Land Of The Free, Not The Freebie

Land Of The Free, Not The Freebie

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Thursday, February 25. 2010

Comments (32)

Written by Spencer Price
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I was beat. It was early morning and I was on my way home after working a 12-hour nightshift in the ER. I stopped at a small convenience store not far from home to fill my truck with diesel fuel, grab a Coke, and get some cash from the ATM. What happened next spoke volumes about what’s wrong in America.

While standing in line to pay for my merchandise, I overheard the woman cashier talking to several middle-aged men sitting around the checkout counter (men, who, by the way, didn’t seem to be purchasing anything). The conversation was about unemployment benefits. Apparently, the cashier was well versed regarding the ins and outs of that particular government program.

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#1 Anonymous on 02/25/10 at 07:12 AM

I think this woman should be turned in to the authorities for theft of services, income tax fraud, something. She is taking from those who really need the benefits while they are honestly looking for employment. She, and others like her, should be stopped whenever possible. If you know of someone like this and you do not turn them in (whoever you may be) are you not just as guilty for enabling them to continue? Think about it.

#2 solo on 02/25/10 at 07:17 AM

The number to call and report unemployment fraud is 404-232-7300.

#3 Anonymous on 02/25/10 at 08:25 AM

Turn her and her boss in. This kind of abuse is common and needs to be stopped.

#4 Anonymous on 02/25/10 at 09:50 AM

Like the writer says, this is nothing new. I am so sick of the gov't not doing anything about it. As rampant as it is, you KNOW they have to KNOW this is going on! But, since most of the people abusing the system are of a certain race, they won't touch them.

#5 cats on 02/25/10 at 09:52 AM

This is absolutely sickening to me.
I hope you turned her and the convenience store in.
I'm 55 years old and have never in my life collected unemployment. By the way I work full-time and have a chronic illness which many people collect disability payments on.
I feel I have an example to set for both of my children.
I'd like my family to be seen as solid working class American's, not as blood-suckers.
I can't tell you how angry this story makes me.

#6 anonyous on 02/25/10 at 12:53 PM

what about the one who is on workers compensation that is working on the side and getting paid , i know one right off

#7 Anonymous on 02/25/10 at 01:18 PM

There is nothing wrong with collecting unemployment or disability IF you need it.

#8 Anonymous on 02/25/10 at 01:47 PM

Anybody who works in the ER as this guy does should know just how ruff things are right now. The fact that this person is a cheat has nothing to do with the folks who to no fault of their own are on really hard times right now. Even those who do have a job are in constant fear that it won’t be there tomorrow. To use this cheat as a means to slam our president is a real stretch of the imagination and is totally uncalled for. Shame on you Spencer and you know this person would be a cheat no matter who was in the White House.

#9 GM on 02/25/10 at 03:52 PM

The problem is with interpretation. The US Constitution says it will “promote the general welfare”, but, too many people confuse that with thinking it says “provide welfare” so they all started lining up.

#10 Liberal Helper on 02/25/10 at 03:58 PM

Typical - Nobody slammed the president. If you would climb out of his behind you would have saw it. His name was brought of by the third person. Not the writer.

Geez - is it dark in there too or do you think you see a bright light? Head in to the light! It is probably the way out.

#11 Anonymous on 02/25/10 at 05:21 PM

If the good Republican doctor is actually telling the truth, he should have reported the girl instead of telling his public tale.

I expect since he is having a public spew so soon after the event, it is really just an exaggerated tall tale. If it really happened, and if the fellow had any sense at all, he would have kept his mouth shut while reporting the crime, and testified to what he heard.

#12 GM on 02/25/10 at 06:40 PM

It just might be a tall tale. However, it is a tale that I know plays out everyday, somewhere. Unless you are in denial, you know it too. Regardless, you write as if you have bottled hatred toward republicans more than a dislike of the crime. I would hope that you don't condone the action.

#13 Watching as America Spins out of Control on 02/25/10 at 06:47 PM

I think you all have missed the point here, it is not just this one women doing this. This is going on all over our nation. The system is broke and thousands are taking advantage of it. Wake up AMERICA!!!!!

#14 Anonymous on 02/25/10 at 08:43 PM

This has been going on for years under many presidents. When I see it, I turn them in. I suppose I could have written a big story about how the illegals down the road collecting benefits and free health care said Bush would protect them but I turned them in instead. It is more productive to turn them in than to whine about the unlucky man who happens to be in office at the moment.

#15 Anonymous on 02/25/10 at 09:08 PM

I agree. I was fired once so my boss could put a friend in my job. I have worked hard my whole life and was embarassed to be on unemployment. I swallowed my pride and went on it for two months, of which I spent my whole day searching for a new job and quickly stopped the benefits immediately upon starting work again.

This program is needed, but I can't stand to see people cheating the system. It is there to help you survive between jobs. Groceries and bills keep coming.

#16 Anonymous on 02/26/10 at 06:58 AM

What’s typical is the character assassination by someone who doesn’t have the intellect to know to step back and comprehend the premise in which this article is written. (When one of the men commented that the benefits would eventually run out, she replied that “Obama” would “take care of them.”) To add this to the article puts into people’s mind that our President is the cause for all the vultures who choose to steal from the resource in place to help those who have fallen on hard times just because the present economic collapse. Spencer is just trying to shame those who have no choice but to accept a helping hand. To be brought to the point to have to accept the help from others is difficult enough without having to deal with those who lack any trace of Christian grace. This reminds me of the words I once read: Perhaps the most overrated virtue in our list of shoddy virtues is that of giving. Giving builds up the ego of the giver, makes him superior and higher and larger than the receiver...It is so easy to give, so exquisitely rewarding. Receiving, on the other hand, if it is well-done, requires a fine balance of self-knowledge and kindness. It requires humility and tact and great understanding of relationships. In receiving, you cannot appear, even to yourself, better or stronger or wiser than the giver, although you must be wiser to do it well. It requires self-esteem to receive--not self-love but just a pleasant acquaintance and liking for oneself.

This Spencer’s article makes something that’s most difficult even more so and for it to be coming from someone with his brain power leaves one to wonder of the nature of its intent. It has the stench of another motive which I find to be most typical in many right wing neocons.

#17 Anonymous on 02/26/10 at 07:25 AM

A wonderful post. Partially restores my faith in humanity.

#18 cats on 02/26/10 at 07:36 AM

You are absolutely right about this and it's my hope that Spencer turned the lady and the convenience store in.

#19 Anonymous on 02/26/10 at 02:10 PM

Yes, and anyone who reads Spencer's articles knows they always feature Spencer as the noble hero and President Obama is always to blame for whatever the problem is. Can anyone on this blog guess what Spencer's problem is?

#20 GM on 02/28/10 at 12:09 PM

The giving should come from the church and not from the government. Paraphrasing a statement made by another doesn’t say anything about the president whoever he/she may be. It does provide insight on the thought process of the individual saying it though. Spencer, in my opinion, is shedding light on an illegal process that takes place everyday throughout the United States, and by all walks of life. It might even be a tall tale to tell a story. However, is does get the point across and did change the thought process of individuals reading it and the crime being committed. It might even jingle the thought process of some committing the crimes allowing them to rethink it. I wonder if your thought process is actually concerned about the subject of the article or would it instead be the character assassination of Spencer. I’m guessing, had the comments come from some emerging party of socialist reform, you attitude would have been of acclaim for pointing out defects within the system.

I would think that it is you, with your comments, that attempt to paint a demoralizing picture of giving and receiving. If I were to interpret your words in another way, I could assume that you were saying that it is ok to deceive the giver and reap rewards as long as it is well-done. Of course, I’m fairly confident that was not your intentional meaning.

Lastly, your word “neocons” that you tossed out apparently, I assume, to demonstrate your strong vocabulary abilities is short for neoconservatives. Judging from your comments, I’m also assuming you are an individual standing a bit to the left. If I might make a suggestion, you may want to research where the term “neoconservative” originated from. I think you’ll be surprised to know that it was actually born far left of center.

#21 Anonymous on 03/01/10 at 08:46 AM

Gary,

The giving should come from the church and not from the government???? Funny you should say that because what churches are doing today when someone of need is knocking on their door is to refer them to a government agency or nonprofit organization for the required assistance. Church budgets today are not healthy enough to handle the capacity of the needy during in the present economic crisis.
Neoconservative: An intellectual and political movement in favor of political, economic, and social conservatism that arose in opposition to the perceived liberalism of the 1960s.
Am I a liberal? To me that is just a word used by others to put someone in a category. What I am is a Christian. To me, that means to love my neighbor as thyself and to try to the best of my ability to understand and emulate the capacity of love Christ demonstrated during his walk on this earth. If Christ was a liberal….well, I guess I am too.

#22 Anonymous on 03/01/10 at 09:08 AM

I also know someone who is working and receiving workman's com. I always assumed that workman's comp was a benefit that you received while you were unable to work.
This woman and many others out there not only are cheating the government but also the hardworking taxpayers!!! It is disheartening to know that this is allowed. Yes times are hard but that doesn't mean that you are entitled to something you don't deserve. The government benefit pays for a cell phone for people is wrong. Where is the family that they can't provide a cell phone for their elderly. You can add a line for 9.99 a month. If you can provide a cell phone for your friends why won't you do it for family? As for those who are collecting social security dissability, they should have to prove that they are disable by going to the doctor every month prior the reciving the check. It is totally wrong for anyone to receive benefits that truly don't deserve them.

#23 Anonymous on 03/01/10 at 11:57 AM

Does he have a fear of lack or is it an ego with a moral superiority complex?

#24 GM on 03/01/10 at 02:36 PM

I cannot argue with anything you’ve said. I know that needy people are being referred to the government, but that isn’t how it should be. However, government is robbing the people, which are hurting the churches. And if government wasn’t overspending and demanding so much, would the people be contributing to the churches so that the churches could help the needy. I think I know the answer to that one too. Perhaps we should spend the energy to make changes where changes are needed, rather than give in to government forced changes. Or government could learn when to put their foot down. The programs could be good if the fraud is stripped out of it.

As for Neoconservatives in the early years, the forerunners were mostly socialists or liberals who strongly supported the Allied cause in World War II, and who were influenced by the Great Depression-era ideas of the New Deal, trade unionism, and Trotskyism, particularly those who followed the political ideas of Max Shachtman. A number of future neoconservatives were later involved with Social Democrats USA. Through the 1950s and early 1960s the future neoconservatives had been socialists or liberals strongly supportive of the American Civil Rights Movement, integration, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Neoconservatism... originated in the 1970s as a movement of anti-Soviet liberals and social democrats in the tradition of Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Humphrey and Henry ('Scoop') Jackson. They preferred to call themselves 'paleoliberals and many drifted back to the Democratic center after the end of the Cold War.

Moving back to the intent of the article “Land Of The Free, Not The Freebie” in my opinion is not questioning Christian values. Second Thessalonians 3:10 says if a man will not work he shouldn’t eat. It doesn’t say if a man cannot work he shouldn’t eat. There is a difference. There are people that absolutely refuse to work because government handouts are so readily available. Some people make it a career living off the work of someone else. Cutting the supply chain to those individuals would not sacrifice Christian principals in my opinion. It would force people to take care of themselves.

#25 Anonymous on 03/02/10 at 09:59 AM

You're damn good!

#26 Anonymous on 03/02/10 at 10:09 AM

Bet Spencer is about to burst with pride because of the one republican senator who just held up unemployment benifits and cost several thousand people their jobs, yet he voted for the(unfunded)Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 2% of Americans. Does Spencer feel such disgust for all his patients or just the poor ones?

#27 Anonymous on 03/02/10 at 10:37 AM

So for all of you out there who are complaining about the broken system..how do we fix it? How do we stop the abuse? Do we cut programs so that the people who actually need them are out of luck? Or do we improve programs with better rules that actually encourage self-sufficiency while helping families?
We need a government that works for the citizens of this country and not the corporations who wish to see less regulation and oversight. Not bigger government, SMARTER government should be the goal..these ideas are not mutually inclusive.

#28 Anonymous on 03/02/10 at 11:28 AM

Start by reporting those who abuse programs and live a predatory life. There are plenty of them. Next, stop letting people convince you that we'd be better off if we closed our hearts to those in need. Families work best when they lift each other up. So do nations. Remember the one thing that enraged Jesus was hypocracy. Remember it when you vote. Jesus preached love and compassion, He healed the sick and feed the hungry. He was moved with compassion at the sight of them. We are supposed to imitate Him. Be very leary of those who try to appeal to mankind's selfish and hateful nature. We should fight that nature and overcome it. Do you ever get the feeling God is not on our side anymore? Ask yourself why.

#29 Anonymous on 03/02/10 at 01:21 PM

Some people make it a career living off the work of someone else. Cutting the supply chain to those individuals would not sacrifice Christian principals in my opinion. It would force people to take care of themselves.
This is true but not to the degree that I would refuse a helping hand to those who desperately need it so the point becomes irrelevant.
My concern is more about those who have such a fear of lack that even though they are doing well economically they are willing to deny badly need support for other because of those who are all to willing to cheat the system.

#30 GM on 03/02/10 at 02:53 PM

I'm sorry but you have confusion on the issue. I think you missed the point. No sense going any further.

However, it would have been nice know who I had a conversation with. There are so many anonymous out there that wants to express a point but are afraid to attach an idenity with it.

#31 ImaBean Pork-N-Jean on 03/02/10 at 04:09 PM

That poor girl deserves the money. She needs it to keep from starving and you greedy people want to take it away!

#32 Anonymous on 03/14/10 at 06:49 PM

CHARITY begins at home!!!! If you have family that needs assistance you should try to help them before they run to the taxpaying citizen for help we have enough on our own plates without having to support everyone else's family. Enough is enough if you can't support that baby you are carrying then maybe you shouldn't have it.

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