Some Neglected Parasitic diseases are associated with race and poverty in the USA– but others aren’t. Info we all need!

Neglected by whom? not only the unaware people themselves, but the Government, who is barely paying attention at all. The statistics are only partial, since many states don’t report these, AND many Doctors are unaware of them or have no working info about them.

Some of these were imported centuries ago to the usa, or at least generations ago. Some are transmitted by Mothers to Children, or else by sexual contact . Others are from contact with people or animals, or contaminated environment including soil , water, surfaces, etc.

“It is now recognized that several neglected parasitic infections are also widespread in the southern US [4]. This finding is consistent with new US census data indicating that 20 million Americans now live in “extreme poverty” [5], with 1.65 million households (with 3.55 million children) living on less than US$2 per day in a given month [6]—a standard benchmark for global poverty. Today, the states with the highest poverty rates are all in the southern part of the country (Table 1) [7], and the nation’s poorest large metropolitan area (McAllen-Edinburg-Mission, Texas) and the eight most impoverished smaller metropolitan areas are located in this region [8]….” CLICK BELOW TO SEE THE WHOLE ARTICLE AND ALL THE GOOD LINKS AND CHARTS.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4154650/

HERE’S A GOOD TABLE  TO  SHOW WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4154650/table/pntd-0003012-t002/?report=objectonly

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Wow! Look at the high taxes people used to pay! During the early to mid 20th century, clear up to about 1980, our income taxes were huge ( with exception of the 1920’s). When they went down, we started having more poor and more economic problems at the level of the individual. There’s something to having a rich Uncle Sam, that seems to help Americans and maybe the poor most of all. Homelessness was NOT an issue then. Of course, I’m not saying this is the only reason we have so many homeless today- that’s another story.

https://ips-dc.org/seven-surprising-tax-facts-for-2019/

Extreme Poverty in the USA Has Increased. What’s the Christian Thing to Do?

photo from: https://www.economist.com

I was so shocked to hear that a certain homeless woman i know had been unable to get any foodstamps because in Oregon, she could only get 3 months worth per year and had a lifetime limit as well. Apparently only the disabled, elderly, and children can get foodstamps for any longer than that. This rather slightly built middle aged unemployable lady is skinny and very hungry! she had always worked but could not find a job or keep one lately. Her family is nowhere in sight, doesn’t seem to care, except her disabled mom who isn’t allowed to let her into her apartment, and who subsists on ssi .
The safety net has been cut to an unacceptable level. Vulnerable people by the millions are starving and homeless in America!
Some blame Trump.  I don’t blame President Trump for creating this crisis, as it took decades to get here. BUT apparently his policies and votes are not necessarily making it better in general. Maybe a few things are better, but the social safety net is disintegrating to an alarming degree. Congress of course, is the main culprit. The ones who claim  faith in Christ, need reminded of  what the Bible really says— see links below— and that they are accountable to God for how they treat the poor. The Protestant Work Ethic is not quite what they think it is, and they may be applying it to people who aren’t able to perform as they would like. These barely surviving people’s lives are wrongly endangered by their harsh policies.
We definitely, as states and a nation, need to get this issue addressed properly and stop causing more hardship and punishing the poor for circumstances they are not well able to address themselves.
We need to become a far more humanitarian nation, to our own citizens, and unfortunately nobody allows us to say, IT’S THE CHRISTIAN THING TO DO, any more. But it truly is.
The old supposedly Biblical adage about “you don’t eat if you don’t work” does not apply to anyone but the Apostles who were being told, —-Don’t just live off the hospitality of your host when you visit from town to town. But help them out daily instead- earn your keep— or rather, just be a good and helpful guest while staying at the homes of less than wealthy hosts.

However, this poverty thing is not about Apostles traveling. It is about the ability to survive for those who are not able to support themselves, and don’t have willing hosts or family to feed or house them.
The Biblical verse is not about women and children back home, it is about men traveling and doing the Lord’s work. Nobody in the Bible ever said that women and children are to be left without sustenance just because they don’t have jobs outside the home. Indeed, it says that women should stay home and raise the children. It has never told women to go outside their home to work or support themselves. It says that those who don’t take care of their own family or extended family are bad actors. But nobody is holding people to this standard.
The Bible has emphasized that “the king” ( or president) and those with resources in the nation should support the poor among them. This is what government took on, since the rich in this country have never really taken it on. Indeed, we need a much more Christian nation and government. NOT less.

1 Timothy 5:8

Lazarus and the Rich Man (a parable of Jesus)

Many verses about the poor in the Bible

The U.N. finds growing numbers of Americans are living in the most impoverished circumstances. How did we get here?

Top human rights investigator and the UN are criticizing the United States for failing the poor.

Tiny Homes: nice, pretty little shacks, cheap to make or buy.

IT BEATS HOMELESSNESS. 

And they are 100% respectable.

Nowadays we have a new popular phenomenon which isn’t so new- the concept of poor people living in a home of their own which is tiny.  In many cases, these homes are made by the owners, at a cost savings. Many use salvaged materials and free stuff.

The nice thing about many of these designs is the fact that they are movable , so you could tow them from one property to another, if say, you were leasing an acre or a lot. Many are very self-contained, including things like composting toilet, rainwater collector,  and off-grid sources of electricity  ( solar panels etc). 

If you have a place to park one, it may be preferable to renting a home at a relatively high cost, and helps some avoid homelessness. 

You can build them from scratch or from kits, or have someone else build one for you. See the linked article below for 60 styles of Tiny Homes.

>>>CLICK HERE TO SEE 60+ Tiny Home examples<<<

“Provide for the General Welfare” — US Constitution

Here’s a page about  the Welfare Act of 1935. As in, “provide for the general welfare” of US citizenry, which is a responsibility of the Federal government written in the US constitution.

Welfare Act and AFDC up to recent times

NEW FUNDING COMING FOR HOMELESS FAMILIES?

I REALLY HOPE SO! according to this article, there are requests being formally made to congress for big funding to be a part of the new bailout and economic recovery bills.

The article says something about the housing provisions being only a fraction of one percent of the entire bill. WOW. I think we should all call our senators and representatives and demand that it be 10 percent of the entire package, for housing families and individuals at or below poverty level. Then maybe they’ll make it an even one percent instead of just a fraction of that! This is only right and just. For God’s sake, they should be helping the people who hurt the most, in the economic depression we are facing. Not those damn fatcat bankers and their kind. Even their middle class employees should not get it easier than the poor, why should they? Welfare for the rich and middle class at the expense of the poor who truly need it ??? oh LORD! What has become of this nation?

Read all about it here:

article on new funding requests

to help homeless families

IT’S TRICKLE-UP TIME, MR OBAMA! OUR TURN!

this is a letter to President elect obama. If you agree, please write to him or send a message at his new website, change.gov :

Mr obama et al,
it’s simple but would kill 2 huge birds with one stone, yea turkeys.
ok:
it’s in a word: Trickle-up.
pretty obvious. Stop bailing out those big companies and banks directly. Start bailing all of America out, from the bottom up. You have got extreme increases is poverty and deep poverty coming on right now.
Create big stimulus grants to the most impoverished for things like cars, housing, and just plain increasing the lowest tiers of entitlement benefits. These poor have not been buying because they can’t, and cannot hardly even survive.
SSI, Social Security (lowest incomes), welfare, and unemployment (lowest tier), etc. And just plain poor people, including the working poor who are getting old fast, tired and doing without. People without other incomes and assets.
So you would be killing those 2 huge birds with the one stone: grants and benefit increases for those already suffering a great deal from poverty right now or soon, and the TRICKLE- UP effect when they buy the consumer goods or use a down payment to get into an FHA foreclosed home (another idea) or whatever.
This concept is going to increase in popularity but right now it is my brainchild and I have coined the term Trickle-up. It is obviously a counteraction to turn back the tide of greed and favoritism of the rich and affluent.
Mr. Obama, don’t forget that many many people voted for you , to end that very favoritism that forgets the poor, and makes their lives miserable and unlivable.
You would receive nothing but praise if you did something like this (without any puppet strings attached to the recipients of the grants anyway). Sheerly to do good to them, and by doing so, benefit the whole economy and country.
Thank you, and God bless you all to do this to the fullest extent of His will.
–d

OH TO SLEEP OUT UNDER THE STARS

 or, STUCK IN AN APARTMENT IN THE CITY.

When I was a kid, we used to do that. We were an upper middle class family, with 4 kids. Not perfect, it was a dysfunctional blended family with a stepdad and half-siblings. But, we lived in the country, on a nice acreage, in a new house. It had a big front yard, and was on a deadend lane where few cars ever traveled. So we kids used to sleep out under the stars on those hot summer nights…. in sleeping bags, on the green lawn.

It was wonderful. Lying there looking up at the dark unadulterated sky, watching shooting stars among the millions and the Milky Way….and gazing into that endless universe. The country quiet, no lights in sight, the fresh cool air, the feeling of good and peace that we were awash in. Those were moments of truth as well— when you usually sleep alone in your own room every night, such rare moments count; as your sister and you are falling asleep, murmuring and musing about things you never would otherwise.

Well it has been decades since then. My siblings and I never talk. I haven’t spoken to my mom for 10 years. The dysfunction was just too unbearable over the years….. i married the wrong guy, we lived in poverty. I had 4 (living, oops, minus one….now 3 alive) children. We divorced. My kids grew up. I have 5 (living) grandchildren. My real other half, is somewhere else…. all of my kids and I, are living in poverty. I am on disability. I hurt. Arthritis and old injuries.

I now live in a HUD apartment complex. My neighbors have noisy fans and things that are absolutely vexatious, nervewracking, and hard to escape, in here…… the insulation is thin. The shade is not adequate. The yard is not emerald green (and hey it’s covered with dog sh*t anyway…)

Today and yesterday, we are having 101-103 degree temperature days. I am ok, because a few years ago i decided to prioritize and save enough to buy a small air conditioner for the bedroom window. The landlord’s stupid manager a few years ago, had allowed all the landscaping to dry out so badly, that several nice and needed shade trees had died on our apartment complex grounds. That meant my bedroom was completely, mercilessly left exposed to the full afternoon sun. I got very very ill from the heat, it even affected my heart. So it became a matter of life and death for me, to get an air conditioner in that specific window. Living on the ground floor, I am unable to leave my window open at night— for safety reasons. We have no locks that allow the window to be secure when open, like some windows do. So the heat doesn’t go away, unless i turn on the air conditioner.

The management has been bothering all of us,claiming that we cannot have air conditioners in the bedroom windows. And that, we have to take them out, and let the management’s people put them in for us. Usually costing a small fee. Well, I had already installed my hardware a few years ago, so i just put mine back in the window this year. For free. No reason not to. I figure, if they want to get on my case at this point, I’ll just say, “okay, I’ll have it out within a couple weeks”. Yeah. By September. The hot weather will be gone by then. Can you believe it? In this low-income housing HUD complex, they really want to bother us about this. They should be far more concerned about the possibility of someone dying or being hospitalized from ill effects of the high heat.

They claimed that we couldn’t have air conditioners in the bedroom window due to the fire code. So I asked my local fire marshall about it. He specifically told me, NO, there is nothing in the code that says that. And, to have the mgmt call him if need be. You see, the fire dept handles MANY more calls about people with emergencies related to heat effects- on the medical side . They don’t see people trapped in bedrooms with air conditioning units in the window— during a fire. You know, someone trying to get out the window.  it just isn’t statistically probable, it is a very remote possibility– so it makes sense to let people have their air conditioners in the bedroom windows, as far as the fire dept is concerned.

WOULD SOMEONE PLEASE TELL THIS TO HUD AND PROPERTY MANAGERS????? actually, i did tell the manager…..but he didn’t seem to hear. It’s the upper management. He just does what they say of course…and they do not care. I haven’t said anything to HUD yet. But i guess i’ll have to become an activist on that issue.

Today, stuck inside, albeit in the air conditioned apartment….( i know, it could be so much worse) … i was thinking, and praying: how good it would be, to live in a house with a huge green fenced backyard, with big trees, in a country setting….and have my other half, my kids and grandkids, all sleep over in that backyard, on these hot summer nights….under the stars. What a beautiful, lovely feeling, and vision it was, to imagine that…

Oh Lord Jesus, please, let it be!

POVERTY SPELLS DEATH– RIGHT HERE, IN THE USA

OH, YES. IT DOES SPELL DEATH. With the help of government and society who look the other way, and have slid into a current state of uncaring status quo on the subject. I know whereof I speak.

My daughter died recently, an incapacitated disabled adult in a guardianship. The guardian was not one of her family members. She died young, less than 30 years of age.

How did poverty spell death for her?

The legal system is based on money, and whoever can pay, will get the upper hand. Pay? yes, pay attorneys, who know how to navigate the system, and say the magic words, to open all the doors, of the den of thieves’ huge cavernous underground complex. Oh? yes, it’s kinda like, the System, Gulag, whatever.

And it just so happened, I was too intimidated by the past mistreatment i had experienced by the system, to stand up alone and represent myself, to take her away from this guardian. It just seemed too hard, I surely did not know how to do it. And time ran out, before I could do anything else to save her.

When I first saw Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, I was amazed at how much it truly contained mystical references to my daughter’s situation, down to having the same names, and all such things. And a sewage system maze that is ruled by a snake (devil), and a girl lying injured about to die…..

Only i, the hairy potter-ess, did not get her safe. She really did die. The snake in the system won.

The system made sure of her early death.

She died of a treatable chronic disease, that the medical establishment has trouble treating; but alternative and nutritive therapies work better with.

The guardian was obsessed with her, and threatened me, intimidated and cut off all visits and communications from me, for years. I have plenty of knowledge that I use always, about her specific types of health ailments, that are controllable / healable / preventable with good home health care based on good common sense, nutrition, and other therapies that work. I could have at least shared this information, but this guardian would have none of it. It was a very scarey situation, but no one would take my case (edit 8-15-08: the attorneys all wanted something like $5000 retainers, which i could not personally scare up even with credit).

At times I had to report problems to the authorities, and they did intervene a couple of times. But the adult protective services and caseworkers could not legally talk to me about my own daughter, yeah, that’s right: “confidentiality”. Supposed to protect people, but it is a very stupid setup that ends up harming plenty of people when their families don’t even get to find out what the victim needs us to know.

And they did not intervene enough to save her, obviously.

IF I HAD HAD THE MONEY TO PAY ATTORNEYS UP-FRONT, RETAINER MONEY, I could have gotten my daughter back.

First, she was stolen from me by her seriously abusive CONVICTED, INSTITUTIONALIZED, VIOLENT, DRUG ADDICT father , so that he would not have to pay child support; and he as much as stated, that he was after the SSI benefits that he applied for, in her name.

I did try two different free/ low-income organizations for legal help, but they both sold me out, rather malfeasibly; and sold my kids down the drain. I HAVE NO DOUBT THAT THIS WAS ATTORNEY MALPRACTICE. (but i did not know this concept til much later). After he stole them from me, when i was their only nurturer, he got to keep them, and abuse and neglect them, with the blessing of this evil corrupt system in this state (Oregon). This all started in the early 1980’s but as we can see, the effects have lasted til now, and are ongoing for my daughters.

Very long story, i am giving you a tiny little nutshell to make my point.

So the sold-out money- hungry legal system repeatedly failed my kids including the one who died. They grew up very damaged. Their lives have been in serious disorder ever since. Their relationship with me, the loving nurturing and intelligent parent, was completely alienated by the abusive parent—very typical scenario. Abusers do this to kids when they get custody.

Then the medical system, another sold-out- money- mongering scene…. failed my daughter. Because someone without a brain (the idiot jerk guardian, NOT my DD daughter!) , relied on it too heavily, minus any personal knowledge of good home care. Whereas she would have gotten the full smart mommy who does research, full good treatment from me at my home. She did not get the benefit of it.

i won’t even go into other aspects of abuse and neglect that occurred at the guardian’s home. Those were not so provable but why leave her there when there is so much probability?

So she died of an infection, and a whole system set up to kill the poverty-stricken. RIGHT HERE IN THE USA. It happens every day.

RICH & POOR INCOME GRAPH – ANIMATED, NARRATED

HOW ABOUT SOME POVERTY STATISTICS? I THINK THIS SHORT VIDEO IS RATHER EFFECTIVE IN A NICE ANIMATED GRAPH AND SOME GOOD NARRATION.

Poor Mothers and Kids Routinely Battered in Court

Motherhood is truly sacred. But mothers are routinely victimized in today’s courts, as are their children. Poverty is one of the factors determining their lack of success in the courts and associated process.

This author, Coral Theill, has survived such traumas that destroy motherhood and mother-child relationships, at the hands of those who should protect them. On the page linked below, she has resources, authors, and importantly, her own book about her traumatic experiences and her retrospective as a survivor.

click here to see her page

Section 8 Housing Choice, and the Foreclosure Market

The foreclosures are piling up, investors and middle class homeowners are losing their speculative real estate investments and even primary residences. Meanwhile, section 8 renters have been unable to find anyone willing to rent to them. A couple of years ago, the statistics show that somewhere in the neighborhood of 30 percent of section 8 housing voucher holders, had to LOSE OUT ON THEIR SUBSIDIES. THEY HAD TO RETURN THEIR VOUCHERS, AND RELINQUISH RIGHTS TO ANY HOUSING HELP. [THAT’S THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN THIS ONE STATE ALONE. MULTIPLY BY 50 ]….Because not enough landlords wanted to rent to them, for whatever reasons. Or, maybe the deposits and rents were way too high. So what happened to these 30 percent of poor, who lost out? where are they? well, no doubt, this may account partly, for the huge increases of homeless in that same time frame. THIS STATISTIC WAS RIGHT NEAR THE TIME WHEN HOUSING PRICES IN GENERAL, HAD REACHED SKY-HIGH LEVELS IN THIS STATE AND EVERYWHERE. And they haven’t improved, they may have in fact gotten worse for renters.

So now I ask…..in view of the foreclosure crisis as well…..

Why on Earth hasn’t HUD been using this opportunity to help section 8 voucher recipients to become homeowners?

Some housing authorities allow the voucher holders to BUY, not just rent, housing with the vouchers. That makes sense! Poor people desperately need to develop equity in something. It does not cost the program any more than renting. It helps society in general. It’s a great option. BUT NOT ALL HOUSING AUTHORITIES OFFER THIS CHOICE OF BUYING VERSUS RENTING WITH THAT VOUCHER!

That’s why I say that HUD should wake up, and require all the housing authorities that can afford it, (or help them afford it) to give that buying choice to all the section 8 voucher holders. This is the moment, or coming soon, when house prices are the lowest since what, 15 or 20 years ago?

This is the opportune moment, to get those low cost housing payments into the hands of the low income renters. AS OWNERS.

SO, i AM GOING TO BE CALLING ON MY SENATORS, REPRESENTATIVES, AND MY LOCAL HOUSING AUTHORITY, TO TRY AND URGE THEM TO GET THIS TYPE OF THING GOING.

IF YOU AGREE, OR GET A GOOD IDEA ALONG THESE LINES TO HELP THE POOR IN THIS HOUSING CRISIS, THEN WHY NOT CALL YOUR LEGISLATIVE PEOPLE AS WELL. AND YOUR HOUSING AUTHORITY.

WHY SHOULD ALL THE OPPORTUNITIES BE GIVEN BY HUD, TO ENTREPRENEURS AS INVESTORS, WHO WILL THEN “FLIP” THE PROPERTIES AND PROFIT OFF THEM BY DOING WHAT THEY ALREADY DID, RAISING THE PRICE TO MAKE A PROFIT? BUY LOW, SELL HIGH. THEY SHOULD NOT BE THE ONLY ONES TO BENEFIT FROM THE FORECLOSURE CRISIS.

HUD AND THE RULEMAKERS, SHOULD TURN THIS CRISIS, INTO OPPORTUNITY FOR THE POOR, THE DISABLED, THE ABANDONED WIVES, THE BATTERED WOMEN, THE STRUGGLING OVERWORKED OVERTIRED SINGLE PARENTS…. AND JUST WATCH THE BENEFIT AND THE IMPROVEMENT TO INDIVIDUALS, AND SOCIETY IN THE USA.