The rush to humiliate the poor

[n2doc]

By Dana Milbank

Rick Brattin, a young Republican state representative in Missouri, has come up with an innovative new way to humiliate the poor in his state. Call it the surf-and-turf law.

Brattin has introduced House Bill 813, making it illegal for food-stamp recipients to use their benefits “to purchase cookies, chips, energy drinks, soft drinks, seafood, or steak.”

“I have seen people purchasing filet mignons and crab legs” with electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards, the legislator explained, according to The Post’s Roberto A. Ferdman. “When I can’t afford it on my pay, I don’t want people on the taxpayer’s dime to afford those kinds of foods either.”

Never mind that few can afford filet mignon on a less-than-$7/day food-stamp allotment; they’re more likely to be buying chuck steak or canned tuna. This is less about public policy than about demeaning public-benefit recipients.

more

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-rush-to-humiliate-the-poor/2015/04/07/8795b192-dd67-11e4-a500-1c5bb1d8ff6a_story.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions&wpmm=1

[HereSince1628]

1. Well it's prefaced with fantasy but he seems honest about his jealousy

“When I can’t afford it on my pay, I don’t want people on the taxpayer’s dime to afford those kinds of foods (filet mignon and crab legs) either.

Jealousy is a cornerstone of rwing resistance to welfare and jealousy is the font of all the myths. If there weren't myths about spending by SNAP recipients they'd have to be invented to cope with the cognitive dissonance.

[n2doc]

2. I would love to put him on a polygraph

I'll bet he is lying. I have heard those exact same items attributed to food stamp buyers in other states. Coincidence? I think not.

See
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20081220094325AAzAb4o

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Food+Stamp+Filets

[HereSince1628]

5. It's classic repetition of myth, imo, much like police rationalizations of shootings

The language in both cases isn't true. Isn't told as a truth, but rather presented as a useful strawman that meets the needs of circumstance.

[Enthusiast]

16. He's a regular lying Republican.

Without the lies they would have noting to say at all.

[jwirr]

38. rw talking point.

[yeoman6987]

7. I wish they had to prove these outrageous claims

Why don't we get numbers or interviews with actual buyers of these items? Mmmmmmm. Sound like the total is zero and can't find anyone but we know it is done because other shoppers tell us. Yeah right.

[HereSince1628]

8. I'm pretty sure they could get members to rise and tell the world they too saw these things.

Belief is a funny thing for the liar, it becomes -real- when other people accept and endorse it.

Sort of like suggestions that god answered a prayer or intervened in a person's life. If that's told among a group of believers as a testimony of faith everyone nods and voluntary suspension of disblief prevails to become rooted in group faith.

These myths about welfare users have reached just such status among the embittered jealous.

[yeoman6987]

17. I just don't get the jealous part

I would not want 400 bucks for food and 700 bucks for rent for anything in the World to sit home all day. Sorry not appealing. Plus I would have to sell my home for sure. Those that are jealous are clearly uninformed or have some fantasy of watching tv while waiting on the steak and shrimp to finish cooking and that's before going to the casino because the cruise isn't until tomorrow so I have a few hours to kill at the casino. I just hope nobody scratches my Porsche.


Unbelievable to say the least.

[PotatoChip]

66. They get nowhere near $400 for food and $700 for rent.

Where do you get your info?

[yeoman6987]

69. Depends on where you live

As always Maryland is one of the better states. Many factors go into everything. Children change the dynamic. Of course you missed the entire point of the reply for nonsense. No wonder Republicans win when even intelligent ones here look at absurd nonsense instead of over all message.

[PotatoChip]

86. At $127/month per/person for food, and $576/month (TANF for a family of 3) Maryland is indeed

more helpful toward their poor than some states. But those amounts are far lower than what you asserted. Especially when the $576 is for a family of 3 and is supposed to cover every non-food item...not just "rent".

Both of these charts are for the year 2013. Food stamps (aka SNAP) has had a nationwide cut since then due to the 2014 'Farm Bill'. Additionally, TANF has also seen cuts in many states with Republican Governors/Legislatures.

http://kff.org/other/state-indicator/avg-monthly-food-stamp-benefits/
Average Monthly Food Stamp Benefits per Participant
United States $133.071

Alabama $128.82
Alaska $172.90
Arizona $123.62
Arkansas $120.86
California $151.44
Colorado $135.11
Connecticut $138.65
Delaware $127.90
District of Columbia $135.17
Florida $138.39
Georgia $136.40
Hawaii $217.49
Idaho $127.30
Illinois $137.99
Indiana $131.49
Iowa $116.28
Kansas $124.68
Kentucky $127.33
Louisiana $131.18
Maine $122.79
Maryland $127.39
Massachusetts $130.92
Michigan $136.65
Minnesota $116.25
Mississippi $123.77
Missouri $128.04
Montana $124.65
Nebraska $122.71
Nevada $123.57
New Hampshire $115.76
New Jersey $134.97
New Mexico $128.58
New York $147.75
North Carolina $121.85
North Dakota $126.10
Ohio $133.50
Oklahoma $128.48
Oregon $127.43
Pennsylvania $128.32
Rhode Island $140.29
South Carolina $131.47
South Dakota $132.18
Tennessee $132.11
Texas $122.35
Utah $125.15
Vermont $124.37
Virginia $127.75
Washington $125.64
West Virginia $119.88
Wisconsin $116.56
Wyoming $124.80
Guam $216.15


http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=4034
States That Increased TANF Benefits
(monthly benefit for a family of three)
State July 2013 Benefits

Connecticut $688
Maryland $576
Montana $510
New York $789
Ohio $458
Texas $271
Wyoming $616
Note: TANF = Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
Source: CBPP-compiled 2013 state benefits

[daredtowork]

95. Food Strategies

I have bought duck with food stamps before. I did it at a time when I was suffering from severe digestive problems and could only eat jook (rice stew) for weeks. Duck is very rich and flavorful, and I used very tiny pieces in tge batches of jook I made. The cheapness of the rice and other ingredients made up the difference. I wonder who judged that purchase.

I have used food stamps to buy cheese and party cravkers in my attempt to "network" for employment purposes and not be a leech. Who judged that purchase?

My style of dieting is to deprive myself pretty extremely (5 small meals just doesn't work for me)...but then I reward myself with something tasty. This works for me, but am I only being judged on my little "day off" purchase?

If I have been dieting a lot,it shows in "extra"money at the end of the month. That's also when I'm likely to congratulate myself for both successful dieting and good budgeting by using the balance on a treat: usually meat to put in the freezer or fancy stuffed pasta.

I don't eat red meat, so no steak for me. But even if I did, I only have $150/month to work with. Some of this money goes toward foods that can meet other household needs like baking soda, vinegar, and lemon juice - because I don't have cash to cover non-food basic needs. That's the most laughable part of this most recent attack on the poor. The $336/month I get in general assistance goes entirely to a landlord for rent!!!!!! I'm lucky not to be homeless with that. I think the plan IS to drive people who go on welfare into the hell of homelessness as a Guantanamo-style torture for people who don't get work. People who aren't disabled do hella paperwork, under tight fraud watch, to get that $336/month for only 3 months out of the year. Tell me how this is rolling out the red carpet to cruise ships???!!!

THOSE LYING LIARS BE LYING!!!!

But the shame of the Democrats is our "representatives" will join right in the chorus of lies to get the "Center" vote.

[Trillo]

58. I give other people privacy at the store.

I don't pay much attention to what others buy. Sometimes I can't help but notice, like when putting the shopper's divider down on the moving belt and you notice the items next to where it is placed, or when they have some huge or unusual item that's somewhat out of place. Often, my biggest concern is hurry up and get home.

Anyway, I wonder is this a typical right wing thing, being involved in other people's business, routinely invading their privacy?

Or, is this more like some kind of highly calculated meme carefully designed to divide people?

[raccoon]

89. Maybe it's just what you said, considering how interested they are

in other people's sex lives.

Anyway, I wonder is this a typical right wing thing, being involved in other people's business, routinely invading their privacy?

[dembotoz]

3. same tactic used by glenn grothman in wisconsin and now he is in congress

throw red meat to the hater base of your party and in the right district your possibilities are endless

[HereSince1628]

6. I was shocked when Grothman came out against the pirating furniture rentals

it seemed for a moment that he had a fleeting clarity of mind...

[FSogol]

4. Rick Brattin, Today's Worst Person.....in the Worlddddddd.

Someone make that that privileged fucker exist on $7 a day of food for a few months.

[bullwinkle428]

9. Chris Hayes totally exposed the hypocrisy of these guys last night - he was interviewing

one of these punk Republican state legislators from Kansas, and asked him if those receiving farming subsidies were going to be held to the same standard! The guy started sputtering like Porky Pig!

[Thinkingabout]

11. Very good point, food stamps was cut while farm subsidies increased.

The hell of this is "farmers" are paid not to farm their land, food stamps buys food to feed their family which in turn pays farmers.

[SamKnause]

30. I caught that clip.

That man was so disgusting I could barely watch him.

You could tell everything he was saying was a lie.

He smiled the entire time he was spewing his lies.

It was truly a disgusting display.

[jwirr]

40. I liked that Chris continually asked him to provide proof that his accusations were true. We

document what we say and it is time that the guests on the programs document what they say or shut up.

[appalachiablue]

57. +1

[DawgHouse]

10. I keep hearing about these poor people buying mignon and crab legs

but I've never seen them! What a crock of BS.

[yeoman6987]

21. Yeah so the idiot on tv says if they are not buying it then

Banning these items doesn't hurt anyone abd it is a moot point.

[Sparhawk60]

97. I've Seen It....

and then the welfare queen drove off in her new Cadillac!!!!



Ahh, this reminds me of the '80's; with all the welfare queens driving brand new Cadillacs. Nice to see the RW recyling...even if it is just old talking points. lol

[malthaussen]

12. Frankly, what fascinates me...

... is not the myth of food-stamp recipients spending money on filet mignon, it is the underlying assumption that it is any of my business what they buy with their food stamps. An assumption which seems to be present in some of the posters here, who seem more interested in disproving the lie than attacking the underlying condescension that says I have the right and authority to dictate how others live.

-- Mal

[n2doc]

13. Casting aspersions on other DU'ers sucks eggs n/t

[malthaussen]

61. Aspersions?

What we have here is a failure to communicate.

I think there is an underlying message in the US, one that is pervasive and insidious, one that is so much a part of our cultue that most of us are as aware of it as a fish is of water. It is the idea that there are "deserving" poor (and therefore, clearly, "undeserving" poor). I think that when energy is wasted on refuting asinine lies (and this claim by Mr Brattin is an asinine lie, unworthy of being dignified with a response), while the underlying assumption goes unquestioned and unnoticed, is a mis-application of energy. If it be an aspersion to tell someone that they are missing the point, consider yourself aspersed.

Imagine, per arguendo, that Mr Brattin's silly lie were true, would the substance of the matter change? Is the issue one of whether or not welfare recipients spend their money on this item or that, or is it that they must spend it as we will them to or be deprived of it? A similar question arises in considering the drug testing of welfare recipients. Many seem to oppose this because it is a foolish expenditure, and not because there is anything fundamentally to be despised about the whole concept. Supposing that the RW bigots were right, and the majority of welfare recipients were raving hopheads, are they therefore somehow undeserving of welfare and should be left to starve?

Does the end, ultimately, justify the means? Do we oppose torture, not because it is wrong, but because it doesn't work? If it did work, would our opposition dissolve? There is a certain pragmatism afloat in the US today which finds outliers in the strangest of places. My contention is that we have no business poking our noses into how SNAP recipients spend their pittance, we have no business determining who is "worthy" and who "unworthy" of relief. And my contention is that this is a far more important question than whether or not someone spends SNAP on lobster, or indeed, a pack of cigarettes (which at current rates are more expensive than filet mignon, I swear). The point of such inquiry is, IMO, quite as inferred by you in the OP: to further humiliate the poor. And my eternal question is this: is the form of humiliation more important than the fact of humiliation? It seems to me that for many of us, even on DU (there's that aspersion again), the answer appears to be "yes."

-- Mal

[n2doc]

64. I agree there is a failure here

You assume that only one thing is my concern here. You assume wrongly.

[malthaussen]

67. No, I make no such assumption.

In fact, by virtue of your post title, I would have assumed the opposite. The incorrect assumption here is that I am talking about you as an individual, rather than making a general observation. As it happens, N2Doc, I rarely make personal observations, and when I do I am usually careful to label them as such.

-- Mal

[n2doc]

70. "An assumption which seems to be present in some of the posters here.."

An assumption which seems to be present in some of the posters here, who seem more interested in disproving the lie than attacking the underlying condescension that says I have the right and authority to dictate how others live.


Your quote. Maybe you didn't mean me. I don't think it is right to assume that about others here, either.

[malthaussen]

83. Well, we can differ about that.

Scripta manent. There have been a number of posts by DU members that would seem to indicate it is fair to infer they aren't considering the larger issue. Why waste the keystrokes to debunk an obvious fantasy unless one thought the fantasy important enough to debunk? Why restrict comment only to the immediate fantasy, and not mention the underlying one? I reckon it is a sort of symptoms-and-disease question, but it is also true that symptoms need to be addressed quickly if they are dangerous enough. On yet another hand, though, there are always going to be fools like Mr Brattin coming out of the political woodwork. Until the underlying disease is addressed, the symptoms will continue, or mutate, and proliferate.

None of which should be taken as a comment about you personally.

-- Mal

[lapislzi]

80. ^^^THIS

Discussions of this nature speak precisely to how judgey we have become as a society. Sanctimonious moralizing is not a progressive trait. And, really, how is this different from victim blaming?

Spot on, Malthaussen!

[malthaussen]

84. Yes, your point about victim-blaming is well-taken.

But that's a whole 'nother rant. Suffice it that it is all part and parcel of the same malaise, IMO, and that people of more-or-less good will are apparently blind to it, which is a real failure of our culture.

-- Mal

[hibbing]

26. agree

I'm with you, like I posted in the stupid cruise ship thread, do we need to set up committees to determine what and what people can buy with their food money? Certainly they can't have items with a lot of sugar or fat in them and we can't let them buy anything like shrimp and filets with their enormous monies they get. Just how far can we go with this?

Peace

[jwirr]

42. In the 50s a friend of mine asked me to go to the grocery store with her. Her mother reminded

her to be sure to get the receipt because she was asked every month to provide her social worker with proof of what she spent the welfare money on. I was shocked.

[AlbertCat]

27. assumption that it is any of my business what they buy with their food stamps.

Indeed.


Let them buy crab legs!


They won't be able to buy anything else for a week. The "I wish I was on food stamps, don't you?" crowd leave that part out too.


Personally, I'm more concerned about what the Pentagon is buying with my tax dollars.

[malthaussen]

68. I submit that if that is your concern...

... the solution is better education, not supervision.

-- Mal

[mountain grammy]

14. This is disgusting. Republicans are hateful and stupid.

just stupid. They waste more tax money on shit like this. He'll be wined and dined at a price that could feed a family for a month. He should keep his hateful mouth shut.

[AZ Progressive]

76. Republicans should be listed under the definition of "disgusting"

They continually push the envelope in how disgusting a human being can be.

[Martin Eden]

15. I don't think it's a "rush to humiliate the poor"

Though it may very well be humiliating to poor folk who use food stamps, I think the intent of this kind of legislation is to create the perception in the minds of voters that social safety net programs are essentially giving their hard earned pay to a bunch of loafers splurging on the public dime.

The long term goal is to eliminate the social safety net, and this is done by creating resentment and getting voters to embrace the ideology being crafted by the Republican Party and their corporate masters. The ideology includes Christian persecution by Liberals who also synpathize with terrorists and lack family values.

These rightwing propagandists don't care a whit one way or the other if poor folks feel humiliated. They're just trying to reel in voters by making shit up and creating false perceptions.

[CTyankee]

62. There's another consideration! buying "lingerie" is also forbidden!

What is in the minds of the legislators? I guess they think women are buying sexy black lace panties with TANF dollars.

Bunch of sexist sick creeps...

[Martin Eden]

75. They're trying to paint welfare recipients as immoral, in addition to being loafers

Again, making shit up to create resentment and motivate the easily misled into voting Republican.

[spanone]

18. fuck this 'young republican'.

[Fred Sanders]

19. Where are the "real Christians" on this? Why are they not speaking out? Is this Christianity, because

it is a horrible, horrible religion if it is?

Is only Christian President Obama going to speak out on this, good Catholics of good Catholic CNN and Fox, what say you?

[Capt. Obvious]

20. Did he see a young strapping buck buying those filet mignons?

[AlbertCat]

28. Did he see a young strapping buck buying those filet mignons?

I wanna know that too.


Where did he see this purchase of crab legs and fillet mignon? Was it a woman or a man? How were they dressed? Did they have kids with them? What color was their hair? Were they black or white? Was it the same person who told Michelle Bachmann their daughter got autism from a vaccine?

Some details on this amazing sighting please, I mean since he saw it himself.

[haele]

71. There's a lady in our complex who shops for food for the disabled/housebound.

She's always got a notice out asking for grocery bags. Twice a week I see her and her husband driving their truck around and dropping off bags of groceries to various homes. Our across the way disabled neighbor is on food stamps, and she gives this woman her list and EBT card every once and a while to get groceries for her.
So, in a situation like this, how does one know if the person with the food stamps or the EBT is buying groceries for someone, and then buying her own filet minion and crab legs with her own money?

Would I be wrongfully judging someone who doing a generous act of kindness to her neighbor in need - or shopping for his or her relatives by stating "I saw this lazy taker using our hard-working taxpayer provided food stamps or an EBT for some groceries, then paying cash for real expensive groceries that the average person wouldn't normally think of buying!" and then working to propose laws to make it harder for the poor and needy to get food or assistance just to survive in a reasonable manner?

People who jump at the chance to be judge, jury, and executioner against their fellow citizens suck.

Haele

[Spitfire of ATJ]

22. I suppose we should have a special section of the store for them....

Better yet, a special store.

Let's put them all in a special neighborhood while we're at it.

Oh, and just to be on the safe side, let's make them wear a symbol on their clothes so everyone knows who they are.

[appalachiablue]

59. +1. confine/isolate in ghettos/camps; wear a symbol, *'WR'/'P' for easy targeting, ID & harrassment.

'WR' = welfare recipient. 'P' = poor. We are not that far from this practice with these rabid lunatics in power.

[world wide wally]

23. For some sick reason, protecting us from Welfare queens just tugs at vindictive

America's heart strings and rakes in the votes.
At least we have good Christian politicians to protect us from this and two people of the same gender loving each other.

[Nay]

34. My bagger SIL would eat this up. She's so filled with hate over somebody getting one dollar

from her tax money to buy food that it's a wonder her Catholic church doesn't explode with her bile.

[sarge43]

24. "When I can't afford it on my pay ...,"

Last edited Wed Apr 8, 2015, 06:53 PM - Edit history (1)

According to ballotpedia.org, Kansas legislators make $88.66 a day, a per diem of $123.00 a day and mileage based on the fed standard.

Lying sack.

[treestar]

92. Yeah, if the food stamp recipient can,

then he could make that choice and have hamburger another night. He doesn't really care so much as he just wants there to be things the poor can't have. So he can crow that he can have them.

[AlbertCat]

25. “When I can’t afford it on my pay, "

Liar.





“I have seen people purchasing filet mignons and crab legs” with electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards"


Why should I believe this if he lies about his income?

[SamKnause]

29. I receive $113.00 per month

food stamp allowance.

I am living the good life.

There is nothing I can't afford to buy with my $113.00 monthly food stamp allowance.

They will not be satisfied until we are dying in the streets.

I am tired of people telling me to live on beans, rice, and potatoes.

No one wants to eat the same thing day in and day out, week in and week out, month in and month out.

I can stretch a nickle in to a quarter, but I can not make money magically appear.

Being poor is stressful enough, without having the food police breathing down your neck.

I would like to see these out of touch evil people live on $3.76 per day.

[Nay]

36. I know. It's such bullshit. In FL my brother got $17 a week in food stamps.

No one would pay his rent, so I paid that. 17 bucks! Now, he's real cheap, so he could actually buy some useful food with that. But not crab legs.

[Cryptoad]

31. Ah ,,, living teh High Life of the Poor! ,,,geeez

$7 / day you can't afford much meat protein in any form

[n2doc]

32. Must be on the modified Atkins Diet

The 1 small steak a day diet.

[Cryptoad]

33. Helll you can't even order a small steak on the Cruz ship! geez

[ashling]

35. While this turd might sit down and scarf a whole steak

a more frugal person might use it to feed a family of 4 ... +

[jwirr]

37. He was on Chris Hayes last night - I think he was the one who ended up embarrassed,

[Depaysement]

39. I live with a lot of poor people

Almost all of them that can work, do work. And most of the others want to work. Unlike this "legislator."

[CrispyQ]

41. GOP: The Party of Mean Spirited Fucks

I'm beginning to question anyone I know who is republican, "How can you support these assholes & this mean spirited mindset?" My mother used to answer, "Let's not let politics get between us," but how can it not? Doesn't it say something about the person if they support a party that believes that poor people should be shamed & denied any pleasures? That women/minorities/gays don't deserve equality?

[AgingAmerican]

52. It isn't 'spirit'

It's mental illness codified.

[Cryptoad]

43. Hey GOP here is something even better and even more demeaning,,,,

give them bag of seeds, a hoe and a garden spot........ if they want to eat they can grow it..... you remember, like the GOP's 40 acres and mule thingy .....

[n2doc]

44. GOP don't give nothin' to poor folks

They would RENT those things, and ask for a "share" of the "crops" back......

[SheilaT]

45. I have been hearing or reading

about how well food stamp recipients eat as long as I can remember. As long as we've actually had the food stamp program in effect. I have never been willing to believe those stories.

I wouldn't actually be surprised to learn there are a tiny number who are actually scamming the programming, who have a good income and manage to get food stamps. Or maybe some other scammers who have multiple identities under which they receive benefits. But even a small amount of research shows that food stamp fraud is pretty minimal.

Meanwhile, as has already been pointed out, people who get farm subsidies don't think of that as welfare. But it is.

Sure, wouldn't it be nice if no one ever bought "junk food". Vegetarians would vastly prefer no one ate meat. And the vegans encourage us all to eat their way.

Let's just hope no one gets into office who is a Breatharian. Look it up.

[lame54]

46. No sea food?...

The AMA recommends 2 servings of fish each week to cut down on heart disease

the poor don't deserve to be healthy even though it would benefit all of us

you strengthen a society from the bottom up

[Gothmog]

47. Shaming the poor is the latest GOP tactic

I find this tactic to be distasteful

[Orrex]

48. As ugly as this is, DU has had more than a few who agreed with him in principle

[niyad]

50. I remember, and it has been disgusting to see that sort of thing on a supposedly progressive

board.

[niyad]

49. this is the same asshole who introduced a bill that would force women to get permission

from the man responsible for the pregnancy before getting an abortion.

apart from the fact that he is a total and complete woman-hating pos, I have to ask how he KNOWS someone is purchasing food with an ebt card. I don't know about his state (of mind, either), but the ebt cards here look like debit cards. they do not have EBT or FOOD STAMPS posted in huge letters. so, again, how the **** would he know?

ricky boy, go straight to hell, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

[Orrex]

53. In PA they're a hideous bright vomit green with bold yellow letters. Unmistakable from any distance.

Not sure how they play it in his state, but he definitely does seem like the kind of asshole who'd be happy to spy on fellow shoppers to make sure that the destitute are adequately playing the role of Dickensian street urchins.

[niyad]

54. is this it?

you are correct, that pos is the kind of creep who wants to see what everyone is doing (and isn't his party the "small govt, get off our backs" party??))

he sounds like a voyeur to me.

[Orrex]

55. That's the one! I believe that it can be seen from orbit with the unaided eye.

One can't help imagining that this guy must have one hell of a skeleton in his closet.

[niyad]

56. I think you are quite correct.

[raging moderate]

51. Tell Brattin to call me, and I will help him learn to budget his money.

If he really thinks he can't afford these items on his salary, then he is delusional. Perhaps he was in a similar delusional state when he "saw" food stamp recipients purchasing filet mignons and crab legs.

These people want to humiliate the poor because they believe they are inferior beings, and that they themselves are superior beings, and that the poor are their legitimate prey. They persist in spreading lies that have been repeatedly debunked, and they ignore the COLD FACTS that most food stamp recipients ACTUALLY ARE EMPLOYED BUT ARE UNDERPAID.

I found it most interesting when I read, a few years ago, that very rich households and very poor households showed less food wastage than middle-income households. Of course they do. Both very rich and very poor households are more frequently managed by the SAME PEOPLE, since most rich people drastically underpay their household help. I suspect many of our legislators would do well to employ their housekeepers as consultants on management of the federal budget, as well as their own personal budgets. You HAVE to manage money VERY strictly when you are poor; one slip up and you get kicked out in the street, and then you lose your job for looking bedraggled, which rich people assume is just a sure sign of moral depravity.

And, oh, about how the poor should pay more taxes? Poor people DO pay taxes. Sales taxes, payroll taxes, and taxes in the form of auto permit and license fees, etc. The only taxes they sometimes are let out of are income taxes, and that is only because they are kept on starvation wages. I have one suggestion for these despicable villains: If you want poor people to pay more taxes, then RAISE THEIR WAGES so that they fall into the bracket above which people can do without the negative income tax subsidy.

Rick Brattin: If you want these people to walk, then GET OFF THEIR BACKS.

[tularetom]

60. That kind of bullshit rings a bell with a lot of people who envy the greedy moochers

wasting "their" tax dollars on gourmet food items.

It not going to go over quite as well when those people themselves fall through the cracks, lose a job, get sick, and have to rely on assistance. And the day is coming for a lot of them.

BTW, I once asked a checker in the grocery store if much of that stuff was actually going on. He said he had personally witnessed it a few times, but when I asked if it was widespread, he got kind of mumbly and finally admitted that he saw it once or twice a year.

Most of his customers who used the benefits, he said, were single moms who purchased food for their kids. Some of it may have been less than nutritious, but it wasn't luxury food.

[CTyankee]

72. why is it any of your business to tell "low income" people what to eat?

And why are you scrutinizing people in the supermarket according to race?

[greatauntoftriplets]

74. I can just picture her in the grocery store scrutinizing people's carts.

This is library girl.

[CTyankee]

77. hope she's not here long...

[greatauntoftriplets]

78. Usually she's not.

[CTyankee]

81. Yup. Now she's gone.

What a sicko mind...

[greatauntoftriplets]

82. And the post you commented on was hidden (before being removed).

[CTyankee]

87. It was gone pretty fast after I commented...I knew that was coming...

[greatauntoftriplets]

88. Jury did well on that one.

[workinclasszero]

85. And all of these republican scumballs have the gall

to call themselves "Christians"!

They oppress the poor and working class 24/7 for their filthy rich masters, koch bros etc.

Whatever Jesus said to do these bastards do the exact opposite. I bet they pray in church every Sunday...thank you God I'm not like all those poor and wretched sinners/democrats/gay people! Luke 18 -13...Luke 18:22-23-24

[Skittles]

90. I think he is a lying asshole

BULLSHIT he has seen people buying filet mignons and crablegs with EBT cards, BULL FUCKING SHIT - I bet he "heard" this from one of his dimwit supporters

[treestar]

91. though this never happens

what's amazing is that - if it happened, the person would be using the food stamps inefficiently for a luxury, but what does he care? They will suffer not having food another day.

The thing is he wants status symbols to remain that way. If the poor can have beef or a cell phone, that takes away from his having one showing how he's better than everyone else.

The essence of the right wing, and the Silent Generation, is status. They have to have the symbols to work towards or have and gloat over everyone over.

[OnionPatch]

93. What a pile!

We ate canned tuna and generic cereal from the bargain store when I was a kid and my family received food stamps. If we'd have bought the foods he's talking about we would have had to go hungry for a week to compensate.

The GOP are shameless liars and propagandists.

[Oilwellian]

96. Eating fish is a religious practice by Catholics

This Bill will prevent Catholics who are on food stamps, from eating fish on Fridays. It's a very widespread practice in the Catholic church, and the Bill basically infringes on their religious freedom to practice that tradition. How is that for dripping irony?

[RobinA]

99. They Can

darn well buy Friday fish with their copious cash assistance and TANF money.

[Hotler]

98. When will the repugs force the same rules on....

the folks that receive farm subsidies.