Taverner talks homeless

[CC27]

Taverner Donating Member (1000+ posts)  Journal Click to send private message to this author Click to view this author's profile Click to add this author to your buddy list Click to add this author to your Ignore list    Thu Oct-13-11 03:43 PM
Original message
In all of this mess, there is a forgotten problem. And no one is talking about it: Homelessness.
   
3.5 million people are homeless right now.

1.5 million of them are children.

And we, the richest country on Earth, do nothing. Worse than nothing - we are scrapping the safety nets that keep them alive.

The number is going up every day. Many families are one layoff away from it.

But if you listen to elected officials (Democrats and Republicans alike) they're all just a bunch of lazy people who don't want to work.

Many Americans buy into this myth - that the homeless are just lazy. I'd like to think it was because of the MSM portraying them that way. But I know that's not the case. Because the idea is so horrifying to Americans, they just tune out or make up a reason why they don't 'deserve' help. Or that there are no homeless children. Or that a rising tide lifts all ships.

In San Francisco, even some of the most liberal people joke about killing them off.

The homeless - they are people. Some have mental illness, some are victims of abuse and some just have bad luck.

The best way to judge a society is how they treat the most unfortunate.

By that measure, we're not much of a society.

You're just a drugged out asshole.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2111329

[Chris_]

Step 1: Get job
Step 2: Keep job

Problem solved.

I can see where this guy might get confused.

[Mike220]

There's the bobo signal! Will she come around?

[Duke Nukum]

Taverner, buddy, step away from the sniper rifle a second and listen up: If that many people are homeless, it may be that they cannot afford the property taxes that keep skyrocketing to provide the safety net that is weighed down by people who don't understand that you cannot live in a a safety net.

Quit taxing people's ability to accumulate wealth and watch the homeless numbers shrink.

[Bodadh]

And the source of these numbers are from where?

[USA4ME]

Taverner

Many Americans buy into this myth - that the homeless are just lazy.

I, for one, never bought into this myth.  After personally observing and talking to many that are homeless, I was able to reach the conclusion they were lazy from the things they said to me.  Myth busted.

.

[NHSparky]

Considering that some "homeless" panhandling makes more than some people with regular jobs, and throw in the social services on top of that...the temptation might be strong for some with no sense of shame.

Oh, and Tav--even if you use the very dubious number of 3.5 million, that's barely 1 percent.  Try some real paradises like Caracas, Manila, Mombassa, etc., and even what passes for homes there would be laughably pathetic.  Finally, to say that we do "nothing"?  **** you, shit for brains.

[zeitgeist]

Considering that some "homeless" panhandling makes more than some people with regular jobs, and throw in the social services on top of that...the temptation might be strong for some with no sense of shame.

Oh, and Tav--even if you use the very dubious number of 3.5 million, that's barely 1 percent.  Try some real paradises like Caracas, Manila, Mombassa, etc., and even what passes for homes there would be laughably pathetic.  Finally, to say that we do "nothing"?  **** you, shit for brains.

 .du mode  but those panhandling jobs don't have health insurance.  /du mode 

[franksolich]

And the source of these numbers are from where?

Yeah, one wonders what the Taverner primitive's doing for his own absent-father kids.

[tanstaafl]

And the source of these numbers are from where?

Well, they're not from the Mainstream Media.

There is a "D" in the White Hut, so any stories about homeless, increased number of homeless, what to do about the homeless don't make it into the nightly news or papers like they do when a "R" is in the WH.

[Celtic Rose]

And the source of these numbers are from where?

The last report I read about homeless children included children whose families had moved in with other relatives.  As soon as I read that I started dismissing the statistic completely.  It may not be the ideal situation, but they have a safe place to live within a standard living situation.   

Additionally, I believe that people living in motel type situtations long term are considered homeless as well by at least some groups.

[Karin]

Taverner  (1000+ posts)        Thu Oct-13-11 04:08 PM
Response to Reply #1
7. Sometimes I have three martinis in a 20 minute period and post
 It happens to the best of us

Uh, not really.

This made me laugh:

AndyTiedye  (1000+ posts)        Thu Oct-13-11 07:44 PM
Response to Original message
13. It Says Something, Exactly What is Not So Clear
 While the USA has a great deal of surplus housing, it is not in places like San Francisco or Manhattan.
A lot of people who can afford to live anywhere are living in the city, where they might have chosen the suburbs in the past.
Some are doing it to have less of an impact on the environment. 

[DumbAss Tanker]

I, for one, never bought into this myth.  After personally observing and talking to many that are homeless, I was able to reach the conclusion they were lazy from the things they said to me.  Myth busted.

.

Many of them, like Bobo the Hobo, do have mental issues that prevent them from being productively employed, especially anywhere they would have co-workers or come into contact with customers/clients, though meds would remedy a lot of that.  Of course you can't make a free person take meds, and part of their sickness is not admitting they need the meds in the first place, so it's kind of a Catch-22.

But, an awful lot of them really are just shiftless losers who are too damned lazy to work, too.

[Karin]

CR, I believe they also counted children living in trailer parks as "homeless."  A real elitist slap in the face for a lot of people for whom this is a perfectly servicable arrangment. 

For that matter, Grandma & Gramps travelling the country in their RV, living their dream retirement, are poor, pathetic homeless people. 

[Erasmus]

Many Americans buy into this myth - that the homeless are just lazy.

Many of them are.  It's not a myth.  They stand under the bridges begging for money because they don't want to work.  Convenience stores here have help wanted signs year-round.  Many of them could easily get a job.  Some are unemployable because they're substance abusers, which is not the conservatives' or Bush's fault.

On the drive back from picking up lunch every day, I see the same porch filled with the same beer swilling welfare recipients day after day.  They're on the brink of homelessness.  They do not work.  They choose not to work.  They are able-bodied people standing around drinking beer at 11:30 in the morning - EVERY DAY.  They don't work and yet still have a roof over their head.

I feel bad about the children.  I really do.  But the fact that children are homeless is the fault of their parents who simply won't go find a place to live.

[GOBUCKS]

As soon as DUmmy Taverner ODs and gets off the dole, we'll be able to toss a few more MREs to the remaining winos.