Get Real
Posted by Michelle Moquin on May 6th, 2014
Good morning!
From Think Progress:
This is just so typical from the Right – Not wanting to get into the real world to solve real issues happening to real people.
Paul Ryan Won’t Let Poor People Testify At Hearing About Poverty
On Wednesday, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will hold a hearing on poverty called “A Progress Report on the War on Poverty: Lessons from the Frontlines.” While it will feature three experts, none of them are actually low-income Americans who struggle to get by.
But that’s not for lack of trying from some poor people themselves. Witnesses to Hunger, an advocacy project that shares the stories of low-income Americans, has tried and failed twice to have some of their members who live in poverty speak at Ryan’s poverty hearings. “When Ryan had his first hearing last July,” Director Mariana Chilton told ThinkProgress, “we wrote to his office to see if we could testify, but they weren’t interested.” While Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) tried to get one of their low-income members to speak, it was too late. They were asked to submit written testimony instead.
Chilton’s organization stayed in touch with his office and immediately called his press team when they saw the announcement for Wednesday’s hearing. “They said, ‘It’s too late, we’ve already chosen our people.’” There was one slot left to be filled by Democrats, but that went to Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children’s Defense Fund. “I think Marian Wright Edelman is a great choice,” Chilton said. But “they had a stronger interest in having a more well-known person to testify.” That means that once again, the hearing won’t feature anyone who really is on the frontlines of poverty. “None of the people who are testifying today are currently living in poverty and it’s unclear if they really know what’s going on from the perspective of people living in it,” she said.
And the written testimonies they submitted will probably do little to impact the conversation. “They’re submitted and they disappear,” Chilton said. Tianna Gaines-Turner sent in a document last year, and this year Barbie Izquierdo has done the same. “If you look at the July hearing for the War on Poverty, you don’t see evidence of Tianna Gaines-Turner’s submitted testimony,” she added. It’s not on the website for the hearing, despite her requests to his office that they include the document, although it has been included on page 64 of the record. Izquierdo’s will probably meet the same fate. “Asking for formal written testimony is a way to let Paul Ryan’s office off the hook,” she said.
It’s also worth remembering that one of the three people who will testify has some controversial opinions about anti-poverty programs. Bishop Shirley Holloway, founder of the House of Help City of Hope, said, “You don’t dream when you’ve got food stamps.”
Ryan’s office did not immediately return a request for comment.
Those who wanted to testify aren’t happy about being excluded. “I think that’s just another poor excuse,” Gaines-Turner, married mother of three struggling to make ends meet, said. “You say you want to speak to someone who’s experienced frontline poverty, but you have no one there who’s actually experienced poverty first hand.” She said that she’s grateful for the opportunity to submit written testimony, but she said, “On the panel you have experts on hunger and poverty, but I’m the true expert. I’m the one who lives these daily struggles every day, who runs out of money at the end of the month every month, has faced homelessness, hunger, poverty.” And she added, “Not to knock the people that are there, but if you want to really understand, you need to speak to the people themselves firsthand. We’re real people, not just numbers.”
Gaines-Turner has certainly experienced these things. “I know what it’s like to use your stove to heat your home,” she said. She knows how dangerous that can be. But she also has young children — six-year-old twins and a son who is nine — who all have medical disabilities and need to be kept warm in winter.
Izquierdo, who was the first mother to join Witnesses to Hunger, regretted she wouldn’t be at the hearing. “Speaking is one of the most important things you can do,” she said. “You can write something, but there’s something different when you’re telling your story and they’re seeing your face and attaching your emotions to the written word.” She hopes a message can come across from her written testimony. “One of the most important things to take away from what was written is that people who are asking for the help actually need the help, and that these programs can work and people on public assistance can be productive citizens, we just need a chance,” she said. “We just need to be looked at as human beings.”
She’s now in school full time, studying criminal justice with the goal of one day being a funeral director and leaving a business to her children. But she has had direct experience with public programs. When she lost her job, she turned to food stamps. “It became the only source of income I had to provide food for my children,” she said. “If I didn’t have it I don’t know what I would have done, I had no other choice and no other option.”
For Chilton, these experiences are why it’s important to have low-income people testify. “They can talk about the shortcomings of federal programs,” while experts “cannot get it across as well as people who are low-income and actually living it,” she said. Poor Americans “have a vested interest.”
*****
Readers: What would you say to Ryan? Blog me.
On a side note…I don’t know why I’ve never noticed this before, but what is the first thing that comes to mind when you see this picture of Ryan? I don’t like to make fun of someone’s looks because I don’t think it’s very nice. However, when I was posting this and looking at Ryan, all I could think about was Eddie Munster.
So I just had to Google: “Does Paul Ryan look like Eddie Munster?” So let me preface, I am not making fun of his looks, although I think it’s funny that there is a similarity. Evidently, I am not the only one who sees the similarity because I found quite a few comparison photos. Here’s one.
Happy Monday!
Peace out.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
Thank you for your loyal support!
All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014
“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream
" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"
May 6th, 2014 at 12:16 pm
Paul Ryan is an asshole who would not have a job if my race weren’t voting color over there best interest. Howie. I like the way you think.
May 6th, 2014 at 12:32 pm
Global warming is rapidly turning America into a stormy and dangerous place, with rising seas and disasters costing citizens from flood-stricken Florida to the wildfire-ravaged West, according to a new U.S. Federal Scientific Report.
Climate change’s assorted harms are expected to become increasingly disruptive across the nation throughout this century and beyond, the National Climate Assessment concluded Tuesday.
The report emphasizes how warming and its all-too-wild weather are changing daily lives, even using the phrase “climate disruption” as another way of saying global warming.
Still, it’s not too late to prevent the worst of climate change, says the 840-page report, which the White House is highlighting as it tries to jump-start often stalled efforts to curb heat-trapping gases.
However, if the U.S. and the world don’t change the way they use energy, we’re still on the pathway to more damage and danger of the type that are described in great detail in the rest of this report, said study co-author Henry Jacoby, co-director of the Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Jacoby, other scientists and White House officials said this is the most detailed and U.S.-focused scientific report on global warming.
Climate Change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present,” the report says. “Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington state and maple syrup producers in Vermont are all observing climate-related changes that are outside of recent experience.
The report looks at regional and state-level effects of global warming, compared with recent reports from the United Nations that lumped all of North America together. A draft of the report was released in January 2013, but this version has been reviewed by more scientists, the National Academy of Science and 13 government agencies and had public comment. It is written in a bit more simple language so people could realize that there’s a new source of risk in their lives, said study lead author Gary Yohe of Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
Even though the nation’s average temperature has risen by as much as 1.9 degrees since record keeping began in 1895, it’s in the big, wild weather where the average person feels climate change the most, said co-author Katharine Hayhoe, a Texas Tech University Climate Scientist. Extreme weather — like droughts, storms and heat waves hit us in the pocketbooks and can be seen by our own eyes, she said.
And it’s happening a lot more often lately.
The report says the intensity, frequency and duration of the strongest Atlantic hurricanes have increased since the early 1980s, but it is still uncertain how much of that is from man-made warming. Winter storms have increased in frequency and intensity and shifted northward since the 1950s, it says. Also, heavy downpours are increasing – by 71 percent in the Northeast. Heat waves, such as those in Texas in 2011 and the Midwest in 2012, are projected to intensify nationwide. Droughts in the Southwest are expected to get stronger. Sea level has risen 8 inches since 1880 and is projected to rise between 1 foot and 4 feet by 2100.
Since January 2010, 43 of the lower 48 states have set at least one monthly record for heat, such as California having its warmest January on record this year. In the past 51 months, states have set 80 monthly records for heat, 33 records for being too wet, 12 for lack of rain and just three for cold, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal weather records.
“We’re being hit hard,” Hayhoe said, comparing America to a boxer. “We’re holding steady, and we’re getting hit in the jaw. We’re starting to recover from one punch, and another punch comes.”
The report also says “climate change threatens human health and well-being in many ways.” Those include smoke-filled air from more wildfires, smoggy air from pollution, more diseases from tainted food, water, mosquitoes and ticks. And then there’s more pollen because of warming weather and the effects of carbon dioxide on plants. Ragweed pollen season has lengthened by 24 days in the Minnesota-North Dakota region between 1995 and 2011, the report says. In other parts of the Midwest, the pollen season has gotten longer by anywhere from 11 days to 20 days.
And all this will come with a hefty cost, the report says.
Flooding alone may cost $325 billion by the year 2100 in one of the worst-case scenarios, with $130 billion of that in Florida, the report says. Already the droughts and heat waves of 2011 and 2012 added about $10 billion to farm costs, the report says. Billion-dollar weather disasters have hit everywhere across the nation, but have hit Texas, Oklahoma and the Southeast most often, the report says.
We have finally done it — We have officially reached the ‘Tipping Point’ — Yet Some nutty scientists still refuse to admit it is happening . . . NOW.
Vicki #11 Yesterday: do you still say “turn up the heat!!!!”
HOWIE
May 6th, 2014 at 1:06 pm
Yes, Howie, I call this weird weather pattern in CA ‘earthquake weather’ and it is happening all over the US, I’m sure scientists will pull something out of their hats to explain it otherwise but it speaks for itself…
Ryan is a spoiled rich white boy, and we all know that only other spoiled rich white boys listen to his ilk, and there’s one big problem with that, they’re repubs with money and clout, scary and unfortunate.
…and I’m sure Eddie Munster is bummed that he’s been targeted to be a posterboy for this A-hole.
Luv, Zen Lill
May 7th, 2014 at 4:50 am
How about inviting the hungry Americans living in poverty to a hearing about the problems faced by conservative, multi-millionaire, republicans? As I am certain are many, like, which overseas banks are best to conceal illegal money in, how much is the proper bribe for a particular “political favor”, which automobiles carry the most status for the buck, and how little is appropriate to tip the poor slob who parks it for them.
I am sure that the ultra-wealthy face many life changing dilemmas, same as those impoverished, jobless, and hungry Americans do. And are in need of government aide to help them in dealing with such crisis’.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:28 am
Howie, You have done an exemplary job in ferreting out exactly what pollution has done to this planet’s climate. But I fail to see what that has to do with the job that Obama has done.
He has done the best he could with the Congress the people gave him. Your beef should be with the idiotic whites that vote color over their own best interest.
I repeat loud and clear to Obama “turn up the heat!”
May 7th, 2014 at 7:29 am
Well, of COURSE they’re not letting any poor people speak.
Why should they? They don’t allow women on the committee determining women’s issues so why should they want to listen to poor people speak, so many of whom are oh, WOMEN.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:29 am
Paul Ryan, you should hook up with Sarah Palin. Then you can both talk about how great you are all day and leave the rest of the country alone.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:30 am
Where is the petition to Paul Ryan and the rest of the Republicans in Congress to have them invite the people to testify that have to live with their decisions.
Or better yet, when do we elect somebody else into office that has a clue about living in this country instead of being an elitist SOB.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:31 am
I want Paul Ryan to do that food stamp challenge or better yet a minimum wage challenge. Have him live off that for a month. Then he can talk about being lazy.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:35 am
Well really, what do poor people know about poverty? Anyone who thinks I’m being serious. . . I’m not.
I recall reading many years ago something John Kenneth Galbraith said, I think during the Great Depression. Can’t quote it exactly, but it was something on the order of “Men who carry on about the dignity of work have never themselves done manual labor.”
May 7th, 2014 at 7:36 am
Paul Ryan is an overrated bigot
Paul Ryan does not care about poor people or poverty
May 7th, 2014 at 7:36 am
The 3 invited Witnesses are all …
leaders of Charity orgs.
http://budget.house.gov/hearingschedule2014/a-progress-report-on-the-war-on-poverty-lessons-from-the-frontlines.htm
Draw your own conclusions.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:37 am
Paul Ryan is the biggest fraud in politics. n/t
May 7th, 2014 at 7:38 am
Of course that little fascist sociopath won’t let those speak who he is stomping on.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:44 am
Paul Ryan is cool, he’s wears his hat backwards.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:45 am
Shelia#10, And what the hell do politicians know or understand about poverty?
Absolutely nothing and they also have no compassion.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:46 am
Am really tired of the lip service they give saying government doesn’t create jobs when
A current search of Defense Department contracts suggests that “Ryan Incorporated Central” has had at least 22 defense contracts with the federal government since 1996, including one from 1996 worth $5.6 million. …
http://thinkprogress.org/election/2012/08/14/688761/paul-ryans-family-business-built-on-government-contracts/
May 7th, 2014 at 7:47 am
Goth#11, Dumb too…
May 7th, 2014 at 7:49 am
George#12, I think reason they limited the testimony to three shows that they didn’t want the most powerful first person narrative of what poverty is like given a national stage.
To me the fact that they only have three witnesses says it all.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:51 am
#13Fred, What do you mean?…he helps out washing clean pots at shelters.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:52 am
Looks like he is trying to reach a pre-determined conclusion:
his own- and we all know what THAT is.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:53 am
How much longer is it going to take for Americans to realize these are criminals posing as congressmen.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:53 am
They are in fact die hard FASCISTS , haters of democracy , believe in Totalitarian rule, and have contempt
for the American people.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:54 am
“We Have Already Chosen Our People”
That is the way they think—they ARE the chosen people. Like lecturing to little kids–we know what’s good for you. I would love to take away their limo,their cook,stocked pantry for one month. Add to that toss in a couple late utility bills, an outstanding medical bill,auto repair bill or two etc and see just how far they can go,talking tough about poverty.
How many of them have ever had a rough budget ? They are useless. They have ears for little more than having a place to put their eyeglasses on because they never listen to anyone who doesn’t belong to a similar country club. Let’s face it they don’t only give in a gated community–they also have gated minds—-poor are not allowed not even to speak.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:56 am
They didn’t let women testify in the women’s reproductive health hearings either.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:57 am
That is the basic problem, no one is willing to walk a mile in their shoes. These old, white politicians do not know what it means to be poor, or know anyone who is. That is why they rely on stereotypes as reality.
It’s the same with gays and non-Christians, they have no clue what those people are like and what reality is. I remember watching Mitt Romney eat his 1st fast food meal, he thought the packaging was really neat.
He had no clue about it all all. We should not have people like Rmoney or Paul Ryan, people who are so out of touch with most of their constituents that they fail to appreciate the effect their policies will have on the people.
May 7th, 2014 at 7:57 am
Like Women not testifying at conference on Women’s Health Issues
May 7th, 2014 at 8:00 am
Paul Ryan is ALWAYS WRONG. He is heartless and uncaring and does not care about anyone he does not know personally and probably not very much about some that he does know.
Oh, and the Koch brothers told him to do it that way.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:01 am
Compare Ryan’s actions to Robert Kennedy’s poverty tour
(the one Paul Wellstone redid).
How far we’ve fallen.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:03 am
People without $$$$$ are excluded from the process. Why listen to actual poor people? Just listen to the “experts” on poor people. Pretty much sums up our republican representative in government.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:04 am
He is doing it this way because it is too difficult to denigrate the poor when they are there in person to defend themselves.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:05 am
There used to be hospitals where dear paul could have gotten some help, I’m afraid the only thing left for him is to be the continual punchline of a travesty.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:07 am
Larry#20, yeah isn’t that a pisser, Washing clean dishes
Ryan thinks because he can fool some rubes in his hometown that he is qualified to fool all of the Country.
If the M$M didn’t prop him up as the only “smart one” of the tea bagging set, he’d be nothing more than a Dan Quayle-like punchline.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:09 am
Charles#14, Well said. I’m so glad people know what to look for these days. For a while it seemed like nobody thought sociopaths existed.
Thanks Charles for writing how I really feel.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:10 am
Charles#14, how right you are. Ugh, he’s repulsive.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:12 am
Kimberly#15, I’m surprised he had a Tshirt on in that photo.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:12 am
Kimberly#15, So does Tony Romo…both are epic douchebags.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:14 am
Kimberly#15, …and he listens to rap music, so he’s down with us black folk! (oh, excuse me, ‘inner city’ folk)
May 7th, 2014 at 8:15 am
April#34, you’re welcome April.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:18 am
Howie#3, Thanks for writing how I feel. Obama isn’t part of the legislative branch. He can’t make the laws, he can only enforce those on the bench.
He can do some things by executive Edith but it is very limited and the republicans will be all over him calling him an “imperial president.”
May 7th, 2014 at 8:19 am
Stephen#38, that’s right! He knows a few bla people, you know!!!!
He remarks on their mastery of English!!! He knows that makes them feel good!!!!!!!! :superhappyface:
May 7th, 2014 at 8:23 am
Perry #21:
Exactly. The whole thing is a set up. An emotion from an actual victim of poverty might get in the way of his pre-determined outcome.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:26 am
Gretta#22; Their boot on the neck of the poor is already stomping. I wish I had more hope, but America is asleep.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:29 am
Holly#27, or having Sean Hannity as the head of the RNC’s African-American group.
I’d laugh at that but then depression would sink in because I know it really happened.
May 7th, 2014 at 8:31 am
April#42, I mean, think how horrible it would be if it gets in the way of the GOP’s plans to cut spending on anti-poverty programs so that the “job creators” can get more tax cuts?
Ryan has essentially said that anti-poverty programs have been a “failure” and they’re basically worthless, so, of course, the natural solution that he and his fellow Republicans have is to get rid of them.
They don’t want the possibility of having their scam exposed and/or one or two of them rediscovering their consciences, you know?
May 7th, 2014 at 9:04 am
[…] climate seemed to be the talk of yesterday (Thanks Howie for the write), I decided to post this write to continue the […]