Disabled

Republicans And Food Stamps: “Red” States Are The Major Beneficiaries, And Their Supporters Seem Unaware What Republicans Are Doing To Them!

The Republicans have declared war on “Food Stamps”, and have called Barack Obama the “Food Stamp” President!

While promoting all kinds of support for the corporate world, Republicans are out to promote massive cuts to people who are expected to feed themselves in a way no civilized person in America would want to be faced with! To hell with a balanced diet and nutrition, and therefore the promotion of bad health habits, which lead to medical problems, for which many will not have health coverage if one leaves it up to the Republicans and conservatives!

So people should starve, because they are “bad” people for being poor, and their children should do without adequate nutrition, which is impossible on the present Food Stamp benefit, before any further cuts!

But this is all veiled by the belief of conservatives that MOST of the recipients of food stamps are African American, Hispanic and Native American, and are located in “Blue” Democratic states in the major urban areas of the nation.

The facts are otherwise, as the vast majority of people on Food Stamps are white, are single females and their minor children, and live in Republican “Red” states in the South, Great Plains and Rocky Mountain areas of the nation!

So it is the “Red” states that are the real “welfare” states on Food Stamps and other benefits for the poor, and it is in these states that ignorant, uneducated, and clueless people vote Republican, without awareness of what the GOP is trying to do—make the lives of poor women and children, as well as elderly and disabled, heavily white populations ever more difficult!

This is all mind boggling, and one wonders when these poor whites will get the message as to what the party they vote for is doing to them and their children’s future!

Terrorism Tax Essential To Deal With Threats To National Security!

It is clear after the Boston Marathon tragedy that we will be dealing with the imminent threat of terrorism, whether external or internal, for many years, even decades.

At the same time, we have many who tell us we must cut Social Security and Medicare for the elderly, veterans, and the disabled. We are also told we cannot afford health care and education,. and that millions of Americans must be sacrificed on the altar of never raising taxes!

Well, it is time that those opposed to tax increases, in a nation with the lowest tax burden of any democracy in the world, start reconsidering.

So a proposal is to recognize the dangers that face us, and to see that we are engaged in a different kind of war, and in all wars except under George W. Bush, taxes went up to support the war.

So we need a “Terrorism Tax”, and it should be one percent on incomes under $25,000; two percent on incomes up to $50,000; three percent on incomes up to $100,000; four percent on incomes up to $250,000; five percent on incomes up to $1 million; and six percent on all income above $1 million, including unearned income!

The author knows he will be attacked for such a heinous suggestion as a “Terrorism Tax”, but our security and safety requires sacrifices from all of us, and those with higher income and assets should be expected to contribute more to the nation that has helped to give them opportunity to prosper!

As John F. Kennedy said in his Inaugural Address in 1961, all of us should share the responsibility of promoting our nation and advancing its agenda, that we cannot afford as citizens to sit on the sidelines and leave responsibility to others. Let us fulfill what Kennedy enunciated 52 years ago!

Obama Is Wrong To Compromise On Social Security And Medicare, But GOP Will Save Him With Their Obstinacy On Taxes!

President Barack Obama is infuriating progressives and liberals and Democrats with his move to suggest cuts in Social Security benefits and Medicare, which will harm senior citizens and veterans and widows and the disabled.

Many forget that Social Security is fully funded for at lest 25 more years, and all that needs to be done is to tax all income, not just $112,000, the same as with Medicare which taxes all income. Raising the Social Security tax to all income will insure Social Security for the rest of the century! Cutting Cost of Living Allowances is immoral and reprehensible, when we allow corporations to gain government funding, which should never have happened at any time!

Medicare needs to insure that all will know that cost cutting should be on waste, overpricing, and fraud, but not on benefits to the elderly and the disabled.

A country that does not take care of its elderly, its disabled, its veterans, its poor, is a nation that has become morally and ethically corrupt!

But the Republican Party will save the day, because part of the deal that Obama is attempting will require increase in taxes on the wealthy and the corporations, and since they will never agree to any deal, it will take Obama and the nation off the hook!

UN Disabled Treaty Rejected By US Senate: The Shame Of The Senate!

A United Nations Disabled Treaty, to promote human rights and security for the disabled world wide, negotiated and agreed to by the George W. Bush Administration; reaffirmed by the Barack Obama Administration; backed by disabled Republican Senators and Presidential nominees John McCain and Bob Dole and many other reasonable Republicans in and out of government—sadly was defeated today in the US Senate by a vote of 61 in favor, 38 against, with a two thirds vote (or 66 out of 99 votes) required.

This is to the shame of the Senate, as only eight Republicans joined all of the Democrats and two Independents, to support the treaty.

Blame for the defeat goes heavily to wingnut former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the so called “runner up” to Mitt Romney in the 2012 Presidential nomination battle, who organized opposition from outside, but had willing participants from sitting Senators of his party, who did not care to insult McCain and Dole and all disabled citizens.

The crazy argument of Santorum and others was that the treaty would take away power from parents over home schooling and medical care, when nothing could be further from the truth!

If this lunatic and wingnut is allowed to be the Presidential nominee of his party in 2016 by so called “inheritance”, it will be the final demise of the Republican Party as we knew it, and a new party will arise in its ashes!

Meanwhile, the human rights of the disabled have been harmed by the short sightedness and religious extremism of a determined minority which does not promote the true beliefs or teachings of Jesus Christ, but instead distort them, and promote hate and division!

Eight Poor, Backward States Reject Expansion Of Medicaid For Their Poor, Sick, Disabled And Elderly Citizens: Reprehensible!

Eight states, among the poorest in the nation, and mostly in the South, have now seen their Governors and Republican legislatures reject an expansion of the Medicaid program, which is so desperately needed by their poor, sick, disabled, and elderly citizens, an absolutely reprehensible development!

The states are Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma and Maine.

2.8 million people will suffer, with half of them being in Texas. So this means that Governors ranging from Rick Perry, Nikki Haley, Paul LePage to Bobby Jindal, all except LePage having shown interest in running for President, have taken a hard stand against those less fortunate!

It is unbelievable that in 21st century America that we could have such backward leaders of states, who show contempt for their own citizens, and yet are likely to be reelected by an ignorant, uncaring population, and in states where, with the exception of Maine, the population claims to be “religious” and “good Christians”, but defy the message of their faith, to care for the poor and disadvantaged!

Bobby Jindal Tells Republicans To Stop Being “Stupid” Party! But Is That Possible?

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal has declared that the Republican Party has to stop acting “stupid”, and must stop backing no increase in taxes on the wealthy, and insulting the intelligence of voters by crazy statements and viewpoints.

This all sounds very good in theory, but is what Jindal suggests really possible?

The answer is NO, as the following evidence demonstrates:

1, The Republican Party insulted their own history by having loony, nutty, whacky candidates in the race for the Presidency, including Michele Bachmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Herman Cain, and Rick Santorum. And Santorum made it clear that the Republican Party would never get the backing of intelligent, educated, smart people, which is absolutely the case right now

2. The Republicans settled on Mitt Romney, who looked reasonable in 2011, but in order to win the nomination of his party, totally transformed himself into a mean, nasty, hard hearted candidate who was willing to lie, to deceive, to change his views daily, deny his whole political heritage, and came across ultimately as totally insincere and untrustworthy. Many people found Mitt Romney obnoxious, feeling privileged and entitled, extremely phony to the core, and just wanting the campaign to end so that they no longer had to see his face and hear his voice!

3. Mitt Romney proceeded to pick an absolutely horrible Vice Presidential running mate, Wisconsin Congressman Paul Ryan, who came across as totally ideological, and alienated senior citizens and others with his call for privatizing Medicare and Social Security, and his extreme right wing agenda to cut the budget ruthlessly, without ever raising any taxes on the wealthy, who have had a ten year break from reasonable taxation, because of the Bush tax cuts. Ryan helped Romney to lose the “battleground” states, and his appointment showed poor judgment by Romney.

4. The Republican Party declared “war” on women, Hispanics and Latinos, young people wanting to get an education, senior citizens concerned about Social Security and Medicare, the disabled concerned about Medicaid, those who cared about the environment and consumer rights, those who support labor rights, African Americans who saw racism in the GOP message, and many others who were totally turned off to the party message.

5. The conservative media are like poison to the Republican Party, as are the social conservatives who want to interfere with people’s private lives based on promoting theocracy in America, and the Grover Norquist promotion of never, under any circumstances, raising taxes—all of this makes the Republican Party totally toxic to most voters. And of course, the decision to repudiate science in favor of religion shows how backward the party has become.

6. To believe that the Republican Party will change under these circumstances is to be naive, and any change would seem to be phony and just looking for votes, not a sincere reform or conversion.

Theodore Roosevelt’s 154th Birthday: He Would Mourn What His Republican Party Has Become!

Today is the 154th Anniversary of President Theodore Roosevelt’s birth.

TR is one of the most acclaimed Presidents, often listed as high as 4th all time, just below Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and George Washington.

TR is certainly regarded as the second greatest Republican President of all time, behind only Lincoln, unless one chooses to believe the lunacy of conservative propagandist Glenn Beck, who constantly denounces TR, and would put Ronald Reagan higher than TR, and who also has reservations about Lincoln, because correspondence between Lincoln and Karl Marx has been uncovered, which makes some right wing nuts think Lincoln “might” have been a “Socialist”, or a “Communist”, or even the word “Progressive”, which is considered the same thing by Beck, Florida Congressman Allen West, and other right wing lunatics!

TR was a “Progressive” who promoted conservation and the environment; promoted the advance of labor rights; believed in regulation of big business; created the Food and Drug Administration to monitor safety of what Americans consume; and believed later in his life, when he ran as the Progressive Party nominee for President in 1912 that there was a need for health care and labor laws and other aspects of a social safety net. This made TR the forerunner of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama in advocating more government, more regulation, more social safety net, and concern about the environment.

None of the above is now believed by the Republican Party of Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan, who wish to repeal everything TR and his successors of both parties believed in!

So it is clear that TR, certainly not perfect but still exceptional in so many ways, would NOT be a Republican today!

But then Abraham Lincoln would not be a Republican today.

Neither would Dwight D. Eisenhower or even Richard Nixon or Gerald Ford, who were condemning the religious extremism of their party in their later years.

And right now, former Florida Governor Charlie Crist, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, former Rhode Island Senator Lincoln Chafee, and former South Dakota Senator Larry Pressler have endorsed President Barack Obama.

And under the surface, not willing to speak up, but clearly uncomfortable with the GOP of 2012, are many other former Republican Governors, Senators, and Congressmen who feel that their party has been “hijacked” by an evil, selfish, greedy, nasty group of weirdos who wish to take away rights from women, labor, minorities, the disabled, the poor, and the middle class, and are refusing to come out openly and endorse Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan.

The party of Theodore Roosevelt and his “progressivism” and reform is long gone, and sadly, may never return!

If Obama Loses, We Lose MUCH More Than He Loses!

President Obama has made the statement that were he to lose the Presidential Election Of 2012, he and Michelle would do just fine, and that is certainly true.

After all, he has been President, will go down in history as a President who had some positive effects on the nation, and will be able to spend the rest of his life with great earnings potential, and rising popularity over time, and would be mourned when he dies, with a state funeral, and always be part of the story of American history.

Being a one term President, he would be likely to have a lower ranking in the list of Presidents, as Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush have had, along with William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, and Gerald Ford, the five Presidents of the 20th century who lost reelection.

Obama has had a record deserving of being listed higher, but he needs a second term to reach the ranks of the more outstanding Presidents.

But, ultimately, the biggest loser if Obama is not reelected, are:

Women–who will see their movement toward equality and dignity stalled or reversed in massive ways.

Gay men and women–who will likely lose the advancements on gay rights and gay marriage, and true equality in all ways.

Hispanics and Latinos–who will see more anti immigrant backlash, and will lose the advancements for young Immigrants under the proposed DREAM Act.

African Americans—who will see greater racism and discrimination, and setbacks in the promotion of equality and fairness of treatment.

Labor–who will see more attacks on workers rights, favoritism toward corporate employers, loss of collective bargaining rights, and setbacks in the lives of ordinary, struggling Americans who have no union representation.

Environmentalists–who will see more oil drilling, air pollution, refusal to understand the dangers of climate change, and allow economic development that endangers the health of millions of Americans, all for the motivation of profit over health concerns.

The poor–who have rough lives, will see a lack of concern or action to deal with the reality of child poverty, homelessness, hunger, the lives of single mothers, and further condemnation of the poor, reminding us of the Gilded Age and Social Darwinism.

The Middle Class–who will suffer further degradation, loss of opportunity to advance, and the potential for their children to succeed being lessened dramatically.

Young People–who will have fewer opportunities to advance in education and work, and will be embittered and disillusioned about the American Dream, which will be unfulfilled for millions.

Senior Citizens–who will have to live in fear of dangers to Social Security and Medicare, and will lose the sense of security and contentment in their older years.

The Disabled—whether young, middle aged, or old, who will see a loss of concern and support, as through Medicaid and other government programs.

Civil Libertarians–who will see further erosion of the Bill of Rights, and the promotion of narrow minded views of Muslims and Hispanics-Latinos by government policy.

The Peace activists–who will see America engaged in more wars, because of the power of Neoconservatives who will promote further foreign adventures.

Military Personnel and Veterans–who will see more soldiers killed in the future, and more ignoring of the needs of veterans who are fortunate enough to come home alive.

Educators and Intellectuals–who will be less appreciated and admired, and will be labeled “Communists, Socialists, Terrorists” by people in the Republican Party, who will do everything they can to attack education and freedom of thought, and call critics “unpatriotic”.

So Barack Obama will do just fine if he loses, but we, the American people, will lose so much, and it will transform our lives in so many negative ways that most people cannot conceptualize or imagine!

The “Safety Net” In Tatters If Republicans Win Total Power

The “Safety Net”–what makes a society human and compassionate–is in danger IF the Republicans were to win the White House and control of both houses of Congress.

The war on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Housing Assistance, and Pell Grants would be full scale, leaving poor people, young people, children, single mothers, senior citizens, sick and disabled people in a situation which could lead to greater hunger, homelessness, and major health issues that would not be dealt with, except by charity agencies and religious institutions.

But without government, these charitable and religious agencies would be unable to master the crisis that would evolve.

A society which would allow such abandonment is a society that would be going back to the Gilded Age of the late 19th century!

It would be a nation which, already behind in its “safety net”, as compared to other industrial, advanced societies in Europe and Japan, would no longer be a model for the world as a place of humanity and decency about the value of human existence!

This is a spiritual crisis of massive proportions, the concept that millions of our fellow citizens would be abandoned to shift by themselves, something that would lead to mass death and suffering, which would stain America forever!

Mitt Romney Condemns “Entitlement” Society, Which He Claims Is 47 % Of American Society!

A secret audio tape taken of Mitt Romney talking to wealthy donors, after he clinched the GOP Presidential nomination, demonstrates what he really feels about the American people who are not wealthy, and are struggling daily to get by.

He condemned what he called the “entitlement” society, which he said was 47 percent, who expect handouts, and will never vote for him.

He also said these people expect health care, food, and housing from government, an attack on so many different groups, when one thinks about it in detail.

If someone said he is promoting an attack on those who are welfare recipients, realize that they are not 47 percent of the population.

If he is referring to African Americans, a normal viewpoint of conservatives, they are not 47 percent of the population.

If he is referring to Hispanics and Latinos, they are not 47 percent of the population.

If he is referring to senior citizens who receive Social Security and Medicare, which are seen as “entitlements”, they are not 47 percent of the popuation.

If he is referring to people on Medicaid, including those who are disabled or elderly poor, they are not 47 percent of the population.

Who makes up the 47 percent?

Whites, who are a majority of those who are poor, who receive food stamps and housing assistance

African Americans, a minority of who are poor, who receive food stamps and housing assistance

Hispanics and Latinos, a minority of who are poor, who receive food stamps and housing assistance

Single Mothers, a majority who are white of that category who receive support for their children

African Americans and Hispanics and Latinos single mothers, a minority who receive support for their children
Senior Citizens, mostly white, who receive Social Security and Medicare

Disabled and Poor who receive Medicaid

College students who receive Pell Grants to allow them to seek higher education

So the majority who receive an “entitlement” are white, are children, are senior citizens, are disabled people, are single mothers–but of course the implication is made that the majority are minorities—whether African Americans or Hispanics and Latinos!

And the vast majority who have “entitlements” receive Medicare and Social Security, which they have paid for all their working lives!

And to show, as Romney has in this audio, that he looks down on those who need food stamps, housing assistance, and medical care–basic human needs that all of us need, and those who receive it are certainly NOT happy that they are in such circumstances—shows a callousness and lack of concern for fellow human beings that is astounding, considering that he claims to be a “religious” man, who should, if he is truly “religious”, never forget the following:

“There but for the grace of God, go I!”

This man has lost all credibility to be a President of the United States, when he demonstrates, as he has in this audio tape, that he does not give a damn what happens to poor people, disabled people, the elderly, children, single mothers, and those down on their luck who need government help!