MY how we've missed them during the eight years of the Clinton Administration! So good to see them again. From The Media Research Center's 2/12/01 CyberAlert: The homeless are back! The homeless are back! On Sunday night, just three weeks after George W. Bush assumed office, ABC News won the race to be the first network to re-discover homelessness. World News Tonight/Sunday anchor Carole Simpson intoned: "After one of the longest periods of prosperity in U.S. history, America’s robust economy is slowing. Layoffs and the high cost of housing are creating hardships. Homelessness, which is estimated to effect from two and a half to three and a half million people, is again on the rise." Bob Jamieson began his story by showing people at the Hesed House homeless shelter in Aurora, Illinois. He claimed: "The 175 bed shelter in the city of 130,000 has recorded a steady increase in homeless for the last year, particularly families with children." Diane Nilan, Director of Hesed House: "It’s been mind-bongling. We don’t even have time to think about how many folks we’re serving and more come in. So it’s numbers have increased in ways we could never even imagine." Jamieson extrapolated: "What’s happening in Aurora reflects a national trend. The U.S. Conference of Mayors reports a 17 percent increase in the number of families asking for help because of homelessness. In part, the long economic boom is blamed for causing rents to skyrocket. Since 1994 housing costs have increased at a rate 40 percent greater than inflation every year. In New York City the number of homeless in the shelter system has risen above 25,000 a night for the first time since the late 1980s. More than three quarters of the homeless are families or single women." The most since the late 1980s. What a coincidence. (bold mine-- BK) And wow, Bush’s policies sure do work fast. It took just three weeks to return us to Reagan-era misery. Liberal advocate Barbara Duffield of the National Coalition for the Homeless asserted: "In many shelters over half of the residents are working but they can’t afford housing. And in fact there’s no state in this entire country where a minimum wage job would allow a person to rent a two bedroom apartment." Ever think of working more than 40 hours a week? Jamieson continued: "Federal funding for shelters has more than doubled to a billion dollars in the last eight years, but there’s only money to provide housing assistance for one in four low income families that qualifies." Another unlabeled liberal not balanced with a conservative voice got a chance to sound off. Dennis Culhane, identified on screen as with "Social Welfare Policy" at the University of Pennsylvania, argued: "More emergency shelters means we have more homeless people. We don’t have more housing. And the solution, obviously, is to increase the supply of subsidies so housing is more affordable to people who need it." The solution is not so "obviously" more spending but eliminating rent control in big cities so more housing can be made available. Jamieson concluded: "Elise Baker-Harrington wants to leave the shelter in Aurora as soon as she can, but with affordable housing in such short supply she, like other homeless in other parts of the country, may be in a shelter for months." Even worse, the homeless will get nothing out of Bush’s tax cut. The media’s lack of interest in homelessness since January 20, 1993, except to occasionally illustrate the evils of welfare reform, was confirmed in a 1996 study in the MRC’s MediaWatch newsletter. The February 1996 study, compiled by Tim Graham, began: The poor may have always been with us, but the network news has often presented homelessness as a problem created by the Reagan administration. "In the 1980s, the Reagan years, the amount of government money spent to build low-income housing was cut drastically. Then the homeless began to appear on streets and in doorsteps and housing became a visible human problem," proclaimed then-NBC anchor Garrick Utley on November 3, 1990. ABC's John Martin told the same tale in reporting a 1989 homelessness march: "They staged the biggest rally on behalf of the homeless since the Reagan revolution forced severe cutbacks in government housing programs." It mattered little that budget experts John Cogan and Timothy Muris noted in The American Enterprise in 1990 that "while budget authority for subsidized housing programs declined 77 percent (from 1981-89), the number of subsidized units and the number of families living in those units increased by one-third."... So now that Bill Clinton has been in office for three years, has the ever-growing problem of homelessness continued to burden the White House? Or did the problem recede from the media's agenda? MediaWatch analysts used the MRC Media Tracking System to count the number of network evening news segments on homelessness in America on the four evening newscasts (ABC's World News Tonight, CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, and CNN's Prime News or World News). Analysts found the problem faded from the list of priorities. In the Bush years (1989-1992), the number of homeless stories per year averaged 52.5, but in the first three years of the Clinton administration, the average dropped to 25.3 stories a year. During the Bush administration, the story count grew from 44 in 1989 to a peak of 71 in 1990, followed by 54 stories in 1991 and 43 in 1992. By contrast, stories on America's homeless dipped slightly to 35 stories in 1993, and 32 in 1994. In 1995, the number fell dramatically to just nine. When the count is broken down by network, CNN had the widest gap in reporting during the Bush years and Clinton years (90-30), closely followed by ABC (45-16), CBS (41-15), and NBC (36-15). END Excerpt Now that a Republican is back in the White House you can be sure that ABC’s story is not an aberration but the first of many network looks at a problem they somehow managed to overlook during the Clinton years. Interesting. Just my imagination, I'm sure. ------------------ "Corpses are icky." --Chris Robinson [This message has been edited by BrianKagy (edited February 12, 2001).]
I've oftentimes joked that Bill Clinton was the best republican president this country has seen. I wonder if environmentalism will reemerge as a concern in our national consciousness again. ------------------ Good night everyone, Canadian or American. Just remember that we're all bound together by basketball, the internet and the mullet. (My attempts at trying to sooth over an international incident).
I don't know about you guys but I am sick of the homeless people. I work next to a food bank where they line up and get their food for free. They also have cars that come up with fresh, warm hot meals in containers and hand them out. Yet, these people continually harass and hound myself and others for change. Every day...I cannot even walk from my car to work without being panhandled for my money. I would be homeless, too, if I continually gave up my money. My point is not to diss the homeless...just that I am not giving my money to them when they have a food bank and access to free food. If they don't need food, then they must need drugs or alcohol. I will not support these habits. Most of the time, they try to intimidate you or lie to you so they can get money. I have heard it all. They even ask me for rides(like I'm going to give a ride to someone that I don't know and smells bad). I get tired of it. I am going to start wearing a t-shirt that says "I AM NOT A BANK!". I had a guy have the gall to try to intimidate me by saying, "I just got out of prison. Don't be scared. Now, give me some change." Umm....yeah....right! These people act like I owe them something....like I put them there. I'm through complaining. Sorry. I know they have tough lives. Mine is no cakewalk, however. I don't wish to give out all my money and I need my damn change when I park on the street. Maybe every once in a while but, could you imagine, every day being panhandled? That's me and it sucks. Surf ------------------
How can you be tired of them, Surfguy? They were on vacation for the last eight years. They just now returned in time for Dubyah's first 100 days. ------------------ "Corpses are icky." --Chris Robinson
Wow Surf, I didn't know it was possible to be missing a heart yet lead a perfectly normal life. You're a medical miracle! ------------------
hey... I hear ya surf... The other day I was driving THROUGH a green light and this homeless guy with a sign is flashing this sign to cars that are DRIVING THROUGH a green light! What, like we're gonna STOP driving through this green light to give this guy some change?! yeah right... I wanted to make a cardboard sign that I can flash as I pass these people, and thanks to you, I now have what I'm going to write on it..."I AM NOT A BANK!!" What kills me, are the folks that drive their cars with kids, park them, beg, then go to their car and load up food and stuff then go back to beg for more... I've seen this once and have seen it on TV as well... I have seen some honest bums, that have signs that say, WHY LIE, I NEED A BEER. I've ranted. I'm done. rH I can feel the heat from the flames already. Oh well... flame on. I've used the word bum and I think I hear the PC police coming. ------------------ The Psychedelic Groove House of Rockets Basketball Love! [This message has been edited by rockHEAD (edited February 12, 2001).]
Speaking of the homeless, I loved the line by he Late, Great Bill Hicks regarding panhandlers. It went something like: And these people come up to me asking for money as if I'm going to just give them the hard earned money my Dad sends me every month. (It's not an exact quote, but that's the gist). I always found that to be a funny line. I don't get hit up for cash from panhandlers that often any more, but when I do, I generally give the folks a buck or something. I figure that taking the time to walk up to a stranger and ask for cash is worth a buck. Plus, if I give 'em the buck quickly, they generally give me a thanks and leave me alone. But, like I said, I don't see too many panhandlers anymore. I guess moving to a better neighborhood has lessened my exposure to street people. Believe it or not, I got hit up the most for money when I lived in Amarillo. I don't see it as often in Arlington. ------------------ Houston Sports Board The Anti-Bud Adams Page
Does anyone think it's a coincidence that reports like these don't come out until right after clinton leaves office? What a lucky guy clinton will be, taking credit for prosperity created by presidents before him and leaving just before the country starts to suffer again. ------------------ Someon who is about to admonish another must realize within himself five qualities before doing so (that he may be able to say), thus: In due season will I speak, not out of season. In truth will I speak, not in falsehood. Gently will I speak, not harshly. To his profit will I speak, not to his loss. With kindly intent will I speak, not in anger. -from the Vinaya Pitaka
To be honest, I don't notice that much more info in Houston on the homeless since Clinton left office. Frankly, it has been front page news during the past 8 years with "civility laws" and other really charming concepts brought up by city coucil people. Maybe it is getting more play nationally but I don't really pay attention. Also, I really could care less if it is getting more attention because of Bush or in spite of him. It is one of the most important issues we face as a society so any attention it receieves is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. Surf & rock: *sigh* Next time you see a homeless person and they are bugging you, just take them to the pound. If their owner doesn't claim them in 2 weeks, they'll be put to sleep and no one will be bothered by them again. ------------------ Me fail English? That's unpossible.
The media has been too busy following Republican-pushed stories about made-up Clinton scandals (FileGate, Whitewater, TravelGate, the "suicide", etc). ------------------ Is it any coincidence that the Cato is the only Rocket with a temperature scale named after him? I didnt think so!!!!
I have a heart...but it only goes so far. I would like for any one of you to put yourself in my shoes and see how much you like the homeless. I don't have any problem helping the homeless by contributing canned food and/or clothes. I do have a problem being hunted by them when I'm walking to work every single day of my life. Don't sit there and tell me you wouldn't be sick of it, too. And, I'm not talking about putting people to sleep, either. I just find it hard to be nice after a while of dealing with these people that will say or do anything to get some beer money. I think some may have targeted me since I gave them money before. Now, I'm their damn caregiver. How does that work out? You have no idea what it's like. Just like none of you have any idea what it's like to be homeless. Those guys party . Surf ------------------ [This message has been edited by Surfguy (edited February 12, 2001).]
Surf: I spent five years of my life confronted with homeless people every day both at my work and outside my rehearsal room. I only refused them if I had no money and NEVER felt bothered by them, only sad for them. I see them nearly every day on street corners near my house and always try to help them. They have approached me outside clubs before gigs and in parking lots near my home which is close to downtown. I've never felt angry or bugged by them. Instead of hating the person, hate the condition. Instead of bemoaning it to us, do something to change it. I understand how you feel, but you won't fix your feelings or the problem of homelessness by complaining. ------------------ Me fail English? That's unpossible.
I guess you could say I live in the homeless capital of the USA. New York City Sometimes its almost unbearable. Especially during the winter. I'm approached almost on a daily basis. I can't give them money. (well only at extreme conditions). But what I do do when they ask for money is I offer to by them a sandwich or some sort of food. On several occasions I have given away a pair of gloves or a scarf (they are real cheap, so not?) ------------------ Everything you do, effects everything that is.
"So now that Bill Clinton has been in office for three years,"... Are we sure this is a new story? Or some kind of mutant hybrid of a story from 1996? It doesn't exactly sound like top notch journalism. ------------------ Stay Cool...
One time a homeless guy gave me a quarter and told me to "buy a kid some rice." This illustrates a major issue. Many homeless people are mentally ill and need expert help. No matter how much money you give them, or how many food drives are held, only medical attention will help these people. ------------------ Don't come in Bullard's house!
THe last time I was in New York, my father and I bought some homeless people some sandwiches (Actually, we went and bought some sandwiches and then gave them to the people we saw). Dad also tried to give away the Champagne that the hotel had given us, but no one would take that (guess they didn't feel like celebrating). The homeless weren't the annoying part of New York, though, if you ask me. The annoying ones were the guys selling the fake Gucci watches or whatever on the street corners. ------------------ Houston Sports Board The Anti-Bud Adams Page
Jeff, you are an exception. A lot of people who talk friendly of homeless people never deal with them. Sure, they may see them every once in a while and are more than willing. But, they are not approached daily. I did not say I hate anyone. I don't know where you get that. I hate being in that situation every day. I give them money if I have money to give. However, I do not feel comfortable breaking out my wallet when confronted by a homeless person who may be desperate. And, as far as change goes, if I don't have change, I don't get to park on the street. If I give them change, then I have to go out of my way on those days and go to a store to make more change. So, it's not something I am going to do every day of my life. They can ask all they want. They just won't always be greeted with a smile and here's some money response. Like I have been saying, I feel like a target out there. I see the same homeless people and the malt liquor 40 ounce bottles all over the place. I know the routine. It's not like I can put these people through college or pay for their hotel rooms. I mean...come on. Surf ------------------
Surf, I never said you hated them, I was making a point. Bottom line, however, is that complaining won't solve the problem. What have you actually done to fix it? You have options. You have choices. Just taking it every day and getting pissed off is a choice and obviously not the right one for you. These are human beings who are suffering. Maybe they don't like you either. Maybe they are drunks. Maybe they are parents. Maybe they are metally disturbed. Maybe they are actors studying for a fim role. Maybe an angel wanted to see how compassionate you are by testing you every day. Maybe I'm going overboard but you get my point. The point is that you aren't doing anything to help either their situation or your own by arguing about it or complaining about it. The problem isn't going away. You might find that if you engage them in a different way, you'll get different results. Obviously, the same behavior by you hasn't changed their actions, so it sounds like you need to approach things with a different attitude and see what happens. ------------------ Me fail English? That's unpossible.
Your right. I shouldn't be complaining about it. But, the thread title "The homeless are back!" . My ranting response was in the theme, "I didn't know they left." I know...I do not do enough to help the homeless. I am not alone. I am glad to know that you do more than the average Joe. Money seems to make the world go round. Unfortunately, I do not feel I have enough of it to dole out to noble causes in greater quantities and in greater frequency. I do nice things at times for homeless people, though. For example, I went shopping for several hours to find a poor kid multiple Christmas presents. The kid had a great Christmas because of what I did. The impact can only be positive. He got a portable jam box, clothes, games, etc.. I am not evil. I am human, too. LOL Surf ------------------
