I agree with Zach, nothing to laugh about here, least of all the honesty of the message:
I just recently moved to Denver, CO and captured this shot this afternoon downtown.
I have no witty remarks for this photo. It is simply downright depressing. Best wishes.
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Panhandling at busy corners has become a professional, orderly and efficient racket in Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts. The bums are pleasant, well-groomed, and polite.
I suspect there’s a pretty sophisticated business model behind their various operations.
Once again, the age old question: Need, or want?
Quite so, rinardman. He doesn’t ‘need’ them. He wants them, would like to have them. Go talk to Obama, dude.
After the joy of having an Obamaphone, foodstamps and free condoms wears off one gets down to the nitty gritty.
One can kinda’, sorta’ empathize with the fellow. Somewhere between Columbine, Aurora, new gun laws and manufacturers choosing get out leaving those workers behind…
On the bright side, this fellow can now pick his poison. Weed OR Vodka..
Reading the news every day, I can understand the “need”.
Having worked in Boston for many years I’ve come across a number of both hapless homeless people and professional panhandling hustlers. They are as varied as the rest of the population. You get to know the difference between the two with enough experience.
Several of them stand out in my memory… for the right reasons.
One, I will never forget. God bless her and keep her safe.
Others stand out in my memory… for the wrong reasons. They are survivors with skills I never hope to need to develop.
Honesty is a good policy… I gave money to one guy who was honest enough to hesitatingly admit, after asking him if he was going to buy food with the money he is asking for, that no… he needed liquor because he was an alcoholic and had the shakes.
Truth. A respectful nod to you, our host, and Zach for the compassionate forbearance.
For a certain kind of addict, the will is not overwhelmed by craving; it is bypassed altogether. If such an addict is fortunate, he will experience a psychic shock that gives a breathing space in which to make a serious reach for help.
Hardly anyone becomes a terminal addict without being foolish and selfish at the beginning of the process. The risks of such foolishness and selfishness are much bigger for some people than for others.
Hmmmm. Maybe it’s time for me to do a panhandling mosaic of Austin where such has been a longtime activity.
On thing though, all this activity occurs only in the liberal controlled areas while nary a beggar exists in the nearby conservative ruled municipalities..
It’s unusual to see an ‘honest’ bum. I don’t give any of them money but, if convenient, will buy them a meal if they’re really hungry. That can’t go up their arm or in their nose or wherever one performs unproductive behavior.
We have seasonal panhandlers. Once the overnight temperatures drop, they head south. When the warm weather returns, they come back to hit up the tourists.
Ah, the funemployment of the Obama economy!
And sadly, there is a larger point here: why bother saving for the future, when you know Obama or some other lib will try to take your 401K, your savings, or perhaps your home?
And try to convince you that it is for your own good.
CA is trying to (will) pass a “Homeless Bill of Rights.” Think it’s bad now, just wait. The law is specifically targeted at cities which have strict laws prohibiting panhandling and sleeping on the streets.
Taken from the HuffPo:
“The bill also would bar local law enforcement from applying laws governing such things as eating, sitting or panhandling in public places unless the county has satisfied a set of requirements that include a relatively low unemployment rate, a short wait for public housing and readily available public assistance.
Concerns also remain about the cost of the bill, which requires the state Department of Public Health to fund health and hygiene centers.
At the committee hearing on Tuesday, even lawmakers who voted to move the bill underscored those qualms.
“While I can certainly appreciate the goal and the aspiration, we all know we simply don’t have the money to be able to provide that,” Assemblyman Al Muratsuchi, D-Torrance, said of the proposed hygiene centers.
Even should that provision be stripped from the bill, it would leave the core of the legislation intact — what Jennifer Friedenbach of the San Francisco-based Coalition on Homelessness described as “making sure homeless people have a fundamental right to rest” without facing harassment.”
I’m guessing that setting up hygiene centers is less expensive than fixing the mental health system. All the jobs in the world, public housing, and public assistance is not going help someone who is mentally ill or addicted. If anything, for an addicted person, all the assistance is enabling their behavior.