jackbinkelman 1 year, 10 months ago

Raise the money.. but not from ME! Compassionate much?

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Alceste 1 year, 10 months ago

Why don't you do what state of Kansas workes have been being told for years by the stooges in the Legislature and the Executive offices because they're so dumb? "Work SMARTER not HARDER". Are you dumb too?

Oh....and even though these same workers have been doing more with less, unlike you, they're not getting any more money. Go figure.

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camper 1 year, 10 months ago

I am tired of hearing about people complaining about how hard they work. Reminds me of a nagging woman.

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Crazy_Larry 1 year, 10 months ago

“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

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jhawkinsf 1 year, 10 months ago

I have no problem providing services to those who can't provide for themselves. Children, the disabled, those who are developmentally delayed. I do have a problem with providing services to those who won't take care of themselves. Those people steal services intended for those who are deserving. There is a perception, right or wrong, that that distinction is not being made or at least not being done well. We've all seen cases where charity given has helped a person turn their lives around. We've also seen cases where the charity has been abused, the giver becoming the enabler. Blanket statements on either side of the extreme will always have equal parts truth and deception.

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whats_going_on 1 year, 10 months ago

nicely put

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overthemoon 1 year, 10 months ago

I don't think anyone condones cheating the system. And when you apply for food stamps, you are asked about income without any reporting of expenses. So in order to qualify your income has to be really low. Now I'm sure there are people making money under the table and have little reported income that might take advantage of the system and that should be stopped. But how?

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camper 1 year, 10 months ago

Well said. People who abuse services and charity absorb help that should be directed to those who really need it.

I have a very wealthy uncle who has the nerve to collect unemployment even tho he and his wife make more than 6-figures from there pensions. Disgusting.

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tanzer 1 year, 10 months ago

I am not sure I understand why it is people get upset about folks using their foodstamps for good food (steak). Don't we want people (children) to eat healthy so that they can be well and become contributors to our community?

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larrytowngirl 1 year, 10 months ago

Care to comment on how to tax $0.00 ????

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Jstanobservation 1 year, 10 months ago

Sales tax?

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

You should have also asked her if she unexpectedly lost her job after buying the car, if she was borrowing or renting the car, or if she though you were a total creep for following her around and taking notes about what she was doing.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

Yea right, a lady looses her job one day. She gets a Vision Card the next day. Then she cannot afford to take the wonderful T to the grocery store so she either buys a new car, spends the money on a car rental, or has her rich friends loan her a brand new car. Yes, that makes lots of sense. Everybody I know would come to the same logical conclusion.

Unless you go around with peanut butter smeared on your glasses or zoned out on drugs, how much effort does it take to notice a Vision card, and someone walking to a new car?

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tomatogrower 1 year, 10 months ago

How could you tell it was a Vision Card, and not a bankcard? And how do you know that her husband didn't just leave her with no money, but a car and kids? And how do you know she didn't borrow the car from a friend to go to the store? I call BS on this story.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

There is no mistaking a vision card:

http://www.leavenworthfarmersmarket.com/images/vision.jpg

The first time I saw one, I wondered if it was a card for an optometrist discount until I saw it being used to pay for groceries. Grocery stores aren't known for selling lenses.

Of course, everybody who has a Vision Card and a new car is a candidate for an over theatrical movie on the Oxygen Channel about abuse, betrayal, and abandonment against a monster husband/boyfriend.

There is never any waiting period for benefits as everybody who needs SRS assistance already has it. Thus there is never any abuse of the system.

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deec 1 year, 10 months ago

Actually emergency applications are supposed to be processed within 7 days, regular apps. within 30 days. The point is, you don't know her situation, and it is none of your business. Why would you follow someone out of the grocery store and watch them as they left? You don't have any idea what her situation was. How do you know the car was brand new? She could, in fact be someone who has just been left. Or she could be a disabled person's authorized representative. Or she could work full time and still be eligible for food assistance. For a household of 2 people, the cut off is around $1200. Would you think it weird if someone said "This woman paid for her groceries with a visa card from capitol federal then got in her mid-90's Caravan, took a big drink of a Route 44, and drove off?" Would that seem creepy and stalkerish? Or is okay to spy on other people only if they get public assistance?

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jhawkinsf 1 year, 10 months ago

I might agree with much of what you say, but I have a problem with your statement that it's none of my business. Anyone who receives money from the government should be accountable to us all as to is that money being spent as it is intended. That includes bankers, defense contractors and those receiving welfare assistance. It's legitimate to ask the governor if any public funds are being used to attend prayer rallies in Texas. If getting a contract, a defense contractor absolutely should be required to open his books. If it's privacy you want, then don't accept public money.

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deec 1 year, 10 months ago

Until that level of accountability is applied to all who receive funds, then it is none of our business what the welfare recipient does with their aid. When Doug Compton is required to provide a public accounting of exactly how he spends every penny of his farm subsidies, for example, then I will agree with you. Otherwise, I agree with you, but I maintain the focus should be on the large aid recipients before we worry about the small potatoes. Should my mother have had to file some sort of paperwork to justify the nursing home costs medicaid paid for my veteran father who worked from high school until after retirement? Until the defense contractors et. al.are held to scrutiny, then I don't care what Suzy single mom spends her food stamps on.

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jhawkinsf 1 year, 10 months ago

I'm saying the principle is the same. If the contractors, bankers, Compton, welfare recipients are cheating, then they're cheating. And if they are receiving money from the government, then I have no problem scrutinizing them.
Let me pose a little problem to you, deec. Which would bother you more, a person who steals a million dollars or a million people who each steal a dollar? If you give a quick answer, you might say the person who steals a million is worse. But from my point of view, it's the million who steal a dollar. Why? The person who steals a million can be controlled by being put in jail. There is no effective control on the million people who steal a dollar. Further, those million people have shown themselves to be thieves and are likely to steal again. Bottom line is this, stealing is stealing. Cheating corporations and cheating welfare recipients are both wrong. And if you accept public funds, you forfeit your privacy.

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deec 1 year, 10 months ago

I already said I agree with you that both should be scrutinized. However, unless and until we hold the wealthy scammers accountable, then I do not agree that everyone on "welfare" should be scrutinized by every busybody John Public like a couple of posters on this story. Regarding your hypothetical, the million-dollar thief is worse, because first he stole a million dollars. With that million, should he be caught, he will hire a high priced lawyer who will have a much higher likelihood of successfully beating the charge. The million dollar thief may use his ill-gotten gains to bribe a judge or politician, or hide the funds in the Caymans or Switzerland. Until Haliburton, Compton, Brownback, et al are required to open their books to anyone at any time, as some seem to think "welfare" recipients should have to do, then leave the poor alone. Go after the big thieves first. When businesses, politicians and religions set the tone that stealing, lying, cheating and general criminality are acceptable and even admirable, it is unjust to hold the poor to a higher standard.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

When my grandmother was a live and went in to the nursing home, you can bet I had plenty of paper work to fill out as her DPOA. In fact it was a nightmare. I also had to investigate if she was eligible for a veteran's nursing home since my grandpa was a veteran. She was not eligible since my grandpa wasn't in good health and got an honorable discharge soon after being drafted.

You can also bet nursing homes, home health care, hospitals are VERY much held accountable for where they spend their money. Why do you think it is so difficult to get maintenance physical therapy for seniors? It is because more silly rules -- even though such benefits would be an added cost reduction since it would help to keep seniors active and out of nursing homes as long as possible.

I don't care if her name is Suzy Que or Dougy Compton. Public funds should be scrutinized whether it is farm subsities, a free parking garage, or a new car while claiming financial hardships. I guess I should have insisted that my mother foolishly go in to debt to buy a new car so that she too would have qualified for food stamps since her monthly income was less than $700.00.

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

Her car and smokes weren't bought with a Vision card. If she bought authorized cold food items with a legitimately claimed card, your chance for scrutiny ends right there.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

Again, if you wear peanut butter on your glasses, do drugs/drunk, or have to text & talk everywhere you go, then maybe such a person has to stalk someone to see what is going on right in front of their nose.

How much effort does it take to notice something? You don't have to gawk at someone to see if they are using a MasterCard, Visa, Discover, AmExpress. You might not recognize a bank logo because there are all sorts of customization and umpteen banks. However, a Vision Card is a Vision Card is a Vision Card. Period.

At one time I had customized checks that had puppies and kittens on them. A lady behind me commented on them. What do you expect me to do? Have a tantrum, scream, and yell "Creep! How dare you see the puppies and kittens on my check pattern!"? Good God, do you think we all go around with our eyes staring at the sidewalk so that we don't step on a crack or think or see something politically incorrect?

What is creepy is those that think there should be no accountability for benefits and they everybody should turn a blind eye to government waste. With that kind of liberal lackadaisical attitude no wonder the state swings the pendulum to the opposite end -- over to nutty right wing politicians.

It is EVERYBODY's concern to make sure that those that are truly needy get benefits, and those that abuse the system don't get benefits. Not every block in every township of all 105 counties have rich people with money oozing out their checkbooks who can just pay more (no questions asked) taxes. Koch brothers are not a dime a dozen.

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

A) The original story smelled a lot like an updated version of Reagan's Cadillac welfare queen trope.

B) Reagan made his story up for political reasons, and there's no reason to believe the poster in this thread did any different.

C) Several posters have pointed out reasons someone could have matched the story described and still have been someone legitimately using the card as intended.

D) There's already an entire agency dedicated to determining who does and doesn't deserve benefits and rooting out fraud and abuse. It's called SRS, and I bet it does a better job with a local presence.

E) If your neighbor confesses they're defrauding the system, report them. Your taxpayer status does not, however, give you the right to stalk someone and check what car they're driving.

F) Giving someone the benefit of the doubt is not the same as turning a blind eye. I'd rather give ten people bogus aid than let one person starve, but some people would rather ignore 100 starving people to point out the one person who scammed the system.

G) This thread was the first time I've seen what a Vision card looks like, though I'm sure I've seen people who were shopping for food using one. I don't tend to snoop to see how the person in front of me is paying for their food.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

If you have never lived in a 3rd world country, you have no clue what starvation is like. Try living somewhere like the Philippines for about three years, then you'll know what starvation is like. The closest I saw to that in the US was before the Johnson administration's anti-poverty campaigns. Back then you could literally see in parts of the south where black people were living in dire poverty -- with lean-to shacks for their only shelter. Though I was only 6 at that time, I will never forget it. I also knew intuitively that something was very wrong about it. I had seen better dog houses than some of those shacks.

I've heard that there are some parts of Texas in present day near Brownsville that has similar kinds of poverty. Kansas has nothing like that. Yes we have children getting the wrong kinds of nutrition -- ie lots of carbs, but no actual starvation.

As I stated before you don't have to snoop to see what someone is paying with. I don't even need glasses to read "VISION" on a card. I suppose that if I notice that the person in front of me is a male or a female or black or white, or native American, I must be snooping. Maybe I should wear sunglasses when I buy groceries to make sure I cannot see anything beyond my nose.

You are also probably the type that has leaky faucets or a leaky toilet as unless it is a water gusher, you cannot comprehend that waste is waste. It adds up. You don't have to produce a 60 minutes award winning exposure of multi-million dollar governmental waste/fraud to acknowledge that abuse need to be investigated wherever it is found.

Also if someone has that much spare change that they can buy a packet of smokes, then why are they on assistance? I thought public assistance was about people in need? I'm not saying that people on assistance should only have bread and water, but come on, they need smokes??? My family didn't smoke, but when times were tight, grandma even gave up coffee. For some people giving up coffee would even be a big sacrifice..

(continued)

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

Life's peachy keen and nobody needs a vision card until they're homeless and we see their skeletons? It's ok if a kid doesn't get a square meal because his parents smoke? If we're better at feeding people than they are in the Philippines, we should stop issuing Vision Cards? I'm really not sure what you're arguing here.

I value human life over preventing fraud. That doesn't mean I also wouldn't encourage someone to report fraud when they find it, but yes, it's stalkerish to follow someone to the car to figure out what car they drive and if they have smokes. (And as already pointed out, she could have been the authorized purchaser for a disabled person and therefore her personal cigarette budget isn't an issue.) But hey, while we're on it. I don't recall anywhere where it says she's not allowed to smoke and get a Vision card. It's just your opinion on where she should have spent the money. Would I have made a different decision between cigarettes and other items? Yes, but it's beside the point. I also think buying a copy of GQ is a total waste, but I'm not going to tell someone they're not allowed to do it. If she met the income guidelines for the card, you have no business nosing through her purchasing habits. None.

My faucets work just fine, but thanks for your concern. Have you checked the plumbing at City Hall to make sure there are no leaks? Do you follow the mayer around to make sure he doesn't run the faucet for more than thirty seconds? Those things do add up, and I can tell you're concerned about preventing all this wasteful spending and not at all looking your nose down at someone who asks for public assistance.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

(continued)

Sure, didn't see the particular person that was first discussed, but I have seen abuse. I have a friend who offered to pay his daughter to go to junior college after high school. She had no motivation. She simply wanted a man, a car, a cell phone, and a trailer house. She finally had a child on assistance with her boyfriend. (I don't even know the child last name as it wasn't her husband's and her live-in boyfriend has three or four kids by his own wife (still officially married) that he doesn't support. Eventually my friend's daughter and boyfriend moved out of a trailer house and into a house that my friend owned. When my friend finally kicked them out after 1.5 years of maybe paying 3 months worth of rent, she left all this info on timing her next pregnancy. She knows exactly what she is doing. She wants to live her life with as little personal responsibility as possible.

As to food stamps, I remember seeing an innocent cashier make an honest mistake on someone paying with food stamps (prior to the Vision Card), and the recipient had an arrogant attitude towards the cashier for the slightest mistake. Contrary to what you might think, I didn't have to snoop to hear the condescending tone of voice and language she used towards the cashier. I guess I should have covered my ears to not be accused of spying/snooping. I'm not going to lie and be politically correct and say it didn't bother me. I figured if she was so much better at doing math than the cashier, then she should get off assistance and apply for a cashier's position. She should have been ashamed of herself for her attitude. That doesn't give someone paying without assistance the right to be a jerk, but being on public assistance should at least have a little humility & respect for others given the fact that this benefit was attained out of the kindness of our society's safety net laws.

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vertigo 1 year, 10 months ago

"If you have never lived in a 3rd world country, you have no clue what starvation is like. "

No need- there's 17 million starving children right here in the U.S. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/16/AR2009111601598.html

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

We should just have everyone get food stamp tattoos on their foreheads so everyone could double check to see whether or not they've got the proper humble attitude and what they do in their spare time. After all, that woman could do math, and therefore she wasn't walking around with a hidden disability or in some other way prevented from working.

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mommatocharlie 1 year, 10 months ago

just because you saw one person who had a bad attitude, don't label the rest of us on public assistance with the same label. When i first got food stamps, I didn't know anything about them, and a wonderful cashier, Liz, at the new Wal Mart showed me how to use it and how to find my balance. What a nice lady! She has since become a good friend.

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deec 1 year, 10 months ago

While it certainly is possible to glance over and notice that someone is using a Vision card, there is no rational way the observer would then know what type of car they drove and what they did once they got into their car unless they were intentionally following and/or watching them. If someone followed someone else just to make sure they weren't driving a nice car etc., then they were, for all intents and purposes, stalking them.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

That is a right down absurd comment.

Do you stare at the ground the entire time you are at the grocery store except when you check out and when you look on the shelves? Are you one of those constant phone talkers that people have to watch out for in the aisles and the parking lot because of being oblivious to what is going on around you?

I must be a horrible person because lately when I arrive at a store I even started taking to people who are finished loading groceries to see if I can have their cart to take back into the store for my own use. I started that habit after hearing about the lady who suffered from trying to pull carts apart. That habit was reinforced two months ago when I read about a Dillon's parking rage incident in North Topeka. Over there, a man found a cart touching his car when he left the store. So he got enraged and decided to ram his car into the Dillon's doors.

http://cjonline.com/news/2011-05-31/angry-customer-drives-car-food-store

I figured I'm helping Dillons by calming down any such lunatics. So I confess I'm a horrible person who is politically incorrect and actually has talked and observed strangers in the parking lot. I guess I need to go to some kind of PC confession to atone for this stalking/talking behavior. Mea culpa!!!

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

I'm also a horrible person because about 3 months ago, I reported a young man who was harassing multiple people for money in the Wakarusa Dillon's parking lot. It was wrong of me to do so, I should have been another PC detached, uninvolved, unaware individual.

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grammaddy 1 year, 10 months ago

She could be doing day care from her home for SRS sponsored kids, also. Some of those home day cares qualify for food stamps. She could have been shopping for that. AND the car could have been borrowed. People sure are quick to judge. Did you check her license and registration?

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cait48 1 year, 10 months ago

Judgmental much?

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camper 1 year, 10 months ago

Quit working so hard Sierra.

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cait48 1 year, 10 months ago

"And, here is the thing that bothers me. Parents have a child and need the state to help them raise their child, but then they go on to have more children. No, if you have a child and you can't fully provide for the child then you should not have any more children."

Yee haww we're finally gonna get mandatory abortion like China!!

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fred_mertz 1 year, 10 months ago

Ah, see that is the rub. We're a free country so people can have children when they can't afford to properly care for them. And while we don't agree on morals, most, if not almost all, don't agree that anyone should be forced to have an abortion.

So, what do we do? Is it right for someone to bring children into the world when they can't provide for them and to expect you and me to give them part of our hard earned money because of their choices?

Yes, sometimes unforeseen things happen and people need their society to help them out, but some events are foreseeable.

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

Seeing as this state wants to force women to birth children they may not want or have the means to raise, I'd say we're stuck with the moral obligation to give them assistance.

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fred_mertz 1 year, 10 months ago

Abortion is still an option. And what moral obligation? Who get's to decide our morals? That is the big question today. We are a divided nation when it comes to morals, ethics and direction.

Morality has nothing to do with it as morality is fleeting, ever changing and oppressive of the minority that does not agree with the morals.

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

Abortion is less of an option. The state ended insurance coverage of abortion and tried to regulate away three out of four providers - we nearly became the only state with no legal abortion options.

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

You do realize that they already do this, right? Average middle class mom can't march in and get a free checkup for her kid or WIC or reduced/free school meals. Likewise, a disabled child who qualifies for special services under the MRDD waiver (which has a waiting list several years long) still has a required parental contribution for those services on a sliding scale. You totally don't get food stamps if you're rich enough to afford your own food.

But hey, let's squeeze 'em harder. Obviously we haven't shamed them enough for getting some help. Now where's my subsidy for not growing anything on that section of farm property? I need to go party with my friends.

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fred_mertz 1 year, 10 months ago

I see your point about WIC.

No problem about taking away farm subsidies, but I bet you are "green" aren't you? If so, do you really oppose payments for farmers leaving farmland idle to create buffers to prevent fertilizer run off and habitat for animals? Sure, don't pay them not to farm and they'll farm every bit of land they have and nothing wrong with it.

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

I'm just pointing out that some aid recipients are "more equal" than others when it comes to the amount of shame/scrutiny we want to put them through.

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cait48 1 year, 10 months ago

No kidding! How many of these Scrooges are just one paycheck away from the poor house themselves? "Have they no poor houses? No prisons?"

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

You mean there are a lot of airheads that never question anybody who takes entitlement money because they think that the government can always increase taxes for the rich people that are on every block (except ours of course) or buy another printer to print more money.

Plenty of us have examples of people on entitlements who are abusing the system. Plenty of us agree that Lawrence should have an SRS presence besides how far the four lane paved roads and the internet superhighway can take clients to another office. (Likewise, plenty of us believe that Kansans should be questioning the other 8 closings and not just the Lawrence closing.) That being said, we need to make sure that the all the money goes to truly needy people and not PR employees, overpaid swamp trash from Florida, nor people who abused the system to get benefits at the expense of those in real need.

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Alceste 1 year, 10 months ago

You understand, none2, that if the foodstamp program stopped today.....and food supplement benefits are what this thread seems to be narrowing in on.......if it stopped today......the poor wouldn't be nearly as impacted as Agri-Business; the price support and subsidy recipients; etc.? Those boys would be howling from here to Kingdom Come until they were restored or something replaced them.

Now that's where the "welfare" is going to in this country.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

I would hate to see the US loose its dominance in food production. I don't think it is healthy for a county not to feed their own. However, if you look at who gets the farm subsidies, it is is a few families in every county. What used to be the ideal of keeping a family farm going has turned into keeping a few wealthy farmers subsidized. Brownback's family is one of them. The following article is from 2007:

http://cjonline.com/stories/111707/bus_218377672.shtml

• "Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. Since 1995, Brownback received about $50,000 in sorghum, wheat and conservation subsidies for his farm in Linn County."

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overthemoon 1 year, 10 months ago

That's 3,000 a year. Not excusing Brownback for playing the hypocrite game, but that's n ot a heck of a lot. But the HUGE subsidies go to the big Agri people like Cargyll, Monsanto, etc. and they are the ones that have killed the family farm, poisoned our soil and water, and gained control of the nation's food supply.

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Alceste 1 year, 10 months ago

http://farm.ewg.org/region.php?fips=20000

Kansas ranking: 6 of 50 States

Kansas Summary InformationAverage $14.5 billion in subsidies 1995-2010. $8.76 billion in commodity subsidies. $2.48 billion in crop insurance subsidies. $2.15 billion in conservation subsidies. $1.07 billion in disaster subsidies

32 percent of farmers in Kansas did not collect subsidy payments - according to USDA.

That means, here in Kansas anyway, that 68% of all farms in Kansas collected some form of subsidy. That, my good fellow is representative of an entrenched, ain't going nowhere, WELFARE "give me mine" system.

In Hard Times, Americans Blame The Poor

Welfare rolls are down around 60 percent since the mid-1990s, when welfare was switched from an entitlement to a work program that requires recipients to have jobs, said Ron Haskins, who drafted the so-called welfare-reform bill of 1996 as the Republican staff director of the U.S. House Ways and Means committee.

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24708.htm

I understand why the poor get blamed for everything in hard times. The larger question is do you?

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whats_going_on 1 year, 10 months ago

yeah, because then you'd have to determine what is "mooching" I mean, sometimes its clear...those who take from it, but what about those who really are trying but just can't keep their head above water?

Drug tests would help enormously (or more of them, frequently) and keeping on top of people looking for jobs, but then again, that could probably be faked pretty easily. And then what about the children whose parents are pieces of ____? Do we quit helping the kids?

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cait48 1 year, 10 months ago

"....keeping on top of people looking for jobs..." If such jobs can be found for uneducated, untrained people. Most of those were outsourced to India. It's amazing to me that J.P. Morgan, in their Discover Card commercials, actually poke fun at outsourcing with their "Peggy" commercials when they do it themselves.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

My grandpa was forced to drop out of school at the age of 11 because his step-dad demanded that he pay his way as well as for his two younger brothers. He learned to upholster, to become a neon sign creator, a plumber, a semi-driver, etc. There are people who are physically or mentally unable to work either from illness or age, handicap, etc. There are plenty others that simply need to apply themselves. Sure it helps to have a college education, but not having one is not an excuse to spend the rest of your life from check book to check book or on a lifetime of public assistance. If worse comes to worse, they can join the peace corp or military.

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deec 1 year, 10 months ago

The Peace Corps requires a college degree and like Vista/Americorps, pay less than minimum wage. Vista volunteers are instructed to apply for food assistance because the monthly stipend is not enough to live on without food aid. The military also has educational requirements, although those have been loosened due to the Bush wars in the Middle East. Many military families also receive food assistance due to the low wages.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

So the answer is just have them go on assistance, their children on assistance, and their grand children go on assistance because everything is hopeless? All of America is on the decline. This isn't just about the growing divide between the rich and the poor, This is also about the rest of the world on the incline as the US goes on the decline.

The old saying is give someone a fish and they eat for a day. Teach someone to fish and they eat for a life time. The same holds true for assistance. We do a disservice to the poor to keep them perpetually dependent on others. The emphasis should be to get them out of the system. Long term public assistance should be reserved for the disabled and the elderly whose condition cannot/will not change. .

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Alceste 1 year, 10 months ago

None2, you don't know what you're talking/writing about.

Welfare rolls are down around 60 percent since the mid-1990s, when welfare was switched from an entitlement to a work program that requires recipients to have jobs, said Ron Haskins, who drafted the so-called welfare-reform bill of 1996 as the Republican staff director of the U.S. House Ways and Means committee.

Real assistance in the US of A centers around tax breaks for the wealthy, the farm and crop subsidies noted above....again for the wealthy.....capital gains tax reductions; "property tax abatements" like we give out here in Lawrence as it it were so much water going down the drain, etc., etc., etc.

Cash Assistance is TIME LIMITED across the land to NO MORE than 60 months TOTAL over the course of a LIFETIME. And that cash assistance might be a whopping $300 per month for a family of four. And it really is just a mechanism to pass the peas....the money ending up in the final analysis in the bank accouts of corporate Amerika. It is what it is.

Foodstamps are not designed to feed a person or family.....they're a supplement to what the actual food bill is.

It's always amusing (and yet still amazing) to me just how uninformed the American people really are. Sheep to slaughter.

In Hard Times, Americans Blame The Poor

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tomatogrower 1 year, 10 months ago

Your grandpa had a lot more options and paid a lot less in rent and other necessities than now. In the '70's I was divorced and raising a daughter on a good paying job - $5/hour. I could rent a house, pay daycare, own a car, and even travel. During Reagan's recession I worked for a company that actually fared well and was making as much as $10.00/hour, which allowed me to buy a moblie home and a new car. The car had no radio or air conditioner and only cost $4000, but it ran great and had that much needed warranty that makes a single mom feel secure. Try buying a good used car for that much.

But it wouldn't matter anyway, because the job that I used to have is no longer there. When I see young people without a marketable skill looking for jobs now, they would love to make $10/hour. Yet they are paying double what I used to pay for rent, gas and incidentals, except for the cheap clothes that they can buy at WalMart.

Oh, by the way, my job also paid, in-full, insurance for me and my daughter. Good luck finding any job that offers that benefit. They don't exist anymore.

Is there abuse of the system? Yes. But the biggest abuse has come from companies who got tax breaks for taking jobs out of the country. The CEO's who get bonuses for making faux profits off the back of their workers, so they can get huge bonuses. The landlords who push the rent to the max that people can afford, instead of just enough to make a living profit. The oil companies who are doing the same, and who have killed competition. The "discount" stores who spend lots in advertising convincing people that they need to own lots of cheap stuff made anywhere but the US. How would your Granpa's upholsterying skills help now that they can go out and buy cheap furniture now, instead of redoing some quality furniture. I think the few people who take advantage of our welfare system are the least of our worries.

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

Drug testing is expensive and doesn't test for the most commonly abused drug of them all.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

If the state can require voters state-wide to prove who they are at the polls to prevent the massive voter fraud in Kansas that has caused so many radical Acorn militant communists democrats from being elected to the Kansas legislature, then we can take the time to do it right and do drug testing for public assistant recipients.

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

I think we should bill Kris Kobach directly for any extra expense we encounter in fighting unicorns, er, voter fraud. Two wrongs and all that.

That said, they've done studies and welfare recipients are no more likely than the rest of the population to be drug or alcohol addicted. The vast majority of drug users are actually employed full time.

if you measure the cost, not on a per test basis, but the cost per drug user found, it's around $20,000 to catch each drug user. The money is better spent training SRS in how to see signs of drug abuse and offering treatment programs.

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none2 1 year, 10 months ago

If that is true that they don't need 87 state workers packed into two buildings in the same town, then why do they need 200+ packed in Johnson County, the richest county of all 105 counties in this state?

Do Johnson County SRS agents have less gas, and thus they can just cram them into one building and still have fresh air?

I suppose it means nothing to you that Douglas County is the 5th most populous county.

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jafs 1 year, 10 months ago

They, and other organizations, like Cottonwood, will probably have to do exactly that.

Of course, that will cost them more money, and they're not allowed to bill for transportation time, expenses, etc.

Will you donate some money to those organizations to cover those extra costs?

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tomatogrower 1 year, 10 months ago

Yes, we will have to. But I doubt if any of the conservatives will, unless they can donate it to the "right" kind of church, then the donation will probably go to buy the preacher a fancy new car, or a bunch of audio equipment that will allow the choir to be loud enough that they can't hear the congregation singing hymns. I mean, they are always so off key. And we can't expect the congregation to look at a book for the words. They need powerpoints and a projector. Then they might be able to give someone a ride to an SRS office, but they have to join the church first. Oh, and they have to give 10% of that welfare check to the church.

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lunacydetector 1 year, 10 months ago

it is a known fact that conservatives donate far more to charity than liberals.

independence inc does not have the nicest people.

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jafs 1 year, 10 months ago

Cottonwood has very nice people - can they count on you for a donation?

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jafs 1 year, 10 months ago

I guess not.

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vertigo 1 year, 10 months ago

I say tax excessive use of periods and question marks.

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cait48 1 year, 10 months ago

Yeah that was pretty unreadable. I get carried away with the " and * at times but not like that.

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Alceste 1 year, 10 months ago

Well, I for know that the real solution is chop down all the redwood trees and sell 'em for profit; strip mine the hell out of the entire states of Wyoming and Montana and use that coal for power so that my dividend checks will go up; and let them boat people have open season on whales so I can have some decent blubber to eat instead of this darn tofu being put in my "Asian/Fusion" dinners......; Be okay by mean if they hit a dolphin or five, too. I love me some dolphin....not be confused with wahoo or other "dolphin fish".....I means some really tasty dolphin.

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chootspa 1 year, 10 months ago

Can't....read.....your.......post????!!!!

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camper 1 year, 10 months ago

on the booze?

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cait48 1 year, 10 months ago

I truly hate to say this but eventually, a child will die because of this. It's not a possibility. It's not a probability. It's an inevitability. I am a firm believer that, in the end, the cosmos balances things out. Karma exists in Christianity. "Cast your bread upon the waters..." People that believe in "prosperity gospel" and "supply side Jesus" have a far different interpretation of this than I do. Sam Brownback and his friends have cast their bread. I think the final results will be a shock to all of them. I just wish I could be a fly on the wall to Sam Brownback's final judgment. And hey! I will most likely be dead myself by then so I just might be!

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ, Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line, Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it -The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

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none2 1 year, 9 months ago

You aren't thinking in terms of the entire state. Not every town has an SRS office, so the SRS is not ALWAYS local. For instance residents of Eudora or Baldwin have no local SRS office...

The question is whether the 5th most Kansas county should have no office at all.

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