Sometimes I think we pride ourselves on it.

WE are not a nation of sociopaths , the House of Representatives is !

Them and their nut job constituents (not all the residents of their districts, just the ones that elected knuckle dragging inbred teabaggers to do exactly this)

"control" us are the sociopaths.

I've seen it myself. Carts full of snacks at well stocked grocery stores being bought with food stamps. And I have had lots of Cons tell me this is their main problem with food stamps. It would remove lots of the stigma if junk foods were not allowed to be bought with food stamps.

the people buying them. It is not the cause of the stigma. Have you looked at what's IN THE STORES? It's all crap! Garbage food. And the cheapest stuff usually. We make healthy food expensive and it's difficult to get fresh foods at lots of food pantries. So the good stuff costs a blessed fortune. And who are we to say what is junk food and what is not? If putting pickles on the dang sandwich gets the kid to eat it, how is that "junk food"? How about the kid should get to have something special once in awhile since the family probably doesn't get to have much other special stuff. Pickles are a small price to pay for the kid to have a little treat once in awhile.

Who the HECK ARE WE to judge what other people buy?

What is "junk food"? When Clinton got that junk food tax passed, they had to base it on how the packaging was done. So a granola or protein bar is "junk food" just like a Butterfinger.

No, people should not be able to buy alcohol, soda, and cigarettes with food stamps.

But maybe we all need to mind our own business and quit worrying about what everyone else has or doesn't have.

More people should pay attention to what is in THEIR cart and not what is in the cart ahead or behind them. Maybe, just maybe the person paying for ice cream or some treat with food stamps is buying a treat for a very sick kid. Until they walk a month in the other persons shoes, they should keep their mouths SHUT.
What the person buys with food stamps is their business and no one else's. I know and others know that it's not enough funds to buy really healthy and nutritious food for a family for a whole month anyway.

and they will vote to get rid of food stamps entirely by what they see.

and I agree with the other poster that you need to keep your eyeballs in your fucking cart.

so any perceived abuse of the system gives them that much more clout and power.

is not so bad anyway. Yes pickles tend to be high in sodium but they are a good source of fiber and cheese is a good source of protein. Put that together with some enriched bread and it's quite acceptable IMO.

Its ridiculous you cant buy hot foods in grocery stores like roasted chicken with food stamps but they allow candy bars and ice cream and chips. Junk foods in my mind are as unhealthy as cigs and alcohol. I buy canned soups and beans and chicken and bran cereal, Greek yogurt and turkey, sausages, frozen veggies, rice, fruits, almond milk, milk and lots of nuts etc, NO junk food.

Junk foods are very high in sugar, salt and/or fat, usually all 3. But I dont think pickles qualify as junk food.

If they could set a limit on salt, sugar and fat in processed foods as available for food stamps then I think they would all rapidly try to comply to try to avoid the junk food label. This might greatly cut obesity in the US and help out our health care system overload. The other thing they could do is a junk food tax so that it would reduce their purchases with food stamps and this revenue could be earmarked for the Obamacare program.

Ice cream, very specifically, SHOULD be allowed. And not just for the standard "poor people need a treat every once in a while/junk food is probably the only luxury they'll ever enjoy" line of reasoning, though I subscribe to that too.

Many people on food stamps do not have/can't afford air conditioning. How would you propose said people cool off on hot and humid summer days when the fan breaks down? Especially in rural areas without air-conditioned community centers?

I'd much rather people buy ice cream on food stamps than collapse and be taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion, because their options for cooling themselves were limited to begin with and got further restricted by moralist finger-wagging over "wasting MY tax dollars."

Or ice water kept in the refrigerator. You can drink ice cold water and tea all day long and it will be more effective than a single ice cream.

the program. What they choose to buy is nobody's business but their own. But having said that, if it's done in the right context there is nothing wrong with offering counseling on making sound nutritional food choices. But the place to do that is in an appropriate non judgmental setting, not in line at the supermarket checkout.

And of course the problem with trying to buy healthy food with food stamps is that more healthy food is usually more expensive food. And if you are a single mother feeding some hungry children you have to try to make your food stamp allowance go as far as possible and sometimes that necessitates making compromises with good nutritional choices.

Diabetics often keep a little candy around the house to eat when their sugar gets low. Should they not be able to buy it with their SNAP card? Should moms be able to use their card to buy those little bags of potato chips to put in their kid's school lunch?

I know you're just trying to think of a way to keep people from criticizing the program, and I sympathize because a lot of people aren't eating enough nutricious food, but I just don't think it would work to ban certain foods.

I think that the thing to do would be for the government to give big subsidies to vegetable and fruit growers in order to bring down prices. People aren't buying the nutricious foods because they're so expensive and junk food is so cheap. It wouldn't hurt to also give certain foods away to people that qualify at distribution centers, like they used to do with the cheese. Bringing down the prices of the healthy foods and putting a tax on the junk would go a long way toward achieving the goal without banning certain foods to be bought with the cards.

however there is always a battle over what what constitutes junk food and what does not. Plus I think we need to be wary of a regressive tax like that because it will hit the poor the hardest. Yes we should try to limit certain food commonly known as junk food but poor people should have as much right as anyone else to treat themselves occasionally to a bag of chips or a package of chocolate chip cookies.

I see what you're saying about giving subsidies to big businesses who are already wealthy, but we do need to think of ways to make veggies and fruit more affordable. If we could somehow get guarantees that the money would be used to pass along the savings, I would be able to stomach the boon given to the agribusinesses.

I'm no economist, so my ideas aren't going to be as good as most experts, but something really needs to be done. Diabetes rates are going through the roof; all the juvenile diabetes we're seeing is scary. We're going to have to find a way to get better quality food to be consumed.

That would be providing a subsidy to small farmers. If every farmers market accepted food stamps and every school had a garden then we'd begin to see real progress on health issues particularly the health issues associated with obesity.

the GOP taking food away from children whose parents are dead beats and refuse to perform the task the GOP is asking of them in order to get food stamps!

who are not deadbeats, work 3 jobs, and still fall below poverty level? How do you separate them? Your argument sounds too rightwing for me.

you think the children of deadbeats deserve to go hungry? -----and you call me RW.

The GOP wants to tie Food stamps recipients to do community work and pass a drug test. I am sorry but he children of these deadbeats that will not perform the GOP 's task, should not be punished for their Parents actions.

NO ONE should be going hungry; if they qualify for food stamps, they should get them, and without the ridiculous limitations the rethugs want to put on everyone.

The only argument I made was that the children should not be punished with hunger for their parents actions.

Those kids Green is speaking on behalf of. My students. MY kids. Kids that I am trying to stock my classroom cupboards full of snacks for, because this year the cafeteria staff is "cracking down" on those who don't have money for lunch, and I've got kids who don't eat all day.