Michael Kindt's Blog, page 490

Dear Michael,I would like to start out by saying how much I like your posts about America's politics and people.Now, however, I can't help wanting to dismember, disembowel, and thereupon defile the bloody abdominal cavities of a goo

Team up with me and we'll do it together :)

Dear Michael,I would like to start out by saying how much I like your posts about America's politics and people.Now, however, I can't help wanting to dismember, disembowel, and thereupon defile the bloody abdominal cavities of a goo

Team up with me and we'll do it together :)

Dear Michael,I would like to start out by saying how much I like your posts about America's politics and people.Now, however, I can't help wanting to dismember, disembowel, and thereupon defile the bloody abdominal cavities of a goo

Team up with me and we'll do it together :)

Dear Michael,I would like to start out by saying how much I like your posts about America's politics and people.Now, however, I can't help wanting to dismember, disembowel, and thereupon defile the bloody abdominal cavities of a goo

Team up with me and we'll do it together :)

Dear Michael,I would like to start out by saying how much I like your posts about America's politics and people.Now, however, I can't help wanting to dismember, disembowel, and thereupon defile the bloody abdominal cavities of a goo

Team up with me and we'll do it together :)

Dear Michael,I would like to start out by saying how much I like your posts about America's politics and people.Now, however, I can't help wanting to dismember, disembowel, and thereupon defile the bloody abdominal cavities of a goo

Team up with me and we'll do it together :)

Hey, I've been following you for a while now and I've gotten around to telling you just how much I appreciate your blog. Even though we both post entirely different things, I love your blog even more for it.It's one blog you can actually si

I won't unfollow you. The fact that you follow ME makes you automatically interesting. And thanks :)

Hey, I've been following you for a while now and I've gotten around to telling you just how much I appreciate your blog. Even though we both post entirely different things, I love your blog even more for it.It's one blog you can actually si

I won't unfollow you. The fact that you follow ME makes you automatically interesting. And thanks :)

Hey, I've been following you for a while now and I've gotten around to telling you just how much I appreciate your blog. Even though we both post entirely different things, I love your blog even more for it.It's one blog you can actually si

I won't unfollow you. The fact that you follow ME makes you automatically interesting. And thanks :)

Mommy smokes pot, so no food for baby? Not exactly.

In June, Florida, America's flaccid penis, geographically speaking, passed a law requiring all applicants for the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to pass a drug test. Last month, that law went into effect. Florida governor Rick Scott says it's "unfair for taxpayers to subsidize drug addiction," you see.

Florida is not alone. A couple of weeks ago, the go-ahead was given in Missouri for the same thing.

The stupid thing about these laws, apart from from being unconstitutional, is that they will do absolutely nothing. In Missouri, for example, the program will cost 2.3 million dollars a year to administer, but will save exactly no money. Not even a penny.

Both measures and the thinking behind them are Republican in nature, of course, and we all know that the basic philosophy of the Republican party is "I got mine. Screw you." Punishing little children for the transgressions of their parents, however, is a little too draconian, even for Republicans.

Both laws have failsafes built in for the kids. If mommy applies for TANF, pees hot for drugs, she will get TANF anyway. In Florida, she can designate someone else to receive the benefits in her name—her boyfriend, perhaps, or maybe her dealer. In Missouri, the state will designate someone for her, but at high cost. Missouri, I would imagine, will have to hire a bunch of poor people chaperones.

To apply for TANF, you see, you need more than just a cup of fresh, drug-free urine. You need children. The laws will do nothing to save tax dollars since people with children will still get benefits and you can't get benefits without children. The laws will, however, do much to waste even more tax dollars.

Basically what has happened is that the Missouri and Florida governments each added a new layer of bureaucracy to make their Republican constituents feel better, even though Republicans like to pretend they are for smaller government.

How stupid is that?

Of course, both laws are unconstitutional and violate the provision against unreasonable search. A similar law was already struck down in Michigan in 2003. Both the Missouri and Florida measures will head to court as well, where millions more in tax dollars will need to be spent in losing the battle.

A recent poll by Rasmussen shows that 53% of Americans support automatic drug testing for welfare applicants, even though automatic drug testing for welfare applicants is unconstitutional, does nothing, is extremely wasteful, and violates the rights and dignity of those who don't have a lot of money. Nevertheless, most of us think it's a dandy idea.

Clearly, our nation has the finest educational system in the world.

But the stupidest thing about all of this, the very stupidest thing, is that a conservative philosophy point has, in one fell swoop, flushed hundreds of millions of dollars down the toilet, generated even more bureaucracy, and attacked the privacy and freedom of the poor.

And for nothing. For absolutely nothing.

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