hey dadchamp. its a real bum deal when you have to get social welfare, but at least you can, whether its fair or not, the hoops they make you jump through. someone who has led a privaleged life, and has never ben unemployed with no family to help them out, wont understand how crap it is. on the up-side, you wont totally starve, like what happens in quite a few countries. but then you wont have anything like quality of life you were used to.

but hey, what do you pay taxes for? .....well, in comparison to a lot of countries, you pay very very little taxes. so its right to expect crapy public health and social welfare. we pay a lot more tax here in ireland, but we get a lot more out of it. my GF could go on at length about it. she studies social science. according to her, sweden, denmark etc. are the models of a working social system, and america is the model of one that doesn't work. between the adversarial democracy model that america calls democracy, and the worship of capitalism as if it were a rightious cause rather than a business model, and the shunning of socialistic ideas as if they were a moral blight, its my view (mine as opposed to any view i would claim as a true view of things. i am looking at things very much from the outside) its a case of, on a national scale, "reap what you sew".

not much help to the man on the ground, having to jump through hoops and be made feel like a second class citizen, i know. my feeble advice would be, expand the dyversity of work you are looking for, and even consider relocation to somewhere with a stronger economy. also, get in touch with various organisations that can tell you how to get the most from what you are entitled to. also, become politically active. talk to your local political representatives. if something is wrong with the way the system works, change the system. after all, it is your system. 

if this sounds like another "america sucks" rant, it isn't. so those ho may fel a little offended by my views, just accept they are the view of a rambling mad man and leave it at that. being relagated to the bottom rungs of society, either by disability, or just bad luck, is not nice at all. (my mom has M.S. and i have been on social welfare plenty enough to know what its like) sometimes the hardest thing to do, is to dig your way out of the hole of poverty. the slopes are quite slippery.

for me, it puts things in perspective a bit. when i start working now this summer (i am a student, living off of my grant) i will be paying between 20 and 40 percent of my income to various taxes. thats pretty high. but i at least know where some of it is going. and can feel a little better about it.

The final resolution to whether I can or can't get any aid is that I can't. Not even the food stamps. To qualify for them I have to get a written statement from my landlaord stating my rental agreement with him ... he won't give it and I fully understand why. Let's just say my living situation isn't 'exactly' legal.  

So I'd rather have a roof over my head and keep struggling with the pitence of money I can scrounge from odd jobs than threaten my living situation anymore than it already is. But, hey, I got a job interview hopefully tomorrow (waiting to hear back from them) so maybe my luck is about to change.

Getting anything changed for the better in the USA is impossible! 

Don't get me started on SS reform!  hell, even Cuba's health care system is better than ours. 

panthia; this is a very sad and bleak statement. i am sorry you feel that way. and i am even more sorry if it is true. i do hope things change for america as a nation. especially they way the disadvantaged, dissabled and the marginalised are treated.

i do not know how local politics works in america. here, that is where you go to get your voice heard. here, if something needs to be dealt with on a political level, you go to your local county councelor. if they do nothing, you ring up Joe Duffy (an irish radio presenter) and usually you can get it discussed over the radio. that will at least shame the councelor into doing what he can.

but that is here, with a national population you could lose in the city of london. i think scale has a lot to do with things. the larger the country, the smaller the individual?

i mean, if you cant get things dealt with in a peaceful, fair, and law abiding  way, the only other option is,.... well, the opposite really. that is not really a plesent option when you look at the scale of america.

my question is; why not leave? its tough for americans abroad, with international public oppinion being what it is, but is it really any worse than it is inside america?

The unfortunate truth is that if our government doesn't take notice soon, this country is headed for another bloody revelution. There are private militia groups all over the place. If they ever get organized Washington DC may wake up with an army of very unhappy people camped on the White House lawn one day. It'll be like Metropolis when the workers quarters are flooded and they charge the upper levels but I'm afraid there won't be a Maria (robotrix or other wise) to stop the flood. I am seriously hoping for Democratic control to return this election. Historically people like me have always had a better life when the Democrats are in the White House. And my finger is pointing at Hillary with a thumbs up. And she can f^#k whoever she wants while she's in office as long as it isn't me. :-)

Well........my husband is applying with various composite companies in Canada.....Anyone out there know of any hiring?  I wanna live in Germany.....Netherlands would be nice.....Canada's too cold for me......we would just honestly be happy to get one county over to where the school district actually cares.......our youngest son has a slight speech issue our school system doesn't support his issues because they're not bad enough.  We pay $100 a week for help.

Not sure we need this political discussing here because my temper will flair.....and I'm mostly mild mannered.  But Fred Thompson has my vote.  We need a pres who will fix SS and get rid of all these damn aliens whether legal or not.  No clinton will do either....Hilary voted against Bush's SS reform because it would take money from grants so that we can have a Cowgirl Hall of Fame......Heaven forbid that I should dare be allowed to say ya know what.....I want my money invested for me....not so the government can dip in and take loans out against my money to fund crap stuff like museums.....And she's depending too much on the minority mexican vote to get rid of the mexican's here......IF and thats a major IF I were to ever vote Dem it would have to be for Obama because of the fact that he has not spent his life as a politician. 

I just want to know that at the end of the day my kids have teachers who are qualified and want to teach regardless of race.  Right now there are too many teachers in the school system that just want a pay check!  Tennessee is looking at lower testing again because of how horrible our students test.  This doesn't solve the problem it makes it worse.  That and for someone to take out most of Hollywood.....sorry.....I'm so tired of hearing the crap about all these celebs.....put more UFC on tv! 

LOL, I really helped us get waaayyyyy off subject.

LMAO. yea, politics can get a bit heated alright, but hey!! its the shoot the breeze section. a dirty political flame-war is just fine here.

personally, from the international viewpoint, i hope whatever happens in the elections helps back america off from what seems like an attempt at an americal empirial expansion. even the average joe on the street in a country such as ireland, a country known for its friendlyness with america, is really not happy with the way things look. my mates wife is an american, and she just cant get any job anywhere. employers will just not hire americans here it seems.

things are getting pretty flaky in international politics. you have china, probably up to no good. russia definately up to no good, the middle-east...same as ever, europe...playing empire, but too busy with the old rivelries. france vs. germany. spain vs. portugal. england vs. everyone. lol. its kinda like a really bad sit-com, but with countries instead of people. 

as re; the whole democrat/republican thing... whats with that? where is option C? where are the independants? i dunno. i always found that the american election system a bit convoluted. i prefer the way that anyone with a few hundred quid can run for government in ireland. [censored], our local butcher did. did pretty well out of it. although i think he is a bit bowled over by the amount of work it takes.

the idea of a civil war in america is one i dont think will happen to easy. i think people are just to.... lazy i think, these days. everyone hates the way things are. but no one wants to be the one to force change. thats what i think anyway. 

"But Fred Thompson has my vote."

Mine too. {and thats as far as I'm going with that LOL!}

Oh, and I homeschool my kids..ever since they tried to fail my second grader for not being able to read...twice...I did a pop spelling quiz on her, and she couldn't spell..got really upset when I decided we needed to correct her spelling mistakes..said her teacher didn't make her correct anything, ever, because she knew what the words were supposed to be.....What tha..?! No wonder she couldn't read.

1 month after being homeschooled, my {then} second grader was reading on an 6th grade reading level ;) 

 She's 14 now, and on a college level ;)