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D.C. Homeless Being Pushed Out for Inauguration

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
[/quote]Thursday, January 15, 2009 3:40 PM
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/homeles.../15/171793.html
Frank Mearns has left the place he calls home, a stone's throw from the White House, and joined thousands of others in Washington who were forced to pull up stakes and move from their regular digs for the presidential inauguration.
But Mearns isn't making a quick buck by renting out his pied-a-terre, as some Washington residents are. Nor did he head out of town on an inauguration escape holiday, as some locals did.
He's one of Washington's army of homeless cleared from the center of the U.S. capital ahead of the historic inauguration of Barack Obama.
"Everyone's got to be out of here and stay out until next Thursday," the 37-year-old said.

"I was on the streets when George W. Bush had his second inauguration in 2005 and it was nothing like this. There were no large-scale sweeps. I slept on Pennsylvania Avenue the night before and the night after the inauguration," said the 34-year-old who now works for the National Coalition for the Homeless.
"But as hard as the administration is going to try to make this look sanitary, the homeless are not going to be invisible.
A dozen shelters will be open round-the-clock in Washington from Sunday until Wednesday, the day after Obama takes office, to provide temporary housing for the homeless.

Washington Mayor Adrian Fenty has estimated that the inauguration will cost the city about $47 million, while Maryland and Virginia have estimated their outlay at $12 million and $16 million respectively.The shelters will be equipped with televisions, showing live coverage of Obama's swearing-in.

"We are showing our priorities as a nation: throwing a mult-million-dollar party while trying to shovel our poor and our homeless under the carpet," Pirtle said.
 

Tam

Well-known member
I heard this on the news the other day and I was thinking why doesn't Obama spread some wealth and just write checks on his personal bank account to all the Washington DC homeless and get them a hotel room for a few nights. I guess he's not quite as generous with his money as he is the tax payers money. :wink:
 
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