Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Much Sorry with Delays
Birth, Death and All That Stuff in Between
How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
My Yom Kippur Miracle (Repost from 2010)
Good intro to fly casting
Peach update, with pie
NYC update
Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
For NYC on 9/11, Sailors' Snug Harbor
Pickled Peaches
Water Shoes
Labor Costs in U.S.
Your "identity"
Good news about The Great Courses
Uses of Hot Pepper Jelly/Sauce, Chutneys, and Jams
A Saturday Drive to Litchfield County, CT
How to Pick a Kayak
Civilized: Fruit forks and knives
Loads of kayaking on Cape Cod
Psychology Experiments' Questionable Results

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Thursday, May 30. 2013

Thursday morning links

Get Ready, Suckers… You’re Going to Lose Your Health Insurance


California Bullet Train on Track for Blue Disaster


No IRS Special Prosecutor - Indictments are less important than political accountability.


Increasing Antarctic Ice Blamed On “Climate Change”


Harsanyi: This Is What Happens When You Fear Free Speech


CONGRATULATIONS, ILLINOIS! 15.7 Percent of State Population Now on Food Stamps!


Because Socialism is Never About Envy and Spite


Tiny Lego Gun Wielded by Kindergartner Panics Grown-Ups


Whistleblower Exclusive: The Benghazi cover-up is the proxy battle with the war
with Iran


Posted by Bird Dog in Hot News & Misc. Short Subjects at 05:29 | Comments (21) | Trackbacks (0)

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"CONGRATULATIONS, ILLINOIS! 15.7 Percent of State Population Now on Food Stamps!"

I just checked Food Stamp Use by State and Illinois is #27 on the list, and below the US average. So, why is this article focusing on a state who's so far down the list?

And California? Probably #1, right? Actually, it's down near the bottom at #43. Want to guess who's higher than CA? Connecticut, BD's home state, at #41.

New York is #22, but you won't see any articles about its food stamp use on Maggie's Farm because News Junkie is from New York and he and BD are buddies. The vaunted Texas, which right-wing sites love to praise to the high heavens, is #21, higher than any of the above.

And let's not forget that the incessant barrage of food stamp articles coming out of the right-wing are against the program. Because, as all good conservatives agree, the best way to deal with poor people is to starve them to death.
    #1 Dr. Mercury (Link) on 2013-05-30 07:23 (Reply)
    Your link is using 2011 data. But not terribly off. Though using 2012 data, Washington, DC has 23% food stamp usage.

    but there is this from the WSJ:

    QUOTE:
    By 1975, 8% of all Americans received government-paid food assistance. The level hovered between 8% and 11% until 2009. The financial crisis, coupled with the ensuing spike in poverty levels and a number of policy changes, pushed the program to unprecedented levels. Now, 15% of Americans are on SNAP.


    To be fair, there were some states that eased standards back in 2001/2002. The easing was how much savings a family could have before qualifying. Not a terrible goal to help before they were totally destitute but tricky to keep from becoming a crutch.

    This Weekly Standard story gives some actual numbers.
    #1.1 JKB on 2013-05-30 08:07 (Reply)
    Sorry, BD, but not too many people on food stamps look like they are starving AND they also are first in line at the food banks and free church dinners. Restaurants (I know because I live in a restaurant area) donate leftover foods every morning for various programs. Remember, most the children who "qualify" also are fed at school and during after-school activities. In Illinois, the pols are trying to set up year-around programs for children while they are not in school. Babies are fed through a separate program.

    This is not a conservative, right-wing focus as much as a complaint about duplication and misuse of efforts. A combination of urban gardens and fresh food markets using teenagers needing jobs plus a few cooking demos and lessons on freezing or canning produce would return power to the people most in need. We have some that are very successful; multiplying those would go a long way -- even in the cold climes of Illinois.

    The people who are more likely to suffer from malnourishment are the home-bound elderly. Meals on Wheels needs more volunteers.
    #1.2 jma on 2013-05-30 08:21 (Reply)
    JMA: I read the comments here a couple of times and basically agreed with your comment. But the last time I read it I realized there was more there then the obvious. I have to agree with your idea "A combination of urban gardens and fresh food markets using teenagers needing jobs plus a few cooking demos and lessons on freezing or canning produce would return power to the people most in need." Instead we are wasting money and producing uneducated dependents who end up preferring living on the dole to the satisfaction of becoming adults capable of taking care of themselves. What a shame; what a misplaced and counterproductive policy we have choosen to "help" the poor.
    #1.2.1 GoneWithTheWind on 2013-05-31 21:45 (Reply)
    The Lego gun story makes my azz tired. I can't help but wonder how many mental midgets there are out in moon bat land. Who gets off persecuting children? Is it that children are vulnerable and powerless and easy targets for adult bullies?
    #2 Exasperated on 2013-05-30 07:23 (Reply)
    QUOTE:
    William Teach: Good Grief: Increasing Antarctic {Sea} Ice Blamed On “Climate Change”

    Next thing you know, scientists will say that summer heat can make ice fall from the sky.
    http://tinyurl.com/n9lkqtx

    {xposted to Pirate's Cove}
    #3 Zachriel on 2013-05-30 08:11 (Reply)
    Rare enough that if it was a steak, a veterinarian could save it.
    #3.1 buddy larsen on 2013-05-30 08:24 (Reply)
    Towns in America's Hail Alley have hailstorms several times a year. See Doesken, "Hail, Hail, Hail! The Summertime Hazard of Eastern Colorado", Colorado Climate 1994.
    #3.1.1 Zachriel on 2013-05-30 08:39 (Reply)
    Those crazy scientists. What will they think of next?!
    #3.2 Zachriel on 2013-05-30 08:40 (Reply)
    The crazy ones, yes. Those sane scientists, what won't they think of next?!

    Anyhoo, hereabouts (the Edwards Plateau) 30 degree temp swings are features of the changeable seasons, and we play ball sports with hail-sized golf, tennis, baseballs.

    Not much hail in the wintertime, tho --thank goodness as it would be football sized.

    Anyhoo, we recognize that the ice forms up thar in the sky, where conditions are different than at ground level, where the temps are taken and names of the months are recorded.

    What would be astounding is if March thru May hailstorms left hail on the ground that would not melt despite the groundtemps that are two and a half times the freeze point.
    #3.2.1 buddy larsen on 2013-05-30 09:29 (Reply)
    LOL

    Zach sure is funny when he's trying to be serious.
    #3.2.1.1 Bulldog on 2013-05-30 16:23 (Reply)
    Res ipsa loquitur this is not so I'll bite. What does hail have to do with sea ice. Hail - hot day, convection, moist air aloft, contact with really really cold air. A little bit of water in contact with a large heat sink with good mixing. Hail. Sea ice. Salinity. Freezing point depression. Needs a big heat sink. Air is a crappy conductor. So where are you going with your analogy? If you were trying to justify more snow I could see where you are aiming. Ice not so much. Don't do the lame thing and reference some one else's work. That's just a way of saying you don't deeply understand and can't articulate your argument. What is your argument in your words? Why do you think there is a logical inference to make between hail and sea ice?
    #3.3 Karen on 2013-05-30 18:45 (Reply)
    Hail is associated with increased seasonal heating; ice falling from the sky due to warming. As an argument, which isn't really an argument, we could just wave our hands and sputter "Preposterous!", and avoid having to understand scientific theories of hail formation, much less respond substantively.

    William Teach's argument, which isn't really an argument, but handwaving, is that it's preposterous that global warming can lead to an increase in Antarctic sea ice extent. We know it's handwaving because the argument, which isn't really an argument, doesn't have to consider the data or research methods which led to the conclusion.

    While the study could certainly be wrong, it requires more than handwaving to be published in Nature Geoscience, and it takes more than handwaving to contest the findings.

    Bintanja et al., Important role for ocean warming and increased ice-shelf melt in Antarctic sea-ice expansion, Nature Geoscience 2013.
    #3.3.1 Zachriel on 2013-05-30 19:09 (Reply)
    "William Teach's argument, which isn't really an argument, but handwaving"

    Teach gave no "argument," he simply rolled his eyes...as did each one of the bloggers at the links you can follow to track back to the inarticulate original source. Why BD linked to Teach I cannot say. There's no "there" there. Sort of like your posts.

    The climate changes? Who knew!!? Everyone into the cosmic lifeboats, women and children first. See you on Mars.
    #3.3.1.1 Agent Cooper on 2013-05-30 22:18 (Reply)
    Now you got it!

    Agent Cooper: Teach gave no "argument," he simply rolled his eyes

    Next thing you know, scientists will say that summer heat can make ice fall from the sky.
    http://tinyurl.com/n9lkqtx

    {rolls eyes}
    #3.3.1.1.1 Zachriel on 2013-05-31 07:30 (Reply)
    Marinka identifies players well but meself can't quite groove her distinction twixt terror attack and nation-state attack.

    Terrorist nation-states like Iran commit terrorist attacks.

    Saudis export their own brand of terror into Syria.

    One of the kidnapped Syrian Bishops suggests Christians vacate for awhile.

    USA ought ignore John McCain and leave the mucks to exterminate themselves.
    #4 Leag on 2013-05-30 13:43 (Reply)
    "Get Ready, Suckers… You’re Going to Lose Your Health Insurance"

    The question for conservatives in office is what is their best principled response to such difficulties as they arise? Is it to refuse to go along with changes in the healthcare law to deal with such issues as each glaring defect in the law pops up---to maximize everyone's regret---or is it to help the Democrats climb out of the political deep hole they've dug for themselves? In the midst of the bureaucratic nightmare that is Obamacare, the desperate Democrats in Washington will look for any way they can find to make the law "work" and will try to deflect blame from themselves onto the Republicans for any stalemate that ensues. Will Congressional Republicans find their long-lost backbones in the face of such pressure and criticism or will they do what they've too often done in the past, just go along to get along?
    #5 Agent Cooper on 2013-05-30 15:14 (Reply)
    1--Doc, Texas has them danged wet-shirt guys. So hot there, they dry real quick and ya can't tell 'em frum the locals.

    Antarctica--Seems to me it's autumn down there, and winter is just around the corner, if'n there's a corner down there.
    #6 Sam L. on 2013-05-30 15:39 (Reply)
    --it's largely a question of Hugh M'Diddity. In my yootful despoilation of the high Rockies, i'd cross-country in a tee shirt, at 20 degrees F, so long as the sun was high enough. If Hugh came along, we'd have to bundle up --at least add pants for sure.
    #6.1 buddy larsen on 2013-05-31 00:14 (Reply)
    Not to be persnickety...it's "fer shur," Buddy
    #7 jma on 2013-05-31 08:46 (Reply)
    I just don't know the Queen's English. I think she's Flemish.
    #7.1 buddy larsen on 2013-05-31 18:26 (Reply)

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