Winning The Lottery Of Humiliation

With every site spoken for, I am ready for the Memorial Day weekend. The pool is full of icy cold water, perfectly PH balanced. The bath house has been scoured and is ready to deliver showers and "rest" to kampers (thanks, Patrick!). The stacks of firewood have been started. The list is ready for the monumental trip to Sam's to finish stocking the store. My internal clock is already waking me early.

Yesterday was a planting marathon for me. I shoveled new dirt and hoed old dirt and pulled a thousand weeds in my raised beds. Every muscle in my body ached last night ......... but the corn and beans and squash are in the ground. I am sporting a farmer's tan ..... proudly. It is raining now on my little patch of sustenance.

As it rains, I take a break from physical labor. Listening to the news on the Today show, I am appalled at the coverage of Arnold's indiscretion. First, the announcement of the Terminator terminating his marriage went on and on. Then came the real reason. Another woman and a child. The "concern" for his children and the "advice" is put forth. Enough already. But, reporters are relentless in hunting down this "other woman" and now her face has been plastered all over the screen. They blocked out the child's face, as if this will protect him from the scandal. Now they are all wondering what rights this child has as far as Arnold's estate goes. Did I miss something? Is he dead now?

I say let Maria handle this and leave it alone. It is not "news" and if everyone was truly concerned for his children, they would not be flashing their pictures on the screen. What he did was certainly wrong, just like so many other politicians have. I am just sick of hearing about it over and over.

I would rather see an in depth story about the man who won 2 million dollars in a lottery and still receives food stamps. I saw a little blurb about this on line. I think the media should hound him and ask some probing questions of the state officials. Seems that he is breaking no laws. He reported the winnings that is sitting in his bank account. He is allowed liquid assets and can still be eligible for assistance. Perhaps a spotlight on this story could raise a public outcry and bring to light all those who abuse the system. The gentleman was quoted as saying that you could try to make him "feel bad", but, "it won't work". Maybe his face on the TV screen would arouse some feelings of decency.

Used to be that food stamps came in a booklet of monopoly type money with perforated edges. The user had to determine the right denomination to use and then haggle with the cashier over the "change". If they had items that were not allowed, that would be another transaction that would sometimes end up with the merchandise being deleted from the order to be returned. All this while the people behind them in line watched with disgust, wondering why they didn't go get a job. Nowadays the recipient is issued a card, much like a debit card. The card will automatically determine the amount owed and the new computerized registers will determine the eligibility of the items put forth. The cashier is the only one who would know. This is good, there are people deserving of this assistance. But .......... the lottery winner, well, he could do with good dose of humiliation