Between The Lines - Dr. Cathy Grace: Increase in U.S. Poverty and Proposed cuts in Federal programs (Week Ending Sept. 30, 2011)

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

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The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

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THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

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As U.S. Poverty Rises, Social Safety Net Programs Face Cuts

RealAudio MP3

Posted Sept. 21, 2011

Interview with Dr. Cathy Grace, director of early childhood development with the Children’s Defense Fund, conducted by Scott Harris

The U.S. Census Bureau’s recent release of poverty statistics for 2010 revealed that there has been a significant rise in poverty with 46.2 million adults and 16.4 million children living below the official poverty level, the largest number in the last 52 years. Those numbers translate to 22 percent -- or more than one in five of all American children now living in poverty in the aftermath of the nation’s worst economic decline since the Great Depression.

The rise in poverty comes at the same time as both Congress and President Obama are negotiating major cuts in federal social safety net programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The Republican-controlled House of Representatives voted in April to privatize Medicare, while significantly reducing benefits – and imposing spending cuts on programs like food stamps and Medicaid. President Obama recently announced his plan to reduce the budget deficit that includes $320 billion in Medicare and Medicaid cuts over the next decade. The plan calls for charging Medicare beneficiaries higher premiums and deductibles, while making lower payments to teaching and rural hospitals. Under the president’s proposal, homebound senior citizens would now be charged co-payments for the delivery of home health services.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with Dr. Cathy Grace, director of early childhood development with the Children’s Defense Fund. She examines the consequences of congressional and White House plans to make deep cuts in federal programs assisting the poor as the number of Americans living in poverty reaches a 52-year high.

DR. KATHY GRACE: To put some face in reality behind these numbers, we've got also 45 percent of our children living in extreme poverty and that's $30 a day for a family of four. So, when we think about $30 a day for a family of four, that's not very many groceries. When we actually have children that are going to bed hungry, we don't want to think about that in this country, but we have children who have only been getting meals if they're old enough to attend school: breakfast and lunch and then of course, supper is very limited, if any. And then on the weekends, there's just practically nothing in households for children to eat, much less anything nutritious. So, when we're seeing the "closed closet" lines growing, when we have people that are involved in being able to go to free a health clinic and the lines are triple around buildings, that's the reality that we're facing in this country – not a country overseas – but in this country. I don't know if we just can't absorb that or if we just haven't been able to really grasp the meaning of what this past year – and it looks like continuing through next year – really means to needy families in this country.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Dr. Grace, we've had months and months of Congress and the president and now this super committee that's been appointed to talk about deficit reduction and their task in great measure is to reduce federal programs, including Medicare and Medicaid. What's at stake for the nation's poor in the coming negotiations, especially for children with a potential of a reduction of these federal programs' benefits?

DR. KATHY GRACE: First of all, everything's on the table. I don't think you could say that any program is necessarily safe. And, we also have to talk about poor children because families' children – who, perhaps folks have not (been) ordinarily considered come into this poverty range – are there now. And some folks refer to them as "the new poor," so we're talking about a band of individuals from a chronic poverty standpoint as well as those who have just recently, due to job loss and other circumstances, found themselves in the same category.

So when we're talking about potential cuts, we have to protect all programs that can support and enhance the development of children and support those families. We're looking at protecting Head Start and the job care development block grant that keeps childcare available for parents who are low income, working, going to school. Certainly, have to protect the Medicaid and CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program) programs because that's literally saving lives every day.

We have had a large increase in families and children on SNAP (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program), what used to be called food stamps. And of course, WIC (Women, Infants and Children) programs that are helping to support the pregnant women and children under the age of five. And those are just a few that are as, you can tell, critical to individuals actually living and, for young children, their development.

BETWEEN THE LINES: During a recent Republican presidential candidate debate, we saw Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), one of the candidates, asked by the moderator about government responsibility to pay for health care for a man who had been in a car accident who was without health insurance. And Ron Paul basically said the man should be allowed to die if he doesn't have health insurance and can't pay for his own health care. That drew a lot of applause from the audience and a lot of people watching that were horrified. People are questioning really what's going on in this country where a significant number of citizens in a major political party seems to favor the dismantling of the nation's social safety net, even if it will result in the deaths of large numbers of the poor. How do you respond to what seems to be going on in this country these days?

DR. KATHY GRACE: We seem to have lost the moral compass, and I know people have said that from time to time. But the only way we've lost it, and the only we can get it back is to be more responsive. And if we don't respond, that can be taken as an affirmation or apathy. And I think that it's up to us as a nation to say, "Enough is enough." And if we're not careful, we're going to become totally, I guess I would say, desensitisized to this whole idea of human worth.

For more information on Children’s Defense Fund and the rising rate of poverty in America, visit www.childrensdefense.org.