Sorry if this doesn't read right, I hadn't gotten around to proofing and rewriting.

19 Oct 05 As Jesus said, For the poor always ye have with you;....

NTL Dale, I blame our Federal government for the expansion of poverty...for the dependency mentality...for the disincentives for one to escape the system to the self respect of struggle and finally, accomplishment.

For all the billions that have been spent, since LBJ's Great Society expansion of FDR's widespread introduction of socialism to the American Way, poverty has not decreased. My understanding is the percentage of our population suffering poverty(sic) has remained fairly constant since the war began while the population has grown immensely. The inescapable conclusion being poverty has increased. If one concludes otherwise, I'd ask where your self interest lies?

Is it poverty when Americans want for alcohol, tobacco and lap dances rather than food, water, shelter and sanitation? Be honest now.

For those of you who don't know, it's takes brains. planning and persistence to work the various government welfare programs. Now I grant you, it does not take a lot of those qualities, because the designers know the social service bureaucrats need the system to be worked, for IT IS in their own self interest for it to be worked successfully, and repeatedly. So you should not be surprised to discover it is designed to be quite user friendly, i.e., once one is admitted to one program it is easier to qualify for others: the social workers job being the facilitator.

Additionally, there are multimedia advertising and outreach programs galore, to insure that as many as possible are deterred from utilizing their brains, effort and persistence to make their own way independent of their compassionate governments' benevolent web.

The designers(not the local social worker), know that people, like livestock or pets, do not take long to begin liking and then expecting, freebie treats; and that the 'I deserve this' psychological addiction traps far more than dare turn away. Because the truth IS, the entire scenario is a series of classic cases of the incentives being in the wrong place; and it no longer makes any sense to free ones' self from the benefits they aren't skilled to earn otherwise. Thus the War on Poverty is nothing of the kind, but rather a self perpetuating self-fulfilling prophecy, with governmental dependency the goal.

Which would normally lead us to our glorious governmental educational system that just cannot seem to achieve 18th and 19th century literacy results despite all the progress and resources...yadi yada ad finum....

Principlely, Pat's right Peter. It was incredibly stupid to hand over $2000 debit cards to people adrift. All the more so, when there is no concern for room and board. Sadly, Cape Cod is only the most recent example.