American Family Voices from Miriam V.

AM Feed - September 27, 2005

Hot Topics
List of 2 items
New tougher personal bankruptcy laws are set to take effect less than three
weeks from today - laws that will almost certainly further squeeze victims
of
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. And yet the White House and leading House
Republicans have rejected calls to offer these victims relief. Remember,
when the
credit card industry backed law was passed last spring, the
Republican-controlled House explicitly rejected an amendment that would have
granted leeway
for natural disaster victims. It appears all the destruction in along the
Gulf Coast hasn't changed any minds. Some victims could scramble to file
before
the law takes effect on October 17, but for many of the displaced, that is
an impossibility - bankruptcy charges must be filed in a local court. White
House spokesman Trent Duffy says the Bush administration "doesn't see a lot
of merit" in trying to delay the new law from taking effect.
[link]
The new chair and vice chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting have
donated nearly $1 million to Republican causes over the last 15 years
between
the two of them. Cheryl Halpern, who replaces the contentious Kenneth
Tomlinson as chair, and new vice chair Gay Hart Gaines, have made a long and
expensive
habit of filling conservative coffers. Halpern also has close ties to
Tomlinson, who led a crusade to shoehorn more conservatives into public
airwaves
and awarded contracts to Republican lobbyists without informing the rest of
the board.
[link]
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Who Says That?

"I think that what a lot of Americans saw was a - some poverty that they had
never imagined before. And we need to address that, whether it be rural or
urban. And I have done that as the President." - President Bush, discussing
his record on poverty.

Morning Snark
List of 1 items
For the record: The poverty rate in this country has risen for four straight
years from 2001-2004 after declining every year from 1993-2000, and
President
Bush has slashed funding for multiple programs designed to help low-income
Americans. Mr. President, whatever you think you're doing to address this
problem,
please stop immediately.
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