“Chief Porker” Don Young Refuses To Share Bacon With Katrina Victims
“Chief Porker” Don Young Refuses To Share Bacon With Katrina Victims
Rep. Don Young (R-AK) is a self-proclaimed “little oinker” and aspires to be the “chief porker.” Your tax dollars make his dream possible. Thanks to you, Alaskans receive $6.60 back for every $1 they pay in at-the-pump gas taxes.
Young is chairman of Congress’s Transportation and Infrastructure Commitee and has ensured that the six-year $295 billion transportation bill is “stuffed like a turkey” with $721 million in projects for Alaska. Projects include:
$223 million for a bridge larger than the Brooklyn Bridge and almost as long as the Golden Gate, to connect a town with 8,900 people to a town with 50 people.
$200 million for another “bridge to nowhere,” which will connect Anchorage to a town with one tenant and a handful of homes.
Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has raised the idea of “charitable pork” — lawmakers giving up pet projects to help Hurricane Katrina victims — and Montana is considering giving up the $4 million it received in a federal bill for a downtown parking garage.
Young’s response to his state giving up some money?
“They can kiss my ear!…That is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard….I raised enough money to give back to them voluntarily and that’s it!”
So much for unity and sacrifice.
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Well Amanda…that’s just one porker. Why don’t you publish the entire pork list by State and political party? That should be interesting.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:22 pmSound like Young has earned a place on the Avenging Angel’s List of Conservative Evil Doers.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:23 pmWell, I guess we’re looking at the reverse Kobi Ashi Maru (forgive my spelling) scenario: The Needs of the Few Outweight the Needs of the Many
This guy is not long for office…
September 20th, 2005 at 12:24 pmAll I see is another poster boy for 2006.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:26 pmWill someone in this blog please report on this liar?
http://www.nationalledger.com/ artman/ publish/ article_2726803.shtml
You people are such hypocrites. You used this phony tirade shamelessly to slander the Administration now I demand a follow up. Russert is in deep sh*t if he doesn’t address it.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:29 pmREPUGnican “little darlings” who think holding office entitles them to screw everything in sight that is not painted shut or nailed down just make me ill.
It is time to take everyone (both sides) out of office and install (notice I didn’t say elect) sane people that are for the health, safety, and financial good of all the people. It is time to screen anyone that is running for office carefully. We need measures in place that make these people totally accountable to their constituants.
When those measures are firmly in place, then and only then can we resume electing them.
There also should be a clause that makes it possible to recall them from their post when the majority of their constituants find that they are not satisfactorily performing their duties to the people. It should be just like anyone in the private sector stealing from their employer.
There should be no government secerets, we the people should be entitled to say where and when we spend our money.
If these political people are in favor of doing their jobs and not simply in the business for the money we would get the people we deserve.
I also think their salaries should be in line with those that they represent. Their raises should be voted on by the people. In the private sector, your raise is related to job performance. So should it be for the politicians.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:33 pmsacrifice…? help somebody besides yourself…?? if people need help it must be because they’re shiftless and lazy and no damn good and it’s their own fault… if they’d get up off of their dead asses and work hard, they could be porker-in-chief too…
September 20th, 2005 at 12:35 pmMay a camel with diarrhea squat in your cereal bowl, Mr. Young.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:40 pmAlaskans should be looking at the mirror in disgust and I join the rest of the world in looking at the american government in disgust.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:41 pmDon Young should sprout assholes and shit himself to death.
September 20th, 2005 at 12:53 pmI think it’s a sad state when we come to expect greed like this. All in due time porkers, all in due time. The list grows and 06 will out all of these fat cats who have no heart.
September 20th, 2005 at 1:02 pmHe should have said that God told him to build the bridges, complete with golden likenesses of Mr. Young adorning its promenades.
Screw the needy and suffering.
September 20th, 2005 at 1:08 pmP & P - I totally agree. I am sick of the fat cats too. One question - if you are so concerned about the fat cats, why did you nominate an heiress chaser like Kerry?
September 20th, 2005 at 1:26 pmGOP, your greed is showing.
September 20th, 2005 at 1:37 pmJethro: Well Jake, I see NED is all lined up to
September 20th, 2005 at 1:41 pmmake a cast.
Jake: Yes indeed Jethro. He has a Fenwick spin-casting
set-up, Stren monofiliment and a cast-master spoon.
Jethro: The wind-up and….oh he splats the spoon
10 feet in front of the boat….
Jake: That sure will scare all the fish.
Jethro: Better luck next time NED.
NED is here spouting opinion versus news again…
See the problem with Republicans is that they can’t distinguish the ambiguities in life. FDR was one of the wealthiest men of his day - yet he was not a ‘fat cat’ who simply exploited poor people. Compare that to Bush’s grandfather Prescott who was a banker during the same presidency, and he helped fund hitler through money laundering of stolen jewish goods. Now he was a ‘fat cat’ - just like his grandson is…
The republican exploititive apple seems to rarely fall far from the tree.
Oh and NED, did you notice, yet another Bush was arrested for drunken and disorderly conduct yesterday. Looks like your royal family can’t even be effective at holding its liquor!
September 20th, 2005 at 1:43 pmNED the site you pointed to is a right wing spin blog. A more appropriate site that actually does authentic analysis of bias in the press is here:
http://www.mediamatters.org/
The sites you always post are just propagandist hooey, just like the crap you post here. It’s clear why you’re so stupid - you never get your information from a reliable source. Everything you link to is some nazi propaganda mouthpiece - man you’re easily duped! I’ve got some waterfront property in louisiana I’ll sell you cheap - you’ll make a fortune with it!
September 20th, 2005 at 1:46 pmGOP = Greed Over Poverty
We always know where their priorities lay…
September 20th, 2005 at 1:46 pmRyan - at least Prescott Bush voted in favor of civil unlike Al Gore’s racist father.
September 20th, 2005 at 1:46 pmAnd NED makes another cast to troll yet again….
September 20th, 2005 at 1:48 pmFor those who are interested, while some choose to defend a man who was both a Nazi sympathizer and Nazi funder, who’s grandson now sits in the oval office and implements Nazi policies - I cannot ignore the shocking connections…
In October 1942, ten months after entering World War II, America was preparing its first assault against Nazi military forces. Prescott Bush was managing partner of Brown Brothers Harriman. His 18-year-old son George, the future U.S. President, had just begun training to become a naval pilot. On Oct. 20, 1942, the U.S. government ordered the seizure of Nazi German banking operations in New York City which were being conducted by Prescott Bush.
Under the Trading with the Enemy Act, the government took over the Union Banking Corporation, in which Bush was a director. The U.S. Alien Property Custodian seized Union Banking Corp.’s stock shares, all of which were owned by Prescott Bush, E. Roland “ Bunny ” Harriman, three Nazi executives, and two other associates of Bush.@s1
The order seizing the bank “ vests ” (seizes) “ all of the capital stock of Union Banking Corporation, a New York corporation, ” and names the holders of its shares as:
“ E. Roland Harriman–3991 shares ”
[chairman and director of Union Banking Corp. (UBC); this is “ Bunny ” Harriman, described by Prescott Bush as a place holder who didn’t get much into banking affairs; Prescott managed his personal investments]
“ Cornelis Lievense–4 shares ”
[president and director of UBC; New York resident banking functionary for the Nazis]
“ Harold D. Pennington–1 share ”
[treasurer and director of UBC; an office manager employed by Bush at Brown Brothers Harriman]
“ Ray Morris–1 share ”
[director of UBC; partner of Bush and the Harrimans]
“ Prescott S. Bush–1 share ”
[director of UBC, which was co-founded and sponsored by his father-in-law George Walker; senior managing partner for E. Roland Harriman and Averell Harriman]
“ H.J. Kouwenhoven–1 share ”
[director of UBC; organized UBC as the emissary of Fritz Thyssen in negotiations with George Walker and Averell Harriman; managing director of UBC’s Netherlands affiliate under Nazi occupation; industrial executive in Nazi Germany; director and chief foreign financial executive of the German Steel Trust]
“ Johann G. Groeninger–1 share ”
[director of UBC and of its Netherlands affiliate; industrial executive in Nazi Germany]
“ all of which shares are held for the benefit of … members of the Thyssen family, [and] is property of nationals … of a designated enemy country…. ”
September 20th, 2005 at 1:51 pm#20 - you are the only person I think hates jews. You have attacked me as a jew for my support of Israel.
The funny thing is the left is, in fact, on par with the Nazis. They want to sit back and let dictators torture their people while we do nothing. They prefer communism to capitalism and everything is morally releative.
Ryan - stop projecting your anti-Semitism onto the Bush family.
September 20th, 2005 at 1:55 pmSpoken like a true compassionate conservative republican Mr. Young.
September 20th, 2005 at 1:56 pmAnd I believe in the christian values of not visiting the father’s sins upon the son. However when the son (or grandson) appears to have the same values as the grandfather, and the grandfather was a Nazi, those sins are no longer absolved.
The troll would like everyone to believe that Mr. Prescott was somehow not a racist and was involved in the civil rights bill, and yet the Civil rights bill was signed in 1964, and Prescott Bush was not a Senator at that time. So once again the propagandist - ill informed trolls show the depths of their ignorance and to the extent their propaganda will reach. The troll also omits the fact that most of the votes for the civil rights bills were democrats, and while many republicans did join forces with those democrats and do the right thing - many from both party did not. Interestingly enough, most of those horrible democrats who were racists, and didn’t do the right thing became republicans - like strom thurmond…
September 20th, 2005 at 1:57 pmJethro: Rather than using a lure, NED decides
September 20th, 2005 at 1:59 pmto poison the lake with vitriol.
Jake: That’s against the rules isn’t it?
“Ryan - stop projecting your anti-Semitism onto the Bush family.”
The Bush’s are Jews? Wow, you need to get on Fox News and let everyone know! If pointing out that the Bush’s were helping hitler exterminate jews, I’m an anti-semite, then your tactic of telling the reverse of the truth as propaganda has truly reached a new ultimate. You truly are desperate on this aren’t you? How pathetic you are!!!!
September 20th, 2005 at 1:59 pmAfterthought,
That’s a common republican tactic. When you point out their immorality, they dig up something from the ancient past that isn’t even relevant and say ’see the democrats are immoral to’. Instead of saying, you know what, that is wrong, and we can do better - they try to pretend like your failures permit theirs. Can you imagine what it would be like being married to some twisted screwball like Mr. Ned? It would clearly have to end in divorce..
September 20th, 2005 at 2:01 pmYeah Ryan,
I am on to NED’s game as it so obvious.
September 20th, 2005 at 2:04 pmHence the “he splats the spoon” comment.
Not going to catch many fish that way.
WTF, pork still in the budget and attached to bills? Can’t be. DeLay said all the pork was gone, and spending was down to bare bone necessities! And we all know DeLay never speaks an untruth … the bastard!
September 20th, 2005 at 2:11 pmNED is an israeli living in america - his allegiance isn’t to this country, and I point it out. Therefore he calls me an anti-semite… I personally think it’s admirable that he’s so patriotic to israel, but he should just move there to defend it instead of pretending to be an american if that’s where his allegience lies…
And what NED and the right wingers always try to say is that anyone who approves of a jew is anti-semitic, when in fact, sometimes it’s because the person is just an idiot - being a jew isn’t really the problem. I have jewish relatives, I’ve spent my whole life with a variety of people both religious and non-religious. What I’ve discovered is that I’m personally anti-zealot, whether they’re christian, jewish, islamic, hindu, buddhist or even non-religious. People who don’t want to find common ground and use propaganda are idiots the world over is what I’ve learned. In fact - to me NED looks just like Osama. Put a scarf on his hed, and tell me he’s alqueda, and I’d say yep - he sounds like alqueda to me… ‘Death to the liberal’ instead of ‘Death to america’ - but it’s the same right wing babble from both groups..
September 20th, 2005 at 2:12 pmWhat do expect from a right wing Republican. He is greedy selfish person thinking only of himself. Their time is coming. We will take our america back in 2006.
September 20th, 2005 at 2:15 pmThe reason Young is used as an example is because the pork he does not want to give up is the most agregious.
September 20th, 2005 at 2:21 pmBut yeah - all the a-holes (dems and repugs) should give back the pork to help with Katrina.
Note that when NED cannot defend the post, he changes the subject.
September 20th, 2005 at 2:33 pmNED enters the thread by changing the subject.
September 20th, 2005 at 2:34 pmTroll, troll, troll is all he ever does.
Bold as brass is Mr. Young. Selfish, greedy, a member of the “I got mine, go get your own” club.
September 20th, 2005 at 2:36 pmIt’s mine. I saw it first.
It’s mine. I had it last.
It’s mine, because I’m bigger than you.
I don’t care who needs it, or why. It’s mine.
I can do whatever I want, as long as nobody’s gonna stop me.
He did it, so it’s OK for me to do it, too.
If I close my eyes and pretend real hard, I can make the world any way I want it to be.
If I tell a lie often enough, loud enough, I can make everybody believe it.
People, this is the moral reasoning of four-year-olds in a sandbox. Just so we’re clear on this: being a Grown-Up means that you do not ever get to act this way — not even if you’re the President.
Especially if you’re the President.
The so-called conservatives have spent 25 years telling us that they were the Serious Grown-Up Daddy Party, who were going to select people from The Best Families to run things in a Real World kinda way. No more spoiling the kids, Mom: it was time to face life like Serious Adults.
And so this is where their Best People have brought us — down to the level of behavior that responsible parents and teachers won’t accept from kindergartners.
It’s time for Mama to come in, kick butt, take names — and send these psychopathic little hellions to a quiet corner for a nice long time-out. We need leaders who are capable of adult-level moral reasoning. The GOP doesn’t appear to have a single one left: the few evolved specimens they did once have took their marbles and went home long ago.
Mama, as Lakoff reminds us, lives in the Democratic Party. And she’s pissed: Daddy went off to play war with the boys and left the house a mess, forgot to feed the kids, and let the toilet back up all over New Orleans. Worse, he’s come home from the party drunk and broke. And the neighbors don’t even say “hi” anymore — they just point and whisper behind her back.
She’s about to clean house, in more ways than one. And the first thing to do is to make it clear that sandbox moral behavior will no longer be tolerated — from anybody, starting with Dad.
September 20th, 2005 at 3:22 pmHospital Hell - Thanks to FEMA?
The horror stories continue in the aftermath of Katrina. And now there is Rita to worry about.
September 20th, 2005 at 3:49 pmMarie,
The tactic of changing the subject when it can’t be defended is standard propaganda. This is identical to what Limbaugh, Hannity and OLiely do. Then they pretend they won the argument the next day when different guests are on - and that their point is ‘established’. It’s standard practice of people who prefer treason and lies over democratic principles and honesty. In otherwords fascists…
September 20th, 2005 at 4:07 pm#13 Because someone is rich it doesn’t make them greedy. Don’t be so naive. And, maybe a little jealous of ole’ Kerry’s gal? Seeing as though money is all important to your party, I bet that is exactly what would make you all giddy.
September 20th, 2005 at 4:33 pmNED talks a good game but is basically ineffectual towards advancing or maintaining his politics. Why would someone so dedicated to his ideas spend so much time in here?
September 20th, 2005 at 4:34 pmI tell ya’ Brian, he really likes the attention and really needs the punishment. It’s his pathology and his party. Ewww to both.
September 20th, 2005 at 4:40 pmHundreds of tons of food aid sent by the UK for starving Katrina victims is being burned by this administration.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/ news/ tm_objectid=16147117&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=up-in-flames–name_page.html
What heartless inept idiots!
September 20th, 2005 at 4:41 pmIndeed, this cabal in the White House are fascists. One need only a trip to the encyclopedia or read a few chapters in a history book in order to see it.
September 20th, 2005 at 4:41 pm#35, Gone at Last - I like your analogy. Georgie has always behaved as a spoiled brat on the schoolyard, and it seems that his friends are like him. It is indeed time to clean house.
“Why would someone so dedicated to his ideas spend so much time in here?”
Paranoid Personality Disorder is my guess. It forces the person to ‘crush’ anyone who refuses to accept their delusion. It’s common among terrorists and radicals like NED… They aren’t satisfied just reading their propaganda, they have to come to opposing sites and ’shut them down’ so that no dissent is allowed. It’s a psychotic response to an unstable attachment to reality. Really quite sad…
September 20th, 2005 at 4:43 pmHundreds of tons of food aid sent by the UK for starving Katrina victims is being burned by this administration.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/ news/ tm_objectid=16147117&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=up-in-flames–name_page.html
What heartless inept idiots!
Comment by Ryan “I’ll put anything in my mouth” Neat
Hate to break it to you Bubba but Southern folk will not eat MRE’s. You might eat shit on a regular basis but we don’t and, ain’t none of us starving. Nice of them to send that out of date Mad Cow crap though. At least you think so. I say screw ‘em.
September 20th, 2005 at 5:29 pmNED talks a good game but is basically ineffectual towards advancing or maintaining his politics. Why would someone so dedicated to his ideas spend so much time in here?
Comment by Brian
Ineffectual? How do you know? Just because you’re an idiot and too far gone to see the real picture when it’s layed out for you doesn’t mean some of these kiddies don’t get the point.
But you could be right. Maybe we’re going about this in the wrong way. Perhaps we should utilize the method favored by the Filthy Left since 1917. We’ll just put a f***ing gun to your head. How’d that be Brian?
September 20th, 2005 at 5:41 pmDon’t feed the KKK racists - ignore MrWrong, he’s a bigot and a white supremacist - all things he posts should be ignored…
September 20th, 2005 at 5:45 pmModerator!
Is there a rule for trolls who threaten to kill participants on this board? He just threatened to kill brian! Can you please track down the IP address of this guy and report him to the FBI (not that they’re like to do anything other than give him a medal). Can you at least report him to his ISP so his internet can be revolked? He’s clearly a deranged individual - and should be put in a mental hospital before he harms himself or someone else!
September 20th, 2005 at 5:48 pmGone at last, that was brilliant.
September 20th, 2005 at 5:55 pmNed, get a life. Did you really think we were going to buy that? “Yeah, a SS sympathizer who even dealt with the 3rd Reich financially isn’t racist becuase he voted on a bill it was impossible for him to vote on. Yep, just because Gore played it safe/was a wuss 41 years ago it makes the party that has done more for minorities, ethnic, racial, sexual and religious, screamingly racist.”
STOP GOING INTO JEB’S STASH!!!!!
Oh we get the point allright. You are a mean and greedy troll and are changing no one’s view here; only establishing why we are who we are. We are introspective and self assured victims of a fascist dictatorship.
And if you aren’t careful with that “I hate everybody but America” crap, some other country that is bigger and badder than us will decide they don’t believe we as American citizens of a soveriegn nation shouldn’t be treated so poorly. They may just take it upon themselves, without the vote of the UN, to come over here and “FREE” us. What about that?
Think China or maybe a country you never thought of, because you live in a freakin’ vaccuum and don’t think you need anybody for anything, to do just that. They, like us, would have every reason to. I suppose we will meet them in the streets with parades and flowers. Right? Naive troll.
September 20th, 2005 at 5:57 pmRyan, when the trolls get mad, their venom is palpable. This is when the true troll comes around. Ahhhhh, the “Filthy Left.” Whatever do you mean by filthy? Hmmmm, me thinks you are showing your horns.
September 20th, 2005 at 6:00 pmprogressive,
I’ve heard something that reminds me of the ‘filthy left’ psychotic response - I think it was gollum in lord of the rings when he said ‘filthy hobbit’. And interestingly enough he was twisted and distorted by his desire for power, his fear, his hate and his selfishness just like the trolls are… And just as frodo felt sorry for the miserable creature, but refused to allow him to be an evil twit - so is our job to stand up to these poor pathetic creatures and stop their malevolence. Sometimes myths and metaphors are useful even when they’re modern to understand the psychology of a distorted soul - and I think LOTR did a masterful job of showing how people are distorted into evil creatures by their lust for power. The trolls here remind me of the same insane mad lust…
September 20th, 2005 at 6:09 pmWE PROGRESSIVES NEED TO REPEATEDLY HAMMER THIS:
1) The projected cost of unfunded Lake George levy upgrades, upgrades previously rejected by The Chimp and Dick Bans Dike.
September 20th, 2005 at 7:36 pm2) Link and compare the costs of the above flood prevention projects to the combined costs of the “bridges to nowhere.”
3) Then shout how New Orleans (sorry…I meant Lake George) died because Chimpy was more interested in giving a GOP senator some bridges which a few caribu might use, at best.
It’s very good politics, as we can with Republican on-deck presidential candidate Mitt Romney who spent 1.5 BILLION in taxpayer money to help developers and then stood on this project to run for governor of Massacuusetts.
Salt Lake City, Utah Dec 5, 2001 (AP)–The Salt Lake Olympics will cost federal taxpayers an unprecedented $1.5 billion, Sports Illustrated reported in its Dec. 10 edition.
The magazine said the total is more than the combined federal spending on the previous seven Olympics held in the United States. The total includes all federal funding in any way attached to the Olympics, part of it for highway and light-rail construction.
Salt Lake Organizing Committee president Mitt Romney called the figure “way wrong.”
“If someone wants to count the completion of a highway project in Utah as an Olympic project … well, yeah, you can get federal dollars to be huge,” Romney told Sports Illustrated.
http://www.skimag.com/ skimag/ article/ print/ 0,13435,326043,00.html
September 20th, 2005 at 8:10 pmIt’s very good politics, yada, yada…
comment by dumbass taxpayer
Let’s talk about the six trillion we’ve paid out since Johnson trying to make 12.4% of the population productive citizens. Unless you’re willing to talk about that STFU.
September 20th, 2005 at 8:25 pmMrWrong has been making death threats to members of this blog. I have reported him to the moderators. Please be aware that he poses a threat and a menace to anyone on this blog and those that run it!
September 20th, 2005 at 8:28 pmI have yet to hear a liberal defend the 6 plus trillion spent on poverty since Johnson claimed war on it. I think it is obvious in the Katrina aftermath, how badly we lost that war.
September 20th, 2005 at 8:41 pmExcuse me? Where did you pull that number - out of your ass? As for failure, there’s no a relatively large middle class including clarence thomas and condi rice that are there BECAUSE of those liberal policies. If stupid right wing idiots like you would stop undermining the efforts, the number and expense would reduce further. The biggest issue america faces with poverty is republican administrations. Poverty improves under every democrat, and it gets worse under every republicans. You guys intentionally try to undermine and destroy the program because you desire it to fail.
A better question is what about the 2 trillion in tax breaks for the wealthy? A stagnant economy, and more poverty. At least the investment in the poor created a vibrant middle class out of the poor. If republicans weren’t so cheap and heartless, there most assuredly could have been more done. For instance one of the biggest causes of poverty is poor education - and poor schools are never given sufficient funds by your party. You always find a way to hamstring education so that it’s underfunded, perpetuating a workforce to clean your houses and mow your lawn for cheap!
September 20th, 2005 at 8:49 pmHere’s REAL information you illiterate racist. Go do some research before you spout this stupid propaganda.
Economically, blacks have significantly benefited from the advances made during the Civil Rights era. The racial disparity in poverty rates has narrowed. The black middle class has grown substantially. In 2000, some 47 percent of African Americans owned their homes.
There is, however, a significant African-American working class, which tend to neutralize or distort the tremendous progress among those in the black middle and elite classes. In times of economic hardship for the nation, African-Americans suffer disproportionately from job loss and underemployment, with the black underclass being hardest hit. The phrase “last hired and first fired” is reflected in the Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment figures. Nationwide, the September 2004 unemployment rate for blacks was 10.3 percent, more than twice that of their white counterparts, who were unemployed at the rate of 4.7 percent. [2] [3]
The income gap between black and white families is also significant. Employed blacks earn only 77 percent of the wages of whites in comparable jobs, down from 82 percent in 1975. Although rates of births to unwed mothers among both blacks and whites have risen since the 1950s, the rate of such births among African Americans is three times the rate of whites.
However, many blacks have risen up to the middle classes — many have moved into the elite class, have increased their presence as professors, doctors, lawyers, government officials, and corporate executives. Since the 1960s and 1970s, the black middle class has also grown rapidly as many African Americans move from the so-called “inner cities” into the suburbs. Some communities which used to be mainly African American have now been replaced by other ethnic groups, such as Asians, Latinos, and even whites, and gentrification is not uncommon in many former “ghettos”. The persistence of the underclass (concentrated in the inner city or rural areas), which carries with it all cyclical pathologies associated with poverty, continues to plague blacks as a group, draw media attention away from the more fortunate and affluent members of the black community, and distort the image of blacks, most of whom enjoy a standard of living significantly higher than most other groups in the West.
Due to public safety concerns, local law enforcement, news media and the general public place a higher priority on combatting street crime, compared to white-collar crime — which is predominantly a phenomenon of white society. The higher profile of street crime in the media and law enforcement has given rise to the perception that African-Americans, particularly young, black men, are a “problem population” prone to thievery, violence and other criminal behavior. Such perceptions are a major factor in the kind of afrophobia which causes white flight and which, studies have shown, often causes non-blacks to assume criminal intent or activity on the part of blacks when there is none, and ignores that most crimes occur within, not, between different ethnic groups.
Historically, the police were enforcers of a racist, white supremacist status quo that often victimized innocent blacks, sometimes acting in concert with vigilante groups such as the Ku Klux Klan or lynch mobs. This police system originated in the South during the 1800s, which was often used primarily to control slaves or ex-slaves. Issues of unnecessary or excessive force, police harassment, police corruption, racial profiling, suspicious deaths of black detainees while in police custody, and illegal detainment and interrogation are well-documented problems that perpetuate black distrust of, and antipathy toward, public law enforcement.
Many African-American communities have a notably higher crime rate than those of other communities. Poverty, alienation and despair in the black lower class have led to the rise of a number of professional street gangs and criminal networks. The underlying factors behind these higher crime rates can be traced directly to the fact that law and justice agencies are often operated almost exclusively by non-blacks, and as a result, discrimination of black communities tend to occur. Because many blacks view the criminal justice system as a means of discriminating and sometimes oppressing African Americans, the “lock in jail” system is rarely effective in treating criminals and sometimes even further promoting crime because of extended contact with prisonmates. Youth education on crime prevention, improving communities, economic guidance, and reforming the criminal justice system are likely to be more effective methods of preventing crime than the current prison system.
September 20th, 2005 at 8:52 pmExcuse me? Where did you pull that number - out of your ass? As for failure, there’s no a relatively large middle class including clarence thomas and condi rice that are there BECAUSE of those liberal policies.
comment by Ryan “where’s the beef?” Neat
So, let me get this straight. As far as you’re concerned a handful of successful Negro politicians are worth 6 trillion dollars? Can I quote you on that? Oh, one more thing Mr. Terminal Rectal Cancer, what in your wildest dreams makes you think that those people could not have succeeded without Liberal theft from the public coffers? So, let’s get this straight. A few bright and worthy Negro’s are worth six trillion of our dollars and if it weren’t for people like you they’d still be picking cotton. Is that about it?
September 20th, 2005 at 9:02 pmAnd here are some mythbusters for those who are stupid propagandists.
Myth: Welfare is a huge part of our national budget.
A recent survey by the Harvard School of Public Affairs and the Kaiser Family Foundation asked people to name the largest federal expense today. 19% listed welfare. The truth is that welfare is just over 1% of the federal budget. The cost is $24 billion a year, the amount of interest paid to the government’s creditors every 6 weeks. Welfare comprises less than 4% of the state’s general fund.
Myth: Most welfare recipients are able bodies adults.
Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)-the program we think of when we think of welfare-is available only to families with children. Two-thirds of the people served by AFDC are children.
Myth: Most welfare recipients are teen-aged mothers.
Unmarried mothers compose a small portion of welfare mothers-only 8% are under 20 years of age, and only 1% are under age 18. The average age of a mother receiving AFDC is 29. In a study conducted by the Washington Association Concerned with School Aged Parents (WACSAP), It was discovered that two-thirds of the teenagers who have given birth have been victims of sexual abuse or incest, and 50% have reported being abused by a member of the household. The majority of the fathers are not teen-agers. They are men in their 20s, 30s, and 40s.
Myth: Welfare mothers have more babies in order to get more money.
The reality is that the rate of births for families on welfare is slightly higher than the national average. In Washington, for example, half of all AFDC recipients have only one child. Thirty percent have two children, and only 4% have four or more.
Myth: People on public assistance are lazy and don’t want to work.
According to a study done by the Institute for Women’s Policy Research, half of all single mothers who spend any time on welfare during a two-year period also work during that period. Their jobs pay an average of $4.92 per hour, and few of their employers (only 28%) provide health insurance coverage. They are most likely to work as maids, cashiers, nursing aids, child care workers, and waitresses. Almost half require welfare to supplement their incomes between jobs. One-fifth work at such low-wage jobs that they continue to qualify for welfare, and ten percent require welfare as temporary disability insurance.
Myth: Most welfare recipients are minorities and immigrants.
The stereotypical image of a welfare recipient as a Back woman with 10 children driving a Cadillac is just that: a stereotype. While people of color are disproportionately poor, the majority (three-fourths) of public assistance recipients in Washington State are Caucasian. Only 2.3% of the welfare population are legal immigrants. (Illegal immigrants are not eligible for welfare).
Myth: Welfare grants are too high, making it easy for people to stay on welfare.
The purchasing power of the public assistance grant in Washington State is at the lowest point in 25 years. In ten years, the monthly amount has increased by only $70 for a family of three, while the amount required to maintain that family has increased by $555. The welfare payment-$546 a month-is 46% of the Standard of Need, the minimum required for essentials.
The most hurtful and damaging stereotype of all is that people on welfare have neither a work ethic, nor a sense of personal responsibility. The very title of the national proposal, “The Personal Responsibility Act,” reflects faulty assumptions concerning the behavior of welfare recipients. It completely ignores the economic reality of poverty in the 90s: that there is a lack of jobs that pay wages that will support a family. If enacted into law and implemented, these proposals will further slash the meager resources of an already impoverished group of women and their children, forcing them further into poverty and keeping them there.
September 20th, 2005 at 9:03 pmRepublicans are always so lazy and stupid. They never fact check or even verify their biased and uninformed information. They’re such pathetic stupid little scared rabbits.
Myth: The U.S. has wasted over $5 trillion on the war on poverty.
Fact: The U.S. has spent about $700 billion on the war on poverty.
Argument
In a 1994 congressional hearing, conservative think-tanker Robert Rector invented one of the catchiest sound bites of the 90s:
“Since the onset of the War on Poverty, the United States has spent over $5.3 trillion on welfare. But during the same period, the official poverty rate has remained virtually unchanged.” (1)
Like many sound bites, this one is completely false. When President Johnson declared war on poverty in 1964, the poverty rate was 19 percent. By 1973, this was cut to 11.1 percent, approximately where it stayed for the rest of the decade. Poverty only began growing again during the sharp cutbacks in welfare benefits that occurred during the Reagan years. (See appendix A below for historical poverty rates.)
Nor has the U.S. spent anything close to $5.3 trillion on the war on poverty. Between 1964 and 1994, the U.S. spent less than $500 billion on Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), the program normally referred to as “welfare.” (2) Between 1962 and 1994, the U.S. spent about $218 billion on the bonus value of food stamps. (3) These are by far the two largest welfare programs for the poor. There are others, but their expenditures are minuscule in comparison, and they were also added much later in the war on poverty. But let’s put everything in perspective: the Pentagon spent this much in the last three years alone. And today, AFDC and food stamps each comprise about 1 percent of the federal budget.
Rector’s figure of $5.3 trillion is extremely disingenuous. He cited this figure in reference to the “War on Poverty,” but to arrive at such an inflated figure, he had to include solidly middle-class entitlement programs like student loans, school lunches, job training, and Medicaid. Medicaid is by far the largest item in this figure, but three-fourths of all Medicaid goes to the elderly, blind and otherwise disabled. Furthermore, Medicaid represents windfall profits for hospitals and doctors, and can hardly be described an “anti-poverty” program. In fact, a distinguished panel from the National Academy of Sciences has concluded that Medicaid, like any private insurance, should not be counted as annual income for its recipients, especially since the payments go directly to hospitals and doctors. (4)
The inclusion of middle-class entitlements in a figure intended to discredit the “War on Poverty” is a direct reflection on the statistical trustworthiness of conservative think tanks.
September 20th, 2005 at 9:06 pmSo what we’re hearing is that republicans want to spend 6 billion dollars on poverty. Considering that we’ve only spend 700 million so far, I’d really like to see them lobby for the other 5 billion to be spent on education and other support programs. I’d get behind that… It clearly would have made a difference if this had been true - but since republicans are cheap liars, unfortunately it isn’t…
September 20th, 2005 at 9:07 pmRyan Neat. Kudos on your statements about welfare. Maybe many of these mothers on welfare are there because maybe their right-winged husbands left them and refuse to pay child support? Many women on Aid to Families with Dependent Children, didn’t start out in poverty, but divorce and other circumstances put them there. It’s also a black hole, as once in the system, to get out, can put you and your children at risk. Most mothers want to work, but how do you pay $100 a week, per child, for childcare, on nothing more than poverty wages. Your children loss their health coverage, and your employer doesn’t offer it. Young teens, many wo live in such disfunctional families, just want out, want something to call theirs, and sadly having a child, is what this generation of teens want. Yes, we all know the horror stories of the Welfare Queens, but they are certainly rare. The way the system is set up, it does not encourage, young mothers with children to try to rebuild a better life, because usually the first steps wipe out any safety net you need to make the climb. I also would like to point out that AFDC covers grandparents who are raising their grandchild, due to unfit parents or deceased parents. These grandparents are usually over retirement age, on a limited income, raising young children, putting them into the poverty level, after already raising their own children. Most time, it turns out that it is a widowed grandmother raising these children. When I first heard about this, I felt it was due to unfit parents, but in time realized many of these children’s parents have been killed, either by boyfriend, spouse, or out and out murder. Scary, at least with unfit parents there’s always a chance they might straighten out, but a dead parent or parents leaves no hope for these children and caretakers. This is becoming a new phenomenon, where this has been a fairly rare occurance, up until recent years, it is now becoming more and more common. With it opens up new issues, different problems, and different needs
September 20th, 2005 at 11:05 pmNancy,
I’m glad you liked the information. The whole welfare mom thing is just nonsense of greedy racist and stupid white men. The feds have a breakout on welfare you can find here - just go to the link for the complete report.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/tb1898/
What you’ll find interesting is that african americans only make up 34% of food stamp recipients. All of the right wingers like to believe that all of the fight against poverty just applies to black people, but clearly that’s utter nonsense by the government’s own reports.
I’ve never seen a group of more ignorant and arrogant a$$holes than this generation of republican ‘activists’. It’s clear to me that I’ve forgotten more things than they’ll ever know! They are so full of themselves and don’t know squat! Information like this link is readily available from the government and budget offices that clearly show that the republican spin machine is nothing but a big lie. And they’re too lazy and stupid to check the summary reports! How insane is that?
September 20th, 2005 at 11:38 pmThoughtful comments, Nancy. If we are going to begin to resolve this issue, we need a concerted effort at real help. Education, child care, and health care, and everything that entails.I agree that welfare queens are rare; we must allow people to pick themselves up by giving them the support to do it. I don’t see it happening until we get a very strong and popular leader with vision and the power of persuasion — sounds very unlikely, but I hate to think it will never happen. Just think of what we could do if we weren’t spending billions on unjust wars and devoted the same funds to our domestic agendas.
September 20th, 2005 at 11:43 pmNor east dimentia a jew….
Not a chance!
Nor east dimentia an idiot…
sure, i buy that one.
Please don’t engage the trolls. It makes them feel welcome.
I scan over nor east dimentia, mightie dykie and mr. wrong, I believe they are all the same person.
Most probably the one person in AmeriKKKa that loves bush and can’t see them as Nazis.
September 21st, 2005 at 12:19 amkjlovell,
NED is an israeli zionist - that’s different from a jew. A jew is someone who practices the jewish religion. An israeli zionist is someone who practices political fanaticism. It’s the difference between being Irish and a member of the IRA, or English/Scotch Irish and being an Orangeman. I know this scenario well…
September 21st, 2005 at 1:17 amNot that anyone cares but… You know, Alaska isn’t Mars. Sure, some places are “far away” by the standards of most people that live in the Lower 48, but that doesn’t make them “Nowhere”. I’d also like to have the name of the place with “one tenant and a handful of houses” — is that Eklutna? Knik? Point Woronzof? (I didn’t think anyone lived in/on Pt. W) Fire Island, maybe?
Not that I’m saying that we should have zillion-dollar bridges or that Don Young is a paragon of virtue*, I’m just saying. Most of the rest of the world already treats Alaska like it’s on another planet, and this really doesn’t help.
Also? I’ve eaten MREs. When I wasn’t starving or otherwise desperate. They were pretty decent, for industrially-packaged food designed to last for ages. Sure, maybe C-Rations sucked (my mom said they were okay, but that they weren’t that great), but technology and food science have come about a million miles since then. I imagine that people who have nothing and cannot grow or otherwise obtain their own food would be grateful for anything, including and especially entire meals, packaged to be heated and eaten without much in the way of resource-intensive preparation (i.e. no using precious water to heat/reconstitute the food, then washing the pots/pans/dishes/utensils too).
* I know no one that voted for Young. I think that he’s like Stevens or Murkowski — he’ll be in office no matter what until he either drops dead or is too feeble to totter into the building. It’s really rather frustrating.
September 21st, 2005 at 3:35 amWell, it looks like Ryan answered IRI. Well, IRI, what about it? It looks like the ball’s in your court. Have any clever retort? I thought not.
September 21st, 2005 at 9:37 amWe need those bridges for two growing communities that are surrounded by federally owned land. The anchorage bridge will shave two hours of commuting time for many residents, saving gas for sure. The Ketchikan bridge will expand the available land for a growing community and connect two islands to the main town, reducing the use of a diesel ferry that deflects killer whales and other marine mammals from the area. You all can’t tell me that since you all got your bridges, highways, power lines, etcetera that state 49 can just suffer. H2 anybody? Hello?
September 21st, 2005 at 1:47 pmI have absolutely no respect for anyone who’s a republican. I doubt that there’s a single rethug (politician and or voter) who has any morality or humanity left in their sorry souls. Rethug pols are upfront about their gluttonty because they control the voting machines.
As for Prescott Bush, who with his father-in-law founded the Bush Family Evil Empire, not only was not in office to vote for the Civil Rights Act, he and George Herbert Walker were movers and shakers in the Eugenics movement in the 1920’s. In addition, Wycliffe Draper, who advocated the responsibility of every white person to have large numbers of children to offset procreation of african americans, placed responsibility of his eugenics foundation called the Pioneer Fund in Walker’s private bank.
September 21st, 2005 at 4:49 pmI have absolutely no respect for anyone who’s a republican. I doubt that there’s a single rethug (politician and or voter) who has any morality or humanity left in their sorry souls.
comment by don juan.com
I agree with the idea that this isn’t about Democrats and Republicans, it’s about morality, world view and a basic philosophy of life. Of course I have a different opinion regarding Republicans. I do think there are some good ones. I think any rational person who loves his country and fears God has a good reason to vote a straight Republican ticket regardless of the flaws of the party and the top management. The reason is this, God will forgive a man for voting Republican because he actually had no other choice. He will not forgive anyone who is immoral enough, brain dead enough, in fact evil enough to put the Damned BY God, Evil RatBastardCommieMofo’s in power.
I have it on good authority that if anyone who voted for Kerry should die before the 08 presidential election where they have one last chance to atone by voting Republican, will go straight to hell.
The “rule of thumb” amongst us Conservative Fundamentalist Right Wing Children of the Only God is that you can’t be a Democrat and expect to get into heaven. But that works out just fine because most Democrats don’t believe in God or heaven anyway.
September 21st, 2005 at 7:28 pmsomeone should start a campaign against the bridge to nowhere
September 23rd, 2005 at 10:53 ammike tyson should bite off his ear he clearly is not hearing reason
September 23rd, 2005 at 11:02 am“I have it on good authority that if anyone who voted for Kerry should die before the 08 presidential election where they have one last chance to atone by voting Republican, will go straight to hell.”
Wow, more death threats - psychopath Racist Bigot MrWrong strikes again.
“The “rule of thumb†amongst us Conservative Fundamentalist Right Wing Children of the Only God is that you can’t be a Democrat and expect to get into heaven. But that works out just fine because most Democrats don’t believe in God or heaven anyway. ”
Sure we do, we just don’t believe you have a snowballs chance of ever going there. Once again, your delusion is disconnected from reality… We don’t believe in ‘churches’, because they distort stupid people like you into ignorant drones instead of helping them to find their actual spiritual fulfillment. You prevent yourself from understanding religion - but considering you appear to be clinically insane, I doubt that can be helped in your case.
September 24th, 2005 at 3:32 amAlaska, too, is getting a bridge from one nowhere to the next nowhere. Since the Chief of the Counterfeit Compassionate Conservative And Oh Yeah By The Way Conspicuously Caucasian Caucus and his Dither of Dolts (aka Bush and his Administration) have refused to rein in their party or to veto ANYthing, I think it only fair that all basically unnecessary bridges should be named in a way that affiliates them with the Chief. I suggest naming them for the Lint Twins (aka the Bush Twins), since, like the twins, the bridges will not be decorative and will serve no purpose.
September 24th, 2005 at 4:32 pmI am a republican from Alaska, Don Young is an embarrassment to my party. His Pork barrel gouging of America in the form of Bridges to nothing in Alaska has nothing to do with conservative values. 350 million bucks to link a little Island to Ketchikan that his buddies own beachfront lots on is aristocratic thievery. Now we can pay big taxes to rebuild the gulf disaster while he justifies his EGO. Wait until Jesse Jackson finds out none of the fifty affluent land owners on this small Island are of color. You talk about a black eye for the Republican Party. Who will align themselves with this man now, for ANWR. We will pay for this greed in many ways.
October 4th, 2005 at 10:01 amKetchikan Alaska, does not give a crap about minorities who lost their homes in the gulf. Ketchikan is a little white community so caught up in our own convenience, we think pissing huge tax money away on ½ mile link will encourage factories to run to Alaska. Hey wake up Ketchikan, who would ever fly/barge parts in, to be assembled, only to fly/barge out, to get on the market. We small town folk have been on our knees to local political idiots for too long. If Bush did not act fast enough to people in need, we pin heads up north are much worse. What an example of greed.
October 4th, 2005 at 10:15 am[…] Think Progress posted the story yesterday of Don Young, the Alaskan Republican responsible for some of the worst economic depredations of the pork-laden Transportation bill. It’s an almost incredible story, if you follow it to its roots and have a strong stomach. […]
October 15th, 2005 at 11:06 amlol chief porker
November 15th, 2005 at 8:14 am[…] Don Young has his own Abramoff… er, Aronoff By Great Grey Don Young finally found someone to kiss his ear. His name is Dan Aronoff, and he is from Florida. The Alaska Report brings us the story of how some land developers in Florida held a little fund raiser for Don, pulled in $41,000. And whaddaya know, soon after $10 million is earmarked for an Interstate exit, adjacent to land owned by the folks that held the funder. […]
July 16th, 2006 at 1:18 am[…] The conventional edu-wisdom seems to be that “new direction” means something must be done with NCLB. Not to worry - the National School Board Association has a plan. Unfortunately the plan is: keep NCLB largely intact with a few nice-sounding reforms. All sponsored by - cue the horns - Don Young (R-AK). Yes, King of Pork, Bridge To Nowhere, that Don Young. I know politics means you sometimes pick a poisonous partner but this feels especially nauseous. Excuse me for a few moments… […]
November 14th, 2006 at 4:31 pm[…] Young: Prominent Lincoln Scholar By Brendan A lot of people associate Alaska Republican Don Young with the “Bridge to Nowhere” boondoggle Young is chairman of Congress’s Transportation and Infrastructure Commitee and has ensured that […]
February 16th, 2007 at 10:35 am