Food stamps were just reduced. FOOD STAMPS.
I see no problem with this....
I'll play my own violin here.
6 y.o. I don't remember what I did to deserve such, but I do remember my father backhanding me. His ring caught my right eye which resulted in bleeding within the eye itself. I remember the ambulance ride off-base. I'm sure both my mother and father made up some lame-*** excuse about how it happened so that the Air Force wouldn't bring repercussions upon my father. This same individual whom was already under a magnifying lens from a couple years prior where he was domestically violent upon my mother, had a shotgun (unloaded) in hand prancing about the front yard on base while SPs had M-16s trained on him (at almost 32, I still vividly remember that!). The backhanding resulted in permanent damage to my right eye, I have a cataract in it
just outside my field of vision...thank an imaginary deity!
Fast forward to 1997 (I'm 15 now). My father (if you want to dignify him with such title) finally flies off the deep end. Still active duty Air Force and making pennies on the dollar compared to current pay bands, my mother has now taken on not 1 but 2 jobs as a bartender to help pay off various bills...and little to my father's knowledge to save up for a lawyer. Father, highly drunk, flies off deep end, beating the daylights out of mother, and threatens to go after the things she loves the most. I'm wide awake at this point contemplating what to do as I hear them coming up stairs. My wooden baseball bat in hands, waiting on my bed for what I thought was coming. No, he goes into my mom's "sewing" room and throws her $3000 sewing machine down stairs into the living room. More fighting ensues. I come out my room, bat in hand and quietly make my way to the sewing room. My mother sees me, but doesn't acknowledge me....I should have swung, but instead I went back to my room, jumped down off the roof and got my neighbor, a fellow Air Force peer of my father. Long story short at this point, cops are called, "dad" doesn't leave as suggested by neighbor, cops arrive and dad arrested. Air Force slaps him on the wrist. Parents divorced.
At this point mom is now working 3 jobs and has full custody of my sister and I. My sister is too young to have the right to deny visitation rights, I on the other hand am old enough. Visitation rights are eventually pulled due to his behavior. Mom still working 3 jobs, plus collecting wage garnishment, child support (which deadbeat dad is way behind on), and gets 50% of his military retirement when he eventually retires.
By 1999, mom is working 2 jobs, 1 as head bartender for the new Applebees. Her GM told her he'd pay her minimum wage plus tips if within the first 3 months she wasn't making at Applebees what she made at 2 other bartending jobs. Mom's also going back to college AND working as a substitute teacher. Out of her hard work, even though she was making what she made at other 2 jobs, GM at Applebees brings her to minimum wage ($5something/hr then), plus tips.
Out of all of this, not once did mom apply for food stamps or any other aid (outside of what was financially obligated from my father per divorce terms).
I don't view myself above anyone, we all make our own choices, but I do view myself above anyone that thinks they need to LIVE, not get a helping hand, but LIVE, off the government teets. Due to her hard work I was able to go to college, obtaining a Bachelor of Science in Biology. My family has a history of not accepting or applying for hand outs. You tighten the belt and keep heading for greener pastures.
Some of your comments within this thread are complete slaps and spitting to my face. I could go on and on in just situations where I and my now wife could have applied for aid. Instead we do what we need to do to make ends meet. Above all, I EARN what I have and that includes medical care! It's not mine or anyone else's fault that someone else doesn't have medical coverage. Outside of a couple liberal programs (Medicaid and SS), I sure as hell don't want to subsidize from my hard worked for pay check someone else's medical because they were too lazy to work for it themselves.
Now that I've aired my dirty laundry, I'll go back to lurking on this topic. I probably won't offer any reply or rebuttal to whatever you choose to reply with Nova.
EDIT...
another link found in passing about current subject.
http://news.msn.com/us/sticker-shock-often-follows-insurance-cancellation/