Should people be allowed to buy McDonald's Happy Meal toys with food stamps?

[LoZoccolo]

Poll question: Should people be allowed to buy McDonald's Happy Meal toys with food stamps?

[haikugal]

1. People aren't allowed to use food stamps for fast food

much less toys. No...

[Skittles]

2. what prompted this?

I'm not aware you can buy toys with food stamps - that is ridiculous

[MADem]

4. Probably the San Francisco ruling about McDonald's.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/11/29/BAUR1M5NCE.DTL

[MADem]

3. You can only buy food with food stamps--not fast food and not toys. nt

[Orrex]

5. All deadbeats who receive foodstamps should be punished and shamed at every turn

Out of respect, mind you.

Only by weaning these parasites from the government teat will we be able to help them transition from zero-value drags on the economy into useful, productive cogs in the machine of capitalism.

[SomethingFishy]

8. LOL..I almost thought you were serious...

These days it's hard to tell....

[Orrex]

9. Sad but true

[apocalypsehow]

13. Every time I click into a thread you've posted in, that sigline freaks me out a little at first.

:hi:

[Orrex]

14. What sigline?

:evilgrin:

[Ken Burch]

6. Why is this worth having a poll about?

:eyes:

[SomethingFishy]

7. Food Stamps are for food. You can't buy toys or cleaning supplies

or toilet paper. Just food. For someone so interested in Food Stamps you seem to be pretty ignorant about what they can be used for.


Can I ask why you would post a poll like this? Are we not divided enough for you? I see no logical or rational reason for this poll except to try to create animosity among people. I normally have to debate hard core right wingers about crap like this.

Sure, there are a tiny amount of people who are going to abuse the system and try to "buy a toy" with their food stamp money. But the majority, and we are talking 98% of the people who get them need them because they have fallen on hard times. Why would you try to broad brush these people like this? Are they taking too much of your tax money? Would you rather it be spent on Gold Faucets for some Hedge Fund Managers yacht?

[Iggo]

28. He's not interested in food stamps.

[pipi_k]

29. Wha????

Not quite sure where this rant is coming from.

The OP didn't ask "CAN food stamps be used...", which would indicate ignorance.

He asked "SHOULD they be used..." indicating that he's looking for the opinions of others.


Also, I didn't see any attempt to "broad brush" a group of people.



:shrug:

[SomethingFishy]

36. Really? So this is an attempt at a serious debate

over whether people should be allowed to use Food Stamps to buy toys? Really? Wow I must be a complete idiot, thank you for straightening me out.

[flvegan]

10. People should be allowed to use food stamps to buy Oasis CDs.

Score one for...oh, well you know where that's going.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

12. Maybe they should be FORCED to buy Oasis CDs......

That will get them lazy louts out lookin' fer work.

[Riley18]

11. If the food stamps could be used to buy fast food, then I see no reason why a kid

could not have the damn toy that comes with the meal. It makes no sense why people are not allowed to buy cooked food. Many poor people do not have a place to cook food. I would rather see kids have hot food.
What gets me is how we permit politicians to set rules for us when they clearly allow the rich to do whatever they want.

[cherokeeprogressive]

15. Of. Fucking. Course.

[Withywindle]

16. Here are some more polls for you.

Are you well-informed enough to know that prepared food at restaurants of any kind cannot be bought with food stamps?

1. Yes.

2. No, in which case I need to STFU until I get educated.


Do you believe that poor people deserve to be penny-and-dimed, scrutinized, micromanaged, judged, penalized, and condescended to just because they're poor?

1. No

2. Yes, in which case I need to go to Free Republic instead.

[ZombieHorde]

17. I am not sure what you are asking. Are you asking if people should be allowed to buy the toys

without the food? Are you asking if the toy should be withheld if the happy meal is bought with "stamps?" What are you asking?

[rug]

18. I think people should be allowed to donate their food stamps to Obama 2012.

Plus their unemployment checks.

[Kennah]

19. We've been drawing WIC ...

... and the restrictions are pretty onerous as to how one can use the coupons. I would imagine it's similar for Food Stamps.

Under WIC, juice must be a 64 oz. bottle, grape or apple, no mixtures like cran-grape or cran-apple, no organics.

Bread must be whole wheat, nothing organic, but there's lots of whole wheat we can't buy with it so we just stick with one that has the WIC sticker and we know goes through.

Cheese must be 1 lb., colby, colby-jack, or sharp, but no swiss, no extra sharp--at least we can buy rBST free

Cereal is very restricted. We usually buy Kix, Grape Nuts, Life, and there's one or two others on the list that the kids will eat.

At least the fresh fruit and veggies $6 coupon was good for anything fresh, including organic.

When we first signed up, I asked about the milk and whether it could be rBST free milk? Woman snapped at me that we could not buy organic with it and why did I think I needed to buy organic. I tried to calmly explain that rBST free isn't organic. She tried to tell me all milk in Washington is hormone free. I asked if she had anything about this because I'd not ever heard or read that. She gave me an information sheet with an rBST apologist website. Decided to give up and not fight City Hall on this one. We passed on the milk coupon. I've since been able to find out that rBST can't be used on Washington cows, but milk from Oregon or Idaho cows that receive rBST could be legally sold in Washington.

I think we have to go in for another meeting in mid December. I'm back to work, told 'em that, and we still get one more round of coupons. Haven't had to do any more of the condescending nutrition classes. Wife commented to me, "You lost your job. We didn't lose our ability to figure out what to feed our kids."

[GoCubsGo]

27. "The condescending nutrition classes"

I know the feeling. I had to put up with the same shit when I was on unemployment. Nothing like having a graduate degree, losing your job of 20 years, and then being told "You people are going to be competing for jobs with the folks that are about to be laid off from Castleberry's." (Castleberry's makes canned stew.) I guess it never occurred to them that it's not just people who work in manufacturing that get laid off.

And, nothing like having to sit through condescending and excruciatingly dull classes on how to fill out applications, write resumes, and interview for jobs. Because we haven't done that already. How the hell do these idiots think we got the jobs from which we were laid off in the first place??? Do they actually think we got those jobs magically, without having to do all that stuff?

[Bluenorthwest]

31. Useful guide- Oregon milk is largely rBST free. I think one dair

might use it, maybe. The milk options are wider than you might assume. In the NW, all Safeway dairy products are w/o it, for example. Here is a list...my recommendations are Alpenrose and Lochmead, for many reasons.
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:LmDSnyqADHMJ:www.psr.org/chapters/oregon/assets/pdfs/consumers-guide-to-rbgh.pdf+rbst+oregon+law&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESh15tOrqF5xVhhYh6Tz9r9FQaVu9coPXw629MBSguU1iDUx1yv77WbFx2gD0RBZ4T-_IS6L79fH8icxBpf3Ti_nob0wrL6BBTgmJg4LmeCTox-Ko6mKXyqtO1XO1BlkHDrbQcd2&sig=AHIEtbRpcn0k7vGC_NH8rHsfrgYm8dZL4Q

[The Genealogist]

20. Why would anyone be able to buy toys with FOOD stamps?

FOOD stamps are for FOOD. Hence the name. In Missouri, not even food from the deli at the grocery store can be bought.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. Wait. I'm not exactly a "happy meal" expert, but I didn't think the toys were sold separately

I thought they came WITH the food. Or "food".

[Cid_B]

25. They were.. until recently in San Francisco...

Local know it all passed a law saying that McDs couldn't give away a toy to entice the kiddies so McD's is charging an extra dime and giving to the Ronald McDonald house.

[Name removed]

22. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Posteritatis]

23. The whole "we need to micromanage peoples' food stamp usage" thing is a longrunning tradition (nt)

[HappyMe]

24. Yes, they should. nt

[GoCubsGo]

26. No.

Poor kids whose parents can't afford to feed them without help should never be able to enjoy a treat that has a toy in it. It's their own fault they didn't pick better parents.

:sarcasm:

[Bluenorthwest]

30. I saw people who were the opposite of this OP

The other day at the market, I was in line a place or two down from a woman who was purchasing family food and supplies. When she came to pay, one card did not cover some items, another was declined, I slowly realized the first card was what some still call 'food stamps' as the checker offered that she might want to remove some specific items. She was upset, and as she leaned over her cart to select what had to go, a man who was sipping coffee with his wife in the cafe area at the end of the line stepped up to the checker, all stealth and silence, handed the checker a $100 bill, said pay for her and give her the change, sat down again. When the woman came up with items to take away, the checker told her someone just paid for her. She looked around, 'who?' and no one said. Checker said 'it doesn't matter, you are fine' and finished her order, handed her the remaining cash (she was stunned again) and that was that.
The fine couple who stepped up to cover for her did not ask if that order had a toy for her child, or organic food, or a magazine. They simply covered the needs without asking what or why and without taking any credit, making any fuss. I love that couple, and I wish our entire population was like them, and that our government programs had as much mind to dignity and common decency as those two sweet people have.
So I cast my vote for those who step up for the least among us without condition.

[Earth_First]

32. +100

Thanks for sharing that!

[Earth_First]

33. Where's the "None of your fucking business" option?

:shrug:

[WI_DEM]

34. toys? No.

[MahayanaLotus]

35. What's the difference

between McD's food & toys? Both are made from plastics and both contain 0 nutrition.