Mugabe strikes again...

[Troubleshooter]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4651603.stm

...snip...

The shanty town demolitions have left 200,000 people homeless, the UN says.

Operation Murambatsvina [Drive Out Rubbish] has been condemned by teachers, doctors, church groups, the UN and the opposition.

At the weekend, Methodist bishops from Southern Africa warned of a potential genocide.

Mr Mugabe says the six-week operation is aimed at ridding urban areas of criminals.

...more...

[xoxoxoBruce]

I've been seeing pictures of this for weeks. Some of the "shantys" they've torn down looked like they were built pretty well. Some were even concrete.

Why go all the way to South Africa when you can have fun in your own back yard? Here's a sample report from one of many US cities, this one being San Diego:

In August of 2003, it was reported that the Downtown San Diego Partnership and other groups have "turned their focus to making sure the homeless don’t interfere with local businesses and their customers." The partnership performs "welfare and wake-up" checks to keep people experiencing homelessness out of storefronts.

In October of 2004, Larry Milligan, a longtime activist for homeless people, asked the City Council to create a "safe site" on city-owned property, where homeless people could bed down in an area patrolled by police.

Milligan also asked the Council to order police officers to stop ticketing homeless people for sleeping in public when there are not enough shelter beds available for them. He said the tickets are making criminals of people for being homeless.

There are 2,019 shelter beds and 4,458 homeless people in the city, according to the Regional Task Force on the Homeless.

Milligan said he believes that in San Diego some homeless people are sleeping in more remote areas to avoid tickets.

Michael Zucchet, a member of the City Council and whose district includes downtown where many homeless people congregate and receive services, said he does not support a moratorium on illegal lodging tickets. He also does not support using city property as night camps

Figures from the Police Department show that 2,055 illegal lodging tickets have been issued through September of 2004, more than all of last year when 2,026 were written.

Assistant Police Chief Cheryl Meyers said the tickets are a way of "managing the homeless problem" when there are complaints from the public.

Police Executive Assistant Chief Bill Maheu added that illegal-lodging tickets are warranted when people are breaking the law. "Homelessnesss is not an excuse to commit crime," Maheu said.

John Thelen, project director of the Regional Task Force on the Homeless, said police officers have told him they try to avoid writing the illegal lodging tickets. "The problem is that there aren’t enough beds," Thelen said. "Even if you cite them for illegal lodging, where are they going to go?"

Deputy Public Defender Steve Binder said the tickets are unfair. Each ticket carries a fine of $135, which homeless people cannot afford.

"The need for emergency shelter beds or a safe zone is paramount for folks who are homeless in San Diego," said Binder, who founded a Homeless Court program to help homeless people resolve legal troubles. "The police are not bad guys. They’re being put in the middle of a very serious social problem."

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/crim...allcities.html

[Troubleshooter]

You and I both know that I'm not what you would call warm and fuzzy, or a member of the multi-culti movement, but while the two situation may be alike in name, they are so different in degree as to be a different animals entirely.

To say that bringing in the army to make a quarter million people instantly homeles by burning down perfectly good housing in some instances is the same a writing a guy a ticket for sleeping in the park is kind of dim.

Originally Posted by Troubleshooter

To say that bringing in the army to make a quarter million people instantly homeles by burning down perfectly good housing in some instances is the same a writing a guy a ticket for sleeping in the park is kind of dim.

Ah, TS, you still love me! Actually no, I was not comparing the actions of an army bent on genocide with the actions of the local police here in the US.

However, the problem here in the States is one we might be able to do something about. What is happening in South Africa is an outrage, but what can we do other than weep? The last I heard, they have no significant oil reserves, so I don't see the US calvary dashing off to the rescue of those people anytime soon, do you? Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Troubleshooter]

What's happening here in america is a complex issure that includes drug addiction, mental disorders, lazy people, politicians, and so on.

The problem in Africa is pretty simple. Cut them off until they behave. As long as they suck at the international teat they have no incentive to modernize or lay off killing hundreds of thousands of their neighbors. And so on...

[wolf]

Interesting that knocking down the (black) shanty towns is cause for outrage, while nationalizing the property of (white) farmers barely causes folks to turn a hair.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2065074.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/2063202.stm
http://www.news.telegraph.co.uk/news.../29/wzim29.xml
http://www.rense.com/general66/brub.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programme...nt/1852133.stm

Thinking that ticketing the homeless is going to solve anything is more useless than pissing on a raging forest fire. A lot of the shelter beds go empty ... so do a lot of more permanent placements. There are a lot of what are called "intractable homeless" ... that means they want to stay living on the street, and don't want to or can't remain compliant with the often minimal requirements of these programs.

[Troubleshooter]

Hey, I bring up the farm thing repeatedly. Usually it's when somebody talks about how wonderful africa is. I then follow it up with the king of swaziland and his 12 wives and outlawed political parties and then wrap it up with somali gun burns and relief hijackings.

Originally Posted by wolf

Interesting that knocking down the (black) shanty towns is cause for outrage, while nationalizing the property of (white) farmers barely causes folks to turn a hair.

Wolf, I agree that the actions of a government which plays tricks to turn ANYONE out of their home should be deplored by both that government's citizens, as well as the international community. I think part of it may be in the entertainment value of the footage. After all, how much more riveting to see thousand of people turned from their homes on the nightly news. A group of widely scattered farmers climbing into their cars in places miles distant from one another and driving off just puts viewers to sleep or keeps them channel surfing. Thousands of people streaming out of concrete bunkers like ants sells Maloxx. A farm family climbing into a Range Rover doesn't. By the way, my Grandparents were deprived of their farm in a prime crop growing area in central Kentucky by the US government when it decided to build the Blue Grass Ordinance Depot on the their back 40. That didn't make the papers, either.

Originally Posted by Wolf

Thinking that ticketing the homeless is going to solve anything is more useless than pissing on a raging forest fire. A lot of the shelter beds go empty ... so do a lot of more permanent placements. There are a lot of what are called "intractable homeless" ... that means they want to stay living on the street, and don't want to or can't remain compliant with the often minimal requirements of these programs.

Ticketing the homeless is a foolish waste of your tax dollar. It gives the cops something to do and gives the homeless very expensive temporary shelter in jails. You are correct. Many beds in shelters do go empty - especially in summer and for good reason. All too many homeless shelters are an excellent place to get knifed, raped, or robbed of what ever few dollars you might have. The homeless are well aware of this problem and avoid the shelters. I imagine that living on the East Coast in a major metro area and working in your profession, that you DO see a large number of "intractable homeless." Its too bad that we can't provide some sort of treatment for these types that would allow them to participate as active members of society again. I know little about them and will differ to your far greater knowledge and experience with that particular segment of the homeless population.

Here in the Rocky Mountain West, all too many people who are homeless are often mothers and children seeking to escape abusive situations, migrant workers, and the disabled. There simply is no low income housing to speak of available out here. The Western states are very conservative and tight fisted when it comes to funding social programs. There is great human tragedy and waste in this outlook.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Right now we have a number of closed military bases that are already fenced. Round 'em up and put 'em there. Minimum manpower if the fences are electrified. :p

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Right now we have a number of closed military bases that are already fenced. Round 'em up and put 'em there. Minimum manpower if the fences are electrified. :p

Round who up? The farmers who once owned the land where the military bases now are?

Here's an interesting story about those closed military bases with electrified fences. I have come to be friends with a woman whose husband is E7, career, active duty, US Army. She tells me that when soldiers from Ft. Bragg get orders for the Middle East, they are shipped to a sort of holding area on base surrounded by, you guessed it, an electrified fence. She says the Army has become very concerned about soldiers with orders for Iraq going AWOL, and this is how it solves the problem.

The US has become overly fond of places surrounded by electrified fences if you ask me. What on earth was wrong with a nice tobacco farm other than a case of lung cancer here or there? It still beat Gulf War Syndrome.

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by wolf

Interesting that knocking down the (black) shanty towns is cause for outrage, while nationalizing the property of (white) farmers barely causes folks to turn a hair.

I believe that this practice is viewed as stealing back the land which was originally stolen from the native residents. I think that the failure to compensate the white landowners for the improvements to the formerly barren and unimproved property is currently being viewed as "tough shit for you, man, but thanks for making it worth stealing back."

[Troubleshooter]

Originally Posted by Elspode

"tough shit for you, man, but thanks for making it worth stealing back."

If that mentality is true then I'm glad the people are starving, because now the land lies fallow because they were too stoopid to realize that they didn't have the slightest clue how to run an even moderately mechanized farm.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Round who up?

Why all those homeless people of course. :p

She tells me that when soldiers from Ft. Bragg get orders for the Middle East, they are shipped to a sort of holding area on base surrounded by, you guessed it, an electrified fence. She says the Army has become very concerned about soldiers with orders for Iraq going AWOL, and this is how it solves the problem.

Is she aware that staging areas have always had increased security to keep anyone interfering with deployment. Damn hippie peaceniks.

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Is she aware that staging areas have always had increased security to keep anyone interfering with deployment. Damn hippie peaceniks.

Er, Bruce, I think that was another war. Remember?


Now and then: