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<DIV>"Um. It's virtually impossible to commit fraud with an EBT card
without<BR>the collusion of a supermarket. Food stamps are no longer in a
form<BR>where they're independently transferable. Fun fact: the US
government<BR>now spends more money per year on welfare fraud prevention than
they<BR>have ever lost per year to welfare fraud."</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>What would stop me from telling my
friend/neighbor/co-conspirator that I would be happy to do their shopping
for them. They give me cash, I purchase the items with my card. Seems pretty
easy to me. I doubt that there is much that is factual in your "fun fact," but
assuming you are correct it would simply be another reason to leave matters such
as these to the private sector to be run at the local level.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>When I donate to a privately run local food bank I
know that my donation will go 100% to feeding someone who is hungry, barring
their taking the banks largess and selling it on the street corner, a fairly
unlikely scenario. No money is wasted on bloated administration or bureaucratic
paper shuffling. In a government run program I would be surprised if for every
tax dollar spent ten cents worth of food makes it to the
unfortunate.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A quick phone call to our local food bank and a
brief conversation with its director informs me that the "food banks frequently
run out of food" answer to my question is nonsense, at least here in Latah
county. I was told that since the banks inception such a thing has never
happened.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Lets drag this back to the core of the question
instead of arguing the peripheral issues. What is it about a food bank that is
shameful?</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>g</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><BR><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>----- Original Message ----- </FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>From: "Andreas Schou" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:ophite@gmail.com"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>ophite@gmail.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>To: "g. crabtree" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:jampot@roadrunner.com"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>jampot@roadrunner.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Cc: "Dave" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:tiedye@turbonet.com"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>tiedye@turbonet.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2>>; "vision2020"
<</FONT><A href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>vision2020@moscow.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2>></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 1:31 PM</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Economist Rankings of the
World's Greatest</FONT></DIV></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial><BR><FONT size=2></FONT></FONT></DIV><FONT face=Arial
size=2>> On Tue, Jun 3, 2008 at 1:00 PM, g. crabtree <</FONT><A
href="mailto:jampot@roadrunner.com"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>jampot@roadrunner.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2>>
wrote:<BR>>> It is much easier to commit fraud with food
stamps.<BR>> <BR>> Um. It's virtually impossible to commit fraud with an
EBT card without<BR>> the collusion of a supermarket. Food stamps are no
longer in a form<BR>> where they're independently transferrable. Fun fact:
the US government<BR>> now spends more money per year on welfare fraud
prevention than they<BR>> have ever lost per year to welfare fraud.<BR>>
<BR>>> In addition, what is it about food stamps that make them less
"shameful" then utilizing a > food bank?<BR>> <BR>>> What makes them
better?<BR>> <BR>> Reliability? Food banks frequently run out of
food.<BR>> <BR>>> g<BR>>><BR>>> ----- Original Message
-----<BR>>> From: "Dave" <</FONT><A
href="mailto:tiedye@turbonet.com"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>tiedye@turbonet.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial size=2>><BR>>>
To: "vision2020" <</FONT><A href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com"><FONT
face=Arial size=2>vision2020@moscow.com</FONT></A><FONT face=Arial
size=2>><BR>>> Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2008 11:50 AM<BR>>>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Economist Rankings of the World's
Greatest<BR>>><BR>>><BR>>>> How about food
stamps?<BR>>>><BR>>>>
Dave<BR>>>><BR>>>><BR>>>> g. crabtree
wrote:<BR>>>>> Spoken like a man who can't come up with a coherent
answer for a rather<BR>>>>> straight forward
question.<BR>>>>><BR>>>>> "Just what mechanism for
assistance do you envision that an "affluent and<BR>>>>>
technologically advanced" nation might come up with that would be
less<BR>>>>> shameful?"<BR>>>>><BR>>>>>
Perhaps you simply were confused by my presentation. I'll try
again.<BR>>>>><BR>>>>> Privately operated food banks
efficiently provide a needed service. How<BR>>>>>
do<BR>>>>> you think it could be done
better?<BR>>>>><BR>>>>>
g<BR>>>>><BR>>>>><BR>>>>><BR>>>><BR>>>><BR>>>>
--<BR>>>> Windows, OSX, or Linux is the same choice as:<BR>>>>
McDonalds, Burger King, or a (real) Co-Op.<BR>>>><BR>>>>
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1994.<BR>>>>
</FONT><A href="http://www.fsr.net"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>http://www.fsr.net</FONT></A><BR><FONT face=Arial
size=2>>>>
</FONT><A href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</FONT></A><BR><FONT face=Arial
size=2>>>>
=======================================================<BR>>>><BR>>><BR>>><BR>>>
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services made available by First Step Internet,<BR>>> serving the
communities of the Palouse since
1994.<BR>>>
</FONT><A href="http://www.fsr.net"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>http://www.fsr.net</FONT></A><BR><FONT face=Arial
size=2>>> </FONT><A
href="mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com"><FONT face=Arial
size=2>mailto:Vision2020@moscow.com</FONT></A><BR><FONT face=Arial
size=2>>>
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