MaggieD
DP Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 9, 2010
- Messages
- 43,244
- Reaction score
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- Location
- Chicago Area
- Gender
- Female
- Political Leaning
- Moderate
Q: Has the Obama administration started a program to use "taxpayer money" to give free cell phones to welfare recipients?
A: No. Low-income households have been eligible for discounted telephone service for more than a decade. But the program is funded by telecom companies, not by taxes, and the president has nothing to do with it.
First, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative. I show my lean as Moderate because I wish to distance myself from some of the things my party is doing that I absolutely don't agree with.
But. Fair is fair. Here's the deal.
"What's the myth?" and!!!!!!
"What's your proof?
The Myth of the Obama Phone
There is no such thing. Subsidized phone service was begun by the FCC in 1984, under Ronald Reagan. It was significantly expanded under Bill Clinton. Although I'm confident the program is (and has been) abused since inception, it's something that's sorely needed. Imagine being homeless and not being able to afford a phone number. How do you get a job? How do you call for help? I support the program. It's subsidized in part by phone service providers and in part by the Federal government. There is no such thing as an Obama Phone.
And here's my proof:
snopes.com: Free 'ObamaPhones' for Welfare Recipients
And FactCheck.org says this:
So. Whatcha' got??
Wouldn't it be nice if this thread stayed on track?
The program is funded by every paying phone user through fees and taxes...
To be fair, "Obama phone" came from an Obama supporter who was filmed answering a question about Obama and saying she wanted to get her Obama phone. It grew out of that widely played video. So, in fact, there was/is an Obama phone.
Obamaphone is still catchy.
Your point being? Everything is paid by something, for God's sake.
Only in that woman's mind. There is no such thing.
:lol: :lol:
I agree that the program shouldn't be call "Obamaphones." It shouldn't exist at all. People got along fine without cell phones forever. If the poor are thought to need immediate access to phones, subsidized payphones in poor neighborhoods was the proper answer.First, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative. I show my lean as Moderate because I wish to distance myself from some of the things my party is doing that I absolutely don't agree with.
But. Fair is fair. Here's the deal.
"What's the myth?" and!!!!!!
"What's your proof?
The Myth of the Obama Phone
There is no such thing. Subsidized phone service was begun by the FCC in 1984, under Ronald Reagan. It was significantly expanded under Bill Clinton. Although I'm confident the program is (and has been) abused since inception, it's something that's sorely needed. Imagine being homeless and not being able to afford a phone number. How do you get a job? How do you call for help? I support the program. It's subsidized in part by phone service providers and in part by the Federal government. There is no such thing as an Obama Phone.
And here's my proof:
snopes.com: Free 'ObamaPhones' for Welfare Recipients
And FactCheck.org says this:
So. Whatcha' got??
Wouldn't it be nice if this thread stayed on track?
I agree that the program shouldn't be call "Obamaphones." It shouldn't exist at all. People got along fine without cell phones forever. If the poor are thought to need immediate access to phones, subsidized payphones in poor neighborhoods was the proper answer.
So. Whatcha' got??
Well, there's always the old "Once you go half black, you never go half back".............
I disagree. I have no problem at all with the poor having a phone number to call their own. How do you EVER find a job if no one can call you back? Stand at the payphone for days on end? Doesn't sound to productive to me. Cheapskate.
I disagree. I have no problem at all with the poor having a phone number to call their own. How do you EVER find a job if no one can call you back? Stand at the payphone for days on end? Doesn't sound to productive to me. Cheapskate.
I agree that the program shouldn't be call "Obamaphones." It shouldn't exist at all. People got along fine without cell phones forever. If the poor are thought to need immediate access to phones, subsidized payphones in poor neighborhoods was the proper answer.
I think the problem arose when the program to include cell phones. If it were left at landlines, I don't believe there would be a big issue...
I think you're softening on us Maggie.
What else is not considered a necessity for the government to provide? How about free public transit or free cars to ensure poor people can get to those jobs the free phone allowed them to get?
First, I'm a dyed-in-the-wool Conservative. I show my lean as Moderate because I wish to distance myself from some of the things my party is doing that I absolutely don't agree with.
But. Fair is fair...
Imagine being homeless and not being able to afford a phone number. How do you get a job? How do you call for help? I support the program. It's subsidized in part by phone service providers and in part by the Federal government. There is no such thing as an Obama Phone.
Yeah, those homeless people have such convenient places to put them.
Your point being? Everything is paid by something, for God's sake.
I'm glad to hear (or, rather, read) you say that. Let me ask you a related question: What's your opinion of public transportation?
Where I live, a lot of jobs, and I believe a majority of those that are actually listed in newspaper classified ads, are in industrial parks and other areas that are not on (or just off) bus and train routes. How is someone supposed to get there, even for a job interview?
Increasing public transportation increases access to jobs, thus makes it easier for people who are not "lazy" (to use a common conservatives' term) to get where they need to go. But, traditionally, conservatives oppose it, and favor the automobile, because they tend to be beholden to the oil industry. They love cars -- though they don't love the United Auto Workers. (Conversely, liberals have had the problem of confusing the interest group supposedly supporting a group of people with the group of people themselves.)
So, if you (not necessarily the originator of the thread) are a conservative, and you want people to get jobs, you should be in favor of ways to make that easier -- and this way doesn't have them holed up at the unemployment office, taking courses that end up doing not a lick of good. (I know, I've been there, thankfully not recently.)
I know, building and/or improving public transportation is expensive. But building and/or improving roads is, too. These are things that fall under the category of "It's gotta be done, or else we're up the creek."
Yeah, those homeless people have such convenient places to put them.
I might be softening, CJ. *shrug* But when I think of a homeless woman with a couple of kids or a guy desperate for SOME kind of job, thinking of them getting a freebie cell phone with 70 minutes a month, it doesn't seem like a bad investment.
That's fair - but I'd rather see Apple or Verison or some other multibillion dollar corporation give back to their communities by doing this. After all, they are making 100s of billions, if not trillions off the American taxpayer so they can afford to give something back.
If they're homeless, they have no place to charge the phone... :doh
Seriously though, I don't think the homeless are major participants in the program, and a multi-box voice mail system at the closest shelter could suffice...
Eh, that's not really true in present. Cell phones are a must have for work. You could also say people were all right without internet, but in reality internet is also very important in today's society.
I agree that the program shouldn't be call "Obamaphones." It shouldn't exist at all. People got along fine without cell phones forever. If the poor are thought to need immediate access to phones, subsidized payphones in poor neighborhoods was the proper answer.
Then they ought to find a way to pay for them, or have a legal guardian appointed, since they can't care for themselves.
I've had it and more with the notion that it's up to those of us who work and struggle, and somehow find a way to hold down jobs to make pampered zoo animals out of people who refuse to work. We have millions of illegal invaders in this country to fill the very low skill jobs that people who think that they "deserve" "free" cell phones believe that they are too good to perform.
Round them up. Take them to farms, or to fish processing plants, or to cattle ranches or to landfills and put them to work. It won't kill them. And then they can get their own cell phone and leave the rest of us alone.
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