[SamIam]

Originally Posted by Adak

Don't even think about judging the Tea Party or Republicans, or Conservatives, by looking at guys like Ron Paul. You ignore Ron Paul, and I'll ignore your Maxine Waters, OK?

I actually find Ron Paul rather amusing and I don't care who does or does not pay attention to Maxine Waters. I judge the Tea Party, etc. by their actions. I reserve my harshest judgments for folks like the ones who cheer for people without health insurance to be just left to die. The Tea Party did that and I hold them in the lowest possible regard with absolutely no apology for the judgments I have made about this group of sub-humans, .

Originally Posted by Adak

This is what we commonly see with the social welfare programs run by the gov't: ~ Oh boy, here we go! I’ll paraphrase from here since I actually read Adak’s link and then the link that the first link contained and then… ~

Anyhow, in summation: Uncle Sugar is handing out goodies left and right to undeserving shirkers and whiners just as we all suspected.

Apparently this journalistic news flash was pulled off by a couple of unemployed, former auto workers whose jobs were outsourced by Bain Investments to the NO TICKEE, NO TICKEE FEVER plant located in the outer part of Inner Mongolia. Shortly after the loss of their jobs, these two patriots both lost their homes to a sub prime lending outfit which needed to give out 11 million $$$ bonuses to their CEO’s that year.

Out of desperation, our two heroes whom I shall refer to as Moe and Curly, then decided to try their luck in the field of yellow journalism. The happy go lucky folks at Tea Bag Research Services gave Moe and Curly their first big break with an assignment to write a scholarly article about why every disabled person in the US should be left to die because everyone loved the idea and thought it was hilarious. Moe and Curl’s research would be published in the Journal of Irreproducible Results, a scientific publication with a wide readership among the illiterates residing in the so-called “Red States.”

However, even with this auspicious beginning, our two aspiring writers might never have made it into the annals of literary history. Although both had plenty of mistaken information, wouldn’t have known the truth even if it were spoken to them in tongues by a blue tick hound, and both men harbored enough prejudices and resentments to fill all the sheets of a phalanx of ku klux klan members; neither Moe nor Curly could type and Moe could barely even print. How would they ever be able to place their opus before an eagerly awaiting world?

All I can say is that thank FSM, the US has yet to outsource its methamphetamine labs to China. One night a friendly if toothless chemist wandered into the bar where Moe and Curly were drinking jello shots and trying to master the Palmer method on a number of crumpled bar napkins. Upon learning of the historic task facing the two jello drinkers (and managing to avoid thinking of Jim Jones), the chemist offered them the use of his old Underwood Typewriter that he kept for a doorstop on the step of his trailer/meth production facility located a mere 5 miles from town over 27 miles of rutted, winding dirt road. Moe and Curly accepted the offer at once, pulled off three all nighters and had all but the last 2 pages of their study typed up when the meth lab blew up and left the kindly chemist disabled for life. Fortunately for him, the local sheriff slammed him in the joint before the chemist had so much as a chance of even THINKING of going on disability.

Isn’t it nice how all that goes well, ends well?

And I do have a point in writing all this drivel besides just amusing myself. I could have quoted verbatim some of the more fantastic parts of Adak’s favorite link and the link within the link. I could have pointed out a number of scientific fallacies that were presented as truth by the writers of those diatribes against the disabled and against providing us with any assistance. I could have thrown in a bunch of sociological and psychological facts and included reams of my own experience and the experiences of other disabled Americans I know whose misfortune it is to seek help from the Feds.

But the Adaks of the world already have their minds made up. And a rather large segment of US society is still simply unwilling to look honestly at what has and is unfolding in this country. Times are not the best and when you need someone to blame in bad times, why not blame people who are poor because how dare they be poor in the “land of opportunity”?

This last actual comment I will make a legitimate response to after all:

Originally Posted by Adak

It's not that helping the needy is something we don't want to do, but this kind of half-assed approach that the politicians come up with, just gets played by lots of perfectly healthy people. I know two who qualified for this one, myself - nothing wrong with them. They just learned how to play the system, and the first guy, taught the second one, how to do it.

These comments make me want to take back everything I wrote earlier and embarque on a 20 page rebuttle complete with quotes and citations from every expert imaginable. However. I’ll try. To be. Brief.

When you read Moe and Curly's comments, it’s apparent almost immediately that they have never actually spoken to a real person in need of assistance due to a disability. They can’t even call the program by the correct acronym. It’s not DI, whatever that is. People are either awarded SSI or SSDI. SSI is much like welfare. It is a program for people who were unable to work enough quarters to qualify for SSDI (so much for Moe’s bright idea that people must work x so many years before they can qualify for help). SSDI is very much like the regular Social Security payments most people qualify for at age 66. It is considered EARNED income, paid for out of each paycheck that a worker earns until he retires or becomes disabled before retirement age.

Many people who end up on SSI are ones who suffer from a serious mental illness that prevents them from ever really being able to work. Schizophrenia is a prime example. It often seems to strike young people in high school or college. The symptoms are so profound that it is all the schizophrenic can do to merely survive – never mind hold down a job. You, Moe, and Curly need to leave the Dark Ages behind. Mental illness is very real. It can be very hard to treat. It makes the sufferer’s life almost unbearable at times. It can often prevent him from working no matter how much he may wish otherwise.

The politicians have indeed rigged the game – but not the way you’d like to think. About 70% of all applicants for disability are turned down the first time they apply. There seems to be little rhyme or reason to the decisions. Thus, the system ensures that just the cost of evaluating people will remain high – especially if you make it so you have to evaluate almost everyone twice.

I went through the entire miserable process and was turned down the first time despite the fact that Social Security’s own specialist whom I was required to consult gave me a diagnosis in no uncertain terms of complete disability with almost no chance of improvement – ever. I appealed, everybody on all sides wasted more money, time and paperwork, and when I walked into my hearing with the judge the first thing he did was look at their own doctor’s report on me. The judge read the thing twice, frowned, and told me that I shouldn’t even be here wasting his time. The system should have awarded me disability two years before. I could go home and wait for my paperwork to arrive in the mail in a couple of weeks. Why hadn’t anyone ever bothered to read that doctor’s report before? Beats me. But the mistake favored the government not me and that’s usually how it is for everyone.

I agree that some people do cheat or try to cheat the system. I always hear that , “Well, I know this guy and he’s blah, blah, blah.” I have my doubts. One, the system is actually very, very difficult to cheat. You have to have records and tests out the whazoo from different specialists and even different hospitals. You have that automatic 70% turn down rate, and we’re talking years of fighting Social Security here – not just a few weeks or months. If a person can work, it’s usually easier to just go get a job. I’m in a job training program myself and am chomping at the bit to succeed and get the hell away from the taint of the government. Don’t know if I’ll make it, but I’m trying.

Finally, people are not awarded disability for alcoholism or addiction. In fact, if you are suspected of being an addict, you entire application will be thrown out. But again, if you knew anything about modern medicine, you would know that it’s very common for a person to have a “dual diagnosis.” People who suffer from constant severe pain may get addicted to their pain meds. People who once led useful, self-supportinglives find themselves stuck in a bed or a wheel chair or are quadriplegic. This tends to be a mite depressing. Some folks drink at their depression. And you know what? I drank more alcohol than anyone should in a lifetime during the first 3 years after I was diagnosed. I didn’t even want to live. Then I got a new type of medication, different therapy and I started to feel some hope again. I quit alcohol completely. Don’t be so quick to judge until you’ve been there.