# I pit the homeless men who defecate near my apartment **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 24, 2011, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789 "2011-01-24T15:29:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/81 "2011-01-26T20:09:55Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > In fairness, he did say he wasn’t an _uber_conservative… which was already evident, as the OP was phrased as a complaint rather than a request for recipes. For the homeless guy, or the shit? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/82 "2011-01-26T22:36:25Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Perfectly fair, thank you. In return, I’ll retract my broad-brush characterization of “antitaxers” in general explicitly denigrating mentally ill poor people as “lazy losers”, and clarify that I don’t believe that most conservative budget cutters try to defund mental health services out of any actual hostility towards the mentally ill. Rather, it’s simply that for whatever reason, they do not believe that mental health services are a sufficiently important/appropriate goal to warrant existing government funding. Fair enough also from my end. And I thank you as well. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/83 "2011-01-26T22:47:23Z")
Curious level of dignified debate going on in this outdoor-shitting rant thread… ---
**Author:** ![lorene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/65b543/32.png) [@lorene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorene)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/84 "2011-01-27T12:20:54Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Curious level of dignified debate going on in this outdoor-shitting rant thread… Right? On the one hand, I enjoyed reading it. On the other hand,\*\*\* there are poop mysteries to be solved, people!!\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/85 "2011-01-27T22:02:34Z")
> [@Caffeine.addict](#): > > It’s a problem in DC. The google map view for [519 H Street](http://frozentropics.blogspot.com/2009/12/caught-by-google-maps.html) has a guy taking a dump during the day on a busy street. I’ve seen people urinating in the alleys as well and they didn’t look homeless. Somewhere I have my cellphone from Japan with a snap of a hand-written sign that was propped up in a corner in [Ueno](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ueno,_Tokyo): ここで小便するな “Don’t piss here.” > [@VinylTurnip](#): > > Curious level of dignified debate going on in this outdoor-shitting rant thread… Personally, I’m blown away that someone refuted **Starving Artist** , \*\*SA \*\*read the cite, and \*\*SA \*\*conceded that his recollection was wrong. I’m afraid to look out the window in case I might see the Second Coming of Christ trailing _clouds of fucking glory_. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/86 "2011-01-27T22:22:19Z")
> [@Vinyl Turnip](#): > > Curious level of dignified debate going on in this outdoor-shitting rant thread… Yeah, sorry about that, I got carried away. ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/87 "2011-01-27T22:27:46Z")
Please set up a video camera so we can be sure. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/88 "2011-01-28T19:47:14Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > I might see the Second Coming of Christ trailing _clouds of fucking glory_. Or dropping a deuce off the edge of a Jersey Barrier. Either one. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/89 "2011-01-28T20:00:34Z")
That’s actually what “clouds of glory” really means. It was just a bit too crass, so the Bible euphemized it up a bit. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/90 "2011-01-28T20:14:51Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > That’s actually what “clouds of glory” really means. I’m guessing around a six on the [Bristol Scale](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Stool_Scale), then? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 6:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/91 "2011-02-01T06:52:15Z")
Move to a better neighbourhood. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/92 "2011-02-01T18:05:40Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > Move to a better neighbourhood. Seriously – you want to find an area where residents of said apartments shit in front of the door. ---
**Author:** ![may\_be\_ignorant](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c5a1d2/32.png) [@may\_be\_ignorant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/may_be_ignorant)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/93 "2011-02-01T23:56:27Z")
I’m going to have to go with dogs on this one. I doubt they would consistantly return to a used path to take a dump. It would make sense that dogs would do their business there since they’ve probably got people walking them along them. But… If it was homeless people, what would you do if you caught one in the act? Just curious. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2011, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/94 "2011-02-02T16:28:24Z")
> [@MeanOldLady](#): > > Oh. I just called those regular barriers all this time. I thought a Jersey barrier might maybe, I dunno, wear too much hair gel or something. Down the shore they call them Snookiebumpers. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/95 "2011-02-03T01:14:07Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > You don’t RC (recall correctly). The trend of putting mentally ill patients out on the street was primarily driven not by liberal preferences for community-based treatment of mental illness, but rather by Reagan-era conservative spending cuts for social services. As far as the antitaxers were concerned, mentally ill poor people were just one more group of lazy losers who didn’t deserve any of their hard-earned money. > > I happen to completely agree with you that many mentally ill homeless people need some form of residential care. But they’re not going to get it as long as conservatives remain so resistant to any form of tax increase to pay for it. Given the tenor of a discussion between you and I on another thread, I just thought I’d mention here that this is precisely my recollection and observation too. ---
**Author:** ![not\_alice](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_alice/32/7283_2.png) [@not\_alice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_alice)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/96 "2011-02-03T01:26:16Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I haven’t been aware of any attempts to provide funding for care of the mentally ill. Have you? Where do you think the funds come from if not from attempts to provide funding? This is discussed in every state as well as the Federal level during every budget cycle. Are you suggesting that conservatives are for MORE spending in this area? Or even maintaining the status quo? To their credit I suppose, a lot of people who might be better off having access to mental health care prior end up in prison at state expense, so I am sure the conservatives can take credit for increasing the funding there over the years while the funding mysteriously decreased without their help in other places where mental health services are provided. All said, a wash! :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > Of course you can prove me wrong, and I will readily acknowlege it if so. Well, here in California, even post-Reagan, facilities for the care of developmentally delayed folks have been closed left and right, and there is only one left. Supposedly some care was pushed out to what are called “Regional Centers”, iow to the community at some State expense for the purposes of out discussion, but now even that is going to come under the budget axe. Will conservatives rally round to save it? Time will tell. Care to make a friendly wager on the level of effort conservatives in CA will invest in maintaining the status quo - already depleted in the last couple of years by our previous governor - in the coming budget cycle? ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2011, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/97 "2011-02-03T01:35:40Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Seriously – you want to find an area where residents of said apartments shit in front of the door. A person with whom I used to teach eventually moved due to a nutter pissing in her apartment building’s entrance. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/98 "2011-02-04T00:39:44Z")
> [@Muffin](#): > > A person with whom I used to teach eventually moved due to a nutter pissing in her apartment building’s entrance. I can believe it. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789/99 "2011-02-04T16:46:41Z")
> [@Strainger](#): > > Lie in wait with a BB gun. Shoot the offender in the ass when he drops trou. Or pepper spray. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-the-homeless-men-who-defecate-near-my-apartment/568789.md?page=4)