The best Las Vegas promotion we participated in

    The use of the word "homeless" has been used for years. To bash someone because they used the word is uncalled for and wrong. I only respond to what you post when you are wrong- and will continue to do so. Once again you have taken an informative posting and turned it into a combative diatribe. Apparently no one can post anything without your approval of content, punctuation and information.

It is unfortunate that 'pretenders' (my word) have tainted our perceptions of who is actually homeless/needy, at least in my area.  We have them hit up our church, often the same female, same story, always asked straight away to see the pastor, very cunning.  And, yes, often they drive up in much newer cars than many of us drive, are dressed very well, etc.  Years ago the church developed a process, would listen to their stories (same ones: "just need five dollars to pay for a room for my baby and myself in the motel tonight", or "just need five dollars to put gas in my car to get to the bus station").  The policy was to give a same certain amount of cash to the person.  Word got out and they were at the door every day, so changed to gas cards, which we learned they would trade for cash at certain places.  Then developed some nice plastic containers with useful items (towelets, mints, sunscreen, coupons, etc.) members could give to the ones on the corner holding signs (which make me mad as they do it at really busy corners, a safety issue in my mind but city govt says they have "freedom of speech" to do this).  I handed out several, watched as the panhandler tossed them in the bushes. 

The same lady panhandler trailed the pastor to his home, showed up his door pretty much demanding money.  He had to tell her if she did it again he would call police.  She stopped coming to his home but still shows up at the church periodically. same stories.  Those are the ones who make folks hesitate to give panhandlers.  

There is a passage in the Gospel of Luke (can't cite it at this moment) where he said "If a man asks you for money give it to him and don't expect anything in return."  So I packed some stacks of dollar bills to give one or two when approached, vowed to obey this, not worry whether they had actual need or not.  However the panhandlers have become so bold they wave me off..."thats no good."  In past years at least they'd say "Thank you, God bless", something like that. 

I was in Walmart and came upon a really pitiful looking man in a wheelchair trying to tie his shoe.  I asked if I could help him with it.  He said "I'm trying to get enough money to buy a pair of shoes."  I dug in my purse and extended to him a $10 bill.  He waved me off and in an ugly tone said "That's not enough to help me" as he rolled away...declined my $10 bill!!!

Actually, I've never seen a charity with the title of "Homeless."  I think most people struggle with the notion of whether to give to a panhandler, as they might actually be needy.  Everyone has to decide for themselves, give to anyone who asks (as in Luke) or give none.  Best is to give to Goodwill, Salvation Army, Women's Shelter, those legitimate organizations where your money will go to legitmate use, as they also are very aware of scammers and screen their 'clients' pretty well.  Then some say "But the money goes for administrative costs."  Yes, because in order for those orgs to function there ARE administrative costs in order to do the greatest good for the most and the legit.

Rant over....sorry.

Candy

    I don't consider what you say as being a "rant". You have spoken truthfully of the harsh reality of the issue of trying to help those who really are in need, while knowing that some of those you try to help do not need help - they just scam. The unfortunate thing is that those who really do need help are grouped with these scammers because of how the scammers present theirselves - as being homeless. The real question is, in my mind, how can the homeless problem be solved? Countries across the world deal with this issus and have for seemingly eons. There is no simple solution, for if there was, every nation would be utilizing it. 

For literally millenia, anecdotes of people "scamming" charitable organizations have been used as excuses to not help anyone at all. We're going to make one of two mistakes no matter what: help some people who don't really need it, or not help some people who do really need it.

I prefer the former, because it's not as harmful as the latter.

The compassionate way to deal with this question is to simply say that helping some people who don't really need it is an acceptable cost of making sure that everyone who truly needs help gets it.

In a poor society, we might truly have to ration charity. But us? Jesus, we throw away more food and goods than all our poor could possibly consume. We can afford to be "overly" generous.

Depending on the survey, 40 to 65 percent of the homeless are addicts or alchoholics. The reality is that these people are severely lacking in personal hygene. Another reality is that I see only those homeless that are substance abusers or mentally impaired. They're the ones sleeping on the sidewalks and making the tent cities where the filth is horrible. If there are homeless people that aren't mentally impaired and are only needing a compassionate helping hand to get their lives back on track, where are they? The substance abusers will never get my compassion. The ones in line at the slot club at Caesars were of the substance abusing kind. If you have to ask how I knew them to be abusers, then your ignorance of the matter is obviously prejudicial. You seem to think of them as subhuman. Why? I'm not speaking out of ignorance. My bias against the drug addicted and or alcoholic homeless people is from my own life experience.

I was homeless at age 28 due to drugs and alcohol. Luckily, I had good enough friends that allowed me to stay clean and eat with them. I learned right then and there that I didn't like being homeless. I turned my life around and was able to retire at 56 and have only held a job as a poll worker since. I'm now 73. I would have retired at 55, but our daughter wanted to come home and finish college. So, yes indeed, I'm prejudiced against people being homeless due to alcohol abuse and drug addiction. I believe that Narcan should be illegal.

Taking an observation at Caesars and turning it into a personal attack is always your omnipresent modus operandi. You just can't help yourself and overcome your propensity for taking over another persons thread, even when you look like a pompous fool most times. Your filthy rhetoric while pontificating on matters that others bring to a forum are just plain tiresome. The fact that you lie so often relegates you to irrelevancy. I beg everyones forgiveness for having responded to this total jerk and his pitiful cry for help.

Now to get back to the original thread. Seeing the homeless at one of the most upscale casinos was, to say the least, interesting.

Wow, being a Trumper sure makes one a nasty person. As well as someone utterly lacking in compassion and who thinks that because they've overcome a problem, anyone who isn't able to overcome a similar problem is inferior.

I'm done here--I realize the futility of arguing against ideology and this is off-topic anyway. I'm glad those filthy homeless people were there to amuse you.

 Lewis - I believe - as shown here - that you have cornered the market as " a nasty person". And in case you don't remember, YOU are the one who took the original post "off topic".

I voted for Clinton and Biden, not that I owe you that. I believe that Trump is guilty of a felony and won't be able to run again. You're falling back to everyone that calls you out is a Trumper. That's one of the main reasons you have no credibility. Why do you always ascribe words to people that don't ever say them. I certainly don't believe me to be either inferior or superior to anyone, but you have to say the lie to make yourself feel more adequate. You were done when you hijacked this thread and looked the pompous fool that you are.

  I am curious - what felony do you think that President Trump is guilty of?  I am not here to argue, I am just curious. Thanks