The Orlando Arrests
In regard to the recent press coverage of Food Not Bombs’ public food sharing at Lake Eola, and the city of Orlando’s arrests of those who participate in them, I would like to make a couple of points – some as a matter of fact, some as a matter of theory.
First, there seems to be a misperception about Food Not Bombs, who we work with and what we do. We share food with the public. A percentage of the people at our food sharings might be homeless, but in 2011 our perceptions of what a homeless person looks like are based largely on unfounded social prejudices and fears. We share food with several people I know to be homeless, but I’ve also talked to others who have homes, jobs, kids, issues or a combination thereof.
This underscores my next point: “The homeless,” in general, are as diverse as any other social group. Just as cultural, racial, ideological or occupational ties define many other social groups, homelessness is a cultural issue comprised of many diverse factors.
Obviously, poverty is a complex issue, and Food Not Bombs does not seek to solve it alone. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, there are 9,000 homeless people in Orlando, and Food Not Bombs cannot supply them with all of their meals, much less meet their emotional, educational or other needs. We are a part of what ought to be a much larger puzzle, consisting of a large and diverse community of people who can share what they’ve got to give.
Instead, we have fear and disgust felt by those who live indoors toward those who live outdoors. What about that?
To put it simply: Those who choose to live in an area that serves as the center of our sorry excuse for a bus system, as well as the center point for several institutions that provide services to impoverished and homeless Orlandoans, will encounter the homeless. Even if Food Not Bombs weren’t ?providing food at Lake Eola Park, there are still 40 other weekly food sharings that take place downtown at various homeless-services agencies. In fact, on June 15, police distributed leaflets that told people where to find them.
Mayor Buddy Dyer has noted that if Food Not Bombs were concerned about feeding the homeless, we’d be sharing food legally like the rest of the groups downtown. City Hall insists that our feedings result in the homeless dispersing around the downtown area, sleeping on porches and using bushes as toilets. If there are 40 other legal food sharings taking place downtown weekly, though (compared to the two we host), don’t they also contribute to those same problems? What’s different about the “aftermath” of our food sharings and the city-approved sharings that happen elsewhere?
Do people go and eat and stay at downtown soup kitchen Daily Bread indefinitely, or do they leave and go somewhere else when they are ?finished? What would stop them from acting ?any differently on stomachs full of “city-approved” food as opposed to the food we provide? Maybe it’s not the dispersal of the homeless after “illegal” sharings that has the city stressed out – maybe it’s just that we won’t go along with the city’s quest to hide the homeless.
Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas suggested that Food Not Bombs’ mission is to rub the homeless in the public’s face. “That has created a conflict with the homeless, who have as much right to public places as the public who pay for them,” he wrote. But the fact of the matter is that homeless people are part of the public and to assume that the homeless don’t contribute to the taxes that pay for our…
RazerRay:
I just read that Orlando FNB is going to sue the mayor for referring to them as “Food For Bums”.
Locally, the lawyer imprisoned for 6 months because he and a group of protesters occupied the steps of the Santa Cruz county court house last summer in violation of the state’s PC 647(e) “No Lodging” law, which apparently interferes with a US citizen’s right to traverse the state (because being in the state without sleeping accomodations is a crime-in-waiting… as soon as one goes to sleep), is out on bail after it was reduced from $50,000 dollars (You read that right… $50,000 dollar bail for a non-violent misdeameanor by someone who obviously has no intention to flee) pending appeal, along with a co-defendant who was also convicted.
Regarding “Orlando Sentinel columnist Mike Thomas suggested that Food Not Bombs’ mission is to rub the homeless in the public’s face…”
…and why not? Since when has it become against the law to embarrass public officials in the US? That happens in Middle Eastern and Central Asian dictatorships.
I corner public elected officals, the downtown intelligence officers (AKA ‘Downtown Hosts’) and the police on the street regularly with such witty greetings as “Hey look! Corrupt scum walking!”, “Selective enforcement of the law will not solve your problems… It just make the problems worse.” or just “How does it feel to be corrupt?” along with more extensive critiques if they stand still long enough, which they won’t.
…and if 50 people a day… 50 PEOPLE A DAY… walked in, sang a bar of Alices Restaurant, and walked out, they’d think it was a movement.
28 June 2011, 1:05 pmStan:
Y’all have gotta see this video of a news report on the “I Heart the Orlando Police” man. Funny as hell.
9 July 2011, 10:37 amWinston Warfield:
To have been able to deadpan all of that…guy is good, real good.
9 July 2011, 5:09 pmRobert Karaffa:
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!!!! Laughing way tooo hard..Oops..just puked a little!
9 July 2011, 9:32 pmEric:
just glad he and the others didn’t get the firing squad like the folks in Miami Beach on Memorial Day weekend.
10 July 2011, 3:07 pmMichael Anderson:
He’s a MUCH better right-wingnut than Colbert!
11 July 2011, 1:07 pmSt. Jude as Claus:
I saw this humorous report today from San Diego which as far as I know has a long running feud going on with Orlando.
12 July 2011, 10:13 amThe report said that a Naval Captian was relieved of his post for conspiring to commit fraternization with a married Army something or other. The report was not really clear if the army something or other was a non commissioned or commissioned officer. It implied that the Army person (personnel) involved were women but it did not dierectly state that. Can you believe it members of the armed force running around the streets of San Diego fraternizing as if no one can see them. Although the investigators could not prove it I vet someone sure got screwed.
When will these people ever learn that the only honorable uniformed people in the US are in the Coast Guard.
Really Americans should learn to a new was to spell honesty, which would be U.S.C.Gsky. Yes that is a pun on alien humor.
Sam:
Great interview with Michael Hudson here:
http://michael-hudson.com/2012/01/hudson-keiser-on-2012-imperialism/
30 January 2012, 3:00 pmCurt:
I just read that the biggest holder of US government securities are agencies of the Federal Governament. I wonder what Professor Hudson would say about that. It does not make any sense to me. It is claimed that we are approaching 16 trillion in debt. Yet if US Goverment agencies hold what was it, almost 7 trillion is securities that has to appear as assets on the government balance sheets. Which means that are real debt is cut down to then 9 trillion. So it seems to me that the whole discussion about debt is very misleading. It ssems that the press concentrates only on the liabiliteis side of the spread sheet. It they looked at the assets side what would they find? Would they find that the US Governement has a net worth or trillions.
Furthermore we could learn something from German accountants and simply call our 16 trillion dollar debt a 16 billion dollar debt:)
None the less now that I think that I have a better understanding of the role of money in the world. Debt is something that still concerns me. Though for not the same reasons as a libertarian or a conservative.
Everyone wants to live well. Some people want to live well and honestly. Now if that is not possible it is possible that most people will settle for living well and dishonetly. But are we in a positiion to say that as a Nation we are not capable of living well and honestly? It should be clear to anyone in the world that, except perhaps for me, Americans are willing to work long hours at dangerous, uncomftorable, or boring jobs to achieve material success. What percent of our current success comes at the EXPENSE of other countries? If it is small then why not make some small sacrifices to be able to say that we really do deserve what we have? If a lot of our success comes at the expense of other countries than can we reduce our level of cheating? Are there policies that are government can implement that will hurt us only a little and provide a big return to those who might not be gettting a fair deal from us?
From what I have read Haitians work very hard too. Why do they not have an advaced infrastructure to magnify their productive labor? Will some supporter of Gingrich, or Romney, or Paul or even Obana try to tell me becasue the Haitians have been destroyed by Socialism?
Are our governmetns fiscal policies a significant cheating factor? Or is this a case of everyone is cheating by running national government deficits so if we do not cheat too we are acting irresponsibly because we would be allowing other people to take advantage of us?
I really look forward to writing to myself further on this subject.
3 February 2012, 11:46 amCurt:
Helicpters were flying back and forth at low altitude over the forest near our house for at least an hour today. They were obviously looking for something. If I had to make a guess it wouild be that they were looking for my three short posts that got deleated from this location. I hope that they found them. I am not sure what they should do with them though if they did find them. Should they put them back were they were lost from or should they just email them back to me?
7 February 2012, 6:28 pmCurt:
A post by Michael Anderson on another thread moved me to do a little Wiki reading on poverty rates in the US. In this Wiki article was information about different kinds of poverty, absolute and relative. As part of the discussion of relative poverty it mentioned that although there is a huge gap in income between the rich and the poor the gap in expenditures is not as wide. I think that this statement is deceptive. First they compared quints, they gave the median or mean or some such figure of expenditures of the poorest fith compared against the next 5th and so on up to the richest 20%. That in and of itself is deceptive because the riches 2% would have thier spending patterns greatly dilluted by including them with the many people that lie between 80 and 98 percent. Further more I suspect that the figure given does not truely account for the spending of the wealthy. Would it include for example campaign contributions? Would it include the purchase of mutal funds? Would it include gambeling at the race track? I new someone once that was just barely rich. He bought a brand new Lincoln Continental every 2 years.
9 February 2012, 2:46 pmThat brings up another problem with these measurements. Family A lives in Dallas Texas on 40,000 a year happily and saves 2,500 a year. Family B lives next door. Family B has the same income as family A but spends 43,000 per year. It does not take much to spend an extra 5 grand a year if you are not paying close attention or you are trying to keep everyone happy for now and hope that things will get better next year.
Curt:
A jungle operates on the basis of power and deception. A society operates on the basis of consent.
11 February 2012, 5:32 amIt is been suggested that Greece leave the Euro zone. It apppears to me that would be somewhat like defaulting on their debts.
Greece is not a self sufficient country. Are we to assume that from this point forward the all imports in to Greece will be
paid for by export earnings? I do not think that would be a likely assumption. So considering that Greece has faced bankruptcy
once why should anyone outside of Greece have faith in the Greek currency?
It was suggested here earlier that every 10 years or so that there be a debt jubalie and that all debts be forgiven. It is one
thing to forgive the debts of the poor but if forgiving debts were to be a policy everyone, even the rich, would want to take advantage
of the policy. Such a system would certainly not be one based upon consent. Even if there were only to be a one time debt jubalie
many people would think, it has been done once it will be done again.
The world’s financial system is a mess. I do not know what shuold be done now. I do not even know if a fair system is theoretically
possible. When I went fishing somtimes the line got tangled and I would sit there and try to untangle it. Sometimes I lost my
patience and simply cut the line and started over. Sadly a financial system is more than a fishing line.
Henry:
Re: A jungle operates on the basis of power and deception.
Not at all. It operates on the basis of an extraordinary harmony and organization, in which a certain “natural selection” is only a fragment of a much vaster picture. Bad men operate on the basis of power and deception. It’s a different sort of jungle.
11 February 2012, 2:45 pmm.c.:
Most Animals have Manners compared with us. 15 Minutes ago I just saw two domesticated dogs run off a wild/unowned dog from their street here in Aruba. I think Curt meant ‘Jungle’ in a figurative sense.
I just thought of the chapter in Konrad Lorenz’s book, On Aggression, where he & his wife adopted a female Goose. The Goose would stay outside during the light hours and impatiently wait at the door to be let inside in the evening. She had a instinctive ritual before walking up the stairs. Geese don’t like to be picked up according to the author(A Nobel Prize Winner.) One time being late, she forgot her ritual. Lorenz describes it in detail.
11 February 2012, 5:58 pm