A few years back I worked for a cellphone company who handled Lifeline. I remember plenty of Lifeline accounts calling in to add other features like unlimited texting. Almost every account I reviewed had added features for cost. Many placed credit cards on file for extra minutes. If they can afford to add features, buy additional minutes, purchase a better phone for the account, etc. they can afford to pay something toward the account.

Not only that, most were very rude and demand extra minutes for free after they used them up in a few weeks.

Although, in some cases I think the free cell is necessary. We had some Native American accounts. They do have to reapply but I think the free phone should come with limits for non-Native American accounts. Give it to them for a year. No job, no phone and free minutes.

It is not a label. They do the crime and pay the price. The victim is the person you should have sympathy for because in the long run they must live with and recover from the crime.

Nobody has sympathy for criminals who prey on children. They are the lowest form of human debris.

Yeah, we do judge other humans to protect the innocent. It was his choice to off himself. Maybe he saved a child by doing it. Most of them repeat the offense and worse once they have a taste of prison. I have absolutely no sympathy for people who hurt children.

Good.

It is possible some people oppose him due to race. Also, some in his own political party did not vote for Obama. I lived in a majority Democrat county and McCain received more votes than Obama during the general election. Statistics show 72.3% are registered Democrat and 22.6% are registered Republican in that county. So you probably do have people who did not vote for him because of race.

http://www.uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/IMAGES/seal.png


However, I think most people opposed Obama because they do not agree with his politics. Some people thought he did not have enough experience and preferred Hillary Clinton.

Fox News ratings pressure the other news stations to report news driving high ratings. I smell fear. LOL!

I seriously doubt the American people elected Obama to fight Fox News. His focus should not be on what Fox is reporting. Bush faced the same with the left leaning media and he ignored it. He won two terms.

Another point to consider is people who watch Fox are not interested in Gay Pride or what they consider left leaning agenda. That's why they tune Fox in. They don't want to hear news they think has a lefty spin.

Frankly, I think CNN, Fox, CBS are all the same. That's why I rarely watch the news. You can find information on the net without listening to opinionated reporting. Why should I allow someone else tell me how to think?

What frustrates me is people need help beyond getting a job. Education and experience is the best road to independence. It is very difficult for women with children. At my recent place of employment they forced a woman to resign because her son had health problems. She did not have enough time for FMLA. Daycare will not keep a sick child. I told her to write corporate and they reinstated her with a flexible schedule. Sometimes all it takes is a little support and knowledge to help someone who is new in the job market. She also thought by resigning unemployment was beyond reach but it wasn't. She was able to collect before returning to work.

Networking can help the poor but there is a matter of trust. Sometimes people are reluctant to accept help thinking they will be demeaned for their condition. It takes a little work to build them up and follow through by offering continued support.

Everyone who has been in a low spot can think of a person in life who lifted them up and strive to return that favor.

I do the best possible by offering my computer to people looking for work. They can fill out online applications and search jobs. Sometimes I offer transportation or cash/gas in exchange for help. I have RA and can't do heavy lifting. Most of the time people do not know where to get help. I'm living in a very poor county at the moment and will be back in Orlando by November. Sometimes all it takes it pointing them in the right direction and doing phone work to find help.

One thing that bothered me recently is a neighbor who went shopping with me at WalMart. She had to fill a presciption and wanted tomatoes. Why buy a tasteless imported tomato because it is convenient when you can stop on the way home and support a local business selling fresh produce? She found out the produce was locally grown, fresh and cheaper. I helped a few people change that habit recently when they lost transportation. Take time to support local people.

Some communities advertise work for a day cleaning up your community and you get free tickets to a theme park. Encourage companies to donate free service or goods for helping in the community.

Another problem is people who are having financial difficulties feel embarrassed or isolated. Communication and support is important. Sometimes you can make too much food by mistake and turn it around to help me out...can't stand to waste food. Invite people over for coffee and snacks just to talk and accidentally make too much. Send them home with extra food. That works with outdoor cooking when you invite people to join in. Cook extra and ask them to help by taking some home. This way you do not embarrass them. Pretend to buy the wrong pet food and give it to someone who is trying to keep a pet. This worked for me with a family member who was out of work for a few months.

We are in this recession together so we can take time to help someone get out and meet other people who may know of a job opening. Communities are not as tight today and people keep to themselves. When people are having difficulty they need to get together with other people. Exchange ideas and tips to stretch money.

Swap skills. I have offered to do alterations and mend clothing for a neighbor who helps with small repairs.

There are ways to help each other during rough times.

I never get flu shots. Don't want to start now.

Yep, not much difference between the Demopublicans.

So, why is alcohol legal? That is a sure way to an accident.

Also, medical use of prescription drugs carry the same risks. There really is no reason to keep medical mj illegal.

Yeah! Good news!

Yes, I should have added Obama "administration." My bad. To me Obama and Obama administration are the same but I'll not quibble on this one. You would give him 8 years but my point was it is unlikely the electorate will. And keep in mind Dems controlled Congress the last 2 years of the Bush administration. Like I said, Dems may hope blaming Bush will save them but I doubt it. People are tired of finger pointing and want action because they are hurting. Most intelligent people predict the electorate will turn against Democrats.

Again, the rush to defend with so called clear evidence Obama is not the cause of where we are now...learn to read. That is not in my post. The point is the stimulus package WAS sold as immediate relief dear. When you whine untrue it is Obama's words you attack, not my own:

But we need action - and action now. That is why I have asked my economic team to develop an economic recovery plan for both Wall Street and Main Street that will help save or create at least two and a half million jobs, while rebuilding our infrastructure, improving our schools, reducing our dependence on oil, and saving billions of dollars
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2008/12/06/transcript-president-elect-obamas-radio-address/

That is why I have moved quickly to work with my economic team and leaders of both parties on an American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan that will immediately jumpstart job creation and long-term growth.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/08/obama-economic-speech-war_n_156171.html


The assessment was the same as what Obama’s economists forecast in January, when THEY PREDICTED THAT THE ECONOMIC STIMULUS WOULD PREVENT UNEMPLOYMENT FROM RISING ABOVE 8 PERCENT. But unemployment reached 8.9 percent in April and the chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, Christina Romer, said over the weekend that current predictions that unemployment would reach 9.5 percent were “pretty realistic.”

http://blog.taragana.com/n/white-house-defends-estimate-that-stimulus-bill-will-save-or-create-35-million-jobs-59484/

It is true the GDP declined: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-gdp-revised-decline-62-fourth

It is true the amount of tax money government collects is in decline.
http://zerohedge.blogspot.com/2009/05/guest-post-tax-revenues-tanking.html

And so on, and so on....

Since the economic stimulus bill passed nearly six months ago, the Obama administration has repeatedly pledged that the money would reach middle America, seeping into the communities hardest hit by the recession.

But analysis of the most comprehensive list of stimulus spending to date found no relationship between where the money is going and unemployment and poverty.
http://www.propublica.org/ion/stimulus/item/stimulus-spending-fails-to-follow-unemployment-poverty-805

LOL! Got to love Biden:

Vice President Joe Biden told ABC's "This Week" that the Obama team had "misread" how bad the economy was when it took office. Obama rebuttled Biden's comments in a separate NBC interview, saying "rather than saying 'misread,' we had incomplete information."

http://www.axcessnews.com/index.php/articles/show/id/18354


Also, keep in mind Americans already tossed Republicans out when they voted in Democrats. Two years during the Bush administration and now we have a Democrat majority/Democrat President. Again, I doubt the blame Bush game will fly. Dems who love calling the majority of America DUMB may have a rude awakening.

I never said it was Obama's fault. What I said is the stimulus did not address the problem. It was touted as a way to put people back to work, etc.... (see the CBS link provided).

Which backs up the thought an unemployed electorate is an unhappy electorate. Does not bode well for Democrats no matter what economists spin.

What do you call propaganda?

Frankly, what you see is not important. What the electorate see and what most intelligent people (like the NY Times Herbert) see IS important. Like he said, an unemployed electorate is an unhappy electorate.

http://www.propublica.org/ion/stimulus/item/just-12-percent-of-stimulus-money-has-been-spent-805

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/06/opinion/06herbert.html

The Obama administration seems hamstrung by the unemployment crisis. No big ideas have emerged. No dramatically creative initiatives. While devoting enormous amounts of energy to health care, and trying now to decide what to do about Afghanistan, the president has not even conveyed the sense of urgency that the crisis in employment warrants.

If that does not change, these staggering levels of joblessness have the potential to cripple not just the well-being of millions of American families, but any real prospects for sustained economic recovery and the political prospects of the president as well. An unemployed electorate is an unhappy electorate.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/08/national/main5070907.shtml?source=related_story

Mr. Obama initially offered his stimulus plan as a way to put people back to work, a promise that 3.5 million jobs would be saved or created. The administration's predictions that unemployment would rise no higher than 8 percent already have been shattered, leaving Mr. Obama's advisers to caution that job growth takes time, even as recovery spending intensifies.

http://blog.heritage.org/2009/03/24/bush-deficit-vs-obama-deficit-in-pictures/

President Barack Obama has repeatedly claimed that his budget would cut the deficit by half by the end of his term. But as Heritage analyst Brian Riedl has pointed out, given that Obama has already helped quadruple the deficit with his stimulus package, pledging to halve it by 2013 is hardly ambitious. The Washington Post has a great graphic which helps put President Obama’s budget deficits in context of President Bush’s.

snip

Overall, President Obama’s budget would add twice as much debt as President Bush over the same number of years.


http://www.thepittsburghchannel.com/money/21264624/detail.html

Although the Department of Public Welfare's budget fell only 1.7 percent, a relatively modest cut, it soaked up $1.7 billion in federal stimulus money, creating the potential for a massive shortfall once that money goes away in less than two years.

You will never convince the locksteppers democrats are driving up the deficit. It is the fault of Bush. Not that he did not contribute to out of control spending, but democrats are driving up the deficit at near record rates.

The banks were forced to make risky loans and the crooks behind those deals are still sitting in government.

Obama's stimulus was going to create shovel ready jobs for the unemployed but they lack disbursement oversight. One example is the stimulus money sent to PA. It was used for the state budget not jobs.

Small businesses still can't get loans. Only 16% of that money has been spent.

In February Obama claimed unemployment would not rise above 8%. He claimed it would offer immediate economic relief and we know the economy continues to sink. The high priced stimulus (paid by taxpayers) resulted in higher unemployment because it did not address the problem. The amount of tax money the government collects is in decline and most people are not sure of recovery. That's what is hurting us now. The GDP declined. Hell, most companies are tightening the belt with hiring, wage increase freezes and laying off employees.

Pointing fingers at other people never works. The Democrats have power now and unless they turn consersavite to trim spending we are in serious trouble ahead. Very few people feel confident this can be turned around by higher deficit. The ball is in their court.

Like I said, Bush acted like democrat-light on a spending spree. Now we have the real deal in office. Blaming Bush is not going to get them reelected. Once people are hit in the pocketbook they turn sour on the government who has control. Whining about the past and not coming up with results--not going to fly. I predict a change in the wind and not what the dems are hoping for...

Doubt it.

Bush was a big spender. Obama is Bush on steroids.

Oh, God. You owe me a computer screen. LOL!