No long rant here, just a quick observation.

One of my jobs is as a substitute lunch aide in a local school district. It's not a cooking job, all I do is record the kids' lunches into the computer. I happen to work at the poorest school in the district -- about 80% of the kids are on free or reduced lunches.

Yesterday I noticed something, after making and correctign an entry error -- the kids on free lunches still get charged for milk if they bring their own lunch and only take a milk. Yet if they take a full lunch, they get the milk with it -- free. It was explained to me that this is because there has to be a compensatable meal for the school to get the money back from the government.

Tell me that isn't as much about developing dependence on the government as it is about providing a needed service.

A Memo for the Modern "Pop-With-a-Twang" Crowd

THIS is what real Country Western music sounds like.