My Message To Persons Who Receive Government Benefits.

[TheMastersNemesis]

I had worked in programs for 24 years at the Department Of Labor. If you are on unemployment insurance, food stamps, welfare, Social Security, Medicare et al. you are legally eligible for programs that you qualify for by federal statute or state statute. Some programs you paid for and other are paid for by other taxes. And citizens have every right to apply for those programs and received benefits because legislators in the past who were duly elected decided to pass and fund those programs.

No one should ever be ashamed to apply when they are victims of an economic downturn. To shame these same people is as Un American as anything. If we are a country who is willing to starve and deny our own for political gain, it does not make us any better than many third world countries who have NO safety net. To demonize the vulnerable is immoral and amoral and actually is criminal.

As a public servant it was my responsibility to enable legitimate applicants for aid to receive their legal benefits. The ONLY legitimate means test for benefits is financial need and program eligibility. Drug testing in uniformly unAmerican and unpatriotic. It is a violation of privacy and a personal assault. It is my belief singling out certain classes of people for drug testing really does violate equal protection. It is sadistic and cruel and should be totally unacceptable.

When it comes to programs like Social Security and Medicare these are ENTITLEMENTS that we all paid for over a lifetime of work.
YOU ARE ENTITLED TO WHAT YOU PAID FOR AND THE GOP MUST BE REMINDED OF THAT. To say you are not is stealing and is a crime. Your Social Security and Medicare is RIGHTFULLY yours. It is a contract that should not be changed.

The RICH ARE NOT ENTITLED TO PAY NO TAXES!!!!! AND NEITHER ARE CORPORATIONS!!!! They use the commons just like all the rest of us. And if they really push it they should only be allowed to travel in their gated communities.

[lunatica]

1. If everyone paid their fare share of taxes

We would all be better off. All of us.

The rich would still be rich too.

[madokie]

2. For the taxes I've paid I think I get a good return on my investment

and if everyone (rich) paid their fair share the roads we travel on would be a lot smoother, the cost of health care would be a lot cheaper, the price of our groceries would be lower, the price we pay for fuel would be lower. Yes everyone would be a lot happier. When people are happy they make better decisions, some of which affects more than the person who is making them.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Yes, there's some research backing this up, in fact.

Measures of general human happiness are much higher in nations with less income inequality. Think Denmark, for example. I fear, incidentally, that theSwedes are losing ground in this arena. Their conservatives imported KKarl Rove as a consultant.

[secondwind]

5. No way!!!

[Jackpine Radical]

8. Have a look at this:

http://ferrada-noli.blogspot.com/2011/02/rove-suspected-in-swedish-us-political.html

Naomi Wolf's guest-article in Professors Blogg on the case Assange – which mentioned (among other matters) Karl Rove’s potential involvement in the Swedish political crusade against Assange – had a huge impact among Swedish blog-readers. The site Bloggar.se picked her column Feb. 12 to be its top-recommended reading on the Julian Assange theme. Knuff.se also cited the article in its front page that day.

Yet some in the Swedish media apparatus object the article’s spreading, that Rove might be relevant to the Assange case, or even to the Sweden’s governing Moderate Party. For instance Roland Poirier Martinsson - a Swedish right-wing political columnist (Svenska dagbladet) formerly based in the USA, and who affirms he was the one that invited Rove to Sweden - called bluntly for the following appeal in an email about Noemi Wolf's publication in Professors blogg:

"it would be nice if we are keeping away from see that it spreads in the Swedish blogosphere" ["det vore trevligt om vi slapp se den spridas i den svenska bloggosfären"].
The linking of the article to the main Swedish neswpapers Dagens Nyheter, Svenska Dagbladet (SvD), Aftonbladet and Expressen, was further denied by the linking services. All what confirms the characterization by Assange’s lawyers about disregard by Swedish-media actors for objectivity and fair play in this sensitive case.

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. A good book on that inequality is

"The Spirit Level"
http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/resource/the-spirit-level

[madokie]

14. Maybe they have some nefarious plans for kkkarl

Something to straighten his sorry ass right up
A lot of credit can be given to kkkarl for where we are politically, where everyone is at each others throats. He's dangerous in the fact he'll do anything to win it for the rich man. Traitor is what I see him as,

[libtodeath]

4. It goes back to that fucker raygun and his puppet masters

Demonize the less fortunate and start stealing the national treasure for themselfs.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. Yes, it did begin with that grade b actor: Mourning in America.

[SammyWinstonJack]

6. rec

[cpamomfromtexas]

10. Beautiful way to look at it, I totally agree.

[zbdent]

11. "No one should ever be ashamed to apply" ... well, maybe those who keep putting up signs

that say things about "Get big government out of my healthcare", or have signs supporting Republicans who want to destroy all employee rights ...

[libodem]

12. Thanks for your years of service to the community

I just joined the ranks of the disabled and am humbled and elated at the same time. I haven't had insurance since 2006 and take several prescriptions. I'm pretty sure I also get Medicare, without the 2 year wait. I've been living on the edge of losing my home and the rest of my savings. I've been snached from the maw of the great abyss. I call these programs lifesavers.

[lumberjack_jeff]

13. The programs were created because they serve a useful public purpose.

If you qualify for food stamps, you should accept them.

They aren't being offered just to make your life easier, but also to stimulate the economy (food stamps and unemployment are the most effective forms of job creating investment).

[Cleita]

15. Thank you for saying this and so well.

Perhaps a letter writing campaign to Paul Ryan and all Republican lawmakers, who want to end these programs, stating what you said, would be in order. Since Ryan and other Congress members won't take email from others outside of their districts or states, faxes or snail mail will have to be used. They need to be remind of that contract and that they are close to criminal if not already there.

[cbrer]

16. Does this include the SCOTUS definition of "person"?

Just sayin...

[B Calm]

17. We pay into our unemployment fund too

and the employer only pays a small fraction. Unemployment compensation is not welfare!!

[Jamastiene]

18. Thank you.

It needed to be said.