December White House Disability Group Conference Call TODAY..

No opinion on this call as yet.. Purely passing along as an FYI regarding its occurrence, not to mention these are your Washington D.C. tax dollars in action..

Keyboard tip goes to Mark Johnson at Shepherd Center in Atlanta, Georgia.. Were it not for HIS disability mailing list, I would have no clue of this phone call’s existence.. White House needs to do “a little work” on its publicity tactics.. 😀

In reference to the very last line of the original communique, “WHDG strongly urges you to distribute this email broadly”..?! May I just say……..

EXCUSE ME..?!

Next time, White House folks, how ’bout trying the word……..

PLEASE

Not to mention (but I will)…

THANK YOU.

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Beginning this month the White House Disability Group (WHDG) will host monthly calls to update you on various disability issues as well as introduce you to persons who work on disability issues in the federal government.

The first call will be this Friday, December 3, at 11:00 AM Eastern.

The conference call information is below.

Dial in: (800) 230-1092

Title: Disability Call (use instead of code)

Date of Call: 12/03/10

Start Time: 11:00 AM Eastern

For live captioning, at time of call, log onto:

http://www.fedrcc.us//Enter.aspx?EventID=1663465&CustomerID=321

WHDG strongly urges you to distribute this email broadly.

OpenCongress.org :: Congressional Progress Tracking Tool..

OpenCongress.org is a REALLY NEAT technadvocacy tool for getting involved in politics in Washington.. There are so many aspects to it, it continues to boggle my own Mind..

Among the amazing number of features inside, a few Open Congress highlights include:

• Congressional Bills
• U.S. Senators
• U.S. House of Representatives

If you register and create a profile, you then have the opportunity to save points of personal interest on OpenCongress along with network with other members.. Once you’re in there, these last two links show just how powerful this website has evolved to become in a relatively short time:

• How To Use OpenCongress (how-to tutorial)
• OpenCongress Tools (api widgets and related websites)

Hope this proves of value to someone out there..

Warmest wishes from Talking Rock.. 🙂

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Update from Proud Parents of Michael Behenna..

Merry Christmas to the many friends and supporters of Michael,

An update about Michael is difficult because this time of year is all about being together with family and friends. While we will be able to see Michael over Christmas, our family will not feel complete until Michael is freed from Leavenworth.

Several things are happening toward that end and we are eagerly anticipating a favorable outcome. Michael’s appellate brief will be filed in December with the Army Court of Appeals and we know Michael’s lawyers will make a powerful and compelling argument to reverse his conviction. Please say a prayer for Michael’s attorney’s in their quest to present a document that will allow the Appellate Court to see the truth.

Also Vicki and some supporters traveled to Washington DC the first week of December to meet with numerous Congressmen and Senators. The meetings went extremely well and some Congressmen and Senators are writing letters to the Clemency Board. Some Congressmen are considering Congressional hearings on the military’s “detention and release” policy that is responsible for 77,000 out of 87,000 detainees being released back to the battlefield for our soldiers to fight again and again. As one Lieutenant Colonel in the Marines told Vicki on her trip to DC, this policy has cost the lives of American soldiers. It is imperative that we stop putting our soldiers in harm’s way whether it is in the form of a terrorist’s bullets and bombs or prosecutors who want to lock these heroes up for defending themselves in a war zone.

Michael’s clemency hearing is January 7, 2010, and we will represent him at that hearing. The Secretary of the Army, John McHugh, has the responsibility for clemency and has the power to reduce or eliminate Michael’s sentence. If you have not done so already, please consider writing a letter to the Secretary to give clemency to Michael. McHugh’s address is:

• Secretary of the Army John McHugh
  1400 Defense Pentagon
  Washington, DC 20301-1400

We also ask that you consider sending a quick note to Michael to let him know the support he has behind him and the groundswell that has begun to cast light on the current military policies that put our soldiers in harm’s way. Michael can only receive written materials (letters, cards, books), but you can also send a money order to Michael which he can use to purchase some items with his commissary account. Money can only be sent via MONEY ORDER and it must list the payee as “MICHAEL BEHENNA #87503“. All correspondence and money orders should be sent to :

• Michael Behenna
  1300 North Warehouse Road
  FT. Leavenworth, Kansas 66027-2304

Below is a link to a biggovernment. com article that hits right at the heart of Michael’s case and has produced many inquiries :

Army Officer Kills Al-Qaeda Operative, Imprisoned After Prosecutors Ignore Own Expert Witness

Thanks again for your overwhelming support and may God bless your families this Christmas season.

Peace,

Scott & Vicki Behenna Proud parents of 1LT Michael Behenna
www. DefendMichael. com

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ADAPT :: Disability Rights Activists Nationwide Confront Democrats On Institutional Bias..

As far as these Fingertips are concerned, continuing to force persons with disabilities (PWDs) into long term care (LTC) facilities (e.g. nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, hospitals, etc), especially for basic “maintenance” health care is NO less than continued, conscious segregation of those same people..

Segregation: the act or practice of separatism..

:raises brow:

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For Immediate release: July 21, 2009

For information contact:

• Bruce Darling 585-370-6690
• Marsha Katz 406-544-9504

Disability Rights Activists Nationwide Confront Democrats On Institutional Bias

Washington, D.C. — Demanding an end to the institutional bias in the nation’s health care policy, ADAPT, the nation’s largest cross-disability, grassroots disability rights organization, took their fight to the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) in Washington, DC, with 24 simultaneous protests at Democratic offices across the country, and at Senator Max Baucus‘ office in Missoula, MT.

ADAPT is calling for Congress to eliminate the Medicaid institutional bias in 2009 – either in health care reform or as separate legislation, specifically the Community Choice Act (CCA). CCA (S. 683/H.R. 1670) allows people to choose to stay at home to receive long-term services and supports instead of being forced into nursing homes and institutions because that’s what the law will currently pay for.

The protesters are additionally demanding that the Democrats apologize for the loss of freedom suffered by countless Americans that resulted when a Democratically-controlled Congress created the institutional bias over 40 years ago; and that the DNC facilitate an immediate meeting between ADAPT and Senator Max Baucus, Chair of the Senate Finance Committee; Representative Henry Waxman, Chair of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce; and Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor and Assistant to the President for Intergovernmental Affairs and Public Liaison, to develop a plan to pass the Community Choice Act and eliminate the institutional bias in 2009.

“For 44 years, Medicaid’s institutional bias has stolen the lives of Americans with disabilities and older Americans,” said Mike Oxford, ADAPT organizer from Topeka, KS. It has deprived them of their most basic freedoms. The Democrats were in power when that bias was legislated. Now it’s time for them to apologize, and most importantly, it’s time for them to take action and fix it.”

ADAPT‘s action nationwide comes in part as a response to a video released last week by the Democratic National Committee. The video tells Americans “It’s time” for health care reform, and urges them to call their Senators. Picking up on that theme, ADAPT released its own video this week telling the Democrats “It’s time” to eliminate the institutional bias and pass the Community Choice Act. (See also: www.adapt.org/takeaction.)

“The Democrats say they want health care reform to focus on covering more people and saving money,” said Cassie James, ADAPT organizer from Philadelphia, “yet they refuse to change the current law that mandates people receive long term care (LTC) in the most expensive setting rather than less expensively at home where they would rather be. In addition, the current law forces states to go through complicated procedures just to let a few people stay at home and get assistance there.”

Many states have no home and community-based services, or they may provide limited services with waiting lists that keep people stuck for years in institutions and nursing facilities before they have any chance of getting services. It is not uncommon for people to wait so long that they die before their name reaches the top of the waiting list.

In an unprecedented show of unity this year, disability and aging groups across the country have demanded that healthcare reform be the vehicle to change federal policy which favors paying for institutions over community based services. They have repeatedly asked Congress and the President to pass the Community Choice Act, but currently, NO proposal in the health care reform package eliminates the institutional bias in Medicaid.

“The Democrats have historically supported the Community Choice Act every time it has been introduced in Congress,” said Dawn Russell, an ADAPT organizer from Denver, CO. “Many in the disability community were optimistic that the Democrats would finally pass CCA and eliminate the institutional bias, but the Democratic leadership in Washington is doing absolutely nothing. It seems as though the Democrats are so concerned with political maneuvering that they have completely forgotten about the people they represent who have no voice in Washington.”

“ADAPT is concerned about people who right now are stuck in nursing facilities and other institutions. We are concerned about people on Medicaid who will continue to be forced into those places if the law isn’t changed. And if the Democratic leadership won’t speak up for them, then I will,” added Russell.

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For those wishing to get involved in similar future actions, National ADAPT may be followed as:

• NationalADAPT at Twitter
• NationalADAPT at Twitpic

they lost me at $300,000 yearly budget and a two-person staff..

was checking out the humanist community blog‘s for atheists, politics proves to be a lonely endeavor.. was keeping up pretty good for me these days, meaning, if it’s not a one panel comic strip with 23 arrows all pointing in the direction of the punchline, the average written message goes zzzzip, right over head..

then i hit the part about a coalition they were highlighting as a supportive part of their post: two full-time employees with a $300,000 yearly budget..

sheesh, golly..!

$300,000..?!? 2 people..?!? ONE year..?!?

taking everything i have not to step out in judgmental shoes, not when my life is subsisting on ~650/month.. yes, business expenses do add up but still..

perhaps advertising or something similar is a big part of their budget..? goodness, i surely do hope so, for the sake of whomever is supplying said $300,000 in the first place..

hm. tabbing back over to the article now.. just one tiny problem.. what was their point before i got so unprodu¢tively di$tracted..? 🙂

peace, hope, love, and social justice for us all..

jack justice and trig palin :: so where’s the outrage, folks..?

because it sure isn’t coming across in my inbox..

not one peep..

not one dadgum disability community supporting peep.

we have a gentleman, a member of OUR extended family, in albany, georgia, jack justice, with a developmental disability self-advocating that his vote has been fraudulently stolen from him..

and that the same is alleged to possibly have happened to at least five others from the same program..

and nothing..

not one first email from within the disability self-advocacy community expressing anything about this situation..

then we have a blog making REPEATED hate-based, humiliating, stereotypical posts purportedly from trig palin, a vulnerable child with a disability, downs syndrome..

and nothing..

not one first email from within the disability self-advocacy community expressing anything about this situation..

either.

TONS from outside the community, e.g. over at hillary clinton forum and hillbuzz, seem to be making the rounds.. two pages in to checking my favorite search engine and those are the kinds of entries i find.. nada, zip, zilch from whither my life-weary heart has been for so long..

tellin’ ya what..

i don’t get it..

and i, for one, am ashamed.

ashamed that everything that has ever been instilled in me by a whole HUGE multiplicity of people has seemingly gone straight down the tinkle hole in a heartbeat for some reason completely unbeknownst to these fingertips..

comforting to know everyone has been so able to sleep at night..

peace, hope, love, and social justice for us all..

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references..

• mentally challenged man says his vote wasn’t right: assisted voting takes an alleged wrong turn
  by jennifer emert, october 14, 2008
  

  albany, ga (walb) – jack justice has been voting since he turned 18. typically his family takes him to their neighborhood precinct. this time primus industries, his adult day rehab program, took him to vote. his family was shocked, but what shocked them more was that jack claims that his aide commandeered his vote.

• investigation launched into questionable voting assistance: investigation to be conducted into handling of mentally challenged man’s vote
  by jennifer emert, october 15, 2008
  

  albany, ga (walb) – justice’s family tells us wednesday aides tried to convince jack he pushed the wrong button, but jack says that wasn’t the case. he pushed the button he was told to push and that was the button for obama, not his choice john mccain.

• hillary clinton forum: mentally challenged man forced to vote for obama (albany, ga); by countryfirst; 2008-10-16
• hillbuzz: obama supporters steal mentally-handicapped people’s votes; by hillbuzz; 2008-10-18
• albany area community service board, albany, georgia; (229) 430-4005
• albany csb: primus industries; albany, georgia; (229) 430-4138
• i miss my mommy

hey..

just me.. 🙂

ADAPT Issues Lesson On Disability For CNN..

Just found this in my inbox and passing along to get it on out there in a timely fashion..

FREE OUR PEOPLE NOW..!!

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For Immediate Release: October 14, 2009
For Information Contact: Bruce Darling 585-370-6690
MEDIA ADVISORY Marsha Katz 406-544-59504
www.adapt.org

ADAPT Confronts CNN at CNN HQ on Freedom for People with Disabilities

Who: ADAPT, National grassroots disability rights organization
What: Occupying CNN offices at CNN Headquarters in Atlanta
When: NOW, Wednesday, 2009.10.14 (9:30 a.m. Eastern time, and continuing)
Where: CNN HQ in CNN Center, Atlanta
Why: Get the Facts Straight on the Community Choice Act!

For nearly 20 years, ADAPT has been fighting to eliminate the institutional bias that forces seniors and people with disabilities into nursing facilities and other institutions. With very rare exceptions, this issue has been ignored by the major national media.

Even now, when the country is discussing the need to reform health care, the national media has overwhelmingly failed to recognize this critical issue.

Even worse, CNN got it wrong! In August of this year, Dr. Sanjay Gupta from CNN mentioned the Community Choice Act (S683/HR1670) during a segment on health care reform, but he stated that the legislation addressed the need for accessibility in medical settings. ADAPT contacted Dr. Gupta and CNN asking them to correct their inaccuracy and follow our efforts while we are here in Atlanta. They did not.

It is clear that the media plays a significant role in shaping American politics and public policy. We understand that if we want to change public policy, we need the media to understand this issue and call for change. ADAPT members have tried everything we can think of to raise awareness of the institutional bias and alternatives to institutionalization. Literally hundreds of us have been arrested. We have shut down streets, taken over buildings, and even marched 144 miles from Philadelphia to Washington, DC!

Because we are a grass-roots organization, ADAPT doesn’t have the expensive public relations firms that can “place” our story in the national media. So ADAPT members have come directly to CNN’s national headquarters to educate the network on our issues. We are here to ask CNN that:

• Dr. Sanjay Gupta and his colleagues at CNN meet with ADAPT to learn about the institutional bias, the Community Choice Act (S683/HR1670), and consumer-directed/community-based alternatives to institutionalization;
• Dr. Gupta correct his inaccurate report about the Community Choice Act;
• Dr. Gupta and his colleagues at CNN acknowledge in their reporting that there are disability rights and civil rights issues embedded within healthcare issues;
• Dr. Gupta and his colleagues at CNN report about the efforts of the disability community to eliminate the institutional bias and give people a REAL CHOICE in how and where they receive long term services and supports; and
• Dr. Gupta and his colleagues at CNN report about community-based and consumer-directed models of assistance that are more cost-effective and give seniors and people with disabilities real control over their lives.

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For more information on ADAPT, visit our website at www.ADAPT.org.