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Post by Connie on Sept 10, 2008 17:32:04 GMT -5
This is a freebie being posted all over and many people are very excited about it.. Me? You will notice that I haven't posted it in the freebie section. WHY is the government buying cell phones for people now? If it were being used strictly as a "lifeline" great.. What are the chances that will be how it's used though? You can go down and buy more tracfone minutes for it but you don't have to buy the phone and you don't have to pay for the plan. "You may qualify if…You already participate in other State or Federal assistance program such as Federal Public Housing Assistance, Food Stamps and Medicaid. OR Your total household income is at our below 135% of the poverty guidelines set by your State and/or the Federal Government. AND No one in your household currently receives Lifeline Service through another phone carrier. -it’s currently valid in parts of TN, but coming soon to AL, NH, CT, NY, DE, NC, DC, PA, GA, VA, and MA." www.safelinkwireless.com/EnrollmentPublic/home.aspx
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Post by tara on Sept 10, 2008 21:44:06 GMT -5
OMFG seriously? What's next... annual disney cruises? bullhonkey
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Post by chelle on Sept 27, 2008 15:41:51 GMT -5
Thats BS. I am FED THE HE,....okay, I am really tired of people who do NOTHING getting and having everythin I have and more. SERIOUSLY. I go into a store and pick and choose. I allow one junk food item period.. THEN I get behidn someone who has NOTHIN gbut TV dinners and chips and cokes, NOTHIN to COOK. and they pay with MY money.
I know that everyone deserves a little snack every once in a while. Thats why I am baking blueberry muffins right now. FROM SCRATCH. because there has not been a peice of candy, cookie, or cupcake in this house for over a month. THis entire month has had VERY little grocery shopping, because money was tight. we ate out of the freezers. I COOKED. I have bought milk and bread. Thats IT. noone has went hungry, but noone got a pizza either.
And now I get to buy them a flippin cell phone? seriously? next thing they will need a new and dependable car. we are already having to bail out the housing market because they all needed housing and were given 700,000. loans on a 30,000.00 a year job. I want to know how many of those 'foreclosures' were done because they were given help by the goverment to buy a home..
OH well, I guess it makes me feel better that most of them already have a cell phone. I see that when shopping too.
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Post by Organized Chaos on Dec 22, 2008 14:24:21 GMT -5
Taxpayers in my town pay for the 7 new cell phones the city bought last year. They handed them out to the PD, the water dept. & street dept. You have to understand that my town is tiny. The PD is perfectly fine with the CB & handheld radios. They have no need for a cell phone to contact dispatch. The water & street depts. could go to Wal-Mart and buy walkie talkies off the shelf and they would suffice in this small town. When I asked the mayor why, he said it'll help each dept. do their job more efficiently. He cited the example: Let's say the on duty police officer spotted a pothole that needed to be filled. He can call the street dept. to have them come out and fix it. Uhh ok, well how about the cop DRIVE to their building because from anywhere in town it'd take 2-3 minutes. He said CB's wouldn't work because in case of an emergency they may need to contact one of their guys who's on vacation out on a lake in Texas on a fishing trip. Excuse me but the guy's on vacation, there's no street dept. emergency that's going to get him back. And if there's a family emergency, he had better have already made his own arrangements to be contacted.
So now every time I see a cop parked around town, his ear is glued to the cell phone the taxpayers are so kindly paying for.
And we were told the city couldn't afford salt this winter to treat the icy, snowy roads. Makes sense...cell phones yes, material that provides safety to the town's people, no.
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Post by havingfunnow on Dec 22, 2008 16:38:09 GMT -5
OC, I can see your point! Now what are you going to do about it If you make a stink in a small town about the police, then life can get rough. As a matter of fact, that can apply just about anywhere, as has been proven many times over. They say absolute power corrupts, and who watches the watchers? I would write up my concerns and send them into the local/regional newspaper's editorial department or television station - making sure I signed it with the name of someone I didn't really like. This way I would get two birds with one stone. - jk. I think there is a reason for the departments having Cell Phones, but it would be as a back-up to the existing communication system. If you see the cell phones being abused by city employees, then I would try and get a petition for their cell phone records to be audited. It all depends on how bothered you are by this. Back to the subject this thread started with - I know people who more than meet the guidelines and have no phone access. For them, this program is a godsend, as it will give them something to use in an emergency. They can not afford contracts or prepaid plans. I know there will be some people who will try to abuse it, but they can only abuse it up to 68 minutes a month and then no more minutes. Is this fair to people just above the cutoff limits? No, but a cutoff has to be made somewhere. How long do I think that this program will exist? In these economic times, I wouldn't even hazard a guess, as I think public programs are going to be getting hit hard - soon.
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