"For I was hungry, and you gave me food to eat..."
I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. Matt 25:35
In Las Vegas, Jesus would have gone to jail. The city council voted on July 20th 2006 to make it illegal to give food to "a person whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive [public welfare] assistance." Thats right, if you see a person who you believe is homeless or poor and hungry, you can be arrested and sent to jail for sharing a meal with them. Apparently in Las Vegas it is criminal to be hungry, but even more criminal to feed the needy.
When the mayor, Oscar Goodman, was asked by a reporter how city Law Enforcement Officers would identify the homeless and target their charitable benefactors, he said: "Certain truths are self evident; you know who's homeless." What was missing from the report was the secret handshake and wink shared with all the casino operatiors in Vegas. You see, in one of the most wealthy cities in the world there is an epidemic of homelessness. More and more working families are finding out that they can no longer afford housing in a city that makes a billion dollars a day. Jobs are being taken by illegal aliens at astounding rates; and the average wage for unskilled workers is steadily falling. 5 Years ago employees of Kentucky Fried Chicken received starting wages of $12, and paid an average of $700 per month for a 3 bedroom apartment in the suburbs.
Now, casino waitresses and fast food clerks make minimum wage and pay $1300 a month for the same apartment. Skilled tradesman are feeling the pinch too. Union electrical workers who formerly made $27 an hour routinely find themselves unemployed. Non-union contractors using illegal alien labor do the same job for $9 an hour. The profits of business owners have skyrocketed, and the idle wealthy are purchasing large tracts of land seized from the working class under eminent domain actions. The average family in Las Vegas has both parents working 70+ hours a week and barely survive. Many working poor have to resort to Soviet-esque communal living arraingements with 3 and 4 familys sharing one home.
Las Vegas has a great problem of homelessness, caused by increasing housing costs and decreasing wages, that they have been trying to legislate away. Thousands of families would move elsewhere, but cannot afford the costs of doing so. They are wage slaves, terrorized by huge international corporations and boot-licking lackies in the government. The homeless, many of them working family's who can no longer afford housing, are being arrested and sent to jail for the crime of being without a home, through NO fault of their own. Family's are being ripped apart and children are being put into a foster care system that is ripe with physical and sexual abuse. All because of robber-baron businessmen and their bought-off politicians. In las Vegas YOU WILL WORK, or you will GO TO JAIL.
I shudder to think of what would have happened to the Good Samaritan in Vegas...
In Las Vegas, Jesus would have gone to jail. The city council voted on July 20th 2006 to make it illegal to give food to "a person whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive [public welfare] assistance." Thats right, if you see a person who you believe is homeless or poor and hungry, you can be arrested and sent to jail for sharing a meal with them. Apparently in Las Vegas it is criminal to be hungry, but even more criminal to feed the needy.
When the mayor, Oscar Goodman, was asked by a reporter how city Law Enforcement Officers would identify the homeless and target their charitable benefactors, he said: "Certain truths are self evident; you know who's homeless." What was missing from the report was the secret handshake and wink shared with all the casino operatiors in Vegas. You see, in one of the most wealthy cities in the world there is an epidemic of homelessness. More and more working families are finding out that they can no longer afford housing in a city that makes a billion dollars a day. Jobs are being taken by illegal aliens at astounding rates; and the average wage for unskilled workers is steadily falling. 5 Years ago employees of Kentucky Fried Chicken received starting wages of $12, and paid an average of $700 per month for a 3 bedroom apartment in the suburbs.
Now, casino waitresses and fast food clerks make minimum wage and pay $1300 a month for the same apartment. Skilled tradesman are feeling the pinch too. Union electrical workers who formerly made $27 an hour routinely find themselves unemployed. Non-union contractors using illegal alien labor do the same job for $9 an hour. The profits of business owners have skyrocketed, and the idle wealthy are purchasing large tracts of land seized from the working class under eminent domain actions. The average family in Las Vegas has both parents working 70+ hours a week and barely survive. Many working poor have to resort to Soviet-esque communal living arraingements with 3 and 4 familys sharing one home.
Las Vegas has a great problem of homelessness, caused by increasing housing costs and decreasing wages, that they have been trying to legislate away. Thousands of families would move elsewhere, but cannot afford the costs of doing so. They are wage slaves, terrorized by huge international corporations and boot-licking lackies in the government. The homeless, many of them working family's who can no longer afford housing, are being arrested and sent to jail for the crime of being without a home, through NO fault of their own. Family's are being ripped apart and children are being put into a foster care system that is ripe with physical and sexual abuse. All because of robber-baron businessmen and their bought-off politicians. In las Vegas YOU WILL WORK, or you will GO TO JAIL.
I shudder to think of what would have happened to the Good Samaritan in Vegas...