Thursday, March 22, 2012

No Food, No Water, No Help for Homeless

Feeding The Homeless BANNED In Major Cities All Over America reports on the fact that cities in the USA are passing ordinances and using absurd reasons for stopping caring citizens from helping their neighbors.

City puts a stop to homeless outreach reports that one couple who were helping their hungry neighbors were forced to stop by the city of Houston. The excuse given was that they had to have a permit and “To get that permit, the food must be prepared in a certified kitchen with a certified food manager.”

Here in Wichita not long ago the Lord’s Diner was not allowed to expand to establish a new center for free suppers for the hungry because these undesirable people were not wanted in the neighborhood. (See previous post The Lord’s Diner.)

At Church Ordered to Stop Giving Away Free Water it is reported that Hope Church in Metairie, LA was given a warning citation and forced to stop giving out free water to people in a Mardi Gras parade. They purchased bottled water and were giving it away for free, and they were forced to stop.

Among the cities listed as restricting and regulating feeding of people is my home town of Orlando, Florida. Orlando Activists Arrested For Feeding Homeless In Defiance Of City Ordinance shares the story. The story shares that “An editorial in the Orlando Sentinel supported with the court's decision this morning. They note that "at least 10 organizations regularly serve food to the hungry downtown" without defying the law.”

Big Surprise! The Orlando Sentinel supports big government bureaucratic control. The activist group, Food Not Bombs, is probably a group with whom I have huge points of disagreement. Perhaps their activities do fill the park to such a degree that it causes interference, but I seriously doubt it. I have walked that park many times. I have gone to the park at night to visit with those who were interested in hearing the Gospel. I have encountered the “bums” and have given food and assistance to at least a few. Would I be arrested today for these activities? Probably not, as I was not setting up to help large numbers of people and so the city bureaucrats likely would not think that I was helping enough people to be counted as a problem. But if I were to set up a table with several people helping me to give out food and drink, I would have to obtain a permit and could only obtain one twice per year, according to this report.

Some people are homeless by choice. Others have been put on the streets by the bureaucrats and bankers. Now these wonderful people are limiting who may help others, who may be helped, and are imposing permit fees for doing so. Permits always have a fee/tax.

What happens when people become desperate on account of hunger? What happens when some of the homeless try to obtain food by stealing and perhaps hurt someone and are arrested and imprisoned. Will people then say, as in the post below, that these prisoners should be used for experiments and even for organ harvesting for the wealthy? If the folk from Food Not Bombs violate the Orlando ordinance to the point of being imprisoned, will they become involuntary organ donors?

Perhaps someone will say: “Stop being ridiculous!”

Ridiculous? Who would have believed thirty years ago that it would be illegal to give food or water to a hungry or thirsty neighbor? Who would have believed thirty years ago that there would be web sites advertising the sale of body parts from babies, as is shown in the post below? Who would have believed thirty years ago that something like the NDAA would be passed that allows people to be arrested without being charged, to be held indefinitely at the whim of the government bureaucrats?

Ridiculous? Thirty years ago most people would have said so regarding much of what is now commonplace.

There has been abuse and injustice since that sad day in Eden. Horrible things have been done by unbelieving and false believing people ever since. Selfishness and greed have largely prevailed throughout the history of the human race. Certain groups of people have been mistreated simply because of their ethnicity or their place in society. This is not something new in the history of the world.

But is this what we want to allow, especially in the USA? Shall we allow displays of genuine love for and kindness toward fellow man to be made a crime? Has it ever happened before, even in America? It seems so as we examine our past. But shall we continue in this pattern and perhaps even to a worse degree today?

It truly is alarming to me that we are allowing the bankers and big money people first to bankrupt the entire nation and then to take people’s homes from them and then to criminalize both being homeless and then also being kind to those whom the government and banks have made to be criminals. How can it be that today we can actually be punished for being kind and loving to others?

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