you're barely alive

I feel like just about everyone (well not everyone but I don’t want to talk about the gas drillers & frackers) is meant to lose in someway in this budget.  The governor will not, under any circumstance, consider any new taxes.  He’s open to suggestions for enforcement on current taxes.  [Uh, okay: why aren’t you already doing everything to collect the money the state is owed?]

One of the things that bothers me the most about his budget is the elimination of the general assistance fund.  Right now, if you are disabled and a doctor says that you can’t work, you (as a single individual) are able to collect $205/month from welfare.  Most of these folks (those deemed permanently disabled by their doctors) are required to apply for disability via the federal government (SSI or SSDI, depending on various factors).  If/when approved, the state is reimbursed for the $205 they were paying the individual while their case was determined.  Which basically means the actual cost of the program is a lot less than it appears. I also want to add that this process can take several years depending on other variables, and all those folks have is that $205 and foodstamps. 

When I first read Corbett’s budget proposal I had to ask a few of my colleagues if he was suggesting what I thought he was suggesting.  Because I think it is that implausible and yet, here it is on its way to a slow, painful and poorly planned death. 

Right now that $205/month is the only thing separating thousands of people from abject poverty. I suppose for most $205 is a drop in the bucket* but not for those who use that money to cover their housing expenses (clearly in a housing program or subsidized) as well as for transportation, medications, utility bills and super necessary things not covered by foodstamps (e.g. toilet paper, feminine hygiene stuff for the ladies). This is the safety net so many politicians claim is there to help the poor and Corbett (as well the Senate) are planning on eliminating it entirely. 

And what I find eternally frustrating is that a lot of the folks that receive these funds are not politically active and don’t/won’t have a voice.  I mean, they’re pretty poor so how much influence do they really even have in this ridiculous juggernaut that is 2012 politics?  

If you live in Pennsylvania and think this is a terrible idea or think that there are other really terrible ideas in Corbett’s budget, you can find out who your state Congressmen are (1 Rep & 1 Senator) and write or call them (I like writing, I find the phone calls awkward) here.

You can read the article for a more ind-depth look at the politics of it all. 

*bucket size variable

Can I just say how awful hearing about the WPIC shooting was?  How grateful I was that no one I knew was hurt and how heartbreaking it was to read about the employee who was shot and killed?

It was and I am and I cried.  But I also want to say that since then, over a month ago, there just seems to be a lot of finger pointing as to who could carry blame for this. 

I hate to say this (do I? or maybe I just hate to be so matter of fact for this) but I don’t know that anyone is really to blame except the gunmen. 

But Zappala says he believes an employee in the County Office of Behavioral Health blocked Shick from being committed, saying he hadn’t made any specific threats.

But the thing is, of course, that to be committed (“302’d”) you have to meet the following criteria: Danger to others shall be shown by establishing that within the previous 30 days the person has inflicted or attempted to inflict serious bodily harm on another or has threatened serious bodily harm and has committed acts in furtherance of the threat to commit harm to another. And from what I’ve read he didn’t do that. So why is Zappala questioning the county delegate at OBH? The whole baseball bat thing? He was using it to walk. Maybe he would have used it had he felt threatened or became angry but that didn’t happen and the way the law is written you can not take away someone’s rights (which is what happens when 302’d) just based on pure conjecture.

Also, you don’t need an OBH delegate’s permission to 302 someone if two doctors make the involuntary commitment petition.  That obviously didn’t happen, likely because he didn’t do anything 302-able.

The gunmen was smart - he sought out weapons in states that didn’t require background checks.  When the dealer in Oregon ran one anyways he went to New Mexico.  This is also pure conjecture, but had he actually been 302’d, I imagine he would have been smart enough to know what to say at his hearing to have the 302 overturned.  And then maybe he would have been even angrier at UPMC. 

I suppose I’m just putting this here as my perspective from a different angle that isn’t covered in these stories (which is, this is how complex human services works and this is why these things didn’t happen.  And I think Zappala knows how they work but PR is PR). 

After the Jared Lee Loughner incident in Arizona everyone asked how someone so ill could have had access to weapons, don’t we have laws for that?  But there, as in here, seems to be a misunderstanding of the laws of our country which is that he had never been involuntarily committed and therefore his name would never show up as do-not-sell in a background check.  It’s not like your name gets thrown up on there as soon as you receive a diagnosis.

I’ve been holding back saying this for weeks now.  Couldn’t keep it in any longer.

Should Western Psych gunman been committed?

Risperdal, introduced in 1994, is a “second-generation” antipsychotic drug that earned Johnson & Johnson billions of dollars in sales before generic versions became available several years ago. It is used to treat schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and irritability in autism patients. Risperdal and similar antipsychotic drugs have been linked to increased risk of strokes and death in elderly dementia patients, seizures, weight gain and diabetes.

I’ve worked with a fair number of folks that have taken this medication and other anti-psychotics.  They’re no miracle drug.  Johnson & Johnson has been fined for downplaying & hiding risks associated with Risperdal.  Sadly, their behavior is neither surprising nor new.  It’s been happening for decade. But don’t worry, they’re going to appeal this judge’s decision.

Ezra Klein, the Washington Post

Liz Schott, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, explains that states use about 30 percent of their block grants to fund basic assistance — what most of us would think of as “welfare.” An additional 15 percent goes to subsidized child care. Eleven percent goes to work supports. And the other 44 percent? Miscellaneous other things, including closing state budget holes. The end result is that fewer families get welfare. That’s not a “reform.” It’s a cut.

The gist being that all the big GOP names, Ryan, Romney, etc… are talking about “reforms” to other safety net programs - i.e. medicaid, foodstamps but the reality is that they are just looking to give states the money to distribute and that essentially means cuts will be made - as Klein says “Faced with welfare reform, states didn’t do more with less. They did less with less.”

(Source: )

Jason DeParle, the New York Times

The old program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, dates from the New Deal; it gave states unlimited matching funds and offered poor families extensive rights, with few requirements and no time limits. The new program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, created time limits and work rules, capped federal spending and allowed states to turn poor families away.

I’m not going to say TANF doesn’t “work” for some folks, but I can say that it definitely doesn’t work for some. But its existence and the ongoing need for it by some is such a nuanced and complicated topic I’m not even sure what would make for better policy. But if you were ever curious about welfare reform and how its working now, by all means, go on and read this article.

By Julia Scott, Marketplace

Step into pretty much any city library in America, and you’ll find all kinds of people in the stacks — students, retirees, and the poor and homeless. Libraries aren’t just for books or movies anymore. Increasingly, they’re a place to turn for job skills, shelter — and now, some social services for people who have nowhere else to go.