I'm a food stamp worker and I know the income guidelines in my area. When I looked up the amount that is considered to be a "living wage" where I live, I discovered that if every one of my clients with jobs (the majority of them either HAVE jobs or are getting unemployment because they HAD jobs) started making a living wage, I'd be out of a job myself. Most of them would no longer qualify.

http://www.livingwage.geog.psu.edu /

So many Repubs hate "entitlement programs" like food stamps, while also hating the idea of paying workers a living wage. As corporations pay their workers less and less, more and more people are applying and qualifying for food stamps. Why is it so hard for Repubs to see the connection here? People have to feed their children, and they'll get the money to do so from their employers or from government programs like food stamps. As long as employers are allowed to pay slave wages, taxpayers will have to pick up the slack.

Why do Republicans hate Americans?

I was sitting in a McDonald's inside a Walmart last week, hanging out with my mother and her friends Betty, Bob, and Helen. In small town America, places like this have become gathering places for elderly retired people, so whenever I visit, we spend a couple of hours a day there. As always, Faux News was on the TV, and the pundits were talking about the Wisconsin situation. Betty said she didn't know what was happening to our country, but she didn't like it. I said, "Yeah, there really is a class war going on and it looks like the rich are winning." Well. I might as well have said something disparaging about St Ronnie Raygun, because IT WAS ON.

Betty responded with "Well, this is a capitalist country. People have the right to make and keep as much money as they want, because IT'S THEIR MONEY." I said, "But they often make so much money by exploiting their workers. They don't have a right to HOARD billions of dollars while people starve. People have the right to make a living wage."

At this, Bob piped up, "Everyone 'hoards' money. It's called 'saving'. It's none of our business how much people save. And workers should be happy to have a job at all."

I said, "Walmart is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. The Waltons make billions more than they could ever spend, while their workers qualify for food stamps. Why is that okay?" Bob said (I couldn't believe my ears) "Walmart workers don't have any skills, so they're already being paid too much."

Betty said something about Obama being a socialist and I responded with "President Obama is NOT a socialist. I WISH he was a socialist. We would all be better off." By now, Betty and Bob were getting up to leave, both noticeably pissed off. Meanwhile, my mom (who can't hear much of anything these days and is bordering on dementia) was busily eating her french fries, and Helen was applauding! As soon as they were gone, Helen said, "Thank you for that! Someone has to stand up to that bunch. I'm sick of how stupid and self-centered they are. They both have Medicare and live on Social Security, but they hate the government--especially President Obama."

I brought this up to my mom later that evening and apologized for pissing off her friends. She just shrugged it off with, "They'll get over it."

This is what we're up against, folks. Extreme ignorance. When poor people defend the behavior of rich people, the propaganda machine is working.

but like he has said more than once, he's the president of the whole country. He apparently really means that and takes his job seriously. Maybe that's why he tries again and again to work with and for everybody, not just people in his own party. He seems to have this extreme sense of fairness that may cloud his judgment sometimes, but he is NOT the Manchurian Candidate, or a secret Republican, or a secret Muslim, or the Anti-Fucking-Christ. He is a good, caring, intelligent man who is trying really hard to work with toxic, evil people. I don't agree with or understand everything he does, but I still love him. Maybe part of it is that after the Bush fiasco, I appreciate having a grown-up in the WH who thinks before he acts and weighs his decisions carefully. I think he's working extremely hard to do what he thinks is best for the country. Our country was so fucked up when he took office, and the Republicans are so united in their determination to take back the WH, that ANYTHING he can accomplish that makes life better for even SOME of the people feels like a major victory to me.

(edited for grammar)

My brother sent me the following email today. I am not a gun owner and I don't know how to respond. What do DUer gun owners think about Obama's record on guns? What IS his record/stand? I googled "Obama's stand on guns" and got a lot of mixed stuff. I would really appreciate knowing what you guys think about this subject.

"Some of my concerns about Obama as President are listed below.

1) My #1 concern about any politician is their stand on the Second Amendment. I believe it is an individual right and is the key to our freedom. Every instance of genocide in history, including recent world history, was preceded by confiscation of firearms. Some of these include:

Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths
Rwanda: 1994 - 800,000 Deaths
Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1975-1979 - 2,000,000 Deaths
Nazi Holocaust: 1938-1945 - 6,000,000 Deaths
Rape of Nanking: 1937-1938 - 300,000 Deaths
Stalin's Forced Famine: 1932-1933 - 7,000,000 Deaths
Armenians in Turkey: 1915-1918 - 1,500,000 Deaths

I believe Obama, based on his record and public statements, is anti-gun and will take them if he gets the chance. He says that he supports the Second Amendment because he is for hunting. The Second Amendment is NOT about hunting."

Here is why I’m angry. Read the whole thing, including all the responses. And then realize that I hate this war more than I’ve ever hated anything. And I hate the fact that you justify it and support it and that you are so blinded to the reality of what we are doing to these people who never hurt us in any way. I am sick to the depths of my soul that 4000 American soldiers and a fucking million Iraqi people have died in this monstrous war. I am ashamed and diminished as a human being by it. But like Dick Cheney, your attitude has pretty much been “So?” How you can give a shit about the fetus in some stranger’s womb and not care that our so-called leaders have literally destroyed that country is beyond my ability to comprehend. I hate the fact that you have allowed your mind to become so clouded with right wing propaganda and fundamentalist Christian dogma that you cannot see the evil that our so-called leaders are doing in our names. This is not about democracy, it is about profit. And it is obscene. And it is shameful.

You asked me why I’m angry. If you honestly want to know, here you go.



http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

http://picasaweb.google.com/rhiannon58/Unt...

is that it cheapened the very idea of impeachment and has made impeachment seem like a political trick rather than a remedy for HIGH CRIMES AND MISDEMEANORS. Will * have to kill someone with his bare hands and eat the entrails on the south lawn of the WH before impeachment will be put back on the table?

Yesterday I heard a segment on NPR that was nothing less than a repuke hit piece on Al Gore and the liberals who support him. It was presented as comedy, but it seriously pissed me off. NPR USED to speak for me, but it has swung WAY to the right, imo. The tone of this story, and the timing, seems very suspicious to me.

I went to their website this morning and found this link:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...

What do you guys think? Do I just not have a sense of humor? Or has NPR gone to the dark side?

I WANT MY NPR, DAMMIT!!!

edited to fix photos

Feel free to add more

Cast asparagus
On are god-given leader
And die, commie scum.

I am so series!!!11!!!
We must build a hugh fence or
Are homeland is screwn.

If we fight them their
They won't kill are childrun hear
There childrun don't count.

<<Edited to get the misspelling right>>

This is my thousandth post and I want it to count, ya know? So I’m throwing out, for discussion, some conclusions I have come to as I watch the machinations of the people who seized the reins of power in 2000 and show no signs of letting go. As I watch these people methodically destroy everything good and bright and hopeful about America, I worry so much about my grandchildren’s futures. And I realize that it is going to take a massive effort on our part to save our country from fascism and perpetual war--if in fact, it’s not too late.

We sometimes ask each other who is really the president—Bush or Cheney? Is it the puppet or the puppet master? Is it both, or is it neither? I think it’s neither. I think we haven’t had a president or a vice president—or a presidential cabinet, for that matter--since Big Dawg left office. We have, instead, a team of cutthroat corporate executives who are pretending to play those roles while they plunder the nation’s (and the Middle East’s) wealth.

America is the victim of a coup—a ruthless corporate takeover of the executive branch of our government. These people used the political process (and the corporate-owned media) to fool voters into thinking that they were legitimate contenders for the leadership of our country. Enough voters bought their bullshit and swallowed their lies (twice!) to give them cover for a stealth takeover of the highest office in the country, and arguably, the world.

This is why they won’t listen to the people, no matter how many or how loud the voices. They don’t feel beholden to the people, even the ones who voted for them, because they know they are not there to serve the people. They are there to make money for themselves and their masters—the extremely wealthy people who installed them into power. How are they making that money? On the backs (and with the blood) of the people.

This is why they are cutting social programs and taxes at the same time. Social programs benefit poor people and cost taxpayers money, while tax cuts mostly benefit Bush’s base of the “haves and have mores.” And this is why they continue to pump obscene amounts of our money into the military: they own the extremely profitable war machine, and in order to keep their profits flowing, they must continually feed it with money and lives.

This is also why BushCo invaded Iraq and now refuses to leave. This is not a war in the traditional sense; it’s a corporate takeover of a country, a country that has a great amount of oil wealth to be stolen. Iraq is also a strategic location from which to control the flow of oil throughout the Middle East. Someone said this in a recent post--that the Green Zone is Halliburton’s corporate headquarters in Iraq. American troops and private contractors are in Iraq to build and protect the military bases that are going up all over the country. And they are there to protect the oil wells that were the reason for our invasion in the first place.

Our young people are not dying for our country, or even for “democracy for the Iraqis”; they are dying simply for corporate profits. Bush et al. is ruthlessly using them for cannon fodder while speaking in patriotic platitudes about their noble service to our country, while expanding their corporate takeover throughout as much of the Middle East as they can manage.

Now the target is Iran and it’s “déjà vu all over again,” as lies are being told once again to justify another invasion and another “regime change.” And our congress people continue to dance around the truth: that these people are not statesmen or even politicians; they are thugs and frauds who care nothing about people or our country and everything about their own profits. Every time they vote to give these people the funding they need to carry out their ruthless invasions, they are aiding and abetting high crimes and misdemeanors. And they are legitimizing the illegitimate rule of murderers and thieves.

It is great that the Democrats won back the majority in November and are talking about investigations and possibly, impeachment. And we have some great people announcing a presidential run in 2008. All of this gives me hope, but my hope is tempered with trepidation. We are presuming that BushCo can be removed from office by lawful means. My fear is that they will dig in their heels and refuse to leave. Dictators do not simply step down because the people want them to, and we must be prepared for that possibility.

To take our country back, we must do everything we’re doing and more. Yes, we should write letters to the editor and post on DU. We should sign online petitions and march in the streets and participate in voter registration drives. We should continue to push our congress people toward investigations and impeachment, but we should also encourage them to prepare for a more direct route to removal: arrest and imprisonment. How this can be done, I don’t know, but it may be necessary.

We should also be prepared to put our lives and livelihoods on the line. We should not only march in the streets, we should SIT DOWN in the streets and refuse to turn the wheels of commerce until this faux administration is out of office. More and more of us should be willing to face jail, injury, or worse in order to right the terrible wrongs that are being done to our country and the world.

When my grandchildren look back at this time in history, I hope they see us as the patriots who saved their country from the clutches of evil men, and not as the “sheeple” who let them have it. I hope their world is more just and free and peaceful for our actions. The Bush administration is a cadre of criminals, and they should be treated as such. They should get absolutely nothing they ask for and everything they deserve: tiny windowless rooms in The Hague for the rest of their natural lives.

I want this on a bumper sticker.

The quote came from this excellent essay by Mythsaje. Check it out. I wanted to make sure that more people read it--sometimes threads drop fast as DUers' fingers fly across the cyberlandscape...We're a thoughtful and chatty bunch!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

I posted this in the Lounge last night, but I'm posting it here also to give it more exposure. As I've learned through this experience, ambiguous loss is extremely difficult to bear, because there is no closure. Thanks for reading this post.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discu...

I posted here a while back about my missing niece, Angie, and received such kind responses. My sister Marianne, Angie's mother, has been actively trying to find her and recently posted the following short essay on http://voice4themissing.blogspot.com / a website for families with missing loved ones. I wanted to share it with you all.

Monday, December 18, 2006
Home for the Holidays--Angie Yarnell

It's Christmas, AGAIN! I remember so vividly when it so seemed impossible for my daughter, Angie, to have been gone for 4 months. This will be our 4th year without our lovely Angie. You would think it would get easier but it does not for me. The first Christmas Angie had been gone only 2 months so I just knew that she would come home for the holidays. I thought that, at the very least, she would send a card. Well, really I knew she wouldn't because she couldn't. I wouldn't dare to say that aloud, so I allowed myself to think it.

Angie and I were always so excited about Christmas and she was a "card person", just like me. The first Christmas she was gone we bought her presents, wrapped them, and put them under the tree. A couple of weeks later, I carried them upstairs and put them in a closet. Soon after, I bought a big trunk and put them in it. Every year since, I've bought her a gift but just took them straight to the trunk. I've filled the trunk with gifts that I've bought throughout the years at various holidays. I also have 6 notebooks full of letters to her that I've written, and videos of various TV spots regarding her being missing...all in the "famous trunk".

I remember the Christmas of 1999 fondly. Angie was such a help to me that year. I had been diagnosed with throat cancer. I had just completed the long, aggressive radiation treatments shortly before the holidays that year. I was weak and pretty sick. Angie bought me a stained glass chicken lamp. It is sort of a night light. I have never turned it off. I've only had to replace about 3 or 4 bulbs in all these years. I find myself staring at it every single day, treasuring it as if it were crystal. That year she also made up an elaborate basket of herbal teas and flavored honeys, etc., as my throat was such a mess. I always bought her things for her house as that is what she liked. She and her husband never had a lot of money for household decorations. She always insisted on making most of the gifts she gave. She was quite artistic, and she never forgot the pets. Blossom, her beloved dog, always came with them. Blossom was the sweetest little girl!

Today, I hate everything about these holidays. I don't let on though. We still have my son, Eric, and his 8 year old daughter, Samantha. And we still have my husband's son, Tommy Jr. So, for little Samantha's sake, we have a nice Christmas. We are so blessed to have this little girl. She reminds me of Angie. I miss Angie so badly that I'm certain that there is a hole in my heart.

Marianne, Mother of Angie Yarnell
http://www.blogger.com/www.Geocities.Com/F...

Name: Michelle Angela Yarnell
Classification: Endangered Missing Adult
Alias / Nickname: Angie
Date of Birth: 1975-05-20
Date Missing: 2003-10-25
From City/State: Ivy Bend, MO
Missing From (Country): USA
Age at Time of Disappearance: 28
Gender: Female
Race: White
Height: 60 inches
Weight: 170 pounds
Hair Color: Lt. Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Complexion: Light
Glasses/Contacts Description: Glasses with round gold wire frames or clear contacts.

Identifying Characteristics: Pierced tongue, pierced ears, tattoo of a jagged barb wire fence in black ink around right wrist, tattoo of a green "frog" on left shoulder blade, tattoo of the word "obey" written in black cryptic writing, small surgical scars on each side of her hip.

Jewelry: Possibly wearing a white gold or silver watch, white gold or silver bracelets worn on right wrist, emerald earrings.

Circumstances of Disappearance: Unknown. Michelle was last seen at her residence in the vicinity of the 3900 block of Ozark View Rd. in Ivy Bend, MO. All personal belongings were left behind.

Investigative Agency: Morgan County Sheriff's Office
Phone: (573) 378-5481
Investigative Case #: MCS03-1296

Light is returning
Even though this is the darkest hour
No one can hold back the dawn

Let's keep it burning
Let's keep the light of hope alive
Make safe our journey through the storm

One planet is turning
Circles on her path around the Sun
Earth Mother is calling her children home
-- Light Is Returning by Charlie Murphy @1984


Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Yule, and Merry Kwanzaa to the wonderful DU community. Thank you for being there, smart and beautiful and caring and opinionated. Thank you for reminding me that there are more of us than there are of them, and peace will prevail.

I'm posting these lyrics as a reminder that PEACE is coming. This reminder is my small gift to you all.

No one can hold back the dawn!