Tick Tock Sheptock

In a previous blog post I began to address the issue of universal healthcare. I mentioned the fact that many people are labeling Obama a Socialist and that the reason that many don't want single-payer healthcare is that they fear that the nation might be on track to become Socialist. I've yet to hear anyone call him a Communist, though Communism is what Socialism tends to transform into. As it turns out, I meet regularly with a friend named Walda Katz-Fishman who is a professor of sociology at Howard U. I also have other friends and acquaintances who are into sociology, collectivism and social justice. The common sentiment among the sociology-types that I associate with is that Obama is more of a Fascist than a Socialist. Their claim is that, even though he is overhauling the U.S. Government, it is in the interest of the crapitalists, whereas Socialism is a system that lifts up the working class. That said, I'll address the issues of single-payer and the government option i...

I just wrote the following article for a paper called the People's Tribune. I decided to cover the issue of Obama possibly being a Socialist in the next post, not this one as previously stated. (See previous post.) I hope you find it to be insightful..... The nation is up in arms about the healthcare issue. Obama is being depicted as a Socialist, the Joker and Charlie Chaplin. He is bearing the brunt of frustration with the healthcare system that people have felt since before the Clintons. As a matter of fact, Rush Limbaugh had a heyday mocking Bill Clinton's administration for having written a 100,000-page healthcare plan that never got implemented and went so far as to sell a Bill Clinton backwards-running watch. The fact of the matter is that, in spite of what manner of man Barack Obama is, he was elected as the head of a failed system which the best of us can never hope to heal. Nonetheless, the healthcare issue may very well become the impetus for systemic change. It ...

A parishoner at my church, the Church of the Epiphany, at 1317 G Street in northwest DC recently sent me an e-mail stating that a woman who reads this blog has donated 700 pairs of socks to Epiphany, where much is done to help the homeless. The church didn't have enough storage space for all of them and therefore had some sent to S.O.M.E. (So Others Might Eat), which feeds the homeless and has a number of other programs. It is good to know that my efforts are paying off and helping others. Thanks to the donor, whoever you are. I also use Facebook and am proud to say that a FB friend named Josh Faulkner has found a way to help the homeless due to advice that I gave him. As it turns out, someone had donated some old, inefficient computers to a homeless shelter. Josh, being a computer specialist, was asked to hook them up. He saw that they weren't worth anything and found some better computers. He has gotten them up and running. Thanks to him, homeless people in and around Pine ...

A project is presently underway to gather the stories of about 25 homeless people and put them into a book for the nation to read. Hopefully we will be able to get First Lady Michelle Obama to write the foreword to the book. Below is the story that I submitted. (It is still subject to editting.)..... THE HOMELESS ARE PEOPLE TOO ....,a-whop-a-do, a-whop-a-do. (From "Wonderama") I was born in Atlantic city, NJ on February 15th, 1969 as Eric Gooden. When I was 8 months old, I was almost killed by my parents who fractured my skull. I don't know which one actually did it or any of the other gory details. However, after my hospital stay, I went to a foster home in Atlantic City, where I stayed until I was 5 years old. In August of 1974 I was taken in by Rudy and Joanne Sheptock who lived in Chester, NJ at that time. They took in Mary Elizabeth who was from Morristown, NJ at the same time that they received me. together we were the 9th and 10th children, with the Shept...

Homeless people in Washington, DC and their advocates have been trying for quite some time to find out about the plans that the city and homeless service providers have for closing various shelters. It's been like pulling teeth. That's just DC politics for you. Nonetheless, people have a right to know about decisions that will directly affect them and to be involved in the decision making. After all, making the homeless feel like they matter and are part of society might help them to grow beyond homelessness. Furthermore, it makes no sense to close shelters or to decrease other human services in these tough economic times. The CCNV (Community for Creative Non-Violence) Shelter has been threatened with closure for years and those threats have yet to materialize. But we have reason to believe that DC Mayor Adrian Fenty might have a trick or 2 up his sleeve for closing CCNV. His predecessor couldn't close Franklin School Shelter either; but, Adrian Fenty pulled it off. The fut...

While I haven't yet had time to do the blog post about the planned closure of the CCNV Shelter as I promised, I wrote the following article for the STREET SENSE newspaper and decided to post it on my blog as well. Besides, more info about the closure is still forthcoming. I will write about it soon. In the meantime, I hope you find the following to be both interesting and informative..... Sometimes it seems that the homeless have no place to go. First of all, they have no home to go to. Then, they are often chased away from storefronts or told not to sleep in certain parks. Even shelters are not immune to being made to move on. The Central Union Mission was NIMBY'ed (Not In My Back Yard) out of its very own Petworth property and won't be relocating to the Gales School as previously planned either. Now the homeless shelter itself might become homeless after 125 years in existence. The Fenty administration is still reeling from the closure of the Franklin School Sh...

Lately, many people are beginning to take interest in the homeless issue. Maybe it's due to the economic downturn. Maybe it's because they realize that they're just a paycheck away from being homeless themselves. Maybe it's because they are seeing more and more homeless people on the streets of America. Then again, it might be all of the above. Regardless of the reason for their interest in the issue, It's good to see that they care. However, most people don't sufficiently understand the root causes of homelessness. Many believe that people are homeless by choice. this is only true in few, if any, cases. Those who "choose" to be homeless are usually mentally ill. Making an irrational choice as a mentally ill person doesn't constitute true choice as far as I'm concerned. Then there are those who believe that people become homeless due to their own missteps such as drug use, failing to pay the rent and going to jail. While this might account for ...