i agree with kayner... on the surface, it sounds great. a city willing to spend money on the CHANCE that it would help someone or a family. the sad thing is, with the way today's americans seem to have less and less compassion and empathy, i can't help thinking that the city is in fact trying to "move their problem onto somebody else's doorstep". and that's kind of sad... that while accepting a helping hand, you have to watch for the sucker punch that might be coming.

Yeah - except this smacks of 'get them damm homeless outa my town'.

I love it. I know there are a lot of posters on the vine that would be more than willing to take these downtrodden individuals into their homes. Until you can tax all of the assets away from those that you define as the rich put your money where your mouth is and start letting these people into your homes. Just think of the example you would be setting.

"The insanity of capitalism must go". And your solution is....?

It is not capitalism that is at fault; it is society's attitude of "me" and I got mine. Government and laws can not change how people think towards those less fortunate then themselves. Only people can do that.

The insanity of capitalism must go!

Then what should replace it?

There are now 19 million vacant housing units in the country.

That is what happens when you don't pay your mortgage. Should they stay there with our paying their mortgage?

Millions of empty houses and millions of homeless.

How irrational is that?

Kinda reminds me of a certain despot who managed to get about 6 million people out of his country with a one way ticket. Promises made, promises broken.

It also reminds me of a household where there is a wafting aroma of bacon or ham frying up, and eggs being prepared and the angry shouts from within "How dare they to want to open a "Pig Farm" in our community.

But one must be reminded that only by the Grace of God, that they are not one of those that so despise. Fate and God have a fickle finger.

The reason there are so many vacant homes in this country - greed. Those greedy people that were hoping to cash in on the housing boom. Those greedy people that were living beyond their means.

marlen101917- why dont you move a bunch into YOUR house then? I'm sure you have room. You only need what, 400sq ft of personal space per person?

Its irrational because people OWN those homes and arent going to, shouldnt have to, and cant be made to just GIVE them to someone else. How about you "share" everything you own with all the homeless in your city? Let them live with you, drive your car, wear your clothes and eat your food.

It says something that the program is not being run by a non-profit social service organization like the Red Cross or Salvation Army, but by the local police department. THAT is what causes a lot of concern. This opens the program up to basically the same tactic that police departments around the country have been using for years: drive them to the city/county line and tell them if they come back they will go to jail.

Officers claim they don't have enough time to do their job already. Do we really think they are going to take the time to verify a residence someone is going to? Or is it much more likely they will take them to the bus station, buy the ticket and get them out of town asap?

Sounds nice on the surface, and I hope that it is. But it's worth noting that the most recent issue of AAA World Magazine has Fort Lauderdale on the cover with an article about how they're trying to up their image and get away from being known as a spring break party town. Makes one go "hmmm."

I also wonder what "proof" they will accept that the people applying for bus tickets actually have relations willing to take them in elsewhere.

Right On Florida !!! i hear that AFDC recipients are also routinely screened for drug & alcohol abuse there..America is getting WISE !!!,,,AFDC was meant for the CHILDREN, Not for Drug & Alcohol Abuse..i am a witness to that here in California..i have personally known people, that get their money 1st of the month, and are broke by the 8th/ 10th of the month..then they have gull to ask me for loans..the CHILDREN are left in Rags & Despair..ALL STATES should enact Florida's Law..Drugs & Alcohol Abuse would be CUT In Half..Decaying Values are Haunting this Country..RIGHT ON FLORIDA !!!!......ps; i feel the Alcohol Industry should Contribute Dearly for the Decaying of mental illness and vulnerability of the ignorant....

@ impatient girl:

Instead of having all the homeless move in with me (as you suggest), how about we demand that the rich and corporations (who have seen a net increase of 45% in their wealth in the last few years) pay a bit more in taxes so we can pay for some social programs to get these homeless off the streets and back to work.

I already have a family living downstairs who lost their home. How about you?

@Marlen

Here is the problem with your idea. I pay for my own housing (I rent). If there is free housing available, why would I continue paying for it?

I stop paying my rent and move into one of those free homes. My landlord has now lost his income stream and realizes he could save money by moving into a free home, so he stops paying his mortgage and moves into one of those.

Now the bank is out a bunch of money from his mortgage so, to cut costs, they lay off a bunch of people who normally handled the mortgage payments.

Those people, now unemployed and short on money, stop paying their rent/mortgage and move into a free home. Now their landlords/banks are out money and the cycle continues.

Do you see why this would become an issue?

Most family won't tolerate the homeless in their house. You think its just the bus ticket that is stopping them, if they can afford to house them a few more dollars for a bus ticket is not the difference.

I know one homeless person who could go live with a relative at anytime with one big condition he has to stop his drug and alcohol abuse. Guess what he CHOOSES to live on the street and spend the little disability check he gets on drugs and alcohol.

"It says something that the program is not being run by a non-profit social service organization like the Red Cross or Salvation Army, but by the local police department."

I wonder what will be suggested after the officer provides a "vagrant" with his single phone call.

Marlen...

Instead of having all the homeless move in with me (as you suggest), how about we demand that the rich and corporations (who have seen a net increase of 45% in their wealth in the last few years) pay a bit more in taxes so we can pay for some social programs to get these homeless off the streets and back to work.

_______

Don't you mean so "THEY can pay form some social programs (inefficient and already too redundant)..."

Again, with the "tax him, not me" philosophy!!!!

@Scubasteve58001

Exactly...what we have now are more people getting "free" stuff...and there are less people working to PAY for the "free" stuff.

The super rich and corporations got that way because they have the best lawyers that know how to find even the tightest of loopholes in tax laws. No one on this thread...least of all the OWS people...are going to change that.

The only change that we can all make happen: If you have extra...give what you can. If you are need...try harder. Jobs are out there. Remember - even those "demeaning" jobs (which I've recently had to settle for) still put more food on the table than your pocket lint.

My problem is with "SOME social programs" !!!

SOME ??? How many 'social programs' are we already paying for now ??? Can we expect that the need for more and more will ever stop...or even slow down ???

The governor in my state is now proposing putting 3 and 4 year urban children into city school systems to try to get them a better start on their educations...which they are failing at now. And that's primarily because they were born to teenage girls, who never made it successfully through school either. A continuing downward spiral that we have spent billions of dollars on...and surely could make it into the "SOME social programs" category. With all the money spent, why does the problem continue to grow ???

I refuse to be told that this country simply does not do enough to help the less fortunate...there is social program after social program that run forever whether they work or not and the tab keeps growing. And the problems seem to never improve.

Over and over we are told that we just don't do enough to help...yet we are spending buckets of billions on barrels of special programs that rarely seem to live up to the promises made when the programs are formed and we are handed the bill.

@Renee

I was pointing out the issues with the specific idea put forward by Marlen above, that homeless people be given the empty houses to live in.

I have no problem with the current shelter situation for the same reasons you stated above. Basically the current shelters suck so much that only people who had no other option would choose to live there.

I don't want people to starve or die of exposure, but if the government was to start supplying a comfortable living to anyone and everyone, the entire rewards based structure of our society collapses.

If you can live a decent life without having to work for it, why would anyone choose to work?

Capitalism isn't perfect (not even close in fact) but it does work a whole lot better than most other economic systems I can think of.

Well looks like they can't deal with the fact that if you're homeless you might as well be homeless where the weather is good and the drugs are cheap and plentiful.

I agree wholeheartedly with Kayner's post.

Provided that the motivation for this program is precisely as stated and it is not just a cynical move to simply shunt the problem of homelessness onto someone else's doorstep, then I think this is an entirely laudable move by Fort Lauderdale - a classical win-win scenario.

Eamonn, Dublin, Ireland.

marlen - it's not irrational whatsoever that there are millions of empty homes and millions of homeless. It costs money, a LOT of money to buy and maintain a home. There's insurance, property taxes, etc. etc. etc. Who exactly is going to pay for all that? You?

And you can't just give away homes to people. What does that do to all the people who PAID for their homes? Are you prepared to reimburse me for my losses when my home becomes completely worthless because anyone can just go and get themselves a FREE home?

This sounds like a great program. Yes, they may be doing it for the cities image, but even if that is the case, it sounds like a win for both the homeless and the city.

grilled...

You know.....there are a lot of grocery stores with food on the shelves and in the coolers, but they lock the doors and close the stores every night while that food is just sitting there and not doing anything...while it could be providing some folks with a lot of meals and midnight snacks.

Maybe the people moving into houses they don't have to pay for could fill their cabinets with all that food that's just sitting there night after night.

And don't get me started on all the new cars sitting in car dealer's lots...doing nothing day after day...when they could be very helpful for those who don't own a car of their own.

Greed was caused by the Federal Reserve forcing interest rates down by creating trillion$ of new dollars out of nothing. If your going to make this a moral issue, place the blame where it belongs.

Blaming GREED tends to be about blaming free market players for the sins of the STATE.

Here's a very simple question. If someone were homeless and living on the streets of ANY city, and they knew that relatives would take them in if they called... and they WANTED to get off of the streets and live with family, wouldn't you think they'd already have called for a bus ticket?

Look out L.A. here comes all of those "long lost cousins!" because you know they're not going to leave South Florida for Minnesota or North Dakota.

I can hear it now. "You must be kidding they are the reason I left San Francisco!" " Greyhound? 3,000 miles on a smelly bus? No way man I want a cabin on a cruise ship that will take me through the Panama Canal than then on to San Francisco, no wait a minute, I wanta a cruise ship that goes around South America and then onto San Francisco."

I think it is a way for Fort Lauderdale to get rid of their homeless and make them another state's problem.

Did you read the article or just the misleading headline?

Most are not drug addicted, alcoholics, or mentally ill. The majority lost their jobs and their homes because of some Politician's failure to enact Laws to stop what happened. Unemployment is the keystone problem nationwide, today, tomorrow, and maybe so for years. Just consider yourself lucky to have resources and/or employment for now. Tomorrow is another day and fate is mighty fickle.

PS: Imagine the tens of thousands that will not have a job shortly: USPS workers, and those discharged soon from the military, and all of those temporary workers hired for the Holiday Season. Many of those will be joining the unemployed lines.

The mayor and chief of police can say the program is for whatever "purpose" they want, but the structure of the program is what gives away it's true intent. Very few homeless people are going to approach law enforcement to "voluntarily" take advantage of the program. That leaves law enforcement approaching THEM. Police officers aren't known for their compassionate interactions with homeless, which means the program is most likely going to be presented as a "you're going to do this" rather then a "do you want to do this".

If the families already had that capability of taking care of the homeless, then why are they homeless? Did anyone else question that "qualification" of the program??? I don't think it is just the cost of a bus ticket that is preventing someone from "returning home." As the quoted second paragraph states, many of these people went there looking for work to replace lost jobs back home.

"We're not pushing them out," Fort Lauderdale Mayor Jack Seiler said. "If somebody has a network of support, a group of family and friends that will provide for them back home, that's probably a good place for them to be."

Some of those in shelters moved to Fort Lauderdale thinking they would find a job and then ran out of money before getting hired, Marilyn Munoz, executive director of Palm Beach County’s Homeless Coalition, told msnbc.com. This program targets those such people, she said.

“This is definitely not a way to get people who are homeless out of Palm Beach County; this is just a way to get people back home,” she said. “If they have relatives, this helps them out. That all it is: It’s help. It’s very expensive to purchase a bus ticket.”

Maybe the cynics are right; however, I have volunteered in a place that would give young women with unexpected pregnancies who feared they might be in danger or had been kicked out of their homes bus fare to other places if they needed it in order to have a safe place to stay. We were entirely non-profit and not connected to law enforcement in any way. Our only concern was that our clients have a safe place to sleep. We were not shoving anyone away from the area; obviously we only worked with those who came to us. We didn't even take the extra step of verifying that our client actually had someone waiting at the other end-we just gave them cash. Isn't it possible for even law enforcement to care enough about people that they would not want them to sleep on the streets night after night? If these law enforcement officials are taking money out of one of their own funds (as opposed to, say, taxpayer money), then why would they be going after people trying to spend it? Doesn't it make more sense that they would indeed limit it to those who came to them? When did this country become so cynical that no one can believe that anyone would actually do anything out of any sort of good motives?

I agree, I hate to see a beautiful city like Homestead, Florida get run over by poor people from out of state.

Merry Christmas Everybody!

I wouldn't go to Detroit even if I wasn't homeless.

If I were homeless and it was the middle of summer, I wouldn't leave Florida for Detroit or Cleveland.

Moving to Detroit or Cleveland would never be an option.

So - it is a free country - they can be homeless in any state they so desire.

So where do Florda's derelicts go? Cuba?

Sure they can, and in this free country Florida can do their best to get them to leave without really "forcing" them out. This program may be sugar coated but the goal is to get bums out of the state.

I agree with Kayner in post 1. This is a great idea to help homeless people and play a part in the solution to stop homelessness as much as we can.

Fawn, agree 100%.

I must make a comment to those self-proclaimed "Christians" in every town and in every State in this Nation. ACTUALLY open your BIBLE and read the Teachings of Jesus and his Disciples, Matthew and Luke. You should heed their words much more than those who preach "Hate and Damnation" from the Old Testament. Heed their words lest you suffer as a result (In the Bible).

Like THAT'S going to happen.

Agreed, cherokee but what are your thoughts specifically regarding this program??? This is a real help and provides for those who would like to get back to their families.

Yeah, sure, they can go to Pioneer Square located at the center of Seattle and be with the numerous homeless already there.

For those of you that have never been to the Seattle area all I want to say is the Pacific Northwest experience isn't all it's cracked-up to be. Relocated here from the New York Tri-State area and believe me ...these people up here are effing CRAZY!! When taking into consideration where I'm came from, that's an observation you can trust.

Might as well pick Seattle and see the country.

I would pick a nice place in the mid-west that is drilling for oil and needs workers to fill jobs. However I will never be unemployed.

However I will never be unemployed.

As if it's a choice.

@Team Captain - you are welcome to leave the Pacific Northwest and go back to where you came from, nobody is forcing you to stay here. "I'm came from" sure gives trust in your observation to us crazy people.

duallydave, I'm sure you never made a typo error in anything you wrote. Good for you.

Also, thanks for not disappointing me with a response I knew I would get from one of you passive-aggressive schmucks from Seattle. The problem is that most of you think you're special; but believe me pal, there are a lot more ass-holes out here than back in New York.

As if it's a choice.

It is absolutely positively a choice to be unemployed. Do not confuse "can't find a job" with "can't find a job that I'm not too good for"...

If someone "wants" to work, there are jobs out there. May not be what you want, but they are there.

Wow, Mike757 a choice huh? You don't get out much do you, get nose bleeds from the floor your on?

Of course it is a choice. I always have an employer. That employer is me. People who think they can only work as someone else aren't too bright.

You see I'm an Auto technician. My Job is a off shoot from the black smiths who first took looks at the early cars and fixed them. When the hose mode of transportation died out the black smith moved onto fixing cars. It is called career evolution you always have to look for it. The old grease monkey days are over that breed of technician is over lost in the "good old days" To day we are in such high demand that it just takes hours to find a job. When you don't have a job your job is to find one that pays. My wife is in the army so we move a lot every employer has asked my to divorce my wife to come back and work for them. They have called me up years latter asking if I'm coming back in the area. in the previous move I went from DC to an employment area of 10.5% It took me in May 2009 just 4 hours to get three job offers and that includes an hour commute (we did not have a place to live yet and I had a late start because I could not find my wallet that day). In June of this year We moved again and it took me an hour and I didn't even have my tools we had only been their for four days and wouldn't have tools for another month. we didn't have child care or a place to live.

@Peg, give me your location and I'll find you a job in five minutes. Unfortunately though, I can't guarantee it will be a job that doesn't require hard work or off hours. So you may end up turning it down like a lot of other unemployed Americans would.

Then why not call it for what it is, forced relocation. Why does Ft. Lauderdale need to act in a deceiving fashion by insisting the are "helping" people. If they want to remove any doubt as to their true intentions, just come right out and tell the truth.

Again - it is a free country - they can be homeless in any state they so desire.

To chuckzul -- I didn't see anywhere in the article where they stated it was a "forced relocation" nor did I get the impression there was deceit involved. "To qualify, participants must prove they have family in their destination city who is willing to let them move in." .... these people are being screened and must be approved.

Not sure I follow your thinking!

Chuckzul- I didn't read anything about 'force'.

I hope it is not juvenile, but I think most of the homeless do not WANT to work. There are few churches in the world that do not have food and shelter possibilities for these needy (food) and human necessities. However, many shelters and Christian Assistance Ministries now have computer data on most of the recipients. Too many visits will get you "on the list." Rule number one, never just hand out cash. If you give them money for food, take them to the restaurant. If you give them money for a night's sleep in a motel (if you can find one) go with them for the registration. Sounds cruel but self-responsibility is a desired commodity on our parts and theirs.

As we all know, "poor" and "derelict" are two entirely different stances.

MAKE it a LAW that ONLY natural born Floridians can live in Florida. That should make the Seminole Indians very happy. No more worries from Non-Floridians. PS: Be careful what you say and what you wish for. It may come back to haunt you.

"It's obvious the city is trying to decrease the homeless population, but why is that a bad thing?"

I can't see how bus tickets decrease the population. Move it? Maybe.

". . . $25,000 program . . . To qualify, participants must prove . . ."

How much city manpower is $25,000 going to buy for the "qualify" part?

" . . . financed not by taxpayers but by . . . money confiscated from criminals . . ."

Since they don't have the money for current needs, what difference does that make?

Since when have you liberals actually WANTED govt assistance programs to be 100% successful? Welfare abuse...you don't care; medicaid abuse...you don't care...you don't want entitlement reform to reduce the waste...you just want higher taxes on OTHER PEOPLE so you can continue to waste money on inefficient, redundant programs. Also, as has been said, this is NOT FORCED! The article states that in order to quality... in other words, people have to have the desire and make positive steps to utilize this service. They are not being rounded up in the streets in the middle of the night.

"There is still the right of free movement between states. If the homeless wish to spend winters in the South and summers in the North, then as citizens of this country they can do that provided they obey the laws."

That may NOT be so within the near future. Be extremely vigil about who you vote for. There is an extremest movement afoot that will change your Rights to just about everything. Keep abreast of all Candidates by doing actual research. That is until that right vanishes along with the others.

PS: Those new State Laws affecting illegal emigrants may be re-written to affect many more. Perhaps even you. STATE'S Rights is the keyword here.

While you make a point which is probably valid in some cases, there are a lot of families with homeless members who just took off. These families may be willing to send a bus ticket if they knew where the homeless person was. In the mean time, I think this city is trying to do something constructive for both the homeless individual and for the city. There is nothing wrong with that that I can see. I think cynicism is joining paranoia as the most popular personality traits of Americans.

Nice. I just have two question. If that person was willing to exchange the comfort of his/her family home for a homeless shelter, what is the likelihood of them wanting to go back? Also, how will the city officials get that person to tell them where he/she originally came (or should I say run away) from so they can contact the family?

Now, who here believes that a family willing and able to support a homeless relative wouldn't be able to send him/her $50 (or less) to buy a bus ticket from this fine city of Fort Lauderdale?

Where would they send it? Homeless people don't have an address. Makes it hard to receive mail or apply for a job.

$50(or less) to buy a bus ticket

It's obvious you haven't bought a bus ticket lately. A couple of years ago a friend came to visit from Denver. He travelled by bus so he could see some of the country. The ticket cost nearly as much as a plane ticket (<$15 difference). The flight would have taken ~1.5 hours, the bus took over 9 hours.

the thinker, my sincere apologies for not quoting every possible destination in the United States, Canada, Mexico or wherever else Grayhound goes. Yes, you are right. A bus ride from Florida to for example California would definitely cost more than $50. I would imagine that Alaska would be even more than that.

the thinker-318752: 9 hours? That bus was literally flying. Average speed way, way more than allowed by Law and way more than the bus could handle. Atlanta to Ft. Lauderdale about that time, sightly above legal.

Just did a quick search on the grayhound bus website. Ft. Lauderdale to Brunswick, GA (barely over the FL border) is $90. To go across the country can be over $250.

A family member may not have the cash available to buy the ticket, but may be willing to offer a couch to sleep on, a shower to use, meals, and an address and phone number to use on job applications.

Hhahhhahaha, great post!

Wow. We could have an interstate game of roundrobin. The homeless could see all parts of America.

Seriously, though, who'll be making the decisions on who goes & who doesn't? It sounds like it'd be awfully easy to get a half-addled druggie who thinks they might have a 3rd cousin who lives in Kalamazoo ( or is it someplace in Kentucky? Pretty sure it's a place w/ a K in the name.....) & shove a bus ticket in their hands & then drive them to the bus depot just to make sure they board on. O.K., that's one out of town....let's move on to the next one.....this one's slurring all his words, that must mean Salt Lake City, let's go catch a bus....

Well, considering that 20 or so million North Koreans are starving vs. 50+ million starving Americans, his/her point may be more valid than you think.

let's say, just for a minute, that your numbers are right. there are 24m people in north korea, and 312m people here. that's an astonishing 83% of the people in north korea who are starving, compared to 16% here.

just how valid IS that point, anyway?

The poor in this country are not starving. Most of them are obese even. We have no poor in this country. Poor is defined globally as having an income of less than $2 a day - just under $3000 a year for a family of four. Obama just re-defined our "poor" from a family of four making $21,600 - which is ridiculously high compared to the rest of the world - to anyone below the median income of their area. Median is the halfway point so he is making half the country poor, including the family of four making $90,000 in San Francisco. Actuallyy he introduced a new term "poor or near poor." Purely political of course because he can now give them food stamps and make them dependent on Democrats - buying their votes in reality!

And what difference does that make? Do we have to wait to equalize the North Korean's percent of starving population before we can say that what we've been doing for the past several decades makes zero sense? Everyone knows that North Korea is a disaster. The fine point here is that no one should be starving in the United States, supposedly the richest country in the world. We are on our way of becoming North Korea unless we reverse the present course.

we are NOWHERE NEAR becoming north korea. do some research before you post... by your numbers alone, there a MUCH greater chance of starving if you lived in north korea than if you lived (homeless) here. you're making yourself look bad.

unless you're trying to make yourself look bad. in which case, carry on.

I just can't resist so I have to reply to this outright ignorance. Watermoon, do citizens of North Korea, Bangladesh or Somalia have to pay $10,000 for heath insurance? Do they have mortgages, car payments, credit card bills, college tuitions.... When you sum it all up and deduct from say $50,000 average income, how much is left in your pocket? Now suddenly poverty gets a whole different meaning, doesn't it? Think before you type.

We aren't anything like North Korea and to say that we are, or that we are close to being that way, is a smack in the face to the North Koreans who are suffering.

Do they have mortgages, car payments, credit card bills, college tuitions....

No one forces anyone to buy a home, a car, thousands of dollars in merchandise on credit or go to college. These are luxuries that somehow have become entitlements in this country. A really poor person would take offense to your post but, if you don't believe me, why don't you go to Africa, whine about college tuition bills and then see what they say?

No one should ever starve, and we certainly have people struggling here in the U.S. But, there is a system here to get people food. There is federal aid, as well food banks, churches, schools and numerous other non-for-profit organizations that try to help these people every day. To compare our hunger situation to North Korea's is shockingly ignorant.

Doubtful, but then the poor in N Korea also probably don't have healthcare, cars, credit cards, and wouldn't even know what a college was much less be paying any tuition. And here if you're truly poor then you don't pay for healthcare, you probably should have a cheap car that is paid off, and you can go to college for free ( I know this because I did it and am now an RN that can afford a nicer car, decent healthcare, and hopefully help my kids pay for college....all while paying taxes to kinda help pay back some of what I was given during a pretty rough 3 yrs)

Watermoon: What exo-planet do you live on? Just be content that you have a house over your head and food to eat. That can change with a blink of an eye: No food, no expensive vehicle, no home, no family. And remember that there many who have none. Not by choice, but by Fate. And Fate is very fickle.

PH-3046605: We have some solutions presently but remember that there could be none of these in a couple of years or less if we elect the wrong people to Congress and to the Office of President. If they have their way, there will be no or few Federal Programs to look to, and most certainly some States will elect NOT to provide them either.

I'm sorry, cherokee, I disagree. The situation in this country is no where near that of North Korea, Somalia and the like.

Yes, cuts may be made to social programs but there will ALWAYS be federal support for the truly impoverished here. I hear a lot about cuts and reforms, but I haven't heard anyone say they are going to abolish all forms of aid to the American people that need it. That's dramatic propaganda that is ruining the political discourse on BOTH sides of the table.

Further, there will always be private institutions created to pick up some of the slack.

I'm not saying our system is perfect, or anywhere near perfect, but is a hell of a lot better than what happens in far less fortunate countries around the world.

PH, What are you talking about? If someone were to abolish food stamps, Medicare and SS, this country would be exactly like North Korea. Do you understand that without the current "food assistance" program, over 50 million Americans would starve to death? The government is literally putting food on these people's tables. That's how poor they are. You are out of touch with reality.

I can assure you that I am not out of touch with reality. As I said, if you really think this country is anything like North Korea, then maybe you should read up on North Korea because you clearly don't understand what is happening over there. If you really had a grasp of the horror of that situation, you would be thankful for the things we do have in America, broken system or not.

No one in this country would ever let 50 million Americans starve to death. No one in this country is proposing that we abolish all federal assistance for the truly impoverished and hungry. That is an overly-dramatic claim fueled by alarmists and the politicians who play on people's fears to get votes.

And, very much unlike North Korea, no one would allow our government to forcefully starve our people into submission.

Perhaps you prefer to believe in conspiracy theories but, the reality is, you need to get a grip.

PH...

Go back to Me:)'s premise...."If someone were to abolish food stamps, medicare, and SS...".

The ridiculousness ends right there and you simply cannot battle ridiculousness with fact or logic. It just is what it is...and that's it.

Now...if someone were to abolish everyone's job, steal everyone's car, drain everyone's bank account, and began building nuclear bombs in their basements because they had nothing else to do....we'd all be in trouble.

And if some alien planet decided to attack us while............

Sigh. Tony, you are so right. I don't even know why I bother. :-)

And it's "one man...one vote".

I agree. They don't need a reason. They should give them bus tickets to DC or liberal bastions like California and Massachusetts. They love the poor there after all. They could use them in their Occupy protests.

Don't ship anymore of them to Massachusetts. We have enough.

OR that relative can really afford to help at this time or that jobs are plentiful and available to everyone.

Agreed. If I didn't have a roof over my head I'd want to be in a place with a year-round warm climate.

Some libtard would complain.

BOY are you INSANE.

Good morning Steve. Do you mean, does it go to Cuba?

Not easy to ge to uUba by bus.

And I am betting your neighbors in Florida were just broken-hearted to see you go. What libtard rathole did you move to?

Jim,

Glad to see ya go, and don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on the way back to PA. How's the weather up there anyway?

"Redneck" is a person that toils in the Sun from day-break to night fall usually applied to farmers years ago. IDIOT would be a better description.

CNN is a subsidiary of MSNBC isn't it - at least in philosophy if not incompetence? I can't watch CNN as they only report the news that Obama wants to be presented - White House talking points. WHen is the last time anyone on that station said something negative about Obama. Would you say it is about the same number of negatives they said about Bush or a Republican?