An indiscriminate use of the term "homeless" is in this headline from Evansville: Homeless couple arrested after knife fight:
After being treated at the Deaconess Emergency Room, Robin Wheeler, 29, and Wesley Altice, 22, were arrested. They told deputies that they came to Evansville from Chattanooga, Tenn., on a freight train and that they go from town-to-town "flying a sign" (panhandling) for a few days and then leaving. They said they had drunk beer and wine at their tent in the woods behind Walmart when they started to argue.
They aren't "homeless." They're drunken bums.
And I know you won't really know it's the Christmas season until you read a story about the homeless in which we are lectured that Joseph and Mary were homeless when they went to Bethlehem. Here you are, then, from the Star-Ledger of New Jersey:
Two people dressed up as the biblical figures along with clergy members and housing advocates staged a protest on the Statehouse steps, calling for more affordable housing and help for the homeless. They were rebuffed, however, at the transition office of Gov.-elect Chris Christie.
"The same thing that was happening to Mary and Joseph over 2,000 years ago is happening to many families in New Jersey today," said Adam Gordon, a staff attorney from the Fair Share Housing Center.
"They're looking for a place to live, they're looking for a room at the inn and they're being turned away. And you have towns like the town of Bethlehem in New Jersey that are doing things to stop people like Mary and Joseph from coming to live there," he said.
Merry Christmas!
Comments
Leo:
To be "fair", Mary & Joseph weren't really homeless in the traditional sense...they were just "in town" for the census.
Kinda like a pilgrimage for TAXES...
But I agree with you about THESE folks...they are BUMS.
What is meant to be affordable is considered "free" by those with nothing but a sense of entitlement.
But, it's not that all these government programs have been doing that for several generations...
Oh, wait...they have.
(who knew?)
Well, Bob, the census thing is nonsense. Nobody has ever had to return to the home of his seventh-great grandfather for a census. Furthermore, only one of the four gospels mentions it.
Also, only one gospel mentions the whole "no room at the inn" and "born in a manger" thing. None mentions three kings.
The Bible gives three towns - Bethlehem, Galilee and Nazereth - as Jesus' birthplace. Take your pick.
And, speaking of Christmas, the Bible nowhere mentions what day, month, season or year Jesus was born in. It's just a coincidence that Dec. 25 was the winter solstice on the Roman calendar of the day, and people were already celebrating.
Happy solstice, everyone!
And no, my skepticism about the historical accuracy of the whole Jesus thing won't stop me from enjoying the holiday. My in-laws will do that.
Littlejohn, what do you do for fun on Easter, take a couple of live rabbits to a park with kids having an easter egg hunt and do a "bunny stomp" in front of them? Or are you more traditional and just find a Church close to home you can hang out in front of and jeer at the parishioners?
By the way, in your opinion, is Allah as big a fraud as Jesus? just curious.
-room at the INN...(not a house, BUT a "bread and breakfast" if you will)
-They had a manger in the STABLE, because garages were waiting for CARS to be invented so they could be built.
-travelling to a town to be taxed...sounds like a "head-count" to me...ergo, a CENSUS.
-the four gospels are not just 4 guys telling the SAME story - they tell 4 "interpretations" of the same story.
(interpretations...what nowadays causes liberals to never see the truth...get it NOW?)
Cripes, talking to a 4 year old nets better results...they've at least got a head on their shoulders.
MERRY CHRISTMAS, all you solstice-loving heathens.
:)
Bob, my deluded friend, I appreciate your good wishes. Honest. I hope you enjoy the holiday as much as I plan to.
And Tim, I'm confused. I'm an atheist, not a Muslim. Of course I don't believe in Allah. It's just Arabic for "god."
Oh, I get it. I'm supposed to be afraid to offend Muslims. They're all terrorists, you know. I'll take my chances.
Now Buddha, there's one fat guy (who very likely didn't exist)!
But 'tis the season, and I hereby put all sectarian debate aside and insist everyone have a good time. Let it snow! Well, this is Fort Wayne - Let it sleet and form a giant sheet of ice that lasts for the next three months! And bring on the damn global warming. We need it.
Before you know it, it'll be Easter and I'll be poisoning eggs for the neighborhood children to find!
Wrong on BOTH counts...NOT deluded...and definitely NOT a "friend".
Try again.
:)