May 23, 2013; Mother Jones
The ugly Republican (click here) attitude toward food stamps—formally the Supplemental Nutrition Aid Program (SNAP)—has reared its head again in the U.S. Senate, and Democrats seem to be lazily following the Republicans’ lead. Remember Newt Gingrich’s slur during the presidential campaign describing Barack Obama as the “food stamp president”? Apparently, the Republicans are at it again.
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA) has attached an amendment to the Farm Bill that would ban “convicted murderers, rapists, and pedophiles” from getting food stamps, as explained on Vitter’s website. The Agriculture Committee accepted Vitter’s amendment by unanimous consent. The applause from right-wing sites largely echoes this statement by Debra Heine on breitbart.com: “Thank God we can all agree that taxpayers shouldn't be forced to feed murderers, rapists, and pedophiles.”...
Setting aside the fact Vitter is exhibiting bigotry, racism and moronity, his amendment is unconstitutional.
Indeed he is an ugly Republican when it comes to actually caring about constituents. I suppose this is his idea of a balanced budget amendment.
No matter. The amendment is in clear violation of CONSTITUTIONAL rights of citizens. To victimize those that carried out their sentence and satisfied society's demands for the felony(s) committed there is no further burden to their constitutional rights as guaranteed to any other free citizen in the USA. The states have this problem in many instances, including burdening ex-inmates to stop their voting rights. Now, Vitter is polluting the federal government with this special form of hatred.
No American can be burdened by the government with a sentence beyond the time served and/or the fines paid. Vitter's actions are actually to further victimize a person cleared by the very justice system he believes in. He does believe in the rule of law, right? Maybe Vitter is actually an anarchist.
May 23, 2013
By Rich Lord / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
No matter. The amendment is in clear violation of CONSTITUTIONAL rights of citizens. To victimize those that carried out their sentence and satisfied society's demands for the felony(s) committed there is no further burden to their constitutional rights as guaranteed to any other free citizen in the USA. The states have this problem in many instances, including burdening ex-inmates to stop their voting rights. Now, Vitter is polluting the federal government with this special form of hatred.
No American can be burdened by the government with a sentence beyond the time served and/or the fines paid. Vitter's actions are actually to further victimize a person cleared by the very justice system he believes in. He does believe in the rule of law, right? Maybe Vitter is actually an anarchist.
May 23, 2013
By Rich Lord / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A federal judge ruled (click here) today that former Allegheny County Jail inmate David Kipp is due a $7,500 judgment from former corrections officer Arii L. Metz.
Mr. Kipp sued Mr. Metz claiming the officer beat him in 2010. Mr. Metz has pleaded guilty to depriving Mr. Kipp of his civil rights and awaits sentencing.
U.S. District Judge Terrence F. McVerry awarded Mr. Kipp $3,000 in compensatory damages and $4,500 in punitive damages.
"The uncontested evidence proved that the conduct of Metz was
outrageous and constituted a malicious and wanton violation of Kipp's rights," Judge McVerry wrote.
The judge ruled that there was no offset for a settlement Mr. Kipp negotiated with Allegheny Correctional Health Services, because the damages from allegedly delayed treatment for a broken nose and other injuries were separate from those caused by the beating....
It isn't as though the prison system actually seeks to reform 'the inmate.' So when those folks are released after satisfying their sentence, it would be good if they didn't face HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS by their federal government while they try to make their way back to being a CONTRIBUTING member of society; something Vitter questionably can claim as his own.
There needs to be a CLASS ACTION against the federal government when the amendment becomes law. And don't stop at this amendment, there are huge human rights violations by this Congress. Congresspersons need to be held personally responsible for their politicking while occupying a federal seat at the cost of the taxpayer. If a Congressperson is committing human rights violation while in office, they should be held responsible for same. This is one of them. Heck, sue them for real money to compensate the victims. Civil action. The World Court is a secondary action, but, it probably won't stick in that framework. The World Court approach can be coined as 'the tail waging the dog' but it might work.
The sincerely REAL solution to this is to seek prison reform so the NEED for food stamps is obsolete. Prison reform is long overdue in the USA, but, for someone like Vitter he would much prefer all prisons were Gitmo. Vitter would never be able to 'task himself' to even conceptualize what prison reform might be and in his hands it would be a complete disaster in the completely "W"rong direction.
There needs to be a CLASS ACTION against the federal government when the amendment becomes law. And don't stop at this amendment, there are huge human rights violations by this Congress. Congresspersons need to be held personally responsible for their politicking while occupying a federal seat at the cost of the taxpayer. If a Congressperson is committing human rights violation while in office, they should be held responsible for same. This is one of them. Heck, sue them for real money to compensate the victims. Civil action. The World Court is a secondary action, but, it probably won't stick in that framework. The World Court approach can be coined as 'the tail waging the dog' but it might work.
The sincerely REAL solution to this is to seek prison reform so the NEED for food stamps is obsolete. Prison reform is long overdue in the USA, but, for someone like Vitter he would much prefer all prisons were Gitmo. Vitter would never be able to 'task himself' to even conceptualize what prison reform might be and in his hands it would be a complete disaster in the completely "W"rong direction.
