Stormin Mormon wrote:
I think you mentioned two essential points:
1) In many cases, poor is a lifestyle. Give them a pile of
whatever, and they will be poor again in a couple weeks

Yep. The folks relocated from Katrina to Houston tried to resume their
lifestyle. Fortunately, they killed each other off with great regularity.
Those that didn't managed to run into a new obstacle: The men in blue.
"Whatcha means I can't be moseyin' thru my 'hood with a malt and a toke?"

On the other hand, those that relocated to Billings or Fort Wayne or Wichita
had new experiences too: "You mean all I gots to do is stand here and make
Slurpies? And I gets PAID for it? Damn! Thaz cool, man!"

Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article ,
dpb wrote:
....

From the other side, I contend it's not misleading. Every board I ever
served on was very conscientious of ensuring that all designated funds
were credited for use where they were designated to go.
Never said otherwise. But I also think that they way it was phrased,
especially when it came in response to "I would give to the UW but I
want to give to this group instead" is intentionally misleading at best,
borderline fraudulent at worst.

How, pray tell -- they would credit your contribution to the charity of
choice in its entirety. What they do w/ other contributions is,
fundamentally, none of your business to put it bluntly...

But, the UW is, and advertises itself strongly as an advocate for all
member organizations and as such it is quite apparent to anybody that
they raise a pooled pile of dollars that are allocated among all the
member organizations. I don't see how anybody could reasonably expect
that their designating contributions to one organization would be
responsible for lessening benefit to another member organization in the
pool.

Why not? Especially in response to the I would give but statement.
THAT is exactly how I worded and that was exactly the response.

I don't see how you can interpret that that way other than by having a
beef against UW given the following statement of fact. That you
included a "but" doesn't change their mission nor obligations nor does
their using other donations than yours violate any trust or implied
promise about what would happen to your particular contribution amount
were it to be made so-designated.



OTOH, imagine you were on the local UW board and fulfilling your
fiduciary responsibilities and obligations as a conscientious member of
that Board. How would you propose to solve the quandary of promoting
the interests of your member institutions fairly and simultaneously
satisfy the desires of prospective donors that do have preferences as to
where their contributions are used? (Remember, as a Board member, your
obligation is to support the objectives and policies of the organization
as adopted by the Board even if you, say, voted against accepting a
particular organization as part of the campaign... Like any
non-trivial exercise, there be non-trivial issues to deal with. ).

I would say right off that we can get that money to them, but it
won't be extra. All I ask for is transparency.

Where precisely do you think there's any implication of "extra" somehow
implied? All the UW says is your particular contribution won't go
someplace besides where you designate it should help. Again, you can't
expect to control somebody else's choice(s).

And, there is complete transparency--you're entitled to and can get a
full accounting of every dollar simply for the asking from any UW local
(just as w/ _any_ 501(c) organization).

I have to say I think you're making an argument here to justify that you
only want an organization to support specific others with which you are
fully in agreement so you create the strawman to justify that attitude.

--

Bill wrote:

Charity begins at home!
(Speaking of this, the U.S. government actually borrows money to give
billions of dollars in financial aid to other countries! This would
be like me taking out a $5,000.00 loan so I could give that money to
my neighbor so they could remodel their home - while at the time I
owed hundreds of thousands of dollars on my credit cards! Totally
nuts!)


Sort of. We don't give anybody "cash." We give them trading credits that
they can use to buy U.S. goods, often specific goods. They get the "aid" and
domestic companies get the money.

aemeijers wrote:

Where I work, they bend over backwards in writing saying it is
entirely voluntary, and they don't actually sign people up without a
signed slip. But they sure do try to shame people into donating, with
all the usual peer pressure techniques like publicly passing out the
slips, and keeping running dollar totals for each shop, making a
competition out of it to see who can hit their target first. I do
donate, most years, but I write one check, and designate what charity
I want to have the money. (There are plenty of charities in the book
that I regard as left/right wingnut useless feel-good groups.) But I
am not entirely convinced designating who my donation goes to, means
that the worthless ones get any less. I suspect they tally up the
directed donations, and just subtract that from whatever dollars were
designated for that charity in the first place, so the undesignated
donations flow to the politically correct groups. (Sorta like lotto
was supposed to ADD to school financing, not become one of the
standard sources for the money?)

Sounds kinda like "Card Check."

"Raymond J. Johnson, Jr." wrote in message
Old man Hunt looked at Bailey as if Bailey had just eaten a bug. "I use
my money to give people something more important that a pretty picture to
look at in some damned museum. I use my money got give 'em a JOB!"

Mr. Hunt answered with a false dichotomy--he could easily have done both.

You've audited his books?

dpb wrote:
Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article ,
dpb wrote:
...

(snip)
Where precisely do you think there's any implication of "extra" somehow
implied? All the UW says is your particular contribution won't go
someplace besides where you designate it should help. Again, you can't
expect to control somebody else's choice(s).

And, there is complete transparency--you're entitled to and can get a
full accounting of every dollar simply for the asking from any UW local
(just as w/ _any_ 501(c) organization).

I have to say I think you're making an argument here to justify that you
only want an organization to support specific others with which you are
fully in agreement so you create the strawman to justify that attitude.

--

1 question I never got an answer to, over the years- What would happen
if some group got MORE in designated donations, than the overall split
that was penciled in for them? Would they still get it all?

I realize it is rather unlikely, but I am curious.

--
aem sends...

aemeijers wrote:
....

1 question I never got an answer to, over the years- What would happen
if some group got MORE in designated donations, than the overall split
that was penciled in for them? Would they still get it all?

Certainly w/ any Board with which I have been associated, yes. (Not to
mention of all the rules/regulations it would violate to do otherwise...)

I realize it is rather unlikely, but I am curious.

Extremely highly unlikely ime. I've never seen any campaign in which
the designated total comprised more than few percent of the overall
total raised.

The only way I would ever see that eventuality coming to pass would be a
single large donation directed for a small organization but it would be
more likely such a gift would be made directly ime.

--

On Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:06:25 -0600, Red Green
wrote:

[snip]

The "Teach a man to fish" thing...

"Teach him religion and he'll starve to death praying for a fish."

[snip]

Teach a man religion, and he'll spend the rest of his life
going door to door telling everyone about it.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"real1" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 13 Dec 2009 09:06:25 -0600, Red Green

wrote:

[snip]

The "Teach a man to fish" thing...

"Teach him religion and he'll starve to death praying for a
fish."

[snip]

Thank you, for the voice of experience and wisdom. You are
exactly correct. I think that many people (and nearly all
adults) have a story of outrage, when it comes to charity
and poor people. Here is the one that comes to my mind.

I was seated at the round table, my small church
congregation was having the leaders conference, before
services started. The phone rang, and Mark went to answer.
It was for Gwen, the Relief Society president. She came
back, fuming, and really obviously upset.

What happened was that one of the welfare women in the
branch had called. Told (not asked) Gwen that she, Gwen,
needed to come over to her house to write a welfare food
order. Gwen replied that welfare lady lived only a couple
blocks from the chpael, and she could walk over. They would
write the order and discuss the needs after services. As
church was about to start in a few minutes. The welfare lady
cranked up the heat, and started yelling, and insisting.
Aparently it had to be done before services, or during
services (taking Gwen away from church ) because welfare
lady was leaving in a litle while to take the boys on the
city busy to see the Ice Follies (paid admission, you
realize), and she woudl not be home after church.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Denise in NH" wrote in message
...
Hi guys, I wrote in a couple of weeks ago about my gas oven
dying and
with your help, it works great now, It needed a new
igniter, so thanks
so much.

I really want to weigh in on this charity giving thread. In
September,
I retired after 20 years as director of my local food
pantry. From
experience I would NEVER in a million years give cash to a
client,
because you can't control where or on whom it will be spent.
Drugs,
alcohol, and cigarettes come to mind. Don't get me wrong,
some of my
former clients were salt of the earth, wonderful people, but
I found
that the ones that go to every charity and get put on lots
of lists for
help are actually taking you for fools.

We used to give out toys too, and one year, when my husband
was helping
out at the food pantry, a young woman's car was so full of
items from
multiple charities that he couldn't fit anything else in her
car, and
she got really ****ed at him. He refused to give her our
items and told
her to come in and talk to the "boss" (me). Needless to
say, she left
and never returned.

One year a family signed up for 8 turkey baskets from all
over town
under different names, so we wouldn't catch on. Each family
member had
a different last name, but because I got really friendly
with one of
them, I figured it out, but it was too late for that year.

This time of year everyone comes out of the closet to donate
to food
pantries and storage becomes a bad problem, where do we
store
everything? Sometimes that's why we request cash instead,
so we can buy
perishables like eggs, cheese, butter and meats.

I am now in charge of the free clothing area associated with
my food
pantry. People get really mad at me when in December, in
New Hampshire,
I won't take shorts, bathing suits, or other summer things,
I have no
storage. It's not because I don't appreciate your efforts
at cleaning
your closets, bagging the stuff, and lugging it over to me,
but where
the hell do I put it till summer?? A woman called me every
name in the
book when I told her that I couldn't take a pick-up truck
full of size 2
clothes. I told her that my average client was probably a
size 14 or
larger, she was livid. And don't get me started on the
filthy stuff
some people bring in, covered with dog/cat hair, smelling
like a dirty
ashtray. We don't have a washing machine, what do I do with
that stuff,
I can't put it on the racks and shelves with the clean
stuff.

Solution:

Find a LOCAL food pantry, maybe at your place of worship,
ask them what
they need, actual canned goods, or cash. If you want, ask
them how
their clients are screened for eligibility. We had to
follow strict
government guidelines. When you are comfortable with their
answers,
give to your heart's content and trust them to do what's
right. Most of
the time we get it right and you'd be proud.

Some food pantries use cash to help clients with rent (not
us), in which
case the money goes directly to the landlord, not the
client.

Give only clean, in season clothing.

I would never give cash directly to a client.

Best tip: If funds are tight for you at Christmas, don't
give now at
all. The food pantries are usually chock-a-block full
already at this
time of year. Go get a 2010 calendar, flip to April or July
or Sept.
and write yourself a note to donate to a local charity.
That's when
they are desperately low on food and funds and will flip
cartwheels for
you.

I hope you all have a great Holiday Season, whether you are
on the
giving or receiving end.

Denise

Stormin Mormon wrote:
Thank you, for the voice of experience and wisdom. You are
exactly correct. I think that many people (and nearly all
adults) have a story of outrage, when it comes to charity
and poor people. Here is the one that comes to my mind.

I was seated at the round table, my small church
congregation was having the leaders conference, before
services started. The phone rang, and Mark went to answer.
It was for Gwen, the Relief Society president. She came
back, fuming, and really obviously upset.

What happened was that one of the welfare women in the
branch had called. Told (not asked) Gwen that she, Gwen,
needed to come over to her house to write a welfare food
order. Gwen replied that welfare lady lived only a couple
blocks from the chpael, and she could walk over. They would
write the order and discuss the needs after services. As
church was about to start in a few minutes. The welfare lady
cranked up the heat, and started yelling, and insisting.
Aparently it had to be done before services, or during
services (taking Gwen away from church ) because welfare
lady was leaving in a litle while to take the boys on the
city busy to see the Ice Follies (paid admission, you
realize), and she woudl not be home after church.


It's easy to forget that there are good reasons for people being "on
welfare"....mental illness is a major one. Half the folks in nursing
homes (probably a lot more) are "on welfare". It's become immoral to be
out of funds, but lots in that category have had accidents or illnesses,
sometimes multiple major events in one family and were every bit as
responsible as those with bank accounts.

Most of the really irritating/demanding people whom I got to know well
as a nurse had good reasons for their ill temper...one who comes to mind
was an elderly woman whose only son had committed suicide. Some folks
deal with tragedy well, but some events are difficult to ponder. Almost
all of the "difficult" people that I know have had much more "difficult"
lives than I have had.

"Stormin Mormon" wrote:

Thank you, for the voice of experience and wisdom. You are
exactly correct. I think that many people (and nearly all
adults) have a story of outrage, when it comes to charity
and poor people.

I think that is the biggest problem with churchians such as yourself.
[you have proven over and over on this forum that you neither a large
or small 'C' Christian].

When I give something to someone I give it of my own free will and I
do so because it makes me feel good to do it. If I get a thanks, I
feel good about the thanks, but it has nothing to do with how I feel
about giving.

The Jews have a system of 'levels' of giving. I don't remember the
details, per se, but it goes something like;
1- you know who is receiving your gift & they know you gave it.
2- you know who is getting it- but they don't know the benefactor
3- neither know who is givng/getting
I think there are some more-
The top of the heap was when you were able to give anonymously to
someone and they didn't even know they were receiving charity.

I think they nailed it. [ I'm not Jewish- I'm agnostic]

If you don't want to give- then don't. But all you holier-than-thou
hypocrites that keep going on about how the poor don't appreciate how
wonderful you are can kiss my ass on a busy street corner.

Jim

Jim Elbrecht wrote:
"Stormin Mormon" wrote:

Thank you, for the voice of experience and wisdom. You are
exactly correct. I think that many people (and nearly all
adults) have a story of outrage, when it comes to charity
and poor people.

I think that is the biggest problem with churchians such as yourself.
[you have proven over and over on this forum that you neither a large
or small 'C' Christian].

When I give something to someone I give it of my own free will and I
do so because it makes me feel good to do it. If I get a thanks, I
feel good about the thanks, but it has nothing to do with how I feel
about giving.

The Jews have a system of 'levels' of giving. I don't remember the
details, per se, but it goes something like;
1- you know who is receiving your gift & they know you gave it.
2- you know who is getting it- but they don't know the benefactor
3- neither know who is givng/getting
I think there are some more-
The top of the heap was when you were able to give anonymously to
someone and they didn't even know they were receiving charity.

I think they nailed it. [ I'm not Jewish- I'm agnostic]


Actually there are (classically) thirteen levels of charity, but you've
described the essence.

It's a bit different from what most (Christians) understand charity to be.
In the Christian tradition, charity imposes a "duty" on the part of the
giver. In the Jewish tradition, charity is a "right" claimed by the poor*.
Both have the same effect of transferring resources from the more affluent
to the less fortunate, but the difference has significant effects.

Consider the church or synagogue itself: In both instances, the institution
is in the position of depending on the donations of the membership. In the
Christian church, the offering plate is passed in each service and there is
continued emphasis on the duty of the parishioners to "tithe." In the
synagogue, membership is (usually) based on your tax return and dues are
assessed to each family unit. If you don't pay your dues, you don't get in
(at least for the holidays). It's that simple.

This dichotomy carries over into westerm legal theory also: Every "right" a
person is guaranteed by law imposes a "duty" on someone else. If, for
example, I have a right to government-funded health care (or anything else),
you have a duty to provide it.

In practice, it comes down to who nags you: The church or the schnorrer**.

--------
* This "right" is taken, principally, from the admonition to not reap the
corners of your field so the poor may glean therefrom.

** Schnorrer: Yiddish for 'begger' or 'sponger.' By Jewish law, you are not
allowed to refuse a hand-out.

Thanks, that's a gentle reminder to be more understanding.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


wrote in message
m...

Most of the really irritating/demanding people whom I got to
know well
as a nurse had good reasons for their ill temper...one who
comes to mind
was an elderly woman whose only son had committed suicide.
Some folks
deal with tragedy well, but some events are difficult to
ponder. Almost
all of the "difficult" people that I know have had much more
"difficult"
lives than I have had.

It's sad that you've missed the point, so severely. With
your cheerful attitude on life, you must be interesting at
family gatherings.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Jim Elbrecht" wrote in message
...

If you don't want to give- then don't. But all you
holier-than-thou
hypocrites that keep going on about how the poor don't
appreciate how
wonderful you are can kiss my ass on a busy street corner.

Jim

On Dec 14, 11:13*am, Jim Elbrecht wrote:
"Stormin Mormon" wrote:
Thank you, for the voice of experience and wisdom. You are
exactly correct. I think that many people (and nearly all
adults) have a story of outrage, when it comes to charity
and poor people.

I think that is the biggest problem with churchians such as yourself.
[you have proven over and over on this forum that you neither a large
or small 'C' Christian].

When I give something to someone I give it of my own free will and I
do so because it makes me feel good to do it. *If I get a thanks, I
feel good about the thanks, but it has nothing to do with how I feel
about giving.

The Jews have a system of 'levels' of giving. * I don't remember the
details, per se, but it goes something like;
1- you know who is receiving your gift & they know you gave it.
2- you know who is getting it- but they don't know the benefactor
3- neither know who is givng/getting
I think there are some more-
The top of the heap was when you were able to give anonymously to
someone and they didn't even know they were receiving charity.

I think they nailed it. *[ I'm not Jewish- I'm agnostic]

If you don't want to give- then don't. *But all you holier-than-thou
hypocrites that keep going on about how the poor don't appreciate how
wonderful you are can kiss my ass on a busy street corner.

Jim

I am certain that you never have looked at yourself in the mirror or
you wouldn't make such a comment.

On Dec 13, 9:44*am, The Daring Dufas
wrote:
casey wrote:
I have always been a believer, in helping the less fortunate when I can..

This year, I feel like being Scrooge!

Our company usually "adopts" 2 families at Christmas. After having my
company not matching my 401, it was a hit to me. Same with having wages
frozen for 2 years, and having to take 10 days per year not paid, plus
giving up 5 personnel days a year. I'm short 3 weeks pay, plus no 401
matching.

Our "boss" said the families we adopted needs cash. WTF?? I have some extra
food I can share, and a couple of new sweaters I'm willing to provide. My
boss says this is unacceptable. The families need to have cash, so they can
buy for their children. I have no idea what the money will go for, drugs
maybe? Besides, I don't have extra cash.

I contacted the Red-X. Said I have food & some new clothes to donate. They
said they have plenty of food & clothes, they need cash. This is no joke,
they actually told me this!

Helping the less fortunate? Since when have people decide what they will
accept as gifts? *Bah Humbug, I don't need this crap.

I once worked for a company that participated in this United Way
organization. If all the employees contributed to the United Way
by having money taken out of their pay, the boss got his picture
in the newspaper and all the newsletters along with bragging rights.
I got my paycheck and saw that money had been taken from my pay
for United Way without my consent. I immediately put a stop to it.
I had superiors trying to cajole me into allowing money for United
Way to be taken out of my pay and I refused. Needless to say, I no
longer had good relations with the management and didn't stay with
the company much longer. I later found out that new hires had to
sign a statement allowing money to be deducted from their pay for
this Mafia,...er, charitable organization. This crap has been going
on all over the country in both the government and private sector
for many years.

TDD- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I had a similar experience with United Way when I was in the Air Force
in 1966. The base commander and top brass decided to make names for
themselves and get some other benefits from United Way by forcing
everyone on base to contribute. They even decided how much we would
contribute which ended up with the enlisted giving about 10x as much
as the officers based on pay. The MINIMUM we could give was $50 which
was the equal of 1 months pay for new enlisted personnel. Somehow
word got back to some Congressmen and that practice was ended but not
before I swore that United Way would never see another dime from me
and they haven't even though a couple of companies I have worked for
didn't like it.

"BobR" wrote in message
news:b039cd46-ea6e-4c58-9e22-

I had a similar experience with United Way when I was in the Air Force
in 1966. The base commander and top brass decided to make names for
themselves and get some other benefits from United Way by forcing
everyone on base to contribute. They even decided how much we would
contribute which ended up with the enlisted giving about 10x as much
as the officers based on pay. The MINIMUM we could give was $50 which
was the equal of 1 months pay for new enlisted personnel. Somehow
word got back to some Congressmen and that practice was ended but not
before I swore that United Way would never see another dime from me
and they haven't even though a couple of companies I have worked for
didn't like it.

=============

I'm not big on *forced* charity of any kind. What the government takes is
bad enough.

Cheri

Stormin Mormon wrote:
Thanks, that's a gentle reminder to be more understanding.


I didn't mean my post to make excuses for bad behavior, but it sometimes
helps to get to know a person better. And some folks are nasty just for
the pleasure of being nasty )

On Dec 14, 3:14*pm, "
wrote:
Stormin Mormon wrote:
Thanks, that's a gentle reminder to be more understanding.

I didn't mean my post to make excuses for bad behavior, but it sometimes
helps to get to know a person better. *And some folks are nasty just for
the pleasure of being nasty )

I have known a few people like that but most seemed to be using it as
a self-defense against getting too close to people and getting hurt.

On Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:04:27 -0500, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

Teach a man religion, and he'll spend the rest of his life
going door to door telling everyone about it.

Recently, I saw a bumper sticker saying "If you love Jesus, Tell
Someone", I felt it should be "If you Love Jesus, SHUT UP". That's
because of the THOUSANDS of people who won't ("holy verbal diarrhea").

As a former atheist, I can totally agree with the sentiment.
I do try to tread lightly, and not be too gosh awful pushy.
Except on Usenet!

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Gary H" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 13 Dec 2009 23:04:27 -0500, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote:

Teach a man religion, and he'll spend the rest of his life
going door to door telling everyone about it.

Recently, I saw a bumper sticker saying "If you love Jesus,
Tell
Someone", I felt it should be "If you Love Jesus, SHUT UP".
That's
because of the THOUSANDS of people who won't ("holy verbal
diarrhea").

Marina wrote:
Wayne Boatwright wrote in
5.250:

On Sat 12 Dec 2009 06:54:45p, Tony Hwang told us...

casey wrote:
I have always been a believer, in helping the less fortunate when I
can.

This year, I feel like being Scrooge!

Our company usually "adopts" 2 families at Christmas. After having
my company not matching my 401, it was a hit to me. Same with having
wages frozen for 2 years, and having to take 10 days per year not
paid, plus giving up 5 personnel days a year. I'm short 3 weeks pay,
plus no 401 matching.

Our "boss" said the families we adopted needs cash. WTF?? I have
some extra food I can share, and a couple of new sweaters I'm
willing to provide. My boss says this is unacceptable. The families
need to have cash, so they can buy for their children. I have no
idea what the money will go for, drugs maybe? Besides, I don't have
extra cash.

I contacted the Red-X. Said I have food& some new clothes to
donate. They said they have plenty of food& clothes, they need
cash. This is no joke, they actually told me this!

Helping the less fortunate? Since when have people decide what they
will accept as gifts? Bah Humbug, I don't need this crap.









Hi,
I heard a single mother needed a computer to work on his courses to
upgrade herself. Since I had a few desktops and laptops I could
spare, I offered a P4 3.3 MHz desktop with a LCD monitor, network
card, etc. She did not want it and said she only wants laptop. So I
offered a IBM Thinkpad T42 laptop. She did not want it either.
Reason? it has too small hard drive and no DVD writer. I don't think
people like this are not in need, they want this and that. Hell with
it.
I guess the expression, "beggars can't be choosers", is no longer in
the English vocabulary.

**** 'em!

I can barely meet my bills and may be facing bankruptcy by the middle
of 2010 if things don't improve.

I have things I could give to those who might need them, but they want
to choose and pick.

As far as I'm concerned, charity begins at MY home!


Years ago when my sister moved to LA she encountered a number of homeless
people on a certain street. One man had a sign he'd work for food. She
went in the store and bought him a sandwich. When she gave it to him, the
guy promptly threw it in the trash bin. A few other homeless people jumped
at the bin for the food.

The new thing now, is for somebody to approach you at a gas station and ask
for money. The fake reason they give is their car broke down up the
street. A woman asked me for $5. When I told her No, she kept standing
there and again I told her No, this time very strongly. What was going
thru my mind, is she going to attack me. Well, I still was pumping gas so
it crossed my mind to spray her with the gasoline if she tried to jump me.
Luckily she walked away and asked everyone else at the station.

You can always have some fun with them by acting crazy. I've had urban
campers approach me while I was walking down a sidewalk and when they
start talking, I will cock my head like a dog listening to its master,
do the crazy eyes bit and start screaming "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" while
walking toward with my arms and fingers outstretched like I'm going
to touch them. Walking stiff legged can enhance the effect and the
behavior can often send them running. There are lots of other things
I do to them to amuse myself.

TDD

In article , wrote:

You can always have some fun with them by acting crazy. I've had urban
campers approach me while I was walking down a sidewalk and when they
start talking, I will cock my head like a dog listening to its master,
do the crazy eyes bit and start screaming "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" while
walking toward with my arms and fingers outstretched like I'm going
to touch them. Walking stiff legged can enhance the effect and the
behavior can often send them running. There are lots of other things
I do to them to amuse myself.

I worked closely with a deaf man for nearly fifteen years, back in the 80s and
90s, and got pretty good at sign language -- good enough that I can do a
convincing imitation of being deaf. I'm a little out of practice now, so if I
ever encounter a panhandler who actually knows ASL, he'll know I'm faking, but
it's worked every time so far. They give up quickly and walk on to the next
mark.

The first time I tried this, I told my deaf friend about it the next day. He
laughed his ass off.

You should get a clown suit, and do kids parties.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"The Daring Dufas" wrote
in message ...

You can always have some fun with them by acting crazy. I've
had urban
campers approach me while I was walking down a sidewalk and
when they
start talking, I will cock my head like a dog listening to
its master,
do the crazy eyes bit and start screaming
"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" while
walking toward with my arms and fingers outstretched like
I'm going
to touch them. Walking stiff legged can enhance the effect
and the
behavior can often send them running. There are lots of
other things
I do to them to amuse myself.

TDD

It's also fun, if you are fluent in French or some other
language. Spanish, not so useful. Too many folks know
Spanish. Russian or Czech is good. I wonder if that works on
other panhandlers like traffic cops?

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"Doug Miller" wrote in message
...

I worked closely with a deaf man for nearly fifteen years,
back in the 80s and
90s, and got pretty good at sign language -- good enough
that I can do a
convincing imitation of being deaf. I'm a little out of
practice now, so if I
ever encounter a panhandler who actually knows ASL, he'll
know I'm faking, but
it's worked every time so far. They give up quickly and walk
on to the next
mark.

The first time I tried this, I told my deaf friend about it
the next day. He
laughed his ass off.

On Dec 23, 1:12*am, Marina wrote:
Wayne Boatwright wrote . 185.250:





On Sat 12 Dec 2009 06:54:45p, Tony Hwang told us...

casey wrote:
I have always been a believer, in helping the less fortunate when I
can.

This year, I feel like being Scrooge!

Our company usually "adopts" 2 families at Christmas. After having
my company not matching my 401, it was a hit to me. Same with having
wages frozen for 2 years, and having to take 10 days per year not
paid, plus giving up 5 personnel days a year. I'm short 3 weeks pay,
plus no 401 matching.

Our "boss" said the families we adopted needs cash. WTF?? I have
some extra food I can share, and a couple of new sweaters I'm
willing to provide. My boss says this is unacceptable. The families
need to have cash, so they can buy for their children. I have no
idea what the money will go for, drugs maybe? Besides, I don't have
extra cash.

I contacted the Red-X. Said I have food& *some new clothes to
donate. They said they have plenty of food& *clothes, they need
cash. This is no joke, they actually told me this!

Helping the less fortunate? Since when have people decide what they
will accept as gifts? *Bah Humbug, I don't need this crap.

Hi,
I heard a single mother needed a computer to work on his courses to
upgrade herself. Since I had a few desktops and laptops I could
spare, I offered a P4 3.3 MHz desktop with a LCD monitor, network
card, etc. She did not want it and said she only wants laptop. So I
offered a IBM Thinkpad T42 laptop. She did not want it either.
Reason? it has too small hard drive and no DVD writer. I don't think
people like this are not in need, they want this and that. Hell with
it.

I guess the expression, "beggars can't be choosers", is no longer in
the English vocabulary.

**** 'em!

I can barely meet my bills and may be facing bankruptcy by the middle
of 2010 if things don't improve. *

I have things I could give to those who might need them, but they want
to choose and pick.

As far as I'm concerned, charity begins at MY home!

Years ago when my sister moved to LA she encountered a number of homeless
people on a certain street. *One man had a sign he'd work for food. *She
went in the store and bought him a sandwich. *When she gave it to him, the
guy promptly threw it in the trash bin. *A few other homeless people jumped
at the bin for the food.

The new thing now, is for somebody to approach you at a gas station and ask
for money. *The fake reason they give is their car broke down up the
street. *A woman asked me for $5. *When I told her No, she kept standing
there and again I told her No, this time very strongly. *What was going
thru my mind, is she going to attack me. *Well, I still was pumping gas so
it crossed my mind to spray her with the gasoline if she tried to jump me..
Luckily she walked away and asked everyone else at the station.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Nothing new about that around the Dallas Tx area, its been going on
for years and in most cases is not a woman who approaches you. On
several occasions I have been approached by more than one person at a
time. I just tell them sorry but I don't carry cash and I don't.

Doug Miller wrote:
In article , wrote:

You can always have some fun with them by acting crazy. I've had urban
campers approach me while I was walking down a sidewalk and when they
start talking, I will cock my head like a dog listening to its master,
do the crazy eyes bit and start screaming "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" while
walking toward with my arms and fingers outstretched like I'm going
to touch them. Walking stiff legged can enhance the effect and the
behavior can often send them running. There are lots of other things
I do to them to amuse myself.

I worked closely with a deaf man for nearly fifteen years, back in the 80s and
90s, and got pretty good at sign language -- good enough that I can do a
convincing imitation of being deaf. I'm a little out of practice now, so if I
ever encounter a panhandler who actually knows ASL, he'll know I'm faking, but
it's worked every time so far. They give up quickly and walk on to the next
mark.

The first time I tried this, I told my deaf friend about it the next day. He
laughed his ass off.

That's another one of the things I will do to them and of course they
will wander off mumbling about crazy deaf people. Of course, I don't
know sign language and if I encountered a genuine deaf person, they
would think I was signing in a foreign language. *snicker*

TDD

Stormin Mormon wrote:
It's also fun, if you are fluent in French or some other
language. Spanish, not so useful. Too many folks know
Spanish. Russian or Czech is good. I wonder if that works on
other panhandlers like traffic cops?


Imagine how Sid Caesar could confuse them? He's good at making
up languages.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sg7UFTTgj4w

TDD