I posted a story Tuesday (the mashed potato one) that could have been a good WTF Wednesday story.  Now today, I find another.  WTF Wednesday is getting spread around this week!!

It seems throughout the country welfare laws are getting a once over.  Things like booze, cigarettes, tattoos and strip clubs are no longer allowed. NO LONGER???  WTF??

When did this get to be an issue?  Welfare and other forms of public assistance are there to help people who are having a hard time get by. Not to freakin' party, smoke and stare at boobs. 

Read more at elpasotimes.com.

Seriously, I have always been under the impression benefits were limited to food and certain neccesities.  Unemployment benefits I realize are cash payments and if you've paid your bills and have some left; do what you want with it I guess.  (Of course, if you have time to hang out in strip clubs or sit at home getting drunk; it stands to reason you have time to find a job.)  

That's not all benefits are being used for, according to the AP;

From Arizona to Maine, states have been going even further on their own, adopting or considering legislation to block the use of benefits for other items deemed frivolous. Among them: porn, cruises and psychic readings.

Cruises?  If you need help feeding your family then you have no business doing anything other than focusing on that.  To think we have to have ATMs disabled in liqour stores and porn shops to keep people from spending their benefits that way is ridiculous.  You should be worried about your kids eating and helping yourself back onto your feet. 

If there is anything left, SAVE IT!!  Rougher times may lie ahead.

The other side of this says .. basically .. we should let people on "assistance" spend their money however they wanty. Case in point, Elizabeth Lower-Basch, a policy analyst for the Center for Law and Social Policy says; 

the regulations reflect "people's preconceived notions and stereotypes of low-income people." She said poor people have hardly any money left over for things like alcohol or tattoos after they pay for necessities.  

Apparently they do.  If this lady is correct in saying that welfare recepients have nothing left then why did an L. A. Times Investigation in California find that:

$1.8 million in welfare benefits had been taken out of cash machines at California casinos over an eight-month period.

Clearly not everyone on welfare truly needs it.  I would love to see the results of an investigation into Texas and El Pasos welfare system and see how many are really "in need". (Especially since the welfare office I drive past once in awhile always has a lot full full of shiny and expensive new cars. C;mon, if you're driving an escalade and wearing a rolex; you must be doing ok.  At the least, it would seem you have room to cut back on expenses a bit!)

Sure, some folks need and are entitled to whatever aid we can provide.  The rest ... the "cheaters" ... need to be sent to work. There's plenty the government could pay these people to do.  Money EARNED can be spent however you like.  Money GIVEN should be applied to things you NEED; not just want.  Right?

Do you guys reading this agree?

I'm glad this is (finally) coming to light.  The fact that it took this long amazes me.

And we wonder why our country is broke and entire generations are being raised with no desire whatsoever to get out and work ... WTF??

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