Kicking kids when they’re down — that’s the GOP way!
Michigan is in deep shit, and the Teabillies aren’t helping.
Senator Bruce Caswell’s (R-Asshole) new budget proposal would require that children in the Michigan foster care system would be allowed to purchase clothes only from used clothing stores.
Yeah, let that sink in.
Caswell says he wants to make sure that state money set aside to buy clothes for foster children and kids of the working poor is actually used for that purpose.
He says they should get “gift cards” to be used only at Salvation Army, Goodwill or other thrift stores.
“I never had anything new,” Caswell says. “I got all the hand-me-downs. And my dad, he did a lot of shopping at the Salvation Army, and his comment was — and quite frankly it’s true — once you’re out of the store and you walk down the street, nobody knows where you bought your clothes.”
Gilda Jacobs is CEO of the Michigan League for Human Services. She’s not a fan of the thrift shop gift card idea.
“Honestly, I was flabbergasted,” Jacobs says. “I really couldn’t believe this. Because I think, gosh, is this where we’ve gone in this state? I think that there’s the whole issue of dignity. You’re saying to somebody, you don’t deserve to go in and buy a new pair of gym shoes. You know, for a lot of foster kids, they already have so much stacked against them.”
Caswell says the gift card idea wouldn’t save the state any money.
You see, when you get older and become a hip- (-ster or -pie), shopping in second-hand clothes stores is cool. And hip. But when you’re a kid and you’re told that “No, I am not going to buy you those oxblood three-hole Doc Martens, let’s go to the thrift store and we’ll find you some suitable shoes” it really sucks because all your friends have Doc Martens and why can’t you have them and you know they’re expensive, but Mooooooom!! I REALLY WANT THEM!!”1
Ahem.
What were we talking about?
Oh yeah. Republicans are assholes.
[via The Michigan Messenger]
1 I saved up my allowance and bought them. It took forever. I wore the hell out of those shoes. Then I gave them away to Goodwill. It’s the circle of shoe life.
[cross-posted here at ABLC]
[I’m back. ~Trumpet blows~ Hearts soar; lunches regurgitated. That is all. -ABLxx]
Svensker
Maybe they should all be issued standard clothing so everyone will know who the losers are right off the bat.
Angry Black Lady
WordPress is still an asshole I see.
Loneoak
Note the disparity between “foster kids cannot use state money to buy anything nice” and “rich people can use state money to build a $500M golf course in Benton Harbor on land reserved for poor kids.”
Soon it will be “mothers on welfare must justify every purchase to a wingnut newspaper columnist earning $150K in state salary” and “Governor Snyder will sell the Detroit Municipal Water System to Amway for $8.00”
Citizen Alan
The people I feel sorriest for are Bruce Casswell’s children, if he has any. I imaging he abuses them. I can’t imagine how a parent would go out of his way to demonstrate his hatred for other children if he actually loved his own.
rikyrah
they are evil
plain and simple.
Mark S.
Fucking poor kids over is its own reward.
Richard Bottoms
I am hoping Independents are having a collective “what the fuck did we do” over their vote against Obama in the 2010 congressional races.
The GOP is pulling out all the sops figuring this is their moment to enact every crazy ass notion they’ve been stewing on for the last twenty five years.
Demographics make this the last great stand of the white majority on issues like gays, taxes, global warming and all the rest. The teabaggers (GOP) have gone all in.
Is there a gay man or woman who could vote for this hate, and independent who could let the anti-science, anti-woman, anti-enlightenment, racist teabillies consolidate their power in 2012?
Are they that fearful of the African-in-Chief?
LowProfileinGA
It’s brilliant effort to create jobs in the severely depressed thrift store industry.
Seriously, “The Onion” will be hard pressed to top this bleak proposal.
[http://www.theonion.com/]
greennotGreen
So I’m guessing Bruce Casswell hasn’t done any thrift store shopping recently. It is quite possible to buy new clothes at discount outlets or Kohls more cheaply than a thrift store. And foster kids have to wear used *underwear*? Please!
Anoniminous
Think how much money could be saved if the little bastards were mandated to work in a shoe factory if they wanted shoes, a clothing factory if they wanted a shirt for their back, fruit picking if they wanted something to eat.
Workhouses. What’s not to like?
scav
Is he entirely unaware that they could still blow the whole card on things other than clothes at the same stores? It’s doesn’t do what he purports it will on multiple fronts: he’s just being an asshole because pointless assholedom is now a selling point to a certain class of people.
Yutsano
@Richard Bottoms:
Yes, because at lease he’ll be a straight (supposedly) white male. Yes it is that tribal. And shows just how far this country has to go.
PurpleGirl
The state only gives assistance receipients $80 a year per child for clothes (additional to their regular assistance). You can’t buy very much with only $80 a year so these people buy for their children at thrift stores any way.
The sole purpose is to humiliate the receipients and their children. Claiming it will make sure that people use the money only clothes… come on, sir, do you think we’re stupid?
Jude
Whoooo! You’re back!
This place needs more Angry Black Lady like I need a beer this afternoon. Which is to say, a lot.
Nicole
What’s wrong with this? I mean, those kids were dumb enough to get born to people who can’t or won’t take care of them. So why should kids that stupid get anything nice? Or new? Much better to give tax cuts to benefit kids smart enough to get born to rich parents. Because everyone knows meritocracy starts before you’re born.
Cacti
Reap what you sow Michigan.
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
And if there are no state approved thrift stores in a particular location or they don’t have any clothes that fit the little nippers will have to run around bare-arsed. Which is probably what Caswell wants.
Hopefully while sobbing hysterically as they kiss the gun.
I see you are unaware of Chris “Robber” Barron and the rest of the fucknuggets of GOProud. Because it is Easter I will leave your innocence intact.
Tara the antisocial social worker
I work with foster kids, and this Casswell creature deserves to spend the rest of his life wearing someone else’s used underwear – and nothing else. Especially in winter.
Shaming the poor has become a sport among the right-wingers. One governor (sorry, can’t remember which) wanted to have foodstamp cards changed to a conspicuous bright orange. Doesn’t save the state any money, but it would give him the fun of knowing that total strangers would be sticking their noses into poor people’s shopping carts and yelling, “Hey, you’re buying meat with MY money!”
Casswell’s proposal actually costs the state money, by adding another layer of bureaucracy. But it gives him the fun of knowing that poor (and therefore Unworthy) children will be humiliated one more time.
eric
(“Anoniminous – April 24, 2011 | 2:51 pm · Link
Think how much money could be saved if the little bastards were mandated to work in a shoe factory if they wanted shoes, a clothing factory if they wanted a shirt for their back, fruit picking if they wanted something to eat.
Workhouses. What’s not to like?”)
Oh get with it. They (the repubicans) already have those bills to rescind child labor laws on the table.
Lysana
@Richard Bottoms:
Considering how much hate the GL power structure has on toward anyone not themselves or white heterosexuals in their income bracket? Hell, yes, in a hot second. Greenwald’s a textbook case, as is Sully. Sing ’em the right song and their entitlement will overrule their humanity. It already does most of the time anyway. Ask any trans woman who pays an ounce of attention to politics how often the rights groups throw her under the bus.
And YAY ABL IS BACK!
Pamela F
I think I’m going to vomit. It’s telling children that because of an accident of birth/circumstances they are worthless.
I swear to gawd, we’re regressing to a Dickensian world view. This is why I am sickened when someone like Glenn Greenwald tells us we should consider Gary Johnson for president
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
The only thing this lacks is a revelation that Caswell owns a chain of for-profit second-hand stores.
jim filyaw
used clothing only in michigan, repeal of child labor laws in missouri, anti-sharia and anti-mention of gays law in tennessee, and it goes on and on since the last election.
why isn’t there a website dedicated to examples of republican ass-holery in the hinterlands. taken as a whole, it’d certainly scare the horses. maybe it’d do the same for that shrinking middle slice of the electorate that put these bastards in office.
Joseph Nobles
Angry Black Lady is risen today!
Alleluia!
And I think these cards are a good idea. We don’t want to see young bucks buying all the Diesel leather jackets that $80 a year can buy.
artem1s
seriously, underwear? shoes? socks? there are quite a lot of stuff you can buy at a thrift store but some stuff just wears out.
If you go to the right thrift stores you can often get much better quality than you would at Walmart. Rich people throw out stuff just because its last years model. I’ve gotten some beautiful suits and coats second hand. All of my shorts come from the thrift because I just won’t pay $35/$45 dollars for Eddie Bauer or Needless Markup. But its not feasible to expect anyone to find decent used shoes for kids. and underwear? that’s just nasty.
Davis X. Machina
@Richard Bottoms:
There are two kinds of independents, though –low information voters, and high mis-information voters.
Davis X. Machina
@Tara the antisocial social worker: Arizona — where else?
scav
@Pamela F: I know what you mean by this but, please, everyone remember, Dickens brought it up because he hated this shit. Man couldn’t write a female heroine you don’t want to drop kick into next year but he was most definitely not on the side of early Scrooge and the Workhouse. /pedantic rant
Pangloss
Teabaggers: “Let’s turn America into a Dickens novel.”
Svensker
Also, too, I often disagree with you, ABL (well, sometimes, anyway), but always enjoy reading you. You’re so lively! Glad to see you back.
Tara the antisocial social worker
@Davis X. Machina:
Thanks. The contest for wingnuttiest governor is currently in the “talent” portion, and I’m not looking forward to swimsuit & evening gown.
gnomedad
Yay, welcome back!
aimai
Here’s the other thing: the kids don’t do the shopping for those clothes, their foster parents do. Foster parents are generally juggling a lot of responsibility and a lot of kids at the same time. Shopping for kids at thrift stores–which I do–takes a whole lot of time. Its very hit or miss, especially for adolescents. Not only does this bill not save money for the taxpayer but its adding insult to injury to the foster families who are struggling to fulfill their duties to all their kids in a timely manner. Clothes at thrift stores are not necessarily any cheaper than clothes at Target or Beales or wherever. But you can get in and out and shop for three or five kids at a time and know you will get the right sizes without having to hunt.
This doesn’t really make the bill any more or less outrageous, I just thought it added to the stupidity and horribleness of the bill because its so outrageously thoughtless in the ways it seeks to make Foster parents’ jobs even harder.
aimai
JAHILL10
Yay! Welcome back, ABL. You were missed!
I was withholding my productivity in protest.
Joe Max
@Svensker:
Yeah, maybe they should wear some kind of… badge or armpatch, you know? Bright yellow would be a good idea, so people could see them coming from a distance. And noticeable, like the shape of a star or something…
(Uh oh, did I Godwin the thread already…?)
Lolis
As someone who works in family and protective services with the state, I think this proposal is truly repulsive. Foster kids are already likely not to own nice things or anything new, for a legislator to try to make this mandatory validates those who already treat foster kids like second-class kids. I hear stories about how foster kids get treated everyday, unfortunately many see the foster parents “real kids” get privileges they don’t have every day. It is hard to imagine how much that must hurt. This certainly will not make it better.
Martin
If those kids deserved new clothes, then they shouldn’t have been born to shitty or dead parents. It’s their own fucking fault.
But clearly this is Michele Bachmanns fault for being overkind to her 23 foster kids.
Angela
Yeah, I’m happy you are back ABL!
The Dangerman
Here’s a nifty idea; instead of having kids buy clothes at Thrift Stores with State money, how about some faith based groups (i.e. Churches) support some clothing for kids through their Tithing.
*crickets*
Martin
Oh, and no ‘Second-hand clothes for second-hand people’ title. That’s pretty much the Caswells message here.
PurpleGirl
From his web site:
And it isn’t only for foster children, it’s for any child whose parents receive state aid.
Mike in NC
Asshole’s just looking for some payback. Being Republican seems to mostly be about settling scores.
Mike in NC
@Tara the antisocial social worker:
Chris Christie in a Speedo?
Hillary Rettig
As a former foster parent, I can’t even express my anger at this. Leaving aside all the other excellent points made, the stipend that foster parents receive is already inadequate, and this would just cut into it more. (I’m in MA, but assume it’s as bad – or worse – elsewhere.) It’s true that some foster parents deprive their kids and in that way “profit” off the stipend – assuming you value the parents’ time at $0 – but many more wind up paying out of the pocket to foster.
The first year we had the kids, we bought them a PC, and that pretty much wiped out half the total stipend for the year. Sports gear wiped out the other half. Everything else was out of pocket.
kay
@aimai:
I think he’s wrong on the cost. They’re not shopping at high-level retailers, and cheap clothes are cheaper than when he was a kid. They don’t last as long and they’re uncomfortable (or look like it to me), but they’re cheap.
I don’t think it makes any sense, budget-wise, and someone who actually cares/shops for children is going to produce an set of receipts here shortly, I would imagine.
I see how it makes sense for you because you’re looking for particular brands and fabrics, but foster parents aren’t doing that. They’re getting 4 colors of a t-shirt, and 2 pairs of the same pants.
It’s just stupid, besides being vaguely cruel and using these children to build his own up-by-the-bootstraps cred.
So he’s mean and he’s bad with money. Great.
Cassidy
just remember, they are people just like us, even as they seek to degrade and dehumanize the vulnerable of our society.
Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)
@Pamela F: So by his statements, he believes that a person like Donald Trump, who was born to a family of millionaires is inherently worthy, while a person like Oprah who was born poor is inherently unworthy (unless, of course, she/he redeems him/herself by clawing his/her way up and somehow becoming a billionaire). I think the sad thing is that many implicitly agree with that worldview and will keep voting for people like him.
RossInDetroit
I have those exact Docs. Bought them second hand and wear them to work as beaters. Proud of it but nobody should be forced to wear used clothes.
Pamela F
@scav:
Tlachtga
@The Dangerman:
Pfft. Why have fostercare? Give the kids to the churches–they can work for the megachurch-malls or join the priesthood or convents or whatever. Why should we pay for their existence? Outlaw abortion and funnel those kids to GAWD.
maya
pangloss
Followed closely by:
“Let’s ban Dickens novels. They’re subversive so-shall-ist clap-trap.”
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Was it in Michigan where some Republican asshole (BIRM) wanted people who receive food stamps to have to use a day-glo orange card so everyone would know the person was using food stamps?
Perhaps it was another asshole in another state.
There are just so many of them, all vying to be the one who makes the have-nots snap and break out the tumbrels. Not sure what their plan is after that, but I’m buying stock in Guillotines, Inc.
scav
@Pamela F: No, don’t worry, I didn’t think you we’re doing that! It was just the Dickens in your text that set off the pre-programmed rant! Sorry.
Rudi
The ass wipe is a Republican from Hillsdale county in Michigan. The town he lives in is over 20 miles from the nearest WalMart. I doubt if Hudson, Jefferson or Pittsford even have thrift stores. Not only should you pity his family, he was a Jesus fearin flat earth teacher in rural south central Michigan.
http://www.walmart.com/storeLocator/ca_storefinder_results.do?serviceName=&rx_title=com.wm.www.apps.storelocator.page.serviceLink.title.default&rx_dest=%2Findex.gsp&sfrecords=50&sfsearch_city=hudson&sfsearch_state=MI&sfsearch_zip=
http://www.senate.michigan.gov/gop/senators/about.asp?District=16
ruemara
All I know is, I could live forever, evolve beyond the need for human form, become one with the universe, etc. and I would still not understand the basic lack of compassion these people show. How do you live with all the hatred and bile?
PurpleGirl
@Cassidy: No, he’s not just like me. I would never seek to degrade and humiliate someone who has less than myself.
It won’t save the state any money, in fact it could end up costing the state more in requiring a mechanism for implementing the idea. He said it himself: he wants to make sure the state money is used for its intended purpose. I thought the Republicans were for personal responsibility… but you can’t be sure that poor or foster parents are indeed buying their children clothing without a separate benefit card to be used in thrift shops.
ppcli
Mind-numbingly punitive, hateful proposal, to be sure. But the story as quoted above makes it seem even worse by representing Casswell as flatly asserting this won’t save money. In fact the story continues (Perhaps it was edited since it was excerpted above):
Don’t misunderstand me – it’s preposterous to suggest that this will save the state money, and it may end up costing the state. And I expect Casswell knows it.
Pamela F
@scav:
While pedantry has its annoying place, please remember “Little Dorrit” and how Dickens’s writings were a product of the times. If you apply a little investigation, you’ll find women who gave their lives to protect a child and/or the truth.
To me, this is as heroic as dying on any battlefield for the greater good.
PurpleGirl
@ppcli: I’ve based my comments on his web site statements which are way clearer than the newspaper article. He’s a douche, hands down.
Cassidy
@PurpleGirl: Sarcasm based on an earlier thread. personally, I don’t even view these things as human anymore. They’ve given that up. But a wankfest was going on about how they should be treated as fellow human beings and we just disagree and blah, blah, blah.
justawriter
Mich. Repub says, “None of that high class WalMart shit for you.”
Uncle Omar
Rudi at #54. And, he’s double dipping, living on his State Senate salary and his retired teacher’s pension. His proposal looks like a subterfuge designed to protect his pension from Gov. Snyder.
Nicole
As one of the commenters of the original article said, it’s a great way to siphon tax money to religious organizations, like the Salvation Army.
Citizen_X
Oh, wah wah, asshole. Pretty much everyone who isn’t first son or daughter got the hand-me-downs, all the way up through the middle class.
PS: Them are sweet Docs.
PPS:
yyyyYAAAAAYYYYYYYYY! Welcome back!
Svensker
@Cassidy:
Aren’t they? How does dehumanizing them back improve anything? Mommy, he did it first?
Doesn’t mean you can’t be angry at what he’s doing. But deciding that certain folks are subhuman is a slippery slope.
The Dangerman
@Tlachtga:
Perhaps I needed a snark tag?
My point, poorly made, was how comparatively little Churches do for the poor domestically; sure, they do some, but not enough, IMHO.
pragmatism
Missed you round ‘naugh ABL. Welcome back.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Welcome back!
Hoodathoughtthaidneedjya…?
Cassidy
@Svensker: As I said, they’ve dehumanized themselves by trading their empathy for greed and voodoo. I simply accept the situation for what it is.
Cassidy
@The Dangerman: Not when there is a Touchdown Jesus to build or a Koran to burn.
scav
@Pamela F: Esther Summerson is my personal numero una ingenue for kicking: smug little twit. Amy Dorritt is at least slightly human. It’s just odd and unfortunate that someone who could pick out and write such humanly complex characters in his secondary roles had to put such spun candy non-entities front and center as leading roles (the males don’t get off much better. Nick Nick is least annoying to my mind.) It’s also annoying that Dickensian is often applied as a term of reference to the characteristics of Victorian England that he was most working to correct.
uptown
He was born in 1949 and he retired from education in 2000. A career of maybe 30 years and he gets retirement.
ppcli
@Rudi: Thanks for the link to his bio. Very interesting:
Ah, he went to State. That explains a lot….
But enough instate rivalry: I observe that he was draft age when he went to (and apparently washed out of) West Point. And yet I don’t see any military service on his record; Republican political bios being what they are, I would assume that any such service would be trumpeted loudly if it existed at all. Wasn’t there some kind of conflict or police action or something that the U.S. was involved in at that time? I wonder why he didn’t go? Other priorities, I guess…
Tlachtga
@The Dangerman: Oh, no, I got the snark. I was, maybe badly, trying to out-snark you.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
As to the post: Sounds like someone shilling for the Starvation Army to me.
ppcli
@uptown: So he has one of those “gold plated pensions” (sic) the Michigan Republicans are howling about in their ads. I guess he’s giving a lot of it back to the State Treasury…..
(snrfff)
…HAHAHAHAHA!
MonkeyBoy
I think making kids wear used underwear is a good way to add to their self esteem. There is nothing like overcoming worn out elastic to prove one’s self worth.
[ Once a pair of my fairly new under-wear wound up in a washing machine with its waist band penetrated by the central agitator. I didn’t realize that the spin cycle would totally streatch out the elastic. A few days later, in a rush, I put them on and headed out the door. Halfway down the block the elastic waist band had descended to my knees and the underwear was suspended by my pants crotch. ]
Svensker
@MonkeyBoy:
Try that wearing a skirt. In the 8th grade. Oy.
Failure, Inc.
Why would you buy Untermenschen new clothes? What a waste of money, they’ll only wear them for a few weeks before being shot and bulldozed into trenches.
What, you don’t think that’s where this is going?
Cassidy
@Svensker: Ahhhh…to be back in 8th grade when panties randomly fell out of skirts. I kid, I kid.
Linnaeus
Hillsdale County, which is in this guy’s district, is also home to Hillsdale College, which is a small liberal-arts college that is dedicated to being anything but liberal – right down the very mission statement of the institution. It has become a bit of a training ground for future right-wing politicos; one of our new wingnut state legislators here in Washington is a recent graduate of Hillsdale.
I hate seeing shock doctrine politics take hold in Michigan. I grew up there and most of my family and friends are still there. I wish I could do something, but haven’t the foggiest idea where to start.
MonkeyBoy
@Svensker:
Was that you?
Peter
@scav: I always thought he undermined his point pretty badly in Oliver Twist with that ending, personally. He spends the whole book building up Oliver as a figure wad for the moral poor, and then pulls a WHOOPS HE WAS RICH ALL ALONG AFTER ALL
Yevgraf
Can we please get around to making a person’s status as a conservative white Christian a felony? While I’m not quite yet ready to make it a capital crime, I am open to persuasion.
Warren Terra
Welcome back, ABL. Righteous post.
ksmiami
There are two kinds of charities that I work with now – Gleaners Food Bank and the rest – buying new supplies including clothing for kids ages 1-17. I cannot even articulate my hatred for this cretin and most of today’s Republican a-***. Yes – why should some child – an innocent victim of this social Darwinistic society be treated well – or have the pride that comes from wearing a new shirt? THE OUTRAGE – I imagine that Bobo will start defending this reptile in 3-2-1
suzanne
I’m not even going to go near the moral repugnancy of this, but What. An. Idiot. Has he been to a fuckin’ thrift store lately? I actually enjoy thrift-store shopping and have found some great things, but it’s more expensive than Target or Walmart or Ross, and there’s far less that fits. I went to a “Baby Bargains” place near my house, and they were selling secondhand onesies for $3 apiece. A five-pack of onesies at Target was $10, and I don’t have to bleach out shitstains. UHHHHHHH.
Dream On
Goodwill and Value Village are for-profit companies, as is Savers. Outside of St. Vincent De Paul, expect to be fleeced with thrift-store prices compared to the sale rack at Target or even Sears.
I love the time I found a cashmere sweater for $7.99 – with a gaping moth hole in it. The cashier said “we can mark it down to… $5.99”
Good deals all around, eh?
Cassidy
Plato’s Closet is cool.
Quiddity
@jim filyaw: I totally agree. By now there have been a number of insane proposals by Republicans at the state level that are political poison. And I was thinking, like you, that the most egregious should be compiled, and perhaps even turned into an ad. And no marginal cases where there is even the slightest chance the Republican could make a plausible case. Just the straight-up, no “in context” wiggle room, examples of their absolute lack of compassion. That would include legislation (proposed or passed) and statements made by politicians. Over at Think Progress, there seems to be at least one of those every week.
Carol from CO
As each day goes by, I think I have seen the worst the cons can dream up. But they are determined to outdo each other in ugliness and pettiness until they have sunk into a hell hole of their own making. I am hating them and all that they do.
Ruckus
@ruemara:
How do you live with all the hatred and bile?
You don’t. That’s why they are trying to offload it to everyone else. They’re so full of crap, they’ve overflowed.
sistermoon
@Mike in NC:
Chris Christie in a Speedo?
Eeeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwwwwwwwww. Now that’s nasty…
MonkeyBoy
@Svensker:
Never forget rule 34. Pinup artist Art Frahm:
Google Image search for Art Frahm
Arclite
@Svensker:
Yeah, and maybe some kind of identifying badge pinned to their clothes, like a six-pointed yellow star or something. And their identification papers, too, so they could produce them at a moment’s notice so everyone could be assured they were properly registered in the system and tracked.
RSA
Bruce Caswell’s Wikipedia entry currently reads…
Ironically enough, the header for the article says that it’s an “orphan”. No new clothes for you, Mr. Caswell.
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
Well given my viewpoint on how gawd awful the gawd business is and always has been, I’d say they probably are doing gawd’s work.
Ruckus
@MonkeyBoy:
Whenever I see pin up art anymore I think of Who Shot Roger Rabbit?
Ruckus
@efgoldman:
I originally added the line, Like Al Bundy’s toilet, but didn’t think it left the comment with enough class.
WereBear
This is not only deliberately humiliating (I bully because I can!) but a ridiculous proposal. Aside from old, broken in jeans, I can’t think of much in the way of kid’s clothes I’ve seen in thrift stores (where I get half of my own clothes.)
Kid’s clothes are routinely bought at discounters and seldom last very long these days. Adults wear clothes nicely and give them away while they are still in good shape; families with more than one child wear the kid’s clothes to rags.
Perhaps it’s different elsewhere. But it’s simply designed to rub salt in the wounds of the poor; not to save money.
Uncle Omar
RSA @ 97–his bio says he’s the member of an American Legion post…how do you do that if you never served? (Except for that two years at the Point before going home to mom and dad.) Just asking.
ABL
@maya: Ha!
russell
I would like to go find State Senator Bruce Caswell and kick him in the freaking nuts.
Korea Beat
John’s post from a few weeks back about Republicans going from cutting Medicare to attacking orphans and kicking puppies is looking pretty prescient.
tkogrumpy
@Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen: I’m going with Acme guillotine, they’re refurbished second hand.
tkogrumpy
@efgoldman: It’s more than that they actually think they are victims.
Carl Nyberg
@Pangloss:
That about sum it up?
Holly McLachlan
This is not only deliberately humiliating [] but a ridiculous proposal. Aside from old, broken in jeans, I can’t think of much in the way of kid’s clothes I’ve seen in thrift stores [] it’s simply designed to rub salt in the wounds of the poor; not to save money.
He’s appealing to a subset of the electorate that doesn’t know anything about thrift shop clothing, and probably very little about kids clothes from Wal*Mart. They’ve got a mid-century construct in their minds about How Things Ought To Be and nothing is going to get in its way….. particularly not reality.
And as someone mentioned above, they get a thrill from demeaning others.
As for churches that collect from parishoners in order to provide new clothes for the poor…….. mine does. They’re asking for donations of brand new socks and underwear, 2 things that everyone needs new, things that simply aren’t stocked at Goodwill, etc.
However, my church is………Unitarian Universalist. Slightly to the left of Lenin.
henry
It’s racism, first and last.
Foster kids come disproportionately from poor families. Translation: higher percentages of minorities.
The greatest humiliation for a poor racist redneck is to see black people better off than they are. So Caswell was raised a neglected white child. Now that he has power, he will be damned if minority wards-of-the-state grow up with anything better than he had.
Carl Nyberg
@ppcli:
You can (or could) go to a service academy for two years and quit and not owe the government anything.
When I was at Canoe U in the 1980s, it was very rare for someone to “quit” at the two year point. People who left usually got booted for grades or conduct.
ricky
Interesting. Has anybody here, especially those taking the time to link the Senator’s website or web bio’s of him bothered to note that he dropped this proposal on April 18? Six days ago?
I guess thos kiddos will be able to talk their foster parents into those Doc Martens on the $80 allowance after all.
Frank
Wow… While the environmentalist in me likes the idea of recycling/reusing/reducing, it does seem so mean-spirited to foist this proposed law on those members of society who are already firmly behind the eight-ball. Yeah, why don’t we (along the lines of what Svensker said in the first comment) just embroider a scarlet letter on these people… what the heck, better still, why not just brand ’em? That’d be waaay cheaper on us poor taxpayers; we wouldn’t have to spring for embroidery thread!
Here’s a suggestion; let’s take a look at the meal per diem these lawmakers are receiving. Couldn’t we just fill up a big, ol’ trough of Cream of Wheat for them to dig into? That’d save some major tax dollars, I bet!
Allan
@ricky: Actually, he “modified” the mechanics of his proposal slightly on the 18th due to “feedback”. It’s still all about making sure the poors buy clothes instead of malt liquor with their gubmint money.
But hey, you’re right, he’s not a heartless asshole and emblematic of the moral rot at the heart of today’s GOP because it never actually happened and therefore didn’t exist.
Holly McLachlan
@ricky:
Most of us who approached his comment with an ear for the dogwhistle pretty well reckoned it wasn’t ever a serious policy proposal. So that is not at the heart of the criticism — and his “dropping” the proposal doesn’t merit much notice. What is at its heart is concern about the increasingly mad stunts that rightwing pols are engaging in, in order to garner airtime and approval.
What is the effect they hope to achieve? A mass slaughter of “librul” politicians next, instead of the mere incapacitation of one Representative in a supermarket?
Very Reverend Crimson Fire of Compassion
Welcome back, ABL! I can’t begin to address anything else in this thread without transforming into a bilious, rage-ridden geyser of obscenities, so I’ll stick with the one good thing I can think of to say.
DW
So Caswell retired at 51 after only 28 years on the job? Nice if you can get that kind of deal. I can’t help noticing he’s a private sector virgin and apparently has never had to worry about health insurance either. So I’m not shocked he has no appreciation for people on the low end of the socioeconomic scale.
As for his claims of always wearing second hand clothes as a kid – he could have grown up poor. Alternately, he could have had a dickish father who didn’t like spending money on kids clothes, or his second hand clothes were hand me downs or he’s just plain lying. And as others have pointed out, Target, Ross, etc are likely to be more sensible options.
One last note – he wears glasses. Circa 1971, the military service was very picky (for officers at least) about eye sight and if he lost 20/20 vision at West Point that might explain leaving after two years.
ricky
@Allan: @Holly McLachlan:
Hey Allan. Ain’t that a bitch. Elected official has to modify proposal due to feedback. Yeah, like everybody with any sense explaining to him what a preposterous proposal he just made.
And Holly. Dog whistle listening makes a mighty convenient excuse for leaving out a relevant fact or two when putting them in makes the whistling at your own pack of hounds less effective. If it wasn’t a serious proposal then why in hell would he bother to modify it?
ricky
@DW:
It is the kind of deal given to public sector employees with
defined benefit pension plans. You know, the kind Republicans in state’s like Michigan and Wisconsin claim are breaking the bank.
Allan
@ricky: Do you believe that every piece of legislation introduced by a representative is a serious, policy-driven effort to solve a genuine problem?
And can I interest you in this lovely bridge? It’s available for a very reasonable price tonight only.
Allan
@ricky: Also, and this is a nitpick, but if you can’t be bothered to learn the proper use of the apostrophe, you’re not going to be taken seriously around these parts. Never for pluralization, only to indicate possession, and even then, not with pronouns.
opie jeanne
@artem1s: It’s not legal to sell used underwear in some states. I wonder if that same health law is in effect in Michigan.
opie jeanne
@Dream On: Goodwill is a non-profit.
ricky
@Allan: Sorry I was sound asleep when you responded.
I guess I won’t be taken seriously for not only mistaken use of an apostophe, but use of it in the pluralization of a half word in which I made an improper use of a common abbreviation and was also using it as a symbol of a contraction.