McGrath, according to the BBC..Click Here a third of British children live in poverty. How can you be so concerned about Mississippi when 4 million British children are living in poverty? How can you turn your back on them?

A family of four that makes $16,000 qualifies for food stamps, WIC checks, most likely AFDC. You will also note in MR Vulliamy's article that,"Finally came the 'welfare reform' of 1996 which removed tens of thousands from the benefits rolls and sent them into jobs they often lost within weeks either through ineptitude or inability to live the working life." I am assuming that 'inability to lead the working life' means they won't put down the crack pipe and the Schlitz malt liquor long enough to keep a real job.

BTW it should also be noted that YANK has not replied with any sort of figure about the number of 'starving' people in the US....perhaps he is having trouble finding such a figure because it ain't happening....

But back to these poor kids in the UK....how callous can you be, McGrath? You shed your tears for the American South, while one third of the babies in your own country live in poverty! This is after the US poured billions of dollars into rebuilding Europe after the last war! What did you folks do with all the money? How can there be poverty in the social democratic European Utopias? How can you look at other countries and tell them how cold-hearted they are, when 1/3 of British babies are in poverty, eh?

GregF "Well,I'm glad Carlin had such a positive experience at the E.R. and that they were able to kiss his boo-boo and make it better."

Would you like some cheese with that whine? You employed a stupid rhetorical device and got burned....don't be prissy about it.

Just out of curiosity, do you think that in a nation that has socialized medicine...oh let's say Britain (where 1/3 of children live in poverty!), if Tony Blair goes to the public health clinic (ha!), does he get a)the same treatment as everybody else, b)worse treatment than everybody else, or c)they bend over backwards and kiss his ass?