From: decay@cbnewsj.cb.att.com (dean.kaflowitz)
Newsgroups: talk.abortion
Subject: Re: The March in D.C.
Date: 17 Apr 92 02:51:15 GMT
Article-I.D.: cbnewsj.1992Apr17.025115.5416
Distribution: na
Organization: AT&T

In article <40VBJB17w165w@treehut.waffle.atl.ga.us> cprice@treehut.waffle.atl.ga.us (Clyde Price) writes:
> rfischer@Xenon.Stanford.EDU (Ray Fischer) writes:
> > Even the welfare mother who has 7 children (each by a different father)
> > so that she can get more welfare money?  Don't most churches rather
>                                            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
> > object to this sort of behavior?
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>         Evangelical churches would _object_ to the sin of fornication
> and at least seek to bring the woman to repentance and faith in Christ
> as Savior and Lord, and would probably look for ways to help her become
> an established self-supporting person.  (Unfortunately, not all churches
> live up to this.)

A noble enough effort, incontext, and I have no quarrel with that.
I do object to the characterization of welfare recipientss and I
likewise objectto the acceptance of that characterization
implicit in the response.

A few facts about Aid to Families with Dependent Children:
Average monthly payment to families in the US:  $390.44
Average monthly payment per person:             $135.42

Source:  World Alamanac and Book of Facts, 1992.  Figures
are for 1990.  Figures include AFDC-Basic, AFDC Unemployment-
Parent, Title Vi-A Payment under JOBS, home repair, and payment
to Indian tribes.  The Almanac has, as its source, Administration
and Human Services for Children and Families, Office of Family
Assistance, US Dept. of Health.

This hardly looks like the life of luxury.  It is pure subsistance.
How many of us could support a family of eight on $135.42 per
person a month?  And how well could they be supported?

Another piece of information, for which I don't have a source
at the moment, but can obtain one, is that the overwhelming
majority of welfare recipients (I am tempted to recall the
figure at greater than 90%, but I can't confirm that right now)
are on assistance for less than one year.

What is needed is not to rant against those evil "Welfare
Queens," made famous by that paragon of compassion, a certain
former president, but an understanding of the mythical nature
of that class of royalty.

Another interesting fact is that in 1990 the US military received
approximately 290 billion dollars (by the way, I am not one of those
who constantly rail against the military budget, but there are some
interesting points) to do a good deal of legitimate work in the area
of defense, but also to buy $700 toilet seats (and why are there
ashtrays on billion dollar airplanes in the first place?), while
the entire outlay in the programs listed above was around $18.5
billion.  That's a lot of money both ways, I know.  But when
you know a bit about how manufacturers have been sucking at the
military breast for years and years working on projects that
never come to fruition, and then note that the majority of welfare
recipients are on assistance, as I said, for less than one year...
draw your own conclussions.

Dean Kaflowitz
Newsgroups: talk.abortion