Open Mouth, Insert Foot

Or if you prefer, just shoot yourself in the foot, along with your chances of winning a chance at the Presidency. While some people will vote for him, he just guaranteed that a whole lot of us, including Republicans, won't even look at him as a viable candidate.

How can you think that a statement like this is even acceptable?

"They're pushing harder and harder to get more and more of you dependent upon them so they can get your vote. That's what the bottom line is. So I don't want to make black people’s lives better by giving them somebody else's money. I want to give them the opportunity to go out and earn the money and provide for themselves and their families."

Wait a minute. So he thinks that our Brothers and Sisters don't work? That a majority of Black Americans are on welfare? That if you're Black, you are looking for a handout?

Really?

REALLY?

While there are still massive problems with the welfare system, Welfare Reform is more than 15 years old. The system changed dramatically in the 90s, forcing participants to look for jobs, putting time limits on adults, and sanctioning those who try to defraud the system.

The economic meltdown really hurt a lot of the success of Welfare Reform. Last hired, first fired is still the mantra of businesses everywhere. People who worked their way out of welfare were among the first fired. So they had to go back to the system to help pay the bills and feed their kids.

Yeah, I know, but listen to me -- If your highly skilled and qualified neighbor has been out of work for two years, what the heck makes you think that the person down the street with a GED and two kids, with a no-account ex who's been dodging his/her child support for the last 10 years, is going to be able to bounce right out and find a new job?

There are a lot of people on the system right now who never, ever, in their lives, would've thought it would come to this. They are struggling to survive. They paid into the system by working and paying taxes like everyone else. Now they're taking a little bit back and Santorum thinks that they're leeching off the government?

What would make this clown think that Black Americans aren't out busting their behinds like everyone else, looking for jobs and trying to raise their families?

In fact, what makes him think that the majority of people on assistance are Black? While the proportions may be high, due to a number of factors including discrimination, lack of education or opportunity and physical location, there are more WHITE people on welfare than Blacks.

And you all wondered why I said, straight up, that there are NO credible Republican candidates. None. The people stepping up are the dregs of the party, if you ask me for my biased opinion. Hypocrites, bigots, delusional, even a bit demented, that certainly fits the candidates that I've seen so far.

The Republicans don't have a chance.
 
Thank God.
 
Links:
http://news.yahoo.com/santorum-singles-black-people-dependent-government-134435658.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Santorum

Stigmatizing Welfare Recipients

Oh great. Rick Scott, that idiot that's running Florida, puffed himself all up. Well, now the needle is popping that balloon.

All welfare applicants must drug test -- out of their own pockets -- in order to receive benefits.

Yeah, they touted this like everybody on welfare is a shambling crack ho, spending the gov't money on drugs instead of feeding their children.

Hahahahaha! Too funny! Results so far: Of the approximately 1,000 applicants, only 20 tested positive.

Twenty.

So Florida has proved what all too many public employees already knew. Most people on assistance are trying to manage in a difficult situation. They're trying to keep a place to live and feed their kids. There's nothing left for drugs.

Don't believe me? Look up the benefit amounts in your state and try to live on them for just one month. I won't even bet you, it's not right to take easy money like that.

So, the next time someone is ranting about "those welfare leaches," do bring up Florida.

Yep, the haters have had another balloon blow up right in their faces.

FAIL!

Yeah, I smiled...

http://www.care2.com/causes/floridas-mandatory-drug-tests-for-welfare-recipients-finds-few-fails.html

Yet Another Reason To Hate Republicans

Insensitive, self-righteous, obnoxious pig -- how's that for a start?

South Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer gave me yet another reason to never, ever, ever become a Republican. Never.

On Friday, not only did he open his mouth, shove his foot in, but he's still gnawing at his hip instead of admitting that he could be WRONG and APOLOGIZE to the poor and needy families he insulted with his typical Republican point of view of the "welfare" system of cash aid, food stamps, Medicaid/Medi-Cal.

Quote:
"My grandmother was not a highly educated woman, but she told me as a small child to quit feeding stray animals," Bauer told a Greenville-area crowd. "You know why? Because they breed.

"You're facilitating the problem if you give an animal or a person ample food supply. They will reproduce, especially ones that don't think too much further than that. And so what you've got to do is you've got to curtail that type of behavior. They don't know any better."

He's comparing poor families to ANIMALS??? In a state with 12.6% unemployment?

And he feels NO need to apologize.

Say what?

OK, like I didn't need another reason to hate a closed minded, selfish, arrogant, self-righteous political organization that not only condones but encourages this kind of attitude toward the peoples of his state and the United States.

Calling poor families, even children, animals?

As a Christian, I'm embarrassed that someone who professes Christianity would forget that Jesus himself told us that the poor would always be with us AND that we're supposed to take care of the widows and children. It's our mandated duty, given to us by our Savior. We don't get to pick and choose what we think the right thing to do, this is straight out of the Big Man's mouth. We are to care for the poor. Period.

Bauer needs to crack open the Word and let the Lord smack him up side the head a few times. Then apologize and do some actual work for a change, like volunteer at the local soup kitchen and homeless shelter. No, not just a donation -- I'm talking about actually getting his behind up out of his white castle and go down into the streets and do some important work for the Lord.

In the meantime, we the people have a duty to handle politicians with this kind of disrespectful attitude toward the families they're supposed to represent.

IE: Vote the B******s out! (And in Bauer's case, don't vote him in as governor!)

Links:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/82910.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Bauer

Misinformation And Straight Up Republican LIES

I just heard the Meg Whitman ad on the radio yesterday and about swallowed my teeth. (Good thing they're still original equipment!)

Have you heard the garbage she's spouting about welfare reforms?

Ummmm, did she miss the fact that we've had Welfare Reform over 10 years ago now?

From her own website:

MEG: Some people worry that we're creating a welfare state. The fact is, California is the welfare state.

ANNCR: Meg Whitman talks about the California welfare system.

MEG: Did you know that California has twice the population of New York, but five times as many welfare cases? 32 percent of all welfare caseloads in America are here in California.

We provide among the highest cash welfare checks of any state.

But only 22 percent of our recipients work for their benefits.

The system is broken.

But we can fix it…

Let's cut the lifetime welfare benefit from five years to two.

And let's put able-bodied welfare recipients to work. Looking for employment, performing community service or working toward a GED.

If they don't, they lose their benefits.

Welfare can't be a way of life. We need to help those in need, but we need to do it in a way that's accountable, sensible, and strengthens our communities.

ANNCR: Paid for by Meg Whitman for Governor 2010.

MEG: It's time for A New California. What do you think? Share your ideas and read my plan at TalkToMeg.com.

OK, now let's just look at this. Except for cutting the 5 year lifetime limit to 2 years, what she's spouting is WHAT WE'RE ALREADY DOING!

Sorry for shouting, but she's spouting garbage. It's all political gobbledygook to make people get all hot and bothered about "those people".

Well, you know what, with approximately 12.5% unemployment* in California, there may be good reasons why welfare recipients aren't working. They can't find jobs!

Use your heads people! If your highly skilled next door neighbor got laid off and can't find work, what makes you think that someone with a GED, two kids, and an ex that refuses to pay child support, is going to be able to bounce out the door and find a job that will make him/her and the family self sufficient? Get real!!

Meg is pushing out the usual Republican pap to get the right wing masses all hot and bothered about "those lazy welfare recipients".

Bad news Meg, reality bites and the garbage you're pushing out is just that, garbage. A pack of misinformation and straight up lies. Too bad that the conservatives will bite, sucking up the party line instead of using their heads, doing a little research, and realizing that you're just Arnie in a dress.

Yup.

I fear for my state, if Meg gets in, we're looking at four more years of the same tired BS. We might as well vote Arnold in again. It'll just be more of the same -- blame the poor and the liberals instead of rolling up sleeves and actually doing some work.

Oh. I didn't mention something about our welfare recipients, did I?

The biggest welfare recipients are our elected representatives, sucking at the government teat while spending OUR money, trying to steal OUR pensions, and then blaming US for their mismanagement of this beautiful state.

Well, they're right about one thing. We are to blame for voting them back in, year after year after year.

This next election, let's make a REAL change.

Vote them all out!

Every
Single
One

Start over with some new blood. We can't do any worse than we already have!!

And in the meantime, since Meg is already lying in her ad campaign, if I was you, I'd be really suspicious about everything else that comes out of her mouth. Leopards don't change their spots and liars don't stop lying. Even when they've been busted for it.

Especially when they've been busted.

Think about it.

And don't take my word for it. Look it up.

From 1997 - when Welfare Reform began: http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/rb/RB_297TMRB.pdf

From 2003 - The stats used by pundits like Meg:
http://www.statemaster.com/graph/eco_wel_cas_tot_rec-economy-welfare-caseloads-total-recipients

BUT looking further on the same website: http://www.statemaster.com/graph/eco_wel_cas_tot_fam_percap-caseloads-total-families-per-capita

Unemployment - January 2010:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

And by state - November 2009:
http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm

* California unemployment in November 2009. Recent news reports are putting the actual unemployment rate at nearly 25%. (But we all know how the media can distort a simple statistic!)

New Orleans -- Here We Go Again!

As hurricane Gustav is bearing down on the Gulf Coast, Texas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi, a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans and Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, has been ordered.

People are scared and are fleeing inland. Rightly so, Gustav has been called the storm of the century.

But, but, but...

There's a problem that pretty much no one has focused on.

It's the end of the month. Many people don't get paid until the first and it being a holiday, won't get their checks until Tuesday, the day AFTER Gustav is supposed to hit land. In addition, the people on public assistance won't start getting their automatic deposits until the first. And I'm not sure how Louisiana has worked their public assistance program, but if they were in Cali, those deposits are staggered over three days, the first, second and third of the month.

Yes, there was a mile long line of people for buses that will take them out of town. But many people are afraid to leave. They don't have any money right now, no money for gas, no money for food, no money for a hotel and after the Super Dome fiasco, some are afraid to go to a shelter. If they have pets, what will they do with their animals? Are the animals allowed on the buses? (I don't know, but I doubt it.)

And bluntly, as the workers in the link (below) say, if they leave, they'll lose their jobs.

I know, you're saying, "No way, they can't get fired for evacuating!"

Oh yes they can!

Don't underestimate the hard-heartedness of the tourist industry. As long as there's one tourist in town that might spend a nickel, there will be places open for business. And those bosses, all too many of them, will expect their staff to be at work getting that last nickel.

Yes, that's horrible. But that's the reality of being a low-income worker.

I just hope and pray that the people who are staying behind are aware of what areas stayed dry during Katrina and can make their way to those places if the levees fail again. That they've stockpiled supplies and have an emergency plan, just in case.

I pray that the white communities around New Orleans, the ones that turned back fleeing residents at gunpoint, have been SHAMED into helping their Brothers and Sisters of every ethnicity, color, race, if Gustav turns out to be as bad as Katrina.

I pray that our politicians stop politicking and get their behinds in gear to help the residents of affected areas, wherever that may be, providing food, water, shelter within hours, not days and weeks, of Gustav hitting the Gulf Coast.

I pray that anyone who has a vehicle big enough to tow a trailer, even a Katrina trailer (that they aren't supposed to move), has that trailer hitched up and moving it and the family to safety. Better to ask forgiveness later than to let that family lose everything. Again.

I pray that somebody up in the Louisiana Welfare department wakes up this morning, realizes what's going on and gets some overtime going on, releasing the EBT benefits early, so that the participants who are still in New Orleans and Jefferson Parish can buy food and gas and evacuate before Gustav hits the coast. Again, despite the rules and regulations being broken by releasing funds early, better to ask forgiveness later.

And I pray that all these precautions become unnecessary and that somehow Gustav loses some of its strength before it hits land.

In the meantime, New Orleans, here we go again!!

Hang on and people, keep praying for our Brothers and Sisters!!

Link:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/08/30/new.orleans/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/08/31/gustav/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/weather/08/30/gustav.prepare/index.html?iref=mpstoryview