1
1rd

2 Seriously?  The left hasn't figured this tactic out, yet?  They see this kind of thing often enough that they don't look for the camera and ask, "Am I being punked?"

3 Good job James. I think he hit more than one office. We shall see if there are any other follow ups.

4 And that's not really a problem of any particular employee, but of the system which encourages this, and which tells them to just get the government checks out there by hook or by crook because who cares, it's free money anyway.

An eternal truth, and the best reason for smaller government.  Its a foundational stone for the perpetual failure of government.

5
Medicare/Medicaid reform is a third-rail issue, why?

"...undercut the Federal Government's ability to meet its core commitments to seniors, middle-class families and the most vulnerable..."

including Russian smugglers.

6 Dood.

7 And yet you should see the hoops my parents have to jump through to get and keep my 91 year old father on Medicaid.  Why is it so easy for some people to game the system, but so difficult for honest folks like my parents.

8
Keep spending more than you earn or we'll downgrade your rating!

9 I started to understand the reason tanning salons got hit with the surtax last year.  I drove by one on the way back from lunch, and saw the signs that proudly announce that medicaid and CHIP are accepted there as payment.

10 If we just raise the debt limit, just once more, I'm sure we can take care of all of these problems...

11 The real rule was "overlook Muslim weirdness because otherwise your career might be stunted or ended."

Like a mosque or something.

12 In before "BRIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEETBAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!"

13 I'm only interested in his videos if Hannah Giles is dressed as a hooker

14 Dude got a good deal on the McClaren too.

15 These employees are the lowest common denominator.

What makes me sick is that the left is motivated and organized and they're most likely going to kill SB5 in Ohio.

16 The real rule was "overlook Muslim weirdness because otherwise your career might be stunted or ended."

Like a mosque or something.


You, Sir, are the Most Despicable Person in the World.

17 I like how he is working this in swing states

18 UhOh: News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead

19 Bureaucrats respond to the real rule, not the paper rule.

Hell, I doubt most have even read the employee handbook, I know I never did.

20 Since I haven't heard about any legal action against O'Keefe yet, I'm guessing they are try to see if there might be an argument for suing him that doesn't make the proponent sound like a complete and utter idiot.

They are nothing if not thoughtful.

21 Why is it so easy for some people to game the system, but so difficult for honest folks like my parents.

Because honest folks like your parents aren't likely to make a stink if the answer is, "I'm sorry, I wish I could help you, but you forgot to fill out form ZZ-19903-akr1 in triplicate and have it witnessed and notarized.  You'll have to restart your application from step 1."

Dishonest folks are more likely to make a stink.  Even if it's a spurious stink, it's easier just to let them get away with it than it is to deal with the headache.

22 And yet you should see the hoops my parents have to jump through to get and keep my 91 year old father on Medicaid.  Why is it so easy for some people to game the system, but so difficult for honest folks like my parents.

Posted by: Chinese Liver

 

The same reason British police ignore signs that call for beheading but prosecute recycling infractions.

The same reason the teachers at my kids' first school badgered parents waiting their turn in the car line while a demo derby raged in the parking lot, complete with idiots cutting off each other, busses and making their kids walk through the parking lot.

The same reason we're expected to submit to TSA groping. It's easier to exert power upon people willing to respect the system and the rule of law. It's far harder to deal with the professional aggrieved class. These know how to bully clerks, file complaints, defer or ignore rulings, play aid and assistance guidelines.

My wife works in special ed (hard core autism and developmental cases). They have a mother who keeps adding and then pulling her kid every few months, when she realizes that authorities are finally provoked into home visits. Gone off to NJ, out of the school district and the whole state. And she's then back again a few months later.

23 2 Seriously? The left hasn't figured this tactic out, yet? They see this kind of thing often enough that they don't look for the camera and ask, "Am I being punked?"
_____________

Yeah, well, how many times has Hannity pulled the "quote a Democrat, pretending it's a Republican" gag, yet he still managed to punk Juan Williams with it the other day.

24

You just know these clowns are going to insist it was only one poorly-trained employee.  You just know they don't have a clue that he's got at least half a dozen in the can.  You just know they're going to step on their collective neckties while O'K and AB let them wander into the minefield.

Mixing metaphors is easy and fun.

25
Daffy Duck says,

"You're Desssthpicable!"

26

Accusations of "selective editing" and "entrapment" in 5, 4, 3...

 

27 This shit happens every day. In every office in every town I have ever lived in.

When we were filling out some forms for our Son, the lady told us what we could do to "make sure" we came out winners on it.

We pointed out the prominent threat of federal prison and fines on the bottom of the page.

She told us "Nobody ever looks at these things. There are too many to bother with and it's about kids so they let everything slide."

We did it right, because somebody has to.

Maggots.

28 I could easily imagine a McLaren F1 with a gold-plated engine appearing on Top Gear. Perhaps it could be sponsored by "Byelorussian Babysitting, Inc."

29 My lack of surprise is overwhelming. Welfare bureaucracies have worked like this forever.

0. A bureaucracy's function and purpose is to preserve its own funding, and to increase such funding year-over-year.
1. A bureaucracy's first imperative is to perpetuate itself. All other considerations and briefs are secondary.
2. A bureaucracy's second imperative is to protect its parent organization if it has one, except where such protection would violate the first imperative.
3. A bureaucracy's third imperative is to protect its employees, except where such protection would violate the first two imperatives.

30 This is all lies because O'Keefe is a liar and he tells lies so none of these lies ever happened because O'Keefe is a liar who works for Breitbart.

We're the adults in the room

31 Gotta get me some of that free government sugar!

32
UhOh: News of the World phone-hacking whistleblower found dead

this is the zaniest story of the 21st century

33 Wait, they'll pay be to do that in Ohio? Why the hell am I in France?

34

It needs to be shouted, over and over, that every dollar that goes to something like this is a dollar that is not going to a child/disabled person/elderly person. 

Also, get the hell rid of baseline budgeting.  The goal is to drive up the numbers so that next year's numbers are even higher ad infinitum ad nauseum. 

 Why is it so easy for some people to game the system, but so difficult for honest folks like my parents.

Yeah.  See that honest in there.  I've found your problem.

 

35 Monty @ 29 Sort of sounds like Asimov's Rules of Robotics stood on its head and designed for malevolence.

36
speaking of France...

DSK admitted to having a menage a trois, er quad, whatever.

See? He's not a rapist; he's just really horny.

37 We were told, in our living room, by a California State Employee, that we could claim to be non-English speakers and someone in their office would fill out our forms for us at no charge. We asked what would happen if they got something wrong.

Answer: We don't get mistakes that way. I can't ever remember someone being turned down who had us fill out the forms.

38 Ohio Medicaid fraud? Well... Hey, look! Casey Anthony! Rupert Murdoch!! Octomom and Oprah!!! Real news for real people.

39 Answer: We don't get mistakes that way. I can't ever remember someone being turned down who had us fill out the forms. I wonder if this particular Clownifornia state employee let the IRS fill out his tax return. They will, you know, if you ask them.

40 This is why businesses almost always run more efficiently then the government.

If you don't make money, you lose your jobs. So every level of management are focused on keeping the business running as efficiently as possible.

And if for some reason they ignore this requirement, the business goes under and everyone loses his job...

In the government though, NO ONE cares about effeciency. Whether your organization spends x, 2x, or 20x per client/case/etc doesn't matter to anyone - you just demand more money for next year's budget, or serve fewer people - the latter giving more pressure to legislators to do the former.

41 The News:

We ignore, so you can sleep.

42 Wonder why this isn't being heralded on any of the Bigs?  Is Breitbard not involved with this one?

43 Hmmph, the man is a criminal. Why pay attention to him!

44 A Human Services worker once told me to stop being honest when I filled out the forms. She said that "the system assumes" that everyone lies, so when I told the truth "it doesn't look right on the forms". And they wonder why people think the government and its workers are crazy?

45 Wonder why this isn't being heralded on any of the Bigs?  Is Breitbard not involved with this one?

Posted by: chazmartel

 

Considering how they've handled attacks on Tea Party demonstrations, the fracas in Wisconsin and te New (and improved!) Black Panther racist thugs, why are you wondering?

46 O'Keefe pawning dipshits and fools.  Sucks to be them.

47

@38

"Ohio Medicaid fraud? Well... Hey, look! Casey Anthony! Rupert Murdoch!! Octomom and Oprah! Real news for real people."

I agree! State & Federal Government fraud just really is not that important these days. Nobody has even explained to me how I am supposed to get thru my day without my Oprah fix. It is clear that Americans need to be paying more attention to the Kardasian's......the insight of these beautiful women is enough to keep this country on the right track.

48 _{I wonder if this particular Clownifornia state employee let the IRS fill out his tax return. They will, you know, if you ask them.}

Oh, I'm sure. I'm sure document fraud and encouraging us to commit perjury are the only crimes that wise woman has ever committed.

I'm positive that she has never served as a document clearing-house for illegal aliens or welfare. Nope.

49 A Human Services worker once told me to stop being honest when I filled out the forms. She said that "the system assumes" that everyone lies, so when I told the truth "it doesn't look right on the forms". And they wonder why people think the government and its workers are crazy?

Posted by: Recipient

 

Conversely, we have numerous horror stories of IRS agents with revenue quotas that can and do ignore due process and seize property, businesses and assets with the precision and mercy of a rabid steamroller.

Is this someone's warped idea of checks and balances?

50
We make big money in moose meat and squirrel burger. Now need help to blow up world. Which form use please?

51

O'Keefe should sting his next bloated gov't target with actors dressed like Borat. 

Sasha Cohen, are you taking notes? 

52 Government jobs are by definition non-profit, and the goal of this particular branch of government is to hand out taxpayer dollars.  There is no attempt made to qualify recipients, because their measure of success is ever larger amounts of money handed out.  The employees are not selected based upon ability or honesty, but to satisfy politically correct ethnic and gender quotas, so the optimum outcome from this system is recognition of the employee who handed out the most money in a given month.

53 This is why I don't like it when politicians use the personal stories of constituents--it's an attempt to hide everything else that is wrong with programs.

54 This O'Keefe fella is going to make it impossible for a young skinny healthy white man to get help in any government office.


Oh, wait....

55

By the way, the IRS is racist!

Rapper Ja Rule is sentenced to more than two years for failing to file tax returns -- NJ.com http://bit.ly/oq7VKp

56 Apparently Ja Rule can't Ja Read the fuckin papers.

See also Snipes, Wesley.

57 I think TheQuiteMan (#13) has made the important point here.

58 This was clearly racist.

59 Government jobs are by definition non-profit, and the goal of this particular branch of government is to hand out taxpayer dollars.  There is no attempt made to qualify recipients, because their measure of success is ever larger amounts of money handed out.  The employees are not selected based upon ability or honesty, but to satisfy politically correct ethnic and gender quotas, so the optimum outcome from this system is recognition of the employee who handed out the most money in a given month.

Posted by: Vashta.Nerada

 

Or at the very least, ones who appear to be processing their work efficiently, (such as few complaints or protests). Supposedly grade inflation at the college level is at the rise for the exact saame reason.

60 This video was clearly highly edited, or doctored, or something.

61 And they wonder why people think the government and its workers are crazy?

It's not just the government. Any large bureaucracy is crazy in exactly the same way. Go into any large corporation and you'll see the same dysfunction to different degrees (depending on how intelligent the upper management is).

It's a built-in problem of a deeply vertical heirarchical structure. Workers in the "vast middle" produce neither original inputs nor control ultimate outputs -- they function merely as gates between points in the information flow. The only real power a "vast middle" worker has is this ability to act as a gate, so the cost-benefit question is simply that of time. How much time does it take to follow option A vs option B? It's not a question of morals or efficacy or efficiency -- remember, this worker can only *gate* things, not produce or direct them -- so it becomes merely a question of which option is less hassle. This leads to the "lifer mindset" where employees become institutionalized: they don't see themselves as producers of a product or providers of a service, but merely occupants of a chair. Their goal is to escape notice, to imprint themselves as lightly as possible upon the bureaucracy (becase the nail that stands up gets hammered down). Conformity, acquiesence, and passivity are the only ways to succeed in this environment.

This is why large bureaucracies so seldom create anything of real worth, and why large companies in recent years have vigorously begun to "flatten" and get rid of that "vast middle". But government agencies almost by definition are "vast middle" organizations -- they cannot be otherwise. Hence the pervasive problems you see on display here.

62 Yeah, and when you cut Medicaid spending all Democrats want to say is you are an ogre for stealing from the poor and destitute.

I say give them less money to spread around and watch how much more quickly people who are ineligible get denied.

63 I am so sick about all this. While my husband and I can't afford to pay for all the medical care that our family needs, people are scamming the system. My sil has to work to pay bills while women come to her jewelry store and buy gold jewelry with their welfare cards. She'd be better off financially divorcing her husband and sitting on her butt at home with her kid.

64 Just think, if O'Keefe were a progressive of the Michael Moore variety, and he was punking evangelical Christians or Tea Party groups, he would be celebrated as a folk hero by the NY Times and NPR.  But since he's a conservative going after liberal targets, not so much.

65

The thing I love about James O'Keefe are the costumes, props and fake accents--and the fact that people buy it all.

When is he going to be awarded his Oscar for best actor?

66 _{When is he going to be awarded his Oscar for best actor?}


As soon as he becomes a liberal.

67

Their goal is to escape notice, to imprint themselves as lightly as possible upon the bureaucracy (becase the nail that stands up gets hammered down).

You forgot crowbars. Those are a bitch. Trust me on this.

68 This is pure racism straight up.

69 Meanwhile the chicken fucking 'deciders' in the MFM will proclaim that, "THIS ISN'T REAL JOURNALISM !!!111!"

70

Or at the very least, ones who appear to be processing their work efficiently, (such as few complaints or protests). Supposedly grade inflation at the college level is at the rise for the exact saame reason.

Posted by: Blue Hen at July 18, 2011 02:13 PM (6rX0K)

 

Just the college level?  Grade inflation is phalanx of every school, from preschool on up.  Get with the program.

71 Unions: Assuring Nobody Gets Ahead of the Stupidest One Working Here
since forever.

72

Don't bureaucracies have controls and self-enforcement mechanisms?

With all the calls recently for eliminating waste and fraud, I'd think that the government would set up stings like this of their own. (Oh, no! A call for more government!)

73

You just know these clowns are going to insist it was only one poorly-trained employee. 

 

Kind of like that "Any ties to terrorism has been ruled out.  It's just a lone wolf acting alone..."

74 I am so sick about all this. While my husband and I can't afford to pay for all the medical care that our family needs, people are scamming the system. My sil has to work to pay bills while women come to her jewelry store and buy gold jewelry with their welfare cards. She'd be better off financially divorcing her husband and sitting on her butt at home with her kid.

Posted by: Barb the Evil Genius

 

Almost all EBT cards are run by a quasi EFT network called Quest. If the government wanted to, they could ban those cards from making purchases from certain classes of merhcants based upon the SIC (Standardized Institution Code). Businesses such as gas stations have a distinct one, as do hotels, pharmacies. HSA cards are often restricted to healthcare provider SICs for example.

75 _{Kind of like that "Any ties to terrorism has been ruled out.  It's just a lone wolf acting alone..."}

Before the smoke from the bomb has cleared and before the blood is cleaned up.

76

Madness.  Just plain madness. 

I'm increasingly in agreement with those who say we should eliminate the "safety net."  The abuse is too great to be born. 

And nothing will be done to these criminals.  Of course, it would be hypocritical to do so.  The bastard in the White House is a bigger law breaker than any petty bureaucrat ever could be, and will suffer no penalty, nor even any resistance, as a result of his criminality. 

 

77

You just know these clowns are going to insist it was only one poorly-trained employee. 

Kind of like that "Any ties to terrorism has been ruled out.  It's just a lone wolf acting alone..."

Posted by: runningrn at July 18, 2011 02:19 PM (ihSHD)

I think there is more than one video.

78 Hey, without Medicaid how are undocumented Ohioan immigrants supposed to buy king crab and filet mignon? No one can stay healthy without good food.

79

Apparently Ja Rule can't Ja Read the fuckin papers.

See also Snipes, Wesley.

 

Add to that list Charlie Rangel, Method Man, Al Sharpton, Sinbad, Mike Tyson, etc. etc.  Why is the IRS so racist and hatin' on successful black men?

 

80
It's the Brit version of the Jack Abramoff scandal.

81 Is it time to start the burning yet?

82

I think there is more than one video.

 

Of course there are.  I'm just pointing out that the MFM always tries to sweep this stuff under the rug with their imperious "Nothing to see here, keep moving along..." attitude.

83 Ace - Did you see my comment on an earlier thread regarding Illinois Medicaid?

84 My wrist still stings a little from that censure. I think I'll file a disability claim with Congress.

85 I'll re-post it..

Sen Mark Kirk was on WLS radio this morning talking about how the Obama administration has rejected a bill (bipartisan, btw) that passed here in Illinois that would have required means testing and residency checks for recipients of Medicaid.

http://tli.tl/qm1t7v

WTF?  I thought the whole point of Medicaid was that it was administered by the states for its citizens who met certain income requirements.  But, no.. you cannot try to verify any of that info..

Obama wouldn't be able to offer free medical care to all those illegals or cheats, now would he???

86

Of course there are.  I'm just pointing out that the MFM always tries to sweep this stuff under the rug with their imperious "Nothing to see here, keep moving along..." attitude.

Posted by: runningrn at July 18, 2011 02:23 PM (ihSHD)

5 by 5

87

WTF?  I thought the whole point of Medicaid was that it was administered by the states for its citizens who met certain income requirements.  But, no.. you cannot try to verify any of that info..

 

Ha! Ha! Ha!  Funny thing about that.  A lot of gubamint programs started off with that intent, but they've metastisized into all kinds of venues for fraud and taxpayer theft. 

 

88 James O'Keefe committed a felony by falsifying a Medicaid application. Perp walk! With the leapfrog-walking thing... That they do when they have the cuffs on... Umm... HALLIBURTON!

89 Oh, speaking of which, remember Obama talking about how much money we'd save when he cut out all the waste and duplication?  Yeah, another promise that was past its expiration date once he delivered it in a speech.

90 Wasn't it Ohio where the scrunt who was a low level supervisor released Joe the Plumber's private data to the press and she didn't even get a wrist slap?

That stuff is a felony under the Privacy Act. I predict that this scrunt will meet a similar fate. After all, she is "protected specie", just not the "most protected".

And yes, I denounce myself.

91

Umm...

HALLIBURTON!

Now, now, the chemtrails made O'Keefe do it. 

92 Seriously, James O'Keefe is one of the singularly ugliest men in the country. How can you not fucking recognize him? If he crashed a Pelosi fundraiser, with nothing but a fake gold tooth and some Adidas with no shoelaces, screaming "BLACK RAGE!", they'd cut him a fucking reparations check on the spot. Clueless.

93

Now, now, the chemtrails made O'Keefe do it. 

 

Geez, you did have to go there--in the gutter outside of a certain Applebees...

94 One of my best friends called Social Security to ask a general question about benefits and the "helper" directed her to apply for her ex-husband's SS benefits (he had died a few months earlier, a fact she was not aware of) which she did and now gets. She divorced him 30 years ago and he married & divorced 2 more times but none of the other ex-wives had applied for benefits. His benefits are much higher than those she would have received and she was able to start collecting right after her 60th birthday which was a few weeks later.

Seems though gubmint workers can be real helpful as long as they are screwing their "employer".

95

Seems though gubmint workers can be real helpful as long as they are screwing their "employer".

 

Free money!!

96 How is it fraud? The guy doesn't have any 'legal' income declared on taxes. Maybe legalize it and TAX it! It'd help solve the budget issues too (sarcasm not valid in West Virginia)

97 >>> James O'Keefe committed a felony by falsifying a Medicaid application. Perp walk! With the leapfrog-walking thing... That they do when they have the cuffs on...

You'll need a permit for that.

98 90 Wasn't it Ohio where the scrunt who was a low level supervisor released Joe the Plumber's private data to the press and she didn't even get a wrist slap?
--
The democrat governor at the time didn't see a problem with it.
It was also Ohio where Brunner, the attorney gen. (also a dem) helped facilitate voter fraud statewide, and then theres the "crack for registration" program that was uncovered in Defiance county OH.

The democrats in the state are astoundingly corrupt.

99 True story:

A couple years ago I was on a pre-sales call at the offices of the IT director for a large SoCal county.  I was walking him and his staff through our product, and how the SW could help him measure, manage, and eventually lower his IT costs - using the oft-quoted quip that "you can't manage what you don't measure".

His response?
"I don't care what it costs."

As a taxpayer (in another state!), I have a problem with that.

100 @94, It's inimical to government workers in general. When I was transitioning out of the army, I had to sit through a class where this ignorant teeth-sucking bitch taught us how to fake a disability claim. She proudly crowed about how she got 90% disability for the low price of lying on some paperwork. The thrust of her lesson was that you are a SUCKER if you don't apply, because that's free money, yo! I wanted to punch her fucking larynx and watch her claw for air. "NOW you're disabled, asshole."

101 _{I wanted to punch her fucking larynx and watch her claw for air.}


Will your Deathshead Legions have snappy lapel pins? I'd like to join.

102 " The left hasn't figured this tactic out, yet? They see this kind of thing often enough that they don't look for the camera and ask, "Am I being punked?"" The thing is, the MFM has for decades studiously avoided doing any such thing. Stings and punkings or even mildly curious reporting are reserved for evil capitalists. Government social services is a gigantic rotten log with all sorts of interesting creepy-crawly things to look at once you flip it over. The MFM has no interest in doing any poking at it because, shut up. So O'Keefe has an entire unexploited market segment to himself.

103 Sifty, I usually let them express themselves with homemade flair, like buttons. Stuff like, "Ask your server about your murder!" No more than 5 pieces of flair per Death's Head Terror Trooper. This isn't fucking TGI Fridays.

104 LOVE how its called an "Opportunity Center". Must have been named by a lib.

105 But the taxpayer is never in the room, is he?

Except, once in a while, he is.

With a pimp costume, a hidden camera and a smile!

106 Coolsauce.

Shall wear my Ask Me About My Crippling Social Phobias and my Your Crawlspace or Mine? pins.

107 My guess is that community organizer Obama had many similar adventures.

108 Where is skippy the wonder pizza brain zombie?  Isn't he going to lecture us on the wonders of the federal government?

109 1) This video is selectively edited and is full of lies; the full release will prove that nothing like this happened.

2) This is only one rotten employee and not at all indicative of the organization as a whole, and this admission that there was a single rotten employee does not at all contradict our first response.

3) The follow up videos of different centers do not at all prove that this is a widespread phenomenon, and is merely a case of a few anecdotes of problems that are dwarfed by all the good this program is doing.  Our admission of multiple bad actors does not at all contradict our first two responses.

4) The widespread problem is irrelevant compared to the deceitful actions of O'Keefe, a convicted felon.  Our admission of a widespread problem does not at all contradict our first three responses.  Did we mention O'Keefe is a convicted felon, and, even worse, works for Andrew Brietbart?

5) This isn't news anyway, and is clearly unimportant in the grand scheme of things, like how the Republicans are screwing up this country.

110 Government employees who work in the entitlement programs are pretty much lazy and illiterate.  I know, I've dealt with them for years.  I worked for 501c3 agencies/groups that were supposed to utilize the ADC and then later the TANF recipients(welfare to work.) These people hardly ever showed up, hardly worked when they did, complained about having to do it, complained about not getting this or that, etc.  They got Medicaid, cash assistance, food stamps, subsidized housing, schooling, and transportation assistance which could be bus passes or often a car.  The government case workers were supposed to kick anyone out of the program who failed to comply....which they did...only to reinstate them a few weeks later.  It was a revolving door with all kinds of excuses...doctor appointments, dental appointments, off the wall disabilities(SADs is a favorite.)The case and intake workers couldn't keep track of what was supposed to be happening and often simply allowed the recipients to get away with just about anything.  Their excuse?...it would hurt the kids. From what I've seen in 30  years, 6 out of 10 welfare and SSI recipients are scamming the system and the government employees know it.

111

You'd think the Leftards would stock up on Wasp Spray, they've been stung so often. 

112 Those government employees are supposed to grow their programs, not reduce the roles.

113 Im surprised Obama hadnt issued an ececutive order requiring OKeefes photo be posted like Dellingers.

114
Must one be fat and ugly to gain secure employment in the social service delivery field in Ohio or does it just help?

115

Well, the joke is on you, smart guy.  The Governor of Ohio is a Republican  Rethuglican and has been for six  or seven whole months!

hah.

116 LOVE how its called an "Opportunity Center". Must have been named by a lib.

Posted by: Jimmah at July 18, 2011 02:53 PM (TfRqk)

 

It's an opportunity for the leeches to rob tax payers blind.

117
Given that gold has a well known and relatively low melting point you would think that the imposter's claim of having a McLaren with a gold engine would have been an obvious tip off to the typical public school educated employee at the state social service office.

118

These are the kind of people Mr. and Mrs. Bambi are proud of.

119
Absowutly da VURST rushin' agsent ever....

120 Good friend of mine who is a frequent lurker on this site actually got hired as a census bureau worker.  He can provide the details (if he wants to).  Let's just say that our worst fears are all very true.

121

In college, back when you had to go down to the office to pick up the real, printed-on-paper food stamps, I'd drive down in my Porsche and get my batch for free.

My conscience stung a bit, but I have become a taxpayer BIG TIME after I got my degree and so I think the government is ahead on my case at least.

The best book on the behavior of large organization is called "Bureaucracy" by James Q. Wilson.  Lots of good insights there.

122 Seriously?  The left hasn't figured this tactic out, yet?  They see this kind of thing often enough that they don't look for the camera and ask, "Am I being punked?"

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at July 18, 2011 01:46 PM (8y9MW)

At first you want to say that the reason they don't suspect punking is that they handle these kind of people all the time (and people who've broken the law a lot seem to kind of destroy their own sense of boundaries -- kind of no-privacy-zone about anything in their personal lives and will just let anything spill out from personal finances to sex life to crime plans -- it's mind boggling listening to them).  

Seriously; I mean listen to the thank-you call midvideo: "thank you from bottom of heart that two Russian drug dealers can get Medicaid" .  And she just says "you're welcome."   Too overkill to be believed. 

Love O'Keefe's work but I hope he isn't getting cocky.  And I want to know how they know the Medicaid office didn't call the police after they left.

123 Having been in the belly of the beast as a census taker (NARFU enumerated) this is the way all federal employees(ers) conduct themselves. I was forced to resign because I brought problems to light. This is merely par for the course. Until it is completely dismantled, our fight to get out from under the oppression of the brown-shirted jack boots will continue.

124 Makes me think of the early part of "The Incredibles."  When instead of denying a claim, Bobb Parr/Mister Incredible, helped a nice old woman navigate through the system that he was serving, but being told to ignore.

It isn't built into the system, it's a symptom that is expressed by the individuals who resent being stuck within the system and sympathize with others in the same situation.  The amount of "gaming" that goes on within the military is ridiculous.  I was kinda known for not giving a damn back when I was in, there were certain things that we weren't technically allowed to fix, though we knew how to fix them, which means we had angry gunnies and firsts wondering why the hell they don't have their gear, when by the rules we had to send the gear off to Depot.   Since I didn't give a damn, I used to fix this stuff, technically illegaly (most of it consisted of security based stuff.) when we knew that float, or on hand inventory was down.   One of my friends who was probably the person who used my indifference most often used to call these fixes "Black Ops."

125 Where, oh where to begin with this--some disclosure, perhaps?  I'm an intake caseworker with the PA DPW in Philadelphia--been one since 2006 (been with DPW since 2002); since 2008 I've worked almost exclusively on Medicaid cases.  I process "provider applications" from hospitals trying to cover costs run up by at least nominally uninsured patients--it's a BBBIIIIIGGGG step up from dealing with Cash and Food Stamp applications (I refuse to use SNAP--I'm not a Wayans brother).

The way this works is someone either goes to the ER or gets admitted through the ER and runs up a bill.  The hospital wants that bill paid, natch, so they have contractors from outside businesses submit applications on behalf of the patient; if the bill is paid through Medicare (even if only partially), the contractor gets a cut.  The primary ones I deal with are PATHS (NJ) and HRSI (PA); I also deal with Conifer (formerly Tenet).  The contractor interviews the patient, collect the relevant data from him and from the hospital, and then submit the application.  It's the closest one comes to "business to business" in welfare.  OK, there are Food Stamp outreach programs, but they're run by "community activists" chasing after grant dollars and can hardly be considered "businesses" any more than ACORN or the Mafia.  Ed Rendell's loverly legacy.

Ennyhhoo, when the application gets to me I go over it pretty thoroughly, because sometimes the contractor (provider) isn't always as dilligent as they could be.  Sometimes even I get fooled--before she was arrested I mistakenly authorized Medicaid benefits for Kermit Gosnell's wife based upon incomplete financial information (she misrepresented their rental income). 

Some providers are better than others, but they don't quite have the resources we do.  One guy went to four different hospitals in two months and ran up several thousands of dollars worth of bills--all of them declared that he was "homeless".  He may well have been, but he was also receiving SSI and an SSP from California, so I rejected the applications and told the hospitals to bill CA.  Others get rejected because of outstanding bench warrants and questionable residence--I can't tell you how many claim kids and then turn out to be living with baby-mammas or baby-daddies with income that now has to be counted for both, causing overpayments to be processed for existing cases.  Many of the allegedly homeless and indigent collect Social Security and Medicare but tell the hospitals that they're destitute, but we have one hospital that periodically declares almost every patient in their psych ward to be "homeless"--we got us some serious hobos, but not that damn many!

Some of our workers are the absolute worst stereotypes of government check-cashers made corporeal; one has managed to get herself transferred to damn ear every office in Philadelphia because she pissed off coworkers, managers and clients--but she still has a job and thinks she's a super-educated specimen far superior to anyone she encounters.  I'd rate her performance as barely simian, as monkeys will at least do something for a banana, and her personality slightly less irritating than a swarm of malarial mosquitoes on steroids.  But the majority of intake workers are just plain swamped and looking to do what they can to keep their numbers from drowning them--and they are not succeeding.  I'm able to keep my nose above water only because I have a specialized application base.  I also do a lot of work from home--you try calculating income and deductions from poorly copied check stubs while sitting next to the crowd waiting for Chuck Cheese pizza for the ADHD day care kids.  Better to give up some of my home time that give myself a splitting headache every damn day or have panicked supervisors and managers giving me an impromptu colonoscopy after setting their own hair on fire.

This story resonates because I can see workers swallowing all kinds of shit just to move a case off of their desk--years ago I had a guy who applied three times in two years after his Food Stamps closed.  Each time he said he missed his renewal because he was "down South at his mother's funeral".  Yeah, I get it--Mom doesn't need Food Stamps because she just goes after bbbbrrrrrraaaiiiinnnssss!!!!  That or she's an extra on Twilight.  He looked me in the eye with a smirk that said. "I'm bullshitting you, you know I'm bullshitting you, but you can't do anything about it...."  He was right, sadly....

126 @120. Mountainmonkey lurks more than me. The entire federal bureaucracy system is sureal ( in a bad way)

127 I don't understand all the hating on the hard working Russian white man.  He's just trying to get his share of Obama's stash.

128 Seriously?  The left hasn't figured this tactic out, yet?  They see this kind of thing often enough that they don't look for the camera and ask, "Am I being punked?"

You think those folks are following current events?

Discussing world affairs over a glass of wine at their bi-weekly philosophy exchange?

129 And I want to know how they know the Medicaid office didn't call the police after they left.

Which is precisely what I would have done. I would have gotten as much information out of him as possible and asked for a contact number to get back to him with even more information, then called the police the moment he walked out the door.

If any of them did call the police, we'll know it soon.

130 Wow this is soo helpful I have been trying to figure this out on my own for a long time now. Hopefully making this change will help encourage discussion on my blog.

131 wtf are we being spammed by the deaththroe bot of Borders?

132 Great job of explaining the rules of bureaucracies, Ace!  However, in O'Keefe's video, everyone seems to be a low-level "intake" employee.  They just listen and tell you how to fill out the forms and how the application process works.  It is the higher up and higher paid "case workers" who ultimately approve/deny benefits that I would like to see on film.

133 >>>Great job of explaining the rules of bureaucracies, Ace! However, in O'Keefe's video, everyone seems to be a low-level "intake" employee. They just listen and tell you how to fill out the forms and how the application process works. It is the higher up and higher paid "case workers" who ultimately approve/deny benefits that I would like to see on film. Mary, they will be working with the paper created by this intake woman -- the forms the case workers see will already be fraudulent. She is telling them how to avoid the red flags and get an easy pass from the caseworkers. O'Keefe is also constrained by the fact that he CAN'T ACTUALLY FILL OUT FORMS. If he did, he'd be exposing himself criminally for filling out a false application. So all he can do is talk with these intake people. Now, a "Taxpayer Protection Team" in Ohio would have the power to fill out forms. If Kasich created it.

134 >>>Seriously? The left hasn't figured this tactic out, yet? They see this kind of thing often enough that they don't look for the camera and ask, "Am I being punked?" Yes, they see it all the time. They are unfazed by it. What this guy said did not surprise the woman. She had answers for all of it and did not stammer and was not taken aback. This is SOP.