WHERE oh where to start with this rant????

[CTyankee]

The unspeakable Leigh Gallagher of Fortune Magazine suggested to writer Nick Kristoff that there should be a program in the poor areas of Appalachia that discourage poor women from having chiildren in the first place, we we won't have to pay for anti-poverty programs later. How about that, Mr. Kristoff?

Well, Kristoff looked a bit stunned. I was yelling at my TV set. Mika looked dumbstruck.

I would have taken off that woman's head and I am not a violent person. But Nick was nice and said that was getting into a creepy area....and, heh, don't wanna go there, um, uh...

Oh, the irony! Just moments before Joe was haranguing about how unions are unpopular because workers would take $14.50 and hour over nothing, even if they had been paid $30 an hour before.
No connection made between that story and the one on Appalachia that Nick Kristoff was discussing. I think Kristoff was desperately trying for damage control for his column the other day in the NYT, but he's beginning to find out just how appallingly contemptuous the Gallaghers of the world are towards the poor. Who's side are you on, Nick? You'd better make up your mind and do it NOW. "Lie down with dogs, get up with fleas" as my parents used to say...

And yes, I tore off an email to the Morning Joe program, sputtering with rage.

[xchrom]

1. the kristoff segment on Appalachia was disgusting. nt

[CTyankee]

2. Yeah, and I got the lecture from hubby entitled "why do you watch that show?"

He complains that I watch Morning Joe, then I go on Democraticunderground and I'm pissed off for the rest of the day!

[Dalai_1]

4. I am like a moth to a flame

watching Morning Joe ..when he brought up all the republican governors
we have now..I tweeted to him #outside funding!..he infuriates me..all I can think
of is that I need to get my adrenalin going in the mornings..he is a jerk and
reached one of his many levels of incompetence this morning...

[xchrom]

6. ok -- he MIGHT have a point

but what would life be like without an irritated attitude?

[CTyankee]

8. Yep, that's me all right!

I'm gonna show him your picture. He'll love it. LOL...

[GeorgeGist]

12. Some people enjoy being pissed off.

It sells advertising.

[sufrommich]

3. And Chuck Todd started off his show talking about

how silly unions in Michigan are for taking on the Right To Work battle. I hate MSNBC in the morning,it's Fox News for people too embarrassed to actually watch Fox News.

[Dalai_1]

9. You are exactly correct!n/t

[OldDem2012]

11. Chuck Todd will never understand how important unions have been in US History....

...and how important they are starting to become now.

Corporations and business owners are determined to destroy the unions so they can pay lower wages to workers and "be more competitive in the global marketplace". They don't care that they are destroying the middle class and greatly increasing the number of people who live at or below the poverty level.

At the same time, their minions in Congress are trying to destroy the programs designed to keep people out of poverty, programs like SS, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, veterans benefits, etc. They don't seem to understand or care that increasing numbers of people with greatly reduced incomes have next to nothing in the way of money to spend on things other than the absolute necessities. That does nothing to improve the US economy.

Union membership needs to grow to combat the efforts of the corporations and business owners. The Right to Work laws need to be repealed in every state where they currently exist and fought tooth and nail wherever they're introduced.

[Bandit]

19. Unions pretty much screwed themselves

If they were really Unions, then neither Michigan or Wisconsin would have had to go through this by themselves.. Unions are supposed to stick together, it is their only weapon but how many Union members are striking in Washington or California or New York or EVERY fucking state in America.. This isn't just Michigan's battle, it is a battle for the life or death of Unions all over the land and yet they do nothing.. Every fucking trucker in America that is Teamster should be parked... EVERY FUCKING ONE... Every plumber, every carpenter, every longshoreman, EVERY FUCKING UNION,...but that isn't going to happen and Republicans are going to kill off the Unions in every area or at least in enough to make them completely ineffective...You either believe in the strength of Unions or you just ignore what is happening and wait until it is your turn..First they came for Wisconsin and nobody helped because it wasn't their state, next they came for Michigan and no one helped because it wasn't their state..... There really is writing on the wall and somebody needs to start reading it Pronto...

[Tsiyu]

20. The unions have actually protected the rich from mass harm

by allowing the worker to have another entity with which to negotiate.
Unions are like a buffer.

When the rich get rid of all the unions, gawd help them.
Unions or pitchforks. That's their ultimate choice

The politicians need to really think this one over if they value their safety.
History tells us the rich will be quaking in their boots when workers DO get fed up.

Without unions it is going to get ugly in this country....

[Politicub]

5. Family planning services are important especially for people in rural places

While I don't agree with Gallagher, I think her comments and Kristoff's response masked the need for a family planning infrastructure for the people of Appalachia.

I'm from Appalachia in NC, and have seen first hand and lived the toll of poverty.

I heard the interview and had the same reaction, though. It wasn't until I thought about it later that I thought of family planning.

[CTyankee]

7. The same people who want to cut funding for Planned Parenthood are mad as hell over these

social programs. They need to be challenged and vigorously opposed at EVERY TURN!

[Politicub]

13. Completely agree. It's the people who would benefit the most being denied access

due to right wing ideology.

[Enrique]

10. it wasn't clear from the column which side Kristoff is on

yes, he is reporting on poverty in Appalachia which is good, but he frames it by arguing that we should cut disability benefits.

Then again, maybe that was just a hook, maybe that's what got him on Morning Joe.

[Politicub]

14. It's easy to sit in an ivory tower and talk about disability benefits like they're nothing

For the disabled, this is their only lifeline.

[CTyankee]

18. I think Kristoff realizes he has to rehabilitate his reputation. Maybe that's why he went on MJ.

He has to clear up what exactly he is talking about.

My view is that these programs got started and were amplified at a time when we couldn't foresee the dire circumstances of the poor and even the middle class falling into poverty and people desperate for something, anything to help them survive. Kristoff needs to make that very clear. That programs to help the poor are not INHERENTLY bad. They can be distorted by dire circumstances that ordinary people find themselves in...

[kestrel91316]

15. But I bet Ms Gallagher would be appalled at providing

those poor Appalachian women with access to safe, legal, and free birth control of all types, right?

Because she and her fellow RW fascists are that stupid.

[Brigid]

16. The rich are being short-sighted here.

If there are fewer poor people, there are fewer to clean up after, and otherwise serve, the rich. Not to mention the fact that there will be fewer poor people to fight one another like starving rats for the privilege of working in minimum wage shitjobs.

[TwilightGardener]

17. The "wrong" people are breeding. Of course, that doesn't take

into account the fact that mobility CAN be downward even for the "right" (middle/upper class) breeders, if the economy tanks, they lose their jobs, have a change in a family situation, become ill, or take a big pay cut. Safety nets will always be needed.