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Catching Elephant is a theme by Andy Taylor
Members of Congress are living off food stamps for a week to protest Republican cuts. It’s a challenge for them, but GOP cuts would hurt millions of everyday Americans.
Why does this not have more publicity. This needs it!
Signal boosting this A) because it deserves to be seen by more people, and b) because I appreciate some members of Congress are actually willing to see what it’s like living on food stamps in order to make their point about how horrifying cutting food stamps would be.
News flash, regressives: people on food stamps do not load up on Snickers bars and filet mignon. They’re limited in what they can buy, and oftentimes, it’s not enough to get by on. Go on thinking these are entitlements that let minorities live lives of luxury, comfortable in the knowledge that you’ll never go hungry.
You privileged, elitist pricks.
Also - remember the kids! These programs help children be fed, and until there is something else in place to do so, cutting them hurts the children involved, who had no choice in the matter. I know not everyone on P.A. has children, but I’m surprised by the fact that most people don’t even put children into the equation in these conversations.
We have to fix the cycle; a societal problem…not simply punish those who are stuck in a cycle we’ve created and then turn the other way.
& yes I know some people abuse programs, but some people also use them appropriately too.
The MAJORITY of folks who depend on Food Stamps are living on the edge of homelessness. To cut their benefits simply because there are a few who abuse the system is criminal.
Voter ID and me…
I’m a registered voter in Pennsylvania, one of the numerous states whose Republican Governors have proposed laws to require voters to present “State Approved Identification” in order to cast a vote in upcoming elections. On the surface, these sound like common sense laws. In reality, they are bureaucratic nightmares. These laws are solutions to problems that do not exist. But that’s not what this post is about.
During last November’s general election, the courts had put a stay on Pennsylvania’s new Voter ID law. They found that there wasn’t enough time to provide proper ID to the thousands of Pennsylvanians who didn’t have it. The lines at the PA DMV were so long that people were being turned away. It was decided that voters would be asked for ID, but it would not be required to vote. Poll workers were also instructed to ensure that each voter’s ID correctly matched what was on record, and to advise the voter to rectify it before the next election. There were leaflets and everything.
I didn’t think this would be an issue for me. I had my ID. So, with ego properly inflated, I confidently marched up to polling place and proudly presented my driver’s license.
The woman behind the table carefully examined my driver’s license, expelled a sigh, and looked up into my smiling face. “It appears we have a problem,” she said. “The way your name is printed on your driver’s license does not match the way it is printed on our records.”
What?
Apparently, my middle name is spelled out on my driver’s license, but my voter’s registration shows only an initial. My registration also shows a “Sr” after my name, as in Frank Senior. This is ostensibly a problem because I don’t have a son named Frank Jr..
NOTE: Other than my address, the information on my voter’s registration has not changed in almost three decades.
After voting, I thanked the nice woman and promised I would fill out a new registration form with the correct information. All was well with the world.
Being the procrastinator that I am, I filled out the new registration form at the end of March. There were a myriad of reasons why I waited. There always are. Three weeks later my new voter’s registration arrived by mail.
The new registration is printed exactly the same as my old one, with the exact same errors. What gives? How difficult is it to copy information from a piece of paper? How hard is it to check the information found on my driver’s license, and enter it into a database? Wasn’t that the reason I was asked to provide them with my license number?
I contacted the Election Commission and spoke to a very patient gentleman who was as puzzled as I was. He accessed my driver’s license information to verify my identity. He looked at a scanned image of my new application, which had the correct information. and couldn’t understand why the records hadn’t been updated. After a few questions, I was told that my new registration should arrive within a week.
It took almost four weeks for the new voter registration to arrive, just in time for Pennsylvania’s Primary Election. This time, my last name was altered.
I have an Italian last name with a “De” prefix, as in DeNiro, DeLuca, or DeAngelo. Pennsylvania driver’s licenses use all capital letters, and the De is not separated from the rest of the surname. On the new voter’s registration however, the prefix IS separated. You wouldn’t think this was an issue. Apparently, the poll workers thought it was enough of an issue that it needed to be addressed. I was told that I could be turned away because of that simple technicality. REALLY??
Now I have to contact the Election Commission AGAIN, and walk them through the correct spelling of my name.
Does anyone else see the problem, here?
I vote every election. I take it very seriously. It’s about more than just selecting a new Mayor, Judge, Senator, or President. There are ballot questions and referendums. The voting booth is one of the few places in which my opinion matters. In the words of I don’t vote “because campaigns have been drilling it into our heads reasons why we should or should not vote for a particular candidate. But I will be voting because voting = power, and I cannot sit back while decisions are made around/about me, and I have no input.”
I also don’t want some inattentive paper pusher’s mistake to prevent me from casting my vote.
How can they ask for proper ID if they’re not going to ensure that the information they record is correct? Why must I jump through hoops if a bureaucrat can’t get it right?
If we can’t ensure that everyone can easily obtain the proper ID required to cast a vote, then we need to stand down on aggressive laws designed to make it virtually impossible to engage in our Federal Voting Right.
Speaking of constitutional rights…
I threw that last thought in there as an expression of my angst.
Seriously though… If anyone, regardless of criminal background, can order an assault weapon online without proper identification, why should my middle initial, or the prefix of my ethnic surname cause so much trouble at the polling place? #smh
PS: The point of this rant is simple. I’m surviving on minimal resources. If I’m having trouble meeting the requirements for “State Approved Identification”, what about the people who don’t even have what I have?
With all their talk of Family Values, you’d think Conservatives would embrace green energy.
If for no other reason than their children’s future.
Pro-Gun Radio Host Tells Newtown Victims’ Families ‘Go To Hell!’
Bob Davis, one half of Minnesota radio duo Davis & Emmer In The Morning, finally said what many gun nuts have probably been thinking for months when he told his audience that “I have something I want to say to the victims of Newtown, or any other shooting,” namely that the gun reforms they’ve been lobbying for “force me to lose my liberty, which is a greater tragedy than your loss.”
He went on to say that he was “sick and tired of seeing these victims trotted out,” and that “I would stand in front of them and tell them, ‘go to hell.’”
“Just because a bad thing happened to you doesn’t mean that you get to put a king in charge of my life,” Davis said. “I’m sorry that you suffered a tragedy, but you know what? Deal with it, and don’t force me to lose my liberty, which is a greater tragedy than your loss.”
Tom Emmer, Davis’ broadcast partner and a former Republican state representative, was slightly more restrained, opining, of the Newtown families, that “they’re being used,” and that “It’s probably one of the worst, ah, political stunts you could do is to use the victims of the tragedy.”
Except, apparently, as punching bags:
Read more at Mediaite.com
So, when I posted a pic of our new Beta fish, I added an #LGBT tag. This got a lot of people scratching their heads and asking, “WTF?”
See, I’ve been posting and re-blogging a lot of Marriage Equality topics lately. This leads to an awful lot of automatic typing in the space provided for tags.
I can almost type “Tea Party” and “Republican” in my sleep.
The decision was to leave the tag in place for a couple of reasons. The most obvious being, we are an LGBT household.
Apologies to pooperscoopin, mainermoose, and sapphicsnorlax for any confusion. :)
10 Things Legalized Gay Marriage Could Pay For
Barring same-sex couples from marrying actually costs the government money — an estimated $10 billion over a 10-year period.
Here are a few things that cash could buy.
via Anna North of BuzzFeed.com
GOP foreign policy is the ‘W’orst.
Article and Response…
Why Isn’t There a War on Easter?
I choose “Happy Holidays” because not all of my friends celebrate Christmas. Some observe Hanukkah, some Kwanzaa, and others nothing at all. When I say Happy Holidays, I’m respecting the religious beliefs of the person to whom I am speaking.
Isn’t that what the holidays are all about? Aren’t we supposed to be generous to one another during that time of year?
