Julie Bell – 9/25/07

This page was last updated on October 6, 2007.

Are we not deserving?; Julie Bell; Beaver County Times; September 25, 2007.

Below is a detailed critique of the letter.

“We all have to follow law.

“I am a mother who is expecting a son. No one should be born into this world without the basic need of health care. As a single parent, I have to make right decisions and I am not alone in this. I am a mother who has to feed and nurture as we keep my children healthy.”

[RWC] Is being an unwed mother unable to raise her children without a handout from taxpayers one of Ms. Bell’s “right decisions?”

“Basic needs must be met - food, shelter, love, water, safety, security. No one wants to be on public assistance; we want to provide for our children.”

[RWC] If Ms. Bell doesn’t want “to be on public assistance,” why did she choose to have a child she apparently can’t afford to raise on her own?

“My proposal is this: we act as blind people. As I see it, instead of using or abusing our public assistance, make gateway insurance universal.”

[RWC] What is “gateway insurance?” The only hits I got on the first five pages of a Google search referred to insurance companies named “Gateway.”

“Instead of denying care for our country and letting the United States die, whoever objects does not care for others and is selfish and self-centered.”

[RWC] Here’s what I wrote in a comment I posted on the Times website.

“Jack & Jane work hard to pay their taxes and provide for their family’s needs, all without taking one cent from taxpayers. If, however, they don’t also want to be forced to pay for their neighbor’s childrearing responsibilities, Jack & Jane do ‘not care for others,’ are ‘selfish and self-centered,’ and have ‘selfish hearts.’

“Where do people learn this stuff?

“Most people in situations where they can’t provide for their family are there because of predictably poor life choices, not by unforeseen circumstances. For example, if a person has children outside of marriage, that’s a poor choice. If a family breadwinner earns minimum wage but the couple decides to have kids anyway, that’s a poor choice. If a married couple can’t afford to raise a family on its own, do they have the right to go ahead and have kids anyway and dump part of the burden on their neighbors? Isn’t that the real irresponsibility and selfishness?

“As long as taxpayer-funded ‘safety nets’ enable/encourage/reward poor life choices, we’ll never minimize the problem.

“Do I believe people who need help because of unforeseen circumstances should get it? Of course, but via private charities funded by voluntary contributions.”

“Do they not realize the harm that this is causing? They would know children depend on assistance to help meet basic needs.

“Loving a child means providing for them. Does not everyone want the best for children, our next generation, knowing they get everything from those who came before them, or have our selfish hearts all died?

“Isn’t the law to protect and serve - selflessly - or do we keep letting our children down and let them perish for our selfishness?

“A plea to fellow Americans: as a united nation, can we not have peace among us?

“Can we not help each other with giving faith, hope, courage and strength to those who mean the most to us all?

“We could cure this nation by caring for all of America’s nation instead of taking our lives for granted.

“Having said this, gather together and teach one another how to meet each others basic needs, shedding light on the world.”

[RWC] Huh?

As we all know, Ms. Bell is not alone in her belief she’s entitled to take from other families. Here’s a comment (entitled “You need to get real”) made on the Times website allegedly from a friend of Ms. Bell’s.

“I am an (engaged) single mother. My fiance works a job where he gets laid off. He is a laborer that works down Shippingport. He makes decent money when he is working. How ever, the past year or two he has been laid off allot. Yes, when he is working we do put money in the bank and save it so when he is laid off we have bill money, grocery money, money to give our children a Christmas. How ever that money goes quick by the time the bills get paid and groceries get bought after a few months the money is gone. It is also not easy for someone in the union to go out and get another job till he gets called back to work. he has put in plenty, and I mean plenty of applications in all over Beaver county, some in Allegheny county and some in Butler county. How ever, he has not gotten one phone call for an interview. He has went to career link and sent out his resume. He has went to a temp agency and still no calls. Last Christmas we struggled to give the children a Christmas. No they did not get much, how ever we still struggled for what they did get. And as far as the "poor" families having children, not everyone prays to God and asks him to bless them with a child. I know for me I did not. Yes I am happy and grateful for my children, how ever I didn't ask for them, God blessed me with them. And as for families having two incomes, if the mother is a single mother, where is this second income coming from? As for me, I am a disabled mother who has struggled just to feed the children while my fiance was laid off looking for work. I thank God for the family and friends that I have that has helped us get through it. How ever, not every family is as fortunate as our's and some of the other's out there. There are some single mother's out there that are busting their butts just to make ends meet and to put food on the table and are not fortunate enough to have family to help them. I know for me, my mother used to help us out allot with food and money. How ever, she is not with us any more (God bless her soul) and sometimes it is really a struggle. So all of you people who are sitting on money and don't know what its like to be a single mother and not knowing what its like to try to work and make ends meet and to put food on the table really needs a reality check. Why don't you try working a dead end job being a single parent and trying to make ends meet. I have seen single mother's try to work good jobs, how ever the only ones they could get are the dead end ones. Why not try walking in our shoe's for once and stop talking down on the "poor" families, we pay taxes too and we do have a say so in things also, not just the families who has both parents and both parents working.

“Brandy (a friend of Julies), Aliquippa Pa”

FYI, the above is a cut-and-paste of Brandy’s comment. The spelling and other errors in the comment are those of Brandy and are consistent with the errors she made in a previous comment on a different topic.

I’m sure Brandy doesn’t recognize she confirmed my observation that most people in her position are there as a result of their poor choices.