Raise in Unemployment Benifits makes some ineligable for food stamps

[thetreble 19]

I am in NO way saying that any country should get fast-tracked through the system, but do keep in mind that folks from Canada already have preferential treatment in the way their "automatic" visitor visa works. There are all types of specialized laws to all parts of America, whether we're talking visitor visas or celebrity justice or whatever. I remember for the Winter Olympics the Canadian skater was moved ahead of a ton of people so that she'd have her status here and be eligible to skate for the US Olympic Team, and I also remember being uber angry about that as well.

I'm not supporting the actual agrument but just showing that there is preferential treatment given all the time. I even remember when Efgeni Malkin got a visa to play for the Penguins in a matter of weeks and I can guarantee that doesn't happen for most people.

I also won't even get started on the horrors of welfare or anything like that as I currently know a 25 year old girl that quit her job 8 months ago and is making enough money through unemployment to afford a house and brag to people about how she has time off

Bowflex, indeed we do have special cross-border programs already in place. I don't think this is preferential treatment, these are programs both governments have set up, put money into, and they STILL have screening processes in place. For example, it is for the good of both countries that Canadians do not have to apply for visitor's visas. With the largest trading partership in the world, amongst a whole pot of other things like tourism in both countries, Canadians and Americans spend UBER amounts of money in both countries every year. It pays for the governments to have programs like not requiring visitors visas into place. I wouldn't say they were "preferential treatment " programs at all because that is not their intention.

My brother plays hockey in the US and every year he gets a visa in a matter of weeks through his team. Is that preferential treatment? No. Thats situation specific. The job is all lined up. All the ducks are in a row and the season starts as of a certain date. And again, that's not just for Canadians, it's for all hockey players out there playing pro in the USA. So, I don't really know how that relates to the RIDICULOUS argument this poster is making about Canadians having special rules when it comes to family immigration.

We are talking about family immigration though, not visiting, not working, etc. We are talking about someone actually immigrating to stay and live here for the rest of their life and do it through a US citizen.

It's a different ball game and we need to all be treated the same.

[trailmix 77]

It is not about being uppity or holier than anyone, the US already allows cdns to go to the US wo applying for a visa or waiver or any sort of permission, so why not fast track our immigration process for family based applications just the same way they do for military based?

Your comparing apples to oranges, I am using Canada as a whole country not based on race.

Uh yes and allowing certain countries to visit with just a passport VS applying for a VISA is what, uh fair.......

I think you are comparing apples to oranges. You cannot compare a non-visitor visa situation with an immigration situation - they are two completely different things.

There is a reason why Canadians do not require a visa to visit the U.S. and vice versa - the reason is two fold - one, because it is a long border and neither country is willing to guard the entire thing. Two - economics - more visitors = more money. It's just practical and sensible. Is it preferential - I suppose in a sense it is, but not because we are more 'worthy' than other countries.

What does that have to do with immigration? Absolutely nothing.

[thetreble 19]

Exactly. It really has nothing to do with an IGNORANT comment about Canadians having preferential treatment in the family immigration process.

I don't say this often but I will..

"some people..." *shake of the head*

[bowflex 0]

Bowflex, indeed we do have special cross-border programs already in place. I don't think this is preferential treatment, these are programs both governments have set up, put money into, and they STILL have screening processes in place. For example, it is for the good of both countries that Canadians do not have to apply for visitor's visas. With the largest trading partership in the world, amongst a whole pot of other things like tourism in both countries, Canadians and Americans spend UBER amounts of money in both countries every year. It pays for the governments to have programs like not requiring visitors visas into place. I wouldn't say they were "preferential treatment " programs at all because that is not their intention.

My brother plays hockey in the US and every year he gets a visa in a matter of weeks through his team. Is that preferential treatment? No. Thats situation specific. The job is all lined up. All the ducks are in a row and the season starts as of a certain date. And again, that's not just for Canadians, it's for all hockey players out there playing pro in the USA. So, I don't really know how that relates to the RIDICULOUS argument this poster is making about Canadians having special rules when it comes to family immigration.

We are talking about family immigration though, not visiting, not working, etc. We are talking about someone actually immigrating to stay and live here for the rest of their life and do it through a US citizen.

It's a different ball game and we need to all be treated the same.

I was more just pointing out things that are already not fair about all parts of the immigration process., not necessarily just the family-based. While I do realize there is a HUGE difference between actually immigrating to the States and just working there, it's beyond a shadow of a doubt preferential treatment for some countries not to require actually going through a visitor visa process as others do. And then when you add in how many people that use the visitor visa later get married and circumvent the system completely by just going straight to the AOS process, I would see it as unfair. A great amount of people go to Cancun or the like in Mexico but it's definitely not as easy for a Mexican to go into the States as it is for a Canadian. The USA will always have its best interests placed first before trying to be equal, I think that's painfully obvious with what occurred over the last 8 years.

I do know that on some types of issues, such as putting folks who go for citizenship in front of those who do not plan on, I will never end up agreeing with any here but I base that more on what happened to my wife's family during their 15 years of living in the States. I don't think that any country should be set up to have their citizens fast-tracked to move to the States before others, but I also don't see the intense anger at the thought that someone would like it that way when everything else over the broad spectrum of immigration is already not fair as well.

Edited June 16, 2009 by bowflex

[The_Dude 1,142]

I am in NO way saying that any country should get fast-tracked through the system, but do keep in mind that folks from Canada already have preferential treatment in the way their "automatic" visitor visa works. There are all types of specialized laws to all parts of America, whether we're talking visitor visas or celebrity justice or whatever. I remember for the Winter Olympics the Canadian skater was moved ahead of a ton of people so that she'd have her status here and be eligible to skate for the US Olympic Team, and I also remember being uber angry about that as well.

I'm not supporting the actual agrument but just showing that there is preferential treatment given all the time. I even remember when Efgeni Malkin got a visa to play for the Penguins in a matter of weeks and I can guarantee that doesn't happen for most people.

I also won't even get started on the horrors of welfare or anything like that as I currently know a 25 year old girl that quit her job 8 months ago and is making enough money through unemployment to afford a house and brag to people about how she has time off

Bowflex, indeed we do have special cross-border programs already in place. I don't think this is preferential treatment, these are programs both governments have set up, put money into, and they STILL have screening processes in place. For example, it is for the good of both countries that Canadians do not have to apply for visitor's visas. With the largest trading partership in the world, amongst a whole pot of other things like tourism in both countries, Canadians and Americans spend UBER amounts of money in both countries every year. It pays for the governments to have programs like not requiring visitors visas into place. I wouldn't say they were "preferential treatment " programs at all because that is not their intention.

My brother plays hockey in the US and every year he gets a visa in a matter of weeks through his team. Is that preferential treatment? No. Thats situation specific. The job is all lined up. All the ducks are in a row and the season starts as of a certain date. And again, that's not just for Canadians, it's for all hockey players out there playing pro in the USA. So, I don't really know how that relates to the RIDICULOUS argument this poster is making about Canadians having special rules when it comes to family immigration.

We are talking about family immigration though, not visiting, not working, etc. We are talking about someone actually immigrating to stay and live here for the rest of their life and do it through a US citizen.

It's a different ball game and we need to all be treated the same.

I am offended. Logic on the internet is just plain offensive to me. Also, there is no keyboard cat video in your post. You blast me with facts and information, but no keyboard cat? #######.

[Sprailenes 47]

Play her off Cat!

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type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>">

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And that sums it up!

[The_Dude 1,142]

[Autumnchik 6]

Unemployment Benifits and Food Stamps

I just thought it was interesting in reading through this story that this guy who is the main focus of the story makes $1,538.00/month on unemployment. That was just about what I was making per month last year when I was working full time as an assistant. Doesn't that seem like an awful lot to you to be complaining about not receiving hundreds of dollars worth of food stamps? For a two person family, it seems like a lot.

I really know nothing about unemployment even though I was on it for a few months once I moved to the US. Maybe some of you can enlighten me on unemployment here in the US.

Back to the original post ....

I personally don't feel that $1538 a month is an awful lot for unemployment. Even though he lives in the South, he is in the metro Atlanta area which is a bit pricier than living in the middle of nowhere in small town Georgia. When I lived in Marietta about 7 years ago, my rent and monthly necessary utilities (electric, gas, water) were about 950 a month. I imagine rents have increased since then. So, if he is the sole support for his family (we have no idea if family of 2 means he and his wife or he and a child), then I can see how he would be struggling.

This also hits me personally. As many of you know, this has been a tough year financially for us. My husband was laid off nearly a year ago. We live in a very rural area with minimal jobs. Several local mills have recently closed, as well as all of the area construction firms laying people off, so when there is a job available, there are hundreds of applicants. We are barely getting by with my salary and my husband's unemployment. We don't qualify for most assistance programs, as my salary is too high. Unemployment is based on your past salaries at jobs. My husband brings home less than half of what he used to bring home when he was working. The only benefit we qualify for is reduced cost health insurance for my son, although if hubby can find even an extremely low paying job, we likely won't qualify for that. It is such a tough spot to be in, as neither of us have ever been here before. We are both used to making decent salaries and having money for lots of extras, and having a bit of a savings account (gone with Declan's medical bills).

And about the welfare, as a clinical social worker, I have seen both people bilk the system, but also incredibly hardworking and decent people get trapped by the inadequacies of the program. I think it is specific to each person.

[thetreble 19]

it's beyond a shadow of a doubt preferential treatment for some countries not to require actually going through a visitor visa process as others do

How so? Explain how you feel it's preferential treatment.

And then when you add in how many people that use the visitor visa later get married and circumvent the system completely by just going straight to the AOS process, I would see it as unfair.

I think you would find that Canada is at the bottom of the list when you see couples who have gone from visitors status to AOS. Not to mention, I'm one of those people that DID do that and I was unemployed and sitting on my #### for 10 months...went through the process like everyone else. I believe MOST canadians do not do this, however, and think you would find it more common for those who are on visitors visas from other countries, feel they might not be able to take another trip back to their home country, and end up overstaying and adjusting.

A great amount of people go to Cancun or the like in Mexico but it's definitely not as easy for a Mexican to go into the States as it is for a Canadian.

Do you have facts on that you can show us? Can you show us the processing times of a Mexican national VS a Canadian national who have chosen to immigrate legally to the US? Again, this is all opinion based. You have no facts to back this up, and even if something has hit you specifically, it's one instance. There are Canadians here on this form who have been waiting for YEARS for a green card. It's not easy for each and every one of us.

The USA will always have its best interests placed first before trying to be equal, I think that's painfully obvious with what occurred over the last 8 years.

Doesn't every country look out for the interests of it's own people first before someone else's? Sorry I just thought this was kind of a funny statement. I don't expect Japan, South Korea, Great Britain, etc. to look after any one else's interests but their own. That is their job.

I do know that on some types of issues, such as putting folks who go for citizenship in front of those who do not plan on, I will never end up agreeing with any here but I base that more on what happened to my wife's family during their 15 years of living in the States. I don't think that any country should be set up to have their citizens fast-tracked to move to the States before others, but I also don't see the intense anger at the thought that someone would like it that way when everything else over the broad spectrum of immigration is already not fair as well.

This makes no sense. What do you mean that the US puts people who want US Citizenship ahead of those who don't want citizenship? Please clarify.

I find your statements vague, full of speculation and it seems as though you are trying to base them on facts but let's be honest, none of us have actually facts on this. We are simply arguing that no preferential treatment be given to any nation. But you are saying that Canadains already get special preferential treatment. Ask any one of us here...and we will all tell you we don't feel we got it! We went through the process like every one else does, we paid the same money, gave the same documents... I don't see how I got preference at all.

[thetreble 19]

And about the welfare, as a clinical social worker, I have seen both people bilk the system, but also incredibly hardworking and decent people get trapped by the inadequacies of the program. I think it is specific to each person.

Autumn- I know it's been a hard year for you guys and for that, I feel sorry. But you are a classic case of actually needing the help, but you don't qualify because even though you make more than the government's cut off, you still are hardly surviving. That is what bothers me about the system because people who have paid into it in the past and come to need it, don't always get it when they need it.

But when I saw that number, you have to understand that while 1538.00 may not seem like a lot of money, that's what I was making last year working full time. I had a second income, of course, and this gentlemen does not so I realize it's very hard.

But, I was raised in a household where my parents were very adamant about me never going without a job. My dad explained to me very young that he really didn't care if there wasn't something out there that I liked, that if I had responsibilities in life, I better get a job ANYWHERE I can. Not every one feels that way. If I got laid off tomorrow,, I'd be calling my nearest grocery story after not finding anything in a couple weeks and asking them if they needed any one. I'd take any job at that point. If the same fate of being laid off came to my husband, I'd feel the same way. I'd be telling him he needs to get a job and I don't really care where it is. That is just how I feel about life though and it's certainly not every one's philosophy, nor does it have to be.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

A great amount of people go to Cancun or the like in Mexico but it's definitely not as easy for a Mexican to go into the States as it is for a Canadian.

Do you have facts on that you can show us? Can you show us the processing times of a Mexican national VS a Canadian national who have chosen to immigrate legally to the US? Again, this is all opinion based. You have no facts to back this up, and even if something has hit you specifically, it's one instance. There are Canadians here on this form who have been waiting for YEARS for a green card. It's not easy for each and every one of us.

Agree with thetreble. I have had a tourist visa since I was 5 years old. My processing time for an immigrant visa was exactly along the lines of Montreal then slow processing.

[Sprailenes 47]

And about the welfare, as a clinical social worker, I have seen both people bilk the system, but also incredibly hardworking and decent people get trapped by the inadequacies of the program. I think it is specific to each person.

Autumn- I know it's been a hard year for you guys and for that, I feel sorry. But you are a classic case of actually needing the help, but you don't qualify because even though you make more than the government's cut off, you still are hardly surviving. That is what bothers me about the system because people who have paid into it in the past and come to need it, don't always get it when they need it.

But when I saw that number, you have to understand that while 1538.00 may not seem like a lot of money, that's what I was making last year working full time. I had a second income, of course, and this gentlemen does not so I realize it's very hard.

But, I was raised in a household where my parents were very adamant about me never going without a job. My dad explained to me very young that he really didn't care if there wasn't something out there that I liked, that if I had responsibilities in life, I better get a job ANYWHERE I can. Not every one feels that way. If I got laid off tomorrow,, I'd be calling my nearest grocery story after not finding anything in a couple weeks and asking them if they needed any one. I'd take any job at that point. If the same fate of being laid off came to my husband, I'd feel the same way. I'd be telling him he needs to get a job and I don't really care where it is. That is just how I feel about life though and it's certainly not every one's philosophy, nor does it have to be.

I concur!

I am a firm believer in financial assistance to those who need it, I am not a believer in living off of it.

I am all about working too and taking what you can get in times of need, but I also understand that some people fear doing this because it will make them ineligible for other programs.

It's just like my uncle, he is afraid of working because he's afraid of being kicked off of disability and getting kicked out of his public housing apartment or his rent being raised, and then he has to worry about paying for his medications and between him and his wife... they take a lot of meds. She has a bad knee and heart and he's a diabetic on insulin.

They have lived on the system.... a couple of years ago they 'graduated' from welfare to disability. I always found that sad but it's almost like they know no other way. They have just become slaves to the system. They buy what they need with the money they get, but they never looked beyond it. It's sad.

Then you have my mother who was on welfare when I was really small. We didn't have much... in fact, I didn't have a crib, I slept in a drawer... don't worry she took it out of the dresser. I never knew we were poor though, I never saw her complain about money or the bills - she said I didn't need to carry that burden. One time for dance I needed tap shoes, so we went to Goodwill stores all over the place and looked until we found a pair. She found ways to live. When I was 9 and semi-old enough to stay home a few hours alone, she went to University. We tried babysitters but a couple turned out to be wacky so I just stayed home by myself for a couple of hours a week. I watched my mom go from working at a Pizza Pizza and getting mothers allowance to becoming a student and working her butt off to get herself out of the situation she was in. Now she helps other people and I seriously have a lot of respect for her. She could get a great job as she has her PhD but she works helping others in a non-profit organization. She is giving back to the community. That's all she wanted to do. Her entire story is quite sad though actually - but she's not. Maybe one day she'll write a book. I always commend her and she just shrugs and replies with: "I am just doing what I need to do.. it's all I have ever done."

So there you have it, my mom was one of those people who used welfare when she needed it and used it properly.

My uncle... strictly lived off of it. How are they even related? I have no clue!

Two very different sides of the system and there isn't much you can do about it sadly. Because if you take away from one, you end up taking away from another. I don't have the answers... I wish I did but I don't.

[Ban Hammer 13,110]

Definitely an uppity n0ob of the worst type!!!

What the hell is a "we are one card"?!!

i think they get handed out when people sing we are the world.......

[Autumnchik 6]

Amanda - I really applaud your work ethic I think it is great that your parents raised you to always work, no matter what the job. Where I live now, it is really sad to see the towns where the mills were. You drive through the town and can feel the sadness and loss there. I have known many amazingly hard working people who worked for the mill for 20 plus years and then lost their job. They have tried to find any job possible, and due to the influx of workers, even places like WalMart or McDonald's were not hiring. I know that not everyone shares the philosophy that they should find any job, no matter how menial .... but I have also seen that there are many times where someone might, on the surface appear to not be seeking any employment, but the reality is that there is really not any employment to be found.

Nev - Awesome about your mom! What kind of work does she do now? I hate feeling money-driven, as I have almost always worked for nonprofits. This is the kind of work I prefer to do, but with my current situation, I am starting to look for jobs that would pay more. I even had a scary moment where I thought about losing my soul and applying for a job for an insurance company to be the clinical reviewer who basically determines whether someone qualifies for insurance paying for more clinical sessions. Personally, that would be my idea of living hell and ultimately, for now, I decided not to apply.

I do think the welfare programs really need to be overhauled. When I used to provide in-home therapy, it would frustrate me to work with amazing people who truly wanted to be off welfare, yet the system kept them on it. Then I would see other people who were definitely using the system. Their homes had more electronics that my home had (big screen tvs, etc.)

[Sprailenes 47]

Definitely an uppity n0ob of the worst type!!!

What the hell is a "we are one card"?!!

i think they get handed out when people sing we are the world.......

:rolf:

Post of the day!!!