From: Gregory Brown To: undisclosed-recipients:; Bee: [email protected] Subject: Greg Brown's Weekend Reading and Other Things.... 06/02/2013 Date: Sun, 02 Jun 2013 15:14:24 +0000 Attachments: Breeding_the_Nutrition_Out of Our_Food_Jo_Robinson_NYT_May_26,_2013.pdf; How America Became a _ TTlircT World_ Country_Mattea_Kramer &Jo_Comerford Tom 2013.ndf: May_25,_2013.pdf; The_Obamacare_Shock_Paul_Krugman_NYT_May_26,_2013.pdf; Thin1c_Again,_European_Decline_May-June_2013.pdf; What_Can_We_Leam_From_Denmark_Bemie_Sanders_RSN_27_May_13.pdf; Highest_paid_public_employeet- June_2,_2013.pdf; Eurozone_Unemployment_Reaches_Record_High_Of 12.2_Percent_Pan_Pylas_Huff Post_ May_31,_2013.pdf; I 968_Fun_Facts_&_Trivian June_2,2013.ashx DEAR FRIENDS.... Comedian Bill Mayer does a segment on his HBO show, Real Time With Bill Mayer that he calls Dispatches From The Bubble and no better example of this type of dumb reasoning is Tennessee Republican Rep. Stephen Fincher recent use of a passage from the Bible to justify punishing the poor. Fincher quoted from 2 Thessalonians 3:10: For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. In recent moves by Congress to slash $4.1 billion or more from food stamps (otherwise known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) over the next 10 years. Fincher used this line to prove his point that lazy poor people shouldn't be depending on the government to feed them. Of course, Fincher and fellow conservatives are worried because SNAP rolls have swelled by 70% since the financial collapse back in 2008, causing the government to spend $80 billion* to feed poor people. But instead of curbing the bankers' economy-destroying ways or ending their corporate welfare, they seek to take it out of the stomachs of poor people. Context matters. Fincher is using a verse written for a specific time, a specific place, and specific situation in Thessalonica thousands of year