Stunning Food Stamp Facts Uncovered ...

U.S. Report Makes Case for Food Stamp Increase

JUDICIAL WATCH: The Obama administration blew an astounding $80 billion on food stamps last year but it wasn’t enough to put a dent in the national epidemic of "food insecure" households, according to a new government study that aims to justify pouring larger sums of taxpayer dollars into the bulging welfare program.

It’s like there’s no end to the madness! In 2012 a record 47 million people got food stamps, according to the government’s own figures. Uncle Sam spent an unprecedented $80 billion on the program, marking an unbelievable $2.7 billion increase from the previous year.  To help illustrate the drastic growth, let’s consider the 2007 figures; 26 million people got food stamps that year at a cost to American taxpayers of $35 billion.

As breathtaking as these figures are, the Obama administration insists on expanding the rolls even offering the benefit to illegal immigrants. Earlier this year Judicial Watch obtained documents from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the agency that distributes food stamps, detailing its work with the Mexican government to promote participation by illegal aliens. The effort includes a Spanish-language flyer provided to the Mexican Embassy by the USDA ensuring that Mexicans in the U.S. don’t need to declare their immigration status to get financial assistance from Uncle Sam.

Via: Judicial Watch

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[OPINION] Obama’s cruel fight against school choice

While President Obama publicly celebrated the anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I have a dream” speech last week, his administration took action behind the scenes in Louisiana that was a complete rejection of King’s dream.

The Justice Department has challenged my state in court for having the temerity to start a scholarship program that frees low-income minority children from failing schools. In other words, Obama and Attorney General Eric Holder would rip children out of their schools and handcuff them to the failing schools they previously attended. And, in the ultimate irony, they are using desegregation orders set up to prevent discrimination against minority children to try to do it.

Never mind that 90 percent of the children receiving scholarships in Louisiana are minorities or that 100 percent of their parents choose to apply for these scholarships.

By his own words, the president is fighting for the right of these children to live the American dream, but his actions would destroy their dreams.

We as a country have made significant progress toward King’s dream. We have more work to do, but this blatant political maneuver by the Obama administration will set the fight for civil rights back decades.

We all know the harsh cycle of poverty that exists in the United States and that a disproportionate share of those in poverty are minorities. Studies of health-care outcomes, incarceration levels and economic opportunity all show that education is key to improving quality of life.

Millions of single parents in this country work two jobs to make ends meet, hoping that their children won’t have the same struggles. Hope is their only option because they live in neighborhoods with chronically failing public schools and lack the means to move to better school districts or to send their children to private schools.

Via: Washington Post

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Obamacare exchanges aren't the only game in town

Americans who buy their own health insurance next year won't have to get coverage through their state-based exchange.

Many insurers will offer individual policies outside the Obamacare exchanges in 2014. Consumers can avoid the exchanges by buying plans directly from insurers or through brokers.

But should they?

First, anyone earning less than 400% of the poverty line will be eligible for federal subsidies toward exchange-based plans, so going off the exchange would likely not make sense.

But those who make too much to qualify for subsidies should look both on and off the exchanges for a plan that best fits their needs, experts say.

The off-exchange policies are required to have many of the same Obamacare protections as plans sold on the exchanges, like maternity and mental health benefits, plus insurers can't exclude enrollees because of pre-existing conditions. Only a handful of current individual policies that meet strict guidelines will be grandfathered in.

So why might one want to go off the exchange?

#1: Possible better coverage: Some insurers may opt to offer richer policies or continue grandfathered plans off the exchange to hold onto long-time customers. These policies may have more comprehensive doctors' networks or lower drug co-pays ... with a higher premium to boot, said Dan Mendelson, chief executive of Avalere Health, an advisory company for insurers. But they could be more attractive to current customers than the exchange policies, which may be more restrictive in order to keep premiums under control.

Via: CNN Money

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Becerra Pushes Immigration Overhaul as Deficit Reducer Again

Rep. Xavier Becerra has a plan for dealing with two thorny political problems at once this fall: bring down the national deficit by passing an immigration overhaul.

It’s an idea the House Democratic Caucus chairman has been pushing for years with little success, first during the Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission and then in his capacity as a member of the doomed supercommittee on deficit reduction.

“At that point, I think people were still just focused on the budget, the regular tools for fashioning a budget,” Becerra said in a recent interview with CQ Roll Call. “The idea didn’t go very far. I raised it again, and again it didn’t go very far, probably because we weren’t having a very expanded discussion about immigration reform and a lot of people didn’t know what it would mean to have an immigration bill and how it would fit in terms of the economy.”

But things are different now, Becerra continued. There is increasing urgency to avert a government shutdown or debt limit showdown with an aim to also curb spending, and the momentum for an immigration rewrite has grown following the 2012 elections.

“Each issue is looking for some locomotion, and I certainly think any time you can add a trillion dollars of deficit reduction to fiscal negotiations, that’s pretty big,” Becerra said. “And any time you can also give a jump-start to the reluctance of some on the Republican side to move on fixing the economy at the same time, I think that’s gotta help.”

Via: Roll Call

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E! NEWS SAYS JACK NICHOLSON RETIREMENT HEADLINES UNTRUE

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 5 (UPI)--Hollywood screen icon Jack Nicholson is not retiring from acting, contrary to a media report claiming he is, E! News said.

A story making the rounds Wednesday alleged the 76-year-old triple-Oscar-winning actor is retiring from show business due to memory loss or dementia.

But E! News said the report is completely false and Nicholson is actively reading scripts for future possible projects.

Via: Breitbart

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‘YOU MORON!!!’: ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER IN TROUBLE AFTER FACEBOOK RANT THAT RIPS A ‘CRACK HEAD’ PARENT, DUMB STUDENTS

The teacher works at Alicante Elementary in Lamont, a southeastern suburb of Bakersfield, Calif., and posted the following, according to KERO-TV.

Here he rants about a mom who complains he’s too harsh with students, adding that the woman’s third-grader can read only “7 freaking words a minute” and still counts on her fingers while criticizing the mom for possessing only a fourth-grade education and not speaking any English:

(Credit: Facebook via KERO)

Here’s the promised image, implying a family is on welfare:

Via: The Blaze

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Not Looking for Work: Why Labor Force Participation Has Fallen During the Recession

Abstract

The post-recession economy has undergone the slowest recovery in 70 years. In addition to more than 8 percent unemployment, labor force participation has fallen sharply since the recession began in December 2007. Today, 6.4 million fewer Americans are working or searching for work. The drop in unemployment since 2009 is almost entirely due to the fact that those not looking for work do not count as unemployed. Demographic factors explain one-quarter of the decreased labor force participation. The rest comes from increased school enrollment and more people collecting disability benefits. Six percent of U.S. adults are now on disability insurance. This is no time to make it more difficult for businesses to create jobs.

The American economy is experiencing the slowest recovery in 70 years. In addition to persistently high unemployment, labor force participation has fallen sharply since the recession began in December 2007. Today, 6.4 million fewer Americans are working or looking for work. This drop accounts for virtually the entire reduction of the unemployment rate since 2009—those not looking for work do not count as unemployed.

Demographic changes explain approximately one-quarter of the drop in labor force participation. The baby boomers are aging and thus more likely to retire, dropping out of the labor force. The remaining drop in participation primarily comes from millions more people going on disability insurance or attending school. While those enrolled in school will probably return to the labor force, those going on the disability rolls will not. They will remain permanently outside the labor force.

 

Via: Heritage

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AP Reporter to State Department: Did Everyone At The White House Have A 'Spine-Removal Procedure This Weekend?'

Associated Press reporter Matt Lee grilled State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki on Thursday, repeatedly asking her how Secretary of State John Kerry found it "courageous" for President Barack Obama to seek Congressional authorization of military force in Syria.

Lee's argument came from this premise: How is it "courageous" for Obama to ask for Congress to approve something that he believes he has the right to do, anyway?

 


Via: Fox News

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Study says NM will see highest increase under ObamaCare: 130 percent

A national study of the Affordable Care Act shows people in New Mexico who buy health insurance on their own could face a huge spike in their premium costs. 

The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, a fiscally conservative think tank based in New York City, looked at 13 states plus the District of Columbia and found that nine states will see increases on average while five will see decreases. 

The study says that New Mexico, at 130 percent,will see the steepest rate hike, followed by Vermont (97 percent), South Dakota (83 percent) and Connecticut (50 percent). 

"It'll vary," said Yevgeniy Feyman, the study's lead research associate, in a telephone interview with New Mexico Watchdog. "In New York, it will probably be an improvement. In New Mexico, probably not because it's adding a lot more regulations to the market." 

Feyman says the study was based on the government's own figures from the www.finder.healthcare.gov website and went by zip codes, looking at the cheapest rates available for individual market insurance plans.

Via: Fox News Politics

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ObamaEd is Coming to a School Near You

Do you know what the Common Core Curriculum is? Whether you have children or not, unless you live in Alaska, Texas, Nebraska or Virginia, it behooves you to become familiar with it before it kicks in, full-bore, in 2014.

Forty five states have adopted the entire Common Core Curriculum. One might ask why that is so dangerous. After all, Federal standards have been around since Jimmy Carter made the Department of Education a bona fide arm of the federal government in the 1970s. Simply put, Common Core is the federal government’s takeover of education.

 It means the federal government now decides what children learn. Neither parents nor local school districts will have any say in what is being taught. Education is being nationalized. 

Take, for example, the mathematics component of the program. Glyn Wright, Executive Director of Eagle Forum told Fox News: “The math standard focuses on investigative math, which has been shown to be a disaster… With the new math standard in the Common Core, there are no longer absolute truths. So 3 times 4 can now equal 11 so long as a student can effectively explain how they reached that answer.” 

Via: Political Outcast

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