Lovelyish

I agree with all of these students, but I most definitely agree with the guy about drug testing for welfare.

i pretty much agree with most of these students, especially about increased salaries for educators and reducing – if not eliminating entirely! – interest on student loans.

@hannahsurveys@xanga - great idea in theory, and if it were practical i would support it 100%. but the potential cost of drug testing all welfare recipients is astronomical, and the money spent doing that is money not spent on individuals who truly need welfare. a better idea would to be invest in professionals whose job it is to discover people using welfare fraudulently and stop them. the reason that the whole issue of drug use of welfare recipients/welfare fraud has come about is a result of budget cuts and destruction of jobs that once were used to investigate incorrect use of welfare monies. (omg sorry for the paragraph that ended up being. that wasn’t my intention D:)

@dynamicstars@xanga - Oh I know it’s not practical, unfortunately. I work in a grocery store so I see people come in with food stamps all the time and many of them look as if they’re on a different planet. Their eyes are glassy and red and some of them smell so strongly of booze & marijuana. Now I’m completely for the legalization of marijuana. But when I see people with benefits smell like it, it just makes me so mad. If you can afford to buy weed then surely you can afford to buy food (and fancy phones but don’t get me started on that lol). 

@hannahsurveys@xanga - “If you can afford to buy weed then surely you can afford to buy food (and fancy phones but don’t get me started on that lol.”

It’s NOT up to you to dictate what they spend their money on! It’s also not up to you to speak on behalf of the “other” – those who use the welfare system, who are oppressed, who are different from the majority – simply because “your taxes” (and I do realize you’ll make that defence) are going towards the welfare system.
Perhaps we do need better PROGRAMS to help those with addictions. We need more treatment available for those with mental illnesses, which effect ALL TYPES of people, including those using the welfare system. Maybe people are using these substances to deal with the fact that they’re unhappy about their financial situations. Maybe they have undiagnosed bipolar & get drunk everyday to cope. You have no idea what it’s like. You’re not them. 
We need more jobs. We need to make sure school is accessible to all people. We need to limit the number of people who need to get welfare in the first place. And no, not everyone who uses welfare is a drug addict. My mother was on welfare for a few years to support her two kids and return to university. She’s now a successful LAWYER. I hate that people have this idea in their head that people on welfare abuse the system – that everyone does…And that they’re lazy, they’re stupid, etc. 
We need to break away from these stereotypes and give people the help that they need. Your description of people who are high from marijuana use is hilarious – “many of them look as if they’re on a different planet.” Thanks for the laugh  
And yes, I think marijuana should be legalized or at least decriminalized (two COMPLETELY different outcomes)… Prohibition simply does not work. Marijuana has never caused a single death. You can’t O.D. It’s sad when we live in a time where you can get shitty microwaved processed chemical filled food or prescription drugs, but you can’t use a PLANT that is scientifically proven to help with the side effects of chemo and other serious illnesses. On a medical basis, marijuana should be legalized…
But on a recreational level, too. As I said, and there’s research out there to support it, prohibition of marijuana has never worked. In fact, it just makes things worse because now we’re support illegal activity! Gangs, drug lords, marijuana being smuggled…And do you KNOW how much it costs our society on a yearly basis to jail these people? To sent Johnny Smith to court because he had a couple of grams on him for personal use?
I hate how our society is so accepting of alcohol – which is a DRUG – and so not-okay with marijuana! People DIE because of alcohol. I had a friend pass out and vomit at a party, choke on her own vomit, and now she’s dead. How often do we see or hear about entire families being killed because of drunk driving? Or how many times have you heard of someone going out and getting wasted and making a horrible decision – doing something they would not normally do and now regret it?
Alcohol is a POISON to our bodies! Scientifically proven. It’s poison! But you’d rather that then some people smoking a plant from the god given earth. You know what the worst thing that ever happened to me while HIGH is? I ate an entire bag of cheetos. Cheetos, yeah. 

Isn’t it funny how students want the government to give out more grants but government involvement is actually one of the reasons tuition rates are so high. If we simply allow colleges to compete on the free market tuition prices will drop. Allowing the government to offer student grants only makes college more accessible. Which does seem like something we need, however, because colleges know that kids will get grants to pay for school they can set their prices high and know that regardless of how high rates are, they will always have a market at that price. 

You know, the guy with the drug tests for welfare request really has a point.  The rest of them were pretty meaningless, unrealistically idealistic, or vague enough to be useless.

REVEAL AREA 51 !!!! 

andstop stem cell research

How about he just reject all of these request and go ahead and balance the budget?

I’m a college student, and I’d have to say that I’m concerned with the economy. I didn’t hear anything about QE3 in the debates (and I’m not the least bit surprised). Seriously, is anyone concerned about this QE-’infinity’?

I’d also like to take the government out of marriage and religion, because I feel like it’s supressing individualism. Honestly, whatever relationship you have with someone, I support. I am totally fucking cool with it. Just stop entrusting the government to do everything for you for goodness sake.

I want the people talking about women’s health care and rights to say Vagina.  Vulva.  Fallopian tubes.  Uterus.  Zygote and Fetus.  And to know the difference between each (vagina = inside, vulva = outside). 

I want your religion kept separate from your politics.  Morals are great.  But I don’t agree with every religious dogma dictating what — and whose — morals are legislated.  JFK expressly stated he would not heed any pressure from the Pope to exact legislation to the effect of creating a “Christian” nation.  We are not a christian nation.  We are a nation drafted predominantly by Free Masons, Unitarians, and Universalists eager to ensure the rights and safety of all citizens, and their religious dogmas.

I want what I do with my adult, consenting partner, in my life to be dictated by my relationship, not someone’s preconceived notion of the im/morality of societally-constructed gendered status. 

I want my job benefits to be extended to the family I build with my partner, and vice versa. 

I want a government that will consider lowering the “homeland security” budget along with everything else, in an effort to decrease our gross (woo double meaning!) national debt. 

But mostly the Vagina thing.  I dare you.

I want the three branches of government to be separate again instead of one person trying to dictate what congress and the house pass and picking judges based more on if they will back his agenda than if they respect and will uphold the law. 

@kissmycouturex@xanga - Food stamp should be used for food – not on booze, drug, and alcohol. Sometimes, adults have problems and they use substances to escape from their issues. Do you know who really gets the short end of the stick? Children from these irresponsible adults. They often do not get adequate nutrition or care. The choices of these adults have a negative impact on our society. There are ways to solve your problems positively. It is oftentimes the harder route, but it makes you a better and stronger person.

I am all for drug testing not only to cut back on welfare fraud, but to identify the parents that may be abusive or neglectful. Drug testing can be done on the applicant’s dime. With mass drug testing, they may cost ~5 bucks if done efficiently.

Enough about teachers. What about social workers who are out in the field every day, being paid next to nothing who require a masters level degree, 4,000 hours of supervised work and to pass a costly exam in order to be fully licensed? How about them? Because most of the ones I know, masters level +, make less than some green, fresh-from-school bachelors level teacher. I get sick of hearing them complain. My family is full of them, my mother is one, and they all acknowledge that there are far poorer paid professions who are at LEAST equally as valuable. Just so over it. Teachers apparently need more education or a reality check. 

@kissmycouturex@xanga - It seems as though if it is my tax dollar going to people who are on welfare, I should have a vote in what is and is not an appropriate way for those who are recipients to spend that money. I have seen way too many things early on in my career that have led me away from this enchanted mindset you seem to have. I would estimate that it’s about a 50-50 split for those who are “in the system” as far as those who abuse it and those who do not. 

I want a president who won’t violate the Constitution.

That means neither Obama or Romney fit the bill.