More notes from all over DU.

[flamin lib]

It’s not often I say nice things about Republicans. Not because I have a problem recognizing the good they do, but because there’s generally so little of it. The Governor Elect of Florida is an exception though. Charlie Crist (R) has canceled the inaugural ball and donated the funds collected for it to charity. "It's a difficult time for a lot of Floridians and there's no need to have a big party," Crist said. "Many times it's your natural inclination to follow tradition, but then you start to reflect and you realize what the circumstances are for many Floridians." What a guy! http://www.news4jax.com/news/10502700/detail.html Florida Gov (R) cancels party and gives money to charity.

Now, if we could just get Mayor Alan Autry (R) of Fresno CA to take a similar attitude toward the poor and homeless in his city. Fresno has begun clearing homeless enclaves with bulldozers and garbage trucks. Among other things the police are confiscating the possessions of the homeless and having them carted off to the landfill. “I lost my ID, my grandmother’s diamond wedding ring, Social Security paperwork, clothes, and blankets,” said Thomas, a homeless man whose tent was torn down, “I had no place to sleep, no blankets, and I caught pneumonia.” It has become a crime in America to be poor, a crime punishable by the confiscation of what little you have and eviction from your cardboard house. http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2006/11/23/18332519.php homeless in CA.

Fresno is only the tip of the iceberg that is poverty in America and we’ll all be seeing more of the homeless soon. For the first time ever poverty in the suburbs has surpassed poverty in the inner city. That’s right, poor folks right here in Rivercity. It had to happen eventually. Awww bull$#it, it didn’t have to happen and that’s the sin of it all. The Republican economy is destroying the middle class for the enrichment of the wealthiest among us. So what happens to you when you’re not middle class anymore? You become poor. Then you become homeless. Then they take your tent and few possessions. Then you catch pneumonia. http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/business/16181292.htm Poverty in suburbs

I wouldn’t worry too much about the homeless though. With the success of eliminating hunger in America by changing the agriculture reports, an increase in wetlands by including golf course water hazards and the lowering of unemployment by changing the employment survey the Administration has now single handedly eliminated global warming. That’s right, folks, NOAA can no longer use the words “climate change” or “Kyoto” in any of its publications. Simple as that. Problem solved! So the next step is to re-define the homeless as “shelter insecure”. http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5205550,00.html NOAA bans Kyoto and “climate change”.

There is a solution to poverty and homelessness though. It’s called prison. The US now imprisons more of its population than any other country in the world. More than China, Russia, Cuba, all the banana republics and islamofacist regimes. You have to ask yourself why it is that here in America, the last super power, the beacon of freedom to the world and the shining example of democracy through capitalism we put one in 32 people into the penal system. Why is it that we have one in four children raised in poverty? Why does one child in five go to bed hungry, uh, I mean food insecure? Are all these things somehow related? I think it bears some thought, how ‘bout you?
http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts187.html US has largest % of population in jail

Not to worry though ‘cause we’re doing our part for world population control. The United Nations passed a resolution to control the flow of arms and limit arms sales. It passed 153 to 1. Who was the single dissenting vote, the only country that can’t see the wisdom of not selling AK-47s into countries with political and economic turmoil? That would be the United States. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061207/ap_on_re_us/un_weapons_trade_treaty_1 US only no vote on weapons control in UN.

Just another day in America, land of the befuddled.

[Mojorabbit]

1. Charlie Crist only cancelled the ball

cause he got caught soliciting huge donations from big florida corporations and there was a to do about it. It was not from any social concerns re spending the money.