Oh, let's be honest. They don't want "more" Americans on food stamps. They'd really like all of us there, a docile, dependent populace who will take our government handouts and not make trouble:
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- More than one in seven Americans are on food stamps, but the federal government wants even more people to sign up for the safety net program.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has been running radio ads for the past four months encouraging those eligible to enroll. The campaign is targeted at the elderly, working poor, the unemployed and Hispanics.
The department is spending between $2.5 million and $3 million on paid spots, and free public service announcements are also airing. The campaign can be heard in California, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, and the New York metro area.
Geez; $2.5-3 million to get more people enrolled. I speak not as a hard-hearted conservative who doesn't understand that people need an assist occasionally. When I was growing up, my family was poor enough to participate in the commodities program. You'd stand in line for an hour or longer and go home with things like big ugly blocks of organge cheese and packets of powdered eggs. Basic food needs were met but it was embarrassing, which was a good incentive to get off the program as soon as possible. The goal with food stamps is not just to get as many people enrolled as possible, but to keep making it less traumatic. Now people are issued cards instead of stamps, and they can get government-paid for food without anybody even knowing.
Oh, and this just in from Europe:
European workers who become ill or temporarily disabled while on paid vacation may take sick leave and use their remaining holiday time at a later date, the EU high court ruled.
The ruling stems from actions brought by several trade unions in Spanish courts seeking recognition for the rights of workers to paid annual leave, even when the vacation time coincides with periods of sick leave.
Hard to even conceive of anything that might not end up a right some day, isn't it?
