OPINION | Phil Paleologos: Welfare Withdrawals at Strip Clubs

EBT abuses, taking place as you read this, are stealing away taxpayer dollars from people and programs that really need the money, and it is being spent at casinos, strip clubs and cruise ships.

I swear, God must love welfare abusers, because He made an awful lot of them! And speaking of a Higher Power, He must love legislators who refuse to put an end to these abuses, because there's a tremendous number of them as well.

Investigative reporter Eric Rasmussen of Boston 25 Investigates first exposed Massachusetts food stamps for sale on Facebook last year. Just recently, Rasmussen found millions in state welfare cash spent outside of Massachusetts on a cruise ship, strip clubs, casinos, resort hotels and on a tropical island, to mention a few.

So why is this abuse happening outside of our state? One reason is the Democrats who control Beacon Hill, and the purse strings of welfare, don't have an appetite to ban the spending of welfare cash outside of the Commonwealth. What a damn shame.

I know State Rep. Shaunna O'Connell (R-Taunton) has tried to pass laws restricting spending our taxpayer welfare dollars outside of Massachusetts, but her Democrat opponents put a stop to it.

This is about the correct measure to take, not political partisanship. In this case, there are not two sides to this story. It's black and white. There is what is right and what is wrong.

And if Democrats can't determine right from wrong, then they lack empathy.

Phil Paleologos is the host of The Phil Paleologos Show on 1420 WBSM New Bedford. He can be heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. Contact him at phil@wbsm.com and follow him on Twitter @PhilPaleologos. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.