Didya Hear

about Cruz? I told you about him last month in the Opposite sound. I was at work not long ago, when my co-worker K comes up to me and says

Did you see Cruz?
Naw man, I haven't seen that cat since last month. He said he was joining this roofing crew down in Quitman.
Where's Quitman?
Close to Valdosta.
Oh. Well anyway, apparently he was breaking into a house when a neighbor saw him and hit him upside the head with a brick and detained him 'til the cops got there.
Whaaat?
Yeah, that's what I thought but there it was on WALB. Such a shame idn't it.
Yeah. It's a shame.
I was reading an article about the number of homeless people in Georgia. Thelma Watson was quoted as saying that there were "over 194" homeless people in Albany/Dirty county. I was in the same "Coalition for the Homeless" meeting where Mrs Watson proclaimed that those numbers were "way off". I agreed and questioned their methodology. I don't want to sound like self appointed expert on the subject. Homelessness describes a condition that is too fluid to paint with that word. It's like using the word "God" to describe the ideals of 6 billion people. It's inadequate. Having said that, I have been homeless at certain times in my life and have been running a homeless shelter for a few months now, so I can say with great confidence that I had more "hands on" experience than anyone else in the Coalition meeting.
Ms Watson, after using the bogus numbers provided by the Ga Department of Community Affairs which did not even contact the two largest Homeless shelters, nor the various Drug Rehabs around town that are housing(but not home to) untold nunbers of homeless alcoholics and addicts. It doesn't bother me that she would use a number that she knows to be "way off". After all, she did qualify her statement with the words "more than".
What made me laugh was her statement that the economy and the lack of jobs are the prime causes of homelessness. Naw baby. Now you're just being politically correct, not that there is anything WRONG with that. PC is simply another way of saying "civil or respectful". It's gotten a bad name from bigots who decry the erosion of white privilege. No Thelma. The primary cause of homelessness is Drug and Alcohol abuse. Period. You can put sugar on shit all day and it will still taste like DooDoo.
Sure, there are victims of house fires and layoffs and women fleeing the pimp hand etc. But for those who remain in a semi permanent state of homelessness, drugs and alcohol are most responsible for cushioning the fall to the point of grimy comfort. That which eases the sting keeps the stung one from fleeing the stinger.