Congratulations, House Republicans!

Naw, just news. I also kind of wonder who will replace him.

No but it looks like Prison has a Republican majority, too.

Republicans dominate watchdog’s list of ‘crooked candidates’

By Raw Story
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010 -- 12:04 pm

http://rawstory.com/rs/2010/0720/republicans-dominate-watchdogs-list-crooked-candidates/

According to a "nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting ethics and accountability in government and public life by targeting government officials -- regardless of party affiliation," the vast majority of "crooked candidates" running for office in 2010 hail from the GOP.

A press release sent to RAW STORY states, "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) launched an effort to compile the most corrupt and unethical candidates vying for federal office in 2010. CREW’s Crooked Candidates highlights 11 candidates with scandal-littered pasts and histories of questionable ethics."

The list "focuses on office-seekers who have engaged in unethical and, in one case, even criminal conduct. Their misdeeds range from quid pro quo schemes to abusing state office for the benefit of friends and donors, to an obscenity charge. A few candidates even made the list because of their involvement in national political scandals: two were involved in the Abramoff investigation and one played a role in the Bush administration’s politicization of the U.S. Attorneys’ offices."

"With more than 2,300 people running for office this year, CREW’s list is likely only the tip of the iceberg," the press release notes.

“From Florida Congressman Kendrick Meek’s shady relationship with a real estate developer to J.D. Hayworth’s close ties to convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff, to Ed Martin destroying state records – these 11 candidates represent the bottom of the barrel,” said CREW’s Executive Director Melanie Sloan. “America deserves better.”
Story continues below... <script type="text/javascript">google_ad_client = "pub-5155643920455169"; google_ad_slot = "2705912538"; google_ad_width = 300; google_ad_height = 250;<script type="text/javascript" src="http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/show_ads.js">

This year’s election includes the greatest number of candidates in at least 35 years. Mirroring an electoral field that skews to the right, CREW’s list includes 8 Republicans, 2 Democrats and 1 Independent. Excluding incumbents, CREW’s research team poured over news articles, blogs and public records to identify the 11 candidates. CREW’s list is unranked and appears in alphabetical order:

* Roy Blunt (R) U.S. Senate, MO
* Charlie Crist (I) U.S. Senate, FL
* Jeff Denham (R) U.S. House, CA
* Alvin Greene (D) U.S. Senate, SC
* Timothy Griffin (R) U.S. House, AR
* J.D. Hayworth (R) U.S. Senate, AZ
* Ed Martin (R) U.S. House, MO
* Kendrick Meek (D) U.S. Senate, FL
* Dino Rossi (R) U.S. Senate, WA
* Marco Rubio (R) U.S. Senate, FL
* Allen West (R) U.S. House, FL

The Independent candidate named by CREW, Florida Governor Charlie Crist, quit the GOP only a few months ago, after being criticized for pushing for the stimulus package, and being photographed embracing President Barack Obama.

Selections from CREW list:

In 2003, Rep. Blunt divorced his wife of 31 years to marry Philip Morris (now Altria) lobbyist Abigail Perlman. Before it was known publicly that Rep. Blunt and Ms. Perlman were dating – and only hours after Rep. Blunt assumed the role of Majority Whip – he tried to secretly insert a provision into Homeland Security legislation that would have benefitted Philip Morris, at the expense of competitors. Notably, Philip Morris/Altria and its subsidiaries contributed at least $217,000 to campaign committees connected to Rep. Blunt from 1996 to 2006.

....

Gov. Crist handpicked Jim Greer to head the Florida Republican Party. Despite multiple calls for Mr. Greer’s resignation by fellow Republicans, due to extravagant spending at the party’s expense, Gov. Crist defended Mr. Greer. Mr. Greer is now facing six counts of grand theft, fraud and money laundering. He is accused of secretly setting up a shell company, Victory Strategies, and signing a deal that would give Victory Strategies 10% of GOP donations – a deal that Gov. Crist allegedly approved.

....

While in Congress, Rep. Hayworth accepted donations to his campaign and leadership PAC from convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff’s clients. Rep. Hayworth also used Mr. Abramoff’s skyboxes five times without reporting the costs in his Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. Rep. Hayworth’s failure to report the skyboxes as campaign contributions violated federal election law, and Rep. Hayworth was later forced to repay the skybox owners. Rep. Hayworth was later cleared of any additional wrongdoing in the Abramoff scandal.

....

Rep. Meek has been criticized for his relationship with developer Dennis Stackhouse, who is now awaiting trial for grand theft and organizing a scheme to defraud. Rep. Meek earmarked $1,072,750 million for Mr. Stackhouse’s development project and requested an additional $4 million in earmarks for Mr. Stackhouse, which were never awarded. In addition, both Rep. Meek and his chief of staff, Anthony Williams, served on the Miami-Dade Urban Revitalization Task Force, which loaned $2.2 million to Mr. Stackhouse’s project, but Rep. Meek did not vote on that particular loan.

Some conservative critics complain that CREW is slanted to the left, partly because "CREW serves as successor counsel to Valerie Plame Wilson and Joseph Wilson "in their lawsuit against Vice President Dick Cheney, his former Chief of Staff I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, top Presidential advisor Karl Rove, former State Department Deputy Secretary Richard Armitage and other unnamed government officials" after the outing of former CIA operative Plame. The Wilsons are registered Democrats who have campaigned on the left since becoming household names during the Bush administration.


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiQJ9Xp0xxU
I'm Voting Republican

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blagojevich.jpg

Wexler Grills Gonzo

http://www.wexlerwantshearings.com/

This man disrepects our country and is a liar
He was FIRED from his position
This is ONE of the many abusers we have in our Leadership
He has to be the worst example of what he word Justice means
I am discraced with his:
Action, lies, coverups, and Human Right Violations/Offenses
Gonzo is right..... "Get Him Out Of Here!

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Lieing and Cought
scooterlibby.jpg
click 3-6-07 news update

LIBBY SENTENCE "CUMMUTED" BY THE LIAR IN CHEIF

The Birds of a feather flock together

"The crooks start protecting their own"



President Bush today commuted Scooter Libby's 30-year sentence for perjury and obstruction of justice:

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, pursuant to my powers under Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution, do hereby commute the prison terms imposed by the sentence upon the said Lewis Libby to expire immediately, leaving intact and in effect the two-year term of supervised release, with all its conditions, and all other components of the sentence.

Bush gave a statement elaborating on his reasoning:

Mr. Libby was sentenced to thirty months of prison, two years of probation, and a $250,000 fine. In making the sentencing decision, the district court rejected the advice of the probation office, which recommended a lesser sentence and the consideration of factors that could have led to a sentence of home confinement or probation.

I respect the jury's verdict. But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison.

My decision to commute his prison sentence leaves in place a harsh punishment for Mr. Libby. The reputation he gained through his years of public service and professional work in the legal community is forever damaged. His wife and young children have also suffered immensely. He will remain on probation. The significant fines imposed by the judge will remain in effect. The consequences of his felony conviction on his former life as a lawyer, public servant, and private citizen will be long-lasting.


William Frist -R. Tenn
William has been subpoenaed by the SEC and now faces three counts of criminal indictment for fraud and insider trading. Hold your breath and get reading to send some soap on a rope real soon


Jack Abramoff -R Lobbyist
Jack has plead guilty to three counts of conspiracy, honest-services mail fraud and tax evasion

tom.jpg

Tom Delay -R Texas
Texas‘ highest criminal appeals court has agreed to consider prosecutors‘ appeal to reinstate a dropped conspiracy charge against former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay , further delaying his trial on felony money laundering and conspiracy counts.

A state district court judge later threw out one of two conspiracy charges and let stand the money laundering charge. Prosecutors asked the appeals court to reinstate the dropped conspiracy charge, a move that postponed trial proceedings on the remaining charges


Lewis Libby Jr -R
BUSH LETS LIBBY OUT A JAIL
THE REPUBLICANS FLAUNT LAWS

"**** WHAT YOU OR THE COURTS SAY"
this is what your president means by cummuting Scooter

CRIMINAL LET GO, HE IS 'FREE'
by the "bushman" and his Neocon-Republican Crime Family


Cunningham

Under the agreement, Cunningham acknowledged a conspiracy to commit bribery, mail and wire fraud and tax evasion. He also pleaded guilty to a separate tax evasion violation for failing to disclose income in 2004.

Prosecutors said Cunningham had taken bribes from contractors, which enabled him to buy a mansion, a suburban Washington condominium, a yacht and a Rolls Royce. A government statement said Cunningham received at least $2.4 million in bribes and will forfeit his $2.5 million mansion and about $1.8 million in cash, antiques, furnishings and other valuables. The charges carry a potential penalty of 10 years in prison and up to $350,000 in fines. Sentencing is scheduled for February 27.


Bob Ney R-Ohio
Bob will plead guilty to two counts: conspiracy and making false statements. Each charge carries a five-year mandatory penalty, but if Ney goes along with all requirements of the plea, the government has agreed to recommend to the court a sentence of 27 months, reports
Update 1-22-07
Former Republican Rep. Bob Ney was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison Friday for trading political favors for golf trips, campaign donations and other gifts in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.

markfoley.jpg

Mark Foley -R. South Florida
Was busted with Internet sex talk with a teenager that was woking a a US Page, the boy was 16 years old. Mark is not currently in jail but has resigned from office in shame 10/2006



.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070307/ap_on_go_co/congress_prosecutors

Republicans Under the Eye 3- 07- 2007



.

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Who cares about a 5 year old story, besides a dumbass like you?

Who's Dumber Than A Third-Grader? The SC Legislature!
I'm currently in South Carolina for the holidays. This story, from April 2014, popped up in today's newspaper in a "Best Stories of the Year" round-up.

I hadn't seen anything about it earlier, and thought you grumps in A/A would appreciate it. Other grumps are also free to enjoy it as well, of course.

To summarize:

--Olivia McConnell, an 8-year-old history buff, came across an interesting bit of state history. In 1725, slaves digging in a SC swamp found teeth belonging to the Columbian Mammoth - a species that went extinct over 12,000 years ago. These were some of the first specimens of vertebrate fossils to be discovered in North America.

--Olivia wrote the State Legislature, asking them to designate the Columbian Mammoth as the Official State Fossil of South Carolina.

--So far, it's the kind of thing State legislators do all the time. Simple, right? Wrong - this is South Carolina, where a good chunk of the State Leg. are right-wing Repubs and diehard creationists.

--As it finally limped out of the Legislature, the bill would have read:

"The Columbian Mammoth, which was created on the Sixth Day with the other beasts of the field, is designated as the official State Fossil of South Carolina and must be officially referred to as the 'Columbian Mammoth,' which was created on the Sixth Day with the other beasts of the field."


According to LiveScience, that language was finally removed and Gov. Nikki Haley signed the bill on May 16.

Links to story:

http://www.livescience.com/45778-south-carolina-gets-state-fossil.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/04/02/state-fossil-science-fight/7183277/

Time to start off 2015 right, by pissing off the teabaggers

From another site:

I'm sure a lot of you seen my earlier post today about the teabagger gloating in today's TH. I finally got off the can and sent my own letter in. Since the TH tends to do some editing of letters, here's what I sent in.

What a nice way to start off 2015, with some good old fashion gloating by local Republicans - as expressed by Mr. Bohr. Now what did America really get on November 4th when a majority of the people did not vote?

We got a Republican Congress that will not represent the American people. We got a Republican Congress that will work to allow polluters to wreck our world’s environment. We got a Republican Congress that hates science. We got a Republican Congress that will do everything it can to turn back the clock on women’s rights, civil rights, and LGBT rights to the 50s. The 1850s, that is. We got a Republican Congress that will try to undo the small steps forward we made with health care reform. We got a Republican Congress that will do nothing to support public education in this country. We got a Republican Congress that will allow our infrastructure to crumble into dust. We got a Republican Congress that will try to destroy Medicare and Social Security. We got a Republican Congress that has no concern for human life unless it can score them political points. We got a Republican Congress that has no problem with torture.

I could go on for a while here, but in short we instead got a Republican Congress that will do nothing to work to solve the problems facing our country, but will instead make them worse. Oh and by the way, I do work full time, as do many other non conservatives.

It's David Duke's Party Now: How the Former Klan Leader Reshaped the Republican Grassroots

By Zaid Jilani / AlterNet
January 2, 2015

Republican Congressman and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) has been in hot water after the news broke recently that he once spoke at an event organized by a white nationalist group associated with former Louisiana Republican politician and Klan leader David Duke.

Scalise has done everything he can to claim he abhors Duke's politics. But that's not exactly what one Louisiana columnist says Scalise has always believed. Stephanie Grace of The New Orleans Advocate says Scalise told her he was “David Duke without the baggage” – in other words, he agreed with his policy worldview but did not have a history of open advocacy for the Ku Klux Klan and neo-Nazis.

Scalise has not commented on Grace's claim, but it's worth examining it on the facts. Did Duke run for governor in 1991 – as the official nominee of the Republican Party – on ideas that were outside the Republican mainstream today, with rhetoric outside the normal bounds? A look back at his gubernatorial run seems to support Grace's comment.

David Duke's Role in Mainstreaming Hateful Politics

While Duke dropped his openly racist rhetoric while running for governor, he won enough support to be the Republican Party's nominee by laying out a policy agenda aimed at accomplishing a lot of the same goals: punishing perceived ungrateful minorities and non-Christians who threaten the purity of our nation.

Duke ran on his “love for Western civilization. That's what I've always been about,” he said. He invoked Christian persecution in the same tones you see on Fox News today: “Our Christian values are under attack. In some places in this country, we can't even sing Christmas carols anymore. We're losing the values the nation was built upon.”

Years before Bill Clinton and Newt Gingrich would end welfare as we know it, Duke made it a centerpiece of his campaign, railing against the “rising welfare underclass.” He blamed the “liberal social welfare system” for encouraging “the rising illegitimate welfare birthrate”; this rhetoric was matched with concrete policy ideas, like paying mothers receiving Aid for Families With Dependent Children to use birth control, based on the theory these poor women were having too many children irresponsibly. In his introductory statement at the 1991 debate, Duke loudly complained about a “welfare system that's encouraged crime,” while also railing against busing and against the educational system. He also railed against welfare recipients buying “drugs” and “lotto tickets” – a precursor to today's GOP passing humiliating legislation forcing aid recipients to undergo drug testing.

A cause he carried in his campaigns for higher office and his time in the state legislature was to eliminate affirmative action programs, comparing them to Nazi programs of racial preference.

All of these policies and rhetoric are driven primarily by white racial animosity, and Duke was groundbreaking in his ability to shift them to the top of grassroots right-wing priorities. "By the time this race is over, regardless of who wins, Duke will become the uncontested leader of the racial right in America," explained Lance Hill, executive director of the Louisian Coalition Against Racism and Nazism to The New York Times in 1991, as the gubernatorial election was ongoing. "Not only that, but there will be a racial right in America. He is both ascending to that position while creating it. Prior to that, there was Reagan and Bush. There was nothing to the right of that. There will be now."

A Party that Continues to Pander to Hate

As Republicans continue to try to distance themselves from Duke, it's important to remember what they're doing. They are not condemning and separating themselves from hate or bigotry – they are trying to create space between themselves and one man who had publicly disgraced himself with his Klan and neo-Nazi advocacy.

The GOP is not, for example, ending its ties to the extremist group the Family Research Council (FRC), who Republican presidential candidates always address. The FRC hosts speakers who tell their constituents that Muslims always lie to non-Muslims and have embedded themselves in the U.S. Government to take it over as part of a Muslim Brotherhood plot. How is this rhetoric any different than David Duke's claimsof a Jewish-conspiracy running Washington?

FRC has also been a leader in promoting hate against gay and lesbian Americans, with one of its spokespersons even refusing to condemn calls for putting them to death.

And it's worth pointing out that the GOP's single largest election financier behind the Koch Brothers is Sheldon Adelson, a notorious bigot who regularly defames Muslims and Arabs– and who says Israel doesn't need democracyfor its non-Jewish citizens because democracy isn't in the Torah.

There is little, substantively, that separates the rhetoric of the bigots and extremists the modern GOP courts and the bigotry and extremism Duke represents. But Duke's 1991 campaign shows that even when you don't openly espouse hatred, you can still promote it by transitioning your incendiary rhetoric into a policy agenda. Duke's agenda then was banning affirmative action and getting welfare recipients to take birth control; today's GOP talks about stopping “Sharia law” and “defending marriage.” At the end of the day, it's all rooted in the same hate. Whatever Scalise claims, it's David Duke's party now.

GOPer Tries to Explain Away Ties to White Supremacists; David Duke Says He Was a Political Friend

By Steven Rosenfeld / AlterNet
December 30, 2014

U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-LA, the third-highest ranking Republican in the U.S. House, keeps trying to explain away the fact that in 2002 he spoke at a white nationalist conference with ties to former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, saying he did not realize who was speaking to and that he had no ties to the group.

In a lengthy interview New Orleans’ Nola.com, Scalise said Monday that he “detest(s) any kind of hate group,” that he didn’t have a staff a dozen years ago when he was a state legislator—or Google—to vet the conference sponsors, and that some of the groups associated with the conference don’t like Catholics, his religious faith. Other Louisiana Republicans, such as Gov. Bobby Jindal, defended Scalise, following a predictable damage-control script.

“I didn’t know who all of these groups were and I detest any kind of hate group. For anyone to suggest that I was involved with a group like that is insulting and ludicrous,” Scalise told NOLA.com, referring to the conference organized by the European-American Unity and Rights Organization, or EURO, an entity founded by Duke. Duke, who spoke by video during the two-day event, served in the same legislative district as Scalise.

But what is insulting and ludicrous are these retractions and defenses. As the Washington Postnoted in its report that included a lengthy interview with Duke, Scalise has been very “friendly” for years with Kenny Knight, Duke’s longtime political advisor, which, was why the incoming 2015 House Majority Whip agreed to speak at the event.

“Scalise would communicate a lot with my campaign manager, Kenny Knight,” Duke told the Post. “That is why he was invited and why he would come. Kenny knew Scalise, Scalise knew Kenny. They were friendly.”

Scalise was invited because he a sharp and up-and-coming legislator who had a reputation of giving good talks about state politics, Duke said, adding that he didn’t know Scalise personally. But Duke did say that Scalise—via their mutual friend Kenny Knight—knew about Duke’s activities.

“All I know is that Kenny liked him. He thought Scalise, who remember was just a state representative, was sharp. They’d talk about the Hollywood system, about the war, whatever I was concerned about,” Duke said. “I think Scalise would talk to Kenny because he recognized how popular I was in his own district. He knew that knowing what I was doing and saying wouldn’t be the worst thing politically. Kenny would keep Scalise up to date on my issues.”

Well, maybe it wouldn’t be “worst thing politically” to appear before any constituent group in the New Orleans metro area if you are an ambitious Republican state lawmaker, but to claim—as Scalise is now claiming—that he had no knowledge of who he was talking to a dozen years ago, is not credible.

"If I knew today what they were about, I wouldn’t go,” Scalise told Nola.com. “My staff, they are able to vet organizations. We turn down requests from organizations we don’t approve of. Now, I still go speak to people who don’t think like me. I’ll go speak to liberal groups a lot. But a group like this? I would not go to speak to. They don’t share my values.”

Notice how Scalise’s backtracking emphasizes what he’d do now—given today’s stakes as the incoming House Majority Whip—as opposed to what knew and he did years ago as a state representative.

As far as political apologies go, a contrite Scalise will probably keep his House leadership post. Unlike Michael Grimm, Staten Island, New York’s Republican congressman, Michael Grimm, he wasn’t recently convicted of tax evasion and is being forced to resign. This event occurred more than a decade ago.

But it does underscore why the GOP, especially its southern flank that embraces every modern voter suppression tactic available, cannot escape its pro-white, racist roots. There’s a reason why the party has that reputation and it is coming from within—not from its critics seeking to smear it.

How about Bill Clintons ties to child molesters?

He knows a child molester. You do, too. BillRM. What does that make you, junior?

Well, I haven't given BillRM over 20 phone numbers to contact me. Clinton could be reached by this man anytime. Why?

Nice to know the progressives have bigger fish to fry.

They should.

http://www.jammiewf.com/2015/prince-andrews-pimp-had-21-phone-numbers-for-bill-clinton/

Hey pissbreath, Rupert Murdock and Barbara Walters are perverts, too, right?

Pedophile Playboy Jeffery Epstein's 'Black Book' Of Names Revealed
Source: Yahoo.com News January 7, 2015, 9:44 am

The billionaire and convicted pedophile who allegedly recruited a 17-year-old as a 'sex slave' for Prince Andrew kept a collection of contact details for the rich and famous, documents have revealed. Court documents obtained have revealed billionaire child sex offender Jeffery Epstein kept multiple phone numbers, email and home addresses for celebrities including President Bill Clinton, Mick Jagger, Donald Trump, Earl Spencer, Barbara Walters, Henry Kissinger and at least three members of the Kennedy clan. The collection also featured a series of women's names recorded under 'massage' in the document, nicknamed 'The Holy Grail' by a former employee. Other contacts include Barbara Walters, Alec Baldwin, Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson, Liz Hurley, designer Tom Ford, John Cleese, Minnie Driver, Dustin Hoffman, Bobby Kennedy Jr., Senator Edward Kennedy ,Henry Kissinger and Maria Shriver.

Rupert Murdoch, models Janice Dickinson, Marie Helvin and Angie Everhart are also listed as well as Courtney Love - as are listings for five-star haunts such as Claridges Hotel in London, Beverley Hills Hotel and the Beverly Wiltshire as well The Plaza in New York, Cipriani restaurant in Manhattan. Address book includes string of other politicians - former Israeli PM Ehud Olmert and ex-new York mayor Michael Bloomberg

Epstein also had multiple contact details for a string of celebrities, including the Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger; Donald Trump's ex-wife Ivana and their daughter Ivanka; and a series of women recorded under 'massage' in the document, nicknamed 'The Holy Grail' by a former employee. Former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert has three separate telephone numbers. He is now serving a prison sentence for corruption.

Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair is recorded once, while his former cabinet minister Lord Peter Mandelson has ten numbers recorded, including one marked 'direct line' one marked 'home' and one marked 'country home'.

George Mitchell, the former American senator who was a key figure in the Northern Ireland peace process is also listed.






Read more: https://au.news.yahoo.com/a/25908179/fergie-comes-out-fighting-for-prince-andrew/

Guess what, it has nothing to do with Clinton 21 phone numbers he gave to a pedophile. Unless you can prove some sort of connection, besides wealth. Clinton is a pig. Killary is married to a pig.

Another cartoon based on nothing with no salient facts, only just another carpfart insult.

Do Republicans misunderstand Social Security, or just feign ignorance?

It seems there is a lot of ignorance on Social Security. Even amongst Democrats. This LA times article clears up some of the confusion:

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-do-republicans-misunderstand-social-security-20150107-column.html

Rep. Tom Reed has claimed that his intention,"is to force us to look for a long term solution for SSDI rather than raiding Social Security to bail out a failing federal program. Retired taxpayers who have paid into the system for years deserve no less."

The article reports that Kathy, of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, calls this a "revealing statement."

So it is, in the sense that a big red "F" on a school paper reveals a pupil's profound lack of understanding.

In the first place, SSDI is not "a failing federal program." It does exactly what it's supposed to do, which is provide sustenance for people who are too physically or mentally impaired to perform "substantial gainful activity," defined as the ability to earn $1,090 a month ($1,820 for the blind).


As for "raiding Social Security to bail out a failing federal program," the disability program is Social Security. Disability coverage was added to Social Security in 1956, or 15 years before Reed was born--under a Republican president


The article goes on to say that Reed is attempting to create animosity between SS retirement and disability beneficiaries.

Reed and his colleagues are exploiting the sharp growth in the disability rolls over recent decades to exploit the disabled as freeloaders and layabouts. To do so, they must deliberately ignore the extensive research that explains why that increase has happened: it can be explained virtually entirely by the aging of the U.S. population, the addition of women to the labor force, and the increase in Social Security's normal retirement age to 66 from 65.


It's particularly dismaying to see DUers buying into and spreading the misinformation straight from the mouths of Fox News and the Republicans.

The previous day the LA times reported on the House rule change in question.

http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-mh-on-day-onel-new-congress-launches-attack-on-social-security-20150106-column.html

"It is hard to believe that there is any purpose to this unprecedented change to House rules," wrote Max Richtman, president of the committee, in an open letter Tuesday, "other than to cut benefits for Americans who have worked hard all their lives, paid into Social Security and rely on their Social Security benefits, including Disability Insurance, in order to survive."

The rule change reflects the burgeoning demonization of disability recipients, a trend we've reported on in the past. it's been fomented by conservative Republicans and abetted by sloppy reporting by institutions such as NPR and "60 Minutes."

Disability recipients are easily caricatured as malingering layabouts by politicians, academics and journalists too lazy to do their homework. They'll say disability benefits are easy to obtain, so lavish they discourage work, and convenient substitutes for welfare payments. None of that is true.


Both of Michael Hiltzik's articles are worth reading and sharing.