It's Called "FOOD Stamps' For a Reason! NOT porn stamps, liquor stamps, lottery stamps . . . Foooooood!

Say What? New Welfare Restrictions Target Booze, Tattoos

BOSTON — Taking aim at what they call an abuse of the taxpayers’ money, a growing number of states are blocking welfare recipients from spending their benefits on booze, cigarettes, lottery tickets, casino gambling, tattoos, and strippers.

“If you’re not abusing the program, then you should really have no problem with these reforms,” said state Rep. Shaunna O’Connell, a Republican pushing for restrictions in Massachusetts.

While the crackdown has strong populist appeal in Democratic and GOP states alike in this era of tight budgets and Tea Party demands for fiscal discipline, advocates for the poor argue that the restrictions are based on stereotypes about people on welfare, and they say the notion of any widespread abuse is a myth.

Most people on public assistance, they contend, are single Mothers struggling just to get by.

The movement has been spurred in part by Congress. Under legislation signed by President Barack Obama in February to extend a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits, welfare recipients are barred from using their cash assistance in strip clubs, casinos, and liquor stores. States must change their own laws to conform by 2014.

States from Arizona to Maine have been going even further on their own, adopting or considering legislation to block people from using their benefits to buy other items deemed frivolous. Among them: porn, cruises, and psychic readings.

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Paul Gaylord Recovering From Rare Case Of Plague (PHOTOS)

This photo supplied by the Gaylord family taken July 11, 2012, at a hospital in Bend, Ore., shows the blackened hand of Paul Gaylord as he recovers from the plague. Gaylord contracted the disease when he tried to pull a mouse out of the mouth of his cat, Charlie, because it was choking on the rodent.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- One look at Paul Gaylord's hands shows why the plague is referred to as "Black Death."

The welder's once-strong hands have been withered by the cell-killing infection and darkened to the color of charcoal. Doctors are waiting to see if they can save a portion of his fingers, but the outlook is grim for the man who needs them for his livelihood.

"I don't think I can do my job," Gaylord said in a phone interview from a Bend, Ore., hospital. "I'm going to lose all my fingers on both hands. I don't know about my thumbs. The toes – I might lose all them, too."

Gaylord, who turns 60 next month, contracted a rare case of the plague trying to take a mouse from the jaws of a choking cat at his home in Prineville, in rural Oregon.

Startups crowd crowdfunding starting line

Raising capital for small business is about to get easier.

The SEC is preparing rules to allow companies to raise up to $1 million a year from just about anyone in return for equity.

It won’t be until the end of the year or the beginning of 2013 that those rules are in place, but entrepreneurs will be able to raise up to $1 million per year from an unlimited number of people. Investors who make less than $100,000 a year will be able to put up to $2,000 per year. Those who make more will be able to invest 10 percent of their income up to $100,000.

Crowdfunding, as the new system is named, could prove to be fertile ground for entrepreneurs. But even the smartest observers of the entrepreneurial ecosystem can’t be sure just how the crowdfunding experiment will play out.

“The world’s about to change a lot in the funding arena,” said Wil Schroter, the chief executive of Fundable.

Precocious 2-year-old shows signs of musical genius

Lavinia Ramirez has been hailed as a mini Mozart, understanding and playing piano with skills beyond her years.

David Hedges"/SWNS.com

Lavinia Ramirez, aged 2, is being hailed as a mini Mozart.

Two-year-old Lavinia Ramirez might be on her way to becoming a musical genius. The toddler from Devon, England, played a perfect version of "Mary Had a Little Lamb" at her first concert in front of around 200 audience members - an amazing feat for her young age.

Lavinia was among the 21 performers at Derriford Church Hall for Plymouth Piano School's end of term concert, reports the Daily Mail. Although most of the students were around 10 years of age, others were in their 50s. Lavinia, certainly the youngest, has received the media attention.