Tag: Looters

"These are people who pay no income tax. Forty-seven percent of Americans pay no income tax. So our message of low-taxes doesn't connect."

From the good people at Mother Jones of all places.

Willard's premise has one fatal flaw: People who are too lazy to do anything to better themselves does not always translate into people who will be at the polls on election day.

The Michigan Department of Human Services (DHS) has reissued 11,162 notices to Family Independence Program (FIP) recipients who have reached their FIP cash assistance lifetime limits, in accordance with the ruling by U.S. District Judge Paul D. Borman on Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2011. The reissued notices cite the appropriate legal authority as well as more prominent language on the appeal process, as required in the ruling.

"We are moving forward with the welfare reform passed by the legislature," said Maura D. Corrigan, DHS director. "These notices, the fourth that have been sent to recipients affected, follow Judge Borman's directive."

The more restrictive lifetime limits on cash assistance became law on Oct. 1, 2011. Those affected by the limits received three notices, beginning on Aug. 9, and a minimum of three phone calls from a DHS social worker. In addition, DHS has staffed a call center for those affected by the lifetime limits to assist them with benefits ranging from job placement to rent assistance.

SAGINAW -- A Saginaw-based advocacy group for the poor has filed a federal lawsuit against the state Department of Human Services seeking to prevent more than 11,100 Michigan families from losing cash assistance under stricter enforcement of a 48-month limit on welfare benefits.

Attorneys for The Center for Civil Justice were due in U.S. District Court in Detroit today to ask for a temporary restraining order and a preliminary and a permanent injunction to keep the benefits for those eligible.

Perhaps invoking the fighting spirit of a champion, Bing spoke before the massive bronze statue of heavyweight champion Joe Louis at Cobo Center.

"The message we're trying to send is that the city is genuinely concerned about the people going off of assistance," Bing said. "Personally, I think this is the wrong time to do this. Winter is coming on, and many people are unprepared."

Detroit-- Mayor Dave Bing, working on plans to reshape Detroit neighborhoods, was getting a walking tour of New Orleans to observe how that city is recovering more than five years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. Bing and other members of his administration were meeting today with New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Bing spokeswoman Karen Dumas told The Associated Press. They were in New Orleans to see relocation efforts, blight reduction and land-use strategies.

"There are a lot of similarities to Detroit in terms of energy ... post-Katrina issues they are experiencing we also are experiencing," Dumas said. "We also are here to learn what they would have liked to have done differently."