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Spot on Ms. Simmons. I often wonder what the framers of the welfare state would think were they able to come back today and see what their vote buying schemes have wrought.

The welfare state's defenders bleat in ignorance about the war on terror and how that money could be spent right here 'helping our fellow citizens', but they don't have the guts to walk through a government housing project after dark for fear of losing their wallet or lives...pitiful.

Thanks FDR...honorable mention to LBJ, of course!

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Praise be to Allah.

Neo, please tell me what the Bush Administration did to put a stop to welfare fraud? They had 8 years...they should have it all fixed by now.

This stuff has been going on for more than 8 years Carol. I don't know the solution nor do I feel any sympathy for Keisha Smith. It's sad that children are drug into the bad decisions of their parents, and I use the term parents lightly. They will likely perpetuate the cycle.

He never did anything to correct the fraud, Ms. Dunn. Show me where I have stated otherwise.

In fact, he expanded the welfare state with his senior drug 'benefit'.

Ms. Dunn, have you ever took a moonlight stroll or went shopping after dark in a section of town where public housing is abundant and welfare checks are delivered every month? If not, why?

Nope, Neo, and don't plan to if I can help it. I realize that there are many people ready to rob and kill people who are at the wrong place. Don't defend those who rob and kill.

I agree Dan, it is sad when kids are brought into this world by parents who don't have the means to care for them. Just starts another vicious cycle. I taught many kids who fell into this category. I also don't have the answer, but think that as far as tax payer money is concerned, welfare is just a drop in the bucket. Funding the wars far exceeds this amount, which I was against from the beginning and am even more against now. But we don't get to choose where our money goes.

Since I get a Social Security check each month and will go on Medicare next year, I guess I fall into the welfare recipient category. God Bless America.

Hold the phones a minute. I thought people like Ms. Smith have been cut off from welfare since the Clinton era reform. In fact, the letter seems testament to that; Ms. Smith is seeking support from a private charitable organization.

We all wish she'd stop getting knocked up, but most should be happy to not subsidize her behavior via tax dollars, even if we feel some sympathy toward the 6 children.

Obama for President!!!

Hurray . . . or something . . . now he can tell these welfare blights to get off their butts and go to work . . .

. . . cause no white person can . . .

The mo' babies you make, the mo' da check is.
Free housing, healthcare, errythang!!!
How anybody can be evicted from subsidized housing is beyond my realm. You have to be a complete idiot, or have your nails and hurr did alot in order to not pay for one damn thing.
Makes me sick.
I agree, maybe Obama can inspire people like Miss Smith to get off her lazy ass and get a job. It wont be racist then.

People can get evicted from public housing for many reasons. Having a child that commits a drug offense is one.

I know, I know, I don't expect you to have any sympathy for someone who gets busted selling drugs.

But is that person's arrest and conviction sufficient grounds to make his entire family homeless? Who should pay for 16 year old jack-asses decision? 16 year old jackass or his whole family? Personally, I think it should just be 16 year old jack-ass.

When families get evicted from public housing, they are generally left completely homeless. Their friends and relatives are probably living in public housing as well. Another way to get evicted is if you allow persons to move into your public housing unit whom are not authorized. Ergo, if 16 year old jackass gets his mom and little sisters evicted, and they try to go live with grandma, then she could likewise be evicted. Darn right I have sympathy for them.

Similarly, it seems to me to be pretty much impossible to "punish" the subject of this letter without likewise punishing her innocent children. I loathe, like everyone else, the thought of giving out money based solely upon number of children, yet am likewise unwilling to allow young children to starve or deny them an education based upon their personal misfortune of being birthed by a sack of crap.

I have heard many complaints, not without justification, but have heard few viable solutions. I wish I had a viable solution myself, but I'm not that smart. if anyone else is, I would gladly listena nd consider.

Interesting how everyone groups Obama into the black category (blacks and whites alike) and sometimes the Muslim category( Muslim=Terroists) ,when his mother was white, he was born in the USA and raised by white grandparents. I know what he looks like but I just wonder if he looked white and people knew one parent was black, would he then be considered black or white? And would people still have issues with all of the things about him they have issue with? Just food for thought.

Otherwise, I do think it will take someone "like" Obama (or Bill Cosby "Come on Paople") to make a difference with many. However, I have known of white people that abuse the welfare program too. By the way, isn't Welfare, Social Security, Disability, No Child left behind, etc fall into the category of socialism? Seems to me that all of those screaming "socialism" and saying "every man for himself" should want all of those programs pulled also...

Well said Atticus and JSD...as I said in another post, I get a SS check each month and will be on Medicare next year, so, Yep, I like "socialism". While I am fortunate enough to not "need" either, I will surely not turn them down.

Lovely comment, Twila...

justsomedude:
The SOLUTION is GET A JOB!
Take advantage of the FREE Daycare FREE Lunches, FREE Healthcare... and GET A JOB!
Lots of people do it. Its really not a new concept.
As for being evicted from public housing because your kid breaks the law.. I agree 100% with that rule. If he had a JOB and wasnt mixed up in DRUGS, or at least SAVED some of the DRUG MONEY for a rainy day, like being evicted.. instead of on the latest gangsta rap clothes.. and givin his baby momma money to get her hurr and nails did.. then THAT MIGHT BE A SOLUTION.
I am so sick of this cycle of poverty, perversion and blame game. We are all adults, we can all accept responsibility for our circumstances. Stop blaming me because I am white because you are (in my opinion) too stupid to figure it out. Being poor doesn't automatically make you stupid. Being stupid and making stupid decisions however does make you poor.

So, Twilla, the sins of the children should be visited upon the head of the parent?

Next time you go too fast down I-40, I'm sure you would see the fairness and justice in your parents loosing their licenses and getting a large fine because of it. That is just a small example, though.

And your "solution" wasn't a solution. It didn't address anything, really.

The children of the parent in question cannot get jobs. That is obvious. They are dependant upon their parent to behave responsibly. The parent does not do so. They do not "GET A JOB!" as you so elequently put it. They don't because they are sorry. So, what then to do with the kids? Kill them? Allow them to die of starvation or other natural causes while doing nothing for them, as that is solely the parent's responsibility? Send them to a labor camp?

What is your solution? Getting a job is not a possibility, as, again, they are kids. Any aid provided the kids will necessarily benefit the parent. And aid denied the parent will necessarily harm the kids.

Work Permits are issued by the NC Dept of Labor when a child is 15 years old. They CAN GET A JOB.
If sins of the children should be visited upon the head of the parent(s) then let us pray that the parent has the wisdom enough to REALIZE that they created this mess by not setting an example. Yes, sometimes bad things happen to good people. We aren't talking about that though.
"Any aid provided the kids will necessarily benefit the parent. And aid denied the parent will necessarily harm the kids" Well how bout a little sex education and some birth control?
The offspring of the lazy people I am talking about will not die, or starve to death, thanks to free health care and food stamps, nor can they go to labor camps because they do not have them anymore.
You are wrong, my solution addresses the core of the problem. Having values. Depending on yourself and not my tax money to get your hurr and nails did, pay for your every bill and learn that real work never hurt anybody.

While you can get a work permit whenever, many places don't hire until you're 16. Even then, they require that you have reliable transportation...and then, of course, you have to be reliable...and, well, if your mom has 6 kids with 5 dads, what are the chances of that?

Your solution doesn't address anything.

All you keep talking about is people getting jobs.

The subject of the letter seems to have 6 kids. They are probably about 2 years apart in age.
We'll say 2,4,6,8,10,12. No, wait, we'll assume the best. They are 17, 15, 13,11,9 and 7.

Your solution, then is for the 17 and the 15 year olds to get jobs. You obviously have no solution for those whom are 13 and under.

Furthermore, and the real point that you keep missing, is that you have no solution as to what to do with the kids when the adults refuse to get jobs.

You mention that they will be taken care of by food stamps and free health care. Is that to say that you support food stamps, public housing, free health care, welfare, etc?

It is a no brainer that solutions could come if everyone that was poor just got a job making 50 grand a year. But they are not going to. Many are either unable or unwilling to get jobs.

Those adults who are unwilling to get jobs deserve little sympathy. What then is to be done with the children of lazy, sorry assed adults? Tell them to "GET A JOB!" That works well if they are 18 or older, but not very well below.

See, minors lack the ability to live and care for themselves. They lack the right to contract. A 15 year old, even with a job, lacks the legal ability to purchase or own real property or sign a lease.

So, even if the 15 year old took your learned advice and "GOT A JOB!" Without someone with legal rights looking out for them, they still have no real options.

Let me make my query clear:

A parent is a sorry piece of crap and refuses to work. What is the state going to do with that person's minor children, aged 3-8. Tell them to GET A JOB!? Or are we going to continue providing them government assistance? What?

Good point rahrah..and I forgot that most places won't hire you until you are 16. I was just pointing out that the CAN. Back in the day, my kids both worked at age 15. Grocery Stores.
There are free bus passes I forgot to mention those. My whole point comes down to the apple not falling far from the tree when we speak about poor disadvantaged human beings.
I feel that not all the kids living in public housing are hopeless cases.. Infact, I believe that one can be president one day!

justsomedude:
I think we perhaps actually agree on this topic, and there was a mix up about the "WHO" should get a job part maybe. ?
Any abled body should get a job. I dont care where they reside.
The state will most likely take those kids and give them to the sorry grandmother to raise who is no better off than the daughter or son who produced the child. THAT Is what is most likely to happen. Will these "minors" be better off? We dont know the answer to that. So far its passed from one generation to the next. Only time will tell.
Government assistance is something that will be with us forever. Sad but true.
Here's a fact for you.. there are kids as young as the ones you mentioned out dealing dope and that is a fact.
What is the solution? I have no idea. I was not put in charge. I am just here to express my disgust with how they be representin' in da hood. Nothing more. Nothng less.

Twilla,

When I was a young child, my parents were farmers. We lived in a house with an outdoor toilet. Our house burned so my dad went to Rocky Mount to work for the railroad. When my family joined him, we lived in the projects until he made enough money to rent a house.

He was severely injured by a train and unable to go back to the kind of work he did before. With his settlement he bought a nice brick house, a super market and a fish market. Being the two oldest of four children, my brother and I had to work at those places. As my mother's health deteriorated (her kidneys failed), my dad had to sell off his holdings to pay for her frequent hospital visits and keep the household afloat. When she died (at the age of 33), I had just turned 13.

My dad had tens of thousands of dollars of debt. He decided to move us to HP where he had some family. We moved into Clara Cox apartments, the projects again. None of my friends smoked, drank or did drugs. We didn't break the law and we believed in God.

Again, when my dad could afford to move us to a better place, he did. It was a wonderful house on the corner of Main and Louise. I retained my project friends.

Later in life, when my husband and I divorced, the only place I could find that would rent to a woman with three kids was...you guessed it, the projects. We moved to Granville Street Apts.

I put myself thru nursing school while holding down a job. I received subsidized housing, food stamps and subsidized health care. For almost thirty years I have paid up to 37% of my income to taxes. I have never complained about it. I have paid back a gracious more than I received.

I can honestly say, in all the time I spent in the projects, not one person was there because that was their choice. Sure, there were probably some who was gold-bricking. However, that was not true of the majority. Most people I have known and those I have served in a home health capacity (who lived in Daniel Brooks and other projects) are there because of tragic circumstances.

I now own two homes and am soon opening one (on 48 acres) as a B&B. (Will be sending invites to an open house via this blog.) God has been good to me and I believe in giving to those who need a hand up. I practice what I preach and I do not believe in throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

I am often taken to the cleaners because I give so generously. But I have not stopped giving. I remember so clearly the days when my family and later myself were in such need.

Had anyone taken the attitude towards me or my dad before me that I have seen expressed here in this thread, my life may have been much different. "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

Yvonne, through all your struggles, you were blessed with a family who loved and cared for you. That goes a long way. So many kids don't have that, as you well know. Those who are so quick to judge...get a job you lazy folks...have no idea what others endure. I am so happy for you, you have truly earned your success. Looking forward to your open house...

Racism and slurs are a really ugly part of some people. Are you doing this for shock value or do you really feel that way???

Wow Yvonne, quite a story. I am oft criticized for this, but you are one who has pulled herself up by her bootstraps. I remember you mentioning using public assistance, however you used it for it's intended purpose, as a temporary means to survive whilst bettering yourself. I just have a problem with those who use it as a more or less permanent lifestyle.

Do I get an invite to the B&B grand opening???? Pretty please???

Trust me, even though we don't agree on some issues I'm a nice guy ;-)

Congrats on your success by the way.

Everyone please consider Big Brothers/Big Sisters. It is an awesome organization that helps children in need of a mentor. Unlike many organizations that want your money, this organization wants your time. It may help even one of the children of irresponsible parents as mentioned in the letter.

http://www.bbbs.org/site/c.diJKKYPLJvH/b.1539751/k.BDB6/Home.htm

Dan,

Although we differ politically, I hold no grudges. Some of my closest family, friends and I disagree. I love um anyway.

My invitation is open. Folks can come, fish, ride the paddle boats, rock on the front porch, go hiking, play games, put puzzles together or just visit and enjoy some goodies. There will be no need to "reveal" yourself if you choose not to do so.

BTW, I have never doubted you were a nice guy. I may doubt your judgment sometimes but you know you have done the same with regard to me.

Yvonne:
I agree that some people are there because they have to be. However I believe that the majority of them are there because its a lifestyle not a choice. Just based my opinion on personal observation and knowledge.
I always knew that you were a cool woman. Congrats on getting your life right and being blessed. That happened because you WORKED.. you had a JOB.. you went to SCHOOL.. you didn't just sit there with your hand out and have 5 or 6 kids.
Good luck on the open house.. I know a photographer if you wanna hire one. *griN*

"Racism and slurs are a really ugly part of some people. Are you doing this for shock value or do you really feel that way???"
Carol, are you picking on me? *griN*

Shock value is cool and do I really feel this way is a very personal question that I have been advised not to answer at this time. Most likely for the same reasons you wont take a walk near public housing at night, etc.

Thank Jesus that you have lived to see your Social Security and Medicaid. Most of us wont.
You're cool Carol. I like you.