I think THIS is the true definition of entitlement

[Mississippi Sooner]

Million Dollar Lottery Winner Chooses to Remain on Public Assistance

While most people have played the “if I had a million dollars I would ____ ” thought game, few fill that blank in with “stay on public assistance.”

Amanda Clayton, a 24-year-old from Lincoln Park, Michigan, is one of the few who does, and she is getting away with it. Clayton won $1 million from the Michigan State Lottery this fall, but she is still collecting and using $200 a month in food assistance from the taxpayers with her Michigan Bridge Card.

“I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn’t, I thought maybe it was okay because I’m not working,” the lottery winner who just purchased a new house and car told Local 4 in Detroit. The station even filmed her shamelessly purchasing goods.

When Local 4 asked if she felt she had a right to the money, Clayton responded, “I mean I kinda do.”

Clayton justified the sentiment by explaining that after taking her winnings in a lump sum and having to pay taxes, the total amount was just over half of the initial winnings.

“I feel that it’s okay because I mean, I have no income and I have bills to pay,” she said. “I have two houses.”

http://news.yahoo.com/lottery-winner-food-stamps-thought-maybe-okay-because-161650898.html

[TUSooner]

Some people are just inexcusable.

[Mississippi Sooner]

But...she only collected a half million, so it's ok.

[KantoSooner]

mmmmmm welfare cheese!

[sappstuf]

http://cdn2.dailycaller.com/2012/03/Screen-shot-2012-03-07-at-11.08.41-AM.png

[OULenexaman]

Food stamp eligibility is based on gross monthly income and lottery winnings are considered liquid assets and do not count as income.

So the loophole is written...

[LiveLaughLove]

Good for her! Milk it for all you can sister!

If the good taxpayers of Michigan don't mind, why should you?

If they get tired of it, they will vote in people to stop stuff like this, if they don't then they had best get back to busy for this lady that has no job!

[badger]

Good for her! Milk it for all you can sister!

If the good taxpayers of Michigan don't mind, why should you?

If they get tired of it, they will vote in people to stop stuff like this, if they don't then they had best get back to busy for this lady that has no job!

Yeah, it takes stories and stuff like this to prompt change and without it, a lot of loopholes get left unclosed.

I really don't feel any outrage, because she seems like a classic case of "moron lottery winner that will soon be broke because they can't stop spending money on sh!t"

[Bourbon St Sooner]

You people are so heartless! She has 2 houses! She's got bills! Everybody has a right to 2 houses and free contraception in this country.

[olevetonahill]

Whiskey,Tango, Foxtrot.
What happened to Personal PRIDE ?

[Curly Bill]

Whiskey,Tango, Foxtrot.
What happened to Personal PRIDE ?

LOL..You are an old-timer! These days it's about getting all you can for nothing! Our last president got elected pandering to those type of people.

[badger]

She apparently isn't the first to milk the Michigan teet:

Linky (http://www.theblaze.com/stories/michigan-removes-30000-college-students-from-food-stamp-program/)


For the most part, college students are not eligible for food stamps under federal rules. But under former Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s administration, attending college alone qualified people for food assistance.

o40aySmywtg

[StoopTroup]

Anyone think she might have done it for attention and also maybe because she couldn't believe there was a loophole like that? I mean....one of the Michgan Politicians has already introducing a bill in the Michigan legislature to get it stopped. It's kind of like she is doing michigan a personal service. I'm guessing she paid michigan enough in taxes when she claimed her lottery Winnings to cover the damage he did?

I think personal pride comes into play if you help get that stupid loophole closed. I wonder how many Trust Fund Babies were out there getting food stamps. She might have just outraged enough people to get something done.

I wonder if she'd told someone she could do it but instead took personal pride that she didn't need it anymore if anyone would have cared? Do it like she did and the outrage got something done.

Good job Girl!

[olevetonahill]

Again, Whiskey,Tango, Foxtrot.

[StoopTroup]

Also...maybe the Lawyers on the Board can answer this one.

If say you were lucky enough to win say 300 million in the Oklahoma Multi-State Powerball, if you were to move to Texas before cashing in on the 300 million dollar ticket....could you avoid paying Oklahoma State Income Taxes or would you still owe the State Tax because you bought the ticket prior to becoming a resident of Texas?

I ask because I saw a Lottery show that said Lotto Winners do better when they are residents of States that do not have State Income Taxes like Texas.

[jkjsooner]

Food stamp eligibility is based on gross monthly income and lottery winnings are considered liquid assets and do not count as income.

So the loophole is written...

Is that true? So someone worth $100 million who didn't receive any investment/interest income (easy if they had it all invested in a falling stock market) could apply for and get food stamps?

I have trouble believing that. Either way, it's a loophole and it's unethical. That being said the richest among us exploit loopholes all the time and many of their practices would be considered unethical as well.

[ictsooner7]

You people are so heartless! She has 2 houses! She's got bills! Everybody has a right to 2 houses and free contraception in this country.

Free? Educate me on how it is free to her. I keep hearing limbaugh say HE is having to pay for Fluke's birth control, how do he figure that?

[StoopTroup]

WTF=they are trying to close a loophole that lots of folks, not just lottery winners, have been using to get food stamps. A friend of mine got hurt at work and the Company denied his claim. When he was working he had been supporting his 80 year old mother besides himself. Thankfully they owned their Home and her husband (Deceased) had set up a fund to pay the property taxes and up keep on the Home in a trust that nobody could touch so she would never lose her Home or get cheated out of it. Unfortunately her Son's Income was what they used to eat on, keep a car up and take visits to the Doctors in. They both were not in good shape as far as health was concerned especially after her Son broke his back at work and was hauled to the Hospital. The Son is totally disabled and his 80 year old mother has to drive him to the Doctors. They had very little money coming in and he had debts that needed to be paid. They didn't qualify for Food Stamps but were starving. If it wasn't for friends and Church, they would have. Once Worker Comp did kick in...they did recover but for over a year....they relied on the Food Banks and Catholic Charities. They now give back to those charities and believe that if it wasn't for them they would have maybe turned the pilot light off and taken a long sleep.

We have plenty of resources in this Country. The Haves seem to really get upset when the havenots get help in this Country. I don't get that. So what if someone gets $200 bucks worth of food a month? As long as they are eating the food and not trading the stamps for drugs....I am fine with that. Maybe they even give some of it back to the food bank.

Our Country isn't gonna go broke because ti hands out $200 in food stamps a month to Americans.

[StoopTroup]

Free? Educate me on how it is free to her. I keep hearing limbaugh say HE is having to pay for Fluke's birth control, how do he figure that?

He developed some sort of delusional back track that makes it seem like the Government is paying her friend who used Birth Control to help control a health condition and then said that the Government has basically paying her and her friend to have sex. That went to the next logical conclusion that she and her friend were sluts and really probably prostitutes. If you have ever listened to Rush...he did it trying to be funny and probably didn't mean to be so callous...but he was trying to make a point that I think he shouldn't have. He's as much of a whore as anyone in Talk Radio. Matter of fact....he might be the all time whore of Talk Radio. It's gotten so bad for him that instead of packing it in and trying to do good in the World with what he's been blessed with....he continues to try and built his Golden Empire like the likes of Donald Trump. He'll step on as many toes as he needs to to get where ever it is he is trying to go. I don't think he even really cares about the GOP Party even though many of them look to him for direction at times. He was always been no different than Howard Stern. Shock people and stay relevant. Don't shock People and your days in Radio will soon be over.

[Curly Bill]

WTF=they are trying to close a loophole that lots of folks, not just lottery winners, have been using to get food stamps. A friend of mine got hurt at work and the Company denied his claim. When he was working he had been supporting his 80 year old mother besides himself. Thankfully they owned their Home and her husband (Deceased) had set up a fund to pay the property taxes and up keep on the Home in a trust that nobody could touch so she would never lose her Home or get cheated out of it. Unfortunately her Son's Income was what they used to eat on, keep a car up and take visits to the Doctors in. They both were not in good shape as far as health was concerned especially after her Son broke his back at work and was hauled to the Hospital. The Son is totally disabled and his 80 year old mother has to drive him to the Doctors. They had very little money coming in and he had debts that needed to be paid. They didn't qualify for Food Stamps but were starving. If it wasn't for friends and Church, they would have. Once Worker Comp did kick in...they did recover but for over a year....they relied on the Food Banks and Catholic Charities. They now give back to those charities and believe that if it wasn't for them they would have maybe turned the pilot light off and taken a long sleep.

We have plenty of resources in this Country. The Haves seem to really get upset when the havenots get help in this Country. I don't get that. So what if someone gets $200 bucks worth of food a month? As long as they are eating the food and not trading the stamps for drugs....I am fine with that. Maybe they even give some of it back to the food bank.

Our Country isn't gonna go broke because ti hands out $200 in food stamps a month to Americans.

We're not? I don't guess you've checked the deficit lately. Those $200 checks seem to be adding up.

[pphilfran]

How can she buy a lottery ticket when she is drawing welfare? There should be some sort of test...

[olevetonahill]

How can she buy a lottery ticket when she is drawing welfare? There should be some sort of test...

And Bingo was his name

[badger]

We're not? I don't guess you've checked the deficit lately. Those $200 checks seem to be adding up.

It certainly added up when 30k Michigan college students were getting the checks. If you check that article I linked, it apparently saved Michigan $75 million to cut the college kids off from those food stamps.

Can you imagine getting food stamps just for being a college student and how we'd spend the money back then? TACO BELL FOR THE HOUSE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

... I've never been on food stamps, so I'm not sure how it works. Is Taco Bell eligible?

[StoopTroup]

We're not? I don't guess you've checked the deficit lately. Those $200 checks seem to be adding up.

Refund me for the Iraq War and I will gladly take care of the $200 Checks you are worried about Bill.


The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) (http://usgovinfo.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.cbo.gov/) has estimated the cost of "prosecuting" a war against Iraq at up to $9 billion per month, on top of an initial outlay of up to $13 billion for the deployment of troops to the Persian Gulf region.
In a letter (http://usgovinfo.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www.cbo.gov/showdoc.cfm%3Findex=3822%26amp%3Bsequence=0) to the House and Senate budget committees, CBO provided Congress with cost estimates for an armed conflict with Iraq, based on recent similar U.S. military operations including those in the Balkans, Afghanistan, and the 1990 Gulf War.
Summary of Iraq War Cost Estimates
CBO estimated the following costs for an Iraq war:


Initial deployment of troops: $9 billion to $13 billion
Conducting the war: $6 billion to $9 billion per month
Returning forces to US: $5 billion to $7 billion
Temporary occupation of Iraq: $1 billion to $4 billion per month

Unknown Factors Involved
In arriving at their estimates, CBO acknowledged that exact costs would depend on several "unknown factors" including:


actual force size deployed
duration of the conflict
strategy employed
number of casualties
military equipment lost
need for reconstruction of Iraq's infrastructure

Assumptions Made in CBO Cost Estimates
CBO analysts assumed two possible war-fighting alternatives the Defense Department might employ in operations against Iraq, one emphasizing use of ground troops, the other emphasizing use of air power.
The Ground Troop Alternative
Under the "Heavy Ground" option, the U.S. would deploy about five U.S. Army divisions and five U.S. Air Force tactical fighter wings to the Persian Gulf region. CBO estimates that the cost of deploying the Heavy Ground force to the Persian Gulf would be about $13 billion; after that, the incremental cost of prosecuting a war in Iraq would reach just over $9 billion during the first month of combat and subsequently fall to about $8 billion a month. Costs to return Heavy Ground option personnel to the U.S. would be about $7 billion.
The Air Power Alternative
Relying more on air power, the "Heavy Air" option, according to CBO, would require deployment of two and one-third U.S. Army divisions and 10 U.S. Air Force tactical fighter wings. The cost of deploying the Heavy Air force to the Persian Gulf would be $9 billion, and the incremental cost of prosecuting a war would reach $8 billion during the first month of combat, falling to about $6 billion a month. Costs to return Heavy Air option personnel to the U.S. would be about $5 billion.
Duration of a War with Iraq
Recognizing that the duration of an Iraq war would significantly affect their cost estimates, CBO projected two possible scenarios; a short war and an extended war.
A Short War with Iraq
Should Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, his deputies and military commanders give in quickly, says CBO, the war in Iraq might last no longer or cost much more than the 1990 Gulf War.
An Extended War with Iraq
Should Hussein decide to fight and use chemical or biological weapons (CBW), the duration of the war could be significantly extended. Engaging in protracted urban warfare and the need to decontaminate personnel and equipment affected by CBW attacks would result in both increased costs and, of course, U.S. casualties.
Could Iraqi Oil Help Pay Some Costs?
In its estimates, CBO also analyzed the suggested possibility that proceeds from sales of Iraqi oil could be used to offset the costs of rebuilding damaged infrastructure and occupation of Iraq. CBO found this idea not to be a reasonable option because:


"Iraq is already a major exporter of oil and until recently has been producing at close to its peak sustainable production capacity of 2.8 million barrels a day.
"Currently, about 80 percent of Iraq's oil production is being used to purchase imports under the United Nations Oil for Food Program or for domestic consumption. And, in the near term, Iraqi oil exports cannot be expanded without large-scale investment and development of infrastructure. Thus, the primary source of additional funds for reconstructing Iraq would be the proceeds from the legitimate sale of the approximately 400,000 BPD that are currently smuggled out of the country to pay for the importation of items that violate United Nations sanctions.
"Assuming that a post-conflict Iraq complied with all U.N. resolutions and removed the basis for the current economic sanctions, and assuming also that its oil production infrastructure was undamaged, Iraq could pay for reconstruction costs by using funds generated from that 400,000 BPD of oil and still have enough to pay for its country's current level of imports. At today's oil prices, production at that level would amount to approximately $3 billion a year."

[jkjsooner]

It certainly added up when 30k Michigan college students were getting the checks.

I think the point was to close the loopholes but don't complain about people who legitimately qualify and need the help.

We're not going broke because of food stamps.

[pphilfran]

I think the point was to close the loopholes but don't complain about people who legitimately qualify and need the help.

We're not going broke because of food stamps.

Some group or another feels the same way about every program...that is why we are going broke...

[Curly Bill]

Refund me for the Iraq War and I will gladly take care of the $200 Checks you are worried about Bill.

Refund you for it? Dang ST, I can't believe you footed the bill for the entire war - that's big of ya. And I got a feeling you couldn't cover too many of those $200 checks.

[Curly Bill]

Some group or another feels the same way about every program...that is why we are going broke...

Yup, me personally I'd rather be springing for national defense than funding welfare bums, but that's just me.

[dwarthog]

As Jared Diamond wondered in his book "Collapse", "what were the Easter Islanders saying as they cut down the last tree on their island?"

Half a million, two homes and taking money from a broke government and viewing it as "owed". Classic.

[badger]

As Jared Diamond wondered in his book "Collapse", "what were the Easter Islanders saying as they cut down the last tree on their island?"

"I sure hope Dr. Seuss doesn't sue us for copying this from 'The Lorax'" :P

[jkjsooner]

In all fairness, she was probably stupid enough to "buy" those homes as investment properties back in 2006. Rather than owning two homes she's probably a debt slave to two homes that she has negative equity in.

If this were Las Vegas or California she could still have a negative net worth.

[KantoSooner]

If we're lucky, her homes are in Detroit, and thus she should be able to pay off the loans for both for about $1,000.

[dwarthog]

"I sure hope Dr. Seuss doesn't sue us for copying this from 'The Lorax'" :P

If I typed those words instead of using copying/paste, are we ok? ;)

[ictsooner7]

He developed some sort of delusional back track that makes it seem like the Government is paying her friend who used Birth Control to help control a health condition and then said that the Government has basically paying her and her friend to have sex. That went to the next logical conclusion that she and her friend were sluts and really probably prostitutes. If you have ever listened to Rush...he did it trying to be funny and probably didn't mean to be so callous...but he was trying to make a point that I think he shouldn't have. He's as much of a whore as anyone in Talk Radio. Matter of fact....he might be the all time whore of Talk Radio. It's gotten so bad for him that instead of packing it in and trying to do good in the World with what he's been blessed with....he continues to try and built his Golden Empire like the likes of Donald Trump. He'll step on as many toes as he needs to to get where ever it is he is trying to go. I don't think he even really cares about the GOP Party even though many of them look to him for direction at times. He was always been no different than Howard Stern. Shock people and stay relevant. Don't shock People and your days in Radio will soon be over.


So...................... limbaugh thinks someone who is going to a private school is somehow getting medical care free from the governement? Would someone please explain how that works? Why is it every time a rightwinger sees someone getting something they don't like, somehow THEY are paying for it?

And no I would never watch or listen to rush, I've seen the clips and he wasn't joking. You don't hear how he said video tape it and put it on the web so I can watch it. How come the right is not yelling about rush trying to get girls to do porn?

[olevetonahill]

So...................... limbaugh thinks someone who is going to a private school is somehow getting medical care free from the governement? Would someone please explain how that works? Why is it every time a rightwinger sees someone getting something they don't like, somehow THEY are paying for it?

And no I would never watch or listen to rush, I've seen the clips and he wasn't joking. You don't hear how he said video tape it and put it on the web so I can watch it. How come the right is not yelling about rush trying to get girls to do porn?

How many more post before Yall say its all Bush's fault?

Oh wait, Yall done brought up the Iraq war and Limbaugh Plus said this Broad is doing a Great Public service

[badger]

As Jared Diamond wondered in his book "Collapse", "what were the Easter Islanders saying as they cut down the last tree on their island?"

What they were REALLY thinking:

"Let's carve another moai!"

http://thebesttraveldestinations.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/The_Moai_Easter_Island_04.jpg

[StoopTroup]

Refund you for it? Dang ST, I can't believe you footed the bill for the entire war - that's big of ya. And I got a feeling you couldn't cover too many of those $200 checks.

Why not. You feel like Americans are stealing from you and I feel like the Bush Administration wasted even more money on a War he lied about getting us involved in. It's an equal trade off.

It's good to have a feeling but it's a start. I'll start paying those checks to the folks you think are ruining America and undeserving.

[StoopTroup]

So...................... limbaugh thinks someone who is going to a private school is somehow getting medical care free from the governement? Would someone please explain how that works? Why is it every time a rightwinger sees someone getting something they don't like, somehow THEY are paying for it?

And no I would never watch or listen to rush, I've seen the clips and he wasn't joking. You don't hear how he said video tape it and put it on the web so I can watch it. How come the right is not yelling about rush trying to get girls to do porn?

Well if you are only going to read up on the things you like and not listen to people you don't like....you aren't very informed. Uninformed one sided twits ought to really steer clear of message boards and really any public forums.

If you have problems with Rush you should start calling in and or writing to Rush. Your reasons for only listening to clips don't hold water. Things that hit the edit button don't alway portray reality and it's pretty clear by many of your posts on Sfs that you tend to lean towards becoming a waste of Human Life.

[cleller]

In all fairness, she was probably stupid enough to "buy" those homes as investment properties back in 2006. Rather than owning two homes she's probably a debt slave to two homes that she has negative equity in.

If this were Las Vegas or California she could still have a negative net worth.

In the story they mentioned that she just bought one with cash from her lottery winnings....