In Las Vegas, bringing food to the park and handing it out to the
homeless is punishable by six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

In Dallas, only approved churches, charities and individuals can serve
the homeless only in approved locations. If not approved, you so much
as offer a biscuit to a hungry person, you are subject to fines up to
$2,000.


Now in Redding if you are one of the more than 2,000 homeless men,
women, and children in Shasta County caught by a small campfire trying
to keep warm within Redding's city limits, you can receive up to six
months in jail, and a $1,000 fine.


Many more Cities are doing the same.......


God, from one end of the Bible to the other, expresses his desire for
us to care, uphold and provide for the poor. Is it God's will that
poverty should be a crime? Is it not written, "He who oppresses the
poor, reproaches His Maker?" Didn't Jesus say, "Assuredly, I say to
you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brethren,
you did it to me?"


Mental illness does not respond to increased fines and jail time. Home-
lessness does not respond to tearing down their temporary shelters,
throwing away their possessions, and driving them out of town. A lack
of hope does not respond to a lack of love.


We must constructively address the plight of the homeless, and its
multifaceted causes,
before its to late.......


http://reddingloavesandfishes.com/

No one is jailing them for being poor. They are being jailed for harassing people by begging. They are being jailed for camping in public areas. There is not one example you listed where someone is being punished merely because they are poor.

Being poor doesnt mean you get to do whatever the hell you want. Not sure where you got that idea.

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My Political Blog (Last post Feb 14) - My MySpace Page

RLF ---- Some stupid people do stupid things and break the law and hopefully get arrested. Using your logic these stupiditos in my bliliant example are being arrested for being stupid and not for being criminals.

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"I was born at night, but it was not last night night"

If Jesus came back tomorrow the christians would crucify him the next day.

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"In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule." - Nietzsche

Yes, this is a cryin' shame.

I've been poor. For a year or so, I was homeless and living in Tompkins Square Park on the lower east side of Manhattan.

I used to beg for a living. I made good money too, maybe a couple hundred bucks a day.

But those days are long gone (thank God). On the other hand, they could come back any time. You never know, in today's world.

I agree with the original poster, being poor should not be a crime.

Granted there are those who harass people, but by and large that's not the norm. The norm is, that there are a lot of poor people walking around on the streets, and all they want is a sandwich and a place to sleep.

You know, I could speak volumes on this issue. When I was poor, I had a couple of "benefactors", who would actively seek me out amidst the masses, and make sure I had enough food and a decent place to sleep.

And this, amidst a thousand people who were shooting drugs n the bathroom, dying of AIDS or Hep-C, stealing anything and everything they could get their hands on...

This is not a "social" problem. We need to learn to individuate - 'cause I can tell you from first-hand experience, it's hard as hell to bootstrap yourself out of that kind of situation.

No one will give you a job if you can't take a shower, dig?

nonaqtr WOW !!! Even though we are veiled on this forum with anonymity that is one extreme revelation to make. I hope that you were not one of those who saw in the streets during by business trips to our New York offices. The native New Yorkers told us that those people were just trying to con us.

I did the math and at what you said you "took in" per day it came out to a good sum even for NewYork. Now maybe we do not want to know what you did with your " salary."

I have to say that since you pulled yourself up by the "bootstraps" you must be of exceptional character.

I sympathize but I can not say that I know what you went through because as an adult I was never that poor. The worst that I can say is that in my late twenties when my wife first came down with a debilitating chronic disease and lost her job right after we bought our first house we did exist on boxes of mac & cheese but I had access to a military commissary as a retiree so we got most of our food rather cheap!!!

All that I can say is that I admire you for getting out of that situation.

PS I never begged for money but I was born in a refugee displaced person camp in Germany so until I was about 3 years old we lived off the good will of Americans, Canadians and other peoples who sent care packages to us in the camps as my parents told me. My mother always gave to food drives and CARE packages after we came to this GREAT country and I always give to food drives now. My mother told us that we have the duty to help the less fortunate there were times when I forget that lesson. But what I try not to forget is that we have a duty to try and create conditions for people who are in bad straights to have an opportunity to pull up those "boot straps" as you did. Providing that opportunity was once a Democratic party principle.

This concept of providing an opportunity is why I was once a Democrat. It's the party that went beyond the provision of opportunity to hand outs and that is why I am no longer a Democrat.

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"I was born at night, but it was not last night night"