Common Room blog try to scare child into monotheism

[Conuly]

A lot of people on food stamps just don't get that much, maybe $6 or $12 a month.

If I had to scrimp and save all month, damn straight I'd spend that extra $6 on a treat for myself! Not lobster, but probably lox or, I don't know, the expensive brand of cereal I never buy because it costs.

Money is fungible anyway. Maybe I got a small windfall or saved money elsewhere so I could spend that EBT on lobster or whatnot.

Tangent, it's only recently that lobster has been elevated to pricy splurge food. What with all the shells and the fact that it really is a huge sea cockroach, it used to be dirt poor poverty food! There were laws regulating how often you could force your servants to eat lobster and crab during the week! In the (old) version of Hansel and Gretel I had as a kid, poor Gretel is forced to subsist on lobster and crab shells while her brother ate rice and chicken. That puzzled me even more than British kids walking around with torches in their pockets!

[FairyPrincessK]

I too, would like to know which things are the "lies" you refer to. As far as I can see, there are paraphrased excerpts from the blog, opinions about those excepts, and some speculation about another website that the blog author used to participate in. The speculation is clearly flagged as speculation. But, really, do please tell me if there are any "lies" here. I would love to correct them.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Tangent, it's only recently that lobster has been elevated to pricy splurge food. What with all the shells and the fact that it really is a huge sea cockroach, it used to be dirt poor poverty food!

I have to admit that when I think of eating bugs (which is not too common in my background) I think it could be quite okay, if the bugs are big enough surely they'd be rather like shrimp or lobster if cooked...

[Mudball]

It's possible the toaster crumbs thing was just on the frugal-living group - basically just a commentary that those books, a lot of good information is in there and then there's a bit of wtf? sometimes but you can just skip that part :) I apologize for misdirection.

.

I didn't mean to sound so skeptical of you, Gardenvarietycitizen! There is enough wtf in the Tightwad's Gazette that it's not really so out there that she would find a use for toaster crumbs! I just didn't remember it. Overall, I really enjoy the books but every 10 pages or so there's a tip that is freakin' insane. :lol:

[formergothardite]

What a bunch of lies about a kind and generous woman and her family. I can understand why you lot snark 'fundies', but this is a woman who is just as against fundie royalty as you are and you're going to make up stuff about her?

Was this just a drive-by hand slapping? If someone lied, then point out the lies. The pearl clutching about non-specific lies isn't helpful. If she is wonderful and kind then explain how her treatment of the child mentioned in the OP is kind. You will also need to explain how her treatment towards people on foodstamps is kind and generous. If you can't do either of those things, then realize that perhaps this lady isn't as kind and generous and you originally thought.

[Zoom]

FairyPrincessK, just wanted to chime in that I hate-follow this blog, and I feel kind of alone out there about it too! They really are awful - smug, condescending, and honestly quite meanspirited/nasty. I agree with your distaste about how the mom writes about the daughter with a disability; in addition to the oversharing, she seems to use that daughter in her writing as a way of boosting up her holiness credibility. I really, really loathe the attitude she has.

Another vote for the woman is a nasty piece of something.

I find it interesting that she called Catholics heretics but seems obsessed with doing "holy deeds" like "caring" for the two boys and adopting a disabled child.

I do wonder why her husband lost his job, it did seem to happen very suddenly

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I didn't mean to sound so skeptical of you, Gardenvarietycitizen! There is enough wtf in the Tightwad's Gazette that it's not really so out there that she would find a use for toaster crumbs! I just didn't remember it. Overall, I really enjoy the books but every 10 pages or so there's a tip that is freakin' insane. :lol:

No problem. I used to read the frugal-living group for similar reasons, they had a lot of useful tips and then every so often would be a :pink-shock: sort of thing, but that was half the fun!

[mockingbird]

I've never read this blog before, but... she lists 3 of her kids as "supporting characters" with absolutely no description of their personalities? Weird considering the details she added about the others - doesn't seem very nice/considerate or that she really cares about them much.

[FJismyheadship]

My dad says we bought lobster with food stamps once when I was growing up. I think there were back benefits of a month or so because they added my little brother being born or something. They wanted to celebrate. They bought a lobster and then the guy asked if they wanted it steamed right there. My dad was surprised... apparently because you bought it fresh, they could cook it and it still go on food stamps or something like that.

But its nobodies business if I buy a Papa Murphy's pizza or a lobster with my food stamps once a month or not.

[GiGi_41]

I don't judge anyone who buys with food stamps or WIC.

As a foster home children under 5 automatically get WIC, wasn't really necessary after two for us, but formula is really expensive, and with all the money foster parents make...snark...it's helpful.

Long story short...I had two under two at one point. I had stopped to use that weeks checks and noticed that lobster tails were on sale for 5.98 each, since we like lobster I bought some.

So each child gets a check and they have to be run through separately, and veggies are run through as another purchase. So all told I think I had 4 WIC checks and then my other purchase. I would tell people behind me if the just got in line that I'd be awhile so they might want to go to another till. This lady said no she'd wait. So the cashier was new, it was taking a while to get through the transactions, this had given the person behind me ample time to look at my groceries and then look closer at me...two toddler close in age, no ring, no husband, that makes me one of those people living off the system, right?

She just gets huffier and huffier, then she starts to say stuff louder about how some people don't deserve lobster, should make better choices...no my final order goes through and this woman is still huffy. Then her eye popped out of her head when I paid in cash. When it was all done I said loudly to the cashier. "Thanks for dealing with all those checks I'm a foster parent and it makes things a lot easier."

[OnceModestTwiceShy]

I've heard many stories, both here from FJ members and from others, or having strangers in the grocery line berate them for their purchases once they see the SNAP card come out. I can't imagine what a disgusting excuse for a human being would think that they get to police this because "MY TAX DOLLARS." Actually have grown to hate the phrase. I remember my mom shopping with food stamps, trying to pay as quickly as possible so that no body would notice and try to shame her, and I still want to cry. Here in the States, we really do seem to equate poverty with poor character.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I've heard many stories, both here from FJ members and from others, or having strangers in the grocery line berate them for their purchases once they see the SNAP card come out. I can't imagine what a disgusting excuse for a human being would think that they get to police this because "MY TAX DOLLARS." Actually have grown to hate the phrase. I remember my mom shopping with food stamps, trying to pay as quickly as possible so that no body would notice and try to shame her, and I still want to cry. Here in the States, we really do seem to equate poverty with poor character.

Seriously this.

I will say, if you can avoid getting in line behind someone with WIC coupons, it's probably wise. The whole "coupons for food in kind" thing just can take a while, particularly if either the user or cashier is new to it, or if the system has capriciously changed the exact definitions of what specific types of food are eligible (such as quibbling over the specific flavors of baby food pureed fruit).

Link cards (what we have in IL) work just like normal debit cards, so no problem there, it's fast.

Far too often though I hear people talking how they think that people should not have the Link card or similar but rather should have to go pick up food in kind at some warehouses or what, the old "government cheese" thing. Never mind how much resources and money that would take to open and run such places, as long as that money is spent on shaming people it's apparently A-OK. (I hate my local talk radio...)

[FairyPrincessK]

Seriously, I just can't with all of these shaming those who rely on state resources arguments. I don't understand why this is such an issue for people. Yes, a small portion of your tax dollars go to help people. Does that really bother you, really? Yes, there might be a small number of people to whom those dollars go that are scamming the system. But, seriously, I would far rather let them off than make life harder for anyone who genuinely does need that money. If you are really so concerned about fiscal responsibility then why don't you rant about something that matters, like, oh, I don't know, corporate tax evasion, or why many government programs only have enough money to keep people at the edge, not really truly make a lasting impact that helps people out of poverty?

I know--I'm preaching to the proverbial choir---but her lobster rants get me going every. single. time.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

Yep - they utterly fail to understand the concept of a "90/10 problem" when it comes to fraud. Namely, it will cost just as much money to eradicate that last potential 10% as it did to solve the main 90%, and so even from a hard-nosed purely fiscal point of view, it's simply not a wise use of resources. (That's even before we have the discussion of how false positives - someone getting money they don't technically qualify for - are better here than false negatives.)

...which just makes it all the more obvious that this isn't actually about saving resources. Call me cynical, but it seems we always have plenty of money if it's about shaming people, punishing people, or blowing them up. Anything else though and suddenly ZOMG it's all about the deficit...

[aveline]

The lobster as poverty food is completely made up. Unrelated to this lady, but, completely fictional. It is often cited, but there is no primary source. It's an internet canard.

As for the lady herself, she is not exploiting the two children so often in her care, nor is she doing so with her severely disabled daughter with the comprehension of a 2 year old.

She is a deeply loving woman who has an unmovable issue regarding food stamps. I came to read her due to her incredibly excellent reportage about the CPSIA (she remains in her archives perhaps the best source for that fiasco and its downsides) and in her archives she definitely speaks against a lot of Vision Forum type Christianity. She is similar to the Duggar-friend who posted about 'you might be failing as a Christian' that some linked to a couple weeks ago.

[FairyPrincessK]

Aveline,

You may believe that the way she treats the two boys and her daughter are not a problem, based on your reading. However, I disagree. It is not a lie to draw differing opinions from what she writes. As you will read above, I think the told of her writing and the actions she recounts are fairly despicable behaviour. You are free to disagree with me, but if you want to call names, you'll need to back up you claims.

[formergothardite]

The lobster as poverty food is completely made up. Unrelated to this lady, but, completely fictional. It is often cited, but there is no primary source. It's an internet canard.

As for the lady herself, she is not exploiting the two children so often in her care, nor is she doing so with her severely disabled daughter with the comprehension of a 2 year old.

She is a deeply loving woman who has an unmovable issue regarding food stamps. I came to read her due to her incredibly excellent reportage about the CPSIA (she remains in her archives perhaps the best source for that fiasco and its downsides) and in her archives she definitely speaks against a lot of Vision Forum type Christianity. She is similar to the Duggar-friend who posted about 'you might be failing as a Christian' that some linked to a couple weeks ago.

“I believe in more than one god,†announced a defiant Blynken to the FYG. â€You can’t tell me I’m wrong. I can believe what I want to believe. Anybody can believe anything they want to believe and nobody can tell them that’s wrong.â€

“He’s right,†I said. â€He is free to believe whatever he wants to believe. So are we. And today, we choose to believe that he is a rabbit.â€

“And we’re having rabbit stew for supper,†said Pip.

This is kind to do to a small child? A child who is not her own and has already had a rough start to life? To mock his religious beliefs and "joke" that they are going to eat him? And then they act all shocked that he is angry?

Lobster story:

remember the guy at my husband’s work who asked him how to cook crab or lobster or something like that, and when my husband said he had no idea, we couldn’t afford it, the man said, ‘Well, couldn’t either if I wasn’t on food stamps?â€),

thecommonroomblog.com/2009/11/food-stamps-and-stigma.html

She does not pay a penny for any of it), and the family was having crab legs for dinner. Again. Courtesy of the taxpayer

thecommonroomblog.com/2010/12/crab-legs-again.html

Look in the comment section in this one, lobster again:

You are in the minority if you don't spend your food stamps on crab legs and lobster and other frivolous things

The HM is working 10 hours a day to feed his family and selling Rib eye, T-bone & crab legs to those who buy them with money the government takes from hard working people like him,

thecommonroomblog.com/2011/01/entitlement.html

So you will need to explain how all this makes her a kind wonderful person. She has an extremely hateful attitude towards people who are on government assistance and openly mocks the religious beliefs of the small child who is in her care. Deeply loving women do not treat children or poor people this way. Deeply self-absorbed people do. If you can only be nice to people who live the lifestyle you agree with and believe just like you, then you aren't that nice.

[Sumeri]

The lobster as poverty food is completely made up. Unrelated to this lady, but, completely fictional. It is often cited, but there is no primary source. It's an internet canard.

http://www.gma.org/lobsters/allaboutlob ... story.html

[formergothardite]

http://www.gma.org/lobsters/allaboutlob ... story.html

Interesting.

And now that I've had a cup of coffee, maybe I misunderstood Aveline and she was not saying that this blogger never wrote anything about poor people and lobster(which is what I thought because she accused people of lying in this thread) but was saying that she did write all that stuff but she was the one lying about all the lobster incidents?

[dawbs]

I've heard many stories, both here from FJ members and from others, or having strangers in the grocery line berate them for their purchases once they see the SNAP card come out. I can't imagine what a disgusting excuse for a human being would think that they get to police this because "MY TAX DOLLARS." Actually have grown to hate the phrase. I remember my mom shopping with food stamps, trying to pay as quickly as possible so that no body would notice and try to shame her, and I still want to cry. Here in the States, we really do seem to equate poverty with poor character.

It's amazing the out and out damage caused by that equation, too.

My mom went hungry as a kid because her mother was 'to proud' to accept charity. This lead to lifelong health issues for my mom and her siblings; malnutrition can do awful things to both the body and the mind.

When called out on this "they should avoid the handout" attitude, people always say things like "well, we didn't mean people like YOU"--the fuck they didn't--they exactly meant people who were in 'situations of their own making' like my grandmother was.

I'd rather know that some kid got lobster for dinner using "MY TAX DOLLARS" than throw another roadblock in front of someone whose kids are hungry.

[formergothardite]

Reading about how she taught her kids fresh fruit was a treat and cutting up one star fruit into 9 pieces just made me sad. Along with only having two eggs to eat in the house and dropping one so they then only had one egg to eat. Or having to make a pot pie out of leftover cookie dough and biscuit dough and whatever scraps she could find. It is sad.

[aveline]

That GMA link is lies fyi. There is literally no reference for the three times a week servant thing. NONE WHATSOEVER.

[Anise]

Seems that Korean dramas are becoming popular among fundies. :evil-eye:

I do think it's hilarious that she does not recommend "Coffee Prince" (the story revolves around a boyish girl who must cross dress for a job to support her widowed mother and sister, so when romance inevitably happens, it's all controversial and whatnot).

(I really don't watch as much as my post may imply, lol. Just happened to have seen half of that one) :P

[formergothardite]

That GMA link is lies fyi. There is literally no reference for the three times a week servant thing. NONE WHATSOEVER.

So you are just totally going my post with quotes from her saying the lobster(and crab) thing?

What are you saying is a lie on that GMA link? The fact that it used to be a food for poor people? Because I googled and there are other sites and documents that support that idea?

What are you talking about with three times a week servant thing? I missed that.

[Lainey]

What are you talking about with three times a week servant thing? I missed that.

I think she's talking about where the link said that servants revolted about having to eat lobster and crab more than three times a week. She's saying none of that is true, I think.