I'm only posting this video today -- it tells the truth so vividly that I don't feel the need to add commentary on it because I think y'all know how I feel about what Ms. Kaptur said so eloquently. At my house, groceries are rapidly becoming a luxury item.
My heroine, Marcy Kaptur, did us Ohioans proud on the floor of Congress and raised hell on the floor of Congress. I'm not even going to comment on this -- I can't add a single word to what she said. I've included as much text as I could find for those of you who have trouble with video.
"Now we even have a bill that's going to take food away from about 350,000 women and children. Now whose fault is that?
Here's a little note from somebody in my district. [Reads from a paper plate.] She says -- [waving paper plate] she signed up this plate at the food bank, the local food bank -- she says: "Without help from the food bank, I would be on the street. I struggle every day to make ends meet, so my kids have a place to lay their heads at night. I have a job, but with two kids it's still very hard. I have a lot of trouble paying rent, and bills. I just wish there were more help for parents like myself.
That's from the rural part of my district. From the urban part of my district [holding up another paper plate] and plate is signed at the food bank: "My income is spent on bills which leave very little money for me to purchase food for myself and my two daughters."
You know, the majority of people in this house are Christians, and I'm not pushing that, though I am one of them, but the First Beatitude says, "Feed the hungry." It doesn't say, "Rugged individualism." I'm as individualistic as anybody else in this chamber, but I'll tell you what, there's a heartlessness that goes with people who take everything for themselves and turn their back on the rest of the American people. So when Big Oil makes record profits and pays no taxes, there's something really wrong.
There's something really wrong with the country, and the American people know it. They didn't clean house here last November because they thought you were better. They just wanted a change. And they'll vote for it again if their lives don't get better, and their lives won't get better unless we fix what Alan Greenspan and Goldman Sachs and Bank of America and the whole rest of those buzzards up there did to this country.
And they're taking bonuses! In fact, they're making so much money, they take members of Congress out. You know the average amount of the meal? $193. $193 a plate. These folks [holding up the paper plates], a couple of bucks in a day they spend on food.
So I stand with the American people, not those wealthy interests who took the nation to the cleaners. . . ."
A tip of my Thinking Cap to Kenny at DownWithTyranny for the heads up and there is additional text here.
Happy Blogging!!!
Kay
It's the same the world over. I don't suppose you know much about what is happening in Europe, but it's the same thing as with you.
ReplyDeleteWhole nations are going bankrupt and the solution lies in making the poor pay while the rich - the same kind of blighters you mention - get richer and tell us "we are all in this together". Utter rubbish. They don't know the first thing about being hard-up.
Thanks for the laugh in your last post, it was much needed.
My blood pressure was rising as I watched this. So, taking food out of the mouths of the elderly and infants is considered to be an example of "Rugged Individualism" by the GOP. The Republican Party has no shame. They also lack empathy for and understanding of anyone who is not at the same social or economic level that they are all so lucky to occupy.
ReplyDeleteAnd they have the gall to refer to themselves as Christians.
Keith Olbermann quoted something his father said to someone who was complaining about "Communists" in the US who were pushing for things like food banks, health care, etc. He said "Communists? This is America! We're talking about "Do unto others!"
ReplyDeleteSomething like that, anyway. Love the "groceries are becoming a luxury item." They already are in chez XE.
Good for Marcy Kaptur. Christianity is a buzz word by these buzzards. They don't believe it, they don't practice it, and they don't understand it. What would Jesus say? I think he might tell them that 'as you sow, so shall ye reap.' I wish it would happen.
ReplyDeleteFriko: I fear that you are very right. I need comic relief, too! I started posting them every Monday as a break from political rants.
ReplyDeleteColleen: I couldn't agree with you more! Marcy is one of the few who isn't afraid to take a stand!
M.E.: I feel your pain. I was always told that if you really are a Christian, you don't have to tell anyone that you are one -- they will know by your behavior.
Darlene: Marcy is what a Congressman/woman and a Christian should be. She is one of those rare successful people who remembers her roots.
wow from Willy
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Willy: Wow indeed! The gentlelady from Ohio doesn't take prisoners -- she just leaves corpses behind. We Toledo gals are tough. She knows what it's like to grow up in a working class family.
ReplyDeleteI read about Kaptur's remarks and said 'AMEN!!' I have long thought that the Bush notion of 'compassionate conservatism' was an oxymoron. Now the conservatives have simply erased the notion of compassion. I find it absolutely amazing that those who reject Darwin on evolution in nature embrace Darwinism in economics. I guess they can't see the parallel.
ReplyDeleteMarcy is my hero! She always makes sense. Maybe it's the water in Toledo but my stepmom assures me that there are a bunch of nut jobs there, too! Common sense and Compassion has left the building.
ReplyDeleteThanks for introducing me to Marcy Kaptur. It's a tonic. And odds are we won't have to wait for the other underwear to fall with this one.
ReplyDeleteThis post really resonates with the left side of me, which is rapidly becoming the only side.
ReplyDeleteMurr: You're welcome! She is a ray of hope that for everyone who likes his/her politicians sane. And we Ohians are getting ready to throw our Governor out!
ReplyDeleteLorna: I'm so glad you like it! She is a voice in the desert!