>Should we just start to insitutionalize the homeless that are beyond any help?   
   >That is one debate topic that might be worth talking about. Since California   
   >is the poverty capital of the nation.   
      
   Well, I don't know about all the homeless, but a lot of them do have mental   
   illnesses and would probably get better care in an institution vs. the   
   streets.   
      
   The US (and other parts of the developed world) started having a "homeless   
   problem" when the government decided to stop instituionalizing the mentally   
   ill.  Conditions in the institutions were not great but, rather than fix   
   them, they closed them down.  IMHO, they did it partially to save money and   
   partially to make the liberals, who thought institionalizing the mentally ill   
   was inhumane, happy.   
      
   There is a book called "The Psychopath's Test" that goes into some detail   
   about the well-meaning hippy-types who thought the criminally insane could   
   be rehabilitated in less institutional-type settings (think group homes run   
   by hippy therapists).  Their "commited murder again" rates were not too   
   good.   
      
   Also IMHO, the number of national-headline-grabbing violent acts would go   
   way down if we went back to institutionalizing some of these folks before   
   they actually commit a mass-murder/suicide rather than wondering why after   
   the fact.   
      
   Mike   
      
   ---   
    * SLMR 2.1a * Wrinkles only go where smiles have been - Jimmy Buffett   
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