That's right DD and tho I am lucky enough, even thru my very worst financial times, thus far, never to have received any government assistance (tho looking back now I probably would have qualified) I do know there is a process to go thru.

It use to be (maybe still is) each month you had to bring proof from potential employers where you applied for work for one thing, AND as far as food stamps, I believe you have to supply bank account info showing a certain amount in your account (or lack of).

I am all for getting rid of (punishing) spongers and moochers of the system. BUT I also am for the very poor, sick, helpless getting help. Why not train and open more jobs in these fields. It's hard for some people to distinguish between the two and they tend to want to punish those in true need.


TIS

Yeah, all those things are still in place but much more stringent. When you apply you give permission to the govt to look at your tax returns, bank accounts, and in some cases credit reports, etc to see what you wrote is true. Now they even had computers calling or sending letters to employers where people claimed they looked for a job to actually confirm you did look for a job at that place. Now some states even have you do a drug/urine test. The whole process is actually quite intrusive if I do say so myself, you give the govt the right to get any information they request whenever they request it (you have X number of days to comply) and if you refuse then your benefits are cut off. I know all of this as I worked for the federal govt and learned the ins and outs of these programs.

Many people get frustrated with the level of compliance/documentation that is required that they don't even bother applying/renewing their benefits and just "wing it.

TIS all due respect in not punishing anyone, nor would I. You seem to be lumping me into a catagory who would do that. I'm taking about a healthy 25 year old male, who is either playing basketball all day, watching TV and just doesn't care because he knows the system. There are just as many Taking advantage of the system as the ones who need it.

I do not disagree with you with the example you give above. There ARE those who use/abuse the system. These are the people who need to be tossed out of the system. I don't have figures as to the numbers of those in true need and the abusers as being even, but tend to think that's probably not the case. I don't know.

Like I said, why not create more jobs, train people to work in this field, who know the restrictions/conditions. It certainly can't do any harm. And I'm not speaking for YOU, but there are many people who bundle all these people in one lump and don't want to believe anybody out there is needy.

TIS

There are a ton of people who are mindless that would like to Ross the entire system! That's ridiculas! Ask them after a tragedy if they like the system. They'll be the first in line.
I agree training and co- ops are great, however there is a huge decline in Vocational training! It's as if it's a lost education option. I'm only 36 and I had Many friends go to vocational high school. It was a somewhat ego booster for blue collar guys. Now it's almost looked down upon, it's sad. That system helped a lot of kids! Not everyone is cut out for an office position.

Sign o the times changing.

Illinois GOP back Gay Marriage Bill

http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/illinois-gop-chair-backs-gay-marriage-bill

Everywhere gay marriage bills are being introduced, they'll likely pass stste houses. One of the signs of change is in the party chairman's statement that allowing gay marriage reinforces a core Republican value that citizens be treated equally under the law. Gay rights being mentioned in the same sentence with principles grounded in the XIV Amendment was an area where GOP leadership wouldn't easily enter.

While we previously discussed the cases pertaining to gay marriage, which are pending before the Supreme Court, we pretty much opined that the Court will likely strike down that portion of DOMA, which doesn't recognize gay marriages in states where they are legal, but not rule on the broader issue of whether the XIV Amendment provides a right to gay marriage.

I feel eventually the right for gays to marry will be protected by the Constitution, but my question is how many states will have passed legislation approving gay marriage by the time the supreme Court makes such a ruling.

How fleeting political fortunes are. It was just two years ago this month that John Boehner took the gavel from Nancy Pelosi after a sweeping Republican victory in the midterms. He's still the Speaker, but he's embattled, weakened and bitter.

I'm not sure what he was thinking by pulling the bill for Sandy relief, but he incurred the wrath from his own party, particularly those in the three states where the majority of damage was sustained.

Need a klondike bar??? With a name like you have you deserved that one... Haha. jk.....

Both of your posts are right on the money Kly. There's only two substantive(?) objections to gay marriage: one is religious and the other other is a function of hte "ew" sentiment neithe rof which is bearing up well as time goes by. I can see a equal protection of he law Scotus ruling on it within ten years.

Republicans are either in denial or don't have a clue that change in America is afoot. I think that too many of them still cling to the "silent majority" myth. They did have enough sense to drop the "family values" mantra; however, they have not yet come full cycle to reevaluate just what the GOP offers Americans.

Its pretty clear the Republicans are clueless and in a state of utter chaos on all fronts, not only on gay marrriage. If Obama passes immigration reform and some kind of gun (or bullet) control, AND is in office when the Republican party collapses, the far right will get even nuttier.

I think Hugo is toast. There could be chaos in Venezuela after he dies.

CNN showing Senator Mark Kirk (R-IL) who suffered a severe stroke walking up congress steps. How inspiring. Don't know the guy or how old he is but seems too young for a stroke. Then again, my own brother had a stroke at 51. Very scary. Anyway glad he's recovering.



TIS

+1. Very classy. To many people hoping others get sick these days. You know what I find inspiring is Gabrielle Giffords! Her attitude after surviving that tragedy! Many would have locked themselves in a dark room. She is as positive as it gets! JMHO

No idea. Maybe after that long pointlessly day trying to get his own party in that chamber to be reasonable and not salute thee before jumping off the Cliff, he got tired and forgot? Maybe he didn't want to incur the wrath of the Teabaggers since there was a durable resistence (for 2 months) among that circle to pass Sandy Relief? I don't know.

I do however believe he got screwed in the aftermath. Boehner already was a popular target of the right-wing blogs over "caving in," and then King went ballistic on national TV and Christie aired his own displeasure. A good avenue to vent rage against him. Notice that both men, both Republicans, personally blamed Boehner. (Christie blasted him especially for not returning his calls.) Both also praised Cantor by name. Who of course voted against the Cliff deal, and reportedly did his best to amend the Fiscal Cliff compromise package with spending cuts, which would've not been passed by the Senate and we would've gone off the Cliff.

This looks suspicious Why shouldn't Cantor be also blamed? Not planned or a conspiracy, just Boehner was a good convenient rag doll to beat up on at the moment. Thankfully Boehner kept his job, perhaps only because nobody else in his caucus wants it. So he's about as locally respected as the trashman?



The GOP will do their best to block Immigration reform, by demanding to do it piecemeal. (or worse, demand spending cuts with it. That's their predictable answer to everything anymore.) Quite frankly, and this might upset some local liberals, but that issue is much more important than gun control. Not just for political reward because the Democrats kept the Presidency thanks to the Latino turnout (and want to cultivate that voting bloc further), but also....it's time for immigration reform. Should've happened years ago, it's a real significant problem and we need to finally confront it. Common sense demands it.

Or put it another way, comprehensive Immigration reform will do more to solve that particular problem Democrats hope to solve than piecemeal gun control measures like say the assault weapons ban, which I do support.

(I'm just baffled Rubio, a man who could be President someday, wants nothing to do withat debate so far. Why not piss your mark on the issue while everybody else, including the POTUS, is worried about Cliffs? Own the issue like McCain did with campaign finance reform many years ago. Quit worrying about not offending Rush Limbaugh. You need more than his vote to win the White House.)



I think most, or at least most of the professionals within the party establishment understand that. Losing elections tend to magnify such gaps. The problem is even if they wanted to, THEY CAN'T. Why? Because the religious wingnuts are a core special interest group within their party coalition, in donations and especially in volunteer manpower for campaigns. Liberals like me speculated a good portion wouldn't come out and vote for a Mormon candidate, but we were wrong: Romney got the same Evangelical turnout as McCain.

If the GOP tell those groups that the war on gays is a lost cause, goodbye money and votes.

That's not to say all Republicans are either helpless stooges of the Religious Right, or their most partisan advocates. I think of Bob Gates and Ted Olsen what they've done in their own small ways. Gates as Secretary of Defense using Pentagon bureaucracy quietly muffled that stupid DADT policy, until Congress repealed it. Former Dubya Solicitor General Olsen lended his reputation and talent to sue California over Prop 8. (He co-plantiff was David Boies, his adversary counsel for Bush v. Gore.)

Not to mention the state/local Republican officials and activists who've done their part. Hell even voters. Half of the counties in Maryland that voted Romney also voted for the state SSM referendum. But unfortunately all them are exceptions so far.

On that topic of Republicans trying to gapple with reality, New York magazine did a really good piece where one of their reporters went on a post-election Caribbean cruise that assembled leading Conservative media/magazine pundits. A great read, here's an excerpt:

------------------------------------------------------------

That night, Cal Thomas, a USA Today columnist and Fox News contributor, was the host of my table of eight. At an earlier panel, he’d suggested that his audience “starve the beast” of government by refusing to pay income taxes; but now his stage fire had waned, and he looked bored, peering around our table with half-lids, his hound-dog face propped in his hand. I sat next to a retired surgeon from California named Duane, who heralded the Dinesh D’Souza film 2016: Obama’s America as the definitive truth regarding Obama’s anti-Colonialist background, which now portended America’s inevitable slide into socialism. Thomas liked the movie but dismissed its impact on the election, saying it had preached to the converted and had “sourcing problems” besides. But Duane, who has thick glasses and a closely shorn flat-top, was undeterred, insisting it was relevant. “I disagree!” he spat.

This was a phenomenon that was common on the cruise—the conservative pundits and columnists from the National Review attempting to gently disinter their followers from unhelpful conservative propaganda. For people who believe in the truth of works like Dreams From My Real Father, a conspiracy-­theory documentary that argues that Obama’s real father was a communist propagandist who turned Obama into a socialist Manchurian Candidate, this could be difficult work.

http://nymag.com/news/features/republican-caribbean-cruise-2012-12/

Also, the Vice-President coming out of the Fiscal Cliff smelling like roses and praised by the GOP (do they really believe he went rogue on the White House?)....yup, opening salvo to Biden '16.

God help us.

So in spite of my advice, the WH apparently this month will go hard for gun control (while the topic is still fresh in the public's mind) and then tackle comprehensive immigration reform.

Of course I wonder, are the Demcorats hoping for the NRA and its allies to overreach in their overreaction to minor measures like banning assualt weapons and closing some Brady Bill loopholes? I mean saying stuff like assault weapons no more deadly than credit cards and banning them would be just like Jim Crow, does any of that sound sane to an average person?

Interesting article on the current division of the Republican Party.

http://news.yahoo.com/republican-party-seems-divided-angry-ever-140632093--election.html

Once a proud Republican, there way is totally lost! They don't know who or what there fighting for!

Details on the WH's planned Gun Control push.





http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/w...346f_story.html

Dumbass.



http://www.politico.com/blogs/charlie-mahtesian/2013/01/the-gops-blue-state-contagion-153243.html

I read something in our papers that Ben Affleck is being groomed as the next Ronald Reagan,albeit a Democratic version???

I like the girl he kidnaps in "the town" I gotta look her up on IMBD

Ah,a stroked Hollywood ego. Nothing bigger!

Besides there is another Democratic Ronald Reagan already. He's in the White House right now.

To bad we cant send him to England! Another out of touch rich kid who has never worked a day in his life.

Why do you find it neccesary to insult people? Yogi is from England but you still think it's necessary to stupidly generalize his country in a response to him. I find some of your posts in the OC section very informative but the majority are just pointless insults.

Who did I insult! It was a sarcastic joke, not that I need to exolain myself to you. Pointless? The only pointless posts are the one's you disagree with.

yogi my intent was not to insult you, if it came across that way I apologize!

Young Tony looks like an Oscar Meyer Weiner !