The Truth About Welfare

You’ve seen it before. You go to the store to pick up a few items, or to do your regular shopping. You get to the check-out and in the line you notice the person paying. They pull out this card. It is definitely not an ATM card from any bank you recognize. It’s a welfare card.

It used to be food stamps. Before the welfare department came out with these quick and easy (debit like) cards, welfare recipients were given food stamps. Initially, in 1962, the FSP (Food Stamp Program) developed by the USDA distributed stamps or coupons with dollar denominations that were used to purchase food. This goes back even further when farms had surplus. The concept of the “food stamp” came from using orange or blue color coded stamps that provided certain benefits. When there was farm surplus, it was given out as “welfare”.

The problem is that the program has changed and is no longer used as intended. The welfare recipient you see buying food isn’t making nutritious and economically sound decisions at the grocery store. They’re buying expensive, prepackaged foods like Lunchables, pizza rolls, ice cream sandwiches and candy bars. It’s twenty dollars worth of crap and extravagance, which, by the way, comes the tax money from people who originally got that money the honest way. They earned it.

The current welfare system is built on theft – the theft of money through taxation that pays for welfare, and the theft of self-reliance that is perpetrated against the “beneficiaries” of welfare. The ruin of America will be able-bodied welfare recipients buying pizza rolls and ice cream sandwiches with other people’s money.

Welfare recipients today, on the whole, are frittering away unearned money on foolish and extravagant “food” purchases - steak, lobster, subs, roasted chicken, prepared foods, chips, dip, soda pop, ice cream, sugar drinks, and expensive breakfast cereal - while activists go on TV to say that poor people can’t afford to eat healthily, and are consequently fatter, and need more government-funded health care.

What a bunch of malarkey. They don’t need more, they need less - of everything. If the government is going to feed those who won’t feed themselves, there should be significant and positive restrictions, to deter waste and to foster frugality. Teach people to make the most of what they have, not to blow their allotment on crap.

The fact is that, in America, people can eat very cheaply, but not if they’re buying seven Lunchables for dinner. Instead, they waste the money so generously given them on non-essentials and on expensive convenience or prepared foods. When you are on welfare, there should be no treats – just the basics - which can be tasty, wholesome, nutritious and inexpensive. A 20-pound bag of potatoes doesn’t cost that much. Neither does a 10-pound bag of rice or a variety of store-label canned vegetables. Round steak and ground chuck can be had fairly reasonably, especially if you buy on sales days and in good quantity. If you’re smart, a food dollar will stretch.

Welfare should be an emergency condition of living, from which you would want to escape as quickly as possible. By creating a false living standard and allowing people to live off the dole as though they were self-sustaining only encourages idleness and a lazy society.

The type of foods purchasable with welfare money should be dramatically reduced to nothing more than inexpensive meat, potatoes and rice, vegetables, bread and dairy. No extravagance, no treats, no rip-off foods.

Either do it by programming those cards to only pay for certain types of items, or by creating welfare sections in supermarkets, where appropriate generic products are available and can be purchased with welfare cards. Either suggestion would substantially increase the buying power of welfare recipients, or open the door to reducing the cost to taxpayers.

Even if a fraction of the money now wasted on welfare food could be recovered, the benefit to recipients and taxpayers would be huge.

We should abandon the ridiculous notion that the “dignity” or “rights” of welfare recipients would be hurt by restricting what they can buy with the taxpayer’s dollar. If they want ice cream and pepperoni rolls, let them get a job. It’s not that hard a concept.

It may also pay to look at going back to giving those on the dole commodities, instead of money. We know how to distribute rice and powdered milk to foreigners; maybe we should try the same thing with our own people. And we may also want to explore the idea of having them work for what they get. Welfare recipients can perform services such as picking up litter on the roads, sweeping the floors at city hall, stapling papers in the courthouse - anything to return the dignity of work to the culture of welfare, anything to help them bear the burden of their own support. The way we do it now is a shame.

It is an immoral disservice to both groups – those who have it taken from them and those who have it given to them. It promotes waste and fraud. It destroys dignity and builds mutual resentment. It squanders the wages of the producers to satisfy the rich and unrealistic tastes of the idlers.

What mystifies me is why the people who run our government can’t seem to figure this out.

Iran

I know, this has been here for a couple of days with no text. Kind of a reminder, a reminder to me that there are people fighting and dying on the other side of the world for what we are giving away hand over fist... Freedom. Not a very popular subject right now I mean how can we focus on ANYTHING but the death of a famous pedophile. Seriously what could be more important than a former star dying of cancer or a comedian dying of natural causes? Yes they were famous, in one case infamous, but they are people that have no impact on the world or its function.

There is a fight on the other side of the world in which people just want their votes to count. They want the freedom to select their own leader. Granted the supreme leader and ruling council have vetted and approved all of the candidates they were voting on but there at least was the illusion that the people were able to pick the man they wanted to lead them. Well that illusion was stripped away when the ruling council decided they were firmly in control enough that they could claim millions of paper ballots were counted in the 2 hours after the polls close. 115% of registered voters were able to cast ballots in that election. ACORN must have been manning the polls and registering voters.

Atrocities are being committed, People are fighting for independence and we are more worried about celebrity death than we are the struggle for freedom. How many of you remember the run up to the 1981 presidential elections? We had a weak president (Jim Carter) that was unable to keep our country safe from foreign aggression and unable to assert enough of a presence and project enough power that hostages were taken in Tehran, Iran and we could not get our people out. Ronaldus Magnus (Ronald Reagan) was elected and the mullahs in Iran decided they should let them all go.

All the blustering and threats came down to the fact that they knew they didn’t have the forces to stand up to the might of the US if we decided we were going to go in and take back what is ours. In Carter, we didn’t have anyone that was willing to exert that pressure. In Reagan we did.

So what do we have here and now? Master Obama, it seems, is just like Clinton on foreign policy in that he tends to put his finger in the air and do what is popular. This, coupled with his domestic policy of, apparently, destroying the private sector, makes this man one of the most dangerous in our history. Now we have a state sponsor of terrorism that is in the process of imploding and we cannot even voice our support for those wanting freedom. If we as a nation, cannot stand up and support the causes that deserve that support… we will fail just on the constipation that will result from the lack of moral fiber in our system.

PBS has Banned God

Given the piss-poor quality of just about all television programming, our family does, with great scrutiny, watch the Public Broadcasting Station on occasion. I have to be careful, however, with the liberal rhetoric on Sesame Street. I don't want to have to explain why Bert and Ernie are now partners. It's enough to try explaining the whole "Cookie Monster" confusion.

In case anyone is unaware, PBS provides some "educational" and science based programming at taxpayers’ expense. Basically, it’s welfare TV.

Well, in the last 10 years or so, PBS has been ratcheting up their liberal standards. The latest is their move to forbid “sectarian” programming. More specifically, they want God to leave PBS and head to the Internet. The new policies say if you are going to be a PBS station, you can’t have any religious broadcasting. PBS has decided that it will not allow its affiliates to carry any religious shows. If anywhere on their schedule, at any hour of the day or night, a religious show is aired; they are kicked out of PBS.

THAT color isn’t allowed in the rainbow.

This was an issue earlier this week when it looked like five long-time PBS stations were going to be excommunicated for having religious shows. In every instance, this programming went back for decades, but in the new world of acceptance, tolerance, diversity and multiculturalism, religion is, of course, unacceptable.

Four of the stations run what most of us call Mass For Shut-Ins. Every week, a priest comes out to the studio, says Mass, and it is broadcast. Traditionally, this has been for people who were unable to get to church, typically because they were ill or elderly.

Somehow, this offends the liberal minds at PBS. Somehow, an hour of that in the week violates their standards and cannot be tolerated.

The fifth station was KBYU – at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.

BYU is owned by the Mormon Church, and for years, KBYU as broadcast devotionals, and excerpts of speeches from the Mormons’ big twice-a-year General Conference. These are religious talks. They are broadcast in a community comprised of a very high percentage of Mormon people. They’ve been doing it that way for decades.

And PBS said it had to end.

Somehow, this offends the liberal minds at PBS. Somehow, an hour of that in the week violates their standards and cannot be tolerated. The new policy states that stations involved must begin the process of moving their religious programming from their TV product to their Internet product. That means that PBS wants the stations to figure out a way to get the shows off the air and onto the web. Instead of tuning in, they want people to have to click in, which, while terribly fashionable, is not practical. No matter what your 13-year-old tells you, people are more prone to watch TV on TV than on some other medium or device.

So what should we make of this, and what should we do about it?

Well, we should see all the talk about diversity for exactly what it is – bull crap.

The political correctness that permeates this most-liberal of all television networks demands what it is not willing to give. In the name of diversity, it enforces orthodoxy. Instead of parity, it wants priority. While preaching tolerance, it practices intolerance. Its species of inclusion does not include the mainstream.

A network that would angrily denounce any sort of “censorship” for its “journalists,” clearly practices censorship on its affiliates. While it claims to practice unrestrained freedom in its work, it refuses any such freedom to programmers or believers.

And once again, religion is discriminated against in American society. Worse, this discrimination is done at taxpayer expense. In a world where the marketplace supports hundreds of channels, PBS still clings to the lie that society somehow needs one channel to provide their standards of programming at the expense of the taxpayer.

Well, it doesn’t. Somehow Nova and Big Bird would still be ridiculously profitable, even if they lost their PBS welfare check.

The bottom line is this: Religious people should return the favor. If they are not welcome on PBS, then PBS shouldn’t be welcome in their homes, their pocketbooks or voting booths.

If PBS can’t give religious people anything, then probably religious people shouldn’t give PBS anything. Maybe it’s time to stop donating money and maybe it’s time to contact politicians and have them stop donating money as well.

Resist the temptation to donate during the telethons, even if they DO put the best shows on during their campaigning, just to get you to pay.

If you think PBS should ban all religious programming, then support PBS. If you think PBS is wrong to impose this blanket ban, and then oppose PBS.

It’s as simple as that.

Liberty

I would like to bring something to the fore-front.

Liberty's husband has come down with a virus that is suspected to be the H1-N1 or 'swine flu' and they are in need of your prayers. the kids are helping as much as they can but a mother/wife's job is never done as you all well know.

Update 6/17/2009
the verdict is in and it is not swine flu. that is a good thing but Dan is still really sick. please remember them in your prayers.

Hobby Or Career?

Some of you people (another shamelessly stolen phrase from Limbaugh) have been telling me that I write too many political articles. So here’s something more in the technical realm.

Lately I’ve been involved in some fairly ambitious web projects – as in web design projects. Actually, I have been doing web design for some time now but they have all been my own personal web sites. These recent project have been for other organizations and individuals (see ref. below).

Yes, they are time consuming and keep me up at all hours of the night. I guess I enjoy doing web design because I cannot seem to quit or turn down new projects. Since about this time last year when I began the first Boy Scout web site it has been non-stop.

So far, I have not accepted any monetary compensation for the work. I am holding on to the idea that I get the experience and increase my skills, rather than receive pay. I realize this is, of course, a naïve way to look at it and also I am probably getting taken to the cleaners. I also realize that for some of my work, businesses and organizations would expect to pay several thousand dollars.

Which brings me to the focus of this article. I’d like to ask a question and, by the way, I do not have an answer. When you discover that you have a marketable skill, one that you do not normally use on your regular day job, how do you decide when to take the hobby to a professional level? And how do you do it?

Much of this thought process of mine has been driven by two separate but related events. The first was my experience moving to Utah with no job offers to speak of and no real career outlook here. Here I was trying to find a home and dragging my family out to Utah without any realistic way to earn a living. Why, you ask? Well, at the time it seemed the right thing to do. The “IT bubble” had not yet burst and so I didn’t anticipate too much of a problem securing a job. But I quickly realized once I arrived that not only was the IT field right on the verge of undergoing a major disruption, but also that the job market in Utah has always been depressed.

Four years went by going from one crappy job to another just to pay bills. It wasn’t until the day I was about to put the house on the market that I finally landed the job I have and it has so far worked out well.

The other issue is that the economy is in the toilet and, like you; I am trying to consider my options and try to come up with a plan in the event that I might lose my current employment.

One of the parts of this plan is to leverage any marketable skills I may have. It is fine to say that most people will change careers 3 times in their working lives. It is quite another thing to implement that change. No one I have ever talked to has ever been enthusiastic about changing careers. It is a difficult and costly endeavor. However, because this country has voted for a socialist and fascist president who has already implemented economic policies akin to the European Union and is working hard to dissolve any free market system we have, I felt it best to at least entertain the idea of diversifying my skills and attempt to bring more to the professional table.

My dilemma is when to take the leap of faith. How do I determine when I have the necessary skills to move from a pastime to a career? Like I said, I have no answers, only questions. But I am a realist. A colleague at work reminded me it is a “dog-eat-dog” world out there. The fierce competition in the IT world has grown to new heights. You’ll either make it, or you won’t. And it is even more difficult working freelance. There is always someone better, faster, more skilled, and worth more money. I would be stupid to think otherwise.

Still, I keep getting requests for my work. Either people like what I do, or they like that I don’t charge them, I am not certain which, but one thing is certain. I like doing web design and there appears to be some interest in my work. I still do not know where this will eventually lead. It might be a career change, or it might be just some nice charity work for non-profit organizations. Who knows? But I am having fun doing it.

* ref: samples of Pete's design work - Wood Badge, Sew Sweet Designs, Bartlett Dental

American Capitalism

Well it has been said over and over. I personally tell people as often as i can that the sprint to the left since the election of Obama has been impressive. The bail outs, the firing of auto executives by the elected leader of the free world. Now Congress thinks they have the right to tell companies what they can pay their employees. We as Americans should be ashamed that we have allowed this to happen. The left has stolen elections (Ala ACORN) intimidated voters (Ala The new Black Panthers) and our own justice system is unable to take corrective actions beyond telling one of those 'panthers' he cannot display a weapon within 100' of a polling place. Seriously! Is there any doubt about where we are heading? The Department of homeland security has put out document that tell law enforcement that if you are 'pro life, pro gun, religious and ex-military' you are more than likely an extremist and need to be watched.

The kicker is this article in Pravda American capitalism gone with a whimper. Pravda is a Russian News paper. you remember them right? Russia? the folks that brought us the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics for 40 years or so after the second world war? Yeah the Communist countries that have been trying out free markets and Capitalism for the last few years. you would think they know socialism when they see it. and let me tell you, they see it. Here is an excerpt:

The final collapse has come with the election of Barack Obama. His speed in the past three months has been truly impressive. His spending and money printing has been a record setting, not just in America's short history but in the world. If this keeps up for more then another year, and there is no sign that it will not, America at best will resemble the Wiemar Republic and at worst Zimbabwe.

The world sees us shouting that we are the last bastion of free market capitalism. They see us and snicker because they can see the road ahead.