Originally posted at Blabb it@nyblogs.net
Senator Orrin Hatch is the latest U.S. Senator to alert the nation that he has no clue what he is doing in Washington anymore, is out of touch with the real world and has a basic disdain for a certain demographic of people in the U.S. The unemployed.
A lot of people are saying…
Recently, the Huffington Post reported Sen Hatch’s proposal to drug test everyone receiving unemployment benefits and other kinds of government assistance saying with the vagueness of a teenager trying to make a case for staying out late on a Saturday night:
“A lot of people are saying, ‘Hey, it’s about time. Why do we keep giving money to people who are going to go use it on drugs instead of their families?’”
Who is “a lot of people”? How many? Where did you talk to these people? If “a lot of people” jumped off of a bridge would you follow them?
He continued with:
“Now, it doesn’t do away with food stamps. And it does get the help for them that they really need. And if they get the help, then they’re right back on to the cash,”
Good old fashioned Paranoia and Propaganda
The notion that otherwise normal working Americans, who have hit hard times have all of a sudden decided to take their meager Gov stipend of a couple of hundred dollars a week and sit on the couch smoking rock and slamming scag, instead of trying to keep the electricity on and avoid foreclosure, is not only insulting but ridiculously stupid.
I’d like to see him take that argument on the road to cities like Modesto, CA which has an unemployment rate of 19.5%, or Youngstown, OH 12.3%, and get out of there with his Depends in one piece and not shoved down his throat. Source.
Civic, Community and Rights groups have called the proposal everything from racist, to a horrendous waste of time and money
In the first place, drug addicts don’t have or can’t keep jobs, therefore, they wouldn’t be receiving unemployment benefits. Sure, there are probably a few exceptions, but are we really going to pay for testing EVERYONE at a cost of hundreds of millions, to save a few hundred thousand?
I am sure that many people can come up with a story that they heard from a friend, or you may even be able to prove a real instance of this with personal knowledge. But when you get down to the nitty gritty , you find that any grassroots support behind ridiculous proposals like this stems from statements that begin with “I heard” , “a buddy of mine” or “what about that guy..?”…in other words good old fashioned American paranoia and propaganda.…which is pretty much the foundation of our modern day society.
Inevitably what we end up proposing is that we spend hundreds of millions to test every one because some mysterious people, heard about some unidentifiable guy, somewhere close by?
However, since the “grassroots” people are the ones that are unemployed, it may be hard for Hatch to get anyone to take him seriously outside of his own fully staffed, well furnished office.
Puff…Puff…Pass
Are there people receiving Unemployment benefits that take drugs? I am sure that there are. But there are also Congressman and Senators in Washington that are alcoholics, aides and assistants that are hooked on prescription meds, and Government employees who smoke pot.
It’s not ALL of them. It’s not even a majority. It’s the same subsection of society that you will find across any industry or demographic. Just because people are out of work doesn’t mean that now the crack man is their best friend. I mean seriously who comes up with this shit?
George Bush is out of work. Does that mean that he and Laura are chillaxing back in Crawford smoking Purple Kush out of an original Tommy Chong water pipe? I mean get real.
I propose that if we are to drug test people merely because they have their hand in the Government cookie jar, then we test EVERYONE.
- Defense Contractors
- Congressman and Senators and everyone in their offices that is paid by tax dollars
- Everyone with a Government service contract
- Government Suppliers.
- Doctors who bill Medicare and Medicaid.
- Research and other Grant Recipients
- College administrations who receive Government funds
- Student Loan Recipients
- and everyone in every company, organization , or administration that has received any Government Bailout or Stimulus Funds.
If you want to cut cost using drug testing as a determiner for distribution of monetary funds, why pick on the unemployed ? Why does everyone else who receives Government money or does business with the U.S. Government get a pass? If you are going to do it, then actually do it across the board and don’t single people out like some arrogant, racist, backwoods evangelist who time traveled to the future from the 1950′s
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Fugg-It!! Before the Kings of Comedy there was A King of Comedy.Redd Foxx.
