Are Landlords and Politicians Contributing to Homelessness?

The first great wave of homelessness inarguable occurred during the 1930s. Fueled by a combination of economic collapse and climatic disaster, millions abandoned their homes and lands in the American mid-west, fleeing to the west coast or east of the Mississippi. This mass migration overflowed communities already suffering the effects of economic collapse. Homeless shelters, operated much as they are today, were filled beyond acceptable limits. Families bunked refugee relatives commonly to twice their normal household capacity. Massive tent cities (dubbed Hoovervilles) sprang up in city parks and vacant lands in almost every city of the United States.

Fast forward to our modern society. We are at present suffering the second worst economic crisis in the past 100 years. Yet the survival tactics used in the 1930s are no longer there to catch the economic refugees of the United States. Homeless shelters have become the target of perpetual attack from neighboring residents and businesses, attempting to either shut them down as nuisances or to banish them to the most remote and inhospitable regions of the community. Landlords typically include clauses in apartment and house leases demanding to know exactly who is living in each residence and (frequently) proof that each adult residence qualifies financially to live in the residence (at a time when record numbers of citizens are out of work due to the economy). Politicians seem to be tripping over each other in their rush to ban outdoor camping from their communities to stem the potential of modern day Hoovervilles developing. Hand-in-hand with this are frequent raids of homeless encampments with police throwing personal belongings in trash dumpsters and in some cases slicing tents and sleeping bags, making them useless to the homeless.

Has our society truly become so cruel? Even attempts to protest these conditions have been met with animosity and violence from city officials and, sadly, the police departments charged with keeping citizens safe. Our cities are no longer safe, not because of crime rates or pollution (though those issues are still a problem) but because of the unconstitutional attacks executed under color of law. I leave these facts for you to ponder, along with a single question ...

... is this the America we want to leave to our children and grand-children?

Justice for Trayvon!

Interesting ... going over the news reports and posted audio files of the Martin-Zimmerman situation at the moment. I'm not liking what I am thinking.

Zimmerman was supposedly on neighborhood patrol and spotted Trayvon Martin walking through an apartment complex. Zimmerman called 911 to report this as he was following Trayvon. Trayvon, by Zimmerman's own words, started running away after noticing he was being followed by Zimmerman. Zimmerman was told by police NOT to pursue. He was suppose to wait by the mailboxes of the complex for a patrol car. This was at this point in time that, according to Trayvon's girlfriend, Trayvon was on the phone with her saying he was being followed and heard the confrontation starting between Trayvon and Zimmerman before the phone went dead. In another 911 call (from a female resident of the complex), you can hear a young male voice in the background screaming for help, then a gunshot.

$100 says when the tapes are evaluated, the one screaming for help was Trayvon and not Zimmerman. This audio needs to be compared to Zimmerman's voice and (if available) a recording of Trayvon's to determine who was screaming for help. At very least, this will force a full investigation into this incident instead of the sloppy mess we have witnessed over the past month. If the voice is Zimmerman calling for help, that would support his claim of self defense. If not, Zimmerman needs to be arrested and charged with murder and the police officers who failed to conduct a proper investigation need to be seriously disciplined for dereliction of duty.

God's Criminals

In recent months there have been many examples of Muslims taking offense at the writings of western journalists and the words of western religious and political leaders. In many of these incidents, the words and writings were taken out of context, or worse, were true about a portion of Islamic extremists, but not about Islam in general.

Our conflict is not Christian versus Muslim. It is not the United States against Iraq, Iran, Syria, etc. Our conflict is against those who use Islam and, in total honesty, Christianity as excuses by claiming they are doing Allah's/God's work by committing violence, murder, and terrorism. Yes, I said it, Christianity has blood on its hands as well.

I will not go into a discourse of examples standing against either Islam or Christianity. It is unnecessary and a complete waste of time. We both know what crimes I speak of. And they must stop immediately.

If we are to establish peace on Earth, a goal Islam and Christianity both claim to embody by their claims of being peaceful religions, then we must join forces against those who commit heresy and blasphemy in the name of our creator by claiming that their actions are his work. By not fighting against this together, we become accomplices to these very crimes. The blood of innocent victims stains our hands as much as the murder's and terrorist's.

If someone speaks true insults against us (Muslim or Christian), do not prove them right with a violent response, least they use that to justify escalating the incident against us or using our conduct as proof of their idiocy.

If there are Islamic and Christian communities near one another, do not tolerate violence against each other, let the criminals suffer the appropriate consequences for their crimes, regardless of them being Muslim or Christian claimants.

There is no need for us to protect them, just because they claim, blasphemously, to be doing Allah's, or Christ's, work.