Mass. House votes to bar use of welfare money for alcohol, tobacco, or lottery t

[thundley4]

The Straight Story   (1000+ posts)             Sun May-01-11 01:55 PM
Original message
Mass. House votes to bar use of welfare money for alcohol, tobacco, or lottery tickets
   
Curb on use of welfare cash OK’d


House lawmakers voted unanimously today to ban welfare recipients from spending their cash benefits on alcohol, tobacco and Lottery tickets, reigniting an issue that flared during Governor Deval Patrick’s reelection campaign last year.

The House approved the ban, as part of a larger amendment to the state budget, on a 155-0 vote.

The measure not only targets welfare recipients, it also bans storeowners from accepting welfare debit cards for purchases of alcohol, tobacco and Lottery tickets. Store owners who violate the ban could be fined $500 for the first offense, and more than $1,000 for subsequent offenses.

“It will prevent further scamming of the system and abuse of taxpayer dollars,” Representative Shaunna O’Connell, a newly elected Taunton Republican, told her House colleagues in her maiden floor speech.

No one spoke in opposition to the ban.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1000510

kestrel91316   (1000+ posts)             Sun May-01-11 01:59 PM
Response to Original message
1. Completely appropriate. I'm puzzled what took them so long to
   
prohibit it.

Hannah Bell   (1000+ posts)             Sun May-01-11 02:00 PM
Response to Original message
2. this is rhe same thing they're doing in australia. the ptb have a global plan.

Hannah Bell has had her bell rung too many times.

RandomThoughts   (1000+ posts)             Sun May-01-11 02:01 PM
Response to Original message
3. That presumes welfare is a check that is given.
   
Edited on Sun May-01-11 02:03 PM by RandomThoughts
Not a correction to a broken system of distribution.

It also maintains a claim of control over how wrongly consolidated dollars, then taxed, and then distributed, is spent.

It is a continuation of consolidations, where they set choices over other people based on ill gotten gains.

By that ruling, the wealthy can be limited in there actions, since their wealth is far worse, welfare without need.

It is no different then Corporate towns.

If there was ample employment opportunities, that did not contribute to wrong consolidations, and at a fair living wage, then they could make some argument about personal responsibility, but in current situations, that is wrong.



And I am still due beer and travel money, and many experiences.

JohnnyRingo   (1000+ posts)           Sun May-01-11 02:04 PM
Response to Original message
6. Since when was a welfare debit card good for alcohol, tobacco, or lotto tix?
   
Edited on Sun May-01-11 02:19 PM by JohnnyRingo
Is that how they've been doing it in MA all along, or is this another of those unnecessary laws that are just meant to demean the poor? I'm pretty liberal, but there seems to be an inherent problem with using a state debit card to buy those items, and I'm surprised no one changed it years ago. There's more here than meets the eye.

On edit, I see the ban will only affect a small percentage of debit card holders who use them "for other programs" where the card can be converted to cash for paying bills. The article doesn't go into what those programs are, but I'm guessing it's maybe disability or perhaps veterans benefits. The people who have a "welfare card" were already electronically barred from using their card to buy those items.

It appears the legislators want to somehow stop certain people from converting the cards to cash and making what the state has determined to be sinful purchases with those dollars. Maybe a big red "W" tattooed on their foreheads would help shopowners identify them.

HockeyMom (1000+ posts)           Sun May-01-11 02:50 PM
Response to Original message
10. NY wants to bar soda, and other sugary drinks
   
Why stop there? You could probably bar chips, cake/cookies, ice cream, and a whole lot of grocery items that might be "unhealthy" too.

Illinois already bans some most junk food for the welfare roles.

[Freeper]

I'm actually surprised that the DUmmies are not up in arms over this.

The Straight Story Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Sun May-01-11 01:55 PM
Original message
Mass. House votes to bar use of welfare money for alcohol, tobacco, or lottery tickets
   
Curb on use of welfare cash OK’d


House lawmakers voted unanimously today to ban welfare recipients from spending their cash benefits on alcohol, tobacco and Lottery tickets, reigniting an issue that flared during Governor Deval Patrick’s reelection campaign last year.

The House approved the ban, as part of a larger amendment to the state budget, on a 155-0 vote.

The measure not only targets welfare recipients, it also bans storeowners from accepting welfare debit cards for purchases of alcohol, tobacco and Lottery tickets. Store owners who violate the ban could be fined $500 for the first offense, and more than $1,000 for subsequent offenses.

“It will prevent further scamming of the system and abuse of taxpayer dollars,” Representative Shaunna O’Connell, a newly elected Taunton Republican, told her House colleagues in her maiden floor speech.

No one spoke in opposition to the ban.

http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-26/news/29475518_1_w...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x1000510

kestrel91316 Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Sun May-01-11 01:59 PM
Response to Original message
1. Completely appropriate. I'm puzzled what took them so long to
   
prohibit it.
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Joe the Revelator (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Sun May-01-11 02:02 PM
Response to Reply #1
4. Agreed
   
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pipi_k Donating Member (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Sun May-01-11 02:52 PM
Response to Reply #1
11. Agreed...same as if a friend or a family member
   
says he needs money for food or rent or a bill, and I give it to him and then find out it was spent on booze or some other non-essential.

People want money for shit like that...fine. Say so.

Don't get money under false pretenses and then use it some other way.

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Hannah Bell Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Sun May-01-11 02:00 PM
Response to Original message
2. this is rhe same thing they're doing in australia. the ptb have a global plan.
   
   

I would think this would be as popular as drug testing, and voter ID.
For the first time ever, I clicked on a thread and they responded in the opposite way I was expecting.

[BlueStateSaint]

The ice woman primitive has taken a few pucks to the head.  The proposal in NY didn't want to ban welfare recipients from having soda and sugary drinks--they wanted to ban all of the residents of NY from having them.

[GOBUCKS]

The DUmp isn't too upset, because Massachusetts is at the heart of the East Coast blue cesspool.
They also note the prohibition doesn't mention weed.

[I_B_Perky]

RandomThoughts   (1000+ posts)             Sun May-01-11 02:01 PM
Response to Original message
3. That presumes welfare is a check that is given.
   
Edited on Sun May-01-11 02:03 PM by RandomThoughts
Not a correction to a broken system of distribution.

It also maintains a claim of control over how wrongly consolidated dollars, then taxed, and then distributed, is spent.

It is a continuation of consolidations, where they set choices over other people based on ill gotten gains.

By that ruling, the wealthy can be limited in there actions, since their wealth is far worse, welfare without need.

It is no different then Corporate towns.

If there was ample employment opportunities, that did not contribute to wrong consolidations, and at a fair living wage, then they could make some argument about personal responsibility, but in current situations, that is wrong.

And I am still due beer and travel money, and many experiences.

 

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? I really didn't understand the whole screed, didn't even make an effort to try to be honest,  but the last sentence got me.

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? I really didn't understand the whole screed, didn't even make an effort to try to be honest,  but the last sentence got me.

She ends all posts that way. I forget what it refers to, I think it's about railing against even having been born in the first place, but several of them were saying it for about a week or so. RT has just carried on...and on...and on...and on...

[BlueStateSaint]

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? I really didn't understand the whole screed, didn't even make an effort to try to be honest,  but the last sentence got me.

SSB explained it better than I could.

[Texacon]

The news outlet says an investigation of state records found $16,010 of California welfare money was taken out on cruise ships between January 2007 and May 2010 -- in some cases on vessels sailing to such faraway and pricey destinations as Rio de Janeiro

<snip>

http://travel.usatoday.com/cruises/post/2010/10/cruise-ship-california-welfare-money-charge-payment-fraud/126451/1?csp=34travel

This is just California.  This is a national epidemic.  The left wonders why we oppose welfare without restrictions ..   

KC

[LC EFA]

Hannah Bell   (1000+ posts)             Sun May-01-11 02:00 PM
Response to Original message
2. this is rhe same thing they're doing in australia. the ptb have a global plan.

Boolshit.

We've been talking about measures to do this for the last decade and nothing ever gets done. We get government payments directly into a regular bank account and use a regular keycard to draw it out or spend it.

Our welfare payments are sent directly into a bank account - It has a regular everyday unidentifiable keycard and no one could identify it as a "welfare" account without drastic changes to the existing system.

Changes that are usually shot down by some stupid Bob Brown voting commie.

[zeitgeist]

The DUmp isn't too upset, because Massachusetts is at the heart of the East Coast blue cesspool.
They also note the prohibition doesn't mention weed.

This is going to kill NH.

Actually, market forces will take care of this.  Welfare fraud is hard to stop. Back in the day I had a friend on the dole (food stamps actually) offer to buy lobster or ice cream to trade for smokes and booze. While I was eating balogna, he was eating steak and driving a 'Vette.  He was a seasonal employee and boy did he know how to game the system. 

[I_B_Perky]

This is going to kill NH.

Actually, market forces will take care of this.  Welfare fraud is hard to stop. Back in the day I had a friend on the dole (food stamps actually) offer to buy lobster or ice cream to trade for smokes and booze. While I was eating balogna, he was eating steak and driving a 'Vette.  He was a seasonal employee and boy did he know how to game the system. 

Back years ago when they still had the paper stamps, coupons, whatever they were called, I used to frequent this little bar up the street from where I lived at the time.  The bartender there would give you 1 dollar for every two dollars of food stamps. He told me one day he ate real good that way.

There was this little neighborhood grocery store owned by a guy from Lebanon, now closed, that I used to shop at. The owner would give the welfare parasites their change in food stamps when they would come in and buy something cheap and pay with a 20 dollar food stamp. Pissed the welfare parasites off to no end.

That was just my experience with welfare fraud. A girl I currently work with took a second job at Walmart to put her son thru college tells me stories about the welfare parasites that come thru her register. It's amazing.

I have absolutely no sympathy for these parasites.

[thundley4]

There was this little neighborhood grocery store owned by a guy from Lebanon, now closed, that I used to shop at. The owner would give the welfare parasites their change in food stamps when they would come in and buy something cheap and pay with a 20 dollar food stamp. Pissed the welfare parasites off to no end.

That's the way it was in the 70's here.

[Chris_]

Oh, the humanity.

[Evil_Conservative]

The DUmp doesn't find this racist?

[GOBUCKS]

Oh, the humanity.

What I notice more than the DUmmy buying lobsters with food stamps (An $8.99 lobster must just be a big crawdad.) is the moonbat state of Minnesota with a dime deposit on a can of pop. I always liked the heavy glass deposit bottles we used to get Coke in. I never minded carrying the cartons back to the store, maybe because it had always been that way. It hasn't tasted near as good since they went to plastic bottles and cans. But a deposit on cans and plastic bottles is just moonbat democrat social engineering.

[delilahmused]

RandomThoughts   (1000+ posts)             Sun May-01-11 02:01 PM
Response to Original message
3. That presumes welfare is a check that is given.
   
Edited on Sun May-01-11 02:03 PM by RandomThoughts
Not a correction to a broken system of distribution.

It also maintains a claim of control over how wrongly consolidated dollars, then taxed, and then distributed, is spent.

It is a continuation of consolidations, where they set choices over other people based on ill gotten gains.

By that ruling, the wealthy can be limited in there actions, since their wealth is far worse, welfare without need.

It is no different then Corporate towns.

If there was ample employment opportunities, that did not contribute to wrong consolidations, and at a fair living wage, then they could make some argument about personal responsibility, but in current situations, that is wrong.



And I am still due beer and travel money, and many experiences.

Oh goody, another clueless DUmmie trying to pretend intelligence! So, because the monies collected are taxes paid by the "evil rich" and then distributed to the "angelic nonworking poor" they shouldn't be regulated in any way? And because this idiot has decided that people aren't making a "fair living wage" (kinda hard to do if you're not working) no control should be exhibited over how the citizen's tax dollars are spent? As far as corporate welfare...aren't most corporations (GE, Goldman Sachs, corporate farms owned by the likes of Bruce Springsteen) part of the Democrat machine's crony capitalism?

Cindie

[I_B_Perky]

She ends all posts that way. I forget what it refers to, I think it's about railing against even having been born in the first place, but several of them were saying it for about a week or so. RT has just carried on...and on...and on...and on...

Thanks for the info. Long ago I gave up trying to understand the dump monkies... but that one just got me. I really thought that too many ribs and beer tonite had clouded my mind. 

[zeitgeist]

What I notice more than the DUmmy buying lobsters with food stamps (An $8.99 lobster must just be a big crawdad.) is the moonbat state of Minnesota with a dime deposit on a can of pop. I always liked the heavy glass deposit bottles we used to get Coke in. I never minded carrying the cartons back to the store, maybe because it had always been that way. It hasn't tasted near as good since they went to plastic bottles and cans. But a deposit on cans and plastic bottles is just moonbat democrat social engineering.

I have been buying the small glass bottle coke when I can find it and saving the bottles to make root beer.   I am about ready to make a batch.  M/zeit keeps asking "can we throw these damn bottles away", I keep sayin no. 

And while on the subject, I keep hearing the ad about water plastic water bottles lasting forever in a landfill.  Imagine, some future generation looking at old clay pots and plastic bottles to determine what our socitey was like.  How long does it take for those old clay jugs and glass bottles decompose?  They don't mention that, just the plastic.  /rant off.

[compaqxp]

Oh, the humanity.

I love how it says "Life is full of choices".