Famously 'Tolerant' People No Longer Very Tolerant

Of course, they're only tolerant to a certain degree. If you're a Republican or a member of the military, they hate you with ever fiber of their being, so my sympathy meter just isn't registering on this one.

Of course, in reality, they're the most intolerant kind of people--leftwingers.

After years of using the homeless as mascots and pretending it was Ronald Reagan's fault rather than assorted pathologies that caused people to live out in the street, San Franciscans have grown tired of the homeless.

Wonder what took so long?

Last time I visited in 1998, certain parts of the city were virtual no-go zones, infested and overrun by every type of human debris imaginable.

Residents of a famously liberal city appear to be changing views

San Francisco - the liberal, left-coast city conservatives love to mock - could be undergoing a transformation when it comes to homeless people. Although the city would still be a poor choice for a pep rally for the war in Iraq, indications are that residents have had it with aggressive panhandlers, street squatters and drug users.

"Maybe there has been an epiphany," says David Latterman, president of Fall Line Analytics, a local market research firm. "People have realized they can hate George Bush but still not want people crapping in their doorway."

Nice attitude. The difference between you and George W. Bush is he'd like to help these people. You idiots would prefer using them as political pawns.

Such compassion.

Consider the case of David Kiely, who has lived in the South of Market area for 18 years. He bought a home when prices were low and now lives there with his wife, Jenny, and their three boys, ages 7, 4 and 1. Kiely insists "we're not some white, yuppie parents saying we can't take this." In fact, he says, they donate to programs for homeless people at Glide Memorial Methodist Church and the food bank at St. Anthony Dining Room. But he's finally saying "enough is enough."

"I don't expect it to be Cow Hollow or Pacific Heights," he says. "But the other day Jenny is bringing the kids back from the park, and some guy is standing on the corner throwing up on himself."

Hey man, that's just diversity in action? Who are you to judge. If a guy wants to puke on himself, who are you to say it's not his right?

Trent Rhorer, executive director of San Francisco's Human Services Agency, is at ground zero for homelessness concerns. He's heard it from local residents at meetings, he's read the polls, and he noted the huge response to Chronicle columns about the homeless people and intravenous drug users in Golden Gate park. Like others, he thinks there's been a change in the way San Franciscans think the homelessness problem should be approached.

"I don't think this is a conservative or liberal thing," he says. "This is quality of life for everyone. What research has shown and what we have seen from visits to cities like Philadelphia, Chicago, Portland and New York is that you need to combine good social outreach with law enforcement."

Tell that to the ACLU. I recall when former New York Mayor Ed Koch tried to help the degenerate Billie Boggs out and get her to stop sleeping on subway grates, before you knew it, the clowns from the ACLU had her delivering speeches at Harvard.

So, as usual, the liberals are about 25 years late in coming around to where sane people stand on the issues.

That means something more than an offer of help, which often is declined anyhow. (One city official estimated that nine out of 10 say they are not interested in a shelter or housing when approached.)

"Maybe," Rhorer says, "you just need a guy with a badge standing over them and saying, you can't stay there any more."

That's tough talk for a city that's been known as a friendly place for those down on their luck. And in previous years it would have been a political non-starter. When Mayor Frank Jordan tried to push homeless people off the street with his "Matrix" program, the crackdown got much of the blame for his failure to win a second term.

But this has the feel of a new day in San Francisco.

"Homelessness, and quality of life issues, are dividing the liberals and the progressives in this city," says David Binder, a statistical analyst and founder of David Binder Research. "The liberals will say we've got to get tough on the homeless and the progressives are more old-line liberal."

Have at it folks. You've brought this mess on yourselves.

Read the rest.My solution for the problem is every self-professed compassionate progressive out there volunteers to each take in a homeless person, fedd them, clothe them and help get them back on their feet.

C'mon folks, man up and show how much you really care. Otherwise, you'll prove what we've known all along.

You don't care about these people at all.

Via Hot Air. More from Jules Crittenden, Five Feet of Fury, Moonbattery.