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Wealthy, Powerful Outraged When Homeless Allowed Into Malls With Gift Cards
Some people may have giggled at the idea of a gaggle of homeless men taking over the upscale Short Hills Mall in New Jersey, a stunt staged by radio shock jocks Opie and Anthony and heard by WBCN [website] listeners all weekend. It was tantamount to bringing a bus filled with the bedraggled from Boston Common to sit on Santas lap at the Chestnut Hill Mall.But Mayor Thomas M. Menino was not amused in the slightest. "This so-called 'shopping spree' is a sick and twisted exercise that degrades the most vulnerable members of our society. This is an outrage. This is wrong, and we need the public and our partners who care about the homeless and about basic human decency to stand up and tell them so," Menino said, adding that the broadcast came on the same day that the city began counting the Hubs homeless. "The homeless people who will be used for this event are human beings who may have been struggling for years with the adversity and problems that come with alcoholism and addictions, or with mental illness and other disabilities," Menino said. "The fact that WBCN has chosen the homeless and the holidays to present this humiliating and shameful attempt at humor is inhumane and shameful..." Thus artfully dodging the point that the shock jocks weren't laughing and sneering at the homeless. Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-12-19 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=175515 |