Posted on 08/26/2011 4:26:26 PM PDT by danielmryan
It was the first Monday of the month, and a line numbering more than a hundred spilled from the doors of the District's largest food stamp office and down the sidewalk nearly a half-block to the corner of Seventh and H streets NE.
Children darted among the adults as the procession moved at a funereal pace toward the building -- a 10-minute walk from the U.S. Capitol -- where food stamps are dispensed. The hustlers who trade drugs, stolen goods and cash for food stamps waited patiently outside for people to emerge clutching books of stamps.
"For a $65 book, I am not going to give you over $30," a man wearing a leather jacket said as he and his partner did a brisk business almost within earshot of a security guard posted at the front door.
(Excerpt) Read more at web.archive.org ...
Yeah, the longer transactions are a pain— I worked as a grocery cashier briefly, and WIC sales always took the longest of any type. I suppose in a perfect world we could track the WIC-eligible food by bar code and combine it with the debit card that’s replaced the physical food stamps, so you could swipe the card and the system would deduct the cost of the WIC items. Of course, that would probably be too easy.
Really? Next April 15, send the IRS a letter saying you've made taxable income, but refuse to pay any taxes on it. See what happens.
They will start by attempting to seize assets. If they are unable to grab your assets, they will send people to arrest you. If you resist arrest the guns will come out.
ALL government power comes from their ability to send men with guns to enforce compliance. If they did not have a means to enforce compliance, with the threat of death behind it all, they would just be an impotent advisory body.
That doesn’t make any sense, if you want to push a left wing view then get on it.
What is it about this statement that bothers you?
“If you are a Christian, then make your point without bringing Christ into your argument for government.”
Our current system invites abuse. I have nothing against good food for the poor. It's the system that needs to be changed.
Yes they do, Lazamataz and Catsrus.
I have a guy who was a good friend back in my college days. Last December I found out that he had been staying in a homeless shelter because health problems had made him unable to find work, and he had slipped through the cracks of the "social services" system (I'm guessing they had no interest in helping some white male), so I invited him to stay with me.
I've taken in friends down on their luck many times over the last few decades -- guy friends, female friends who needed to leave abusive relationships and needed a couch to sleep on for a few weeks.
Now, how about you tell us of your exploits. The reason I ask is that over the years I've noticed that the ones who advocate most strongly for more government, prefer to mainly be generous with OTHER people's money.
You are clueless. You brought forth Christ in as your whipping boy to guilt people who you have NO clue as to what they do or give .... is it not also Written about those that publicly give their alms for their own bragging show???? Well I will not play your highly pious game.
How do you know that I do not or have not given basic cooking classes with alllll materials supplied? I do not have the need to spend my time putting out for all to think of me as a generous giver. But I assure you that what I give is as would have been called 'first fruits'.
I think maybe you might gain a bit of 'food' IF you took the time to read the parable of the sower. The parable and then the explanation. Christ did say He foretold all things and we are right on cue as to what He said need be.
One more thing any gardener/farmer not on public assistance has the most humility of any person on this planet. AND my advantage of having a garden space came about from many years of bean and rice and living on what most people would call the less fortunate.
Your comments are so off base that they don’t make sense. You want to use Jesus’s words to justify your selfishness. People are hurting in this economy, and none of you will ever know the extent I have helped people over the years - and you shouldn’t. I don’t mind people who need food stamps getting them, even if my tax dollars pay for them. I may be in a position one day to need them. None of us can see the future. I’ve put into the system, as most of you have, and one day you may need to reap from what you’ve sown. Just saying....... If someone wants to deny a poor little child some ice cream, then you are one heartless bas****
RE your #13. The article if from 1992.
What people on this thread are objecting to are
1) Rampant fraud in the food stamp system (and the welfare system in general), and
2) People using the "safety net" as a hammock, sucking up tax money for generations.
We would rather be able to choose who we are generous with, rather than having our money extracted at gunpoint. You are welcome to be generous with your own money and resources. Being generous with other people's money (which is what's happening when you vote for government-funded welfare) is still being a party to robbery.
I agree with your sentiment. I have no problem helping the truly needy. Problem is, we’re carrying the other 80-90% of the welfare recipeints along with them. Pruning the freeloaders from all government programs would go a long way in resolving this country’s problems.
I don't think it's possible to prune the freeloaders from a government program, since it involves too many judgement calls from government bureaucrats who cannot be relied upon to be advocates for the taxpayers' desires. The bureaucracy bends to political pressure, and the worst freeloaders may be very active in trying to pressure politicians.
Private, charitable organizations are better at this, because they need to satisfy their contributors above all else.
I totally disagree with Catsrus's premise, but who the hell are you to come along here and bark out a command not to use a particular argument? Are you a moderator? No? Then screw off.
I mean this is normal behavior for you, you are a dick to most of the people you post to, but it's long overdue that someone points it out.
Repeatedly.
Wrong.
Stop paying your income taxes. Let the government know that you willfully will refuse to file returns. The government will issue you a summons for court. Refuse to go. Then, when the government comes to apprehend you, refuse to come. You will be held at gunpoint.
Stop paying your property taxes. You will be foreclosed on. Refuse to leave your (well, now THEIR) house when they come to take possession. You will be held at gunpoint.
Go purchase some clothes at WalMart. Inform the cashier that while you are willing to pay for the merchandise, you refuse to pay the sales tax. When the cashier refuses to continue the transaction, lay the money on the counter and attempt to leave. The security guard will attempt to detain you. Refuse. The cops will be called. When they arrive, refuse to cooperate and you will be held at gunpoint.
Are you a liberal? That's a damned liberal kind of argument.
Ok. I'm heartless. I want to deny a poor, dirty little urchin an ice cream. I embrace my inner heartlessness. I really don't care what you or others think.
Christ has said:
Luke 6:20-21 Then he looked up at his disciples and said: 'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
Therefore, Christ instructs us to be poor, hungry, and to weep, if we wish the kingdom of Heaven.
Food stamps prevent us from being hungry, therefore food stamps are against Christ's teachings.
Food stamps are a sure road to Hell. STOP SERVING SATAN AND PUSHING FOR FOOD STAMPS!
6Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us. 7For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you; 8Neither did we eat any man's bread for nought; but wrought with labour and travail night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any of you: 9Not because we have not power, but to make ourselves an ensample unto you to follow us. 10For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat. 11For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies. 12Now them that are such we command and exhort by our Lord Jesus Christ, that with quietness they work, and eat their own bread. 13But ye, brethren, be not weary in well doing.The problem is not with the occasional people who, through unanticipated personal disaster, find themselves in a bad situation. But these are a small minority of welfare recipients. The issue we have is with those who WILL NOT work, who prefer to live off government money rather than do something productive to earn their own bread. The problem comes from those who crank out kid after kid in the expectation that feeding them is the responsibility of others, and can't be bothered to spend the effort to raise them to be productive adults.
I would say what I would like to do with this latter category of leeches, but it would get me banned.
The Bible STRICTLY advises us to give NO CHARITY, not even on a personal level, without extremely stringent requirements -- and to GIVE NOTHING TO THE YOUNG.
Give me back that ice cream, ya immoral little leeching kid. (snatch)
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