HuffPo on Korea's homeless

The Huffington Post has an interesting piece on the challenges faced by the homeless in Seoul, along with some efforts by the homeless themselves to help each other.

An excerpt:
I recently had the privilege of visiting Seoul, South Korea. As part of my trip, I talked to several homeless organizations. One of the homeless men I met with was Mr. Lee. In 1997 he lost his job when the company he worked for (making clothes for school kids) was replaced by a bigger company.

He was homeless for 10 years. Then he fell and ended up in a hospital. When he left the hospital a local civic organization helped him. He repaid their help by agreeing to volunteer. He organized a homeless group of six men. These men simply reached out to other homeless people to talk. They offered no services. They simply asked people what they needed.
In his conversations, he learned that welfare was being cut. There was not enough money to help people. Mr. Lee learned that homeless people lacked any savings and could not get bank credit. So he and his group of six decided to start a bank cooperative and offer their own social services.

Korean church turns wards into plowshares (or something like that)

I guess it's a good things if Korean churches get known for something other than being big or being scandalous. Helping the homeless (and teaching them urban agriculture) is certainly a worthy cause:

A Korean Assembly of God church in Kalihi that currently houses 35 homeless people in tents on its grounds plans to move two dozen of its homeless clients to help run a farm in Waianae Valley in the next several weeks.

State lawmakers who have been wrestling with homeless issues from Waikiki to Kalihi to Waianae had not heard of the plan by Hawaii Cedar Church on Kamehameha IV Road, but offered praise Tuesday after the church's announcement.

Yeah, yeah. Watch me eat my words three or four years later when I end up writing a post on how these homeless folks were used a slave farm labor.

I kid! I kid! (More on this later.)

...

Obama news from the Aloha State

For starters, a state appeals court here in Hawaii has reaffirmed the denial of a request to inspect and review President Barack Hussein Obama’s birth certificate that would prove (or disprove) that he was born here in Honolulu:

In a 3-0 vote, the Hawaii Intermediate Court of Appeals upheld a 2009 ruling by then-state Circuit Judge Eden Elizabeth Hifo, who dismissed the lawsuit by a man identified as “Dr. Robert V. Justice,” who represented himself. He listed a Beverly Hills, Calif., address on his court papers.

In his legal brief to the appeals court, Justice wrote the inspection of the birth certificate will “ensure the health and safety of all 300 million of us by making sure that our military and our nuclear and chemical arsenals are still under our control and not in the control of any one of our enemies.”

The appeals court said Justice sought the review under the state open-records law requiring the disclosure of documents based on a showing of “compelling circumstances affecting the health or safety of any individual.”

A win for Obama. A win in part because it will make the birthers keep outing themselves as nutters, with Donald Trump doubling as their leader and Exhibit A.

A loss for Obama? His golfing buddy and school chum has been arrested for prostitution:

A regular Hawaii golfing buddy and Punahou School friend of President Barack Obama was among four people arrested Monday night during a prostitution sting operation in Kakaako by Honolulu police.

Waialua resident Robert Richard “Bobby” Titcomb, 49, was arrested at South and Pohukaina streets at 9:40 p.m. Monday.

Titcomb was charged with prostitution and released after posting $500 bail at 11 p.m. The offense is a petty misdemeanor that carries a $500 fine. People convicted may also face probation, community service or up to 30 days in jail.

The area is close to a massive homeless shelter, which makes me think Barry's bud was slumming it, so to speak. Kinda dumb, when the authorities have been cracking down on homelessness in a big way, scrutinizing anyone who isn't in the shelter.

I did not take this photo.
I am too chicken.

Really, if you're going to go to a prostitute in Honolulu, just head to Waikiki. They're easy to find, walking along main streets and mingling with the tourists, and apparently they don't try all that hard to cover up what they're doing.

In fact, one of the funniest things I've ever seen in Honolulu was when I was walking back to my car from the Apple Store at the Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center. There was a woman, obviously selling her services, talking very loudly to a man that appeared to be a middle-aged Japanese or Korean tourist, yelling for all to hear, "No, I told you, I don't accept credit cards!"