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

* * * * *

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