WIC to the Rescue!

I just finished buying groceries at the Wal-Mart. I had made a menu, and then made a list of what I needed. I walked the store and bought what was on my list, plus a few extras like a bag of flour and a couple cans of chicken noodle soup.

I stood in the check-out line behind a woman who was buying groceries with WIC checks. WIC stands for Women Infants Children and is a food program that provides nourishment for women infants and children that are at nutritional risk (i.e. poor). WIC is run by a government beauracracy known as the United States Department of Agriculture. Before I go any further what about the men? Do men not need to eat? But I digress....WIC transactions take forever so I scoped out her cart. Beer, soda, cell phone accessories, DVDs, etc. WIC didn't pay for that stuff, so what did? The stack of 100s and 20s she pulled from her wallet payed for that. So I go to Wal-Mart, buy exactly what I need, with my own money, only to stand in line behind someone who is using MY money (my tax money funds the USDA, and therefore WIC, and therefore her WIC checks) to pay for what SHE needs (milk, cereal) so that she can use HER money (100s & 20s) to pay for what SHE wants (DVDs, beer, soda). Totally freaking infuriating.

I figure this means 1 of 2 things:
1) I'm a cold heartless bastard who wants all women infants and children to die of starvation, or;

2) I feel that if you have money to pay for non-necessities (beer, soda, cell phone accessories to go with your cell phone and cell phone contract) that you have enough frigging money to buy your own damn milk and cereal. Turn off the cell phone. Stop drinking beer. Stop watching satellite TV while you drink your beer. And make feeding your OWN family with your OWN money a priority!