MaxRedline

Forget "Assisted Living"

If you make it to such an age, there's only one word to bear in mind: prison. Well, make that two words: federal prison. If you're old and lack assets or family, check fraud or counterfeiting may be your ticket to a better quality of life in a federal minimum-security prison than you'd receive in many assisted-care homes. Plus, it's essentially free. You get meals, health and dental care, access to exercise facilities, tv, libraries, and more. Don't do anything that'd get you sent to a state prison, however - assault rates there are more than double those in federal pens.

Bad Choices

So hey, how's that PhD. in medieval history working out for ya?

Today's college graduates have, for the most part, spent tens of thousands of borrowed dollars to further enhance their already inflated sense of self-esteem. They took easy classes, earning worthless degrees, and are now upset that not only can they not find a job, but increasing numbers are on welfare.

Ms. Bruninga-Matteau, a 43-year-old single mother who teaches two humanities courses at Yavapai College, in Prescott, Ariz., says "I find it horrifying that someone who stands in front of college classes and teaches is on welfare."

Maybe you could have made better choices. When I started college, I had this nebulous idea of going into anthropology, which for me was a fascinating subject. Still is. Yet, after about a year and a half, it dawned on me that everybody I knew with a degree in anthro was waiting tables. You don't need a degree to do that, so I switched out. If I could figure that out, why couldn't you?

Although I worked during the summer in manufacturing, it seemed pretty clear that those jobs were going away, and we were entering what pundits referred to as "the knowledge industry".

In our "knowledge-based" economy, knowledge counts. Yet here you are, probably the least knowledgeable graduating class in history.

Me, I moved into a mix of hard and malleable sciences: biology, a bit of operant conditioning, a bit of computer stuff. Psychology (behavior modification, operant conditioning) were easy classes, which I finished in half a term. That gave me time to work on the hard stuff: biology, chemistry, transistor-to-transistor logic, programming. I even got a break because I tutored chemistry and programming, once I got the hang of things.

In short, I acquired something you don't have: useful knowledge. And I applied that in the real world. I didn't send out resumes, hoping to snag an academic position so that I could teach others - unlike you, I had a sense of humility. Instead, I applied for - and received - small grants to do interesting real-world work. That led to actual jobs, which paid reasonably well.

In the grant days, money was tight. I invested most of the funds into tolls and materials, ate a lot of noodles and rice. Never went on welfare or food stamps. I thought hard, worked hard - and it was noticed.

If I could do it - why can't you? Don't give me excuses about the economy - I was doing it in the Jimmy Carter days; I know about crappy economies. No - you can't do it because you have an inflated sense of entitlement.

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• Opinion: Do you need BA, MA, PhD ... (cnn.com)

Lifelines

The FCC started the so-called "Lifeline" program to provide phones to the poverty-stricken. Originally limited to land-lines, they expanded it to include smart-phones with calling plans a few years ago, with predictable results.  You may have an Android or an iPhone. You may pay $60, $80, or more per month for service. Your government is paying $1 billion per year to give the phones to the "less fortunate". It's your fault for being so "fortunate".

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• How to Qualify for Assurance Wireless Free Cell Phone Program (informationassurence.wordpress.com)
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End Of Line.

The good times are drawing to a close for the "green energy" disciples. Subsidies are drying up. Spain, once the most prolific supporter of "green tech" teeters on bankruptcy, and have killed most subsidies as a result. Here in the USA, where wind and solar and light rail and all that got $110 billion between 2009 and 2011, they're looking at maybe $40 billion between 2012 and 2014 - hardly enough for a decent CEO bonus.

This is really bad news for the Metro/Tri-Met/City of Portland light-rail mafia, as the gravy for their trains is winding down. They may actually have to come up with ways to pay for their "plans" themselves - which, in view of the fact that they're broke, may force them to put a halt to their collective insanity.

They may even have to start charging people to ride their little two-car trains.

If that happens, then ridership - never significant anyway - is certain to decline. The loony $1.5 billion, seven mile "line" between Portland and Milwaukie could well be their last. As for the $150 million that's been spent so far on "planning" a new Columbia River bridge with loot rail? That could well be dead in the water as well - especially since they now have to defend themselves in court.

Related articles

• German Solar Subsidy Cut Not Good For Yingli, Solar Industry (forbes.com)
• Germany's green energy sector: can it grow without subsidies? (csmonitor.com)

Canada Has Occutards, Too

MONTREAL - Montreal is waking up to a morning of smashed windows, vandalized cars and questions about how a protest degenerated into yet another violent clash between police and demonstrators.

Anger over a short-lived effort to put an end to the tuition crisis through negotiations bubbled over Wednesday night when a hastily-organized demonstration turned ugly and police used batons, pepper spray and percussion bombs to disperse the crowd.

After two hours of peaceful protest, police declared the march illegal and the situation unravelled quickly.

Ah, yes - "students" who want everything given to them, or else they burn cars and smash windows. Here's an idea: why not give them no school? Just close all public universities for a year or so. Tax dollars would be saved, and the kiddies can go try to find a real-world job - because they don't get welfare or health-care either.

See how they feel after a year or so, and if they still want to throw tantrums, repeat.

Related articles

• Photos: Tuition protest turn violent in Montreal (vancouversun.com)
• 85 arrested as Canadian students protest tuition (heraldonline.com)
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Candy Is Dandy, And Welfare's Handy

When Kimball Clark, 45, was dumped into the pokey for dealing heroin, he was back on the streets in almost no time. A cop overheard him telling somebody during the course of his one phone call to “get my EBT card and go to the ATM and get the money to bail me out, get me outa here tonight,” according to an official report on the incident.

In Massachusetts, the welfare card, known as an EBT so as not to stigmatize the unfortunate recipient, can be used not only to purchase necessities, but also booze, smokes, lottery, and can even be used on cruise ships. And as this case makes clear, they can also be used to extract bail money from an ATM.

It's almost enough to outrage even a Democrat.

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• Panel Targets Misuse Of Massachusetts Welfare Benefit Cards (boston.cbslocal.com)

Lucky Dawg

24-year-old Amanda Clayton of Lincoln Park, Michigan, won the lottery - to the tune of $1 million. She took a lump-sum, and after taxes, ended up with just over half a million dollars, which she used to buy a new house and a new car - in cash. She's still collecting $200 in food stamps; claiming that she's "still struggling". 

When confronted about continuing to claim welfare Clayton said she wasn't doing anything wrong.

'I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn't, I thought maybe it was okay because I'm not working,' she told WDIV in Detroit. 

Clayton said she will keep using her Bridge card until the state cuts her off and said she deserves it.

'It's just hard, you know. I'm struggling,' she said.

Doubtless, she'd also like you to pay for her birth control. Fine. But only if the method is sterilization.

 

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Updates On The Latest Tri-Met Violence

Rakeshia and Markishia (and their respective "mothers") have been arrested by Portland police. Why were the "mothers" arrested? One on charges of hindering prosecution, and the other for allegedly holding a victim by the hair while the daughter punched her. Mug-shots are included in the link. Hey, dey was jest plannin' ta chill at da welfare office, but some damn honky biatch done looked at 'em funny.

Rumor has it that all four may be released on personal recognisance after having their tubes tied. Just kidding - Oregon needs animals like this to care for, otherwise, state employees might have to seek gainful employment.

The beating by 3 black females of a 14-year-old white girl on a Tri-Met light rail train (which, of course, is not a "hate crime" - even though they were taped yelling "white girl" - "hate crime" only occurs if the perpetrator(s) are white) has even caught the attention of The Zero. And that's no easy task.

Ya gotta love the sneering Tina Duckett - that momma knows she ain't gettin' mo' dan a slap on da wrist. "Sheeit, foo! I be runnin' my Oregon Trail card dis time tamarra!"

But Tri-Met's suddenly taking all of this vewy, vewy sewiously: they're "stepping up" their non-existent "security", with an emphasis on their shiny Crime Trains - though they've maintained all along that the trains are safe and don't attract trouble. Their claims, however, are refuted by actual facts: a map of crime along light rail lines was published five years ago; apparently, people are afraid to update it with more recent figures. Still, it's illuminating.

MAX’s original Blue Line that runs east-west through the region has been plagued by crime for years. In 2007, Gresham’s Mayor Shane Bemis got so fed up, he assigned the city’s police officers to patrol trains within city limits. TriMet created a new East Precinct a short time later, assigning 14 TriMet police officers to the stations between Gateway and Cleveland Station.

Since then, TriMet has created a new Green Line, connecting Gateway to Clackamas Town Center to the south. It opened in September 2009.

Baseball bat assault

But even before the Green Line’s first trains headed south, the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office expressed concern that the MAX line would bring more crime to the area. After all, reported crimes throughout Gresham nearly doubled within three years of the original light rail line opening in 1986.

When an off-duty sheriff’s deputy was attacked on the new Green Line in 2010, the sheriff’s office saw the incident as part of a disturbing crime surge centered on Clackamas Town Center.

In 2007, a teen armed with a baseball bat nearly beat to death an elderly Sandy man at a Gresham MAX station.

It's worth noting that, although voters approved construction of the Blue line to Gresham, once they saw what they got, they voted down proposals for a west-bound line and a northbound line. Metro, Tri-Met, and other agencies found ways to build them anyway.

Since that time, citizens have been systematically denied the right to vote on spending billions of tax dollars on light rail expansion in the Portland metropolitan area. The green line, where the latest attack occurred, was not subject to voter approval. The Portland-Milwaukie line, now under construction, was never subject to voter approval (although the Clackistani Rebellion forces may well change that). In fact, Clackamas county commissioners voted 3-1 specifically to deny voter approval of their decision to commit $25 million in county taxpayer funds to build the PMLR line.

That's a decision they likely regret today.

 

 

The Devil Went Down To Georgia

There's some guy masquerading as a Democrat state legislator in Georgia, and he's raising eyebrows.

Scott Holcomb, aware that both legislative houses are considering bills that would require applicants for public assistance to submit to drug testing, has filed a bill of his own that would require state legislators to submit to the same tests. It's hard to argue against the idea: legislators, like those on welfare, food stamps, and other "support" programs, are paid through taxpayer funds - and in point of fact, the case could be made that legislators cause more harm to the general public than do those on public assistance.

And the idea's catching on.

Random drug testing should be a requirement for all government employees: every bureaucrat, every legislator, and at every level.

It makes so much sense that Holcomb's Democrat credentials seem questionable, at best. On the other hand, as the adage goes: even a blind hog, in a forest of oaks, will uproot the occasional acorn.

Related articles

• Welfare Recipients, Members of Congress All Ought To "Pee In A Cup" (neosecularist.com)
• Perry Joins Gingrich In Desire To Drug-Test Federal Aid Recipients: 'I Don't Have A Problem In The World With That' (thinkprogress.org)
• Tom Humphrey: Agreement near on drug testing of legislators? (knoxnews.com)