Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Food stamps a helping hand, not a handout
Knoxville News Sentinel ^ | 9/7/12 | Pam Strickland

Posted on 09/07/2012 10:14:47 AM PDT by SmithL

"Please don't feed the animals."

That phrase makes sense when talking about bears and deer, turkeys and elk in the Great Smoky Mountains.

It's quite another matter when discussing whether to give food to human beings who need help because circumstances have left them wanting for one the most basic of aspects of life.

That is unless you are David Fowler, president of the Family Action Council of Tennessee — ironic, that name.

Fowler, a former Tennessee state legislator, posted on his personal Facebook page recently that the National Park Service's "stated reason for the policy is because the animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves," Fowler wrote in the post. "This ends today's lesson."

Fowler apparently thinks that the 1,341,520 Tennesseans who received food stamps in July, the last month for which statistics are available, are less than human.

He says that's not what he meant. That what he meant was that "Government creating human dependence on government demeans human dignity and is antithetical to human freedom government is intended to protect."

(Excerpt) Read more at knoxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Government; Politics/Elections; US: Tennessee
KEYWORDS: economy; foodstamps; obama; obamanomics; welfare; yourtaxdollarsatwork
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-57 next last

1 posted on 09/07/2012 10:14:53 AM PDT by SmithL
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SmithL
That what he meant was that "Government creating human dependence on government demeans human dignity and is antithetical to human freedom government is intended to protect."

Hmmmm, this quote sounds familiar:

"The lessons of history, confirmed by the evidence immediately before me, show conclusively that continued dependence upon relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration fundamentally destructive to the national fibre. To dole out relief in this way is to administer a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the human spirit. It is inimical to the dictates of sound policy. It is in violation of the traditions of America."

-Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1935 State of the Union Address

2 posted on 09/07/2012 10:18:33 AM PDT by dfwgator (I'm voting for Ryan and that other guy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
It's quite another matter when discussing whether to give food to human beings who need help because circumstances have left them wanting for one the most basic of aspects of life.

What the writer leaves out is who is giving the food, and under what circumstances.

I have no problem feeding the hungry, because I feel that I'm required to by my faith.

Having a gun pointed at me and cash removed from my wallet so the hungry can be fed by the government is something else entirely.

/johnny

3 posted on 09/07/2012 10:19:27 AM PDT by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

“Please don’t feed the animals.”

Bad analogy.

Should have used:

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Libs will always twist and contort another’s statement to suit their perverted political needs.


4 posted on 09/07/2012 10:19:41 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (Harry Reid [PERVERT-NV] has Vickie-the-goat in lingerie & stiletto heels, tied-up in his office.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

Bullsh!t!

LLS


5 posted on 09/07/2012 10:20:16 AM PDT by LibLieSlayer ("if it looks like you are not gonna make it you gotta get mean, I mean plumb mad-dog mean" J. Wales)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL
I say this everytime the subject comes up.

Food stamps are a farm subsidy administered by the Dept. of Agriculture

6 posted on 09/07/2012 10:21:21 AM PDT by lewislynn ( What does the global warming movement and the Fairtax movement have in commom? Misinformation)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper

The one’s that get me are those that buy steaks and lobster while many working people eat fish sticks and ground beef. Then the steak eaters send the bill to the ground beef eaters.


7 posted on 09/07/2012 10:23:44 AM PDT by papageo
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

Food stamps have become a staple to people who haven’t worked in generations; somehow while the media pretends we have “people going to bed hungry” in America we have welfare queens that can’t fit through a double door without turning sideways (and the diabetes “epidemic” to prove it).


8 posted on 09/07/2012 10:23:53 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic war against white males (and therefore white families).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: carriage_hill

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.”

Build a man a fire and you keep him warm for one night. Set the man on fire and you keep him warm for the rest of his life.


9 posted on 09/07/2012 10:24:43 AM PDT by circlecity
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

When I was young the poor people were skinny and looking for any kind of work. Now the biggest health problem among the poor is obesity and they don’t want any kind of work (It would be a pay cut).


10 posted on 09/07/2012 10:29:54 AM PDT by fella ("As it was before Noah, so shall it be again")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

>>Fowler apparently thinks that the 1,341,520 Tennesseans who received food stamps in July, the last month for which statistics are available, are less than human.<<

I would love to see just how many of the 1,341,520 receiving food stamps are actually using them for their designed purpose; and not trading them for cash so they can buy smokes, booze, and drugs.

I’d also like to see just how many of the 1,341,520 are 1) working and just need a little help, 2) out of work and just need a little help, or 3) 3rd or 4th generation shiftless, lazy deadbeats who can work but simply don’t want to because they can milk the system and breed.


11 posted on 09/07/2012 10:32:47 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow (Heisenberg / Pinkman 2012!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SmithL

Considering that food, second only to air, is one of the highest priorities in survival, every first dollar that every individual has should go towards it.

Food stamps do not subsidize food. An honest person will spend any and every dollar available to feed their family at the expense of comforts and lifestyle.

Food stamps subsidize cell phones and gas, car payments, and everything else that the receiver is then free to spend those first dollars on.


12 posted on 09/07/2012 10:33:01 AM PDT by Can i say that here?
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JRandomFreeper

100%. I have no qualms with helping those in need. Those who will never attempt to help themselves is something totally different.


13 posted on 09/07/2012 10:34:27 AM PDT by wiggen (The teacher card. When the racism card just won't work.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: circlecity; carriage_hill

“Give a man a fish and feed him for a day. Don’t teach a man to fish...and feed yourself. He’s a grown man...fishing’s not that hard.” - Ron Swanson


14 posted on 09/07/2012 10:35:47 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow (Heisenberg / Pinkman 2012!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: circlecity

LMAO!


15 posted on 09/07/2012 10:36:06 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (Harry Reid [PERVERT-NV] has Vickie-the-goat in lingerie & stiletto heels, tied-up in his office.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: fella

True story - I offered a $13/hr job once to a young lady who applied (factory work). After doing the math, she turned the job down, saying “if I make that much, they’ll take away my HUD assistance, my rent will go up, and my food stamps will go down.”

We’re paying for a generation of losers who have zero incentive to improve their lot in life.


16 posted on 09/07/2012 10:40:40 AM PDT by ItsOurTimeNow (Heisenberg / Pinkman 2012!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: ItsOurTimeNow

I just wonder how many, in the absence of food stamps, would have gotten off their butt to do what they had to do to get food?


17 posted on 09/07/2012 10:40:40 AM PDT by dfwgator (I'm voting for Ryan and that other guy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: papageo
while many working people eat fish sticks


18 posted on 09/07/2012 10:42:43 AM PDT by dfwgator (I'm voting for Ryan and that other guy.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: ItsOurTimeNow
Okay, I'll sheepishly admit it. I'm 62 and fished for 3-4yrs as a kid, and never caught a darned thing, except seaweed and a waterlogged carcass of "something". Never caught a fish.

***World's Worst Fisherman*** Award Winner, In Perpetuity.

Now, firearms are a whole 'nother matter...

19 posted on 09/07/2012 10:43:00 AM PDT by Carriage Hill (Harry Reid [PERVERT-NV] has Vickie-the-goat in lingerie & stiletto heels, tied-up in his office.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: fella
When I was young the poor people were skinny and looking for any kind of work.

The War On Poverty has been won by making such work illegal outright (i.e.: minimum wage).

To ward off the inevitable Supreme Court ruling that work associations cannot be prohibited based on arbitrary wage limits, the welfare system guarantees anyone will get a minimum income about 20x that of world median wages.

Ergo poor obesity.

20 posted on 09/07/2012 10:43:24 AM PDT by ctdonath2 ($1 meals: http://abuckaplate.blogspot.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-57 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson