The Republican Poverty Plan


It's been a while since I talked to conservatives and I never listen to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, so I haven't heard anything as baldly stated as this lately. I used to hear it in Thomasville, NC from some people, including my husband's family. They used to talk about “Jigaboos,” “welfare queens,” and “bums.” They also talked about the conniving and dishonest nature of Jews. Interestingly, they were not rich, but barely making it financially. Bum was the word at that time for the homeless, who were present even in those days. It was believed that they just didn't want to work.

There are more homeless people now, of course due to the deinstitutionalisation of mental patients. Both political parties have been involved in the deinstitutionalization movement, and the goal was to substitute outpatient care for permanent hospitalization. It was good for many patients, but disastrous for those who simply can't cope alone, and won't or can't remember to take their medicine. For those people, it's like putting an Alzheimer's patient out on the street to care for himself.

Too many whites, rich and poor, have to look down on other people to feel okay about themselves, so they foster these images of poverty and the inferiority of other races and religious groups. The following statement says it all: “Payne, who has a long history of suggesting that the poor live in comfort, that our social safety net keeps people in poverty, and that there needs to be more 'stigma' surrounding food stamps, represents the conservative id surrounding the issue of poverty.”




http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/07/30/mock-the-poor-the-conservative-media-solution-t/195125

Mock The Poor -- The Conservative Media Solution To Poverty
Blog ›››  ››› ARI RABIN-HAVT
July 30, 2013 7:21 AM EDT

As fast food workers in 7 cities walked the picket line fighting for better wages and working conditions the conservative media turned its focus towards a solution to help lift up our working men and women out of poverty -- mock them.

To respond to the day long strike, Fox trotted out Richard Berman, failing to identify him as a highly paid consultant to the food and beverage industry. He proceeded to threaten fast food workers, claiming if they demanded incomes allowing them to live above the poverty line, the only solution would be to replace them with iPads.

On Your World with Neil Cavuto, Fox Business's Charles Payne claimed that the striking workers' demand for a living wage was akin to rewarding "mediocrity."

From an air conditioned studio in Rockefeller Center, the handsomely compensated Fox contributor asserted that a wage of $15 per hour earned spending countless hours on your feet without a break, in front of a hot stove, serving hundreds of customers, would be "cursing" those workers, ridding them of the impetus to "get better," "go to college," or "improve" their lot in life.

At the luxurious wage of $15 per hour minimum wage workers would spend their days "play[ing] video games" and "hav[ing] large families."

Payne, who has a long history of suggesting that the poor live in comfort, that our social safety net keeps people in poverty, and that there needs to be more "stigma" surrounding food stamps, represents the conservative id surrounding the issue of poverty.

While 4 in 5 Americans will "struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives," the right believes the solution to all of their problems is scorn.

The Bostwick Building In Jacksonville, FL
Jaguar Murals
Artist Jim Draper
November 22, 2014



Jim Draper is the painter of one of two murals which I saw every morning as my bus went past the Bostwick Building at the intersection of Main and Bay Streets. The mural is painted on window boarding which has been there since the 1980's. The paintings are of our football team's mascot the Jaguar. This jaguar, because it isn't painted on the outer wall of the building but on the window arches, appears to be crouching inside with its face peering out at the passersby, mouth open and eyes intense. The artwork is so realistic it looks like the cat will jump out at any moment.

Now that the building is due to be renovated, the new owners will have to remove the window boards. I hope they will be placed together at some location so that the artwork will be preserved as well as the historic building. The ideal place for that would be on the inner walls of the building once it is repaired and opened to the public. The proposed use for the Bostwick Building has not been published so far. A restaurant has been suggested. That would make a wonderful setting for a restaurant, with the dramatic painting hung on the walls.

Reproductions of Draper's paintings are available online and one website shows 6 others which are canvas paintings. The images are mainly of Jacksonville's wild nature scenes and native animals, painted with the same photographic style realism as the jaguar. More of his work is available for viewing at CoRK Arts District, Jacksonville, FL I do love painting that is so realistic I am drawn inexorably into its world of beauty.




Preserving Downtown History: Why We Must Save the Bostwick Building - See more at: http://downtownjacksonville.org/blog/2012/10/03/preserving-downtown-history-why-we-must-save-the-bostwick-building/#sthash.VjsJfi56.dpuf

Jacksonville is in danger of losing one of its icons. The Bostwick Building, or as many Jacksonville residents know it, the Jaguar Building at 101 E. Bay St. is slated for possible demolition. This means that visitors coming into the city from the Main Street Bridge heading north could see a hole. An empty lot. A missing tooth in the urban landscape. Vacant since the early 1980s and home to the iconic jaguar mural by local artist, Jim Draper, the building has deteriorated significantly over the years.

In August 2012, the building’s owners applied for a demolition permit. We at Downtown Vision, and many other downtown residents and property owners, believe the building is important to our downtown landscape and should be saved from demolition. Built in 1902, and the first building permitted after the Great Fire, the Bostwick Building, originally know as the Guaranty Trust and Savings Building, is eligible for designation as a Local Historic Landmark. On September 27, the Jacksonville Historic Preservation Commission (JHPC) reviewed this eligibility and issued an advisory recommendation that the structure receive historic designation, thus preventing its demolition.

The City of Jacksonville is now preparing a report on the historical significance of the building, which will be heard at the JHPC meeting on October 24, 2012. The building has historical significance for a number of reasons:

• It is in a prominent location, at the entry to Downtown from the Main Street Bridge heading north.
• It was the first building permitted following the Great Fire in 1901.
• It is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places.
• It made the Jacksonville Historical Society’s “12 Worth Saving” list.
• It is located in perhaps the most intact block of historic buildings that exists Downtown today.
• It once housed the office of Henry Klutho, a noted architect who studied under Frank Lloyd Wright and designed many iconic Downtown buildings, including the St. James Building.

If the JHPC finds that the building meets its criteria for designation as a historical landmark, a public hearing will be scheduled and City Council will take up the matter.
 
Please continue to follow this blog as we share ways for our local residents to get involved and have a voice on preserving and revitalizing Downtown Jacksonville.




http://jacksonville.com/business/2014-07-21/story/dixie-egg-co-purchases-historic-bostwick-building-downtown-jacksonville

Dixie Egg Co. purchases historic Bostwick Building in downtown Jacksonville
By David Bauerlein 
Mon, Jul 21, 2014

The owner of the Dixie Egg Co. placed the winning $165,100 bid Monday for the historic Bostwick Building and said he will restore the long-vacant building that stands on a high-profile corner in downtown.

Jacques Klempf previously talked about turning the building into a restaurant, and he has some experience in upscale dining — he worked with partners to open Ovinte at St. Johns Town Center in 2012, followed by purchasing Bistro Aix in San Marco this month.

One of those partners, Chad Munsey, said in an interview last week that at some point the group might open a steak house.

The century-old Bostwick Building is located at Bay and Ocean streets, which is the joint of The Elbow, a collection of restaurants, bars, clubs, shops and art galleries spanning several blocks.

“Our goal is to restore the building so the community can enjoy a piece of our city’s history and to promote economic development in downtown Jacksonville,” Klempf said in a statement issued by his office.

His office said he wouldn’t go beyond the statement Monday in terms of his specific plans for the two-story building, which originally was a bank building.

Chris Hand, chief of staff for Mayor Alvin Brown, called Klempf’s winning bid for the Bostwick Building a “big deal for downtown redevelopment,” made possible by the administration, City Council and Downtown Investment Authority working together.

The building, which stands out because of the jaguar mural painted on its side, faced potential demolition when its former owners, the Bostwick family, said the structure was too far gone to make renovation financially viable.

The City Council refused to grant the Bostwicks a demolition permit and the city filed a foreclosure lawsuit to recover $71,000 in fines assessed for code violations. A judge granted the city’s request for a fast-track ruling on the lawsuit, clearing the way for the foreclosure auction Monday.

The city needed the winning bid to be at least $78,774 to cover the fines owed to the city and the city’s attorney fees related to the lawsuit.

Klempf and business partners in Ovinte had a contract to buy the building last year from the Bostwicks, but that deal fell through. Klempf said in May 2013 the building was at a “great location” and renovating it for use as a restaurant “may even create a domino effect” for restoring other downtown buildings.

It’s not clear whether Klemp’s partners in Ovinte and Bistro Aix will also be involved in the Bostwick Building. The winning bid Monday was submitted by Foodonics Equities LLC, which is related to Dixie Egg Co.

Aundra Wallace, CEO of the Downtown Investment Authority, said the agency is “extremely excited” about Klempf’s purchase and looks forward to working with him on the property.

David Bauerlein: (904) 359-4581




http://www.eujacksonville.com/story2.php?storyid=2453

JIM DRAPER nature to nurture
Jim Draper Paints Pre-Ponce de Leon Florida at His CoRK Studio in Riverside
by JON BOSWORTH
published: January 3, 2012

“Art communities are like animal hoarders. It’s a lot like a cat lady,” says Jim Draper while laughing at the suggestion. “There are good parts and there are significant challenges,” he continues as he describes the new CoRK Artist Community from his own CoRK studio.

Perhaps one of Jacksonville’s most celebrated artists for the caliber of his paintings, the weight of his vision, and his active role in the community, Draper is widely known for his impressionistic palms, rich riverscapes, and even sublime portraits of farm animals. He is also known as an advocate for indigenous Jacksonville culture. He helps local musicians stage shows in the city’s beautiful and under-utilized spaces, he supports up-and-coming artists, ushering them into Jacksonville’s larger art worlds, and generally supports people making art. He is that rare case of a commercially successful artist that makes his living with his painting while creating uncompromising work rich with texture and meaning.

And this isn’t his first rodeo. Draper has been part of Riverside’s art scene for decades. He’s seen these art communities come and go over the years. CoRK, however, is unlike its predecessors in many ways, one of which is that it is home to an artist such as Jim Draper.

“It’s nice having people around. I don’t have to have saws and stuff; if I need something like that I can just run down to Donald. Or Dolf can weld, he has a welder. You can get stuff fixed fast. It’s kind of like ‘it takes a village.’ But it actually works.”

Draper’s favorite aspect of his studio at CoRK is space. It’s a vast open space with giant walls. He has works-in-progress hanging on these walls that are more than seven feet tall and fifteen feet long. CoRK has allowed him the privacy and space to immerse himself in his work.

How’s this for immersion: When you were sitting around a tree unwrapping gifts or sleeping late this Christmas, Draper was kayaking around the southern tip of Florida through mangroves and hammocks and brush. He was swimming in the Gulf of Mexico and climbing over key islands with his camera, capturing Florida’s natural environment the ways he likes to portray it, absent of humanity.

“I try to leave any references to human beings out, let that be the unknown. References to humans are so obvious. I think they are clearly absent. There’s a human quality, which gets you to the surreal more than the real. These elements (pointing at cypress trees in a painting) become the characters instead of the people being the characters.”

Draper’s dripping-wet riverscapes have always appeared dreamlike. Their vibrancy and glow gives them a surreal quality. However, when he showed me the photographs of his adventure kayaking along the tip of our peninsula, the dramatic sunsets, the solitary dead tree standing alone in the shallows, the untouched tree-lined beaches splashed in the light of sunrise, I realized that his work is less surreal than I thought. Those vivid explosions of color and complexity also come through in his pictures. He’s conveying a sort of life on his canvas that isn’t outside of our window, it’s deep in our woods at daybreak; it’s only apparent when you are wet up to your knees, or drifting silently in a canoe. It is dreamlike. He is representing it well.

This most recent exploration is just one of a series of such expeditions all over the state. Draper is collecting images and sketches of the amazing diversity of Florida’s natural environments for a large upcoming show, which he will call “The Feast of Flowers.”

“It’s about the five-hundredth anniversary of Ponce de Leon, but it’s not glorifying colonialism or imperialism, it’s more about exposing the blatant consumerism of the Feast of Flowers – that Western idea of eating everything you can get your hands on. So this show is about Florida before 1513.”

Certainly, getting out in the water helps him immerse himself in the subject matter, but there is more to discover up close than even the grand imagery.

“The immersion informs, not so much visually, but it’s a background to the visual. If you’re not careful with this stuff, you can wind up copying pictures out of magazines. The innocuous pretty picture is not something I’m interested in. I mean, it’s fine, but I’d rather it be about something a little more significant.”

He finds that significance in the tiny details.

“More than anything, you pick up these subtle little metaphors. I’m interested in these visual metaphors and the relationships in nature... The name of the big painting I’m going to do is Sacrificial Leaves. The mangrove will pick a leaf on every branch, it picks one leaf and sends all of the salt to that leaf and the leaf will die so the rest of the plant can have clean water. I like that idea as a metaphor.”

Because Draper will be spending the coming year putting together this ambitious portrait of Florida’s natural environment, he has no shows or events planned any time soon. Keep a lookout in this publication for news about where and when the Feast of Flowers exhibition will show. In the meantime, if you are craving an artful experience, Jim Draper might suggest you get out into some natural spaces and experience it first-hand.

“You miss a lot when you keep building a shell around yourself. There are some things you can’t buy at Wal-Mart.” 




http://stellersgallery.com/artists/bio/jim-draper

Jim Draper

Born 1953 in Kosciusko, Mississippi
Lives and works in Jacksonville, Florida
Education
1978 University of Georgia, MFA
1974 University of Mississippi, BFA
Teaching Experience
2008-Now
Adjunct Instructor, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL
1997-1998
Installation and Art Handling, Museum of Contemporary Art, Jacksonville, FL
Director and Curator, Kent Gallery, Kent Campus, Florida Community College of Jacksonville, FL
Professional Service
2012 Strategic Planning, the Cummer Museum of Art and Gardens, Jacksonville, FL
2010 Long Range Planning Team, Cultural Council of Greater Jacksonville, Jacksonville, FL

The Demise Of Social Security – Is It Inevitable?
By Lucy Warner, November 1, 2014


If the Social Security system ever does fall apart as Republicans keep saying it's going to, but HUD housing is still being financed, HUD rents will become smaller and a citizen will become eligible for food stamps, emergency cash and Medicaid. The main probable cause that would result in the Social Security system going broke would be if the Republicans were to succeed in allowing those currently working and contributing through their payroll taxes, to withdraw from the Social Security system and set up retirement funds separately instead. That would eliminate the SS income source, and cause havoc. So much for Republican ideas. Their sole goal is to reduce taxes on the rich and the size of our government, even if poor people literally starve. To me that's a very purist, very philosophical goal which would benefit only the rich. I've always been pragmatic instead of idealistic, and generous rather than miserly. Even on my small monthly income I give a few dollars to several organizations each month, just because they need help. That's because I want to, and because I think that's what I should do.

Republicans recently have started calling our Social Security system a Ponzi scheme, but it works as long as people have free access to jobs, because payroll taxes are the only source of income for the SS fund. Joblessness, especially if it continues to grow due to automation and businesses shipping their jobs overseas, is a huge problem which could cripple SS. Of course, many of the wealthy don't have to pay into Social Security even if they do have income from a business because of the ridiculous tax cap, and their income taxes also are lower now due to George W. Bush's tax cut for the wealthy. They can afford to pay more – not less – and there's no good reason for people with incomes over $117,000 to have what is now a very low income cutoff for payroll taxes, considering the amount that many of them actually make – CEOs especially. An article a few months ago on the amount that too many CEOs make, as opposed to their employees, was really shocking. I hate to sound like a real socialist, but that should be illegal.

There are moves in Congress by Democrats now to raise or even eliminate this “cap” on SS taxes enjoyed by CEOs or others including self-employed individuals who are subject to SS taxes. If that happens, the highly paid doctors, lawyers, CEOs and market managers will cry foul, but the Social Security system will have a sizable increase in its funding, so the unfortunately very numerous “boomers” will not have their benefits cut as much. That change would make our system much more fair. The Social Security system is a Ponzi scheme that works well as long as everybody pays into it. It's fair. to my way of looking at it, to require the rich to pay a share, because they will then be eligible to receive benefits upon retirement, though their benefits are “means tested.” See this Fortune article on that subject – “http://fortune.com/2012/02/29/cut-social-security-for-the-rich-we-already-have/” .

John Q Public, even if he does belong to the Tea Party philosophy, does not generally have enough income to set up a retirement plan for himself that will be sufficient to last until he dies, especially if he encounters heavy medical expenses or a tornado destroys his huge house. When those individual retirement plans run out, the retiree will be bankrupt, as medical bills and housing costs come along. The Republicans would say that is just okay, because if the worker had scrimped and saved even more all his life – and of course made sufficient investments in stocks, real estate, or new business development – he would have ended up with enough to retire wealthy. I disagree on that assumption, too, because most people don't know enough about business to really get rich on stocks, etc. It's another form of gambling, and many lose their shirts on the stock market. Many of them invest in some new business venture and then go bankrupt because the business fails.

The market inevitably punishes wrong doers with dire poverty, without a social safety net, even if they have made an honest effort to succeed. And that's just okay to many Republicans, as long as they are not numbered among the failures. To me, it is a mark of an ethical government that the basic needs of all citizens will be met. Of course who defines “basic” has to be negotiated. To lots of Republicans, anyone who is unable to manage his finances in such a way that he becomes rich, deserves to die of malnutrition and live in squalor.

Our social safety net which includes the Social Security system does give guaranteed income with no punishment for factors like drug addiction, with no “work houses” as a requirement to receive their money, though there have been Republicans who advocate welfare payments be based on work. I don't know how they plan to do that unless they would set up a system of government jobs like Roosevelt did with the Work Projects Administration; WPA. Too many of those who don't work today have tried endlessly to find work, and have been unable to do so.

Our current Welfare system includes programs of several kinds for the very poor which takes over before they are at retirement age, though the money is not distributed with a lavish hand. Since Bill Clinton those who receive Welfare and who are physically and mentally able to work, are required to sign up for work after taking job training programs. The number of people who actually are hired will depend on the market, of course.

Any one who politically challenges that basically low guaranteed income called welfare, deserves to be voted out of office, and I will continue to try my best to do that. And those who would eliminate the graduated Income Tax, as some Republicans do tout, who would give ever increasing budgets to the military, work to prevent business regulations to reduce the CO2 in our atmosphere, and other such cynical and uncaring moves, are equally unethical and hopefully will be voted out of office.

Our social safety net which includes the Social Security system does give guaranteed income with no punishment for factors like drug addiction, with no “work houses” as a requirement to receive the money – or a reinstatement of indentured labor as one Tea Partier recently suggested -- though there have been Republicans who advocate welfare payments be based on work. I don't know how they plan to do that unless they would set up a system of government jobs like Roosevelt did with the Work Projects Administration; WPA. Our current Welfare system includes programs of several kinds for the very poor which take over before they are at retirement age, though the money is not distributed with a lavish hand. Since Bill Clinton those who receive Welfare and who are physically and mentally able to work, are required to sign up for work after taking job training programs. The number of people who actually are hired will depend on the market, of course.

Any one who politically challenges that basically low guaranteed income deserves to be voted out of office, and I will continue to try my best to do that. And those who would eliminate the graduated Income Tax, as some Republicans do tout, who would give ever increasing budgets to the military, work to prevent business regulations to reduce the CO2 in our atmosphere, and other such cynical and uncaring moves, are equally unethical and hopefully will be voted out of office.

See the following website for information on the Social Security tax Cap that prevents the wealthy from having to pay into the payroll tax system, even though they have huge salaries or pay themselves a salary from their own prosperous businesses, on which they should have to pay taxes for the Social Security retirement program. If the cap were removed the SS system would last longer. Several Democrats are working toward that goal at this time.


http://www.ssa.gov/planners/maxtax.htm

Benefits Planner: Maximum Taxable Earnings (1937 - 2015)

When you have wages or self-employment income that is covered by Social Security, you pay Social Security taxes each year up to a maximum amount that is set by law. That amount has changed frequently over the years.

For 2014, the maximum amount of taxable earnings was $117,00. In 2015, the maximum amount of taxable earnings is $118,500.

The maximum earnings for each year since Social Security taxes were first collected in 1937 are shown below. If you:

earned more than the maximum in any year but had only one job, the amount we use will be just the maximum amount.
had more than one job, the total that is recorded may be more than the maximum. However, we only use the maximum amount to calculate your benefit estimates.

Note: When you have more than one job in a year, each of your employers must withhold Social Security taxes from your wages without regard to what the other employers may have withheld. You may then end up with total Social Security taxes withheld that exceed the maximum.