I guess i was naive to think that people in NY in 2010 didn't use racist words.

[ejpoeta]

Our local nbc station is on facebook. they post things and people reply. and in NY we have the whole budget fiasco going on. so channel 2 posted something about patterson's budget extender and something about welfare programs and someone actually responded using the term 'porch monkeys' and how they just sit at home collecting welfare. that pissed me off. because while i am not black, which i assume is what this person was using that term in regards to, I am currently getting healthcare assistance from the state and have in the past received food stamps and even cash assistance. i said i hoped this person wasn't referring to ME as a porch monkey and said that working people get help from programs too. i wanted to say something about the women staying home with the kids too since i am a stay at home mom. i don't know why i let people get me so mad!! i mean, is it their ignorance!! what are the stats on people being 2 paychecks away from living in their car? we are all at risk of needing some form of assistance and i think i understand that they feel the need to make it somehow the fault of those on assistance that they are there so that they don't have to face the fact that it COULD be them.

there are so many things about getting assistance. first of all.... the cost of daycare would make my getting a job pointless. not to mention my not trusting daycare providers. it's not like i sit on my butt and eat bon bons all day. being a mom is a hard job. but even those that are treading water may need help. we all need help sometimes and we don't all have someone to help us. i have a big family who have been there for us in some pretty tough times. but even then we had to turn to the state for help. did i sit at hom pumping out babies? no. and i don't know anyone who would do that. not on purpose. but i guess it's easier to believe that everyone who is on assistance is there because they are lazy or something. being at that low of a threshold that you qualify for assistance is a sad place to be. and it's so easy to fall off of a broken ladder like poverty is. anything can knock you back down. and it's hard to recover.

i hope people like the person on faceboook who responded with such ugliness never has to know what it's like to be THAT poor. it's like being in an iron cage. it's almost impossible to escape for so many. I am white. I live in the country. I have a large family to help me. We were trapped in a bad situation and I know there are many who are probably trapped in worse. You can't know that kind of poverty until you have lived it. And i will never begrudge another the need for that help to be there. I have met a couple of poeple who gamed the system. I have met a couple of people who I suppose would fit that stereotype that some like to apply to everyone who get help. ANd I can tell you that neither of them fit the image these folks have in their minds.

Sorry, i just needed to vent. it is very depressing sometimes to have t orealize how small minded folks are.

[Taverner]

1. Go to Queens

Home of that lovable fictional rascal, Archie Bunker

They didn't choose Queens by accident

[lurky]

2. They are everywhere, unfortunately.

While New York is better than most places, it still has its share. Especially in some of the white, blue-collar neighborhoods in the outer boroughs and inner suburbs. Staten Island is notorious, for instance.

Just to give you a sense of the political culture, remember that Scalia, O'Reilly, and Hannity all came out of Queens or Nassau County.

[Jim__]

3. There will always be people who have no understanding of situations they've never been in.

There is very little hope for those people; and their opinion is not generally worth worrying about.