Was I right, Was I right, Was I right, Was I right

If Barak Obama was the right person for the Presidency of the United States I wouldn't be so critical of him and his proposed policies, in fact I would probably back him wholeheartedly if he was even remotely moving in a direction that would be of benefit to all Americans. There is always going to be a segment of our population that are against anyone who's color and or ethnicity do not fall within their narrow guidelines for acceptance, but I do not that to be the case with the growing feeling of unacceptability for Mr. Obama. I feel that the majority of the American public are waking up to the fact that this man is not at all what he is attempting to come across as, in short he is as fake as they come. For those of you who don't live in the mid-west and or have access to the local papers here, go on the internet and look up Anton Rezko and do about five minutes of research on Mr. Rezko and his relationship to the Obama 's and you will see this guy is no regular guy and sadly some of his associates are crooks out in the open. This news does not make national news wires controlled by the giant mainstream media outlets, who are the Obama backers. But in this case the great corporate powers and political power brokers who have placed Mr. Obama in the race for the highest office are making grave mistake at best. Each week it becomes more and more evident that Mr. Obama is not only the wrong man for the job but should be investigated for his dealings with the likes of Mr. Rezko and company.

That aside, Mr. Obama continues to have his image tightened up by the ever present Rev. Dr. Jerimiah Wright and his never ending chain of public appearances. I don't know how Mr. Obama and his wife are going to shake the taint from the good Rev. Dr. about the latest round of explanations about African Americans versus White European Americans and how they interpret music and the best one is how they learn differently, what, different physiological make up, different brain function, come on Rev Dr. give it all a rest.

The Draft, Eating Crow, Phil Donahue And Other Dirty Words.

The other day I mistakenly tuned into MSNBC's morning Joe program when I couldn't take any more of those Prozac smiling D _ _ _ _ e B _ _ s on F_x & F_ _ _ _ _ s and thought I was in for the grand mal of left leaning tirades, not the usual drivel from Mika and some far left flying guest, no no no, this time from one of America's left royalty-Phil Donahue, who I can't stand listening to-by the way in case you didn't guess right away, because he is so far to the left that there is generally no common ground with which to even remotely agree. However, that guy that pimps one of the mortgage companies was on and I decided that I didn't have a lot to lose and I had a full cup of coffee so I could listen for a minute, throw a couple of expletives at the TV and get about my business, when Mr. Donahue came up with the first thing I have ever agreed with him on. He called for a draft, not that I'm for the draft as I have a twenty year old son, but a draft that includes everyone. Yes, he said a draft that includes everyone, from the poorest to the richest. From the son of an unemployed poverty stricken family in some great American city to the upper upper class RICH kid born with silver spoons sticking out of every orifice in his body and for good measure the eligible son's of every Politician in America.

Now I will take this one small step further. That upon being drafted, no one would get any special treatment. Advancement would be based on ability, talent, general smarts and aptitude. I know, I know, Philly D wants that to make his point that Iraq and other conflicts would probably never take place if all of the son's and who knows, possibly daughters of the Politicians and business moguls were facing the same risk as Joe Common. That we would be able to negotiate with our enemies and become completely submissive to their demands and we would all live happily ever after gopped up on goof balls, arms linked together in a chain that stretches around the world-living in peace and harmony, Oh God,I have to stop before I puke.

But why not a draft? What a great concept, we all are created equal according to our Constitution so why not apply this when it comes to the defense of this great country we live in. Then and maybe only then we would look at situations twice before acting. There's nothing wrong with this approach, really. Now don't get me wrong, I am all for bombing the living daylights out of our enemies, in fact I advocate bombing them back to the stone age if possible to eliminate any threat they may pose for the next hundred or so years, maybe even longer. Hell, I am for taking oil from the current mess to pay for our troops being there and thus taking some of the burden off of the backs of the American people who are paying for this outing and have no say so in what goes on.

I think there should be one big catch if there was to be another draft, and the catch is that we the American people should be told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, each and every time there is going to be some kind of conflict. Again a novel concept that would require each and every Politician in office today to be run out of said office on a rail, tarred and feathered and possibly neutered to make sure there is an end to the gene pool that they crawled out of.

The Homeless.

My first exposure to the homeless took place in the 1950's when I was about six years of age, my family lived in Evanston Illinois in what would be considered a middle to upper middle class neighborhood. Our neighbors were Professors at Northwestern University, Doctors, Insurance executives, Accountants (I am sorry Guido, for putting your profession next to lawyers), the compulsory Lawyers and Business owners (And Chuck I apologize for placing you next to lawyers, also). One evening an old woman knocked on the door and asked for some food, my mother brought the old woman into our home, fed her and let her sleep on the living room couch as there were no beds available. When I got up in the morning the old woman was gone, I don't remember the conversation I had with her while she sat on the couch but I remember her covered with a good blanket sleeping there. I had no more real contact with any homeless after that for almost another twenty years. To qualify myself, I did not make a career of service to my fellow man, did not attend divinity school and would not have been viewed as a model citizen during that time. I would call what I did during that twenty years, experiencing everything that the smorgasbord of life has to offer without leaving any crumbs behind and putting it mildly, I was full. Soooooo in 1974 I fell in with a different group of people who's company I chose to make. I cleaned up my act, so to speak, and was introduced to a slightly different way of living. Part of that new way of living was serving not taking, listening and not talking and compassion not disdain. The way I learned these things was from a man whom I held in high regard who from the beginning of our friendship suggested that I go with him each and every Sunday to the state institution at Elgin, Illinois. We would meet with different groups and had the opportunity to observe the many people who were residents at "Elgin". By residents I mean they had the ability to come and go during the day but were housed there in ward rooms, had their meals there and were given the necessary medication and care necessary to live a dignified semi supervised life, where they would not be taken advantage of or mistreated. There were facilities for alcohol and drug treatment that were locked wards and all in all were effective in the treatment of those individuals. Then came the Regan administration and this closest to a perfect world for those less fortunate than I came to a screeching halt.

The government slashed funding to mental health and the facilities for these different groups ended almost overnight. The addicted were forced to find other avenues, and the residents most of whom were incapable of living on their own were literally tossed out on to the streets. The administration in Washington put the burden of care onto the backs of the American people. Organizations sprung up to develop sources of housing, church groups joined in providing nightly rest stops and a hot meal, but, nothing could replace what had worked for America for so long and so well and in reality for so little.

I went to work in Chicago shortly after Elgin basically closed and had the occasion the drive up and down Sheridan Rd and Broadway in Chicago on a regular basis. During the first year after the shutdown old residential hotels on these streets began taking in the former residents of the various facilities in the state and went from seedy flop houses to something worse than the mental images one envisions after reading a Dickens novel. I wish most of our current batch of Politicians and the ever wrongly informed conservative and liberal commentators could be forced pend time in some of these hell holes and how could I forget the perpetrator Mr. Regan and his henchmen, but they got lucky, Mr. Regan lost his mind and most of his guy's have died and most of the flop houses are gone so today's politicians and commentators can continue down the path of obliviousness as to what goes on outside of their office windows. It is impossible to wash the image of old hotel lobbies packed with shoeless people in dirty nightgowns standing in front of old cloudy smoke stained picture windows staring blankly out over the street. And knowing that they have had their government checks taken to cover their housing and meals by some scum bag who hovers lower than the worst slum lord. Most closed up over the next ten years due to urban renewal because the owners saw even more lucrative avenues for their property, so the residents were once again put to the streets. At that time the burden was passed to the churches and charitable organizations to come up with some kind of a solution for the housing and care of those less fortunate.

Now the way this works in the area I live in, is this. I will call it my local church (Please don't ask or get me started on that subject)acts as a host on Wednesday nights. The people are allowed to come in starting at 6:00PM, are fed dinner and then assigned a sleeping pad in a curtained off area. They have enough room to place their belongings next to them. In the morning they are fed breakfast and leave promptly at 7:00AM. So as not to confuse anyone, there are churches all around the area that I live and each night of the week is covered by several churches. There is a master organization that sets up and schedules the churches, trains volunteers (of which many are needed), solicits volunteers for preparing hot meals and cleaning up the following morning. It is a very large undertaking and provides an invaluable service. My qualifications are that I have been exposed to the homeless and addicted for quite a few years and believe I have a handle on their overall makeup.

I am going to leave the addicted out of this today and will cover them in another blog. There are extenuating circumstances that need to be covered with regards to this issue and I do not want to dilute the subject at hand other than to say that this group makes up about only 10% of the homeless in America today.

Stating that, the balance of the homeless are essentially those who are incapable of taking proper care of themselves in the modern world. In the area I live the programs run from October through the end of April. Ever thought about sleeping in the park in late September or early May in the Midwest, if the park won't work how bout under an overpass or in the forest preserve, not a very inviting proposition is it! One of the most reprehensible byproducts of closing the residential portions of the state institutions is that these people are now victimized at every turn by the lowest forms of predators. They are often taken for what little they get from the government for subsistence, and the amount is generally very little.



The sad fact is that the government will probably never react to this issue as these individuals have little that the government wants. They have no strategic resources, are not much, if any importance as a voting block and cannot be relied upon for cash donations, therefore they are expendable in the eyes of government. This is not something that is exclusive to the mid-west, it is a national problem that the various administrations in Washington have tossed on to the backs of the citizenry of our country and washed their hands of the responsibility for providing even the most minimal care for those who are unable to care for themselves.