What a nasty, vindictive piece of shit David “Huggies” Vitter is. Imagine the mind of the person who came up with this punitive way to punish poor people for their past sins, and to further marginalize and isolate them. I feel my blood pressure rising as I write this. I’m beginning to wonder if they’re actually trying to start an uprising so the defense contractors can move some new merchandise. Via Colorlines:
Yesterday, Sen. Vitter of Louisiana offered up an amendment to permanently drop anyone ever convicted of a violent crime from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
According to Robert Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Democrats in the Senate obliged him. The amendment is for a farm bill, which is currently being debated in the Senate.Says Greenstein:
The amendment would bar from SNAP (food stamps), for life, anyone who was ever convicted of one of a specified list of violent crimes at any time — even if they committed the crime decades ago in their youth and have served their sentence, paid their debt to society, and been a good citizen ever since. In addition, the amendment would mean lower SNAP benefits for their children and other family members.
So, a young man who was convicted of a single crime at age 19 who then reforms and is now elderly, poor, and raising grandchildren would be thrown off SNAP, and his grandchildren’s benefits would be cut.
[…] Democrats accepted it without trying to modify it to address its most ill-considered aspects.
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Two-thirds of SNAP recipients are children, elderly or the disabled, and two-fifths of SNAP households live below half the poverty line.
According to Greenstein, if this amendment ends up in the farm bill and passes, it would hit African Americans particularly hard:
Given incarceration patterns in the United States, the amendment would have a skewed racial impact. Poor elderly African Americans convicted of a single crime decades ago by segregated Southern juries would be among those hit.
Sen. Vitter is claiming that his amendment is only aimed at preventing those convicted of violent crimes from obtaining benefits, apparently under the logic that stripping them of what may be their only form of income assistance will lead to less violence. Curiously, he didn’t propose that johns who’ve hired sex workers would also be banned from SNAP.
Sen. Vitter also proposed an end to the so-called “Obama Phone” program, which started under President Ronald Reagan to help elderly and low-income with cellphone service, particularly in rural areas.
And yet we can’t get defense contractors guilty of fraud and embezzlement banned from government contracts.
Raise your hand if you believe that we still live in a representative democracy. If the 1% wants to screw the 99% they will get their politician hitmen like Vitter to get the job done. It’s us against them folks. Non-violence is the only correct path forward.
It sounds like some Christians can’t wait to bring Hell to Earth now.
I’ve always wondered why some Christians seem so joyous at the thought of perpetual punishment. A person could serve their sentence, be redeemed in the eyes of the law, and yet per the “right” kind of Christian still be liable to everlasting hellfire.
This bill does exactly that. It is written by those who cannot wait for the death of their political enemies, but who want to create hell right now. Where there is no forgiveness; no chance of atonement.
That’s exactly something I would expect of the Repukes, who are worse than the Nazis ever were. At least the Nazis’ slogan was “arbeit macht frei”, meaning in the most jaded dark humor that when you die, we are done with you.
The “right” kind of Christians are NEVER done with you – they want to torture you both in life and after death. Forever.
What horrible people.
And for the Democrats, as usual, to go along.
Just kind of reminds me why I’ve been voting Green for the past two elections.
Let’s bar johns from federal pensions. That should save a ton of money. Think we can get Vitter to sponsor a Bill?
Vitter the Shitter. I’m printing the bumper stickers!