Lawmaker and Foodstamps — An Arizona State Representative wants to mandate how people collecting food stamps should live.

His vision includes no expensive cell phones, televisions, cigarettes or alcohol for recipients collecting from the food-stamp program.

I have four words for him. Is you crazy foo?

I, just like most people out there work for a living and it does become disgusting to see a person out there in the grocery line dressed to the nines and paying for that steak with a food-stamp card, or the 17 year-old with 2 illegitimate children collecting WIC for the kids she chose to have? Do I feel entitled to tell them how they should live on my tax dollar? NO.

I remember when I lived in Colorado there was a government funded housing complex that wanted a smoke free environment for all its tenants. Of course existing tenants were in an uproar over this. I got news for ya baby, if ya don’t like where you live, then move…simple, but food is a whole other ball game.

I totally agree with the no cigarettes or alcohol idea. Those are luxuries and are taxed as such. My tax dollar is meant to help feed you, not get you liquored and smoked up. I remember years ago when I worked in a convenience store, I would get people coming in all the time paying for chips with food-stamps and then wanting me to put cigarettes on the tab too. You wouldn’t believe how upset they became when I explained that the law would not allow me to do it. They would beg, whine, and finally just start yelling at me.

If you want to smoke cigarettes at five dollars a pack, then get a job!

Now, as far as mandating what kind of TV or cell phone someone should have, well that is a whole other can of beans. By the way, the beans are food-stamp eligible. What’s next? Telling someone they need to dress like they collect food stamps? Would this require a uniform to separate us from them? Does this Arizona lawmaker also realize that expensive TVs and cell phones are most likely not bought on food-stamps, but by illegal means?

I’m just guessing here folks, but I have a job and expensive electronics are out of my budget, so it follows that it must be for them too. The food-stamp program is for buying food, not telling someone how they should live or what kind of possessions they should or shouldn’t have.

Would this Arizona Republican create a whole watchdog group for reporting offenders?  Could the mailman drop a dime on you, and who pays for this?  We do.

I’ve been on the “dole” as our British friends would call it.  It was a hand-up for me and not a hand-out. I bought food with the stamps and was grateful for it. When I did finally get another job, it was a call to the powers that be to say thank you for the help, and now I’m back on my feet. It’s time to help another person.

The bottom line here is I have no right to tell someone else how to live even if they are living off my tax dollar, but I do have the right to say that food-stamps are for food.

And this goes out to the Arizona lawmaker.

Since my taxes pay your salary, I say stick to the issues which affect us all which includes illegal immigration, high taxes, and government waste.

We have bigger issues here in Arizona which do not include cell phones and TVs.

Have a gripe or an opinion? Feel free to contact me at hollywoodjimadvice@yahoo.com  “The Gripe Guy” is for entertainment purposes only.