What???

I do not normally stray to political topics but when I read about this on our local news site this morning I thought that I would share what is going on in another part of our country.
(Information below was taken from an article by Robert Edmond)
On July 19th, 2006 Las Vegas city council passed the first U.S. oridinance to explicitly make sharing food with the poor a crime. What???? This is a city where millions of dollars are spent demolishing perfectly good buildings and now it is against the law to share food with poor people.
Ordinance LVMC 13.36.055 prohibits: providing food or meals to the indigent for free or a nominal fee in city parks. Indigent is defined as a"person whom a reasonable ordinary person would believe to be entitled to apply for or receive assistance" from the government under state law. Anyone who is caught breaking this ordinance is punishable by six months in jail and $1000 fine.
Oscar Goodman, Las Vegas Mayor, is a advocate of cracking down on hte homeless in city parks and have been quoted "I don't want them there. They're not going to be there. I'm not going to let it happen. They thing I am mean now; wait until the homeless try to go over there."
This is the man who in Nov 2005 suggested that those guilty of graffiti have their thumbs chopped off as well as canin or whipping teen offenders. WHAT???

To read the rest of this article go to: http://www.envirolink.org/external.html?itemid=200608171249230.31533

To read more about the Homeless in the US:

Illegal to be Homless: The Criminalization of Homelessness in the United States
http://www.nationalhomeless.org/civilrights/crim23003/narratives.html

With the changes in our economy and the higher gas prices, the number of people who can not afford transportation to and from work are growing. Who are we to judge the less fortunate than us. It is true some choose the life style they have but there are others who it was chosen for them. There are so many things that we as a society can do to help out. Below are a few sites I have read about.

Food not Bombs
http://www.scfoodnotbombs.org

National Coalition for the Homeless
http://www.nationalhomeless.org