From the point of view of families, the older person who needs care and doesn't
want to move into a facility is just being difficult. But from the point of
view of that elderly person, leaving her home where she has a feeling of
ownership and control and moving into an institution, means the end of her life
and independence. It's a terrible problem. But all of these programs that
provide an aide for a few hours each day, are inadequate as is the quality of
help they provide. Even for people who have sufficient funds to move to nicer
assisted living facilities, the adjustment is extremely difficult. However nice
these places are, the food is institutional food, and there are policies and
rules which make clear to the residents that they are no longer independent
agents. At the same time, their capacities are failing and they know it.
Families are fragmented. Adult children do not feel that they should be
burdened with the care of their elderly parents, even when they have room in
their homes and there are funds to employ a carer. They want their privacy.
It's a change that has taken place in our society over the past 75 years which
excludes and isolates old people. The fantasy sold to the public is that there
are active senior communities where they can thrive. Certainly there are, for
those who remain healthy and who have sufficient wealth. But age is scorned in
our society. Being told that one is youthful is a compliment or, "You're as
young as you feel" which is an admonishment.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2017 3:46 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: Cathy's mother
Miriam,
We're just beginning to sort out the choices(limited) available to her mom.
She is on Section 8, and there are some decent assisted living facilities that
could provide her room. The real problem is Dorothy.
She does not want to move. "I'm going out of here feet first" is her usual
statement when the subject is brought up. Until her annuity is gone, we will
check in with Catholic Community Services. They do a good job of providing
in-home assistance, for a decent fee. I've forgotten how much per hour they
charge, but we plan to pay it until we transfer her to SSI later this year. At
that time she will be eligible for something like four hours a day, although
some of our clients have had their time cut to either 2 hours a day or 4 hours
three times a week.
But for certain Cathy can't drive to Silverdale three or four times a week, do
the chores and shopping, etc...and work, too.
Today both Cathy and Marlene are headed to finish up the chores.
Dorothy had banned Marlene from her apartment because she believes Marlene
steals from her. She also believes her son stole from her, and her grand
children are just waiting for her to die so they can grab all her stuff...which
she promised them, but took it all back...and gave it again...and took it all
back, etc.
If I were Marlene, I would not go back, but then that leaves Cathy once again,
doing it all. It's hard to make sense out of the thinking of a woman who is so
angry at her own children. I never say anything to Cathy, but when Dorothy and
I are alone...which I do my best to keep to a minimum, she gripes about Cathy,
too. I'm sure that I get my fair share from some things I've heard among other
family members.
After last Friday, I told Cathy that if I live to be 91, and bitch about
everything and everyone, she has my permission to put a pillow over my face
while I'm sleeping.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/30/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Oh my goodness, what will you and Cathy do about Cathy's mother? Do
you have community Medicaid in the State of Washington? Not that,
that's such a great answer. But it does sound like she needs a home health
aide.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2017 2:11 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: How can we fight climate change? All
out for the April 29 Climate March!
My plan was to tune in yesterday, but Life got in the way. Cathy's
mother is becoming more and more confused and even has a struggle to
go from her recliner to the bathroom. We spent most of the day
behaving like Care Givers.
Still, I applaud the commitment of all of the people who made the
effort, paid the price, went miles from home, to make their beliefs
known. And so it pained me greatly when NPR spent time this morning
broadcasting excerpts of Donald Trump ranting in front of a gathering
of cheering loyal Believers in a return to White Supremacy. He damned
the Media, calling MNBC and CNN out by name, and the Media in general,
than spreading the "truth" as dreamed up by Donald Trump. And this
herd of braying faithful believed him, despite there being concrete
facts reputing everything Donald Trump said. This amazing ability of
a man standing at the head of a powerful nation and making up stories
designed to mislead the people, is what causes my Faith to be shaken.
I see the day when the vast majority of Americans are on one side of
the room, and Donald Trump and his Cabinet are on the other, and
Donald Trump ignores the Will of the People as he spins his Fairy
Tales and leads us to our destruction.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/30/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Carl,
I think you were listening to the wrong thing. I listened to three
hours of the five hours of the climate march yesterday. It was on the
Democracy Now website, but it was also broadcast by KPFK Berkley
which, after great confusion, I managed to figure out how to access
on my VR Stream. Well, I did that last week so that I could hear the
Science march which Democracy Now also broadcast from its website as
well as KPFK. The Scienc march was highly controlled and
choreographed and I listened only to two hours of that. I think that
the speeches were given during the first two hours of the climate
march this week, and I wasn't listening at that point. So I got to
hear all kinds of people from all over the country, talking about why
they'd come to Washington to march in a very hot march, 93 degrees.
Last week, it poured during the science march. And tomorrow,
immigrants will be demonstrating and also, staying home. But whatever
kinds of demonstrating and talking and writing done by the people,
the government, fueled by a lust for power, keeps grinding along. In
the midst of the horrors of the Trump administration, we need to
remind ourselves that it was Obama who set the stage for increased
nuclear arms development, who added to the annual military aid our
country gives to Israel, who made it easier to deport huge numbers of
immigrants without due process, and who gave in to Republican demands
to radically cut domestic spending and to Neo Con and Neo Liberal
demands to give arms to Jihadists in Syria and to overthrow the
government in Libya. And I was reminded by several podcast
discussions that it was Obama who taught the public to differentiate between
the "good" and "bad"
immigrants. Trump just talks as if there are more bad ones than good
ones.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl ;
Jarvis
Sent: Sunday, April 30, 2017 10:52 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: How can we fight climate change? All
out for the April 29 Climate March!
I listened to excerpts of Donald Trump telling a screaming crowd of
supporters how successful his first 100 days were, and how much he
has accomplished. Although I believe that the worst is yet to come,
what Trump claimed to have accomplished is mostly hot air. After
soundly trashing the Mass Media, a lashing they richly deserve, but
still, it's the same Media that sucked up his every move and trotted
his name out before the public until the name Trump was so ingrained
in folks heads that they reached out and their hands automatically
went to the Trump lever, after damning them, Trump then told his fans
the "real facts".
What seems to be happening is that we are moving away from the
artificial economy we've created, into an even more unreal world,
created in the head of Donald Trump. There is only two possible
outcomes. Either Trump will drive this out of control presidency
over a cliff and destroy the world economy, or the working class will
rise up and remove the burden of wealth from the billionaires.
But for the moment, the cheering, wild crowds of "True Trump
Believers" ring in my ears.
Carl Jarvis
On 4/30/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://socialistaction.org/2017/04/28/how-can-we-fight-climate-chan
g e -all-out-for-the-april-29-climate-march/
How can we fight climate change? All out for the April 29 Climate March!
/ 2 days ago
May 2016 Global justiceBy BILL ONASCH
On the eve of the April 29 People’s Climate Mobilization in
Washington and other cities, Bill Onasch describes what working
people and the labor movement must do in order to avoid the most
catastrophic effects of climate change.
The working class faces challenges on many fronts today. But one
crisis is overarching. On both land and sea, Northern and Southern
Hemispheres alike, our planet is getting hotter. The scale and pace
of this global warming is unprecedented in human history. The last
three years have been the hottest since precise measurements began
in the 1880s.
This heat is expanding the volume of oceans. Along with melting sea
and glacial ice in the Arctic, Antarctic, and Greenland, this is
raising sea levels. If not stopped soon it will eventually inundate
coastal areas that are home to hundreds of millions. The New York
City penthouse at Trump Tower would remain dry—but by 2050 the tip
of Manhattan, including Southport, Battery Park, and much of the
World Trade Center would be submerged.
Familiar weather patterns are being disrupted, leading to severe
droughts in some areas and giant floods in others. In February,
11,743 local record warm daily temperatures were recorded just in
the United States. The world has been hit by ferocious storms, like
Cyclone Debbie in Australia, and massive wildfires such as the
recent one in Kansas that killed thousands of livestock, consumed
all of the hay supply, and destroyed hundreds of farm structures.
In some regions of the world, such as eastern Africa, this
early-stage climate change has resulted in famine—and numerous
climate refugees.
Pernicious liars like the president of the United States assert that
climate change resulting from global warming is a hoax, variously
attributed to either greedy climate scientists bilking tax-payers or
the Chinese government trying to wreck our economy.
Other deniers don’t challenge the validity of thermometer and sea
level readings but insist this is a natural cycle of our planet that
will eventually get back to what we consider normal. They see no
cause for alarm or need for drastic changes. In any case, they say
there’s nothing we can do to stop Mother Nature.
But the overwhelming majority of scientists accept irrefutable
evidence that the principal cause of global warming is the release
of greenhouse gases by the ravenous energy demands of industry,
agriculture, transportation—and war.
These emissions are still growing. The damage this causes to the
fragile biosphere that has nourished human civilization is
irreversible. While its worst effects will be felt by future
generations, climate change has been advancing faster than expected
and requires urgent and far-reaching countermeasures.
How capitalism fouls things up
After steam engines fueled by wood and coal gave a big boost to the
18th-century Industrial Revolution, the capitalist economy became
increasingly addicted to fossil fuels. Since the first modern oil
wells began pumping in Oil Creek, Pennsylvania, in 1859, the United
States, Britain, and other major powers have been exploring and
conquering on land and in the sea to satisfy the thirst of diesel,
internal combustion, and jet engines, as well as for raw material
for production of petrochemical products like plastic.
For some time now, the U.S. has had more registered cars and trucks
than licensed drivers. Big new markets have been carved out for
products like snowmobiles, all terrain vehicles, and motor homes.
Once serene lakes are now battered by racket and wakes of ubiquitous
motorboats and jet skis. And we shouldn’t forget those dirty, noisy
two-stroke engines commonly used to mow lawns.
While plug-in electric cars are now starting to appear, nearly 99
percent of the auto industry is still cranking out fossil-fueled
cars and trucks. More than 900,000 American workers are directly
involved in making parts and assembling these vehicles. Millions
more earn a paycheck by selling, maintaining, repairing,
insuring—and ultimately scrapping them. Hundreds of thousands of
others are employed in building and maintenance of highways and city
streets. And, of course, auto is a prime customer for the steel,
rubber, and glass industries.
With zero redeeming social benefit, the fighters, bombers, tanks,
cruise missiles, and drones used in constant wars of intervention to
advance the interests of capitalist Globalization are also a huge
greenhouse polluter.
Of course, it has never been the intention of the capitalists to
wreck our biosphere. That’s collateral damage in the class war they
wage, which has made today’s American ruling class the richest in
history.
Some of them favor measures they hope will slow down global warming
so that the next generations can figure out something better.
The bosses and bankers mainly promote ineffective schemes like
carbon price, carbon tax, and carbon offsets, which have been widely
used since the Kyoto Accords were adopted in 1997—but never
implemented by Clinton or Bush II.
Obama’s much hailed “Clean Power” initiative—which Trump is now
trying to dismantle—was the first American contribution to world
efforts to adopt goals to reduce carbon emissions. It was mainly
based on inducing many power plants to convert from coal to somewhat
less carbon-polluting natural gas. This hasn’t happened out of
climate concerns by the utilities. Gas has become cheaper than
coal—mainly because of Obama’s promotion of environmentally
destructive hydraulic fracturing (fracking.)
“Clean Power” also relied on the cooperation of states to develop
carbon markets and quotas—much like Obama’s Affordable Care Act
counted on states doing the right thing. And because this “historic”
plan was introduced through an executive order, it can be modified
and perhaps even nullified by order of the current Denier-in-Chief.
Real solutions are available
Since burning fossil fuels is the main culprit in creating the
greenhouse effect driving climate change, a total solution is simple
and obvious—quit burning them, leave them in the ground. We in fact
don’t need them. There are clean, renewable energy sources available
free for the taking everywhere on Earth—sun, wind, and water.
We can replace dirty, inefficient internal combustion and diesel
engines that consume fossil fuel with electric motors. We can
conserve energy and reap many other ecological benefits by reversing
urban sprawl, reclaiming the forests, wetlands, and farm lands that
once surrounded and nurtured many of our cities before being wrecked
by irresponsible “development.”
To facilitate population return to our depleted, long neglected
urban cores will require using craft workers now building pipelines
and fracking wells to be put to work rebuilding and renovating
quality affordable housing and a sustainable infrastructure. Safe,
reliable, electric-powered mass transit would be a high priority project.
Climate change is a global crisis. No country can escape its
impact—not even the U.S., the richest country in history. A large
part of this American wealth—of which the lion’s share is controlled
by about one-tenth of one percent of our population—is accumulated
through exploitation of other nations, leaving them “underdeveloped”
and polluted. There is not only a moral obligation but also a vital
self-interest for the world economy to finance climate stabilization
projects in the poorest countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
But we need to offer more than money—it’s also essential to lead by
example in action. Sustainable restructuring of the world’s biggest
economy can convince the whole world that there is now a road to
development far superior to our history marked by unintended
ecological destruction.
But we need a plan—pronto
When American capitalism decided to go all-in for the Second World
War, they didn’t try to induce industry to build unprecedented
numbers of ships, planes, and tanks through tax credits or other
fiscal and market measures. Instead, the government essentially took
control of the entire economy and dictated products and production
quotas. This project of Big Government was the most successful crash
mobilization of economic resources in history.
To be sure, this is a far from perfect analogy. The end use of that
production led to 70 million deaths and the beginning of the era of
nuclear war. We want to end wars and war spending, not make them
bigger or more efficient.
Nor is it realistic to expect a capitalist government to carry out
such planned economy to combat climate change. The capitalists were
rewarded handsomely for their compliance with the government’s World
War II plan, and the U.S. victory led to opening up vast new markets
to U.S.
domination—which from their point of view made the slaughter and
destruction more than acceptable. They will not make any sacrifices
to eliminate the most important sources of profit.
The only force in society with both the potential power and material
interest to challenge destructive capitalist rule is the
working-class majority. With the same sense of wartime urgency, our
class that does nearly all the work, in alliance with scientists and
environmentalists, can take charge of a planned rapid restructuring
of a sustainable economy and run it democratically.
Some hopeful signs from labor
The only class-based mass organizations in the USA are the trade unions.
This movement has long been divided over climate and environmental
issues. But today a number of important national unions are
educating and mobilizing their members around climate as well as class
justice.
Those making that connection include the Amalgamated Transit Union,
American Federation of Teachers, American Postal Workers,
Communications Workers of America, National Nurses United, Service
Employees International Union, and the United Electrical, Radio &
Machine Workers.
Some of these unions are part of the labor/environmental Blue Green
Alliance. All are affiliated with the Labor Network for
Sustainability, which is doing valuable work in hammering out a
program for “Making a Living On a Living Planet.”
Most have also joined the global Trade Unions for Energy Democracy.
Among other demands, TUED favors socialization of all energy under
worker management—a goal Socialist Action heartily supports. But to
secure the needed massive restructuring plan, we think socialization
will need to also include at the very least the financial and
transportation sectors and, because of its central importance, the
auto industry as well.
Both the LNS and TUED strongly support the application of Just
Transition—a topic of an article in the February issue of this
newspaper. This long standing working-class principle holds that
when workers lose their livelihood for the better good of society we
have a collective obligation to give them income, retraining, and
relocation support until they can find suitable new jobs.
Unlike Trump’s phony promise of putting miners back to work digging
coal, we can honestly and confidently guarantee Just Transition to
the millions of workers who will be affected as we replace
climate-wrecking jobs with sustainable ones. At the same time as we
save our biosphere, we will generate full employment with a decent
standard of living for generations.
As the working class replaces the present capitalist ruling class,
we can use some of their ill-gotten wealth to also provide generous
solidarity grants to nations exploited by the old rules, so that
they too can be part of making a decent living on a healing planet.
This, of course, won’t be done overnight. While climate change
relentlessly advances, the struggles for both climate and class
justice are in their early stages. There are no short cuts. We need
to continue to educate and motivate around the urgent need for
climate action while helping the working class recover from class
identity theft. Periodic mass demonstrations, along with education
in union halls and workplace break rooms, and teach-ins on college
campuses, remain essential
Scientists and environmentalists have done their job well in
explaining the climate crisis and offering ways to satisfactorily
resolve it. But the necessary alternatives require taking political
power away from the climate-wrecking class. That won’t be done until
the working class breaks the two-party political monopoly that
allows this tiny destructive minority to rule. The need for a mass
working-class party in the United States—likely arising from our
unions—is every bit as urgent as the climate crisis itself.
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April 28, 2017 in Environment, Labor.
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