Someone said "...most are good people and are just down on their luck". That's a very optimistic point of view but is short on fact (or, at least, it's misleading). Most may be "good" people, relatively speaking, but they're "down on their luck" for a reason. You name the reasons....they're endless. They are not "homeless", they are beggars, and they choose that lifestyle.

Generally, I always say I'll give them nothing...not a dime....zip. I reason that all I'm doing is contributing to their problem. But the reality is, almost everytime I see them, whether stopped at a redlight or begging in front of a store, I end up pitching in a few coins or a dollar or two. I don;t know why, I just can;t help it.

It6 sounds to me that we have something in common, Stretch. We are Human Beings after all, caring for our fellow man, here and there. Welcome to the Human Race,, Me, I'm a Vulcan stuck here since 1953! It's a job explaining these ears!

Yes, you're probably right, Wildman....it's the humanity in us that extends the hand. Just as we pull over for the people on the side of the road (who usually really need help), we sometimes give hand-outs to those who might need it, but probably shouldn;t have it.

Sa this in a parking lot a couple weeks back. Panhandler with his hand out finds a nice mark. Lady comes up with some cash and some snacks and bottled water. When I came back out from shopping I saw that after she'd left, he put the ziploc bag with teh snacks and bottled water on the running board of her SUV and walked off with the cash. This guy did not want to drink water.

Put me in the Nothing column.

Last year or year before, an FM radio station in El Paso drove around asking all the beggars (PC 1990's invented name = "homeless") how much they would collect in a day. Now, these guys and gals were the ones you see at major intersections and if you drive by there enough, you see the same ones everyday. Oh they may swap intersections once in a while for a change of scenery. In other words, they're not really transients, just permanent beggars. They have the usual array of cardboard signs.... everyone already knows what they say.

Know what their average daily income is? Ready? $37.00

Now, at first glance someone may be tempted to say "Well, that's not very much". But reason and logic says otherwise. It's $37.00 too much for doing nothing all day. A friend said to me "Yea, but these guys stand around in the sun all day long, that aint easy". .... as if standing around in the sun should somehow be compensated for! (I hear Karl Marx applauding in the background) I asked him how much he would earn if he stood around in his frontyard all day.

Know how much the highest "wage earner" averaged every day? (by his own account, understand) $70.00 (note the use of the word "averaged")

Where do these guys live? Under their favorite I-10 overpass; in the desert; in a breezeway or leeward corner of your local closed-down Target store; in city parks; at a tax-funded "shelter"; etc.

This is El Paso. One of the lowest-wage large cities in America. Let's see here.... minimum wage about $7 or so....times 8 hours....hmmmm.... $56 for someone willing to do something productive.

Where does the money go? Who knows. Beer? Wine? Wild Turkey? A new pair of used sneakers from the Salvation Army?

I still don;t know why I give them anything. I suppose it's just hard to look a guy straight in the eyes and not feel some compassion. If nothing else, then maybe for the 3-legged dog they all seem to have one or more of.

Ever notice none of them ever have cats? Cats are just too smart for that. They choose the good life.

Whatever leads these people to their situation is irrelevant. Just as it is irrelevant to consider any criminal's past (childhood experiences, etc) when considering guilt or innocence for comitting a crime. But it seems to me that they are definitely, each one of them, mentally afflicted with something, or they wouldn;t be living the way they do. It's a choice they've made. They consciously choose to live this way, whatever mental affliction guides their conscience.

Normally I don't give these people squat. I work two jobs and have for years. However, several years ago I happened on a guy sitting beside Embarcadero St. in SF near Pier 39 holding a sign that said " Need money for grass". The guy looked like a throw back to the 70's and the sign was at that moment extremely funny. At least he was honest about his intentions. I gave him a buck. It was the best laugh I'd had in a while and I still chuckle when I think about it.

A local reporter decided to find out how much these seen-every-day beggars really make. She put on some worn clothing and took an old daypack, made a sign, and took up space at the bottom of the offramp. After she had been on the first corner for a few hours, some of the 'competition' suggested they all trade corners, which she did.

I don't remember the exact amount, but she made something like $130 in about 6 hours. She would take the money, do a quick count, then hand it back to the giver, saying she was really a reporter and doing a story about panhandlers.

And I just saw my first panhandling cat early this week. It was black, wearing a harness and leash, and seemed quite blase about sitting on the owner's shoulder next to traffic.

Oh, I know I say I'm cynical, which is only true, and some people here probably agree, but I was outdone in Vegas. I was taking a group of people to the airport, and as we headed out of the downtown area, we saw a man with one leg and a pair of crutches with a cardboard sign hanging from a string around his neck. One of my passengers looked at him as we passed, then commented, "Now, there's a diehard beggar! Imagine cutting your leg off to collect more money!"

Sue

That's funny stuff.

Now I've admitted to giving most of them some small pittance time and again, but if I saw a guy with one leg, he's guaranteed to get a couple or more bucks from me. Double it if he also has a black cat! I don;t usually fall for the wheelchair guys though but it depends on whether or not they're really believable.

And the "honesty" routine started some time ago when beggars realized that they could get a little more with some tongue-in-cheek humor. Usually, when I see that, it turns me off and I'm less likely to hand out some coin. I figure, if it's really that funny to them, maybe they should try some honest work on-stage.

In the end, it'a all pretty comical in a sad way. Choosing to be pitiful and living the life of a "homeless" bum is a slap in the face to people who are really poor and struggling with two or three jobs to support a family. No, it's an insult to ANY person who works at something for a living...whether they're struggling or not.

I don't know which is worse, having to face these bums every day, or knowing that they are also scamming our system for millions every year. How many of them get free medical treatment, free food, free lodging, free transportation, all while contributing absolutely nothing to our society?

Like I am always pining on about; it is one thing to have to choose whether or not I am going to fork over hard earned cash for these folks, but at least it's my decision. Once again, I get steamed thinking about tax dollars being handed over just because it makes the politicians look and feel better about themselves. Our government is not in the business of charity, it is in the business of being a good steward of the assets of our country. Like Davey Crockett said, many of them have no problem doling out money that doesn't belong to them in the first place, for things that they would never support with their own personal funds in any way.

I just got hit up by a panhandler yesterday who was riding a very nice mountain bike and trying to sell his "I'm a Katrina victim" story. He didnt have the slightest southern accent and when I asked him where in NO he had lived, he began to stutter and mumble. "Sorry, I dont carry cash" was the answer he got.