Author: admin (Page 35 of 107)

And thanks to those friends and lovers, you were able to give back to others, opening minds, breaking frontiers, spreading passion, making people believe in themselves:

la fin justifie largement les moyens in your case, don’t you think ? 🙂

Keep it up, whatever they might say,

Rafael

* * * * *

exactly! That’s basically how inter- dependence [and LIFE in general] works.

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

I know it wasn’t a performance, Frank.

What I’m understanding, is that disabled people will be confined home since not able to get attendance for their needs outside of their homes ( except for getting them to the doctor or hospital ) which will be paid back by the state. Therefor, since that population is in general not rich ( since rarely able to work for a living ( especially seniors ! ) or living off an important money heritage ), they are dependent on government funding for the care they get from attendants.

Anyways, I was just thinking about that regarding your performances, saying to my self that you are probably not driving yourself to the venues, etc…

But then again, it was stupid for me to ask : I guess it has nothing to do with your everyday needs and that everybody participating to the performances helps out voluntary with whoever needs something.

Hope you didn’t misinterpreted it,

Another thing is that California seems going bankrupt: federal government is to take action for citizens to continue receiving the services they once had,

But fucking recession, what an excuse for everybody to cut on social matters: even in Quebec, North America’s most socialist lands to live in, they are putting a fee to medicair ( and remember, health is ( supposively ) entirely free in Canada ) and rising education fee’s ( it used to be 1000 $ a year for university 10 years ago; Now, we’re up to 2000 $ a year and they wan’t to raise it up to 5000 $ a year ! )

Anyways Frank, got to get to work, keep those updates coming,

Rafael

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you are right, Rafael! I always have used my friends /lovers as my attendants. I have gotten shit from the disabled community over the years For this. They thought it was not independent to depend upon your friends. I was always into inter- dependency! Whatever! Anyway, I am getting little money for roughly EIGHT HOURS A DAY for attendant care. In reality I need and have TWENTY-FOUR HOUR “care”. So this don’t affect me at this point. But the crips who don’t have friends are in trouble!

and yes, cuts in social services are always tax on the poor instead of on the rich!

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

what they have done is taken us crips from being the bosses of our attendants. Now we are required to pick from the pool of people who are under contract with the state, who have agreed to follow the state’s rules, etc. So the state is the boss, leaving the crip powerless to tell her attendant what she wants… To go to the store, to use tampons, etc. This is dangerous!

Also being limited to IN-HOME is bizarre. It makes me question my reading of the rule book! We don’t just use our attendants at home! The rule book seems to say services should be done in the home. It said attendants can only drive their clients to the doctor’s [all other Trips should be on paratransit]. But the attendant can’t wait in the doctor’s office. Well, Linda as my attendant translatesfor me at the doctor’s [not to mention taking me to the bathroom, giving me a drink, etc.]. So going to the doctor’s is impossible without Linda. And I will not go in hospital without Linda! That would be suicide! In reality all my travels are like that.

as I write this, I’m thinking i must have misread it! It couldn’t be saying services should be solely in-home. But if I am indeed misreading it, a lot of people are misreading it with extremely dangerous possible results.

And if I am not misreading it, and if IHSS is now only providing house servants… Henry, are there programs that fund personal attendants for my life in the outside community?

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

(Paul Escriva wrote:)

Frankie,

Agreed it is insanity….
A truly a fine manipulation of ‘language interpretation’ by our government…
I really should commend them for being so clever. Geez.

Here’s what my brain hears Frankie:
“Everyone listen-up, do as I (the government) says, be quiet, be grateful AND a good little crip, you know compliant…. or I’ll take everything away.”

Really, bullies of the highest order.

Thank goodness you are living tribally.

Over a decade ago when public transportation in Chicago was not wheelchair accessible….all the crips gathered at rush hour and jammed their chairs into the turnstiles so no one could get onto a train. The message was very clear. It was on every news channel across the country.
It was civil disobedience at its finest.

What’s happening in the activist world in California to shake stuff up?
Other people have to be hurt and pissed-off too.

Paul

* * * * *

more like… Ok, we won’t cut it all out, like we threatened, just deep cuts… So you should look at it as a win!

really he has been playing this game for years! And the doomsday hasn’t appeared, just cuts. So people may be lulled, etc.

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

* * * * *

(Paul Escriva wrote:)

Yep, I see what you are saying.
That makes sense.

Dear Frankie,

How timely is your message!!…
Earlier I wrote a letter to your Governor Schwarzenegger to please stop wasting money on purchasing cameras and suggested that he increase funding to hands-on care.

I had no idea about a new ‘rule book’… Who is the author of these ‘rules’?
Were any people with disabilities consulted? I think not.
Where are all the crips in California, who in the 90’s were big movers and shakers and activists?

It is interesting to me is that the new chic and trendy masters degree to have now is in ‘Disability Culture’.

Hang in there.

Paul

* * * * *

here’s more insanity. The attendant will only get pay for services done in the home, not out in the community. If the crip wants to go with the attendant to the store to shop and if that takes longer than it takes the attendant on her own, the state will not pay the difference! Hey, that’s why it is called IN-HOME services, not IN-THE-COMMUNITY services!

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

Can’t believe it, Frank…

What we you do for your performances ?

Anyways, you know the old sayin’ : whenever the cops aren’t around, do whatever the hell you wan’t ( as long as your not harming anyone 😉

* * * * *

mmmmmm, I don’t understand, Rafael. This wasn’t a performance.

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

Tell Gov. Schwarzenegger to Cancel the $5 Million Purchase of Hi-Tech Cameras for Supposed IHSS Fraud
Governor Schwarzenegger wants to effectively eliminate the budget for In-home Supportive Services, yet he’s fine with spending $5 million on military-style cameras to cut down on supposed fraud in the IHSS program that may not even exist.

The Schwarzenegger administration recently made plans to purchase upwards of $5 million in hi-tech devices to photograph and fingerprint the 465,000 seniors and disabled citizens served by the IHSS program. But the legislature never approved the photographing of IHSS recipients, and Schwarzenegger’s office has not presented evidence of the supposedly rampant fraud in the IHSS system that these devices are meant to curtail.

The Schwarzenegger administration claims that these will save money in the long run by cutting down on fraud, but as a recent Sacramento Bee editorial pointed out, the administration hasn’t proved the existence of such fraud; and these devices would be ineffective in cutting down on the scattered instances of fraud that may exist.

“Before the state commits to buying this expensive equipment and building yet another expensive police bureaucracy that treats all IHSS recipients and their caregivers as potential criminals, it needs to perform a far more thorough assessment of the potential for fraud within IHSS and the best way to address it … Although the administration needs to look out for taxpayers, it shouldn’t waste money on anti-fraud efforts that make little sense.” – Sacramento Bee, editorial (3/20)

The planned purchase of these devices comes at a time when the governor is threatening to cut funding for 87% of the 465,000 elderly and disabled citizens who depend on IHSS services for basic lifeline services.
Take action: Email Governor Schwarzenegger to cancel the planned purchase of these devices!

* * * * *

well, this is timely because we just got back from spending the day in Oakland at a governmental office spending over one hundred dollars getting Linda and Mikee fingerprinted so they can continue to be my attendants! And they gave us a new Kafka big brother rule book outlining what is and isn’t covered in insane detail. Basically crips are now prisoners in their homes. The attendants can only take their clients to the doctor’s [but not wait with them!], but not to shopping, social events, vacation, etc. if the crip goes into the hospital, he can not have his attendant help him. Oh, this is interesting… An attendant can’t help the female client with tampons, only with napkins, even if the client uses tampons!

In Freedom,
Frank Moore

Polyamory and Sex Could Save The Planet, Author Argues

http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/03/12/18304/sex-planet-polymory/

by Tinamarie Bernard
March 12, 2010

The Middle East is conservative. But could increased “polyamory” open people up to practices that could save the environment?

At first glance, sex and the environment don’t make obvious bedfellows. How can the answer to our environmental problems ­ global warming, access to fresh water, ecological sustainability, and the use of fossil fuels ­possibly be found between the satin sheets of lovers? According to a growing number of greenies, free love may just save the world. In her newest book, Gaia: The New Politics of Love, author Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio attempts to lay the groundwork for this premise.

And if you can get past any initial squeamishness, there is value in her message: Specifically, some behaviors typical between lovers in open-relationships, also known as polyamory, may indeed be the secret to protecting Mother Earth from her errant, environmentally challenged children. That would be many of us. Living where we do, in the rugged climate that is the Middle East, many are personally invested in finding ways to better understand, reach and communicate with our neighbors who worship and celebrate differently.

Some even suggest that the answer to the Middle East peace process won’t come from obvious, political efforts, but through grass roots activities and outreach from environmentalists. Every time environmentalists talk about common concerns ­ because let’s face it, nature knows no boundaries ­ opportunities open up for dialogue on other challenges.

Until we heard about this book, however, it never occurred to us that peace might come from shifting our views on sexuality as well, from lying in green pastures together, if you will.

Don’t believe that we didn’t protest at the idea, our skeptical brains presuming that some sex conspiracy was at play by those in favor of open-relationships who were on a mission to convert as many ‘happily married, committed for life, no sex with any others till death do us part’ to their freer pastures. It’s easy to scoff at shocking ideas, and just as important to consider them before passing judgement.

Here’s what we learned from a brief exploration into the concepts of this book: sharing is caring. If we approach life with an attitude of fear ­for example, there’s a lack of resources, amorous or otherwise ­ then we engage in hoarding behaviors. That’s my wife! That’s my water! That’s my land, my pastures and clean air! In other words, the concept of scarcity takes precedence over negotiation and trust, and power struggles ensue between partners.

Whether those partners are man and woman, husband and wife, Jew vs. non-Jew, Muslim vs non-Muslim, conservative vs. progressive, the end result is the same. Conflict.

Polyamory, on the other hand, advocates that partners relax their anxieties about not getting the love they deserve (which in turns causes all sorts of harmful behaviors such as adultery, infidelity, husband stealing, etc). The unexpected result, according to the author of this book, is that lovers are then free to embrace the love they have without feeling compelled to horde it all for themselves.

Are you with us on this? Love is not the crime: criminalizing the many manifestations of love is the crime. As long as we believe the myth of scarcity, we hoard. As soon as we recognize there is actually abundance, we share. Apply this paradigm ­ inherent to open-relationships ­to the earth (which she refers to as Gaia, implying that our planet is actually a living biota, a whole being made up of interconnected ecosystems of which humans play a part) and you can see the dots the author attempts to connect.

Free love = sharing = less hoarding = more for everyone to go around. In other words, making love is actually good for Mother Earth.

Our planet, by the way, doesn’t really need us to save it, it will continue its orbit, lifeless or not, regardless of how successfully humans steward our resources and relationships, regardless of the outcome of the current attempts to make peace, not war, in the Middle East.

That is why the ultimate beneficiary of all that sex and sharing really is humankind. And for those of us living on the frontlines in the Middle East, with our various experiences ­ sexual and otherwise ­ informing our beliefs about the solutions to the crises we all face ­ environmental and otherwise ­ the idea that sex may hold the answer to many questions is both the oldest, and newest, idea of them all.
——–

Also, see:

Monkey love: When females rule fornication, Mother Earth delights
http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/03/25/19034/environment-females-sexuality/

* * * * *

hey, I know that we consume much less for much less because we live tribally than living as single individuals or as couples. And this level of benefit isn’t really connected to sex, etc. There are other benefits of tribal relationship which can be linked to expanded love. But this ain’t one.

Also many forms of polyamory are much less environmentally friendly; for an example, a guy who maintains a different house for each wife… So on…

In Freedom,
Frank Moore