Those Dog Gone I-pads.

       I was involved in a discussion the other day about how wrong it is for poor people to own I-pads and the like while demanding food stamps and additional government handouts. As usual in such discussions, nobody wins the argument. On the one side you can point to this and claim these ingrates should have spent their money on food, housing and clothes that fit. On the other hand you can claim that everyone needs to enjoy at least some small pleasures in life.
       But I guess it really comes down to one thing. Who makes the mistake of spending beyond their capacity to pay? Do these poor people who can't make it on their own and so must depend on the government to help support them, have the moral right to waste money on such things as I-pads and cellphones that do anything you ask it to do and then some? Is that just a mistake or are these folks thumbing their noses at government?
       Let's look at the possibility of it just being a mistake. A dumb mistake, maybe, but a mistake nevertheless. So who makes dumb mistakes? Do only poor people make dumb mistakes? Mistakes that cost the government or some other third party? What about rich people? Have you ever heard of the rich making dumb mistakes? I can think of  some quickly. I can think of going to war unnecessarily, of losing an election because you didn't believe other polls, of seeing another country from your back porch, even President Obama seems to be making some mistakes. In fact I don't think I've ever met or heard of anyone who hasn't made more than one mistake.
       Would it be wiser if folks who need a helping hand didn't go out and buy some item the folks who are helping them can't afford? Well of course it would. But just because it would be wiser won't actually make them wiser. Just like the folks who helped them through their tax money, should show a little understanding and compassion and try to explain how it makes them feel, instead of characterizing these folks as immoral, (expletive deleted) good for nothing, (another expletive) lazy, hustlers. The folks who help the poor should remember, they make mistakes too. Sometime whoppers. And sometimes the mistakes of the wealthy cost every American more than they can afford.