September 20th, 2011 by John Feehery
The Electronic Benefits Transfer Card is the identification card for the SNAP/Food stamp program. It works like a credit card with a magnetic strip on the back that slides through a machine at a grocery store and some restaurants (including some fast food places).
Meant as a way to help reform the Food Stamp system in 2004, the EBT card is used in all 50 states and in the District of Columbia. It has not been without some controversy.
In the State of Pennsylvania, for example, Democratic State Auditor Jack Wagner found wide-ranging fraud in the system, including one example where one EBT card holder withdrew close to $150,000 in $1,500 increments in one day. Who knows what he (or she) did with the money.
The EBT has received some unwanted attention. As one website put it: “A new music video by R&B artist Chapter for her song “It’s Free Swipe Yo EBT” mocks black women on public assistance programs. In her satirical video, Chapter plays Keywanda, a young mother of ten who deals with the “stress of her children’s fathers.” And according to the video, Keywanda lives with very few worries because she’s on several public assistance programs. Among other subjects, this song mostly takes aim at the Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) program and Section 8 vouchers, which make both food and housing available to parents.” Read more...
Tags: African-American, America, Auditor Jack Wagner, Barack Obama, Congress, Democrats, Economy, election, Electronic Benefits Transfer Card, Food stamp program, Obama, Presidential election, R&B artist Chapter, Republicans, Section 8, Tea Party activists, unemployment insurance, Welfare abuse, welfare system
Posted in Bad Decisions, Bailouts, Drugs in America, Economy, Financial Crisis, GOP, Government, Immigration, Politics, Presidential election, Religion, Scandals, Theory, bad news, corruption, medicare, poverty, spending, taxes, welfare | No Comments »
December 27th, 2010 by John Feehery
The headlines coming from Mexico are almost all uniformly bad.
Notre Dame and Miami, two college football programs who are competing against one another in the Sun Bowl in San Antonio during the New Year’s weekend, have banned their students from visiting Mexico during Bowl week. Too dangerous.
And there is some reason for concern. In fact, a great deal of concern.
A drug war has consumed our friends south of the border, causing mayhem, death, destruction, and grisly murder.
The Washington Post reported earlier today, that according to leaked diplomatic cables, getting the top drug lords in Mexico is no easy task: “ The leader of the Mexican military told U.S. authorities last year that the head of the Sinaloa drug cartel moves among 10 to 15 known locations but that capturing Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman was “difficult” because the most wanted man in Mexico surrounds himself with hundreds of armed men and a sophisticated web of snitches, according to a leaked diplomatic cable. Mexico’s defense secretary, Gen. Guillermo Galvan, told Adm. Dennis C. Blair, then the Obama administration’s director of national intelligence, that the Mexican army was implementing plans to capture Guzman, but that “Chapo commands the support of a large network of informers and has security circles of up to 300 men that make launching capture operations difficult,” according to a report sent by U.S. Ambassador Carlos Pascual on Oct 26, 2009, and released by WikiLeaks to news organizations.” Read more...
Tags: dangerous travel to Mexico, Economy, exports, imports, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, Mexican drug lords, Mexico, Sinaloa drug cartel
Posted in Drugs in America, Economy, Foreign Relations, Government, Immigration, Politics, Theory, corruption, national security, war | No Comments »
September 9th, 2010 by John Feehery
The Colombian Ambassador Carolina Barco held a reception in honor of my old boss, former House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert. Barco was effusive in her praise of Denny, who in the mid-1990’s took a keen interest her country.
Back then, Colombia was teetering on the edge of complete chaos. Drug cartels and then narco-terrorists, had the upper hand in their battle for control. Brutal murders, kidnapping, and overall mayhem constantly terrorized Colombian citizens. Because the drug merchants had so much money, they were well equipped and well armed, and they gave the Colombian military a run for its money. Because the cartels had so much money, they were also able to buy off many in the justice system and in the police force.
Hastert initially started looking into Colombia from his perch as Chairman of a Government Oversight Committee that focused on the war on drugs. He saw that what happened in Colombia had a direct impact on the national security of the American people. He saw that drugs from Colombia were making their way to street corners in the big cities, the suburbs, and in rural America. He saw that kids were being killed in drug conflicts because of drugs that were being produced in Colombia. Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Drugs, Government, Mexico, Plan Colombia
Posted in Drugs in America, Foreign Relations, Government, Politics, Theory | No Comments »
September 3rd, 2010 by John Feehery
Only in America could gang-bangers have a press conference and complain about police harassment.
That is exactly what several members of some of Chicago’s most violent gangs did yesterday.
On the same day that President Obama’s Justice Department sued an Arizona Sheriff for harassing illegal immigrants, gang kingpins met with the press to say that the cops don’t give them enough respect.
Here is what CBS news reported on the subject:
Self-identified gang leaders hold a news conference in Chicago, Sept. 2. 2010. (CBS)
“At a news conference organized by self-identified gang members Thursday morning, several speakers complained that police and city officials do not respect them, and that the only way to curb violence is to provide jobs and improve their community. The self-described current and former gang members held a news conference at the Columbus Park Refectory, at 5701 W. Jackson Blvd. on the city’s West Side. “You say it’s gangs, drugs and guns. We say we need jobs, opportunities and contracts,” said Reginald Akeem Berry Sr., who identified himself as a former gang member. “That’s the resolution.”
But is that really the resolution? How can jobs be created in parts of Chicago that are more violent that Baghdad or Kabul? Read more...
Tags: Barack Obama, Chicago, Democrats, Drugs, Obama, Politics
Posted in Drugs in America, Government, Media, Politics, Theory | No Comments »
April 27th, 2010 by John Feehery
I turned on Fox News and watched Laura Ingraham interviewing a State Senator from Illinois. The State Senator wants to call out the National Guard to patrol the streets of Chicago, which has been enduring a running gun fight for months now in the city’s toughest neighborhoods. Laura asked a simple question: Why can’t the cops handle it? The answer: They are out-gunned and out-manned.
In Arizona, the news lately has been focused on the new law, aimed at cracking down on illegal immigrants. Lost in the spotlight has been the plaintive cry for help from those who live near the border: Call out the national guard and help us patrol our streets. Our police force is outgunned and outmanned.
In Afghanistan, the National Guard is only part of the elements that are in theater, fighting the Taliban. But as they fight the Taliban, they are also fighting those who make a lot of money from heroin production.
In Washington, the Attorney General says that he won’t prosecute those who use marijuana. The President says little about the carnage in his home town of Chicago, and blames the people of Arizona for passing a tough law that he calls “misguided.” Read more...
Tags: Arizona, Attorney General, Chicago, George Bush, illegal immigrants, Iraq, marijuana, National Guard, police, prohibition, war on drugs
Posted in Drugs in America, Immigration, Laws, Politics, Theory, national security, war | 1 Comment »
April 26th, 2010 by John Feehery
The Mexican drug war has spilled out over the border in the Southwest and has helped precipitate the new immigration law that just was signed into law in Arizona.
Washington activists can cry out about the unfairness of the law all they want, but until the President and his Administration take seriously the threat posed by the Mexican drug gangs, the people of Arizona will have no choice but to take extreme measures.
70 percent of the people of Arizona support the law just enacted. That tells you something right there.
Both Arizona and New Mexico were in the top eight most violent states in the union last year. Most of that can be attributed to the fact that the drug war has spilled out over the border.
I was listening to NPR (the voice of communism as my friends used to call it) and the story I heard was chilling. The drug gangs now control the illegal passage ways into the United States, and if someone wants to come to America to find their version of the American dream, they can come illegally, which is very unlikely (given the cost and the time involved) or they can cut a deal with the drug lords. Most cut a deal with the drug lords, and they become a mule for illegal narcotics. Read more...
Tags: Arizona, Barack Obama, drug gangs, drug war, illegal immigrants, Immigration, immigration law, marijuana, Mexico, New Mexico, racial profiling
Posted in Drugs in America, Foreign Relations, Immigration, Laws, Politics, Theory, war | 1 Comment »
March 29th, 2010 by John Feehery
The State of California is pushing to make cannabis legal. Apparently getting high is the best way for Californians to balance their state budget.
Folks, you can’t really make this stuff up.
When I was in 7th grade, I promised myself that I would never smoke pot or cigarettes. My family was going through a tough time, and I made a decision to stay on the straight and narrow, mostly because everything else was going crazy.
Back then (in the late 70’s) everybody smoked pot, even 7th graders. This was the time before Ronald Reagan, before the war on drugs, before Nancy said, “Just Say No.” I remember at our high school, when kids used to gather around to Bio Pond to smoke doobies in between their lunch breaks. This era was nicely summarized in that classic movie, “Fast Times at Ridgemont High,” one of funniest period piece movies of all time.
But getting stoned in between gym class and algebra really isn’t that funny. I hate to be a party pooper, but smoking pot in high school is not really very good for kids in the long run. Read more...
Tags: California, Drugs, Eric Holder, medical marijuana, Obama
Posted in Drugs in America, Government | 2 Comments »
Loading ...