Lisa Ling is doing a story on the homeless in her hometown of Sacramento, CA. She is doing a good job, it is absolutely heartbreaking.
The number of those falling through the cracks in this country is staggering. So many are from the middle class, people who used to make 70,000+, now living on the street. The family she is covering were middle class last year, now they shuffle from homeless shelter to homeless shelter. They had a condo, a Lincoln Navigator, the whole life style but both parents lost their jobs and now they are just another family destroyed by this recession.
Mothers worried about losing their children because they don't have a place to live. People in tent cities, with no running water, only able to look for jobs when they have the money to ride public transit. What do the majority of these people say that they miss most, being able to take a hot shower whenever they want.
If George Bush has a legacy, this is it.
God bless Oprah for giving this some coverage, for giving a face to this recession. Makes me wish that the MSM would cover this, but they would rather cover millionaires bitching that they don't want to pay more in taxes. God forbid that they help the people they helped put into poverty.
Please watch it.
Here is the video:
http://www.oprah.com/...
If you want to do something here are a few charities dedicated to helping the homeless:
http://www.comicrelief.com/
http://www.endhomelessness.org/
http://www.habitat.org/
http://www.brc.org/...
http://www.communitychange.org/
http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/
Tomorrow a story on Walter Reed, I've had my issues with Oprah (Arnie, Bush) but recently she is hitting it out of the park.
Update:
I'm surprised by the lack of comments. I guess it's just to scary for most to think about. I know that watching this scares the shit out of me. Thank god that President Obama will deal with this crisis and not McCain. Thank god for that.