27 Replies to “Great Moments In Socialism”

  1. I live in the country, do these bums just lie in the street like that ? I mean, WTH, I could not imagine living like that.

  3. I never give money anymore. If I stop for fast food I might buy an extra sandwich and hand it over but I never give cash. The ones who need it thank you. The ones who don’t need it reject it and keep asking for money. Those I ignore.

  4. Most of these people have mental Issues. Years ago when Bob Ray closed, and cut funding to the mental hospitals, there was a huge upswing in street people.
    You could be on the street so easy, even in socialist Canada. I remember years ago when I broke my hand, and got a horrible disease. I quit my job, so I didn’t qualify for unemployment. Told me go get disability but the doctors wouldn’t sign. They didn’t know whats going on, or if I was truly “Permanently disabled as required”, I might get better some day. The pills cost me over 300 a month, rent 1100 and no money coming in. I was in far too much pain to keep a job. So don’t be like this knob, one that puts them down or laugh at them, because even you could join them some day.

  5. I had my “great moment” with sociaism a week ago when I waited 9hrs. to see an emergncy doctor – better hope you never get old in this brave new world of technocratic socialsm because there is no plans for you except indirect euthanasia via a crumbling health care system.

  6. I’ve worked in downtown Toronto on a number of occasions and encountered numerous street people. I would say a large percentage have obvious mental health problems (but for the grace of God etc.) and or substance abuse often linked to mental health. That said, I remember an article by someone who worked with these people and that person suggested to not give money as it will usually be pissed away on drugs or alcohol. As for the bums, I never give money.
    John Stackhouse, now editor of the Globe and Mail, wrote a series of articles a dozen or so years ago where he dressed as a panhandler. He found he could make upwards of $400 in a day at a prime subway station in the downtown core.
    This encounter is priceless; I was walking along Bloor St. West near Bathurst several years ago. A young, healthy looking panhandler was sitting on the sidewalk with his dog. The panhandler was holding a slice of pizza which his dog was eyeing; the panhandler slapped the dogs muzzle and said “No begging”.
    BTW – I donate generously to the United Way and always slip some bills into the Sally Ann during Christmas.

  7. There are some homeless who obviously belong in a mental hospital and would be better off there. Thanks to Boob Rae and the civil rights lawyers they were released out onto the streets in Ontario to fend for themselves. Many mentally ill people need to be regularly medicated to keep their condition at bay. Giving street people regular medication is impossible.
    There are also a few able-bodied cheaters who are on the welfare rolls and are begging on the streets too. Some of them are fatter than me yet claim they haven’t eaten in days.
    I will happily buy a homeless person a poutine but I will not give them cash to spend on booze or drugs.

  9. I feel for the legitimate mentally ill street people and would give food but not money if encountered. Fortunately I fled big Liberal cities years ago and haven’t interacted with poor people in Canada since. Not so much abroad and have given food, meals, and cloths to third world homeless living in open sewers and landfills in several countries.
    What I don’t understand is that we complain about our homeless and then provide massive benefits to Third World immigrants, refugees, and illegal aliens flooding the Canadian Social Services at the drop of a hat. Many even came for the “free” benefits or brought their aged parents or grandparents for the “free” medical services in their retirement/ transplant years.
    How many of the millions of foreign or non-English speaking immigrants did Menziod encounter on the streets?
    Answer = Zero.

  10. There is lots of free food available in most major cities – for an authentic poor person food is the *last* thing you spend your money on. A lot of people don’t know that.
    Chances are that whichever corner a panhandler is on is less than 4 blocks from a soup kitchen, food bank, or community center.
    Character is destiny, and for a lot of poor folks…they are of awful character. Not mentally ill – being an *sshole isn’t a mental illness. Portraying the poor as mentally ill misses the point and lets them off the hook for their actions.
    Panhandling is symptomatic of sociopathy, I think. It signifies an otherness of society.
    Keep in mind that for every panhandler there are a hundred people just as broke who aren’t hassling passersby. Actually, many panhandlers are on disability which, in the poverty community, is living relatively high on the hog as compared to those on welfare or, worse, “street welfare” (they don’t get a housing allowance).
    Panhandling is a hustle, a scam. I somewhat respect the guys who collect recyclables and “post consumer tobacco” because those guys are to a degree self sufficient and aren’t hassling people. If you feel the need to give, then give to those people.

  11. I haven’t given “loose change” or other money handouts in quite awhile.
    It makes more sense to me to have a few Tim Horton cards preloaded with $5. for those that I see could use it. It’s enough for a couple of coffees or a bowl of chili and a bun. The folks that have received these from me have all seemed appreciative and happy.

  12. I volunteer at a “soup kitchen” (it’s rarely soup). I must have shown up there at least 100 times by now. And this is in Halifax; Nova Scotia is of course a “have not” province.
    I could go on – I won’t, don’t worry – but I will mention that, depending on the menu, about 1/3 of the food gets thrown out ’cause they don’t fancy it. And it’s usually really nice food, too.
    Donuts are always popular.

  13. Although I don’t always agree with him, I love David Menzies — the quintessential T.O. provocateur. Toronto could use a small army of guys like him to balance things out a little.
    I prefer to give to panhandlers that have something to offer — the people who engage the public in a little humour, entertainment, etc. I ALWAYS give to the guys with the creative signs — the ones that say:
    “Need money for booze and hookers”
    or
    “Need money for marijuana”
    Because at least they’re honest and have a sense of humour — they’re not the bitter troublemakers (the official street representatives of the NDP) who harrass passersby.

  14. Aside from the scammers, pickers/choosers and the legitimately ill, just offering quick change or a sandwich is a very short-term solution. If the bulk of the homeless are mentally ill, why not expend resources to help them with that? If they just don’t care, what can one do but walk away?

  15. There’s a woman I’ve known since we were both kids. She’s now a well paid lawyer. She’s also the poster girl for Limousine Liberals.
    She once said to me with absolute conviction: “When someone asks you for money, you don’t have the right to deny them a little happiness in their life.”
    I wish I were kidding.
    Example #557 of why the Left Coast has its nickname. 🙁

  16. The explanation is quite simple.
    Eating food slows down or kills
    the buzz for a chronic habituated
    alcoholic. Which means they have
    to beg more and drink more to
    achieve the same results. Not a
    good trade off.

  17. You might note that most of these mental cases LOVE being in Trawna….
    As for the “Menzoid” … the guy is a total clown.
    Sun TV would be well advised to either dump him in the street or at least get him the hell off the AM or any other regular programing.

  18. Peter, not most of these people have mental issues. The term is too far stretched. Some of these people have mental issues. Do not confuse the issues.
    Some of the “mental issues” are self-induced.
    The people on the streets with real mental issues are there because lefty libs threw them out of institutions where they, and school kids, were safe. (Sorry for the cheap rhetorical blow there).
    I used to live downtown Ottawa and knew all the beggars. Only one had mental issues which were not self induced and I fed him a dollar every time I saw him. Also, he kept on his meds.
    He was actually an intelligent and articulate person; he just couldn’t handle life.

  19. The beggars in Ottawa all wear shoes. A luxury for beggars I have seen in other parts of the world.

  20. The thought occurred to me, after watching all of this, that Tim Hudak will be premier, with a majority, in March, 2013, with about 2.6 million votes (somewhere around what PMSH got in Ontario in 2011, or about 40-50% more than Mike Harris got in 1999 — and then quit! (Why did he do that again? — but no matter)).
    All of the current situation soooo reminds me of what Ontario was like when Bob Rae and his NDP got turfed in 1995 (with a whopping 17% of the vote). I have been a bit skeptical of Tim in the past, but he’s got a great plan for the privatization of public services by selling the SOEs (or at least offering ROFRs) to the public sector pension plans. And, as everyone well knows, hell hath no fury like a superannuated teacher that misses a pension cheque!
    The productivity increase that would result from this would be significant, as Miss Roberts soon discovered, and would do untold good for the “humming” (according to K-W Record this past week) manufacturing sector.
    cgh, whom I deeply respect, and I can wrestle the points of detail to a standstill in the new year.

  21. I once had a woman come up to me at a gas station begging for money to help fill her car up with gas which she could not describe to me the general location of.
    I said okay I’m not going to give you any money, you show me where your car is and I will bring you a Jerry can of gas otherwise I will just drive you home.
    She said so your not going to give me the money?
    I said No.
    She swore at me and left.

  22. I found a young homeless man, standing outside a Tim Hortons, asking for money so that he could buy something to eat. Instead, I bought him a $10.00 Tim Horton’s gift card. Just to see his face light up was priceless.

  23. I gave at the office. Half my income, I gave.
    I direct bums and charity fund raisers to the nearest government office. That’s where all my money is.
    The only charity I donate to is the Canadian Warplane Heritage. Its the only one doing work I approve of.
    David Southam said: “The thought occurred to me, after watching all of this, that Tim Hudak will be premier, with a majority, in March, 2013, with about 2.6 million votes…”
    That’s what we thought in his last outing, and he still managed to snatch defeat from the very jaws of victory by running the absolutely worst campaign in living memory. I’ve met Tim Hudak in person. From that brief contact, IMHO, he’s a d1ck.
    I hope he comes up a winner, but I’m not holding my breath.

  24. Timmies cards are traded for cash, usually at around 50 or 75% discount of reported value.
    Food is food, plastic is cash, cash is whatever you want it to be.

  26. ‘…a well paid lawyer. …poster girl for Limousine Liberals.
    …once said to me with absolute conviction: “When someone asks you for money, you don’t have the right to deny them a little happiness in their life.” …’
    Posted by: Robert W. (Vancouver)
    Can I have her name and contact info? I want to ask her for about $300. Another Handi-Rifle would bring a little happiness into my life.

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