I decided to write a few things about the never ending homeless issue not just in this country but around the world. I’ll offer no personal opinions either way and let you figure it out on your own. Most of the available data on the homeless is published by organizations created just to supplying them with food and shelter. They seem a bit slanted to me but you can decide for yourselves. Let’s start with this:
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A fifth of all homeless people have committed a crime to get off the streets.
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A survey also finds that 28% of homeless women have taken an ‘unwanted sexual partner’ in order to find shelter.
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One in five of those surveyed said they had committed ‘an imprisonable offense with the express purpose of receiving a custodial sentence as a means of solving their housing problems.
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Unwanted sex has become a way out of homelessness for many. One in seven men and 28% of women had spent a night – or longer – with an unwanted sexual partner to "accommodate themselves".
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Others have ventured into prostitution, with almost a fifth of women taking up "sex work" because this offered an opportunity to spend the night off the streets.
Do you feel more like opening your heart’s and your wallets to save these poor wretches? If not keep reading.
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While it is a common belief that people who end up being homeless do so because of their lack of interest in keeping a steady job, the truth is that many homeless people were actually working at the time they lost their homes.
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A lack of affordable housing has been a primary reason for homelessness for the last two decades. This is especially true in large cities, where the cost of rent has increased to the point where people making minimum wage are no longer able to afford rent, especially if living on their own.
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There are an estimated 5 million homeless in the United States, of which about 56 percent have some sort of shelter, such as a car or the ability to pay for a motel room, at least part of the time. Of the total number of homeless, 66 percent are single white males. Women, families and teenagers follow close behind. There is an equal number of whites and African American homeless but only a small percentage of Hispanics (11 percent) and Native Americans (8 percent) without a roof over their heads.
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A high percentage (up to 25 percent) of people living on the streets suffer from some type of mental illness, with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia being the most common. Public-funded health benefits designed to help those with mental illness are in short supply, and many people who are not deemed a danger to others are left on the streets because there is no enough space for them in state clinics.
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One common myth regarding homeless people is that they have been living in the streets forever. The truth is that a large percentage of homeless people are without a roof only temporarily.
I can only ask the questions I want answers to. Who was responsible for the closing of mental facilities across the country? Who decided to dump thousands of mentally ill people onto the streets? Who is responsible for the continuing lobbying in Washington for tax money that is to be used to help them? How much of each dollar of that tax money actually trickles it’s way down to the homeless. It can’t be much since they all seem to be panhandling with a vengeance.
My last little tidbit is the story about one Gary Thompson. Read it and weep. I’m not sure who is more stupid, Thompson or the morons who are slowly making him a millionaire.
He’s in a wheelchair, and gets his money by making you feel sorry for him. Gary Thompson, says he rakes in 60,000 to 100,000 dollars a year begging. He is in a wheelchair, because he has difficulty walking, but his speech isn’t slurred and his arms are fully functioning. Thompson is not the man he makes himself out to be.
"I appreciate you guys busting me," Thompson says as he laughs. "Yeah, I’m really good at it, really good. I clear about 100,000 dollars a year doing this." Thompson goes on to tell us, "I am normal, it just helps to be mentally handicapped." Thompson is banking on the fact you’ll feel sorry for him, enough to give him your hard-earned money.
Thompson has now been exposed, but he doesn’t seem worried, or remorseful. He was caught him on camera trying his act again, after he was arrested, right outside police headquarters. It doesn’t look like he’s going to stop this anytime soon: "Hey I love y’all!" Thompson says, looking right into the camera. "Keep paying me! I’ll see you on the street!"
On another note, Thompson used to be a millionaire. His mother sued Honda in 1993 after he was injured in a motorcycle accident. He got 2.4 million dollars, money he says he blew.
Remember all this information and also remember my cynical position the next time your approached and guilted or intimidated into giving them your money.
Gardening. It sounds so easy but in reality it’s not. I’d probably be more obsessed with it if I were a full fledged farmer who was supporting his family with what he could successfully produce. Being a part-time gardener gives me a great deal of satisfaction and almost as much aggravation.
Each spring my better-half and I spend a lot of time deciding what to grow, soil preparation, and how to process the things we’ll be consuming next winter. One of our goals has always been to grow what we want without the use of insecticides and other chemicals. To do that successfully for a couple of amateurs is difficult and at times impossible.
This year the weather’s been fairly well balanced with enough rain to keep watering to a minimum. Along with sufficient amounts of water comes sufficient amounts of slugs, bugs, grubs, and other visiting wildlife. It then becomes a full time job to maintain a decent level of control over the garden. Unforeseen problems make themselves known without warning and must be dealt with as quickly as possible.
For instance, I use a black fabric to cover the garden to prevent weeds from taking over. The fabric is expensive but in the long run will save hours of unnecessary efforts throughout the summer. Not this year. I bought what I thought was a product that will hinder weeds and allow water and nutrients to seep through. Buyer Beware. We are now more than half way through the growing season and my fabric purchase was a total scam. The weeds have grown under the fabric and now have penetrated into the sunlight. The fabric has virtually dissolved into nothingness in spots. This will make my end-of-season cleanup extremely difficult and time consuming. My only thought right now is that Home Depot blows. How can such a large company supply a product of such low caliber without some sort of pretesting before it hits the shelves. I guess I’ll be just like the prodigal returning to Lowe’s with my tail between my legs.
Let me tell you a little something about slugs. Not only are they disgusting, there are millions of them and they’re always hungry. They can strip a garden in short order if not controlled by insecticides. This year we were forced to give in and use a commercial product to kill as many of those little bastards as possible. I won’t even begin to explain my thoughts on the effing tomato worms. They’re green, voracious, fat, and make a satisfying "pop" when you step on them.
The cucumber patch is loaded already with dozens of future pickles and hundreds of blooms indicating a lot of canning in my future. Tomorrow will be my first official canning day of 2013. With any luck I’ll be canning approximates 15 pints of hot Bread & Butter pickles and four experimental pints of Kool Aid pickles. The Kool Aid pickles are something new I’m trying where you mix your dill brine with a double package of Cherry Kool Aid. It gives you a kosher dill pickle with a sweet cherry taste in a bright red pickle. It sounds crazy I know but a mixture of sweet and sour is one of my favorite taste combinations. I just hope it works and isn’t a little too bizarre making people afraid to even try it. We shall see.
I guess I can stop complaining now. I’ll get a good nights sleep and be ready to hit the ground running in the morning. A day of hot boiling water, pots of brine, and a huge pile of sliced cucumbers and jalapeño peppers. A fun day to be sure. The Fall harvest is finally beginning.
When’s the last time you found it necessary to visit your local ER (Emergency Room)? Due to my law enforcement background I’ve found it necessary to visit them many times. On it’s best day it’s a terrible place. The people that work there are amazing but that constant stream of injured and dying humanity weighs heavily on a person. In my experience hospital workers are much like cops who develop a bizarre sense of humor necessitated by the constant shadow of death and injuries they must deal with.
What I have for you today is a list of actual quotations received in ER’s across this country. I’ve tried to collect the humorous or silly but that isn’t really the point of this posting.
I’ve been bitching and complaining about Obamascare for many months as are many others. Our own government has done it’s studies and has already determined that healthcare costs will soon be skyrocketing. Read the following information not as medical humor but the reason for much of that anticipated cost increase. Our ER’s are overrun with nonsensical requests from a wide variety of people. We have the homeless, the illegals, and members of many state Medicaid organizations. You come in with a simple rash on your ass and by the time you leave the ER they’ve run a few thousand dollars worth of unnecessary tests which are then charged back to state or federal government agencies. In my opinion it’s just a simple way for hospitals to attempt to recoup some of their ER expenses.
Think back to the days of old when hospital Emergency Rooms were actually for emergencies. Today’s ER’s more closely resemble flophouses, child care facilities or places to lounge around. Welcome to our new reality.
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“I ran out of liquor so I decided to detox.”
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”I smoked some bad crack and now I feel dizzy.”
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”I stepped on a Nazi landmine and felt all the bones in my legs sucked out.”
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”My arm tingles on Wednesdays.”
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”I’ve had back pain for seven years.”
- " My pussy is sad."
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”See any bugs in my hair, I asked someone who wasn’t high to look and he saw them too.”
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”My dog ate my toe.”
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”I have gentile warts.”
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“I got a Cadillac in my eye.”
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”I drank a bunch of yellow Listerine and feel sick. I was careful not to drink the green kind ’cause that can make you toxic.”
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"My sweat stinks."
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"My chest hurt the other day so I took some crack to make it feel better. I didn’t think it worked"
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"My clit is swollen."
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”I have friction burns on my penis.”
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"I have bumps on my butt part and pee hole."
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"I got a thang on my hang-low"
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"I have a rash that isn’t here right now, but sometimes it shows up in the evening, I went to the dermatologist but it disappeared again when we got there."
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”My left ear tingles on Tuesdays.”
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"The tip of my tongue has been burning for three years."
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"I have little bumps on my clit."
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"I have little bugs in my vagina."
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"I need a rectal."
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"One of my labia is bigger than the other"
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"My kitty got the stank."
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“My baby done drank a strawberry douche."
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"I’ve got a pager up my ass."
There’s a quick look at our future. How this healthcare fiasco was ever passed through Congress is the question we should be asking. Get out your wallets folks and prepare to pay through the nose for the rest of your life.
Have a wonderful day.
Political correctness (adjectivally, politically correct; both forms commonly abbreviated to PC) is a term which denotes language and ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, disability, and age-related contexts. In current usage, the term is primarily pejorative. Pejoratives are words or grammatical forms which denote a negative effect; that is, they express the contempt or distaste of the speaker.
I’ve stated for years that political correctness was a real and present danger to the welfare of this country. I guess I was somewhat mistaken because since the rise of Obama and his minions to power it has progressively gotten worse. You may or may not be a fan of this president but either way you can’t argue with my last statement. I even read recently that polls show that race relations have been seriously eroded as well.
It’s always good to get a second or third opinion of political correctness to verify my own findings and opinions. The above definition was obtained from an encyclopedia and is very formal and vanilla. My definition is a bit more hostile and more detailed.
Political correctness has been the ongoing downfall of our society for more than thirty years. It all started in the counter culture of the sixties and the “free love” generation. Be kind, be nice, never say anything that will upset anyone, smoke a little dope, and move on down the road. It has finally returned to bite us in the ass with all of the bleeding hearts denying law enforcement the right to profile after the attacks of 9/11.
Do you find it preferable for TSA to man-handle, search, pat down, and feel up totally innocent citizens at every airport in the country. I find it disheartening how all of us just go along. Pat down the old lady with the walker, she must be a Muslim terrorist. Dump that old man out of that wheelchair and pat his ass down, he may have a nuke hidden in his Depends.
Enough time has now passed to allow the extremists to have infiltrated the country and to begin recruitment at their local mosques of some of our blue eyed and blond haired morons to take up their fight.
It seems the only way to short-circuit political correctness in this country is to suffer such a massive disaster that the public anger will override political correctness once and for all. Just let someone set off a dirty bomb or a small nuke in one of our cities. Political correctness has become such a part of our way of thinking it should only take two or three months for our people to forgive those poor misunderstood terrorists.
On top of that we’ve permitted a new organization to be formed that has become more dangerous than some of the terrorists. HOMELAND SECURITY! The name itself reeks of George Orwell’s 1984. Land of the free? I’m not so sure anymore.
Today turned into a real adventure quite by accident. The sun was shining and I had no plans of any kind for a change. My only chore was to deliver my better-half to work and to pick her up later in the afternoon. I suppose I could have just worked around the house or even cut the grass but I wanted something a little more interesting.
I purchased a new Nikon SLR two weeks ago and I really needed to spend a little time learning how to use it. I packed up my camera and the rest of my equipment and made my way to the marshland located along the coast. I arrived there in short order and made my preparations to enter the swamp. I was there primarily to photograph dragonflies but I had a small problem. If I doused myself in Off then the dragonflies were sure not to come near me but if I didn’t use the Off I was sure to be eaten alive by thousands of mosquitos. I used a moderate amount of the spray, picked up my camera and monopod and trekked into the swamps.
Photographing insects requires the use of a macro lens that then requires the use of a monopod to steady the camera to get that perfectly clear shot. I have to say it sounds much easier than it actually is. I sat crouched in that damn swamp for two hours because I’ve been told that patience is always necessary for any photographer. It was close to eighty-five degrees with no breeze of any kind. I began to sweat like I’d just run the Boston marathon. Unfortunately bugs just love sweaty humans to buzz around and bother and then to sting when they’re swatted away. It became quite difficult to sit quietly while surrounded by a few hundred of my newest friends. Photography Tip #1: Use as much bug spray as you can. Take a damn bath in it if you must.
I managed between bites to take a number of shots but even the dragonflies were being difficult. Due to my constant swatting of bugs I was apparently scaring them off as well. Everything was just freaking perfect. Oh yeah, did I mention there are also snakes in that swamp. As I squatted there I must have seen six or seven slithering in the waters around me. Photography Tip #2: Never wear sneakers when working in a swamp, it bothers the snakes.
I lasted as long as I could and actually was able to take a few dozen pictures and a few of them appear to be pretty good. I’m really happy with the new camera and I’m sure we’ll have a long and happy relationship together. It felt good to get out in the wild for a bit but it will probably take a few days for all of these bug bites to heal. I can’t wait to get these photo’s onto my computer later so I can really see if there as good as I think they are.
All in all it was a fun day and I look forward to many more just like it before the snow flies. The downside to any really good day is returning to reality which always kind of sucks. I’ll pick up my better-half in a few minutes and then head home for dinner and a quiet night.
Since this week has been so traumatic and disturbing I’ve decided to lay some more really useless information on you. I’m just not up to writing anything too serious today because I’m still a little unfocused with everything that’s been going on. These facts are somewhat odd but still interesting and I hope you enjoy them.
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Cats urine glows under a black light.
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Blueberry jelly beans were especially made for Ronald Reagan.
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In every episode of Seinfeld there’s a superman somewhere.
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Checkmate comes from the Persian phrase "shah mat" which means the king is dead.
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Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds while dogs have only ten.
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91% of Americans lie daily.
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When you sneeze water can come out of your mouth at speeds of 60mph.
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Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite.
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On a Canadian 2 dollar bill the flag flying over the parliament building appears to be an American flag. It’s actually Canada’s earlier flag of the Red Ensign.
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Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
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There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
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Almonds are a member of the peach family.
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A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
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Sloths are actually fast, they just prefer to move at a slow pace.
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There are only two families who produced a father and son who were US presidents: Bush and Adams.
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A pig’s orgasm lasts for 30 minutes.
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Humans and horses are the only two animals that have hymens.
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Polish is the only word in the English language that has two completely different meanings when the first letter is capitalized.
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The longest word in the English language is Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis.
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Margaret Kerry was the live action model for Walt Disney’s Tinkerbell.
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The average human lies at least twice a day.
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Before Late Night Television, Jay Leno appeared in an episode of Laverne and Shirley.
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In "American Graffiti", the license plate on Richard Dreyfusses’ car is changed every time you see it.
That should just about do it for today. I’m on my way to begin the search for another vehicle for the better-half. She’s still in morning for the loss of her little yellow car and the only way to help her along is to find another car as soon as possible. I’m actually surprised she didn’t want to bring the remains home so we could bury it in the yard next to our previous pets. She gets attached to the weirdest crap. It can be amazing, unbelievable, and disturbing all at the same time.
I’m sticking with another journal entry today due in part to an incident that occurred yesterday. After having visitors for two days and really enjoying ourselves with them this incident gave us both a reality check we really didn’t need.
My better-half left for work at 6:30 am leaving me lounging half asleep in bed. I was just dozing off again when my cell phone started singing to me. Since she has a strange habit of forgetting things I immediately thought I’d be forced to get dressed and deliver her glasses or work keys to her like usual. I couldn’t have been more wrong. She was on the line and sobbing and told me she had been in an accident, her car was smashed, and could I get there right away.
I dressed quickly, grabbed my car keys and was out the door in five minutes. Fortunately the location of the accident was only a mile from the house. I arrived even before the police got there. She was still sitting in the car and thank God she had no apparent serious injuries. She was badly shaken and the car was demolished. She was unable to stand due to the surge of adrenaline that occurred and was a little disoriented by being thrown around by the impact. The person who hit her broadside was there as well and was just as shaken. The other driver had been driving a huge SUV that suffered almost no damage except for a few large scratches on the front bumper.
It was a four way intersection with a flashing red light. As my better-half came to a stop, she allowed the car on the road to her right to cross first. As that car crossed the intersection she slowly started through herself. She was almost through the intersection when the SUV traveling the same direction as the first car sped through and stuck her on the passenger side spinning her vehicle completely around.
I spent an hour calling AAA, the cops, and the insurance companies. As the car was being towed away she had tears in her eyes. I brought her home and made an unsuccessful attempt to calm her down. We spent the day together but she remained totally distracted by what had occurred. It wasn’t until late last night that she started returning to normal but still adamantly refused to drive my car to work for her next shift. I knew it was important that she get back into any car to drive again as soon as possible but she fought me all the way.
I’m standing her now in the window watching her drive away in my car and I’ll probably hold my breath for the next ten minutes until she arrives at work. I really didn’t let her see just how upset I was because it would have freaked her out. All I can think about is that she could just as easily have been badly injured or killed. She was so very lucky. Now I can relax a little and try to put the whole damn thing out of my mind as best I can. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to her.
Love is like that.
It’s time for a regular journal entry to help me to catch up on things as the summer moves along. The heat wave has finally broken and we’re having a few intermittent rain showers on some really beautiful and sunny days. For the past few days we’ve had family visitors from Rhode Island who needed a little Maine getaway to clear their heads and breath some clean fresh air.
The guests arrived late yesterday evening after a bout with car problems. It’s funny (or not) how and when batteries decide to die. It’s never in your driveway but always on the road, miles from anywhere, and raining. We were up chatting and catching up until 2am and and slept in the next morning since it was lightly raining. It gave us a chance to shop for a new battery and install it before the rain ended. That evening we decided a visit to the Old Orchard Beach amusement park was in order and we had a great time.
The rain stopped and the tourists and visitors were out in large numbers enjoying the cool evening air. We hit the arcades for a few games and after blowing ten bucks throwing bean bags at balloons I won an ugly green stuffed animal. My better-half was thrilled and I’ll probably be seeing that stupid thing for the rest of my life. She bonded with it immediately and gave it a cutsy name before we even returned home. Our group rode a few rides , took lots of photo’s, and had a really fun evening.
We were in bed at a reasonable hour in anticipation of an early start in the morning. We visited a local church fair the next day. It’s one we attend annually and really enjoy. My better-half loves the flea market and I’m there for the excellent french fries and hot sausage sandwiches. They have a huge tent filled with books at dirt cheap prices and I’m usually able to buy enough books to get me through the winter.
Our visitors left after a few hours to return home to Rhode Island. The better-half and I stayed a while longer after running into a few old friends. She loves the raffles and spent the last hour sitting at a table and filling out raffle tickets. The worst thing to happen last year was that she won one of the small raffles. Now she’s hooked and thinks she’s going o win every year. It’s all for a good cause though but I just wish she’d win something I could use.
All in all a good couple of days as we start our march towards the Fall season. I love the fact that there’s sure to be a small community fair almost every weekend from now until late October. Lots of fairs and lots of fun.
I’ve always been a lover of quotations for many years regardless of the time period from which they’ve sprung. I’ve discovered quotes from politicians in ancient Greece that remain totally applicable to the nonsense we witness every day in Washington. I’ve even found myself shocked and awed that occasionally someone I disagree with politically will say something noteworthy. The old adage that “Even a blind man will find a pearl eventually” remains true. So here are a few of my favorites that most of our current pols should be required to read and memorize before running for office.
“There are two parts of good government; one is the actual obedience of citizens to the laws, the other part is the goodness of the laws which they obey.” Aristotle (384-322 BC)
“The effect of a good government is to make life more valuable; of a bad one, to make it less valuable.” Henry David Thoreau 4 Jul 1874
“A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul”.” George Bernard Shaw 1944
“In this [economic] crisis, government is not the solution to our problem. Government is the problem.” Ronald Reagan 20 Jan 81
“Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.” Thomas Paine, Common Sense 1776
“A government that is big enough to give you all you want is big enough to take it all away.” Barry M. Goldwater 21 Oct 64
See what I mean? Almost everything we say or do had been said and done already. It makes reading them, listening to them, and understanding them even more important today. I’ll leave you with that thought as I head out the door for a day of relaxation at a local church fair and then later to the beach to cool off. I hope your weekend is a good one as well.
I have a long time friend who has slipped in and out of my life for more than thirty years. He’s just turned eighty but is as spry and active as ever. He’s a part-time researcher for the History channel and always has his head in the game. He occasionally sends me interesting tidbits of things that interest him and they’re always fun to read. Here’s one.
The following information is presented as likely topics of conversations taking place around an office water cooler circa 1955. To many of you it may seem that 1955 was a thousand years ago but chronologically speaking it wasn’t. I was nine years old in 1955 and I’m able to remember listening to my parents as they discussed many of the topics you’re about to read.
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Did you hear the post office is thinking about charging 7 cents just to mail a letter?
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If they raise the minimum wage to $1.00, nobody will be able to hire outside help at the store.
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When I first started driving, who would have thought gas would someday cost 25 cents a gallon? Guess we’d be better off leaving the car in the garage.
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I’m afraid to send my kids to the movies any more. Ever since they let Clark Gable get by with saying DAMN in GONE WITH THE WIND, it seems every new movie has either HELL or DAMN in it.
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I read the other day where some scientist thinks it’s possible to put a man on the moon by the end of the century. They even have some fellows they call astronauts preparing for it down in Texas.
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Did you see where some baseball player just signed a contract for $50,000 a year just to play ball? It wouldn’t surprise me if someday they’ll be making more than the President.
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I never thought I’d see the day when all of our kitchen appliances would be electric. They’re even making electric typewriters now.
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It’s too bad things are so tough nowadays. I see where a few married women are having to work to make ends meet. It won’t be long before young couples are going to have to hire someone to watch their kids so they can both work.
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I’m afraid the Volkswagen car is going to open the door to a whole lot of foreign import business.
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Thank goodness I won’t live to see the day when the Government takes half our income in taxes. I sometimes wonder if we are electing the best people to government.
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The fast food restaurant is convenient for a quick meal, but I seriously doubt they’ll ever catch on.
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There is no sense going on short trips anymore for a weekend. It costs nearly $2.00 a night to stay in a hotel.
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No one can afford to be sick anymore. At $15.00 a day in the hospital, it’s too rich for my blood.
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If they think I’ll pay 30 cents for a haircut, forget it.
That’s what’s now being called the “good old days”. Good in many ways, bad in others but truthfully a much simpler way of life. I’m sure there are a lot of young parents now who would prefer raising their children in that sort of atmosphere rather than the one we’re living in.
Know your past.
everyuselessthing.com 