Allen West questions the 'loyalties' of Rep. Tammy Duckworth D IL, double amputee Iraq war vet 22MAI14

allen west is so ignorant and so repulsive his comments about +Rep Tammy Duckworth D IL should be denounced by his employer, fox "news". He is a disgrace, even to fox, and if his supporters and the politicians allied with him (repiglicans & tea-baggers) do not denounce him for questioning Rep Duckworth's loyalty to our nation there is something very wrong with them too. This from +Daily Kos followed by part of Rep Duckworth's bio on +Wikipedia ....

Thu May 22, 2014 at 10:49 AM PDT

Allen West questions the 'loyalties' of Rep. Tammy Duckworth

by Hunter

Professional dumbass.

When last we heard from Former Congressman Allen West (R-FL-OfCourse) he was hard at work being a horrible human being. I see he is still at it.

Fox News contributor Allen West questioned the "loyalties" of decorated veteran and Illinois Rep. Tammy Duckworth for serving with her fellow Democrats on the Benghazi select committee. [...] West remarked of Duckworth: "I just don't know where her loyalties lie. You know, for her to have been a veteran, a wounded warrior for the United States Army, she should know that this is not the right thing. And hopefully, you know, she will remember the oath of office that she took as an Army officer and not the allegiance I guess she believes she has to the liberal progressives of the Democrat Party."

Apparently merely being assigned to the committee is all it takes for combat veteran Tammy Duckworth to have her loyalties questioned by West; a truly loyal American would shut up and let Republican conspiracy peddlers say whatever they wanted about dead Americans. He's all class, that one. I can see why Fox News couldn't bear to be without him.

Originally posted to Hunter on Thu May 22, 2014 at 10:49 AM PDT.

Also republished by Daily Kos. 

 Tammy Duckworth

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tammy Duckworth
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 8th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Joe Walsh
Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in the Department of Veterans Affairs
In office April 24, 2009 – June 30, 2011
President	Barack Obama
Preceded by	Lisette Mondello
Succeeded by	Michael Galloucis
Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs
In office November 21, 2006 – February 8, 2009
Governor	Rod Blagojevich Pat Quinn
Preceded by	Roy Dolgos
Succeeded by	Daniel Grant
Personal details
Born	Ladda Tammy Duckworth March 12, 1968 (age 46) Bangkok, Thailand
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Bryan Bowlsbey
Residence	Hoffman Estates, Illinois
Alma mater	University of Hawaii (B.A.) George Washington University (M.A.)
Website	duckworth.house.gov
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Army Illinois Army National Guard
Years of service	1992–present
Rank	Lieutenant Colonel
Unit	106th Aviation Regiment, 28th Infantry Division
Awards	Purple Heart Meritorious Service Medal Air Medal Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters Combat Action Badge Senior Army Aviator Badge

Ladda Tammy Duckworth (born March 12, 1968) is an American politician who has been the U.S. Representative for Illinois's 8th congressional district since 2013. A Democrat, she is the first Asian American woman elected to Congress in Illinois, the first disabled woman to be elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, and the first member of Congress born in Thailand.
Duckworth previously served as Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in the United States Department of Veterans Affairs from April 24, 2009 to June 30, 2011, and as the Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs from November 21, 2006 to February 8, 2009.
An Iraq War veteran, Duckworth served as a U.S. Army helicopter pilot and suffered severe combat wounds, losing both of her legs and damaging her right arm. She was the first female double amputee from the war.^[1] Having received a medical waiver, she continues to serve as a Lieutenant Colonel in the Illinois Army National Guard along with her husband, Major Bryan W. Bowlsbey, a signal officer and fellow Iraq War veteran.^[2]

Allen West says more Americans receive food aid than work in the private sector 8JUL13

HEY FORMER U.S. repiglican / tea-bagger rep allen west, it is this kind of b.s. that lost you your seat in the US House. Your former constituents wised up, it is obvious you haven't. Are you still claiming to be a person of faith while spreading these lies and misinformation???? From PolitiFact....

The Truth-O-Meter Says:

"More Americans receive food aid than work in (the) private sector."

Allen West on Monday, July 8th, 2013 in a tweet

Allen West says more Americans receive food aid than work in the private sector

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Former Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., tweeted that there are more people receiving food aid than are working in the private sector. Is that correct?

Ashly and her mother Tanya Bos shop at a Save-A-Lot in Brooksville, Fla., in 2011. The family of six relies on food stamps, with Tanya priding herself on her ability to stretch every dollar. (By Will Vragovic, Tampa Bay Times)

Former U.S. Rep. Allen West, a staunchly conservative Republican who represented a Florida district for one term, recently sent a tweet that resurrected one of the themes used by Mitt Romney and others during the 2012 presidential campaign -- the idea that there are makers and takers in America.

Here’s what West tweeted: "More Americans receive food aid than work in private sector. ‘Fundamental transformation?’ Nope, nation destruction."

The tweet linked to an article in the conservative website CNSNews that provided data to support his claim. The CNSNews article cited a report by the inspector general of the Agriculture Department, which operates most federal food-assistance programs, as well as employment data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The inspector general’s report said that "FNS estimates that a total of 101 million people currently participate in at least one of its programs."

The CNSNews article compared this figure to BLS data showing that there were "97,180,000 full-time private-sector workers in 2012."

However, we see a number of problems with this comparison, and how West framed it.

The employment figure is likely higher than 97 million

We looked at the BLS figures for April 2013 so we could match them to the most recently available figures for participation in food-assistance programs, which are from that month.

According to BLS, 113.6 million Americans had a private-sector job during April 2013. That’s more than the 101 million figure for food assistance.

The CNSNews number -- 97 million -- was smaller because it subtracted part-time workers and used 2012 data, neither of which were qualifications made by West.

The food-assistance number is likely lower than 101 million

For means-tested benefits such as these, it seems plausible that an individual who qualifies for one program may also qualify for another. It would be odd if at least some fraction of children qualifying for a free or reduced-price school breakfast wouldn’t also qualify for a free or reduced-price school lunch, and if some of the these same children didn’t also qualify for food stamps at home.

In fact, studying overlap was actually the whole purpose of the inspector general’s report. It concluded that "the potential for overlap and duplication exists" among the department’s nutrition programs.

But participation in all of these categories is counted separately. No steps were taken to avoid double- or triple-counting people who receive more than one type of food assistance when the 101 million figure was calculated, an approach confirmed to PolitiFact by Agriculture Department spokeswoman Jessica Milteer. "Many participants in our programs are eligible to take advantage of more than one nutrition assistance program," she said.

Here's the breakdown of participation in the food-assistance programs listed on the Agriculture Department’s website:

Program	Participants	Period
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps)	47,548,694	April 2013
National School Lunch Program	30,839,021	April 2013
School Breakfast Program	13,481,128	April 2013
Food aid for adult and child care	3,535,000	Highest month, fiscal 2012
Summer Food Service	2,347,000	Highest month, fiscal 2012
Women-Infants-Children	2,032,248	April 2013
Indian Reservation Food Program	76,500	All year, fiscal 2012
Commodity Supplemental Food Programs (non-elderly)	17,600	All year, fiscal 2012
Commodity Supplemental Food Programs (elderly)	576,600	All year, fiscal 2012
Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program	863,097	All year, fiscal 2011
WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition	1,900,000	All year fiscal 2011
TOTAL	103,216,888

This is quite close to the 101 million cited in the inspector general’s report. If efforts had been taken to weed out overlap between the programs, the figure would be much lower. (Unfortunately, the inspector general’s report didn’t provide an estimate of how much overlap exists.)

The comparison isn’t especially enlightening

The universe of people who could potentially receive food aid is the entire U.S. population. But the universe of people who could potentially hold a private-sector job consists only of those 16 years old and over. And one could easily make that universe smaller by excluding those who are 16 or 17 (and who are supposed to be in school) or those older than 65 (who have reached retirement age).

If you adjust for the differences in the size of these universes, one could easily come to the opposite conclusion than the one West offered.

Using the 101 million figure for food aid, which as we noted is likely overstated, means that about 33 percent of the U.S. population receives food assistance.

By contrast, about 47 percent of people age 16 and up work in the private sector. If you restrict it to people age 18 to 64, the percentage working in the private sector rises to 59 percent.

So, the percentage of working-age people with private-sector jobs is at least twice as high as the percentage of Americans who receive food assistance -- the opposite conclusion to the one West drew.

And a final note: The categories of "employed in the private sector" and "receiving food aid" are not mutually exclusive. According to the department, "over 30 percent of (food stamp) households had earnings in 2011, and 41 percent of all (food stamp) participants lived in a household with earnings."

Our ruling

West tweeted that "more Americans receive food aid than work in (the) private sector."

However, the data West used appears to have undercounted the number of people with a private-sector job and overcounted the number of people receiving food aid. In addition, the comparison isn’t really apples to apples. We rate the claim False.

About this statement:

Published: Wednesday, July 10th, 2013 at 4:15 p.m.

Subjects: Jobs, Poverty, Pundits, Workers

Sources:

Allen West, tweet, July 8, 2013

Agriculture Department Office of Inspector General, "Overlap and Duplication in Food and Nutrition Service’s Nutrition Programs," June 13, 2013

Agriculture Department, monthly participation in SNAP, accessed July 9, 2013

Agriculture Department, monthly participation in child nutrition programs, accessed July 9, 2013

Agriculture Department, monthly participation in WIC, accessed July 9, 2013

Agriculture Department, monthly participation in food-distribution programs, accessed July 9, 2013

Agriculture Department, "WIC Farmers' Market Nutrition Program Fact Sheet," accessed July 9, 2013

Agriculture Department, "Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program Fact Sheet," accessed July 9, 2013

Agriculture Department, "Characteristics of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Households: Fiscal Year 2011 Summary," November 2012

Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey" (main index page), accessed July 9, 2013

Bureau of Labor Statistics, "Employment, Hours, and Earnings from the Current Employment Statistics survey (National)" (main index page), July 9, 2013

U.S. Census Bureau, "Population by Sex and Selected Age Groups: 2000 and 2010," accessed July 9, 2013

CNSNews, "101M Get Food Aid from Federal Gov’t; Outnumber Full-Time Private Sector Workers," July 8, 2013

Email interview with Gary Burtless, senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, July 9, 2013

Email interview with Tara Sinclair, economist at George Washington University, July 9, 2013

Email interview with Jessica Milteer, spokeswoman for the Agriculture Department, July 10, 2013

Written by: Louis Jacobson
Researched by: Louis Jacobson
Edited by: Angie Drobnic Holan

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2013/jul/10/allen-west/allen-west-says-more-americans-receive-food-aid-wo/