It's finally warm and sunny enough in our little coastal Oregon valley to cut and bale hay. We buy hay from two neighbors and the season always starts with us cleaning out their barns of last years hay at a phenomenol price. That was yesterday. We moved 425 bales of hay. We had promised to loan our hay truck (a '67 ford one ton flatbed used to haul hay and manure and gravel) to our friend who was baling their field and putting their hay into their own barn. Had to have the truck to them by four so we rushed each load off the other farm and dumped it all in a huge pile in the entryway of our own barn then rushed back for more. We made it, right at 4:20 on the dot. Heh, it's Oregon.
One of today's hay crew showed up early and put down pallets on the cement barn floor and shoehorned all 425 bales into the lower section of the barn so we can feed it first. All of the new hay we pull out of the field will go up into the loft. The rest of the hay crew came a bit later since our hay at the other farm was still being baled and they couldn't start til the morning fog burned off and the hay dried out. While all this plays out, we still had ten farmers markets to do from Thurs - Sun and that's where my husband was, but before he left I asked him to make sure the little 85 red ranger would start so we could pull a trailer with it and get the hay out of the field faster by using two rigs. It would also be easier to load since it was lower to the ground.
I had to borrow the trailer from my son so I begged and cajoled for him to drive the 12 miles from his house to ours to help me get the truck started and the trailer attached. He couldn't do it but said, "It's easy, all you have to do is jump it". I'm in charge of a lot around here but batteries, jumper cables all that, nope, not my job but I thought, ok, I'm a girl scout, I can do this. Went to move my car and found out that the flat tire my husband had taken to town to get fixed, wasn't fixed, and the compressor had been put back in the barn. Hay crew kid found it and moved it for me. Filled the tire. Moved the car into position next to the truck. Opened the hood and girl scout or no, I couldn't even FIND the battery. That would be because there WAS no battery. A fact my husband had omitted in our conversations about my wanting to use the truck this weekend.
So I called the Merc, our little local store that sells everything from bread and half and half to feed, gas, firewood and batteries. However, being Sunday, the high school crew was on duty and my question about there being a battery available was met with "I don't know". Who else is there? "Only me and Brianna", another high schooler. So I called the owner of the Merc at home (John Boy of John Boy's Mercantile) and promptly burst into tears, mumbling about being all alone except for one worker who didn't speak english and another in tenth grade who didn't even drive. John went to the store, got a battery, came by the house, dropped it into the truck for me and didn't leave until the truck was running. Bless his heart. By then the trailer and the rest of the hay crew had arrived, the temp was climbing to near 90 and we were on our way with both rigs.
One load. One load of about 100 bales. My crew looked about to puke, were sweating, and sheepishly saying that they just couldn't do any more. Back to our place and they were troopers in spite of their discomfort and off loaded it all into the barn.
Meanwhile, my husband and I had been trading dueling texts about the water left running out in the field and the four goats he had moved to a field that had NO water and the missing information about THE BATTERY!!!! By this time, he wasn't taking my calls and had his phone turned off.
Came in, sat down in the relatively cool house to check HuffPost, DailyKos, Facebook. And found THIS"
R**** shared The Inmates of the Asylum's photo.
Thank you Florida, Kentucky, and Missouri, which are the first States that will require drug testing when applying for welfare. Some people are crying and calling this unconstitutional. How is this unconstitutional???? It's OK to drug test people who work for their money, but not for those who don't? Re-post this if you'd like to see this done in all 50 states. If you can afford to buy drugs and extra illegal things then you can afford your own groceries.
Followed by this comment:
R**** I'm a BIG advocate for this. I think anyone who receives any type of "welfare".........should be drug tested. And, you are right. If they can afford to buy drugs, then they can take that same money and buy some groceries, etc............I've always said that.
~EVE~VAL ♥
Like · · Unfollow Post · Share · about an hour ago ·
2 people like this.
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OK, I know for a fact that this person is an HIV positive gay man who was diagnosed in the 80's and is lucky enough to have survived over 30 years as a result of drugs he could never afford on his own. I usually make it a policy never to rant on Kos or Facebook or anywhere else that send cannot be rescinded. But this came at the end of My very bad, horrible, absolutely terrible day. So I answered:
N******
Is there an "unlike" button? Honey, check the mirror, your Arkansas is showing. Would the same thing apply to beer? Same principle. Are cigarettes next? Same thing. It's not that I think that people SHOULD buy drugs instead of food, then apply for food stamps it's just that it's not this simple. What about someone controlling severe pain with marijuana in a state that hasn't passed a medical marijuana act? That person gets no help whereas someone across the border does? And what exactly is "welfare"? Does it include farm subsidies for rich Arkansas farmers? Does it include tax breaks? Property tax exemptions? Is it ok to do drugs and drink if you are wealthy enough but not if you are poor? This is a bad idea.
28 minutes ago · Like
Then added:
N***** By the way, how do you pay for your life saving meds? Bought a bottle of wine lately? You should have spent that on on your own meds unless you cover those all out of pocket instead of using ADAP (AIDS DRUG ASSISTANCE PROGRAM for Kossacks) or some other medical assistance according to this logic. NO I DON'T believe that, just trying to show you this is a BAD idea.
25 minutes ago · Like
First Response while I was in the shower washing the bits of hay off my sweaty body:
S*** Oh boy...sounds like words from a good Oregonian democrat....
5 minutes ago · Like
In the shower I thought of more:
N***** wait, there's more: "Oh you misguided poor people who bought drugs instead of food for your kids, we, your betters pass judgement on you.... NO WELFARE FOR YOU". Now, remember when people used to say, "Oh you misguided gay people who got AIDS and now want us all to pay for the meds and medical services and disability you need to stay alive, we, your betters pass judgement on you since you defile our beliefs, no AIDS meds for you". Oh yeah, you don't have to remember that, people still say that. Not a problem since so many people who do end up with AIDS and need those meds and services (some would call "welfare") are wealthy and don't need any help. Sarcasm alert. It's the same thing. Is your life good? God bless. Live and let live and try not to judge others too harshly.
about a minute ago · Like
Ok, I had a very bad, horrible, absolutely terrible day. My guard was down. Oh yeah, someone's husband died. Here, on the Rec List, she told us all about it and I sat here and cried for the second time today and decided to forgive my husband over the silly battery and greet him with a hot meal and kisses. My emotions and electrolites were all out of whack. Still, even in Arkansas... "this ain't ragggght"
Tue Jul 10, 2012 at 1:42 AM PT: Update: I've been "defriended" after he sent me a private message saying how dare I call him out publicly like that.
I emailed:
It's OK, your posts were
A. Too many, clogged up my screen
B. Often inappropriate for facebook (like the picture of the fat lady squatting in a thong)
C. Sometimes Ignorant and a bit Racist
D. And you can put up any old crap you want but any disagreement has to be censored?
E. To many in this country, you ARE on welfare by being on VA benefits. AND Social Security. Have you not been paying attention to the efforts to cut it, end it? Not saying I agree. Hell I didn't agree with several of the statements I made, just illustrating that many people say those things and they are just as wrong as what you said.
F. Reverting back to the "illegal drugs" vs legal beer and cigarettes is lame. Your point was personal responsibility, not illegal drugs and these are still items that are taking money away from someone's FOOD purchasing power
G. The drug war is a failure, a waste of money, and used to keep poor people imprisoned. It's also very unevenly prosecuted. Ok if you are rich and the doctor is prescribing those 1,000s of pills but not if you are poor and buying weed on the block.
H. What we grow is legal, covered under the laws of our state and frankly it's defunct at the moment since we are too busy WORKING! If work were the criteria, my opinion might actually count for more than yours in some people's minds...... not that I agree with them. Just saying again, just cause someone spews ignorance, you don't have to pass it on.
YOU LIVE IN A GLASS HOUSE. THAT'S why I went there. YOU targeted people for being poor. ON FACEBOOK! Many of them don't have homes anymore let alone a computer and internet and Facebook. They CAN'T speak for themselves. If they are lucky, they have foodstamps and YOU, pudge that you are having obviously not missed many meals, want to find a reason to take it away. Shame, the majority of foodstamps in this country go to feed CHILDREN!!!!!!!!!!!!
You have been home invaded, beaten, shoved in a closet, hurt and even worse because you are gay. You are so low on some people's totem pole as to not even deserve life, let alone free medical care. They are not right but do you have to accept their opinion and pass it on without speaking out against it? Why would you let yourself be brainwashed into looking down the ladder to see who's worse off than you and pissing on them? And why would you object to someone pointing out that you are wrong on this point.
Oh yeah.... them rednecks think your VA care is welfare. As is your SSI. So is subsidized housing. So is any aid of any kind. I happen to think that if poor people have to be treated like this, wealthy fucking legislators should be tested too. For everything.
I actually wrote a diary about this exchange on DailyKos (sorry you cannot dewrite it) and here is a response from another reader about your facebook rant:
I have two main beefs with all of these campaigns to drug test poor people and make benefits contigent on the results.
1. Children are BY FAR the #1 recipients of food/welfare assistance. Drug testing their parents and cutting off the family's source of food and shelter will DISPROPORTIONATELY hurt children.
2. Who is making money from these tests? Studies in Florida show that after they instituted drug testing there, the vast majority of people tested CLEAN. The state spent FAR MORE on drug tests than it saved by kicking a tiny fraction off their roles. Far. Far. More.
Guess what? Florida Governor Voldemort...I mean, Governor Scott...OWNED A DRUG TESTING COMPANY!! He made a go-jillion dollars selling that company afterwards!
This is NOT about doing "what's right." This is about profiting from humilating and punishing those least able to defend themselves. And those profits are paid for by...the taxpayers, of course! The very people who are convinced that drug-swilling poor people are ripping them off.
Here's the link if you want to read the entire thing and see what other democrats think about this "votes against their own interests" crap. http://www.dailykos.com/...
My mention of Arkansas was not about how many people there get welfare. It's about how many people there talk with their heads up their asses. No contest.
Nice shot getting it all off your chest and THEN defriending so no answer is possible. Poor people have a major disability.... they are poor. Their chances at fixing that are shrinking since all the funding to go to education and the social safety net are under attack while the rich get bigger farm subsidies and tax breaks. And they talk other people like you who are one or two months away from being poor, homeless, hungry too into doing their dirty work for them.
I'll say it again..... Is your life good? God bless. Live and let live and try not to judge others too harshly.