To little, to late.........
I've wanted to publish this piece for a very long time, and I haven't
done it
because of the potential of reprisals against my family, but more and more
I am seeing the same things happening to others that I'll mention here,
and
it isn't worth the price these people are paying for my silence. I have
several
friends that are senior citizens, republican, democrat and independent
that
have
made the mistake of voting in the present administration and many of the
congressmen now serving. And for the last 50 years they have been wi****ng
they could take it all back. I have friends that cannot afford to pay for
public
trans****tation or food for themselves because they have to pay for
medicine
and health care. One of my friends is an ex truck driver as I am, and he
cannot
drive any longer due to a heart condition known as atrial fibrillation, or
some know
as sudden cardiac death. He is has applied to social security for
disability 3
times and been denied after providing evidence of the condition. His
doctor,
a mainstream republican sup****ter, wouldn't willingly turn over his
medical
records
that detail the diagnoses, and a court order was required to get the
records. This
guy has been trying to find funding to go back to school to learn a new
occupation
so that the remainder of his life will be productive, but he is
encountering
roadblocks
at every turn. His savings have been eaten by healthcare bills because he
no
longer
has the benefits of health insurance, his wife is working trying very hard
to keep
them afloat. And these two people are counting themselves fortunate !
Everyday
there are people that can't get healthcare for lack of ability to pay,
can't
by food
or medication or both, and no offer or hope of relief comes within site.
The
same
old story, the wealthy get wealthier and the poor go without. It seems now
that the
people of America are more devoted than ever to serving their own desires
than
they have previously been. One of my friends actually tried to commit
suicide because
the expense of his medication and healthcare was draining their finances
and
he
was living in fear of what would happen to his wife if he lived for any
length of time.
From my vantage point I see two things happening; the price of medicine
and
healthcare is ever increasing, and every day a few people can no longer
get
health
care for inability to pay for it, or the inability to pay for the
medicine.
More and more
disabled people are denied employment IF their applications are even
looked
at, and
many of these are the same kinds of people that created these problems to
begin with,
but many more are NOT ! Why should the needy remain needy for the selfish
?
They should
NOT !
For my two cents worth, if we are to survive as a people..we must end
this self-centered
urge to profit at anyone's expense. Confronting the people that promote
this
kind of living
has never been successful, they are strong and independent, and they have
an
excuse
and a reason for everything they do. Imagine if you will, a homeless woman
lying on a
doorstep with no money to by food or shelter. She has uncontrolled high
blood pressure
and she's going into type 2 diabetes. Her last meal came from a garbage
can
over a week
ago, and the only water she has to drink is from the cooler at the public
library and the
police station. Now picture a guy walking past her slowly, looking at her,
then moving on
to the next doorway, where he stops and unlocks the door. A few minutes
later the police
arrive and arrest her for vagrancy, and take her to the station. She is
now
at the station,
where they book her for vagrancy and finger print her, and then put her in
the public tank.
One hour later, the jailer notices that her right foot is swollen and
bleeding badly on the
sole of her foot, so the jailer passes that info to the watch commander.
Another hour passes
and the jailer returns to the tank and tells her that she is released on
her
own recognance,
she asks why, and she is told by the commander of the watch that the city
doesn't want to incur
a medical expense to treat an injury to her foot. He also tells here that
she has to appear in
municipal court 2 weeks from this day to face the charge of vagrancy. This
woman, on top
of all the evil that has been dumped upon her, now has a minor criminal
record because she
sought a tem****ary place of refuge on some business mans doorstep.
I know this to be true, because the woman is now living with Mary and
I.
Mary and I went to court
with her and paid her fine for vagrancy. The court would have imposed a
sentence of 5 days in jail
except they would have to feed, house and treat her injury, and that is
all
that stopped the judge
from imposing such a sentence. Their is an organization here named
Angelfood
Ministries that is
trying to help senior citizens and the homeless, and they do the best they
can. I've talked with
two representatives from the organization, and they tell me it is very
difficult to get funding
from the government for the project. It seems that a big part of the
problem
is Bush's faith based
initiative is parting out funds to large denominations such as the
Methodists, Catholics, ect..,
and they are using the funds to build churches and paying salaries instead
of taking care of
the helpless and homeless in their congregations. As a matter of course I
checked on this
and found out that at least 3 ministers have been indicted for misuse of
federal funds; a Methodist,
a Baptist, and a minister of an apostolic tabernacle.
There is a moral to these stories, but it will be lost on most reading
this. Suffice it to say that when a
person is willing to let another human being suffer without a second
thought, as is happening now,
it's time to force a change.
Rod
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