Poverty is a Death Sentence

Fairfax County, Virginia, and McDowell County, West Virginia, are only 350 miles apart. In suburban Washington, D.C., Fairfax County’s median family income is $107,000. That’s five times greater than the median income in rural McDowell County. The stark difference has life and death consequences. Residents of the West Virginia county die years younger. The link between income and longevity was examined at a Senate Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging hearing. “Poverty is a thief,” Michael Reisch of the University of Maryland testified before Sen. Bernie Sanders’ panel. “Poverty not only diminishes a person’s life chances, it steals years from one’s life.”

Only the Night Breeze

Only the night breeze sees you

     the way I do. The way I do.

Not even the loneliest star,

The loneliest star

Covets you the way I do.

Only the night breeze sees you the way I do.

You’re my vision come true

Only you know that song

That comes in the night

And only that night breeze

Sings for you the way I do.

Not the loneliest star, the loneliest star

Even all the way from heaven sent

Only the wind at night

      ‘neath that lonely star

Knows what your love to me has meant.

Only we hear that song

That comes on the breeze,

On a night no bluebirds along

Can ever my soul to please

On a night coming with a breeze.

Only that violet breeze at night

Knows what your kiss to me has meant.

Ever since came this private light

When you kissed me, my heaven sent.

Only the night breeze sees you the way I do.

And Every Dream to Be

You never leave me, never leave me.
Your love believes in me.

Eyes like pools of mystery; your honeyed hair I see

In my dreams and every dream to be.

You never leave me. Never leave me.

In my dreams and every dream to be.

You never leave me.

Your love bewilders me.

Enchanting eyes I see, your eyes I see

In my daydreams and every dream to be.

Your voice will always be

A song so bewitching me.

Your song awakens me

From every dream and dream to be.

You never leave me. Never leave me.

In my dreams and every dream to be.

Your hands you give to me

And I start to see, I start to see

Every dream, every dream,

You are every dream to me.



A SECRET FLUTTER

Above me, behind me, I could hear it.
A secret flutter.
It knew and I could hear it.
It knew I could hear it…

Fluttering. Your love fluttering away.

Quickly then this dove,
Escaped me.  Escaped me. 
Your love away; away and above.

I’ve lost this love. 
This love I’ve lost.
I’ve lost this love. 

This love I’ve lost.
Above me, behind me, I could hear it.
A secret flutter. Love fluttering away,
Fluttering, fluttering away.

This love I’ve lost.
I’ve lost this love. 
This love I’ve lost. 
Fluttering, fluttering away.

Appealing to the Collective Conscience

The meeting hosted by the good people spearheading Poverty Reduction Plan at SFU Harbour House last night was seriously inspiring. Especially the spontaneous presentation by Dr Gary Bloch who showed glimpses of righteous anger. It was gratifying to see a full house of people obviously from different wealth classes. Dr Bloch’s message in a bottle is: Poverty is a disease. It fosters ill health and the economic mathematics of creating ill people doesn’t add up when they can become well and contributing members of society again.

There was, however, a sense I got that these guest speakers were preaching to the choir. The real challenge is to successfully lobby the professionals, the high income earners; those who enjoy influence as a consequence of their wealth. The Poverty Reduction Plan being advanced by this organization is well thought out and is practical to implement. Its points are as follows:

Priority Actions:

*Increase welfare rates by 50% and index them to inflation.

*Remove arbitrary barriers that discourage, delay and deny people in need.

Simple enough. But our politicians through their repugnant lip service at election time are effectively stonewalling organizations like the Poverty Reduction Coalition, and killing people.

Obvioulsy more lobbying is necessary and timing is critical. Doctors like Gary Bloch and many others have only so much time to commit. Bloch himself has been at this for 10+ years. It’s time to focus: Lobby the establishment: the lawyers, judges, politicians, pharmacists and pharmaceutical companies; the unions, the real estate developers and agents. Start with them. Within every grade of establishment one may find the conscientious either through their religious affiliation of their understanding and appreciation of human value. Every human being has value. Not just the rich. Every human being needs to be acknowledged by all of us that that individual can make a real contribution to his or her society like so many recovered alcoholics and drug addicts can attest. According to the Reduction of Poverty  Coalition, 400 organizations have already signed up representing a collective membership of over 300,000 people throughout the province.

And a lot more are needed. Individuals from every background and profession. If graphic artists and web site developers were among their membership; lawyers and more doctors, teachers and nurses and Yes, even pharmacists then imagine the pool of professionalism this coalition could call upon to help spearhead this campaign. Within every grade of establishment one may find the conscientious either through their religious affiliation of their understanding of human value. That’s where we’ll find these people. Are there not real estate agents of social conscience who can join? And developers? Executives from Big Pharma are welcome too. They all have a conscience in there somewhere.

And the holdouts? SHAME THEM!

The Right Honorable Pierre Elliot Trudeau taught us about striving to realize a ‘just society.’ So let’s get on with it!

The process is simple: Join this coalition. Help them inspire; organize; consolidate the organizations of like-mindedness; pitch to the professionals and the general public and then shame the establishment hold-outs. And with or without the unions on side but with strong enough numbers, stage a general walkout. Freeze the economy. Only in the wallet will some people get the buzz.

To quote the coalition’s literature: “We can afford this! BC has had the highest poverty rate in Canada for the last 13 years. We are very generous. Once a comprehensive poverty reduction plan is fully implemented, it would cost between $3-4 billion per year, while the cost of not addressing poverty is costing BC $8-9 billion per year in higher public health care and criminal justice costs, and lost productivity.” Who can argue with these numbers? Here’s hoping that economists will join this coalition and volunteer some of their expertise to lay out these numbers creating a ledger that we can all understand.

Let your conscience do the talking now and join this coalition by visiting: http://bcpovertyreduction.ca/take-action/join-the-call.

Thanks to a Caregiver

Dr Gary Bloch will be in Vancouver this week speaking at an event organized by the B.C. Poverty Reduction Commission. He believes poverty is intrinsically related to one's health. He's right of course and he's trying to raise the awareness of the establishment (other doctors, care providers, government members etc etc) that maybe some thing might be done here to make a positive change for us extremely poor folk. So thanks to Dr Bloch. Meanwhile, here's my two cents worth.

Attention:

Dr Gary Bloch,

St. Michael's Health Centre
80 Bond Street
Toronto
Ontario
M5B 1X2

From:

R Harry Langen,
harry.langen@gmail.com
deadsearevelation.com

September 23rd, 2014

Dear Dr Bloch:

Was intrigued and encouraged to read about your concern for the desperately poor people of Canada. You may count me as one. You are right to acknowledge that good health and a livable income are intrinsically connected. I can cite myriad examples. Housing that isn’t hopelessly bug infested and is equipped with a separate bathroom and little kitchen fridge to store and prepare decent food is a rare find. As you well know, unhygienic living conditions and good health do not go hand in hand. To the extremely poor, medications must all be free; not just certain ones. For example: itch medicines are not covered by the ministry in B.C. This means that if you have a horrible, itchy rash it’s only going to get more insufferably worse. People who are not on disability are docked any funds they might make outside their paltry welfare cheque. This is nothing short of draconian.

Rather than extend this letter by 10 pages listing other insults to the poor suffice to say that once you’re on your financial knees it is extremely difficult to get up again; and almost impossible if you have health issues, mental or physical. Learning how to dog-paddle in a toilet bowl might be useful. 

A disproportionate number of the mental issues here in Vancouver find their root cause in drug use. Ever since the onslaught of $2 hoots (crack), people of all ages have been felled; like a forest of souls being clearcut. When you add street drugs or alcohol to the creepy diet of someone who is suffering schizophrenia for example, you are effectively sentencing them to a life of horror.

When the police arrest mentally ill people for being intoxicated in public they have been no less than brutal and mocking. So much for ‘sensitivity training.’ I have advocated for them at sentencing hearings and finally the judge will get the drift that they are simply not capable of functioning normally in this society (a society I consider and have witnessed to be thoroughly corrupt). The system successfully criminalizes them twice which goes to their lack of self esteem; and eventually clinical depression.

Whether you can agitate effectively to make any changes in our society is open to question but that you desire to do this, to champion our plight, makes you a hero in my book. Allow me to make a few suggestions that you might want to include in your discourses with the powers-that-be.

Absolutely guarantee that all homeless people be immediately housed and that the $375 a month be paid directly to landlords who aren’t thieves. (A national study was done recently about how to resolve the “homeless crisis” and after two years and millions of dollars paying the hands-off bureaucrats for their wisdom they came up with their grand solution: Find them a home.”

The police need to enforce the law. The state of east Hastings with its constant 24 hour solicitation of crack etc (the chant around here is “Rock, powder, down…)” needs to change drastically. We have parades of these solicitors out front of the Carnegie Library on Main Street and along east Hastings for two blocks. Within spitting distance of the main police station. These dope peddlers are dangerous people and they are fronting for gangs like the Hells Angels. The cops’ excuse: They just get released again. Too many in court. No room in jail etc etc. That is not their business. Their business is to enforce the law. Let the system clean up itself after the law is enforced.

Now with the solicitors out of the way, let’s give these mentally challenged (thanks Crack) a chance at success by housing them; and where there are no structures in which to house them, then tent them as a temporary resolution. If the natives can do it at Oppenheimer why can’t the city/province/federal governments manage it?

When you have people in homes with some dignity and off the dope, you will soon have increased your labour pool. Train them in the simplest tasks; give them the integrity of employment and Hello world! They’d be thrilled with their first paycheck and all their old excuses would, as my mother was apt to say, “Dry up and mildew away.”

Anyway, it’s a crisis here. The wealthy new property owners are conveniently oblivious and uncaring as they leave their new and outrageously expensive homes vacant; and the politicians only seem to ring this alarm bell around campaign time. Lip service of the most cruel kind.

So if you’re ever in the market to find members of the extremely poor community to contribute some realistic ideas and possible resolutions while sitting on one of those nicely paid committees, keep my name front and centre, huh?

Thanks for showing some real care…

R Harry Langen