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I appreciate some of the work that is done by organizations such as the Salvation Army and the Las Vegas Rescue Mission. They truly have a heart for helping the people who are homeless, many of them who are mentally ill and will never in this lifetime lead a "normal" existence. But I have to admire Mayor Goodman and his willingness to speak the truth and be politically incorrect about the fact that so much of the "help" given to the homeless only enables the homeless to continue in their condition. His blunt unwillingness to buy into the "homeless industry" and their demands is quite refreshing.
1 posted on 06/18/2005 7:11:19 AM PDT by Nevadan
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To: Nevadan
A liberal insulting his homeless friends? That's not something you hear every day.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
2 posted on 06/18/2005 7:16:18 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Nevadan
I agree....the truth, as they say, hurts...and to some people, the truth is the last thing they want to hear....

All of the present kook base of the 'rat party is in this catagory....Dean, Dingy Harry, John F'n, Pelosi, Deepwater Kennedy, and the notorious traitor Dick Durbin to name a few.

3 posted on 06/18/2005 7:19:34 AM PDT by B.O. Plenty (Liberalism and islam are terminal.......)
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To: Nevadan
Well, it sounded as if his pragmatic solution for the homeless can be summarized in three words: Let them starve

Typical Liberal Trash talk.

Stop enabling them and they might actually decide not to starve to death by actually doing something.

4 posted on 06/18/2005 7:32:35 AM PDT by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: Nevadan

I saw a special on one of the Boston TV stations a few years ago. It talked about how the homeless can stay that way very easily in the city because there are so many programs that make sure they get shelter, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The only downside was that they had to leave the shelter in the morning, and couldn't come back until just before dinner. If they went to work in the meantime, fine, but if they didn't that was OK, too. There were absolutely NO incentives for them to change their homeless state.


5 posted on 06/18/2005 7:51:42 AM PDT by SuziQ
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To: Nevadan

The Bible tells us we are our brothers' keepers. I think it also tells us to kick our brother in the ass if they won't get off the dime. I think maybe that was what the Mayor was saying. Help those who cannot help themselves, but teach a man to fish so he can continue to eat, instead of just giving him a fish.


6 posted on 06/18/2005 7:54:30 AM PDT by geezerwheezer (get up boys, we're burnin' daylight!!!)
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To: Nevadan
They ought to separate those who truly need help from the homeless-by-choice, and force them into the care they need.

The problems are all liberal-based. Liberals proselytize hopelessness and helplessness. Liberals punish productivity. Liberals encourage dependency and Me-ocratic selfishness. Liberals thwart and condemn unconsented medical intervention. And finally, liberals like to delude themselves that they are good people if they reach out and help others whom their liberal policies have helped to place in harm's way to begin with.

10 posted on 06/18/2005 8:10:38 AM PDT by Cultural Jihad
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To: Nevadan
Well, it sounded as if his pragmatic solution for the homeless can be summarized in three words: Let them starve.

Well, five words: "Let them starve in California." ;)

Goodman is quite well aware that his city is becoming a magnet for bums from all over the country, just as San Francisco and Los Angeles did years ago. The homeless industry is trying to gain another beachhead in Las Vegas. It isn't like these people are life-long Las Vegas residents who, through no fault of their own, suddenly find themselves "down on their luck".

San Francisco has created ten times as many homeless people as it has helped out of homelessness, just by implementing similar policies.

12 posted on 06/18/2005 8:22:25 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ("Violence never settles anything." Genghis Khan, 1162-1227)
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To: Nevadan

Who writes this treacle?


14 posted on 06/18/2005 8:27:25 AM PDT by metesky (President: The Peoples' Committee Against Peoples' Committees)
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To: Nevadan

KJV 2 Thes 3:10

For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

Matthew 25:34-40

Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you f rom the foundation of the world:

For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger and ye took me in.
Naked, and ye clothed me I was sick and ye visited me I was in prison, and ye came unto me

Then shall the righteous answer him, saying Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?

When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked and clothed thee?

Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brehtern, ye have done it unto me.

Then shall he say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels

For I was hungred and ye gave me not meat, I was thirsty and ye gave me no drink:

I was a stranger, and ye took me not in, naked and ye clothed me not, sick and in prison and ye viited me not..

46...And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous unto eternal life.


15 posted on 06/18/2005 8:27:55 AM PDT by joesnuffy (Taglines often reveal a lot about the inner person...)
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To: Nevadan

Mr. Mayor, the man with the big glass of gin surrounded by his own enablers (called city employees), who drive for him so he won't get a DUI.


What a sweet paper, how balanced.
/sarcasm


21 posted on 06/18/2005 1:43:18 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: Nevadan

I absolutely agree with you about Goodman. In fact, he is the best mayor Las Vegas has had in many a year.

You don't see him making secret real estate deals to line his own pocket and the pockets of his "closest friends".

You don't see him entering the City into money-losing propositions with foreign governments.

You don't see him taking property that's been in a family forever so that a private firm can build a parking garage.

You have seen him, however, cater to the individual citizen with the smallest of problems.

You have also seen him TRY to deal with all of the homeless, not just that one man. Yet, it was useless. Until the mentally ill are forced to be confined to facilities that can provide for their care, there will be wild-haired raving people walking the streets.

BTW, I think it's funny that a relatively low paid RJ reporter has the nerve to try to tell a "rich man" like Goodman how to conduct business. Obviously, he already knows - or he wouldn't be sitting pretty with all that money he has. He didn't need the mayor's job. He took it, because he truly wants to help Las Vegas grow and prosper.

That gal can take her ball point pen and yellow-lined pad and shove it! And maybe she should try a little toddy herself to mellow out.


24 posted on 06/18/2005 10:13:51 PM PDT by JudyB1938 ("A paranoid schizophrenic is somebody who just found out what's going on." - Wm S. Burroughs, Jr.)
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To: Nevadan

Your mention of the work the Salvation Army is doing in LV brought to mind the scene I observed in Washington DC one early evening late last month. This was about two blocks from the White House where I noticed a gathering of obviously homeless men camped out on every park bench while soccer games went on in the park. While waiting for a friend to buy some T-shirts from a vendor, a Salvation Army van pulled up.

Besides the SA logo, it also had wording to the effect of Homeless Patrol or Soup Patrol -- you get the drift. The men converged on the van, got food, and returned to their camping spots on the benches. As one of the men passed me, he was verbally jousting with no one in particular about "the United States of America...". As you and others in this thread have noted, most of the homelessness I was observing was a choice by mentally unbalanced minds.

In the situation I watched, the SA was "enabling" these men to continue making the choice that was keeping them on the street. This detracts from the climate of any city in a way that is similar to the "broken windows" analogy used by Rudy G. in cleaning up NYC. This is the primary way that the SA and others fail in their compassionate outreach because it does not take into account the unintended consequences that reduce the quality of life for the residents that really contribute to the life of a city. This seems to be Mayor Goodman's thesis and I also applaud his resolve.


31 posted on 06/19/2005 6:59:51 PM PDT by T-Bird45
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