My thanks to The Wichita Eagle for funnies and news

From The Idiot Factor:

Each week I check to see if The Wichita Eagle has any interesting topics I can write about for the week. This last weekend was a bonanza of ideas. For example there was an article by our idiot governor, Sam Brownback. The title was "Commonsense welfare reform is working." Of course I immediately knew our governor was writing some fiction for us. He may think some of us are stupid enough to really believe he is getting people off of welfare and into work, but some of us actually know of the people involved. We know that all he has ever done is throw people off of public assistance, or make it harder for them to get it at all. Then he has people play with statistical figures so he can tell bold face lies with a clear conscience. Luckily The Wichita Eagle had another opinion piece by Barbara Shelly, "Poor being 'freed from welfare'?" The article shined some light on Brownback's lies. If Brownback was trying to save or help a species of fish, he would throw them on land and after they all died he would pro-claim they are now liberated from the control of water. He is one of the, and possibly, the worst governor Kansas has ever had. His latest approval rating has actually gone up from 18%. We do have to consider that there are people in this state with mental illness and they are legally allowed to vote.

The next thing I got from The Wichita Eagle, last Sunday was this:

"But a GOP political memorandum from Kansas Senate Majority Leader Terry Bruce, R-Hutchinson, suggested less noble motivations. The memorandum said polling showed that voters were pleased with previous welfare restrictions, and that additional reforms could translate “into electoral success.” In an interview with the Topeka Capital-Journal, Bruce speculated that support for restrictions stemmed from Kansans feeling “anguish and uncertainty” about the new economy and wanting “to find something to alleviate it.” Welfare reform, Bruce said, “was a vehicle to take out some frustration.” – Phillip Brownlee

 For some time I have wondered what the Kansas Legislators had as a motive for their mean spirited attacks on Kansas poor people. Are they just plain mean. Do they really hate poor people, or are they misinformed. This article sheds a lot of light on things. They seem to be opportunists who have simply taken advantage of the ignorance a lot of their constituents have, who still believe that poor people are getting a free ride at their expense. I have often heard in the past, people say such things as "half the country is living fee on welfare and the rest of us are paying for it." And many people seem to still believe that. Some time ago I did some research on what working people believe about the poor on assistance. It was staggering. Some working people believe poor folks get everything from free rent to free cell phones. They really don't. Public housing has a long waiting list of over a year. Our legislators have just once again reduced the amount of life time benefits a person can get. I doubt if anyone can stay on public assistance long enough to get free housing.

By now, any one who really needs public assistance (cash can only be paid out to a mother with children) is in a bleak situation. The assistance in food stamps and other gifts are way below what any one person can really get buy on. Any working person who thinks the poor are getting a free ride today should try and live as they do.

 I notice that Republican don't bothers to educate working people to what living on assistance is really like. Instead they want to milk the ignorance cow as long as they can.