The phone lady thing
Yes, a couple of you sent us the video of the woman near Cleveland who told the interviewer that she was voting for Obama because he got her a free phone. I’m sure you’ve seen the video, but here it is if you haven’t. You’ll want to turn your speakers down because she’s pretty enthusiastic about her phone;
Well, the Left of course, is quick to defend the free phone program. Think Progress blames Bush (of course) and then doubles down with the lie that the phones are provided without tax payer support;
Since 2009, there has been an urban myth that Obama created a program to provide free phones to low-income Americans at taxpayer expense. There is, in fact, a government program that will provide low-income people with a free or low cost cell phone. It was started in 2008 under George W. Bush.
The idea of providing low-income individuals with subsidized phone service was originated in the Reagan administration following the break-up of AT&T in 1984. (It was expanded and formalized by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.) The program is paid for by telecommunications companies through an independent non-profit, not through tax revenue.
Well, the Washington Examiner takes a closer look at the program, and if it’s not taxpayer supported, then why are members of Congress offering cuts to the program?
In 2008 the program cost $772 million, but by 2011 it cost $1.6 billion.
A 2011 audit found that 269,000 wireless Lifeline subscribers were receiving free phones and monthly service from two or more carriers. Several websites have been created to promote “free” government cell phones, including the”The Obama Cell Phone” website at Obamaphone.net.
Rep. Tim Griffin R-Ark. has proposed a bill to eliminate federal subsidies for free cell phones and has produced a great YouTube video highlighting the runaway cost of the program. The program has also been highlighted for reform by Senator Claire McCaskill D-Mo.
My question to Old Trooper who sent us the link early yesterday was “Why does she need a phone at all?” If she’s out protesting Romney in the middle of the day, she obviously doesn’t have a job. People without jobs don’t need phones, unless they’re looking for work. She doesn’t seem to be burdened by that particular problem.
Unless, of course, protesting Romney is her job, because apparently SEIU was paying protesters $11/hour for that service at that particular event;
Category: 2012 election, Barack Obama/Joe Biden, Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan
Not to mention the woman was somehow transported to the Romney Event…Not unlike the pot-smoking, patchouli wearing hippies that showed up at the GOE in 2007, hmmm?
Bingo, Jonn. Another lie from the left – and another $1.6 billion a year in the Federal budget consumed by abject waste.
As someone once put it: “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money!” (The quote is often attributed to Dirksen, but after an exhaustive search of their archives the Dirksen center cannot find documentation that he ever actually said that, and before his death Dirksen actually disputed ever making the statement. Although two persons claim to have heard Dirksen make the statement on the “Johnny Carson Shot”, no other documentation – transcripts, recordings, etc . . . , appears to exist to support their memory.)
http://www.dirksencenter.org/print_emd_billionhere.htm
“Why does she need a phone at all?”
The justification for the program is that a phone is an essential service. In order to get help in an emergency or conduct basic life transactions, such as applying for a job. Not saying its right or wrong, but that’s why the program was started almost 30 years ago.
I bought a TracPhone because all I need a phone for around here is calling a cab, checking in with my daughter, and her having a way to contact me. I don’t need music or data or anything else.
It’s especially important, though, to have some sort of phone because there are virtually no pay phones anymore. The only ones I have seen are at bus & train stations and airports. Other than that, nada.
But I do like the Tracphone. Cost me $20 for the phone, and I spend about $20/month for minutes.
Video #1 Another member of the FSA who will riot at the hint that her entitlements will be taken away.
Video #2 I notice how quickly the “handlers” moved in to stop the protestors from giving away the game that many of them are not SEIU, but being paid by the SEIU.
F**k ’em all. There will be riots of celebration if Obamao wins. There will be riots of protest if Obamao loses. And the popo will stand by and do nothing for fear of upsetting some idiot’s tender feweeings (feelings).
I sat here for a while and pondered what words I could use to describe how those videos made me feel. The first word that came to mind is disgusted.
If I wasn’t fighting the flu, I’d still be sick from this.
Strangely enough, the only thing I could think of during the videos was “Where all the white women at?”
If all it takes is a damn phone to get them to vote for someone, I’ll run in 2016 and give everyone who voted for Obama TWO phones, as well as a swift kick in the ass followed by euthanization.
Whaddaya wanna bet it would take her 65 minutes to find D.C. on a map and that she would never be able to locate Afghanistan on one. But she knows all that she needs to know to vote for obama.
FrostyCWO: not exactly. Federal law specifies the intent as being to provide universal access to reasonably priced telecommunications services. It does not specify universal telephone access as a “right”, or that “reasonable” = “free”.
The current program continues practice that began in the 1930s. The original Federal telecommunications law – the Telecommunications Act of 1934 – specified the desire to provide “rapid, efficient, Nation-wide, and world-wide wire and radio communication service with adequate facilities at reasonable charges” to “all the people of the United States.”
Prior to the Bell System breakup, both long-distance and local phone service costs were heavily regulated; long-distance rates were kept artificially high in order to subsidize the cost to the local consumer. The 1980s Bell System deregulation ended this practice, leading the FCC to allow carriers to move to a system of access fees and surcharges. The Telecommunications Act of 1996 codified those fees – but that act no where specified that universal access was a “right” or would be provided free. It’s still something that the individual is expected to pay for.
The current program of providing free phones at government expense is just yet another unnecessary government giveaway. Given that this money could otherwise legitimately be used to defray the FCC’s operating costs vice being given away, it’s effectively being paid for by the government. And at $1.6 billion a year, since there were about 60.5 million individual income tax returns filed in 2011, even if you assume that each tax return had a tax liability that works out to $26.44 per tax return filed. Since many of those had zero income tax liability (e.g., got as much or more back in a refund than they had withheld in income taxes), reality is even worse.
It is not the government’s role to provide anyone a free phone. The program is just another rat-hole down which your tax dollars are poured.
Phone service for an emergency I can understand, that could be a land line in a home or apartment. It could be part of the section 8 housing that most of these folks are using to pay their rent. Land lines for local calls only cost next to nothing these days, a free phone for an emergency or to find a job can be set up to receive calls from any where and place local calls only. There is no need to support a wireless phone program for people who can’t afford one.
If someone’s feeling are hurt because they can’t afford to own a cell phone the solution is to get off your lazy, uneducated dumb 4ss and get the f$ck to work like the rest of us. I have held a job that paid taxes since I was 14 picking tobacco in the summer and delivering 85 daily newspapers and 100 Sunday newspapers. I wanted to buy things and I knew I had to earn money to buy them otherwise I would go with out. I have little sympathy for those who don’t comprehend that simple formula.
@#11 – Veritas Omnia Vincit: That’s what makes you different than those folks on the videos. You understand the value of work and the benefits it brings. You learned, (like the rest of us) that if you don’t get up in the morning and simply do what has to be done, you won’t have all the neat little gadgets you’d like to have to make your life more comfortable. Chances are, these folks have been getting hand-outs and formed an expectation that they are indefinite. I’m all about giving someone a “hand-up” to help them get back on their feet, but c’mon – there HAS to be limits.
A few facts about this:
http://www.factcheck.org/2009/10/the-obama-phone/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2012/02/12/are-taxpayers-paying-for-free-cell-phones/
BTW. Why is this of more interest than say the Republicans voting against a jobs bill for veterans?
When one of you dinguses read the job bill that was stalled in the Senate, then you can talk about it. I’ve actually read the thing and I wasn’t impressed and I’m pretty sure once you read it and ignore the stupid hype, you won’t be impressed either. It was a boondoggle and anyone halfway literate will agree.
To add to what Jonn wrote in comment 14: from what I’ve seen from them lately, one of the last Federal agencies I want starting up any new programs these days is the VA. Based on their recent performance they obviously already have a few too many rocks in their rucksack.
Reminds me of the non-tax payers, I believe in Destroyed, MI (I mean Detroit), who when a asked why they were at a city office to apply for housing grants, “why are you here?”
One responded, “for free Obama money!”
When asked where the free money comes from, the gracious recipient replied, “Obama’s stash.”
HOLY CRAP FREE MONEY.
Just like free health care for all.
It is free! God Bless America.
@14 that’s not going to happen, their elected representatives are not reading the entire bill. Certainly the unwashed masses will not….it’s amazing what you can learn using Thomas…or Google even….right from the government’s own websites.
Hey Bob –
I’m pretty sure the article acknowledges it wasn’t Obama who created the program, though it’s cost has risen dramatically under him.
Maybe you didn’t read the Forbes article fully, but it says it isn’t paid for through income tax, but IS taxpayer funded, as in,from taxes WE pay on OUR phone bills. see, taxes, no matter which tax they are under, still are paid but us, the taxpayers. Just wanted to clear that up for ya. 😉
Here’s another cool link. http://obamaphone.net/
Now, as far as the BS jobs bill, throwing more money into another BS bill isn’t the answer to anything, and FYI…it would have gone above the spending limit authorized under the Budget Control Act and all that “supercomittee” silliness.
Just a few facts for you to ponder this morning.
Phone distribution. Harumph. Perhaps the most corrupt system that has ever been devised?
How many folks are on the payroll handing out these “free” phones? I rather doubt that the city near us is the only one where folks we pay fly in, rent vans, buy tables and other stuff, they drive around looking for groups of people to hand the “free” phones to.
Then they give away the tables and such, fly off to another city where they do the same thing. Then back here and buy more tables and such, rent more vans, etc.
As disgusting as the expense of the phones themselves (and who pays all those charges at the end of the month???) may be, how much is the administration of the program costing us? Would really like to know just how many of those “new jobs” created are union members being paid outrageous salaries (plus benefits) for begging folks to take these “free” phones, sometimes dozens at a time.
I just reviewed Obama Phone qualifying factors, here is a list (I added a few):
If you are using one of these programs or ….
* Food Stamps or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).
* Medicaid.
* Supplemental Security Income – commonly known as SSI.
* Health Benefit Coverage under Child Health Insurance Plan (CHIP).
* The National School Lunch Program’s Free Lunch Program.
* Low-Income Energy Assistance Program – LIHEAP.
* Federal Public Housing Assistance ( Section 8 ).
* If you are a low-income Eligible Resident of Tribal Lands.
* Temporary Assistance to Needy Families – TANF.
* You don’t want to work.
* You can’t keep a job.
* You don’t want to pay taxes.
* The man has kept you down too long.
* You can’t or don’t want to get a government issued ID CARD.
* You think freemoney is one word.
* You believe health care will be paid for by freemoney.
* You were raised believing someone owes you something and now your President is supporting that notion.
* You just got of jail for the third time and plan on returning soon.
@13 bob…did you read the Forbes article? These articles attempt to claim it’s not taxpayer supported but the text in their articles puts the lie to the claim. The articles claim it’s not taxpayer supported, but the telecoms pass the fee along to the end consumer to meet the telecom’s obligation to the government to fund the program. The law doesn’t mandate the telecoms fund the program out of their net profits, just that they provide the administration of the revenue raised and provide the service. Thus the telecoms add the fee into the cost of service to the paying customers (taxpayers) as an additional fee. So sure it’s technically not a tax on your income directly but if you buy a cell phone package from a major provider you are paying for someone to have free or subsidized cell phone service. It’s a regressive tax disguised as a “fee” for doing business. Because it’s administered outside the government doesn’t make it less so.
JP, VOV: bingo. I’ll back off if someone can explain to me the difference between a “mandatory fee” imposed by the Federal government and a tax.
After all, if I recall correctly the SCOTUS just said they’re effectively the same thing.
Wanna bet that in the second vid the white male thugs are SEIU members on the public payroll herding around the black protestors? Rather chilling actually.
Using minorities as props? The picture of modern slavery??
Hey bob they voted down the veterans jobs bill for two reasons that I can think of.
1. It violated the Budget Control Act
2. We already have six government veterans jobs programs now and nobody knows if they’re working.
It was pure political crap from the Democrats just so they could make the Republicans look bad. Any rational person can see that, but I highly doubt anyone has accused you of being rational.
These sheeple are the kind that will see this country become socialistic. By the time they realize what is going on, they will be working 80 hours a week for nothing more than a roof over their head and food.
It is because of Americans like this, and I use that word very lightly, that we may see a modern day slavery. Not the slavery that we know from our history books, but slavery to the government. As long as they get their “free” money for food, cell phone, cable TV, etc., then they will allow the government to do as they like. It is self-imposed poverty because they are too stupid (thanks to government schools) to know any better.
Oh, and if you talk out about the government or point out that their stuff isn’t free, then you are labeled a dissenter and shouted down because all dissenters want to stop their free stuff.
Personally, it makes me sick that breeders like that are allowed to thrive while people who actually work for our money and attempt to support themselves just find themselves going deeper and deeper into debt.
This is complimentary to the phone video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=SeJbOU4nmHQ
Howard Stern takes a field trip into Harlem to ask people about the election. You will learn how they feel about Obama’s VP Paul Ryan as well as if they think Obama will catch bin Laden someday. Comedy Gold!
We’ve already seen that, flagwaver – just not in our country to date. History showed us that, and worse, in places like the USSR and Mao’s China. It continues in North Korea today.
I pray Santayana was wrong. But I fear he was right.
And something else, too, Flagwaver…depending on the socialism subset, they’ll work where they’re told to work, and health care is a bed to die in after they drag you off the assembly line when you collapse of old age, illness, or overwork. Remember the old films of Moscow, East Berlin, etc? No folks loitering on the street corners. There was a reason for that.
From Beltway Confidential:
The program is called Lifeline, established in 1984, originally created to subsidize landline phone service for low income Americans, funded by government-collected telecommunication fees, paid by consumers.
In 2008 , the program was expanded to support cell phones which quickly escalated the cost of the program. In 2008 the program cost $772 million, but by 2011 it cost $1.6 billion.
A 2011 audit found that 269,000 wireless Lifeline subscribers were receiving free phones and monthly service from two or more carriers. Several websites have been created to promote “free” government cell phones, including the”The Obama Cell Phone” website at Obamaphone.net.
I bought and watched Idiocracy again tonight. Scary to think it reminds me of some people I’ve seen nowadays.
@25. “By the time they realize what is going on, they will be working 80 hours a week for nothing more than a roof over their head and food.” Truers words were never spoken. The day does come when those who are on the receiving end of government largesse learn that there is no free lunch. The awakening will be quite rude. If we continue down this road, today’s obamaland kids will be those forced at gunpoint by the government to report to the local factory. They don’t get it.
I used to work with a guy who thought Obama was doing a great job. I asked him why. He said, “Because he got phones for all the poor people.”
He then proceeded to explain that many of his drugdealing friends use their “Obamaphones” for business transactions of the pharmaceutical variety, and their own phones for personal calls.
Good to know.
Healthcare is a “right” according to liberals who don’t understand the difference between that and a commodity which is 1-finite in supply, 2-must be paid for somehow. Ditto for transportation, food, post-secondary education, cell phones, etc., ad nauseam.
Uh, libs? If it come from the sweat of someone else’s labor, it’s not a right. If you want these things, get off your dead ass and EARN them like the rest of us. And start getting used to hearing the word “NO” a lot more.
The sad reality is that most of the things big Gov gives out are not things which anyone asked to be given – at least in the beginning of whatever program. Even those which seemed altruistic at first always manage to morph into something outrageous.
Take forcing farmers to grow corn for fuel instead of food. How can that program make sense to anyone? Add all the farmers who are being paid to NOT farm land which they typically have not farmed for generations already (for instance, acerage abutting rivers which flood every year), and you begin to see that we have a serious problem with big G intruding into entirely too many parts of our lives. And adding otherwise rational humans to the dependancy class whether they want to or not.
One party could never have done this to us without the cooperation of the other.
OK, guys – help me out here.
The lady featured in this article already has a landline. If the purpose is to provide communications “in an emergency”, why in the hell is she even eligible for a government-funded cell phone if she already has a home phone?
http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/news/subsidized-cell-phone-program-nearly-doubles-in-oh/nRDqC/
Need has little, if anything, to do with this giveaway program. All you really have to know is that the program is officially referred to as Obamaphones to understand the entire purpose.
Vote buying corruption. That is all. Some of us are waaaay past being sick of subsidizing all this nonsense.
For instance, after paying twice as much monthly for all the assorted fees and taxes as for the phone service itself, including a hefty upcharge for 9-11, when I actually needed to call 9-11 for an injury accident in front of my home, there was an additional charge for making that call. Now, I am right up there with users paying for services they use, but is it really necessary for me to pay for 9-11 in case I ever need to use it AND to pay for it again when I do?
But so it goes every day with every agency under the umbrella of Big Gov.
So does “obamaphone” mean that if Bo does not get re-elected, the “obamaphone” gets canceled?
Hey, since the Dems like to have dead people vote in elections, can I get my late Mom and Dad to vote, too? And where would I sign up my dead grandparents, both sets? And my dead aunts and uncles?
The Obamamoney that MCPO was talking about…
http://youtu.be/fOZ-Etb0k0Q
If a free phone is all it takes to get elected these days then Vermin Supreme is a shoe-in. Free pony’s for everyone!
Those should be free unicorns?
Well, it certainly didn’t take one of the leftist race-baiting chattering class long to play the race card here.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2012/09/no-youre-racist-or-blogging-about-obama-phones/57421/
Apparently, if a “person of color” says or does something outrageous, that’s to be ignored. Or you’re racist.
Of course, from all indications the source here – Elspeth Reeve – is a known leftist mouthpiece. And she’s also apparently either a deliberate, serial liar or an imbecile too dumb to walk around without adult supervision with a fixation of nonexistent racism.
http://www.allamericanblogger.com/23409/elspeth-reeve-is-a-lying-hack/
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/295639/race-brain-victor-davis-hanson
If anyone is reading this thread, enjoy!