The levy, which came into force in UK on April Fool’s Day, is no laughing matter as, according to the so-called Bedroom Tax, the social housing tenants will have their benefits slashed if they have a spare room.The move comes among a raft of welfare changes expected to affect low-income households across Britain.Sheffield City Council member, Neale Gibson, believes that the time has come for the British people to realize that Cameron’s government, which is waging a war on poor people, must be changed. RT: People have already been hit by soaring utility bills; won’t this tax just drive them further into poverty?NG: Absolutely. It’s unbelievable that in a week that this government is giving millionaires tens of thousands pounds back in tax, they’re imposing a tax on the people, who are the poorest in the society. Most of the people affected are people, who are working, but in very low-paid jobs. And they need these benefits to help them survive and get by. RT: Could there actually be a positive effect from this? Could it motivate those who are taking advantage of the welfare state to seek jobs?NG: Where I am in Sheffield, we have hundreds of disabled people, who are going to be directly affected by this. These people can’t work. They are physically disabled through no fault of their own. They survive on very low benefits. And now they’re expected to have to pay for an extra room in their house they need for their caretakers to stay in or they need it because they have got children that don’t live with them or for whatever reason. And 75 per cent of the people affected by this are working people. There are a small number of people, who aren’t, but most people affected are working families, who don’t earn enough money. RT: Could the long-social damage outweigh the short-term gain for the national budget?NG: I think it’s the most devastating thing this government has ever done. It’s in the week that they’re giving hundreds of thousands pounds back to the millionaires, they are changing the national house service, they’re imposing taxes on the poorest people in the country. It’s going to have a devastating effect on the most vulnerable people in this country. RT: We’ve seen large-scale protests across the UK in reaction to the tax. Is this a sign of deeper social unrest to come?NG: I think the country is coming to the realization that we have the most rightwing vicious anti-poor government we ever had in this country. If we thought Margaret Thatcher was bad – it’s nothing to how bad Cameron and Clegg are. They’re destroying the poorest people in this country, crushing the people, who can least afford to live. They are being crushed day, after day, after day by this government. RT: What do you think the next step for your country should be? Do you think you Britain should hold a new election? NG: I, personally, hold Nick Clegg entirely to blame for this. He misled the country. He lied to the people of the country. He told them that he’ll be a restraining force on the Tories, instead of which his gone along with every rightwing, nasty, evil policy that they’re imposing on the poorest people in this country. The Lib Dems need to pull out of government. They need to pull away from the Tories. Then they need to call a general election. But that can’t happen because the government had fixed it. So they can’t call a general election until 2015. The best thing that could happen is the Liberal Democrats pull out of the government and call a ’vote of no confidence’ in the Tory Party and bring this government down and let the people of the country again decide, which government they want to govern them. … Read More
Why does the U.S. postal service have to be profitable?
Last week, the US Postal Service announced that it will end Saturday service, cut 150,000 jobs, and close thousands of post offices around the country, starting in August. Packages will still be delivered, but letters, utility bills, and your Netflix DVDs will only now arrive at fewer destinations on fewer days per week.
To supporters of the welfare state, this signals yet another incursion of the profit-driven corporate model into government services.
The postal service, after all, is not a corporation — it literally is part of the federal government’s executive branch, explicitly authorized by the constitution and tasked with providing universal and affordable mail service. While wealthy city-dwellers can arrange to have their correspondences FedExed or iPhoned, rural Americans and those with limited access to technology depend on the USPS for basic communication with the rest of the world.
Weird news: Gnomes to stay on California utility poles (for now)
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Small paintings of gnomes that have popped up on utility poles have become a community sensation in Oakland, prompting Pacific Gas & Electric Co. to say Tuesday that it will keep them in place for now.
The hand-painted portraits on 6-inch blocks of wood began going up last year in an apparent effort to brighten up the blue-collar California city. There are currently more than 2,000 of the images on utility poles, with many screwed to the bases.
The gnomes have red hats, white beards and brown shoes. Some of the images contain a mushroom.
Word that PG&E planned to remove the paintings sparked an outpouring of support from residents who said the gnomes add character to the city.
Virginia lawmaker readies new voter restrictions
Virginia House Delegate Mark Cole (R) said this week that he’s readying proposals for the next legislative session that will ban the use of bank statements, utility bills and paycheck stubs as identification at the polls. Speaking to 1070 WINA News Radio in Virginia recently, Cole said his…
The Rumble – Bring back the talking filibuster
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The Rumble – Bill O’Reilly says, "Asians Aren’t by Nature’ Liberal"
http://www.youtube.com/v/gJ57k5zfMBc?version=3&f=videos&app=youtube_gdata Source: The Rumble – Bill O’Reilly says, "Asians Aren’t by Nature’ Liberal"
Brickbat: Road Kill
Normally when a road has to be re-routed any utilities in its
path get moved. But no one seemed to notice that a ;utility
pole ;was right in the middle of a new stretch of one
highway in rural Quebec, and when the crews doing the work came
upon it they just paved around it, leaving it in the middle of the
road. It took two months and lots of media attention before the
government got around to removing the pole.
