On 10/24/14 9:26 PM, Califbill wrote:
F*O*A*D wrote:
...about poor kids was a family member of one of our posters here...
Wayne? Greg? Herring? Reads like something they'd whine about, eh?

Rich Person Writes Letter Complaining About Having
To Give Candy To Poor Kids On Halloween


Slate’s “Dear Prudence” published a cringe-worthy exchange that the
advice columnist had recently had with a wealthy homeowner who lamented
the fact that sometimes poor kids come to her neighborhood on Halloween
to get better candy. The horror!

The letter, under the name “Halloween for the 99 Percent,” asks
“Prudence” — real name Emily Yoffe — why The Poors should be allowed in
his or her neighborhood shipped in by “overflowing cars” and stealing all
of nice people’s candy or diamonds wrapped in money or whatever it is
rich people hand out on Halloween. Isn’t that wealth redistribution?

Dear Prudence,
I live in one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the country, but on
one of the more “modest” streets—mostly doctors and lawyers and family
business owners. (A few blocks away are billionaires, families with
famous last names, media moguls, etc.) I have noticed that on Halloween,
what seems like 75 percent of the trick-or-treaters are clearly not from
this neighborhood. Kids arrive in overflowing cars from less fortunate
areas. I feel this is inappropriate.

(The homeowner is under the impression that because he or she pays taxes,
the rich should not be further burdened with having to trickle-down Snickers bars, too.)

Halloween isn’t a social service or a charity in which I have to buy
candy for less fortunate children. Obviously this makes me feel like a
terrible person, because what’s the big deal about making less fortunate
kids happy on a holiday? But it just bugs me, because we already pay more
than enough taxes toward actual social services. Should Halloween be a
neighborhood activity, or is it legitimately a free-for-all in which
people hunt down the best candy grounds for their kids?

(Seriously, why should less fortunate kids have a good holiday? They’re
poor! They should be out looking for jobs (or sweeping up their school
cafeteria for lunch money), not dressing up as vampires and marching into
areas that were specifically built to exclude them. After all, didn’t
Republicans already warn us that Halloween teaches kids about socialism?
How dare these parents want their kids to go to areas with less crime and more candy?)

(Prudence, who probably wades through hundreds of emails from
self-indulgent whiners every day, is remarkably patient with her response
before eventually getting to the inevitable smack down

Dear 99,
In the urban neighborhood where I used to live, families who were not
from the immediate area would come in fairly large groups to
trick-or-treat on our streets, which were safe, well-lit, and full of
people overstocked with candy. It was delightful to see the little
mermaids, spider-men, ghosts, and the occasional axe murderer excitedly
run up and down our front steps, having the time of their lives. So we’d
spend an extra $20 to make sure we had enough candy for kids who weren’t
as fortunate as ours. There you are, 99, on the impoverished side of
Greenwich or Beverly Hills, with the other struggling lawyers, doctors,
and business owners. Your whine makes me kind of wish that people from
the actual poor side of town come this year not with scary costumes but
with real pitchforks. Stop being callous and miserly and go to Costco,
you cheapskate, and get enough candy to fill the bags of the kids who
come one day a year to marvel at how the 1 percent live.

-Prudie

(Bravo, Prudie.

Full disclosu As a kid I was among the moochers who, joined by friends
in cheap plastic masks and ill-fitting nylon costumes, would walk an
extra two blocks to several houses that we knew gave out full-sized candy
bars. None of this “fun-sized” nonsense for us. Getting the “good stuff”
was part of the fun every Halloween. If you didn’t feel like my street
address was nice enough to deserve it, well, I’m not sorry.}

http://tinyurl.com/pcaufka


Right, W'hine, Greg, Herring? I mean, all those little poor kids, ringing
your doorbell. Wait...you probably go out Halloween night, so you don't
have to buy candy, right?



We get kids brought in from the poor neighborhoods. You boast about your
security, and threaten to shoot people who come to the door. How much
candy do you give out? And we give good stuff! Any left overs, and we do
not want to consume nasty stuff.


No, Bilious, I don't threaten people who "come to the door."

The number of kids varies greatly from year to year, and I have no idea
why. Usually, I buy about about $30 worth of individually wrapped candy,
like Mars, Snickers, Mounds, et cetera, and most years there is a little
left over, which my wife takes downtown to her office and puts in the
lunch/break room. Candy usually is just too sweet for my palate.

--
Of life’s simple pleasures, few are more satisfying than being attacked
by the right-wing trash in rec.boats.