Food Stamps

A Governor Truly Tightens His Belt
William Yardley (The New York Times, May 1, 2007)

"Gov. Theodore R. Kulongoski’s decision to live on $3 a day in grocery money for a week, as he had been urged to do in an Oregon 'food stamp challenge,' could confound the surest cynic. At 66, he was just elected to his second term, with a budget surplus surpassing $1 billion and a legislature controlled by his fellow Democrats. So just what was there to gain politically?

For a governor who has long pushed to reduce hunger and happens to like eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, maybe that was not the point.

As Wayne Scott, the leader of the House Republicans, put it: 'Obviously I’m in the opposite party, so it would be easy for me to knock him for this. Now, I don’t know that I fully believe that he’s eating on $21 a week, but I do think he’s trying to bring attention to the food stamp issue. He’s a pretty straight shooter.'"

Governor Shops on a Shoestring
Peter Wong (Statesman Journal, Oregon, Apr. 25, 2007)

"Gov. Ted Kulongoski learned a thing or two while shopping on a food-stamp budget Tuesday at the South Salem Fred Meyer.

A weekly allotment of $21 -- an average of $1 per meal -- did not allow for much in his shopping cart. His most expensive items were a small chicken and a box of Quaker Oats granola cereal. He bought a marked-down container of milk...

Kulongoski has made reducing hunger a priority ever since the U.S. Department of Agriculture pegged Oregon as the hungriest state in 1996-98. By its 2003-05 measures of hunger, which the USDA calls 'very low food security,' and food insecurity, Oregon ranked 22nd.

Oregon's rate of participation in food stamps, which were converted to electronic form a decade ago, now exceeds 80 percent of eligible households and is among the nation's highest."

Could You Feed Yourself for $3 a Day?
Harry Esteve (The Oregonian, Apr. 25, 2007)

"The governor's shopping trip was full of obvious ironies. He was driven to the store in a state car. Two bodyguards followed him through the aisles, as did a small throng of news media. In the checkout line, aides rifled through file folders to bring out coupons he could use.

But the governor took it seriously, studying prices, forgoing organic fruit to get the price break and taking advice from Christina Sigman-Davenport, a state worker who went on food stamps to support her family of five after her husband lost his job."

Food Stamp 'Stunt' Provides Food for Thought
Editorial (Statesman Journal, Oregon, Apr. 26, 2007)

"If Gov. Ted Kulongoski's food-stamp challenge is a publicity stunt, it's a darned good one...

The Oregon Food Bank got commitments from thousands of people who said they'd join the governor on lean rations this week. They include families, church congregations and workers from the Department of Human Services who want to better understand their clients' lives.

Others have at least given the matter more thought. Read between the lines of the governor's shopping list from Tuesday and you'll see that it's hard work to be poor. Kulongoski had to spend time searching for bargains such as a gallon of milk for a buck. He had to return a couple of items, a ritual that can prove embarrassing in the checkout line...

In short, the governor has this community talking across lines often divided by income, ethnicity and education. That's quite an accomplishment."

Harvard World Health News - Research Ethics, HIV testing, Vaccines, and Asthma

Sorting Out Good Research from the Bad
Sharon Begley (Newsweek, Apr. 29, 2007)
"For us civilians, it's hard to grasp how much of science is subjective, and especially how much leeway there is in choosing how to conduct a study. No one is alleging that scientists stack the deck on purpose. Let's just say that depending on how you design a study you can practically preordain the outcome."

HIV Testing Without Consent Could Come to Illinois
Jeremy Manier (Chicago Tribune, May 1, 2007)
"Doctors in Illinois may no longer have to get written consent from patients to give them HIV tests under a controversial state bill that's part of a national effort to make HIV testing more routine."

Cervical Cancer Vaccine: Doctors, Patients Want Insurers To Pay More
Sandra G. Boodman (The Washington Post, May 1, 2007)
"Discontent over the price of the vaccine -- the most expensive ever approved -- highlights a long-simmering dispute over reimbursement for immunizations, traditionally regarded as bedrock medicine."

NYC: Mayor Promotes Clean-Air Plan in an Area Hit Hard by Asthma
Anthony Ramirez (The New York Times, Apr. 28, 2007)
"Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, speaking in forceful and personal terms, went yesterday to a neighborhood plagued by high asthma rates to argue for his sweeping plan to reduce the city’s air pollution, which includes a surcharge for vehicles entering congested sections of Manhattan."