Think Progress: We could end homelessness with the money Americans spend on Christmas decorations

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• Back in the day when some do-gooder dcecided it was cruel to keep the mentally ill in institutions and ensure they received the care they could not provide for themselves, the hoeless rate vastly increased in numbers. I grant you, the mentally ill have been truly and horribly abused in the past, but people have gone overboard in trying to correct that. A mentally ill person can decide if they can be institutionalized, they can choosed if they will take their medication (even if they are currently off meds and are seriously unable to complete a logical thought) can choose to live on the streets and NO ONE can do anything about it. The mentally ill have more "rights" that the average person. AThe fact that the severely mentally ill are not able to make reasonable decisions about their health and care, they run the program. The only reason they can be compelled to be in a facility is a short term court order if the are determined to be a danger to themsleves or others, or if the are compelled due to legal issues. And even those who ARE in a facility cannot be compelled to take their medicine, putting them and staff at risk in some situations. We LIETERALLY have the inmates running the asylum!

  • And the libs continue to claim that Reagan cut the funding and turned the nuts loose.

    • Not true. The ability to be "free" and "equal" and to be independant driven by the handicapped, lapped over to incude the mentally ill, who generally up to the 60's were merely warehoused in huge state facilities with minimal finding, minimal staff (and untrained staff to boot) and literally left to rot there. The unintended consequence of closing these intitutions was that all the supposed outpatient clinics, Psychiatrists, Psychiatric Nurse specialists, even social workers and counselors were defunded again and again, until there was basically nowhere for the mentally ill to go, no one monitoring them to ensure they were caring for themselves, taking their meds, or for that matter taking the RIGHT meds. Most mentally ill now end up in prison, where they receive no care at all. Mental illness receives probably the least funding if any group in the United States. The don't generally vote, one cannot make money off them, and in fact they cost money. Bad combination when it comes to funding.

• Yea, and like my grandma used to tell me "If a frog had wings, he would not bump his ass hoppin'."

• When I see "homeless" people begging for money on the corner, and smoking, I figure they have more money than I do.

• I'm going to prove I love my fellow man after reading this nonsense. I have a tree in the back yard I have not decorated so I'm going to buy another hundred feet of Christmas lights to string around and over it.

• "Your Christmas wreath is forcing a poor person to live in a cardboard box."
  "Your Disney World vacation is forcing a homeless person to sleep under a bridge."
  "Your new 47" HDTV is forcing an elderly person to eat dog food."

  Whatever the season, whatever the reason, it's your fault people are poor.
  It's just another liberal guilt trip, something to make you feel bad about the Christmas Holidays.

• The consumerism that Christmas has become is just more efforts by Corporate Greed anyway.

  • Your stupidity knows no bounds.

  • You remind me of a sketch they used to do on "Whose Line Is It Anyway" where the improvisors could only respond to a question using one or two phrases. You'd be perfect for that skit. Every question someone asks you, you'd say "corporate greed." You already have the routine mastered.

    Serioiusly, at least do us a favor and acquire some synonnyms for "corporate greed." Variety is the spice of life as well as fuel for corporate greed.

  • You do realize that the buisiness of America is buisiness?

    It is was the freedom that allowed capitalism that propelled this nation further & faster then any in human history, & there are way too many worthless people WITHIN this counrty who are ore then happy to collaspe the system in the name of "fairness & justice". Those people are too ignorant to understand that, & they don't deserve America. They don't contribute, they don't make things better, & they never have. But they are allowed to vote for people who allow them to do nothing & suck off of the system. They are ZERO LIABILITY VOTERS, they suck, they are useless, they are worthless, & they are winning. They are succeeding at destroying the ability of America to be the greatest nation in the history of the world. It is people like you crowley, that are turning this planet into a worthless rock of sh!t, but you're too dumb to notice.

• I'm confused , I thought the issue of homelessness was ONLY an issue during a Republican administration . Homelessness disappeared during Clinton's term , but magically reappeared during Bush's term .

  Me think Think Progress doesn't understand how the program works.

• new ride

  :arses kicked for free

  queue up lads and lassies.

• It should be called "Think Stupid". More appropriate name. Hey if you don't like Christmas, don't celebrate it, pole dance, or decorate your house for the moon god festival, I really don't give a shit, but I would like to tell "Think Stupid" I have spent decades dealing with the homeless. The majority are that way by choice, drugs, alcohol, mental illness are a big part of it, some are just plain lazy and make more money begging by a freeway offramp that I make in a year and theirs is tax free, plus free healthcare, foodstamps and all the other shit, and now the liberal morons in Kalifornia are going to give these freeloaders a free phone. What the hell do they need a phone for? To order Pizza?

  And yes there are honest to god people who are homeless through misfortune, but the majority, that's what they want. So don't expect me to give up Christmas, or the celebration of the birth of Christ for some alcoholic/heroin/meth/crack head who has neither the will power or brains to stop living in the gutter.

  For years I went out of my way to help these folks, you offer to buy them food? They want cash to buy drugs or booze, you offer to get them into a homeless shelter? they refuse so they don't have to follow the rules or be sober. I even use to carry a blanket in my patrol car in the wintertime in case someone needed it. I tried to give it to some lady when it was really cold, she told me (now remember I am on duty and in a marked patrol car) to go "fuckmyself" and If I "ain't given up cash, she don't want none of my shit."

  I now have little or no sympathy for these folks...and I have yet to see any fucking liberal out trying to help them, other than give lips service like this bunch of retards from the "Think Stupid" center. This is just another cause of the moment for them.....(Now stepping off my soapbox)

  • lazy and make more money begging by a freeway offramp

    sucking off a free ramp?

    plz don't kill me.

• Homelessness, poverty, hunger and other things cannot be ended. As long as people are willing to be evil, things will happen. As long as people are crazy things will happen (most homeless people are insane and do not know nor care to be confined in a home). As long as people take drugs people will be irresponsible, etc you get the drift. No one to stop something from happening that in many cases is due to the person's actions. Those that truly want help in a country like ours will get it, unfortunately many other countries do not have the safety net that this country has. I don't mind temporary safety nets for people that truly needs it.

  We found that the homeless man that took the shoes from the cop in NY City has a tax paid home that is now sitting empty perhaps because he prefers to be in the streets.

  Throwing money at the problem many times is the biggest problem of all.

  • unless!
    brb