Panhandling, Part 94
“We not beggars, we just asking for what we want!”
“It’s not about money. It’s about opening your heart and letting the river of life run through.
“My name is Tony Carter and I’m just a child of god.”
Right now, the City Council is taking comments from the public before it votes on the panhandling ordinance. The comments quoted above are gems from the last 20 minutes or so. I’m listening to it live at http://www.atlantaga.gov/ (click on the Watch Channel 26 link to enjoy it yourself).
If you enjoy listening to passionately opinionated people talking absolute nonsense, I recommend tuning in now. I wouldn’t be surprised if Damon Wayans walks up with a potato and a jar of urine.
Wow, I know homeless people say some crazy stuff, but this kind of mockery of the less fortunate on a forum like the Metblog really warms the cockles of my liberal little heart. If a Young Dems event never makes the column-inches of Scene & Herd under my watch, I’ll die a happy man.
I get it.
A good liberal is supposed to check someone’s bank balance before expressing a negative opinion about them.
A good liberal is supposed to watch someone shoot himself in the foot and then pat him on the back and say “good shot.”
A good liberal is supposed to bristle when Republicans mindlessly invoke God to score political points, but cheer when everybody else does it.
A good liberal knows that “homeless people say some crazy stuff,” but acts offended when someone else expresses the same thought out loud.
And I’m supposed to be upset that you don’t want me at your meetings?
Not quite. A good person just might recognize that a goofy sounding turn of phrase might be a product of the same drug, alcohol, or mental issues that often lead to homelessness of the first place. If that guy was playing the God card for political purposes, it might’ve had something to with him begging for his survival.
Strange that asking for the right to panhandle is shooting oneself in the foot, considering we just heard in this very blog your letter from a homeless man telling us just how over-hyped some of the other services available are. Or maybe you’re just referring to the fact that if he’s homeless, he probably deserves it.