"At issue is a city law, the “Large Group Feeding” ordinance, that requires groups to obtain a permit to serve food, even for free, to groups of 25 or more. Such permits are granted to any group only twice per year."

Well! Thank god Orlando has managed to work it out so people only go hungry there twice a year! Amazing! You'd think they'd share a great advancement like that with the rest of the country.

Florida, any part of it, is a good place NOT to go .....

I'm sure that soon Wall Street will commoditize starvation.

First, Goldman Sachs needs to create a hunger index where malnutrition and death default swaps can be traded and sold by hedge fund billionaires.

Then they can all watch on their computer screens in real time as skeletal homeless women and children drop dead in the streets. The swaps are then paid off to the shrewdest investors.

Since it's of benefit to free-market capitalism to eliminate people who can no longer work twelve hour days in a field (those with little remaining body fat or muscle tissue) all patriotic Homeland Americans should support the food permit ban.

By ridding the country of those Henry Kissinger referred to as "worthless eaters" we can create thousands of new jobs for the fittest dumpster divers who manage to consume at least 1000 calories a week.

By denying 'Food Not Bombs' to two food events per year the Mayor or Orlando should qualify for a Nobel Prize for Capitalism.

Next they will require permits for breathing and have an indentured servitude "tax" for being the offspring of a dead person ( not on any heritable items, just your existence) like the Dr. Who storyline in "The Sun Makers".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sun_Makers

I forgot exactly when, well before I starting coming to CD a decade ago, but around when my children started going to school, I had decided they were eventually going to make it a crime to be poor. That was scary enough in our circumstances with 4 children to feed and clothe. Now the children are grown but Empire has moved the fieldgoal and reconfigured its dimensions because it is a crime to even care about the poor or to recognize their humanity so there won't be any escape for me.

Matthew 12:34-40

I guess none of the restaurants in Orlando serve more than 25 meals per day... As I read what is written, this should also apply to any establishment that also accepts money for food, ie, churches, social organizations, restaurants etc....

Next it will be food banks. Then those who donate to them will be seen as undermining food safety...

Let me get this straight.....the Right Wing wants to abolish government programs that help the poor because they feel the general public is able to step in and provide those services without our tax dollars being used. Then, when a public organization does just that, their members are arrested for doing exactly what the "Compassionate Conservatives" expect them to do. Now what?
Absurd and outrageous!

Why don’t they pass a law that all homeless people get fed to the ‘gaters. That will resolve the problem of those pesky hungry people looking for a food handout more than twice a year.

Maybe it should be a law that anyone who passes a law that drastically affects another persons life has to first walk in the other persons shoes for at least three days. What well educated, well rounded and humanitarian people all the lawmakers would then be! Things sure would be different. You can’t really know what you are talking about until you have experienced it for yourself.

When feeding the least of our brothers and sisters becomes a crime, that is when a follower of Jesus Christ must stop submitting to the ruling authorities of "Romans 13", and live by the teachings and commands of Jesus in
Matthew 25:37-40
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2025:31-46&version=NIV
Peace

Feeding the poor is criminalized in Clearwater, Florida, in a different way. When our group of Tampa Bay Vegetarians began serving rice and beans to the homeless in downtown Clearwater, the police said that we were helping criminals on the lam to stay under the radar. We could serve someone only if we first obtained his or her ID, copied it and took it to the CPD so that they could check to see if an arrest warrant was outstanding for that person. We would then be free to serve rice and beans to those persons for whom no arrest warrant was outstanding. Not following that procedure would result in our arrest and following it, of course, was unworkable.

Anyone reread "Animal Farm" by George Orwell lately? If you've never read it try just reading Chapter X.

http://www.george-orwell.org/Animal_Farm/9.html

"The animals found the problem insoluble; in any case, they had little time for speculating on such things now. Only old Benjamin professed to remember every detail of his long life and to know that things never had been, nor ever could be much better or much worse-hunger, hardship, and disappointment being, so he said, the unalterable law of life. "

Sadly, this isn't new. This has been happening for years. There's an article about this very thing, right down to the same law and the same group, from 2007:

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/3358/feeding_the_hungry_is_a_crime/

Maybe most CD commenters are unfamiliar with Food Not Bombs, but the unpardonable crimes they commit are twofold:

1. Worse than being vegan, thay are anarchists - with the usual dress abd hair styles that it entails

2. And, they feed the homeless in city parks and plazas - which offends the rich yuppies. Recall, many cities already have laws prohibiting panhandling or giving t panhandlers.

In a violent, war mongering nation $tate like capitalist/fascist Amerika, a faster poo-food nation of willfully ignorant corn-syrup people, an evil empire ruled by grrreeedy and mean-espirited psychopaths, the $uppression of Food Not Bombs does not surprise me.

Buddy Dyer, the $ociopathic mayor of Orlando, is a paragon example of the devil gone insane for the $ake of the ruling class. I curse this whore of a man! I send Buddy Dyer a terrible cancer. Enjoy!

Then there is always

Who's on first?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sShMA85pv8M

I honestly feel that this is what is going on

I'd like to thank Amy for all she has done... She has shared her light/knowledge with all who will listen. I have, since 2003. I try to do what I can using the same principle... educate.. educate educate. From stuffing a peak oil article from common dreams under the science teacher's door at my kids school to standing on a corner and handing out articles from Amy's show, CD, counter currents etc... I think I may have handed out approximately, oh... maybe 300 articles..? Maybe less... but I will continue to spread the sources for light... today, I gave these web sites out two three more people, who were VERY INTERESTED.

Why were they accused of being terrorists? Were they using GM Monsanto self-destroying grain to make their meals? If not, there's your problem right there. They need corporate whore status to be accepted by our authorities.

Amy has jumped the gun. Other cities are facing the same battle over feeding homeless versus rights of park neighbors, anarchy vs. needed services.

Before anyone judges the city and people living adjacent to park, please read the plight of caring neighbors who try to help AND have some sense of safety .

Another city with same issues.
There is an old Native American saying:
“Don’t judge anybody until you have walked an hour in his moccasins” !!!!!

"All suggestions in handling this reality greatly welcomed !!!!!!!

“More than a year ago when I tried getting the Police involved in addressing the feeding of the homeless in the park, they told me it’s a public park and they cannot do anything. I then called the Health Department and told them what was occurring in the park. They did accommodate my request and visited the park on the weekend to identify who was serving the food.
There is a church that does this and a family who prepares food from their homes and serves it at the park. The Health Department spoke to them and stated that it was a violation of health codes to prepare food and serve it to people at the park. The groups were informed of this and citations could be issued but that wasn’t done. I told the Health Department that one visit wasn’t going to stop them and it hasn’t. I was also told by the Health Department that these two groups were aware of the residents’ complaints.
The irony in all this is that if any restaurant downtown wanted to set up a booth in the park, they would need a permit. There is a disconnect between the Health Department, Police and enforcement. The Police will not stop the serving of food because it isn’t their responsibility. The Health Department could issue citations but won’t enforce the groups from stop serving food.
Yes, there should be some code changes but that takes time and is not a priority. I passed the name of the groups, contact information, etc. over to XXX’s office last year and I believe they are working on this. I also met with Captain YYYYYY who has responsibilities of that area (but since, has been promoted and moved on) and he stated he had meet with some groups that were serving in the park. Basically the Captain said the groups feel committed to helping the homeless and feel worthy in doing so. He was making efforts but no change. I even called the Police when I see all the illegally parking, wrong-way parking, double parking, etc. for more than an hour while the food distributors set up in the park. No response. So no headway has been made in speaking directly to the groups.
A letter campaign could help but the situation is the park has gotten worse. I volunteered to do the homeless count in the park on Monday at 4:30 a.m. for the 1000 Housing project. That program plans to get 1000 chronically homeless people into homes before 2013. My limited experience in interviewing the homeless is that there is no incentive for them to leave the park. In fact, I was told no one goes hungry. The reason they chose ZZZZZZ Park to gather is that it’s central to where they get services. Other parks are not. They get feed, clothing (new with tags on them), blankets, etc. Employees from the Outreach Services go to the ZZZZZZ Park regularly and tell them where to get medical attention, housing, etc. In essence, ZZZZZZ Park has become a campground for the homeless, so why move.
There were allegedly four fights that broke out Sunday and the police were called. Along 111th St. past Saint Claire the homeless now sleep on the building cutouts, along the sidewalk, etc. There’s more than 20 each evening that I’ve witnessed and it’s growing. I met with CLEANERS and spoke to them about this and they agree it has become a real problem. They have to clean up the mess every day.
Yes, the homeless have taken over the children’s playground. That’s where they sleep now and do a lot of other things. It’s sad for a number of reasons. I’ve seen the number of families in the playground drop dramatically. I believe this was a $500K project the city paid for and now it’s been given to the homeless…..
......Anyone up for a neighborhood picnic in the park?”

I think it was in the mid-1990s when I was involved in Portland's Old Town/Chinatown neighborhood association and this issue came up at one of the meetings with a police representative. I recall making the comment that it seems we have progressed? from drive-by-shootings to drive-by-feedings as a cause for police action. Nothing has changed and the drive-by-feeding problem is spreading. Is this the road to privatization for 'charity' work. Xe will check IDs then proceed to feed and dose the public?

If those terrorists don't stop feeding those poor and hungry people, the mayor can always take a page from the Mideast leaders and shoot them.

Did anyone bother to ask what services are being provided to the homeless by local government, albeit elsewhere?

continuing - since CD said I was not authorized to add to my own comments!!!!!!!

Did anyone bother to ask what services are being provided to the homeless by local government, albeit elsewhere? What other charities are already providing meals daily? Why isn;t Food Not Bombs coordinating with them?

The city is between a rock and a hard place.

Food not Bombs is doing good work,,,but on their own terms. They have their own agenda and usually do not try to work with other agencies attempting to help solve the overall homeless issues...such as housing, health care, (including counselling),etc.

In our city, FNB insists on serving in the park. Within 4 or 5 blocks are established organizations serving 1 or 2 meals a day..along with other ancillary resources. FNB refuses to work with any of them to coordinate providing needed support. It seems to be a 'look at us' proposition. They are using the homeless to push their own agenda, albeit a laudable one. Their well-known 'in your face' attitude supports this view.

Maybe if they were coordinating their resources to truly assist in providing needed aid with other care givers, they would not be perceived as troublemakers.

The Orlando law stands as one more reminder that violence and coercion against people who help themselves is widespread: not altogether universal or constant, but repeated and ubiquitous. One may include as examples every invasion of a peaceful country, and most every elimination or displacement of indigenous peoples. Large economies eat small economies.

It is for this reason that attempts to move outside of the large corporate economy, even if they can only start with individual and local actions, will eventually require some sort of broad coalition capable of confronting national and international power. This does not mean a correspondingly large army nor, I suspect, a sufficiently efficient guerrilla force. It probably means sufficient economic power within the global economy to make coercion unprofitable.