Journal Entry 29...a bit about me

For months I have been in a fog.  Between my mother, my job and my personal life I have not been able to focus on what I really think is important.  I call that lack of focus a fog.  I am coming out of it now.

I guess the source of the lack of focus was the lack of happiness.  I guess I should be happy.  I am employed and even though I personally feel I am grossly underpaid I get a decent salary and I have benefits and the all important health insurance.  However, I push immigration files all day.  I don't do anything all day that has any real meaning or value.  Some may think that pushing files for immigration purposed is a big deal since you are supposedly helping someone get into the country.  Since I work more with the deportation end of immigration I don't see that.  I have seen the files and most of the people I see deserve to be deported.  But I also have no passion for immigration.  It (like most things) is political and I don't care for the politics.  As I stated in the beginning of my blogs I have a passion for homeless issues and elder care.  I have had people very close to me touched by both issues.  And not for nothing I think it is more important IN THIS COUNTRY to take care of our our own before we assist anyone on the outside.

I have already spoken to Daisy, Mike and Lisa and interviewed them on their past situations.  Until my father passed away in 2011 he and I both had to deal with issues pertaining to senior citizens.  I dedicated this blog to talking about those issues, then got sidetracked.  I remained sidetracked until I saw this article from http://www.alaskadispatch.com/article/20130816/after-year-underground-anchorage-homeless-advocate-must-find-new-digs

I am routinely disturbed by the number of people reduced to sleeping on the subways in New York City.  I can't imagine these people sleeping outdoors in Alaska.

I woud love to find a job where I would be assisting displaced people as well as the elderly on a national government level.  I have said before the homeless issue and the senior care issue are not things to be dealth with solely with private companies.  For starters these are people who were exploited enough.  Also, feeding and clothing people is something done for good will and not for profits.  Same with helping the elderly.  As people get older and  they don't have as much control over their faculties there should be government agencies to make sure they eat, have shelter and are not taken advantage of. 

This article made me want to examine the issue nation wide.  I want to explore this state by state.  I want to understand why it is so easy to sweep this under a rug.  Why is it so acceptable to ignore the problem?  Why is it easier to jail a person for sleeping on the street when it costs more to do so?

Kendrick Johnson

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/10/us/kendrick-johnson-anniversary/


Why am I posting this link?  Awareness.   We rally behind causes for many reasons and I want this to be one people rally behind because it is simply the right thing to do.  Kendrick Johnson died over very strange circumstances.  His body was reportedly found in his school gymnasium rolled up in a wrestling mat.  Strangely his death was originally ruled accidental.  According to the news his family had his body exhumed and had a second autopsy with an independent coroner and found the cause of death to be a blow to the head.  To this date to my knowledge there have been no arrests or even any suspects.  According to reports video that could shed some light in the case was tampered with.

I have seen people rally for results behind a case where a victim was a criminal or someone with a criminal history.  I have seen shooting victims who were committing a criminal act.  I have seen people rally for victims in another country.  I would like to see an outcry for this young man.  No parent should ever have to bury their child.  For Kendrick Johnson to die in a school with cameras and for their to be no answers as to how or why is inexcusable. 

I don't have any followers or subscribers that I know about.  According to my stats I have the random visitor.  I hope though that I can get people to at least read up on this case and ask questions regarding it.  This should end up a cold case.

JOURNAL ENTRY 28

I just got a disturbing message from Maureen in Florida.  Apparently my mother is not doing ANYTHING.  Maureen is recommending that I make my mother do Occupational and Physical Therapies.  She is also going back to not drinking water agfain.  She is generally healthy, but except for walking to the potty and to bed, she not moving.

My initial reaction is sadness.  Follow that with frustration.  I intend on talking to her when I get to Florida next week, God willing.  I also will discuss the Advance Directive, Living Will and Power of Attorney forms with her and hopefully she will help me fill them out.  I will not though push OT or PT on her.  I personally feel that she has made up in her mind that as long as she is healthy and in no immediate danger she will just be content and live out her days.  I honestly don't think my mother wants to be bothered with any rehabilitations.  If she can she will brush me off regarding everything.  I cannot say that I blame her.  Don't get me wrong,  I would love for her to at least get a little exercise and drink the water so she doesn't dehydrate.  I also have no idea what it's like to be a senior citizen.    Oe can assume a lot and trust me I think everyone in her life is well intentioned, but ultimately I won't know what it is like to be 86 years old until I 86.  Personally I never wanted to be that old. 

For now my agenda remains the same.  My main task is to keep my mother comfortable.  I will do my best to she that she is.

JOURNAL ENTRY 27-Routine check on Mom

I will be visiting Mom on July 2.  Nothing wrong.  I want to visit her but money is not right.  There are a number of things I need to take care of once I get down there.  1)  I need to at least get her started with Power of Attorney, living will and advance directive forms.  2)  We have to talk about home attendants in case Maureen happens to leave.  I also need to discuss future visits down there because I really can't afford to go down there that often even though I want to.

A good link regarding home care for seniors

http://www.agingcare.com/Articles/paying-for-home-care-155405.htm

The New Stop and Frisk?

As most people know during the Michael Bloomberg years as mayor New York City had “Stop and Frisk”.  Cops would randomly approach people, from what news reports revealed were predominantly ether Black  or Hispanic.   The courts found that practice the way it was unconstitutional and current mayor Bill DeBlasio discontinued it.  I am finding out now that the city is finding new ways to satisfy their fetish of incarcerating Black and Hispanics.

First let me state that I was never fully against the Stop and Frisk procedure.  I personally think that in the Black and Hispanic community we tend to be soft on crime and far too many people of color under the age of 30 are getting shot.  However the police were  not “randomly” stopping the right individuals and people were being jailed for having marijuana in their pockets.  Evidently it was a racist tool to just harass and incarcerate.

If that wasn’t bad enough now I am finding out that cops are arresting people for asking for a swipe on the train.  A friend first told me about that two weeks ago when he spent time in jail for asking for a swipe at a subway station.   I though he was mistaken.  Maybe he did something else in addition.  However, two days ago I went down the steps at Chambers Street in time to see two plain clothed officers walking two young men out of the station in handcuffs.  I assumed they hopped the turnstile until I went towards the platform and two kids on the stairwell were looking at the turnstile and saying the kids were only asking for a swipe.

Talk  about desperate.

In addition, I have a friend who works as a bus driver for MTA.  He tells me that the cops are cracking down on fare evaders on the bus.  Folks who jump on the bus through the back door or ride without a ticket on the Select Bus Service are finding themselves face to face with the transit police.  But what surprised me is that even people who tell the driver they have no money and are allowed on the bus are getting arrested. 

At the very least tell people that you cannot ride the system unless you use your own money.

NYPD Cop allegedly shoves kid through a window

http://nydn.us/1jERVwz

I feel badly this teenager went through this with the New York City Police Department...however I think he is the wrong person to use against a racist department. 

Based on news reports this child was involved in a fight over cigarettes and allegedly assaulted somebody.  The police supposedly became involved and the child became belligerent when cops instructed him to be quiet.     The boy allegedly mouthed off at the police and that earned him a shove which he ended up through a window with multiple serious injuries.

I think the family should seek damages against the police and specifically the officer involved.  However I don't like rallying for a bad example.  I was taught as a child that  when instructed by cops to be quiet I was to comply.  Primarily because during the 70s (even now) police had a reputation for killing black boys..  It simply wasn't worth it to antagonize a cop in New York City.  Granted you still faced abuse but why add fuel to the fire. 

In this case  you can argue the kid got what he deserved and should be glad he is still alive and not shot (see RaMarley Graham who was shot for no reason in his own home...http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/02/02/police-shoot-and-kill-18-year-old-inside-bathroom-of-bronx-home/ )..  I guess I would prefer rallying behind kids who have clean records and weren't doing anything at the time of the confrontation.  I am tired of rallying behind kids shot by the cops while havin a weapon in their hands.  Or in the middle of a robbery.  It just seems like  we, are throwing a lot of our resources behind people  who might be menaces by our own definition.

JOURNAL ENTRY #26: Time off?

I'm back.

I didn't take time off or anything like that.  It just happened.  I attribute the lapse in writing to stress and a lack of focus.  I mean I did post a few links to articles I think can be helpful but that's it.

The past few months have been a blur.  My main focus still remains Mom and as of this writing she is still doing fairly well in Florida.  She had a health scare a few weeks ago due to dehydration but that was taken care of and she seems to be doing ok.

My secondary focus is still the job.  It's not horrible.  There are no more issues (knock on wood) regarding caring for my parents.  I mean it is not a place I really want to be and if I won the powerball today it is safe to say that I would be happily unemployed tomorrow.  But I do spend 15 hours a day with this job in some capacity.  Nearly a two hour commute each way, every day, plus the hours ON the job.  Add to the fact that I really don't do anything constructive and you have a major reason I dislike it so much.  I am currently doing research on jobs where I can either deal with homeless or elder care issues on a national level.  If I died tomorrow I would think that I wasted the past 18 years of my life just  pulling  files for the government.  . 

JOURNAL ENTRY 25: Mad Cow and me

When Mad Cow Disease was a major issue in Europe a few years ago I kept this tucked away in the back of my mind.  A few years ago there was controversy over allowing beef from certain European countries.   Now the problem is in our back yard.  I also remember reading about cutbacks to government agencies and I hope this new problem wasn't a result of some of those cutbacks.  In any event I decided to cut out beef from my diet forever.    The story claims the beef was manufactured between September 2013 and April of this year.  That is a LONG period to search back from.  How much beef was sold during that time ?  And normally that is not something people will save for months.   According to the dynamics of this disease it may be years before we find out about deaths attributed to this. 



http://www.latimes.com/food/dailydish/la-dd-4000-pounds-beef-recalled-mad-cow-disease-20140613-story.html

HOMELESS THOUGHTS

 

I hate posting pictures like these.  Believe me, there IS more on my mind (besides apparently exploiting homeless people).  In fact a lot actually runs through my mind when I see people reduced to sleeping on the subway like this.  The first thought is usually " how is it that the country that is supposed to be the greatest and richest country on the planet has people out there living on the subway?"

The next thought is centered around how we could help people displaced like this, and when I realize that aside from an occasional handout we really can't do much then my thoughts move on to how much I hate politics.  Republicans and Democrats alike.  Conservatives generally more than anything.  I have argued long and hard that the current philosophy does not and cannot work.  Not everyone can hold down a job.    A lot of us can't make it on wages we currently earn.  There HAS to be a law addressing affordable wages. 

That leads to my next thought, which is how angry I am that people bought into the welfare reform years ago.  The have not's allowed jealousy to prevail and let them think that welfare recipients were all lazy and instead of creating jobs where people would clean parks, etc., we had them do manual labor for a tiny welfare check.  The bottom line today there are more documented homeless children than there were ten years ago and I know I see more homeless people of all races today than I did during the 1990s.  Someone suckered the American people into endorsing an ideal that only benefitted a small percentage.   Furthermore, the same cruel reform that was implemented ended up hurting folks during the recession where millions lost their homes. 

Even now my thoughts are scattered, but it centers around anger and anger directed at greed and insensitivity.

 

As if Alzheimer's Disease wasn't enugh to worry about

Sadly, this article helped make me get off beef today.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/06/13/mad-cow-beef-recall/10415299/

More insanity

http://www.npr.org/2014/05/19/312158516/increasing-court-fees-punish-the-poor

Crazy

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/06/12/3448105/mother-dies-jail-cell-fines/