Poverty | Beth Byrnes

Time is running out

Posted on November 14, 2013 16 Comments

Is this the way our democracy is supposed to work? http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-republicans-rig-the-game-20131111 National Republicans have waged an unrelenting campaign to exploit every weakness and anachronism in our electoral system. Through a combination of hyperpartisan redistricting of the House, unprecedented obstructionism in the Senate and racist voter suppression in the states, today’s GOP has locked in political […]

Whose values?

Posted on October 14, 2013 29 Comments

This is Columbus Day. I just heard that there is a movement to change this holiday to Native American’s Day. Sounds like a good idea to me. That made me think about a couple of things going on right now. For one, one of our three parties is holding their annual “Values Voter Summit” this […]

Doped and duped

Posted on October 9, 2013 20 Comments

Maybe a deal will be struck by the time this post goes ‘live’. Irrespective of what transpires (and I sure hope we will avert this debt ceiling disaster), what I am writing here still applies, as what underlies the latest fire drill has been brewing for decades. There is a pole shift taking place that […]

Health care for the privileged or for all?

Posted on October 3, 2013 6 Comments

Which would you prefer? I am pretty clear on what I would rather have. Health care must be recognized as a right, not a privilege. For the people who slavishly repeat the meme that our Federal government cannot provide any efficient service, I categorically disagree. There are at least five excellent examples I know of […]

POVerty and the shadowy TPP

Posted on September 28, 2013 6 Comments

I have been reflecting on the American way of life recently. All the tumult over the Affordable Care Act has dredged up a great deal of emotion, mostly fear, and of course as I have said repeatedly in past posts here, stoked by international as well as national corporate interests. There are corporations, backed by […]