Video evidence of Hillary realizing her place in the Democratic Primary race. Too funny to pass up.
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Who Hates the Homeless the Most?
There are people in America who genuinely need a hand. These people are mentally unstable, physically incapable of work, have a debilitating addiction which is ruining their life, or through fate have been dealt a bad hand and just need a little help to lift themselves up and out of their current situation. People run from abusive relationships with no friends or relatives. People run away from home because of abuse or their own foolish pride. People get hit with the one two punch of losing a job and having a serious health problem. All of these people genuinely need help, either by being committed to mental instiutions, rehab facilities, or self-development programs to give them the resources to exchange their work for food, shelter, or education.
There are people though, who deserve a red-hot poker in the eye because they are conning well-meaning people into giving them money. People are using others' sense of good-will and stealing money from them. These fake homeless, free-loading vagabonds, and homeless criminals are hardening peoples hearts to those who genuinely need help. They're causing well-meaning politicians to make terrible policies based on the terrible plight of the "hundreds of thousands of homeless in America". We need to quit giving away free money to anyone who has their hand out, and at the same time expect a higher level of personal-responsibility from those who do genuinely need outside assistance.
These videos should enrage anyone who actually gives a shit about helping people. Sadly though, every single one of my own experiences in talking with homeless people falls so close to these video descriptions it's disheartening. I want to help, but I sure as shit never want my money to ever go to these cons.
A local news crew in Utah doing a report on homeless people:
John Stossel doing a report on homeless people:
In San Diego I took some evenings and talked with the homeless on the beaches. I only spoke to 6-8 homeless people, but they were eerily similar:
Anyone who is entirely capable of work and responsibility, but is opting out for their own reasons, will never get any pity from me, I just see way too much opportunity in this country for me to feel bad for someone.
If Mexican immigrants can come into this country with nothing, and make a life for themselves and their families, any physically capable and mentally stable homeless person has no excuse.
There are people though, who deserve a red-hot poker in the eye because they are conning well-meaning people into giving them money. People are using others' sense of good-will and stealing money from them. These fake homeless, free-loading vagabonds, and homeless criminals are hardening peoples hearts to those who genuinely need help. They're causing well-meaning politicians to make terrible policies based on the terrible plight of the "hundreds of thousands of homeless in America". We need to quit giving away free money to anyone who has their hand out, and at the same time expect a higher level of personal-responsibility from those who do genuinely need outside assistance.
These videos should enrage anyone who actually gives a shit about helping people. Sadly though, every single one of my own experiences in talking with homeless people falls so close to these video descriptions it's disheartening. I want to help, but I sure as shit never want my money to ever go to these cons.
A local news crew in Utah doing a report on homeless people:
John Stossel doing a report on homeless people:
In San Diego I took some evenings and talked with the homeless on the beaches. I only spoke to 6-8 homeless people, but they were eerily similar:
- terrible hygeine (despite very accessible public showers)
- constant, excessive drinking (24 oz. cans of Bud Ice seemed to be most common)
- abusing nearby homeless resources to maintain their lifestyle of just floating around with no responsibilities
- not even attempting to locate any kind of employment
Anyone who is entirely capable of work and responsibility, but is opting out for their own reasons, will never get any pity from me, I just see way too much opportunity in this country for me to feel bad for someone.
If Mexican immigrants can come into this country with nothing, and make a life for themselves and their families, any physically capable and mentally stable homeless person has no excuse.
Evil Republicans / Homeless
Thomas Sowell has written: Most people on the right have no problem understanding people on the left because many, if not most, were on the left themselves when they were younger. But many, if not most, people on the left find it inexplicable how any decent and intelligent person could be on the right.
I really enjoy having conversations with those who have a different view point than me. It challenges me to look at my own beliefs from another viewpoint and see if they will continue to hold up to scrutiny. I also love poking at the beliefs of others to see exactly where someone stands and for what reasons they have that stand. In my experience, liberals want to feel good about their decisions, but rarely will they go through to thinking about the ramifications of a certain course of action. I am more than willing to say that I am wrong, but you had better have all of your ducks in a row if you think my beliefs make me a bad person.
One of the most entertaining episodes involved a trip to Australia in which I was caught smack dab in the middle of a close-knit group of liberals who had never been challenged before.
Discussion I had in Australia with two young-ish (25-29) deer-eyed liberals, of course I bring up politics.
Australian Liberal 1: I can't believe what America is doing now (it's Fall of 2005, just a couple of years into Iraq). How is it possible that it's being supported. I've never even met a republican!
Me: You have now.
Aus. Lib. 1: Oh, my God. What? This is so weird.
Me: This whole day our group has been talking as you show us around Sydney, have I done anything to make you think I'm a bad person? Do I seem like a person who feeds the carcasses of the homeless to my pets? Republicans are people too, they don't rape and pillage people or third world countries for fun... often...
Aus. Lib. 2: Whatever! That's ridiculous. Republicans are cold hearted, they don't care about anything. They just think about business and don't even think about the homeless for instance.
Me: I would argue that I care more about the homeless than your typical Democrat. More than anything I want homeless people to get off of the street. I want them to sustain themselves with a job though, if at all possible. I don't want them to feel like they have to rely on handouts to survive in the long-term.
Hear me out. How do you most help a poor person on the street? Do you give them money for a meal, or do you help them out of their situation by encouraging them to be self sufficient. Which method keep the person from being poor a day, a week, or a year from now. Plus, if republicans care so much about money, who's going to buy our stuff, people with money or people living on the street? A person concerned about selling things is better off it more of the population can buy their crap. There is no benefit to keeping poor people poor. Plus, how do you do that? How do influence a person to not go to work every day? How do you influence them to not develope their skills? The conspiracy to keep poor people poor makes no sense, and it's impossible to even try to implement. Plus, who has enough power or influence to be able to do that?
Aus. Lib. 2: That's a cold hearted thing to do, just leaving someone in the street to fend for themselves. You're just blaming the victim.
Me: I'm not saying you let them go hungry, just make sure that you don't give it to them without some semblance of responsibility attached to it. Make them feel like they've earned it. For you to make money, you have to do something productive. For you to be self sustaining, you must be productive at some level. But remember there will always be the case of the truly downtrodden which must be helped. We can't let the truly handi-capped or infirm rot on the steet, republicans are in fact human in that regard.
Aus. Lib. 1: I've never thought about it that way.
Me: So am I still evil?
Reluctantly, these people conceded that I was, in fact, not entirely evil. They thought this at least until later that night when I started breaking out the "Dead Baby Jokes" (prepare to be seriously, seriously, offended/disgusted).
My overall point is this: from my perspective some major points for someone to feel content they need to feel secure, needed, and productive. Working hard at a job will almost always contribute to all of those points. There is so much more to life than just work (like epileptic, nursing home G-G-MILF porn). From this point of view giving a no-strings-attached handuot will not make someone better off in the long term. If you can attach a bit of self development with that handout, however, everyone wins.
How about mandating certain levels of work in exchange for government assistance? What would happen if college students with government subsidized loans had to put in 15-20 hours of work a month? What if anyone receiving food stamps or welfare had to work 10-20 hours a month? This work could be cleaning up ditches, maintaining government property, stuffing envelopes for the county, answering phones for a state/government agency, building/maintaining low income housing, or churning butter. Mmmmmm, socialist butter......
I really enjoy having conversations with those who have a different view point than me. It challenges me to look at my own beliefs from another viewpoint and see if they will continue to hold up to scrutiny. I also love poking at the beliefs of others to see exactly where someone stands and for what reasons they have that stand. In my experience, liberals want to feel good about their decisions, but rarely will they go through to thinking about the ramifications of a certain course of action. I am more than willing to say that I am wrong, but you had better have all of your ducks in a row if you think my beliefs make me a bad person.
One of the most entertaining episodes involved a trip to Australia in which I was caught smack dab in the middle of a close-knit group of liberals who had never been challenged before.
Discussion I had in Australia with two young-ish (25-29) deer-eyed liberals, of course I bring up politics.
Australian Liberal 1: I can't believe what America is doing now (it's Fall of 2005, just a couple of years into Iraq). How is it possible that it's being supported. I've never even met a republican!
Me: You have now.
Aus. Lib. 1: Oh, my God. What? This is so weird.
Me: This whole day our group has been talking as you show us around Sydney, have I done anything to make you think I'm a bad person? Do I seem like a person who feeds the carcasses of the homeless to my pets? Republicans are people too, they don't rape and pillage people or third world countries for fun... often...
Aus. Lib. 2: Whatever! That's ridiculous. Republicans are cold hearted, they don't care about anything. They just think about business and don't even think about the homeless for instance.
Me: I would argue that I care more about the homeless than your typical Democrat. More than anything I want homeless people to get off of the street. I want them to sustain themselves with a job though, if at all possible. I don't want them to feel like they have to rely on handouts to survive in the long-term.
Hear me out. How do you most help a poor person on the street? Do you give them money for a meal, or do you help them out of their situation by encouraging them to be self sufficient. Which method keep the person from being poor a day, a week, or a year from now. Plus, if republicans care so much about money, who's going to buy our stuff, people with money or people living on the street? A person concerned about selling things is better off it more of the population can buy their crap. There is no benefit to keeping poor people poor. Plus, how do you do that? How do influence a person to not go to work every day? How do you influence them to not develope their skills? The conspiracy to keep poor people poor makes no sense, and it's impossible to even try to implement. Plus, who has enough power or influence to be able to do that?
Aus. Lib. 2: That's a cold hearted thing to do, just leaving someone in the street to fend for themselves. You're just blaming the victim.
Me: I'm not saying you let them go hungry, just make sure that you don't give it to them without some semblance of responsibility attached to it. Make them feel like they've earned it. For you to make money, you have to do something productive. For you to be self sustaining, you must be productive at some level. But remember there will always be the case of the truly downtrodden which must be helped. We can't let the truly handi-capped or infirm rot on the steet, republicans are in fact human in that regard.
Aus. Lib. 1: I've never thought about it that way.
Me: So am I still evil?
Reluctantly, these people conceded that I was, in fact, not entirely evil. They thought this at least until later that night when I started breaking out the "Dead Baby Jokes" (prepare to be seriously, seriously, offended/disgusted).
My overall point is this: from my perspective some major points for someone to feel content they need to feel secure, needed, and productive. Working hard at a job will almost always contribute to all of those points. There is so much more to life than just work (like epileptic, nursing home G-G-MILF porn). From this point of view giving a no-strings-attached handuot will not make someone better off in the long term. If you can attach a bit of self development with that handout, however, everyone wins.
How about mandating certain levels of work in exchange for government assistance? What would happen if college students with government subsidized loans had to put in 15-20 hours of work a month? What if anyone receiving food stamps or welfare had to work 10-20 hours a month? This work could be cleaning up ditches, maintaining government property, stuffing envelopes for the county, answering phones for a state/government agency, building/maintaining low income housing, or churning butter. Mmmmmm, socialist butter......
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