reading a newspaper with a column on the working poor. It spoke of a dinner they were having - polish sausage and potato chips. I wondered why they couldn't have bought a bag of potatoes or something that would last and be much cheaper."

Good question. Where I live, a lot of hispanic families get food stamps. Not illegals, but actual citizens. I was behind one such family in the checkout line last weekend. What do you suppose was in their cart?

Well, you might be surprised. There was a 10 pound bag of dry beans. Another 10 pound bag of rice. Flour, cornmeal, three 36 packs of tortillas. Four chickens. Three gallons of milk. Assorted vegetables, mostly tomatoes, onions, peppers, oranges, lemons, and other such. A butt roast of beef, a large chunk of pork, each probably 5 pounds.

No sodas. No chips. No frozen meals. Nothing of the sort.

This was a case where the mother of the family was buying basic foodstuffs and, I have no doubt, going to stretch them until there was nothing left.

She paid with food stamps. I was pleased.

Where I live, a lot of hispanic families get food stamps. Not illegals, but actual citizens. I was behind one such family in the checkout line last weekend. What do you suppose was in their cart?

I see the same thing ---- tons of hispanic families --- most who don't speak a word of English filling several carts of all kinds of food --- but usually they have plenty of cokes, cookies, candies, store decorated cakes and the rest. They not only have a food stamp card but plenty of WIC coupons too ---- plus those kids are getting free meals in Head Start and public school. They're usually obese with lots of obese children. Interestingly enough it's the hispanic families who speak English who don't use the food stamps.