Bad Deeds for 2-25-2009

Joe Barton Too Busy Tweeting to Pay Attention to President’s Speech; Blames It On a Staffer – During President Obama’s address to Congress, there was Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.), in whose name this text message was sent at about the time the president spoke of the need to pull the country together: “Aggie basketball game is about to start on espn2 for those of you that aren’t going to bother watching pelosi smirk for the next hour.” A few minutes later, another message came through: “Disregard that last Tweet from a staffer.”

 

Let Them Sleep On The Street! Fox News Calls Troubled Homeowners “Deadbeats” – In a panel on Fox News in which nobody advocated for the homeowners in question, Fox repeatedly characterized them as “deadbeats” who would be profiting at the expense of working people. No statistics were provided to back up their inflammatory soundbites nor was there any information about the nature of the actual suffering of non-deadbeats who may have lost their only shelter as a result of a job loss or medical bills, etc. Statements made included, “We are incentivizing people not to pay their mortgages. These dead beats have no moral right to my money.” and “We have to let this thing purge itself. Let them fail. Let the houses come to market.” [Conservative without conscience worldview: You’re on your own and you get what you deserver for being undisciplined and immoral.]

 

While Republicans Call People With Housing Problems “Losers” That Don’t Deserve Help, Military Families Are Affected Particularly Hard – The orders came while Navy Lt. Adam Diaz was winding down a one-year stint in Baghdad: Report to the Navy Annex in Arlington for a new assignment in April. — Given the military lifestyle, the prospect of a move came as no surprise to Diaz, 31, who has spent his adult life in the Navy. The shock came when he spoke with his wife, Stephanie Diaz, about the value of the Jacksonville, Fla., home they bought in June 2006, near the height of the housing bubble. — “Hey, by the way,” she recalls telling him. “The house has been valued for about 50 grand less than when we bought it.” The housing crisis is hitting military families particularly hard, according to real estate agents and service member advocacy groups. Many who bought during the boom and must now relocate because of fresh orders are faced with selling their homes at a big loss.

 

Bobby Jindal Tells the Las Vegas Train Lie Again – Last night, Bobby Jindal claimed that the stimulus bill is larded with wasteful spending such as $8 billion for high-speed rail projects, such as a ‘magnetic levitation’ line from Las Vegas to Disneyland, and $140 million for something called volcano monitoring.” The claim that $8 billion is set aside for a “levitating train” between Las Vegas and Disneyland is untrue. That total is for unspecified high-speed rail projects. And isn’t it interesting that the governor of a state that depends on the U. S. government monitoring of natural disasters (hurricanes) would sneer at the idea of monitoring volcanoes?

 

Congressional Republicans Complain About Waste, But Won’t Cut Their Staffs – Congressional Republicans have been pouncing on any instance of wasteful spending they can find, but a ten percent increase in the budget for Congressional operations was needed because Senate Republicans wanted to retain previous staff levels despite having lost roughly 20 percent of their ranks in the 2008 elections.

 

Another Racial Reference to President Obama – The mayor of Los Alamitos, California, is coming under fire for an e-mail he sent out that depicts the White House lawn planted with watermelons, under the title “No Easter egg hunt this year.” Local businesswoman and city volunteer Keyanus Price, who is black, said Tuesday she received the e-mail from Mayor Dean Grose’s personal account on Sunday and wants a public apology. “I have had plenty of my share of chicken and watermelon and all those kinds of jokes,” Price told The Associated Press. “I honestly don’t even understand where he was coming from, sending this to me. As a black person receiving something like this from the city-freakin’-mayor – come on.” The mayor said he was unaware of the racial stereotype that black people like watermelons. (Then why would he send it? Was he thinking, “I don’t know what this means, so I’ll just send it out?”)

 

Slave Farms in Florida – In December of last year, the Department of Justice concluded yet another farm labor slavery case in Florida. According to court documents, workers in this latest case were chained to poles, locked inside trucks, beaten, and robbed of their pay. When a reporter called the governor’s office for comment on the most recent case, your spokesperson, Terrence McElroy, gave the impression that one forced labor case per year is no cause for alarm.

Regards,

Jim