And the lack thereof

Thanks but no

My biggest remembrance of Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is from 2014 when she was being interviewed on Rachel Maddow's show concerning the Farm Bill from that year that was coming up for a vote.  The Farm Bill is where the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (more colloquially, Food Stamps) is funded, and that year's bill (which was sponsored by my sad sack Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow) was going to lead to several thousand Americans losing benefits and going hungry.  When asked by Maddow about the bill, Klobuchar responded that it didn't affect Minnesota, so she was going to vote for it even if thousands of Americans were going to go hungry (note that current Democratic Presidential hopefuls Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, and Kirsten Gillibrand voted against the bill for just that reason).  Her rationale for voting for the bill seemed to me a callous and hollow response.

So it came as no surprise to me this week when news leaked that Klobuchar had voted to confirm more judges nominated by Donald Trump than any of her fellow contenders--and by a considerable margin (better than 25% more).  One wonders how she'll rationalize this, as Trump is nominating right wing ideologues who stand to do considerable harm to workers' rights, workers' paychecks, Americans' healthcare, voting rights, LGBQT rights, and a host of other that will most certainly affect Minnesotans.

Frankly, what this country needs in its post-Trump era is a President borne of the courage and fortitude that makes up the Democratic Party and it platform and not weak kneed Democratic lite candidates like Amy Klobuchar.

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Thanks for caring, Senator

While the Farm Bill of 2014 was being prepped for its final vote in the Senate, I sent my Senator, Debbie Stabenow, Chairman of the Agriculture Committee, a letter though The Daily Kos asking for the final bill to not contain $8 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.  After its passage, Senator Stabenow sent me a decidedly lame response in which she invoked the three people in America who have won lotteries who are scamming the system and claimed how much she wanted to help people who were in need of food.

She did not mention the 850,000 families who would lose $90 a month in benefits, nor the roughly one million children who would have even less food to eat thanks to her half-assed bill.

Rather incensed, I sent her a personal response, in which I asked why she was not honest about the 850,000 families who, thanks to her, were going to have even less food to eat each month while Agri-Business and the Koch Brothers (through Georgia Pacific) would receive millions in corporate welfare.  And that frankly, a handful of goofballs scamming the system was red meat for her conservative constituents, but that as a fellow Democrat, her claim was, well, rather unenlightened.

I received a response today from the Senator's office, and it was the exact same letter she had sent before. Apparently, in addition to becoming the first Democrat to ever oversee cuts to the food stamps program, she is also adept at hiring people who can't even bother to take the time to read letters from her very own constituents.

By the way, Senator, the next time you send me an e-mail asking for campaign contributions...the check's in the mail.

Peace,
emaycee