Free Republic

Like most San Franciscans, Charles Pitts is wired. Mr. Pitts, who is 37 years old, has accounts on Facebook, MySpace and Twitter. He runs an Internet forum on Yahoo, reads news online and keeps in touch with friends via email. The tough part is managing this digital lifestyle from his residence under a highway bridge. "You don't need a TV. You don't need a radio. You don't even need a newspaper," says Mr. Pitts, an aspiring poet in a purple cap and yellow fleece jacket, who says he has been homeless for two years. "But you need the Internet." Mr....

Recently I found out that a man I knew, a Viet Nam vet, had died. Homeless. Under an overpass in Redwood City, California. He was an Army Ranger, and a highly-trained sniper. He and a team of four or five guys would disappear into the Viet Nam jungle for a month at a time and take out various strongholds, and strategic members of the Viet Cong. Through this work, he saved thousands of American lives, as well as thousands of South Viet Namese lives. He did a job no one wanted to do and not many could do. When he...

The $787-billion economic-stimulus plan signed by Pres. Barack Obama contained an often-overlooked section — $150 million for food banks and other organizations that provide food to people in need. Responding to reports that food banks were running out of provisions because of rising unemployment and higher food costs, Congress intervened to help stock the shelves. But taxpayers — the people paying for Congress’s charitable endeavors — should know that not all of these organizations are suffering. Some are even able to throw food away. Last month, Michelle Obama visited Miriam’s Kitchen, which serves the homeless in Washington, D.C. She ladled...

Even the homeless can't escape the high price of a night in New York City. City officials this month began charging rent to working families staying in public homeless shelters. The policy stems from a 1997 state law that hasn't been enforced until now. Under that law, shelter managers started to require families to pay a portion of their income, depending on the shelter and family size, according to The New York Times. Residents could be expected to pay up to half their earnings. Some shelter residents say the new rule will ruin their chances of saving enough money to...

Homeless, 9, and coping with a hard life For Brehanna, a loss of school, friends and a beloved stuffed animal PORTLAND, Ore. - At first, 9-year-old Brehanna didn't seem to understand. Her family was being evicted from their home in Tualatin, a Portland suburb. Her father, Joe Ledesma, a homebuilder for 20 years, was without a job and couldn't find another. He couldn't pay the $800 rent on the three-bedroom house where he, his wife Heidi and daughter lived. And he couldn't get through to Brehanna as they packed the family's navy blue 1986 Pontiac Firebird that she would not...

<p>Homeless day laborers have made a hidden encampment in the woods near multi-million-dollar houses in New York's exclusive Hamptons.</p>

It�s tough to get a job when you can�t prove who you are. Colorado Springs resident Kevin Dobkins knows. He said his identification documents were lost more than a year ago, and he has been homeless since. �You can�t do anything without an ID,� Dobkins said. �You�re out of luck, you�re nobody, you don�t exist.� The 36-year-old is among a growing number of legal residents feeling the effects of an effort to stop illegal immigrants from receiving government benefits. Homeless people are especially hard hit, advocates say.

Twelve years heading the Salvation Army's downtown homeless shelter had done little to prepare Janeane Schmidt for the recent night when a soft-spoken biological male transitioning into a female walked in. Schmidt didn't want to refuse someone in need. Having seen few such cases, however, and with limited space that winter night, she wasn't sure where to place the transgender woman. The shelter has space for homeless men and women but not anyone in between. "Rather than turn them away, we give them a cot," said Schmidt, whose staff allowed the woman to stay a week in the shelter's lounge...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, reacting to a nationally famous make-shift tent city for the homeless spouting up in Sacramento, is ordering that it be shut down and its residents transferred to the state fairgrounds. The tent city, which has long existed along the banks of the America River, gained national attention last month when some of its recently homeless residents were featured on the Oprah Winfrey Show. But it is only one of dozens, perhaps hundreds, which are now being erected around the country, according to The New York Times. Shanty towns and tent cities are not only popping up...

Atlanta thought it had a great idea. Instead of its citizens being accosted by bums and panhandlers in the street, the idea was to set up parking meter-like machines for people's donations instead of handing the money straight to the bums. Then, the money collected from Atlanta's well-meaning citizens would be used to enlarge government programs for the homeless. After six months the donation meters have only netted $500, a sum that won't go too far especially in the over priced world of government programs. In fact, the machines themselves cost far more than that. So, the meters are pretty...

Tent City residents gather as the city of Ontario starts the process of sorting out who may stay and who must leave. The city issued wristbands – blue for Ontario residents, who may stay, orange for people who need to provide more documentation, and white for those who must leave. The aim is to reduce the number of people living there from over 400 to 170. Email Picture Officials begin thinning out the encampment, saying the city can provide space only for those who once lived there and can prove it.

"Would you like risotto?" first lady Michelle Obama asked. "That's my job -- to serve the risotto." Obama went to Miriam's Kitchen today, where she served about 50 homeless guests. She stood at the end of a serving line and dished up risotto with mushrooms. She smiled. Asked how people were doing. Asked them what they would like. They smiled. Told her sure they would like the risotto, then moved down the line to get steamed broccoli, home-made apple-carrot muffins, wheat rolls and salad, made with fruit donated by the first lady's office.

MARCH 24, 2009 Weird. At Press Conference Ebony Reporter Asks Obama About Tent Cities and Children Sleeping Under Bridges (Video) This was strange. Obama did not call on The New York Times, Wall Street Journal or The Washington Post at his second press conference tonight. He did call on Kevin Chappell from Ebony Magazine who asked a weird question about tent cities and children sleeping under bridges: It's not clear what country Kevin was talking about. Now we know why president's don't make it a habit to call on celebrity and entertainment mags during press conferences. Although, Chappell really didn't...

WASHINGTON (AP) - At a time when millions of Americans are losing their jobs and their homes, President Barack Obama says he's "heartbroken" that any children are without a roof over their heads. Obama says the "most important thing" that he can do for those children is make sure that their parents have jobs. And he again pointed to his plan to save or create 3.5 million jobs through his economic stimulus package. He says in the meantime, he wants to work with states to help those who are "falling through the cracks." And the president told reporters at a...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsvcwQEFKAI

The carpenters union has hired dozens of homeless people to stand in for union members to wage a "shame" campaign against a nonunion contractor, a Tulsa World investigation shows. The Local 943 Carpenters Union has organized a 2-year effort to coerce Green Country Interiors Inc. to pay union wages and benefits to its construction workers, said David Hannagan, president and part owner of Green Country. Beginning in April 2007, the carpenters union began placing personnel and large banners at businesses that had hired Green Country for construction work. At the first site, Crowne Plaza Hotel, 100 E. Second St., the...

The RedEye gang discusses.

Remember Mitch Snyder? For those of you who don't, he was a tireless advocate of the homeless who had his 15 minutes in the '80's for going on hunger strikes to raise the national level of attention to the plight of the homeless. He ran the Community for Creative Non-Violence, which operated a shelter that catered to the needs of a great number of homeless persons in the District of Columbia. For a time, he was very popular for the principled stand that he took on behalf of the homeless. Unfortunately, that's not the only thing he was known for....

(CNN) -- It didn't matter what officers said to him: The man was going to jump. The 51-year-old was spotted Tuesday morning by a Tampa, Florida, citizen, perched on the northbound side of the Howard Frankland Bridge, which carries Interstate 275 over Old Tampa Bay. The citizen called police. The story the man told was all too common, according to Tampa Police Department Officer Jeff Kritz. He said he was a carpenter by profession, earning $65 an hour at one time. But over the past three years, as the economy spiraled downward, he said he had lost his business, his...

Until a few weeks ago, Tim Edwards was just another one of the men begging for change at a busy Houston underpass, ignored by most drivers who sped on past without a glance. Now, thanks to an Internet marketing campaign and unlikely allies, Edwards has become the human face of homelessness to thousands of online viewers drawn to his Web site by its deliberately controversial name — Pimp This Bum. During regular Webcasts, dozens of visitors to www.pimpthisbum.com/ ask questions about Edwards' life and his slow fall from office manager with a home, a car, and a future to an...

Tent City A homeless tent city is seeing an increase in population as the economy worsens ...

Pop singer Crystal Waters did a song many years ago called “She’s Homeless.” The hook went like this: “She’s just like you and me, but she is homeless, she is homeless.” In D.C., the homeless are just like you and me, and they have cell phones, they have cell phones.

Newark will repair its high-rise public housing complexes for the elderly, where heat now seeps through the failing walls. Jersey City's housing authority will avoid laying off employees. Essex County will house and feed a growing population of the homeless. Money from President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus package began trickling into New Jersey this week, and local governments are now weighing how to use their first doses of cash. In New Jersey, nearly $312 million will be spent on HUD programs to repair affordable housing, help the homeless, improve energy efficiency and other goals, according to the agency. The...

WASHINGTON, D.C (WSAZ) -- Rep. Nick Rahall announced today that housing programs in Huntington have been awarded $1,597,596 in funding from the federal government. The money comes from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Continuum of Care programs for homeless housing and support initiatives in the Huntington area. According to a release, The Cabell-Huntington Coalition for the Homeless was awarded $537,268 for their Project Hope project and supportive services. While at Project Hope, families are taught basic living skills, how to budget and parenting skills. The Huntington West Virginia Housing Authority was awarded $1,063,328 for their Homeless...

In view of latest developments in the Homeless Henrietta Hughes matter, Canada Free Press (CFP) is suggesting “Housing For The Needy Not The Greedy” as a more realistic slogan than “Hope & Change” for President Barack Obama. Obama’s Homeless Woman of Ft. Myers, Florida Stimulus Package Promotion fame is in reality a Real Estate Investor. Courtesy of the Colombo-like detective over at www.sweetness-light.com, you can view online the Property Records of Henrietta Hughes. The public record from Lee County shows how in 2003, Hughes transferred over $124,000 and change when she quit the claim deed on her house to the...

We all know them. People that abuse the system. People that work a few months of the year, just long enough to qualify for unemployment, and then jump on the unemployment bandwagon. Those that get food stamps to support their families despite being able bodied, often educated and capable of work. And, of course, the people that work “under the table” while receiving government aid intended for the truly needy. One such image sticks in our minds from a visit last year to a local softball game. Across the street was a truck distributing food for the needy. A brand...

Some community activists could face criminal charges after breaking into a home in Southeast Baltimore. Police were at the home Thursday night looking for fingerprints and other evidence. The activists who staged the break-in belong to the Association of Community Organizations For Reform Now or ACORN. After snapping a lock with bolt cutters, ACORN member Louis Beverly told supporters "this is our house now." ACORN staged the demonstration to protest the foreclosure crisis sweeping the nation. The home in the 300 block of Ellwood Avenue used to be owned by Donna Hanks. She lost this home in September, after owning...

A Fort Worth man will be facing what will no doubt be a series of painful reconstructive surgeries after half of his nose was torn off during a fight with his next-door neighbor. Scott Jackson, 37, says, "I got hit in the face with a beer bottle or something and it cut half my nose off." It happened Wednesday night in a mobile home park off Ohio Gardens Drive just north of Rockwall Golf Course near the Jacksboro Highway. The victim says he was only trying to protect himself and his property when his neighbor and possibly one other man...

Poverty rights activists broke into at least a dozen vacant Minneapolis buildings this week and helped homeless families move in. "This is the modern underground railroad," said Cheri Honkala, National Organizer for the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign, the group organizing the "takeovers." This week's actions are part of a growing national movement to illegally open up thousands of vacant, foreclosed homes to provide housing for the growing number of homeless people. Over 3,000 Minneapolis homes went into foreclosure in 2008. Advocates estimate that over 7,000 Minnesotans are homeless. Most Twin Cities' homeless shelters have been filled to capacity...

The dean of California's newest law school is suing this seaside community over its treatment of the homeless. The suit should serve as a warning to the business establishment of Orange County, Calif., -- which has poured over $24 million into the still-unopened University of California, Irvine law school -- that it is creating a litigation monster that will endanger the county's fabled quality of life. The law school will open its doors this fall. Part of its core mission is to train students in "public interest" law []. The term "public interest" law is a masterstroke of misrepresentation, since...

Two Fresno police officers have been moved to desk duty after a video showed one of them repeatedly punching a suspect in the head.

Henrietta Hughes was offered a home by Chene Thompson, wife of State Representative Nick Thompson, who heard the homeless woman’s pleas for help to President Obama before a local and national crowd. The house is in LaBelle, the first home [Chene] Thompson bought after law school. She told Hughes, “Just give me the opportunity to help you.” Hughes broke down in front of thousands when she told the president that she and her son have been homeless for more than a year. They are living in a pickup truck.

A homeless man found dead in the cold earlier this week in Michigan had been denied a place to stay in local homeless shelters because he was a sex offender, social workers said. The body of Thomas Pauli, 52, was found in the snow in an auto body salvage shop in Grand Rapids Monday. The results of an autopsy were not yet available. Homeless service staffers who have worked with Pauli said he has been denied a spot at local shelters because of a state law that bars sex offenders from staying within 1,000 feet of a school. It was...

DETROIT -- This city has not always been a gentle place, but a series of events over the past few, frigid days causes one to wonder how cold the collective heart has grown. It starts with a phone call made by a man who said his friend found a dead body in the elevator shaft of an abandoned building on the city's west side. "He's encased in ice, except his legs, which are sticking out like Popsicle sticks," the caller phoned to tell this reporter. "Why didn't your friend call the police?" "He was trespassing and didn't want to get...

DENVER (AP) ― Denver's mayor and workers at about a dozen businesses are wearing pajamas to work Thursday to raise awareness about homelessness.

From Free Republic -- "Received another letter from Gannett Publications, publisher of USAToday, and several other newspapers. Due to contractual arrangements they have with third-party content providers, they have denied our request to allow posting of excerpts. They will only allow the posting of titles and links." --- This is not the article, since it can't be quoted, per Free Republic instructions.

Since times are tough, we've considered scrounging together the last of our savings to head somewhere warm -- like Hawaii. Unfortunately, other people have the same idea -- so much so that Hawaii is considering a new $100,000 program to fly homeless people back to the mainland. The program would target those who have come to Hawaii from the Continental U.S. and then became "stranded." Some critics say the proposal is just a ploy to get the homeless off the island, though the plan would make sense from a fiscal standpoint in that it would save on money put into...

Emily Miller made a beeline for a rack of gowns, grabbing a fuschia dress and a stole for an inaugural ball Tuesday. Combing through the display tables, she added silver pumps, a beaded choker and earrings. Then, she enjoyed a manicure as live jazz played in the background. Many inaugural celebrants shelled out hundreds - if not thousands - of dollars to attend one of the dozens of balls across the nation's capital. But Miller, who until four months ago had been homeless, will pay nothing. The opportunity comes courtesy of Virginia businessman Earl W. Stafford and his nonprofit foundation,...

Even though millions of inaugural revelers will pour into Washington this weekend, local panhandlers aren’t too hopeful they’ll get much change. “I expect to see less money than normal,” said Ruth Neary, confined to a wheelchair, at 15th and H streets NW. Like many Washington-area residents, Neary is considering not coming downtown at all because of the crowds and potential chaos. “Mostly people from out of town are scared of D.C. and its homeless people,” Neary said. “That’s why you don’t see much panhandling on the Mall.” Drew Sanders, who usually stands outside of Georgia Brown’s Restaurant near the White...

WASHINGTON – Frank Mearns has left the place he calls home, a stone's throw from the White House, and joined thousands of others in Washington who were forced to pull up stakes and move from their regular digs for the presidential inauguration. But Mearns isn't making a quick buck by renting out his pied-a-terre, as some Washington residents are. Nor did he head out of town on an inauguration escape holiday, as some locals did. He's one of Washington's army of homeless cleared from the center of the U.S. capital ahead of the historic inauguration of Barack Obama. "Everyone's got...

WASHINGTON - From the steam grates of Pennsylvania Avenue to the porticoes of the city's grand buildings, homeless Washingtonians who live inside the nation's tightest security zone are being encouraged to decamp during the inauguration for shelters in the city's outer neighborhoods. The security sweeps will probably begin Monday. Buses will make one-way trips to two of the District's largest shelters, which will remain open round-the-clock, said D.C. Council member Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6). "Everyone has to be out of the perimeter by then," Wells said.

WASHINGTON – Frank Mearns has left the place he calls home, a stone's throw from the White House, and joined thousands of others in Washington who were forced to pull up stakes and move from their regular digs for the presidential inauguration. But Mearns isn't making a quick buck by renting out his pied-a-terre, as some Washington residents are. Nor did he head out of town on an inauguration escape holiday, as some locals did. He's one of Washington's army of homeless cleared from the center of the U.S. capital ahead of the historic inauguration of Barack Obama. "Everyone's got...

Sun-Times and NBC5 exclusive: WIN-WIN LOSES | Everybody was supposed to benefit. But things didn't turn out as planned It was supposed to be a quintessential City Hall deal. Help the homeless. Remove an eyesore from a booming neighborhood. And help Mayor Daley’s pal build a multi-million-dollar condo development. The deal cost Chicago taxpayers at least $13.5 million. But it hasn’t worked out as planned. One of the city’s oldest homeless shelters left its crumbling home in Greektown for a new $25 million, state-of-the-art building. But the deal left the homeless shelter on the verge of bankruptcy, desperate to raise...

Stanley Carter, a 21-year-old man discovered hiding in a Pennsylvania family’s attic, said he’s not a criminal, but was only trying to implement President-Elect Barack Obama’s “spread-the-wealth” policy. Carter had apparently been living in the attic for more than a week, sneaking downstairs at night to raid the refrigerator and use the bathroom. He only was caught after cash and an iPod went missing. “These people have more than they need,” Carter asserted. “Why shouldn’t they share it with me?” Obama is reported to be “monitoring” the situation.

ACLU Sues Laguna Beach for Giving Homeless the BootPosted by Daffodil J. Altan December 23, 2008 11:40 AM The ACLU filed a federal civil rights lawsuit today against the city of Laguna Beach for its "unlawful and inhumane policy of harassing and intimidating disabled homeless people." The suit alleges that the city's prolonged arrests of its small, disabled homeless population under the guise of an anti-sleeping ordinance is "blatantly unconstitutional" and criminalizes an otherwise helpless disabled population. Erwin Chemerinsky, chair of UC Irvine's law school, is acting as co-counsel. According to the ACLU, the city has had plenty of time...

City officials are finally admitting what others have been saying for years: San Francisco is attracting huge numbers of homeless people from all over. Thousands of transient people, arriving from other counties, states and even countries, are overwhelming the city's homeless system. Facing a crippling budget shortfall, officials at San Francisco's homeless agencies are proposing a radical idea - take care of the city's own first, and require newcomers to show proof of residency for aid."If a homeless family living in San Francisco doesn't get shelter, and somebody just off the bus does, it doesn't seem fair," said Trent Rhorer,...

DETROIT -- One measure of how tough times are in the Motor City: Some of the offenders in jail don't want to be released; some who do get out promptly re-offend to head back where there's heat, health care and three meals a day. "For the first time, I'm seeing guys make a conscious decision they'll be better off in prison than in the community, homeless and hungry," said Joseph Williams of New Creations Community Outreach, which assists ex-offenders. "In prison they've got three hots and a cot, so they commit a crime to go back in and come out...

> Celente Predicts Revolution, Food Riots, Tax Rebellions By 2012 > > > Thursday, November 13, 2008 > > > > > > > > > stock market > > > > > > > > > > Gerald Celente > > > > > > > The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions - all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012. >...

There's the crisis on Wall Street, the economic downturn on Main Street, and then there's Rice Street in St. Paul, where Darren Beckom used to live. Beckom, 45, lost his house in the 1200 block to foreclosure in September. Now he is homeless. He was one of about 2,000 poor and homeless people seeking help Monday at Project Homeless Connect, a semi-annual event at the Minneapolis Convention Center that brings together a huge range of service providers, from medical to legal to housing organizations. The event is sponsored by Hennepin County and the city of Minneapolis. This is the sixth...

It's dark and dank. It smells terrible. It's full of black mold and cockroaches. It's filled with felons. It has unsanitary bathrooms and showers. The bathroom stalls are so small that you can't close the door, drop your pants and sit down. You have to leave the door open, drop your drawers and sit down and THEN close the stall door. The breakfasts are usually just cereal and pastries and coffee. The floors are old and wooden and creek when you walk. Sleeping is tough. It's cold and drafty. Yet, through it all, this is home, at least on a...