Posted on 02/12/2011 5:17:15 PM PST by BenLurkin
This week, state Sen. Michael Rubio will introduce legislation that would prohibit food stamps from being used to purchase "junk food" or prepared meals at fast-food restaurants.
"The question is what should we be using taxpayer funds to purchase," the Bakersfield Democrat said Tuesday. "In my opinion, we should be focusing on what people need, not what they want."
Those needs include foods found in the traditional food pyramid, he said, including breads and cereals, meats, beans, nuts, dairy products and other protein sources, and lots of fruits and vegetables.
Rubio's idea is not yet an official Senate bill. But it came to light Tuesday when he appeared before the Fresno County Board of Supervisors to argue against a proposal that would have allowed disabled and homeless recipients in that county to use food stamps -- now accessed through a debit card -- to purchase restaurant foods.
(Excerpt) Read more at bakersfield.com ...
My daughter lived with a poor family in Nicaragua for several months while working at a school. She ate beans and rice 3 times a day, every day. She didn't come back to the states malnourished. She did however look forward to a nice steak dinner. And a hot shower.
Good post.
No cheddar soup for YOU!
My SIL uses her food stamps to buy tuna for her 3 cats rather than paying cash for cat food, thus allowing her to have some extra money for (expensive) cosmetics and vodka.
She collected food stamps based on having her (lazy) daughter living there. She continued to collect the higher amound for nearly a year after the girl left. And suffered no penalty for failing to report it.
How many people getting food stamps have you known that *don’t* smoke cigarettes and own pets?
I can only share with you what I know. I work for a private company and I handle the TANF caseload and FSET(Food Stamp Education and Training Program) in Florida. According to the TANF legislation signed by Clinton(election year) required cash assistance recipients participate in community service or educational activity. The timeline is 48 months. My folks are at Goodwill(or similar agency) over 30 hrs per week to do their community service. So, that kinda squashes some misconceptions I hope.
Second, the FSET program is now currently voluntary but soon to be mandatory in Florida. It requires Food Stamp recipients to either job search and provide proof or be engaged in a community service activity or educational activity.
People aren’t necessarily sitting on their asses like people think. Yes, I think 4yrs is too long for Temporary Cash Assistance. And yes, I hate my job and despise getting up every morning and dealing with the majority of these morons..
Thank you.
Oh, and after their food purchase was rung up, they paid cash for a carton of cigarettes :-(
Thanks for your input. And you have my sincere sympathies for your daily grind.
Obviously, there are plenty of exceptions to generalizations, especially some of the ones I make. /grin
Still, I believe that we must (but we won’t) rethink our approaches to helping and dealing with the poor. We need to start over at the most basic and fundamental level. Tweaking a flawed concept won’t make it less flawed.
” My mother was a home extension agent who moved to rural eastern North Carolina in 1950 to teach poor women how to plan meals and cook them as economically as possible, how to raise children, and in general how to keep house.”
“I am not a big fan of the government telling me what I can and cannot eat,...”
So,you don’t particularly like the government telling you what you can and cannot eat,but you have no problem with the government telling “poor women” not only how to plan meals and cook them,but also how to raise children and keep house. As if poverty precludes the knowledge of how to do those things. And.. it’s okay for the poor to suffer the indignity of the government interference and condescension.
But... you wouldn’t like it yourself...would you like the government agents to come in and tell you how to raise your children or keep your house? I think not based on your comments here.
“We would be money ahead to remove extension agents from rose gardens and put them back in kitchens and nurseries.”
IMHO it should go even farther as in no convience food at all on food stamps.
You and I think a like.It should also be given in the amount needed as in for every person to feed they get so many pounds of X.
Sounds like somebody isn’t reporting their income honestly to the welfare office that handles the food stamps.
I guess you manage to smile when you cash your paycheck though, don't you?
Just curious, do you not consider yourself a poverty pimp?
Who pays your private company to deal with those “morons”?
Why even work there, if you hate it?
I am going to guess your “company” is mostly funded/paid for by my taxes, and that your job is just a “make work government project”, that really would be better handled by an unpaid volunteer, who would probably do the job better than you do, or at least with a healthier attitude towards the people who are forced to deal with you, to qualify for “benefits”.
I hope Gov. Scott cracks down hard on the NGOs that make millions of dollars by pretending to “help the poor and disadvantaged” in Florida.
When they first started food stamps I thought certain things were not allowed. They should not be, just basic good food. We have too many obese people.
” I guess you manage to smile when you cash your paycheck though, don’t you”
No, I don’t smile. I’m abused at work and do the work of 3 people. I handle two programs in two counties. I’m glad to have a job though. I’m a grad student and applying for other jobs daily. Had an interview last week. Our company gets paid by participation. We have to get 50% participation to get paid(the company). We get our ass chewed if people tell us to pound sand). Like we can control these people.... Very hard work actually.. I’ve been LEO and a social worker and this has been the most taxing for the least amount of money I’ve made in years. I’m barely making it. Here lies the resentment.. I don’t have an iphone or 20,000 car, free childcare, healthcare, cash, food, etc.... I’m out in a month I hope. It has drained my optimism about the american people..
.
And we have a confessed cokehead, pothead, alcoholic in the Oval Office right now eating $100/lb. Wagya beef on the US taxpayers dime!!!
.
I have a former friend, much like your sister in law.
She was rather proud that she was able to game various public assistance programs to the point of having more than double my own annual income, acquired through honest work.
She thinks I am stupid, for paying my own way through life.
I think she is a filthy criminal, and I cut off all contact with her.
BTW, she was born and raised in a white, upper middle class “union/Democrat Party” family.
She just refuses to work for a living, since it is so much smarter to game government assistance instead.
Why do we not demand a more active and robust Fraud, Waste, and Abuse agency, and pull the funds to pay for it from those currently going to Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and PBS?
“How many people getting food stamps have you known that *don’t* smoke cigarettes and own pets?”
Me for one. I’m on them (since August 2010) and I don’t smoke or own pets.
Mandatory drug testing, to include alcohol and nicotine.
Stamps (now EBT cards) to be issued weekly at the end of an hour long “budget gourmet” cooking class.
Not usable for restaurants or convenience stores.
Loss of voting rights while receiving benefits.
Me for one. I’m on them (since August 2010) and I don’t smoke or own pets.
OK. That's one. In your honest opinion, do you see yourself as a "typical" recipient?
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.