Give Me A Break!!!

I saw a story on Good Morning, America today that just amazes me. Where is integrity in journalism? It's dead and in a grave...that's where it is.

Chris Cuomo did a story about a little girl in Albuquerque, New Mexico who was given a cheese sandwich instead of a hot lunch because her mom had not paid for her daughter's lunches.

You can see the story here http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/

Cuomo was trying to make the school district look bad for giving kids a cheese sandwich, a piece of fruit and milk because parents wouldn't pay for hot lunch. Then we get to see the mom. She is sitting next to her adorable little girl looking very sad and slightly outraged. She has nicely fixed hair, a french manicure and in b-roll shots of her in the story she is wearing a leather jacket and carrying a digital camera and cell phone.

She expresses outrage that the school would embarrass her daughter and force the child to eat a cold cheese sandwich. Cut to a close-up of the offending cheese sandwich. (I'm surprised they didn't play sinister music to accompany the shot of the heinous food)

Cuomo explains that this woman is no deadbeat parent because she had applied for the free lunch program and was waiting for approval to come through, so....

so....

so what????

Clearly she knew she was not approved yet and that her daughter didn't have money for her freaking lunch, so here's an idea. Why not, oh, i don't know, give up your manicures for a couple of weeks so your daughter can have a hot lunch.

Not that I'm against manicures. I, myself, love them, but it would be a cold day in hell before I got a manicure while my child did without!!!

Here's another crazy idea.

FIX YOUR KID A SACK LUNCH!!!

When my kids were in elementary school, I would receive a notice from thecafeteria when my kids' lunch accounts were low. They'd give them a few days to pay it. After that...it was a peanut butter sandwich for the kid.

My son HAS had to have the peanut butter sandwich because he would forget to bring me the note and I didn't know. But when he got the peanut butter sandwich, he suddenly remembered to give me the note and I paid up. He was fine! He did not suffer emotionally because he was forced to have a peanut butter sandwich and milk for lunch while other kids had a hot lunch. In fact, he learned responsibility.

So here is my problem....that ABC News and Cuomo thought this was a story. Furthermore, they LAID into the district superintendent like he was an abuser instead of this mom who thinks everyone should pay for her children so she can keep her hair nice and her nails done and so she can have the digital camera and cell phone.

Are they serious???

Here's an idea Chris Cuomo, why not do a story about people who get free lunches for their kids at taxpayer expense when they can afford french manicures!!!

Yes, I left a comment at the GMA website. Maybe I should leave another one asking John Stossel (he also works for ABC) to check out free lunch parents' lifestyles.