Tag: welfare (page 2)

What a lying Progressive slovenly attired Hillary pantsuit-esque uniform wearing Corporatist slime-ball.  There is no such thing as "free" monies.  Rewarding bad governmental behavior will only decimate every state dumb enough not to see the Feds are offloading their debt onto them.

One provision of the law [ObamaCare], the bulk of which goes into effect next year, expands state Medicaid coverage to individuals earning less than 138 percent of the federal poverty level. In exchange, the federal government will provide 100 percent reimbursement for the expandedcoverage for three years, phasing down to 90 percent in 2020.

"The fastest thing that's going to go when we're cutting spending in Washington is a 100 or 90 percent match rate for Medicaid. There's no way. It doesn't matter if Republicans are running Congress or Democrats are running Congress. There's no way we're going to keep those match rates like that," said Ryan, who added that he has spread the warning to Republican governors and the National Conference of State Legislatures.

"You have already consumed your daily caloric intake of 2500.  Please report to the nearest State Dept of Excess for purging."

What?  You didn't expect that your health choices would matter any longer?

By golly those house Dems and Republicans sure your bad choices don't get worse under the free for all expansion of health care I guess. Body Mass Indexing is a believable end result of 'state provided' health insurance. By golly maybe my concerns have been answered? Jack McHugh notes the new "creepy" rules:

"Under the bill, enrollees would pay more unless they "demonstrate improved health outcomes or maintain healthy behaviors as identified in a risk assessment by their primary care practitioner." Dr. Edison characterizes as "creepy" the requirement that doctors must track and report to the state whether their patients have met that standard."

OR .. Engage in other risky behavior; do drugs, drink, engage full promiscuity, same sex ..stuff, stare at the sun, hang glide, etc..

Precious.

What someone might call "the right thing to do," might be anything but that. Especially if it requires that a crime be perpetrated in order to follow through.  Most acts of compassion by an individual cannot be questioned.  It is self sacrifice; or giving, that heals, nurtures, grows, etc.  It becomes a very different act when perpetrated through coercion upon some for the benefit of others.

The affordable care act is one of those "right things to do" according to its supporters.  However, it is also one of those things which has no authority as an enumerated power defined in the constitution.  The federal government has no authority to act on state's issues such as health care, welfare, and schooling.  Only the broadest interpretation of commerce issues allow it to assume other responsibilities such as labor and transportation, but those come from the weak links established through a lazy practice known as case law, and precedent.

The federal government has no reason to be involved in, or managing the critical aspects of our lives.  The mantra of "Its the law of the land"  be damned.  We still have a constitution, as damaged as it might be through neglect and cowardice.  It provides absolute protections from authority to the people, and to the states which those people reside.

Unless those states and people surrender to that authority.

Or at least it could be if Michigan State Representative Tom McMillin has his way.  McMillin has proposed legislation that ties any money taken from taxpayers for economic development or grants to a requirement of drug testing for principle recipients. Adding and amending this language:

Sec. 15. Beginning October 1, 2013, the fund shall establish requirements to ensure that any recipient of funds, including a loan, a grant, or funding or other assistance for a project,submits to and tests negative for substance abuse under a substance abuse testing program prescribed by the fund. As used in this section, any recipient who is not an individual includes all of the following:

• (a) For a corporation, the president and the chief executive officer, and each managerial employee who directly reports to the president or chief executive officer.
  
• (b) For a partnership, all partners and each managerial employee who directly reports to a partner.
  
• (c) For a limited partnership, the general and limited partners and each managerial employee who directly reports to a general or limited partner.
  
• (d) For a limited liability company, all members and each managerial employee who directly reports to a member.

Certainly no hotel room baked concoctions for these connoisseurs of the finest taxpayer largess.  We aren't talking of a few misplaced bags of medicinal scratch, or toilet bowl punch either. But the good stuff that can only be bought with the type of green that is doled out by the news conference.

Nearly everyone knows SOMEONE who is on the public dole. Whether it is food stamps or corporate thievery, (not covered in this essay) shouldn't the taxpayer have the right to know where his resources are channeled by government? Especially given the "Sobering Data" published in the DHS sanctioned Michigan lottery report in 2012

"Nearly 14 percent of all lottery winners are either welfare recipients themselves or reside in a household with welfare recipients."

After revelations that at least two major lottery winners were STILL collecting assistance, the report was commissioned and legislative action has been sought to address such abuse.  At the same time Democrat legislators like Rashida Tlaib take the typical progressive route and wish to encourage more abuse through inaction. By attempting to assign shame, that might be more appropriately placed on those who beg for assistance and abuse our generosity by gambling with it, to the DHS director Corrigan (God Bless Her) who sees a problem.

"Though DHS found 19 people with lottery winners of more than $100,000, 83 percent of lottery winners on welfare rolls won less than $5,000. Democratic state Rep. Fashida Tlaib accused the agency of being too harsh on people with small lottery winnings.

"I just think Director [Maura] Corrigan is more passionate about kicking people off the system than preventing fraud," Tlaib told the Detroit News.

Corrigan advocated for a law to "intercept" lottery winnings from those on welfare.

LANSING, - Legislation was introduced today, to help ensure public assistance recipients are giving back to their communities, said sponsor Sen. Joe Hune. Senate Bills 275 and 276, both introduced by Hune, were originally SBs 904 and 905, introduced last fall, which failed to pass. (curious, is it not?)

SB 276 would require cash assistance recipients who are not exempt from the Jobs, Education and Training program to participate in community service. Joe Hune, R-Hamburg says:

"People benefiting from public assistance should do something to give back to the community that is providing them with a helping hand, and that is exactly what my bill does. I am glad that these common sense reforms are moving forward."

We are all for it here.

Hune's other measure, SB 275, would require public assistance applicants to submit to a drug test if their caseworker has a reasonable suspicion they may be abusing drugs.

"When it comes to drug testing, individuals using taxpayer money for assistance need to be held accountable for abusing it - period"

SBs 275 and 276 were referred to the Senate Families, Seniors, and Human Services Committee for further consideration.

In about 11 months, I celebrate my 20th anniversary of being tobacco free. In the first 5 years of that, it was a fight to stay off the nicotine, and the body and mind played tricks to try and get me puffing again. Stress, the after dinner reach for a pack, drive time, all of those things I thought of as pleasurable for so long, reached up from the depths often, in order to regain its hold over me.  Its hold from a time when I was its slave, and it was my benevolent master.

As long as I fed it, the habit made me relax for a time, and I was allowed to live in my skin.

Some folks have compared tobacco addiction to that of heroin, or other narcotics.  Others, to its oft used partner, alcohol.  Though I have never experienced the withdrawal effects of those, I believe I understand them as a result of having had been a smoker for well over a decade.  The 'habit' was more than that.  It was an unchangeable lifestyle; a daily thing that demanded my attention, or the consequences would be hellish.

There is a drug that is worse however.

And it won't be your body or mind reminding you how bad its going to be without it.  It will be active little monsters who also get a high from it, and want you hooked for as long as it takes for THEM to live THEIR lives.