Meals on Wheels Funding cut to prevent Pentagon cuts.

The blunt and always unpredictable Martin Bashir talked with Rep. Gwen Moore recently about the GOP cuts to the Meals on Wheels program, predicting Wheels supporter and tea party loser Joe Barton would vote for the cuts. Bashir caught up with Barton, and never let him off the hook for his party's pathetic use of draconian cuts to save funding for the Pentagon.

What's shocking is how a Republican with hands on experience helping the elderly, can still cuts funding to his favorite program! Is there any question we're seriously dealing with a party of sociopathic ideologues? Meals on Wheels, really?

Bloomberg news: A key House committee has voted to cut food aid, health care and social services like Meals on Wheels to protect the Pentagon from a crippling wave of budget cuts come January.

The cuts approved total more than $300 billion over the coming decade … a fraction of the cuts called for in the broader, nonbinding budget plan that passed the House in March and are aimed at preventing the Pentagon from absorbing a 10 percent, $55 billion automatic budget cut in January.

Walker Stops Job Growth by Stiffing State Farmers who Supply Biofuels. Investing in Future to Costly Initially.

Has Scott Walker ever replaced a home furnace? Changed out his old light bulbs with energy saving bulbs that last 3 to 4 times longer and use less energy, saving money on his energy bill?

Wisconsin State Journal: Governor-elect Scott Walker's order Thursday to axe a biofuels boiler for the redesigned Charter Street Heating Plant … Walker said he wants to shift plans to installing a natural gas boiler rather than the boiler that would burn alternative naturally grown fuels … Walker said, (it) would save the state $100 million of the total $250 million cost of rebuilding the university's central heating and cooling plant so that it no longer burns coal.

The only response from the DOA … the plant "has natural gas capabilities along with the biomass fuel purchased from Wisconsin farmers and foresters."

Again, with no foresight of future cost savings and job creation, Walker is worried about the initial investment. So what if it keeps money in Wisconsin, supports farmers and creates jobs, Walker sees a short term savings as politically smart.

Gary Werner, with the Madison chapter of the Sierra Club, said purchasing biofuels from farmers and foresters in Wisconsin will lead to an increase in jobs and more long-term stability for agriculture in the state. The transportation system put in place to bring the biofuels to Madison will also create jobs, Werner said. "We don't have any natural gas here in Wisconsin," Werner said. "So every dollar spent on natural gas is a dollar leaving Wisconsin."

But Werner said the long-term benefits of biofuels outweigh natural gas … "The basic premise of his campaign was promising to create 250,000 new jobs in Wisconsin," said Werner of Walker. "Everything I've heard from him so far is about cutting new jobs."

The following video clip of Rep. Joe Barton pretty much sums up what kind of backward leadership we’ll see in Washington that mirrors Scott Walker’s basic lack of money saving management skills:

Wonkette: What does being the only man in America to apologize to BP for this past summer’s oil spill get you? Why, the chairmanship of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, of course! Joe Barton is still somehow the ranking Republican member of that committee, so he will probably get that job, even though his party has lots of reasons not to give it to him.

Barton is hoping to do a good job as the energy chairman — and that means making sure this country burns up as much energy resources as possible. That’s why he’s defending “traditional, incandescent light bulb” marriage against Americans who sinfully want to marry “the little, squiggly, pig-tailed ones.”

Related articles

• Republican Governors-Elect Cut Thousands of Jobs Before They're Even Sworn In (uspoverty.change.org)
• Wis. gov.-elect wants to lure retirees back home (sfgate.com)
• Jim Doyle: High-Speed Rail Decision Will Be Left To Scott Walker, Republican Successor For Governor, Who Has Vowed To Kill It (huffingtonpost.com)

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