Speaking of poverty...

So I just gave a shout-out to John Kerry for speaking about poverty, and then I immediately read this about my home state:

In this week’s Economist article titled “The poorest part of America. Not here, surely? JUDITH BASIN, MONTANA” I found out just how poor. The article listed the bottom 20 US counties in terms of average wages and salaries reported from federal tax returns filed in 2003. Out of the twenty counties, eight are in Montana.

WOW... it's so crazy to realize that poverty is all around us, and in a large part of the rural United States. We have to fight poverty, whether it is in dense urban centers or spread out agrarian territory. Poverty breeds crime, alcoholism, rampant methamphetamine abuse, and a whole host of other social problems. Let's do something about it!