How Many Of America’s “Poor” Are Like This Lady And Her Husband?

Stolen from Observations

The way that many welfare recipients think was revealed in a call to a radio talk show on KLBJ-AM in Austin, Texas. Lucy, a 32 year-old married mother of three, whose parents also had been on welfare, said this about her situation:

“I just wanted to say while workers out there and people like you that are preaching morality at people like me that are living on welfare, can you really blame us? I mean, I get to sit home, I get to go visit my friends all day, I even get to smoke weed, and people that I know that are illegal immigrants, that don’t contribute to society, we still going to get paid. Our check’s going to come in the mail every month and it’s going to be on time. And we get subsidized housing, we even get presents delivered for our kids at Christmas. Why should I work?”

“So you know what? You all get the benefit of saying, ‘Oh, look at me. I’m a better person,’ because you all are going to work. We’re the ones getting paid. So can you really blame us?”

Asked if her husband works, she said he does sometimes, but “he doesn’t really see the need for it.” Has she ever worked? “A couple of times.” Does she ever feel guilty about gaming the system and taking money other people have earned? “But you know, if someone offers you a million dollars, would you walk away from it? It’s easy to preach morality, and that’s the only reason why I called. It’s easy to say, ‘Well, yeah, you know, you’re making your living off of other people’s backs.’ But, you know, if somebody gave you a million dollars, and said that, here, you don’t got to work for it, no strings attached. Here, just take it, you can do whatever you want to do with it. You would take it, too.”

The host asked if she was calling in on an “Obamaphone” (a cell phone provided by the federal government) and she answered that she was. Then, when asked how much she received each month, she said she only pays $50 a month for rent that should be $600, so that’s $550, $425 in food stamps, $150 for her electric bill, and $100 on her water bill from the City of Austin. That comes to $1,225 a month, $14,700 a year, just less than the current federal minimum wage. Plus the cell phone.

She also said that when you are in government programs, “they are always coming to you and offering more programs,” and will even pay you to go to find out about where you can get more money. “They encourage you to stay on the programs.”

Asked if her money was cut off, would she get up every day and go to work, she said, “yes, I’d have to.”

This situation makes perfect sense to people like Lucy and her husband, who never learned the lesson that mature, responsible human beings make their own way in life, and who now live a relatively comfortable life without having to do anything to help themselves. They are a product of the failed War on Poverty for which we can thank President Lyndon B. Johnson (LBJ), the namesake of the radio station Lucy called. They are among a large and growing number of Americans being taught that the government will take care of them, and they don’t have to do well in school, or learn a trade, or look for a job, or do much more than draw breath.

Last year the Census Bureau reported that 46 million Americans were in “poverty.” But how many of those are really poor and need some help, and how many are like Lucy and her hubby; playing a system that allows those eager for a free ride to get one?

Census Bureau data reveals the following about people classified as “poor”: eighty percent of poor households enjoy air conditioning; nearly three-fourths own a car or truck, and 31 percent own two or more cars or trucks, nearly two-thirds subscribe to cable or satellite television, 50 percent own a personal computer, and one in seven owns two or more computers; 43 percent subscribe to Internet access; one-third own a wide-screen plasma or LCD television; one-fourth own a digital video recorder system, such as a TiVo; more than half of poor families with children own a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.

Poverty ain’t what it used to be.

It isn’t government’s job to help individuals who are down on their luck, and as the War on Poverty has demonstrated, it does a lousy job of it. And it surely isn’t government’s job to give taxpayer’s money to people who don’t really need it, or to actively recruit people who don’t need welfare onto welfare roles. That is the epitome of government disservice, and elected official’s self-service.

George Bernard Shaw’s famous quote has been used a lot recently, but it has never been truer than today: “A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul.”

The Emperior Has No Clothing!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Book of Obama: Chapter 13

His Excellency, The Most High, Master of the Nation, President Barack Hussein Obama (May He Reign Forever) spoke to the peons of the population.  None of this problem is MY fault, the Great One exclaimed.

"I blame Bush! He spent $1 Trillion in 8 years. And there was the Recession. We had to spend, spend, spend to Save the Nation. It is the fault of the Republicans. Those nasty TEA Partiers. It is the fault of everyone else. I am your King. Nothing is MY fault. It never is.

We need to make the rich give up their money. The Corporate CEOs with private jets need to give all their money to ME. The Billionaires and Millionaires have too much money, I need it more.  I need much more.

Although I am Omnipotent, I need your help.  If I don't get the debt ceiling raised, the world will come to an end.  The elderly will be forced to eat cat food.   The military will not be paid.  Veterans will starve while being thrown on the street. All this because the evil Republicans with their allies the rich fat cats, will not do as I order them to.

Every President for many years has gotten what I demand.  The Great Reagan spoke thus:

"Would you rather reduce deficits and interest rates by raising revenue from those who are not now paying their fair share, or would you rather accept larger budget deficits, higher interest rates, and higher unemployment? And I think I know your answer."

And yet these evil men will thwart MY plans, MY desires, what I want.  It is very simple.  Without this ceiling raise, we will DEFAULT on our debt.  The nation will be destroyed.  It will not be MY fault!  We have only a week.  I need you to call Congress and demand that they raise the ceiling.  Raise it enough so that We don't have to do this until after November 2012 (So I don't have to bring this up again until I am reelected!). Only you, the Middle Class, the Poor need to do this.  Together We can defeat the rich, the ignorant, the Republicans.

Thank you MY subjects.  I bless you!"

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
-----Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence

Thus the Anointed One spoke to the people.  And they would have listened to Him but for the voice of the House Speaker, Boehner of Tears.  He spoke quietly, passionately, and with a firm voice.  His words bespoke of the truth and the people listened:

"I am not a fat cat, I was just a small business owner before I came to Congress.  I am one of you, the Middle Class, the people who find all of this too complicated to understand.  But it isn't too complicated.  It is as easy as your own home budget.

The President wants us to raise the debt ceiling for the next 18 months. This is so He will not have to face this problem during an election. The President swears that if we don't raise the ceiling the nation will end. We will default on our debts, the old will starve, the military will not be paid and veterans will be homeless. This is a lie. None of this will happen. What will happen is that for the first time the nation will have to live within our means. We will have to cut spending. We will have to trim the fat.

The President refuses to cut the fat, the port, the earmarks. We had a deal, but the President threatened to veto it. We have another deal, but it forces the President to cut spending, and will only raise the debt ceiling for 6 months.

The President is acting childish. He is carrying on a temper tantrum: "Do it my way or face the consequences!" The President can quote Ronald Reagan, but he will never be Ronald Reagan. Nor does he understand what Reagan stood for.

We will call his bluff. The President will be taught the lesson of the Constitutionality of this issue. He will be denied. He believes to be our King. But he forgets. We are Americans! WE HAVE AND WILL HAVE NO KINGS!!!!

And with that, the American people awoke to the truth of the argument.  The did call the Congress telling them to stand firm, don't give in to Obama's demands.  If we can stop him now, he will be destroyed. And they remembered this:

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury.

A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

---Thomas Jefferson, The Declaration of Independence

Yes President Obama has become a Tyrant.  It is time to take down the tyrant.  Call your Congressman or woman.  E-mail him or her.  Let them remember what happened in 2010.  You put them into Congress and you can take them out.  Time is running out. the nation and our freedoms are at risk.  It is time to stop the Tax and Spend culture of the Presidents and Democrats now.

True Friends of Israel

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

The Emergency Committee for Israel has come out with a new ad that hits President Obama for (what else?) his stand on Israel.

ECI Thanks Israel's True Friends



Hat Tip Israel Matzav

Remember This On November 2nd!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Hat tip to Crusader Rabbit




Remember their words, their actions on November 2nd and vote them out!

Mourning In America

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Hat tip to Wake Up America

In 1984, the Reagan reelection campaign set the standard for modern political advertising with its fabled "Morning in America" series, which included one of the greatest political ads of all time -- "Better, Prouder, Stronger." The ad captured the zeitgeist -- America under President Reagan was coming back, full of optimism and confidence in the future.

Today, the zeitgeist is exactly the opposite. Americans are worried about their future, and about a government determined to implement policies that just don't work. But like its predecessor, "Mourning in America" offers a new hope -- if we can just get our government to return to time-tested policies that can spark a rebirth of liberty.

Mourning



The Original Morning

How have times changed!

The Awakening!

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

Book of Obama Chapter 9

All through the first year of The Anointed One the people of the land did grumble.

"You are spending too much!"
"Increasing the debt!"
"The jobs are gone, make more!"
"The banks will fail again!"
"The car companies will fail!"
"HEALTH CARE!"

And did The Anointed One listen to the people of the land?  No He did not.  For He was told by Pelosi the Loud and Reid the Inept that they can do what they want, for the people will forget.

So while all through the Summer of Discord,. while tempers ran wild, The Anointed One just plowed forward with His own New Deal.

"We will push it through Congress!" The Anointed One shouted to His staff.  "We will force this on the people."  And the Progressives did laugh.

"We will change the nation, turn it into Europe-lite.  By the time We are finished, those idiots in the street will not be able to change it back."

"For Nanny is the name of the New Welfare Plan.  Total Cradle to Grave, We will do to them as well.  I know best, that everyone can see.  My way is the Right Way.  That is what I say it will be!"

All through the summer and into the fall, the warning signs were there for all to see, but The Anointed One became blinded to the truth.

He ignored the disaster of the Olympics, how His city of Chicago was turned down.  Or when He went to campaign for Virginia and Jersey of New, He couldn't turn those races around.

He put on the tears for the victims of Fort Hood, but refused to call it terror.
He ignored the Christmas bomber, it upset His plans for golf and fun that week.
But when His friend's son received a boo-boo, He ran back as fast as He could.
He partied day and night in the warm Hawaiin sands.

But on the eve of His first year anniversary.  He has received the worst news.
The Fiefdom of the Kennedy's:  Massachusetts has left the color blue.
The Fiefdom that old Joe the Bootlegger bought for his own son.  A piece of land that was the birthplace of the progressive slant.
The land of Harvard (the school The Anointed One attended.), of Barney the Frank and Kerry the Swiftboater, plus other illustrious names.
The Fiefdom of John the Martyr and Teddy the Lecher, both of Camalot fame, did hold court.  Those names plus Tips, remained true in count.

Yet of the day before the anniversary of the anointing by John of Roberts, the Holy Chief of Justice, where He was endowed with the Mantle of Power, did the news break unto Him.  His party just lost the Fiefdom of Massachusetts, and may never get it back.

There goes the New Deal for the Nation.  The Nanny must go!  The people have turned against us.  Our seats will be given to another.  The people have spoken in Massachusetts, a Fiefdom so blue it was nearly black.  The Kennedys don't run this Fiefdom any more.  The people have taken it back!

"We are fed up with your nanny, spending and lies.  You promised us openness on C-SPAN!  You said no smoke-filled rooms, transparency.  Yet you haven't delivered these.  What we want is good government.  Lower taxes, more jobs, less waste, less debt.  We didn't get that.  We want to feel safe when we fly.  Yet we don't feel safer too.  You treat those who cause harm to us like the common criminal.  Giving them rights they are not entitled to, setting them upon our shore.

For all these reasons and more, we have chosen our new champion Brown of the Body Politic.  He is our champion.  He is our Redeemer!"

The Anointed One reeled in horror.  He was the chosen.  He wore the Mantle of Power.  He was the one they had to worship.  He would see to it that the people would have this nanny nation to live on.

But it is too late for the false Messiah He has become, His oration will fail.  For the people of the nation have awakened.  Now they will just count the days to the next election where they can correct the mistake they made in 08!

Dedicated to the late Roger W. Gardner of Radarsite.  Massachusetts was his home state!

Why People Are Upset With The Health Care Bill.

By Findalis of Monkey in the Middle

I find it ironic and a bit strange that in the Land of the Free, elected officials would be using strong arm tactics to silence dissent. Instead of inquiring why their constituents are upset with HR 3200, and listening to their concerns, they are employing hired goons (union workers and members of ACORN) to stifle dissenting opinions. These goons are not registered in their districts, thus are not their constituents.

There are valid points that the "Angry Mob" as Speaker Pelosi and other members of the Democratic leadership calls them. Points they refuse to listen to.

Here are just a few of the points of contention in HR 3200 that has angered so many: (Just a listing of less then 1/2 of the 1,017 pages of the bill.)

Page 16: States that if you have insurance at the time of the bill becoming law and change, you will be required to take a similar plan. If that is not available, you will be required to take the government option!

Page 22: Mandates audits of all employers that self-insure!

Page 29: Admission: your health care will be rationed!

Page 30: A government committee will decide what treatments and benefits you get (and, unlike an insurer, there will be no appeals process)

Page 42: The "Health Choices Commissioner" will decide health benefits for you. You will have no choice. None.

Page 50: All non-US citizens, illegal or not, will be provided with free healthcare services.

Page 58: Every person will be issued a National ID Healthcard.

Page 59: The federal government will have direct, real-time access to all individual bank accounts for electronic funds transfer.

Page 65: Taxpayers will subsidize all union retiree and community organizer health plans (example: SEIU, UAW and ACORN)

Page 72: All private health care plans must conform to government rules to participate in a Health care Exchange.

Page 84: All private health care plans must participate in the Health care Exchange (i.e., total government control of private plans)
Page 91: Government mandates linguistic infrastructure for services; translation: illegal aliens.

Page 95: The Government will pay ACORN and Americorps to sign up individuals for Government-run Health Care plan.

Page 102: Those eligible for Medicaid will be automatically enrolled: you have no choice in the matter.

Page 124: No company can sue the government for price-fixing. No "judicial review" is permitted against the government monopoly. Put simply, private insurers will be crushed.

Page 127: The AMA sold doctors out: the government will set wages.

Page 145: An employer MUST auto-enroll employees into the government-run public plan. No alternatives.

Page 126: Employers MUST pay health care bills for part-time employees AND their families.

Page 149: Any employer with a payroll of $400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays an 8% tax on payroll.

Page 150: Any employer with a payroll of $250K-400K or more, who does not offer the public option, pays a 2 to 6% tax on payroll.

Page 167: Any individual who doesn't have acceptable health care (according to the government) will be taxed 2.5% of income.

Page 170: Any NON-RESIDENT alien is exempt from individual taxes (Americans will pay for them).

Page 195: Officers and employees of Government Health care Bureaucracy will have access to ALL American financial and personal records.

Page 203: "The tax imposed under this section shall not be treated as tax." Yes, it really says that.

Page 239: Bill will reduce physician services for Medicaid. Seniors and the poor most affected.

Page 241: Doctors: no matter what specialty you have, you'll all be paid the same (thanks, AMA!)

Page 253: Government sets value of doctors' time, their professional judgment, etc.

Page 265: Government mandates and controls productivity for private health care industries.

Page 268: Government regulates rental and purchase of power-driven wheelchairs.

Page 272: Cancer patients: welcome to the wonderful world of rationing!

Page 280: Hospitals will be penalized for what the government deems preventable re-admissions.

Page 298: Doctors: if you treat a patient during an initial admission that results in a readmission, you will be penalized by the government.

Page 317: Doctors: you are now prohibited from owning and investing in health care companies!

Page 318: Prohibition on hospital expansion. Hospitals cannot expand without government approval.

Page 321: Hospital expansion hinges on "community" input: in other words, yet another payoff for ACORN.

Page 335: Government mandates establishment of outcome-based measures: i.e., rationing.

Page 341: Government has authority to disqualify Medicare Advantage Plans, HMOs, etc.

Page 354: Government will restrict enrollment of SPECIAL NEEDS individuals.

Page 379: More bureaucracy: Telehealth Advisory Committee (health care by phone).
Page 425: More bureaucracy: Advance Care Planning Consult: Senior Citizens, assisted suicide, euthanasia?

Page 425: Government will instruct and consult regarding living wills, durable powers of attorney, etc. Mandatory. Appears to lock in estate taxes ahead of time.

Page 425: Government provides approved list of end-of-life resources, guiding you in death.

Page 427: Government mandates program that orders end-of-life treatment; government dictates how your life ends.

Page 429: Advance Care Planning Consult will be used to dictate treatment as patient's health deteriorates. This can include an ORDER for end-of-life plans. An ORDER from the GOVERNMENT.

Page 430: Government will decide what level of treatments you may have at end-of-life.

Page 469: Community-based Home Medical Services: more payoffs for ACORN.

Page 472: Payments to Community-based organizations: more payoffs for ACORN.

Page 489: Government will cover marriage and family therapy. Government intervenes in your marriage.

Page 494: Government will cover mental health services: defining, creating and rationing those services.

This bill is a recipe for death and disaster. Forced Euthanasia, Rationed Health Care, and a Government control of your Medical and Financial records, with no say from you.

Our "Elected Officials" seem to have forgotten that they do not hold permanent positions. They have a "Temp Job" predicated on the supposition that the constituents bosses are pleased with the job they are doing. Today the members of Congress act as if their constituents' bosses' opinions have no merit. Their hubris is beyond measure, with most, if not all of the members of Congress feeling as if their seats are safe and secure.

They are not! No seat in Congress is a safe seat. Anger enough of your constituents bosses and they will discover that simple, but basic fact.

The time has come for the people of the United States to take back their government. As Thomas Jefferson once wrote:

"When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty."

It is time to stop fearing our Government, but to have the Government start fearing us.

It is time we tell Congress that this bill is unacceptable to the American people, that if you vote for this bill it will result in a rude awakening for you on Wednesday, November 3, 2010 when their Constituents Bosses relay the words to them:

You're Fired!