I had some family in town this weekend and while it was great to see them, during the conversation the topic of panhandlers came up. This is a touchy topic for me, turns out.
I recently moved from Portland, a street person mecca, and came quite accustomed to loosing two cigarettes or my spare change to someone along my daily path. And here in Junction, panhandlers are noticeably absent. it is a small town, so it is most likely heavily enforced by the local cops. Also, there is a city ordinace against it. (Also, against owning a walking catfish… no really.)
Section 25. [Repealed]
[§25 repealed by Ordinance No. 735, passed July 11, 1978.]
Section 26. Begging. No person shall beg or solicit alms or other gratuities upon the streets or in any public place in the city.
Section 27. Expectoration. No person shall expectorate upon a public sidewalk or street, or on or in a public building, except in receptacles provided for that purpose.
Section 28. Hauling. No person shall haul sand, gravel, rock, wood or other substances in any vehicle or conveyance that is so constructed as to allow the sand, gravel, rock, wood or other substance to fall on and litter the public streets of the city.
Section 29. Building Entrances, Obstruction. No person shall obstruct any entrance to a building or loiter about or near an entrance, stairway or hall leading to a building.
Section 30. Walking Catfish. No person shall keep or sell walking catfish, clarias batrachus, within the city.
Anyway, in Eugene, only ten minuets away, it is a bigger problem. The homeless, not the catfish. There are quite a few asking for change at any large intersection. Although, begging catfish is funny.
My dad and aunt were complaining about how many exist and how most are probably just telling lies for money. One example was of an old lay who asked for gas money outside Safeway, but she really wasn’t after gas money. My mom brought up a good point, asking if he would still give her money if she was honest…
It makes me wonder about the world when I see homeless men and women on the street. I know many are there because they choose that lifestyle, but there are those who don’t. Is it too much to ask that we support them with what little bit we have in our pockets? We sit in our heated houses. We eat clean food. We have showers and bedding.
I have stacks of records. I have an iPod. I have, I have, I have. What is it to me to give them what I would only spend on something else?
Give people! Give! Please. Don’t be so comfortable as an educated, secure, American that you forget to give.
Okay… end righteous tangent.
Some things to do.
This is kinda lame, but it might work. It might just be advertising.
This is real.
Help with hunger…
Okay. Done.
Dec. 14 — 6:16 p.m., 1421 Juniper, tree down on house; 7:24 p.m., Jag Ln., downed power line; 7:33 p.m., Praire Rd. and Corbert, downed power line, 7:35 p.m., Washburn park, transformer fire; 7:46 p.m., 1530 Rose, fainted patient, one transported; 7:55 p.m., Thirteenth and Oaklea, vehicle accident, two transported; 7:50 p.m., Hwy 99E MP 30, vehicle accident, one transported; 8:38 p.m., Narton and Hwy 99, downed power line; 8:45 p.m., Syveron Ln., downed power line.
I was driving country roads today, letting my mind wander off… it occurred to me James Bond must have terrible teeth. I mean, there is the whole British stereotype, but thats not what I am talking about.
Have you ever seen the man brush? I haven’t. He is always running around having sex and shooting people. When does he have time for proper dental care? A funny image of Bond at the dentist popped up…
“Now Mr. Bond, have you been flossing?” asks the dentist.
Bond simply shoots dentist rather than answering question.
“Got out of that by the skin of my teeth.” Bond would say.
He then proceeds to have sex with dental assistant, receptionist and the waiting mother in the lobby. Why not…
But really, who has time for dental work when working so hard at keeping misogyny hip in pop culture?
Anyway… this is stupid. But it made me chuckle on the drive through the country today.
Oh, man. This is great news. Finally, we have gotten to the bottom of the whole nature/nurture thing and found what exactly makes humans gay… turns out, it’s soy milk.
Jim Rutz, obviously some sort of expert, he has a blog after all, says it best here…
Soy is feminizing, and commonly leads to a decrease in the size of the penis, sexual confusion and homosexuality. That’s why most of the medical (not socio-spiritual) blame for today’s rise in homosexuality must fall upon the rise in soy formula and other soy products. (Most babies are bottle-fed during some part of their infancy, and one-fourth of them are getting soy milk!) Homosexuals often argue that their homosexuality is inborn because “I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t homosexual.” No, homosexuality is always deviant. But now many of them can truthfully say that they can’t remember a time when excess estrogen wasn’t influencing them.
Man, now that that is settled… we can move on to better things. Like our huge weight problem. No wait, whats that Jim? Soy causes that too? Well damn!
Research in 2000 showed that a soy-based diet at any age can lead to a weak thyroid, which commonly produces heart problems and excess fat. Could this explain the dramatic increase in obesity today?
Could it? Or could it be all the fast food, processed snacks, sugar, corn-syrup, and the I-can-eat-all-the-little-debbie-nutter-butter-bar-deep-fried-snack-cake-puffs-I-want-and-never-walk-a-freaking-step-all-day-long mentality?
I don’t know… maybe it is soy! Freaking tofu! Damn you!
