Rick, what don't you understand? There are no Shepard-type homeless people. There's homeless people in shelters, and some have $25 dollars, but there are no homeless people that are young, white, affluent, college educated, with $25 bucks in their pocket, with a debit card (you know, for emergencies). I'm not the only one making this point. Where are you?

...And stop bringing Will Smith movies into this shit.

He worked and saved some money. That's all he did.

Adam Shepard was a RA in college. Surprise, surprise.

Rick- You lost a while ago. When your response to Jim Cantore being in Gulf Shores was "You are on coke", you lost. You lost when you said that. I hate you.

"...but there are no homeless people that are young, white, affluent, college educated, with $25 bucks in their pocket, with a debit card (you know, for emergencies)." is how the rest of that quote went.

Just so you have the facts correct.

Those are the "tools" not available to the many other homeless.

Are there young/old, white homeless people with $25, that have gone to college? You're really stretching far on these generalizations, Sourmilk.

Skronk wrote:Are there young/old, white homeless people with $25, that have gone to college?

The United Way wrote:Los Angeles County is the homeless capital of the nation, with over 88,000 people homeless on any given night, and 228,000 over the course of the year. Of the 88,000, approximately 21,000 are women and 15,000 are children. 11% are employed (either part time or full time), 16% are veterans or served in the armed forces, and 35% have a physical disability. 38% have a high school diploma, 16% have some college education and 7% have a college degree.

With his degree alone, Adam "total fucking cock" Shepard is in a very narrow category of homelessness, given L.A. county as a representative national sample. Other factors stated previously would narrow the category even more.

R.F.F. wrote:Anyone want to have a rational sane conversation about homeless people or panhandlers? This is a topic I care a great deal about.

Here's a good start, from the same United Way document about L.A. county's homeless:

Is it possible to prevent and end homelessness? How?

- Creating more affordable permanent housing
- Strengthening public benefit programs, such as Section 8 and Healthy Families
- Increasing access, enrollment, and utilization of public benefits
- Expanding the network of integrated services for individuals and families who are living in poverty, as well as coping with disabilities, domestic violence, mental health and substance abuse issues
- Strengthening re-entry programs for individuals transitioning out of institutionalized settings, such as prison and mental health facilities
- Advancing public policy efforts associated with increasing permanent affordable housing and supportive services
- Heightening public will to address homelessness in our communities

Please note that "figuring out who to blame" and "shaming the homeless into better decision-making" are not on this list.

lars wrote:

R.F.F. wrote:Anyone want to have a rational sane conversation about homeless people or panhandlers? This is a topic I care a great deal about.

Here's a good start, from the same United Way document about L.A. county's homeless:

Is it possible to prevent and end homelessness? How?

- Heightening public will to address homelessness in our communities

Thanks. Imho, this is the most importance place to start. My wife led a failed effort for 4 years in Colorado Springs, CO to open a new homeless shelter. They had millions of dollars in funding and political support and it still didn't happen. Basically, no one wanted the facility in their neighborhood and the effort failed. My wife was just out of college and the job was probably a bit much for her considering she was the funders point person.
She was amazed at how petty and mean spirited some people could be. People didn't want the place to be nice. They wanted an ugly building in an ugly part of town far away from all of the other government services- hospital, VA, libraries, etc. The way that otherwise normal people can dehumanize the homeless people just amazes me. I don't know how you counteract this NIMBYism.

Rick Reuben wrote:

simmo wrote:

Rick Reuben wrote:make excessive greed punishable by death.

How do you propose legislation for this would work? How would excessive greed be defined? How would one be tried?

Simple.

The excessive wealth is peeled away from the mega-greedy until a tolerable top level is reached. The wealth is taken peacefully unless there is resistance. Then, when the acceptable level of maximum piggishness is established, the line in the sand is drawn. The warning is issued: If you are approaching the top end, you need to put the brakes on. Pay your workers more, return more of your wealth back to the society that has allowed you to flourish, take measures to stay below the cap.

It's not hard. It's no different than setting a speed limit for a highway.

Wealth limits are set, top and bottom.

I'm sure Ron Paul will get right on that when he's President.

Rick Reuben wrote:There is no such thing as *one* person sharing the experiences of *all* homeless.

...

His case is ONE example of what ONE person can do when confronted with ONE type of homelessness.

No shit. And what is that type of homelessness? Oh yeah, the type where you always know in the back of your head that you can quit being homeless without any other effort than picking up the credit card in your back pocket. The type where you, because of this crucial fact, does not feel the despair that regular homeless people experience.

This type of homelessness has only existed in one case during the course of history: namely the one time a rich kid wanted to play homeless.

In other words, this dude's "experiment" is completely irrelevant-to and detached-from any real circumstances. It is done totally in vitro. It does mean anything and no conclusion can be induced from its result.

Liar

Please, I am not lying.

I am merely saying that the physical attributes (i.e., not having a home, not having money) does not constitute a completely meaningful definition of "homelessness".

The negative aspects of homelessness are not limited to these physical attributes. The truly relevant aspects of homelessness are the mental ones: sense of despair, experience of injustice (real or imagined, depending on your moral preference), loss of self-esteem and lack of mental tools (and positive attitude) to deal with your situation. These are the debilitating effects of homelessness.

Anyone can pull oneself up from pretended despair. It takes a character portrayed by Will Smith to pull oneself up from real despair.

Supportive housing, not perpetuating the shelter system, is the best way to end homelessness.

The leading supportive housing organization in the U.S. is the Corporation for Supportive Housing in Columbus, OH.