TomCat

The Republican Response to Hunger

Posted by TomCat at 11:50 am Politics

Jan 262015

We’ve had many years to learn the Republican response to illness. It’s the RepubliCare Death Benefit. Those who cannot pay for care get to die free. The Republican response to hunger is very similar. With the elections safely past, Republican governors, like Paul LePage (R-ME) are celebrating their victories by kicking citizens off SNAP,

More than 6,000 people in Maine have been kicked off the food stamp rolls since October, according to an investigation by local CBS affiliate WGME. Maine is one of a handful of states to make food assistance harder to get, and the cut-offs offer a preview of how safety net opponents around the country are planning to knock about a million Americans off of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) next year.

Gov. Paul LePage (R) decided last year to prematurely reinstate tougher eligibility rules requiring food stamps recipients to work. The state agency that maintains SNAP in Maine launched the change in October, and reports that 6,500 of the state’s roughly 215,000 SNAP beneficiaries had been booted from the program as of the end of 2014, WGME’s investigation found.

A Maine official portrayed the decision as “complying with federal requirements” in an interview with the station, but the federal government offered to waive those requirements for Maine and 36 other states back in May. In those 37 states, economic conditions are so bad that the federal government invited state officials to suspend the work requirement that usually applies to able-bodied adults without dependents who want SNAP benefits. When the economy is healthy and jobs are plentiful, a person with no disability and no one to look after must demonstrate that they are working or in job training at least 20 hours a week in order to get food stamps for more than 90 days in any three-year period. If economic conditions are dire, though, federal officials allow state administrators to waive the work rules for SNAP…

Inserted from <Think Progress>

Of course Republicans are trying to blame the feds. But the Obama Administration has waived that requirement. The reason is simple. Every penny the federal government spends feeding hungry people is a penny Republicans can’t spend on welfare for billionaires.

Open Thread–1/26/2014

Posted by TomCat at 11:49 am Open Thread, Personal, Plus, Politics

Jan 262015

It’s day 82. Here goes the new schedule. I tried to watch the Pro Bowl last night. I forgot how badly they have screwed it up and turned it off before the first quarter was over. I feels very strange to have slept part of last night.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:51 (average 5:32). To do it click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From The New Yorker: Republican Presidential candidates descended on Iowa over the weekend, giving Iowans a rare opportunity to evaluate all thirty thousand hopefuls in one place.

The candidates were a big hit with their G.O.P. audience, who attempted to determine which of the thirty thousand would do the best job of eviscerating Obamacare and deporting college students.

Andy always has been a master of understatement.

From NY Times: Alexis Tsipras, leader of the left-wing Syriza coalition, is about to become prime minister of Greece. He will be the first European leader elected on an explicit promise to challenge the austerity policies that have prevailed since 2010. And there will, of course, be many people warning him to abandon that promise, to behave “responsibly.”

So how has that responsibility thing worked out so far?

To understand the political earthquake in Greece, it helps to look at Greece’s May 2010 “standby arrangement” with the International Monetary Fund, under which the so-called troika — the I.M.F., the European Central Bank and the European Commission — extended loans to the country in return for a combination of austerity and reform. It’s a remarkable document, in the worst way. The troika, while pretending to be hardheaded and realistic, was peddling an economic fantasy. And the Greek people have been paying the price for those elite delusions.

Click through for the remainder of this Paul Krugman Editorial. Austerity work for the super rich only. That’s why Republicans love it so.

From USA Today: Thousands of flights were canceled, schools were closing early and snow trucks were rolling Monday in anticipation of a monster storm expected to roar across a wide swath of the Northeast with up to 3 feet of snow and near-hurricane force winds.

A blizzard warning was issued for the New York and Boston areas and more than 5,200 flights had been canceled before the storm cranked up. The storm will impact more than 40 million people, according to the National Weather Service.

The treacherous, 24-hour-plus snow odyssey was expected to be most severe late Monday and deep into Tuesday. AccuWeather senior meteorologist Tom Kines said Philadelphia, New York City and much of New England could see 1-2 feet of snow. Parts of central Massachusetts and central Connecticut could be in the 2-3 foot range, he said.

feel so sorry for you guys! Please take extra precautions to keep yourselves warm and safe. Here, when the sun burns through the fog, and it warms up, I’ll go bask my kitty butt in 58°.

Cartoon:

0126Cartoon

Reject Butcher Ben

Posted by TomCat at 1:25 pm Politics

Jan 252015

President Barack Obama has worked long and hard at negotiating a settlement with Iran in conjunction with European Union. If successful, it will go a long way to restore the relationship with Iran that deteriorated when Republicans overthrew a democratically elected government the to enable Britain’s control of Iran’s Oil. It can prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. To undermine that, Republicans want to impose sanctions on Iran now, virtually assuring war in the future. To that end Speaker John “Agent Orange” Boehner (R-OH) has invited Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address Congress and request sanctions. A prominent liberal Jew, Philip Weiss has an excellent idea regarding that visit.

A lot of the commentary on the shocking/outrageous/inappropriate/unprecedented/ dangerous invitation from the Republican leadership to Benjamin Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress about our Iran policy, thereby undermining Obama’s negotiations, has said that Netanyahu shouldn’t have accepted the invitation or the Republicans shouldn’t have invited him. A couple of liberal Jewish organizations, for instance, are pleading with Congress to delay the speech.

But they did invite him. And he did accept the invitation, for March.

The Republicans and neocons and Netanyahu have all taken action. But our side is being passive.

Here is the real challenge to all those who don’t want another war in the Middle East: Tell your congressperson not to undermine our president’s efforts to strike a deal with Iran. Tell your congressperson not to attend the speech. That’s right. Tell your congressperson to give Benjamin Netanyahu the cold shoulder, lest he lead our country to war, or undermine the American president on his efforts to strike a deal with Iran.

Inserted from <mondoweiss.net>

Butcher Ben has been lobbying for a US attack on Iran, because Iran has threatened Israel. Iran lacks the capability to make good those threats. Butcher Ben also wants Israel to remain the only illegal nuclear power in the near east. For a foreign leader to be invited lobby Congress to undermine the President’s foreign policy is unprecedented and seditious. I urge you to tell your Congress critter to boycott Netanyahu’s appearance. I also would consider it appropriate for them to show Netanyahu their back, because of the total disrespect he is showing this nation by participating in this Republican scheme.

SoINeedAName Still Has a BIG Mouth!

Posted by TomCat at 1:25 pm Blog News, Politics

Jan 252015

60-Nameless

This is Nameless’ sixth Big Mouth Award, having won in December 2012, September 2010, May 2010, July 2011 and August 2011. He isn’t a blogger, so you can’t follow him home, but he comments almost daily here. He is the kind of participant that every blogger dreams of having, because instead of just stating opinions (which is fine in itself), he adds to the content of my articles with many useful links. His sense of humor is superb! I even receive comments about his contributions on other sites where I share our articles.

I sure has been a long time, but because this is an even multiple of 10,000, I will be contacting him for mailing address and having a prize made for him.

Please join me in thanking and congratulating Nameless! It’s long overdue!

Open Thread 2-1/25/2015

Posted by TomCat at 1:24 pm Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 252015

5It’s still day 81. I’m changing my schedule. I plan to upload articles whenever I finish writing them for the day. It will keep me more current, and I won’t have to wait until midnight to upload. I’ll be a little less regular, but I think I’ll get more rest this way.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s is on the first Open Thread.

Short Takes:

From Daily Kos: That he can say such vile things with a smile on his face speaks volumes of his character. (Warning:NSFW or around children, or decent folk)

Barf Bag Alert!!

Behold the love of Republican Supply-side pseudo-Christians! These are NOT authentic Christians. Authentic Christians honor the beliefs of others. Republicans prove the existence of DEVOLUTION.

From Washington Post: The Obama administration will propose setting aside the 1.4 million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) as wilderness, the White House announced Sunday, a move that will spark a fierce battle with the new Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee chairman, Lisa Murkowski, and other Alaska Republicans.

I fully support this move and wish he would do more.

From Desmoines Register: Donald Trump is aggressively pushing himself back onto the Iowa stage as presidential material.

In a sit-down interview with The Des Moines Register, he said the two presumed GOP frontrunners, Mitt Romney and Jeb Bush, are doomed to lose — and he expressed regret that he hadn’t run himself in 2012.

Trump said he should be in the White House right now.

When Trump joins the clown car, every day is a bad hair day.

Cartoon:

From Prophets to Profits

Posted by TomCat at 12:35 am Politics, Religion

Jan 252015

It’s already that time again. As much as Republicans talk about a campaign season that is going to be short and low key, the establishment candidates are lining up Banksters and vulture capitalists, while the rest are scurrying to capture that attention of the base and the baggers.

Louisiana Governor and GOP presidential hopeful Bobby Jindal is the keynote speaker for a rally funded and organized by an anti-LGBT group that has blamed gay people for causing the Holocaust and advocated imprisoning homosexuals. So why isn’t his appearance garnering national media attention?

On January 24, Jindal will keynote a six-hour prayer event at Louisiana State University called "The Response: A Call To Prayer For a Nation In Crisis." The event is sponsored and funded by the American Family Association (AFA), one of the most extreme anti-gay hate groups in the country. It’s also being staffed by a number of notorious anti-LGBT activists.

The event has drawn protests from members of the LSU community. On January 22, the Faculty Senate passed a resolution expressing displeasure with the event, and a university spokesperson has clarified that the rental of an LSU facility "does not imply any endorsement."

Inserted from <Media Matters?

Rachel Maddow has more, including a woman who could be a Joni Ernst clone. Once again, a Republican governor is kicking off his campaign with a demonstration that he loves Republican-Supply-side Jesus (the exact opposite of the real Jesus) and hates all the same people that Republican Supply-side Pseudo Christians hate.

The sad thing is that all the Republican candidates will eventually pay homage to Dominionists.

Now that takes care of prophets, but what about profits?

This week many Republicans traveled to the annual Koch Brothers retreat. Some candidates are attending in public, perhaps to cover up those Republicans who are attended secretly, as Standartenfuhrer Scalia and TEAbag Thomas have in the past. Those who will be there on the record are “Deport them all” Rubio (R-FL), “Idiot, Son of Idiot, Named after Idiot” Paul (R-KY), “Uranus Inspector” Cruz (R-TX), and “Fartfuhrer of Fitzwalkerstan” Walker (R-FW)(formerly WI).

So whether it’s for prophets or for profits, the whoring has begun.

Open Thread–1/25/2015

Posted by TomCat at 12:34 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 252015

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 81. Yesterday I spent almost the entire day in bed. I’m still quite worn, but not so much that I can’t write. I am running somewhat late, because we had a beautiful sunny day today with a 60° high, and as we cats often do, I could not resist basking in the sun for a bit.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 3:26 (average 5:49). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Short Takes:

From Upworthy: This MLK greatest hits album doesn’t actually exist *yet*, but it’s a pretty damned good idea.

Amen to this. "Beyond Vietnam" is a speech everyone should have heard more than once.

From NY Times: Jorge Ramos, the Univision and Fusion television anchor who is often called the Walter Cronkite of Latino America, was in his suburban Miami broadcast studio when he all but pounced on the chairman of the Republican Party, Reince Priebus, who was appearing from Washington. The Republicans’ immigration policy is “deportations, deportations, deportations,” Mr. Ramos said. “Why?”

Mr. Priebus, who stared out from multiple screens in a control room here looking as if he would rather have been doing anything but talking to Mr. Ramos, insisted it was not so. But Mr. Ramos would not have it.

“The message,” he retorted, “is anti-immigrant.”

It appears that making the official Latino Republican Response to the SOTU the opposite of the of the official Pig Nuts Republican Response didn’t work.

From The New Yorker: President Obama’s proposal to give workers six weeks of paid leave is meeting strong opposition from a group of people who annually receive thirty-three weeks of paid leave…

…The opponents of paid leave, who show up for work a hundred and thirty-seven days per year and receive paid leave for the other two hundred and twenty-eight, were baffled by other moments in the President’s speech.

For example, they were confused by Obama’s challenge to try to survive on a full-time job that pays fifteen thousand dollars, since they all currently hold a part-time job that pays a hundred and seventy-four thousand dollars.

Dang it Andy!! I do news commentary. You do comedy. You’re in MY turf AGAIN!! 😉

Cartoon:

Personal Update–1/24/2015

Posted by TomCat at 12:29 am Open Thread, Personal, Politics

Jan 242015

I’m writing for tomorrow, day 80. Yesterday my meeting with my guys in prison went very well. About 75 had a general meeting, while 25 had a discussion on ethics with students from an University of Oregon Ethics class. I could not have been more proud of all of them. The students left with a changed perspective about prisoners. On the down side, I turned off my O₂, when I got to the Activities section and would be sedentary, but I turned the bevel to continuous flow instead of off by mistake, le3aving mw with an empty O₂ tank. That made the trip home extremely difficult. It wiped me out in the procss, so I need to spend the day in hiding.

Jig Zone Puzzle:

Today’s took me 4:51 (average 6:22). To do it, click here. How did you do?

Cartoon:

TCSleeping

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