Originally Posted By skinnerbox Michelle Bachmann ain't the only politician in Minnesota who wants to dissolve the working class: <a href="http://www.fightbacknews.org/2011/3/15/minnesota-republicans-say-poor-people-money-should-be-outlaws" target="_blank">http://www.fightbacknews.org/2...-outlaws</a> <> St. Paul, MN – Minnesota Republicans are pushing legislation that would make it a crime for people on public assistance to have more $20 in cash in their pockets any given month. This represents a change from their initial proposal, which banned them from having any money at all. On March 15, Angel Buechner of the Welfare Rights Committee testified in front of the House Health and Human Services Reform Committee on House File 171. Buechner told committee members, “We would like to address the provision that makes it illegal for MFIP [one of Minnesota’s welfare programs] families to withdraw cash from the cash portion of the MFIP grant - and in fact, appears to make it illegal for MFIP families to have any type of money at all in their pockets. How do you expect people to take care of business like paying bills such as lights, gas, water, trash and phone?” House File 171 would make it so that families on MFIP - and disabled single adults on General Assistance and Minnesota Supplemental Aid - could not have their cash grants in cash or put into a checking account. Rather, they could only use a state-issued debit card at special terminals in certain businesses that are set up to accept the card. The bill also calls for unconstitutional residency requirements, not allowing the debit card to be used across state lines and other provisions that the Welfare Rights Committee and others consider unacceptable. Buechner testified, “We’ll leave you with this. It is not right to punish a whole group because of the supposed actions of a few. You in this room could have a pretty rough time if that was the case. It is not right to stigmatize and dehumanize women living the hard life of trying to raise children while living 60% below the poverty level. It is not right to use racist, bumper-sticker hate to inflict human misery for political gain.” <> This is a class war begun by the corporations which have taken control of the GOP. And the Republican politicians are more than happy to push this agenda, in order to please their corporate masters and profit from it in the form of campaign contributions and post-office lobbyist positions. This action in Minnesota is just another in a long line of assaults on the working poor and middle class. And anyone who keeps voting for Republicans at this point, either locally or nationally, has no respect for either. Keep voting Republican, average American citizens, and you will kiss your democracy and civil liberties goodbye. Guaranteed.
Originally Posted By John3K Immoral. Of course, they'd probably ulitmately prefer to do away with any type of public assistance, period.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo Can you get get cake for that? Sound like a let them eat cake moment to me.
Originally Posted By gurgitoy2 Well, I just hope that with all of these things coming out recently that people will wake up and see how the Republicans they just voted in are trying to directly harm them. This is just crazy, between Wisconsin, Michigan, and now Minnesota, and who knows what else, it's pretty blatant.
Originally Posted By DyGDisney Problem is, this won't be on Fox News, so the Republicans won't even hear about it! In fact, I tried to find a "credible" source online (one Republicans wouldn't discount as being too liberal) and couldn't. Not of CNN, MSNBC, etc. Just liberal websites like huffington post. I wanted to send this out to the repubs I know to let them know how "much" their party cares. :/
Originally Posted By RoadTrip At this point I can't accept that story as being true. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, a newspaper with a very liberal point of view, makes no mention of it. I don't need a national news source, but if the Strib doesn't mention it, it likely didn't happen.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Problem is, this won't be on Fox News, so the Republicans won't even hear about it! In fact, I tried to find a "credible" source online (one Republicans wouldn't discount as being too liberal) and couldn't. Not of CNN, MSNBC, etc. Just liberal websites like huffington post. I wanted to send this out to the repubs I know to let them know how "much" their party cares<< Isn't a Corporate Owned Media just great? It's capitalism's counterpart to the old Soviet era Pravda. "At this point I can't accept that story as being true. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, a newspaper with a very liberal point of view, makes no mention of it. I don't need a national news source, but if the Strib doesn't mention it, it likely didn't happen." They might be liberal, but when it comes to issues their billionaire owner/masters actually care about they will dance to their tune. The billionaires don't care about abortion or gay rights, so they allow the "liberal" newspapers they own to deliver the liberal point of view. Wasn't it interesting how the MSM pretty much buried the Wisconsin no bid sales of public property portion of the bill and instead just focused on the teachers?
Originally Posted By skinnerbox <<At this point I can't accept that story as being true.>> Try doing some homework before popping off like that: <a href="http://www.house.leg.state.mn.us/bills/billnum.asp?Billnumber=HF171&ls_year=86&session_year=2009&session_number=0" target="_blank">http://www.house.leg.state.mn....number=0</a> Read the text of House File 171. It's at the link. Visit Welfare Rights Committee's website to follow their recent activities, including their testimony to the Minnesota State Legislature on March 15. The organization has testified before; the site maintains archives all the way back to Feb 2009: <a href="http://welfarerightsmn.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">http://welfarerightsmn.wordpress.com/</a> Just because it didn't get mentioned by mainstream media does not mean it didn't happen. Why don't you try using your brain and doing a little investigative research for yourself? Oh I forgot. It's much easier to rely on others to do your thinking and fact checking for you. Typical Republican.
Originally Posted By mawnck As I'm understanding it, the new law permits withdrawing a maximum of $20 from your MFIP account. It doesn't say anything about how much cash you can have on you. Any credible rebuttals to this? (IE ones that don't just link from one moonbat blog to another?)
Originally Posted By mawnck >>Read the text of House File 171. It's at the link.<< Wrong link, methinks. The bill at your link has nothing to do with MFIP.
Originally Posted By Dabob2 <Oh I forgot. It's much easier to rely on others to do your thinking and fact checking for you. Typical Republican.> Harsh, skinner. RT's a moderate, and from MN. If I read online about a draconian NY law that wasn't mentioned in the NYT, it would raise my eyebrow too.
Originally Posted By mawnck Ah, here we are. Nothing here about carrying more than $20: https://www.revisor.mn.gov/bin/bldbill.php?bill=H0171.1.html&session=ls87 I'm sure the Welfare Rights Committee does good work, but I really don't see where they're getting this. Someone please explain?
Originally Posted By RoadTrip <<Wrong link, methinks. The bill at your link has nothing to do with MFIP.>> Yes. Perhaps you should research your own damn links before calling others lazy. I am also very surprised to hear that I am a Republican. Silly me. I guess the (D) beside every name (except one) that I voted for last November must have meant "Damned Republican" instead of "Democrat" like I assumed.
Originally Posted By RoadTrip I did a 7-day AP search on Minnesota welfare and this is all that was returned. <<DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Chimpanzee expert Jane Goodall is moving her vast collection of field data to Duke University. Duke spokesman Karl Bates said Thursday the archives on chimpanzees that Goodall gathered during decades of work in Tanzania is being moved to the Durham campus from the University of Minnesota. <<snip>> Goodall is considered the world's foremost expert on chimpanzees. She also is known for her work on conservation and animal welfare issues.>>
Originally Posted By mawnck Something I guess both sides can agree on ... being a jerk on the internet is fun.
