Jackson Jambalaya

Have you ever been poor and had kids? You don't know what it's like to look at your kids and tell them no, you can't have that because mommy or daddy don't have enough money. Not just here and there but ever.

Kids don't understand why they can't have stuff or why daddy works but he can't buy them a new toy.

So two bucks for a pop gun or some pezz candy is fine by me.

Think a little deeper on these things. Not everyone is cheating the system just because they use EBT cards just like not everyone who gets EBT cards keeps them forever.

I wanted alot of things when I was a kid. I thought my mother knew only one word. NO. Don't how what your financial situation is, No means No. It's called parenting. Something democrats haven't learned how to do yet.

EBT is for FOOD, not sugar laden candy with toy guns! Who wouldn't want to give their child a toy? That's not the point. The point is, the government takes our money and says they are going to spend it on nutritional food for those who can't afford three square meals a day. Fine, just don't allow garbage to be purchased, let alone garbage that comes with a toy.

you make them a toy or cook them a pie.

Too poor to buy your kids a $2 toy without using an EBT card but you have enough resources to get on the internet and complain about it. That is priceless. Or are you using your Govt subsidized smartphone to post.

The larger point is that these things are NOT supposed to be eligible for purchase with EBT. Perhaps the photographer should have challenged the store manager after the patron departed.

I'm not a Democrat and I know what an EBT card is for and I know how to say no. But it infuriates me when little things like this get people in a lather and cause folks to pile on. Think deeper on stuff and don't knee jerk over a bit of candy and a trinket toy. We waste far more money on far worse.

July 24, 2013 at 7:21 PM = July 24, 2013 at 8:29 PM

829, you are correct. We do waste our money on far worse. However, you don't have to be in the upper 1% for a third of your yr's work or more to go to taxes. Any abuse of taxes is infuriating unless you're receiving an unearned income credit. Especially in this area of the country when you see many able body adults just hanging out all day. EBT cards should be for familes in need of food, not candy guns.

I don't think anyone has grasped the point of this. This is specifically marketing towards waste, fraud, and abuse of tax dollars. What used to be happening in the parking lot of the grocery store is now out in the open and retailers want a piece of the action at the expense of tax payers.

829.....

I don't give a F__k if wasting my tax money pisses you off.

I'm sick of it being used to reward failure and buy votes.

“I am for doing good to the poor, but…I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed…that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”
—Benjamin Franklin

The crap you buy for your kid with my tax dollars after working my two jobs is crap I can't buy for my kids. My kids are denied it because I earned it? Liberals, please explain this to me so that I may understand why this is only "fair".

Screw poor kids, they don't deserve no fun.

There, did I say it right????

People who are distracted by this kind of thing really are simple to manipulate. That's why we have Phil living on Capitol Street. Did you vote for that Gipson dude, too?

Picking on the poor? Not hardly. I'd cut the foods available to the basic food groups. No more of this crap or birthday cakes. But then, I'd also cut out ethanol mandates, loans for busts like Twin Creek, CON laws, milk price supports. Oh, and I opposed TARP as well as bailout for Citi when its stock was below $1 per share.

Well, then let's talk about ethanol mandates, Twin Creek, CON laws, milk price supports and TARP. Let's even have a substantive discussion about the food stamp program. But not squirt guns with some swedish fish in the packet.

And for the record, a reader tipped me off to these but I went to the store and took pictures myself as well.

and notice how no liberal gun control nuts are raising hell about giving toy guns to kids on the taxpayer dime. More important to expand food stamps.

1. EBT should not be used for items like this. It should be used for real food with nutritional value. Ideally, that food should have as little processing and as few artificial preservatives as possible. Real food.

2. Inclusion of these items is corporate welfare, plain and simple.

3. The impact of poverty is deep and real and extremely difficult to overcome. Many give up not because of subsidies but because the pathway out of poverty is often just a slightly less undignified version of the same poverty but with a whole lot more effort and disappointment. There was a time when minimum wage could feed a family. Not anymore. We must pay workers more and most will gladly leave poverty.

4. We can't take the money and opportunity out of the city and then ridicule the people there for not making anything of themselves.

5. There are definitely people taking advantage of the system. But this is a minority. Probably the same percentage as white collar opportunists who cheat on their taxes or lie to their clients.

6. I went to some of the best schools and taught in some of the worst. From my experience, a small minority of people can excel in any environment from a combination of intelligence, internal fortitude, and some old fashioned luck. But most people will simply not rise above their surroundings. And yet, just about everyone who is successful thinks they are where they are because they are special and deserve it. (See Clarence Thomas, any collegiate legacy, or anyone named Bush or Kennedy.)

EBT should not be used for items like this. It should be used for real food with nutritional value. Ideally, that food should have as little processing and as few artificial preservatives as possible. Real food.

Inclusion of these items is corporate welfare, plain and simple.

The impact of poverty is deep and real and extremely difficult to overcome. Many give up not because of subsidies but because the pathway out of poverty is often just a slightly less undignified version of the same poverty but with a whole lot more effort and disappointment. There was a time when minimum wage could feed a family. Not anymore. We must pay workers more and most will gladly leave poverty.

We can't take the money and opportunity out of the city and then ridicule the people there for not making anything of themselves.

There are definitely people taking advantage of the system. But this is a minority. Probably the same percentage as white collar opportunists who cheat on their taxes or lie to their clients.

I went to some of the best schools and taught in some of the worst. From my experience, a small minority of people can excel in any environment from a combination of intelligence, internal fortitude, and some old fashioned luck. But most people will simply not rise above their surroundings. And yet, just about everyone who is successful thinks they are where they are because they are special and deserve it. (See Clarence Thomas, any collegiate legacy, or anyone named Bush or Kennedy.)

With the overwhelming fraud with the welfare program, with all the fat, poor kids and the mailing of food to Jamaica and Haiti, I think it might be time to end the program entirely.

I'm emailing President Trayvon about that, tomorrow.

Questions:

1. What is the % of fraud in the EBT program? Is there some reliable study that gives a number?

2. Who decides what can be purchased with EBT? I'm assuming its the federal gov't, but don't know that for sure.

3. How much EBT money is available for a family of four in Mississippi per month? What income level does that family have to have in order to qualify for EBT? Is it required that there be children in the household?

Isn't EBT really just another form of corporate welfare disguised as social do-goodism? It certainly provides a benefit to people who receive it (which pleases the liberals), but the money all winds up in the hands of a corporation somewhere in the food chain (which pleases the chamber of commerce crowd). Maybe that it why it is so hard to reform, both sides of the fence are getting a political benefit from it.

Smell's like the usual Federal "reparations".

The young lil' welfare angels could care less about da gub'nt toy guns.

Hell, they have access to the real thing. LBJ was right. The 1965 "great society program" has exceeded all
expectations of soothing liberal White guilt.

Well said 11:20 !

What's next ? Sally Struthers walking down West Capitol Street with some free rice !

This is where we are. Our local grocery store can advertise to EBT club card-holder members to buy one pack of skittles plus a watermelon tea and get a coupon for free cough syrup.....while McDonald's faces lawsuits from the left for proffiting by using a "Free Toy" to help sell a happy meal. I just can't wrap my head around it.

What's a toy here and there or something to brighten a child's day and a chance for his momma to feel good about finally saying 'yes' to him?

It's not as if the child will grow up expecting others to provide for his family. It's not like he's gonna transition into a life of dependency or on the government dole or something like all his uncles and auntees. Jeeze peepul, like, ease up. It's only a toy.

Some of you act like kids whose momma never worked think Santa Claus lives down at the bank where they have that angel tree thing.

Do you know how tough it is for a mom to save up enough to buy three toys for Christmas at, say, three bucks apiece? That's nine dollars over ten months or so. Saving money isn't easy, especially with phone and cable bills to pay. Ease up. Like, Sheesh and WOW!

Kingfish @ July 24, 2013 at 10:55 PM

[APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE]

And yet, if a young, naive child from an EBT family happened to take that play weapon to many schools in America, just to show his buddies his new toy, that child would be suspended or expelled and the Donkeycrats would fully support the decision and zero tolerance policy.

Will the Super X Cap Gun be available at Whole Foods?

McDades should be ashamed for marketing these toys like this. They're encouraging it.

@ 11:11pm

You can use all the logic and reason you want, but people here will just ignore it. Most posters are just looking for an excuse to vent their racist thoughts. So thoughtful analysis be damned! Too much for them stubborn brains to contemplate.

So much of what Griswald just made me laugh.

(1) "It's not as if the child will grow up expecting others to provide for his family."

There are too many families out there teaching their kids how to use the system to their advantage already. So yes, this will increase the chances that this child will grow up and expect others to provide for their family.

(2)"Do you know how tough it is for a mom to save up enough to buy three toys for Christmas at, say, three bucks apiece? That's nine dollars over ten months or so. Saving money isn't easy, especially with phone and cable bills to pay."

If someone can't save $10 in a year, it might be time to get rid of the phone and cable bills.

You can use all the logic and reason you want, but people here will just ignore it. Most posters are just looking for an excuse to vent their racist thoughts. So thoughtful analysis be damned!

And yet YOU are still here reading AND commenting. ROFLMAO How is that Skippy for logic and reason!

Birds, please welcome one of our feathers.

Me thinks Griswold was dabbling in sarcasm.

Can you purchase SKITTLES with an EBT CARD?

You can argue all you want about specifics, but yes, the Govt EBT programs basically subsidize products loaded with sugar. So my tax dollars ensure sugar makes it into the little veins of children early and often. Then once they develop diabetes, gout, etc... my tax dollars will be there to provide more medical attention than a healthy individual would incur. Most didn't make it to college because they could hardly stay awake in high school due to their diet's effect on their sleep patterns. Couple that with the gout/diabetes and their employment options dwindle. My tax dollars will be there for that issue too.

It seems fairly simple- no EBT for Junk Food. It is a logical start to getting off the failure treadmill.

Interesting you don't hear Michelle talking about taking the unhealthy foods off the list of things you can buy with an EBT card. Wonder why?

I can't wait until EBT buys spring break trips. DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO TELL YOUR TEENAGER SHE CANNOT GO ON SPRING BREAK?!?!

The fraud in welfare is pennies compared to the corporate welfare and corporate fraud.

Just be like KF and object when it's catering to corporate interests or farm subsidies.

They should have a similar taxpayer-paid sticker on the Nissan plant.

Yeah capitalism is what ruined the country from the get go. Plus people that showed up for work, didn't cheat the system, didn't drop kids like cordwood, had 2 parents. They are the a holes that ruined it for the rest of us.

The fact that people spend food money on things other than food pretty much proves that they are receiving too much.

This is common sense.