Friday, August 26, 2011

welfare cadillac boogeymom! beware! booooooooohhhhhhhoohohohohohoh!

i understand that some want to blame the poor during economic hard times. everyone's watching their dollars and it's quite easy to make a boogeyman out of the "welfare cadillac mom".
reality is quite different.
even though welfare fraud cases get tons of attention when they are discovered [they do exist, i will not deny that], they only make up a very low percentage of ALL welfare benefits handed out by city/state/federal governments.
for instance, here's a report by the House Ways & Means committee from 2002: http://1.usa.gov/pKfbqC
it shows the results from an investigation on Unemployment Insurance benefits, and finds that only about 1.9% of UI benefits are attributed to fraud.
today, there have been at least two re/posts in my facebook feed about drug testing welfare recipients. these posts include the token reasoning "It's OK to drug test people who WORK for their money but not those who don't?"
i don't personally know people who "...are crying and calling this unconstitutional." i'm sure there are some, but the more substantive reason to be against drug testing of welfare recipients is that it doesn't make ANY financial sense.

let's just take the study quoted above:

total UI benefits: $29,878,048,780.49
2% fraud: $597,560,975.61
a: cheapest drug screening= $49 [http://bit.ly/okLeEd]
b: # of unemployed individuals= 13,339,398 [http://bit.ly/pGtfCn]
a * b: 1 time cost of drug testing= $653,630,502
c: average weeks an individual stays on UI benefits= 12 [http://bit.ly/pqn21r]
let's say drug testing is done once per month.
(a*b) * (c/4): $1,792,682,926.83

[these are all approximate 2001 numbers]

in conclusion, it doesn't make sense to spend $3 to find $1 worth of fraud.
we have to accept that SOME fraud is bound to happen, but we should find cost effective ways to curb it.

drug testing ≠ cost effective.

UPDATE:
my numbers are off, but the basic premise of my argument is still right.

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Saturday, August 20, 2011

video: the other shoe by fucked up

2 years ago in brooklyn i got to see fucked up perform for the 1st time.
it was an amazing final day to my 1st visit of NYC.























1 1/2 years ago i saw them again @ the east-side drive-in during sxsw oh10.























i saw 'em last a few months ago @ free press summer fest in houston, tx.





















each time i see fucked up, each time the blow my mind!
they've become one of my favorite bands.
they've got an amazing front man.
they're incredible talented.
they play their asses off every time.

this is "the other shoe" from "david comes to life":



every time someone says that there's no good rock & roll being made, show 'em this!

UPDATE:
related, but kinda not...
found this article about the guitarist for the band chavez and saw this sweeeeeet ass picture:





Friday, August 5, 2011

wow! well put mr. christie #sharialaw @govchristie

i don't agree w/most of new jersey's governor chris christie's policy decisions/stances.
he is a rising star in the republican party and despite a lot of people's desire for him to run for president, he has made it VERY clear that he will not seek the nomination of the grand ol' party.
it is refreshing to hear him say the words in the video below. it is courageous of him to not toe the tea party line on the wholly made up non-controversy of sharia law taking root in the american judicial system.
check it out & wait 'til the end for a nice way for lawrence o'donnell to wrap up the segment

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Tuesday, August 2, 2011

not JUST a party fotog ;)

helped my buddy show off some of his work for austin energy:
Austin Energy Green Building's 2010 Annual Report