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Tag Archives: current-events

Are You?


The Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) has taken up more time than required for the 535 to just take up the issue of correcting or assisting in correcting the problems with its rollout and implementation. Unfortunately these folks have gone the route of Joseph McCarthy and Estes Kefauver. Incase no one remembers or knows, these two members of Congress consumed the airwaves with what is now known as witch hunts against  Communists and Juvenile crime  (Switch blades?) due to TV programming of the time. Personally I am pretty much done hearing and listening to the same old Cr** with no solutions or offers to help. All of the folks use the phrase: “the American people” when condemning the ACA yet they never asked the American people, the small sample they get is targeted and non representative therefore who are they really representing?   The fact that they are constantly blasting the program  is enough to show me that their only issue is a Democrat who happens to be Black and intelligent has a rational thought to help the “American people”  whom they have underserved for much of their time in office. While I may be a bit biased but could the “American People” please read all of the available information and disregard the inane ranting of the ensconced politicians who by the way are not so concerned with the American people until it’s election season! Now I ask: Are You tired of it?

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Food for Thought?


The following article points out the double dealing the Dupublican caucus.

CUTS TO FOOD STAMP PROGRAM REVEAL CONGRESSIONAL HYPOCRISY

Cynthia TuckerBy Cynthia Tucker | Cynthia Tucker – Sat, Nov 2, 2013

For decades, I’ve proudly asserted that “nobody starves to death in America.” The comment has been addressed to acerbic critics of the American government, often foreign visitors, who insist that the United States is a mean-spirited place that casts aside its weak and fragile citizens. I still contend that nobody starves to death here, but I’ve had to modify my claims about the country’s social safety net. Even if no one dies for lack of basic nutrition, plenty of people go to bed hungry every night. And if Congress’ harsh Republican caucus has its way, some may starve.That’s because the band of ultraconservatives who control the House are bent on deep cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), otherwise known as food stamps. They passed a farm bill laden with welfare for farmers, but they left out one of its biggest traditional components: food stamps. It was the first time since 1973 that the nutrition program had been left out of the farm bill. Now, negotiations have started between the Senate and the House to try to reconcile the upper chamber’s more charitable version with the one the lower chamber put together. It will be a tough slog since the two bills are billions of dollars apart. The Senate wants to cut $4 billion from SNAP over 10 years, while the House wants to cut nearly $40 billion. Perhaps the most appalling thing about the farm bill presented by the ultraconservatives in the House is that it makes little pretense of cutting spending by ferreting out wastefulness or fraud, no feint at an all-out assault on the deficit. Instead, this is just a base and ugly assault on the working poor. Oh, conservatives claimed that their cuts to food stamps were in response to fraud, as their claque filled the airwaves with the same example of a carefree California surfer enjoying his “wonderful” life on food stamps. They neglected to point to government data which show that SNAP is among the most efficient of government programs, with fraudulent spending restricted to about 2 percent of its budget. Meanwhile, the same conservatives have said nothing — nothing — about the millions of dollars in fraud related to farm subsidies. A June audit by the Government Accountability Office found that millions of dollars in subsidies have been sent to farmers who’ve been dead for at least a year. That’s just the illegal stuff.

That doesn’t touch the entirely legal fraud: The entire network of agricultural subsidies is a massive boondoggle, welfare to people who hardly need it. While conservatives hector the working poor about their alleged laziness, some agricultural programs pay farmers not to plant. Why don’t Fox News and Rush Limbaugh ever talk about that? Farmers hardly need the money. (Forget about the struggling family farmer of lore. He has largely disappeared.) Earlier this year, the Agriculture Department projected that farm income in 2013 would be $128.2 billion, the highest since 1973. One of the more egregious examples of the sheer hypocrisy surrounding the debate over the farm bill was revealed by The New York Times, which wrote about U.S. Rep. Stephen Fincher, R-Tenn. He voted for the bill that eviscerates SNAP, but he received nearly $3.5 million in farm subsidies from the government between 1999 and 2012, according to the Times. “We have to remember there is not a big printing press in Washington that continually prints money over and over,” he said, apparently without irony.

Conservatives claim to be alarmed by the dramatic increase in food stamp outlays, up 77 percent since 2007 to a record high of $78.5 billion in fiscal year 2012. (The SNAP program is already scheduled for a 5 percent cut as a provision related to the 2009 stimulus bill lapses.) But that’s because so many more people are struggling to make ends meet. The Great Recession accelerated a trend that has hollowed out the middle class, leaving many Americans without college degrees in a downward spiral. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that nearly 49 million Americans are “food insecure” — bureaucratese that means they don’t have enough to eat. If we aren’t willing to see to it that they have basic nutrition, I’ll have to reconsider what I believe about my country.

(Cynthia Tucker, winner of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for commentary, is a visiting professor at the University of Georgia. She can be reached at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com.)

COPYRIGHT 2013 CYNTHIA TUCKER

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As The World Squirms


It has been my opinion for several years that  business owners and managers should have worked in an industry to run it. The Current CEO of these companies has made a joke out of 2 American icons. He has sold off parts of the business to get cash and has put no money into either business as far as store upgrades and computer systems. To top it off the long term employees who are left are primarily part time and without the pension package they worked 30 plus years for in some cases. These two institutions are being mismanaged from top to bottom with the workers and store managers taking the hit.  The article below is indicative of that.

By Ashley Lutz | Business Insider – Mon, Oct 21, 2013 8:26 AM EDT

 Sears, once America’s golden retailer, is a company in crisis. 

The company has shuttered hundreds of stores in recent years. The embattled company has been selling some its most profitable stores to raise money. 

Brian Sozzi, chief equities strategist at Belus Capital Advisors, took poignant photos inside of New Jersey  and New York Sears locations. 

“To understand why Sears is in a ‘sell stores mode’ one must look no further than the stores themselves, where the truth is to be found,” Sozzi writes. 

His photos show the sad reality of what Sears is today. 

Sears’ mannequins are outdated in comparison with competitors like Macy’s, Lord & Taylor, and JCPenney, Sozzi says. “If you are living darn near paycheck to paycheck, does this presentation excite you about making a purchase with a couple saved up electronic dollars?”

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

Sozzi points out that this display is confusing. “Huh? A random football themed carpet with no promotion around it?” he says.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

“What’s the deal in the back of this electronics department?” Sozzi asks. “Does Best Buy look like this? Or, how about the electronics sections at Wal-Mart, Target, Costco, and BJ’s Wholesale? Nope.”

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

The shoe department isn’t adequately stocked, with empty shelves.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

“The team can’t find any way to repurpose abandoned portrait studios into something that drives traffic and sales?” Sozzi asks. “The consistently dark zones give a ‘going out of business’ feel to nearby departments that actually log some sales, which include appliances and baby.”

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

Lights are out in the store. “This is not great for flattering a potential customer trying on merchandise,” Sozzi writes.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

“This is where the store underinvestment appears loud and ugly,” Sozzi says.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

“Attack of the female basics? Look at the lack of organization,” Sozzi says.sears decline

Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

Associates weren’t on hand to help make purchases in this disorganized department, Sozzi says.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

These displays are almost totally empty.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

“Toys stacked on a shelf next to an escalator by the shoe department,” Sozzi writes.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

Again, Sears is disorganized. “Accessories are some of the only discretionary items selling in the mall with consistency these days,” Sozzi writes. “Best of luck navigating this flea market experience.”

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

The men’s department is overwhelming. “Inventory excess…an entire department of it!” Sozzi says. “Who is in charge of planning and allocation?”

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

The beauty department also lacks innovation in comparison with competitors. “JCPenney has Sephora. Macy’s newly remodeled stores have an array of associates at the ready to assist in cosmetics, ditto Lord & Taylor,” Sozzi says. “Ulta stores are popping up everywhere. Sears, well, yeah.”

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

“Retail is detail? Not here,” Sozzi writes.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

The random clothing racks are confusing to customers and show a lack of organization.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

This mat appears to be shabby and stained.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

Sozzi left the store with an empty cart.

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Brian Sozzi/Belus Capital Advisors

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20 Is The New 40


The common theme is women should have mammograms beginning at 40, that is apparently not necessarily so. Recently my daughter (36) after her own normal self exam, discovered an abnormality. Upon seeing her medical provider , the abnormality was biopsied and discovered to be “pre cancerous”. After further examination and tests it was discovered that it is indeed an early stage cancer. The treatment will be chemo first to shrink it then surgery to remove it . This will take place over a period of at minimum 6 months. The point being that women should be taught to self exam, and start taking mammograms at 20 years instead of waiting until 40. I know there is a lot of information on Breast Cancer but often many women ignore or cannot afford exams beyond the self exam. It is incumbent upon all families to have records on the family health as well as the currently popular genealogical trend. There is no shame in recording all ancestral health issues regardless of the type and cause. These records will allow for better overall treatment of your family’s health and possible prevention of catastrophic illnesses in the future. In many cases lack of health information is a no win situation. Steps to take:

1. Make sure your children have regular medical and dental care

2. Have all medical records (ancestral and current) available to the family.

3. Do not take your health for granted

4. Eat as healthy as you can.

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Something To Talk About


On Tuesday October 1,2013 another stage of the Affordable Care Act. That allows ALL Americans without health care to sign up for it regardless of previous or current health conditions. This means if you have or have had Cancer, heart problems or diabetes as examples, you cannot be denied insurance. The great minds of Congress have been and are still trying to take this away from you. The term “Obamacare” was meant to be derisive and demeaning yet what would you think of when you can get insurance where you could not get it before? It is in our best interest (voters) to send messages to Congress at election time. The special interests (not always ours) managed to oust a few Congressmen over a single issue that is not nearly as important as your health so why can we not do the same for our health and fiscal stability? The mass media (biased and unbiased?) has given mediocre coverage to this act while highlighting the same old talking points that certain Congressional members have espoused on an ongoing basis. The push to overturn or defund  the Health Care Act is fueled by big money and “tea Partiers” who do not have your interests in mind. Just remember when elections roll around which members of Congress have had your back!

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Second Amendment-Right?


New Firearm Law in Iowa-Too Far? In case you missed it.

Iowa’s gun carry law allows blind persons to carry guns.  See article:
L.A. NOW OF CALIFORNIA
By Robin Abcarian
September 12, 2013, 6:00 p.m.
Except for intermittent floods and quadrennial presidential contests, Iowa doesn’t generally make a lot of news.
But people around the world in general, and CNN’s Piers Morgan in particular, went crazy this week after Iowa’s premier newspaper, the Des Moines Register, published a story about how the state’s new gun law allows blind people to own and carry firearms in public.
You read right: Blind people may not be able to drive to the gun store, or even sign the permit application without assistance, but they may legally carry a gun in public.
The Register story, which included video of a blind Altoona man named Michael Barber gun shopping with his wife, was part of a much bigger series that looked at the effect of the state’s new gun law, which prohibits sheriffs from denying weapons permits except in very limited cases. Previously in Iowa, sheriff’s could deny gun permits at their discretion.
Jason Clayworth, the Register reporter who wrote the series, told me he got interested in the new law after watching Iowa lawmakers ram the legislation through in 2010.
“I knew from sitting in a few legislative meetings on this bill that legislators had overlooked tons of issues,” Clayworth said in an email. “And I felt like the bill had been unbelievably rushed, especially considering the gravity of the issue.”
Because there was no clearinghouse for gun information in Iowa, Clayworth had to contact each of Iowa’s 99 sheriffs, often more than once, to ferret out the effects of the law. He discovered that in the two years after the law’s enactment, 99.6% of gun permit applications had been approved.
And though the law requires training in the handling and use of firearms, Clayworth discovered that for many Iowans, that training consists of a free, online course offered by the state of Maryland that involves no shooting practice at all.
He also discovered that background checks on mentally ill are nearly impossible to perform, that law enforcement has no way to verify whether a permit is legitimate and that people who have committed violent acts or sex offenses are sometimes allowed to buy and carry guns. (There’s a video interview with one convicted sex offender who demonstrates how he tucks his gun under his shirt to conceal it.)
But of course, it was the stories about blind people carrying guns that got the most attention. The idea seems so insane on its face. But is it?
Many defend the right of disabled people to carry weapons, saying a prohibition would violate the Americans with Disabilities Act. Others, including some advocates for the blind, think it’s not such a great idea.
One defender, Cedar County, Iowa, Sheriff Warren Wethington, says he can teach a blind person to safely use a gun. In a Register video, Wethington coached his 18-year-old sight-impaired daughter Bethany as she shot a handgun at a couple of targets in a barren field. She didn’t do badly, but she was standing kind of close to the white targets.
“Obviously there are limitations,” Wethington told the Register. “They’re not going to be able to defend themselves against every situation, but then again, a sighted person can’t either. If we had some sort of a conflict in a dark room, you’re not going to be able to do anything that a blind person couldn’t.”
If blind people want to hunt or shoot targets with seeing companions to guide them, by all means, they should be allowed to do so. This is America, dammit. Everybody gets to shoot a gun.
But should a blind person be out in the public square carrying a gun for protection?
No. Please. Get a German shepherd, not a Glock.
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Ali quote extended


This quote by the “Greatest” was the sense of the country at the time yet we still are in overseas wars. If you change the word “Negroes” with “LGBT, immigrants (legal or illegal) or the poor, you have modern America.

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Zimmerman Part 2.5 and counting


   George Zimmerman is clearly out of control and was at the time he murdered Trayvon martin, it is unfortunate that his real nature was not seen during his trial. This person is clearly not who was portrayed  as the victim during the trial. As many of us who believe in Karma – this is just the beginning of his lifetime punishment for that crime.                              
  
George Zimmerman’s Wife Files for Divorce
Sept. 5, 2013
            By  and MISEON LEE

Matt Gutman More from Matt »
Correspondent

She filed the paperwork just days after she said in an interview aired exclusively on ABC News that the ordeal of the trial had put a strain on their marriage.

The petition says the couple, married in 2007, “separated on Aug. 13, 2013 and are not presently cohabiting as husband and wife. The marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken.” They have no children.

Read: Shellie Zimmerman’s Divorce Filings

Shellie Zimmerman, 26, has asked for “equitable distribution” of their assets as well as their debts. She also seeks sole custody of their two dogs, a Rottweiler named Oso and a smaller dog named Leroy.

She filed for divorce Thursday in Seminole County, Fla.

According to the financial disclosure form, she said she is unemployed. She listed her monthly expenses as $755. The couple owes $3,700.20 on their 2011 taxes, according to the form.

Since they separated, George Zimmerman has given her $4,300 for living expenses and the “source of funds appears to be Zimmerman Legal Defense Fund,” according to the financial disclosure form.

Read: Shellie Zimmerman Financials Affidavit

Shawn Vincent, a spokesman for George Zimmerman’s legal team, said there would be no comment.

George Zimmerman’s brother, Robert, tweeted, “Pray 4 them.”

Shellie Zimmerman pleaded guilty last month to perjury for lying about the couple’s finances when the judge was setting bail for her husband. She appeared in court without her husband.

She said in the interview with freelance journalist Christi O’Connor that she felt “very much alone” without him in the courtroom to support her when she pleaded guilty.

During the interview, Shellie Zimmerman said she is “going to have to think about” whether she stayed married to George.

After George Zimmerman, 29, was charged with murder in Martin’s 2012 death, the couple was inundated with death threats, went into hiding and had to live with security guards.

“We have been pretty much like gypsies. … We’ve lived in a 20-foot trailer in the woods, scared every night that someone was going to find us and that we’d be out in the woods alone and that it would be horrific,” she said.

George Zimmerman Case: The Story in Photos

Shellie Zimmerman said that on the night that Martin, 17, was killed, she was not at their home because she and her husband had had an argument and she had left to stay with her father.

Despite the tension in their marriage, Shellie Zimmerman said she believes her husband’s story that he shot and killed Martin in self defense, and said the most hurtful thing she experienced was hearing that he was a “murderer or some sort of racist.”

Shellie Zimmerman must serve 100 hours of community service and one year probation for her perjury.

George Zimmerman was also in the news this week when he was pulled over for speeding Tuesday for a second time this summer.

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Even In Religion


A TV ad representing  a National Insurance company has a mime talking and a baby commenting on it, I wonder what the baby would have to say about this article>

 

Getty Images

Freedom House Church did not seem all that free this weekend.

Makeda Pennycooke, the church’s executive pastor of operations, sent an email  to church volunteers asking that “only white people” greet worshippers at church  services. The email said that  leaders anticipated an increased number of visitors in the coming weeks, and  that since “first impressions matter,” the church wants “the best of the best on  the front doors.”

An outraged church member received the email and sent it to local news  station WBTV. The controversy is complicated because Pennycooke is a black  woman, while senior pastors Troy and Penny Maxwell are white. Nonetheless, the  church’s request was hard to misinterpret. ”We are continuing to work to  bring our racial demographic pendulum back to mid-line,” Pennycooke  wrote. ”We would rather have less greeters on the front door if it means  that the few that we have will represent us the best.”

Freedom House, a diverse church in north Charlotte, has already apologized  for the incident. “The email was sent by one of our longtime pastors in an  attempt to emphasize that our greeting team reflect the racial diversity of our  entire congregation,” a church spokesperson wrote in a statement to WBTV. “However, she admitted it was a mistake to over-emphasize any specific  group and sent an apology email within 24 hours of the original email going  out.”

Freedom House has four services every weekend. Five values drive its mission,  according to the church website: “We are  an equipping church (Ephesians 4:11-13); a relationally  healthy church (Matthew 18:19-20); an excellent church (Daniel  6:3); a leadership church; and a generous church (Proverbs  11:24-25).”

If anything, the incident serves as a reminder of another biblical passage,  Apostle Paul’s teaching that the Christian gospel breaks down all barriers  between humans. “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or  free, there is no longer male and female,” he wrote in the New Testament book of  Galatians. “All of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

UPDATE at 2:15pm: Here is the full statement and apology  from Freedom House regarding the incident.

One of our longtime pastors, in keeping with our church’s desire to be  inclusive and intentionally reach out to all races, noticed our front door  greeting team was no longer reflecting the racial diversity of our entire  congregation, and she wanted potential visitors to see people like themselves  upon entering our church. However, she made an error in judgment in requesting  all white greeters at the front door, going overboard in placing emphasis on any  one race over another in trying to highlight diversity within the greeting team.  She admits this was a grave lapse in judgment and is sincerely sorry for her  actions. She immediately apologized and has asked our forgiveness. She and  senior pastors have made themselves available to meet with any church members  who want to discuss this situation with them, and have communicated their true  heart in this matter — to be a church welcoming and inclusive to  all.  Freedom House believes in a diverse relationship within its  membership, reflecting the larger community in which the church resides, doing  life together as a church representative of everyone — culturally, ethnically,  economically, and generationally.

Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2013/09/03/north-carolina-church-wanted-only-white-people-as-greeters/#ixzz2ds4nuvpM

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Dupublican Miscue


Politics as usual, this excerpt from Jonathan P. Hicks points out where we are relative to the political system.

The GOP’s Failure to Honor Martin Luther King Jr.

  • By: Jonathan P. Hicks
GOP House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) attends a recent news conference. (Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
The conspicuous failure of Republicans to pay homage to Martin Luther King Jr. this week reveals precisely where African Americans rank in the party’s pecking order and highlights the nation’s widening racial chasm, Jonathan P. Hicks writes at BET.

There was one group curiously absent from the memorializing: Republicans.

Not one GOP figure attended the event at the Lincoln Memorial. There was no sign of House Speaker John Boehner or Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Absent, too, was House Majority Leader Eric Cantor. There was not a Bush in sight, not even the politically ambitious Jeb. Not even the lone Black member of the Senate, Tim Scott of South Carolina, took the time to join the group on the mall to honor the Dr. King’s legacy.

It’s fascinating that the party that, in the aftermath of the 2012 president election, admitted the importance of reaching out to African-American and other non-white voters would essentially declare the King event off-limits.

After all, Dr. King was not the least bid steeped in the politics of his time: He sought to appeal to the moral conscience of Republicans as well as Democrats, having as much faith — and distrust — in each party. His widow maintained close relationships with the various presidents, irrespective of party. And it was, after all, Republican icon Ronald Reagan, who signed into law the official U.S. holiday known as Martin Luther King Jr. Day …

But more importantly, the absence of Republicans reveals precisely where African-American citizens rank in the GOP pecking order. It reveals in stark clarity that they long less for ways to attract Black voters than they pine for an era where Black voters were irrelevant politically.

Read Jonathan P. Hicks’ entire piece at BET.

The Root aims to foster and advance conversations about issues relevant to the black Diaspora by presenting a variety of opinions from all perspectives, whether or not those opinions are shared by our editorial staff.

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