Punished for working

V.I.D.A. (Photo credit: Pensamentos Filmados)

This may seem like an oxymoron but often the best response to crippling mental illness is to work. When we were reviewing information about peer specialist programs, the things we saw about the impact of work  really jumped out at us. It turned out that one of the best things to do in recovery was to find or seek employment. I have a friend who got into the school system and began a career that offered her help when she needed it and has been able to survive the budget cuts that have eliminated positions at so many public schools. I used to go to meetings where the benefits that the school system offered its part-time employees were called “cadillacs.”

That is to say, there is no private sector equivalent to treating workers  with respect. Naturally, the first thing Scott Walker did was to attack those very benefits that help workers stay on their jobs.

So here I am years and even more than a decade after our divorce I am still thinking about mental illness and recovery from a woman who taught me more about either than any psychologist or psychiatrist I ever consulted.There is a stigma attached with mental illness at a time when there are more people than ever being diagnosed. And there are stories of those who are receiving benefits for mental health disability who are struggling and seeking employment finding their benefits eliminated or greatly reduced and facing hardship as a result.

Those of us who are working as peer specialists are facing hard times as prices for the things we need rise more than the benefits we receive. If you are poorly paid, food stamps can help you keep food on the table, but the cutoff point eliminates benefits for the near-poor in order to shelter billionaires from their fare share of the tax burden. And there is a wide gulf in between being assisted by what remains of the social safety net and the abyss into which we send people who are not deemed worthy of  our help under the current social welfare system.

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Occupy Australia

If President Obama was playing basketball with the American people, the play by play might go something like this. “The President fakes left, ending Don’t Ask Don’t Tell.” Next he goes far right, ignoring the execution of Troy Davis. He dribbles between his legs, passes the ball to Leon Panetta who explains we could go back to Iraq if their leaders requested it.  Then as the Republican candidates makes assess of themselves,  the President dunks as he announces America is going to occupy Australia. http://www.network54.com/Forum/211833/thread/1321502826/last-1321579706/US+permanently+stationed+2500+troop+in+Australia+to+watch+Chinese+movement

Yes 2500 troops will go to the land down under on a mission to supposedly watch Chinese naval movements. The President taps into that vast reservoir of funds and goodwill regained as the rich started paying their fair share of taxes to pay for another military occupation. Instead of taking my advice and realizing this is a hell of a long time to be occupying Asia,  the Big O goes deep and rushes to the aid of Australia, a small struggling third world country.

Actually, they’re a rather powerful and well developed nation.

The economy of Australia is a developed, modern market economy with a GDP of approximately US$1.23 trillion.^[10] In 2011, it was the 13th largest national economy by nominal GDP^[11] and the 17th largest measured by PPP adjusted GDP, representing about 1.7% of the World economy. Australia was also ranked the 19th largest importer and 19th largest exporter.

Australia is a member of the APEC, G20, OECD and WTO organisations. Australia has also entered into free trade agreements with ASEAN, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, and the United States.^[12] The ANZCERTA agreement with New Zealand has greatly increased integration with the New Zealand economy and there are now plans to form an Australasian Single Economic Market by 2015.^[13]

Sounds like a country that could afford to take care of itself. Ya think? Meanwhile, yes, I was kidding about that money from the rich, they’re placing bets on who to elect next November.

You might have noticed that at the same time President Obama declare that defending Australia was key to our national security, he re-assured China that we were not somehow tracking their naval expansion.  Our stores are filled with goods from China. The biggest beneficiary of the American “Black Friday” will undoubtedly be China as the consumer orgy floods our homes with more Chinese goods and services.

The Grand Game is on as bets are placed regarding the future of Social Security, Medicare and the  Health Care Law. Will the bloated US military escape the so-called draconian cuts scheduled to go  into effect if the Super Committee cannot find compromise?

Those of us on the left with our Occupy signs probably did not see President O’s latest right wing move coming. But we should have known that the moment the people start talking about occupy, the mis-leaders will  turn that into an opportunity to occupy another large landmass. Let’s Occupy the White  House.

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Disappointed and outraged

Image via Wikipedia

I graded President Obama an F for his performance last night. I was so outraged that I did not bother to watch. But I read about it. Today I am reading about how the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff considered it too risky to make even a half-hearted attempt at reducing the number of troops in Afghanistan. According to the President 2014 is the target date and even then there will probably be troops remaining in some other capacity. WTF? We’re going to have troops but we’ll call them something else? Maybe they will be ice cream vendors?

And what about our needs at home, as the nation’s mayors spoke of this week in urging that the money wasted on war be brought home? They were largely ignored. The president had to fend off the hawkish Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to make his modest reduction. We we still have more troops in Afghanistan than were in that hellhole when President Obama took office.

And yet, we’ve largely accomplished our mission? Go figure.

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Come to Walkerville

Budget protesters have created a tent city in Madison to protest the impact of proposed state budget cuts on Wisconsin families. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/05/wisconsin-protesters-walkerville-tent-capitol-scott-walker-budget_n_871523.html

It demonstrates the success Scott Walker has had in bringing different groups together to oppose his policies. College students, teachers, poor workers who depend upon Earned Income Tax Credit to survive and people using BadgerCare (Wisconsin’s version of Medicaid), transportation advocates, people opposed to a proposal for concealed carry of guns and others have begun erecting tents to  show their visible opposition to Walker’s attempt to send our state back 50 years.

Every generation a cry goes out: please come to Chicago to protest the rigged persecution of the protests stemming from the 1968 protests at the Democratic party convention went out 40 years ago. Now it is please come to Walkerville.Follow this link to find out how you can get involved: http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/06/walkerville-tent-city-this-budget-is-wrong.html

As media coverage and blogs from alternative sources grows, I will spread the word with links to them from this blog. Here is one that I found on Commondreams. org. A luta continua. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/06/06-7

Check out this site defend Wisconsin: http://www.defendwisconsin.org/

Also check defending Wisconsin http://defendingwisconsin.org/

And the news roundup http://defendwisconsin.blogspot.com/2011/06/news-round-up-is-back.html

Defend Wisconsin on Facebook where things are really jumping http://www.facebook.com/pages/Defend-Wisconsin/173185772728360

Link to pictures from the Walkerville pictures: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.198449813535289.55058.173185772728360

Tear yourself away from Congressman Sausage’s weiner and find real news.

Where Will Black Children Learn to Swim?

Swimming pool (Photo credit: Corrado Matteoni)

A young girl taking a break in a swimming pool, grabbing on to a rainbow-coloured styrofoam flotation device. Français : Jeune fille s'offrant une pause dans une piscine, s'accrochant à une planche de polystirène expansé aux couleurs de l'arc en ciel. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

African American members of ILGWU Local 222 picket outside. (Photo credit: Kheel Center, Cornell University)

I just saw a picture on Huffington Post about the way that budget cuts have forced the closure of public swimming pools across the country. The picture was of two darling African-American children who were enjoying the experience of being in a public pool. This is something they may not be able to have much longer. Across the country swimming pools for poor, African-American and other children are being seen as a luxury as cities fight to maintain their essential services. It’s hard to make a case that the city should sacrifice dollars needed for police and fire departments in order to enable young people to do something that might save their lives someday. Why can’t they go to the YMCA?

Well I have a friend who has worked hard to ensure that children have access to swimming pools. For many years she has brought foster children to the Jewish Community Center and enjoyed their laughter. I doubt that she cared anything about the reactions of the 95% white crowds looking at her and her African-American children. I’m certain that if I looked around I could similar examples of adults taking children swimming in these private pools.

Municipal pools are as democratic as the public library and the same people who hate one probably despise the other. Those who cry out so ferociously in the name of so-called limited government. Give us tanks but please nothing that a poor person could use to learn a skill or create a job.

There was a tragic incident in Milwaukee a few years ago in which a couple of African-American children were swept up in the water at a lagoon and taken to their deaths. There were efforts to teach black children how to swim. Milwaukee is surrounded by water: Lake Michigan and three rivers beckon you during our incredibly brief summers. Last summer we also had record levels of rain which brought water to dangerous levels. Imagine  not being able to swim on a hot summer day or fearing that the water on your street would pull you from the grasp of your parents.

Where will our precious children learn to swim? I speak as the surviving brother of James who drowned in Buffalo. I also nearly drowned but was rescued by friends a few years after my brother had died. And I remembered being the one black boy in a pool of hostile white students in the 1960s. While rich people parade their multimillion dollar rings, we struggle to remain afloat. On what planet would this situation sound fair or sustainable?

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DOA

That’s the only way to describe the Milwaukee Mental Health Complex, which was built in the 1970s. According to today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Medicaid law passed in the 1960s restricted funding for mental health to smaller, community based facilities. The article cited Pittsburgh as an example of a community that made the transition to smaller, neighborhood based assistance and putting a priority on housing.

Even long-term mental patients have been able to thrive in the community with adequate supports. That has happened in Milwaukee, too. So, why was the hospital built knowing that it would not be eligible for federal reimbursements?  Why won’t private hospitals provide the care that people with acute mental health symptoms require? And where did the pressure come from to build another mental health facility that would fall outside of federal guidelines?

Housing is cited as a need for being able to move into the community but when the rent for supported housing reaches into a high percentage of a person’s income, can we call that affordable housing? The County could have taken an important step toward the future by approving funding to develop a north side Crisis Resource Center. This makes me wonder why there is a failure in the system and is the problem a lack of  political will. What do you think?

There is a lot more that I could say about this issue which I am interested in from a personal stand point and as a mental health advocate. It seems to me there is a disconnect from the policies that are advocated, the glowing reports of progress from the Behavioral Health Division and the outcomes that  Milwaukee County residents experience.

It can be exhausting and frustrating to advocate  for people who are living with a mental illness in Milwaukee County because they are caught between an overload due to the reluctance of private hospitals to care for persons having acute conditions and the mental health complex. One wonders, is there any place in Milwaukee County for people with a mental illness?

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Hell of a job recommendation, Scott

Barrett in 1993 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Greater Milwaukee Committee is apparently waiting to release some recommendations regarding Milwaukee County government. These recommendations include abolishing the county executive’s position, and spinning off most of the functions of county government such as the parks into commissions. The report which was discussed in today’s Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is being withheld to prevent it from influencing the election. The bottom line is that the county is not taxing enough to meet its obligations. The services will be spun off to allow for new leadership that will raise the revenue (taxes)  to pay for them. It sounds like quite an indictment of Scott Walker. Imagine if something like this was said about Milwaukee city government and Tom Barrett.

Well, here we are, Walker was elected governor and faces a recall election. His opponent for governor  Tom Barrett is still the Mayor and collecting splinters on the question of running against Walker again.   We need someone in office at all levels who is ethical, trustworthy, unites people on the basic of equality and believes in  equal justice under law. So I’m going to look for candidates who are endorsed by groups of gays and lesbians, for example. I want to find someone who goes beyond simplistic rhetorical on law and disorder, meaning we need to stop imprisoning more and more people.

Scott Walker on February 18, 2011 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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It’s Somebody Else’s War

Official portrait of United States Secretary of Defense Robert Gates Español: Retrato oficial de Secretario de Defensa de los Estados Unidos Robert Gates (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama (born 4 August 1961; assumed office 20 January 2009) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I rarely agree with anything Secretary of Defense Gates says so today will be a breakthrough. I think of this in response to a statement that someone made about how President Obama was spending all kinds of money on frivolous programs. First Republican Eric Cantor said that President Obama was adding more to the national debt than ever. When that statement was proven false, a republican on Facebook twisted the argument to try to claim that somehow the rate of spending was still somehow unprecedented. I wondered whether anyone had told this person that America is fighting two wars and that believe it or not, wars cost money.

And then I thought back to something Secretary Gates said about how disconnected most Americans were from the wars. Because we switched to an all volunteer military the government must spend more money to retain troops. We keep deploying  and re-deploying the same troops and preventing them from leaving due to “stop-loss” orders. During the Vietnam War, I was quite aware that the US was at war and that I was at risk of being drafted and sent to fight. So I made it my business to learn about the war and decided I didn’t like the war.

People like me in the peace movement raised our voices when W. Bush was yammering for war. In fact we had tried to get President Clinton before him to realize that the sanctions against Iraq were cruel and unusual. But our cries for justice were left unanswered.  When W. got his first opportunity for war, he took it. It was popular, exciting, shock and awe and better yet no one had to pay for it. W. gave away the budget surplus that he inherited from Clinton in the form of tax breaks that he said would stimulate the economy. In fact, the economy tanked, banks were on the edge of disaster and the auto industry was shrinking.

No wonder W.’s approval rating was microscopic when he left office. No wonder so many of us voted for Obama and other Democrats in 2008. But that hasn’t prevented the Permanent Presidential Campaign of disinformation from creating an entirely new myth about those years. The myth under the name of the so-called Tea Party is that the economy was fine, in 2009 until Obama used government to provide stimulus. Money was even provided to directly subsidize private businesses so that they could hire workers. Obama lowered taxes for most Americans while imposing a modest tax increase on the wealthy to help end the scandal of people dying from preventable causes because they lacked health insurance. He allocated money to help states pay for teachers, police and other vital workers. He extended unemployment to help cushion workers from the brunt of the recession.

The Republicans said these programs were wasteful and made it easy to avoid getting a job. And President Obama looked at the tangled web of war that W. had woven in Iraq and Afghanistan and attempted to unravel it. Some of us fear that Obama may have been ensnared in the web, too. These are President Obama’s wars but they belong to everyone. Our taxes have made it possible to continue the bloodshed. We pay for the corrupt politicians. We own the drones.  It’s not somebody else’s war, it’s ours.

Now, deal with it as an adult, America, not like sniveling children crying for another tax break for the wealthy. At some point, America, you’ve got to realize that you can’t always be fighting all these countries. You don’t have the troops. At some point, you’re going to have to turn off those radio clowns at Fox News in the Permanent Presidential Campaign and re-join the 21st century.

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Oxymoron: Scott Walker Able Executive

Image via Wikipedia

Image via Wikipedia

I just read an article about the debate between Scott Walker and Mark Neumann Republican candidates for governor of Wisconsin. The OnWisconsin.com article said that Walker was running based on his record as Milwaukee County Executive. The guy who just shifted John Chianelli from his position as Administrator of the Milwaukee County Mental Health Complex. The guy whose leadership was questioned by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel when it called for him to fire Chianelli and more in light of the ongoing scandal involving the staffing shortages, assaults on patients and falsification of records. This is the same Walker who continues to degrade our service on the Milwaukee County Transit System while continuing to raise fares. The same Walker on whose watch we’ve seen our parks and our county buildings deteriorate, causing one death.

And don’t get me started on the mess involving the administration iof the food stamp program that led the State of Wisconsin to take over that program. as if all this was not enough, there was a report from Sheriff Clarke about the lack of security at the Mental Health Complex.  Does this sound like an able executive? I vote no confidence in Walker and I urge everyone to sign the petition from Tom Barrett for governor about stopping the abuse.

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