A Homeless Shelter For Families
Last week I was sent a link to a group on Facebook, Requiring drug tests for all on welfare. I joined in order to read some of the posts and see just what was the reasons for such a page. I noticed that 98 percent of the posters were more concerned over the cost of welfare.
I commented back that most likely the cost for drug testing, the cost of foster care should the parent flunk the test, and the cost of rehabilitating the parent would be far more costly than the current situation. I responded to simply prove that when social problems are faced in a economical manner rather than a humanitarian manner we as a society go down a slippery slope to nowhere. In Victorian England, there were poor houses, prisons for the poor, should we go in this direction?
The majority of the posts on the said web page, were slanderous, and generalized all those on welfare as lazy, low life, and less than human. They were condescending, and many comments seemed to be written by illiterates, using fowl language, and cliche'.
One writer used a quote of Thomas Jefferson regarding welfare:
"To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States,
that is to say, 'to lay taxes for the purpose of providing for the
general welfare.' For the laying of taxes is the power, and the general
welfare the purpose for which the power is to be exercised. They are not
to lay taxes ad libitum for any purpose they please; but only to pay the
debts or provide for the welfare of the Union."
I responded to his quote; That I do not look at some of our forefathers in an idolizing manner. That Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, cheated on his wife, and impregnated a slave who bore his child.
He wrote me the following letter:
I have kept his name anonymous to protect his true identity.
Dear Jardinami,
Slavery was a horrible chapter in our history and unfortunately the African tribes still enslave one another. I see you have joined the Adventist Book Center so I am assuming you are a Christian. I don't agree with impregnating a slave. Being that this man has been deceased for 200 years I am going to forgive him of his sexual indiscretions and celebrate his knowledge of what makes a country great, I choose not to judge him, as the New Testament states "you see the speck in your brother's eye, but you do not see the log in your own eye. When you take the log out of your brothers eye, then you will see clearly enough to take the speck out of your own eye"
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
I am quite aware of the biblical verse you state, and in fact I wrote a blog on it just last week.
It is for this very reason that I am disturbed by the ignorant, uninformed comments on that fan page about drug testing for those on welfare.
I worked at the Warren County Welfare Board from 1991-1999 during the Clinton Administration where I saw welfare reforms that were instituted by the very same Democrats that are constantly accused of creating bigger government.
I know that programs were put in place requiring all welfare recipients to first sign warrants for child support from the absent parent to pay support which went to the Welfare Agency as long as the support amount was lower than the amount of the cash grant.
If they got pregnant while on welfare, the new baby was not included in the grant, the grant did not go up, and that child's child support still went to the agency to offset medicaid and food stamps.
All clients immediately signed up for the workforce development program, were scheduled for interviews, and were even taught how to interview. If they turned the job down they were dropped from welfare.
If they quit a job they could not get any help not even food stamps. If they got caught cheating on welfare or food stamps they were arrested and fined, and if it happened on a third strike they were banned for life.
All immigrants who were not citizens and did not work in this country for the ten previous years to 1996, were dropped from all roles, including food stamps. The only non-citizen who could get help, and only medicaid, was one who was pregnant, and the unborn child was the sole reason, and then after birth for a few months. The medicaid program also covered non-citizen children up to the age of five.
I have seen many e-mail, and posts that state all kinds of misinformation, and they create hatred and discrimination.
I have seen self righteous, self proclaimed Christians accuse President Obama, and all Democrats of being baby killers. I have never killed a baby, nor do I approve of abortion. What many uninformed individuals do not know is that Roe vs Wade was passed by a Republican judge who was first appointed by Eisenhower, and then Roe vs Wade was passed during the Nixon administration. President Obama is upholding a law passed by a Republican. I pray continuously for all the politicians since Roe v Wade to over turn it, but more importantly I pray for all the immoral people of this society to turn to God and change their ways.
As for the cost of any social service program to improve the quality of human life whether it be welfare, food stamps, homeless prevention, health care reform, etc...I prefer to have our tax payer money go for that than to drop trillions of "shock and awe" dollars into the pockets of Halliburton in Iraq and Afghanistan or any other Bedouin-Mideast country that has been warring each other for thousands of years, and in the process killing innocent children, and displacing thousands, not to mention the cost of human lives in our courageously loyal troops.
As a member of the SDA church you should have read the predictions of Ellen G. White. If you do believe in her as a valid prophet of the Lord, and her teachings then you must realize that the end seems to be near.
I left the SDA church in 1970 when I felt as though the members of my particular church were trying to alienate me from my own family. I had a very loving Christian Lutheran mother who willingly allowed me to attend a SDA church after taking several bible classes run by the church. She always encouraged all of her five children to live for the Lord. She was the most forgiving, loving, and selfless person that I had ever known in my life.
I now live next to a SDA family. Jay runs the SDA bookstore at the Blue Mountain Academy. When I moved here I felt a kinship to this lovely family next door. We have grown close, and I have attended one service with them at Christmas time year before last. It was very nice.
I am now a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, our family has been members of the Lutheran Church since our ancestors lived in Germany. I still however have many doubts about all organized religion, but none about God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is my personal savior and friend. He has shown us all how to live, and I do pray to follow in his foot steps. I want to be more like Him.
And thus, I know he forgave Thomas Jefferson, but that doesn't change the fact that his behavior was such as to have created a child that could have been aborted or placed on the welfare roles had he lived in this day and age. If one is to state concepts for which all should live by, they should live a life in example as did our Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps a quote by him would have been more appropriate;
"Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." Luke 12:33
Let us show our Father in Heaven, that we are Good, Responsible, Loving Stewards of HIS Creations. Let us help one another.
Yours in Christ, Diane Dunwell-Hoffman
I did not wish to get political on my blog, but I do wish to work at improving the human condition, and I hope this post does just that.
Last week I was sent a link to a group on Facebook, Requiring drug tests for all on welfare. I joined in order to read some of the posts and see just what was the reasons for such a page. I noticed that 98 percent of the posters were more concerned over the cost of welfare. I commented back that most likely the cost for drug testing, the cost of foster care should the parent flunk the test, and the cost of rehabilitating the parent would be far more costly than the current situation. I responded to simply prove that when social problems are faced in a economical manner rather than a humanitarian manner we as a society go down a slippery slope to nowhere. In Victorian England, there were poor houses, prisons for the poor, should we go in this direction?
The majority of the posts on the said web page, were slanderous, and generalized all those on welfare as lazy, low life, and less than human. They were condescending, and many comments seemed to be written by illiterates, using fowl language, and cliche'.
One writer used a quote of Thomas Jefferson regarding welfare:
"To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United States,
that is to say, 'to lay taxes for the purpose of providing for the
general welfare.' For the laying of taxes is the power, and the general
welfare the purpose for which the power is to be exercised. They are not
to lay taxes ad libitum for any purpose they please; but only to pay the
debts or provide for the welfare of the Union."
I responded to his quote; That I do not look at some of our forefathers in an idolizing manner. That Thomas Jefferson owned slaves, cheated on his wife, and impregnated a slave who bore his child.
He wrote me the following letter:
I have kept his name anonymous to protect his true identity.
Dear Jardinami,
Slavery was a horrible chapter in our history and unfortunately the African tribes still enslave one another. I see you have joined the Adventist Book Center so I am assuming you are a Christian. I don't agree with impregnating a slave. Being that this man has been deceased for 200 years I am going to forgive him of his sexual indiscretions and celebrate his knowledge of what makes a country great, I choose not to judge him, as the New Testament states "you see the speck in your brother's eye, but you do not see the log in your own eye. When you take the log out of your brothers eye, then you will see clearly enough to take the speck out of your own eye"
Anonymous
Dear Anonymous,
I am quite aware of the biblical verse you state, and in fact I wrote a blog on it just last week.
It is for this very reason that I am disturbed by the ignorant, uninformed comments on that fan page about drug testing for those on welfare.
I worked at the Warren County Welfare Board from 1991-1999 during the Clinton Administration where I saw welfare reforms that were instituted by the very same Democrats that are constantly accused of creating bigger government.
I know that programs were put in place requiring all welfare recipients to first sign warrants for child support from the absent parent to pay support which went to the Welfare Agency as long as the support amount was lower than the amount of the cash grant.
If they got pregnant while on welfare, the new baby was not included in the grant, the grant did not go up, and that child's child support still went to the agency to offset medicaid and food stamps.
All clients immediately signed up for the workforce development program, were scheduled for interviews, and were even taught how to interview. If they turned the job down they were dropped from welfare.
If they quit a job they could not get any help not even food stamps. If they got caught cheating on welfare or food stamps they were arrested and fined, and if it happened on a third strike they were banned for life.
All immigrants who were not citizens and did not work in this country for the ten previous years to 1996, were dropped from all roles, including food stamps. The only non-citizen who could get help, and only medicaid, was one who was pregnant, and the unborn child was the sole reason, and then after birth for a few months. The medicaid program also covered non-citizen children up to the age of five.
I have seen many e-mail, and posts that state all kinds of misinformation, and they create hatred and discrimination.
I have seen self righteous, self proclaimed Christians accuse President Obama, and all Democrats of being baby killers. I have never killed a baby, nor do I approve of abortion. What many uninformed individuals do not know is that Roe vs Wade was passed by a Republican judge who was first appointed by Eisenhower, and then Roe vs Wade was passed during the Nixon administration. President Obama is upholding a law passed by a Republican. I pray continuously for all the politicians since Roe v Wade to over turn it, but more importantly I pray for all the immoral people of this society to turn to God and change their ways.
As for the cost of any social service program to improve the quality of human life whether it be welfare, food stamps, homeless prevention, health care reform, etc...I prefer to have our tax payer money go for that than to drop trillions of "shock and awe" dollars into the pockets of Halliburton in Iraq and Afghanistan or any other Bedouin-Mideast country that has been warring each other for thousands of years, and in the process killing innocent children, and displacing thousands, not to mention the cost of human lives in our courageously loyal troops.
As a member of the SDA church you should have read the predictions of Ellen G. White. If you do believe in her as a valid prophet of the Lord, and her teachings then you must realize that the end seems to be near.
I left the SDA church in 1970 when I felt as though the members of my particular church were trying to alienate me from my own family. I had a very loving Christian Lutheran mother who willingly allowed me to attend a SDA church after taking several bible classes run by the church. She always encouraged all of her five children to live for the Lord. She was the most forgiving, loving, and selfless person that I had ever known in my life.
I now live next to a SDA family. Jay runs the SDA bookstore at the Blue Mountain Academy. When I moved here I felt a kinship to this lovely family next door. We have grown close, and I have attended one service with them at Christmas time year before last. It was very nice.
I am now a member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, our family has been members of the Lutheran Church since our ancestors lived in Germany. I still however have many doubts about all organized religion, but none about God, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus is my personal savior and friend. He has shown us all how to live, and I do pray to follow in his foot steps. I want to be more like Him.
And thus, I know he forgave Thomas Jefferson, but that doesn't change the fact that his behavior was such as to have created a child that could have been aborted or placed on the welfare roles had he lived in this day and age. If one is to state concepts for which all should live by, they should live a life in example as did our Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps a quote by him would have been more appropriate;
"Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will not be exhausted, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys." Luke 12:33
Let us show our Father in Heaven, that we are Good, Responsible, Loving Stewards of HIS Creations. Let us help one another.
Yours in Christ, Diane Dunwell-Hoffman
I did not wish to get political on my blog, but I do wish to work at improving the human condition, and I hope this post does just that.
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