7.28.2012

US AG Spanks New Orleans PD

Highlights from PoliceOne article...
NEW ORLEANS — The U.S. attorney general on Tuesday will announce sweeping reforms of New Orleans's long-troubled police department.
***
Last year, the Justice Department issued a scathing report that said New Orleans police officers have often used deadly force without justification, repeatedly made unconstitutional arrests and engaged in racial profiling.
***
The officers were sentenced to prison terms of up to 65 years. Five others pleaded guilty to engaging in a cover-up plot that included a planted gun, phony witnesses and fabricated reports.

This is proof-positive that law-enforcement in America is inundated with corruption to the point that it is not only rampant, but systematic. This is not a matter of good cop vs. bad cop. This is a matter of widespread abuse of power to the level of fascist totalitarianism.

There are no "good cops" while they turn a blind eye to, and serve alongside this scourge.

Sadly, this "scathing" report by the Attorney General will not have a substantive impact in New Orleans, nor does it address the rampant abuses of authority nationwide. 







Was Batman Massacre a Test of UN Gun Ban Viability?

The massacre at the Colorado movie theater, during a showing of the latest Batman movie, was a horrific event which polarized the American public on Constitutional gun-rights issues. Social media and discussion forums were inundated with opinions in the wake of this horrific event. In the days that followed, we were also hit with all sorts of information that could support the idea that it was a conspiracy, that more than just the lone-gunman accused were involved, and even that it might have been a false-flag terrorist attack conspired by factions of our own government. Indeed, there might have been some merit to the idea that the event would be used to solidify domestic opposition to our own Second Amendment. You can read a little bit about those theories here...

Theater Shooter a Manchurian Candidate?

But conspiracy theories aside, what if this event was used as a sort of barometer, to test the viability of the proposed UN mandate to eviscerate our Second Amendment? To measure whether or not it was politically viable? It's pretty much a given at this point, that the NSA and other agencies are monitoring and measuring all digital data in America. So why should they not exploit that information to get a direct "pulse of the people?"

Whether or not the shooter was some unwitting agent of some rogue government faction, it seems clear that somehow, the President got the message, that now is not the time to take our guns, and that more propaganda is required to make the idea palatable. The idea of taking away our Second Amendment I mean...





Pizza Poltergeist



DHS Agent Evokes Police-State Wrath for Reporting Undocumented Border Crossings

Absolutely sickening. Watch this, and then tell me that you still believe that you live in a free country. Tell me that you believe the Department of Homeland Security is keeping you safe.




Drawing a Swastika is a Felony in NYS

This is absolutely ludicrous. A teenager has been charged with a FELONY for drawing on a sidewalk with baby oil. Now granted, he did draw a Swastika in a predominantly Jewish community, but in this day and age it is hardly surprising that a teenager might be desensitized to the meaning of the symbol, and detached from the history of it.

Man charged with drawing a swastika on a Monroe sidewalk 

VILLAGE OF MONROE – A Monroe man has been arrested and charged with felony aggravated harassment in the first degree for drawing a swastika on a Monroe village sidewalk late Wednesday night. 

The incident at the Millpond walkway in the center of the village was reported to Monroe Police by residents of the Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel. Responding officers found the symbol was made out of some sort of oil. 

A group of five men were nearby and the callers advised that one of them had drawn it. Police searched the men and found one had a 20 ounce bottle of baby oil in his backpack. Kumani Scott, 19, admitted he had drawn the swastika, saying he was just being stupid with friends and that he didn’t mean anything by it. Scott was also charged with misdemeanor making graffiti.

Police said the Millpond Park and walkway, where the incident occurred, are used by people at all hours of the day and night and there have been very few incidents of this nature in that area. 

“While the man arrested may not have meant anything by it, like he told the investigating officers, the swastika has a strong meaning to many people, and we take these types of incidents very seriously, as do New York State lawmakers, which is why New York State law classifies the drawing of a swastika on any public place a felony,” said Detective James Franklid.

I couldn't believe what I read there, so I had to look it up in the NYS Penal Code myself.

S 240.31 Aggravated harassment in the first degree. A person is guilty of aggravated harassment in the first degree when with intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person, because of a belief or perception regarding such person`s race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation, regardless of whether the belief or perception is correct, he or she: 
...
3. Etches, paints, draws upon or otherwise places a swastika, commonly exhibited as the emblem of Nazi Germany, on any building or other real property, public or private, owned by any person, firm or corporation or any public agency or instrumentality, without express permission of the owner or operator of such building or real property;

Now don't get me wrong here, I am not insensitive to what meaning would likely be taken by a Jewish person seeing that symbol drawn on a sidewalk. It will likely evoke sad memories of the past, and might even cause some fear, wondering if someone has intended to make a threat of some sort. But there are some other things to consider as well.

US Army, 45th Infantry Division, Oklahoma City
The meaning of the Swastika is interpretive, not set. The symbol itself was used for thousands of years before it was ever adopted by the Nazis. In fact today it is still widely used throughout Asia as a religious symbol and a symbol of good fortune. Which means that if you are a Buddhist, and decide to etch one of your religious symbols in the dirt at a park, you are now a FELON.

Now let's really think about that for a second too. What it really means to be a felon. In essence, you have your rights as a citizen stripped from you for the rest of your life. You can no longer vote, you can no longer own a firearm, you can't get a visa, you can no longer get public assistance, you are barred from Federally funded housing, and your job prospects are certainly narrowed by more than just the fact that you are also barred from holding all sorts of professional licenses. To impose this harsh punishment on a teenager, essentially destroying his life,  for something so trivial is absolutely absurd. Not to mention actually sending him to prison for it, at substantial cost to the taxpayer. Keep in mind here too, we aren't talking about a week in the county jail. This young man stands to spend more than a year in prison if convicted. And for what? Because he unwittingly offended a religious faction?

Granted, he no doubt did it to be irritating and "rebellious" as teenagers are often want to be, but it is quite likely that he had no idea whatsoever that what he was doing was a felony. As I said at the start, most kids today probably don't even fully grasp the meaning behind the Nazified symbol, or the history of what happened. For a mischievous teenager, drawing a swastika is no different than drawing a pentagram or an inverted cross, or the anarchy "A" symbol. Now we might point finger and say "well he should have known better" but that still doesn't make him a criminal, under the principle of mens rea.

Heck, it's not even like the kid used spray paint or even a marker, he used baby oil. A substance that is not permanent and causes no damage. Which now brings up the misdemeanor graffiti charge. He cannot even be found guilty of that, because the penal code states that the person must have intended to cause damage. Baby oil does not cause damage to stone or cement any more than a piece of chalk would.

S 145.60  Making graffiti. 1. For purposes of this section, the term "graffiti" shall mean the etching, painting, covering, drawing upon or otherwise placing of a mark upon public or private property with intent to damage such property.


In essence, what this "swastika law" says, is that even a child playing with chalk on the sidewalk in front of their house, is a felon if they draw an "x" with legs on it. And speaking of "chalking," Federal courts have ruled that this sort of non-damaging graffiti is protected free speech.

After a cost of eighteen days in a cage and a few months of legal threats, there is good news to report on chalking freedom out of Orlando, Florida. The ABA Journal published yesterday that Timothy Osmar, who was twice arrested for chalking at the Orlando city hall plaza, had his rights violated when he was legally kidnapped over protected political speech. US district magistrate David Baker’s ruling deemed the arrest for violation of a city ordinance to be an overreach of a code designed to prevent unauthorized commercial advertising.
Article continues at SOURCE.

So at the end of the day this kid might very well go to prison for offending some Jewish people. Don't we have more serious things to worry about in this country? Isn't imposing an inordinately harsh punishment the real crime here? Again, I am not saying that what he did was proper. I could see imposing a fine, or doing a little bit of community service for a charge of disorderly conduct perhaps, but this is just nuts. You can shout at someone and call them a nigger or a cracker, you can write "fuck the police" in chalk on the steps of city hall, but you better not offend a Jew in New York.

Suspect
Crime Scene
























 

7.26.2012

Just Another Victim

The following article is about a teenager who was shot five times by police for underage drinking. You can read the details of the story in the link below. However, what I really wanted to share here was the introduction that author made, before going into details of the particular case. 

This is a country whose people self-righteously criticize China for its human rights abuses. This is a country where the public has been aghast at Singaporean laws against chewing gum, and its “harsh” penalties for violations of the law. This is a country whose people have propagated rabid fear-mongering against Muslims, on the grounds Islam supports poor treatment of women and arbitrary and severe punishments (and I have argued in the past that American statism is not so unlike radical Islam).

Despite the outward pretense of civility and denunciation of human rights abuses, this is a country whose police murder disabled old people, the mentally ill, and children – and get away with it. It is a country whose government actually defends the police when they yank little girls out of beds and put guns to their heads during mistaken drug raids. This is a country whose police arrest people for feeding the homeless. This is the country with the highest number of prisoners in the entire world, both in sheer numbers and on a per capita basis, even as it constantly claims to be the “freest” place on the planet.

The list goes on and on – you’d think the United States would be hiding its face in shame, rather than claiming to be a beacon of freedom while pointing the “human rights” finger at every other country but itself. While police apologists repeatedly drone the tire bit about it being “a few bad apples” or “isolated incidents” (never mind the fact that the law actually encourages and permits this type of behavior by police), the truth is, it would take more than a whole team of writers to detail and cover the daily atrocities committed by police.

Aaron Rosas’ story is one such atrocity.
Click here for the rest of the article.









7.25.2012

Cop Body Slams Handcuffed Teen, Saugerties NY

I don't really have much information about this case at all. The video was submitted to me anonymously. I don't know why police were called, or what they claim as grounds for arrest.

What we do see though, is a suspect being led away in handcuffs, who is quite upset and running his mouth to some degree. Not a good idea, but not exactly criminal either.

We then see the first officer lean the suspect against the patrol car as he begins a pat down search, according to standard procedure. The suspect willingly and of his own volition leans forward on the hood of the car. At that point, a second officer comes along, and leans on the suspect's neck grinding his face into the hood of the car.

It is important to note that up to that point, the suspect's belligerence had been limited to shouting a few times. He had made no physical resistance, attempted no assault against the officers, and made no attempts to escape custody. It was not until AFTER the second officer applied, what might be construed as excessive and unnecessary force, that the suspect became physically unruly. The suspect's physical resistance is then limited to standing up straight, rather than having his face pressed into the hood, and trying to shake off the officer's grip on his arm.

Officer #2, the same officer who had pressed the suspect's face into the hood, then engages the suspect with escalated use of force. First trying to push the handcuffed suspect face-first on the sidewalk, and then hip-tossing the suspect to the ground. Again, keep in mind that this suspect is already in handcuffs, and then screams that he has suffered serious injury to his wrist, which is quite likely.

While I have seen more clear-cut cases of police abuse, it is my opinion that excessive force was used here. Granted, the suspect was not cooperative, but it appears to me that it was Officer #2 who deliberately and without cause escalated the situation at each step of his interaction, quite possibly causing injury to the person in custody.

Patience is clearly not a virtue of Officer #2, whereas the actual arresting officer did in fact show much more reasonable restraint in dealing with his suspect. 





There are comments available on the youtube page where this video is linked from.



 

7.24.2012

Man Fires Gun at Theater After Batman Show

A young couple had just left the movie theater after seeing the new Batman movie, when they were jumped by four males. One suspect, a 16 year-old, punched the man in the face. The man then pulled his legally owned and concealed pistol, then fired. One bullet struck the suspects hat, another shattered the window of their SUV. The suspects' fled but were later apprehended by police.

Well, well. Another good reason to go to the movies armed after all.

You can read the news report here...

Shots fired outside Rave Theater in altercation after Batman showing in Port St. Lucie


Mayor Bloomberg Calls for Nationwide Police Strike

Police should go on strike, NY mayor says
NEW YORK — New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is wondering why police officers nationwide aren't on strike. "I don't understand why the police officers across this country don't stand up collectively and say we're going to go on strike," Bloomberg told Piers Morgan during a discussion on CNN in the aftermath of the tragedy in Aurora, Colo. 

Bloomberg framed his comments around the fight against gun violence, which he attributes to ammunition and supplies being readily available. 

"Police officers want to go home to their families," he said. "The only reason to have an armor-piercing bullet is to go through a bullet-resistant vest. The only people that wear bullet-resistant vests are our police officers."
And mass murderers who go out to the movies. Bloomberg is a friggin idiot. The only people that were killed were UNARMED civilians, not cops.







7.23.2012

Theater Shooter a Manchurian Candidate? (UPDATED)

Often with high profile tragedies such as the Colorado theater massacre, concpiracy theories will abound in the wake of such headline event. But I have to admit, there are some interesting curiosities to be considered in this case. I am not sold on the idea that this shooter was a sleeper agent, brainwashed to do the bidding of some nefarious government agency or secret-society handler, but these are still curious points to be considered nonetheless.

A much more in-depth analyses of some of the strangeness can be found here at...

Colorado Batman shooting shows obvious signs of being staged

Right off the bat things seemed a little strange when we learned the shooter was simply standing by his car waiting for police. Now this might make sense if he viewed himself as some sort of martyr for some cause, but there is no manifesto, no YouTube video declaring why he did what he did. So it would seem more likely that a run-of-the-mill madman would either flee to create more mayhem elsewhere, or go out in a hail of gunfire.

And speaking of creating more mayhem elsewhere, why did he tell police that his apartment was booby-trapped? Why go to all that trouble, all that expense, only to undermine your own plans and protect the police, whom you had set these traps for in the first place? Not to mention the fact that the booby traps were of a sophisticated and exotic nature never before seen by the SWAT/Bomb-Squad specialists who entered his evil lair. How long had this college student been majoring in mayhem, booby-traps, and bomb design?

Then, speaking of planning and expense, how does an unemployed college student afford to outfit himself with state-of-the-art body armor and weaponry?

A college student, who was studying neuroscience of all things. The study of messing with people's brains. Was he a lab experiment? Some connections have also been made to the sinister DARPA who's motto is "Creating & Preventing Strategic Surprise."

A college student who, by all accounts, was a nice guy who seemed completely normal and level-headed to all that new him. He had no criminal record and had never been arrested. This seems to be in stark contrast to the impression from initial reports that his mother knew her son was some basket-case psycho who was likely to do something like this. A later report clarified that he had "dreamed" that her son had done this, and knew it was him BEFORE police called her. Was she somehow involved in this, in some way other than as a character reference?

Was there a larger conspiracy? Were more people involved? Some witnesses have reported that someone got up and let the gunman into the theater. That strongly suggests that the shooter was not acting alone at the crime scene. 

If we are to consider that perhaps this was a planned, staged attack by someone other than the shooter himself, using him as a pawn, we would also then have to consider why someone would deploy him on such a mission. It just so happens that this event took place just in time for the UN Samll Arms Treaty vote which many claim will eviscerate the 2nd Amendment here in America.

If all of this sounds a little crazy, you might be right. But then again, if there are secret plotters out there implanting brains to turn people into terror drones, it's not like they are going to come right out and tell you that. Right? Well some say that they actually do. That these secret societies ALWAYS leave clues, often to be read by others in-the-know. It is also claimed that they operate with a sort of  "code" which requires them to warn the public. Now this next bit could just be coincidence of course, but I still find it creepy nonetheless.

This movie clip ran as the preview ahead of the Dark Knight Rises feature:




Has Bond been turned into some brainwashed sleeper agent, or was the preview itself meant to activate a sleeper? The psychological mindplay there is chilling. "Operation Aurora" and "Skyfall" was the trigger word? Or am I reading too much into things? Reading things, like "Aurora."

Skyfall

That screenshot is taken from the 40-second mark in the preview you just saw.


Supplemental updates:

F.B.I. DECLARES TERRORISM WARNING IN AN ALERT ENTITLED "SKYFALL "

Neck Wound Story a Coverup?

Also keep in mind that the notion of the government brainwashing people to do their bidding is not really as far-fetched as it sounds. In fact, they have actually been doing it since the 1950's, as proven by declassified CIA documents. Here's a breif overview from Wiki to get you started on your own research of...

Project MKUltra
Project MKUltra, or MK-Ultra, was a covert illegal human research program into behavioral modification run by the Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) Office of Scientific Intelligence. The program began in the early 1950s, was officially sanctioned in 1953, was reduced in scope in 1964, further curtailed in 1967 and finally halted in 1973.[1] It controversially used unwitting U.S. and Canadian citizens as its test subjects.[2][3][4][5] MKUltra involved the use of many methodologies to manipulate people's individual mental states and alter brain functions, including the surreptitious administration of drugs (especially LSD) and other chemicals, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal and sexual abuse, as well as various forms of torture.[6]
The research was undertaken at 80 institutions, including 44 colleges and universities, as well as hospitals, prisons and pharmaceutical companies.[7] The CIA would operate through these institutions using front organizations, although sometimes top officials at these institutions would be aware of the CIA's involvement.[8] MKUltra was allocated 6 percent of total CIA funds.[9]

Project MKUltra was first brought to wide public attention in 1975 by the U.S. Congress, through investigations by the Church Committee, and by a presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission. Investigative efforts were hampered by the fact that CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKUltra files destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms' destruction order.[10]

In 1977, a Freedom Of Information Act request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents[11] relating to project MKUltra, which led to Senate hearings later that same year.[3] In July 2001 most surviving information regarding MKUltra was officially declassified.[12]

Shooter James Holmes and DARPA Weird Science

James Holmes Family Tied To DARPA And Mind Manipulation Work 

EXCLUSIVE: James Holmes’ “Mentor” Admits To Mind Manipulation

Recap of a few important facts. Police radio chatter at the incident corroborates witness statements that there was more than one suspect, up to a total of four possible. One unknown suspect fled toward the highway, again, confirmed by police radio chatter. Aerial photos taken the next morning show that along the path of that "escape route" was a gas mask and a bloody knife. Also, at the back door of the theater was an assault rifle and a pair of children's flip-flops. Keep in mind that the accused gunman was captured in his car, without a fight, with his assault rifle and gas mask.


 

7.22.2012

Police Release K-9, Open Fire On Crowd of Women and Children

Absolutely revolting. I suppose these cops were some of those "rare bad apples" we always hear about. Yea right. Wake up America. The police are not there to protect you. They are not your friend.




UPDATE: In the news report there we heard that police tried to buy the videos that people had taken of the pandemonium there. Trying to buy their silence in other words. But why would that be necessary at all if the police action was legal and justified? I am hearing now that this was not actually a rally at all to protest the shooting, but actually a family picnic on private property, where the citizens were discussing holding a rally at some point in the future. This was NOT the protest, according to what I am hearing now. This was just a family picnic where organizing a protest was being discussed. Are the police infiltrating your local neighborhood barbecues with spies now?


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'My Time at Wal-Mart' Blogger is Wrong About Welfare

Young college student Christine Rousselle generated some internet buzz, and even garnered some main-stream media attention, with her blog article about her experience working as a Wal-Mart cashier during Summer breaks. Specifically, she attacks people who are on welfare or public assistance, while demanding welfare reform, rather than addressing the true root causes of poverty. This is my point-by-point rebuttal to her propaganda piece, exposing her flawed arguments and bias, which are typical of those who would rather attack poor people than strive to change the conditions which put these folks on welfare in the first place.

Her article is hosted by The College Conservative and can be viewed at that link.

My Time at Walmart: Why We Need Serious Welfare Reform 

Dec 13 by Christine Rousselle
During the 2010 and 2011 summers, I was a cashier at Wal-Mart #1788 in Scarborough, Maine. I spent hours upon hours toiling away at a register, scanning, bagging, and dealing with questionable clientele. These were all expected parts of the job, and I was okay with it. What I didn’t expect to be part of my job at Wal-Mart was to witness massive amounts of welfare fraud and abuse.

I understand that sometimes, people are destitute. They need help, and they accept help from the state in order to feed their families. This is fine. It happens. I’m not against temporary aid helping those who truly need it. What I saw at Wal-Mart, however, was not temporary aid. I witnessed generations of families all relying on the state to buy food and other items. I literally witnessed small children asking their mothers if they could borrow their EBT cards.

The temporary nature of any aid is directly correlated to what created the need in the first place, and how long it will take for those conditions to be mitigated, if they ever are. This goes to the root causes of why we even have a need for a welfare program in the first place. The sad fact of the matter is that the relationship between government and business in this country have set economic conditions which induce a condition of permanent poverty in our country. Sure, some people may get on the welfare rolls, while others manage to make it off of welfare and get back on their feet. But overall, there remains a permanent underclass of citizens for which there is no economic opportunity whatsoever to be self-sufficient, and that underclass continues to grow each year as the job market continues to deteriorate. So long as those conditions persist, the temporary nature of welfare is idealist rather than realist. These are concepts that this young college student might have difficulty understanding though, so let's cut right to the chase here. Even in her own experience, she is not the expert she pretends to be.

Working for two summers at Wal-Mart is hardly comparable to working there for "generations." Unless she has worked there long enough to see one generation to the next come through her line using foodstamps, then she is in no position to render such an assessment authoritatively. Did she see Bob Jones come through her line every month for 18 years, with little Bob Jones Jr., who now also comes through her line every month with his own foodstamps? No, the only thing she could possibly have seen was parents buying food for their children, using an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card. Is it her position then that children should be barred from welfare benefits? Personally, I can't think of anyone more worthy of help than a hungry child.
I once had a man show me his welfare card for an ID to buy alcohol. The man was from Massachusetts. Governor Michael Dukakis’ signature was on his welfare card. Dukakis’ last gubernatorial term ended in January of 1991. I was born in June of 1991. The man had been on welfare my entire life. That’s not how welfare was intended, but sadly, it is what it has become.
Here was have already caught Miss Rousselle in a flat out lie. Massachusetts did not even begin using the EBT card until April 1, 1997. Before that time, benefits were paid by check, and foodstamps were actual paper certificates which were torn out of a booklet, which are facts that she is too young to remember. The idea that she even remembers the name of someone who was governor of some far-off state when she was born is very difficult to believe as well, and exposes how she was really reaching too far in order to try to make her point. I can't even remember who was governor of my home state when I was born, and seeing it written on some tattered 20 year old ID while I was at work wouldn't do much to sear it into my memory either.

It is also a fact that, contrary to popular belief, welfare does indeed have a time limit. Massachusetts happens to be one of 17 states with a shorter time limit than the maximum Federal benefit of 60 months. That is a maximum of five years, over the course of a person's entire lifetime, that they can get public assistance funding should they find themselves in need. The state where the imaginary ID was issued, offers even less time.

Seeing this blatant lie, it is clear that anything else this young woman has written might be entirely fabricated as well, but we will go ahead and continue here as an academic exercise. Other things she claims to have witnessed as a cashier, we will go ahead and itemize here.
a) People ignoring me on their iPhones while the state paid for their food. (For those of you keeping score at home, an iPhone is at least $200, and requires a data package of at least $25 a month. If a person can spend $25+ a month so they can watch YouTube 24/7, I don’t see why they can’t spend that money on food.)
Having a telephone and an internet connection is not simply a luxury, it is a necessity to function in our society. You can't even apply for a job in this day and age without an internet connection. And a telephone? Well that really should be obvious why someone needs a phone. To call to make a doctor's appointment, to talk to your social worker, to call 911 if your house is on fire, there is a long list of reasons why a person needs a telephone.

By using this blogger's logic, we might just as easily say that if a person can spend $100 a month for electricity, then they should use that money for food instead. Or toilet paper, if they can afford toilet paper, they can afford food, after all, poor people were born with hands. Toilet paper is a luxury. Go out and pick leaves if you don't want to wipe with your hand.
b) People using TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) money to buy such necessities such as earrings, kitkat bars, beer, WWE figurines, and, my personal favorite, a slip n’ slide. TANF money does not have restrictions like food stamps on what can be bought with it.
A pair of cheap Wal-Mart earrings is hardly luxurious spending. Making oneself presentable in public is indeed a necessity if one ever hopes to get back off of welfare. Walking into a job interview with no makeup on wearing a pair of old sweatpants is hardly the way to make a good first impression.

Judging by the rest of this list, and in particular her repeated disdain for children, it seems clear that Christine believes if you are poor, you should take no pleasure in life whatsoever. Kit Kat bars huh? Well maybe sugar for someone's coffee should also be made illegal for poor people. While we're at it, let's just force all poor people onto the old bread and water diet, then make them sit in an empty room staring at the walls all day. And her "personal favorite" the slip n' slide. What exactly is wrong with that? It's not as if someone went out and built a new swimming pool with a waterfall using tax dollars. I hardly find it offensive that my tax dollars went to buy a sheet of plastic so that some kids could have a little fun running around and keeping keeping cool playing with a garden hose in the hot summer months.

If someone walked in and bought a $3,000 flat screen the size of a panel van and paid for it using TANF dollars, that might be considered an extravagant purchase. A few token purchases of minor, simple pleasures is hardly abuse of welfare. Recreation and relaxation are necessary to the mental health and stability of human beings.
c) Extravagant purchases made with food stamps; including, but not limited to: steaks, lobsters, and giant birthday cakes.
Oh, the old steak and lobsters routine again. Every time there is a conversation about food stamps, there will be some right-winger who pipes up to tell us all about the time he saw someone use foodstamps to buy seatk and lobster. It's bullshit. People who are getting foodstamps are next to starvation, they aren't going to go blowing that money on a lobster. Not without a damn good reason anyway. Maybe this is their gift to them self, or their spouse, for their birthday, and they won't eat the rest of the week in order to afford this one treat for themselves. A steak is not necessarily even a luxury at all, but simply food, a necessity. Chuck steaks have long been a staple food for households on a lean budget. And birthday cakes. Again this young woman attacks children, and this time she wants to take away their birthday. Would you really walk in to a poor person's house, and take away their child's birthday cake? She probably would, along with their brand new favorite WWE action-figure. After all, we don't want the children of poor people to grow up spoiled with a sense of entitlement.
d) A man who ran a hotdog stand on the pier in Portland, Maine used to come through my line. He would always discuss his hotdog stand and encourage me to “come visit him for lunch some day.” What would he buy? Hotdogs, buns, mustard, ketchup, etc. How would he pay for it? Food stamps. Either that man really likes hotdogs, or the state is paying for his business. Not okay.
If this is actually true, then this would indeed constitute fraud. It would also be easily solved with a quick phone call to the local Social Services office. Obviously she knew who the man was, and where his hot dog cart was, yet she did nothing about it. It's also possible that the man did actually declare his income from the hot dog cart, but still didn't earn enough from the venture to put him over the threshold to be eligible for some foodstamps.

As far as the state paying for his business though, maybe we should take a closer look at what the state is paying for the Walton family for their little business, known as Wal-Mart. Low wages, lack of benefits, lack of overtime work and full-time positions makes the company one of the worst employers in the country, leaving taxpayers on the hook to make up for the shortfall. Thanks to the low wages paid to WalMart employees, US taxpayers must subsidize those workers to the tune of $2.66 BILLION annually, for things like Medicaid and Foodstamps. In Florida alone 12,300 WalMart employees are on Medicaid. The combined net worth of the six members of the Walton family is the same as the combined net worth of the poorest 40% of Americans, yet this young little Wal-Mart worker is attacking a small-business man trying to run a hot dog cart.


Let's Kick Wal-Mart Off Welfare

Why Wal-Mart Loves Welfare

Rep. Robert Hagan slams Wal-Mart over workers needing public assistance

Wal-Mart Welfare


So we wind up with only one of her four examples could even really be considered to be possible welfare fraud, while at the same time the very same company she works for actually forces employees to get on welfare in order to survive. That is not some temporary need. That is the new reality in America, that even people who get up and go to work every day, still need welfare in order to get by. That is not entitlement, that is Wal-Mart policy.
The thing that disturbed me more than simple cases of fraud/abuse was the entitled nature of many of my customers. One time, a package of bell peppers did not ring up as food in the computer. After the woman swiped her EBT card, it showed a balance that equaled the cost of the peppers. The woman asked what the charge was, and a quick glance at the register screen showed that the peppers did not ring up as food. (Food items had the letter ‘F’ next to their description.) The woman immediately began yelling at me, saying that, “It’s food! You eat it!” 

This wasn’t the only time things like this happened: if a person’s EBT balance was less than they thought it would be, or if their cards were declined, it was somehow my fault. I understand the situation is stressful, but a person should be knowledgeable about how much money is in their account prior to going grocery shopping. EBT totals are printed on receipts, and every cell phone has a calculator function. There’s no excuse, and there’s no reason to yell at the cashier for it.
It sounds to me that the real sense of entitlement here is coming from Miss Rouselle herself, as if someone using an EBT card owes her more respect than the average customer. Let's face it, working with the public is a strenuous, infuriating job. But just because someone is on welfare doesn't mean that they have to checkout their groceries in silence with their heads bowed, groveling to the emotional needs of the cashier. If the green peppers rang up wrong, it is your responsibility fix the problem. You may not have programmed the computer system that week, it may not be your fault, but you are the person standing there in front of the customer. That is what you are being paid for, to be a representative of the company, and to serve the customer.

As far as yelling at a cashier about the balance on their EBT card, I will agree that it's not very good manners, and it's certainly not the job of the cashier to monitor someone's account balance and spending habits. But just the same, even poor people are entitled to have a bad day once in a while, and might actually be expected to be having a bad day just about every single day. So you might try cutting them some slack. At the very least, don't pretend that this sort of incident is exclusive to EBT card users. Anyone who has ever worked in retail can tell you how frequently someone with a credit card or a bank card freaks out when their card gets declined, or won't swipe because the card was damaged. Stupid, pain in the ass customers come from all walks of life. Just because someone is getting government assistance in no way makes obligated to kiss your ass.
The worst thing I ever saw at Wal-Mart Scarborough was two women and their children. These women each had multiple carts full of items, and each began loading them at the same time (this should have been a tip-off to their intelligence levels). The first woman, henceforth known as Welfare Queen #1, paid for about $400 worth of food with food stamps. The majority of her food was void of any nutritional value. She then pulled out an entire month’s worth of WIC (Women, Infants, and Children program) checks. I do not mind people paying with WIC, but the woman had virtually none of the correct items. WIC gives each participating mother a book containing actual images of items for which a person can and cannot redeem the voucher. This woman literally failed at image comprehension.
After redeeming 10+ WIC checks, Welfare Queen #1 had me adjust the prices of several items she was buying (Wal-Mart’s policy is to adjust the price of the item without question if it’s within a dollar or two).
Now our young Conservative remarks about the "intelligence levels" of a few of her customers. If someone is indeed of low IQ, wouldn't that actually show more of a need for assistance than the average person even? Someone who cannot perform even basic and simple tasks would be considered handicapped. But maybe we should just let all the people with autism, or brain injuries just starve to death in the streets.

Paying for $400 worth of food with foodstamps is not abuse. The woman obviously had a family, and trying to feed an entire family on only $400 a month is not easy. People on welfare get a monthly allotment, and will often spend it all on one trip, rather then spending money going back and forth whenever they need something. Many people on foodstamps don't even have their own car, and can only get to the supermarket when they find a ride with someone else.

Admonishing the woman for her selections and the lack of nutritional value in the food she was purchasing reveals the ignorance of the young cashier. Because poor people cannot afford to make a trip to the supermarket a few times a week, they cannot buy much fresh food, leaving their cupboards filled with nutritionally deficient packaged and processed foods. Healthier food is also much more expensive. It is more important to not run out of food in the middle of the month than it is to eat fresh and healthy. Besides, as Christine tried to tell us earlier, things like beef should not be on a poor person's menu anyway, so bologna and Spam it is then.

She then closes one paragraph and opens a new one literally contradicting herself. In one breath she is telling us that the woman can't read pictures and didn't have the right items to go with the WIC checks, but then turns right around and tells us that she processed ten of those WIC checks. If she didn't have qualifying items, then what were those 10+ checks actually spent on? Did Christine commit fraud by falsifying the record of what had been purchased? Or is Miss Rouselle full of crap yet again, going out of her way to make a false portrayal of her "experience" as a Wal-Mart cashier?

Finally, as far as adjusting prices goes, when every dollar counts, it's hardly surprising that a person would be watching that tally closely to make sure there were no errors, and that the person would expect any errors to be corrected. Again, that's your job, so do your job, and don't complain about it when a customer expects you to do your job.
She then pulled out a vacuum cleaner, and informed me that the cost of the vacuum was $3.48 because, “that’s what the label says.” The vacuum cleaner was next to a stack of crates that were $3.48. Somehow, every other customer was able to discern that the vacuum cleaner was not $3.48, but Welfare Queen #1 and her friend Welfare Queen #2 were fooled. Welfare Queen #2 informed me that she used to work for Wal-Mart, and that the “laws of Wal-Mart legally said” that I would have to sell her the vacuum for $3.48.
This bit I do actually find believable. Anyone who has ever worked in retail has at least a few stories like this. But again, pain in the ass customers come from all walks of life and are just a part of the job. It has nothing to do with how someone pays for their groceries.
After contacting my manager, who went off to find the proper vacuum price, Welfare Queen #1 remarked that it must be tough to stand on a mat all day and be a cashier. I looked at her, smiled, shrugged, and said, “Well, it’s a job.” She was speechless.

Speechless, probably because it's a crappy job, that if you weren't still living at home with Mommy and Daddy, you would have to be on welfare too. While this "welfare queen" was probably feeling bad for the young girl, and maybe even a little guilty for being a difficult customer, the cashier was passing judgement on someone she knows nothing about.
After they finally admitted defeat, (not before Welfare Queen #2 realizing she didn’t have enough money to buy all of the food she had picked out, resulting in the waste of about $200 worth of products) the two women left about an hour and a half after they arrived at my register. The next man in line said that the two women reminded him of buying steel drums and cement. I said I was reminded why I vote Republican.
An hour and a half huh? That has to be a new record for slowest cashier in a Wal-Mart ever. She's not doing much to make Republicans look good here.

I am wondering how $200 worth of products were wasted too. Unless it was $200 worth of deli meat, you take the cart and go put the stuff back on the shelf. Again, pretty common task in retail and in particular working in a supermarket, reverse-shopping.
Maine has a problem with welfare spending. Maine has some of the highest rates in the nation for food stamp enrollment, Medicaid, and TANF. Nearly 30% of the state is on some form of welfare. Maine is the only state in the nation to rank in the top two for all three categories. This is peculiar, as Maine’s poverty rate isn’t even close to being the highest in the nation. The system in Maine is far easier to get into than in other states, and it encourages dependency. When a person makes over the limit for benefits, they lose all benefits completely. There is no time limit and no motivation to actually get back to work. Furthermore, spending on welfare has increased dramatically, but there has been no reduction of the poverty rate. Something is going terribly wrong, and the things I saw at work were indicators of a much larger problem. Something must change before the state runs out of money funding welfare programs.
I don't live in Maine and have never made a study of Maine's welfare system, so I cannot speak with authority on those details. However, we have already established that there is indeed a time limit for welfare benefits, and what she states there is plainly false.

She does make a statement here that does not seem to fit with the tone of the rest of her article, when she mentions that a person loses all benefits if they earn just a little too much. This is true, and is a factor in why a person might not take a few extra hours when offered, or otherwise partake of small opportunities that will jeopardize their lifeline. Is she suggesting though, that earning caps should be raised, so that people on welfare can stay on welfare even if they earn a little too much?

Finally, I do agree that increased welfare spending and no reduction in poverty are of very serious concern. But those problems will not be solved by attacking the intelligence of some lady at the grocery store who is trying to feed her kids with precious few resources. These problems are not a matter of personal choice, but the result of bad government policy overall, not only as they pertain to the welfare system. You aren't going to get rid of welfare by attacking the people who are on welfare. The only way to get rid of welfare is to give them job, real jobs, where they can earn an honest living. With 30 million people looking for work, and many millions more earning far less than what is needed to survive, welfare is absolutely necessary, unfortunately. Attacking the victims of flawed economic policy is nothing but a distraction from the real problems, and the real culprits. It is propaganda designed for the government and the corporations to scape-goat their own responsibility, to shift the blame. Meanwhile, the reality is that someone needs to earn more than double minimum wage, twice the rate of poverty, simply to get by. It's not a matter of personal choices, work ethic, or social graces. It's simple arithmetic.

Here is a sample budget, from a friend who lives in upstate NY. Feel free to comment if you believe it's unreasonable.

$1000 rent (trailer)
$100 electric
$50 cooking gas/hot water heater
$100 heating oil (monthly fee for lock-in price)
$300 groceries (including household goods such as soap, trash bags)
$50 clothing (laundry, underwear replacement when necessary, shoes)
$50 cellphone (basic prepaid service)
$100 triple-play (home phone, basic cable, internet)
$130 auto loan payment ($4k/36 mos/12.5%)
$120 auto insurance (under 35 with no tickets)
$150 gasoline (local only)
$50 auto maintenance (minimum)
$250 medical

$2450

That's over $15 an hour, TAKE HOME pay, just to survive. More than double minimum wage, BEFORE TAXES.


















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