47M Americans hit by food stamp cuts starting today

[jsr]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/01/food-stamps-snap-cuts-farm-bill/3346341/

47M Americans hit by food stamp cuts starting today
Doug Stanglin, USA TODAY 10:48 a.m. EDT November 1, 2013
The cutbacks amount to the loss of 21 meals per month for a family of four

Food stamp benefits will be cut to more than 47 million Americans starting Friday as a temporary boost to the federal program comes to an end without a new budget from a deadlocked Congress to replace it.

SNAP, which benefits 1 in 7 Americans, is administered by the department of Agriculture and is authorized in a five-year omnibus farm bill covering all agricultural programs.

Vulnerable populations will be hardest hit by the cuts. In New York, more than 1 million elderly people or those with disabilities will feel the impact, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive think tank. About 2.3 million children in both California and Texas will be affected.

In California overall, the cuts will affect more than 4 million residents and will amount to the equivalent of losing roughly 21 individual meals per month based on calculations used by the department of Agriculture, The San Jose Mercury News reports.

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http://www.wtrf.com/story/23835745/first-zumwalt-class-destroyer-launched

First Zumwalt-class Destroyer Launched
Posted: Oct 30, 2013 9:03 PM CST Updated: Oct 30, 2013 9:13 PM CST

General Dynamics Bath Iron Works successfully launched the Navy's first Zumwalt-class destroyer Oct. 28 at their Bath, Maine shipyard.

The future USS Zumwalt (DDG 1000) will be the lead ship of the Navy's newest destroyer class, designed for littoral operations -- the term the Navy uses for operations close to shore -- and land attack.

"This is the largest ship Bath Iron Works has ever constructed and the Navy's largest destroyer. The launch was unprecedented in both its size and complexity," said Capt. Jim Downey, the Zumwalt-class program manager for the Navy's Program Executive Office, Ships.


Zumwalt is a $4 billion warship featuring a next-generation advanced rocket system, with a 155mm “advanced gun system” capable of launching rocket-propelled warheads more than 100 miles. The ship will have the capability of firing 80 missiles, including cruise missiles and surface-to-air missiles.

[UncleTomsEvilBrother]

1. Profound

Reason #39482848828292 why everybody should vote.

[Shrike47]

2. Dammit. Starving people is so damned awful.

I hate the Republicans some days.

[Vashta Nerada]

3. And was the Defense Budget part of these cuts?

[corkhead]

4. I vaguely recall learning in school about "butter into guns" or "plowshares into swords"

or something like like that

[Auntie Bush]

5. Why do the poor have to pay for this ship? Why not the top 5% who are the ones

making money from construction of this ship? They are the ones who want more funds for the military...let them pay for it if they want it so badly. The poor don't give a rat's ass for more military spending.