Althouse: A monument to the homeless, Austin, Texas.

January 25, 2010

A monument to the homeless, Austin, Texas.

146 comments:

jag said...: They really are serious about keeping Austin weird.; 1/25/10, 9:03 PM
Greg Hlatky said...: Got a shot of the dog lifting its leg on either the tree or the plaque?; 1/25/10, 9:06 PM
garage mahal said...: Got a shot of the dog lifting its leg on either the tree or the plaque?

Sermon on the Mount, right?; 1/25/10, 9:07 PM
Gordon Freece said...: "Socially corrupt"? "Act of violence"?

Do these clowns think they're speaking English? Do they care?

Some days, you know, when I see the way lefties feel compelled to cram a little dishonesty and viciousness into every single word they utter, I feel very tired.; 1/25/10, 9:08 PM
Anonymous said...: Maybe they should have taken the money spent on the plaque and used it instead to pay someone's rent.; 1/25/10, 9:09 PM
Kathy said...: Makes you wonder if the people who made that plaque have ever actually known any homeless people. Have they ever actually tried to help a real, live, honest-to-goodness homeless person get a place to live and a job and keep both? It's not as easy as the plaque seems to suggest it should be.; 1/25/10, 9:11 PM
Greg Hlatky said...: Sermon on the Mount, right?

My sympathy for the plight of the homeless doesn't extend to the sort of people who wrote the leftie boilerplate on the plaque and who appropriated an innocent tree to make a political statement.; 1/25/10, 9:19 PM
Skyler said...: I think y'all are missing the point. In Austin, we have buried homelessness. It isn't around anymore.

Heh, especially since Leslie died!; 1/25/10, 9:21 PM
Skyler said...: Hmm. Maybe he isn't dead after all. I guess I've been out of the loop, I thought he died late last year.; 1/25/10, 9:27 PM
Scott said...: If the homeless didn't exist, it would be necessary for the left to create them.

This is really a monument to narcissism.

Whatever happened to vagrancy laws?; 1/25/10, 9:34 PM
garage mahal said...: So Jesus was a lefty. Always thought so.; 1/25/10, 9:35 PM
KCFleming said...: "So Jesus was a lefty. Always thought so."

Effing liberation theologist.; 1/25/10, 9:38 PM
Dr.D said...: Why the fascination with Austin? It used to be a wonderful place 50 years ago when I went there to go to school; back then there were normal, decent people there. Today it is just weird beyond belief and I don't enjoy even driving through on I-35 any more. It is so far Left it makes Madison look very conservative.; 1/25/10, 9:41 PM
Albatross said...: Heh, especially since Leslie died!

Oh my God! Leslie died!? One of my favorite photos is of a friend of mine who ran across that guy on the streets while vising Austin and took her picture with him! I didn't know he passed away!; 1/25/10, 9:42 PM
Albatross said...: Skyler, are you kidding? Did Leslie really die?; 1/25/10, 9:43 PM
KCFleming said...: "Why the fascination with Austin?"

It's like rubbernecking at a slo-mo car accident, taking decades to unfold.; 1/25/10, 9:44 PM
Albatross said...: Damnit, Skyler, he's still alive. He got beat up in 2009, but apparently he made a full recovery. You scared me, there.

For all of you who don't know what I'm rambling on about, here's Leslie, a true piece of Austin weirdness.; 1/25/10, 9:45 PM
Albatross said...: Oops. That link didn't work. Try this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leslie_Cochran

WV: quess - a drunken quest; 1/25/10, 9:48 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: Needs more flamingo.; 1/25/10, 10:06 PM
Methadras said...: Such vapid, maudlin stupidity wrapped up in one bronze plaque. They didn't even have the sense to mount it on some larger upright edifice somewhere, but instead chose to implant it into the ground. What are they defending with this overly sentimental nonsense, hmmm? Oh, I'm sure a homeless man/woman/family walked right by that thing and felt good about themselves at the faux righteous indignation they just read on their way to their next crack/meth fix that put them there in the first place, most likely.; 1/25/10, 10:11 PM
KCFleming said...: Money spent on a plaque decrying homelessness seems to miss the point.

But it's prolly a clean place to sleep.; 1/25/10, 10:12 PM
Big Mike said...: I agree with Kathy; whoever put together that plaque and the little "memorial" has never particularly tried to work with the homeless. There are homeless people who are ordinary folks that have lost their homes through bad luck or (more often) bad decisions, but by far the vast majority are people who seriously need psychiatric care.

This kind of crap does nothing to fix the problem of homelessness, but the point of the plaque is not to help the homeless, but to let the people who paid for the plaque and placed it in the ground to feel good about themselves. They no more care about the plight of the homeless than I do about the plight of Russian cosmonauts since the Soviet space program wound down.; 1/25/10, 10:14 PM
LonewackoDotCom said...: There are people who are homeless by choice, and some are simply bad seeds. Many are mentally ill or addicts. The tea party/sociopathic way to deal with the issue is to lump them all together, and to encourage ideologies that end up creating more of them.

Here's a challenge: find anyone besides me harping on either of these:
1. The Obama administration is working hard to give work permits to 200,000 new legal workers despite the impact that will have on our own low-wage workers and on the country it's supposed to help.
2. The number of work permits given to foreign citizens was hundreds of thousands more than any stimulus jobs "saved or created".

Both of those tend to increase homelessness, but the tea partiers/sociopaths and r/w bloggers/pundits/politicians are almost nowhere to be found, if they aren't on the wrong side.; 1/25/10, 10:17 PM
1775OGG said...: It would be very much more apt to sing that great new hit song: "Pants on the Ground, Pants on the Ground! Fuck!"; 1/25/10, 10:18 PM
vnjagvet said...: How many people became homeless when the PC crowd made such a fetish of deinstitutionalization.

WV: comasta -- badly spelled spanish for how ya doin'.; 1/25/10, 10:24 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: ‹anecdote alert›
‹There was a man who played the sax for years and offered pencils on the 16th St. Mall, before it was a mall even. He was the type that refused housing, couldn't abide the rules. He hopped trains to Florida each winter, then reappeared each spring. So the story goes, although I never checked to see if there even are trains to Florida. He was a fixture in the city. Everybody downtown knew of him. He requested that when he died his ashes be strewn from the top of May D& F tower which was intact and restored at the corner of 16th and Araphaho St. even though the adjoining building had long been razed. But that was illegal.

The man died.

The FRB is cattycorner across the mall from the tower. We observed from the second floor FRB cafeteria a line of limousines assembling, disrupting the traffic. Some kind of gathering, some fellow, possibly the mayor officiating. A friend of mine was curious so he joined the crowd assembling at the corner. He was carrying a sheet cake intended for an office party. Then he felt bits of light loose debris falling from the sky like dandruff. He realized it was coming from the tower. He was too late in realizing his hair, his clothes, the cake, everybody was being coated with the dead homeless man's ashes.
‹/anecdote alert›; 1/25/10, 10:26 PM
Peter V. Bella said...: Homelessness was a big thing until Clinton became President. Then they all disappeared.

Just like today. War was a big thing during the Bush presidency. Now, well, wars, what wars. The protesters have all disappeared.; 1/25/10, 10:26 PM
jeff said...: Yes, it's many the tea party where the chant, "more homeless" was heard. Why cant they be more like the folks in San Fran who have completely solved the homeless problem using those time honored left wing solutions.; 1/25/10, 10:29 PM
garage mahal said...: I agree with Kathy; whoever put together that plaque and the little "memorial" has never particularly tried to work with the homeless

Why not go directly to the org? here. Why, they even secured $100k from George Bush for job initiatives. Interesting reading a survey they did of over 500 people. 38% of the homeless surveyed were working, and 24% surveyed were veterans. Much easier to speculate without facts though, ain't it.; 1/25/10, 10:36 PM
Methadras said...: LonewackoDotCom said...

There are people who are homeless by choice,

Most of the homeless are there by choice.

and some are simply bad seeds. Many are mentally ill or addicts.

That's right. Good way to acknowledge that some people are just broken and are willing, capable, or want to remove themselves from their base desires and infirmities.

The tea party/sociopathic way to deal with the issue is to lump them all together, and to encourage ideologies that end up creating more of them.

What sort of contradictory pathological nonsense moved you to this idiotic conclusion. Tea Party people are now sociopaths? How did that enter into the conversation? Furthermore you yourself claimed that some of the homeless are there of their own choosing through their unwillingness to get mental help or kick their junkie status and you have the audacity (of hope) to claim that it's tea part/sociopaths? Are you that stupid?

Your further challenge is even more pathetic considering you've neglected the level of in-sourcing in the last decade that has put low/mid-wage Americans to work alongside filling the gap with H1B's. You know, being a clueless dick is just a notch below being clueless. Pick your rung.; 1/25/10, 10:36 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: This pic depicts one of the two Americas John Edwards was always talking about?; 1/25/10, 10:38 PM
Zachary Sire said...: Yeah, fuck poor people. Losers.; 1/25/10, 11:14 PM
Skyler said...: Sorry Albatross. I tried to correct my error in my second post. I recall people saying he had died, I guess he actually recovered and no one told me.

I don't understand why he's so popular. The women especially love him here. Everytime I've ever seen him he was seemingly drunk and ranting like a loon.

And he looks hideous in his pantyhose.; 1/25/10, 11:15 PM
Skyler said...: Also, I wouldn't know for sure, but this doesn't appear to be a city paid or sanctioned memorial. Looks like someone just laid it on the ground on the running trail.

I think if the city were to do it, they would have spent a lot more of our money to make it more presentable.; 1/25/10, 11:20 PM
jimbino said...: Here in Austin, the folks you see begging on the streetcorners are almost always White guys with or without a dog or a backpack. You will almost NEVER see a Black or Hispanic or lone woman begging.

It's almost like the national parks and forests, where you see only Whites and Japanese tourists, never a Black or Hispanic or a lone woman.

I think we should start busing minorities to the national parks and forests and the streetcorners of Austin so that they can begin to share in the American experience.; 1/25/10, 11:37 PM
Palladian said...: "Yeah, fuck poor people. Losers."

They could always get a job doing gay-for-pay porn if they're young enough and clean up good. Maybe you could hook them up, honey.; 1/26/10, 12:21 AM
Methadras said...: Zachary Paul Sire said...

Yeah, fuck poor people. Losers.

Well, you could be the gift that keeps on giving. I hear your kind of patronage works well with those less fortunate. So why don't you do your civic duty and show the poor how much you really really love them.; 1/26/10, 12:36 AM
spool32 said...: You guys probably don't know, but Austin has had a steady string of unsolved homeless murders over the years. I'm sure you feel hilarious though.

Well done! You mocked a plaque honoring a bunch of unfortunate murder victims.; 1/26/10, 12:45 AM
Kakashi said...: That is weird...and really pathetic given that's its basically just a plaque in the ground with nothing around it.; 1/26/10, 1:37 AM
Methadras said...: spool32 said...

You guys probably don't know, but Austin has had a steady string of unsolved homeless murders over the years. I'm sure you feel hilarious though.

Well done! You mocked a plaque honoring a bunch of unfortunate murder victims.

Where in the hoary host of fuck did you learn how to apply guilt? From one of your used socks?; 1/26/10, 2:25 AM
reader_iam said...: Real life is infested with worthless sorts of **all** and various types, most annoying those whose knees jerk in predictable rhythm.

What, you don't think so?

Ptouie.; 1/26/10, 2:38 AM
Revenant said...: You guys probably don't know, but Austin has had a steady string of unsolved homeless murders over the years.

Thanks for the heads-up. If I ever decide to spend my life high and drunk and sleeping on streetcorners in Texas, I will remember to do that in Dallas or Houston instead of Austin.; 1/26/10, 2:59 AM
Revenant said...: Yeah, fuck poor people. Losers.

Homelessness is caused by mental illness and substance abuse, not poverty.; 1/26/10, 3:01 AM
Jason (the commenter) said...: If Althouse took this plaque and switched it with the 9-11 one she saw in Albany the world would be a better place.; 1/26/10, 4:29 AM
rhhardin said...: It's a plaque from outer space that has fallen to earth.; 1/26/10, 4:56 AM
Banshee said...: Um... I thought that was a plaque made by somebody on the right, decrying the creation of the homeless problem when so many mental hospitals were closed back in the day, and the inmates left to their own devices out on the street.

I mean, that was pretty evil and thoughtless, and did kill a lot of folks in the name of freeing them.; 1/26/10, 5:16 AM
Roger J. said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 1/26/10, 6:16 AM
Roger J. said...: What Maureen said. Seems to me its worthwhile tracing the origins of the current interest in homelessness--VNJAGVET identifies it for us--for you young uns on this blog 60 minutes did a piece on a NY state mental institution years ago (late 60s early 70s--Brookhaven state hospital as I recall)--that resulted in a move to deinstitutionalize many people who were, regretably, mentally ill.

I submit there is no one who can identify how many homeless there really are and the reasons for their sad plight

I am thankful that many mostly nonprofit oorganizations step up to assist--but the root cause, it seems to me, are the unconscionable decisions undertaken decades ago to turn these sick people out on the streets in the name of compassion, and a bad sixty minutes story

just my .02 and a reminder of the law of unintended consequences
how many people have died in the name of compassion; 1/26/10, 6:20 AM
KCFleming said...: "You guys probably don't know, but Austin has had a steady string of unsolved homeless murders over the years. I'm sure you feel hilarious though."

That plaque sure helped solve that unsolved murder problem, I'm sure.; 1/26/10, 6:23 AM
KCFleming said...: Maybe next The Concerned Citizens of Austin can make a plaque for the victims of the earthquake in Haiti.

There are so many problems in the world that need a plaque.
But Austin has only one.
Why? Haters, that's why.; 1/26/10, 6:55 AM
rhhardin said...: Mental institutions were closed as a result of Erving Goffman's Asylums, an excellent book even today.

Not about what the closers thought it was about.

It's about people not doing what everybody agrees they are doing, and it happens everywhere in society, not particularly in mental institutions.

I have some excerpts somewhere, um, here.; 1/26/10, 7:34 AM
jag said...: @ spool 32: if the investigation into the murders of homeless in austin is as thoughtless as the monument, brace yourself for more grief.; 1/26/10, 7:41 AM
mrs whatsit said...: That's a monument to being ineffectual. They should name it "Lip Service." I can't imagine raising and spending money on something that's supposed to help the homeless but doesn't even represent shelter, let alone actually providing any. At a bare minimum, they could have erected some kind of kiosk that could have, at least, kept somebody out of the rain for a little while. What a waste of time and money.; 1/26/10, 8:17 AM
Michael said...: The plaque is supposed to be removed during Democratic administrations.; 1/26/10, 8:33 AM
Tibore said...: "Zachary Paul Sire said...

Yeah, fuck poor people. Losers."

Basically, that's what the plaque is saying. It's a statement demonstrating that someone would rather turn their efforts into strident commentary than actual understanding, as evidenced by the text of the plaque. Homelessness is as much an act of violence as 9/11 was an act of pederasy, but boy, such senseless equivocations make people feel good, don't they?

Plaques are like those ribbons Hollywood stars wear on the red carpet: A feel-goodism displayed in order to pretend that making a spectacle is the same thing as making an effort. And it is equally as hollow.

So yes: The ones who installed the plaque are saying "Fuck poor people". That's what's so tragic about it.; 1/26/10, 8:55 AM
Big Mike said...: Much easier to speculate without facts though, ain't it. [sic]

@garage, some of us have actually worked with the homeless. Shocking as it may seem, you're the one "speculating without facts."; 1/26/10, 8:55 AM
Anonymous said...: This ones easy. When a Libturd says open our southern border because illegals do the jobs nobody else will do, just show him that plaque. If there is homelessness in America it's out of choice.; 1/26/10, 9:16 AM
Skyler said...: If there is homelessness in America it's out of choice.

This is often true, but there are some people that are hobos because of mental incompetency. We need not paint with such a broad brush. Just because most are guilty doesn't mean all are.; 1/26/10, 9:21 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: There are homeless people who are ordinary folks that have lost their homes through bad luck or (more often) bad decisions, but by far the vast majority are people who seriously need psychiatric care.

There are also the FAKE homeless. We see them all the time. They march to their designated corner for their shift of standing forlornly with a sign begging for money, gasoline, food and accompanied by the omnipresent dog to tug on the heartstrings of those who hate people but like animals.

Later in the day the relief shift will show up. These people live in the low income apartments built by tax payer dollars around the corner. (I know this because they admit it and have been caught coming and going from their
homes).

Some of them have been out of gas, looking for work, homeless for at least a year or longer. They are there so often in front of WalMart that you recognize them. Sometimes the dog changes though. That part is sad.

The really sad part is these 'professional beggars' have hardened our hearts to those FEW who might be actually homeless and willing to work.

The rest are just ill people who have mental or drug abuse issues. They can't be helped in the way that the bleeding heart liberals want to do.

vw: sporan. I guess blogger is in a scottish mood this morning.; 1/26/10, 9:35 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: One morning at about 7 am while getting some Sausage Egg McMuffin meals for a road trip, we saw a young woman, with dog of course, walk up to her corner and THEN put on a worn out knee brace and leaned on the crutch that she had carried under her arm while strolling to her shift at the drive up window lane.

GET A FUCKING JOB YOU SKANK.; 1/26/10, 9:37 AM
Anonymous said...: >>>This is often true, but there are some people that are hobos because of mental incompetency.

I'll grant you that. But I think being homeless would drive anybody insane, even the people who chose the hobo lifestyle out of choice.; 1/26/10, 9:38 AM
Fen said...: "Give Peace a Chance"

How do Liberals swallow this swill? Are they really so simple-minded?; 1/26/10, 9:40 AM
Fen said...: ...or are they just playing for the other team?; 1/26/10, 9:41 AM
mrs whatsit said...: The people who made that plaque were thinking only of themselves and of their wish to be seen as enlightened, compassionate, generous, blah blah blah. The operative words are "to be seen as" -- image was their goal, not reality. If their real concern had been for the homeless, they would have spent the money on their substantive needs rather than on empty words on a useless plaque.

Now come the trolls to clamor about how selfish and uncaring it is to argue that the energy, money, and time should have spent on those who need it, rather than on self-congratulation.; 1/26/10, 9:43 AM
ricpic said...: The homeless didn't do it to themselves,
Oh never, never, we insist;
It was all the work of evil elves
Who coked them up and kept them pissed.; 1/26/10, 9:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Instalanche on me! Hey, do I get a commission or something?; 1/26/10, 10:01 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: So...in addition to begging and probably getting several hundred dollars a week, the FAKE homeless in California receive approximately

SSI = $600 monthly
Food Stamps $200 to $400
Subidized or free housing value = $700 to 1000 monthly
Free medical care value? = $$ priceless

So....total value of the FAKE homeless package. Several THOUSAND dollars a month, tax free to boot.

Why would they want to get a real job?

'Splain it to me.; 1/26/10, 10:06 AM
HeatherRadish said...: The rest are just ill people who have mental or drug abuse issues. They can't be helped in the way that the bleeding heart liberals want to do.

And the mentally ill homeless can't be kept in facilities with showers and hot meals because the bleeding heart liberals insisted they have the right to live on the street. I'm convinced bleeding heart liberals don't care about the homeless at all, except to make sure there are plenty around to bludgeon conservatives and Republicans (I've noticed the only time "ZOMG! homeless people!" made the news the past year was when they were taking pictures of Michelle Obama's $600 shoes with their camera phones.); 1/26/10, 10:09 AM
ricpic said...: When does California implode? Five four three two one...boom!; 1/26/10, 10:13 AM
Anonymous said...: Tibore said...

Plaques are like those ribbons Hollywood stars wear on the red carpet: A feel-goodism displayed in order to pretend that making a spectacle is the same thing as making an effort. And it is equally as hollow.

I believe the term for that is slactivism.

wv=sloga: a slogan that doesn't quite work; 1/26/10, 10:25 AM
garage mahal said...: Jesus:
Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

Republican:
GET A FUCKING JOB YOU SKANK

Worship a homeless person on Sunday, and call them stray animals on Monday. How perfectly conservative.; 1/26/10, 10:26 AM
LordSomber said...: If they put the plaque on a park bench, at least they would be providing bedding.

And it could say, "If you were homeless, you'd be home by now."; 1/26/10, 10:39 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Jesus:
Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

Republican:
GET A FUCKING JOB YOU SKANK

Worship a homeless person on Sunday, and call them stray animals on Monday. How perfectly conservative.

Who worships homeless people???

Perfectly able bodied people PRETENDING to be homeless....pretending to be crippled...begging for money on the street corner....living on public assistance provided by tax dollars wrung from my income and the income of other hard working HONEST citizens.

Yes. GET A FUCKING JOB!! I have one. My husband has one and it is often a very ugly job. Other people struggle and work. Why should these leeches on society get to suck the blood from us. I don't feel guilty in the least.

Apart from salvation, there is perhaps a way that the concept "God helps those who help themselves" is correct. As an example, if you asked me to help you move a piece of furniture, but then just watched me as I moved the furniture for you, I was not actually helping you. I would be doing the work for you. Many Christians fall into the trap of inactivity. Many Christians ask God for help, but then expect God to do everything Himself. They excuse this by pointing to the fact that God will provide according to His will and in His timing. However, this is not a reason for inactivity. As a specific example, if you are in need of a job, ask the Lord to help you find a job - but then be active in actually looking for a job. While it is in His power to do so, it is highly unlikely that God will cause employers to come looking for you!

There ARE the truly homeless. Women and children fleeing abusive homes. The truly crippled and ill who need our assistance. The people who have lost their jobs and who are temporarily homeless and jobless.

They deserve a hand up.

I refuse to give a hand OUT to those who are gaming the system.; 1/26/10, 10:39 AM
Brian said...: Homelessness ended on January 20, 2009. Where have you been?; 1/26/10, 10:42 AM
former law student said...: That plaque sure helped solve that unsolved murder problem, I'm sure.

Interesting. I'd like to hear pogo's utilitarian take on the proposed WTC memorial. Won't end terrorism? Who needs it?

we saw a young woman, with dog of course, walk up to her corner and THEN put on a worn out knee brace and leaned on the crutch that she had carried under her arm while strolling to her shift at the drive up window lane.

GET A FUCKING JOB YOU SKANK.

She's clearly resourceful -- why not offer her a job? I love her "can-co" attitude.

Who worships homeless people???

Presumably, you. Matthew 8:20; 1/26/10, 10:46 AM
LordSomber said...: In a lot of college towns, the folks begging for money:
1. Have pets.
2. Have tattoos.
3. Are young and able-bodied.

The skepticism of 'homelessness' or being in need is entirely merited.
Myself, I only give to the ones missing limbs. They're not faking their misfortune.; 1/26/10, 10:51 AM
former law student said...: Sorry, can-do attitude.

Losing his state asylum job led to Lars Eighner's becoming homeless in Austin. His experience was well-chronicled in his Travels with Lisbeth. Lars still participates on Usenet on austin.general.; 1/26/10, 10:51 AM
the gold digger said...: 1. I saw more than one person in San Francisco get up out of his wheelchair and walk away. A miracle!

2. In Miami, a man in a wheelchair - he was an amputee - approached me and asked for money. Told me he had lost his legs in Vietnam. I asked why he wasn't getting disability from the VA. Told me the VA had lost his address. As my father had just died a month ago from a Vietnam-related cancer and my mom was already getting a check, I was not sympathetic. I suggested he get to the VA and get things straightened out.; 1/26/10, 11:00 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: She's clearly resourceful -- why not offer her a job? I love her "can-co" attitude

Riiiiight. Like I'm going to hire a scam artist to work in my financial planning firm.....or clean my house and have free access to anything in the house...or anything else like bank accounts, credit cards....yup.

Besides to work for me she would have to be fingerprinted and have a Federal background check.

You hire her. If you are so concerned about her being (fake) homeless and (fake) disabled. Sucker.

You know. There are plenty of jobs available, despite what the MSM wants us to believe. They may not be jobs you WANT. They may not be jobs that pay very much. They may be nasty icky jobs. You may have to work more than one job. Your children, wife and everyone else in the family may have to work. They may not be jobs where you live. BUT there are opportunities. Get up and find them.

I do have sympathy for those who truly can't work or who are really ill or disabled.

I don't have any sympathy for those who aren't trying; and for those who are professional beggars on the street corner.; 1/26/10, 11:00 AM
SMSgt Mac said...: Just one of the many reasons the rest of us in Texas refer to Austin as "Moscow on the Brazos".

Interesting how criticism of the mental processes it takes to create a monument like this gets transformed in some people's minds as a criticism of the problem lamented by the monument. Proof positive that you can lead Liberals to logic, but you can't make them think.; 1/26/10, 11:14 AM
former law student said...: Riiiiight. Like I'm going to hire a scam artist to work in my financial planning firm.....or clean my house and have free access to anything in the house...or anything else like bank accounts, credit cards....yup.

So it looks like she'll have to continue scamming for the foreseeable future, doesn't it? Unless you can think of some occupation that welcomes ex-scam artists.; 1/26/10, 11:15 AM
Unknown said...: Worship a homeless person on Sunday, and call them stray animals on Monday. How perfectly conservative.

We don't worship the homeless, we worship God. We do, however, help the homeless in the name of God. Every Saturday, Church in the Park brings food, clothing, music, and prayers to the homeless in Houston. We also listen to them, even when much of what they tell us is incomprehensible or paranoid ramblings... many of them are mentally ill.

We've never made a plaque for them, though. Not sure what they would do with it.

I, and many of my conservative, Republican friends volunteer on the second Saturday of every month. How often do you volunteer, garage mahal?; 1/26/10, 11:21 AM
former law student said...: Interesting how criticism of the mental processes it takes to create a monument like this

Memorializing the passing of the least of His brethren is the same as memorializing Jesus Himself.

I keep forgetting that few Christians post here.; 1/26/10, 11:23 AM
Meade said...: Albatross said...
Damnit, Skyler, he's still alive. He got beat up in 2009, but apparently he made a full recovery. You scared me, there.

For all of you who don't know what I'm rambling on about, here's Leslie, a true piece of Austin weirdness.

We ran across Leslie, on the street, HERE.; 1/26/10, 11:26 AM
Anonymous said...: >>> "It is an act of violence."

So, when a public servant threatens you with physical violence and prison time unless you give your money to someone who did nothing to earn it, you are committing "an act of violence" if you protest.

Got that everyone?

The left is really unhinged these days. It's like they're using 1984 as a dictionary.; 1/26/10, 11:31 AM
Tully said...: Hey, they put it near a nice sheltering bridge to get out of the weather under!

The HOMELESSNESS header is OK, and the "In memory of" part. The stuff in between is pretty mindless.; 1/26/10, 11:34 AM
themightypuck said...: This thread really kills me. Why can't a person just let some provocative language on a memorial for homeless people who "died on the streets" go. Just let it fucking go. It's like people who get cut off in traffic and have to get out of their cars. Please.; 1/26/10, 11:35 AM
former law student said...: People, the tree is the memorial. The plaque just explains why.

You wouldn't want to screw a brass plaque to a tree.; 1/26/10, 11:36 AM
Anonymous said...: Why can't a person just let some provocative language on a memorial for homeless people who "died on the streets" go.

A. The "provocative" language is mindless drivel worth mocking.

B. The memorial and its mindless drivel is the subject of the post, so discussing anything else would be considered thread jacking, which violates blog etiquette.; 1/26/10, 11:42 AM
ic said...: A million dollars travel expenses to the Copenhagen global warming funeral pay a lot of rents too. Heck, they can even build a couple of villages instead of a lousy plague for the homeless.; 1/26/10, 11:46 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: So it looks like she'll have to continue scamming for the foreseeable future, doesn't it? Unless you can think of some occupation that welcomes ex-scam artists.

Assuming our fake crippled girl doesn't already have prior criminal history: Dish washing, cook in a fast food restaurant, yard work, digging ditches, cleaning gutters, shoveling snow, motel cleaning staff, McDonalds!(which was hiring at the same time she was begging at their drive up lane), grocery store shelf stocker, loader on a services dock, swamper on a construction site, helper for a painting contracting business, clerk at the Dollar Store, lumber yard-hardware store gofer, bar maid cocktail waitress, food waitress, temporary services employment program, work study programs provided by various charities to help the person train for an occupation.

I've had many of these jobs in my lifetime. She can too, IF she wanted to.

Of course she doesn't want to. That would interfere with her time off from begging and eat into her beer and drug recreational activities. Plus....THEN she would have to pay taxes and lose all the thousand of dollars of freebies.; 1/26/10, 11:49 AM
Steven said...: So Jesus was a lefty.

Go ahead, claim him. But claim all of him, man. Claim the Jesus who utterly condemned calling someone a fool (Matthew 5:22). Go forth and tell everyone who ever made an uncomplimentary statement about the intelligence of George W. Bush or Dan Quayle that they deserve to go to Hell for their remarks.; 1/26/10, 11:50 AM
Anonymous said...: Whadabet a homeless guy digs up the plaque and sells it for scrap?

They steal the manhole covers in NY.; 1/26/10, 12:10 PM
Penny said...: "Real life is infested with worthless sorts of **all** and various types, most annoying those whose knees jerk in predictable rhythm."

And to think I thought you had something against dancers, reader. ;); 1/26/10, 12:11 PM
former law student said...: dbq -- do you want a scam artist handling cash? That cuts out most of the jobs you suggest.; 1/26/10, 12:12 PM
JAL said...: I tend not to give as we do through other channels.

We also lived in a developing country which has an Olympic level professional begger class (think Slum Dog Millionaire).

I have offered to buy the person a meal and they have refused.

Just last summer I was approached by a woman in a Michael's parking lot with a story -- probably not homeless, but a sad story.

My friend and I declined, and gave her a suggestion for local help.

We ended up following her as she got on a moped with some guy on the other side of the parking lot -- and he let her off down the road on the edge of another parking lot where she hit up some people (and was rewarded). She then walked down the sidewalk counting her money and hitting the adjacent parking lot before she connected up with her 'ride.'

As an officer in my church which deals every month with needs, we have multiple stories about the drive by beggers, and have been working to refine our response based on our location and the demographics.

We sometimes knock ourselves out to help some people. Others just feel entitled. Them not so much.

It's not a simple problem. There is not a simple solution (although involuntary commitment might be need to be revisited.)

I do agree that the plaque placers probably get a heck of a lot more out of that plaque than either the homeless or the park users.; 1/26/10, 12:17 PM
themightypuck said...: My only consolation here is that there are tons of people who are conservative who don't hate poor people and actually think homelessness is tragic and make a genuine effort to solve the problem knowing full well it is a hard problem to solve.; 1/26/10, 12:17 PM
Anonymous said...: As usual, Garage Mahal gets it precisely, spectacularly wrong. Again.

Garage graciously said,
"Jesus:
Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

Republican:
GET A FUCKING JOB YOU SKANK"

What Jesus actually said was, "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Mt 5:3) that is, the humble. For Garage, an example would be the opposite of Obama's $100/lb beef.

The Scriptures clearly say, "if any would not work, neither should he eat." Hardly an endorsement of homelessness and the welfare state.

Jesus said, "Be humble."

The Apostle Paul said, "Get a job."

Gagage said, "It's good to be poor and have those who work provide for those who won't provide for themselves."; 1/26/10, 12:21 PM
themightypuck said...: @koblog. I'd like to hear what TG has to say since I more or less trust his take on Christianity amongst the commenters. My own view is that pulling the WWJD card is disingenuous on both sides.; 1/26/10, 12:28 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: dbq -- do you want a scam artist handling cash? That cuts out most of the jobs you suggest.

Assuming you have SOME reading skills, I said if she doesn't have a criminal record these are the type of low skill jobs a person could apply for. Jobs can be supervised and IF the person WANTS to change their ways....they should be given a chance.

Just not in my business.

There are plenty of jobs that don't require taking cash. Medical transcriptionist, computer data entry.

Quit making excuses for these losers. FAKE homeless girl can get all kinds of jobs and all kinds of help. She just doesn't want to, because it pays better to work the system.

You aren't making me feel guilty. I don't have any sympathy for those who won't help themselves.; 1/26/10, 12:49 PM
garage mahal said...: What Jesus actually said was, "Blessed are the poor in spirit" (Mt 5:3) that is, the humble. For Garage, an example would be the opposite of Obama's $100/lb beef

The New Testament mentions the word "poor" 36 times, and always means "poor" in the literal sense--referring specifically to those who are poor financially. See the parallel passage in Luke 6:20: "And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God." The text could better be rendered as: "Happy are the poor, in the Spirit"

Christ, in his first public message asserted that God had anointed Him "to preach the gospel to the poor" Luke 4:18. Also the rhetorical question of James 2:5: "Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?"; 1/26/10, 12:51 PM
edgelady said...: I left Austin some years ago because it was no longer the Austin of my youth. Used to watch Leslie "parade" up and down Congress Avenue with his huge, modified grocery cart of stuff. I guess my most "favorite" of his costumes was his bikini ... a wretched visual memory to me still.

There homeless in Austin, but there are also street artists, such as Carl Hickerson whose claim to fame was twirling flowers on his finger tip. He ran for City Council once and had bumper stickers that said "I'm Crazy too, Carl" - many people got one just because.

The friendliness and open minds I miss, the liberalism I don't miss.; 1/26/10, 12:57 PM
Tim the Shrubber said...: "Maybe they should have taken the money spent on the plaque and used it instead to pay someone's rent."

I dunno...for 17 years that plaque has been sitting in one of the most visited spots in Austin, TX. Seems like a pretty cost effective way to remind people of the problems of homelessness.

The language of the plaque is silly, but that is just the local liberal dialect. If it gets more people in Austin to help the homeless, I could not care less what it says.; 1/26/10, 12:58 PM
themightypuck said...: +1 Andrew.; 1/26/10, 1:04 PM
Anonymous said...: How often do you volunteer, garage mahal?

Perhaps not at all. He might be stealing a job from an SEIU social worker.

(This sounds like a joke and may be unfair to Garage, but leftists not uncommonly do dislike charity. This attitude seems especially prevalent among Europeans I have met, who are not impressed that Americans donate more of their own money per capita than anyone else in the world. This kind of person sees charity as enabling the government to shirk its responsibility for righting all the world's wrongs. With buckets of taxpayer money, of course. Oh, and lots and lots of well-paying, heavily pensioned jobs for unionized liberal-arts graduates of doubtful employability elsewhere.); 1/26/10, 1:18 PM
KCFleming said...: "Seems like a pretty cost effective way to remind people of the problems of homelessness."

Cost effective?
How?

Do people really not know about the homeless in Austin but for that plaque on the ground?

Do Austin residents actually need reminding about homelessness? Why? Is it that rare or invisible there?

How does saying homelessness is "violence" help?
It pisses me off, personally. Makes me wanna holla 'screw dat', convicting me of violence like they convict me of racism and sexism merely by my existing.

I disagree.
Not cost effective, but a deterrent to helping.; 1/26/10, 1:19 PM
Penny said...: "dbq -- do you want a scam artist handling cash? That cuts out most of the jobs you suggest."

Not exactly, fls, I hit my local kfc once a year, because of that terrible kind of craving you get once in a while. Two years ago my service was so bad that other patrons in the line began to complain on my behalf. Frankly, I found that amazing really.

Anyway, the manager comes out to apologize and takes me aside to explain that they are trying something new. The man who served me was not ignoring me, he was simply unable to accept my money as a rule of his employment. Now if ONLY another rule of his employment had been to tell me that, instead of staring directly at me and doing nothing.

Heaven help the managers who have to work through this sort of nonsense.; 1/26/10, 1:20 PM
KCFleming said...: Unless by 'cost effective' you mean meaningless platitudes provide a cheap warm fuzzy. Then yes, right.

Why I, too, am against homelessness! See my plaque and how my Heart Bleeds for the homeless!; 1/26/10, 1:25 PM
KCFleming said...: Mebbe Austin's art community can do some Interpretive Dances for the Homeless to Raise Awareness.

That oughta work.

In my town, gullible yoots sleep overnight in cardboard boxes to Raise Awareness. To what end, no one ever has discovered, but you can get school credit for it.; 1/26/10, 1:28 PM
Anonymous said...: Mindless drivel on a bronze plaque would not encourage me to give to a charity.

If you want to significantly broaden the number of people who are willing to contribute to a solution, then it helps if you don't piss off a significant number of them with sophomoric leftwing platitudes.; 1/26/10, 1:37 PM
Tim the Shrubber said...: "How does saying homelessness is "violence" help?
It pisses me off, personally. Makes me wanna holla 'screw dat', convicting me of violence like they convict me of racism and sexism merely by my existing."

Well, you are not the target audience either. As I wrote, it is in the local liberal dialect. I think it is a great think for all the rich liberals living in the downtown condos to run into while they taking a morning jog around Town Lake. I don't care what words they use, so long as it gets them to give/help.

Perhaps being a conservative in Austin has made me somewhat immune to some silly things, or perhaps the fact that I spend many of my sunday mornings about a mile from there the feeding homeless helps me keep some perspective. I may not have worded the plaque that way, but that is not really what is important.

"...it helps if you don't piss off a significant number of them with sophomoric leftwing platitudes."

I dunno...if sophmoric platitudes would keep you from helping the homeless, then I would suggest the problem is more at your end. Sometimes you have to work with people you cannot stand if you want to do any good.; 1/26/10, 1:41 PM
Anonymous said...: I would not volunteer time or money to organizations that trafficked in such platitudes. If the intended audience is rich liberals, then so be it, but that message isn't going to appeal to anyone outside that demographic.; 1/26/10, 1:47 PM
Tim the Shrubber said...: "I would not volunteer time or money to organizations that trafficked in such platitudes."

Sorry, but that strikes me as a bit petty.; 1/26/10, 1:58 PM
former law student said...: Do people really not know about the homeless in Austin but for that plaque on the ground?

Do Austin residents actually need reminding about homelessness? Why? Is it that rare or invisible there?

Did you know there were 4400 homeless people living in Austin? Did you know in the 12 months ending in November 2009, 158 men, women, and children died on the streets of Austin? If that many had been shot with a pistol you'd hear a clamor for gun control.

Visit the House the Homeless website as I just did. It appears to be a down to earth organization populated by Christians.

I would not volunteer time or money to organizations that trafficked in such platitudes.

IOW, Lord Bountiful must have his ass kissed before he disgorges any cash.; 1/26/10, 1:59 PM
KCFleming said...: "...if sophmoric platitudes would keep you from helping the homeless, then I would suggest the problem is more at your end"

Sophomoric platitudes suggesting that homelessness itself is "violence" tell me that the methods of "helping" the homeless such people favor tend to harm rather than help, to increase rather than decrease homelessness.

Much like "helping" the poor by subsidizing unwed mothers has caused them considerable harm.; 1/26/10, 2:00 PM
KCFleming said...: Charity is local, fls.
Why would I know about the number of homeless in Austin?
Why would you expect me to?

And House the Homeless has a "Universal Living Wage" tag. Therefore they are full of shit and gullible, and have been taken over by socialists.

And therefore I doubt their stats.
I call bullshit.

Their The “Let’s Get to Work Initiative” makes a little more sense, thank God.; 1/26/10, 2:05 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Did you know in the 12 months ending in November 2009, 158 men, women, and children died on the streets of Austin?

How did they die? Run over by a garbage truck? Drug overdose? Alcohol poisoning? Beaten to death by other homeless or random roving bands of racist homophobic Bubbas?

How? Tell us.

Then we can start clamoring.

We don't have many homeless in our town, up in the mountains compared to other places California. Interesting how places like Austin and other temperate areas seem to have a lot of homeless. Do you think that warm weather causes homelessness?

/sarcasm; 1/26/10, 2:09 PM
KCFleming said...: 158 dead on the streets?
Kids too?
That's three dead per week.
What's going on in Austin, some kind of serial killing?; 1/26/10, 2:14 PM
Tim the Shrubber said...: Sorry Pogo, but it seems to me that you are just looking for excuses to ignore the issue. I am not personally involved with the Houses for Homeless group, but through my church I have worked with them. No, I do not support everything they do, but I can work with them on the things where I do agree.; 1/26/10, 2:14 PM
JorgXMcKie said...: "...it helps if you don't piss off a significant number of them with sophomoric leftwing platitudes."

Don't wanta irritate you, Dogwood, but do you know any leftwing platitudes that *aren't* sophomoric?

I can't think of any offhand. I suppose I *could* check all of garage's and fls' comments for one, but I'm kinda doubtful it would turn up anything.; 1/26/10, 2:19 PM
former law student said...: Therefore they are full of shit and gullible, and have been taken over by socialists.

What is socialist about the idea that one should be able to earn enough in a week to feed, clothe, and house himself? Someone who argues that only their current high incomes keeps doctors from kicking back and sticking a thumb up their butt (excuse me, "going Galt") should hardly pooh-pooh this modest ambition.; 1/26/10, 2:22 PM
Tim the Shrubber said...: "What's going on in Austin, some kind of serial killing?"

Nope...life as normal in a city. People don't usually notice when a homeless person dies...hence the purpose for the plaque.; 1/26/10, 2:26 PM
JorgXMcKie said...: fls, I want a link. I don't believe there are 4400 homeless in Austin just because you say so. I'm guessing that you're pulling the usual lefty dodge by claiming that any who doesn't have a 'home' for even a single night during the year counts as 'homeless' as if it were a permanent condition.

Consider. Mitch Snyder started the meme back in the 80s that there were "3,000,000" homeless in the US. He pulled that number out of his [hat] because it was big and unverifiable. [Think. That would mean 1/300 residents of the US was homeless. Why don't you see one on every street corner?]

Then in the 90s Northwester University and Chicago University tried for a "hard count" by going all over Chicago on two consecutive extremely cold January nights. They counted everyone in shelters and everyone they could find in the 'normal' places [like in Lower Wacker Drive] and every place they thought a homeless person could hide.

They found a bit more than 2000 in Chicago. Less than 1/1000 residents.

fls, you are so full of it.; 1/26/10, 2:27 PM
JorgXMcKie said...: Whoops. " . . . mean 1/100 were homeless."; 1/26/10, 2:28 PM
KCFleming said...: "Sorry Pogo, but it seems to me that you are just looking for excuses to ignore the issue."

That's uncalled for Andrew, and a lazy cheap shot. I expect more from Christians.

There are other ways of approaching it than blaming the passerby who happens to see the plaque for homelessness and violence unto them. False witness, I'd say.

And what if you found out that what this group was doing actually fostered rather than decreased homelessness?; 1/26/10, 2:30 PM
KCFleming said...: "What is socialist about the idea that one should be able to earn enough in a week to feed, clothe, and house himself?"

Nothing. But that's not what the Living Wage is about.; 1/26/10, 2:32 PM
Anonymous said...: No ass kissing required. The language used indicates to me that they are not serious people pursuing serious solutions to a serious problem. Therefore, I wouldn't be inclined to work with such an organization.

JorgXMcKie,

LMAO, thanks.

WV: memisc - misc. memes used by the left in vain attempts to be taken seriously on serious issues.; 1/26/10, 2:43 PM
Tim the Shrubber said...: "That's uncalled for..."

I am not sure it is. You have had no problem trashing a group of people that actually work with the homeless simply because of the text they put on a plaque.

"I expect more from Christians."

So do I. I am sick of heard the 'homeless by choice' meme coming from so many Christians. Sure, it is true in many cases, but also not true in many other.; 1/26/10, 2:49 PM
KCFleming said...: "I am not sure it is. You have had no problem trashing a group of people that actually work with the homeless simply because of the text they put on a plaque."
I question their judgement. Someone so foolish as to trash unknown passersby as causing violence to the homeless is unlikely to have good judgement on how to solve the problem.

This is bolstered by their web site, which extols the virtues of the socialist "Living Wage".

Isn't it possible that we disagree on the nature and solution to homelessness, rather than I am "ignoring the issue"?

"I am sick of heard the 'homeless by choice' meme coming from so many Christians."
So you blamed me for someone else's post?
Makes sense in Austin, I suppose.; 1/26/10, 2:54 PM
garage mahal said...: Free speech!; 1/26/10, 3:18 PM
Meade said...: says garage mahal, inc.; 1/26/10, 3:30 PM
former law student said...: The City of Austin uses a head count of 4,468. In the past year 6,000 unique unique individuals received services for the homeless.

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/budget/eperf/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.Activity&DEPT=910&PROGRAM=7SOC&ACTIVITY=7HML&MEASURE=910-0604

going all over Chicago on two consecutive extremely cold January nights.

Isn't it obvious that few homeless would be out on the streets on the coldest nights in January? There are only enough shelter beds to serve a small fraction of the homeless, so counting shelter bed people is not too helpful. And the homeless are likely better at finding a warm secluded place to sleep than your average middle and upper middle class university student.; 1/26/10, 3:32 PM
Tim the Shrubber said...: "I question their judgement."

No you don't...you mock them and display obvious disdain. There is a major difference.; 1/26/10, 3:32 PM
KCFleming said...: I mock them AND question their judgement.
Those aren't exclusive positions.

Why can't you admit we simply disagree?

(Disdain? I only have disdain for the socialists among them, one of the most evil ideologies ever created.); 1/26/10, 3:39 PM
Ralph L said...: Lower Wacker Drive
How nice that they have a sense of humor, to congregate there.; 1/26/10, 4:00 PM
Penny said...: Cities like Austin have a vested interest in managing the full scope of their homeless issues from the down on their luck types, to the addicts, to the mentally deficient, to the panhandlers. Failure to manage this problem results in a loss of income from those who come to the city to spend their money. That might be downtown businesses or shoppers, or people who live there or people vacationing there.

For the above reasons, I'd trust the LOCAL non-profits, coalitions and churches to lead the way.; 1/26/10, 4:32 PM
KCFleming said...: I hope so.
It's gotten away from the San Fransiscans.; 1/26/10, 4:34 PM
bagoh20 said...: "One of my favorite photos is of a friend of mine who ran across that guy on the streets while vising Austin and took her picture with him!"

That's just gruesome.

Then Meade says:

"We ran across Leslie, on the street"

You people are awful humans!; 1/26/10, 4:36 PM
Tully said...: Did you know in the 12 months ending in November 2009, 158 men, women, and children died on the streets of Austin?

No, and I still don't know it. Can't seem to find any reference other than the claims of the charity involved, and don't know how they came up with that figure. I'm sure they do good work, but that doesn't immunize them from hyperbolic claims ... or silly hyperbolic off-putting lib-rant plaque grammar.; 1/26/10, 5:18 PM
Jamie said...: When I lived in Dallas, our church recognized that you (meaning "one") can't always determine whether a putatively homeless person is actually in need, but that we're called as Christians to respond to the needy as best we can. So we were all encouraged to pub together paper lunch bags containing a little tin of tuna (the kind that opens without a can opener), a bottle of water, a packet of crackers, a box of raisins, a flyer about our food bank that also listed service times - in case the need was more spiritual than physical. We all carried three or four in our cars to hand to people at freeway overpasses (which is where the putatively homeless usually hung out in sunny weather). We weren't providing shelter, but we were providing both physical and spiritual sustenance.

I'm with whoever was ticked off by the plaque: if you want to catch my sympathy, don't accuse me of doing violence against strangers. Or if I were not to take the wording personally, to tell me that homelessness is an "act of violence" might instead make me think, "Gosh, the police ought to do something about it, then!" rather than, "How can I help the unfortunate?" Either way, the wording alienates me from the problem at hand. While making the plaque-setters feel mighty virtuous as they exercise the preferential option for the poor... particularly poorly.; 1/26/10, 5:21 PM
Jamie said...: We did actually PUT together those bags, not PUB them together.

Turing word: nedifor. My Uncle Ned's lame excuse for a metaphor.; 1/26/10, 5:23 PM
Methadras said...: Dust Bunny Queen said...

One morning at about 7 am while getting some Sausage Egg McMuffin meals for a road trip, we saw a young woman, with dog of course, walk up to her corner and THEN put on a worn out knee brace and leaned on the crutch that she had carried under her arm while strolling to her shift at the drive up window lane.

GET A FUCKING JOB YOU SKANK.

There was a whole bunch of them in San Diego that all had a schtick in the Mission Valley district of San Diego. One was a fat guy who always wore a yellow Gordons fisherman waterproof outfit and said nothing but 'Waffle'. We called him Waffle. Of course, I caught him buying a bagel sandwich trying to hit on girl behind the counter and when I said, "oh hey waffle, how's it going?" He stiffened up and just started uttering 'Waffle'. Then there was another one I called Stroke Guy. He's this old coot who stands out at the corner of Hazard Center Drive and Frazee road with a sign around his neck telling of the story of his stroke and how he can't work and needs money for his meds as he does the stroke shuffle up and down the street. Of course, until I caught him catching a bus, followed it to two bus stops over and saw him get off the bus. Then I watched as he walked normally over to his new cadillac, open the trunk, throw the sign in the it. I pulled up beside him and asked him how a stroke victim who can barely walk and needs money for meds can not only drive a car, but afford one like that if he is begging in streets? He didn't like that one to much.

Then there is the perpetually alcoholic, perpetually pregnant ugly woman, who along with her ugly, useless piece of shit husband or boyfriend stand out in front island of an intersection about being a poor, pregnant, hungry family with other mouths to feed, only to later see the two of them engorging their retard fuck faces at a Rubios Taco shop. And there are so many more characters I can point to. The bottom line is, is that real homelessness while real is fairly uncommon if not rare. Most of the homeless are junkies, alcoholics, mentally deranged and simply do not want to conform and would rather live on the streets. That's not our fault.

Most of the homeless in this country are not very smart people. Stupidity and uneducatedness can probably be directly correlated as a symptom of the problems most of these people possess. Why is it my fault that those that tend to be homeless for being junkies, mentally deranged, or whatever other moronic problems that ail them almost all directly lead back to how stupid they really are?; 1/26/10, 8:03 PM
Methadras said...: garage mahal said...

Jesus:
Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

Republican:
GET A FUCKING JOB YOU SKANK

Worship a homeless person on Sunday, and call them stray animals on Monday. How perfectly conservative.

Spoken like a true leftist. Using Christ as the barometer for able-bodied people to do for themselves when human cockroaches like you advocate for them and most likely with tax dollars. One more reason why I'd love nothing better than to see you hang on your ideology, you verminous fuck. You wouldn't know what Christ meant if chiseled his words into your low sloped forehead.; 1/26/10, 8:07 PM
puetzz said...: It's not the homeless that are being made fun of, it is the pomposity of the plaque makers.; 1/26/10, 10:19 PM
Ken said...: Other than the legally and practically impossible action of involuntary confinement of the mentally ill, you aren't going to make much dent in homelessness. Does House the Homeless support that?; 1/28/10, 4:22 PM
TXbarbie said...: I hate homeless people and the ones in Austin are the worst. They all stink up Guadelupe and harass the female students on the way to class.

I cannot tell you how many times a group of them will yell out, "Can I sleep on your floor tonight?" to my girls and I as we try to ignore them walking to class. And unfortunately there is no easy route to escape them, so we have to smell their stink and put up with their rudeness every day.

The homeless in Austin are just nuisances. Why doesn't this city do something about it? They're clearly just here to harass students because they have nothing else to do with their useless lives, but they shouldn't be allowed to loiter around the campus. It's disturbing.; 11/19/10, 10:04 PM