The hopeless vs. the homeless

One of the reasons this blog isn't as meaty as it used to be is that we've had to accept that one of America's major political factions - the conservatives - is beyond all hope.

Rhode Island recently became America's first state to take the bold step of adopting a homeless bill of rights, and a lawmaker in California has proposed a similar common-sense measure. But the right-wing mouth trust responds by doubling down on their usual trademark blend of arrogance, ignorance, and entitlement.

Regarding this bill, a right-wing editorial in the once-respected Sacramento Bee whines, "What communities don't need are homeless people with more rights than they already have to engage in anarchy." What rights do they already have? This bill wouldn't give the homeless any more rights than anybody else has.

The Bee's comment section is predictably bombarded by extremist nuts who apparently have never seen real deprivation in their lives. One of these aristocrats sniffs that "our homeless vagrants are absolutely pampered."

Let's break down that stunning statement. "Homeless" describes a condition defined by the lack of one of life's basic necessities - shelter. To be homeless is to be deprived, by definition. "Pampered", on the other hand, describes the opposite condition - one of luxuries that go well beyond what's necessary to live on. To hear the newspaper nobility tell it, you'd think the homeless are getting free massages and riding around in stretch limos.

We've reached a point where the mainstream press and its followers are completely disconnected from real America. Look at the webpage of any - well, almost any - Occupy chapter in America, and you'll see it bursting with information about their latest actions. But try finding a single mention of most of these activities by any regular news outlet. You can't! An example is today's headline from the Idaho Statesman: "Occupy Boise gone, but protest makes presence felt." The Statesman ignores last week's major Occupy Boise event in which Occupiers (some dressed as clowns) protested legislators inside the State Capitol. The Statesman thinks that if an Occupy camp is evicted, Occupy dies with it.

We are at war against the Evil Empire.