Posted on 02/13/2006 6:24:38 PM PST by Ellesu
At the grocery store I worked for, WIC users would receive smaller-denomination WIC coupons in change. They'd only get cash back if the change due was under a dollar.
While the system could certainly work better, Xena's suggestion of using the WIC system (it's now the Lone Star Card in Texas) which limits items that can be purchased, would be a good start. I think that would fit in with Centurian2000's suggestion, also. gbaker, your story is not at all unusual. After a tornado in Texas that affected about a five mile by two mile wide swath, people came from forty and fifty miles away for food, ice and furniture.
These are things that have to be looked at in the future. Even restricting items purchased can't keep someone from buying $150 designer jeans instead of $12 Walmart jeans, but it could put a stop to tattoos, fancy restaurants, etc.
BTW, as an aside, having worked emergency services for a long time in all types of neighborhoods, I've noticed a lot of people on welfare living in government subsidized housing who have been able to come up with enough money for $2000 to $3000 worth of tattoos. This still comes back to the fact that a lot of these people needed the money for food, but were too stupid to save the money, and blew it on junk. you can't give (some) people more money than they can waste or throw away.
(it really is)
Doing what they do best...besides BSing their constituencies.
Why did we need to give people 2000 dollars in the first place. It seems to me if you don't have insurance, you shouldn't complain about living in a refugee camp with free food anyway. Where is there a freedom to a high standard of living. Once your basic food, and shelter needs are met, you can stop asking me for money.
Doc, I live by the sea. But I am PREPARED. If you want to find a first responder first look in the mirror. I am prepared to survive nicely for at least two weeks. Set up and ready. My hurricane shelter is 12 inches thick solid reinforced concrete on all four sides with solid door and reinforced jams (steel and lagged).
Got zip from the feds after Charley. I was handing out supplies to the Guard.
FEMA = Darwinism interrupted. Mother nature intended natural disasters to clean out the gene pool.
I am a reasonably self sufficient human being. The good news was on the Thursday before the storm, I had a client pay him in cash. Almost $4k. Thank God, I didn't deposit it in the bank, b/c my atm cards didn't work for four days. So, I had plenty of money for meals, gas, hotels etc.
But I'll tell you what. You leave home with four hours notice, with the clothes on your back and then be told you can't come home for month or two. I guarantee you, you'll be first in line for one of those debit cards.
I really thing the $2k cash was to keep the natives from getting restless. If that meant lap dances or colt-45 so be it.
I think so too. If we say we're going to support families, WIC is a good program that supports pregnant women and little kids. You can be working and still qualify (for those FReepers who think only working people deserve food). It sets out exactly what they can buy and I can think there's not much fraud. There's probably plenty of back dealing between the gubmit and the food companies involved, tho, but you can't have everything.
"four hours notice"
I'm curious. How did you only get four hours notice? Katrina had a bead on the Gulf coast for at least three days.
How did you have only 4 hours notice? I reside in Mississippi and knew Katrina was heading our way DAYS before she hit.
I am a fairly busy guy. On Friday, I was working and then had dinner with my friend. Didn't check e-mail, didn't watch the news. It was my understanding that the storm was going to miss New Orleans, even late on Friday.
On Saturday, I had a meeting in the morning and met my wife for lunch. We decided to go to Home Depot and board up the house. Then we left at 8 pm Saturday night. The one smart thing I did was fill up with gas Saturday morning as the gas stations in New Orleans were closed by the time we evacuated.
I am sorry I didn't have time to rent a U-haul to move all possessions out of the city. But next hurricane season, I'll make sure to ping you with my evacuation plan to see if it meets with your approval.
The storm was supposed to hit the Florida peninsula, this was even as late as Friday night. So I would imagine MS had notice. In New Orleans, the evacuation order wasn't given until Sunday morning. I left Sat. night when it became clear the situation wasn't good.
*sigh*
They are not 'unusable'.
They are stuck in Hope, Arkansas because the stupid politicians in Louisiana don't want them in their backyard. To *ell with the people who need them!
the mayor and City Council can't seem to get beyond politics as they continue to argue over where the trailers should go. In the meantime, thousands are in need of the trailers.
Too many politicians and residents saying: "NIMBY - NOT IN MY BACKYARD!"
In its search for places to put them, the agency has run into two roadblocks: a lack of basic services such as water, sewers and electricity, and the not-in-my-backyard attitude of many residents who dont want their communities turned into giant trailer parks.
A police officer patrols a row of travel trailers at a Federal Emergency Management Agency staging area on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2005, in Selma, Ala. The federal government is acquiring temporary homes for victims of Hurricane Katrina far faster than it can distribute them, with more than 9,000 campers and mobile homes now sitting empty at staging areas awaiting delivery.
Not only did the LOUISIANA politicians fail the citizens of N.O. before, during and after Katrina, they are still failing to get their **** together! All they know how to do is stick their hand out for MONEY. Actual HELP can't be embezzled but CASH can be spent on ANYTHING they WANT such as remodeling the GOVERNOR'S MANSION or rebuilding Landrieu's lake home.
Exactly.
As somebody else posted on here yesterday concerning Michael Brown's testimony in that hearing on Monday (when he was so nasty about the administration, "The press and the Democrats, after demanding Michael Brown's head on a platter all last September, are now in the position of trying to sew it back on because he's trashing Bush now."
Well, Looterguy and his buddies stole all the smokes and booze they needed, as well as everything else that wasn't nailed down, and all nailed down things they could manage to pry up.
Being the generous nation that we are, we donated millions in food to them, so much so, that it's going to waste sitting around unused and unwanted.
So what's a poor confused looter gonna do? He's sitting on a pile of free food, which conveniently conceals the pile of free electronics, jewelry, booze, clothes, etc... they looted, and now, they are being handed thousands of dollars in cash. They have nothing else to spend it on, so why not go get a $450 tatoo. Why not spend $150 at the condom store? Hey, we should be glad that person spent the money on condoms. If only more of these welfare riders would use condoms, a few major problems could be solved in just 2 or 3 generations.
It is a good program, and we sure could have used it back in the day. Milk, juice, peanut butter, eggs, cheese, cereal. Heck, you can practically live off the darn things. Sometimes people need help to make ends meet.
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