On Apr 20, 2006, at 5:17 PM, jthorn65 at sbcglobal.net wrote:
>>
>
> If Marta had come out saying that she felt that disability issues
> were treated as issues of convenience
> rather than the life and death struggles that they just as
> frequently are NO ONE would have said one
> negative thing to her.
I doubt it John. You all love a scapegoat just like the rest.
>
> Instead she came out saying that Mexicans are taking benefits that
> she needs and she deserves more than
> they do. That is the crux of her argument. The 'merican disabled
> are more deserving than "the other".
I think I said that Vicente Fox is the real problem -- that he has done nothing but people in the position to flee across the borders, he has not taken care of his people. But that got ignored.
> Then
> she blasted people with crap about how they don't know how hard it
> is to live on $800 a month. How can a
> person reasonably expect a sympathetic ear when they are scape-
> goating a group they perceive as both
> weaker and less deserving than they are?
I don't perceive them as weaker -- how could I when they have the center of the stage??? And they aren't less deserving. They deserve the best like everyone. It is just that the US cannot take care of the entire world. Those countries have to solve some of their own problems. With your take why don't we just let all the starving Africans in here too. What good would that do in the long run? They need to create their own economies and thrive like many have started to do mainly thanks to the organizing of women. Good grief. You put your own twist on things.
> If sympathy is your first response when you hear that type of
> argument you're a better person than I. I don't mean that to sound
> snide. I wish I were up to that task.
> Perhaps if I were a stronger willed person and/or someone who
> carried less baggage concerning racial
> issues than I do I would be able to do that.
Yeah, I think you are overly sensitive given that I started talking about my neighbors who are whites.
> It isn't that I don't know or care about Marta's pain. I really do. I
> hate seeing anyone eaten up by pain, fear and desperation. I've
> been there as have millions of other
> people. I've busted my ass helping people who were at the end of
> their rope and just needed some help. I
> have no tolerance for racism however and almost no inclination to
> feel someones pain when they try to play
> the race card and argue they are more deserving than some other.
> That is, in all honesty, just too much to
> expect of me. Having been on the receiving end of too much racial
> prejudice I just see red when that
> argument is trotted out.
Don't think I went there.
>
> I know Marta is basically correct that a large number, probably
> even the majority of self-described leftists,
> when they hear the phrase -disability issues- roll their eyes and
> think "Fuck, you already have the best
> parking space and a ramp. What the hell do you want next?" The
> immediately visible signs of progress for
> disabled persons are perceived as convenience issues that are not
> serious.
>
> My SO's sister just had her medicaid benefits cut by $100 a month.
> If it weren't for the fact that the drug
> company that produces Remicade makes it available free to a handful
> of worst-case scenario patients (so
> they can study them) she would be unable to walk. Medicaid won't
> pay the >$1000 a month the treatment
> costs and her $650 a month disability check only covers the bare
> necessities. I nearly spend more time
> helping her than I spend with my own wife. I really am Marta's
> ally. As I said I train therapy pets, deliver M-
> O-W's and work with the elderly and disabled. I'm not ignorant
> concerning the issues she is frustrated
> about. Obviously I'm sympathetic to her cause or I wouldn't do what
> I do. But I have a big "fuck you" for
> anyone who argues they deserve medical care more than someone else
> based on their place of birth,
> gender, race, religion etc.
>
Does she also have Medicare or only Medicaid?
Marta
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