Replies

“It’s my buck asshole.”

Name calling — great. Welcome to FR.

Look, you may be doing your best to make the system work well, but you are still taking my money to do it. And if I object stridently, I'm the problem. I am NOT the problem. People who think it's okay to take my money and spend it any way they like ARE.

Your idea of taking the children from the parent and putting them in a safe environment. Very good - are you willing to pay for that?

I'd be far more willing to support that, than I would be to support sending those kids back to a home where the parents don't care enough to feed them.

How do you propose that be done? It is easy to write about it without being required to take action.

I would support there being 'Boys Town' type facilities where kids could be looked after, fed, clothed, and educated. Why?

All of a sudden you would see kids fed at home. All of a sudden you would see parents snap to attention rather than lose their chidlren. Children would come to school with manners and respect. Parents wouldn't be able to exhibit any sort of behavior and get away with keeping their kids in the home, or allowing them to participate in gangs, or just screw off instead of study.

So what we would see, is far less children being neglected at home. Only a very small percentage of these kids would need to be institutionalized.

And yes, funds to provide this would be taken from me too. The fact of the matter is that our society would turn out far better adults than we are now. These kids that don't get fed are not being supported at home. How's that working out for us? Today we feed this little urchins and tomorrow we scrape them off the pavement after they've destroyed property, others, and themselves.

The fact of the matter is, in a number of these instances funds for the care of the child would be transferred from the family setting to the insitutional setting anyway.

Take a good hard look at the program before making your assumptions and where the money is really going.

Aren't the funds going to feed children? Shouldn't those children be fed at home? What am I missing?

Like I said, I do not agree with the whole bill and question the need for increased spending. I have also made that point with the USDA, most likely with no avail. There are those of us within the government programs trying to make them more efficient from within and being successful at it. Unfortunately there are not enough of us.

I have a relative who provides health care to children at school. If they didn't, the kids probably woudn't get fundamental health care. Am I in favor of the program? No. Parents need to provide for their children. The government (and what we're really talking about here is you, I, and others) should not be underwriting this.

This cradle to the grave conept drives me nuts. People are free to persue their own goals. The government does not owe them anything. Period.

The only reason why I would sign on to a 'Boys Town' type effort, is to protect society from what these kids will become if we don't step in. They will constantly be a drain on our society as they sap law enforcement, health care, welfare, counseling, housing, food stamp, and other service dollars out of our economy.

Either demand the parents help them become productive members of society, or take them out of the loop. This generational nightmare needs to end.

Imagine whole neighborhoods in the inner city without graphitti, without vandelism, without drugs, without drive-by shootings. I think the food programs are masking far more dire situations.

We do agree on much and can ahve a great discussion without name-calling.

The primary problem in all this is the breakdown of the family unit - fatherless homes - a culture that does not feel the family home responsibility is important.

Dan Qauyle was assailed in the early 90’s when he questioned the character of Murphy Brown promoting having a child without a father. How many people, who agreed with Quayle, had the courage to stand with him. Very few.

I see too many young boys in schools with no father figure or mentor, who will end up hooking up with someone willing to take that role to their own advantage, and the cycle continues.