Social Commentary? What's NEXT??

[Unrepresented]

Does it make me a hypocrite if I'm fine with SNAP cards being limited to actual, well, food, but find drug testing for unemployment pay invasive?

 

[fisticuffs]

Does it make me a hypocrite if I'm fine with SNAP cards being limited to actual, well, food, but find drug testing for unemployment pay invasive?

Nope. I'd be more comfortable with drug testing for unemployment if we also drug tested politicians. Of course someone has to pay for all that testing, probably with a check written to a group who lobbied for it to begin with.

 

[nukes_da_bass]

Should be for kids only. Lazy adults can access local food banks and soup kitchens.

Now is the time I will check my inbox for my temp ban. These threads are a bad idea.

 

[Unrepresented]

Should be for kids only. Lazy adults can access local food banks and soup kitchens.

Now is the time I will check my inbox for my temp ban. These threads are a bad idea.

I agree. Only children should be allowed to purchase alcohol and tobacco using SNAP.

 

[Greg Jones]

Yeah, that's where I always get my news--the screaming guy on YouTube...

Though some may abuse the system, SNAP benefits may not be used for alcohol or cigarettes (this includes cash obtained from EBT.) Regs on permissible foodstuffs are actually pretty tight, and retailers are accountable for sales. If you're really looking for outrage, consider: SNAP benefits cover pumpkins! Your tax dollars are funding thousands of freeloaders' Jack O'lanterns! To the YouTubes!!

FYI - Bob never proclaimed to be a news source. How in the hell you got that impression is beyond me. He's more of an angry commentator.

 

[Mysterion]

I agree. Only children should be allowed to purchase alcohol and tobacco using SNAP.

And pumpkins.

 

[DerHoggz]

Nope. I'd be more comfortable with drug testing for unemployment if we also drug tested politicians. Of course someone has to pay for all that testing, probably with a check written to a group who lobbied for it to begin with.

Florida did drug testing for benefits and it cost more than it saved. The money went to a company that the governor had just passed to his wife. No conflict of interests there.

 

[Mysterion]

FYI - Bob never proclaimed to be a news source. How in the hell you got that impression is beyond me. He's more of an angry commentator.

Well, as a long-time veteran journalist and editor, I'd say his new-media approach incorporates elements of reportage, feature, editorial, and psychotic break.

 

[fraublugher]

The OP video has the same affect muted . Angry tourettes sufferer suffers tourettes.

 

[will33]

You can't use foodstamps here for booze or tobacco either, so people just sell them to somebody else for 50 cents on the dollar, load up on liquor, and beg for food.

They can however use them for stuff I'd hardly include in any "nutritional assistance" program. Chips, candy, soda, "fruit drinks" that are 1% artificial flavoring and 99% sugar water, etc.

 

[Unrepresented]

The OP video has the same affect muted . Angry tourettes sufferer suffers tourettes angrily.

Fixed for more proper palindromic fluidity. It may or may not also be a haiku.

 

[edpal]

Should Food stamps be prohibited from buying cigarettes or alcohol?

I was unawares that Food Stamps made purchases. Seems cigarettes would be dangerous to them and booze would just make them soggy.

 

[Greg Jones]

Well, as a long-time veteran journalist and editor, I'd say his new-media approach incorporates elements of reportage, feature, editorial, and psychotic break.

That's all well and good ... (whatever) in the end you either agree with his take or you don't. I agree that welfare checks (SNAP, call it whatever the eff you want, it's still welfare) should NOT be used for alcohol, drugs or tobacco.

 

[edpal]

Does it make me a hypocrite if I'm fine with SNAP cards being limited to actual, well, food, but find drug testing for unemployment pay invasive?

No. I agree with both of those; however, I don't consider drug testing for employment to be invasive. Onerous and bothersome but not invasive.

 

[Immigrant]

I saw a "news" story the other day stating that Walmart reported a drastic loss (again) this quarter and some of the blame was placed on reduced Food Stamp benefits. Now what do the elected SNAP haters do? Stick up for big business and undo the sequester cuts, or please their base (a lot of whom are on SNAP) and continue cutting? Easy! They'll continue cutting benefits, because they can lay the blame on you-know-who.

 

[will33]

I saw a "news" story the other day stating that Walmart reported a drastic loss (again) this quarter and some of the blame was placed on reduced Food Stamp benefits. Now what do the elected SNAP haters do? Stick up for big business and undo the sequester cuts, or please their base (a lot of whom are on SNAP) and continue cutting? Easy! They'll continue cutting benefits, because they can lay the blame on you-know-who.

They are in a bit of a conundrum when their "free market" big businesses are essentially subsidized by their assistance programs.

 

[Immigrant]

They are in a bit of a conundrum when their "free market" big businesses are essentially subsidized by their assistance programs.

Yep. But they'll get over it. They have been giving tax breaks and allowances to the most profitable companies ever to grace the planet (big oil) and that doesn't bug them, so they'll soon learn to not notice this either.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

BTW when i was on welfare i made sure i was well stocked with sweet cold beers. it was the only thing that made the whole experience even vaguely tolerable.

Pot will get you through times with no money. Money will not get you through times with no pot.

 

[Gravedigger Dav]

These are mostly state programs, and in I think pretty much every state you CANNOT use food vouchers for cigarettes or alcohol. In fact there are probably a lot more restrictions on what they will pay for in many states. This outrage, like most of it lately, is fake and based on someone being very very uninformed of the facts or just plain lying to rile people up.

What the laws say and what happens are not necessarily the same. There are a lot of retailers in neighborhoods with higher concentrations of SNAP receipients that traffic in these cards. You can get what ever you want and it is reported as legal stuff.

 

[NWB]

I'm outraged that our state government enslaves poor children to shine the shoes of our legislators. Children as young as four are captured by the State Patrol and sent to the capitol building to work 16-hour days making sure that our legislators have the shiniest shoes in the nation. This practice must be stopped now!

This claim contains about as much truth as the video.