Triage

When it isn't trying to bring Arizona to its knees with an economic boycott over its law on illegal aliens, Bloomington spends a lot of time worrying about its own downtrodden. A task force wants to do a better job of providing year-round shelter for the city's homeless, and the definition of that condition is quite expansive:

Task force member Jim Riley says the city lacks a weekend day shelter and a permanent, year-round shelter that accepts people who are using alcohol or drugs and those who don't wish to sign up for some sort of case management program.

As a veteran, my service experience and other factors put me in the lowest-ranking category (I think there are five or six) of those qualifying for certain benefits. If money gets tight, I'd be among the first to be cut off. I can live with that -- such financial triage has always made sense to me. Advocates such as those in Bloomington need to think more along those lines. If money is available, fine, treat all comers. But when it gets tight, those who insist on continuing to drink or use drugs, and don't want to even try to deal with it, have to be the first ones cut off. Otherwise, whatever support there is in the community for compassionate outreach will dry up.