Tick Tock Sheptock

It's been quite some time since my last blog post, as I've been pounding the pavement in my capacity as an organizer for Stop the Machine-Create a New World (www.october2011.org). I've also been spending a considerable amount of time at the other tent city located in McPherson Square on K street NW. The movement has come to Washington, DC and it's picking up steam. And the movement has no shortage of reasons for which to be outraged and rise up. Tom Donohue, the president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, recently stated that the government should stop bailing people out and helping them to maintain their housing. He literally said, in no uncertain terms, that" we need more foreclosures; because, government intervention is bad for the housing market". He evidently fails to realize that housing is made for people, not people for housing. He has lost his humanity and seeks only to do what is good for the market, irrespective of people's basic human needs. ...

When will the national movement implement "stronger tactics" that effectively usher in the "revolutionary change" that we are working toward? Well, Gerald Celente of Trends Research Institute (a think tank on worldwide socio-economic trends) has predicted that this country will see food riots, tax rebellions and revolution by 2012. And his long track record for accuracy has some people worried. But you don't need to be a well-paid academic to see that societal conditions are ripe for revolution. The news is chock full of reports of increasing unemployment, a worsening housing market and struggling families. The U.S. economy is so bad that Obama himself recently told people in a small town in Iowa that he doesn't believe that Washington knows best (and it doesn't). People have begun to polarize around Tea Party/Congressional demands on the one hand and the demand for the state to fund human need on the other, with there having been a strong u...

I apologize for failing to post regularly, as I have been extremely busy lately. There is a lot happening in the way of homeless advocacy and activism as well as social justice. I am deeply involved in the planning of direct actions which are designed to speak truth to power and encourage the U.S. Government to fund human need here at home, not wars abroad and Wall Street. Even so, here is something I wrote yesterday and e-mailed to many people. It sums up the CONTINUING homeless crisis: FOREVER HOMELESS -- Forward widely Many poor people in what has been said to be the wealthiest, most powerful country in the world -- the United States of America -- are doomed to be HOMELESS FOREVER. Now there's no telling just how long this country will retain those titles and some people think we're losing ground rather quickly -- which is all the more reason (in the eyes of Congress and the president) to put our precious resources into imperialistic pursuits abroad rather than domestic ...

We all still have etched into our minds the vision of former president George W. Bush standing on a ship under a banner that reads,"Mission Accomplished". Seven years later, he is still mocked and ostracized for that speech as the Iraq War rages on. Then there is the photo of Bush flying over New Orleans and looking so distant as people suffered below. Thus, he continues to be talked about for his failures -- both foreign and domestic. Some would argue that he actually DID accomplish his mission in New Orleans by willfully ignoring people whom he considered to be second-class citizens who were unimportant. This raises questions about the mission of any and all modern-day U.S. presidents and members of Congress. As a self-proclaimed Theistic Marxist, I see crapitalism and its kissing cousin named corporatism as the causes of many of our nation's societal ills. that said, I firmly believe that the governments of our nation DO have an over-arching mission and that ea...

In the course of history, more than a few people have found that they've been sent on wild goose chases or realized that they've been given a bum steer. Sometimes the misinformation is given intentionally. Other times it is given out of sheer ignorance. Sometimes it results in a person trying for years to do what can't be done -- the impossible dream. Consider the recent resignation of Robert V. Hess, the former director of New York City's Dept. of Homeless Services. He took on the job in 2004, with Mayor Bloomberg having set the goal of reducing homelessness by two thirds by the end of 2009. Six years later, there are actually MORE homeless people in the city than there were in 2004, due to a spike in family homelessness. (While homeless individuals are often blamed for their situation with some of them having used drugs or indulged in some other form of delinquent behavior, homeless families are understood by most to be victims of the economic downturn.) The econom...

The Committee to Save Franklin Shelter will host a MEETING TO "RECALL" (OUST) DC MAYOR ADRIAN FENTY The citizens of Washington, DC have more than a few reasons to want Mayor Fenty to be FORCIBLY removed from office early. His litany of offenses includes: 1 -- the fact that he is a flip-flop who pretended to care for the poor and homeless and has now been bought and paid for by the developers. 2 -- the fact that he ran on a platform of transparency and accountability and now heads a government that is plagued with scandals and is extremely secretive. (The amount of money lost during his term due to scandals exceeds the amount of money that has been cut from social services within the same time frame. The government could afford to care for the poor if we could get these scandals under control.) 3 -- his many broken promises which include: the promise to keep Franklin School Shelter open as a shelter, the promise to open ...

I posted an article that was forwarded to me via e-mail. It makes some very important points about why homelessness is not being ended in our country. Read and enjoy..... Can Life Be Lived in Dignity by Every San Diegan? BY Rocky Neptun November 12, 2009. East Village, San Diego…………… Bill Foster rolls his tattered sleeping bag up carefully, not to disturb the layers of newspaper underneath, avoiding the dirt soiled sidewalk and looks at me with a smile. He knows I’ll be good for breakfast and plenty of coffee. Almost clean-shaven, ruddy-faced without many wrinkles to show his 54 years, Foster often panhandles enough change for only one meal a day. He tells me he’s just no good at it, even after all these years. He sleeps in the downtown because “there is safety in numbers;” having been attacked by territorial transients along the San Diego River bank and by neighborhood youth when he moved to a creek near Bancroft Street in Spring Valley. “I have enoug...

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 ...

I usually don't blog just 2 days apart; but, certain recent developments in the case of the homeless woman who died in front of a homeless shelter warrant me blogging so close together. As it turns out, the Washington Post and the Washington Times have covered the story (which can be found on-line) and the family of the deceased might sue DC Government and/or the shelter in court. Furthermore, DC Mayor Adrian Fenty is on record as saying that the woman "chose" to forgo shelter and sleep outside. (I doubt he ever met her.) As the Washington Post article stated, the deceased was recorded on audio tape just 2 days before her death stating why she was not in the shelter (though I'm not sure as to whether or not it was as detailed as what she told me). Below is my June 9th post, which is followed by some "Additional Comments" about this wrongful death..... June 9th: This will, no doubt, prove to be the single most emotion-provoking blog post that I've...