DOWNLOADS: (255)

PLAYS: (2404)

Embed

After last week's segment where Bill Maher sent Alexandra Pelosi out to interview residents of Mississippi, that as I noted, may very well not represent the voters of that state and may well have offended a lot of viewers after watching it, Maher followed up with Pelosi going out and talking to welfare and food stamp recipients in New York City. Here's how the segment was characterized by both Maher and Pelosi, which Dan Abrams' site, Mediaite, was apparently happy to go along with.

Alexandra Pelosi Debuts New Video, Bill Maher Says It May ‘Make Liberals Go Insane’:

Alexandra Pelosi appeared on Real Time tonight with two purposes: to defend the video she filmed of voters in Mississippi that aired on the show last week, and to air a brand-new video that Bill Maher admitted would probably anger liberals in the same way the aforementioned video angered conservatives. For her new video, Pelosi spoke to African-American welfare recipients in New York. There was far less laughter during this piece than the Mississippi one (which Pelosi pointed out after it played), but there were still some revealing moments contained therein. One of the men lined up outside the welfare office said he was more interested in collecting than going across the street to try and find a job. Pelosi asked surprisingly tough questions, like “When was the last time you actually worked?” and “Why should my tax dollars be going to you?”

Maher joked before the video aired that Pelosi might not want to reveal her real New York address in case anyone has a problem with the video. Pelosi revealed afterwards that some of the people she spoke to at HBO told her that the video was too controversial for TV. She noted a slight hypocrisy between the willingness to run a video of “toothless rednecks, but when it’s our neighbors,” it becomes a problem. However, she and Maher did make sure to give some context to the two videos so that they were not completely equating both situations. Pelosi contrasted the money spent by the government on food stamps as opposed to defense, which gets a significantly larger portion of the federal budget.

Because this video depicted just as extreme a side as Pelosi’s first piece, she predicted there would be a similar response from the left complaining about her new video.

Sorry Bill and Alexandra, but no, the video you just posted this Friday is not going to make anyone "go insane." I'm not shocked by what you posted any more than anyone living in the real world should be because yes, there are people out there who don't want to work and receive either welfare or food stamps. And those people live all over the country and not just in Mississippi and New York City and they're not just black or white any more than the issue is black and white. And if you want to solve the problems with poverty, and drop out rates and the real problems underlying either of these videos, you cannot reduce some complex social issues to sound bytes as one of my fellow contributors here at C&L reminded me tonight after watching this segment.

And note to Alexandra Pelosi, please spare me the condescending crap about bloggers in pajamas and who is doing real journalism out there. You're roaming into Willie Geist/Joe Scarborough territory there with those sort of cracks during this interview.

For anyone that missed this Thursday, The Daily Show's Aasif Mandvi went on location in Florida to speak to former Navy vet, Luis Lebron, who refused to be drug tested as part of the state's new requirement for all welfare recipients to submit to the tests in order to collect their benefits.

As usual, we've got the comedians doing a better job of showing how utterly wasteful and hypocritical the new law is, with Mandvi turning the tables on both State Rep. Scott Plakon and Gov. Rick Scott, by attempting unsuccessfully to get both of them to submit to the same tests they're demanding from those living in poverty in their state.

Mandvi also hit Plakon for the fact that their program is actually costing the state more money than it saves. Once again, it's score one for The Daily Show and the writers over at Comedy Central who are doing their jobs as the court jesters making a mockery of these politicians, who sadly don't get the same scorn or scrutiny from the talking heads and pundits on the corporate "news" channels.

From TPM -- Nebraska AG Jon Bruning Compares Welfare Recipients To Scavenging Raccoons:

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning, a frontrunner to win the GOP nomination against Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE), compared poor people to scavenging racoons in a speech this week. [...]

The incident recalls similar language from South Carolina Lt. Gov. Andre Bauer (R), who apologized in January 2010 for saying in a speech on America's "culture of dependency" that he learned "as a small child to quit feeding stray animals. You know why? Because they breed."

Pretty astounding from someone, as one of the commenters at TPM pointed out, who comes from a state where over 70% of their farmers received subsidies in 2009. Somehow I doubt Jon Bruning has ever compared any of them to racoons though.

Some choices for Nebraska voters. This guy or ConservaDem Ben Nelson.

Full transcript of his not so subtle racist remarks below the fold.

Continue reading »

DOWNLOADS: (4245)

PLAYS: (1936)

Embed

Ed Schultz talked to Tax.com's David Cay Johnston and The United Steelworkers Leo Gerard about just how devastating Paul Ryan and the Republicans new budget proposal would be to the disabled, the elderly and children. Remember when everyone on the right and much of our beltway media was criticizing Alan Grayson for saying the Republicans' health care plan was not to get sick, and if you do get sick, "die quickly?" I think Paul Ryan just proved him right this week.

As David Cay Johnston pointed out during this segment, that's exactly what Ryan's budget proposals will do; assure that more people die because they can't afford to get the treatment they need as his vouchers become increasingly worthless as the cost of care continues to go up and gets pushed back onto the consumer.

And as Leo Gerard made clear, Ryan's claims that giving huge tax cuts to the rich will create jobs is a farce. As he noted, if that were true, we'd have been at full employment while Bush was in office.

Johnston also expressed his frustration with a lack of a plan to get our budget under control that doesn't balance it on the backs of the working class from the Democrats and I couldn't agree with him more. Since any talk of raising taxes seems to be taboo among our political class, I don't know what it's going to take to finally see that happen.

DOWNLOADS: (1097)

PLAYS: (1448)

Embed

If there's anything you can count on from the yappers on some of the Fox Business Channel shows that they air on Fox News on Saturdays, it's that if there's a way to trash unions or to paint anyone who receives any sort of government assistance as lazy, good-for-nothing loafers who just want to suck off of the government teet, they're going to do it. With this story, they got a two-fer.

What could possibly be wrong with getting rid of union MTA workers only to have them replaced with welfare recipients? It's nothing but a big race to the bottom where the Wall Street bankers in New York get their tax breaks and after saying the layoffs are necessary because the city's broke, union workers get replaced by those with no protections in place working for minimum wage. And if these welfare recipients are single mothers, just who is supposed to be paying for their daycare while they're out there cleaning the subways in New York City? And just what type of meaningful job training are you giving anyone by teaching them how to push a broom? Looks like none to me.

I'm all for programs that help those on welfare gain some skills so they can get back into the workforce and earn a decent living instead of having to be dependent on the government and where they're allowed to work without being cut off of their benefits if that job training is going to lead to them being independent and able to earn a living wage where they can take care of themselves and their families. I don't see how this is one of them.

I agree with the one outnumbered "liberal" on the panel who they actually allowed some air time. When host Cheryl Casone asked Christian Dorsey about whether this might help any of those workers get a full time job, we got one of the few moments of truth out of this segment.

DORSEY: Look, I'm all for making sure that people who have been left out of the workforce and who are on welfare receiving public assistance get the skills to be self sufficient, but remember, welfare is now administered by the states. It's not an overall federal program. It's block granted. And what's happening in New York is cause for alarm, not praise Cheryl. They're laying off transit workers and replacing them with lower cost transient workers, so this is in essence getting rid of decent jobs for people, adding to unemployment and then saving money by putting welfare recipients in those jobs that used to be held by non-welfare recipients. It's not improving the overall job situation in New York or in the country. This is bad policy.

And one of the worst parts of this segment was Fox hack Jonathan Hoenig letting everyone know what conservatives think about anyone receiving welfare at all.

HOENIG: What about just getting rid of welfare? Let me just throw that one out there Cheryl as a real alternative idea. I mean, point to me somewhere in the Constitution where it says anything about charity. It does not. Now were the founders such (?) were they such jerks that they didn't want to put that? No. Of course because charity is something that should be privately motivated. And I'm sorry Cheryl, working for money. That's called a job, not another government assistance program, another government handout program.

And of course in Hoenig's mind, anyone on welfare is just some lazy person who wants to destroy our economy, unlike those poor businesses that might be forced to pay more taxes so women and children aren't left to starve on the streets while they outsource the jobs they'd probably love to have to China and India, where the workers there can work for slave wages instead.

When this country relied on the good will of the rich to provide for the welfare of the least among us instead of asking all of us to take care of each other, things didn't work out so well. People like this tool Hoenig are more than happy to perpetuate a system that's taking us right back there, along with his buddies at Fox News and Fox Business Channel.

Here's more from FindLaw on the legal predicament the city may have put themselves in as well -- MTA Wants to Put NYC Welfare Recipients to Work:

Continue reading »