War on Drugs=War on Poverty.

The War on Poverty can not be won without a successful war on drugs, and vice-versa.
That's an uncomfortable thought that doesn't appeal to my libertarian side.
And it doesn't sound cool at all. And being cool is more important than being right, just ask Hollywood.
But the truth is the truth, no matter how un-hip, how uncomfortable.
I came to this realization anecdotally and have yet to find any statistics... likely, because it's a dirty, bureaucratic secret that would be deemed too politically incorrect.
Again. Indulge me.
I talked to a few police officers who told me that, roughly, 80 percent of their calls are related to substance abuse. The crimes run the gamut... from mundane (drunk and disorderly) to the violent (assaults, rapes, murder). More importantly, these officers stated that an above average number of these calls originate in low-income and section 8 housing, despite, of course, that most residents do not live in such housing.

You can do your own studies to confirm this. Check out crime stories and the police log in your local paper. I did and the results were shocking. In a recent story on a drug bust, ALL the perps were housed in government-subsidized housing units, even though this was a multi-municipality drug bust.

Let's take it another step: more the number of poor who die from alcohol and drug abuse in a month exceeds the number of soldiers that die in Iraq in a year.
Wow.

Our great and noble WELFARE system is actually ENABLEMENT system. We are paying for people to do drugs. We're, sort of, back-office slave traders who finance the servitude of human beings. We don't want to be troubled with actually helping people; but, we don't want to feel guilty, either.
I'm sure that, right about now, the Welfare proponents would say that drug use is caused by the desperation of poverty.
To which: I respond, "So what?" I am not arguing cause. I am arguing the relationship between poverty and drug and alcohol abuse. Further, if poverty does indeed cause substance abuse; it certainly does not alleviate the desperation of poverty and, actually, exacerbates the pain and hopelessness.
The conclusion is inescapable: a welfare system that is genuinely interested in the welfare of able-bodied men and women must... MUST... ensure that the people avoid harm. Recipients of welfare should be randomly drug tested. And, I'll go further, should be tested for alcohol abuse, as well.
This, is a key element of turning Welfare society into a Betterment society.

Springtime in Hillbillyland

Well. It's almost springtime and the hillbillies are stirring.
For the government subsidized hillbilly, who has spent most of the cold winter cooped inside his Section-8 shacks fornicating and getting drunk (not necessarily in that order), this is a great time to be alive.
If you had a beautiful spring day off, I'm sure you would find a hobby or indulge your current hobbies; not so, for the hillbilly, who has all day, every day off.
No, the hillbilly just can't seem to make it off the porch. It is as if an invisible force field of laziness has restrained the hillbilly to his porch or stoop, like a leash on a dog. This is one reason why the hillbilly's porch is so cluttered. They really wanted to throw those broken toys away... they just couldn't... seem... to... make... it... off... the... porch.
You'll see the early hillbilly riser on his stoop when you go to work. His mind feverishly at working at solving the great mystery of the day--how to buy a pack of cigarettes without expending any energy.
When you come home from work, the hillbillies are out in full force, the only thing missing is the poor special needs banjo boy from Deliverance. (He wouldn't even be seen with government subsidized hillbillies.)
Just think, you probably spent an hour a day working so that these hillbillies could enjoy this carefree lifestyle.
I think every hillbilly should be forced to stretch a banner across the front of his or her porch that reads, "Thank you, American worker."
Although, it would probably take no time for the hillbilly to hide the banner behind broken bicycle parts, ash trays, tattered Halloween decorations, and a film of tobacco spit.