La Bruzzo wants to drug test welfare recepients...

Edited post.

Originally posted by HaveAnotherOne
reply to post by StigShen

 

Study the Constitution and the writings of the founding fathers more.

Get back to me when you have a clue as to what you are talking about. You're lagging far behind right now.

Lol. Try again. Not only am I a Constitutional scholar, but I am also a member of the Sons of Liberty.

Originally posted by HaveAnotherOne
reply to post by StigShen

 

Company I worked for closed, down, relocated to Phoenix, job I thought I had ended up paying less than anticipated. Got behind, got evicted, found a job at a restaurant serving tables. Volunteered to pick up shifts, so I worked double shifts basically every day. Good days I would make 3 or 400, average days about 200. Moved into a cheap hotel until I could save enough to rent a crappy apartment.

Bought a crappy used computer, spent my time in places that offered free wifi and taught myself basic web design skills. Saved up enough, took a few classes at a community college, started picking up freelance jobs and eventually got hired with a company that has more work than we can handle.

Do you see this as a solution for an old lady who cannot stand more than 1/2 hour at a time? For one who suffers rheumatological issues? What would you suggest for such a person?

EDIT to add: Hey, I have a bit of HTML and a LOT of graphics/Flash. I have been applying to every local (and many, many out-of-town) jobs that require these skills (plus any administrative and any other sitting jobs) for over five years now. At least 35,000 job applications. Maybe as many as 50,000. Would YOUR company hire me?

reply to post by StigShen


Simply stating fact as I see it. I too have taken a substantial cut in pay (70%) to be exact over the last 3 1/2 years. I closed shop on my General Contracting business in late '09. I sold my home and got us into a rental. Re-established the simplicity of living within my means to support my children and myself. And no, I do not deserve an award for that at all.... it's my bed, and I act accordingly to make it as comfortable as I can.

Now, that being said... I myself have had to ask for help from the state. Not financially but in regards to medical coverage for my children. Why not, when I have paid into the system for so many years. I may as well utilize it if it's there.

I would also point out that I'm not opposed to smoking a J once in awhile. However these days I choose not to because I simply cannot afford it. Not to mention, if I did in fact have to apply for state money and was asked to submit a screening for illegal substances, I would have nothing to hide. It's not about me... or judging anyone else for that matter as I have no room to judge anyone in that way.

Each of our lives runs different course. In my own personal life I have felt many challenges come my way. I have not won them all per-se, but I have achieved a lesson from each and every experience I chose to observe closely enough. I have always found a way to maintain through the tough stuff. I have also experienced great triumphs and many of them through discipline and dedication... some by design and mere luck ;-)

I wish you luck in finding work. I'm in the Northwest also, so if your local you can hit me up. I get side jobs all the time. Some could use extra hands.

reply to post by Wondering302


Funny how people bring up these rare examples to justify their thinking. I know many people who have utlized government assitance at some point. Heck if you took out college loans and recived a grant that is from the government!
If you are going to test people on welfare then everyone who has anything to do with the government, pay taxes, works for the government or goes to school needs to be tested. Why single out one group? This is not free to test people you have to set up test sites, have staff on site and the supplies needed. This will cost the tax payer money as well.

Originally posted by Wondering302




Just to add my 2 cents. I worked at Rouses (grocery store, for those not in Louisiana) in customer service. People would come in buy food with there Louisiana Purchase cards (food stamp card) then come back a little later return some "no good" food and then turn around and buy booze with it.i know alcohol is legal and not a so called drug but it's not a necessity like food is and they should NOT be able to do that. Luckily Rouse's caught on pretty quickly and now if you buy food with food stamps and want to return food their card gets credited and no cash is given.
I'm all for drug testing welfare receivers. I don't know about the other 49 states but in Louisiana, Especially NOLA people think of welfare as a free ride. Don't believe me? Come to New Orleans. I'll show you. But not at night, I stay far away from that city after dark....you run the risk of getting shot.

You can't drug test for alcohol. As you said, not only is is legal, but it's also out of your system by the next day.

reply to post by ripcontrol


No, all this will do is create a worse problem.

Think about it.

Drug abuse is the symptom of poverty, not the cause of it. The pittance of a safety net that we give these people (which, in my oppinion, is just a band-aid) is going to dry up because they can't stop using crack/meth/pot/alcohol (ha, are they going to test for that too?), even though they are hardcore users exactly because of their depressing circumstances and social context, will just lead to even poorer drug abusers and alcoholics, in worse-off situations. What do you think will happen to our relatively pieceful middle-class neighborhoods when 30% (your figure) stop getting any sort of assistance whatsoever?

In third world countries where (forget drug testing) there just isn't really ANY reasonable safety net, most middle class people have electric fences and band together in small neighborhoods with paid guards that stay on watch all night long.

Originally posted by larrydavid

Originally posted by HaveAnotherOne
reply to post by larrydavid

 

Where did I say I got help?

I hated it so much, I did what was necessary. Worked 80 hour weeks at a crap job until I found something better.

You say you slept in your truck?

Well I hate to tell you this,but the land/property that you parked your truck on belonged to someone. It was not yours.

Therefor you took help from someone in your time of need by parking your vehicle on their property.

So no comment then?

See, we all need help from others in life sooner or later.

Originally posted by HaveAnotherOne
reply to post by StigShen

 

Company I worked for closed, down, relocated to Phoenix, job I thought I had ended up paying less than anticipated. Got behind, got evicted, found a job at a restaurant serving tables. Volunteered to pick up shifts, so I worked double shifts basically every day. Good days I would make 3 or 400, average days about 200. Moved into a cheap hotel until I could save enough to rent a crappy apartment.

Bought a crappy used computer, spent my time in places that offered free wifi and taught myself basic web design skills. Saved up enough, took a few classes at a community college, started picking up freelance jobs and eventually got hired with a company that has more work than we can handle.

So you were lucky enough to find a job. And not just any job, but a job that would pay you more in one day than many people earn in a week. Why didnt you go get that job BEFORE you got evicted you're so smart?

Then on top of working double shifts every single day, somehow you managed to find the time to study web design and go to college too. Oh, and you had the money for college of course.

Now you have an awesome computer job with this awesome company that has infinite customers just throwing money at them.

You're full of it.

This is exactly my point. What's next?

You must have a Drug Test before you can get a:
Drivers License
Fishing License
Appear in Divorce court
Before you receive your Inheritance
Before you can get a business license
Before your cash your Tax return
Your Paycheck
And hundreds of more tests, all at your expense.

I would love to jump on this thing. However, I will not voluntarily give up one more right.

We have to make a stand on our few existing rights. Even if it hurts.

Originally posted by EternalChef
This is pretty much going through.
I talked to my uncle this past weekend who
works in Tallahassee and he told me they will be voting on these kinds of things
this quarter. so expect it soon.
There is also talk of not only testing those on welfare but possibly moving to other
govt. assisted benefit programs.

reply to post by forall2see


Well, your pretty much contradicting your first post that I replied to.

I'm over here in NY.

Originally posted by dreamseeker
reply to post by ThirdEyeofHorus

 

The problem is a Utopia is a fallacy! There is NO utopia. Please read this sentence a few times. There are only better systems and evolving systems. We have a lot of problems to fix but we sure can't scarfice our poor,needy,disabled and elderly.
I am open to any ideas you might have on a better system. I am not saying our current system is great but I am saying we can't just end it without SEVERE concequences.

Who is ending it? Every election we just add more stuff to this "fix". I don't need to keep reading your Socialist Utopia lines. I already know what the plan is. Perhaps you could research Cloward and Piven and their plan to overwhelm the system to break it down.
And if we would even take the logic a bit farther and use some Hegelian dialectic, the fix for the fix is part of the fix. Socialist welfare programs are the supposed fix for the horrid "bourgeois Capiitalist" system, and tracking everyone with rfid, data mining of giant databases and drug testing for welfare recipients all just part of the fix for the fix.

Originally posted by StigShen



Lol. Try again. Not only am I a Constitutional scholar, but I am also a member of the Sons of Liberty.

LOL

I am sure you are.

Hell, everyone should already know that given the astounding depth of Constitutional knowledge you have.

You can't force addicts into treatment and anyone who thinks so is sadly misinformed. Until they ask for it, it simply will not work.

Until people get the truth through their heads that most addicts are self medicating for a reason, their desire to help them remains hollow and wrong.

People with money go see their MD, ask and they receive. The drugs they take are just as addictive and taken for the same reasons, but it is legal because they have money or good insurance.

People without money can only go to the Emergency Room for care and they just refer them to MD's that require up front payment, which of course they don't have. So they self medicate with what is available to them and end up addicted. Not in all cases, but in many. People take drugs because they don't like how they feel and want to change how they feel.

This is another case where people don't put any brain cells to work and just do whatever their chosen Party says to do and think. One side wants legalization a giant party for all, the other wants to lock up suffering people for self medication because they have no access to medical care. On this I move to the Left and it's part of why I remain Independent of either side.

Originally posted by HaveAnotherOne
reply to post by dreamseeker

 

I give my time and love to my wife whenever she is feeling frisky.

That being said, I would never hug a homeless person.

Staying funky stench free and lice free is a goal of mine 100% of the time.

But wait a minute! You yourself were a homeless person.

reply to post by StigShen


Lol Yea, I feel the need to lie on an internet forum.



Perhaps if you weren't such an ignoramus, you would actually have money in your pocket now.

You haven't lived until you've slept in a car during the summer in Phoenix. Lots of fun



Evidently you skipped right over this part:

Saved up enough, took a few classes at a community college

Notice the term saved up. As in, put money aside until I had enough to afford the classes.

reply to post by ThirdEyeofHorus


Like I said before there is no Utopia. It doesn't exist. Read about the Choas Theory. Everything goes from order to disorder so in a system so inherently flawed as this how can Utopia exist? This is science speaking.

reply to post by whyamIhere


I have a friend of mine who is a truck driver. He just lost his job because he tested positive for opiates. The guy is a god-fearing Christian who won't even have a beer.

So either the test got mixed up, or he was eating too many poppy seed rolls and drinking too much Mountain Dew. Yes folks, Mountain Dew will give you a false positive on a drug test, and poppy seeds are what they make heroin out of.

reply to post by StigShen


I have heard this. This is another reason why they should not do this. Innocent people could suffer due to false postives.

Originally posted by HaveAnotherOne
reply to post by StigShen

 

Lol Yea, I feel the need to lie on an internet forum.

Perhaps if you weren't such an ignoramus, you would actually have money in your pocket now.

You haven't lived until you've slept in a car during the summer in Phoenix. Lots of fun

Evidently you skipped right over this part:

Saved up enough, took a few classes at a community college

Notice the term saved up. As in, put money aside until I had enough to afford the classes.

edit on 18-3-2011 by HaveAnotherOne because: (no reason given)

Evidently You skipped over this part:

You say you slept in your truck?

Well I hate to tell you this,but the land/property that you parked your truck on belonged to someone. It was not yours.

Therefor you took help from someone in your time of need by parking your vehicle on their property.