Michigan Senator: For Foster Kids, Used Clothes Are Good Enough

Michigan State Senator
Bruce Caswell (R)

Foster children in Michigan would use their state-funded clothing allowance only in thrift stores under a plan suggested by State Senator Bruce Caswell.

Caswell says he wants to make sure that state money set aside to buy clothes for foster children and kids of the working poor is actually used for that purpose.  He says they should get "gift cards" to be used only at Salvation Army, Goodwill or other thrift stores...

...Gilda Jacobs is CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services.  "Honestly, I was flabbergasted," Jacobs (said).  "I really couldn't believe this.  Because I think, gosh, is this where we've gone in this state?  I think that there's the whole issue of dignity.  You're saying to somebody, you don't deserve to go in and buy a new pair of gym shoes..."

Caswell says the gift card idea wouldn't save the state any money.

eye'm thynkin':  So the whole point is just to shame those who need help?  Way to go , Mr. Caswell!  Doing your Republican thing to the max!

Read more at Michigan Radio

Two More Stories from My Political Pollution Page

--1--

m'eye thoughts: Never mind how the person who would be forced to choose between eating or driving is supposed to find a job, or once employed get to that job, or get their kids to day care.  I give you Alabama State Senator Arthur Orr (R), a man who seems to think that serving his constituency means making the lives of those who need a leg up as difficult as possible because, as any good Republican knows, poor = lazy.

Mr. Orr's bio includes the information that he is a Sunday School teacher at First Bible Church in Decatur, Alabama.  I guess Mr. Orr's church uses a very special Bible, one that includes the little known lesson "Blessed are they who shame the poor for they shall be righteous in their own eyes."

Amen, and thank you, Jesus. 

Read more at Raw Story

--2--

"I think it would be, I think you'd have riots.  I think you'd have riots.  You know we have, I'm representing a tremendous--many, many millions of people in many cases first time voters."

Thank you, Mr. Rich White Trash.  I'm sure this suggestion will go a long way toward quelling the burgeoning violence at your campaign events.

Read more at Crooks and Liars 

Three More Stories That Caught My Interest Today

--1--

m'eye thoughts:  Just when you thought it was impossible for Republicans to be any more nasty and anti-woman, along comes the Illinois GOP dominated legislature to create a bill that would deny birth certificates to babies born to single mothers.

And, in typical Republican fashion, it's all about money.  Either name the father, so we can check if he can provide child support; or name another family member, who will provide support. Either way, the state is off the hook.  If the mother doesn't provide a name,, the state will not issue a birth certificate.  No birth certificate means no state aide.

It's a classic Catch-22 with the state coming out on top.  They want single mothers to prove they don't need aide, but if they prove they do, the state has given itself a way to deny it anyway.

Read more at Bipartisan Report

--2--

Well, wouldn't this put Mitch McConnell's Underoos in a twist?

Read more at MSNBC

--3--

Rep. Chris Collins, a mainstream Republican from Clarence, (New York) on Wednesday became the first sitting member of Congress to endorse bombastic billionaire Donald Trump for president.

"Donald Trump has clearly demonstrated that he has both the guts and the fortitude to return our nation's job's stolen by China..."

Trump's own line of clothing is MADE IN CHINA, you dolt!

This is an example of the type of Republican so desperate to cling to power that he would sacrifice the country to make it happen.

Read more at MSNBC

Will Public Unions Survive SCOTUS?

"Today, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could do more to damage public employee unions than anything the Republican party has done in decades...

...Can conservative opponents of organized labor use the courts to break public unions...?

If you are a government employee in a unionized workplace--a teacher, for example...you and all of your colleagues pay a set fee to the union, to cover the costs of the union's work to negotiate a contract that you work under.  This is simply the principle of everyone paying their fair share for work that benefits everyone.  If you are a teacher and you happen to dislike teachers unions for some political reason, you are not required to be a member of the union; if you do not want to be a member of the union, you cannot be required to pay fees to cover strictly political activities that the union undertakes, like lobbying or political donations to favored candidates.  But since the union negotiates the contract that covers everyone, you are still required to pay your fair share fee, called an 'agency fee,' to cover bargaining costs.

The Friedrichs case aims to do away with the requirement that those who enjoy the benefits of public union contracts pay an agency fee to cover the cost of getting those contracts in the first place.  Why?  The legal argument in the case is that all union activity is inherently political."

eye'm thynkin':  These anti-union conservatives want something for nothing--they want to benefit from a contract, but not pay for the effort it takes to come to a contract agreement.  

Basically they're saying that demanding to be given something for nothing when you're a public employee is fine, but asking to be given assistance when you're poor, elderly, or unemployed makes you a "freeloader." Conservative logic at its finest.

Read more at Gawker

December 29 - More Stories You'll Find at Political Pollution

1 - Mapping Gun Deaths by US States' Political Leanings

m'eye thoughts:  Mississippi vs. Vermont.  I know where I'd feel safest.

2 - Arizona Woman Shoots and Kills Atheist for Not Believing in God

Believe or die! A little lesson this "Christian" picked up from Middle Eastern Islamic extremists?  Jesus wept.

3 - Entitlements? (graphic)

MY social security vs. THEIR congressional benefits.

Go to Political Pollution 

U.N. Human Rights Experts "Appalled by Lack of Gender Equality in America"

U.N. Human rights experts, (left to right) Eleonora Zielinksa,
Alda Facio, and Frances Raday

"A delegation of human rights experts from Poland, the United Kingdom and Costa Rica spent 10 days this month touring the United States so they can prepare a report on the nation's overall treatment of women.  The three women, who lead a United Nations working group on discrimination against women, visited Alabama, Texas and Oregon to evaluate a wide range of U.S. policies and attitudes, as well as school health, and prison systems.

The delegates were appalled by the lack of gender equality in America.  They found the U.S. to be lagging far behind international human rights standards in a number of areas, including its 23 percent gender pay gap, maternity leave, affordable child care and the treatment of female migrants in detention centers.

The most telling moment of the trip, the women told reporters (last) Friday, was when they visited an abortion clinic in Alabama and experienced the hostile political climate around women's reproductive rights...

...'It's a kind of terrorism,' added Eleonora Zielinksa, the delegate from Poland.  'To us, it was shocking.'

In most European countries, she explained, abortions are performed at general doctors' offices and hospitals that offer all kinds of other health services, so there aren't protesters waiting to heckle the women who enter.

The women discovered during their visit that women in the United States have 'missing rights' compared to the rest of the world...

...'The lack of accommodation in the workplace to women's pregnancy, birth and post-natal needs is shocking,;' Raday said.  'Unthinkable in any society, and certainly (in) one of the richest societies in the world.'

Another main area of concern for the delegation is violence against women--particulaly gun violence..."

eye'm thynkin':  We're behind the rest of the civilized world in the area of women's reproductive rights and post-natal care, and behind in the area of fair wages; but hey, we win the gun violence against women award hands-down!  Gee, where do you think we should put the blame for this embarrassment?

Let's hear it for America--where men are exceptional and women are...well, something less!

Read more at Huffpost Politics

McConnell Holds First Responder Bill Hostage to Serve Big Oil Money

Jon Stewart calling out Mitch McConnell
Monday night on The Daily Show

On Monday, Jon Stewart returned to the set of The Daily Show for one night to focus his justifiable wrath on Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky).  The subject was the Zadroga Act.

(Any underlines are mine.)

"The Zadroga Act would guarantee health care to 9/11 responders, many of whom have been suffering from cancer and other illnesses due to the toxic air they breathed following the attack...

...This seems like a no-brainer, right?  Why would anyone oppose or block a bill that provided health care to first responders who are now sick because they were exposed to poisonous air in the aftermath of the worst terrorist attack in our nation's history?  

Well, that's exactly what Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did.  And why did he do it?  Because when he was unsuccessful in using it to get leverage for loosening oil export regulations, he pulled it from the transportation bill that was passed last week. Yes, Republican Mitch McConnell is using a bill that many 9/11 first responders need just to survive--to try to benefit big oil...

...McConnell publicly fought for...health care for national emergency workers within his own state--a bill that actually cost more than the Zadroga Act, emphasizing the point that this clearly isn't about money.

'Here's what I believe it is: Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky doesn't give a sh*t about anything but politics,' Stewart said. 'The first responders were told the Zadroga Act would be included, they were told this last week, in the transportation bill passed last week.  Mitch McConnell of Kentucky pulled it out of the transportation bill when he didn't get concessions about loosening oil export regulations.'

'So he used the health of 9/11 first responders as a bargaining chip to make it easier to sell oil?' (TrevorNoah, new host of The Daily Show) asked...

...That's when Noah suggested that Stewart 'get the band back together,' so to speak, by reuniting the original four members of a panel (of first responders) that was assembled back in 2010 and proved vital to getting the Zadroga Act originally passed.  Sadly, (in 2015) there is only one man (left).  You see, in the five years since, two have become too sick to travel while another member has passed away."

eye'm thynkin':  That last paragraph should make every Republican in Congress hang his or her head in shame.

Renewing the Zadroga Act has never been high priority for the GOP.  I wrote about it in two articles in September:  The 9/11 Survivor Bill About to Expire, Republicans Rate it a "Meh," followed a few days later with: Update: Jon Stewart Pushes McConnell to Commit to 9/11 Survivor Bill

Clearly, the attention Mr. McConnell grudgingly promised just a few months ago was eclipsed by big oil money.  GOP promises are only kept if you can pay for them.

Read more at Forward Progressives (video)

Holiday Ham Off the Menu for Poor in Wisconsin.

"Scott Walker's Christmas Present to Wisconsin...

...In case you needed one more reminder why America dodged a bullet when Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's presidential campaign failed to take off and he slunk back to his own state, look no further than how he plans to screw his own voters this holiday season.

In a move that seems specifically designed to cause misery to the poor (Walker's specialty), the crack team of fiscal conservatives working for Walker decided now would be a good time to slash funding for food banks and make poor people work even more than they already do if they want to eat..

...If you're an able-bodied adult without children living at home, you must work at least 80 hours a month or look for work to stay in the program...

...Did you catch that?  Scott Walker wants people who are chronically underemployed to work more or else they stop receiving help.  How would a person who already can't get enough hours at a low paying job to get by just magically find more work?...

...Food banks are now hitting critically low reserves.

'The Department of Health Services must understand that a substantial increase in the need for emergency food caused by a loss of food buying power...will result in wide scale shortages in Milwaukee,' (Sherrie Tussler, executive director for Hunger Task Force) wrote...

...In terms of job growth, Wisconsin has consistently trailed the national average.  In fact, Wisconsin only saw 1.5 percent private-sector job growth in 2014."

eye'm thynkin':  I admit that I see nothing wrong with requiring able-bodied recipients of public assistance to work a little for their benefits.   However, telling people who already have jobs but who can't get enough hours to supply all their needs that they must work more in order to be eligible for assistance is going too far.  Wisconsin's private sector is trailing the U.S. in job creation, and  Lord knows, the government of Wisconsin isn't planning on hiring anyone to help them meet these new requirements, so from where are these 60,000 or so new jobs supposed to come? 

Republicans insist on keeping the minimum wage well below a livable rate, and their policies crashed the economy creating this era of chronic, long-term unemployment.  Now they want those effected by either or both to pay the price.

Oh, and Scott, your timing is an especially nice touch.  Say "Happy Holidays" to your wealthy buddies for me, okay?

Read more at Addicting Info

Paul Ryan Demands Paid Family Time--For Himself

"Paul Ryan, Opponent of Paid Family Leave, Demands Congress Respect His Need for Family Time.

Last night, Paul Ryan announced that he'd run for Speaker of the House if his Republican colleagues met a list of demands.  Among them: insisting that time Ryan spends with his family not be sacrificed.

Ryan, whose wife and three young children reside in Janesville, Wisconsin, flies home for a visit every weekend.  That's nice.  If only he believed that other Americans deserved the same...

...Ryan's GOP caucus blocked President Obama's attempt to mandate paid parental leave in both the public and private sectors here in the US.  We're one of only three countries in the world that doesn't guarantee new parents paid time off from work to care for their offspring.

And we certainly don't have any enshrined rules that guarantee fathers time away from work to spend with their 10-, 12-, and 13-year-old children.  Perhaps if Paul Ryan hadn't spent much of his political career fighting laws that promote realistic work-life balance for parents of all socioeconomic levels, asking for family time would make him look more like a hero and less like a hypocrite."

eye'm thynkin':  Couldn't have said it better myself.  Just more Republican IGM-YOYO (I've Got Mine-You're On Your Own.)

Read more at The Slot.Jezebel.com

October 16 - More Stories You'll Find at Political Pollution

1 - God Almighty Hates Book Lerners (sic)

m'eye thoughts: The American Taliban speaks. (photo)

2 - Chris Christie Found a Way to Make 3,000 Disabled People Homeless Just in Time for the Holidays

"In a letter to the directors of county welfare departments, the administration simply wrote that the funding was expiring and that no new program was coming to replace it... Once again, the party that cherishes life isn't interested unless you're developing in the womb."

Go to Political Pollution 

John Kasich on Cuts to Social Security: "Get Over It"

(Any underlines are mine.)

"Kasich told the audience during an event in Concord, New Hampshire, 'I'm not there to run a popularity contest.'

The current governor of Ohio preceded the remarks by asking the crowd how many of them knew how much their initial Social Security payments would be...

...'What if I told you that your initial benefit was gonna be somewhat lower in order to save the program?' he asked.  'Would that drive you crazy?'

When one audience member responded that it would 'upset' them, Kasich told them, 'Well, you'd get over it, and you're going to have to get over it.'...

...Kasich later made a similar statement about Medicare..."

eye'm thynkin':  How much lower do you intend to reduce our lifeline, Governor Kasich?  You know, you with your cushy, guaranteed, government pension; how much do you think you can reduce Social Security until the country's senior citizens--who have had THEIR money taken from THEIR paychecks week after week for years with the promise they would get THEIR money back when they needed it during their retirement years--before we're all eating Alpo for dinner and splitting our prescriptions in quarters to make them last longer?

I live in Ohio where my husband's Social Security has already been cut by TWO-THIRDS. You can read our personal experience with Governor John Kasich, the Windfall Elimination Provision, and Social Security here.

You want to "save the program?"  Raise the cut-off salary for Social Security deductions.  It's a simple solution, much touted by economists.  

We cannot allow the wealthy to continue pushing the rest of us below the poverty line in order to keep themselves solvent.

Read more at Raw Story (video)

Kentucky Republican Wants to Drug-Test Seniors on Medicare

Kentucky Gubernatorial Candidate
Matt Bevin (R)

"In recent years, a growing number of Republican officials, especially at the state level, have pushed drug-testing programs for Americans on 'welfare.'  The idea is predicated on an unfortunate assumption:  if you're struggling and need to rely on a safety net, the government should suspect you of drug addiction and check your bodily fluids.

The drug-testing programs have, in general, been a costly and pointless disaster.  But in Kentucky, Republican gubernatorial hopeful Matt Bevin has expressed support for expanding drug testing to include senior citizens on Medicare...

...In April, Bevin said during a Louisville Tea Party forum that he supports random drug testing for recipients of both programs.  'I firmly believe we frankly should drug test people that are on Medicaid and Medicare,' Bevin said at the time. 'We just should.'

(On Tuesday) Bevin didn't back away from that call saying 'there should be expectation of you as somebody who is a recipient, or, as it's often referred to in this state, on the draw.'...

...Incidentally, let's not overlook the fact that Bevin called for drug testing seniors at an event co-sponsored by the AARP."

eye'm thynkin':  Well, there goes the senior citizen vote.  

How does this idiot not know that every person who reaches the magic age of 65 is eligible for Medicare?  Every. One.  It has nothing to do with your financial status or with being "on the draw." And that includes his very own mama and daddy.  This should make for an interesting conversation at Thanksgiving this year.

Read more at MSNBC

Jeb Bush's Gaff de Jour: No "Free Stuff" for You!

Jeb Bush (R) in Mount Pleasant, S.C. on Thursday

On Thursday evening, Jeb Bush (R) was in South Carolina where he took a question from a white supporter who asked the presidential candidate how he intended to attract black voters. "Look around this room.  How many black faces do you see?  How are you going to include them and get them to vote for you?"

Jeb's reply is another in a long list of Gaffs-by-Jeb:

"Our message is one of hope and aspiration.  It isn't one of division and get in line and we'll take care of you with free stuff.  Our message is one that is uplifting--that says you can achieve earned success."

what eye thynk:  I'm beginning to wonder if Jeb's heart is really in this presidential campaign at all.  He is demonstrably incapable of thinking on his feet, and now he seems to be channeling his inner Mitt Romney in an effort to make it clear that his ultimate goal is to lose the nomination.

Remember Mitt's 2012 campaign speech to the N.A.A.C.P.? "Your friends who like Obamacare, you remind them of this: If they want more stuff from government, tell them to go vote for the other guy--more free stuff.  But don't forget nothing is really free."

Or how about Mr. Romney's excuse for his eventual election shellacking by Barack Obama? Via an audio recording obtained by ABC News days after President Obama won his second term:  "What the president, president's campaign did was focus on certain members of his base coalition, give them extraordinary financial gifts from the government, and then work very aggressively to turn them out to vote."

Jeb seems to have missed, or has purposefully decided to ignore, the memo where Republican Party leaders denounced Mitt's comments, adding that they needed to do a better job of communicating with minority voters. (Or maybe there were just too many big words for Jeb to comprehend?)

On Friday, Bush spokesperson Kristy Campbell was sent out to clean up after Jeb's latest gaff, but dodged the question about "free stuff" when replying to the New York Times.  "We will never be successful in elections without communicating that conservative principles and conservative policies are the only path to restoring the right to rise for every single American."

I interpret that to mean that "free stuff," at least for minorities, is officially off the conservative table.

At least Mr. Bush is consistent.  During his campaign for governor of Florida in the 1990s, Jeb was asked what he would do for black citizens there.  He responded, "It's time to strive for a society where there's equality of opportunity, not equality of results.  So I'm going to answer (that) question by saying: probably nothing."

So here we are, twenty-five years later and Jeb Bush, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, son and brother to past U.S. presidents, thinks government assistance is "free stuff" that should be eliminated in order to force everyone to make it on their own--like he did.  

How "uplifting."

August 12 - Other Stories You'll Find at Political Pollution

1 - "Fox Host on Social Security:  Stop Giving People Money 'Just Because They're Old'" (video)

m'eye thoughts: That money is taken out of our paychecks for years.  Nobody is giving us anything.  Is she so dumb she doesn't read her own pay stub?

Go to Political Pollution