Jobs and Welfare Blog Entry

The government began tracking Welfare in 1975. We have had the Welfare Reform Program for 10 years now, and the number of TANF cases has decreased. Before we put the Welfare Reform plan into action the Government would just hand out cash with "no strings attatched", This was called AFDC or Aid to Families with Dependent Children. Now the Government will still hand out money to families in need, but the money must be used for specific things such as education or food. According to this article more single mothers have been getting jobs. People making 19,350 or less per year with 4 or more individuals in their family are considered to be living in poverty. Policy Makers and Citizens have reached different conclusions on whether they think the Welfare Reform has been a good change or a bad change.
I believe the new system "Welfare Reform" is the better way to help families in need. We can't just be handing out money to families and let them spend it however they want because there are families who will take great advantage of that and waste the money. Also, before the Welfare Reform the more children women had the more money they would recieve. If you think about this, if a woman had 1 child and knew she would recieve at least another $100 dollars per month if she had another child the woman would keep having children in order to increase the amount of money recieved per month. This is promoting a bad system- The women can't even take care of their 1 baby yet they will have more just to recieve a little extra cash each month. Obama doesn't agree with Welfare Reform however, an infulencial political official who does is Mr. Tim Pawlenty. Welfare Reform is on Pawlenty's list of issues he is working on.

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Mom Drugged Cranky Daughter

In Yelm Washington a mother admitted to placing a percocet pill in her 9-month old daughter's formula bottle because they baby was "cranky as hell". Percocet is a narcotic pain reliever that contains oxycodone, and is very dangerous for anyone under the age of 18. The baby started making gurgling and would not wake up. The baby was flown to Tacoma Washington and she had stopped breathing. court papers state. “The victim was in such a state that the medics had to insert a line directly into the baby’s bone marrow as the baby’s veins were in a state of collapse,” court papers state. Gatlin (the babies mother) entered a not guilty plea Tuesday to her initial charges – unlawful distribution of a controlled substance to a person under 18 and third-degree assault of a child. This is absolutely horrible. If she can't handle a baby crying then she should have never had one. This poor innocent child had no say if what happened to her and now she's dead. The mother really doesn't seem remorceful, and she is never allowed to have contact with any children again.

Dad Walking Cross-Country for Charity

56 year old John Conte is walking Cross-Country to raise money for wounded troops and their families. His goal is to raise $50,000 for Fisher House to help it build more "comfort homes." Such homes provide housing for injured soldiers' families near a hospital where their loved one is recovering. There is at least one Fisher House at every major military medical center. I'm going to have at least five pairs of running shoes," Conte said. "I've got two pairs of hiking boots, and I'm going to sleep occasionally in the car. Sometimes I'll camp in a tent, other times I'll stay in a motel or hotel." He began training by walking five miles a day, he said. "But that quickly went up to 10 miles a day, and since October I've been doing 15 to 18 miles a day." Conte will make the trip solo, using his car to help map out his route. "I'll drive 20 miles ahead each day, walk back 10 miles, then turn around and go back to the car, making it 20 miles total." I think this is such a cool thing for a person to do! He is basically giving up his whole life to give more to injured troops and their families. I think it's really special that he is thinking about others first rather than himself. Most of us only think about ourself first and not the others who are fighting to save our lives.

Mayor Found Shot to Death

The Mayor of Washington Park, Illinois was found shot to death in his car. The vehicle he was found in was found smashed against a tree. He was taken to the local hospital but was pronounced dead on arrival. John Thorton (the mayor) was shot twice in his chest at close range. McAfee is the lead detective on the case and he says that Thorton had been driving home around 5:30 A.M. after his second job. It was said that Thorton stopped to pick someone up that had been roaming the streets. McAfee says this wasn't uncommon for Thorton because he often patrols his town's streets and helped people in need. After Thorton was shot the suspect fled the scene immediately and got into what is noted as a Red Chevrolet. Police believe this was a robbery attempt since he had a computer system inside his car. Thorton leaves behind his wife, 6 children, and at least 10 grandchildren. This is really sad. It's pathetic that people are willing to take another's life for a petty computer sytem and other such things. Nobody deserves to die like this, and I hope they catch the gunman soon since they already have the driver of the getaway car in custody.

SeaWorld Trainer Dies Due to Killer Whale

40 year old Dawn Brancheau was a trainer at SeaWorld. She was working on training a 12,000 pound Whale named Tilikum. She was with Tilikum in knee-deep water. The Whale got very aggressive and started to attack Brancheau. After seising her the Whale drug her deep under the water. The resucers could not immediately get to her because of the Whales aggressive nature. The Whale had to be coaxed into a separate small pool so they could get to her. 40 minutes after the attack her body was finally retrived. "The autopsy report by the Orange County, Florida, medical examiner's office says Brancheau's spinal cord was severed, and she sustained fractures to her jawbone, ribs and to a cervical vertebra, in addition to the drowning." This Whale is blamed for two other deaths also, one in 1991 and one in 1999. People should not be working with animals of this nature. Especially ones that are blamed for two other deaths in previous years. They are meant to be in the wild not trained and around humans. I think training of Whales should be banned here in the U.S.