The pursuit of Constitutionally grounded governance, freedom
and individual liberty
"There is but
one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." --George Washington
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More good, old-fashioned charity needed
Marley Belair, Kenwood, OH
Kudos to Trish Thomas Henley for pulling herself up and out of poverty, but I am afraid she is the exception not the rule (“Food stamp cuts might deal heavy blow to region,” July 28). Her story and example just looked like an excuse for those considering relying on the government for help they don’t need. I can count on one hand the times I had any meat to put in our noodle dishes over the last 20 years as a parent, and I have never had the luxury of beef in my stroganoff. If we have any meat, it is chicken, but that is pretty rare. Does that mean I should seek help elsewhere to feed my kids? No, my kids are healthy and they eat well. But I am one of those who, when Hamburger Helper is on sale, buys plenty for me and plenty to share with the poor at a food pantry. When cereal is on sale, I do the same. Ditto toothpaste, soap, etc. I have plenty to give and I do give, but I guess I could put beef in my stroganoff instead of giving to the poor. And by the way, I feed my entire family on less than the allotted money for a family of four on food stamps. We need more good, old-fashioned charity and less government handouts.
Kudos to Trish Thomas Henley for pulling herself up and out of poverty, but I am afraid she is the exception not the rule (“Food stamp cuts might deal heavy blow to region,” July 28). Her story and example just looked like an excuse for those considering relying on the government for help they don’t need. I can count on one hand the times I had any meat to put in our noodle dishes over the last 20 years as a parent, and I have never had the luxury of beef in my stroganoff. If we have any meat, it is chicken, but that is pretty rare. Does that mean I should seek help elsewhere to feed my kids? No, my kids are healthy and they eat well. But I am one of those who, when Hamburger Helper is on sale, buys plenty for me and plenty to share with the poor at a food pantry. When cereal is on sale, I do the same. Ditto toothpaste, soap, etc. I have plenty to give and I do give, but I guess I could put beef in my stroganoff instead of giving to the poor. And by the way, I feed my entire family on less than the allotted money for a family of four on food stamps. We need more good, old-fashioned charity and less government handouts.
~~~~~~
Outside View: Obama stirs passions but makes income
inequality worse - UPI
Slow
economic growth and increasing inequality are ripping the social fabric of the
United States -- vanquishing the dreams of working families, saddling the young
with onerous student debt and frustrating retirement plans. U.S. President Barack Obama is stirring
passions by proposing government initiatives he hopes will stifle Republican
efforts in the House of Representatives to curb federal spending but those can
only end in tears.
Early
in his first term, he pushed through more than $4 trillion in deficit spending
on stimulus, broader Medicaid benefits, alternative energy projects and other
industrial policies. Through last fall, growth was an anemic 2.1 percent and
has since slowed by half. He
blames sequestration, which subtracted about $45 billion from government
spending. However, his rhetoric ignores $200 billion in higher taxes he
demanded from Congress in January, and the doubling of the trade deficit on oil
and with China to $540 billion since the recovery began. Sequestration will remove about 1
million jobs, while higher taxes and the trade deficit will cost Americans more
than 10 times as many. Instead
of forcefully confronting Chinese for cheating on trade in ways recommended by
liberal and conservative economists alike, Obama merely pleads with Beijing.
The Middle Kingdom responds with criminal activity -- pirated commercial
technology costs U.S. companies at least $300 billion a year and U.S. workers
about 5 million jobs.
Oil
and natural gas production is up on private and state lands in South Dakota and
elsewhere but the president keeps drilling locked down on federally controlled
reserves off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and in the eastern Gulf of Mexico
and Alaska. Oil imports could be eliminated
but instead the president promotes alternative energy projects -- similar to
Solyndra -- that enrich his political friends.
Government
subsidized electric cars are a bust, whereas private investments in more
fuel-efficient internal combustion engines and hybrids are delivering big
gains. Ford, which received no bailout money, is rolling out one eye-popping
high MPG model after another. Obamacare
mandates are driving up healthcare costs for large businesses on full-time employees.
No surprise then that since January 833,000 more Americans have reported
working part-time, while 97,000 fewer have full-time positions. Income inequality is getting worse. The pay
of ordinary workers is stagnating, while CEO compensation at large companies
increased 16 percent last year. Top executives have accomplished a compensation
cartel by serving on each other's boards of directors and tying up votes in
shareholder elections through proxies. They vote one another outlandish
salaries and block accountability to investors.
The U.S. Justice Department is charged with protecting Americans
against such anti-competitive behavior but is too busy intimidating reporters,
slow-walking investigations of IRS abuses and harassing Texas election
officials for discriminatory conduct that has been dead 50 years. Wall Street's big banks have exploited
Dodd-Frank to scarf up smaller banks that cannot cope with the avalanche of new
regulations and thereby monopolized the CD market in many cities. Even as
mortgage rates have risen, the elderly aren't being offered decent returns that
once helped finance their retirements. Increasingly, they work in grocery
stores and wait on tables, competing down the wages of the younger working
poor. Don't look for the Justice
Department to investigate CD rate rigging. Democrats raise too much campaign
money on Wall Street for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to take an interest. A roll-back of recent tax increases,
tough responses to Chinese cheating on trade and theft of intellectual
property, developing more domestic oil, scrapping Obamacare and a Justice
Department that investigates monopoly behavior that hurts ordinary Americans
would raise incomes and combat inequality. The last thing American families need is
more of the same failed Obama policies.
~~~~~~
Newspaper spanks Obama: 'Shove it, Mr. President' Editors
scorch 'umpteenth different' jobs plan
by Bob Unruh
A
newspaper editorial today greeted Barack Obama in an entirely new way as he
traveled to Chattanooga, Tenn., to visit an Amazon.com business center and
lobby for his newest strategy to try to create jobs for Americans. “Take your
jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga
enough,” said a commentary in the Chattanooga Times Free Press. “Forgive us if you are not greeted with the
same level of Southern hospitality that our area usually bestows on its
distinguished guests. You see, we understand you are in town to share your
umpteenth different job creation plan during your time in office. If it works
as well as your other job creation programs, then thanks, but no thanks. We’d
prefer you keep it to yourself,” the newspaper said. “That’s because your jobs creation
plans so far have included a ridiculous government spending spree and punitive
tax increase on job creators that were passed, as well as a minimum wage
increase that, thankfully, was not. Economists – and regular folks with a basic
understanding of math – understand that these are three of the most damaging
policies imaginable when a country is mired in unemployment and starving for
job growth.”
~~~~~~
From the Left: Holder fights back on voting rights
by E.J. DIONNE
Attorney
General Eric Holder has opened what will be an epic battle over whether our
country will remain committed to equal rights at the ballot box. In a display
of egregious judicial activism in late June, the conservative majority on the
Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act. Holder made clear last week he intends
to fight back. The struggle will begin
in Texas, but it won’t end there. “We cannot allow the slow unraveling of the
progress that so many, throughout history, have sacrificed so much to achieve,”
Holder told the National Urban League’s annual conference.
He wasn’t exaggerating the stakes. From the moment the Supreme Court threw out Section 4 of the act, which subjected the voting laws in states and jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to Justice Department scrutiny, conservative legislators in those places gleefully signaled their intention to pass laws to make it harder to vote. In addition, Texas re-imposed a redistricting map that a federal court had already ruled was discriminatory. These hasty moves were unseemly but entirely predictable, proving that Chief Justice John Robert’s opinion in the case will become a Magna Carta for voter suppression. Without having to worry about “pre-clearance” from the Justice Department, legislators can go about their business of making it more difficult for voters who would throw them out of office to reach the polls – and of drawing racially gerrymandered districts that prolong their tenure.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg understood a logic here that escaped Roberts. “A governing political coalition,” she wrote in her dissent, “has an incentive to prevent changes in the existing balance of voting power.” This in turn means that when a political party fares badly with minority voters, it will try to turn them away from the polling booths. That’s what segregationist Southern Democrats did in the past. Many Republican controlled legislatures are doing it now.
Holder announced he was using Section 3, a different part of the Voting Rights Act that was left standing, to ask a federal court to re-subject Texas to pre-clearance. It is a less efficient way to achieve what the pre-gutted act allowed automatically, but it is the best that can be done for now. It would be better still if Congress reinstated a revised version of Section 4. In the meantime, the hope is to limit the damage of the high court’s folly – and perhaps also give other states pause before they rush into new discriminatory schemes. “This is the department’s first action to protect voting rights following the (Supreme Court) decision, but it will not be our last,” Holder declared. His department is likely to move this week against the Texas voter-identification law, and to go to court eventually against other states that pass comparable statutes.
To get a sense of how bad these laws are, consider the bill Republicans rushed through both houses of North Carolina’s Legislature that should be called the Omnibus Voter Suppression Act of 2013. It reads like a parody written for Stephen Colbert’s show with its cornucopia of provisions that would make it as hard as possible for African-Americans, Latinos and young people to vote.
As the Charlotte Observer reported, it shortens the early-voting period, eliminates the opportunity to register and vote on the same day during that time, and ends pre-registration for teenagers age 16 and 17. The bill also prevents counties from extending voting hours when lines are long – which they will be with the cutback on early voting days. It not only requires photo identification but also narrows the list of what’s acceptable, eliminating college IDs, for example. Oh, yes, and remember the old civic tradition of using all avenues to encourage people to register to vote, a favorite cause of that famously revolutionary group, the League of Women Voters? This bill would ban paid voter registration drives. Throughout the world, our country proclaims its commitment to equal rights and broad democratic participation. We seem to be abandoning those ideals at home. You have to wonder what this will do to our witness on behalf of democracy. It won’t shock you to learn that after Holder made his announcement, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas condemned the Obama administration for showing an “utter contempt for our country’s system of checks and balances.” Actually, what Holder’s move shows is an utter contempt for efforts to deprive our fellow Americans of their right to cast a meaningful ballot. It is a contempt that all of us should feel. [enough lies, half truths and paranoia to do anyone for a long time]
He wasn’t exaggerating the stakes. From the moment the Supreme Court threw out Section 4 of the act, which subjected the voting laws in states and jurisdictions with a history of discrimination to Justice Department scrutiny, conservative legislators in those places gleefully signaled their intention to pass laws to make it harder to vote. In addition, Texas re-imposed a redistricting map that a federal court had already ruled was discriminatory. These hasty moves were unseemly but entirely predictable, proving that Chief Justice John Robert’s opinion in the case will become a Magna Carta for voter suppression. Without having to worry about “pre-clearance” from the Justice Department, legislators can go about their business of making it more difficult for voters who would throw them out of office to reach the polls – and of drawing racially gerrymandered districts that prolong their tenure.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg understood a logic here that escaped Roberts. “A governing political coalition,” she wrote in her dissent, “has an incentive to prevent changes in the existing balance of voting power.” This in turn means that when a political party fares badly with minority voters, it will try to turn them away from the polling booths. That’s what segregationist Southern Democrats did in the past. Many Republican controlled legislatures are doing it now.
Holder announced he was using Section 3, a different part of the Voting Rights Act that was left standing, to ask a federal court to re-subject Texas to pre-clearance. It is a less efficient way to achieve what the pre-gutted act allowed automatically, but it is the best that can be done for now. It would be better still if Congress reinstated a revised version of Section 4. In the meantime, the hope is to limit the damage of the high court’s folly – and perhaps also give other states pause before they rush into new discriminatory schemes. “This is the department’s first action to protect voting rights following the (Supreme Court) decision, but it will not be our last,” Holder declared. His department is likely to move this week against the Texas voter-identification law, and to go to court eventually against other states that pass comparable statutes.
To get a sense of how bad these laws are, consider the bill Republicans rushed through both houses of North Carolina’s Legislature that should be called the Omnibus Voter Suppression Act of 2013. It reads like a parody written for Stephen Colbert’s show with its cornucopia of provisions that would make it as hard as possible for African-Americans, Latinos and young people to vote.
As the Charlotte Observer reported, it shortens the early-voting period, eliminates the opportunity to register and vote on the same day during that time, and ends pre-registration for teenagers age 16 and 17. The bill also prevents counties from extending voting hours when lines are long – which they will be with the cutback on early voting days. It not only requires photo identification but also narrows the list of what’s acceptable, eliminating college IDs, for example. Oh, yes, and remember the old civic tradition of using all avenues to encourage people to register to vote, a favorite cause of that famously revolutionary group, the League of Women Voters? This bill would ban paid voter registration drives. Throughout the world, our country proclaims its commitment to equal rights and broad democratic participation. We seem to be abandoning those ideals at home. You have to wonder what this will do to our witness on behalf of democracy. It won’t shock you to learn that after Holder made his announcement, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas condemned the Obama administration for showing an “utter contempt for our country’s system of checks and balances.” Actually, what Holder’s move shows is an utter contempt for efforts to deprive our fellow Americans of their right to cast a meaningful ballot. It is a contempt that all of us should feel. [enough lies, half truths and paranoia to do anyone for a long time]
~~~~~~~
Devious election plot bypasses Constitution Strategy
takes 36 states out of voting decision
Aaron Klein
The
National Popular Vote effort, which could see only 14 states – those with the
largest populations – decide the presidency for voters in all 50 states, is
fully partnered with a George Soros-funded election group. The group, the Center for Voting and
Democracy, received original seed money in 1997 from the Joyce Foundation, a
non-profit that boasted President Obama served on its board at the time of the
grant. Obama was a board member from July 1994 until December 2002. The National Popular Vote, or NPV, is run by
individuals with a history of support for the Democratic Party, WND found.
Last
week, the Washington Post reported NPV is “now halfway to its goal of electing
future presidents via the popular vote, after Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee
(D) made his state the latest to sign on.”
The
Post story described NPV as a campaign seeking to “get states that comprise a
majority of the 538 votes in the Electoral College –270, to be precise – to
agree to award their electoral votes to the winner of the national popular
vote.”
The
states will not be required to award their electoral votes to the national
popular vote winner until NPV has signed up enough states to garner 270
electoral votes. The Founding Fathers firmly rejected a purely popular vote to elect the
president because they wanted to balance the power of the larger states against
the smaller. The Electoral College was fashioned as a compromise
between an election of the president by direct popular vote and election by
Congress. Now the NPV effort could change the way Americans vote without
amending the U.S. Constitution. The plan simply requires that enough states
sign up by voting in their own legislatures and then having their governors
approve. It takes two-thirds of both the House and Senate to pass a
constitutional amendment to repeal the Electoral College.
To
bypass the constitutional amendment process, NPV minimizes the number of states
that would need to agree. Instead, once enough states agree to allot
their electoral votes to the national popular vote winner, the Electoral
College becomes irrelevant. With the addition of Rhode Island to the NPV
effort, the pact now has nine states plus the District of Columbia for a total
of 136 of the 270 electoral votes needed. The other states signed up are
Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Washington, Vermont and
California.
~~~~~~
~~~~~~
Krauthammer Nails Obama: 'This Is His Economy and He's
Pretending He's Just Stumbled Upon It' by CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: I find it astonishing that he goes
around making speeches in which he deplores the state of the economy, the
growing income inequality, chronic unemployment, staggering middle class
income, and it's as if he has been a bystander, as if he's been out of the
country for the last five years. It's his economy; he's the president. He's
talking as if this is the Bush economy, I don't know, the Eisenhower economy,
and he just arrived in a boat and he discovers how bad the economy is. This is
a result of the policies he instituted. He gave us the biggest stimulus in the
history of the milky way, and he said it would jump start the economy. The
result has been the slowest recovery, the worst recovery since World War II,
and that is the root of all of the problems he's talking about, the income
inequality -- the median income of the middle class of Americans has declined
by 5% in his one term. So who's responsible for that? Those were his policies.
He talks about this in the abstract and he actually gets away with it in a way
that I find absolutely astonishing, it's magical. This is his economy and he's
pretending he's just stumbled upon it. And the policies he proposes are exactly
the ones he proposed and implemented in the first term.
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