Day: December 6, 2011

The Attack On The Food Stamp Program

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The Food Stamp program of the Agriculture Department has been the lifeline for millions of Americans, more so now than ever before, with the terrible economic conditions since the Wall Street crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession!

And yet, conservatives and Republicans condemn the Food Stamp program, and Newt Gingrich calls Barack Obama the “Food Stamp” President derisively.

One would think the Food Stamp program is abused, which is an urban myth!

No one becomes rich on the Food Stamp Program! It is only $130 a month per person on it, far from enough for anyone to eat for a full month. A person to be eligible must make under $11,000 per year, or under $22,000 per family.

It is also interesting to point out that half the recipients of food stamps are children, and ten percent are elderly. And 68 percent of the recipients are white, while most of the rest are African American, with only small numbers of Hispanic, Asian American, or native American participation in the program.

The Food Stamp program issues credit cards that can only be used for certain food items, not liquor and cigarettes, for instance!

It is no fun for anyone to be on food stamps, and it does not mean that anyone is gaining full nutrition monthly on $130 per person for the month.

The conclusion is that there are conservatives and Republicans who would rather have people starve, than feed children and adults who are living in squalid conditions in poverty.

This is Scrooge to the extreme, and disgraceful behavior!

The Hypocrisy Of Mitt Romney: Champion “Flip Flopper” Criticized John Kerry In 2004 For Massive “Flip Flopping”!

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It has been uncovered that Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts openly criticized Senator John Kerry of his home state, the 2004 Democratic Presidential nominee, in that year’s campaign for “massive flip flopping”, a charge leveled by the campaign of President George W. Bush, but actually far from being accurate!

Kerry did “flip flop” on some issues, but nowhere near the number and depth of “flip flopping” of Romney in the present Presidential campaign, and nowhere near as much as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has been shown to have done over the course of time!

Romney is a major hypocrite in so saying what he did in 2004, and then pursuing a much greater level of such switches!

Meanwhile, Senator Kerry has continued his distinguished career in the US Senate, and presently is Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee!

The “Trump” Debate Becomes Marginal! And Establishment, Libertarian, And Tea Party Republicans Are In Revolt!

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The “Trump” Republican Presidential Debate, cosponsored by NewsMax, a conservative news link, was a joke from the beginning, with the concept that Donald Trump, a braggart, an egotist, a narcissistic billionaire, who inherited his wealth, and has gone bankrupt several times, should have the right to get involved in a presidential campaign as a sponsor of a debate, when he, even now, threatens that if the chosen candidate he endorses after the debate does not win the nomination, he may return to the race himself as an Independent candidate!

Well, now with the refusal of Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, and today, Mitt Romney, to be involved in the charade, the circus, Trump is left with Newt Gingrich (who it seems, assuredly, he will endorse), Rick Santorum, Rick Perry, and Michele Bachmann, although Bachmann’s camp has only said she is considering whether to participate.

This “Trump” debate is infuriating the Establishment (Bush) conservatives, who fear that the party is going down the drain, and do not like Gingrich and his ethical and moral violations; and also the libertarian Ron Paul and Tea Party wing, who feel Gingrich is a BIG GOVERNMENT conservative, just what they hate!

So the “Trump” debate only further exacerbates the Republican Party blood letting that is going on, all to the benefit of Barack Obama!

Barack Obama Invokes Teddy Roosevelt And The “New Nationalism” Of The Progressive Party Of 1912

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President Obama invoked Teddy Roosevelt and the “New Nationalism” program of the Progressive Party of 1912 in a speech today at Osawatomie, Kansas, the site of a speech by the former President in 1910, setting the standard for his later third party run for President in 1912.

Called a socialist, a radical, and even a Communist by many conservatives a century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt promoted a very advanced series of ideas out of office, more than when he was in, including the end of child labor, equal pay for women, a minimum wage, a social insurance program including social security and health care, a progressive federal income tax, and reforming the political system.

His program, known as the “New Nationalism” became the forerunner of much of the “New Freedom” of Woodrow Wilson, the “New Deal” of Franklin D. Roosevelt, the “Fair Deal” of Harry Truman, the “New Frontier” of John F. Kennedy, and the “Great Society” of Lyndon B. Johnson.

Obama talked of the need for a strong middle class and a raised standard of living, and the need to regulate corporations and to raise taxes as other Presidents have done, in order to promote a “fair shake” for everyone, giving everyone “equal opportunity” to succeed.

Obama emphasized that major tax cuts for the rich had led to greater inequality, lower creation of jobs, growing deficits, and the collapse of the American economy in the past ten years. He declared that “trickle down economics” had never worked in the past successfully, and that assertive actions by government were necessary to promote a bright future for all Americans.

He called for more investment in education, research, technology, infrastructure, and manufacturing, rather than in banking and finance which leads to phony manipulation of financial figures and causes financial “bubbles”!

His speech, as usual, was well delivered, and was designed to inspire the American people to take on the struggle that was fought during the Progressive Era by Theodore Roosevelt to promote a bright future for America!

And remember that Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican who believed in the role of government to make a better society, something regrettably not the viewpoint of the transformed Republican Party of today, which speaks only for the wealthy and the corporations, and spends time dividing people and gaining support based on social conservatism issues, including gay rights, abortion rights, gun rights, illegal immigration and affirmative action. Meanwhile, the lives of the masses of Americans who vote on their emotions, rather than their reason, for the GOP, does not lead to better lives for those people!

If Newt Gingrich Became President . . . . . . .

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If former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich became President:

1. He would be taking the oath of office as the second oldest to Ronald Reagan, but about five and a half months younger than Reagan was when he took the first oath of office.

2. He would be only the second Speaker of the House to become President, after James K. Polk in 1844.

3. He would have had the second longest career in the House of Representatives of any President, a total of 20 years, as compared to
Gerald Ford’s nearly 25 years.

4. Only three other Speakers of the House were nominated for the Presidency–Henry Clay in 1824, 1832, and 1844; John Bell in 1860, and James G. Blaine in 1884.

5. He would be the longest out of public office (14 years), with Abraham Lincoln second with 12 years.

6. He would come into office with the most controversial and divisive reputation since Richard Nixon in 1968.

7. He would be only the second President to have an earned Ph. D. (Tulane University in History), after Woodrow Wilson (Johns Hopkins University, History and Political Science), elected in 1912, exactly a century earlier!

8. He would be the second President to be divorced after Ronald Reagan, but the first to have had two divorces and a third wife, and interestingly, his first two marriages lasted precisely 19 years each!

9. He would be the second President to come from the state of Georgia, after Jimmy Carter in 1976, although Gingrich was born and grew up in the state of Pennsylvania.

10. Gingrich would enter the Presidency as the most controversial and “ethically challenged” President since Richard Nixon, and only James G. Blaine, nominated by the Republicans in 1884, might be considered to be of equal “ethical challenge” to Gingrich.

11. Gingrich would compete with other Presidents for prolific authorship of books, including Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, and Jimmy Carter.

12. Finally, Gingrich would continue the “summer birth” tradition of the previous four Presidents–Bush I in June, Clinton in August, Bush II in July, and Obama in August, if he were elected!