Comments on: Barack Obama and the Man in My Basement http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/ Firedoglake weblog Fri, 17 Feb 2012 17:11:37 -0600 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.2 By: bigbrother http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479804 bigbrother Thu, 05 Jun 2008 19:44:13 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479804 <p>The last 12 years of my life have been dedicated to promoting low cost housing. Nice job pointing to the challenges facing homeless folks that want to get upward bound economically and socially.<br /> Almost 50% are mothers with children, And battered by ex’s and the brutal environment they live in they become traumatized and need couseling which our county just cut in the latest budget crunch.<br /> The Non Profit housing industry has a lock and are limited in creating housing by financial, political and planning constraints.<br /> We do not have to tolerate these conditions but must INSIST on solving the problem by the creation of low cost housing above the objections of the NIMBYs (not in my back yard. Iraq veterans organizations face this problem.<br /> We have been tolerating this like we have tolerated rascism and abject poverty. Jus Cogens applies here. We all have the right to food shelter and clothing as Mazlow describe4d in his hierarchy of needs.<br /> We would be shocked at animal abuse and cruelty yet we all turn away from our own kind…the excuses are wide ranging and sometimes subtle.<br /> The budget for HUD’s section * program, designed to assist these folks, has been cut by the Clinton’s with “welfare to work” and them by Bush by a whoppiong $60 billion dollars while giving massive corporate welfare to farmers, oil companies and crooked banks on Wall street to bail them out with that money and is why these homeless people are depived of being the best that they can be. A roof, shower, a refridgerator, a phone to get it together.<br /> For Walmart to enjoy your friends labors while he is homeless is despicable. All these low wage corporation have an obligation to contribute the the creation of the housing that matches the demand they have created. The “Service Economy” that has been created by “Big Corporation” has grown this sector of our population exacerbating the problem. <a href="http://www.clih.net" rel="nofollow">www.clih.net</a> and <a href="http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2006/" rel="nofollow">www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2006/</a> who has been working to eliminate this scourge since 1974.</p> The last 12 years of my life have been dedicated to promoting low cost housing. Nice job pointing to the challenges facing homeless folks that want to get upward bound economically and socially.
Almost 50% are mothers with children, And battered by ex’s and the brutal environment they live in they become traumatized and need couseling which our county just cut in the latest budget crunch.
The Non Profit housing industry has a lock and are limited in creating housing by financial, political and planning constraints.
We do not have to tolerate these conditions but must INSIST on solving the problem by the creation of low cost housing above the objections of the NIMBYs (not in my back yard. Iraq veterans organizations face this problem.
We have been tolerating this like we have tolerated rascism and abject poverty. Jus Cogens applies here. We all have the right to food shelter and clothing as Mazlow describe4d in his hierarchy of needs.
We would be shocked at animal abuse and cruelty yet we all turn away from our own kind…the excuses are wide ranging and sometimes subtle.
The budget for HUD’s section * program, designed to assist these folks, has been cut by the Clinton’s with “welfare to work” and them by Bush by a whoppiong $60 billion dollars while giving massive corporate welfare to farmers, oil companies and crooked banks on Wall street to bail them out with that money and is why these homeless people are depived of being the best that they can be. A roof, shower, a refridgerator, a phone to get it together.
For Walmart to enjoy your friends labors while he is homeless is despicable. All these low wage corporation have an obligation to contribute the the creation of the housing that matches the demand they have created. The “Service Economy” that has been created by “Big Corporation” has grown this sector of our population exacerbating the problem. http://www.clih.net and http://www.nlihc.org/oor/oor2006/ who has been working to eliminate this scourge since 1974.

]]> By: serge http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479432 serge Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:07:08 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479432 <p>Sweet damn Jesus…I feel your post viscerally. I have mentored a child (man now, he’s nineteen) for eleven years. He’s one of nine children by an untold number of fathers. His twin brother has been mentored by my best friend for the same number of years.</p> <p>Between learning disabilities, lack of consistent health care, poor parenting skills…what more do we need to put kids like him at a disadvantage? He’s going to finish high school finally. His hope for the future is in the military. Boy, do I feel great about that…</p> <p>I believe that, no matter what I put into our relationship (and it was not the “one hour per week” that you hear about), I’ve been at best a buffer. Life, for these kids, just sucks balls. It’s unforgivable.</p> Sweet damn Jesus…I feel your post viscerally. I have mentored a child (man now, he’s nineteen) for eleven years. He’s one of nine children by an untold number of fathers. His twin brother has been mentored by my best friend for the same number of years.

Between learning disabilities, lack of consistent health care, poor parenting skills…what more do we need to put kids like him at a disadvantage? He’s going to finish high school finally. His hope for the future is in the military. Boy, do I feel great about that…

I believe that, no matter what I put into our relationship (and it was not the “one hour per week” that you hear about), I’ve been at best a buffer. Life, for these kids, just sucks balls. It’s unforgivable.

]]> By: aimai http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479424 aimai Thu, 05 Jun 2008 13:59:16 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479424 <p>Fantastic post, Isaiah. My global concerns for this country will be more or less answered by an Obama/democratic presidency but my localized, ground level concerns for our society won’t be. That’s because at the international level the good or bad intentions and the intelligence or lack thereof of the president has a huge impact. But at the grassroots level with the intractactble problems of human life and the local economy good intentions and even good ideas matter little. I have a nephew adopted from DSS, from a broken home into a loving, middle class, two parent family. He was adopted at 13. A lot of damage has been done to someone by neglect, substandard foster care, poor schooling, no medical care by age 13. It can’t always be “fixed” even by copious amounts of money, love, attention, and therapy. That’s because people are highly plastic at some stages of their development, and highly brittle at others.</p> <p>I don’t agree with the right wing’s eternal insistence that “every tub” should be on its own bottom, that a free people would be identical with an “on your own society” of independent capitalist monads. But on the other hand they are right that if we can’t/won’t/don’t raise our children with loving care we are going to have a lot of dysfunctional adults in a few years. The boston globe today had an article about how dire things are for kids aging out of foster care that points this out. If human beings aren’t given a firm foundation in childhood its hard to build one retroactively. Where conservatives go wrong is in assuming that only the biological, two parent, religious family can or should supply the love, attention, money, and help that all children need.</p> <p>Maybe its too late for your temporary tenant, maybe it isn’t. But perhaps under a new democratic ascendancy we can find the popular and presidential will to take the money we are spending on locking people up and spend it on giving them safe homes, good schooling, and a future.</p> <p>aimai</p> Fantastic post, Isaiah. My global concerns for this country will be more or less answered by an Obama/democratic presidency but my localized, ground level concerns for our society won’t be. That’s because at the international level the good or bad intentions and the intelligence or lack thereof of the president has a huge impact. But at the grassroots level with the intractactble problems of human life and the local economy good intentions and even good ideas matter little. I have a nephew adopted from DSS, from a broken home into a loving, middle class, two parent family. He was adopted at 13. A lot of damage has been done to someone by neglect, substandard foster care, poor schooling, no medical care by age 13. It can’t always be “fixed” even by copious amounts of money, love, attention, and therapy. That’s because people are highly plastic at some stages of their development, and highly brittle at others.

I don’t agree with the right wing’s eternal insistence that “every tub” should be on its own bottom, that a free people would be identical with an “on your own society” of independent capitalist monads. But on the other hand they are right that if we can’t/won’t/don’t raise our children with loving care we are going to have a lot of dysfunctional adults in a few years. The boston globe today had an article about how dire things are for kids aging out of foster care that points this out. If human beings aren’t given a firm foundation in childhood its hard to build one retroactively. Where conservatives go wrong is in assuming that only the biological, two parent, religious family can or should supply the love, attention, money, and help that all children need.

Maybe its too late for your temporary tenant, maybe it isn’t. But perhaps under a new democratic ascendancy we can find the popular and presidential will to take the money we are spending on locking people up and spend it on giving them safe homes, good schooling, and a future.

aimai

]]> By: josiahbartlette http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479262 josiahbartlette Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:42:45 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479262 <p>Excellent post Isaiah. I believe that a nealthy society is not the result of things trickling down from the top but on what percolates up from the bottom.</p> <p>Just as LBJ did not campaign on passage of civil rights legislation and Nixon did not campaign on going to China, We need to recognize the quality of the man that is our nominee and recognize he will accomplish things that he cannot campaign on and have confidence that he will accomplish great things.</p> Excellent post Isaiah. I believe that a nealthy society is not the result of things trickling down from the top but on what percolates up from the bottom.

Just as LBJ did not campaign on passage of civil rights legislation and Nixon did not campaign on going to China, We need to recognize the quality of the man that is our nominee and recognize he will accomplish things that he cannot campaign on and have confidence that he will accomplish great things.

]]> By: BooRadley http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479254 BooRadley Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:40:06 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479254 <p>Isaiah, another idea is to find psycologists who might be willing to administer tests to this young man. My guess is that he has learning disabilities. The more he understands about his learning styles, the more he be able to manage. </p> <p>Another huge issue that psychologists may at least be able to speak to are his social interactions.</p> Isaiah, another idea is to find psycologists who might be willing to administer tests to this young man. My guess is that he has learning disabilities. The more he understands about his learning styles, the more he be able to manage.

Another huge issue that psychologists may at least be able to speak to are his social interactions.

]]> By: BooRadley http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479242 BooRadley Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:31:18 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479242 <p>Isaiah, a great post, thanks. I apologize I have not had time to read all the comments. I would strongly invite you to seek out DC and Northern VA attorneys who specialize in helping their clients get onto Social Security. It does not cost anything out of pocket, the lawyers take their cut out of the settlement check that government sends, if someone is declared ”disabled.” It sounds as though this young man qualifies. </p> <p>OT, one reason it will take so long is that for profit insurers have been forcing their clients to apply for Disability under Social Security, before they will pay off. Whistleblowers have initated legal action, but Social Security is backlogged by unscrupulous insurance companies. Once this man is on Social Security, he’s got a safety net of income and health care. He also may have access to rent assistance from HUD. Also, Social Security has a program called TICKET TO WORK. He can go to school and try to get himself off of Social Security in a way that does not threaten his benefits. Bless you for your kindness. Check with your accountant to see how you should list this man on your taxes. You may be able to claim him as a dependent, or as a renter, who is unable to meet his monthly obligations.</p> Isaiah, a great post, thanks. I apologize I have not had time to read all the comments. I would strongly invite you to seek out DC and Northern VA attorneys who specialize in helping their clients get onto Social Security. It does not cost anything out of pocket, the lawyers take their cut out of the settlement check that government sends, if someone is declared ”disabled.” It sounds as though this young man qualifies.

OT, one reason it will take so long is that for profit insurers have been forcing their clients to apply for Disability under Social Security, before they will pay off. Whistleblowers have initated legal action, but Social Security is backlogged by unscrupulous insurance companies. Once this man is on Social Security, he’s got a safety net of income and health care. He also may have access to rent assistance from HUD. Also, Social Security has a program called TICKET TO WORK. He can go to school and try to get himself off of Social Security in a way that does not threaten his benefits. Bless you for your kindness. Check with your accountant to see how you should list this man on your taxes. You may be able to claim him as a dependent, or as a renter, who is unable to meet his monthly obligations.

]]> By: KayInMaine http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479218 KayInMaine Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:17:23 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479218 <p>Anyone else having trouble with the blog page ”staying put”? It’s acting weird today.</p> Anyone else having trouble with the blog page ”staying put”? It’s acting weird today.

]]> By: Raven http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479206 Raven Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:11:04 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479206 <p>Can we have some respect for Isaiah Poole’s thread here? </p> <p>What are you talking about? The topic is Obama.</p> Can we have some respect for Isaiah Poole’s thread here?

What are you talking about? The topic is Obama.

]]> By: Dearie http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479199 Dearie Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:08:35 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479199 <p>I was touched by Isaiah’s post. Will an Obama presidency make a difference for a young disempowered guy? Just getting rid of the ME-FIRST (let ‘em eat cake) rightists would be a start, I think. If you listen to a neo-con (as I do when my brother calls), it’s still everyone for himself (my brother doesn’t believe in women….which is funny because he’s actually pretty nice to me) — individualism; Ayn Rand gone berzerk. If one mentions community — they hear communism. It’s hopeless. Time to rid ourselves of this evil mindset. Community is nice. How can one not want to help others? What’s missing at their core?</p> I was touched by Isaiah’s post. Will an Obama presidency make a difference for a young disempowered guy? Just getting rid of the ME-FIRST (let ‘em eat cake) rightists would be a start, I think. If you listen to a neo-con (as I do when my brother calls), it’s still everyone for himself (my brother doesn’t believe in women….which is funny because he’s actually pretty nice to me) — individualism; Ayn Rand gone berzerk. If one mentions community — they hear communism. It’s hopeless. Time to rid ourselves of this evil mindset. Community is nice. How can one not want to help others? What’s missing at their core?

]]> By: dakine01 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479196 dakine01 Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:04:51 +0000 http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/barack-obama-and-the-man-in-my-basement/#comment-1479196 <p><a href="http://firedoglake.com/2008/06/04/how-right-wing-crap-polluted-the-waters-for-democrats/" rel="nofollow">New Dave Neiwert upstairs</a></p> New Dave Neiwert upstairs

]]>