08:07 – So, Republican Governor Pat McCrory, despite his campaign promise to oppose any further restrictions on abortion in North Carolina, now says he’ll sign the “compromise” NC Senate version of the anti-abortion bill. Weasel. He ran as a moderate Republican without ties to the Religious Right, but now here he is doing their bidding. Bastard.
Obama seems enamored of ruling via Executive Order. All he needs to do to solve the problems caused by Shiite Southern Baptists in North Carolina, Texas, and elsewhere is issue another Executive Order: any hospital or clinic that receives federal funding, directly or indirectly, must provide abortions on demand, in a timely manner, inexpensively, and without any restrictions whatsoever, or lose that federal funding.
09:33 – I was just reading an article in the paper about the US House splitting the farm subsidy and foodstamp programs into separate bills, for the first time in 40 years. Disregarding for a moment that both programs should be eliminated, I was struck by the absurdity of how much we’re spending on foodstamps. Apparently, about a fifth of North Carolinians receive foodstamps, although I don’t believe I’ve ever known someone who’d ever gotten them. If that ratio holds up nationwide, we’re spending $80 billion a year to give foodstamps to about 60 million people, or more than $1,300 annually per person. And those foodstamps can be spent on packaged foods, meat, and other foods that are expensive way out of proportion to their food value. There’s no way it costs more than $100/month to provide proper nutrition to one person, if we keep the choice of foods as inexpensive as possible.
We need to revisit what Republic Rome did to keep the head count fed. A subsidized grain dole, which any Roman citizen was entitled to, without means testing. Stand in line to get a chit, and then stand in another line to get the food package for the month. I’m guessing that if we distributed wheat, dry beans, and similarly cost-effective foods we could reduce the costs of this program by at least two thirds. Call it $30/month/person, or $1/day.