Posted on 11/28/2005 10:34:15 AM PST by Murtyo
People walk past as a homeless person takes cover from the cold on a Paris sidewalk November 28, 2005, as six homeless have died in France since the arrival of winter temperatures. French authorities have raised their weather alert in 31 departments and asked for increased vigilance to the homeless in Paris.
http://weather.cnn.com/weather/forecast.jsp?locCode=LFPO
Monday
43°F (6°C) | 36°F (2°C)
Tuesday
41°F (5°C) | 36°F (2°C)
Wednesday
39°F (4°C) | 32°F (0°C)
Thursday
43°F (6°C) | 36°F (2°C)
Friday
43°F (6°C) | 41°F (5°C)
How long does he have suffer employment until he can recycle another 2 year stint on the dole?
> I'm willing to bet that most people in France have no idea what "cold" is.
Current Weather Conditions:
Paris-Aeroport Charles De Gaulle, France
Conditions at
2005.11.28 1730 UTC
Wind from the NNW (330 degrees) at 7 MPH (6 KT) (direction variable)
Visibility greater than 7 mile(s)
Sky conditions mostly cloudy
Weather Towering cumulus clouds observed
Temperature 41 F (5 C)
Dew Point 35 F (2 C)
Relative Humidity 80%
Boo hoo!
m,
That's not so cold, really. No I wouldn't want to sleep outside unprotected in those temps, but I don't believe them to be life-threatening.
Actually, if you're not a junkie, you're probably not a French "homeless person." European streets are absolutely stuffed with junkies, many of them very young. Most appear to be ethnic Europeans, with a lot of them coming from Scandinavia and other parts of Northern Europe.
Gypsies, Eastern Europeans (mostly also Gypsies) and Moroccans/ME folks control the heroin market, and unfortunately, a lot of the users are the few European young people who still remain there. Naturally, the European countries are all hoping their "clean needles" and state sponsored "shoot up galleries" programs will deal with the problem. Think again.
Maybe the relocated Hollywood left can give them some money. I mean these are the people who care more than anyone else right?
no too long; he did this previously and held a position for about 2 weeks (and walked away not fired or let go)
Does your wife pretend she has no brother in Paris?
I think the french do not like the french even more than we do.
The homeless shouldn't be dying because of the cold. All those burning cars should keep them warm.
More media Katrinaesque hype. These are standard issue mental cases....the usual human debris seen in any major city....regardless of political system.
You know what they say. Build a man a fire, and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he'll be warm the rest of his life.
Where is Paul Krugman?
The difference here is that the police can pick up these mental cases and either take them to a shelter or a hospital.
There are places for the willing to go in this country.
***************
You're quite right.
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/resources/climate/wparis.htm
The homeless clochards on the streets of Paris and elsewhere all share something in common: they are all drug-addicted, alcoholics or lunatics.
It is not that there are no places for them to get help and shelter. It is that they are so mentally degraded that they stumble from injection to injection, or bottle to bottle, and then stagger into the streets to sleep. Of course the places where they might take shelter have rules, and they do not like those rules. Also, the shelters are full of crazy people, after all, and who would want to go and sleep in a place full of inebriated crazy people?
What, really, can be done about this problem?
Drugs are already illegal. Alcohol is not, of course, and it is not criminal to purchase it and become besotted. Once one is in the grip of the drugs or the alcohol, one is no longer capable of reasoning normally. And collapsing in the streets to sleep seems normal. That freezing to death results from this is occasionally inevitable in the winter. I believe that the former American Presidential candidate, Mr. George McGovern, had a daughter who was an alcoholic who became drunk one night, wandered off into the Minnesota snows, and died sleeping in a snowdrift beside her apartment building in the city of Minneapolis. What can one do about such things, really?
People are ultimately responsible for themselves, and the state cannot, and will not try to, monitor each and every person. Were surveillance so complete, there would not be the illegal drug use in the first place.
It's no coincidence that North Dakota typically has the best statistical indicators in almost every area of public health (life expectancy, obesity rates, incidence of serious illnesses, etc.).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.