Story Archives

by Elizabeth Aguilera /Denver Post by way of Roll back the Rents

Domestic violence shelters across the country are balking at a new federal directive requiring homeless shelters to provide client information for a new national database.

Advocates say the database, set to roll out in Colorado in January, would jeopardize the safety of abused women and children.

Several Colorado shelters are opting out of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Homeless Management Information System, even though they risk losing future federal funding.

Although the money is desperately needed, advocates say, the funds aren't worth giving up the anonymity of those they are trying to help.

"They are asking us to go to a woman who has been traumatized enough to flee her home with her children and the clothes on her back, and grill her over a few days for information we are not going to use but that the government wants," said Carol Hollomon, executive director at Alternatives to Family Violence, a safe house in Adams County. "It's not going to happen."

In Illinois, all the domestic violence shelters under the state's "umbrella" have refused to participate in the program, risking its share of $1.3 billion of federal support that is available nationwide.

The new information system was created to get an accurate count of America's homeless so the government can streamline services and make sure the right programs are in the right places, said Brian Sullivan, HUD spokesman.

"Without this information, you don't get a full and complete picture of homelessness, specifically in rural areas where a domestic violence shelter might be the only game in town," Sullivan said.

HUD will require a birth date, Social Security number, veteran status, race, ethnicity and family background. The department also urges shelters to inquire about HIV status and mental health.

Advocates worry that such probing will scare the most vulnerable people away from services, including those who are HIV-positive, undocumented immigrants and runaways. More worrisome, advocates say, is the fear of security breaches, access to the database by law enforcement and public- records requests.

"We thought there was no way they were going to require us to breach confidentiality," said Vicki Lutz, executive director of the Crossroads Safehouse in Fort Collins. "The laudable purpose is to track homelessness to provide better service.

"But if one woman dies in the name of data collection, that is one too many. Do we really want to give batterers another avenue of tracking?"

Currently, housing providers are the only groups required to participate, but the system will expand to other homeless services such as food banks, soup kitchens, street outreach programs, mental illness treatment facilities, HIV/AIDS clinics and human services departments, said Tracy D'Alanno, manager of the homeless and resource development program for the state department of human services.

In August, the National Network to End Domestic Violence formally asked HUD to exempt domestic violence programs from the regulation. The department has not responded to the petition.

"This violates our core value of confidentiality for victims and puts them in danger," said Cindy Southworth, director of technology for the National Network to End Domestic Violence in Washington, D.C. "We are happy to help get an accurate count in a less invasive way."

In Colorado, the state department of human services is overseeing the creation and implementation of the program, which will be administered by three nonprofit agencies. It is expected to roll out in January.

According to HUD standards, the system security guidelines are based on those in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Once the data is collected regionally, HUD will receive aggregate data, including the number of homeless, how many are veterans, what types of disabilities the homeless have and racial, ethnic and gender breakdowns.

HUD officials say personal information will not be linked to create the national database. Still, Jennifer Lynch, information and technology director of the Colorado Coalition Against Domestic Violence, is leery of data creep, when information begins to bleed into other systems.

"It's nice to have easy access to information, and it's tempting for agencies to share that information," Lynch said. "But it's going to undermine the ability for people to protect themselves."

Lynch is referring to victims like Ronni, who says she is on the run from an abuser in another state and hasn't told anyone where she is. Not her mother. Not her closest friend. And not the federal government.

The 37-year-old woman said she would never have checked into a Jefferson County shelter if the new system was in place. She traveled to Colorado to get away from her abuser, seeking a haven and anonymity.

"I wouldn't stay if they were tracking," she said. "Just thinking that someone is tracking me makes me feel that potential employers, the community or the schools would know my business."

And, she added, what if her abuser is still trying to find her? "That scares me."

Tough choices ahead

In Colorado, some domestic violence shelters are prepared to give up federal funding and pump private donors, foundations and other sources to make up the difference.

Lutz decided to bypass the $26,000 annually that comes from HUD. The money is nearly 5 percent of her yearly budget.

While such a loss won't close her facility, Lutz worries for rural shelters that rely on HUD for more than half of their funding. Such places have two choices, Lutz said - comply or close.

Hollomon has worked around the federal government for her Adams County shelter. She returned her HUD Emergency Shelter Grant funds to the county to use as part of another community block grant. In return, county officials are helping her find an alternative source for the $22,000 she gave up.

Finding the loopholes beats the alternative, Hollomon said. "They (HUD) are asking us to violate the constitutional rights of folks who come to us for help," she said.

Participation in the new HUD system is listed as an eligibility component on the application for assistance and is part of the grant agreement, Sullivan said.

The only providers that may become exempt are those in states where privacy laws are extremely stringent, including Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, Sullivan said.

Said D'Alanno: "If they want to continue receiving funding, at some point in time, domestic violence agencies are going to have to participate."

HUD, in an effort to get shelters to accept the system, is offering grace periods and delayed implementation.

In Colorado, the system will be based on a unique, confidential identification number, created by a complicated mathematical formula based on personal data, and only that number will be submitted.

by Staff Writer

Join us to watch this amazing documentary about the Block Report Radio show and the movement in which it exists. This is a must see film for anyone interested in revolutionary politics, political music and controversy.

It will be followed by a discussion with the filmmakers.

WHEN: Sunday March 4th @ 6:00 p.m.

WHERE: 1095 Market St. #307 (above Civic Center BART Station

A community meal will also be provided.

Please RSVP for childchare by calling 415.863-6306 or emailing deeandtiny@poormagazine.org

by The Hospitality House Art Studio Skolaz

I wonder if this downpour I got caught in today with no protection will be a sign of November 2nd promises blowing over my homeless body. Soon someone will win and I don't give a damn who wins who wins cause its hard for me to focus on Bush burning or Cash and Kerry.

I live under the bridge while someone lies in a White House. All I want is to stop living the force fed educated american dreams and start living my own, where I can help my fellow human being instead of worrying with dark grey paranoia eating me when I pass by your love addicted need to feed stares

When you have a home where you can paint the walls any color you choose then I will feel safe to just let my happy smile shine out on a grey day

by PNN staff

We are opposed to the transfer of parcel A of the hunters point shipyard,"
I watched the slight body of Dr. Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, valiant fighter for environmental justice and coporate responsibility tremble as she outlined the serious toxic and radiologic problems of the land parcels at the Bayview hunter Point shipyard slated for Kolonization by The Redevelopment agency and Lennar development Corporation , " we are asking the health department to conduct further reviews to look more closely at the potential health effects of the proposed transfer and we have questions about the adequacy of the health and environmental docuemtns that have been generated related to the transfers. Let me start by showing you - this map is part of historical radiologic assessment. With that Dr. sumchai, unfurled a huge color coded map which overwhelmed her small frame.

As my eyes gazed upon the map with its codified lines of red, green and yellow my body became numb and I was transported back to a conversation I wished I had never had to have, "my body can’t withstand more radiation, I am already too weak already and as things are going now I would rather not go on.," By ‘go on’, my good friend and poet, Barbara G. born and bred "on the hill" as she put it, meaning the Bayview hunters Point Hill, was telling me why she didn’t want to ‘go on’… living…, without both of her breasts due to the breast cancer she definitely related to her life next to the very toxic and environmentally dangerous Bayview Hunters point shipyard. I spent the rest of the conversation telling her why this was nonsense and why she needed to be there for not just herself and her family but all of us as a community, I went on to say so much more but inside my heart I was screaming expletive after expletive at all the corporate entities, government slaves and their masters and anyone else covertly or overtly involved with the kind of ongoing environmental racism and classism that happens and has happened in BVHP for way too many years

Dr. Sumchai pointed to the locations on the map as she spoke,
"Parcel E is the biggest and dirtiest parcel on the shipyard , about 174 acres and parcel A landlocks parcel E - the city , federal government and the developers plan to develop on parcel A and the radioligical and other toxicological issues that are on parcel E have not been addressed,"

Perhaps it was the lines that cut through the map which resembled the MRI of my friends cancer wracked body, the depth and glaringly obvious danger of those lines and what they mean to the huge number of children and adults who as the chronicle reported in their Oct 3rd issue from a 10 year long study, "Babies are 2.5 times more likely to die in their first year in Bayview Hunters Point than those in other areas of San Francisco, citing the fact that they lived in homes "overlooking the contaminated remains of the now-closed naval shipyard … a Superfund cleanup site where the military once experimented with radiation.

Dr Sumchai continued, "Under the Circla Act there has not been any significant steps taken of the ten steps required on a Circla process for a federal superfund site. One of the big issues related to the transfer - is the fact that there is 46 acre landfill on parcel E immediately adjacent to Parcel A- this landfill is partially capped and in the year 2000 it was on fire, by 2001 there were a series of fires on the base, there were a series of 50 fires in four months and the Navy attempted to conceal the fires,"

Fires!, I screamed inwardly, that kind of serious contamination is present in third and fourth world cities like Bophal, India, well-known for its massive 1984 Gas Leak incident caused by the negligence of Union Carbide which killed thousands and has yet to be properly cleaned-up and in much the same way as the Bayview continues to poison its poor residents who have no resources to go elsewhere.

And lest you have doubts about the connection between this contaminated land and my friends cancer consider a new report, "State of Evidence 2004: What is the Connection Between the Environment and Breast Cancer," published Oct. 7 by the Breast Cancer Fund and Breast Cancer Action, details evidence from 21 research studies published since February 2003 that link toxins in the environment, including chlorinated chemicals and radiation found in nuclear fallout from 1950 to 1991, to the 90% increase in breast cancer rates in the U.S. during that period.

After Dr. Sumchai was finished speaking she introduced Willie Ratcliff who specifically brought up the current kolinizers/aka developers Lennar Development Corporation from Florida who are instrumental in the sudden fast track approval by the City of the obviously dangerous parcels which are unfit to build on because they stand to make millions of dollars if they build, sell and poison 1600 more families who they hope will buy their contaminated homes.

There were several other community members who spoke about the frightening experience of living around this kind of danger and their ongoing fights with the Navy and the City to really clean this up and make it actually habitable including supervisor elect Ross Mirikarimr who has been to Iraq and witnessed similar contamination of the land by Amerikkan coporations only interested in kolinazation, Kapitalism and destruction.

As I walked away from the press conference my friends last words on that phone call kept ringing in my ears, " I am tired of fighting, for my ..life"

by PNN staff

"We are here to present hundreds of postcards signed by people in the community to demand a federal investigation into the shooting death of my son…" Marylon Boyd, mother of Cammerin Boyd who was murdered by police in May of 2004, held her head high as she called out for justice into the morning wind whipping through the shadows of the federal building on Golden Gate Avenue in San Francisco

Marylon was surrounded by family and friends holding several stacks of postcards addressed to US attorney Kevin Ryan. In response to the delayed and biased investigation into Cammerin's fatal shooting, the Boyd family, friends and community activists began a postcard campaign calling for intervention from the Department of Justice. The postcards demand that the US Attorney Ryan launch an investigation into the SFPD and specifically, Cammerins' death.

"It has been over 7 months since the death of my son, we have presented ample evidence and still nothing has been done," Marylon continued to explain the flagrant evidence that was presented in this case including the coroners report that corroborated the reports given by eyewitnesses to the shooting proving that Cammerin had his hands in the air, i.e., not in threatning position to the cops arresting him. Additionally on the Dec 1st meeting of the San Francisco police review commission it was revealed that the police commissioners' request for information on the investigation was denied again

"Using lethal force in arresting suspects is unconstitutional in San Francisco and since the death of my son there has been six more shootings and nothing has been presented to the police commission about these shootings either" Marylon went on to explain that she hoped that an investigation by Kevin Ryan would send a message to the police that these unjust police shootings will be taken very seriously and must stop.

After she spoke, her small group, which included Malaika Parker from Bay Area Police Watch, walked into the tower of Homeland Security itself, replete with a smiling picture of the CEO of corporate terrorism himself, GW Bush, to present these cards directly to Kevin Ryan.

"As she walked through the multiple glass maze of doors she called out to those of us in the press who weren't allowed in to the building, " We will get justice!"

by Jessica Blanchard/Seattle Times staff reporter

A study of some homeless deaths in King County showed most of those people died prematurely and suffered from numerous treatable health problems.

The average person died at age 47 and had three medical problems, according to the study released yesterday by Public Health — Seattle & King County, which reviewed 77 deaths from 2003.

Some homeless people had as many as eight health problems, the study says. Roughly two-thirds had a history of alcohol or substance abuse, more than half had a cardiovascular disease and a quarter had a mental-health problem, the study says.

The most common cause of death was acute intoxication, followed by cardiovascular disease and homicide. More than half of the deaths occurred outside, according to the study.

While those findings are not surprising, they are disturbing, said Janna Wilson, a lead author of the study and a program manager for Health Care for the Homeless, a community-based program associated with Public Health — Seattle & King County.

"This study really sheds light on the complexity of health issues that homeless people face," Wilson said.

She cautioned that the study was not a comprehensive review of all homeless deaths in King County because it included only deaths reviewed by the King County Medical Examiner's Office, meaning the person either died without being in the presence of a physician or died under suspicious circumstances. She said it's difficult to determine the total number of homeless people who died, in part because some received medical services at the time they died.

In a letter accompanying the study, a Health Care for the Homeless advocate recommended several ways to reduce the number of deaths, such as expanding outreach programs and continuing annual reviews of homeless deaths in the county.

The study drives home the importance of the county having a holistic approach to helping the homeless, because it's common for them to simultaneously suffer from medical problems, mental-health issues and substance abuse, Wilson said.

Homeless advocates have seen a rise in the kinds of health problems that require constant monitoring, such as diabetes, Wilson said. As diabetes diagnoses have increased dramatically in the general population in recent years, the rates have been even higher among homeless people, Wilson said.

But few homeless people have the means to treat such chronic illnesses, she said.

"And they often have other priorities," she said. "When you're homeless, securing a shelter bed for the night is going to be more important in many cases than getting to the doctor."

The King County findings mirror those of studies from other cities, which indicate that nationally, at least 47 percent of homeless people have at least one chronic condition, Wilson said.

Homelessness continues to rise, with an estimated 7,980 people homeless each night in King County, according to the Seattle-King County Coalition for the Homeless.

But ever-tightening county and city budgets and rising health-care costs mean the county isn't able to do much to expand programs that try to coordinate health-care services for the homeless, Wilson said.

"We absolutely struggle to maintain services," she said. "We know there's a lot more need out there, but we're doing everything we can to maintain what we have."

Health Care for the Homeless has had some success with getting federal grants to do "targeted expansions" of services. The program recently joined with the YWCA and Harborview Medical Center to get a federal grant to increase health services for the homeless in downtown Seattle. The result, the Opportunity Place Wellness Center, is set to open in January.

Also, the Committee to End Homelessness, a regional advisory group of representatives of government, United Way, churches and local businesses, has been studying ways to eradicate homelessness in King County within the next 10 years. It is expected to release its report later this month.

by Tiny/PNN

“Yerba Buena, Barbary Coast, Bagdhdad by the Bay. San Francisco. This unique Northern Californian city is a city of neighborhoods. From Chinatown to the Mission to Bayview Hunters Point, San Francisco’s strength grows out of the diversity of its many neighborhoods. But the spector of change is looming over many of San Francisco’s neighborhoods”… an excerpt from There Goes the Neighborhood- A demographic survey of San Francisco’s Eastern neighborhoods

After I finished reading the 184 page wire bound book entitled; There Goes the Neighborhood meticulously researched, compiled and published by People Organized to

After I finished reading the 184 page wire bound book entitled; There Goes the Neighborhood meticulously researched, compiled and published by People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER) in collaboration with Urban Solutions, I looked out of POOR Magazine/PNN’s office window. Our office is located deep in the Heart of the Tenderloin (TL) district, one of the neighborhoods included in the book’s thorough demographic analysis of San Francisco’s Eastern neighborhoods which includes low-income communities of color such as The Mission, Bayview and Visitation Valley.

The funny ( not funny) thing is, our office window gazes upon the exact same image that is splashed across the book jacket; a gigantic mile long crane extending above the entire span of 7th street. In its jaws, in a permanent freeze frame of impending danger are 7 1 ton steel pallets poised precariously over the street itself (not the worksite) and the very low and no-income mostly houseless residents who hang out on the 7th street corridor. Ostensibly, these pallets are there for the building of one of the largest Federal building projects I have ever seen, complete with an Alamo-esque base that juts up from the earth later to be used for a 007 maneuver by Homeland Security troups. But, the joke between those of us in the hood are, those pallets are just a threat in case any of us Tenderloin citzenry get to uppity and don’t leave when we are power washed and po-liced away.

Bring on your Army of Bull-Dozers!

Bring on your Engineers.

You Travel from Here to There.

Creating Poverty Everywhere.

Enjoying your destruction.

Enjoying your reconstruction.

Not bothering about replacement.

Only working on displacement…..

Excerpt from Bring on your army of Bulldozers by A. Faye Hicks – from the Houzin Project – words, art and resources on Eviction, Displacement, Gentrification and Homelessness published by POOR Press

In the introduction to There Goes the Neighborhood POWER points out the very critical need for a demographic study of this scale which breaks down the impacted populations into tables and maps for each neighborhood investigation such as
African-American, Asian American, Latino, Female headed households, Residents below poverty level, linguisticly isolated, youth and seniors to name a few. "This study coupled with our anecdotal experiences of these neighborhoods, should give us a better idea of how to move foreword as we look to build vibrant community organizations fighting for economic, racial and gender justice in our communities and in all of san Francisco...They go on to outline the fact that there are several very large development projects planned for San Francisco in the upcoming years and studies like this one can be used to fight the big money developers like Lennar Corporation set to overwhelm, overbuild and overtake The Hunters Point Shipyard with huge, unsafe and unhealthy developments like this reporter wrote about in the November 29th issue of The SF Bayview and PNN

According to POWER, San Francisco has a history of displacing poor communities of color, a process POOR Magazine likened to a modern day Diaspora in the 2003 book; The Houzin Project. They also point out that San Francisco does not have a good track record for sustaining working class communities of color and that indeed due to this fact San Francisco has in fact become more white, more professional and more exclusive. Perhaps the reason our new Mayor is so solidly pro-demolition and anti-homeless using the New York model of homeless policy to lead to what POWER and other grassroots investigators call; The Manhattenization of San Francisco.

As POWER takes you through extensive studies of each neighborhood with colored maps and statistical examinations of the numbers of folks displaced and the people still holding on, I am reminded again of the federal building project set right in the middle of the so-called "Mid-Market district" which is on the development fast track hence the sudden rise in the police harassment of homeless folks in the TL. The thing about those kind of huge kolinazation projects, like the federal building, The shipyard and MUNI is, not only do they displace folks and make life more miserable for the existent communities, as well, unless you keep up a constant, time consuming resistance and vigilance, the Kolinizers don’t even make good on their false promises to bring "jobs" into the community. In the case of the federal building I know first-hand that there is no local workers on that site, in fact, it is a lot of Halliburton-like workers flown in for the multi-million dollar job, sounds like another kolinazation effort on the other side of the world….

Perhaps POWER chose their cover image cause they, too, are located right in Ground zero of the TL, on 7th street directly across from us, or perhaps, more likely to bring home the message that, unless we investigate, report and organize we, the working class folks, families of color, youth and elders who actually "live" in Frisco won’t be here for much longer.

To purchase a copy of There Goes the Neighborhood, contact POWER at (415) 864-8372

by A. Faye Hicks/Po Poet Laureate

What is this World coming too

I say what is this World "Coming" Too!

People protesting

Police politiking

Riots every day

Job cuts!

Clinics closed

While the "Heads" of this situation get Richer and Richer

Robbing the Poor to pay the Rich

A "Modern Day "Robin Hood" is Our Mayer

Job Cuts

Health Cost Rising, Clinics Closed

Nurses overworked, they can’t get arise

And they are closing our clinics

Medi-Cal funds deducted from our funds

More Rough Riders Hired, aka, Police Officers

I am tired, shoved aside

You can’t side here, you are taking up space

After mid-night when the cops slow down

Do they never sleep

Off duty they will pounce

I am a "Cop" I doo"s what I wants to do!

I wondered I can you sleep on cold hard cement

I found out

I just dropped where ever I was at

After mid-night when the cops slow down

I find a soft spot, on the cement walk

My Purse my Pillow

Believe me if you wiggle and squirm long enough

You will find a Soft Spot

After mid-night

The Tourist are a bed

The Night Clubs closed

The Rough-Riders stop roughing us up

Sleep in heavenly peace

No more sirens now just snores

But ready or not here they come

At the break of dawn

Engines start up, Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!

Paddy Wagons, police cars, Trucks, Vans

They will be riding "Limo’s Next

The Police swinging their Poverty Stick

It is no loner just a "Negro" Stick

Cars Zooming Up!

Ready or not here they come

Snatched up out my ‘cement Bed"

When the commuter come!

Trespassing on the sidewalk, when morning come

by Tiny

"(A) host of unemployed citizens face the grim problem of existence, and an equally great number toil with little return. Only a foolish optimist can deny the dark realities of the moment," President Franklin Delano Roosevelt told the nation in his first inaugural address on March 4, 1933.

Although that statement was made more than 70 years ago by a rich white man steeped in extreme wealth and privilege, as far as Amerikkkan politicians go, he wasn’t too bad. FDR, the architect of welfare, social security, jobs programs and other measures known as the New Deal, enacted during the Great Depression, when millions of people became jobless, homeless and hungry, made it possible for poor people and workers to survive in the U.S.

The not so well known reason FDR was so radical in coming to the aid of poor folks was that at the time he was running for president in 1932, the hungry and jobless American citizenry were becoming increasingly radicalized; 60 percent of voters were registering as Communists.

"People think that Roosevelt is the reason that Social Security was started in this country – actually it was because of the mass mobilization of millions of workers in this country. In the ‘30s, there were national demonstrations led by working people all over the country," labor activist and working class scholar Steve Zeltzer told a crowd of over a hundred elders gathered at the temple of Amerikkkan wealth and capitalism, the Pacific Stock Exchange, in San Francisco’s Financial District last Tuesday to protest Bush’s dangerous plan to dismantle this nation’s Social Security system. The Gray Panthers, who organized the demonstration, chose this location because the intended beneficiaries of Bush’s plan would be stock brokers, venture capitalists and huge investment firms that do millions of dollars of business every day in this building.

"In 1934, there was a general strike by workers in San Francisco and Minneapolis. People said, ‘Enough is enough; we’re not going to take it anymore!’ That’s what needs to happen now." For this statement, Steve got a rousing cheer from the crowd, as the elders were simultaneously being pushed off the steps by the guards of property and privilege and abusers of poor people of color, the San Francisco police, at the behest of some very bothered looking stock exchange men in expensive suits with tiny state-of-the-art cell phones peeping out of their ears.

"Almost 80 percent of Blacks 65 years or older depend on their monthly Social Security checks. Without those benefits, they would fall below the poverty level," Rep. Stephanie Tubbs-Jones, D-Ohio, a member of House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on Social Security, told reporters during a Dec. 15 conference call.

"We want him (Bush) as well as all Americans to understand that his plan for privatizing Social Security would adversely affect the minority population of this country." In fact, she said, the Bush privatization plan would increase those numbers of Black seniors living in poverty from 23.9 percent to 58.2 percent.

So what is Social Security and why do we need it? First, if a worker becomes temporarily disabled – that includes pregnancy leave for women – they can draw on their disability insurance, which all workers pay into every month out of their payroll check, to help them survive. As well, if a family member dies, their Social Security benefits will go to their surviving family members.

Elders 65 and over are entitled to monthly retirement benefits. Many have little or no other income. Elders of color, despite having worked hard for years, typically remain low-income in this racist, classist society that makes the attainment of wealth and security almost impossible for the majority of lower and middle income families, notwithstanding the "work hard and you’ll achieve the Amerikkan dream" myth.

Privatizing Social Security retirement benefits is key to the Bush plan. This is what Bush-Cheney Inc. – read Halliburton, Bechtel, Merrill Lynch and their related posses – intend to make bank on by forcing elders to invest their Social Security in the stock market. The scheme looks ok on paper for middle class retirees, but a loss in stock value or a stock market crash could wipe out an elder’s investment, and there’d be no further benefits coming.

Contrary to the scare tactics being promoted in the corporate media by Karl Rove and his puppet, G.W. Bush, predicting the program’s imminent collapse, Social Security IS there for future generations. It has over a $1.5 trillion surplus that is growing. By conservative estimates, it can fund current benefit levels until at least 2042 and 73 percent of current benefit levels after 2042. And current benefit levels could be funded indefinitely by applying the existing payroll tax to incomes over $88,000. These projections actually underestimate Social Security’s strength because they assume that the nation’s gross domestic product will grown at roughly half its historical rate.

Finally, for low-income disabled folks like my very poor, mixed race (African-Puerto Rican) grandfather, who has suffered with disabilities all his life and exists solely on yet another form of Social Security known as SSI, the consequences of Bush’s proposed Social Security theft are dire. The claim by Bush that this program would remain untouched is another flagrant lie.

The ultra rich, poor people hatin’ Amerikkan power brokers who perpetrate all the real welfare fraud – corporate welfare, that is – have been trying to figure out how to get rid of the whole social security program since FDR instituted the New Deal. Then, after they rob the coffers of the retirement fund, they will conveniently run into "a budget deficit" and find a means to do away the "burden" of SSI, the lifeline for millions of poor Americans, including hundreds of thousands of disabled homeless people, leaving folks starving and hungry yet again.

And all you anarchist leaning readers, please don’t shake your head and say, well, that’s good ‘cause then people will be desperate enough to "do something." The state of being that desperate is terrifying for those of us who have actually been there, and it is only a privileged person who would say that letting folks become "that desperate" to cause action is ok.

"Kenneth Lay is a friend of Bush, and he stole all the pensions from the workers at Enron. That’s what Bush wants to do with all of our Social Security pensions," Steve Zeltzer continued. "We need to organize millions of workers in this country to stop the privatization of social security, to fight against this war in Iraq. And we need to stop the war on the working people.

"In California, Arnold wants to stop the guaranteed pensions of city, county and state employees, telling us that in place of pensions we need to put our money in the stock market," Steve concluded, adding, "On April 28, workers memorial day, thousands of disabled and injured workers will march on Sacramento for our right to benefits."

"If there is no crisis, this administration creates one so that they can instill fear in the American people," said Howard Wallace of Senior Action Network, one of the last speakers to address the crowd before they marched to Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s office. "So it’s not only the New Deal they are trying to repeal – it is enlightenment itself."

As I stood next to these determined elders holding signs that said, "Don’t Enronize our Social Security system," I felt hopeful that maybe, as in the ‘30s, we could wage a war against the lies perpetrated by a few that affect so many. But all marginalized communities will need to come together, and unfortunately I saw only a small smattering of youth and people of color at this rally. So as you read this story, valiant PNN and Bay View change makers, make a commitment to get involved – or they will steal yet another one of our meager remaining rights from us again.

To get involved in the Gray Panthers’ fight against these cuts, call them at (415) 552-8800 or go on-line to http://graypantherssf.igc.org/index.html.

by Leroy Moore/An Illin n' Chilln' exclusive

Alberto R. Gonzales' War Against the Disabled
Ignored in the post-election clamor, November 13th and
14th marked the fourth annual Convention of Campaign
to End the Death Penalty, (CEDP) held in Chicago,
Illinois. Fitting choice, as Illinois is also same
state that held a Black mentally Disabled young man,
Anthony Porter, on Death Row for eighteen years before
DNA testing and years of advocating led to the
overturn of his wrongful incarceration. Also ironic is
that it came on the heels of George Bush's
announcement of Alberto Gonzales to succeed John
Ashcroft as Attorney General. While as legal counsel,
Gonzales demonstrated an appetite for executing the
disabled.

In Texas, Gonzales was responsible for who would get a
stay, clemency or death on Texas' Death Row. Now Mr.
Gonzales closet is wide open to the public and we get
to see the case of Terry Washington and other mentally
disabled death row inmates that were put to death with
his help. Many advocates and articles have stated
During Bush's six years as governor 152 people were
executed in Texas: a record unmatched by any other
governor in modern American history.

Mr. Gonzales' duties included preparing summaries of
death row cases for Bush but many did not mention the
inmates' mental disabilities. Gonzales went on to
become the Texas Secretary of State and a justice on
the Texas Supreme Court. He continued to guide
Governor Bush into executing Death Row inmates who
were mentally disabled, such as Terry Washington,
Brian Roberson and Oliver David Cruz although there
was a national campaign against execution of the
mentally disabled. Texas ignored the Supreme Court
decision on June 20, 2000 in the Artkin v Virginia.
The decisions ordered that executions of mentally
retarded criminals are "cruel and unusual punishment"
prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.

In the Spring of 2000 with Mr. Gonzales at his side,
Bush voted against a bill that would ban executions of
the mentally disabled. Today, President Bush continues
his state violence against people with disabilities,
people of color and the poor by choosing Alberto R.
Gonzales as the new Attorney General. President Bush
has consistently appointed cabinet members who share
the same attitude against people with disabilities
throughout his first term.

Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge was Governor of
Pennsylvania when another Black disabled man, Michael
Manning, spent years in prison on a clear case of
self-defense but received no assistance from the
ex-Governor at that time. Matter-of-fact Tom Ridge
helped the case against Manning. Just like Anthony
Porter and Earl Washington Jr., Michael Manning also
is a free man today because of the work of families,
advocates, progressive lawyers etc. Unfortunately
there are more wrongful deaths than exoneration of
disabled inmates like Jerome Bowden, Ricky Ray Rector
and Wanda Jean Allen to name a few. There are a few
coalitions, organizations and campaign advocating for
the elimination of the death penalty all together and
a specific campaign to ban execution of the "mentally
retarded." For example, National Coalition to Abolish
the Death Penalty, NCADP, has been the only fully
staffed national organization exclusively devoted to
abolishing capital punishment. NCADP provides
information, advocates for public policy, and
mobilizes and supports individuals and institutions
that share our unconditional rejection of capital
punishment.

The web site of Lost Souls Stop the Killing of the
Mentally Retarded and the Mentally Ill, it reads:
"in Resolution 1989/64, 24 May 1989, The United
Nations Economic and Social Council Recommends that
Member States take steps to implement the safeguards
and strengthen further the protection of the rights of
those facing the death penalty, where applicable, by:
eliminating the death penalty for persons suffering
from mental retardation or extremely limited mental
competence, whether at the stage of sentence or
execution."

This campaign recently got the Supreme Court to order
a ban against execution of the "mentally retarded" and
the mentally ill. And the Campaign to End the Death
Penalty is a national grassroots organization of
activists dedicated to stopping individual executions
and abolishing capital its national convention was
held in Chicago this year. These campaigns and
coalitions protect the rights, lives and voices of
persons on death row.

The Chicago's convention was set against a national
context that is clearly getting worse for anti-death
penalty advocates and people with disabilities.
Chicago was also the home May Molina Ortiz, a disabled
Puerto Rican, who was a co-founder of Families of the
Wrongfully Convicted and a founder of Comite Exigimos
Justicia (We Demand Justice Committee) died early this
year, 2004, in police custody. A local Bay Area
advocate and founder of Idriss Stelley Foundation,
Mesha Irizarry, attended the fourth annual conference
to speak about her son who had mental health
disabilities and was shot in 2002 by San Francisco
Police. The work of activists and organizations i.e.
Kiilu Nyasha, Yuri Kochiyama, Prison Focus, California
Coalition for Women Prisoners and Claude Marks etc is
our only protection against President Bush continuous
state violence againt people with disabilities.

By Leroy Franklin Moore Jr. President of "On the
Outskirts": Race & Disability Consulting