Posted on 11/24/2013 12:09:12 PM PST by dynachrome
The closest Planned Parenthood to me is three hours. That's a lot of money in gas.
Convenience food is just that. And we are not allowed many conveniences. Especially since the Patriot Act passed, it's hard to get a bank account. But without one, you spend a lot of time figuring out where to cash a check and get money orders to pay bills. Most motels now have a no-credit-card-no-room policy.
I smoke. It's expensive. It's also the best option. You see, I am always, always exhausted. It's a stimulant. When I am too tired to walk one more step, I can smoke and go for another hour.
(Excerpt) Read more at zerohedge.com ...
What vitriol? You clearly have forgotten how supportive I’ve been to the many FReepers who have fallen on hard times, including yourself if memory serves? Anger at people who write implausibly about their experience with play-homelessness is fairly commonplace, among people who have experienced it for real.
And I extend that offer of help to anyone here, their families, neighbors, friends and co-religionists.
I understand exactly what you're saying. From personal experience.
I apologize for the mistaken gender. And for anybody who took you to task in your time of need.
All I'm saying is that, after being here for 15 years, I've seen relatively little of the criticism you've experienced. Some misdirected animus, yes. But the vast proportion has been aimed at those who won't work. Or have an unrealistic evaluation of their work's worth.
And, as I said, many of the folks on this website probably qualify as "working poor" -- but don't think of themselves that way. Or they are intimately acquainted with hard times themselves as, evidently, we both are.
I generalize, of course, without benefit of reviewing the adverse comments that were directed at you specifically -- which were no doubt painful.
She really just reinforced every stereotype I have.
I was always raised to believe that the bad decisions come before the poor.
90% of the poor are there from bad decisions, 10% from just plain bad luck...
The thing is that 100% of those that are there from bad decisions are the first to squeal when they want to take away their welfare while the 10% that are there from bad luck are constantly clawing their way out of their hole.
Welfare: Proof Liberals are Hypocrites when it comes to Natural Selection.
Relative to the posted article, as I've often remarked, my sis is a social worker. Many of her clients could've written the same article. Except that, usually, their decisions have been far worse.
Bored? Out of money? Get pregnant.
Bored? Out of money? Do some drugs.
No money to get drugs? Steal some from your employer.
Have a court date? Which might have some unpleasant consequences? Don't show up.
New baby an anchor? Want to go partying? Can't afford a sitter? Leave the baby in the trailer and go partying anyway. Or put him in the car...and leave him there.
Et cetera, et cetera
Thing is, it's very easy to understand why these people are poor. They have made bad decisions. And worse, they've been largely insulated from the consequences of these bad decisions. Like my sister, most social workers will tell you that it's not the subject's fault that they're poor -- they've just been "unlucky" somehow.
Social workers and the entire welfare apparatus have somehow become enablers. And if you never experience the consequences of bad decisions, you'll never learn to avoid them.
Very insightful comment.
“...based on many comments on threads like this, is it any wonder people wonder why “conservatives” are given such a bad name about not caring about the poor?”
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You do realize, don’t you, that many of us here believe that this woman’s situation is not as she describes it to be? And many believe, or at least I do, that she is taking money from decent and compassionate folk under false pretenses? She is a “taker” and I do not believe she is poor.
You are both gracious.
Thank you.
I'll bet we could find out. Some FReepers have amazing internet sleuthing skills. It would be pretty interesting.
It would be good to find out her TRUE situation. I tried some googling and could only find where she was also doing earlier blogging.
She claims her name is Lillian Walther Tirado and she lives in Cedar City Utah. I can’t find her on White Pages. I assume Walther is her maiden name. Might be a nom de plume, though—who names a kid Lillian these days? That was from the early to mid 20th century.
Sorry. Belay that. Her first name (She says) is Linda, not Lillian.
Straight from Karl Marx.
She’s now up to $57,968 raised by 1,951 people in 10 days on her “gofundme.com” account. And she has yet again raised her goal—this time to $100,000. Whatever she raises will likely be considered gifts to her and be income tax free.
She’s convincing a lot of folks with her story.
“Right now, I have the ear of a lot of very talented people. They can help me do the thing properly. And so I am raising the cap to $100,000, and if this insanity doesn’t stop and we get there, I will make it $150K. I will keep raising it by unthinkable amounts until it stops. People are giving me these resources of their own free will, and they are doing it because they believe that I can do good.”
KILLERMARTINIS Thursday 11:41am
Hi, guys!
Okay, guys, it’s been a week and the Internet has stopped demanding every spare minute of my time. Now it’s demanding the same amount but I suddenly just have more time. So, I am back home with you guys. I missed you! One thing that did happen since I ran away for a bit is that I was given a computer that isn’t dying to work from. So all my gifs are gone.
We will not allow this to defeat us. We will rebuild (the gif library) as though we are unaffected. We will be strong. Messed-up hard drives cannot defeat us.
How’ve you guys been? What’s happening? Any amazing sex happening? (really, that’s the important question.)
http://groupthink.jezebel.com/hi-guys-1468992139
KILLERMARTINIS 11/18/13 11:02am
What to do now?
I have recently come into a little money. Which is to say, a hundred people have in varying amounts given me some money. There are no strings attached to this money, other than my commitment to use it to write a book with. The problem is that I am not a book-writer. So I am going to be doing a lot of research, and I wanted to let you all know what my plan is, so far, with this money that is already there. I woke up this morning and realized that I have enough for a month and then some. So I can, three days after posting, think about how to get started.
First, you should know that an agent called. I have agreed to be represented, and she thinks that it’s likely that I can write a book that a real publisher will want to fund. So I am using some of this time to write a proposal. She is being very patient with my absolute lack of idea about the thing I am meant to do. If I manage to become a real live author with an advance and everything, it won’t happen for quite a while yet. If, however, the publishers pass on it, at the end I will still have a working understanding of what I need to get onto paper to make it all work. And so I am focusing on that for this minute.
I am going to the dentist. One of the reasons that I have simply never bothered with self-care is that I have this set of literal open wounds poisoning my bloodstream. I am infected. I am in enough pain that I am certain my liver is recruiting other organs in order to stage a coup for survival due to the ibuprofen and acetaminophen. There seems very little point worrying about the relative fitness of a diseased body. But if the disease is being treated, it’s not a valid excuse anymore. To boot, the lack of visible and uncontrollable class markers like my teeth sort of undercuts my utter lack of care for the rest of my appearance. The nice thing about looking like you’re on the absolute bottom is that nobody expects you to be wearing matching clothes. Clean seems to be about the only requirement, and even that’s sort of negotiable. If you manage any sort of style people are impressed.
I have often laughed when people suggested that I try sleeping more or thinking about nutrition and exercise and said that I’d get right on that when money fell from the sky and I had time. Yeah, I know. It’s like one of those fairy tales where I didn’t exactly phrase it properly.
So I’m embarking on a little experiment. I will have the time, finally, to both accomplish the things I need to and also to cook food for my family instead of tossing a medley of frozen and canned food together and hoping that everyone agrees with me that it can technically be called dinner. I will be able to enforce bedtimes. I will sleep six solid hours every night and work out like people do. I will attempt to remember that I have hair before I leave the house instead of after.
And I will pay attention to myself, to the reactions both internal and external. Maybe this basic stuff really is the key, the reason that poverty is quite so trappy. Maybe if the headaches go away and I’m actually in a good mood more than once a month, I will find that I accomplish more. Maybe people will react to me differently. I don’t know. I will find out. I want to see how the world works if you are not visibly poor and sick.
So I will write, and I will try to live like people have always recommended. I have the time for both now. Thank you for that. If nothing else comes of this, I will have, at the end of the magic, been allowed to recharge a little, and I will have a book. That I wrote. And that’s all because of you guys.
L
http://killermartinis.kinja.com/i-have-recently-come-into-a-little-money-which-is-to-s-1466692680
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