This Is Not A Joke

[Howey]

No...It isn't another Republican c/p'ing an Onion article again. It's the real thing.

I refuse to believe that this is real, and that someone is actually arguing this as a serious proposal, and that said proposal was deemed serious enough for publication by a secondary party, but it seems too earnestly argued to be parody, and nowhere is it identified as such.

A columnist at the Daily Caller writes today that people receiving food stamps should be forced to shop at government-owned stores selling sub-standard food so that they can feel the "humiliation and pain in receiving government assistance."

Oh, and they should "lose the privilege of voting."

Quote:

My reform measures might seem draconian to some (and the antithesis of the free market), but they would hopefully have the desired result of reducing food stamp rolls so we could eventually eliminate the program and let the states handle the issue. Before accepting food stamps, people would have to carefully consider whether they want to face the loss of voting privileges, the humiliation of shopping at government stores and using government food, the inability to smoke or do drugs and the added inconvenience of having to make two or three stops for their groceries should they choose to buy snacks with their own money. Plus, tax producers would no longer have to knowingly be face to face with people at the check-out who are on government assistance but have nicer cell phones and accessories than they do.

I gotta ask. Since when is it so fashionable to hate the poor? Aside from the obvious racist undertones of this nincompoop's prose, aren't the poor "humiliated" enough? Do we really need to stick the knife in them and twist it a little more?

I don't know anything about the author (although I'm sure he's well admired by lilMike), one Brion McClanahan but he strikes me as one of the 1%ers who view everyone who's not privileged and white (really, Brion?) with the disdain of Gordon Gecko.

On behalf of the 99%, I'd like to kick him in his gilded balls.

[uselesslegs]

One of the key components of a irresponsible and wholly profit driven industries push for one kind of reality, has created another type of reality...which is an ever increasing number of working poor.

What's happened is the realization that one cannot exist without the other.

If you want more personal enrichment at the expense of societal well being, you can't avoid the reality of what that creates in the process.

[ekg]

I have never gotten the 'anger' we used to see from Griff or Gordo or even rican on the topic of food stamps and steaks.. who really cares that these people get a steak once a month.. in order to get food stamps they have to be so low on the income chart that why begrudge them one or two good meals a month? Why do we care what is in someone else's refrigerator or shopping cart? Why do we want to humiliate them on top of the humilation they already have by being on FS, by making the grovel like slaves and say "Thank you Master" like some weird 'Igor' pet when they buy their monthly groceries..

OMG they have a cell phone and they are on food stamps? So what? did it occur to you that that cell might be their only phone? How can they seek employment without a phone?

OMG they are driving a better car than I am? And? They might just be living in it as well. Or maybe when they bought the car they had a stable job with a good income, but now that job's gone and they are starving.. but they need the car to get back and forth in life and can't sell it because it's paid for and can't afford payments on something else or don't want to take a chance on a 'used' car breaking down on them..

who cares! you don't know what situation they are in so stop fucking begrudging them food...!  Unless you want to switch places with them by having their food stamps along with their poor lives, then shut the fuck up already. This is America, we feed our poor!

Christian values my ass...

[uselesslegs]

I have never gotten the 'anger' we used to see from Griff or Gordo or even rican on the topic of food stamps and steaks.. who really cares that these people get a steak once a month.. in order to get food stamps they have to be so low on the income chart that why begrudge them one or two good meals a month? Why do we care what is in someone else's refrigerator or shopping cart? Why do we want to humiliate them on top of the humilation they already have by being on FS, by making the grovel like slaves and say "Thank you Master" like some weird 'Igor' pet when they buy their monthly groceries..

OMG they have a cell phone and they are on food stamps? So what? did it occur to you that that cell might be their only phone? How can they seek employment without a phone?

OMG they are driving a better car than I am? And? They might just be living in it as well. Or maybe when they bought the car they had a stable job with a good income, but now that job's gone and they are starving.. but they need the car to get back and forth in life and can't sell it because it's paid for and can't afford payments on something else or don't want to take a chance on a 'used' car breaking down on them..

who cares! you don't know what situation they are in so stop fucking begrudging them food...!  Unless you want to switch places with them by having their food stamps along with their poor lives, then shut the fuck up already. This is America, we feed our poor!

Christian values my ass...

Ha, Christian values...but I digress.

It's Reagan's war on the poor all over again.  Well, it never actually went away, it just had to bite it's lip after welfare reform.  Now there's a new bar and the new bar needs to be lowered again because of gluttony of the few.  Question: How far do you lower the bar on something, to distract from and hide the fact that you're really covering up for something else?  Answer? You don't stop, fuck'em.  If I've learned anything from the GOP, it's that.

Government fraud and waste SHOULD be addressed, with a vengeance...but while you're swinging that vengeance around, quit manufacturing false outrage in the process.  Food stamp Queen, Welfare Queen...it's the same thing.  The GOP has been masterful for quite some time with the messaging.  The problem is now it's not the unknown faces of poverty bearing the humiliation and vitriol anymore. NOW it's ticking further up...and guess what?  People are starting to realize that perhaps they were hasty in their stereotypes and assumptions because...now their THOSE people as well.  They say many people are incapable of empathizing or being critical beyond their own reality.  Well welcome to a reality that was always there!  WELCOME ABOARD YA BUNCH OF WORTHLESS, LAZY MOOCHERS!  How's it feel to know that you're a piece of fuck'in shit because you need food stamps?

You don't get to be excluded and pretend you're not a piece of fuck'in shit because you're "different."  Oh no.  You're EXACTLY who the GOP is talking about.  It doesn't matter about your circumstance or what fucking you received from a trickle down mentality and how hard you've been struggling to change that reality or avoid it.  None of that matters. All that matters is you're a fuckin piece of shit, who's obviously not trying hard enough.  You're pathetic and you're a drain on society.  So keep pretending that this is only temporary for you...that you're not one of "them" and that the disdain is for someone else...because it's not.   

[ekg]

Ha, Christian values...but I digress.

It's Reagan's war on the poor all over again.  Well, it never actually went away, it just had to bite it's lip after welfare reform.  Now there's a new bar and the new bar needs to be lowered again because of gluttony of the few.  Question: How far do you lower the bar on something, to distract from and hide the fact that you're really covering up for something else?  Answer? You don't stop, fuck'em.  If I've learned anything from the GOP, it's that.

Government fraud and waste SHOULD be addressed, with a vengeance...but while you're swinging that vengeance around, quit manufacturing false outrage in the process.  Food stamp Queen, Welfare Queen...it's the same thing.  The GOP has been masterful for quite some time with the messaging.  The problem is now it's not the unknown faces of poverty bearing the humiliation and vitriol anymore. NOW it's ticking further up...and guess what?  People are starting to realize that perhaps they were hasty in their stereotypes and assumptions because...now their THOSE people as well.  They say many people are incapable of empathizing or being critical beyond their own reality.  Well welcome to a reality that was always there!  WELCOME ABOARD YA BUNCH OF WORTHLESS, LAZY MOOCHERS!  How's it feel to know that you're a piece of fuck'in shit because you need food stamps?

You don't get to be excluded and pretend you're not a piece of fuck'in shit because you're "different."  Oh no.  You're EXACTLY who the GOP is talking about.  It doesn't matter about your circumstance or what fucking you received from a trickle down mentality and how hard you've been struggling to change that reality or avoid it.  None of that matters. All that matters is you're a fuckin piece of shit, who's obviously not trying hard enough.  You're pathetic and you're a drain on society.  So keep pretending that this is only temporary for you...that you're not one of "them" and that the disdain is for someone else...because it's not.   

yeah, like they believe that... the rationale is, "you're not them because you worked and paid into the system, now you're down on your luck and just taking back what is rightfully yours, and more power to you"... yes, I've seen that statement given about one who was white,male and a 'conservative' who complained about the mythical 'welfare queen' and when I reminded him he was using welfare himself and asked 'what did that make him', he was defended by an 'ULTRA-libertarian' with the above reason..

why not just call it what it is... 'it's only a problem when blacks use it'.. and move on already.