tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211674678201251588.post5908309175381811970..comments2023-09-25T07:18:11.130-07:00Comments on It's All About Balance: Blog Action Day 08 - PovertyAprilhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12051174636017409935noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211674678201251588.post-38498781570757872182008-10-17T18:56:00.000-07:002008-10-17T18:56:00.000-07:00Great post...I really appreciate your openness and...Great post...I really appreciate your openness and willingness to share your life experiences with us...that makes everything you say that much more poignant! Thank you!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211674678201251588.post-72776579626438290482008-10-15T19:41:00.000-07:002008-10-15T19:41:00.000-07:00Yes I agree with Florinda about the whole choice i...Yes I agree with Florinda about the whole choice issue. I hate it when people make some comment trying to make it look like they understand but they don't. (e.g. the people who said they let people know to leave with Katrina but didn't understand that many didn't have the means or money to do so.)They do the same thing for poverty as far as circumstances and choices.<BR/><BR/>Obviously nobody plans to be on financial assistance when they decide to have a family. They think that things will work out or that the person they are with is a decent person. I too get angry and do not understand how people can take advantage of the system. I think that what actually happens is that they get into the system by submitting all of the documentation and then when they get a job or whatever they just keep receiving aid even though they know they shouldn't.<BR/><BR/>The other thing I see is on the opposite end. When I was a manager at the pizza place I cannot tell you how many times a crew member would need the assistance but if they make more than a certain amount things get cut off. We had to make sure they worked no more than x amount of hours so that their pay stub would reflect the amount to show the welfare office.<BR/><BR/>Anyway the point of my novel was to say that I agree with what you said on choices. Great post.Shionahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12492147249152256505noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211674678201251588.post-35128305493059422602008-10-15T14:14:00.000-07:002008-10-15T14:14:00.000-07:00Terrific post, and I really like the way you kept ...Terrific post, and I really like the way you kept emphasizing that the concept of "choice" means different things depending on your personal circumstances. In my experience, people who have never really been in situations where their choices WERE limited that way don't really get it. (This is an ongoing debate between my husband and me - bless his heart, he hasn't been there and doesn't really get it; I've been closer to it, so I think I get it a little better.)<BR/><BR/>You had mentioned in a comment on my blog not long ago that you disliked Walt Whitman - now I know why :-).Florindahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09789402061034734894noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211674678201251588.post-44103068492906708142008-10-15T09:50:00.000-07:002008-10-15T09:50:00.000-07:00For the second or third time today I am saying "I ...For the second or third time today I am saying "I must have missed the memo," about this day-but it is probably a good thing because it hits too close to home for me. Great post.Korihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17523892197119604721noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211674678201251588.post-46281448544236522732008-10-15T09:24:00.000-07:002008-10-15T09:24:00.000-07:00Great cause to blog for go you!Great cause to blog for go you!Suziehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13150191994661266181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211674678201251588.post-76700317149113159092008-10-15T07:46:00.000-07:002008-10-15T07:46:00.000-07:00Wow April, you just get better and better.I don't ...Wow April, you just get better and better.<BR/><BR/>I don't understand how people can abuse the system either. When I applied for AHCCCS (healthcare), I had to show them EVERYTHING and technically, I didn't qualify. However, the case worker could see that I TRULY needed it and decided to overlook some things (legally). I doubt the same caseworker would have done the same for someone she could tell was actually abusing the system.<BR/><BR/>When my time with AHCCCS was up and I had a decent paying job, that was the end of the free handout for me, which is how it should be. <BR/><BR/>When I see people use the excuse that there is too much abuse in the systems to continue it, I just think they've lost the ability to empathize; because there are many more people out there like you and me who just need it to get a leg up before the next stage of our lives.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211674678201251588.post-24551479763423711832008-10-15T04:51:00.000-07:002008-10-15T04:51:00.000-07:00Wow, this was pretty intense. Thankyou for posting...Wow, this was pretty intense. Thankyou for posting it. <BR/><BR/>Did you know that Walt Whitman was gay? I really don't care, except that it offends me he would try to pretend he could relate to motherhood. Most of the gay people I've met are either empathic or pretentious. He sounds pretentious. They're the ones I can't stand.<BR/><BR/>As far as the whole bail-out issue, it bothers me because it is, IMO, directly the fault of the government that things got this bad to start with. They should not have allowed these banks to practice predatory lending. They should not have required equal opportunity loans (meaning the proportion of loans approved for minorities must equal their proportion in the population), which set the stage for bankruptcy decades ago. And I guess this wasn't directly the government's fault, but there is something radically wrong with CEOs being paid in the millions while foreclosing on thousands of homeowners. They should be the first ones feeling the pinch; after all, it was their management that led to it!!! <BR/><BR/>To elaborate briefly on the equal opportunity thing, I know that it was supposed to solve a real problem that needed addressing. But only an idiot could have not looked ahead to the inevitable consequences. You do not do a poor person any favors by loaning them money they cannot afford to pay back. Education is one thing; I am all in favor of loans that will aid a person in making a better future for themselves, so they CAN someday own a home or a good car, or any of the other things we all feel we need. But giving home loans to gullible or desperate people just so you can foreclose on them a few years later, is sick. I don't think the people who got the loans should be the ones who have to "live with it;" but I think there should be serious mega-punishment on the banks who created this mess through their greed. And I think Bush and most of the legislators for the past 20 years should be losing THEIR pensions, and have to sing for their supper like everyone else.<BR/><BR/>We can wish, right?<BR/><BR/>On a side note, I think there are people in this country who are as poor as the poorest in third world countries. They're the ones who fell through the cracks. The final cracks - the ones in the basement floor. <BR/><BR/>My MIL told me once that years ago, when she was a teenager, she and her friends got lost in Chester, PA (a suburb of Philly - you will probably know where I'm talking about since you lived in Pittsburgh). That was before it was this bad, too. They wound up driving around under one of the bridges in an abandoned warehouse district. She said all these little naked kids came out to look at them like they'd never seen a car before, with bloated bellies and sunken eyes like the pictures on charity websites. Their parents were living in the warehouses making crack and meth and just basically living on it. She said they were huddling around burning trash barrels for warmth. And she decided then that if she was ever going to give money to charity, she wanted it to go to those little starving kids under the bridge, and not to some organization sending it overseas. <BR/><BR/>Granted, that was 30 years ago, and that area is now the site of the disputed re-vamping of the Chester waterfront. Most of those little kids are probably dead, in prison, or trying real hard to forget their childhood. But I'm sure you could still find others like them, if you look hard enough.FreedomFirsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06758904672151505999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211674678201251588.post-87678615185895524362008-10-15T01:11:00.000-07:002008-10-15T01:11:00.000-07:00saw this post via the front page of blog action da...saw this post via the front page of blog action day. it's great that you're participating.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com