just for remembrance.
because, maybe in 30 years from now, I will not remember how racist my family has always been. here they are in one of their finer moments, passing ignorance for moral virtue:
> > > Subject: Work, Taxes, Urine Test
> >
> > Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I
> > pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as they see fit. In
> > order to get that paycheck. I am required to pass a random urine test,
> > which I have no problem with.
> >
> > What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people
> > who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine
> > test to get a welfare check, because I have to pass one to earn it for
> > them?
> > Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on
> > their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone
> > sit on their butt. Could you imagine how much money the state would save
> > if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check.
> >
> > Pass on if you agree
Alright, this one struck a cord in my "liberal" body. I just have to
dispel a few misconceptions about being on welfare, because I think
it's really important to know, no matter what you politically identify
with.
Before I say anything about welfare, though... under the 14th
amendment of the U.S. constitution, each citizen had a RIGHT TO
PRIVACY. This means that you don't have to take a random piss test
under any circumstance (unless it's within a contract that you make
through work or probation), and that applies to welfare recipients, as
they are still U.S. citizens, even if they are poor. That is why this
piss test bill will not pass congress, because it would be in
violation of the constitution.
To be on welfare in the state of Louisiana does not mean you get to
sit on your butt. I'm writing my research paper for Public Policy
on this topic this semester and have been amazed at what I didn't
already know about it. As privileged white people that STILL think
about human lives in terms of taxes, I can understand how there is a
huge misconception about what welfare really means. Welfare recipients
are REQUIRED to work 40 hours a week, no matter if they are white or
black, single or married, have one child or 10 children. In ADDITION
to working 40 hours per week, they take mandatory career counseling
and "life skills" classes for 5 hours a week while ON TOP OF THAT not
saving any money because they either A) pay for child care or B) get
kicked off welfare because they can't afford child care and have to
stay home instead of work those 40 hours. No changes have been made to
our welfare programs since 1996, when Bill Clinton signed the Welfare
Reform Act. So, in the last 11 years, while the poverty threshold has
dropped to $9,880 for a single person, lower than it has ever been
(excluding the depression) since poverty has been measured by this
threshold, I can't imagine supporting drug testing that would cost
more money and do more harm than good to people who are already
complying to very strict rules. The people who are on welfare want to
better their situations. If they don't comply with any THREE rules,
they get what is called a "sanction". Each sanction carries its own
punishment... 1st sanction is a small pay cut.... 2nd sanction is a
no-pay period.... 3rd sanction is getting kicked off completely. For
example, if a welfare caseworker shows up at their door and they have
a guest in their home that they didn't report to their caseworker...
they get a sanction. If they can't go to work one day because their
child is ill and needs to be taken to a doctor (most of you can
identify with child emergencies), they get a sanction. If the bus
doesn't come because it broke down and they are more than 30 minutes
late for work.. if their caseworker finds out, they get a sanction.
After three sanctions, they get kicked off of welfare. It's
unbelievably hard to be on welfare; you have to be really driven... I
just wanted to make that clear.
More states are reporting welfare success because less people are on
it and more people are getting off of it. That might be true, but it
also might be the wrong way to measure welfare success. The thesis of
my research paper posits that less people are on it and more people
are getting off because states wrongly assume they have work. When you
look at current unemployment numbers, they don't match up with welfare
success.
I hope you guys will give some thought to this and weigh the cost and
benefits of drug testing human beings who were dealt a bad hand and
are working hard to make ends meet. Please don't deal them another one
by thinking they are sitting on their butts and deserve to be drug
tested because that's all they do... it's just not true.
-Katie Carter
p.s. They pay taxes, too!
> > > Subject: Work, Taxes, Urine Test
> >
> > Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I
> > pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as they see fit. In
> > order to get that paycheck. I am required to pass a random urine test,
> > which I have no problem with.
> >
> > What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people
> > who don't have to pass a urine test. Shouldn't one have to pass a urine
> > test to get a welfare check, because I have to pass one to earn it for
> > them?
> > Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on
> > their feet. I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone
> > sit on their butt. Could you imagine how much money the state would save
> > if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check.
> >
> > Pass on if you agree
Alright, this one struck a cord in my "liberal" body. I just have to
dispel a few misconceptions about being on welfare, because I think
it's really important to know, no matter what you politically identify
with.
Before I say anything about welfare, though... under the 14th
amendment of the U.S. constitution, each citizen had a RIGHT TO
PRIVACY. This means that you don't have to take a random piss test
under any circumstance (unless it's within a contract that you make
through work or probation), and that applies to welfare recipients, as
they are still U.S. citizens, even if they are poor. That is why this
piss test bill will not pass congress, because it would be in
violation of the constitution.
To be on welfare in the state of Louisiana does not mean you get to
sit on your butt. I'm writing my research paper for Public Policy
on this topic this semester and have been amazed at what I didn't
already know about it. As privileged white people that STILL think
about human lives in terms of taxes, I can understand how there is a
huge misconception about what welfare really means. Welfare recipients
are REQUIRED to work 40 hours a week, no matter if they are white or
black, single or married, have one child or 10 children. In ADDITION
to working 40 hours per week, they take mandatory career counseling
and "life skills" classes for 5 hours a week while ON TOP OF THAT not
saving any money because they either A) pay for child care or B) get
kicked off welfare because they can't afford child care and have to
stay home instead of work those 40 hours. No changes have been made to
our welfare programs since 1996, when Bill Clinton signed the Welfare
Reform Act. So, in the last 11 years, while the poverty threshold has
dropped to $9,880 for a single person, lower than it has ever been
(excluding the depression) since poverty has been measured by this
threshold, I can't imagine supporting drug testing that would cost
more money and do more harm than good to people who are already
complying to very strict rules. The people who are on welfare want to
better their situations. If they don't comply with any THREE rules,
they get what is called a "sanction". Each sanction carries its own
punishment... 1st sanction is a small pay cut.... 2nd sanction is a
no-pay period.... 3rd sanction is getting kicked off completely. For
example, if a welfare caseworker shows up at their door and they have
a guest in their home that they didn't report to their caseworker...
they get a sanction. If they can't go to work one day because their
child is ill and needs to be taken to a doctor (most of you can
identify with child emergencies), they get a sanction. If the bus
doesn't come because it broke down and they are more than 30 minutes
late for work.. if their caseworker finds out, they get a sanction.
After three sanctions, they get kicked off of welfare. It's
unbelievably hard to be on welfare; you have to be really driven... I
just wanted to make that clear.
More states are reporting welfare success because less people are on
it and more people are getting off of it. That might be true, but it
also might be the wrong way to measure welfare success. The thesis of
my research paper posits that less people are on it and more people
are getting off because states wrongly assume they have work. When you
look at current unemployment numbers, they don't match up with welfare
success.
I hope you guys will give some thought to this and weigh the cost and
benefits of drug testing human beings who were dealt a bad hand and
are working hard to make ends meet. Please don't deal them another one
by thinking they are sitting on their butts and deserve to be drug
tested because that's all they do... it's just not true.
-Katie Carter
p.s. They pay taxes, too!