G
Geob
Guest
> That is the way it is done here in Minnesota too. You will
> never see a homeless person living on the streets in any
> small town.
It's sort like economy of scale. A small town probably won't
build a soup kitchen or rescue mission for just one person.
> Nevertheless, homelessness should not be permitted. We
> humans require housing. We are not wild animals.
Well.. to introduce some perspective here... the Central
California indians were called Digger Indians. They lived
(generally) in peace with one another, they had plenty to
eat (elk, deer, beaver, etc, wild rice, acorns, tules,
pinyon nuts, fish, frogs, birds, tubers...). They were
described as being the healthiest bunch of indians the early
explorers had seen. The mild climate allowed them to live in
modest dwellings made of brush in the warm months. In the
winter they would dig a hole, like the forts we built as
kids, then cover them with a low teepee shape of logs and
stuff, then piled dirt on top. When the explorers arrived
the indians appeared to be popping out of the ground! Some
of them built buildings of tules. They would bind them up
into bundles, then bind those up into small houses. They
would weave mats for the floors and walls out of tules,
sedges and rushes.
But I digress.. I wanted to say that though people CAN
easily build cheap housing [2] that will meet their needs in
many parts of the country, OUR society has raised the ante
to the extent that we are outlawing poor people. The cost
and complexity of being 'middle-class' keeps going up. Our
environmental laws, as much as I cherish them, and our
building codes and zoning.. prevent people from throwing up
a shelter to help keep body and soul together.
I predict that you won't be as disturbed by this as myself,
but the country is getting less and less free. I have always
felt that a FREE citizen, ala Thoreau, should be able to
live a counter-culture life. I am NOT talking about being a
burden, like a beggar or thief, I'm talking about rejecting
the value system itself, and building a self-sustaining life
apart from it. Like hippies in communes? Well, sure, but
there is probably an infinite number of other ways to live.
But our laws are seemingly designed to prevent that, to in
effect, make it illegal to do anything but produce and
consume which is what fuels our profligate way of life.
I am not defending a homeless guys right(?) to **** and
sleep wherever he wants, etc, but freedom of choice. Our
entire system seems designed to make sure it is the ONLY
system. And it is a non-sustainable system. For example, our
taxation system makes it necessary for one to take part in
society to earn money to pay for things one may never use
and not value. Like.. well, I don't know, like maybe bus
service, or welfare, or a baseball stadium (I hate baseball
but I have to pay for our stinkin' stadium), or public
school system. Yeah, I can argue their merits too.. but the
point is, it is becoming illegal to be poor or to have a
value system to far removed from that of the masses.
Idaho county, ID where I once lived, at one time had no
building code. OK, there were some shacks there. I don't
care. I was interested in buying a small piece of land and
building a wooden teepee to live in. So who would I be
hurting? I don't know. "Oh, but you see, houses need to
adhere to code so they will be sanitary and safe". Well, I
don't care for the government protecting me by taking my
rights. "Well, if you don't value these things, the building
code will guarantee to the next resident in the house that
it is safe". I DON'T CARE about any next resident, they
ain't gonna be no 'next resident'. I wanna build my OWN
crooked little house out of crooked little scraps of wood
[1], with my crooked little brace & bit, with a home-made
woodstove in it. And I'll burn the dang thing down when I'm
done with it!
> Anyone who could not see to their own housing should be
> institutionalized in public housing, hospitals or jails
Read the paragraphs above, one more time.
> Parts of downtown Seattle are starting to look like
> Calcutta with all the homeless people
Starting? I have some photos I took there.. about 30 years
ago.. of a buncha homeless folk wandering the streets.
[1] And I'd kinda like to build a Navaho type of lodge, a
hogan, too.. I'll bet it would be snug in the winter.
Bring a few sticks for the fire, and maybe a fish, some
nuts or berries or tubers for the stew, and a good yarn
or too, and you can come visit a while. Uh, this isn't
a hypothetical lifestyle to me as I have spent many
winter evenings sitting talking with friends around a
small wood fire in a raggedy hut. I grew up with/around
indians, Paiute (means fly-eaters), and Tulababul.
[2] A hippy hut I'd like to build someplace: build a
circular frame of flexible branches shaped like a
wickiup, tied together at the top center. Then dip rags
in a slurry of portland cement, and drape them over the
frame to make a skin, maybe a couple of layers. Am told
it yields a very functional house very fast, winter-
proof and cheap.
> never see a homeless person living on the streets in any
> small town.
It's sort like economy of scale. A small town probably won't
build a soup kitchen or rescue mission for just one person.
> Nevertheless, homelessness should not be permitted. We
> humans require housing. We are not wild animals.
Well.. to introduce some perspective here... the Central
California indians were called Digger Indians. They lived
(generally) in peace with one another, they had plenty to
eat (elk, deer, beaver, etc, wild rice, acorns, tules,
pinyon nuts, fish, frogs, birds, tubers...). They were
described as being the healthiest bunch of indians the early
explorers had seen. The mild climate allowed them to live in
modest dwellings made of brush in the warm months. In the
winter they would dig a hole, like the forts we built as
kids, then cover them with a low teepee shape of logs and
stuff, then piled dirt on top. When the explorers arrived
the indians appeared to be popping out of the ground! Some
of them built buildings of tules. They would bind them up
into bundles, then bind those up into small houses. They
would weave mats for the floors and walls out of tules,
sedges and rushes.
But I digress.. I wanted to say that though people CAN
easily build cheap housing [2] that will meet their needs in
many parts of the country, OUR society has raised the ante
to the extent that we are outlawing poor people. The cost
and complexity of being 'middle-class' keeps going up. Our
environmental laws, as much as I cherish them, and our
building codes and zoning.. prevent people from throwing up
a shelter to help keep body and soul together.
I predict that you won't be as disturbed by this as myself,
but the country is getting less and less free. I have always
felt that a FREE citizen, ala Thoreau, should be able to
live a counter-culture life. I am NOT talking about being a
burden, like a beggar or thief, I'm talking about rejecting
the value system itself, and building a self-sustaining life
apart from it. Like hippies in communes? Well, sure, but
there is probably an infinite number of other ways to live.
But our laws are seemingly designed to prevent that, to in
effect, make it illegal to do anything but produce and
consume which is what fuels our profligate way of life.
I am not defending a homeless guys right(?) to **** and
sleep wherever he wants, etc, but freedom of choice. Our
entire system seems designed to make sure it is the ONLY
system. And it is a non-sustainable system. For example, our
taxation system makes it necessary for one to take part in
society to earn money to pay for things one may never use
and not value. Like.. well, I don't know, like maybe bus
service, or welfare, or a baseball stadium (I hate baseball
but I have to pay for our stinkin' stadium), or public
school system. Yeah, I can argue their merits too.. but the
point is, it is becoming illegal to be poor or to have a
value system to far removed from that of the masses.
Idaho county, ID where I once lived, at one time had no
building code. OK, there were some shacks there. I don't
care. I was interested in buying a small piece of land and
building a wooden teepee to live in. So who would I be
hurting? I don't know. "Oh, but you see, houses need to
adhere to code so they will be sanitary and safe". Well, I
don't care for the government protecting me by taking my
rights. "Well, if you don't value these things, the building
code will guarantee to the next resident in the house that
it is safe". I DON'T CARE about any next resident, they
ain't gonna be no 'next resident'. I wanna build my OWN
crooked little house out of crooked little scraps of wood
[1], with my crooked little brace & bit, with a home-made
woodstove in it. And I'll burn the dang thing down when I'm
done with it!
> Anyone who could not see to their own housing should be
> institutionalized in public housing, hospitals or jails
Read the paragraphs above, one more time.
> Parts of downtown Seattle are starting to look like
> Calcutta with all the homeless people
Starting? I have some photos I took there.. about 30 years
ago.. of a buncha homeless folk wandering the streets.
[1] And I'd kinda like to build a Navaho type of lodge, a
hogan, too.. I'll bet it would be snug in the winter.
Bring a few sticks for the fire, and maybe a fish, some
nuts or berries or tubers for the stew, and a good yarn
or too, and you can come visit a while. Uh, this isn't
a hypothetical lifestyle to me as I have spent many
winter evenings sitting talking with friends around a
small wood fire in a raggedy hut. I grew up with/around
indians, Paiute (means fly-eaters), and Tulababul.
[2] A hippy hut I'd like to build someplace: build a
circular frame of flexible branches shaped like a
wickiup, tied together at the top center. Then dip rags
in a slurry of portland cement, and drape them over the
frame to make a skin, maybe a couple of layers. Am told
it yields a very functional house very fast, winter-
proof and cheap.