@Leon: Just a quick correction: I don't know that I would classify Ronald Reagan as a 'do-gooder,' but it was definitely his presidential policies that forced mentally-ill homeless onto the streets.

Or is assuming that homeless people as a class will eat just about anything you've already rejected or left behind freaking insulting?

And, are many of these comments (@bean) so full of hate and vitriol that the authors are clearly currently writing our nation's economic and social policies?