Twin Cities Area

Comment

Comment by albaby on August 5, 2011 at 9:25am

Maybe we should blame our elected and appointed officials for not enforcing child support payments as part of the problem. I know of one single mom whose is owed $18,000 in support payments. Every time the father is summoned to court, he ignores the summons, claims he didn't get it, forgot to bring some papers etc and the sympathetic (or pathetic) Friend of the Court generously reschedules the hearing another 6 months or so down the road.

Comment by Conservative Candace on August 4, 2011 at 3:04pm

Gold = $1656/oz, Silver = $39.04, Dow = down 358 pts.... yeah, they really fixed things. When are people going to stop believing these "Chicken Little" scare mongers???

Comment by Jennifer Groves on August 4, 2011 at 2:36pm

Palin Responds to Biden’s “Terrorist” Comment

 

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/08/02/palin_if_tea_part...

 

“ . . . if we were real domestic terrorists . . . President Obama would be wanting to pal around with us, wouldn’t he?”

 

Comment by Jennifer Groves on August 3, 2011 at 1:59pm

How the House and Senate Voted

 

"The 269-161 roll call Monday by which the House passed the compromise bill to raise the debt ceiling and prevent a government default."

 

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60453.html#ixzz1TzNCEkbD

 

Note that ALL of MI’s GOP reps voted to raise the debt ceiling, except for Amash.

 

The 26 senators who voted NO:

 

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0811/The_26_senators_who_...

 

Levin and Stabenow didn’t make the list . . . surprise, surprise.

Comment by Sherry Williams on August 1, 2011 at 6:43pm

I was asked by a fellow member to post this. I have not had time to personally investigate however.

Ending National Debt Slavery : The Promise of Social Credit
Tuesday, August 2 at 6:30 p.m.
Bridgman native and journalist Mark Anderson will discuss the dramatic and promising monetary reform, known as social credit, as a follow up to a previous Bridgman Public Library program on "Unmasking Our Real Rulers" in central banking. Learn about the origins of money, but most importantly, learn the basics on social credit, in order to end the financial slavery engulfing the U.S. and various European nations once and for all. See how the relatively simple concept of money is portrayed as something mysterious to keep the masses from freeing themselves from endless debt.

Mark Anderson is roving editor for American Free Press, an investigative national news weekly. He has studied social credit since the fall of 2008, including attending three conferences and other programs on the subject.

Comment by Conservative Candace on July 31, 2011 at 3:49pm

Once our society removed the stigma of having children out of wedlock - yes, gasp! illigitiamacy, we opened the Pandora's box of "Anything I want to do YOU have to pay for". Frankly I am sick of hearing about THE CHILDREN. Each morning I see commercials begging for money for food programs to feed kids over the summer since they are not in school. Why not find the parents of these kids and charge them with abuse? Because the free spending politicians have made it the village's job to raise the kids. Bull! I no longer feel guilted into that line. I find it easier and easier to say "No thank you" to the requests for my money for their kids - hand me downs were good enough for me, and they should be good enough for today's poor kids.

Hoping down off soap box now...

Comment by Jennifer Groves on July 31, 2011 at 3:16pm

I no longer buy into the magical "single mom" status. I blame our reps for making childbearing a money-making career. There need to be some serious caps (both in terms of #s of children AND in terms of time limits) and serious eligibility requirements established.

 

I worked with two families in BH--in one, the mother had 16 children. One of her daughters has 11 kids--the first 5 were removed by CPS because she was an unfit mother (drugs, neglect, etc). So she had to have 6 more to get more checks. Every one of the 16 children is a felon, and most of the 11 are (but some are too young--they do all, except for the last couple kids, already have juvi records). The way the kids are raised IS tragic--but EBT can't fix an amoral home. Taxpayers can't fix amorality, either.

 

 I have heard more than one mother tell her child they are allowed to live in that home because the mother wants the check. That, too, is tragic. But it is true that many welfare moms think they can get rich by having more and more children--that they don't know how to raise and don't really care for.

 

These situations are not limited to a particular race, regardless of how the libs want to spin it (i.e. one race is "underprivileged", as if privileges were rights).

 

Our system rewards single moms and discourages marriages and stable families. WHERE are the fathers of these kids? They also need to be held accountable.

 

I'd like to see much more stringent requirements for qualifying for welfare. Currently, people can lie about their income and virtually anyone qualifies. Sadly, I have distant relatives and the daughter of a family friend who have all "qualified" simply bec they don't want to work, don't marry, and don't report the income their irresponsible boyfriends make. Nor are they under any legal obligation to demand child support. It's just easier (and more reliable) to collect a government check.

 

The system has to stop rewarding bad behavior.

Comment by albaby on July 29, 2011 at 10:52pm

Good post, Jennifer. But what the cashiers don't know is the situation of the people using the cards. I realize there will be fraud in any government program, but what would you suggest be done. These single mothers have kids to feed. I know it should be their obligation and not ours, but regardless-it's not the kids fault.

 

I read recently of one person who bought hundreds of dollars of expensive steaks and then sold them in the stores parking lot for half price. He was arrested and jailed.

 

My wife has observed several people buying expensive food, candy ice cream etc. with bridge cards. (Hardly the stuff dietician Michelle Obama recommends). I personally have not observed this, but if you have recieved the same response  from several cashiers, that makes it more believable. I have to wonder just how many of the cashiers themselves are using EBT cards?

 

As far as the legislators not wanting us to see how our money is spent,  wouldn't they have to comply with an FOIA request? I'll try and see if I can find EBT's in the budget online in the next week or so. 

Comment by Jennifer Groves on July 29, 2011 at 3:29pm

Al--got the same responses from two other cashiers--Walmart in BH and another grocery store. Don't know if you watch this sort of thing or not, but I've noticed that the people in front of me in line nearly always whip out an EBT card--whether I"m in Stv or BH. Doesn't seem to matter where or what store.

 

I suggest asking cashiers you know--in Stv it's easy to do, or any place where you regularly shop and have a rapport with cashiers. the question is, what % of transactions involve EBT cards? I don't care if it's food stamps, or cash, or WIC, or whatever--all the same in terms of funding.

 

Mgrs may be distinguishing between the various programs. Or, if they sense they are talking to a conservative, they may not want people to know how dependent their business is on government (taxpayer) funded sales. Also consider that they might be liberal themselves.

 

MI has a reputation for 'redistributing" more than most states. That's why the state legislature recently passed a law requiring new welfare recipients to have been state residents for at least a year prior to applying for state programs. Previously, people could start the application process immediately, and high pay outs mean the state attracts people looking for hand outs.

 

'Course, it would be proper for all state agencies to post their annual expenditures online. Taxpayers have a right to know how our money is being spent. Hoogendyk introduced a bill that would have required that several years ago--it was soundly voted down by our "representatives". MI legislators do not want taxpayers to know how they spend our money.

 

I know two people who work for MI Works. One of them is a case worker--that individual has a case load of 100 people. In Berrien Co, a single mother with one child receives $650/ mo for rent, $600/mo in food stamps, and $600/mo in cash.

 

"Single mom"--it's a tough road for people who do it well, but a career move for some. Liberal psych types constantly talk about how damaging it is to "enable" people--well, this is "ennabling" on an insane level.

Comment by albaby on July 29, 2011 at 12:58pm

I would think as the manager has to account for the cash and sales, he would have more accurate information . What difference would it make to the manager if half his customers were on food stamps. They get paid the same for the products, don't they.

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