In a Times Picayune story of May 8 according to Louisiana state legislative auditor about $1.1 million in federal food stamps money was given to and spent by those who were not eligible for the program. The federal program is managed by Louisiana's Department of Children and Family Services. (DCFS) The DCFS also determines who is eligible and distributes the food cards that are loaded each month.
The auditor also found signs of other potential fraud that should be investigated that amounted to $2 million last year. Secretary Susie Sonnier of DCFS said her agency is reviewing all the cases cited in the auditor's report. Once again we have a problem of not regulating a program properly that cost the tax payers money, only this time it is the state of Louisiana that has failed to regulate and manage the regulations it set up itself.
The federal government catches a lot of flack for their failure to regulate in many areas but we hear very little about states who fail to administer and regulate programs that they themselves are responsible for. The DCFS is only one example. Enforcing regulations on a City, State and Federal level should be SOP not because government is involved but because it is an orderly process for the checks and balances needed for a society that has so many special interests and because taxpayers money is always involved.
The federal government is not the only government that has to get its house in order and enforce regulations that are for the common good. If one listens to state governors, you would think states do no wrong. Now that is really a fairy tail.
This commentary written by John Lucia
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Democratic Administrations: Best At Keeping America Safe At Home And Abroad
As of this writing President's Clinton and Obama have kept America and our people safer from terror attacks both at home and abroad in the past 33 years while the country and its people suffered the worst terrorists attacks on the watch of President's Reagan and Bush 43.
Reagan came to office talking tough telling the terrorists you can run but you can't hide. He then sent our Marines to Beirut as peace keepers to bail out Israel who was catching flack on their war against Lebanon and terrorists blew up the Marines compound killing 241 Marines. That was and still is the worst foreign terror attack against American personnel abroad. Those terrorists have never been brought to justice according to the latest report.
Bush 43 came to office talking tough also and terrorists inflicted the worst attack on U.S. soil Sept. 11, 2001 killing over 2000 Americans. The master mind was Osama Bin Laden. A few years later Bush said he did not know where Bin Laden was hiding and really did not give it much thought. President Obama upon taking office made his number one priority to bring Bin Laden to justice and he did just that. The Obama administration also had the wisdom to bury Bin Laden at sea there fore depriving the terrorists of a shrine to spread their propaganda.
Bush's invasion of Iraq did not make America or its people safer from WMD because Iraq had none. But both N. Korea and Iran were developing WMD at the time so Bush said. In fact in his State of the Union address he called those three countries an "Axil of evil". The Iraq war created Al Queda in Iraq who had no standing in Iraq prior to the war. They were responsible for killing many of the 4400 plus Americans in Iraq, something they could not do prior to the war.
It really chaps republicans that Clinton and Obama has kept our country safe and is one reason they are trying to make an issue out of Benghazi. They want really bad to see something happen on the President's watch. The republican party today is really a sorry party with no substance and they are getting worse because of the tea party within their ranks. If it were up to some republicans we would have put American troops in Iran, Lybia and Syria. You know, the so called tough talk from the so called hawks. The big problem is many of them have never worn the uniform of their country but love to send other people's children off to war. That really says it all.
This commentary written by John Lucia
Reagan came to office talking tough telling the terrorists you can run but you can't hide. He then sent our Marines to Beirut as peace keepers to bail out Israel who was catching flack on their war against Lebanon and terrorists blew up the Marines compound killing 241 Marines. That was and still is the worst foreign terror attack against American personnel abroad. Those terrorists have never been brought to justice according to the latest report.
Bush 43 came to office talking tough also and terrorists inflicted the worst attack on U.S. soil Sept. 11, 2001 killing over 2000 Americans. The master mind was Osama Bin Laden. A few years later Bush said he did not know where Bin Laden was hiding and really did not give it much thought. President Obama upon taking office made his number one priority to bring Bin Laden to justice and he did just that. The Obama administration also had the wisdom to bury Bin Laden at sea there fore depriving the terrorists of a shrine to spread their propaganda.
Bush's invasion of Iraq did not make America or its people safer from WMD because Iraq had none. But both N. Korea and Iran were developing WMD at the time so Bush said. In fact in his State of the Union address he called those three countries an "Axil of evil". The Iraq war created Al Queda in Iraq who had no standing in Iraq prior to the war. They were responsible for killing many of the 4400 plus Americans in Iraq, something they could not do prior to the war.
It really chaps republicans that Clinton and Obama has kept our country safe and is one reason they are trying to make an issue out of Benghazi. They want really bad to see something happen on the President's watch. The republican party today is really a sorry party with no substance and they are getting worse because of the tea party within their ranks. If it were up to some republicans we would have put American troops in Iran, Lybia and Syria. You know, the so called tough talk from the so called hawks. The big problem is many of them have never worn the uniform of their country but love to send other people's children off to war. That really says it all.
This commentary written by John Lucia
Monday, May 13, 2013
Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Are Paying Back The U.S. Treasury
Conservatives in particular and Republicans in general once again are eating crow and find themselves clueless and ignorant. Ditto for conservative journalists, especially those at Fox News. They all predicted Fannie and Freddie would never repay their debt to Uncle Sam for the loans that kept them afloat and operating. They all said the federal government was not good at doing this and that the money would never be paid back.
The latest reports by the Associated Press in a Time Picayune article dated May 10 reports that Fannie Mae earned $58.7 billion for the January - March quarter and would pay $59.4 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury next month. That will bring their total payment to $95 billion so far to Uncle Sam out of the $116 billion loaned to them. Freddie Mac will pay $7 billion in dividends next month to the U.S. Treasury.
I wrote a past commentary here in politidose early on the subject matter and pointed out that contrary to what the conservatives were saying, Uncle Sam did indeed have a record in recapturing the money loaned to failed companies and or foreign countries. The U.S. bailed out Chrysler many years ago and Mexico not too many years ago and was paid back all the money loaned plus interest.
Yes, there is a precedent to judge what works and what does not work. And yes the federal government does perform well when a democrat is in the White House. The problem for conservatives is their ideology has produced failure for just about everything they touch. Understanding the past is still the key to the future. Democrats are more in tuned with the future.
Written by John Lucia
The latest reports by the Associated Press in a Time Picayune article dated May 10 reports that Fannie Mae earned $58.7 billion for the January - March quarter and would pay $59.4 billion in dividends to the U.S. Treasury next month. That will bring their total payment to $95 billion so far to Uncle Sam out of the $116 billion loaned to them. Freddie Mac will pay $7 billion in dividends next month to the U.S. Treasury.
I wrote a past commentary here in politidose early on the subject matter and pointed out that contrary to what the conservatives were saying, Uncle Sam did indeed have a record in recapturing the money loaned to failed companies and or foreign countries. The U.S. bailed out Chrysler many years ago and Mexico not too many years ago and was paid back all the money loaned plus interest.
Yes, there is a precedent to judge what works and what does not work. And yes the federal government does perform well when a democrat is in the White House. The problem for conservatives is their ideology has produced failure for just about everything they touch. Understanding the past is still the key to the future. Democrats are more in tuned with the future.
Written by John Lucia
Saturday, May 11, 2013
April's Job Creation and Unemployment Rate: The Economy Continues To Improve
The Labor Department announced that the economy added 165,000 jobs in April, more than the pundits predicted and unemployment fell again to 7.5%, down from 7.6% the month before. The numbers show that the Obama administration's policies are working despite the do nothing Republicans in Congress and their unAmerican attitude toward the country and the people.
Republican administrations can not compete with Democratic administrations on the economy, job creation, balancing the federal budget or having reasonable increases in federal spending so they do not want to see Obama succeed. The U.S. House has been sitting on the President's job's bill for over a year with out any action. The U.S. Senate passed that bill and it is fully paid for. If the U.S. House would have passed that bill the nation would be at or near full employment by the end of the year. John Boehner and his republican ditto heads know that, so the bill has been ignored. They can not stand to see any Presidential success by a democratic administration.
The President needs to do what ever his Presidential powers allow him to do on his own and not yield one inch to the phony republicans. They do not represent the people or the mood of the country and are a pitiful bunch. Once again it is a democratic administration leading the nations economic recovery, and once again it was a republican administration under George W. Bush that left office and gave the country and its people the second great republican depression. Conservatives have no policies, they only have an ideology that is unAmerican and unworkable.
President Obama's policies are working, the economy and job creation are moving forward. The housing industry is busy and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are paying the U.S. Treasury back the money they were loaned and making a healthy profit. As this writer has pointed out in the past many times over, democratic administrations do out perform republican administrations for the benefit of the country and its people.
Yes, precedent does matter, that is why it is predictable.
Written by John Lucia
Republican administrations can not compete with Democratic administrations on the economy, job creation, balancing the federal budget or having reasonable increases in federal spending so they do not want to see Obama succeed. The U.S. House has been sitting on the President's job's bill for over a year with out any action. The U.S. Senate passed that bill and it is fully paid for. If the U.S. House would have passed that bill the nation would be at or near full employment by the end of the year. John Boehner and his republican ditto heads know that, so the bill has been ignored. They can not stand to see any Presidential success by a democratic administration.
The President needs to do what ever his Presidential powers allow him to do on his own and not yield one inch to the phony republicans. They do not represent the people or the mood of the country and are a pitiful bunch. Once again it is a democratic administration leading the nations economic recovery, and once again it was a republican administration under George W. Bush that left office and gave the country and its people the second great republican depression. Conservatives have no policies, they only have an ideology that is unAmerican and unworkable.
President Obama's policies are working, the economy and job creation are moving forward. The housing industry is busy and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are paying the U.S. Treasury back the money they were loaned and making a healthy profit. As this writer has pointed out in the past many times over, democratic administrations do out perform republican administrations for the benefit of the country and its people.
Yes, precedent does matter, that is why it is predictable.
Written by John Lucia
Sunday, May 5, 2013
WHAT IF !!! Two Words That Can Change America For The Common Good
There are those who read this commentary and say it never will happen, how naive can you be? That is because the people have been fed that bill of goods for many, many years and use it as an excuse to retain the status quo. The Kennedy-Johnson administration and the congress eliminated the 27-1/2% depletion allowance for the oil industry that amounted to corporate welfare. They did so with the help of congress because they had the courage to change a tax benefit to that industry that was not needed.
So, WHAT IF members of congress would find a back bone and the courage to telll corporate America they will not accept any campaign contributions from them or any one else and develop some innovative way to finance their campaigns with out that money which influence their votes.
WHAT IF, congress would tell all lobbying firms no more special access to any office of congress. They would have to abide by the same rules congress uses to see the every day voter. Many congressmen on their web site will not answser any email message left on their site by the average voter if their zip code is out of the district. But they offer access to any lobbyist outside the state they represent.
WHAT IF, congress tell all PAC's to keep their money. It is not needed to understand the issues that face the American people and the country.
WHAT IF, congress would tell the NRA to stick their money in their ear. (thats ;putting it mildly) And tell the NRA they will not be writing any more legislation concerning guns. Congress is capable of doing that on their own.
WHAT IF, members of congress had the courage and leadership to say no more to any special interest group or individual.
WHAT IF, congress would free itself from all special interest, do their homework on legislation that comes before its body and make decisions on the merit of such legislation without any special influence to worry about.
No, WHAT IF is not vaive, on the contrary, it is naive to think that congress does not have the free will to change and find the courage and character to do so. The beauty part of this kind of change is that no court in America can force an elected official to take campaign contributions and this kind of reform would cost the government nothing.
WHAT IF, is reality overcoming the buying of America by the wealthy. The wealthy will never give up trying to buy America through their money influence as long as elected officials continue to participate in the selling of America. But wealth would have no teeth if congress said no thanks.
WHAT IF, two words that could change America for the common good if members of congress would stand up, be counted and have the courage and character to do so.
This post written by John Lucia
So, WHAT IF members of congress would find a back bone and the courage to telll corporate America they will not accept any campaign contributions from them or any one else and develop some innovative way to finance their campaigns with out that money which influence their votes.
WHAT IF, congress would tell all lobbying firms no more special access to any office of congress. They would have to abide by the same rules congress uses to see the every day voter. Many congressmen on their web site will not answser any email message left on their site by the average voter if their zip code is out of the district. But they offer access to any lobbyist outside the state they represent.
WHAT IF, congress tell all PAC's to keep their money. It is not needed to understand the issues that face the American people and the country.
WHAT IF, congress would tell the NRA to stick their money in their ear. (thats ;putting it mildly) And tell the NRA they will not be writing any more legislation concerning guns. Congress is capable of doing that on their own.
WHAT IF, members of congress had the courage and leadership to say no more to any special interest group or individual.
WHAT IF, congress would free itself from all special interest, do their homework on legislation that comes before its body and make decisions on the merit of such legislation without any special influence to worry about.
No, WHAT IF is not vaive, on the contrary, it is naive to think that congress does not have the free will to change and find the courage and character to do so. The beauty part of this kind of change is that no court in America can force an elected official to take campaign contributions and this kind of reform would cost the government nothing.
WHAT IF, is reality overcoming the buying of America by the wealthy. The wealthy will never give up trying to buy America through their money influence as long as elected officials continue to participate in the selling of America. But wealth would have no teeth if congress said no thanks.
WHAT IF, two words that could change America for the common good if members of congress would stand up, be counted and have the courage and character to do so.
This post written by John Lucia
Subscribe to:
Posts
(
Atom
)