This article shows more disconnect between those who claim they want to help and those who need the actual help. It highlights that when you swing at the wrong pitch you usually strike out or ground out or pop up in foul territory. The only way to hit the ball is to keep your head down and keep your eye on that ball. And stay back. Otherwise, you whiff.

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(Article changed on February 15, 2013 at 18:30)

"The real owners are the big wealthy business interests that control things and make all the important decisions. Forget the politicians, they're an irrelevancy. The politicians are put there to give you the idea that you have 'freedom of choice.' You don't. You have no 'choice.' You have owners. They own you. They own everything. They own all the important land. They own and control the corporations. They've long since bought and paid for the Senate, the Congress, the statehouses, the city halls. They've got the judges in their back pockets. And they own all the big media companies, so that they control just about all of the news and information you hear. They've got you by the balls. They spend billions of dollars every year lobbying - lobbying to get what they want. Well, we know what they want; they want more for themselves and less for everybody else.

"But I'll tell you what they don't want. They don't want a population of citizens capable of critical thinking. They don't want well-informed, well-educated people capable of critical thinking. They're not interested in that. That doesn't help them. That's against their interests. They don't want people who are smart enough to sit around the kitchen table and figure out how badly they're getting fucked by a system that threw them overboard 30 f*cking years ago.

"You know what they want? Obedient workers - people who are just smart enough to run the machines and do the paperwork but just dumb enough to passively accept all these increasingly shittier jobs with the lower pay, the longer hours, reduced benefits, the end of overtime and the vanishing pension that disappears the minute you go to collect it. And, now, they're coming for your Social Security. They want your f*cking retirement money. They want it back, so they can give it to their criminal friends on Wall Street. And you know something? They'll get it. They'll get it all, sooner or later, because they own this f*cking place. It's a big club, and you ain't in it. You and I are not in the big club.

"This country is finished."

-George Carlin

Last night I got into a debate with a friend.  She is an artist and works and creates her art when she is not working.  She had been on the streets of Telegraph Avenue in the past, when she younger, she said.  Not for very long, I imagine, judging by her stance on this "homeless" problem.

Things got heated, primarily on my end.  And this is because I could see the direction this friend was trying to take me; it's the same direction all detractors attempt taking me, always.  And that direction is that we need to "fix it" because of the financial downturn of all these local businesses.  Now, for one, that is not why we need to fix (or manage) this issue.  The reason should be that human beings are wandering around without homes.  Humanity should be the reason, not money.  Secondly, the poor are not causing the financial calamity of all these businesses!  That distinction belongs to those with more power than us; that lies at the feet of what is controlling our "law makers."

The blame, if we need to blame someone (And this is a bothersome part of our culture, the 'blame game.'  Someone must be blamed!), if we have to do it, blame has to fall on our "elected" officials.  Those are the ones who caused the mess, not the "homeless."  Again, we have no lobby in Washington D.C., secretly discussing our private plan bent for hostile takeovers of all the sidewalks in all the cities in this nation.  This is why I was getting pissed at her.  This is why the level of discourse dropped as my voice raised and lost.

When I discuss this issue with people they often head the wrong direction and try and drag me with them.  The first thing they bring up is these businesses losing money.  Again, not our doing.  I know this because, as I have stated many times in the past, these businesses have survived throughout the years with street kids panhandling in front of their storefronts.  Back in the '80's and 90's I'm sure some of those businesses even showed a profit or two.  Therefore, by this logic, those kids helped make those businesses money back in those days.  That's not true, but can you see where I am going with the logic; their logic.

So I began shouting her down.  She never raised her voice, much.  She did try to keep up, but failed; I kept cutting her off.  She became frustrated by this tactic.  I act in this fashion out of not wanting to hear it.  It's bullshit anyway.  Screaming at the Master's finger while He directs you toward the moon is my reasoning.  This is what she and others employ as their statement on this issue.  What she and others do not see is the reality.  If you are going to stonewall me with nonsense and propaganda I will not listen to you.

The reality is a few wealthy land owners control it all.  They are the ones who charge exorbitant amounts for rent.  They are the ones telling those business owners it's those "other people" in front of their stores who are the problem.  This is a classic scapegoat situation everyone.  You can't blame those affected by the corruption and so so with a straight face.  And speaking about corruption: this thing going on with the L.A.P.D. should be a wake up call to all law enforcement and government agencies... and citizens.  Why?  Because corruption has been allowed to persist in that city forever.  I grew up there.  I have seen some questionable stuff in my day.  It does not shock me that they are trying to scapegoating one of their own, even if he is guilty of what they claim.

This is what happens, everyone.  Money or Power, rather, will always try scapegoating its corruption and criminality, trying to stick it onto something or someone else.  Some of you are undoubtedly screaming at the screen like good little conditioned (by the 'news' media) primates, pointing to how this guy should be killed and how he is a "nut" and this and that and this and that... who cares.  Say I agree with you.  Say he is a "nut."  Say he is all those things.  So what?  Nothing changes, really.  The only thing that happens when people disassociate themselves from this type situation is they set themselves up for it happening again.

The system that perpetuates the aforementioned story also keeps these people (including myself) on the same streets they want us extracted.  The same system that says it is "trying to 'fix it'" is the very same system (Of people who throw money at something without oversight or audits to make sure the money allocated gets to those who need it, instead of some bureaucrat mucking up the works.) that keeps its existence going?

And to say stuff like, "We never even saw it coming!" and "It's such a 'shock'!" proves what I say, that people are in Denial about everything.  It's easier to pretend not seeing it.  You don't have to fix it that way.  Everything is the same.  People want to enjoy their lattes and yogurt without seeing all the carnage left by the inaction of the citizens of this nation, a lot of them the same yogurt-swilling, butt-hurt, gated-community, urban-challenged people who growl at us, while their kids tear it up in the Frats.  Hey, that goes for us out here, too.  We did nothing about most of it either, not that we are in the position to do so.  But the only difference between us and you is we are the result, the "trickled-down" result, that is.  More like "trickled-on," actually.

Thanks Reagan Administration!

At the end of the night I was the Big Loser.  I never got my point across and yelled at a (lovely) friend in the process.  I apologized.  Even still, the message was lost (for now).  I still have time, though.  She is intelligent; this point is what makes it so damned maddening though.  It is the intelligent people who need to stop being ignorant; ignorant only meaning "without knowledge."  I'm not using that word as a pejorative or insult.  But again, if those on "our side" are not getting it, I guess it is my job to do a better job conveying those points and bring them over with intelligence myself.  Anger used in the correct way is a tool.  Anger used in the incorrect way is a hindrance.

When I said "we" and "us" to her about this subject she shook her head to the negative and kept saying, "But you're not one of them!"  She kept disagreeing with my point that I am part of them.  I am them.  I am "homeless" and so are they.  Sure, some of them have hit their intellectual capacity, some of them are more mentally disabled than I am, even more reason to help !  If I start believing I am different than they are then I am lost.  I fight because I am being attacked as well.  Don't get me wrong.  "It's personal!" I told her.  And it is.  But even if I were not part of this entire thing I would still fight for them all.  It's the right thing to do.

In order to manage this problem we need people to stop blaming.  We need people to stop the scapegoating and stop all the (hypocritical) moralistic nonsense.  Again, I have pointed out "problematic 'house' behavior," but because this behavior comes from those in a higher socioeconomic class it is not frowned upon when compared to others with less means.  Underage drinking is underage drinking.  Binge drinking is binge drinking.  No matter your socioeconomic status.  So if you're going to ignore one group over another, based on the socioeconomic status of people like me, I am going to scoff at you and cut you off at the pass.  Call you out.  Scream at you, like I do on a nightly and daily basis.  So stop it.

Better communication and non-propagandized information is the key.  Scapegoating and fear-based lunacy has to end.  I see the city of Berkeley are still asking for proposals and that is a good thing.  Just so long as whatever proposal they choose gets the correct funding and a arbitrary book keeper as well.  Am I part of it?  No.  I don't want to deal with bureaucratic nonsense.  I don't want to listen to people bullshit me further.  I am going to write my fiction and the money I make from that book will go toward something tangible; something that works.  If I fail, nothing is lost, except those I see on a daily basis.  The city will still try cleaning up the mess our politicians have created (not the 'homeless') and we will see if their plan goes down another long, deep, dark pit.

I hope not.  I would like to see something "change."  Right now that word is just a slogan.  Something to get elected with.  Because all I see is more of the same old sh*t.  Scapegoating.  Blaming.  Moralizing.  All these Christian Qualities and Tenets have to be modified.  All this shooting at the wrong target stuff is getting old.  All this affectation is tired.  We need solutions not platitudes.  We need habitats not guff.  We need Leaders not Swine.

-James Richard Armstrong II

Authors Bio:
I'm a homeless student, writer, and activist... currently panhandling my way through school (and life.).