The Lucky Pumpkin

I was going to write about Michael Jackson tonight, and as I was logging into my blog, I saw a comment by someone asking if I was going to blog about it. (Actually, I am wondering if it was a spam comment, some of those spammers are getting good at what they do.) Anyway, I might write about it later. In general, I think it is getting too much attention. But, I can’t really focus on that right now. I am thinking about the show that I have just got done watching on PBS. The show NOW interviewed Max Rameau, who is a community organizer in Dade County, Florida. His group is helping people to become squatters in foreclosed homes in the Miami area. (Miami was particularly hard-hit by the collapse in the housing market.) My heart feels so heavy that things in our country have gotten this bad. I am also feeling quite disappointed with Obama. I really did have high hopes for him, even if they were tempered by the fact that he had so little real experience. He sure spoke so much more eloquently than our last president, and that was so refreshing. So far, it seems like a lot of talk and no action. It also seems like the current administration is so concerned with pushing through universal coverage for health care that they leaped over what I feel must come first, HOUSING!!!! Seriously, what is more important to you, having a home for your family, or having insurance that you probably won’t be able to afford to pay for, anyway? How are you going to get to your doctor? In most areas of the country, there is not adequate public transportation, and certainly not for homeless people, that’s for sure. I think health care is very important, but housing has to supercede it.

What happened with the campaign promises? Max Rameau brought up a very good point; he said that the money that we, the taxpayer provided to bail-out the banks was to buy up the toxic assets from the bad mortgages, NOT to ALSO let the banks KEEP those houses! But that is what is happening. The banks got the bail-out money, AND they are keeping the deeds to those houses, AND they are evicting people. HUH?!?!?! If they “sell” the mortgages to us, the taxpayers and the government, they shouldn’t also get to keep those houses. It is like they are swindling us right in front of our eyes, and we are letting them! I thought that Obama was going to provide relief for people with the foreclosures. Very little has been done on this front, and what has been done, doesn’t appear to be working.

So, in Miami, people are breaking into empty, foreclosed homes. The police are reluctant to do anything about it. The people who break in have to pay the utilities. (Apparently, the utility company will turn on the power as long as someone pays, even if the home is in foreclosure.) You know, I am not a fan of breaking the law, but I have to say that it feels good to know that some people are fighting back. They screen people to make sure they are not breaking in to sell drugs, that they really are families whose only other option is the street, or living out of the car, or the shelter. The shelters do not have enough beds for all of the homeless people in Miami, so taking back the houses is what people feel they must do.

I am so horribly disappointed in our government right now. We spend billions, and billions, and billions killing people in other countries, and then we print some more money that we don’t have (they really are doing this, research it if you can stomach it, just printing money with no gold to back it, or any assets to back it, like you can just do that without ruining the value of the dollar…) and give it to the banks, but let the typical citizen drown because he or she made “bad choices,” by getting a mortgage they couldn’t afford. Yes, that did happen, and I really am all for personal responsibility, but I am also for CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY, too! What’s good for the goose, is good for the gander. If you bail out the banks, you should also have to help the people of our country.

It appears that Obama was the biggest conservative of all. All he has done is help the banks and the big businesses. I guess that all that the rest of us can do is go break into an empty house and hope the police in our communities are as understanding as those in Miami.

I am wondering why someone from the Vatican would be reading my blog. You are welcome to read it, I just find it odd that instead of getting out to work with the poor, and the poor in spirit, there are people out there scouring the Internet looking for dissenting catholics. Well, if reading my blog gives you insight into why so many people are leaving the church, or the real problem, are not financially supporting it, then read on. I would think that it would be obvious why this is going on, but maybe I am giving the church hierarchy too much credit. Perhaps they really are that out of touch with reality.

Let me give you another thing to think about. Today, I talked to a mother of a child with a disability. This child, unlike Emily, does not have any visible characteristics of her disability. She told me that they go to our church, “When they go,” because they don’t go much anymore. When they are there, they feel unwelcome. (Remember the church in Todd county MN, that got a restraining order against a longtime parishioner and her 13 year old son with autism? It is like that, minus the restraining order.) She said, that people give her dirty looks, so she takes the kids in the back behind the glass, so they can’t hear them, and people still turn around to stare!

What’s up, church? Restraining orders against kids with disabilities, ostracizing families of kids with disabilities, not educating kids with disabilities in your schools or in CCD, what’s next? I will continue to write about your stunning hypocrisy and your veering off the path that Jesus set for us; “Let the children come to me,” until you get your house in order. Oh, and of course, I will not give you one penny until these issues are resolved!!!!!

I have been thinking about how facebook really keeps people connected even if it is mostly passive. I think it is so wonderful that my kids will probably never loose contact with their childhood friends the way most people I grew up with did. Even if you change your email address, you can still keep in contact through facebook. I have been connecting with childhood friends, and it is so much fun. I remember my mom telling me that I would probably not keep in contact with childhood friends because it is too hard to keep up with everyone, and people drift apart. I think that is true in the old days, but with the new technology, that will only happen if you want it to happen. How exciting!