[amber]

Originally Posted by sparky

This would be fascinating. The "letting loose" of the mentally ill is well documented. I would like to know the exact repercussions and some numbers.

Also, what I would like to see is a poll, or some kind of statistics on the homeless themselves. I want to see a detailed questionnaire about how people became homeless, and what it would take to get them out of it.

The arguments about spending are USELESS without knowing how people got where they are. Money, shmoney. Money will not solve the problem of poverty. It never has. Like I posted before, I have known people who were homeless and died homeless. I know why they got there. I think there is a certain percentage of the population that is going to be incurable addicts, and it will never change. What about the rest ? Who the hell are all of these people ? The people I know from my hometown who are on public assistance all have kids from 3 or 4 different men, never got married, never graduated high school, chain smoke, drink cheap beer, and do nothing. And their parents were the same. It seems a cycle...learned, genetic... I don't know. The bickering about money and politics are entertaining, I suppose, but have nothing to do with the problem. And I suspect at least Strand could dig up some statistics on who these people are and how it happened to them. Why wouldn't those in government agencies do the same ? This is not a political debate. It isn't something to argue about. It is about human beings and what happened to them and why they are where they are.That supercedes the money and the politics and everything else. Of course I dump the statistical thing on Strandie, because he is a lawyer and it is his job. And I love him
Sparky don't know nothin' about statistics. I just make pretty sets for y'all to watch on TV and in movies.

Right in this, you are not addressing what perpetuates the cycle of poverty, and that is...remiss.