Pointing and Laughing

In “Well, no shit” news today, Florida’s lost a bunch of money drug-testing its welfare applicants over a 4-month period.  To the tune of over $45,000, lawmakers in Florida found out that not only did the number of applicants not go down, but only 2% of the tests were positive (most for marijuana use).  The state had to reimburse the applicants who passed, so the state ended up paying more for the testing than if the applicants had received benefits.  Which leads me to say:

HA, HA, TOLD YOU SO.  I FUCKIN TOLD YOU SO. 

Like I always say...FUCK OFF...er, I was right.

The Feminist Breeder shared a link yesterday about the failure of this program to prove…well, anything they wanted it to prove, that’s for sure.  Some of the comments on TFB’s facebook page were eye-rollers.  Some woman said “What’s harsh is when u go apply at the welfare office and in the parking lot u c brand new cars.  They don’t belong to the workers.  Its all the other people on welfare.”  How does one go about discovering this information?  Did this odd woman ask around in the office, applicants and employees alike, to identify the make, model, and year of their vehicles?  I’m pretty sure she wasn’t just talking out of her ass, you guys.  Probably.  You might say it’s none of this lady’s fucking business who drives what, when they got it, how much they paid for it, etc. 

But!  Drug testing is not unfair to poor people, and it’s not discrimination, as some other person points out smartly. 

It’s not discrimination when you are asking tax payers and the government to financially support you.  Just because someone passes a drug test does not mean they are drug free.  I know tons of people who have collected their child’s urine in order to pass a test.  Many people slip through the cracks.  Millions.

Listen, she knows thousands of pounds’ worth of people who use their child’s urine to pass a piss test.  Who knows how many people that is!  Though if they’re poor, they must be fat, amirite, commenter?  All those munchies from the weed and the crap food they buy with their food stamps, you know. 

And don’t dare question her, because this chick knows what she’s talking about.  “Millions is an accurate statement.  Millions of welfare receivers nationwide are on drugs and use the free money for illegal purposes.  Also online reports can be biased and missing key information.  Just because it’s on the Internet doesn’t make it true.”  Except what she just said.  That’s true. 

Besides, this happened to another commenter: 

This is a tough one for me…i was at the grocery store recently and the couple behind me smelled of pot so badly that my nose burned.  When they paid for their groceries, they paid with a welfare debit card.  Im all for helping the truly needy, but if u can afford to buy pot, I don’t need to buy your groceries.

A commenter who WASN’T an asshole pointed out that that commenter does not know that the couple bought the weed.  Stoners, as she pointed out, are notoriously generous.  Maybe someone gave them a bud.  Maybe they grow their own.  Either way, though, who gives a shit.  It’s not commenter X’s job to police the welfare recipients.  NOR IS SHE PAYING FOR ANYONE’S GROCERIES.  Not really, not any more than I’m paying for her roads and for her local fire department.  So STFU already with the whining, “I shouldn’t have to pay for that,” because you DON’T. 

Of course people on welfare use drugs—some of them.  Just like some congresspeople.  Just like some ranchers.  Just like some teachers.  Just like some internet commenters.  Just like some line cooks.  Just like some restaurant owners.  Just like some of every group everywhere ever.  Folks on public assistance don’t have the market cornered on drug use and government fraud.  So lay the fuck off.  And can I just say it one more time?

TOLD YOU SO.  TOLD YOU SO.  TOOOOOOOOOOLD YOU SOOOO. 

Well, are we pro-choice or not?

This topic has been knocking around in my head for a bit now, and with Thursday’s news and the assholes it brought out of the internet woodwork, I had to say something.

Michelle Duggar suffered or is suffering a miscarriage. Duggar was pregnant with #20. I’ve never watched the show and I have not followed this family at all. I know they are very conservative Christians and that they don’t believe in birth control, that god plans their family size, that they are the Above Rubies and Quiverfull type of family. And that’s it. That’s all I know about them. And you must know I’m pro-choice, which is why it pisses me off to no end that self-proclaimed pro-choice feminists 1)Criticize her reproductive choices and 2)Are either out and out cruel or offer fake-ass, back-handed sympathy (“I feel bad for her, but every ejaculation does not need a name.”)

Some women have been arguing that maybe Michelle Duggar doesn’t really want these children, she only thinks she does because she’s brainwashed by her religion. I don’t know about that. And really, neither does anyone else, even someone who’s been in a very similar place. We don’t know if she’s under some kind of religious or spousal duress to keep having children. We don’t know if the older children’s lives will be ruined forever by having to help out with the younger children. We don’t know if they’re the happiest and most well-adjusted family on earth. WE DON’T KNOW. Whatever the Duggars have going on in their household is their business. Reproductive choice is reproductive choice, and she’s made hers. If she’s not really happy in her life, well damn, that’s pretty sad. But again, we just don’t know—we can only conjecture. And to say that she can’t possibly be happy in the life she’s living, well that feels about as condescending as when someone wants to outlaw abortion for women’s own good.

Now. If we call ourselves reproductive freedom fighters, if we believe that parenthood is a choice, if we trust women, we have to respect ALL reproductive choices. There is no picking and choosing. It’s not “I support reproductive rights, but she’s had enough kids.” No. Disagree with the woman all you want, but don’t say she doesn’t have the right to have twenty children. Don’t say she’s selfish for having children—I don’t give a shit if she’s on welfare or not. Even if she was, guess what? Still none of your business how many kids she has. It’s not a sign from God to stop having children (who are you to interpret the signs, anyway?) It’s time to pick a side, and please, pro-choicers, let’s all be on the same side. The side where we trust women, and the side where, for fuck’s sake, we don’t say “maybe she needs to be mentally envaluated, and then we they do the D & C, take her baby parts away because this is beyond enough” to a woman who has lost a loved and wanted child. You don’t get to be pro-choice with a BUT. The pro-choice crowd doesn’t want to see your but, so if you must have it, keep your but to yourself. Because if we see your but, we may start to think you’re not actually pro-choice after all.