It came to my mind this morning when I read a great short column by Daniel Flynn in the May issue of the American Spectator. It's entitled - 'The Welfarians' and begins like this:
"The checkout line isn’t what it used to be.
THE SHOPPER IN FRONT of me in the supermarket line the other
night paid with two peculiar checks with the letters “WIC”
prominently inscribed on them. The acronym, which denotes a welfare
food-assistance program, stands for “Women, Infants, and Children.”
He was none of the above.The elaborate tattoos on his arms advertised priorities. Tax dollars that ostensibly allow him to feed his face, or the faces of the women, infants, and children in his orbit, really enable him to recolor his body. Perhaps my assumption rests on too many assumptions. For all I know, he could have paid for the intricate ink designs prior to losing his job at Lehman Brothers. Somehow, I doubt it. The man’s expensive sneakers, designer T-shirt, gold chain, and body art bothered me less than his reaction to the clerk’s informing him that one of his items wasn’t covered by the WIC program. Rather than retrieve an acceptable product, he instructed the cashier to fetch it for him. She dutifully returned with a gallon of milk. Whereas the first one presumably didn’t pass muster with the government, the second one didn’t pass muster with him. Flustered, she instructed another worker to exchange the milk for his favorite flavor or brand or whatever. All the while, a late-night line curled into an elongated “L” shape. As he waited for his free milk, we waited at the one open register to pay for our groceries, too, after we paid for his."
I know that y'all, just like me, have stood patiently in checkout lines behind fat young ladies and muscle bound men in their wife beater tank tops, whilst they the used their WIC Checks, SNAP cards, or EBT cards to pay for their T-Bones and Lobster, then begrudgingly pulled out a wad of Twenties to pay for their quality wine selections and cigarettes.
Yup, I have too -- as I glanced into my cart at my cube steaks and pork chops --
I also read this morning that now that unemployment check eligibility is running out for some, ten million folks have now applied for and are receiving (for life) disability checks from the Social Security fund that you and I paid into.
Just yesterday, I read that the head of the IRS made 118 visits to the White House -- more than any other Cabinet member -- but never discussed slowing tax exempt status approval for conservative organizations. Seems like I read that the department's boss, herself personally approved and returned the application for the Barack H Obama fund application sent in by his brother from Kenya or somewhere...
So -- when do we stand up and say... We're madder'n hell? I dunno just yet but was pleased to see that the Gray Lady (NYTimes), Huffington Post, and other liberal media folks are sending their Regrets to AG Holder's invitation to sit in on an off-the-record discussion of media rights and responsibilities....
With Obamacare facing us with 14,000 new IRS agents tromping through our files -- maybe Howard Beale (Peter Finch's anchorman character) was just 35 years ahead of the rest of us. ?????
Oh and for the rest of Flynn's timely column in the American Spectator, click here.
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