Arrested for sleeping too close to a pile of feces, homeless men now $45,000 richer.

[LiberalHeart]

Like many communities, Las Vegas has a homeless population and those in power look for ways to get rid of them. I guess charity begins at home unless it's a little too close to home. And that's what leads to nutty ordinances like the one that was in place in Vegas briefly late last summer.

http://newsgrinder.blogspot.com/2007/03/arrested-for-sleeping-too-close-to-pile.html

[EFerrari]

1. When are people going to figure out that housing people

is a much better community move than criminalizing.

Oh f3cking hell.

[DaveJ]

2. I totally agree

I've mentioned this in the past but a lot of people on the DU think that if we American's don't have to struggle to keep a roof over our heads, then we'll all become a nation of crack heads. They think billionaires making us financially struggle is what makes this country great.

[EFerrari]

3. Yeah. It's the billionaires, aka Junior's base, that make us

a proud nation of failing schools, crippled health care systems, homeless veterans and bogus wars.

'Way to go. :sarcasm:

[durrrty libby]

4. We will never be a truly great country until every American

has basic human needs met

[LiberalHeart]

5. Seriously? People on DU say that?

[EFerrari]

6. There are a number of people who tend to blame the victims.

I don't know if it's a majority opinion but, it does happen here.

[Kolesar]

8. don't think I could find two posts that said what djohnson said, though...eom

edit: said, not concurred with

[EFerrari]

12. Well, I don't normally bookmark posts to hector people with later.

And imho, DU is a very generous community. But/and, there are always some posters that wonder or assume that homeless people somehow "brought it on themselves".

There is a lot about how people become homeless that we could usefully learn.

[Kolesar]

14. Yes. I could imagine that some DUers say things "like that"

So I see what you are "getting at"

[EFerrari]

16. I sincerely don't mean to criticize one of the biggest and best

real communities on the net.

[juno jones]

19. I don't criticize DU either...

...but I have run into that attitude a few time here as well, that somehow poor people are responsible for all the shit that happens to them. It pisses me off because that attitude, whether the holders of it believe it or not, comes straight from the talking points of the 'compassionate conservative reagan revolution'. We need to press for the language of compassion to be added to our democratic and national dialogue. Many people out on the fringes have been 'screwn' and we need to remedy the economic institutions and social discourse that have made this mess in the first place and continue to make those with a little hate those who have lost everything....

[EFerrari]

26. Imho, the same dynamic is in play around any group of vulnerable

people. Poor people, children, people dealing with health issues.

And, as a special added bonus, we demonize their support systems.

That's what this culture does.

:shrug:

[LiberalHeart]

17. I see it a lot in my neighborhood.

I live across the street from a soup kitchen. People camp out in nearby yards. For years we had a guy living in his Pinto which was parked in front of my house. At first it frightened me, then I saw that he kept the litter picked up and ran off people who were venturing onto my property.

He once ordered a pizza delivery to his car using the number on his license plate as his house number. I don't know how he put in the order because he didn't have a phone.

I'd take him meals and he'd invite me into his "dining room" while he ate.

Eventually he got housing and one day I found a greeting card stuck in my door. Inside he put $60 to repay me for money I gave him (I also paid him for odd jobs) (other "loans" he repaid -- always in quarters which he neatly stack on my threshold). I was shocked to see that money in the card and knew it would have taken him a long time to accumulate it. I donated it to a food bank because I knew he'd be offended it I insisted he take it back.

[bobbolink]

22. First hand experience -- YES! HOmeless people get "hectored" on DU.

There's much about the experience of being homeless that people could learn from.

BUT.... there's too much fear.

Yanno, if it could be *me*, then holy-shit, so I'll find *something* about that homeless person that is very different from me, so that I can feel safe that it won't ever happen to me.

Yes, that's the process.

As a priest once said in his sermon, "I was asked this week what my definition of pornography is. I said, pornography is the whole concept of "US" and "THEM"."

DU is *full* of "US" and "THEM"

Gotta protect that fear.

[EFerrari]

25. Exactly.

:(

[RaleighNCDUer]

18. C'mon. You know that PTSD and schizophrenia are lifestyles of

choice. When they get tired of sleeping under bridges they'll go out, buy a suit and get a job just like everyone else -- until then, they can live with the consequences of their chosen lifestyle.

[DaveJ]

20. I may have exaggerated

I think I encountered just one or two think that way. No offense intended. It's just very offsetting when it happens.

[Kolesar]

7. That has to the Democratic Underground's best thread title of the day

Jokes about camping out in front of the White House to follow...

[EFerrari]

9. Sounds like a case for Homeland Sekurity.

"HLS agents defend big steaming pile from rosarians."

:rofl:

/OOPS

[Kolesar]

11. Hold the line, boys! We definitely don't want to get backed up into...that

[EFerrari]

13. Sounds like the GOP agenda -- right about NOW.

LOL

:)

[LiberalHeart]

10. Spitting coffee on my computer screen...

[Lisa]

24. my reaction -- but I thought Karl Rove was at that press dinner, not next to a homeless guy!

[Blue-Jay]

15. Damn. How can I get in on that?

I used to own a cat, so sleeping next to feces is no big deal to me. (he was very.....liberal... about where he chose to dump a load at times.)

[bobbolink]

21. So, how many here have called your Reps about the budget? HOUSING IS TO BE CUT!

It's one thing to condemn RW for the sad state of affairs... another to actually DO something about it.

Please... call.... PLEASE????

[LiberalHeart]

23. Will do. Thanks for the heads up.

[EFerrari]

27. Kick