and she said.. "how you interpret the dream is probably more important than the dream itself"

Free money is too much work

I can't believe it! After a little research it appears as if KC will *not* fall below the poverty line (provided he actually works all year)

2003 Federal Poverty Guidelines

Size of Family Unit: 1
48 Contiguous States: $ 8,980

In order to make $8980 even if working at minimum wage one would have to work less than 28 hours a week! 28 hours! Full time at minimum wage is $13,000 bucks.

Don't people always talk about how you can't live on minimum wage? Let's look at housing costs... in Maine of course.. say central maine. You can get an apartment for three to four hundred a month, throw in some bills like heat and electricity and phone and you're talking $500 total. Throw in some food and drink and you're talking $700. Throw in $100 a month for car insurance. Throw in $75 a month in gas. Throw in car costs of ~$1500 over the year (call it $125 a month). Add it all up and it still leaves someone with $83 bucks extra a month. That's $1000 bucks extra a year.

Okay okay okay. I'm not saying minimum wage is the cat's meow and I'm not saying it's as easy as it sounds but I am saying it's possible. And not only possible, but not as horrible as all the bums on the street would have you believe it is.

$8,980 on the other hand.. that would be pretty rough.. even in central Maine. Imagine trying to live on that in Boston or NYC. But you gotta question anyone making that little money in the first place, don't you?

I heard a bum on the radio a few weeks back. They were airing a "Annual Homelessness Marathon" on WMPG to increase awareness about the problem. They had homeless people talking on a panel and a call in show for people to ask questions. Some *actually* quotes from the show:

"I get $550[sic] in disability from the government a month. $550 is not enough to pay rent in Portland, ME"

note: I pay $425 in rent, plus about $75 in bills

When asked whether a veteran had tried to collect promised aid from the military he replied "Well, honestly, there was so much paperwork and hassle just to get my state disability check that I didn't bother"

he didn't bother. it was too much work. free money was... too much work

I'm sounding like a fucking hard ass conservative today, huh? Really though.. it ain't me, babe.