Food Stamp Friday

The Rose Supper Club in Montgomery will start "Food Stamp Friday" theme nights involving food support for needy families.

Club goers who present their “food stamp card” will pay just a $5 cover charge.

Manager Harman Wilson says the night is meant to complement the club's other theme nights, such as Fat Tuesday, Karaoke Wednesday or Thirsty Thursday.

Wilson says patrons will not be able to use their food stamps to buy alcoholic beverages. He says he hopes the novel approach will draw people to the club.

Even some of the Rose Supper Club's employees are opposed to the gimmick saying, “Name this party something else.”

But the promotion could stem from the fact that The Rose Supper Club is on the brink of closure.

After five years of litigation, a local attorney says he may be forced to lock the doors of the popular night club.

That's because club owners will not pay damages to his client who claims he was wrongfully beaten by security guards for stealing a woman's purse.

CLUB OWNER RESPONDS

MY EBT

A lot of us have been up in arms over the rapper who we believed was singing the praises of the EBT lifestyle. of

Stanley Lafleur, aka rapper Mr EBT (H-Man) says that people just don't get his message: "I couldn't believe people are hating on me like I'm rubbing the benefit card in the face of taxpayers. They don't get it. My video is a parody."

Lafleur offers an instructional rundown of the abuses of the EBT system with poetic flourishes: "I'm never going hungry, swiping all day y'all. Sandwiches, chips, a big box of Oreos. Cereal, Kix, but I couldn't buy a 40, dog?" At one point, he laments that his dealer doesn't accept food stamps: "I wish I could buy some weed with my EBT but the drug dealer fronted me."



But Lafleur says the video is a reflection of the EBT abuse, not a glorification of it. "That's the whole point of my video and that's what I'm trying to stop. There's a lot of people who really need help but aren't getting it while too many are abusing the system," he told the News. His producer Jermaine Gomes agreed with his sentiment: "It's just amazing that some people don't get it. They think it's seriously some dumb guy just using his EBT card."

Fast Food Food Stamps

Now, restaurants, which up till now have not participated in the food stamp program, want a slice of the pie.

Yum! Brands, whose restaurants include Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver's and Pizza Hut, is trying to get restaurants more involved, federal lobbying records show.




Federal rules generally prohibit food stamp benefits, which are distributed under the USDA's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), from being exchanged for prepared foods.

But the devil is in the details, and there is a provision dating to the 1970s allows states to allow restaurants to serve disabled, elderly and homeless people.
But we can't help but wonder if this is the tip of the iceberg?




Four states accept restaurants, with Florida the most recent to begin a program.
"It makes perfect sense to expand a program that's working well in California, Arizona and Michigan, enabling the homeless, elderly and disabled to purchase prepared meals with benefits in a restaurant environment," a Yum! spokesman said.




The National Restaurant Association supports Yum!, said spokeswoman Katie Laning Niebaum, but the National Association of Convenience Stores does not.
"If the pie's only so big, nobody's going to want to see the pie sliced thinner," said Convenience Stores spokesman Jeff Lenard. "I'm not sure that's in the best interest of public health."

If we have learned anything over the years, it's this: "what ever these people are saying, they're really only talking about one thing, money."

Speaking of money, food stamps are someone elses money designed to help people survive.
We get this feeling that this is just the beginning of something bigger.
Maybe cigarettes and alcohol are next, why not? Some argue that it should be the recipients decision.
We here at the Voodoo Kitchen collectively believe that we are paying for it so should be our decision.
Otherwise give us the option to opt out of supplying the money to them.

Reefer Madness and Food Stamps

It's reefer madness at Diane's Market in Cottage Grove.
It's a simple case of supply and demand,  food stamps-for-marijuana.

Diane and David Clark owners of Diane’s Market and some other guy were arrested on charges that they illegally possessed, manufactured and distributed marijuana. 

We are told the Clarks sold pot at their business, allowing customers to use state-issued “Oregon Trail” food benefits cards to purchase the drugs.

Police served search warrants at the Clarks’ home and business, as well as at the home of this other guy.

Investigators seized 21 mature pot plants, several pounds of processed marijuana and 107 immature plants during the raids.

State officials are prepared to help police identify people who may have used their food benefits to purchase marijuana at the Clarks’ market.

And if you read an earlier post of ours, you know that all these people had to do was go to McDonald's for a bag of reefer madness.

More Than 35 Million Receive Food Stamps

More than 35 million Americans received food stamps in June 2009, that's up 22 percent from June 2008 and a new record.

The food stamp program, designed to help cover the cost of groceries for one in nine Americans, has grown in proportion with the U.S. unemployment rate which stood at 9.4 percent in July.

The Labor Department will release August employment figures on Friday.

June was the seventh straight month in which food stamp rolls set a record.

The average benefit in June was $133.12 per person.