Story Archives 2000

by Brother Y/PNN

I am fond of saying and will continue to state that government is like a theif at night who steals your wallet at night but by day break say’s “ c’mon buddy let’s go find the sum’bitch who stole your wallet no one treats my friends like that!”

Such is the case with the current initiative by California lawmakers to legalize,

Tax and regulate the use of marijuana for all state residents 21 or older.

The criminalization / legalization of marijuana has always’s been a civil rights issue.

The first law on record making marijuana illegal started as a city ordinance in

El Paso, Texas was used to target Mexican immigrants.

Due to the fact that there were no law’s against immigrating to the United States

During that time period white racist looked for the only way to discriminate against

Them and apparently this is the only thing that stood out.

In 1913 the state of California was the first state to make marijuana illegal,

Due to pressure from the pharmiceutical industry because of the competition!

In 1914 Utah followed suit due to a Mormon religious prohibition.

By 1930 30 stattes made it illegal, the greatest fear being they felt herion addiction

Would lead to marijuana, that’s not a typo you read that right!

During congessional hearings only 2 medical doctors were present the first one was the representative of the American Medical Association he was told to shut up and leave because he stated that there was no proof that marijuana was a dangerous drug.

The second was James Munch who injected 300 dogs with extract of marijuana 2 of which died.

When asked his conclusion he said he did not know.

Later he testified in court under oath that marijuana would make your fangs grow 6 inches and drip blood, and when he tried it turned him into a bat!

He served as the U.S. official “expert” on marijuana from 1938 until 1962.

AS far as common sense goes the greater issue’s at hand are 1. Many people who are voting age would not or could not benefit from the legalization of marijuana.

At the tender age of 17 with the permission of their parents or guardians young people could “die for their country” without ever being able to legally try marijuana regardless as to whether they inhale or not as a certain cowardly draft dodger claimed not to have done!

2.Many young people could spend the rest of their lives behind bars after being tried and convicted as adults again without ever being able to legally try weed, which could in some cases prevent them being placed in the cicumstance’s that could lead to their conviction to begin with.

3. The legalization of industrial hemp is far more imperative to the economy of the

California, The United States and a competive world market.

The arrogance and selfishness of man has lead to the eradication of many animal and plant species, and caused an imbalance to the eco system.

For all we know “legalizing” hemp could help bring back the honey bee!

It is a much better option to decriminalize 6 oz. or less marijuana for those 18 and above

Using monies confiscated from harsher drugs to provide funding for addiction education

During primary education and treatment on demand, instead of adding more and more taxes to treat the ills of society.

In reality the only ones who would benefit from the legalization of marijuana would be government fat cats, big business and a bunch of rich white guy’s who own the majority of the cannabis clubs.

by Tiny/PNN

The war on the poor is in full Ef-fect!!

The war on the poor is in full Ef-fect

From frisco and Oakland to

The phillipines and iraq

But Now theres a new from of house to house

Com-bat

The soldiers are social workers, police and politi-shuns

Creating deadly legislations, and

con-tracts

Speaking from the knowledge of a poverty skolah

born from the endless struggle to hold onto a dollah –

I must re-state

The war on the poor is in full ef-fect

otherwise,How can a man backed by Gettys harass people who barely have a bed to

con-nect with

…..Excerpt from The War on the Poor by Tiny/Po Poet

How do you define help? If you provide someone with help does that mean you have the right to take it away?… The Day after the second hostile corporate takeover of Amerikka by BUSH/Cheny Inc. and the Haliburton boyz these questions floated through my mind as I spit my poem the War on the Poor at a protest and march for healthcare, economic justice and voter justice that began at Justin Herman Plaza at 9:00 am on Wednesday, November 3rd and wove through the streets of San Francisco throughout the day and into the night

As a very low-income, formerly houseless Bay Area resident who has lived homelessly in the streets of San Francisco and Oakland since I was a child, and was now marching for justice with hundreds of folks through the soon to be "cleaned-up" tenderloin ( read; all the poor and homeless folks kicked out, locked out and starved out through displacement , redevelopment and incarceration) stopping at the soon to be closed Tenderloin Self Help Center, I was reminded of our original thesis at POOR Magazine which attempted to raise awareness about the very real connection between poor peoples all over the world. How we as poor folks, indigenous folk and communities of color have been so successfully sold a bill of capitalist goods about where we should get our "help" i.e., our food, shelter and services that we are unable to establish them for ourselves or when we try to create innovative models of food production, land use and health service provision we face a struggle just to maintain what we manage to create.

"In some kind of way, The city managed to shift the administrative body that ran this center from the Department of Health, which is what it should come under seeing as it provides very important health services for people, to The Department of Human Services, and then before we knew it they put the contract out for bid and we lost it and now the new version of this place will be a resource center", Poverty Scholar, Self-Help Center board member and lead organizer for the Civil Rights Project of the Coalition on Homelessness LS Wilson outlined the most recent example of this kind of political shell game to hit a very innovative, very grassroots, community based drop-in center known as the Tenderloin Self-Help Center established 19 years ago to provide everything from free lunch, a safe place to sit out of the cold, telephone use, bi-lingual employment services, housing advocacy, counseling and substance abuse services for homeless and/or disabled folks in a non-invasive, peer-based, anti-institutional model which is sometimes referred to as Harm reduction.

" This is the third time in the last three months in which the City has taken a health based service center and turned it into a "resource center" and its all to support Care Not Cash initiative to make the author of that initiative (Newsom) look good" LS went on to explain that people had to fight the same bait and switch with Conard House, which caused two people to die in the process.

LS concluded, "When you are turning everything into a resource center what is happening to the people on the streets that you are pretending to help " LS was speaking about the highly problematic legislation known as Care Not Cash brought in to being as part of Gavin Newsoms' anti-poor people Mayoral platform which has done much more harm that good in its troubled implementation.

Readers of PNN and The Bayview will remember PNN's intensive media organizing and resistance of the legislation in collaboration with POWER, The Coalition on Homelessness and many more organizations, which reduced the welfare grant from the already meager $345.00 Per month to $59.00 a month and prioritized the City's shelter beds for welfare recipients leaving disabled elders and the working poor without a bed. In fact, the main point of this legislation is to make it more difficult for poor and homeless folks to reside in San Francisco which once again is part of the class supremacy agenda that pits poor against poorer and eventually makes it impossible for anyone but the very wealthy to exist in San Francisco at all.

"It’s a place for those of us who have nowhere to go, to come and talk to people, to get some lunch, to get some counseling, cause if you have somewhere where people can go it’s a way they can stay away from drugs", Francis Terry, a 67 year old African Descendent woman explained the reasons why a harm reduction model like The Self Help Center which was created by the community itself, works so well

" The Self-Help Center is where people can go if they want to make a change, a common ground, a place where we can change our lives," Myra P. Wilson, a disabled young African Descendent woman spoke over the sounds emanating from the Center on the middle of Womens' day at the Center

"When people ask what we do, I answer, whatever people need us to do" I spoke to Vicky Johnson, the soft-spoken program manager for the Self-Help Center about what the Center provides for the community. She continued, "they want to turn this place into an invasive medical model where they collect peoples' fingerprints, ID, and blood tests, rather than our model of meeting people where they are and giving them what they need, a model that empowers people to help themselves"

How do you define help? And when we create it for ourselves are we gonna let the system take it away?

To fight the wrongful closure of this very important center which was done without any community input please call, fax or send a letter to Mayor Newsom @ 554-6141! And tell them to keep the peer based, drop-in center Tenderloin Self-Help Center open For postcards or more information: Contact Hospitality House - 290 Turk Street - 749-2113. To read more work on Care-Less Use of Cash written by the poor folks directly affected by it go on-line to www.poormagazine.org and click on Care Not Cash Resistance

by Floridalama/PNN Voces de Inmigrantes en Resistencia

For English Scroll Down

Hay una crisis economica en este pais y en el mundo entero; no hay trabajos ni dinero. Y si trabajas apenas ganas para mal vivir en este pais y sobre todo en San Francisco, donde las viviendas cada dia son mas y mas caras. La renta sube y sube como la leche en el fuego, y los trabajos bajan y bajan como la lluvia del cielo y se seca cuando el sol aparece.

Aqui se acaba el dinero como si se desvaneciera como el hielo por la razon que todo esta costoso. A mi me dan ganas de llorar y a veces no duermo, pues el sueno no me llega, como si yo no lo necesitara; por mas que lo llamo no siento sueno, porque pienso y pienso, que es lo que voy hacer?

Le subieron la renta de mi apartamento y yo solo trabajo 3 o 1 dia a la semana, tengo hijos a quienes mantener y a veces me da coraje porque como si a todo mundo le caes mal y todos te gritan y tu no puedes opinar ni pedir algo a cambio.

En el lugar donde vivo, la casa se le esta cayendo la pintura como la cascara del eucalipto; debajo de esa pintura se expone el hongo sobre el techo. No tenemos calenton, en el tiempo de frio, parece que estuvieramos en una montana sin sueter o sin cobija; se siente tanto frio que hasta la boca se nos tiembla.

Pero la senora no lo quiere arreglar. En el bano, los azulejos estan acostado como cuando tu estas cansado, pues se estan cayendo y ella no quiere hacer nada.

Ahora que le subio la renta le dijimos que arreglara estas cosas y que pintara porque eso les hace dano a los ninos. Ella solo respondio, no puedo hacer nada, pues ustedes tienen muchas cosas.

Eso fue toda su respuesta y como ella hay muchas personas que abusan de ti, te cobran, sin importarles tu situacion y como no puedes pagar. Te aguantas y no buscas otro lugar, porque estas ocupada trabajando para hacer la renta.

Solo cuando dejemos de ser pobres nos trataran bien.

Ingles Sigue

There is an economic crisis, in this state and in the whole country; there are not any jobs or money available. If you do have a job, you barely have enough to live in this country, especially in San Francisco where the rent for homes is rising every day. The prices rise and rise like milk over fire and the jobs fall and fall, like rain from the clouds and then dries up once the sun comes out.

In this country, money does not last, as if it were to disappear, as fast as ice melts, because everything is so expensive. I have urges to cry and sometimes I cannot sleep; the sleep never comes, as if I did not need it. It does not matter how much I ask it to come to me, the sleep never comes, because my head is thinking, what am I going to do?

They raised the rent of my apartment; although I only work 1 to 3 days a week, and I have kids to maintain. I sometimes get angry because it seems as though every one is treating you badly, everyone is screaming at you, and you cannot give your opinion or offer an alternative.

The apartment where I am living, the paint is falling off the walls and roof like the skin of the eucalyptus; under that old paint, the fungus over the roof is exposed. We do not have a heater; during the winter season, the cold feels like we were in the top of a mountain without a sweater or blanket; it gets so cold, my mouth starts to quiver.

The landlord does not want to fix any of this. In the bathroom, the tiles are laying down like when someone is tired, because they are falling from the walls and there is nothing we can do.

Now that she raised our rent, we asked her to fix these things and to clean and paint the walls because it is harmful for the children. She only responded, I cannot do anything, you have too many things.

That was her only response and like her there are many landlords that take advantage of you. They charge you without caring about your living situation or if you can even pay. You have to deal with it and you cannot look for another place because you are over working in order to pay the rent.

Only when we stop living in poverty will people treat us well.

by Joseph Perryman

There is an underground fire burning in Hunters Point that will continue to burn for several more years. Nothing, as far as I know, is being done about it. The fire cannot be extinguished and plans have not been made to insure that African-Americans living in that area will have steps taken towards protecting their health.

So, who is to blame for this? Who is responsible for this underground fire? Who else, but the United States of YOUR America.

The United States Navy, to be exact, among other entities who have ties into our government. It’s interesting to me that the neighborhood with the highest population of African descendants in San Francisco is right next to the companies that produce most of San Francisco’s pollution, from air to water.

Other things to think about: Almost every populated, African-American neighborhood is within two miles of a freeway and almost every neighborhood has had to deal with lead paint problems and lead in their water pipes. Although these problems pop up all the time, if you pay close attention you’ll see that they’re primarily, ‘so-called,’uproot ing low-income neighborhoods where young children are present.

PG&E, itself, has been known to contaminate its own land and then sell it for low income housing (just to show how far it can go for the right price -- you can break the law, even the laws of life). So why is it that low income neighborhoods are more likely to have health related problems? All deadly problems, as far as I’m concerned. These current issues take us back to days long gone -- wasn’t the same thing done to natives who were pushed off their land and given, in return, the worst land to live? Do you see a pattern?

by Lisa Gray-Garcia aka tiny / PoorNewsNetwork

They were all looking at me - each pale gray face framed in a thin faux
wood square. There were at least 100 of them - each with a slight variation
on an old white male theme; side parted gray hair, furrowed, over-serious
brows and blurry eyes. The Alumni of Hastings Law School - the sign above
them read. I walked by each of them. My heart racing. I wasn't supposed to
be here. I was not Lawyer material. I could never pay to get in here nor
could I squeeze 4 years in or out of my at-risk existance filled with
problems, troubled family and no money to even think of jumping through
their hoops - but no matter, that was ok by them. I was just here for a meeting, and noone was asking me to stay.

"The Parking Garage Meeting is in the Alumni Reception Hall"- a sign made
of flimsy construction paper was directing me to a room at the end of this
hall. I must pass at least 40 more "alumni" photos before I would arrive at
the public hearing of an 8 story, 800 car, proposed parking garage at Larkin and
Golden Gate in the heart of the Tenderloin by the Hastings Law school (The law branch of University of California San Franicisco (UCSF) which
is strongly opposed by several community based agencies and citizen's who were urging Hastings to instead build a desperately needed low-income housing project at that same site.

Honey wood paneling lined the reception hall walls. People from the
community sat politely in the "audience" all facing the Hastings Board of
Directors, chief financial officer and dean. Around a rectangle of thick walnut tables sat 9 men and two women. Oh my god. My heart skipped a beat - it was them -most of the men around the table were the men in the Hall. Their suits
were gray - their ties; blue or red- their hair and skin a dusty shade of
white. "Good Morning, I am Kelly Cullen, Executive Director of The
Tenderloin Neighborhood Development Center, I am here to express my opinion
on why the mixed use housing development should be built…..Mr. Cullen, a
Franciscan priest, dressed in his finest brown robe and sash, outlined to the board in detail all the excellent reasons why a housing project for low-income
Tenderloin residents should be built at the proposed site rather than the
eight story parking Garage. He stressed the dire need for housing by
residents of that community and as well the environmental impact of so much
unneeded parking. The board looked on quietly. After three minutes…The
little time-out bell rang..beep beep beep. Fr. Cullen stepped down. The audience clapped politely.

"Next speaker, Sister Bernie…" Sister Bernie, a long-time homeless organizer and
housing activist from Religious Witness with the Homeless, echoed Father. Cullen words, adding, " I am asking you to have empathy for the community of mostly older, disabled residents who have
no affordable housing. Beep Beep. She stepped down. The audience clapped again.

"Next Speaker, Randy Shaw, Mr. Shaw , Executive Director of Tenderloin
Housing Clinic and housing activist, began his short remarks with a
question to the board about their connection to Senator Burton, why the
board has refused to respond to the endless requests by so many community
based organizations and citizen's who don't want this parking structure and
yet they still continue to go forward with their plans and then suddenly,
he turned in the speakers swivel chair and faced the audience and asked
them to express how they all felt about this issue," What does the
community feel about this parking lot?" A few tentative who hoos were
shouted out in response, " do we want this parking lot?"

"NOOO" this time a louder response, with a few people actually getting up
from their seats.."NOOOO" and then suddenly, without warning, James Tracy,
housing organizer From Right to a Roof ran up to the front of the room,
armed with a bull horn and began a chant "what do we want.. Housing…When do
we want it …? NOW..!!!

In response the entire audience got up and joined him…What do we
want…Housing…when do we want it… NOW!!!! In another half a second Ted
Gullickson from The SF Tenants Union joined James at the front of the room
and Randy Shaw retreated to the sidelines. What do want …Housing When do we
want it NOW…

And then..a flash of black boots on the downbeat of the chant… James jumped over the wall of walnut board tables into the center of the square and continued, "what do we want Housing - When do want it… Now!!!! He stood at the core of the institutional divide, with a bull horn in his
hands - eyes and mouth a blazing, facing off these men of privelege, these
uninterested law scholars and financial officers forcing them to hear us- to see us- shattering,
if even for A moment that imposssible wall that divides us - the poor the
unhoused, the unheard, from them, the legal scholars, the keepers of the
keys. The promoters of all that is AmeriKKan; the jails, the institutions,
the landlords , the laws…

Within seconds the room erupted,,The audience now standing, gathered around
the protestors and more people jumped into the inner circle- Sr. Bernie,
Randy Shaw, Matt (from PNN), Richard Marquez from Mission Agenda,. It took
longer than usual but very soon, the campus police descended on the folks
in the middle with handcuffs. The arrests moved in swells. After James and
Matt were manhandled quite visiously by the police , and they resisted and
squirmed with all their might. They were dragged out the back door. Then
more folks took their place and the chanting grew more frenzied, then the
last string of arrestees were carted off, which by this time included none
other than our own SF board Supervisor, Chris Daly, who was also treated to a dose of SFPD-style physical abuse. And the crowd continued
to stand - led in their chants by a remaining Ted Gullickson.

The men at the table had eventually evAcuated the area except for Board member, Jack Smith who was the main advocate for the parking lot proposal who refused to move even when one daring protestor drank out of his coffee cup while looking him in the eye. So, he seemed to say, what are you gonna do about it?

After taking in the amazing-ness of it all I straightened my tattered
reporter hat and walked over to the board chair, a Mr. Gene Freeland, who
was standing on the sidelines near the back door to ask him what his
opinion of today was, " Well this was an interesting turn of events, not
what we expected, " he shook his head slightly " But it is unfortunate
because we hadn't even heard what the Dean's decision was. " This was an odd comment considering the Board had released the Deans' recommendations and analysis in a board packet one week prior which were to vote for the Parking lot project to be approved, a packet that everyone including Randy Shaw had already seen.

"But isn't it true that the board has made it clear that you have very
little interest in building housing on this site, " I queried

"Well, first of all a housing project is complicated because it would be
very costly and would rely on outside sources of funding and the real issue
is - that the mission statement and purpose of Hastings is that we provide
a fine legal education to young people, and it is not clear to us that we
are obligated to provide the community with low-income housing, " He said
this emphatically with a slightly happy lilt to his voice, "That's the
issue.."

I watched him for a moment to see if he knew exactly what he was saying, if
perhaps I had misheard him. Or maybe he had meant something else.I continued just to be sure "Do you want to go on record with that statement" He nodded his head once again, "Sure.." adding an additional twinkle to his smiling eyes. He meant exactly what he had just said. The law was clear. Housing poor people was not an obligation to this institution.

After his remarks, I walked quickly down the hall towards the exit. It was
still silent as though nothing had happened. The class and race privilege
closed back over the little "disturbance" of the morning and life as it
should be was back to normal. Through one of the glass enclosures I saw a
group of "nice young folks" being led on a tour of the school. Their faces
were hopeful and excited. I wondered how soon they would learn what their
"obligation" was and I wondered for every "nice young" person that they
teach, how many People like me, who wanted with all their heart and soul
to be lawyers , to defend poor folks, to defend ourselves and our families,
to speak up and change lives and make things right, would never make it
into that room - because afterall, housing or educating folk like me and
mines, is not their "obligation"

Postscript; Later that same day, the board voted unanimously in closed session to approve the 800 car Parking Lot project;

by Boys and Girls Club of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe

Alana Watts

Slam Bio


Blue Sweet

Apples

Smooth

Im a grizzley bear

Strong

Southern Ute

Strong

Ignacio

I live in a big house

I struggle with loving

My mom and my dad

I live with my mama

She’s a single mama raising two kids

Just so hard

Love is pink

Fighting is hard

by Staff Writer

Two revolutionary media and art projects of POOR Magazine's Race
Poverty and Media Justice Institute in its new classrooms in the
Mission District have forged a powerful collaboration with
Intersection for The Arts and Mission Community Council to create
Mission Resistance! - Mission Voices SPeak up on issues of poverty,
border fascism, unrecognized work and micro-business, migration/immigration, homelessness, gender,
disability, racism, police brutality, and survival by any means necessary!

Digital Resistance a revolutionary media & arts education project for
youth, adults and elders in poverty locally and globally

Los Viajes a bi-lingual Audio, Literary and Performance anthology of
peoples migration/journeys to the United States from their homelands.
Los Viajes also introduces a new lens on migration/immigration that
resists the criminalization of false borders and the introduces the UN
Declaration on Indigenous Peoples

This event will also be a preview to the Los Viajes Anthology Project
which will be released in September of 2009 (at the anniversary of
the signing of the UN declaration of Indigenous Peoples)

Translation will be provided

The welfareQUEENS will appear for special guest appearance
The welfareQUEENS are a group of mamaz , daughters, grandmothers and
sons speaking up about the poverty and criminalization of poor
families locally and globally.

--

by Marlon Crump and Laure McElroy/PNN poverty scholars in residence

“I have cataracts in both eyes, diabetic feet, advanced periodontal disease and PTSD, “ says Mesha Monge-Irizary,a local organizer, powerful woman, and the founder of ISARC (Idriss Stelley Action Resource Center). Mesha continued, “Now that medi-Cal cut off othamology, podiatry, dentistry, and long-term mental healthcare I may be forced to die blind, with amputated feel, toothless and crazy!"

 Mesha is also one of the millions of seniors who will suffer under the lack of an affordable, comprehensive national system of healthcare combined with massive budget cuts in health services at the state and local level. “This is nothing less than an early death sentence, a genocide for us elder diabetics in the United States."Mesha concluded.

"I never could accept the idea that healthcare is not free and is really a business. Cutting healthcare to me, as a pregnant mom with a six year old causes me a lot of anxiety," says June Hall, a.k.a Jewnbug, single mom, co-founder of Family Project of POOR Magazine. "These new cuts have affected my access to dental care, eye care, and even certain medications.”
 

Last week I had to ask myself, “Who is disposable?” as I looked through the letter informing me of changes for the worse to my medicare and state disability benefits.
 

The truth is, those of us without finances are prevented from accessing the healthcare we desperately need because budget cuts enacted at the federal, state and local levels keep defunding our services. Every single day, anyone who is anyone that has little or no finances are having their pockets prevented from accessing affordable health and medical care. Every single year, all government officials at the city, state, and especially at the federal jurisdiction “propose budget cuts” that relate to health and medical services
                  

We are not silent about it.. We who are impacted take to the streets, we wave picket signs and banners. We sound horns, we march and we petition. It’s a dance of protest that is all too familiar these days. But is it really fair to make any sick person fight like a dog for their own chance at health?
 

"The Republicans have a new healthcare proposal: Just say NO to illness!” says Mark Russell, stand up comedian and political satirist. Does his comic art imitate life for the near future? Is this what we have to look forward to?
 

In 2006, Bush the Younger signed into effect the Medicare part D prescription benefit, which required the elderly and the disabled to pay a $295 deductible on medication coverage, and 25% of medication costs until the costs reach $2700. After that, patients participating in the program are required to pay for all of their meds. In November of 2008, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger collaborated with federal social security officials to cut medicare bart b, which covers doctor’s visits, treatments, diagnostic tests, among other things.

Every  single red cent subtracted from poor and working class individuals is catastrophic for them, somewhere down these lines. In July of this year, California Governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger called the budget cuts “tough” but necessary.” Of course these cuts included healthcare, welfare benefits and programs.
 

At the same time, recipients of state disability benefits also received drastic cuts. Apparently the only cuts worse than a wound is getting slashed while receiving such vital health care services, and not having enough to even pay remaining costs and coverage.
 

“My net monthly income is $300 after I pay my rent.” says Bruce Allison, senior elder scholar, and staff writer of POOR. “If I have to pay $60 for my medicine and hospital care, I will leave the state!”
 

“Medi-Cal has affected my not having access to getting my rotting teeth fixed!” sharply explained statement by Vivian Hain, single mom,poverty scholar and co-teacher at POOR Magazine.
 

Although the San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted the Health Care Security Ordinance, following the 2006 establishment of “Healthy San Francisco” (a program providing health care services to uninsured residents) Mayor Gavin Newsom constantly proposes budget cuts that affected the poor and working class of a “Healthy San Francisco.”
. 

In a recently published study on how documented and undocumented latina women access healthcare at San Francisco General Hosital, results suggested that uninsured women were less likely to access preventative, dental or even urgent health care services (Immigration Status and Use of Health Services among Latina Women in the San Francisco Bay Area, Elena Fuentes-Afflick, M.D., M.P.H. and Nancy A. Hessol, MSPH, Journal of Women’s Health Volume 8, 2009).
 

“Immigrant communities are wrongfully blamed for their own lack of initiative concerning health care.” Angel Garcia, staff writer, Race Poverty, and Disability Scholar and a POOR Press Author explained in detail in his 2007 POOR Press Article. “But the real reasons behind higher percentages of preventable disease among immigrant communities, is not because of a lack of understanding or self-care, but because of this country’s denial to provide access to health care for all.”

President Barack Obama has received major criticism this past year predominately from Republicans, regarding his plan of “Health care Reform” and what the costs of his program will be in the future. 



President Obama answered the criticisms with this clarification: “Opponents of health care reform warn that this is all some big plot for socialized medicine or government-run health care with long lines and rationed care. That’s not true either. I don’t believe that government can or should run health care. But I also don’t think insurance companies should have free reign to do as they please.”

Politically-condemned, death row inmate and award winning journalist, Mumia Abu Jamal recently wrote an article regarding the whole healthcare system and the politics that continue to surround it.

“And yes, a bill will pass, and Obama will sign it, but it'll mean less, not more health care. It'll mean higher co-pays (really prepays, or deductibles), less services, and more profits for their campaign contributors. There will be celebrations and TV PR people will praise it like American Idol but it'll be a sell-out, pure and simple.Unless people really raise hell and demand single payer and universal health care……….before the door slams shut.”

The hospitals and rest care facilities are overwhelmed with lack of humanity for the sick, the disease  affected, and seniors who  are unable to balance the bill.The voices of those of us in poverty go unheard and/or ignored , ” Welfare Queens/Super Baby Mamas, undocumented, migrant families, workers, and the disabled, eyes filled with too much sorrow to even clearly see the bill. Long lines of poor and working class people continue in an ill-fated mission to locate the medical care stolen from their lives.

by Rhonda Parker

EUREKA -- An innocent man has been charged with slashing another man's throat during a brawl last week on Arcata Plaza, a defense attorney told Judge Marilyn Miles on Thursday.

Deputy Public Defender Roger Parshall said the man who really committed the stabbing has confessed repeatedly, but law enforcement has chosen to ignore him and pursue charges against Joseph Nurkiewicz. Parshall, arguing during a bail hearing Thursday afternoon, said the district attorney must at some point concede ''that in all likelihood they have charged the wrong man.''

''I don't think Mr. Parshall's going to get that concession,'' Deputy District Attorney Worth Dikeman responded. ''Mr. Nurkiewicz allegedly sneaked behind a person and tried to slit his throat. We think those kinds of people belong in jail.''

The 21-year-old Nurkiewicz is accused of stabbing 25-year-old Jed Vandenplas during the Aug. 25 fight between Plaza transients and those who resent them.Vandenplas was treated and released for his injuries.

Nurkiewicz supposedly is one of the transient crowd, although Parshall said Thursday he has lived in Arcata for three years.

Lolita Bijarro, Nurkiewicz's fiancee, said it was a friend of theirs who committed the stabbing. She said the man was trying to help Nurkiewicz, who was fighting off a half-dozen attackers.

''If (the man) did not do that, my old man would not be here right now,'' the 20-year-old Bijarro said outside the courtroom after the hearing. She said the actual stabber has made several statements to law enforcement.

Tension has been simmering for some time between some local residents and the crowd of transients who hang out on the Plaza. Police say the fracas last week started because of a fight a few days earlier between Bijarro and another woman.

Bijarro admits she ''had a conflict'' with a woman. But she said the problems were actually caused by a man who had been continually insulting ''the hippies,'' advising them to get jobs, take baths and get out of town.

She said she suggested to the man that he is upset because the hippies are happy and carefree.

''Are you jealous because people give me money for beer and you have to work for it?'' Bijarro said she asked the man.

During the fight in which Nurkiewicz allegedly stabbed Vandenplas, Nurkiewicz's friend Randolph Tolley reportedly bashed someone over the head with a heavy flashlight. That person also was not seriously hurt.

Both Nurkiewicz and Tolley are charged with assault with a deadly weapon.

Tolley's attorney William Cater told Judge Miles that Tolley, 33, has lived in the county about two months and works as a jeweler. He said Tolley may have used his flashlight to defend a friend who was being attacked.

Judge Miles, after listening to lawyers' comments, refused to release the men or reduce their $50,000 bail.

Parshall argued the actual stabber has confessed to law enforcement. And in the victim's statement, he said, ''includes transparent lies.''

''They've got the wrong guy,'' Parshall said outside the courtroom.

Dikeman said charges were filed against the man believed responsible. He said the issue should be sorted out during the preliminary hearing. It is set for later this month.

''The purpose of the preliminary hearing is to weed out unjustified charges,'' Dikeman said. ''If Mr. Parshall is correct, I'm sure the judge will agree with him. If he is incorrect, I suspect the defendant will be held to answer.''

by Judith M. Hansel

This report is second in a series of reports that relate how the US Department of Agriculture's fraudulent implementation of Title 7 USCS C.F.R. 1955.116 caused me to become homeless.

The first segment of this series, dated August 8, 2001, explained how I returned to live in Wisconsin from Maryland and purchased, for cash, a house through a rural homeownership program under the USDA. During the first weeks that I occupied the house, I discovered that the septic system, the roof, and the pump for the well, needed to be replaced.

I went to the Farmers Home Administration office (the agency that implements the regulation) and asked the agent why he advised the regional director to issue the release of restrictive covenants document when the house had not been repaired. The agent advised me to contact the regional director. I wrote a letter to the regional director whose office was in Stevens Point. His reply stated that his agency had done nothing wrong and that he considered the matter to be closed. I was stuck with a worthless property.

I had to live in the house due to finances and, anyway, I was not willing to give up and lose the $24,500 that I had paid for the house. I realize that this sum of money seems cheap for a house on two acres. However, in the rural midwest there is not a large population that demands housing. Not many people want to live on two acres in the middle of nowhere. I did.

The land around my two acres was owned and farmed by Del Monte and Green Giant. Both used airplanes to deliver pesticides and other chemicals to their products. Once helicopters were brought in to spray the chemicals. I felt like I was in a war zone. There are organizations attempting to legislate sustainable farming. The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture was pleased when I no longer cut the grass on my land but allowed natural vegetation to grow.

I attempted to hire attorneys to take the USDA to court for fraud, but I could find no one to represent me. An attorney in Milwaukee told me to send him my documents and he would phone me with his opinion. When he called he told me, "You are right about the fraud. But, this stuff goes on all the time and Iím not taking your case."I was glad to hear that I was reading the documents correctly, but I was distressed to hear that governmental fraud was institutionalized with no remedy available for cheated citizens.

The septic system was pumped every six months and I never used my washing machine again. I inquired about the cost of a new septic system. The environmental regulations had been changed regarding septic systems and, combined with the type of land the house was built on, the cost of a septic system was $11,000.

In 1989 I hired an attorney to handle my divorce. In March, when the divorce was final, I took my documents to his office. He briefly perused them and said, "There is nothing that can be done about this."

"But," I argued, "The covenants state that they are enforceable in any competent US court."

"There is nothing that can be done," he repeated.

I never paid that attorney the $6,000 he charged for my divorce. When he tried to get a judgment against me, I answered his complaint and stated that his refusal to sue the USDA proved that he violated his fiduciary trust. I never received another bill from him.

In 1990 I began to write to the federal government in Washington, D.C. . At first, the US Justice Department was interested in the fraud report that I sent to them. Later, they told me to stop writing them.

I worked with a reporter at the Washington Post on a 1985 story. I sent him the documents thinking that here was another juicy story about the US government. "Do not send me anything more," he said when he called me. "We aren't doing a story about fraud in the USDA."

Between June 1990 and June 1993, I contacted everyone in the government who had any responsibility in enforcing government regulations. Senator Kohl finally suggested that I apply for a low-cost government loan to repair the house. The Office of Inspector General of the USDA reported to me that he found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Government officials are experts at stonewalling. They write letters that have incorrect facts and out-of-sequence events. They are liars. I have all the letters in reply to my requests for help.

I applied for three mortgages over a period of time at Union State Bank. Each time that I applied, I paid the bank's attorney a $75 fee to search the title. He reported the title as free of any clouds. He is either incompetent or corrupt. You decide. Through these three mortgages I received $23,000. I paid $24,500 for the house.

At this point, I needed to decide whether or not to just walk away from the property. In order to make this decision I went to Bear Butte outside Sturgis, South Dakota in the Black Hills. The Black Hills are sacred land to the Sioux and Bear Butte is where the Sioux go on vision quests. That is what I did. The only wisdom that I received was that I could either wage a battle or walk away from the property. What I could not do was tell people that God told me to do either.

I decided to get the issue into the court system. The only way that I knew how to do this was to stop paying the mortgage. I was interested in seeing justice done not only for me but also for other citizens who were either stuck with the property they had bought or who had to abandon the property. I decided to stay with the issue regardless of where it might lead me. I never thought that following this course could put me in danger.

I was wrong.

This is the second installment in a series Judith is writing on her long nightmare with government-backed fraud which lead to her current state of homelessness. She is also writing a book entitled Escape from America: An Expose of International Treachery, which will be completed by September 15 of this year.

Email: judy1hansel@hotmail.com