"Cruel and Unusual Punishment"

Los Angeles can no longer jail its homeless population for the crime of being homeless, or so says the judicial system calling such barbarity "cruel and unusual punishment." You see, it's not a freakin' crime. Homelessness is a fact, it's what they are. Homeless. Link.

ATTENTION MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA: I voted for you. Please read this article published recently in the New Yorker. As unbelievable as it may sound, homelessness is unlike so many social ills in it's actually solvable. It can be done.

First, identify the most severe cases: the men and women who have been homeless for years, who suffer from alcoholism, addiction and mental illness. They are sent to emergency rooms dso often that they often rack up bills topping $100,000 per visit. Then rent them apartments. Put them in treatment. With all the money you save in health care (approxomately $1 million per year per person) you can actually provide temporary housing assistance to the temporarily homeless in Los Angeles. These are the people who hit a bit of back luck and just need help for a short period of time.