DeVisualise Add Fave Search
Not Logged In
0
Your Username:
Your Password:

[ sign up | recover ]

Beyond Belief
by A RedSox Fan

previous entry: You stole my heart *Poem

next entry: my response and feelings concerning my last entry

A first: politics on my diary, opinions appreciated

05/31/2009

I was sitting with my parents this morning having a bagle when my conservitive father read me parts of the following article and said “isn’t that a shame? It’s sad what this country has come to Jonathan.”
I will write an entry about my response in a few days. I am just curious to know what you think of it.

Howie Carr, one of the most well known conservitive in the talk radeo world wrote the following article.

Lacking basic skills’? Here’s some $$
(Carr, Howie: May 29th, 2009, BostonHerald.com)

Eagle Scouts need not apply. Valedictorians, ditto.
So you say English is your native language? Tough break, kid.
You live with your mother and your father? Strike 2.
Never been arrested? Strike 3, you’re outta here.
Come back after you drop out of school, or get pregnant.
Now comes the latest memo from the Department of Transitional Assistance, formerly known as welfare. If you liked the welfare Cadillac program, you’ll love the “DTA Youth Works/Summer Employment program.”
The flacks for the welfare-industrial complex are trying to put a shine on this sneaker, saying it’s all about helping “at-risk” youth. But Deval Patrick’s hacks can’t run away from their own list of requirements on page 2 of the May 18 memo.
“The client must meet one of the following criteria:
“ . . . lacking basic skills; pregnant or parenting; the child of a single working parent; a school dropout; homeless or a runaway; court-involved or an offender; or an ESL (English as a Second Language) learner; or an immigrant.”
In other words, if you’re a middle-class kid, struggling to make ends meet, you’re bleep out of luck. (Unless, of course, your uncle happens to be a solon, in which case, no problemo, kiddo.)
The DTA says anyone they hire has to be “low-income,” which I understand. But, if your father did the unthinkable and married your mother, and still lives with his family, then why is that a strike against the kid?
By the way, the money from the DTA summer job is “noncountable income for cash assistance.” In other words, you get to stay on the dole while you’re being paid to work.
According to the memo, the money for this program is coming from the stimulus funds, which we were told would be helping everybody, not just pregnant high-school dropout criminals.
So where is the empathy for the Dave and Ricky Nelsons of the 21st century? But then, the dirty little secret is out. When Sonya Sotomayor or Barack Obama talk about empathy, what they really mean is favoritism.
And there is no empathy anywhere for taxpayers. Remember the illegal-alien in-state tuition bill of 2006? It would have effectively provided free college tuition for any illegal who drifted into the state, while charging high out-of-state tuition for New Hampshire kids whose parents work and pay income taxes in Massachusetts. That one was stopped, temporarily, but it’ll be back.
Meantime, we have this DTA Youth Works/Summer Employment boondoggle.

previous entry: You stole my heart *Poem

next entry: my response and feelings concerning my last entry

0 likes, 5 comments

[ | add comment ]

Add Comment

Add Comment

Please enter the following WHITE digits in the box below.

Confirmation Code

I think it's a bit of an ignorant article, to be honest. That programme is clearly designed to give under privileged youth a shot at something positive - there are many programmes and jobs that discriminate against these people, the majority, in fact - so why should they not have something exclusiveily to help out these people? They are NOT punishing those from a better background - those from a better background don't need the sort of programme they are offering.

I hate it when people bring up the whole "ooh, this is what the taxpayers money is paying for!" nonsense, like it's being taken personally out of our individual pockets - taxes are to help everyone in society, including high school drop outs etc - the reason they are allowed to stay on the dole while earning this money is to give them an incentive to actually do it - with an aim of getting them off of it in the future. We can't just abandon people on the dole - sometimes, these people are actually better off on the dole because of the sorts of jobs they can get, and then you factor in childcare etc... This programme sounds like a positive thing to me, sometimes people just have too much to whine about. It is not favouritism, it's simply offering help to those who need it - calling it favoritism is like saying "why do we only put people who need livers on the liver transplant list? that's favouritism!". No, it's not, the others simply don't need it.

[all.is.vanity|0 likes] [|reply]

I dunno about this. I really don't know what to comment. There's plenty of people who actually need this to better their lives. I myself had to resort to government assistance, because I just can't afford anything right now, especially since I haven't had an income since March. I just don't agree with people trying to take advantage of it.

[Scarlett's Mommy|0 likes] [|reply]

This is always such a fine line and people are never gonna agree... I don't know the specifics about the program this guy is talking about, but it sounds like he is exaggerating a little. But I DO get mad when people use the system, and I see it a lot where I work. However, I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't have help from the government back when I first had Anthony. I had to use the state medicaid and WIC until I could get on my feet... But people who live with it and don't try to get OFF government assistance piss me off. And people who aren't legal shouldn't be able to get the government assistance in the first place... hm. I am definitely very on-the-fence on the issue.

[::goddess::|0 likes] [|reply]

don't get my started on this you know where i stand

[angel.without.wingsStar|0 likes] [|reply]

The same goes on over here, it's really unfair in my eyes.

[Brown Eyed BrunetteStar|0 likes] [|reply]

previous entry: You stole my heart *Poem

next entry: my response and feelings concerning my last entry

Diary added to your faves.
Online Friends
Offline Friends