Helping the Homeless: Soon to be a Crime?

From March 16, 2010

A television station in San Antonio, Texas, recently reported that a local councilman wants to make it a crime to give money to a beggar or homeless person on city streets. Those who open their wallets would be fined.

"If there's no money for the panhandlers, the panhandlers will go away," said Councilman John Clamp.

But some residents say what will go away is their right to give. “I think it is absolutely ludicrous to ticket someone for wanting to help out another human being,” one person commented online. “To me, that is the same as punishing someone for wanting to do the right thing.”

www.responsibilityproject.com... _M=broad



Another article published at this website concerning citizens being punished for helping homeless brings up "Page not found" so I do not know if this information is being censored.


This next article is a few years old. I am wondering if this was ever made into law.

Giving food to homeless people on London's streets could become illegal.

A proposal to ban soup runs from designated areas and fine anyone breaking the law is being considered by London Councils, which represents the capital's 33 local authorities.

The organisation has launched a consultation on whether to include the ban in its London Local Authorities Bill.

www.thisislondon.co.uk...

In many places there are laws against feeding the homeless. In some cities, there is now direct advocation to citizens to "give to the charities and let them handle the problems".

Eric Montanez, 21, from the group Food not bombs, was charged with violating a law against feeding homeless people in Orlando Florida. Although this is the most recent publicity, Food not bombs has a long history of being harassed for giving away food to the homeless and protesting anti-homeless laws. Las Vegas passed a law in July 2006 that prohibits providing meals within city parks that would normally be provided for in a rescue mission or shelter. (57.Bill No.2006-37)
....
Chapters all over the world have been harassed and told to keep out of sight. They continue to feed the homeless and risk arrest because it is illegal in many states and provinces. In San Francisco alone there have been over 1,000 arrests related to the Food not bombs group protesting anti-homeless policies. Because of police presence, some homeless people are scared off and would rather go hungry than risk being arrested.


Read more at Suite101: Feed Homeless, Face Arrest: Food Not Bombs Group Face Harassment anti-poverty-activism.suite101.com...

My question is this: has much of the homelessness been purposely orchestrated to coerce the masses to depend on "Revised Rome" to supply their needs? Were people baited with fradulent mortgage schemes? At what point will "Revised Rome" start making conditions and requiring allegiances?

Why should private citizens be admonished or criminalized for helping others? Could it be that Rome wants possession of the displaced for their own cherry picking purposes?

This is yet another orchestration to appear as bible prophecy. All of the tent cities are causing the homeless to gravitate toward the major metropolises throughout this country. These actions are being twisted as the end time fulfillment of the "festival of booths". The in-gathering is now sorting out the wheat from the chaff, the cherry picking, if you will, to determine who 'gets on the ark'.

Already I see divisions being set in place. The homeless are being made to feel afraid of private citizens who may try to help them. And private citizens are being bombarded with warnings not to trust the homeless as most of them are desperate criminals and alcoholics. The homeless are being made to feel afraid to be on the outside of institutional protection.

This thread is not about judging whether the homeless are deserving of help. This is to discuss the possibilities that this has all been orchestrated with a purpose which leads toward the New Order. Is Rome causing it's own demise of the old religious institutions in order to put on a new face to show it's benevolent side?

Is Rome playing good cop/bad cop? Instead of beating people up with guilt and demanding their tithes and support, does the snake now get a face-lift during times of hardship, only to later entrap it's prey with new "natural" laws designed to weed out gays, meat-eaters, and anyone else who would assert their individuality?

Is this the ultimate Stockholme Syndrome being played out?

Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

is just outrageous

somebody needs to be drawn
and quartered

No, they won't just go away
they could die
and I hope these people
who drew this up can sleep
with their conscience.

I think our right to give will be safe until the republicans take over again. The rationale I have seen from them sounds right for making giving illegal. I mean, "If they want to eat let them get a job.", sounds about right for republicans to me.
"But they can't get a job, George W shipped all the jobs overseas".
"Why are you always picking on Bush? Obama is a marxist. Obama is a Kenyan. Obama is the anti-christ".

Well I for one pick on Bush because it's HIS FAULT.

Do you not know the statist's argument for this?

Charity happens through your government. By anyone feeding the poor or homeless you remove the power over people by the state.

That is what is illegal. No one will be allowed to remove the power of the state. They are your new God, your new altar, your benefactor, so this is a good thing see?

Frelling government.

reply to post by Alethea


It is going to be a crime to help the Homeless.

But these Politican's still will accept your Donations.

Funny isn't it?

reply to post by endisnighe


Exactly. Charity doesn't start at home anymore. Charity doesn't come from the heart anymore. "Charity" now emanates from the halls of Congress. The Federal Government will give to who they please, the new slave class who will gladly riot for a few pennies and be happy with a few morsels.

It is a tyrannical scheme to further consolidate power at the Federal level.

"Brother Can You Spare a Dime?"
"Sorry it is a Federal crime for me to show you charity, brother."

Americans used to take care of each other.

Originally posted by boondock-saint
who drew this up can sleep
with their conscience.

You know they are not, they probably are out having a party having wrecked lifes, isn't that the way.

And maybe if we stop pulling over to help people on the side of the road, the flat tires will go away.

Can you Texans get rid of this tool before he advances the ladder?

Panhandling ordinances have been in effect in Dallas TX for several years and you can get fined for begging for money - not sure if a benefactor can be ticketed as well, but there were some rumors early on. There have been some unintended consequences like fireman can't legally "pass the boot" at intersections in the city of Dallas to collect donations. None of them ever gets ticketed or arrested.

I asked the question when Dallas passed an ordinance like this "So you're gonna give tickets to the homeless and if they can't pay then what? Three squares a day and a 6x8 cell? Sounds very cost effective." BTW the mayor that sanctioned all this didn't get reelected.

gj

reply to post by Alethea


This is somebody's way of passing the buck.
"We don't want the problem of dealing with this issue, so let's squeeze them out of here. Make them go elsewhere. Make it somebody else's problem."
Great bid for your political seat there buddy...real nice.
Blame whoever you want for the job loss, the recession, but the bottom line is..NOBODY is really looking for solutions to the problem of homelessness.
Many are homeless, and you'd never know it. They couch surf, they live in their cars.Not all are psycho or druggies. Many even choose the lifestyle, giving the middle finger to government and society as a whole, living off the waste that the rest of us throw away, (and wasteful creatures we are.)
If you go on to make it illegal to help someone in need..that brings many fuzzy gray areas along with it.IMHO, it defies what makes us human.
I suspect this guy also believes in Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest too.
Here's hoping he never loses his job, or his house...god forbid.
Pffft.

Right give your money to big charity organizations that STEAL 90% of the funds. It goes to "overhead" don't you know?

Overhead is a fancy term for a new Ferrari or yacht btw. In case you fail to read between the lines...

I wish I had a charity organization, so I could steal all the money like everyone else does.

I do not believe in charity organizations. They are fraudulent.

The only real charity I see, are soup kitchens, bread lines , and things like that. Everything else is a scam. A complete scam.

Also I will add, I would rather buy a homeless man some beer or drugs, than give another penny to the GOVT or to big charity. They would just waste the money, where as the homeless guy would actually have a fun day at least.

[edit on 26-4-2010 by muzzleflash]

Lets chain him to a street post and see if he refuses any help.

This disrespect for the homeless comes from our consumer culture. We have all been blitzed by messages from the media telling us we are somehow second class if we have last year's cell phone, if our wardrobe does not have this season's latest fashions, or if our car is more than two years old.

If people value themselves less because their cell phones cannot hold 1 million songs on them or because their car has 50,000 miles on it, it follows that homeless people must have little or no value because homeless people have no cell phones, no cars, and no nice clothes. If the media stops equating a person's worth with their possessions, then perhaps people would have a little more compassion for the homeless.

Giving panhandlers money is NOT helping them in any way, at least most of the time. That money you give them goes directly to feeding their addictions, which is what got them into their current predicament in the first place.

Here in Ottawa, the homeless can get 6 free meals a day, and often they eat better than the rest of us do. I've worked with several crackheads over the years, who all made good money, and lived in shelters and ate at the kitchens. While the intentions of these homeless helping systems may be good, in many cases they just facilitate the feeding of their addictions.

Never give the homeless money, especially if you live in a city where there are meal programs. Bring them food instead, take them out to lunch, and see how ungrateful they are. Or if you're feeling brave, try offering them some work, but be ready to get cussed out.

Well i'm not sure if this was made law in London, but i do it all the time so i'll probably end up arrested at some point.

I can understand about the money side of things, giving them money can also put them at risk. Last time i was in London i offered a very elderly homeless Polish lady what i had in my pocket, about a tenner but she refused, saying she'd be mugged.

So i offered her a KFC instead...she had a smile on her face that night!

No-one is going to tell me i can't do that any more. I'm not saying it's always a good thing, but i know if i or one of my kids were in that situation, i'd welcome a friendly gesture.

CX.

The thing is, these institutional groups are very organized. They are the ones who can get things done.

The problem is that, whatever you can give the homeless, it's still not going to solve the problem and get them off the street and help them find meaningful direction.

So we are back to square one. Those who have the power are the institutional organizations which are backed by Rome.

It's back to Bread and Circuses time. Rome will own the dispossessed.

And from those who are participating in the "festival of booths", will be the ones chosen for Rome's protection. And thus, Rome builds again from the ashes.

Does anyone see an alternative to this happening?

This reminds me of a story I read about the other day. It was about a homeless man who stepped in to stop a woman from being mugged. The mugger stabbed the homeless man, and he laid on the sidewalk for over an hour as people just walked by him. He died because the people would do nothing to help him.


My point is, this is what our society has become. We are to ignore those who are in need. We are to only look after our own wants and needs, and forget about others. It`s all about "ME".

Those who are homeless are "people", just like you and I. But, we are to forget that. Why are we to forget about them? Because society looks at these people as being a burden on society. When the real truth is, society is the real burden. It`s society that wants us to pay for what they want. You know, like that new bridge they want across the river down town. When the city can`t afford to pay for it, their reps. pass a bill so the tax payers of the country can pay for it.

So, where`s the justice in this? There is no justice to be had when it comes to society. We are to over look it.

Sorry for the rant people. This kind of story makes me sick, so forgive me if this is off topic.

So what is the solution to this problem?

Even if it has all been orchestrated to cause people to become dependent on 'Rome' and its charities....what is the answer?

Do we need the structure that 'Rome' offers in order to prevent society from becoming a total collapse?

What little one individual can do for another does not give a person his self esteem back nor help him to provide for his family.

There are too many people in this situation. What is to become of them all? If a plague errupts it will quickly engulf the crowded cities and I suspect the homeless will be the ones to take the blame.

What happened in past societies that met such a fate?

reply to post by Alethea


The first thing is, Rome is not the answer to any problem, and never has been. You take these people by the hand and teach them what they need to do to fix their lives. Handing them a dollar everday doesn`t fix it, or a charity giving them food everyday doesn`t help the problem. It`s teaching them to be more self sufficient with their lives is the answer.

reply to post by FiatLux


No need to apologize for the rant at all, it is well warranted.

What many people forget when they walk past someone who is homeless, is that no matter how well they are doing in life, in a split second they could end up like the person they choose to ignore.

Life has a funny way of demonstrating this at times, and it can happen to the best of them.

If more people helped out a perfect stranger, maybe the world wouldn't be in the state it's in today.

CX.

[edit on 26/4/10 by CX]