CG, right on track with the way I was seeing it as well... thanks.

"What is she going to do the next time she has a problem."
I lived in FL for several years, and I suspect the answer is she's trying to marry a geek who will get her life stabilized

I understand what you're saying about it being not a news story, closer to an Onion story, but I'm sucker for happy stories of people helping one another of their own free will.

You're right that it probably wouldn't be story by anyone's reckoning if some old guy saw a reasonably-affluent middle-aged person like me trying to push-start my car and gave me a jump. I still like the spirit.

Doc, there are numerous possible choices, but the system is so corrupt, the choke holds with various strings like money, power, favors etc are so strong, that the good ones have not established any, which is why they are the good ones. I believe all we will get from here on out are Thompson succubi.

What's sad about the Hillary Clinton candidacy is that the Democratic party passed on the opportunity to nominate a truly outstanding woman like Shirley Chisolm, and instead bestowed the honor on one of the crookedest political game players ever to seek the office.

Some would say that the bias against choosing a female candidate is so strong that it takes someone with the political muscle to be successful, but I sincerely hope this effort fails. There are several younger, more promising female political figures in both parties that have far less personal criminal baggage that I'd like to see given the chance to become President in the near future.

Pets are part of the family in our household. I enjoy their loyalty and companionship. The amusing aspects of their behavior is endearing.

Well, yes, they are good at that, and for some god awful reason, they will eat blackberry bushes by the ton (as well as rosebushes). They have their uses. There was a guy in Portland renting a herd of the little buggers out just for that purpose and was rather successful. My wife got them for our 12 yo grand daughter to learn about care and feeding and responsibility. Unfortunately she is only with us 2-3 months a year, so we get the guys for the rest. But they are surprisingly loyal, and will follow you anywhere, and love attention like a dog. The "bahh" sort of like sheep, but sound much more like a baby. In fact we have the 2, one is twice as big as the other (they are of the pygmy variety) and he will wail like a child until you come pet him and talk to him. Funny as all get out...

No argument there.

Possibly. But it feels to me that the people in the lines just want free stuff

Thanks Nickursis , I appreciate and respect your discourse . I find it a little unnerving and even unrational to not be able to comment honestly to post a viewpoint .I don't expect anyone to just agree with me and it is not my intent to promote anything . I learn and grow from many contributors
And I am awed and grateful for the intelligence of this online community.

Don't goats trim the lawn?

Again, it goes back to the problem of knowing the reasons behind each person showing up. The religious people just gave up, and pass over the question. I see the thing in the little 10000 person town I live near, the Seventh Day Adventist church somehow gets a large amount of produce and such and every Thursday, there are a good hundered-2 hundred people there. I figure I do not donate to the church, and I do not go to their food bank thing, so I let it go and do not have a dog in that fight. If they want to do it, good for them, just like the old man in the story. Something maybe to admire, but not get mired in.

The benevolence of organizations funded from freely given charities, that is the type of group the forefathers envisioned to provide a stop gap for the poor and weak.
Maybe the crowds get bigger each week because the govt is disabling the economic engine of the country and jobs are being sucked down the vacuum of regulations and impediments to job creation.

My 7 horses, 2 dogs, 4 cats and 2 goats, appreciate it. I get better responses from them than I do some people....BTW goats are cool..useless..but cool..

I think people seem to miss the point, I do not need to accept your beliefs, neither do you need to accept mine. I own my own self, and am responsible to myself. I can choose to accept responsibility for any damn thing I want, but I should not be forced to accept responsibility for anything beyond myself. I thought that was an objectivist view. Whether I approve or disapprove of your position on something, I owe you a respectful discussion. Too often I see people who slide off the road and start lecturing or pontificating about a position that implies the other person is wrong, and while that may actually seem true, no one should think they have the last, right, only answer on any issue that can not be conclusively proven through fact and data examination. This reminds me of the discussion we had a couple weeks ago where some people were vehemently trashing others views on something, when it was all a discussion on interpretation of a collection of facts and how some see them fitting together. I leave it to the holy politicians to pontificate and out-gas on all their wonderful holy knowledge. Look how well they have done, other than successfully scamming all of us for years. Your position is yours and deserves as much respect as anyone elses. I do not see anything objectionable in what you have said, whether I agree with them or not ( I do lean in your direction, maybe disagree on some details, but that is why we discuss and debate).

I apologize to all animals and people for my reference to both.
Regarding doing something altruistic I prefer to call it a voluntary act of kindness.

I did miss the discussion of a parents responsibility to support their children . I respectfully, believe we humans should support
Our minor children. Sorry for the offense to those of you who don't accept responsibility to your offspring ,for your actions. When I said we didn't get here alone I ment a human needs assistance to live once born if you think I am wrong about that well ..... If someone wouldn't save their child I want nothing to do with them objectivist or not.
I put no requirements to anyone in my previous comments , nor do I now.
I don't care if you accept my beliefs or not.

The choice is always yours to make. The woman in this story made a choice, to continue to spawn like a salmon, even in the face of an uncertain future and no way to care for them. I am not arguing that issue, I am just saying that the old man made his choice to do what he did and I agree with his choice. The child thing I did mis and I have a hard time with the whole idea, in that if you choose to do something (reproduce) you have made a choice that has a responsibility attached to it. So, beyond any severe choices (the kid or me type), I think you do have that responsibility, until they are mature enough to fend for themselves. I do agree with the opposites can exist comfortably asepct you mention, but I think Dob was referring to the emotional satisfaction and self worth improvement some feel from doing something altruistic. I can't say animals have that capability, but I cannot say they don't. I think animals are actually more honest and better than most people, for the most part.

This is true, and we have our share of them here. It has become a cultural norm to beg in our society in the last 20-30 years. I am sure it is all connected to the increase in the "I will give it to you"political atmosphere. I am tired of being the unwilling donor...

Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief... Everyone has a role in society. My issue is with the sugar coating on the story. It is, as you probably know better than I, the parable of the blind leading the blind from the book of Matthew.

I see the same beggars at the same corners here in Austin. Sometimes I see them at different corners. It's a living. One day, I was running errands and was flush with cash and I saw a girl and dog at an intersection. I gave her five bucks. What's not to like about a girl and a dog? But I have not seen her since.

One of the reasons that I moved to Austin is that when the temperatures are over 100, you can find those beggars on the medians selling bottles of iced water. It is very entrepreneurial here.

That sounds like "You did not build that." We all know that we didn't get here alone and we are a species that has benefited from cooperation and relationships.

You apparently missed the discussion here in the Gulch where it was asserted and defended that you are under no obligation to support your children. (Neither is anyone else required to support your children, but you are not.) And, moreover, if you could only save yourself or your child, one self-identified Objectivist here said that she would let the kid go to save herself. Just sayin'... your personal believes are yours, but they are not accepted by all here.

Myself, I would save my child, but that choice is mine to make. I do not require that other people live or die for their kids.

And BTW, a little time on YouTube will bring you too many cloying videos of natural animal enemies grooming each other and frolicking together. Your comments about people being better than animals was unfair to both people and animals.

My cautions were not about the act itself, of one person helping another, but of the spin of the story: one very needy person being helped by an ailing angel. It is the story of the blind leading the blind from the Bible.

People help each other all the time. But this was not a story about an otherwise capable person caught in distressing circumstances beyond her control who is then helped by another capable person with the right skills and tools.

It was a schmaltzy story from a master of saccharine commentary. (See his gushing over how the nomination of Hillary Clinton makes us all proud to be Americans. I wish my dead mother were here to see this.... Not just Mom, but Poor Dead Mom....

Follow the blog of the original writer. Frank Somerville of KTVU-TV San Francisco is all about good news.

"Tonight I was talking to one of our editors, Danna Prosser, just as Hillary Clinton walked out to accept the Democratic nomination for President.

I looked at the monitor for a moment. And when I looked back at Danna, I noticed she was crying.
I asked her what was going on.
She said: “Seeing Hillary Clinton tonight makes me proud to be a woman. I wish my mom was still alive. She was a huge supporter of Hillary Clinton. I wish she was here to see this.” It was a really touching moment.

Danna reminded me of what tonight is all about. It doesn’t matter whether you support Hillary Clinton or not. It’s history in the making.

A woman has finally been nominated for President by a major party. And I think that's something that can make us ALL proud to be an American." -- https://www.facebook.com/FrankSomervi...

Women have been nominated to run for President since before women could vote. That the so-called "major" parties are behind the times has always been true. Note, also, of course, the the nomination of Sarah Palin by the GOP would qualify as history to cry about. But, apparently, the crying was for other reasons then...

I agree that many good things happen all the time, most of them not greatly newsworthy. But this story was pure pablum.

You miss my point. One person helping another is not the story here. Someone stopping to help a woman with kids in the car is not the story. Read how it is slanted and nuanced. She was in great need her need is the story. Her angel was not just some person, some guy, but an old, infirm or invalid, man. He walked with a limp.

This is in the same vein as Deepak Chopra and virtue of suffering.

I work across the street from some sort of Lutheran food bank. They appear to open once a week, and each week the lines and crowds get larger. As people figure out its free food, they want their 'share' I guess.

The real issue with almost any "help" program is it just draws that many more. Just like we have discussed, it is hard to separate the moochers from the true people with real issues that could help themselves given a lift.