there was a great discussion going on in another thread..
maybe we can pick it up where it was...

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agreed. and thanks Phud for the open forum discussion on this topic. Heck I bet this thing will flow in many a direction that isn't in the title.

I do think the Food stamp program took a giant leap forward when it eliminated the actual stamps and started using the card. Now, there is still room for cheating when you have dishonest shopkeepers and cashiers. though on both accounts its fairly easy to see, report, and even easier to get the cashier canned. Shop owners are investigated and shutdown. Its part of a process. People think they can cheat the system because its so big. They don't realize that the folks that run it are pretty sharp and eventually will catch the bad eggs.

This is I can relate to the teenagers ideal that they thought of a creative way to get over on homework, chores, getting beer etc that nobody ever though of it before. They really need to get into Mark Twain. I believe it was Corn Pone Opinions. He proudly proclaims that there really aren't any new ideas only ideas that have been rehashed. in other words, there's nothing new under the sun. I hate to say it but once again we'd be so much wiser if we just read a bit out of a book. instead of trying to get over using and ideal that is old try doing the work.

I think people would benefit from knowing that the amount of energy they put into getting over on things is greater than just actually doing the work. So people just do the work and stop it

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

while on the road yesterday i was listening to the radio...
i hadn't remembered that i had the remastered "abbey road" with me


anyhow...

i was listening to how some people thought Obama had shaken down BP
for the 20 billion fund...

and how the financial industry was being treated with kid gloves...

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the 20 billion is just for starters. They havent even included the total cleanup cost or any penalties the US gov't or other may incur upon BP. Remember that the US isnt the only country with coastline on the Gulf of Mexico. CUba is most likely going to have soiled beaches soon as well

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

20 Billion?????

LOL...that might cover the lawyer's shares.

Try a 't'.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

the 20 billion is just for starters. They havent even included the total cleanup cost or any penalties the US gov't or other may incur upon BP. Remember that the US isnt the only country with coastline on the Gulf of Mexico. CUba is most likely going to have soiled beaches soon as well

That may be all that can be squeezed out of them. They only had 8 billion in cash. And 20 Billion is about 20% of the value of the company. Want more and you will have to auction off pipe wrenches. And if you go down that road, there is no company to try and shut off the leak!

As to Cuba, I don't think Castro has access to the courts to sue.

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They might consider selling some portion of their holding off. It's amazing how much debt a mega corporation creates when it eats another Mega corporation.
AntiTrust against Standard Oil which broke the company up into 34 separate entities.
You may not remember but exxon(formerly Amaco,standard oil,Marathon, Mobil, and others) A majority of which were rebought by what was Exxon and again was bought by BP. The US courts were usurped by Exxon and they again monopolize hte industry.

It seems a shame that they indeed need a good breakup once again.

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In a rich man's house there is no place to spit but his face.
Diogenes Of Sinope

Welfare cards can be used in casinos to get cash!
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-welfare-casinos-20100624,0,6190326.story
Reporting from Sacramento —
California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found.

The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found.

State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards.

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Welfare cards can be used in casinos to get cash!
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-welfare-casinos-20100624,0,6190326.story
Reporting from Sacramento —
California welfare recipients are able to use state-issued debit cards to withdraw cash on gaming floors in more than half of the casinos in the state, a Los Angeles Times review of records found.

The cards, provided by the Department of Social Services to help recipients feed and clothe their families, work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms, the review found.

State officials said Wednesday they were working to determine how much money had been withdrawn from casino ATMs by people using the welfare debit cards.

Bet they don't kid the frauders off welfare though...

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Official Abuser of Boinc Buttons...
And no good credit hound!

Welfare cards can be used in strip clubs to get cash!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/06/welfare-cash-dispensed-at-strip-clubs.html
Thousands in welfare cash tapped at California strip clubs
June 30, 2010 | 2:13 pm
California welfare recipients have been able to get taxpayer cash -- meant to feed and clothe needy families -- from ATM machines at strip clubs across the state, including some well-known gentlemen’s cabarets in Los Angeles.

More than $12,000 from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program was dispensed from the start of 2007 to the end of 2009 at clubs including Sam’s Hofbrau, Seventh Veil and Star Strip, according to officials at the Department of Social Services.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has ordered the department to remove the clubs from the official list of businesses where welfare recipients can withdraw benefits using state-issued ATM cards.

The move came a day after The Times asked the administration how much welfare cash had been withdrawn at 17 adult clubs in recent years and less than a week after The Times reported that more than half the casinos and state-licensed poker rooms in California appeared on an official website showing welfare recipients where they can access cash benefits.

Following that report, Schwarzenegger ordered the casinos struck from the state’s ATM network and directed the Department of Social Services to produce a plan to reduce “waste, fraud and abuse” in the welfare program.

“We'll take a wide-ranging look and apply some common sense to the list of outlets where cash assistance should not be withdrawn,” Department of Social Services spokeswoman Lizelda Lopez wrote in an e-mail to The Times on Tuesday evening, announcing that her department had “taken steps to deactivate ATMs in adult entertainment clubs.”

Strip-club managers seemed shocked that welfare benefits were accessible through their ATMs. In most cases, the machines were provided by a third party, the managers said, and they had no way of knowing their ATMs are part of the state system.

The state contracts with the Quest ATM network.

“If there’s a way that the ATM can reject their card if they’re on welfare, I’m really and truly all for that,” said Merle Matias, manager at Sam’s Hofbrau in downtown Los Angeles, where $2,159 had been withdrawn, according to Department of Social Services officials. “I don’t think it will affect us at all.”

Star Strip manager Joey Mancini said state officials must be wrong about the $1,265 they said had been withdrawn from his club’s ATM. The Quest symbol isn’t on the machine, he said, adding that he thought any system that allowed access to welfare benefits at a strip club should be reformed: “This is not what that money is for.”

A manager at Seventh Veil declined to comment.

-- Jack Dolan in Sacramento

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