November 22, 2005
Tent City Backers Play Religous Freedom Card
Temple B'nai Torah in Bellevue, and the leading light of our region's Religious Left - The Church Council of Greater Seattle - last night held a vigil to protest enforcement of Bellevue's rules on homeless encampments. Unfortunately, the Council and temple are framing this as a matter of religious freedom. That card should be played very, very carefully. That municipalities have taken the time and trouble to adopt ordinances permitting homeless camps hardly suggests that the real battleground is liberalizing the rules. Rather, it suggests the prevalance of band-aid thinking by homeless "advocates." This camp, operated by an organization called SHARE/WHEEL, is in its seventh Eastside location.
Temple B'nai Torah, which is hosting Tent City 4, a group of homeless people who move among Eastside churches, has appealed a permit issued by the city of Bellevue. It says permit conditions limiting how many people can stay and how long they can stay violate its religious freedoms.
The council and temple want a 90-day stay, not the city's 60; and 100 homeless encamped, not the 40 allowed by the city because there's only one shower. Apparently cleanliness isn't next to Godliness, although it can help you get a job.
SHARE/WHEEL also runs 13 indoor homeless shelters, but earlier this month said it would shut some down and seek to establish more tent cities; rather than ensure continued funding from the City of Seattle by complying with a federally-sponsored initiative to gather demographic data from housing grant recipients. The data plan is entirely reasonable, and the City of Seattle - not usually known for fiscal accountability - is right to insist on it. Yet that did not prevent critics from calling it "Hitler-esque."
The real "homelessness policy" for Seattle, and Bellevue, and Redmond, and Bothell liberals is the politics of personal virtue. Their own. The way out of homelessness? It starts, and ends, with the individual.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 22, 2005
10:25 AM | Email This
1. Here here, Mr. Rosenberg.
Even their name, Share/Wheel, suggest that this is an organization that cares more about their own self-rightious self-gratification than they do about the homeless, also known as bums. These folks care more about getting in our faces with their stinking agenda than they do about getting these folks cleaned up, employed and housed.
Shame on Share/Wheel.
2. For all the outcry about the draconian measures imposed by the city of Bellevue, I haven't read or heard anything about the members of Temple B'nai Torah or Share/Wheel offering to open up their homes and businesses to the excess campers.
This "in your face" attitude is going to cause even greater backlash. The tent cities are nothing but sponges that soak up resources and give nothing back. The occupants don't do a damn thing for their host cities other than whine about how unfair life is. I think the cities should add requirements that the tent city occupants perform a minimal number of community service hours in exchange for free room and board.
As for those who think this is a hard line, stop being hypocrites and open up your home to these "downtrodden and oppressed" souls. Stop asking the rest of us to put up with this nonsense.
3. The congregation should really step up to the plate: they all should invite homeless people from the tent city into there homes for a year or two. They could take two or three homeless people per congregation member. Doing that would surely prove their credibility with me!
4. I find the comments about the government wanting to monitor and control homeless people to be idiotic. The only thing people want to monitor and control about homeless people is making sure they stay away from good neighborhoods.
I've had to put up with TWO tent cities in Lake City (that area is now being developed) for two consequtive summers. Nothing quite like adding an extra 40 or 50 bums, drug addicts, and mental cases to the streets all in a day.
5. The organization doing the absolute best work at getting homeless folks back on their feet is the Salvation Army, and they do it with the highest percentage of contributions going to actual charity work, rather than overhead. Their success rate has been proven statistically and published over and over again. Yet the Liberals keep insisting that we must be forbidden to help in this effort with federal funding, as to other charities, because they are faith based. I guess a proven track record doesn't mean much, and I guess the Liberals are not really interested in studying how the Salvation Army does it: through work and responsibility on the part of participants. It seems they're not so much interested in helping with the problem as in perpetuating it.
6. You hit the nail on the head, Katomar. The fact a program works is not a criteria for the current politically correct mindset in this area. Groups like Share/Wheel and their supporters are always looking for easy answers that require minimal effort on their part. Shame on you for thinking hard work and personal responsiblity should be a part of the solution! :-)
7. Katomar - Good comments on the Salvation Army. My gradfather was in WWI as an infantryman, and he said that the people who really helped the troops out were the people of the Salvation Army. The Red Cross was there, of course, but the way my grandad expplained it, their attendance was to get the modern equivalent of photo op with the troops. In short, it was the Salvation Army, not the Red Cross, that helped the soldiers out in World War I.
8. Further, since so many retail outlets are now bowing to leftist pressure and not allowing the Salvation Army bell ringers outside thier stores this CHRISTMAS season, I think we should all shop at stores who Do allow them, and donate to that little red bucket generously.
9. Katomar,
THIS is an excellent idea. Do you think you could contact some local Salvation Army leader and ask for a list of local business that DO allow the bellringers? Maybe you could post that list of businesses here and publicize it in other places as well.
Outstanding!
Huck
10. Will do.
11. Katomar, the Salvation Army received over $300 million from the government last year, according to their website. So what are you whining about?
12. Bruce - no one is complaining about the Salvation Army not receiving funds, in fact, it appears that Katomar, etc. are encouraging further giving to this fine and proven charity. The complaint is with retailers that don't allow the bell ringers.
These are the same folks that see Share/Wheel's BS agenda as the solution to a problem. Homeless? Here's a tent in a church lot for 2-3 months in a neighborhood that you're not welcome in. How does this help?
There are SA bell ringers at the Crossroads QFC and the Overlake Freddies. I used to give my daughter a couple of bucks to put in the kettle each time. Now she brings her own money and we both feed the kettle.
13. Bruce:
I seem to remember enduring whole months of televised debate on whether Bush should be allowed to go forward with proposed support for charities including those that are faith based? Had the Liberals screaming for months about "separation of state and religion". I never did hear the outcome of the whole shebang, but if the Salvation Army says it received all that money from the federal government, then I guess Bush prevailed, huh? I'd call that a good thing.
Huck:
Called the local SA branch and they said they may be able to e-mail me a list tomorrow.
14. I am incensed that the county or state does not find the funds to put the tent city people into transitional housing of one sort or another. Maybe if they spent less money on "social" programs of dubious worth, the money could be used to ASSIST the tent city people pay for rent & utilities for a limited time to get them started. I think the churches & synogogues would do more good, if, instead of allowing the tent city on their property, they would spend the time & money to find apartments & homes for the tent city people. The tent city set-up flaunts public health & safety regulations & it fosters an image of the religious organizations as being enablers. There really are better ways to help the tent city people instead of throwing it in the face of the neighbors who have to contend with the situation when tent city moves in.
15. KATOMAR GREAT IDEA, I WILL SEE IF WE CAN GET THE NAMES OF BIZ'S IN TACOMA. LAST YEAR I BOYCOTTED TARGET FOR THIS VERY RESON AND HAVE NOT STEPPED FOOT IN ANY OF THEIR STORES SCINCE.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!!!
16. I boycotted Target for my Christmas shopping last year, because they were more interested in servicing Holiday shoppers than Christmas shoppers. Same this year, until they understand.
17. Another thing I plan on doing while Christmas shopping is saying MERRY CHRISTMAS as loud and often as I can to everyone in the stores, just to clarify that I consider it Christmas, not Happy Holiday or Winter Season, or whatever other dumn thing they will come up with next!!
18. Sorry, (sp) that should have been "dumb".
19. Don't worry about the spelling, Katomar. On the WASL your first version would have been correct based on "speller intent". :-)
Clean House--you miss the point. Many of these tent city residents are not penniless-- between their SSI and other sources of income, they could get into housing of some sort. But that would cut into the fun money. An article in one of the papers on some of the first tent city residents made the mistake of mentioning that a boyfriend/girlfriend combo made over $1400 a month with their assistance checks. This did not elicit a lot of sympathy from the public, since one can rent a modest studio or one bedroom for about half that in parts of King County. The journalists have not repeated that mistake. I have no problem with some sort of housing assistance for those who hold down a job, but there are those who will always look for away to live off the good will of others.
The Salvation Army and other programs provide help with job training, housing assistance, and other services, but the emphasis is that the person seeking help is expected to contribute back to society. The "no strings attached" approach of tent cities and free apartments for drunks does not encourage people to do something for themselves.
20. Well, a lot of people who got their land stolen by the CAO courtesy of King County should just claim that their religious freedoms are being violated by the restrictions on their buildilng permits.
21. ...btw, since others brought it up: Redmond Target may have banned S.A. bellringers but I'm happy to report that the downtown Redmond Fred Myers' is still allowing S.A. ringers at the front of their stores.
22. Hmmmmm...... What is one to think? I read all the posts here in this thread and come away with this. The temple (Jewish) is a liberal thinking blight upon society. The Salvation Army (Christian) is the way the light and the truth.
Both organizations are working in their own way to address the issue. McDonald's fries their burgers, Burger King flame broils, both hamburgers get cooked, but differently. The temple and the Salvation Army are the same, both are acting in a positive manner with different methods.
It never ceases to amaze me how cold and uncaring Republicans Conservatives can be. Not every person in America is employable. Mental illness, disability and many other factors can prevent a human from supporting themselves.
The Christian right would like nothing more than to eliminate all sin, and it seems that means to condemn everything that does not fit the plan.
The majority rules in this country. 62 percent of Americans now feel that the President is not leading properly, and by extension, the rest of the ruling party. The tide has turned, as it does every 20 years or so, and Moderate Center (who actually control the vote) are leaning back slightly left of center. Get used to it. The 20 year swing is coming back around to bite you in the butt.
Have a good evening!
Dug
23. "It never ceases to amaze me how cold and uncaring Republicans Conservatives can be."
Give me a break, it never ceases to amaze me that the liberals can explain away the utter destruction caused by liberal policies on both society in general and on individual lives.
What hypocracy
24. Dug - I disagree with your comparison of BK and McDonalds to the Salvation Army and this Temple - Both BK and McDonalds DO cook their burgers, and the Salvation Army actually does help people, but this Temple is not _really_ helping these people. It is not helping these people to continually let them stay in the tent city year after year instead of helping them get back on their feet. You are right that some people are not employable due Mental Illness or disability. But it's not helping them to put them in a tent city indefinitely. Helping them would be dealing with their mental illness, perhaps putting them in a mental hospital where they could get some help, or putting them in a rehab clinic to get off drugs or alcohol. Isn't that true help?
25. So which is it, a wasted life or an alternative lifestyle? Your answer to that question should influence how you vote. Now if only we could get your votes counted properly.
26. GIVE A MAN A FISH AND HE WILL EAT FOR A DAY…TEACH HIM TO FISH AND HE WILL SIT IN A BOAT AND DRINK BEER ALL DAY
27. Hallelujah, and pass me another Little Joe.
28. Well, well, well look what I found here.
Notice the bused to the service from a local mission. Can I take that he was another practitioner of an “alternative lifestyle.”
Oklahoma Preacher Gets Punched During Sermon
A well known Oklahoma pastor was attacked Sunday while giving the alter call at his church.
Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa was almost knocked out when 50-year-old Steven Rogers walked forward and punched him during the time when people were joining the church.
As the music played, without warning, the man punched Daugherty in the face. Before he could land a knockout blow, he was yanked away. With blood pouring down his face, Daugherty kept on preaching and forgiving.
Rogers was hauled off to jail after allegedly hitting two more people, including a security guard. The pastor now has a black eye and stitches three days after the altercation that was caught on tape.
No one knows why Rogers attacked Daugherty. Church representatives say Rogers was bused to the service from a local mission. After his arrest they found …. … .. .
29. Dug:
This discussion had nothing to do with bashing the Temple, or comparing Judaism to Christianity. It had to do with examining what actually WORKS. Tent cities do not work. If anything, conservatives are practical. However, I've noticed that liberals make a whole lot of noise about doing good, and then opt for the path that makes THEM feel warm and fuzzy, whether it is is effective or not. Just throw enough money at a problem, and maybe it will go away. And if someone complains that it's not working, well, they are heartless and bigoted! One great example is donating blood. I can tell you from experience that the majority of people saving lives by donating their blood sure ain't liberals!!!
30. Homelessness is dynamic problem that goes beyond: "They are a bunch of bums."
Those who are chronically mentally ill are oft times also chronically homeless.
Drug addicts, now in a bad position due to poor choices, are usually in no position to just clean up and "fly right."
While I believe these folks need help. I also feel there should some type of accountability, personal rsponsibility, and "ownership."
Folks who get stuff for nothing routinely value those goods and services at nothing.
Tent city isn't about helping the homeless, it's more like bashing the wealthy, who after all are the source of all homlessness. Them & George Bush
Bastards! Grrrrr......
31. Salvation Army just sent me a list of their Pierce County Kettle locations. They are below. Looks like I'll be gift shopping at Mervyn's, K-Mart and Wal-Mart.
Orting Safeway
Graham Safeway
South Hill Albertsons
South Hill Safeway
South Hill Post office
Walgreens - all
D. R. Post Office
Canyon Road Safeways
Safeway, East Main Street, Puyallup
Summit Trading Co.
K-Mart's
Fred Meyer River Road Main door and food door
Milton Safety
Milton Albertsons
Milton Post Office
McClenson's Canyon Road
Sumner McClendon's
Mervyn's
Top Foods, South Hill
Top Foods Lake Tappps
Bonney Lake Albertsons
Bonney Lake Wal-Mart
Bonney Lake Safeway
32. Way cool, Katomar. Nice job!
A lot of grocery stores. I thought Wal-Mart had given SA the boot. Maybe the Bonney Lake manager kept the phone off the hook the day that brilliant decision was made?
Well I guess I'll talk to SA in King County.
33. Communists in the 1950’s went by the handle “Progressive” and had many similiar ideas…..particularly when it came to forcing individuals to give up individual property rights “for the good of the commune-ity".
Then, as now, a joyful picture of the “good-life” was painted with high salaries, low-cost of living, less stress and the “government” taking care of all of our basic needs. People who were tired of scratching out a living allowed human nature to take over…..they wanted more for doing less. And the “Progressive” promoters promised them an easier life. Class warfare….the bottom-line. Take from the minority rich….and give to the poor easing their burden while resulting in the unwanted consequence of killing their motivation. Thus, a dependent Society. The leaders of the Progressive movement, then & now….attempt to build their power base on getting the poor & downtrodden to believe “Government” will take care of them. Really no different from today’s Progressive movement.
Encourage communal thinking, take away individual initiative and promise Big Government will give you an Idyllic life.
Pretty attractive somedays, I must admit.
Sadly, some of the Pied Pipers of the New Age Progressive movement are so brainwashed about this vision that they fail to comprehend the inevitable “Unwanted Consequences".
That’s why the innocently naive LEFTIST PINHEADED CLOWNS are referred to as LENIN’S USEFUL IDIOTS. Lenin KNEW these do-gooders from the West could be co-opted to push forth his agenda.
Lenin had ZERO respect for the CLOWNS….just used them.
Same as today.
34. What passes for poverty in the good old US would be the creme de la creme in some third world countries. The only charity I contribute to is the Salvation Army and I boycott anything French. Every country those bastards have been involved in/with/colonization have been left a sewer. Talk about exploitation....French...... Canada!!!
35. Target stores are owned by the French, boycott!
36. This issue has little to do with actually helping the homeless. SHARE/WHEEL, the radical group behind Tent City is hiding behind the coat tails of the churches that take them in, yet they spurn any and all attempts of real help from those same churches. They refuse to allow their campers to go inside. If they do, they will throw them out in the street. So much for being a group that helps the homeless. They refuse to participate in the federally mandated program, Safe Harbors, which is designed to better help the homeless. Instead, they make threats that if they are forced to participate, they will close the doors of their 13 indoor shelters and open 3 tent cities immediately. They made an outright threat to move into undisclosed areas of their choice, with water front views. (the article appears on the Woodinville Weekly). This group is all about NOT BEING ACCOUNTABLE, NOT ASSISTING THE HOMELESS IN BETTERING THEMSELVES.
Now, in an attempt to teach the City of Bellevue a lesson for enacting an ordinance that protects ALL INVOLVED, INCLUDING THE HOMELESS, they will go to court. As long as officials in King County keep caving to the threats made by this radical bully, SHARE/WHEEL, we will continue to have Tent Cities.
37. This issue has little to do with actually helping the homeless. SHARE/WHEEL, the radical group behind Tent City is hiding behind the coat tails of the churches that take them in, yet they spurn any and all attempts of real help from those same churches. They refuse to allow their campers to go inside. If they do, they will throw them out in the street. So much for being a group that helps the homeless. They refuse to participate in the federally mandated program, Safe Harbors, which is designed to better help the homeless. Instead, they make threats that if they are forced to participate, they will close the doors of their 13 indoor shelters and open 3 tent cities immediately. They made an outright threat to move into undisclosed areas of their choice, with water front views. (the article appears on the Woodinville Weekly). This group is all about NOT BEING ACCOUNTABLE, NOT ASSISTING THE HOMELESS IN BETTERING THEMSELVES.
Now, in an attempt to teach the City of Bellevue a lesson for enacting an ordinance that protects ALL INVOLVED, INCLUDING THE HOMELESS, they will go to court. As long as officials in King County keep caving to the threats made by this radical bully, SHARE/WHEEL, we will continue to have Tent Cities.