How The Conservative Obsession With Policing Poor People's Shopping Carts Got Started | ThinkProgress

In the long run, this is what it boils down too,

The law would also make it harder to buy spaghetti sauces and spices to flavor recipes, a constraint seemingly at odds with conservative rhetoric about what’s wrong with public assistance programs.

“We hear an awful lot in the post-welfare reform era about moving people to self-sufficiency,” Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) legal director Ellen Vollinger told ThinkProgress. “Telling adults they can’t make the same choices within the grocery store that others make, and then prepare the meals they want with the ingredients they want, doesn’t seem at all consistent with the argument that these changes move people to self-sufficiency. I always thought that was a little strange.”

I call it the "complication factor."  Make things complex and confusing, that individuals who honestly need the help will give up in frustration; too many unnecessary hoops to jump through.  Those "gaming-the-system" not so much, it is a game to them; they have nothing to lose.

But most of all, the administrators argued that even a perfectly-designed ban would fix a non-existent problem. “[I]mplementation of this waiver would perpetuate the myth that participants do not make wise food purchasing decisions,” the rejection letter said, when “research has shown [they] are smart shoppers” whose nutrition intake varies little from that of higher-income people.

Instead of focusing on how much soda one drinks, or whether I supplement my protein intake with seafood on occasion (I don't eat beef), finding a workable solution should be paramount.  “It isn’t the case that SNAP clients are less interested in good nutrition than anybody else,” Vollinger said. “They’re very interested in it. They just can’t afford it.”  Instead of cutting budgets, programs that show a promise of working should be encouraged.

The agency’s more recent attempts to incentivize healthy shopping and eating in SNAP are more aggressive than education. Food stamps recipients can swipe their EBT cards at farmers’ markets and get twice as much to spend in market-only voucher tokens, thanks to a $100 million program tucked into the 2014 Farm Bill. (Mississippi rescinded its request for a junk food ban waiver because it decided “to focus on improving SNAP participants’ access to farmers’ markets” instead, a USDA official told ThinkProgress.)

The farmers market policy grew out of a narrowly-targeted pilot program in the mid-2000s, and the USDA has funded other incentive-based pilot programs aimed at promoting nutrition on a SNAP budget. One such program in Massachusetts credited 30 cents back to a SNAP recipient’s EBT card for every dollar they spent on a targeted list of fruits and vegetables. After about two years, the pilot program had demonstrated a significant jump in the intake of fruits and vegetables among participating families as compared to those who were left out.

How The Conservative Obsession With Policing Poor People's Shopping Carts Got Started | ThinkProgress

Minnesota Muslims Demand No-Pork Freebies, Declare Halal Food a Human Right

This is a bizarre story coming out of Minnesota and I'm not quite sure what to think. I don't hide the fact that I receive SNAP and if I pushed the issue I might qualify for help through our local food pantry. But it is something I do not pursue.

Why?

I am diabetic. In other words, there are items distributed by the pantry that I should not eat - I am not perfect, but I do try and watch the amount of carbs I eat (breads, cereals, rice and pastas etc.) - regretfully the "box" from the pantry is filled with these items. I do understand why, they a lower cost food items that can be stretched and used in many ways thereby helping more people put food on their tables. Granted it may not be the "healthiest" food but it meets the bare minimum standards

A second reason, although I am no longer vegan nor do I consider myself a vegetarian, I do not eat a lot of red meat. Chicken is my staple meat and occasionally pork; if I want a burger, it's made with turkey. Again beef hamburgers and ground beef are common to what the food pantry offers. I also try and avoid any type of processed or boxed food, but that is a preference, not a necessity.

So should I go down and "protest" that they carry foods that I can eat? Now I understand I would be an army of one (literally, but that's another story). But a case could be made that all of "us" diabetics could band together and demand that the pantry offer no-carb product and I believe "we" would have a much better standing than those demanding such on religious grounds as in this case. In "our" case it is a medical necessity as compared to a dogmatic belief.

It's a damn belief people, your rights are not being violated, "'It’s about human rights also, basic human rights to get the proper food and also healthy food,' said Imam Hassan Mohamud." As Firma points out, they are "dictating their demands for special religious freebies as if they were entitled to them."

And I do agree with Firma's suggestions,

One is that the protesters, perhaps mindful of the old adage that beggars can’t be choosers, learn to content themselves with the plentiful food-shelf products that already do not contain pork. A more than decent selection of the foods on offer (all fruits, vegetables, breads, beef and chicken dishes, and desserts, for starters) is perfectly unaffected by pig cooties.

Not good enough (for whatever reason)? Fine. Then the other solution is that the Muslim community in the Twin Cities recognizes the apparent need for a separate halal food shelf, and provides just that using donations – that is, private money, without claiming a made-up entitlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars in government funds.

Two final points.

I have had people, in the past, ask me why I don't go to the food pantry and just use what items I can and donate back what I can't. Answer, I do get SNAP and I do work though my wages just cover my rent. If I am careful and plan accordingly, I can make my SNAP last all month. Yes there are a few lean meals and no snacks but I can do it. If I am lucky and can get a ride to Save-A-Lot (a discount type food store like Aldi's) my SNAP allotment is not an issue and I can have some fun making my meals; and I do home cook 99% of my meals.  But the primary reason I don't use the food pantry, there are other people worse off than I that might not get the help they need if I take up a slot I don't really need.

A second point, and this is from the comments, "I thought Islam allowed for violations of its own dietary code, if survival was at stake."

"You are correct. Quran 2:173: He has only forbidden to you dead animals, blood, the flesh of swine, and that which has been dedicated to other than Allah. But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

Think I may need to re-read the Quran, it's been a long while.

Minnesota Muslims Demand No-Pork Freebies, Declare Halal Food a Human Right

Cafeteria worker snatches lunches from some students | wivb.com

Another "hometown" news item that just galls me,,,

We are one of the richest nations in the world. Regardless of who or what policy is to blame, why is any child going without food? Feed the kid, correct the situation later at an appropriate time.

Cafeteria worker snatches lunches from some students | wivb.com

What I Realized When I Finally Decided to Sign Up for Food Stamps | Alternet

This statement is the key for me as a SNAP recipient, "What it has let me do is purchase better quality foods." Having dietary restrictions can make food shopping and cooking a challenge. It can be disheartening at times, but I try and make a game of it especially living where I do (middle of butt fuck nowhere), I do not have the choices those in suburbia do. Without SNAP it would be Ramen, hotdogs, and Encore entrees. Food, but not healthy.
--
I have previously written how three days before my 60th birthday I came to a decision that I once considered unthinkable. On that day, I gathered up my financial information, took my book, entered the Social Services office in Waterbury, Connecticut, and asked if there was someone I could see to obtain some assistance. I pretty much already knew for what I was eligible, and had known for the past year, but since I was self employed I needed help to complete the forms that are designed for those on an hourly pay. I needed to talk to someone.

The receptionist behind the glass partition took my name and social security number and directed me to the waiting room informing me someone would call me. I had gotten there at around 11:30 a.m. and took the last of the available seats, opened my book and steeled myself for a long wait.

There were over 50 people in the waiting room. Mothers with children some with infants, middle age couples, young men and woman by themselves, some in work clothing -- guard uniforms, medical scrubs, fast food outfits, business suit or tie. This was not what I had expected.

The Social Services department is directly on a bus route and not located in the best part of town. I am ashamed to say that I expected to find the unemployable or the lazy or the addicted or handicapped. I expected something different, something else. I expected to be surrounded by... by "them."



What I Realized When I Finally Decided to Sign Up for Food Stamps | Alternet

The Tea Party, the John Birch Society, and the Fear of “Mob Rule”: An Interview with Claire Conner | Political Research Associates

This article is from 2013 but still very pertinent and offers interesting background information concerning the JBS and what we now call the Tea Party. I found it interesting that the author speaks to the elimination of the 16th Amendment as I have a few articles that speak to the "new" impetus within the Reich to do just that. You will notice that much of the JBS ideology has been carried forward in regards to poverty, food insecurity, and voter rights to name a few. Fascinating read,,,

For example, the John Birch Society said that Social Security should never exist, because it is a giant embezzlement. They also held that the 16th Amendment to the Constitution—the amendment creating a federal income tax—should be repealed because the federal government did not have the authority to collect those sorts of taxes. The John Birch Society basically believes that anything the federal government does, beyond what is specifically mentioned in the Constitution, is wrong.

[,,,]
I said to my mother one time, “What would happen if we actually did all these things?” What if there was no Social Security, Medicare, unemployment compensation, food stamps—no safety net at all. And she said, “Oh, it would be glorious. It would be what the Constitution intended.” I’d say, “Mom, the Constitution is not going to feed a hungry child”. I can still see her face looking up from her teacup, saying, “That’s not my concern, dear.”

[,,,]
Robert Welch made no bones that he thought democracy was the worst form of government—not just for his organization, but for a country. The John Birch Society believes that democracy is mob rule. So, that explains a lot about the way the government is organized. It also explains a lot about some of the things that are happening in the United States today, in terms of that belief system.

A whole bunch of people on the Right don’t think that everyone ought to vote. Why? Because if you’ve got everybody voting, you have yourself a mob. And that idea comes from [National Review founder and editor] Bill Buckley, who is sort of a patron saint of the Right. Buckley, the John Birch Society, my father, and a very prominent political science professor [who taught at Yale], Willmoore Kendall, all believed that the franchise, or the right to vote, had to be limited, as it was in colonial in times, when you had to be White, free, over a particular age, and a landowner in order to vote.

The Tea Party, the John Birch Society, and the Fear of “Mob Rule”: An Interview with Claire Conner | Political Research Associates

One Day Below the Poverty Line | Heifer International | Charity Ending Hunger And Poverty

Last night I prepared food for my LBL practice day today. Three cups of rice, two eggs and one cup of edamame. Came to about $1.40 and 1400 calories.

I am doing what I can to prepare myself for this experience by being more mindful about hunger and actually willing myself to feel less hungry. I wonder, is that really possible? The food I prepared last night looks like enough, and I'm grateful I have even this much, when so many do not.

It was strange to decide whether to eat my two eggs at breakfast or to have one this morning and the other at dinner. I wonder what would be the most efficient way to do it if I were a farmer with a heavy work load ahead of me today.

I also wonder, if someone came to me having not eaten at all for a few days: would I share what I have? Right now I would, but if (when) I get hungry, will my answer change?

[,,,]
The reduced and bland food intake are two aspects of this, which are obvious and challenging. Another, which is not captured in this exercise, is the visceral experience that there may be less food than yesterday, or maybe none at all today. I may experience that feeling somewhat in Haiti in as much as I am able to have access to the very cheap food I have committed to eating. I had just a small glimpse of this. It is very disturbing... actually it filled me for just a moment with a lot of anxiety.

One Day Below the Poverty Line | Heifer International | Charity Ending Hunger And Poverty

Boston public schools will offer free lunches to all students - Metro - The Boston Globe

Many principals have told me, ‘The family doesn’t have the money; what do I do?’ ”

The other day as I was reading some background material in regards to Paul Ryan's CPAC speech and I came across this article about an experimental federal initiative to serve free lunches to all students even if families have the financial means to pay.

A couple points I found interesting

About three-quarters of Boston’s 57,000 students last year qualified for a free or a reduced-price lunch with more eligible. For various reasons some of those eligible did not utilize the program causing a financial strain for parents and the School Department alike. Losses from last year amounted to $350,000 which had to be covered by the school budget in some way.

This program, which is under the control of the US Department of Agriculture, started experimenting with universal free breakfasts and lunches four years ago, as part of the 2010 Healthy, Hunger-free Kids Act. Although initially 9 states and DC were part of the pilot program, Massachusetts was added.

What I do not understand, why no publicizing of this program?



Boston public schools will offer free lunches to all students - Metro - The Boston Globe

Party of ideas?

As I was piecing information together about Paul Ryan's foray into plagiarism, I realized that I am always a day late and a dollar short. I work a mid-shift so by the time I read the initial postings, the updates are already out on the inter-web. But that doesn't take away the fun of discovery and putting a bit of "personal" spin on the story. I'm just glad that others have jumped on this and publicizing it.

Both Raw Story and HUffPo have updated this incident and there is an interesting back story to all this.

Maurice and Schroff subsequently began meeting for lunch every Monday, developing a family-like relationship, which they discussed on Fox News host Mike Huckabee’s show in January 2013.

“Here I was, and this 11-year-old kid was teaching me things,” Schroff told Huckabee. “He taught me the definition of lunch in a paper bag. The bag is only brown paper. But what you put into it is something we all call love.”

[,,,]
At the time of their appearance on Huckabee’s show, Schrock and Maurice promoted the Share Our Strength No Kid Hungry campaign. Two months later, the campaign released a statement opposing Ryan’s House budget proposal, which included cutting the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance (SNAP) Program by $125 million.

I think SmotPoker, referring to Ryan's statement about the GOP being the party of ideas:  "The party of ideas eh? Sure, sure, they aren't THEIR ideas, but ideas nonetheless"

HuffPo in their report was able to make contact with An Invisible Thread author Laura Schroff who added her thoughts on the matter,,,

[Jonathan] Chait [of NYMag.com] writes, "It's also interesting that Anderson's conclusion from the...story is that the school lunch program makes parents into lazy slackers, while Ryan's conclusion is that it robs children of their soul." Of course, there's one party whose conclusions haven't been fully explicated within the context of Ryan's appropriation yet -- Laura Schroff,,,

Suffice it to say that Paul Ryan might be better at understanding the plights of poor people if he actually went out and attempted to meet some, instead of roughly trading second-hand accounts.

,,,If there's one ambition Schroff doesn't have, it's getting her work caught up in the Beltway hurlyburly.

"The one thing I'll say about 'An Invisible Thread' is that it's not a political book in any way." Schroff says her intention is to cross across boundaries like race and class. "When I go to public schools to talk about the book, it helps the kids have hope. When I talk to kids at private school, they feel grateful."

In responding to today's news, she was exceedingly charitable to those involved.

[,,,]
"But Maurice describes being hungry as being punched in the stomach," she countered, "And given the choice between a free lunch and not eating at all, he would choose the free lunch."

Schroff very politely rejected Ryan's "full stomachs, empty souls," construction, explaining that her life's work is about showing other people, especially children, that kindness makes a huge difference in the lives of both the giver and the recipient. "When you give a small act of kindness, expecting nothing in return, the rewards are great."

"I want people to think about what they can do to make the world a kinder world," she said. "I don't care about Republicans and Democrats. But we are talking about children that need to be fed. Cutting school lunch programs doesn't accomplish that."

Paul Ryan at CPAC: Free school lunches mean poor parents don’t care about kids | The Raw Story

I know that CPAC will be well covered and not sure what I could possibly add to the conversation. I won't be remaining silent, just focusing more on some of the idiocy coming from our "officials" in the GOP.

Although the target of this article is his comment regarding "brown bagging it" versus the school lunch program, the clip (and I do realize this is just a clip) starts in with his false claim (or interpretation) concerning the recent CBO report.

No, it will not discourage people from working, it will allow people in the same boat as I (working 2 and in some cases 3 jobs) to reduce work hours from 62+/week to 40. What the CBO report actually says according to FactCheck:

The estimated reduction stems almost entirely from a net decline in the amount of labor that workers CHOOSE to supply, rather than from a net drop in businesses’ demand for labor, so it will appear almost entirely as a reduction in labor force participation and in hours worked relative to what would have occurred otherwise RATHER THAN AS AN INCREASE IN UNEMPLOYMENT (that is, more workers seeking but not finding jobs) OR UNDEREMPLOYMENT (such as part-time workers who would prefer to work more hours per week).

But the kicker concerning this clip, besides being totally detached from realty, from the comments section:

“Miss Laura,” he said, “I don’t want your money. I want my lunch in a brown paper bag.”

“Okay, sure. But why do you want it in a bag?”

“Because when I see kids come to school with their lunch in a paper bag, that means someone cares about them. Miss Laura, can I please have my lunch in a paper bag?”

According to commenter "jimmyblair" this is a passage from a book by Laura Schroff, An Invisible Thread: The True Story of an 11-Year-Old Panhandler, a Busy Sales Executive, and an Unlikely Meeting with Destiny The story summary is generally accepted to be about the unbreakable connection between those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. Ryan seems to have misinterpreted it to give an anti-government slant that isn't at all a part of the original story.

So I did a bit of searching to see if "others" had picked up on this tid-bit and they have - yea rah! Wonkette, in their usual snarky style picked up the story from a different posting and ran with it:

Wonker Tallmutha caught TPM commenter Ottnott sexplaining that the whole story was STOLED from the book An Invisible Thread, which is about … GIVING CHILDREN FREE FOOD AND HOW THAT IS THE BEST!

And then there is this, Ryan's lame excuse:

Today at CPAC, I shared a story I heard from Eloise Anderson, the secretary for children and families for the state of Wisconsin. She mentioned it in her testimony for a House Budget Committee hearing last year. I have just learned that Secretary Anderson misspoke, and that the story she told was improperly sourced. I regret failing to verify the original source of the story, but I appreciate her taking the time to share her insights.

So what started as a post about how devoid of humanity Paul Ryan is has turned into something much more interesting.

Oh and one final thought, if Eloise used this stolen anecdote in testimony, isn't that perjury?

Paul Ryan at CPAC: Free school lunches mean poor parents don’t care about kids | The Raw Story

New York City Pantries Ran Out Of Food After Food Stamps Were Cut | ThinkProgress

This is ridiculous!!

After food stamps were reduced at the beginning of November, New York City food pantries and soup kitchens ran out of food, turned people away, and reduced the meals they handed out after experiencing a surge of demand, according to a new report from Food Bank For New York City.

The organization surveyed 522 food pantries and 138 soup kitchens and found that in November 2013, nearly half had either run out of food altogether or the particular kinds of food they need to make adequate meals. About a quarter had to turn people away since they didn’t have enough food, and another quarter had to reduce the number of meals they provided.

[,,,]
The experience in New York City has played out across the country. Mayors in different cities reported in December that the need for emergency food programs like pantries and soup kitchens had increased over the year before. In many of them, facilities turned people away due to a lack of resources, reduced the quantity of food they handed out, and reduced the number of visits they allowed each month. Even before the cut took place, private charities had warned they wouldn’t be able to pick up the slack, especially with charitable giving down in the aftermath of the recession.

New York City Pantries Ran Out Of Food After Food Stamps Were Cut | ThinkProgress

What I learned from a week on food stamps: Paul Ryan couldn’t be any more wrong - Salon.com

This statement right here says it all: "Now I should disclose that I have low blood sugar. At the very least this means, I get cranky if I don’t eat, at its worst I get dizzy and pass out. On my food stamp diet, I was getting 300 calories per meal — 200 fewer calories than my body was used to. In order to function I needed to supplement my food stamp purchases with extra snacks."

Guess what, I don't get that luxury and neither does anyone else on SNAP. Try being diabetic, or some one with celiacs, or even having a food allergy.. That aside learning to be frugal with limited funds for food takes time and practice, not something someone is going to learn in a week. For those "new" to being on SNAP, it is a hell of and adjustment.

In my own trial, which would last a week, I decided to split the difference between the $50 weekly allotment that a New Yorker would get through SNAP with the national average of $33. Thus, I would only buy $41 worth of groceries. My plan was to rely solely on these groceries, and to avoid supplementing my SNAP-purchased goods with food already in my pantry. The exceptions would be sauces (like soy sauce, and BBQ) and cooking materials like oil, salt and pepper, which many household kitchens have.

At first, $41 seemed like a lot of money for a week’s worth of food, but this was $41, full stop — not $41 (unless I’m running late for work and need to stop by a coffee shop for a muffin) and not $41 (and then ordering from Seamless because the temperature has dropped and I wanted to cozy up with some hot soup). This was $41 to pay for three meals a day for seven days. This was going to require some planning.

[,,,]
Trying to stretch my meager food budget, I found that while some healthy items were expensive — anything organic or gluten free jumped in price, and meat prices are very high — fruits, veggies and oatmeal were far less expensive than frozen meals or cereal. The most difficult part was preparing and portioning out my meals.

I made the baked pasta dish for my first SNAP dinner with the hope that it would last me at least seven non-breakfast meals. It only lasted me six: three days worth of lunch and dinner. At that point, I started to panic. Would rice, eight mini-chicken tenders, a pepper, and a small bag of Green Giant stir-fry veggies really last me eight more meals? I had no choice but to plan differently. Rather than cook giant batches, which I proved inept at rationing for long periods of time, I’d have to cook in waves of one or two meals at once.

[,,,]
For my first meal post-food stamps I was craving something rice-less, healthy and obtained with efficacy. Living in New York, it was difficult to turn down the splurge-worthy allure of ordering food online. As I hit the purchase button for a kale salad with chicken and a “soup of the day,” I was viscerally shocked at the total. With tax and a decent tip, it came to half of what I’d spent in the previous week for all of my meals. With this awareness, I lost my appetite.

What I learned from a week on food stamps: Paul Ryan couldn’t be any more wrong - Salon.com

Some sobering statistics to consider

• According to NELP real wages fall across the board by 2.8 percent between 2009 and 2012 and real wages for five of the top 10 lower-wage jobs (restaurant cooks, food prep workers, home health aides, personal care aides and housekeepers) fell by more than 5 percent during that period and 58 percent of all recovery growth being in low-paying jobs.
• In 1968, minimum wage was $10.71. Since then, it has decreased by 32 percent, resulting in millions of Americans working full-time hours and yet being unable to feed their families without assistance. Escaping poverty became, and is, a struggle. Of course, that isn’t true — the minimum wage in 1968 wasn’t $10.71. It was $1.60. However, $1.60 doesn’t have as much buying power as it used to, and when adjusted for inflation (as of today, June 29, 2013), that number is $10.71. Minimum wage was designed to increase with inflation. It has not done so.
• According to the USDA, in 2011, 14.9 percent of Americans (roughly 50 million individuals) had difficulty securing food "meaning that the food intake of one or more household members was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted at times during the year because the household lacked money and other resources for food."
• Global food prices continue to rise, "Continuing a decade-long increase, global food prices rose 2.7 percent in 2012,,," devaluing SNAP benefits by 7%.
• According to the Center on Budget and Policy Prioritiesr SNAP provides estimated 22 million children a nutritionally adequate diet; 47% of all SNAP recipients are children.

Currently welfare as a whole falls under the 1996 reform law signed by President Clinton, though controlled by individual states, the federal government provides some of the funding through Temporary Assistance For Needy Families (TANF). TANF grants to states require that all welfare recipients must find work within two years of first receiving benefits. This includes single parents, who are required to work at least 30 hours per week. Two-parent families are required to work 35 to 50 hours per week. Failure to obtain work could result in loss of benefits.

Despite this, the House Republicans have introduced a bill that would cut $40 billion from SNAP over 10 years. Their reasoning, SNAP has been taken advantage of by people who aren't willing to work hard enough. For a bit of perspective, in 2012, our total underlying cost for SNAP $65 billion. But yet we spent $689 billion on the Department of Defense.

What's even more troubling, many co-called conservatives are jumping on a recent study by the CATO Institute which has concluded that welfare provides too high a level of benefits: "Welfare currently pays more than a minimum wage job in 35 states, even after accounting for the Earned Income Tax Credit, and in 13 states it pays more than $15 per hour.,,,[m]oreover, states should consider ways to shrink the gap between the value of welfare and work by reducing current benefit levels and tightening eligibility requirements."

So instead of taking that as a sign that minimum wage has stagnated and is too low, they are intent on slashing much needed help for the unemployed and underemployed. Also not being taken into consideration by conservatives and pundits (Faux News):

They [Michael Tanner and Charles Hughes at the CATO Institute] also acknowledge the central flaw in their conclusion: in real life the “typical” family in their study doesn’t come close to receiving the maximum benefit from every single program for which they’re eligible. But here the authors’ caveat doesn’t go far enough. Due largely to the fact that eligibility requirements have already become harder to overcome, these programs are helping fewer poor families get by. In 2009, around three out of four poor families with kids weren’t getting any TANF benefits. At the height of the economic crash, about 25 percent of those eligible for food stamps weren’t receiving them; during better times, that number hovers around 40 percent. And as the CATO study concedes, six out of seven poor families aren’t getting housing assistance.

So a study that claims to tell us about the “typical” poor family is really describing a rarity — the equivalent of a four-leaf clover. But the purpose of these studies isn’t to inform good policymaking. They feed a narrative that the poor are lazy and undeserving, and provide wonky cover for further weakening our social safety net. When studies like this one are picked up by the conservative media, all of the authors’ caveats tend to be stripped away, and they become straightforward claims that poor families sit back enjoying a good life, forcing overburdened tax-payers to pick up the tab. [Emphasis mine]

What I don't understand, how is the economic downturn we are trying to overcome now any different than what occurred in the 1930's? Why was it proper for the US government to intercede then but not now? Our country, our government, has a long history of helping the unemployed and underemployed dating back to the 1860s with the Civil War Pension Program; further still if you consider the colonies imported the British Poor Laws. Why are people making less money than when I was four years old?

Congressman Claims Widespread Fraud Because He Saw 'Physically Fit' Couple Use Food Stamps | ThinkProgress

At a town hall in Welch, OK on Thursday, Rep. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) called for the outright elimination of aid programs for low-income Americans, claiming that he has witnessed food stamp fraud firsthand. Mullin said he would like to “do away with a lot of these programs” because they allow people to slack off.

“The food programs are designed to take care of people who can’t work, not won’t work. And we all know those people that won’t work, right?” he asked the audience. “They’re abusing the program, and we’ve got to get them off of it.”
__________

Hmm,,,lets see, how does this work?? On average I work 45-50 hours a week at an average of $8/hr for $800-900/month half of which is gone for rent, so yes I qualify for SNAP. I f I become sick not only do I have to pay out of pocket, but I lose income. To minimize that risk and due to the fact I'm diabetic and deal with chronic pain, I am very careful about what food I put in my body (tho I do smoke and drink way too much diet soda,,,neither of which I pay for using my SNAP. If my funds are low guess what I don't buy).

Now 5 weeks ago I purchased a brand spankin' new pair of Skechers at a cost of $89, want to know how,,,birthday money. My boots for work which will need for when the snow flys will take me 9-10 weeks of savings to buy ($189). See I can't go to Walmart (not that I would). I cant buy "cheap" footwear due to the fact that my right foot and ankle has permanent tendon/ligament damage and I am on my feet 8-10 hrs a day. I therefore attempt to keep myself mentally and physically "fit" but according to this asswipe's thinking I don't deserve SNAP. And dont tell me to get a better job(s), there are none where I live.

That whopping $148/month I receive, barely even covers my groceries (the maximum a single individual can receive is $200/month at 150% of federal poverty guidelines.) If I'm careful and can get a ride to the discount store in the neighboring town I can stretch it to 21 days worth of food. If not and I have to shop here in town 10 days tops. You see I cant fill my basket with pasta, bread or rice. I cant buy canned, boxed or processed products; I could but I prolly would be insulin dependent within a year and on disability within two.

So Mr Mullin get a fuckin clue!! It is not fraud, it is trying to make ends meet in hard economic times. Doing what we have to in order to survive.


Congressman Claims Widespread Fraud Because He Saw 'Physically Fit' Couple Use Food Stamps | ThinkProgress

Hannity Compares Individuals On Government Programs To Animals That Become Dependent On People For Food | Video | Media Matters for America

 I live in north central PA,,,surrounded by state parks and game lands of various sizes and uses.  During the summer, on a daily basis I see many wild game animals foxes, coons, deer and if I want to travel a bit elk and if "lucky" black bear.  I live in town and yes I see all these animals (except elk,,,yet)  within town limits.

Why, because wild animals are losing their fear of humans.  Dumpsters and garbage cans are a smorgasbord.  I know people who purposely leave food for the animals in their yards or on their property because they want to see the animals up close, but are the first to bitch when  something is destroyed.

People within the parks are attempting to lure animals to feed them because they think it fun not realizing:  Food reward that animals associate with humans can result in their loss of fear of humans. This change in behavior may lead to property damage and human injury. For the animals involved it may mean negative health effects or overpopulation resulting from unnatural food sources, dependence on a seasonably unreliable food source, and greater susceptibility to predators and vehicle collisions.  [see the following for why this isn't a good thing  http://www.nps.gov/dena/naturescience/keepwildlifewild.htm]

Nothing there about not learning to take care of themselves.  Since when did being hungry become a motivator.  I receive $3.73 a day to try and feed myself, since when did it become a death match to put food on my table; and yes I am employed.  I find this a very cold diatribe.  Is Hannity (and others, like then SC Lt Governor Andre Bauer http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-6139186-503544.html) equating the needs of the poor to wild animals who die regularly of starvation?

Just a side note:  less then 4% (76 billion) of US tax dollars goes to SNAP.

Hannity Compares Individuals On Government Programs To Animals That Become Dependent On People For Food | Video | Media Matters for America