Random Thoughts

Pat yourself on the back for voting for this clown -- aren't you proud?

Daily Kos

Paul Ryan thinks the second-highest child poverty in the developed world and sequestration are a great start, but there's more to be done.

attribution: REUTERS

Paul Ryan thinks the second-highest child poverty in the developed world and sequestration are a great start, but there's more to be done.

The United States ranks 34 out of 35 on a UNICEF measure of relative child poverty in developed nations. To be clear, that's 34 out of 35 in the bad way—second highest level, doing better than only Romania with more than 20 percent of children living in a household with an income below half the median.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/18/1202964/-U-S-is-second-worst-of-35-developed-nations-when-it-comes-to-child-poverty

God Bless the President of the United States shared The Platzner Post's photo.

My heart goes out to all in the path of this predictable disaster.

NOW.... TEXAS YOU MUST SAVE YOURSELF!
REMOVE THE MENTALLY ILL MAFIA THAT RUNS YOUR STATE!
VOTE TRUE BLUE AND GIVE THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS
BACK TO THE PEOPLE!

 Posted on the Being Liberal fan page.

 

Occupy Democrats

Hypocritical Texan Republicans referred to federal aid for Hurricane Sandy as "pork", now turn around and have the gall to demand federal aid for a fertilizer plant explosion in Waco.

Thanks to Progressive Defenders of America.

Read the full story here: http://occupydemocrats.com/governor-perry-and-texan-republicans-hypocritically-demand-federal-aid-after-plant-explosion/?fb_source=pubv1

Too Informed To Vote Republican

Image from @The Next President

Being Liberal

(M) The hypocrisy is glaringly obvious. Thanks to Politics with Jarred and Dave for this.

Posted on the Being Liberal fan page.

God Bless the President of the United States shared Conservatives Are Destroying Our Future's photo.

Mark White, a Democrat, was Governor in 1985 which was the last time this plant, making the second most combustable material manufactured, was inspected. How's that de-regulation working for you Texans?

STAY AWAKE THESE INSANE HYPOCRITES MUST BE REPLACED!!!!

Ted Cruz is too deplorable of a human being to even describe.

Progressive Democrats of America shared Robin Hood Tax USA's photo.

Via Robin Hood Tax USA: We had a great Robin Hood Tax rally and march today in DC with lots of support. Thanks to those who came out.
Here's a recording of the rally -> http://bit.ly/11v9X8S
Check back for more pictures.

We had a great Robin Hood Tax rally and march today in DC with lots of support. Thanks to those who came out.
Here's a recording of the rally -> http://bit.ly/11v9X8S
Check back for more pictures.

Steve Marmel

"Remember West, Texas."

We will. And we will much quicker than your representatives did when the East Coast needed something. Or if something happens on the West Coast.

We will because we are better than the people you send to represent you. So maybe, just maybe, you should try to send better people to Washington.
...
Because it's making you look like heartless tools.

Http://Facebook.com/TheMarmelPageSee More

The Pragmatic Progressive Page shared Stefan Frank's photo.

This. - vince

One of the less publicized impressions from yesterday's stand-off. A family with young children in Watertown was out of milk during the lock down.

One of the less publicized impressions from yesterday's stand-off. A family with young children in Watertown was out of milk during the lock down ...

God Bless the President of the United States shared Occupy Democrats's photo.

This man "gets" US!

We are blessed to have President Obama in office to lead our country through these tough times, please SHARE his wise words.

Created by Occupy Democrats.

Stop the World, the Teabaggers Want Off

There are many differences.

Stop the World, the Teabaggers Want Off

The Blue Street Journal

Represent.Us

The federal budget is a moral document that defines us as a nation.
When we allow Republicans to slash Food Stamps and School Food Programs for Children, this is what we have become. It's not pretty!

Ayn Rand collected Social Security

No excuse for the U.S. to be ranked 34th out of 35 countries in child poverty levels. Think about this every time Republicans talk about taking away programs that benefit families with children.

Map: How 35 countries compare on child poverty (the U.S. is ranked 34th)

Posted by Max Fisher on April 15, 2013

More

Click on the map to enlarge. (Data source: UNICEF)

 

A new report by the United Nations Children’s Fund, on the well-being of children in 35 developed nations, turned up some alarming statistics about child poverty. More than one in five American children fall below a relative poverty line, which UNICEF defines as living in a household that earns less than half of the national median. The United States ranks 34th of the 35 countries surveyed, above only Romania and below virtually all of Europe plus Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

The above map gives a comparative sense of the data. The blue countries have less than 10 percent of its children below UNICEF’s relative poverty line, with the red countries approaching 25 percent. Southern European countries, among the most effected by the euro crisis, have some of the worst rates, although none as low as the United States. Former Soviet countries also score poorly. Northern European countries score the highest. English-speaking countries tend to fall somewhere in the middle.

The poor U.S. showing in this data may reflect growing income inequality. According to one metric of inequality, a statistical measurement called the gini coefficient, the U.S. economy is one of the most unequal in the developed world. This would explain why the United States, on child poverty, is ranked between Bulgaria and Romania, though Americans are on average six times richer than Bulgarians and Romanians.

Here, from the UNICEF report, is the chart of relative child poverty rates (the grey countries are marked separately because they could not provide data for all other indices and are thus not included in the final rankings):

Source: UNICEF

To be clear, this data only reflects developed countries; it tells us nothing about how children in the United States or Europe compare to, for example, children in sub-Saharan Africa. But looking at how developed economies compare can help give us a rough approximation of how these countries are doing at child welfare. And UNICEF is using its own “poverty line” here; the more typical international definition is a family that lives on less than $1.25 or $2 per day. Almost no Americans qualify for this definition. Internally, the United States defines the poverty line as a family living on less than about $22,000 per year, which includes about 15 percent of Americans.

Still, UNICEF’s data is important for measuring the share of children who are substantively poorer than their national average, which has important implications for the cost of food, housing, health care and other essentials. Its research shows that children are more likely to fall below this relative poverty line in the United States than in almost any other developed country.

But the picture looks even worse when you examine just how far below the relative poverty line these children tend to fall. The UNICEF report looks at something it calls the “child poverty gap,” which measures how far the average poor child falls below the relative poverty line. It does this by measuring the gap between the relative poverty line and the average income of poor families.

Alarmingly, the United States also scores second-to-last on this measurement, with the average poor child living in a home that makes 36 percent less than the relative poverty line. Only Italy has a wider gap. Here’s the chart for child poverty gaps:

Source: UNICEF

We’ll have more on the UNICEF report and what it means for the world’s children later on, so please check back.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/04/15/map-how-35-countries-compare-on-child-poverty-the-u-s-is-ranked-34th/

US Uncut

From our friends at I Acknowledge Class Warfare Exists

The Blue Street Journal's photo.

The Blue Street Journal

Occupy Austin shared Rising Tide North America's photo.

 

 

 

Liberals Are Cool

By their logic, bombs don’t kill people, so we don’t need bomb control, either.

 

 

 

The Platzner Post

For those of you who wonder why I disliked Ronald Reagan and his Voodoo Economic Policies so much. I watched grown men and women cry because he destroyed their lives. He opened our borders, he created an un-level, un-fair playing field that forced American Middle Class workers to compete against Corporate Owned slave factories in 3rd World countries. He started America's decline into the realm of 3rd World Country status. He turned our nation with a vibrant Middle Class into a nation of economic beggars. Nixon started the attack on the middle class, Reagan accelerated it. He implemented the insidious method of subversion called the "Wedge Issue". Scream about the "Welfare Queen" while destroying good paying Middle Class jobs. Hug your Guns, while sending your job overseas. Watch out for the Gays, while taking away your right to a good paying job. And communicating that God wants you to accept what the rich man wants for you like it is Biblical, THAT RICH PEOPLE HAVE A RIGHT TO "THEIR" MONEY, and you should accept poverty because it was your fault you weren't born rich. And it worked.

Stand UP Middle Class America, YOU COUNT! Build America UP, Stop Trickling it DOWN!
Ron Murray Sr UNION MAN!!, VETERAN, CHRISTIAN, LIBERAL!

 

 

 

 

ne Million Strong Against Mitt Romney in 2012 shared Whiskey and the morning after blog's photo.

"If you rail against the federal government, support secession, cry about business regulations and vote against funding the recovery effort for a natural disast...er in another state but then want federal money for a man-made disaster in your own back yard...You might be a Teapublican". - Manny Schewitz

http://www.forwardprogressives.com/tedcruzhypocrisy/

 

Liberals Are Cool

Or the way our military occupies other countries....

Americans Against the Tea Party

Found on the Too Informed To Vote Republican Facebook page.

Shared at Americans Against the Tea Party.

Progressive Democrats of America updated their cover photo. — with Mike Hersh.