An e-mail:

I tend to almost always agree with you, but in the corner post where you comment on the homeless guy with the cell phone taking a picture of Mrs. Obama, I cannot.
From May 2007 to April 2008, I was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. I served at a small post outside of Kandahar AirField, which is a few miles south of Kandahar, Afghanistan. The post I was stationed on was in the process of being constructed while I was living there, and most of the manual labor was local.
The Afghans, who have a life expectancy of something like 42 years, and whose per capita income I cannot recall, but must be quite low, and who live in mud huts with thatched roofs, had cell phones in prodigious quantities. Granted, the manual laborers working on our facility were probably the best paid honest men in Kandahar, but at least 50% of them had cell phones. Frequently when we drove through downtown Kandahar we would see stores that sold cell phones.
Apparently, the ability to communicate at will with family and friends who are at far remove is something that every human values. Not saying that it’s practical for a homeless person to have a Cell phone (because how does he pay the bill? He must have a checking account somewhere that they take the money out of, because they can’t mail him a bill on a monthly basis…), but it does give him the ability to take calls on any job applications he has put in.
One of the cruel side effects of not having an address is that it’s hard to get timely responses to job applications. Cell phones solve that problem, and as a consequence, probably make it MORE likely that homeless people can rise out of their condition, than they imply wasted resources. After all, how many broke college graduates charge a nice “interview suit” on their first credit card as an investment in their future?

UPDATE: Many send this link, too.