Dead on! Those children are U.S. citizens and will never mainstream into the middle class. They are locked into a sub culture by design. Visit Homestead, Fl. which is a prime example.

akunard ~ I must admit I was unaware that our schools were being taught anywhere in Spanish. If so I can only guess that you're reason would be that it cripples the child and prevents them from learning and mastering English; thus, prolonging the oppression of Mexican immigrants another generation. Is that the reason?

Fact: the U.S. has millions of Mexicans taking jobs others won't take and sending money back home. We need them to pick our produce, etc. I have been strongly against schools teaching their children in Spanish for more years than I can count. Guess why.

akunard ~ You assume correctly! A mistake I--and I hope many others--will not repeat.

The Kennedy family aside, there are many other wealthy families who do not aspire to politics who also are sympathetic to the "pain" of the poor. We need more Kennedy type families in this country. They are the saving grace for the wealthy.

You might be surprised to learn that I have visited areas of poverty in Mexico and I can tell you that from my perspective the poor in that country live like Kings compared to the poor in this country. There is hardly any homelessness. Most poor families can afford nice size houses to live in. There is no property tax. They can afford cheap transportation. There are no mandatory insurance, smog, or expensive registration requirements. The income and standard of living is about the same as those right at the poverty line in this country; but, there are no people in desperate straights that I could see anywhere I traveled. I've visited several of the people in their homes that you would consider part of this 70%, and they had a better standard of living then I do. No where near as much money, but a very solid house big enough to raise a family, a car, good cloths on their backs, plenty of food on the table, and free health care. Their main complaint was the bank account. They insisted I was rich because I made more money. They couldn't understand that I spent it on the cost of living as fast as I could make it. Here in the United States you don't have to venture far from any airport to see large groups of homeless people begging for money or huddling under an overpass for shelter. I guess poverty is really relative. One man's poverty is another man's wealth. However, you may be right about your assertion that 70% of the world's population would love to live at the U.S. poverty level. Most people I've met have a warped perspective of what it is really like to live in the U.S. They only see the checks coming back to Mexico from family members working here and think this is some big Citadel of Prosperity. Some people believe all American's are rich and wealthy. My contention is that is because they lack an education and the opportunity to travel here and experience the U.S. first hand. If they did, they might just become disillusioned and change their minds.

As usual don't let the facts get in the way of an economic theory.

If no one has seen Thom's other article and video on global warming and the dangers of methane release they should check it out:

http://lasthours.org/

Here is the link to the article:

http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2013/10/last-hours-humanity-warming-world-extinction#comment-234954

That's also a better topic for discussion than this debt ceiling sideshow.

This fiasco is going nowhere slowly. I really don't have much to say about it that I haven't already said. The dwindling comments on these posts would tend to agree. We are beating a dead horse. Time to talk about the TPP legislation. Anybody?

akunard ~ Are you trying to imply that poverty in the U.S. is nothing to complain about? Do you live below the poverty level in the U.S. or anywhere else? If you don't you don't know what you are talking about.

Ann Richards was the last democratic governor served 1991-95. She was defeated in 1994 by George W. Bush, having polled 46% of the vote to Bush's 53% (Libertarian Keary Ehlers drew the remainder), despite spending 23% more than the Bush campaign.

With Mitch McConnell asking SCOTUS to approve unlimited campaign contributions from big business while limiting contributions from individuals and unions will make it tougher for democrats to compete in fundraising.

Kend ~ Poverty is an issue here and it's not the fault of Mexican immigration. Poverty is the fault of free trade, deregulation and a stagnant income level since the Ronald Wilson (666) Reagan Regime put in place a policy that reversed economic progress back to the stone age. We don't let Mexicans come into this country they let themselves come into this country. What forces them to make that choice is the economic situation in Mexico. It is a policy similar to ours yet with less resources. In time the US will morph into a copy of Mexico and you will see people sneaking over the border the other way. Mexican immigrants have an insignificant adverse effect on the economy here because they take jobs that Americans can't afford to take. Please stop blaming the victims. That is very Nazi of you.

Concerning elections my friend you have the situation backwards. We the people control the elections. The wealthy control the viable candidates. We decide the lesser of two evils while the wealthy pull every trick in the book to secure the election for the greater of two evils. What we are inevitably left with when it is all said and done is one or the other evil. It is true that We the People still control the vote in the elections; yet, it is also true that we never win them. The wealthy stack the deck and we have to play the hand that we are dealt. Of course, it is stacked so that we lose.

Kend - You're right; you don't get it. - AIW

Corporations, continuous onslaught for a generaltion or more, has overcome americas separation of powers. It's impossible to buy outright, a seat on the Supreme Court, but buying the White House indirectly buys seats on the Supreme Court.

Since the Great Depression, corporate money has rebounded to dismantle all the laws put in place to stop corporations from crashing our economy again.. All in blind pursuit of profit.. Buying the Supreme Court was only another cog in a wheel of the profit making engine of the 1-percent wealthiest (Multi nationals, BTW).

Assassination will not happen unless the gubmt hating crowd """finally""" realize their enemy has been the very same people they have been supporting all along.

***

i wish there was some way to be notified of future posts on this list.. It's hard to remember to come back here..