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I threw this up on my blog, but thought yall might enjoy it so decided to share here as well (with a few mild word changes to abide by forum rules ):

I'm not going to get into a whole discussion regarding welfare, but as a libertarian most of you can probably guess where I stand on that one.

Instead, I'd like to share a personal story about a overweight lady in front of me in line at Walgreens. As I'm standing there waiting to purchase Mothers Day cards (see? I'm such a capitalist I even participate in made up holidays designed to do nothing but sell crap) I notice there seems to be a problem in front of me.

This lady was becoming slightly angered by the fact that the cashier had swiped her Lone Star card twice, and the machine was claiming she still owed money. Being a curious soul, I decided to peek into the bags and see what this poor woman was unable to provide for herself that I and other taxpayers helped her purchase.

8 or 10 cans of Arizona Iced Tea (which are of course, super healthy...right?) and a pack of cigarettes she was purchasing with cash. That was it. No food, no medicine, no toiletries. Arizona Tea.

The poor cashier winds up having to call a manager over, and void the transactions, etc before rechecking her out. When this happens, this woman lets out a huge sigh, rolls her eyes and huffs like an angry walrus (which she kind of looked like...back hair, body size and all. Truly, the only thing missing was the tusks).

Now, you're purchasing a frivolous drink...using taxpayer money...and you're going to get ANGRY that the cashier is taking too long? I mean, I'm sure her time is valuable as heck! Holy crud. The sense of entitlement in this country that some people have is flat out astounding to me.

I'd love to drop Suzy Walrus into Somalia for a week to see how far her fat rear and sense of entitlement would get her.

Rant off.

The only thing that makes me madder then that is when they use the lone star card and walk out and get in a brand new Escalade or other vehicle nicer then my 2006 mini van that I drive.

...closest I ever came to shooting an unarmed female was when I was working 30+ hours weekly in a grocery store standing security as well as my 40 hr job and a woman became loudly incensed because she wasn't able to pay for her dog food with food stamps...she left her two buggies full of fine food and flounced back to the meat counter and grabbed up a few steaks...came back and threw them down and looked at all of us who were watching her show...and said "I guess I can pays for THESE with my food stamps...I'll just feed THSE to my dogs..." you could smell the hate as she finished up and left...

...earlier that day, I'd seen an old couple came in, dressed in their old clothes, and go to the cat food aisle and carefully count out about 20 of the 7 cent cans of cat food...and quietly pay for them and leave...we'll never know for sure...but there was nothing else in their buggy...

[quote="speedsix...earlier that day, I'd seen an old couple came in, dressed in their old clothes, and go to the cat food aisle and carefully count out about 20 of the 7 cent cans of cat food...and quietly pay for them and leave...we'll never know for sure...but there was nothing else in their buggy...[/quote]

France just elected a Socialist president (small "p" intentional). Putin is back in power in Russia.

Sheep are not smart enough to tell the difference between a mirage and reality.

"Entitlement types" are just angry sheep.

Let's hope American voters wake up before November.

I had a similar experience last nite. I went to Wally World to pick up some vital survival items...ammo . The woman infront of me put several high priced items on the belt such as starbucks coffee, Jelly Bellys and Freshetta pizza not to mention many other things. Total grocery $92. She hands the cashier a Lone Star card the cashier swipes it, then the customer hands the cashier hands another (can you really have 2??). There was a remaining balance for which she pulls out what appears to be a debit card and the customer does a $100+ cash withdrawl. I saw the cashier count out at least 5 $20s and once she noticed I was eyeballing the transaction she dropped her hands below the counter (as a security measure for the customer I'm sure). Ok if she was able to pull out over $100 in cash, she was able to pay for her groceries.

I know there are people that really need the assistance and that is for a short period of time. The people that make it a career need to be stopped. I think employing the Florida law for drug testing is a good start.

mommagamber wrote:
The only thing that makes me madder then that is when they use the lone star card and walk out and get in a brand new Escalade or other vehicle nicer then my 2006 mini van that I drive.

There's actually a reason for that.
The government requires it... (sorta)

If a person has a devastatingly costly medical issue, and can't qualify for Medicaid BECAUSE that person has too much in "assets" to qualify, they MUST "Spend Down" their assets, and IIRC, cars, home improvements and certain other things are exempt as being counted as "spendable income" or some term the Government created, so people more or less must buy more expensive cars or homes, or add a swimming pool ... to be poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, at which time they also probably qualify for food stamps and other goodies ... or something like that.
It's actually pretty silly the way the Govt set it up.

Although ... there's MERP
Medicaid Estate Recovery Program ... after you die, they file a claim against your estate for all they spent so they get your nice house and swimming pool to sell as reimbursing the tax dollars they spent on your medical.... and you thought you had left it to your kids (This may be why some people are doing reverse mortgages too... to "sell" house prior to entering a nursing home, and let Medicaid cover nursing homes expenses, since they'd lose house out of the Estate anyway to MERP)

Back years ago when I was in college I applied for food stamps, they said I could get $8.00 a month if I drove across Houston every month to get them, I shredded the thing; not worth the trouble ... instead I took the free lemon packets for tea, free sugar packet, and free water, and had lemonade, then got a job at the college..

RPB wrote:

mommagamber wrote:
The only thing that makes me madder then that is when they use the lone star card and walk out and get in a brand new Escalade or other vehicle nicer then my 2006 mini van that I drive.

There's actually a reason for that.
The government requires it... (sorta)

If a person has a devastatingly costly medical issue, and can't qualify for Medicaid BECAUSE that person has too much in "assets" to qualify, they MUST "Spend Down" their assets, and IIRC, cars, home improvements and certain other things are exempt as being counted as "spendable income" or some term the Government created, so people more or less must buy more expensive cars or homes, or add a swimming pool ... to be poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, at which time they also probably qualify for food stamps and other goodies ... or something like that.
It's actually pretty silly the way the Govt set it up.

I am pretty sure the people I see using the card then jumping into the Escalade with their 24 pack of beer and $100's groceries aren't getting their lone star card for a disability other then no job and 10 kids. When they put out cash at the register for the carton of cigarettes and the beer and then I have to pay for their groceries!!! I start to fume. I can't shop at Walmart any more it makes me to mad to see that kind of thing.

I know ... it does get abused, all govt programs do.

The programs in this nation such as Social Security were originally enacted on the premise of taking care of old folks who could no longer work and would thus have something to fall back on. But successive administrations (primarily of the Democrat Party persuasion) have expanded them and expanded them to cover every blasted little thing, while the people it was SUPPOSED to help, the old folks who cannot work, are left hanging. Case in point is that dude in California who's "disabled" and getting disability payments to live on...but what he really is, is a fetishist who spends his life pretending to be a baby...one of the Republican senators in Oklahoma got wind of this deal and tried to have his money cut off...the dude threatened to commit suicide and the State of California vetted his "disability" so he could keep getting paid...now, that is indeed just one tiny example...but add that to all the examples y'all have pointed out, and multiply that by a LOT...is it any wonder our country is BROKE?

I knew of two adults that got something in the ball park of $2k a month for food stamps, because they had four kids and were unemployed, lived in HUD housing etc. They didn't spend anywhere near that amount at all for their food. Want to get really angry? Keep reading...

They would take the extra money and buy the food products necessary to make burritos, make them, and then turn around and sell them for pure profit. It's worth mentioning that both the adults are not disabled, but rather just down right lazy and don't work out of choice. Then they just kept having kids, and bam, "made" more money.

The really infuriating bit is that they are welfare lifers, and at their late thirties and early forties, they get to look forward to being taken care of like this for a very long time.

-_-

You gotta remember, some of the people with LoneStar cards and nice cars have jobs. They just buy the LS card for 50 cents on the dollar from someone that gets it from the gubment. It's a win win, someone gets 50% off their grocery bill and someone gets $50 for nuthin.

Carry-a-Kimber wrote:You gotta remember, some of the people with LoneStar cards and nice cars have jobs. They just buy the LS card for 50 cents on the dollar from someone that gets it from the gubment. It's a win win, someone gets 50% off their grocery bill and someone gets $50 for nuthin.

What about the ones like us - It's a lose lose situation.