“After The Rain” (watercolor interpretation)

Nikon D80: 18mm ISO200 1/125 f3.5 PSE8

Video footage courtesy of KCNA (Korean Central News Agency):

We may be your fathers, your mothers, your brothers, your sisters, your neighbors, your teachers, your waiters, your bankers, your firefighters, your doctors, your gardeners, your janitors, your grocers, your police officers, your mechanics, your plumbers, your newspaper deliverer, your postal delivery worker, your dog walker, your attorney, your garbage man, your bus driver, your employer, your employee, your rival.  Out of all of those roles, and the numerous other roles other citizens have in our lives, one common thread is that we have in the past, or now, serve you and all of our extended American Family as committed members of the armed forces.

Don’t forget the sacrifices that we have and will continue to make so that all of us can continue to live a peaceful, comfortable life.

Don’t just honor veterans today, but every day.

Where in our Constitution does it say that we, the citizens, through our tax contributions will pay for enhanced medical care for our members of Congress, which they will embrace and utilize to the fullest extent, while concurrently with holding access to the same level of accessible health care to all other citizens?  Is this what the founders of our country had in mind, an elite governing class that would by virtue of their government health plan receive access to health care that is denied to most Americans?  Are we all, who are not in government, just commoners?

Dave Gilson of Mother Jones sums it up in the following item titled “The Real Public Option: Congress’ Private Medical Clinic”:

You can’t say this enough: While members of Congress are busy protecting us from the inefficiency and danger of government-run health care, they’re receiving top-notch taxpayer funded health care—seemingly without complaint. The LA Times recently detailed the benefits: A choice of 10 insurance plans and access to a wide network of doctors and HMOs. Plus, they “get special treatment at Washington’s federal medical facilities and, for a few hundred dollars a month, access to their own pharmacy and doctors, nurses and medical technicians standing by in an office conveniently located between the House and Senate chambers.” ABC News has more on that in-house clinic for lawmakers, officially known as the Office of the Attending Physician:

Services offered by the Office of the Attending Physician include physicals and routine examinations, on-site X-rays and lab work, physical therapy and referrals to medical specialists from military hospitals and private medical practices. According to congressional budget records, the office is staffed by at least four Navy doctors as well as at least a dozen medical and X-ray technicians, nurses and a pharmacist.

Sources said when specialists are needed, they are brought to the Capitol, often at no charge to members of Congress.

Explains a former doc from the Congressional clinic, patients who can’t get treated on-site get referals to top specialists all over the country. “You would go to the best care in the country. And, for the most part, nobody asked what your insurance was.” And the cost? $503. A year.

What we need to be doing is holding our Senators’ and Congresspersons’ feet to the fire on this issue.  Our government owes the American people the same options for health care that are available to other industrialized democracies, and from a moral perspective, the same options for health care that they extend to themselves.

If you agree with this, pick up the phone and call your senators and representative, or email them.  We need to keep the pressure up.  We need to tell all Democratic congress people that this is what we wanted when we put a majority in office and they have a moral and honorable obligation to act at the will of the people who gave them their jobs.  Tell them to stop prostituting themselves to the deep pocketed special interest groups, and to do the right and historic thing for their country.

This story brings home the vast difference between Republican, conservative,  business values and Democratic, liberal, human values.  It is also an indicator of how we, as a society in the United States, have allowed the pursuit of greater and greater economic growth and consumption influence our ethical and moral value systems at the expense of a loss of the the values of a spirit of friendship, neighborly cooperation and mutual effort at surviving and thriving on this continent, that our forebears pursued.

In a story this week by Corina Knoll, the Los Angeles Times is reporting about a landlord/tenant issue that has been simmering since late August concerning the disabled tenants at the Regency Court apartments, in Monrovia, California, who are being evicted:

Lily Hixon flung open her kitchen cupboards with pride. “Look,” she said, doing a Vanna White impression as she gestured to boxes of cereal and crackers. “I like everything organized.”

The one-bedroom Monrovia apartment decked out in Ikea has been Hixon’s introduction to independent living, a privilege the 25-year-old born with Down syndrome still can’t believe is hers. Built on an old rail yard, Regency Court Apartments is a quiet, mini-neighborhood of sage-green apartments and bungalows where Hixon greets neighbors with a wave.

But last month, she and about 20 other physically or developmentally disabled tenants, some of whom have lived in the affordable housing complex for more than a decade, were notified that their leases were being terminated.

The apartment complex opened in 1995 as a supposed “seniors only” facility, however, it seems that much of the time since then, the property owners and their property managers have advertised for and accepted disabled tenants.  As reported in the LATimes story, the complex accepts Section 8 housing assistance vouchers.  It seems that many of the disabled tenants are developmentally disabled, but have been educated and nurtured, and developed to the point that they are capable of living independent, productive lives:

Located among a row of houses in a quiet neighborhood, Regency Court is close to bus lines, within walking distance of jobs that people with disabilities might land and accepts Section 8 housing vouchers. It seemed a perfect fit for people who want to live on their own but are susceptible to predators.

Parents of the disabled say part of the complex’s allure is the symbiotic relationship between the senior and disabled communities where both move a little slower than the outside world and neither presents a threat.

“If we’d sat down years ago and tried to dream up this package, we wouldn’t have gotten it half as good as this,” said Hixon’s father, Ken. “That’s part of the parents’ anguish right now — that now we’re back to zero. How do we replicate this?”

Senior citizens and disabled Americans, good neighbors, living side by side, in peace and harmony and to mutual benefit, is what American values are about, as example an incident that occurred at the apartment complex last year, as described in an article in the Monrovia Weekly:

Integrating the elderly and the developmentally disabled in low income housing communities is an emerging trend throughout the country. Senior citizens are often apart from their families and enjoy the company of their younger disabled neighbors. The developmentally disabled benefit from the stability and watchful eyes of their elderly neighbors.

It can be a life saving relationship.   Last year a power surge created by a transformer explosion at Regency Court caused a fire in the apartment of one of the elderly residents. Matt Fosbury, a developmentally disabled tenant, quickly extinguished the fire, while his wife, Laura, comforted their distraught older neighbor.

This issue is not a case of the property owner enforcing some legal requirement to exclude non-senior citizens, it is a matter of fair housing abuse of disabled Americans.  One can only surmise as to the property owner’s motivation, the Regency Court is owned by Star Holdings of Illinois, LLC and managed by their subsidiary Professional Property Management, Inc. of Rockford, Illinois, and neither party is speaking as to why, now, after all these years, they want to throw these people out of their homes.  On their web site Star Holdings claims:

As a leader in the development, management and construction of affordable housing properties, Star-Holdings is committed to providing superior affordable housing solutions to communities nationwide.

So it would seem that Star Holdings is targeting a segment of the population that may not be as economically advantaged as the median American family, which on the face of it, would seem admirable, however, their strategy and tactics might also be legitimately categorized as predatory.  Economically disadvantaged individuals have historically been prime targets for manipulation and abuse by venal business interests.  Perhaps Star Holdings believes they can extract more revenue out of senior citizens who may have a consistent (although fixed) income, as opposed to what they view as “transitory”, less reliable, younger tenants.  Or perhaps it is simply a form of discrimination against a segment of their tenants by their property managers?

Professional Property Management, Inc. seems to be developing a reputation of contempt for their tenants, as a search of the Internet will turn up examples of a preponderance of negative opinions of this company by the tenants they administer.  They are likely not a single anomaly among the panoply of large American businesses, but they seem to be emblematic of how our country is losing its soul, how the pursuit of achieving any economic goal trumps treating our fellow human beings with decency, fairness and kindness.

One can only hope that the light that is being shed on the situation at the Regency Court may open some eyes, with the local authorities in Monrovia, California, applicable federal authorities, and the management and owners of Star Holdings, who’s contact information, in case anyone would like to send them a message, is: 973 Featherstone Road, Suite 325, Rockford, Illinois 61107; 815.397.9018.

Updated: 18-Sep-2009

At a press appearance staged at Regency Court today governor Arnold Swarzenegger, announced that he had intervened and reached agreement with the owners to allow the disabled tenants to remain in their apartments.   This is great positive PR for the “governator” and perhaps his wife had something to do with it, since Schwazenegger is the son-in-law of the late Eunice Shriver, founder and patron of the United States Special Olympics.  Irregardless of the PR aspect for the governor, this was the right thing to do, and those business managers and owners who have adopted values that solely focus on enriching themselves with no regard to their social responsibilities should take heed.

The twenty-four hour period immediately following President Obama’s address before Congress on September 10 produced a graphic demonstration of the power of the people.  During the president’s address something previously unheard of occurred when South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson in an act of overt boorishness, heckled the president and called out the president as a liar.  Ironic that this tool of the right wing extreme chose to act out right when the president was debunking the claims of the real liars who, despite the documented facts, continue to try to spread the lie that one of the objectives of the proposed health care initiative would be to euthanize (i.e. kill) elderly Americans.

joe Wilson, through his ignorant political posturing has just put Rob Miller, his Democratic opponent in the 2008 election, and his opponent in the 2010 election on the map, as a nationally known and well funded, viable candidate who could tip over Wilson’s apple cart.  In this last twenty-four hour period, the netroots of the Democratic party (via ActBlue) have raised approximately $697,000 in donations for the Miller campaign, from 19,018 Americans disgusted with the fear and ignorance that the Republican party continuously tries to foist off on the public.  This is a great example of the power of the people when they want to be heard.

If you were outraged  by Joe Wilson’s outburst, consider kicking in a few dollars to help unseat Joe Wilson by donating via ActBlue.

Another way of demonstrating your power is to tell your representatives in Congress what you think about health care reform.  While we know that politicians of all political stripes seem to act as pawns of the moneyed special interests, they are also more fearful of the voting public, when it, the public, is able to form cohesive blocks of voters with common interests.  This is a crucial time in our history, we have a chance to use our government and its resources to enact and execute policy that will serve all of the people in the delivery of something as basic to human rights, as the opportunity to have a long and thriving life.

Now is the time to speak and be heard by your representatives in Congress by emailing, writing or calling them.  Congress.org has made the process of communicating directly with your representatives very easy.  A link on their home page will enable you to identify your elected officials, find their contact information, and send them an email, or a letter, or get you their phone number.

I sent the following to my two Senators and Congressman today:

It is imperative that this Congress pass health care reform, that includes a public option; we can no longer allow vested commercial interests to dictate the availability of health care to our citizens.  What might be passed now is only the beginning of real health care reform which must include changing the way we train our medical professionals and how they practice medicine and how they are given incentives.

Meaningful health care reform is more than wrangling the greedy insurance companies and profit driven pharmaceutical and medical testing and medical device industries.  Meaningful health care reform is changing the paradigm so that delivery of health care is no longer a corporate profit center, but a manifestation of  the intellect, decency and survival instinct of the human species.

I wrote summary of an insightful article by Atul Gawande about how mainstream, for profit, medical services are delivered today as opposed to how they are delivered using the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, etc. models.  If you have not seen the original New Yorker article, you might consider reading my summary: “Health Care Reform: More Than Insurance“.

I am a senior citizen, a veteran, a voter and a taxpayer, and this is what I want to see from my representatives in government, nothing less than what is provided to citizens of other democratic industrialized nations.

Feel free to copy and use any of this, or write your own message from your heart and send it to your members of Congress.  We do have the power to influence the outcome of this critical national issue, let’s not let the opportunity pass us by.