The Cleanest Vagrants in Town

Timothy Birdnow

Rush Limbaugh used to do his Homeless Updates, where he would chronicle the absurd and idiotic efforts by liberals to feel good about themselves by "helping" the homeless. Often their efforts entailed such things as building hard-to-damage shopping carts so they could move their debris more easily than in the grocery carts they stole.

This story falls into that category; a big hearted liberal has converted an old truck into a mobile shower so filthy, rag wearing, drunken  vagrants can become clean rag-wearing drunken vagrants.

From the article:

When people want to help the homeless they usually think of providing them with money or goods like food, water, and clothes. But what about their personal hygiene? It’s just as important. Soap, clean water, a safe washing facility – these are all things that many homeless people lack access to. This is where Jake Austin steps in.

Now, God bless him, he's trying to do something good. But where is the value in this?

Most homeless shelters already have shower facilities for the homeless. So do most flophouses. Access to hygiene is not the problem; most homeless don't care about it.

I knew a homeless guy. He was a boyhood friend of my oldest brother and a ne'er-do-well his whole life. This was a guy who got fired before he even clocked in on his first day on the job at a pizza parlor because he sat in the parking lot drinking beer before his first shift, then walked up with two beers in his pockets. He wound up homeless when his (sainted) mother finally put him out of her house (he was in his forties) in a last, desperate attempt to get him to straighten up. This fellow used to panhandle until he had seven dollars, after which he could stay in a fleabag motel for the night. After that he panhandled enough to buy liquor and then dumpster dove for food. He LIKED being homeless! He was dirty, but he had a shower at the motel. Cleaning up would make people less generous when he asked them for money.

I'm not saying all homeless are like that, but I suspect more are than we would imagine. And others just don't care about being clean. Substance abuse and mental illness are at the heart of homelessness, and hygiene just isn't a priority with such people.

Giving them access to a mobile shower is of very limited help. If you REALLY want to help them you would work to get them to quit drinking or shooting or snorting, or get them to start taking their schizophrenia medication.

Or they would approve of evangelizing these people. Theirs is a moral, spiritual illness. Homelessness has little to do with having no place to stay. Those who are in that situation find temporary shelter and usually are off the streets in short order. The chronic homeless are a different matter.

But as always Liberals go for the feel-good solution, one that does little good but makes them feel morally righteous.

I don't know if this guy is a liberal, but the name of his operation sure sounds like it.

So these people will shower and then pull their filthy rags back on and return to the dumpsters in which they reside. But the liberals who promote this CARE, yessirree...

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:58 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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