3 hots and a cot
There are as many different numbers about the homeless population in the United States. It would be a tough number to calculate accurately in any event, given that the numbers fluctuate so widely from day to day. I just looked around for numbers and found estimates of the chronically homeless population in the U. S. that range from 350,000 to 2 million. So take any number you like in that range.
Now we do know that the population of the U. S. is roughly 314 million. Given that there are more than 25 million veterans in the United States, veterans represent around 8% of the total population. But most estimates about homelessness among veterans seem to indicate that the percentage of the chronically homeless population that are veterans is actually somewhere between 18% and 26% of that population.
When I read editorials about homelessness among veterans, I usually see more than one comment in the comments section questioning "...why should some clerk who never saw anything but a paperclip fired in anger for three or four years become my burden for the rest of his life?" I'd like an opportunity to respond to the critics who write these things.
War in this century is not the war of our ancestors. In the two World Wars, in Korea and in Vietnam, there was at least a semblance of a "front." A line where the battle was taking place, and thusly there were zones of relative safety behind that line. That is no longer the case. Combat specialties were not opened to women officially until the beginning of 2013, yet there were more than 150 female military personnel who died in U. S. military operations in Afghanistan or Iraq since those "wars" began.
There isn't anywhere in Afghanistan or Iraq where a military member is "safe" from harm. So I don't want to hear about differentiating between those who were under fire and those who weren't. Every member of the military who serves is doing to at risk to life and limb and people like these who want to say our nation has no obligation to those who served; who almost certainly did not serve in the military, needs to realize this.
Homelessness is a pervasive problem that the current inequality of income in this nation is making worse. Things will continue to get worse until someone finds a solution to recreate the American Middle Class.
The West Los Angeles VA has properties on its North Campus that could be renovated and converted into housing for homeless veterans. Multiply this by the dozens of shuttered federal facilities across the nation and include all of the homeless, and perhaps there might be creative solutions to solve multiple problems.
Welfare needing reform is another constant refrain. Maybe people who are on welfare could be required to do something to earn the public assistance when they remain on welfare for extended periods. Daycare facilities could be created and staffed by welfare recipients to provide low-cost daycare for those transitioning from welfare to work.
Some food for thought.
* * *
I suspect that it is more likely than not that Woody Allen may have sexually molested Dylan Farrow. In civil court, that's a concept referred to as the "preponderance of evidence." That's why civil trials can be won by a supermajority of jurors. It's why it is easier to win at civil trial than in a criminal trial. In a criminal trial, the standard is the higher "reasonable doubt" and I can see why the prosecutor who chose not to take Allen to court did so. It wasn't really about protecting Dylan Farrow from having to testify. It was almost certainly because he was afraid of losing a high-profile case.
Ever since Dylan Farrow published her letter in the NY Times, speculation about what really happened is running rampant. We've beaten to death the question of whether or not a man should be honored for a lifetime of achievement in his profession when allegations like this are hanging over his head.
I read Ms Farrow's letter. I read Mr. Allen's response. While I suspect the abuse took place, these facts trouble me:
Moses Farrow, Dylan's older brother says that Mia Farrow "...drummed it into me to hate my father for tearing apart the family and sexually molesting my sister." That statement was over 20 years ago and today he is a family therapist and remains convinced Allen did not molest Dylan.
A representative for Mia Farrow asked another woman that Woody Allen had been involved with to lie and claim she was only 15 when their affair started. Mr. Allen infers in his open response to Dylan's letter that Mia did this herself, which she apparently did not do personally.
Mia Farrow was apparently still involved sexually with her former husband Frank Sinatra during her relationship with Woody Allen. She's even called the paternity of Ronan Farrow into question, saying he might be the son of Sinatra rather than Allen.
The presumption of innocence works at trial in this country. It appears that it works less effectively in the court of public opinion.
* * *
Random ponderings:
While I'm a major Beatles fan, I don't see the big deal with Katy Perry refusing to sing the lyric "I'm not half the man I used to be", changing it to read "I'm not half the girl..." and also fixing the pronouns to match her gender. If the organizers were concerned about this, they should have slated a man or male group to sing that song. It might be different if someone were paying tribute to Loretta Lynn and some guy started singing "I Was Born a Coal Miner's Son."
Maybe the 20 year old Olympic snowboarder who claims he's suffered 25 concussions in his 20 years should take up a new line of work.
I thought that athletes, and not rap stars who give beat downs in waiting rooms were the kind of people who Nike named their shoes after.
The IOC may be right in the legal interpretation of the Olympic Charter in deciding that no stickers honoring the late Sarah Burke can be worn during the Sochi Games, but morally they are definitely in the wrong.
So maybe there should be a sign at the speed skating track to remind skaters they should be cautious about unzipping after a race. I did not need to know that the skaters might be naked under those suits.
Sam Rubin is the entertainment reporter for KTLA in Los Angeles, but as you can see from this video, he's not into interview preparation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc7rRQVBORk
The two 45 year old women who are identical twins and are never apart for more than 30 minutes at a time need serious help.
Four members of the Iranian National women's soccer team failed gender tests. Did they not study enough?
* * *
February 10th in History:
1258 – Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed.
1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn sparking revolution in the Scottish Wars of Independence
1355 – The St. Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
1567 – Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o' Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination.
1763 – French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.
1798 – Louis Alexandre Berthier invades Rome, proclaims a Roman Republic on February 15 and then on February 20 takes Pope Pius VI prisoner.
1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians and the Prussians.
1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
1846 – First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon – British defeat Sikhs in final battle of the war
1861 – Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
1862 – American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.
1870 – The YWCA is founded in New York City.
1906 – HMS Dreadnought, the first of a revolutionary new breed of battleships is christened and launched by King Edward VII.
1920 – Jozef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
1923 – Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas
1930 – Yên Bái mutiny in French Indochina
1933 – In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf. Schaaf dies four days later.
1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops launched the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.
1939 – Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.
1940 – The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.
1942 – The first gold record is presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
1943 – World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.
1947 – Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia.
1954 – President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
1962 – Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
1962 – Roy Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition opened, and it included Look Mickey, which featured his first employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery sourcing, all of which he is now known for.
1964 – Melbourne-Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, killing 82.
1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
1981 – A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198.
1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
1996 – The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.
1998 – Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law.
2003 – France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
2009 – The communication satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251 collide in orbit, destroying both.
2013 – Thirty-six people are killed and 39 injured in a stampede in Allahabad, India, during the Kumbh Mela festival.
Famous Folk Born on February 10th:
Aaron Hill
William Cornwallis
Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy
Samuel Plimsoll
Boris Pasternak
Alan Hale, Sr.
Jimmy Durante
Bill Tilden
Bertolt Brecht
Stella Adler
Lon Chaney, Jr.
Sidney Bryan Berry
Jerry Goldsmith
Robert Wagner
E. L. Konigsberg
Roberta Flack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1eOsMc2Fgg)
Michael Apted
Nigel Olsson
Harold Sylvester (that's him at around 40 seconds into this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYuknBe73ik&list=PL5AE51305E1D9CAB0)
Mark Spitz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyXhi5I-TWs)
Alexander Payne
George Stephanopoulos
Lenny Dykstra (jailbird)
Glenn Beck
Laura Dern
Elizabeth Banks
Emma Roberts
In honor of the birthday of Elizabeth Banks, "W." provides today's movie quotes:
Gen. Colin Powell: Funny Dick, I remember you once agreeing that going all the way in Baghdad would be a mistake.
Dick Cheney: Well, I think you made a bigger boo-boo Colin. You could have been president.
Gen. Colin Powell: Fuck you.
#2
Karl Rove: If you can't stand in front of those guys two minutes and come up with one plausible answer what the hell are we running for governor for?
George W. Bush: Just tell me what to do, whatever it takes. Look if I need to read the whole damn Constitution I'll do it.
#3
George W. Bush: Who's ever remembered the son of a president?
Laura Bush: John Quincy Adams!
George W. Bush: Yeah, but that was like, three hundred years ago wasn't it?
#4
George Herbert Walker Bush: If I remember correctly, you didn't like the sporting goods job. Working in the investment firm wasn't for you either, or the oil rig job. You didn't exactly finish up with flying colors in the Air National Guard, junior. What are you cut out for? Partying? Chasing tail? Driving drunk? What do you think you are, a Kennedy? You're a Bush. Act like one!
Now we do know that the population of the U. S. is roughly 314 million. Given that there are more than 25 million veterans in the United States, veterans represent around 8% of the total population. But most estimates about homelessness among veterans seem to indicate that the percentage of the chronically homeless population that are veterans is actually somewhere between 18% and 26% of that population.
When I read editorials about homelessness among veterans, I usually see more than one comment in the comments section questioning "...why should some clerk who never saw anything but a paperclip fired in anger for three or four years become my burden for the rest of his life?" I'd like an opportunity to respond to the critics who write these things.
War in this century is not the war of our ancestors. In the two World Wars, in Korea and in Vietnam, there was at least a semblance of a "front." A line where the battle was taking place, and thusly there were zones of relative safety behind that line. That is no longer the case. Combat specialties were not opened to women officially until the beginning of 2013, yet there were more than 150 female military personnel who died in U. S. military operations in Afghanistan or Iraq since those "wars" began.
There isn't anywhere in Afghanistan or Iraq where a military member is "safe" from harm. So I don't want to hear about differentiating between those who were under fire and those who weren't. Every member of the military who serves is doing to at risk to life and limb and people like these who want to say our nation has no obligation to those who served; who almost certainly did not serve in the military, needs to realize this.
Homelessness is a pervasive problem that the current inequality of income in this nation is making worse. Things will continue to get worse until someone finds a solution to recreate the American Middle Class.
The West Los Angeles VA has properties on its North Campus that could be renovated and converted into housing for homeless veterans. Multiply this by the dozens of shuttered federal facilities across the nation and include all of the homeless, and perhaps there might be creative solutions to solve multiple problems.
Welfare needing reform is another constant refrain. Maybe people who are on welfare could be required to do something to earn the public assistance when they remain on welfare for extended periods. Daycare facilities could be created and staffed by welfare recipients to provide low-cost daycare for those transitioning from welfare to work.
Some food for thought.
* * *
I suspect that it is more likely than not that Woody Allen may have sexually molested Dylan Farrow. In civil court, that's a concept referred to as the "preponderance of evidence." That's why civil trials can be won by a supermajority of jurors. It's why it is easier to win at civil trial than in a criminal trial. In a criminal trial, the standard is the higher "reasonable doubt" and I can see why the prosecutor who chose not to take Allen to court did so. It wasn't really about protecting Dylan Farrow from having to testify. It was almost certainly because he was afraid of losing a high-profile case.
Ever since Dylan Farrow published her letter in the NY Times, speculation about what really happened is running rampant. We've beaten to death the question of whether or not a man should be honored for a lifetime of achievement in his profession when allegations like this are hanging over his head.
I read Ms Farrow's letter. I read Mr. Allen's response. While I suspect the abuse took place, these facts trouble me:
Moses Farrow, Dylan's older brother says that Mia Farrow "...drummed it into me to hate my father for tearing apart the family and sexually molesting my sister." That statement was over 20 years ago and today he is a family therapist and remains convinced Allen did not molest Dylan.
A representative for Mia Farrow asked another woman that Woody Allen had been involved with to lie and claim she was only 15 when their affair started. Mr. Allen infers in his open response to Dylan's letter that Mia did this herself, which she apparently did not do personally.
Mia Farrow was apparently still involved sexually with her former husband Frank Sinatra during her relationship with Woody Allen. She's even called the paternity of Ronan Farrow into question, saying he might be the son of Sinatra rather than Allen.
The presumption of innocence works at trial in this country. It appears that it works less effectively in the court of public opinion.
* * *
Random ponderings:
While I'm a major Beatles fan, I don't see the big deal with Katy Perry refusing to sing the lyric "I'm not half the man I used to be", changing it to read "I'm not half the girl..." and also fixing the pronouns to match her gender. If the organizers were concerned about this, they should have slated a man or male group to sing that song. It might be different if someone were paying tribute to Loretta Lynn and some guy started singing "I Was Born a Coal Miner's Son."
Maybe the 20 year old Olympic snowboarder who claims he's suffered 25 concussions in his 20 years should take up a new line of work.
I thought that athletes, and not rap stars who give beat downs in waiting rooms were the kind of people who Nike named their shoes after.
The IOC may be right in the legal interpretation of the Olympic Charter in deciding that no stickers honoring the late Sarah Burke can be worn during the Sochi Games, but morally they are definitely in the wrong.
So maybe there should be a sign at the speed skating track to remind skaters they should be cautious about unzipping after a race. I did not need to know that the skaters might be naked under those suits.
Sam Rubin is the entertainment reporter for KTLA in Los Angeles, but as you can see from this video, he's not into interview preparation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rc7rRQVBORk
The two 45 year old women who are identical twins and are never apart for more than 30 minutes at a time need serious help.
Four members of the Iranian National women's soccer team failed gender tests. Did they not study enough?
* * *
February 10th in History:
1258 – Baghdad falls to the Mongols, and the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed.
1306 – In front of the high altar of Greyfriars Church in Dumfries, Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn sparking revolution in the Scottish Wars of Independence
1355 – The St. Scholastica's Day riot breaks out in Oxford, England, leaving 63 scholars and perhaps 30 locals dead in two days.
1567 – Lord Darnley, second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, is found strangled following an explosion at the Kirk o' Field house in Edinburgh, Scotland, a suspected assassination.
1763 – French and Indian War: The 1763 Treaty of Paris ends the war and France cedes Quebec to Great Britain.
1798 – Louis Alexandre Berthier invades Rome, proclaims a Roman Republic on February 15 and then on February 20 takes Pope Pius VI prisoner.
1814 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Champaubert ends in French victory over the Russians and the Prussians.
1840 – Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
1846 – First Anglo-Sikh War: Battle of Sobraon – British defeat Sikhs in final battle of the war
1861 – Jefferson Davis is notified by telegraph that he has been chosen as provisional President of the Confederate States of America.
1862 – American Civil War: A Union naval flotilla destroys the bulk of the Confederate Mosquito Fleet in the Battle of Elizabeth City on the Pasquotank River in North Carolina.
1870 – The YWCA is founded in New York City.
1906 – HMS Dreadnought, the first of a revolutionary new breed of battleships is christened and launched by King Edward VII.
1920 – Jozef Haller de Hallenburg performs symbolic wedding of Poland to the sea, celebrating restitution of Polish access to open sea.
1923 – Texas Tech University is founded as Texas Technological College in Lubbock, Texas
1930 – Yên Bái mutiny in French Indochina
1933 – In round 13 of a boxing match at New York City's Madison Square Garden, Primo Carnera knocks out Ernie Schaaf. Schaaf dies four days later.
1936 – Second Italo-Abyssinian War: Italian troops launched the Battle of Amba Aradam against Ethiopian defenders.
1939 – Spanish Civil War: The Nationalists conclude their conquest of Catalonia and seal the border with France.
1940 – The Soviet Union begins mass deportations of Polish citizens from occupied eastern Poland to Siberia.
1942 – The first gold record is presented to Glenn Miller for "Chattanooga Choo Choo".
1943 – World War II: Attempting to completely lift the Siege of Leningrad, the Soviet Red Army engages German troops and Spanish volunteers in the Battle of Krasny Bor.
1947 – Italy cedes most of Venezia Giulia to Yugoslavia.
1954 – President Dwight Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
1962 – Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
1962 – Roy Lichtenstein's first solo exhibition opened, and it included Look Mickey, which featured his first employment of Ben-Day dots, speech balloons and comic imagery sourcing, all of which he is now known for.
1964 – Melbourne-Voyager collision: The aircraft carrier HMAS Melbourne collides with and sinks the destroyer HMAS Voyager off the south coast of New South Wales, Australia, killing 82.
1967 – The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
1981 – A fire at the Las Vegas Hilton hotel-casino kills eight and injures 198.
1989 – Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
1996 – The IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov in chess for the first time.
1998 – Voters in Maine repeal a gay rights law passed in 1997 becoming the first U.S. state to abandon such a law.
2003 – France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
2009 – The communication satellites Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251 collide in orbit, destroying both.
2013 – Thirty-six people are killed and 39 injured in a stampede in Allahabad, India, during the Kumbh Mela festival.
Famous Folk Born on February 10th:
Aaron Hill
William Cornwallis
Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy
Samuel Plimsoll
Boris Pasternak
Alan Hale, Sr.
Jimmy Durante
Bill Tilden
Bertolt Brecht
Stella Adler
Lon Chaney, Jr.
Sidney Bryan Berry
Jerry Goldsmith
Robert Wagner
E. L. Konigsberg
Roberta Flack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1eOsMc2Fgg)
Michael Apted
Nigel Olsson
Harold Sylvester (that's him at around 40 seconds into this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYuknBe73ik&list=PL5AE51305E1D9CAB0)
Mark Spitz (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyXhi5I-TWs)
Alexander Payne
George Stephanopoulos
Lenny Dykstra (jailbird)
Glenn Beck
Laura Dern
Elizabeth Banks
Emma Roberts
In honor of the birthday of Elizabeth Banks, "W." provides today's movie quotes:
Gen. Colin Powell: Funny Dick, I remember you once agreeing that going all the way in Baghdad would be a mistake.
Dick Cheney: Well, I think you made a bigger boo-boo Colin. You could have been president.
Gen. Colin Powell: Fuck you.
#2
Karl Rove: If you can't stand in front of those guys two minutes and come up with one plausible answer what the hell are we running for governor for?
George W. Bush: Just tell me what to do, whatever it takes. Look if I need to read the whole damn Constitution I'll do it.
#3
George W. Bush: Who's ever remembered the son of a president?
Laura Bush: John Quincy Adams!
George W. Bush: Yeah, but that was like, three hundred years ago wasn't it?
#4
George Herbert Walker Bush: If I remember correctly, you didn't like the sporting goods job. Working in the investment firm wasn't for you either, or the oil rig job. You didn't exactly finish up with flying colors in the Air National Guard, junior. What are you cut out for? Partying? Chasing tail? Driving drunk? What do you think you are, a Kennedy? You're a Bush. Act like one!
posted by me at 6:57 PM
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