THE HOSTEL

Under the Poor Law systems of England and Wales, Scotland and Ireland, a workhouse was a place where people who were unable to support themselves could go to live and work. The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest reference to a workhouse dates to 1652 in Exeter. There is, however, some written evidence that workhouses existed before this date. Records mention a workhouse in 1631 in Abingdon.[1] The vagrants' and casual workers' ward of a workhouse was colloquially known as a spike, from the tool used to unpick oakum.

Workhouse conditions were deliberately harsh to deter the able-bodied idle poor from relying on them. Men and women were segregated and children were separated from their parents. Aged pauper couples, who by definition were neither idle nor criminal, were not allowed to share a bedroom. By entering a workhouse, paupers were held to have forfeited responsibility for their children. Education was provided, but pauper children were often forcibly apprenticed without the permission or knowledge of their parents. Inmates surrendered their own clothes and wore a distinctive uniform.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workhouse

What a history!!!

And what a model for the future!!!

Republican candidate for governor Carl Paladino said he would transform some New York prisons into dormitories for welfare recipients, where they could work in state-sponsored jobs, get employment training and take lessons in "personal hygiene."

Paladino, a wealthy Buffalo real estate developer popular with many tea party activists, isn't saying the state should jail poor people: The program would be voluntary.

But the suggestion that poor families would be better off in remote institutions, rather than among friends and family in their own neighborhoods, struck some anti-poverty activists as insulting.

Paladino is competing for the Republican nomination with former U.S. Rep. Rick Lazio. The primary is Sept. 14.

Paladino first described the idea in June at a meeting of The Journal News of White Plains and spoke about it again this week with The Associated Press.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/22/carl-paladino-backs-welfa_n_690284.html

There are good men, there are competent men and then there are the ubermench; those supermen who see things from up high, who alone have that unique perspective on the human condition.

Deliverance has arrived.

We can solve the homeless problems in this country.

We can solve the unemployment problems in this country.

We can solve the budget problems in this country.

We can solve the public housing problems in this country.

 We can solve the ghetto problems located in our major urban areas.

And, as you will see, we can solve the ever present and ever growing tube sox problem in this country and in the rest of the world.

See we evidently have all these vacant prisons. With almost three million people incarcerated in the U.S.A at any one time, I do not know where these vacant prisons are located but according to this ubermench Paladino, there are plenty in New York.

But I am afraid to question someone of Paladino's great character and great achievement.

After all, Paladino appears to be a hired gun of sorts for the teabaggers!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgvxu8QY01s

Maybe the outsourcing of our prison system is the cause of this massive prison vacancy problem in this country.  Maybe hundreds of thousands of dangerous criminals have been 'relocated' and we are not even aware of it.

Are there not enough prisons? Are there not enough workhouses?

Paladino answers Scrooge's inquiry in the affirmative.

AND THE ENTIRE PROGRAM WOULD BE VOLUNTARY.

That's right. 

Say you are hungry and you have no money. Well instead of food stamps you would just check into your local empty prison, no questions asked.  And you would be acting voluntarily.

Say you are wearing rancid rags and you have no money. Well instead of an EBT allotment which you would only use for tobacco, booze and scratch-offs, you would voluntarily check into the local public hospice.  And you would be welcomed with open arms as you strip, bathe and don some wonderful uniform furnished by your benefactor.

So you are unemployed for six months or more and you have no money. Well instead of unemployment benefits, you would voluntarily check into your local public hospice.

Every inmate would be entitled to a cot with fresh linen.

And every morning, after you arise and have your bowl of porridge, you would shower, shave and don your work clothes.

And you would arrive at your designated work place in the tube sox factory. And in that place you would receive training. You would be reintroduced into the world of employment. You would learn how to work one of those new fangled looms.

You would of course, voluntarily sign a statement guaranteeing your presence at the public hospice for a period of time; a year or two most probably.  I mean continuity would be the goal here.

There would be punishments and rewards in this public workplace, much like in the real world.

For instance, after your production increased you would be put into a new 'level' of citizenship in the hospice.

For instance--and this is by no means etched into stone--once you got to the level of production where you were actually making money for the hospice, you would have the opportunity to receive orange juice and a banana for breakfast in addition to the porridge.

There would be no drugs, no alcohol and tobacco products, of course, allowed at the institution.  And as Paladino points out, your spouse would be residing in the other side of the workhouse. Unless you are gay. This issue has not been figured out yet.

The point is that there would be no copulation or other 'funny business'.

Along with rewards for good behavior there would have to be punishments for the wicked.

I mean if you production level went down or if your attitude seems out of kilter or if you were caught rolling a big fatty, you would end up in prison learning how to manufacture license plates.

Folks, this would be a win win win situation.

And I believe, within a decade, America could once again be the tube sox capital of the world.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1903sweatshopchicago.jpg

Once again, we would have productive and happy environs for all Americans!!!

Just look at how a small town in China was transformed into the sock manufacturing capital of China and the world:

People in Datang began making socks in the 1980's, and the town experienced rapid development over the following decade.

The small town that started with only 1,000 residents has turned into the world's capital of socks, with a population of 60 thousand. Datang can now produce 8 billion pairs of socks each year.
Guo Jianbo, head of the town, said that three out of every 10 pairs of socks in the world are made in Datang.

http://english.cri.cn/4026/2008/05/25/[email protected]

And I foresee even more in store from our public hospices.

I mean we could move onward and upward to shoe manufacturing within a decade or so:

http://www1.american.edu/ted/nike.htm

GOD BLESS THE TEA PARTY AND GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!