[Paridel]

Actually I'm not skeptical at all. Check out this other recent thread:

Teen Accused Of Paying Homeless Man $5 To Drink Cleaning Solution http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1541773/posts

It's also linked on the front page of drudge right now.

Here in Austin we have been having a problem recently with something called bum fights. People were paying the homeless to beat each other up and filming it (so they could sell the videos on the Internet). The police eventually got called in as it escalated to paying them to do really dangerous activities; if I remember right one homeless man was paid to walk across the outside rail of a major highway overpass.

Just because some homeless advocate groups go a little overboard in their descriptions of the plight of the homeless doesn't mean that that plight doesn't exist.

This is also a little off topic, but I'm starting to hear more "conservatives" recently talk as if we have no societal responsibility to reach out to individuals like this. I believe we do... I just believe it should be by private individuals, organizations, or the local government.

That is why this whole incident, and responses such as post #5, scare me so much.

Those "people" are a nusience. (sic) They're scum. I can fully understand why no one would care.

How are we to argue against the federal government stepping in if private citizens don't step up?

-paridel

[Stoat]

How are we to argue against the federal government stepping in if private citizens don't step up?

I agree with your post 100%.....first of all, anyone who is skeptical of a story like this being true has simply not met a very wide range of people.  People can be breathtakingly heartless when given a chance, in large measure because many have come to expect "the government " to do EVERYTHING for them.

This is also a little off topic, but I'm starting to hear more "conservatives" recently talk as if we have no societal responsibility to reach out to individuals like this. I believe we do... I just believe it should be by private individuals, organizations, or the local government.

Please don't be concerned...I'm not a "stay on topic" Fascist.  It's one thing to be a supporter of the concept of a lean, waste-free government and it's quite another to turn your back on a human being WHO IS ON FIRE, right in front of you....

Let's not forget also that before the Welfare State, Churches did a fine job of helping those in need.  We can thank the ACLU and groups like them not only for creating the homeless problem in large measure because they made it incredibly difficult to give these people the medical care that they need, but also for preventing us from having the very best solutions for dealing with it properly, what with all of the 'separation of Church and State' stuff.  I would be delighted to give churches and other religious organizations mammoth tax incentives and direct aid while getting the Government out of direct care for the homeless....I'll bet we would see a precipitous reduction in homelessness as well as a dramatic overall improvement in the quality of life in numerous other areas of society.