The Conservativites and the Liberalites: A Biblical Mad Lib.

And certain men which came down from [Washington] taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of [a GOP conservative], ye cannot be saved.

When therefore [Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert]... had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that [Jon Stewart and Steven Colbert], and certain other [liberal comedians] should go up to [New York] unto the [Fox News Network] about this question...

And it came to pass...a certain [Ann Coulter] possessed with a spirit of [direful predicting] met [them], which brought her masters, [Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity], much gain by soothsaying: The same followed Jon Stewart and [the liberal media] and cried saying these men are the servants of the most high [President Obama] which shew unto us the way of [socialism].

And this did she many days. But [Jon Stewart] being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of President Obama to [release] her. And he came out the same hour. And when her masters [Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity] saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert and drew them into the marketplace unto the [conservative congressmen], And brought them to the [Conservative Supreme Court Judges], saying, These men, being ['liberals'] do exceedingly trouble our [nation], And teach customs, which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being [conservatives].

And the multitude rose up together against them: and the Conservative Supreme Court Judges rent off their clothes, and commanded to [water board] them. And when [the conservatives] had [enhancedly interrogated] [Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert], they cast them into [Gitmaea detention camp], charging the jailer to keep them safely: Who, having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner [detention block], and made their feet fast in the stocks.

And at midnight [Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert jamboreed], and [waxed wittily] unto [the Obama Administration]: and the [other detainees] heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the detention camp were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed.

Excerpted from Acts 15:1-2 & 16:16-26

Parent Disputes Efficacy and Ethics of Advocacy Organizations for the Disabled

To all members, "cronies", and families,

I have been telling these things all these years. What is the difference between so called advocacy organizations like ODDC, ARC and AIG or AMA (American Medical organization)? Nothing.

All of them are greedy and protecting their own interest …

Like ... used to say, they are like “Fox guarding the hens”.

I am still waiting for the answer to my simple question from those so called directors, champions of disability world to show us just one program that is benefiting the AVERAGE and regular families …Only if you are in “bed’ with the organization, you child gets everything…. Just like AIG, all these advocacy organizations are “tightly” run by the “brother and sisters" or cronies. That is why they are not working.

Am I wrong? Go ahead and dispute it. .That what you all beuracats are good at it. Just talk and don't do a damn thing.

As a parent of an autistic child, I have been asking these people to work on so called “appropriate education’ for the children ….nothing... What is so improtant than getting a job for these children. We still have 75% unemployment rate among these popualtion. ...why???????

All we get a note from these organizations in e-mail is . ....Support this bill and support that bill...call you senators..... Just like our crooked senators (Exception: Senator Bernie sanders and russ Feingold) creating fake bills, and telling us that they are working for American people. It takes 6 months to process the grievance, although…so called law say, It should take less than 60 days.

Once again, WE DONOT NEED MORE MONEY for our programs. WE SHOULD ELIMINATE these so called programs and get quality people. I challenge every body in the disability world to talk to me face to face. ..I have been asking and challenging this for the last three years or so (if they have spines). Yes, I did ask the same questions in the Oregon PIP meeting in 2006 too, and am still a member of PIP…I really don’t know what does it mean or being a member of this useless organization. Perhaps, I am the only one voice, but I speak for the regular families with disabled children everyday becasue I work with them every day as a volunteer.

You can see the best and wasteful bureaucratic system in Oregon ... This is why we are on the bottom when we come to mental health. We have the second highest unemployment (next to Michigan ). At least, Michigan has car industry problem. What is our problem? ……. Unqualified people in the job. Or “cronyism”. Go ahead and look around your own office and convince yourself. I am an instructor in biology and Anatomy & physiology at community college & and a geneticist too, and I get evaluated by my students every term. if I don't produce result, my grant will be taken away in a second! Who is evaluating these bureaucrats or the human service people...? Oh. I Forget. It is “self evaluation" done by their own organization…just like in public school. You wonder why our public school are performing so poor. What is human service, by the way? serivce to whom? Am I wrong about this.

There is no difference between what is happening in the financial world and what is happing in our Disability world! Our children are going down the tube and nobody REALLY care….yes. I am seeing..That is very sad thing.. All we do is “window dressing” and "bandaging" the problem, and making things more complicated than it is so that average family has a hard time to fight against the bureaucracy…it is so shameful.

Philip

Olmstead's Anniversary and Disability Civil Rights.

Olmstead's Anniversary and Disability Civil Rights.
Information Bulletin #287 (6/09).

June 22, 2009, marks the 10th anniversary of the Supreme Court's Olmstead ruling for disability civil rights. Some people have made an analogy between the Olmstead decision and the Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954. Let's
compare them.

Nearly ten years after the black civil rights movement's victory in Brown, incremental, albeit not overwhelming, progress had occurred. Nonetheless, some people thought the black civil rights struggle had stalled.

Nearly ten years after the disability civil rights movement's victory in the Olmstead decision, incremental progress has occurred as well.

But still, more than 313,000 people with disabilities in nursing homes (23% of the total) want to live in the community, and yet are denied their civil right to integration, primarily because of Medicaid's historical bias in favor of segregation. Many of them are on "waiting lists" for their civil rights. Can you imagine a "waiting list" for
black civil rights?

While the black civil rights movement achieved its share of victories, it took the March on Washington for Congress to enact both the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And even then, it took the U.S. Department
of Justice to take the right actions and really enforce these civil rights.

Remember that Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibited federal subsidies for racially segregated institutions.

So why not similarly rectify segregation for people with disabilities? Does not the Olmstead decision, together with the ADA/Section 504, already provide the necessary handles to prohibit federal subsidies to States that limit services
only to segregated institutions, thus denying real choices that would enable 313,000 people to reside in the community.

Some say the disability civil rights issue of ending unnecessary segregation must wait. But as Dr. King wrote, "For years now I have heard the word 'Wait.' It rings in the ear of every Negro [person with a disability who is unnecessarily institutionalized] with piercing familiarity. This 'Wait' has almost always meant 'Never'."

Last year when some disability advocates wanted an explicit reference to ending unnecessary segregation included in the ADA Restoration Act, they were politely told that other issues were the focus: "wait."

This year when people with disabilities with the lowest incomes, who are entirely dependent on Medicaid, have demanded to end unnecessary segregation by having the Community Choice Act included in any health reform legislation, they have
been told that the CCA is not the focus of health reform "Wait."

The "Wait" to end unnecessary segregation of people with disabilities in institutions may soon turn into a "Never" for civil rights.

How hard is it to understand and accept that, but for the denial of civil rights, many institutionalized people with disabilities would live in the community with adequate programs and supports, especially since its cheaper for the federal government and states to provide such programs and supports in the community?

How hard would it be to enact a Disability Civil Rights Act in 2009 to end unnecessary segregation just as Congress did with the Civil Rights Acts in the 1960s? A Disability Civil Rights Act in 2009 to end segregation could not be as
inflammatory as enacting the Voting Rights Act of 1964.

Will U.S. Attorney General Holder look to how U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy addressed ending discrimination in the 1960s? General Holder could start by looking at the 313,000 people with disabilities living in nursing facilities
who have said they do not want to be unnecessarily institutionalized. He could inform states that Olmstead and the ADA/504 require providing real choice for people with disabilities who are segregated and want to live in the community.

What do we have to do to create the atmosphere of the 1960s for the disability civil rights struggle in 2009?

Written by: Steve Gold, The Disability Odyssey continues

Back issues of other Information Bulletins are available online at
http://www.stevegoldada.com
with a searchable Archive at this site divided into different subjects. To
contact Steve Gold directly, write to stevegoldada@cs.com or call
215-627-7100.

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POLITICS V. DIPLOMACY

Secondary to POTUS' trip to the Middle East last week, there has been much televised political inquiry after the following fashion:"why [would] we have to reach out to the Muslim population" when "we were the ones attacked on September 11th". The simple answer: IT'S CALLED DIPLOMACY SECONDARY TO THE PURSUIT OF PEACE. I know... it's hard to pursue peace and your own personal power agenda at the same time. That's why you (Rush Limbaugh et al.) are not the President.

When's Gov't Government?

The Government recently decided that a youth and his parents cannot navigate their own healthcare course but must be told how to proceed under penalty of law if they fail to comply with judicial mandate. In other words, the anti-terrorist, anti-socialist aspects of the government allow a miscellaneous judge to force a family to comply with a particular healthcare regimen and terrorize them, first because their point of view diverged from the Government's and second, because they failed to follow-through with a disingenuous judicial mandate.

Political agenda forced upon an individual that is a U.S. citizen with the guarantee that "all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" is, in my opinion, terrorism not to mention exceedingly disingenuous in light of their favoring a for-profit healthcare system that tramples on the hypocratic oath and our civil rights if we don't have insurance (or even sometimes when we do) or enough money to pay our hospital bills. The GOP trunk might be fighting against a nationalized healthcare plan or 'socialized medicine' but its branches are busy being hypocritical by forcing its citizens to pursue a healthcare regimen that they don't want to pursue. Healthcare ought not to be for profit but neither should a judge's political or personal agenda ever usurp an individual's (or parent's) right to choose for themselves whether or not to follow a particular (healthcare) course.

Emails Amongst Freegans

Agreed. Capitalism with its inherent caste system is BAD. I hope that as we evolve, predation, in all its forms, will cease. (With regard to Nature, predation certainly has its place but in a higher concept of life I like to think every life has a place which cannot be usurped. Human beings, though, definitely have no business indiscriminately killing animals for profit because if meat were not a readily available food source, consumers would adapt.) Capitalist ideology is fundamentally flawed in that it relies on a vast portion of the population to be uneducated and impoverished to do the work/take the jobs that those with better educations or family/sex/race advantages not only would not take but rely on to 'serve' them.... blue collar portion of population thereby becomes indentured servantry. If everyone were educated equally, businesses that currently take advantage of the existing structure would cease to exist and likely a prevailing balance would be imposed... capitalism basically fosters large scale imbalance within society and the low and middle class feel the effects of that balance. (education and healthcare should never be for-profit. they are foundational civil rights upon which a balanced society is built,)


AM wrote:
Yes, but in the food chain, even one animal consuming another (assuming the animals are native to the area they are in) helps both species equally in keeping a balance to the ecosystem. When a lion kills an antelope, s/he assists that antelope's species on the whole by keeping the balance. When the antelope eats a plant (whatever they eat) it assists that plant population by keeping it in check and assists other plant populations by keeping them from being overrun, etc. Human capitalism is very different.

When we exploit and prey upon nonhuman animals, they are purpose bred in filthy and environmentally destructive conditions doing the exact opposite of this. Even hunters are often hunting animals that were bred and kept later to be released for sport killing (despite the fact that many hunters claim to be controlling the animal populations).

Those humans being "preyed upon" usually do not benefit, nor do their ancestors, from being preyed upon. In fact, the way capitalism preys in the lower class, it often prevents others from growing or "progressing" or whatever you want to call it. This is not to say that one class is less evolved than another, but that one is far more robbed than another.

Exploiting impoverished sweatshop workers for new Nikes does not help those workers. It often prevents them from ever getting out of where they are, despite what large corporations would like you to think.
Pittsburgh, PA, USA

"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness" -Chinese Proverb

On Wed, May 6, 2009 at 11:55 AM, JC wrote:

capitalism has a caste system built in which promulgates a class
distinction in our society. not that we are 'taking something
from someone less fortunate' but more like we rely on those lower
(because of 'minority' status or lack of education or sufficient
wealth) in the caste to serve us while we in turn serve some
higher up on the chain... so yeah could say capitalism is kind of
a civilized version of the food chain in that those at the top are
sustained by those at the bottom and most of us that are in the
middle are caught between sometimes being 'preyed' upon and other
times 'preying' upon because our society dictates the confines
within which we can live and participate and to breach those
confines, while fostering long range change, can turn an
individual's life upside down because they operating outside of
the conventional norm. 'freegan' movement is the slow change in
the larger social conscience that will eventually usher in a new
paradigm for living...


AM wrote:
"Remember what you do is as bad as any
person who buys that same stuff. So, no matter how you slice
it.....freegans are as guilty of partaking in the same sinful
system that they claim to abhore."
With all do respect, this is completely wrong. Something taken
from a dumpster that was headed to a landfill or something
given to a used clothing store is not the same as buying
something new, creating more demand for it, and directly
supporting the unethical measures it took to make it. That's
pretty much the base of freeganism.
While I respect that you treat your workers well, I also
wonder the cost of some of the things you sell- where were
parts made and so on. I was unable to find all of your
businesses online so I couldn't figure it out myself. That is
not a shot at you. It's more of an observation that it's
nearly impossible to live in a capitalist society without
taking from someone less fortunate in order to get something
we technically would not need if we knew how to live. But we
don't so we get things we don't need (myself included) in
order to survive in this system. Try wearing the same thing to
work every day for a week. Even if you don't stink, it looks
weird to people, because we live in a society where you should
change once or twice a day. Something so simple can cause
someone to lose his/her job on occassion.
I also agree with Shoegirl on the slavery deal. Since I am
already writing a book, I will share a quote I like from
anarcho-primitivist, Kevin Tucker:
"Domestication being really the key issue... it's consumer
cycled. I would say slavery, and some people say wage slavery
isn't slavery and capitalism isn't slavery. Just like any
other form of civilization isn't technical slavery. If that is
the case... try to leave the system. See just how hard it
really is and then you'll understand it's just a different form."
Pittsburgh, PA, USA
"It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness"
-Chinese Proverb

Inadvertent Terrorist

What's worse: a group which main agenda it is to attack another group the ideals of which seem in contradistinction to its own OR
a group which main agenda it is, despite its office, to self-service the personal ego of its individual members without any regard or allegiance to the constituents it serves?? More simply put: what's worse, the extreme practicing Muslim or the extreme practicing politician? Well, at least the politician didn't have the plane flown into a New York skyscraper... he just had it buzz its skyline for the fun of it... and at only a fraction of the cost to the taxpayer.