madness of the GOP is the central issue of our time

[boutons_deux]

Tea Party Texas legislator wants to enshrine anti-LGBT ‘license to discriminate’ into state cons ution




Campbell has proposed Senate Joint Resolution 10, which enables Texans to refuse to provide goods and services to individuals or groups if they feel that to do otherwise would violate their religious beliefs.
The resolution would amend the state’s cons ution permanently to allow these types of religious exemptions. It says, in part:

Government may not burden an individual’s or religious organization’s freedom of religion or right to act or refuse to act in a manner motivated by a sincerely held religious belief unless the government proves that the burden is in furtherance of a compelling governmental interest and is the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. For purposes of this subsection, the term “burden” includes indirect burdens such as withholding benefits, assessing penalties, and denying access to facilities or programs.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/t...e+Raw+Story%29

Thanks, SCOTUS5 and Christian Taliban

so for this hateful nutcase, one has to pass her religious test before engaging in commerce with, eg, Christian Taliban.

[boutons_deux]

Gov. Scott Walker: Refusing health care to low-income Americans helps them 'live the American dream'




Defending his fellow Republican governors’ decision to block Medicaid expansion in their states, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) on Friday suggested that denying health coverage to additional low-income Americans helps more people “live the American Dream” because they won’t be “dependent on the American government.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/1...8Daily+Kos%29#

From the mouth of the monster created by Drs. Kock-enstein Bros.

[boutons_deux]

House Passes Bill That Makes It Harder For Scientists To Advise The EPA

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/11/18/3593645/house-epa-science-advisory-board-bill/

To paraphrase pussy eater, "Is there any part of govt that the Repugs haven't ed up?"

[spurraider21]

RIP supurraider... see you on the other side (in a week, hopefully)

spurstalk

swastikas OK, merely suggestive comments not OK

He got caught in that net?
Damn that's too bad, he really is bycatch and should be thrown pack into the pond.
I know he was not exactly fond of my takes, but I enjoyed his.

They gotta let him back. Send Xmas and crew to purgatory.

What would that program look like, and how would it take care of the immediate monetary needs they might have?

i don't hate the idea of welfare at all, i think its a necessary function for those who are put in immediate difficult situations. i actually wouldn't mind increased short-term investments, where in addition the checks/foodstamps they can get people in contact with employment agencies, or vouchers to occupational schools where they can get access to different jobs they previously weren't really capable of. i'm simply not a fan of prolonged or seemingly perpetual support unless its disability related at that point

[baseline bum]

i don't hate the idea of welfare at all, i think its a necessary function for those who are put in immediate difficult situations. i actually wouldn't mind increased short-term investments, where in addition the checks/foodstamps they can get people in contact with employment agencies, or vouchers to occupational schools where they can get access to different jobs they previously weren't really capable of. i'm simply not a fan of prolonged or seemingly perpetual support unless its disability related at that point

I don't know man, you get them into Everest and that's just a debt trap tbh.

[spurraider21]

I don't know man, you get them into Everest and that's just a debt trap tbh.

[ElNono]

i don't hate the idea of welfare at all, i think its a necessary function for those who are put in immediate difficult situations. i actually wouldn't mind increased short-term investments, where in addition the checks/foodstamps they can get people in contact with employment agencies, or vouchers to occupational schools where they can get access to different jobs they previously weren't really capable of. i'm simply not a fan of prolonged or seemingly perpetual support unless its disability related at that point

The bolded happens right now... even for people with disabilities... the concept of "perpetual" or not, it's just debatable. AFAIK, the welfare reform does require recipients to obtain a job within 3(? i think) years or lose the benefits. The problem here is that a lot of people do get a job, it's still not enough, and still need help. There are exceptions to this, IIRC, like WIC. But WIC is limited itself to the age of the child.

I just generally find that a lot of people complaining about it haven't really taken the time to look what the actual programs look like.

[spurraider21]

The bolded happens right now... even for people with disabilities... the concept of "perpetual" or not, it's just debatable. AFAIK, the welfare reform does require recipients to obtain a job within 3(? i think) years or lose the benefits. The problem here is that a lot of people do get a job, it's still not enough, and still need help. There are exceptions to this, IIRC, like WIC. But WIC is limited itself to the age of the child.

I just generally find that a lot of people complaining about it haven't really taken the time to look what the actual programs look like.

i'm aware this exists in theory, but it hasn't been effective in recent years. the work requirement (or work preparation requirement) is pretty heavily supported by both the left and the right, but it's being lazily implemented. i think it has to be more heavily prioritized in any sort of welfare program.



another interesting read on this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...d13_story.html

[ElNono]

i'm aware this exists in theory, but it hasn't been effective in recent years. the work requirement (or work preparation requirement) is pretty heavily supported by both the left and the right, but it's being lazily implemented. i think it has to be more heavily prioritized in any sort of welfare program.

I don't particularly see what's the problem with the chart above. No Work Eligible Parent is largely disabled recipients (and that's bound to increase with the wave of baby boomers aging). From the rest, about half has work, half does not. About 75% of them do not meet the federal activity standard, which means they're set to lose their benefits eventually unless they change their situation.

another interesting read on this: http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinio...d13_story.html

I read it. I also read the HHS recommendation. I can't reconcile the content of the article with the HHS resolution. Maybe I'm missing something.

TANF was actually an extremely successful program in reducing dependence on welfare.

[spurraider21]

TANF was actually an extremely successful program in reducing dependence on welfare.

no doubt, it's among of my favorite aspects of Clinton's presidency. the numbers since '96 had been pretty convincing, but the work requirement standards have basically been shredded. a lot of people who wouldn't have met regulations before now will.

and when you say those people who don't meet standards "will lose their benefits eventually" how long is that eventually?

[ElNono]

no doubt, it's among of my favorite aspects of Clinton's presidency. the numbers since '96 had been pretty convincing, but the work requirement standards have basically been shredded. a lot of people who wouldn't have met regulations before now will.

But they have not been "shredded". This is what I found trying to figure out where that came from:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-me...bandons-tenet/

and when you say those people who don't meet standards "will lose their benefits eventually" how long is that eventually?

PRWORA requires recipients to begin working within a 2 year period. There's also a collective total lifetime limit of 5 years (which, IIRC, does not apply to children from parents that might have gone over the limit) for federal benefits. Some states have made some of those limits even shorter.

[boutons_deux]

http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/show...=1#post7682892



Repug governance, know How To Get Stuff Done! TN! TX!

[boutons_deux]

Chuck Norris: Obama allows public ‘indoctrination camps’ in schools without Christian holidays




In a column for Town Hall on Tuesday, Norris warned that failing to observe Christian holidays was a “slippery slope” in public schools, and “we have to stop it before it is too late.”

Norris argued that a country where schools did not observe Christian holidays was “not the America our Founding Fathers created for us.”

“That’s not education but pipeline progressivism pumping out another indoctrination camp,”

“Chuck Norris’ point was, remember the time when American presidents weren’t afraid to talk about traditional values as Ronald Reagan did back in 1981,” co-host Steve Doocy opined.

“In such an honorable way,” Hasselbeck added. “Treasure to even listen to that.”

“Makes you warm,” Doocy agreed.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/c...e+Raw+Story%29

St Ronnie fellators, revisionists who wouldn't let tax-raiser, deficit/debt-increaser St Ronnie get past Repug primaries today.

[boutons_deux]

Utah Lawmakers Advance Bill To Bring Back Firing Squads



A Utah legislative committee cast a lopsided vote on Wednesday to allow death row inmates to be executed by firing squad if the state is unable to obtain the drugs it would otherwise use to kill these inmates by lethal injection. The bill responds to a nationwide shortage of these drugs, at least in death chambers, which arises from increasing opposition to the death penalty from the companies that produce the drugs and from governments that prohibit their exportation if they will be used in executions.


The proposal to bring back firing squads passed the state legislature’s Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee by a 9-2 vote.
Utah’s decision to potentially kill people by firing several bullets into their heart is actually more humane than the methods several other states have chosen to work around the shortage of execution drugs. Many states have turned to “compounding pharmacies” to obtain lethal drugs, which often provide drugs of uncertain quality or potency. Moreover, in part because many professional organizations representing doctors and nurses forbid their members from assisting executions, the executioners themselves often lack sufficient training to prevent inmates from suffering while they are dying.

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/11/20/3594902/utah-lawmakers-advance-bill-to-bring-back-firing-squads/

What's wrong with an crazy big overdose of pure heroin? painfree, even extremely pleasant, and quick. And certainly cheaper than BigPharma or compounded poison.

[boutons_deux]

Incoming Nevada Speaker Said Democrats Have ‘Master-Slave’ Relationship With ‘Simple Minded Darkies’




http://thinkprogress.org/justice/201...inded-darkies/

[boutons_deux]

Kansas Secretary of State warns Obama might be promoting anti-white ‘ethnic cleansing’

The anti-immigrant Secretary of State for Kansas agreed with a caller on his radio program that a Hispanic majority might conduct “ethnic cleansing” against whites.

Secretary of State Kris Kobach warned listeners during Sunday’s program that Democrats were “replacing American voters with newly legalized aliens” to create “a locked-in vote for socialism,”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/k...e+Raw+Story%29

y'all Repugs have just 1000s wingnuts on y'all's side. racism, xenophobia, paranoia, anger, hate, what a bunch of cool cats. The kind of well-balanced, serious adults we need running our states and country.

[boutons_deux]

Witchcraft-obsessed GOP county chair: Muslims must accept Jesus or leave the United States




The chairman of a county Republican Party in Minnesota who believes that big government is actually a form of satanic “witchcraft” is not backing down from controversial comments he posted on his Facebook page about Muslims.

Big Stone County Republican chairman Jack Whitley said he opposed waterboarding terrorists because he believed that Muslim “parasites” should be killed.

“I am opposed to waterboarding muslim terrorists because it is a waste of resources,” he wrote Wednesday on Facebook “They are muslims, they are terrorist, we know where they are from, we know where their buddies are, we know where thier mosque’s are, we know millions of these parasites travel to Mecca every year and when…FRAG ‘EM! Simplicity. I love when it all comes together!” [Errors are reproduced from the originals.]

The comments were first reported by the Bluestem Prairie blog.

Whitley said Thursday that he would not apologize for his remarks. He said Muslims should either convert to Christianity or leave the United States.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/w...united-states/

[boutons_deux]

House Republicans just passed a bill forbidding scientists from advising the EPA on their own research

The "reform" measure makes room for industry-funded experts on the EPA's advisory board

H.R. 1422, which passed 229-191, would shake up the EPA’s Scientific Advisory Board, placing restrictions on those pesky scientists and creating room for experts with overt financial ties to the industries affected by EPA regulations.

The bill is being framed as a play for transparency: Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, argued that the board’s current structure is problematic because it “excludes industry experts, but not officials for environmental advocacy groups.” The inclusion of industry experts, he said, would right this injustice.

But the White House, which threatened to veto the bill, said it would “negatively affect the appointment of experts and would weaken the scientific independence and integrity of the SAB.”

In what might be the most ridiculous aspect of the whole thing, the bill forbids scientific experts from participating in “advisory activities” that either directly or indirectly involve their own work. In case that wasn’t clear: experts would be forbidden from sharing their expertise in their own research — the bizarre assumption, apparently, being that having conducted peer-reviewed studies on a topic would cons ute a conflict of interest.

“In other words,” wrote Union of Concerned Scientists director Andrew A. Rosenberg in an editorial for RollCall, “academic scientists who know the most about a subject can’t weigh in, but experts paid by corporations who want to block regulations can.”

The House, alas, is staying the course, voting this week on two other bills aimed at impeding the EPA, including one that prevents the agency from relying on what it calls “secret science” in crafting its regulations — but which in reality, opponents argue, would effectively block the EPA from adopting any new rules to protect public health.

http://www.salon.com/2014/11/19/hous..._own_research/

Repugs ing up EVERYTHING they touch.

Thanks, rednecks!

[boutons_deux]

At Copenhagen climate talks, Jim Inhofe said Barbra Streisand was behind global warming 'hoax'

With delegates from 195 nations gathered in Lima, Peru, this week and next to try to hammer out a global agreement on climate change for approval in Paris next year, David Corn at Mother Jones recalled an encounter he had with Inhofe at the 2009 climate talks in Copenhagen. There, Corn asked the senator if he really believed that the thousands of people attending had been fooled about global warming. Inhofe said yes. Pressed, he said yes again. Corn nearly laughed and somehow managed to control his eye-rolling:

That's some hoax, I countered. But who has engineered such a scam?Hollywood liberals and extreme environmentalists, Inhofe replied.

Really? I asked. Why would they conspire to scare all these smart people into believing a catastrophe was under way, when all was well?
Inhofe didn't skip a beat: To advance their radical environmental agenda.

I pressed on: Who in Hollywood is doing this?

The whole liberal crowd, Inhofe said.

But who?

Barbra Streisand, he responded.

Inhofe only mentions Streisand once in his 2012 book, The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.

He makes note of other celebrities he says are part of the "Hollywood elites" who he says have engineered a gigantic scam.

Yep. It has nothing to do with scientists who have spent decades studying the climate and come to the conclusion with ever-greater certainty that we'll be fortunate indeed if we manage to adopt policies that keep us at an increase of 2°C (3.6°F) given that the world's current trajectory is heading us for 4°C (7.2°F) or worse.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/1...8Daily+Kos%29#

goddam, you right-wingers and your asshole Repug politicians are (are paid to be) stupid s.

[boutons_deux]

For ABBOTT's THIRTY-FIRST SUIT (maybe it was RickyBobby's 31st) against Obama:

Coalition of 17 states sue Obama administration over ‘illegal’ immigration order



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/c...e+Raw+Story%29

... this is how Repugs pander to, LIE TO their racist, xenophobic, old, white, male, gun-fellatin, pissed-off rural base.

[boutons_deux]

For the last four years,

Republicans in Washington have underfunded the Social Security Administration to the tune of $2.7 billion resulting in the closures of 80 Social Security field offices and 500 contact stations across the country. They are attempting to undermine our Social Security system through a depletion of services.

And when Republicans take control of Congress in January, they will push for a further reduction of services and deep cuts to earned benefits.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1017229533

This how Repugs MISgovern, ing up govt to the max to hurt Human-Americans, while rigging govt to enrich/protect/enable Corporate-Americans.

ing up govt, eg, undefunding / defunding, and bad-faith Congressional gridlock, is how the Repugs maintain the rigged status quo for their paymasters, while giving Human-Americans reason to say "govt is ed up", hopeless, resistant to change and progress, so disaffected voters don't vote (to the Repugs advantage)

[boutons_deux]

Utah Plans To Just Take Federal Land, Anticipates No Real Problem With That

In an unprecedented challenge to federal dominance of Western state lands, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert in 2012 signed the “Transfer of Public Lands Act,” which demands that Washington relinquish its hold on the land, which represents more than half of the state’s 54.3 million acres, by Dec. 31.

So far, however, the federal government hasn’t given any indication that it plans to cooperate. Still, state Rep. Ken Ivory, who sponsored the legislation, isn’t deterred.

“That’s what you do any time you’re negotiating with a partner. You set a date,” said Mr. Ivory. “Unfortunately, our federal partner has decided they don’t want to negotiate in good faith. So we’ll move forward with the four-step plan that the governor laid out.”

So why does Utah want to do this? Well, there’s hydrocarbons in them thar hills.

[A report] found that Utah would incur an additional $280 million in costs to manage the lands, but would bring in some $331.7 million in royalties from mineral resources development, mainly oil and gas. Currently Utah receives only half the royalties from drilling that is allowed on federal lands inside its borders.

former Sen. Bob Bennett (remember him?) took to the pages of the LDS Church-owned Deseret News to bring up a couple points that prove why the Tea Party wanted him out in the first place:

An effort to “take back” the federal lands within Utah’s boundaries was a hot political topic several years ago [...] “Taking back” something implies that it was yours in the first place. The original owners of these lands were the Utes and Navajos, followed by the Mexicans, followed by the U.S. government, which took possession of them after the Mexican American War and placed them in federally designated territories.

One of these, named “Utah,” stretched from what is now Colorado to what is now California. The first state made in the Utah Territory was Nevada, in 1864, in order to give Abraham Lincoln three more electoral votes. The state of Utah wasn’t allocated its share of territorial acreage until 1896.

Thus the chain of le is pretty clear. Again: first the Indians, then the Mexicans, then the federal government, but never at any time any Western states until it was created by Congress. When it admitted Nevada and Utah into the Union, Congress gave each one only as much land as it thought good and proper, as was its right. I don’t see merit in the argument that the federal government now has a legal obligation to give them “back” something they never owned.

http://wonkette.com/568283/utah-plans-to-just-take-federal-land-anticipates-no-real-problem-with-that

Mormon marans, typical religious freaks, just make up and call it reality.

[boutons_deux]

Rick Perry: The Bible proves that poverty is inevitable




But Perry doesn’t see inequality as a particularly big problem, and he’s certainly not going to champion an all-out war on poverty.

“Biblically, the poor are always going to be with us in some form or fashion,” Perry told the Post.

While the governor conceded that Texas’ economic gains have mostly accrued to the state’s wealthiest residents, he denied that inequality was even an issue.

“We don’t grapple with that here,” Perry said.

According to economist Mark Frank, the top one percent of earners in Texas took home 21 percent of the state’s total income in 2011, while the top 10 percent accounted for half of all the state’s income. Frank found that Texas has the fifth-highest level of income inequality among the 50 states.

http://www.salon.com/2014/12/10/rick_perry_the_bible_proves_that_poverty_is_inevit able/

Bible humping in the service of the 1%

yee haw, Texas!

$19B/year in TX gifts to business

[boutons_deux]

Rudy Giuliani Says Teachers Unions Are To Blame For Violence In Black Communities




http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/1...ml?cps=gravity

[boutons_deux]

At White House Christmas party, Michele Bachmann asks Obama to bomb Iran


"Merry Christmas, Mr. President. I have a list here of other nations I think we should be bombing, I hope you'll take some time to—"

“I turned to the president and I said, something to the effect of, ‘Mr. President, you need to bomb the Iranian nuclear facilities, because if you don’t, Iran will have a nuclear weapon on your watch and the course of world history will change,’” Bachmann explained.

Hey, I was right.

According to the Republican congresswoman, the President laughed at her.“And he got his condescending smile on his face and laughed at me and said, ‘Well Michele, it’s just not that easy,’ ” she said.

“And I said to him, ‘No, Mr. President, you’re the president, it will happen on your watch, and you’ll have to answer to the world for this.’ And that was it and then I left. Merry Christmas.”

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/1...n?detail=email