Does the state discourage poor fathers from being present in their children's lives? There are the emblematic images, like Diahann Carroll as a single mother on welfare in the 1974 movie Claudine, struggling to hide her boyfriend from a social worker.

Urban legends tell of "man in the house" rules that prohibit men from living under the same roof as moms who receive public assistance. Between media images, half-truths -- and also well-meaning but flawed policies -- the belief that the welfare system undermines poor families has been entrenched in the public mind for decades.

Now, with new fatherhood initiatives at public-housing authorities nationwide, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking to debunk that idea.

Come on, my fellow white folks, we have something to confess. No, nothing to do with age spots or those indoor-tanning creams we use to get us through the | winter without looking like the final stages of TB. Nor am I talking about the fact that we all go home and practice funky dance moves behind drawn shades. Out with it, friends, the biggest secret known to whites since the invention of powdered rouge: welfare is a white program.

Welfare Myths: Fact or Fiction?

In ancient White societies the family or spouse of a man that died in battle would often be taken care of by the wealthy, ruling families.

It seems that every week we receive letters and e-mails at the National Office where someone is angry at all the non-Whites on welfare. And these people should be angry over this massive, criminal fraud being perpetrated against White people in America and virtually every other White nation in the West. We have all heard about the billions and billions of dollars being wasted every year on non-White welfare, but in fact there are actually numerically more Whites on welfare than non-Whites.

Most people who depend on welfare are White and live in suburbs or rural areas, a recent study shows. The findings are contrary to the popular belief that most welfare recipients are unemployed, inner-city minorities whose families have gotten public assistance for generations.

The majority of Americans who receive welfare checks are not Black. The majority of those who receive welfare checks are White people http://kathmanduk2.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/black-history-month-welfare-in-black-and-white/

A city in Brazil recruited local farmers to help do something U.S. cities have yet to do: end hunger.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) , heralded as welfare reform during the Clinton administration, comes up before Congress next year for reauthorization.

Whether the program, which was purportedly intended to assist the needy while gradually moving them off assistance and into the workplace, will continue as presently constructed or morph into something else remains to be seen. But for those who fear being pushed out of the program during an economic downturn without an immediate end in sight, whether there's an extension on the horizon or a change in benefits, it feels a lot like walking a tightrope over a fraying net.

Under TANF, states are given grants for assistance and allowed to determine how to disburse the money. Most states offer basic aid, such as housing assistance, health care, direct cash payments, food stamps, child care assistance and unemployment, but are free to determine how much and to whom.

Like a lot of folks in this state, I have a job. I work, they pay me. I pay my taxes and the government distributes my taxes as it sees fit. In order to get that paycheck, I am required to pass a random urine test with which I have no problem.

What I do have a problem with is the distribution of my taxes to people who don't have to pass a urine test.
Shouldn't one have to pass a urine test to get a welfare check because I have to pass one to earn it for them?
Please understand, I have no problem with helping people get back on their feet.

I do, on the other hand, have a problem with helping someone sitting on their A--, doing drugs, while I work. . . .
Can you imagine how much money the state would save if people had to pass a urine test to get a public assistance check?

Something has to change in this country -- and soon!!!!!!!

I guess we could title that program, 'Urine or You're Out'.

Program Helps Welfare Clients By Identifying Factors That Keep Them From Working

Crystal Numan has a nice-size office with lots of morning sunlight that brightens the stacks of papers on her desk and drawings from her three children tacked on the wall.

It's a tidy space to do her work as a site leader for a Fairfax County social services office, but the office is also a symbol of how far she has come in a short time.

Two years ago, Numan left the welfare rolls after completing a program that works with recipients to identify their needs and move them into the workforce efficiently.

The program, Bridges, is designed to identify mental or physical disabilities that welfare clients have that might prevent them from getting and keeping jobs. When she entered the program in 2005, Numan was recently divorced and suffering from depression. She was looking for a little assistance to get her life back on track.