California Will Finally Ditch Racist, Sexist Welfare Rule
Posted by Michelle Moquin on June 21st, 2016
Good Morning!
From Think Progress:
California Will Finally Ditch Racist, Sexist Welfare Rule
California state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D), who led the fight to repeal the state’s welfare family cap
For more than two decades, any poor mother enrolled in California’s cash welfare program was penalized for giving birth to a new baby. While she would get additional money to cover the children she had before enrollment, the state refused to give her more for the new child. Known as the Maximum Family Grant Rule (MFG), the state’s policy is one of many that were explicitly adopted after welfare was reformed in the mid-90s as an attempt to curb the family size of poor women, often women of color.
Now California is finally ditching the law.
Tucked into the state’s budget is a measure repealing the MFG rule, and Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has said he’ll support it. The budget passed off the floor of the state legislature late on Tuesday evening.
Once the policy is gone, 93,000 families will benefit from an extra $138 a month for each child that had previously been exempt, on average, according to an estimate from the state Department of Social Services. In total, the repeal is estimated to cost the state about $220 million more a year in welfare benefits, but lawmakers will eventually cover that cost through an account that doles out inflationary increases in welfare benefits.
“No child should be treated differently under the law simply because they were conceived and born while their parents were poor,” Jessica Bartholow, legislative advocate at Western Center for Law and Poverty who has been involved in the push to repeal the rule, told ThinkProgress in an email. “Now they won’t.”
California is just the seventh state to repeal a welfare family cap since they went into effect two decades ago in 22 states, joining Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. Still, 12 other states give families no extra money if they have additional children while enrolled in welfare, while two others have flat caps that give families a set amount no matter the number of children they have and still two more reduce benefits for additional children. In 2012, 58,000 families’ welfare benefits were reduced by a family cap policy.
California’s is particularly egregious, however. It was explicitly adopted as an attempt to reduce the number of children born out of wedlock to women on welfare. At the time, then-state Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle (R) called giving families additional benefits for additional children “perverse” and said, “This practice usurps the role of husbands and drives men away from their families.” It also includes an exemption for children conceived due to rape, incest, or the failure of certain forms of birth control, requiring women who seek the exemption to share incredibly intimate details with a case worker — it’s the only state to require women to discuss birth control methods as part of enrolling in an entitlement program.
Despite California lawmakers’ intentions, there is no evidence that family cap laws have an impact on birth rates. The MFG rule also played on the false idea that “welfare queens” were having more children just to get more benefits. Yet people who are enrolled in welfare have the same size families as those who aren’t enrolled. Instead, there’s strong evidence that all family caps do is increase poverty.
*****
Julie: I can’t tell you how many times I say that exact thing. Men especially get perturbed because I’m referring to them. Obviously they aren’t that upset about me/us calling them out because it certainly isn’t stopping them from doing the sick things they do.
Like how a victim gets blamed when the perps get caught - all of a sudden they (The perp) are the ones suffering because the victim went to the police and pressed charges. It was their actions that got them into trouble not the victim who reported it. Yet the pity party continues – As usual, they get pissy when I/we bring it up, as if it’s my/our fault that what they do is broadcast all over this blog.
Oh…grow up, and take responsibility for your actions.
So, listen up men: I’ll/we’ll stop reporting all the disgusting things you do if you stop doing them. Deal? Do I hear a resounding “YES!” from the men? I didn’t think so. OK, I’ll/we’ll carry on then.
Tony: At one time I would’ve been surprised but after writing this blog for so long now, nothing surprises me. I’m still shocked but not surprised.
Nathan: You are a guy so I can see why you would say Bernie is the man. But being a woman, I’m not willing to go down that road this time. If you need my reasons why #I’mwithher, read this.
Scott: Thanks for bringing up fact checking. I think it is super important to see how politicians have voted on certain issues, etc. I have two great resources listed in the left column of the blog to fact check. Or click here and here. If anyone has another source, please post it.
I think this is a great place to end it.
Your turn.
Blog me.
Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.
Gratefully your blog host,
michelle
Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)
If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)
Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:
Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129
Thank you for your loyal support!
All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2016
“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream
" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"
June 21st, 2016 at 11:18 am
By Mohammed Rady
Recently, a devastating terrorist attack took place in Orlando, where 49 innocent people were murdered. Surely, the majority of people in the Arab world condemn this atrocious act of violence? The most fatal shooting in recent American history cannot possibly be celebrated by such a large number of peace-loving people who, after all, mostly condemn the acts of terror committed in the name of Islam by groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda, right? Right?
Wrong.
As a bilingual Arabic and English speaker from the Middle East, I took the liberty of browsing through Arabic news pages on Facebook earlier today; namely Al Jazeera, Al-Arabiya, BBC Arabic and a number of Egyptian news outlets to gauge how the Arab world was responding to the Orlando shooting. The results were disappointing, alarming, and depressing to say the least. Each page’s comment section was inundated with comments showing sympathy towards the attacker, praising him for his actions and wishing death upon members of the international LGBT community. Comments ranged from jokes about the incident and how “the gays had it coming,” to long du’as (religious supplications), wishing death upon gays and lesbians, as well as asking God to grant the killer “the highest place in paradise.” I considered collecting screenshots of these comments to raise awareness about the amount of hatred towards the gay community in the Middle East, but it soon dawned on me that such a task would be impossible.
There were simply too many hateful comments, with thousands celebrating the attack, from Tunisia to Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. It was only through deep digging that a single person who expressed so much as a shred of sympathy to the victims and their families, or even condemned the blatant massacre that took place could be found. If you don’t speak Arabic, visit Al Jazeera Arabic’s Facebook page and scroll down until you see a post about the Orlando attack and note what the top three “reactions” (newly added Facebook feature) are.
Shocked? So am I. It is truly saddening and disturbing to see that such a large number of social media users in the Arab world who voice their opinions on the internet openly and unapologetically condone the killing of innocents because of their sexual orientation. Conversely, you may argue that as a majority of Al Jazeera Arabic viewers and readers are Islamist sympathizers, it is no surprise that they would be homophobic, and you would be right. But bear in mind that this also applies to outlets such as the BBC and Al Arabiya, whose followers you may assume are anti-Islamist because of their condemnation of ISIS. Egyptian news outlets generally have a large pro-Sisi following, and one might be led to think that their anti-brotherhood and anti-Islamism stance means that they condemn acts of terror against members of the LGBT community. Clearly, this is not the case.
The implications of this are far worse and much more far-reaching than one might initially consider. It has now become commonplace in the Arab world to wish death upon minorities and celebrate their murders. Gays, Christians, Jews, atheists, apostates, heterodox Muslims, liberal Muslims, and secularists are seen as subhuman. Celebrating their deaths is now a norm. At worst, attacks such as the Orlando shooting are met with praise, and at best silence.
Members of the left who claim such terrorism has nothing to do with Islam need to become aware of the issue at hand that is Islamism, and understand the ramifications of evading discussions on it. The Arab world’s moral collapse is the result of decades of fundamentalist Wahhabi indoctrination across the Muslim world which has culminated in the recent rise of Islamic terrorism. Reform must come from within Muslim communities – I can’t stress this enough. An open and frank discussion on the current understanding and interpretation of Islam is much needed. Yes, it’s great to see Muslims in the west condemning the attack and voicing solidarity with the victims and their families, but there still remains a long way to go. The Muslim world, particularly the Middle East and North Africa, has become rife with followers of either Arab nationalist anti-west ideologies, or Islamism and Wahhabism, both of which are cesspools for hate.
When the standard response from a lot of liberals is “Christians can be homophobic too” and “this has nothing to do with Islam” right after a terrorist attack where 49 people were killed because of religious fundamentalism, then a frank discussion is desperately needed. No favors are done by denying the presence of homophobia in Muslim communities and repeating far right Islamist rhetoric and propaganda. This only worsens an already bad situation, and the profundity of the consequences this attitude engenders towards Islamic fundamentalism must be recognized. Ignoring Islamic fundamentalism only makes the far right stronger, and its rise will be immediately followed by the persecution of the minorities whose rights the left purports to protect. This makes it harder not only for the LGBT community in the Middle East, but also other minorities and liberal and secular Muslims who fight for change on a daily basis in the Arab world.
June 21st, 2016 at 5:01 pm
Hi Michelle, two victories for women’s rights today! A Washington state judge ruled that public hospitals must provide abortions on-site if they also offer maternity services. And the Obama administration upheld the state of California’s requirement that health insurance cover elective abortions.
And, one more for the team, gotta love this gal Kaitlyn Juvik. She protested at her high school the sexualization of women and the double standard for wearing bras. Kudos Kaitlyn!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIPvpJc7f7E
I for one HATE wearing bras and I know other women feel the same damn way! It’s just another contraption to “keep us (our boobies) in our place.” :-) No bra, no problem!
/SB
June 21st, 2016 at 10:07 pm
Believe it Mary #18, in San Francisco, more than 9,000 of its citizens voted for trump. Those votes came from the the City’s riches areas; West of Twin Peaks, the Marina, Pacific Heights, Merced Manor, Financial district, Sea Clift, St Frances Woods, and a tiny section of the Sunset District.
So LGBT, and OTWs, while they are smiling at you and pretending to care, they are secretly planning on building and then firing up those ovens.
So the next time one of those little bigot-to-be’s dies, drop to your knees, look up at the Heavens and thank God there’s one less evil piece of shit on this planet.
June 21st, 2016 at 10:24 pm
Anonymous#1, you have been stating the obvious. But what is happening to the West is the greedy West’s fault. The West is controlled by white men who would sell their mother’s ashes for a profit.
Think about it they invented a procedure for making diamonds out of human ashes. Truly greedy, do anything for profit.
It is the West that arms and placates the practitioners of Islam. They do it not because of their “religious tolerance. ” That term would be an anathema to the white boy. He like most other cult maintainers strive to make the doctrine of their “religion” the only one.
Yet, the West accepts islam in their mist complete with the degradation of females as anything but a hole for men to fill when in heat.
Why does the West tolerate islam? Three letters. OIL!
For profit the average white boy would sell his enemy guns, bullets and any other weapon his enemy could purchase. Blame only yourselves if you get murdered by a culture that couldn’t make a knife much less a gun to kill anyone with.
As for the LGBT community, most of them are white boys voting republican. The only time they come to the democratic party is for the pity party they throw for themselves when they are rejected by the GOP.
Florida is a republican state. Unfortunately, it was OTWs that paid the price of the sick racist white boys who keep the kind of “I’m for hire to the highest bidder” politician in office.
I have no intention of attending that pity party.
June 21st, 2016 at 10:29 pm
Social Butterfly#2, I don’t mean to be disrespectful if you are white, but isn’t it the fault of white women in America that all American women are but life support for a vagina?
I don’t understand why white women elect white men and then beg then to treat them right.
Why not give a woman politician the chance?
June 21st, 2016 at 10:31 pm
I agree with you Carlos#5, but don’t forget making money sacred. Since Citizens United, corporations and special interests have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to buy politicians and shut out the voices of ordinary Americans.
June 22nd, 2016 at 5:24 am
Anonymous#1 you are using logic under which much of Christianity would have not even been a religion for much of its history.
June 22nd, 2016 at 5:46 am
Michelle, what I see when I read this article is that women are once again depending on the sympathy of men to remedy their problems.
When will the largest bloc of women voters (white women) join the rest of us and vote the male misogynistic bastards out? If women unite and do that we can legislate our own future.
June 22nd, 2016 at 6:28 am
I can agree too with some of you men haters. If you bitches don’t want us to tell you what to do then don’t put us in charge.
But you need a strong man to smack your ass. Don’t worry we don’t mind doing it.
June 22nd, 2016 at 6:48 am
Rady#1, but would the same analysis be made of Christianity when it has been used by racists whites to; justify banning interracial marriages, the enslaving of millions of blacks, the murdering of more than 12 million native Americans, the incarceration of the remaining tribes in concentration camps; the passage of draconian health laws to prevent women from having any control over their bodies that men disagree with; the bombing of black churches, the bombing of synagogues; segregation of OTWs and the continual tyranny of the OTW citizens in America.
Christianity has been used by the white man as an excuse to commit genocide on just about every island in the pacific. It was a political weapon used by the pope to colonize every country outside of europe.
Japan was ruled by the Spanish under the authority of the pope. They were considered ungodly monkeys. The blacks and the Native Americans were considered savages who could be enslaved, raped, and murdered under the watchful and approving of your god jesus.
So please shut the fuck up about Islam being a political weapon and not a religion.
Islam is a direct creation from that tyranny. It was created to prevent the establishment of christianity as the sole religion(political entity) in the Middle East.
It is but a copy of your christianity down to many of the same saints, prophets, and religious tenets. The only difference is that it boldly states what your hypocritical religion hides, its violent and racist side.
June 22nd, 2016 at 7:37 am
Republicans’ divisive rhetoric has no place in the halls of power. And as we’ve seen from their presidential nominee, nothing is off limits. We can’t let them gain ground on Election Day.
This isn’t just about defeating Republicans. It’s about electing tomorrow’s Democratic champions. We need them to bolster the social safety net, protect the Affordable Care Act, and take on the challenges Republicans won’t address.
So don’t just get out and vote, take as many with you as you can. Hilary needs coattails. Without them, the republicans will continue to do to her what they are doing to Obama. They will obstruct and do nothing about what really ails America.
June 22nd, 2016 at 7:49 am
Oil Pulling: A Natural Way to Promote Oral Health
by Dr. David Williams
An ancient technique to clean the oral cavity of toxins and pathogenic bacteria is called oil pulling. I first learned about oil pulling when studying the system of healing called Ayurvedic medicine that originated in India thousands of years ago. But recently, oil pulling seems to be making a comeback.
Although a little time consuming, oil pulling is very simple as it is nothing more than swishing a tablespoon of oil around in your mouth for up to 15 minutes before spitting it out. Personally, I can’t attest to the accuracy of many of the claims about the benefits of oil pulling (curing diabetes and cancer, pulling toxins from the blood, etc.), but it does balance the bacterial flora in the mouth and can significantly improve oral health.
Studies from India (where oil pulling originated and is still practiced) show that after 24 hours, 48 hours, one week, and two weeks, there were significant reductions in Streptococcus mutans counts in those who practiced oil pulling for 10 minutes each day before brushing. (J Indian Soc Pedod Prev Dent 08;26(1):12–17) S. mutans is the bacterium that causes dental caries (cavities).
Oil Pulling Basics
To maintain optimal oral health, daily oil pulling is probably not necessary. Every other day or even a couple of times a week should suffice. Sesame oil is most highly recommended for oil pulling.
It is widely used in Ayurvedic medicine for massage, topical applications, etc. Typically, you would take one tablespoon (or one teaspoon for children) in the mouth, then sip, suck, and pull the oil through your teeth for 10 to 15 minutes, and finally spit it out. The oil will turn milky white.
Sesame oil is naturally antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral, which helps explain its ability to reduce S. mutans levels. But another oil that has many of the same properties and can also be used for oil pulling is coconut oil. Since I always have coconut oil, I’ve been using it almost exclusively. I use a little less than a tablespoon.
On the days I do oil pulling, I do it first thing in the morning, then I floss, brush.
June 25th, 2016 at 9:01 am
[…] Erica: It is one of the reasons why I am so pro Hillary. Sympathy only gets you so far, and as we women have seen and experienced, it doesn’t take us far enough. Men will never be able to empathize with us women. Only a woman can do that. It’s time we women ban together and as you say, “…vote the male misogynistic bastards out.” I’m with ya. […]