>>SNIP
>>>
>>>A telling tale and a true story. I've seen homeless people talking on their cellphones!<g>
>>
>>And what would you say is wrong with that, exactly? Sure, it gives you an easy "out" to belittle them, but what really is wrong with it?
>>I can think of all kinds of reasons why a homeless person might have a cellphone, one obvious one being that it might be their "investment" in trying to locate work. It's awfully hard to find work if you have no address and no telephone where you can be reached.
>>
>>Capitalism has some "rough edges" that need to be smoothed, and the way things are going life is getting grittier and grittier all the time. Your grinning about your homeless story is a poor sign for the future. I honestly hope that life always deals you the hand you expect because I wouldn't want you to suffer the humiliation of homelessness that you so readily dish out.
>>
>>Jim
>>
>>>
>>>John
>
>Gee, I guess I understand why they say communication is an "art" My point was simply to point out the incongruity of American "poor" vs. the poor in say Sudan. I wasn't belittling the homeless in our country. Although, I do believe there are thousands who are homeless by choice. I say this because I have personally arrested bunches of them. Once in custody I would interview them about their lifestyle and they say they would rather hold a sign and beg money, or steal stuff than get into the mainstream. I used to buy them food from time to time, but have stopped doing that. I direct them to the mission and we contribute money to the mission for feeding, clothing and housing them. After analyzing the situation, I felt I was enabling their "homeless" lifestyle. My experience has been that there is a very small percentage who have no business on the streets, but the mental institutions won't take them. Maybe we could send them to Canada?

Sorry, John. I did indeed misinterpret and missed your point.
Here the voluntarily homeless used to be 99% of the homeless, but now it's something like only 60% and the numbers are way up.

We've emptied our mental institutions too. Really in the interest of saving money (tax money), the excuse used was 'infringement on their Constitutional rights'.

I've stopped giving them money too, although every once in a while I hand a guy a $5 bill and tell him to go have a beer.

cheers