Since I can't send all of you a warm quilt in this early Arctic storm, I will post a diary on quilts for you to enjoy. Many quilts patterns have names rooted in political events.
Illinois 1937 Quilt~ New York Beauty~ Quilt by Elizabeth Wehking
This week I went picking tomatoes at the CSA farm. The members were invited to you pick sun gold tomatoes. They are little yellow cherry tomatoes with a very sweet flavor. I have 3 plants of my own that I have had growing in pots. Mine wasn't as sweet as the ones from the farm. Sun gold is indeterminate and grows into a tall vine and the rows at the farm was very tall. I could hardly reach the top so I mostly picked from the bottom and middle. I picked until my shopping tote got heavy.
Today I picked up my first CSA box of vegetables, as you can see it covered my whole stove. The share was more generous then what I was expecting. This was also the first time I have been to the Geraldson Community Farm. It is located in a wonderful historic part of Bradenton, Florida. Just a stone’s throw from where DeSoto set foot on West Florida. It was a enjoyable ride for me to go out there on a Saturday morning. It had rained and everything looked fresh and the sea air smelled good.
Senator Elisabeth Warren has been in the news again as the media speculates whether she has a chance to become President or whether she can be talked into running in 2016. I think her bill to bring back the Glass Steagall Act is more note worthy for discussion.
This is the pdf file of the bill that is being introduced to the Senate by Senator Warren. It is the 21st Century Glass Steagall Act. Senators McCain, King and Cantwell are cosigners. The bill is straight forward and reinstates the Glass Steagall Act. It is very readable and only 26 pages long with all the changes.
USA to the rescue to show how to live on $1.40 a meal. The trouble with that can be to low in calories for most young men. Now the older guy it will be OK and he will loose some weight. Just because you are on food stamps does not mean you are not working hard. Soup and vegetables are good and healthy but can also fall short of the persons needs.
A couple of weeks ago on a Saturday, I was in the check out line at a local store. Just ahead of me was a lady checking out only she was over her budget and was having items taken off the bill. It took a while but I was not in a hurry. Shopping is just about the only thing I do to get out of the house these days, so I don't rush through it. After she got her over spending adjusted, she discovered she had left her EBT card at home. I could see her embarrassment in her face as she apologized. She said she would come back in a few minutes. There was tears in her eyes as she left the store. So all of us were switched to another register and I asked the young man checking me out if he thought she would come back. He said yes because she was a regular customer. Her tears of shame bothered me all day. In my head I had visions of her being a single mom that is over worked and tired. I think it is time that our politicians stop shaming people for being in need of SNAP and do something to remove that need.
Daily Kos has been having a 2 day blogathon on Hunger and this is one of the best I have seen. The comment section is well worth the read. It is becoming a big issue in this county and not just in my area. Some food for thought.
I thought I would check with Princeton Election Consortium and Dr. Sam Wang. He has some interesting thoughts on last week's polling. This was his last blog post were he points out that the general wisdom that the Democrats will need a 13 point lead in the national generic poll to take over the house is false. Also read some of his recent blog post from the shut down. His opinion usually runs close to Nate Silver or the same.
Moveon.org has had PPP busy in Republican House districts across the country. Here is the report of their findings. I was surprised to see there was more in Florida besides FL-2, FL-10 and FL-13. These findings are a little early for being a true bell whether of what might come in 2014 but is interesting. Maybe it will keep the Republicans from trying a shut down again in January and February.
According to USDA, one in six people in the USA are food insecure. That comes out to forty-nine million people which includes children. One child out of five lives in a home that is food insecure which means that child does not know where his next meal will come from. Food insecurity is spread over all communities not just in urban ghettos but in rural and suburban communities also. The fastest growing group of families falling into poverty is hidden in suburbia. Families that are struggling to hang on to their homes, keep the utilities on and maintain a car. These families are least likely to qualify for SNAP or commonly known as food stamps. To put it simply they have too many assets that disqualify them for help. In 2011 4.8 million people over the age of 60 was food insecure and that is only going to grow as the baby boomers retire.
Geraldson Farm is my local CSA farm. The community supported organic farm was started in 2007 when the Geraldson family sold the land to the county for this use. The Geraldson family wanted this land to be used only in agriculture.
PPP asked people if what they thought of Congress. LOL...People think more of dog poop than Congress. Even hemorrhoids are more popular then Congress. They were on a roll the day that they did this polling. The full report link is at the bottom of the cover page.
PPP has been in the field this week at the request of Move On.org. Huffington Post published some of the results Sunday night. It looks like if this goes too long the Republicans will lose the House in next year elections. If you click on the link at the end of the article you will see the district results.
This struck me really funny. I am still laughing. Some one had a good time putting up this site. Enjoy and laugh a little at the republicans. http://www.gopshutdownlive.com/ Anyone want to predict what the out come will be with this shut down? I am at a loss at their glee in screwing many fellow Americans.
This is by one of my favorite writers, Kurt Eichenwald. It is in Vanity Fair. You will really enjoy his humor as he takes apart the GOP lies about the ACA. It is well worth the time to read it. Enjoy!
This is a excellent report on the economy in Florida. The fact is, Florida's economy began to decline under Jeb Bush and when the 2008 depression hit, it only got worse. The numbers are interesting in this report. I do know that there are still many unemployed that are not being counted because they no longer use the system to look for work and right now the state is only letting you have a few months of unemployment.
The state has been suffering 13 years of decline after 45 years of growth. This is one of the issues that will be front and center in 2014.
It looks like there is a big shift in senior's support for the GOP. I just wonder why it took so long to gather momentum. I saw some cracks in it during the last election cycle but racism trumped it. This is a good read on the Carville-Greenberg Memo. It covers what I am seeing and hearing here in Florida.
A couple of weeks ago on a Saturday, I was in the check out line at a local store. Just ahead of me was a lady checking out only she was over her budget and was having items taken off the bill. It took a while but I was not in a hurry. Shopping is just about the only thing I do to get out of the house these days, so I don't rush through it. After she got her over spending adjusted, she discovered she had left her EBT card at home. I could see her embarrassment in her face as she apologized. She said she would come back in a few minutes. There was tears in her eyes as she left the store. So all of us were switched to another register and I asked the young man checking me out if he thought she would come back. He said yes because she was a regular customer. Her tears of shame bothered me all day. In my head I had visions of her being a single mom that is over worked and tired. I think it is time that our politicians stop shaming people for being in need of SNAP and do something to remove that need.