Tuesday, October 15, 2013

(OT) Saturday's Food Stamp System Outage May Have Been a "Dry Run"?


I sensed something was afoot on Saturday when I read the food stamp system (formally "Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) was down due to power outage in the backup system (backup system?? causing shutdown of the main system??) and that the system was being administered by, of all companies, an inept company like Xerox.

Well, how this for "conspiracy", that the federal government is notifying the States to shut down the food stamp system as of November 1st and stay shut for the month (or worse, until further notice)?

From Zero Hedge (10/15/2013; links, emphasis original):

Foodstamp Program Shutdown Imminent?

When over the weekend, a Xerox "glitch" shut down the EBT system, better known as foodstamps, for nearly the entire day across 17 states leaving millions without "funding" to pay for food leading to dramatic examples of the basest human behavior possible, some of the more conspiratorial elements saw this merely as a dress rehearsal for what may be coming in the immediate future. While there was no basis to believe that is the case, a USDA (the currently shuttered agency that administers the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) memo obtained by the Crossroads Urban Center in Utah carries in it a very disturbing warning for the 46+ million Americans currently on foodstamps.

To wit: "understanding the operational issues and constraints that States face, and in the interest of preserving maximum flexibility, we are directing States to hold their November issuance files and delay transmission to State electronic benefit transfer (EBT) vendors until further notice." In other words, as Fox13News summarizes, "States across the country are being told to stop the supplemental nutrition assistance program for the month of November, pending further notice."

(Full article at the link)


If true, the Obama administration seems to be looking for absolute chaos (like the ones that descended on Walmart stores in Louisiana on Saturday) so that President Obama can shove his "absolute surrender to his position on government shutdown and debt limit or else" up the Republicans' collective behinds.

If true, so much for the absolute myth that this president is for struggling working-class people in America, simply because of his skin color.

If true, this is evil itself.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ever seen V for Vendetta? Remember the scene, "I want EVERYONE to remember WHY THEY NEED US"? This "shutdown" is exactly like that; immature politicians throwing tantrums and causing chaos to get their way.

Also, anyone who makes assumptions based on physical attributes like skin color is stupid.

I never bought into the whole Obama BS, while everyone around me fapped at his amazing speech delivering powers. I always said, "it's all a farce, he's more of the same; a choice between two evils isn't really a choice" but nobody wanted to listen.

Well, they certainly got the CHANGE they wanted. Change for the WORSE.

Anonymous said...

How about Boehner, who doesn't bring the clean CR bill to the floor for voting to get the government running again, thereby ensuring it remains unnecessarily shut down? Suspension of ETB benefits would be a direct consequence of undermining the democratic process (floor votes) for personal and/or political gain. How is that for evil?

And does anyone remember that this government shutdown was to begin with about some Republicans' publicly proclaimed goal to defund Obamacare, i.e., prevent a law from being enacted since they don't agree with it - in and of itself ethically a seriously questionable approach? (Of course, the story has changed in the recent few days, but someone surely must remember? If not, maybe paying attention to the quotes in this example article might help:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2013/10/32-republicans-who-caused-the-government-shutdown/280236/)

How on earth one can blame the administration in charge for not providing government services when its political opponents prevent it from doing so is completely beyond me.
*mscharisma*

Anonymous said...

P.S.: Long-term and apart from political affiliations, one should maybe look at how much sense a political system makes in which one party's majority may rule the law-making side, while the opposing party's majority may be in charge of providing the funding - or not - for "the other side".
*mscharisma*

Frankly said...

You mean, the one-party establishment in America with 'opposing' teleprompter puppet-show talking head theater. They're ALL at fault, be they flying the now-meaningless badge of Democrat or Republican. They ALL need to be purged. Otherwise, us peons will ALWAYS lose, more & more.

Stock said...

True evil it is.

Marushka said...

The government shutdown meant that some states kept food stamps funded and some, like Arizona, cut off food stamps for October 2013 -- because funding from the federal government was in question.

Is it possible that the letter on ZeroHedge was solely in due to the food stamps funding being of concern, or 'on standby,' if the federal government shutdown did not cease? And that now that it has been averted, no withdrawal of food stamps will ensue... (except that benefits are reduced as of 1 Nov 13 as previously announced. That's hard enough for the poor as it is.)

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