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View Full Version : Feed the homeless;go to jail.



Brandon's Impotent Rage
6th November 2014, 04:22
Goddamit, Florida....

From the Independent...


A 90-year-old man is facing up to 60 days in jail for feeding the needy due to a new law that bans people in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, from meal-sharing with the public.

Arnold Abbott risks being fined $500 and spending time in prison after police officers apprehended him while he was handing out meals to homeless people in a park on Sunday.
He was arrested and charged along with two ministers from the Sanctuary Church, which prepares hundreds of meals to dish out every week in their kitchen, while shocked onlookers shouted to officers "shame on you!" in a video published by NY Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/elderly-man-clergymen-face-jail-feeding-homeless-article-1.1998953).
Mr Abbott said: "One of police officers came over and said ‘Drop that plate right now,’ as if I was carrying a weapon."
He added: "These are the poorest of the poor, they have nothing, they don't have a roof over their heads. How do you turn them away?"
http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/article9841255.ece/alternates/w460/arnold%20abbott%204.jpg Arnold Abbott being arrested while he was serving food In 1999, Mr Abbott sued the City of Fort Lauderdale after he was banned from feeding the homeless on the beach and the court found that the rule was against the Constitution. The new law - which has come into effect or is planned to in Seattle, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas, and Philadelphia - was passed last week.
Ron Book, a city lobbyist, told the US newspaper Sun Sentinel: "Whatever discourages feeding people on the streets is a positive thing."
Mr Abbott, who describes himself as his "brother's keeper" who believes "love thy neighbour as thyself", is planning to sue the city again and intends to continue his good-hearted deeds.
The new regulations require groups to be at least 500 feet away from residential properties and food sites are restricted to one per city block, but charities have criticised the rules as forms of implementing social cleansing.
Michael Stoops, community organiser at the National Coalition for the Homeless, told NBC News (http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fort-lauderdale-latest-city-restrict-feeding-homeless-n231381): "Economic development and tourism don't mesh well with homeless folks and the agencies that serve them."
Mr Abbott set up Love Thy Neighbour (http://lovethyneighbor.org/) in memory of his late wife Maureen in order to continue the humanitarian work they both did by regularly making and sharing food at Holiday Park and Fort Lauderdale Beach.



So hey.....homeless folks in Ft Lauderdale..... Wanna burn down the city? Cuz I'm feeling up for that right about now.:mad:

The Intransigent Faction
6th November 2014, 04:51
If this were all a game, this would be the point where I'd throw up my hands, say "Aw, fuck it", hit the reset button and start over.

Not exactly an insightful comment, I know, and I'm sorry, but really no amount of polemics in this thread is gonna change that anyway.

Chomskyan
6th November 2014, 04:51
There are so many stories like this. And the reasons are obvious... the capitalist class needs the poor to stay slaves, so free food from hospitable folk just isn't an option.

Anyway, on the "Brother's Keeper" bit:

"Yes, I am my brother’s keeper. I am under a moral obligation to him that is inspired, not by any maudlin sentimentality but by the higher duty I owe myself. What would you think me if I were capable of seating myself at a table and gorging myself with food and saw about me the children of my fellow beings starving to death?" (Eugene V. Debs)

Speaks for the people
7th November 2014, 09:34
Social emapthy is the enemy of the capitalist, as it is what brings people together into collective action. A selfish, greedy, competitive society that fights over the table scraps of the capitalist's last supper is what they wish to create. The wealthy few wish to mold the rest of human society into their own sociopathic self image.

Ethics Gradient, Traitor For All Ages
7th November 2014, 12:50
The homeless get shit on everywhere, but the way they get treated in Florida is shocking. When I lived there it seemed that there was a constant stream of stories on the news of them being beat to death or set on fire (!) by bored teenagers. How dare they ruin our nice collective delusion of living on a beach with our tacky plastic flamingos