Another mantra of the cons is that Democrats “have no new ideas”. Now, I’ll admit that our big left wing brains have nothing as stupid as privatizing social security up our sleeves, but I will note that the left is in sort of a tough place because our movement’s last great batch of ideas are now pillars of American society – social security, racial and gender equality, protections for workers and investment in the middle class. There is much work to be done, but we’re about making improvements to the great progressive ideas of the past.
You can always rely on the right, however, to do the same thing they always do: screw over the poor and underpriveleged.
House Republicans are pushing to cut tens of thousands of legal immigrants off food stamps, partially reversing President Bush’s efforts to win Latino votes by restoring similar cuts made in the 1990s.
The food stamp measure is just one of several provisions in an expansive congressional budget-cutting package that critics say unfairly targets the poor and disadvantaged, especially poor children.
Republicans always wail that the left paints them as mean and hostile to the poor, elderly, and defenseless. But Republicans don’t help this image when they actually really are mean and hostile to the poor, elderly, and defenseless.
Ah, but they’re concerned that teh next round of tax cuts for the wealthy, which they plan on implementing soon, will make them look even MEANER….! They don’t even have the courage of their nasty convictions.
From the article:
At $844 million over five years, the House’s proposed food stamp cuts would account for less than half a percent of the total food stamp budget over that time. But Jennifer Ng’andu, a health and social policy analyst at the National Council of La Raza, highlighted the symbolism of the provision [emphasis added - fd]: It is the only item in the budget measure targeted at immigrants.
“Words, not actions”, eh, oliver?
Yes, and the action is cutting food to the needy, no matter what percentage it is. Again, the choice is between 1 less Porsche for Paris Hilton or less food for the poor. And again, the Republican party casts its lot with the idle rich.
I don’t think you had a blog back then, but what did you think about it when Bill Clinton cut welfare as drastically as he did?
Save this post for the next time Oliver complains that Bush is spending too much.
God forbid we should shave less than half a percent from the Bush tax cuts. Oh lord, the hue and cry we’d hear if Harry Reid proposed cutting less than half a percent from the Pentagon budget — “Why, he’s coddling terrorists!” Can you imagine the wailing accusations of moonbat conspiracy theories if someone proposed that we track down and reclaim less than half a percent of the billions of dollars that went missing in Iraq under the Coalition Provisional Authority? What sabers would rattle if Haliburton was fined less than half a percent of its profits in Iraq for its shoddy accounting and price-gouging? But less than half a percent torn from the mouths of poor legal immigrants? Fuck ‘em.
When my kids at school have to pay for thier lunch, I will notify Tuco, Frank and Farris of thier half of a percent at work. I don’t know about you guys, but when you have children who are poor, unbathed and sick not having food in your belly makes things fairly difficult. I know if I didn’t get a healthy lunch, my job would be really hard.
Maybe we could make Halliburton pay this bill
“An auditing board sponsored by the United Nations recommended yesterday that the United States repay as much as $208 million to the Iraqi government for contracting work in 2003 and 2004 assigned to Kellogg, Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary.
The work was paid for with Iraqi oil proceeds, but the board said it was either carried out at inflated prices or done poorly. The board did not, however, give examples of poor work.
Some of the work involved postwar fuel imports carried out by K.B.R. that previous audits had criticized as grossly overpriced. But this is the first time that an international auditing group has suggested that the United States repay some of that money to Iraq. The group, known as the International Advisory and Monitoring Board of the Development Fund for Iraq, compiled reports from an array of Pentagon, United States government and private auditors to carry out its analysis.
A spokeswoman for Halliburton, Cathy Mann, said the questions raised in the military audits, carried out in a Pentagon office called the Defense Contract Auditing Agency, had largely focused on issues of paperwork and documentation and alleged nothing about the quality of the work done by K.B.R. The monitoring board relied heavily on the Pentagon audits in drawing its conclusions.”
Instead of extorting money from taxpayers, here’s what Republicans do