I was on welfare back in the 1960s. That was a way of showing contempt for society’s “work\/progress” ethic, and if the state was willing to subsidize me while I protested the war and volunteered at the co-op, fine.<\/p>\n
Caseworkers loved my brownies, but the joke was on me, for they never mentioned that, according to statute, as soon as I came into “property,” e.g., got a full-time job, I had to start repayment.<\/p>\n
Ten years later, a computer match spewed me out, the state wanted its $2000 back. I’d been off welfare for eight years and gainfully employed for three.<\/p>\n
Was their failure to inform me I was getting into debt grounds to contest? No, it wasn’t, but the “public assistance recipients’ bill of rights” guaranteed the right to a “speedy” determination of status or change thereof.<\/p>\n
Hot damn, I had an argument! My status had changed three years ago, I had the right to plan for the future, I was about to make an offer on a house.<\/p>\n
Well, it was a good try, more exactly, a “disingenuous” try, but who knows, had my cause been noble, maybe the judge would have taken advantage of the elasticity of the law.<\/p>\n
It’s now another twenty-five years later and my friends at Voices in the Wilderness<\/a> have been hauled into court; they wittingly violated the Iraq Sanctions Act and face $20,000 in fines. It could be the end of the road for Voices, but wait a minute, the judge has noted<\/a> that the violations occurred in 1998.<\/p>\n