Drug testing welfare recipients

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tara on September 1, 2011 at 9:28am

Demonizing people in need, with our current economy, is absurd.

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Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on September 1, 2011 at 12:26pm

It's amazing, the levels of cynicism - the governor has a barely-concealed financial stake in the multi million dollar drug testing company, the people who are being tested are assumed guilty until proven innocent, the assumption that people getting assistance are druggies (disproven here), the invasiveness of republicans into private lives, which they supposedly are against, the government support of a private company by forcing people to use its services without real cause.  It's maddening.

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Permalink Reply by Pat on September 1, 2011 at 12:37pm

Republicans - the party that says government doesn't work.  Then, they get elected and prove it.

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Permalink Reply by annet on September 1, 2011 at 4:21pm

I can see it now, if they test positive for drugs that are made by big pharma, it will be okay, otherwise they get kicked to the curb.

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Permalink Reply by Jan deBoer on September 22, 2011 at 2:12pm

"wow...so what's the reprecussions if a welfare reciepent comes up positive? "

They get honorary Mexican citizenship?

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Permalink Reply by Corey K on September 1, 2011 at 9:08pm

Welfare needs to be reformed somehow...how would you make sure people who don't deserve the money don't get it and the people that deserve it receive it?

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Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on September 1, 2011 at 10:10pm

I see your point.  Spending 178 million dollars to identify the 2% of people who don't deserve welfare because they smoked a joint sounds like a good place to start.  On the other hand, if Florida spent 178 million dollars on a job creation program to improve roads or something, that might go to someone undeserving.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on September 2, 2011 at 9:04am

You obviously have never met many unemployed or even homeless people.  Otherwise you wouldn't say something so patently stupid.

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Permalink Reply by Susan Stanko on September 2, 2011 at 6:15pm

You met homeless people who do jobs and yet you claim that welfare should be abolished?  You would look those hard working people in the eye and claim that they don't deserve help to be kept afloat?  Since you have taken menial jobs , I assume you know that you can not live off the wages, right?  You also know that saying something stupid is not the same as being stupid, right?

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Permalink Reply by Squirrel on September 24, 2011 at 11:31pm

you say, dont assume anything about someone you dont know
you assume that most people on wellfare are lazy
do you know MOST people on wellfare?

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Permalink Reply by Sentient Biped on September 2, 2011 at 4:36pm

I have been broke and homeless in my life too, and spent many years doing all of the kinds of labor that are needed to get by - I was the only grad student who I knew who was doing landscaping, cleaning toilets, and painting houses.  I also went to school on GI bill dollars, after putting my life on the line in foreign countries and giving my body and brain to the US Army for a chunk of my youth.  I'm secure and making good money now, while working very, very hard and taking a fair amount of abuse, but still doing well.

 

Even so, this discussion isn't really about whether we should have gov't support for people - a valid topic, I agree, but a separate topic.  It's about a hypocritical, profiteering republican politician who is spending over 178 million dollars of taxpayer money to filter out the 2% of public assistance recipients who are being "bad" by ingesting or inhaling addictive or intoxicating substances; which will save under a hundred thousand dollars.  That's under 0.1% savings or something like that.  Meanwhile they preach about gov't spending.

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Permalink Reply by roland707 on September 2, 2011 at 11:41pm

@Sentient you are correct. Repubs tend to grow gov. for business partner's gain while bitching about growing gov. Also, the 'spending a dollar to save a dime' thing is not very smart. The place I work (500 to 1000 employees) once paid a company over a million dollars to investigate all our insurance documents and accounts to see if anyone was cheating (claiming ineligible people, etc.). They caught.... are you ready....... ONE fucking person, claiming a boyfriend. I can't even imagine how much money my state (Alabama) is about to lose over the new dumbass immigration bill.

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