Thursday, November 24, 2005

More on the Evils of Richard Schlesinger and Ceebraid Signal!

Hummmm, the Club of Feather Sound! Rings of prestige and high prices. Now that the apartments have been totally renovated into condos and sold by Richard Schlesinger's company, Ceebraid Signal, still no one cares or gives a shit about what happens to the tenants. The units were called Pelican Landing until April of 2005 and starting at that time real estate investors bought up the units and then sold them to unsuspecting buyers from up north that were not familiar with the area or the previous owner's real estate scams and shams. Prices were highly inflated, property is in a flood zone, the units were in bad shape and had every kind of code violation, mold, flooding, poor plumbing, bad roofing and sink holes on the property.

The latest in the round of unfair treatment of tenants and new and unsuspecting buyers is no water. The land the units are built on is very unstable and drainage is in various parts of the property and links up to the bay and the man made bodies of water around Feather Sound, to include the Feather Sound Golf Course and Country Club. The Club had advertised the cosmetic changes that were coming for months before they actually started doing the work on them. These included drainage ponds that were going to be cosmetically altered with fountains and decorative hedges.

The water main broke during the initial work on these ponds on November 23, 2005. The tenants and new owners have had no water since this time and as of this writing on Thanksgiving Day, almost 36 hours now. No one can shower or even prepare their holiday meal, as they cannot clean up. Many of the people here have company. There is no one to call and no one that has offered to help the tenants, owners and residents living here, like perhaps renting one of the hotels nearby so people can at least shower. This is in violation of any kind of Health or Fire Code.

Tenants are taking water from the pool to flush their toilets and some are washing their hair in the jacuzzi.

Renters will never have fair treatment in our current system, but this even blows back to the people who just recently spent anywhere from $160,000 to $200,000 per unit in this condominium complex.

Here is just one link about Ceebraid Signal, there are many more online if you do a search:
http://www.apartmentratings.com/rate/CT-Hamden-Seramonte-276073.html

Wednesday, July 27, 2005

HURRICANE ANDREW and the Turkey Point Nuclear Facility 13 Years Later!

HURRICANE ANDREW and the Turkey Point Nuclear Facility 13 Years Later!

Thirteen years later, those of us in Florida live through hurricane season watching the weather reports and heaving sighs of relief when tropical storms head out to the ocean. Hurricane Andrew was the single most drastic and damaging event to our state and even our nation. Everything about the storm was not normal! Survivors say the lightning was green, that the eye wall of the storm consisted of massive amounts of tornadoes, that the storm, instead of dissipating once it hit land, increased in strength and that it buffeted the shoreline for over 6 hours. It literally devasted entire neighborhoods and cleared every leaf from every tree.

I would rather believe the people that were there than any official government story. It would have been to the government's benefit to lie or stretch the truth on this one, as it would save the government and the state from losing out on real estate and tourist driven revenue. Scant days after the storm, a full page ad worth thousands of dollars appeared in the south Florida newspapers encouraging people to come to Florida for vacations. Be sure to visit Disneyland! Don't forget your stacks of money!

As to the condition of the Turkey Point Nuclear Plant, this was the information from the official government site:
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/gen-comm/info-notices/1993/in93053s1.html
It is not clear whether adequate consideration has been given to the failure
(or malfunction) of nonsafety-related structures and equipment in the vicinity of a nuclear reactor which could jeopardize the proper functioning of safety-related structures, systems and components. As noted in IN 93-53 and in NRC NUREG-1474, at Turkey Point, Hurricane Andrew caused damage to a number of nonsafety structures and equipment:
. all (six) steel-framed turbine canopies collapsed,
. one of the two chimneys (associated with the two fossil units at the
site) was severely damaged,
. the base anchors for the vent stack on the Unit 4 containment were
lifted 10 mm [3/8 inch],
. ductwork from the radioactive waste building to the vent stack failed
due to hurricane generated missiles,
. the nonsafety high-water tank collapsed, and fell on various
fire-protection pumps and pipes, rendering one of the fire protection
systems inoperable.
In spite of the severe damage to a number of nonsafety items at Turkey Point, the safety-related structures, systems and components of the two nuclear reactors withstood the storm without damage and the reactors did not pose a radiological hazard to nearby communities. A systematic evaluation of the available logs and data by the licensee indicated that there were no unexpected radiation levels onsite or offsite..

With that much damage to the structure, I find the official story impossible to believe! Keep in mind that the structure was built to withstand 200mph winds and NOAA after 10 years quietly "corrected" the grade of Andrew to a 5 AFTER learning of foreign news reports and admitted that some of the gusts were over 314mph during the storm! So they are not telling the truth! I bet that if we looked into the amount of cancer victims in the Homestead area from that time period and after, that instance would be really high! The writer of the Where Heavens Meet story is very ill now.

http://www.whereheavensmeet.com/andrew/articles/nexus.html
Of course, the rather 'insignificant' incident resulting from Andrew's winds bombarding Turkey Point Nuclear Plant, wasn't aired by the news media either nationally or abroad:

From the MIAMI HERALD/Tom Dubouq, September 5, 1992: "Demolition crews toppled a 400 foot smokestack at Turkey Point [nuclear] power plant [owned by Florida Power and Light Company] Friday, September 4, 1992. The stack, which had a 200 foot gaping crack, was dropped without a hitch, a Florida Power and Light spokesperson said. The other smokestack at the plant will be salvaged. Turkey Point will be shut down for several months while repairs are made. The cost will exceed 90 million [dollars] according to an initial damage report… When Turkey Point was built in the 1960's, its main structures were designed to withstand 235 mph winds. Hurricane Andrew was clocked at 164 mph at the plant. Florida Power and Light officials don't know why the smokestack didn't hold up."

**The damage from the storm**
# Obliterated 102 miles of power lines & 300 towers
# 25,000 gallons of oil spilled into Biscayne Bay
# 7 million fish killed due to depleted oxygen in waterways
# 8% of all Florida agriculture destroyed
# 300 square miles of total devestation
# Directly after Andrew 1.3million without electricity
# 2,200 traffic lights destroyed
# 90%of small businesses destroyed
# 1 Billion dollars damage in Louisiana
# 25 Billion dollars damage in Florida
# In Homestead 80% of homes destroyed
# 10,000 acres of nurseries ruined
# 100,000 homes damaged
# 63,000 homes badly damaged
The People affected
# In Homestead 7,500 families left homeless out of 26,000
# After the storm phone systems overwhelmed with 80,000 calls per minute
# calls to police before Andrew 1,500 per day & after andrew 6,000 per day
# 14% of Dade County residents temporarily unemployed
# 300,000 homeless right after the storm
# 41 killed as a direct result of the storm
# 140,000 unemployed in Florida
# 1 week after andrew 300,000 still without power

***All reports have conflicting numbers on the amount of the dead. Some say +10,000 and any number below that. There were many thousands of undocumented workers and illegals in the area. Now there are condos built over the trailer parks and the land value has gone sky high, part of the real estate BOOM taking place everywhere in South Florida. How convenient.

This is from one of the survivor's, KT Frankovich's site:
"One-hundred-million dollars worth of damage resulted from the nuclear power plant's smokestack having been cracked wide open. The nuclear plant itself, situated approximately 15 miles north-east of where I lived. How well I recall the leaflets circulated several months before Andrew struck, advising all residents within a "thirty-five mile radius" of Turkey Point Nuclear Plant, to be aware of the potential hazards involved if an event such as a natural disaster or unexpected catastrophe happened. Such a grim reminder of the Chernobyl tragedy. Could it be more than a coincidence that within 24 hours of Hurricane Andrew ending, all twelve survivors in my little group, including our animals, broke out in big raw oozing sores, which itched and burned at the same time? We suffered horrible headaches, making us so nauseous we had the dry heaves. And, our stomachs cramped badly from sudden onsets of diarrhea. These symptoms lasted well over three months and, within a relatively short period of time, each one of our surviving animals died from cancer."

Keep in mind that FEMA did not reach most of these people in the roped off areas and many of them died after the storm. These neighborhoods were in the shadow of Turkey Point. No emergency personnel wanted to go into those areas. Areas were roped off by the US military and the areas the most hardest hit were under martial law. In many cases, those who needed the most aid could not get to it, were ignored, left homeless and some were even arrested for stealing food. The lesson learned by these survivors: do not believe that FEMA and the RED CROSS will always come to your aid.

The class and speed of Hurricane Andrew was not admitted by the US government until AFTER KT Frankovich had done a speaking gig in Turkey at some earthquake sites and visited the survivors. As soon as she described her story to the foreign media, and the US got wind of it (pun was intended), then the class of the Hurricane was changed for the recordbooks and the wind gust speed was noted at over 300 mph. In other words, they lied the first time! They had the data, but did not want to publish it. They only published it because people that were SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD, were not dead and kept on talking to anyone who would listen. So they were forced to amend their preliminary official statements. It took them almost 10 years to do that!

No one wants a repeat of this storm. South Florida residents continue to live on the edge of fear.

Official statement noting the classification/category change of Hurricane Andrew:
http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/hurdat/andrew.html

See the gallery of pics here:
http://www.whereheavensmeet.com/andrew/gallery/frameset.html
(The 8th pic in this gallery was a famous shot in the press, of an old man with his pants balled up under his arm, standing in stagnant water, an expression of shock and disbelief on his face!)
#58 Turkey Point nuclear plant suffered $100 million in damage and sections of it had to be demolished. Click on the 58th picture--this is an image of one of the towers at Turkey Point being intentionally pulled down because of the sustained damages. It was soon rebuilt.

Background items:
Good summary and other assorted news blurbs:
http://www.cpr4democracy.com/blog/2004/08/survivor-says-10000-people-died-in.html
http://www.cnn.com/WEATHER/9909/14/hurricane.utilities/


Thursday, April 14, 2005

Top 10 Ways to Know Your Apartment Complex is GOING CONDO!

Top 10 Ways to Know Your Apartment Complex is GOING CONDO!
(Do a search on Ceebraid Signal and Richard Schlesinger!)

10. Mysterious surveyors show up and start measuring and surveying in the parking lots.

9. The rental office is no longer working on weekends and no new apartments are rented.

8. Lots of foreign national work crews start moving into empty apartments--about 5 or 6 or even more people to one two-bedroom apartment.

7. A few weeks later, work trucks start taking up all of the parking spaces.

6. After 2 or 3 weeks the rental office is closed due to being "refurbished." The rental office is "temporarily" moved into an apartment and the staff is only working two days a week (sometimes). Upon asking rental staff if the apartment complex is going condo, the property managers are tight lipped and neither confirm nor deny.

4. About a month later, none of the remaining renters can get anything fixed in their apartments even though they are still expected to pay their rent in full and on time per Florida Statutes 83.

3. Work crews start painting the apartment buildings even though they were painted 6 months ago.

2. Work crews start taking out perfectly good plants and trees and bringing in new plants and trees to replace the old ones.

AND THE NUMBER ONE WAY TO KNOW YOUR APARTMENT COMPLEX IS GOING CONDO IIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSSSS...

1. The rental community is invited to a wine and cheese party by the hanging of a door tag with time and date. When they attend the party, the real estate sales people try to sell them their apartments AS IS for an eighth of a million dollars!!!

Ceebraid Signal is one management company that is turning all of their apartment complexes condo. This started last year with apartment complexes in Clearwater, Florida, namely the Audubon in Feather Sound and this company is now working on another transition from apartment to condo with the old Pelican Landing into the exclusive "The Club at Feather Sound." What a joke! These are apartments with no closet space to speak of, half of them were not even done when renters moved in them. This property is simply filled in swampland with mosquitos galore! The renters were told that they were getting a deal by purchasing them, as they would get a discount.

Richard Schlesinger, 61, a real estate mogul who lives in a $13-million oceanfront mansion in Palm Beach, has owned apartment complexes in several states for years to include Connecticut, Pennsylvania and here in Florida. Ceebraid Signal's corporate office operates out of West Palm Beach. It takes a few minutes to even get a phone number of the office on the internet. The address of the corporate office is even harder to get and Dot (the kind lady who answered the phone today) did not want to give the address out when I told her I wanted to note my concerns to the corporate office in writing. It is like the corporate office operates in secret, like most apartment management companies these days.

Records show that Schlesinger has been sued several times and has been barred from participation in federal housing programs. That edict stems from a case in which he was ordered by the federal government in 2000 to pay a $500,000 fine after he admitted skimming money from a rundown Maryland apartment complex he owned. Back in 2003 he had problems with some local apartment complexes that he owned. This was noted by the St. Pete Times. Dependent children were not allowed to have entrance keys to get into the gated communities they lived in with their parents. When the kids came home from school some of that had no access to their homes. The argument by Ceebraid Signal was that only the leaseholders could have keys and that the parents had to put their children on the leases so they could get keys. The parents did not want to do this, as this made their minor or college aged children liable to pay rent for the entire lease period if anything happened to the parents. This Schlesinger sounds like a real honey of a guy, one who is motivated by money and definitely not motivated by doing the right thing by his tenants.

Please see:
http://www.nbnnews.com/NBN/textonly/2003-04-28/printall.html
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/06/03/NorthPinellas/Gate_stops_teens__ang.shtml

So now he is displacing many renters in this metro community by turning his apartments into condos and charging an eighth of a million dollars for 1185 square feet and no closet space, mosquitos, swampland and sinkholes on the property and selling these units AS IS to the present tenants. We were told that the units were going for $170,000 but with our discount for being long term tenants, they would work us a deal for $155,000 and some change. And on top of the paying a hefty mortgage, we were told we would need to pay approximately $250 in condo fees a month.

Low and behold, we just noticed the billboard today right on the northeast corner of Feather Sound Blvd and Ulmerton Road, right before the Howard Frankland Bridge. The billboard states the same price we were quoted, even though we are present tenants, have lived there for over 3 years and always paid our rent on time. The salespeople led us to believe that we, as long term tenants paying high rent that increased every year, were getting a deal with a wonderful discount offered to us as an incentive to buy our unit. How clever! And to add further insult to injury, anyone coming in off the street to buy gets a refurbished unit for the same price!

Schlesinger prides himself on being a good guy and says he is donating several thousand dollars for each unit he sells to Make a Wish Foundation or some other charity or worthwhile organization and there has been quite a media brouhaha with press releases flying about over this. He can donate to these organizations which really is a fine thing to do, but disregard and disenfranchise the people who are making him richer?

Everyone knows what his true motivation is! But I mean, really, come on! Who is he kidding?

Tuesday, October 05, 2004

An Unexpected "Three-fer," Michael Moore, Gloria Steinem and Anti-Flag!

Michael Moore came to the Sundome at the University of South Florida this past Sunday, one of his first stops for his "Slacker Uprising Tour," his speaking engagements happening in cities nationwide. He is working specifically on getting out the importance of the vote and to spread awareness that this time and this election, "the stakes are high!" and that everyone that CAN vote, SHOULD vote. Michael asked for the slackers of the world, the ones who sleep until noon, drink beer and do not care--to come up to the stage, register to vote and receive a free package of Ramen Noodles, the high energy food for slackers everywhere! All this was timed with the release today of "Farenheit 911," the DVD and Michael Moore's new book which is a compilation of emails written to Michael Moore from the soldiers in Iraq. It is titled "Will They Ever Trust Us Again? Letters from the Warzone to Michael Moore."

In addition, Michael Moore had some strong words to those who are attempting to debunk the rumours of a Military Draft coming up. He mentioned that more troops noted by Kerry, who had appeared at the same venue the day before, does not necessarily mean an escalation of war. But about the Military Draft, he said, "Do the math! There is no way that this war can be fought without more troops." He cautioned all young people that are between the ages of 18 and 26 or those that had children between those ages--with four more years of Bush in the White House, there WOULD be a Draft, and that in all reality, a draft exists even now, even though it is not called a Draft. With the "Back-door Draft" that requires mandatory duty at the front lines by reservists, even when enlisted time agreed on is served and completed, and the poverty and education drafts that Gloria Steinem mentioned later when she took the stage, the reality of the Military Draft is even more frightning. According to Moore, the Draft Boards in metro areas are already in place. Right now, the military is made up of those that are poor, want a college education and cannot afford it and those single and young married people that cannot find employment on the economy. Tuition has gone up 30% and the US per capita income has gone down 15%. The numbers make any steady job look really attractive and inviting to those that do not have much.

Michael covered all kinds of topics from the US government putting the Saudi Arabians' needs before US citizens when making decisions, the Chickenhawks' plan for a New American Century, the Kerry/Bush debate, Nader's decision to run for the Presidency, the REAL issues that affect all Americans and how those who will be voting for Kerry are in the majority. He reassured the audience that most Americans do not want assault weapons on the street, most need and want good Healthcare, want stronger Environmental policies, and the women want to be paid the same amount of money as men. He noted that our job for the next month is to make sure that we take people to the polls to vote and that it was the right thing to do. To the 50% that normally do not vote, they need to vote in this election. He noted that 65% of the people in America are either single mothers or people of color, the most disenfranchised groups of people and their votes count.

He also reported on a few gaffs made by the mainstream media, to include no information or story about the plane used to fly the bin Ladin family out of the country. It's tail number was researched by a Washington Post reporter and it was identified as the White House's press junket plane. Also, his vision of the future includes a female president for 2008 and he made a point of stating that she will not be a Republican. Michael reaffirmed that it was his duty to be a whistleblower when it came to the corporate media and their lack of coverage on certain issues and stories. He is going to make sure that they do their jobs. He said the easiest way to make him go away would be for the media to do their research properly and report the truth.

It was an "unexpected three-fer" as 70 year old, Gloria Steinem, the Mother of Feminism in America, a surprise guest and the punk rock group Anti-Flag, both working with http://www.PunkVoter.com joined Michael onstage. Gloria had some words to say about the status of Women's Rights, taking our country back, the importance of getting out the vote (in Florida, 3 million women did not vote in the last election), the war and other issues. She told a story about where she was the morning after Election Day 2000, at a speaking engagement in Palm Beach County Community College in Florida addressing a crowd of about 700 women. Some of the women at that event stood up and told her their stories of difficulties while attempting to vote the day before. Before they were done, Gloria had counted about 110 women out of the room of 700 whose votes were either not counted, were scared away from the polls, they had received wrong information about where and how to vote, or they had not been able to vote on the candidate of their choice. "That is how corrupt the system was," Gloria remembered. She also stated when asked about reproductive freedom, "Well, who supports reproductive freedom? Your rights have to do with who is making the decision, the government or you? Also, who has the POWER to make that decision?" She also stated that our government and its leaders being as right wing as they are has made her think that, "the fundamentalists in our government have become our Taliban and our Mujahadeen." Gloria also praised the work Anti-Flag was doing, thanked Michael Moore and said she agreed with everything he said and that does not happen often, when one agrees with another so completely. "Music is the way we can go to the public without passing through the media," she stated. Anti-Flag stirred everyone up with a rousing rendition of Woody Guthrie's song, "This Land is Your Land." Anti-Flag also did a show at Masquerade in Tampa on Sunday night with other bands that are also involved with http://www.punkvoter.com.

See a pic of the Sundome here:
http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/blog/2004/10/clock-to-november-2nd-keeps-on-tickin.php
Be sure to check Michael Moore's website for his latest appearances (there might be a few near you!) and take a few peeks at his Blog from the Road!
http://www.michaelmoore.com
http://www.punkvoter.com/
http://www.nwhp.org/tlp/biographies/steinem/steinem_bio.html

Monday, September 27, 2004

My friend Lindsey's Story--Where are the Black People?

The media has been ALL HURRICANE ALL THE TIME here in Florida and it is enough to make most of us barf--all of us here in Florida have had enough! While there is great and valuable information being dispensed to those who need it from the airwaves...there are some really stupid things happening, like for instance, at a grocery store magazine rack, a commemorative magazine devoted to Hurricane Charley with a picture of President Bush hugging a victim.

OK, OK, we get the message!!! Because of the Divine Providence of the Bush family, all the Floridians who were touched by this storm will have enough food and water and will be able to procure shelter for their families and go on living the American Dream. "We WILL rebuild," Jebbie says!

Not true! I know people who do not have a home to go to. The electric company or the fire inspectors have sealed off homes that are damaged and structurally unsafe and people that live in those places are left to sleep in their cars, stay with friends and if they have neither, they are on the street. Having no internet access or phone service does not allow them to have access to FEMA numbers or email addresses. People who are still managing to make it to work cannot access agencies for aid, as these agencies are open during working hours only and people are afraid they will lose their jobs if they call in sick. Some have no contact information to give to the agencies anyway, so they cannot be reached by anyone. A certain "Catch-22" and none of these things will expedite help and assistance to those who need it.

So, in short, those who are living paycheck to paycheck are screwed! They could not afford to evacuate and they could not afford to spend hundreds of dollars on emergency supplies. After the destruction, either they cannot go to work, or they go and cannot get aid because they cannot miss work to apply for it or lose their jobs, or their places of employment are not open or worse yet, destroyed...so more people are becoming disenfranchised, hungry and homeless.

Another thing that we here in Florida have noticed, all the media has paid attention to or taken interviews from are people from the middle class white neighborhoods. I can recall seeing one or two black faces and a few more Hispanic people shown on the TV during the coverage on all four of the hurricanes. It is as if these neighborhoods and the help needed by these people does not exist. What is more alarming is the status of the migrant farm workers and illegals that live in trailer parks in the farming communities. We have heard nothing about these people. How have they fared? Do they have food, potable drinking water and shelter? Is the number our press has given on the amount of the dead realistic?

And even worse is the status of the Haitians who were hit by Hurricane Jeanne early on and are now starving and have no water or homes, their portion of the Hispaniola island is one big mud puddle because of previous deforestation. We get less than two minutes of coverage on the national news on their fate. Pretty slanted and biased if you ask me! Where are the black people and do they count? (We already know they do not count when declaring political asylum or applying for immigration status!)

It appears that this administration and its cronies and the biased media do not consider African Americans or Hispanics and their needs important and their problems or tragedies to count during a disaster and it's aftermath. At least that is how we see it here in Florida.

People here have had it! There is no doubt that there will be a lot of people here in Florida putting their houses on the market and getting out of this state for good.

NOTE***Also, keep in mind that when you donate to the American Red Cross, and no one can say that they do not do good work, 41% of your donation will go to Administrative Operations of that organization. It is always best to donate to the organizations where you can get more bang for your buck. Organizations can be checked for a breakdown on their expenses and a financial plan on their websites or you can call them and request it in writing.

Wednesday, September 22, 2004

A Nostalgic Look Back--Cat Stevens!

Cat Stevens, musician extraordinaire, born of Greek parents in London is one of the most prolific lyricists of all time! The picture I remember of him as he launched onto the music scene back then is the one of the the most gorgeous dark and sensous man sitting on a wall with a cocky expression on his face dressed in black leather pants and boots and a fluffy ruffled white shirt. Men wanted to be like him and women swooned over this man's looks and his gorgeous folk-singer voice. I do admit, I was one of the smitten! I was hopelessly in love with him and had his pictures hung on my wall as a shrine to him!

At the time, as the girlfriend of a guitarist and a sister of a drummer and a singer in my own rite, I bought his albums and crooned his lush and melodic tunes with the grabbing hooks; the hooks that made you want to sing the songs over and over again! I saved my allowance and bought the--what seems like ancient now--33rpm albums and played them until the grooves wore out! All the aspiring folk singers of the time that had any kind of talent at all always had a couple of Cat Stevens songs in their repertoire.

In the late 60's and the 70's, Cat Stevens sold over 40 million albums world wide. Always an advocate of peace, Cat Steven's anthem to peace, "Peace Train" is still covered by other musicians today and his songs still get continuous airplay on classic rock stations.

Cat Stevens explored his spirituality in the 70's after turning to Islam as his chosen faith. He has made some controversial personal opinions in the past years regarding Middle East policies and government leaders, but never abandoned thoughts of peace and speaking out about his
beliefs. While still living in London and being a part of the Islamic community doing good works and donating time and money to charity, two philanthropic organizations that he founded himself. Royalties that he still gets from his music are donated to charity.

It seems unbelievable to me that this world renowned musical personality would be stopped from coming into the United States because of being noted on a Homeland Security Watch List. And his detention and questioning in Bangor, Maine yesterday raises many questions. Is this an example of racial profiling? Just what kind of danger to the US does this man pose as an advocate of peace and a recording artist and a world wide figure? If he had blonde hair and did not wear his Muslim robes and attire would he have been singled out at the airport? Is there concrete evidence that this man associates with terrorists or does he only associate with known Muslims in his community? How does this relate to religion, race, and ethics? Has this war that our country is enmeshed in become, in reality, another Crusades and Holy War? As a free and democratic nation and one that promotes equality for all, how was this kind of thing allowed to happen? And finally, where does the US government draw the line because it seems that the line is no longer blurry!

http://www.phillywire.com/Cat_Stevens.html

Sunday, September 12, 2004

FREEDOM MACHINES--A PBS / POV FILM! Check your local listings.

Narrated by Peter Dinklage, the four-foot, five-inch star of the film "The Station Agent," Freedom Machines will premiere on national television on September 14, 2004, on PBS’ acclaimed documentary showcase, P.O.V.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I cannot say enough about the film, "Freedom Machines!" After reading over the above statistics and as I personally know someone featured in this film and I work in health care, I came to somewhat of a realization of the plight of the disabled and the message of this film. Currently there is a move towards differently-abled people living independent lives, but their attempts to do this are thwarted by a number of different roadblocks that are noted by this film.

The differently abled people featured in the film told their own stories with such eloquence. And all were so brilliant and are offering and have offered so much to their communities already and have become productive members of our society. Their hopes, dreams and goals are just as important and valid as those of "abled" people and each of them has a remarkable story of their life so far. Some questions can be asked such as: why has most of our society decided that these people and their goals are not important and that their offerings and contributions to us are of no consequence? Why are there not enough funds granted to the disabled for the fantastic technological advances that we already have and that are constantly being invented and that are so sorely needed to make these peoples' lives independent? Even when the funding is available and is just sitting there locked down by the government?

Well, to state it simply, the current system does not work because it's laws are not backed up by releasing the funding to make independence a reality for the disabled. With most disabled people living at or near the poverty level, items such as $22,000 mechanized wheelchair become an impossibility for most. Medicaid/Medicare programs are used when the disabled person is "warehoused" in an institution or facility and these do not work with the States to facilitate total independence programs for the disabled person as they are out to make money, not spend it. Many times when there are grants or funding available for the "freedom machines" and they are petitioned for, there will be stalling techniques employed such as legal action needed, an appeal, a board member decision, or more medical evaluations for the disabled person. It is taken for granted that disabled people will not vote or petition the government for changes to the current policies. Indeed, sometimes the disabled person does not even have access to those who represent them in governmental agencies.

Therefore, the hope of having the freedom machines is always there, and is certainly promised and guaranteed by law, but rarely comes to fruition without some kind of a lengthy, time consuming process. The money sits there and the "freedom machines" do not get to the people that need them the most. Goals and dreams will always be promised to happen "later."

I called LaToya Nesmith, one of the young people featured in the film and she had some comments for me after I asked her what she needed now and what has been happening to her during two years that have passed since she took part in the film. She has been working hard to keep up with her studies and get into college by September of 2005. She noted that she needed a manual wheelchair but that she had to wait for five years to get it due to her move from New York to Tampa, Florida and the fact that she is no longer under Medicaid, but a Medicaid Waiver because of the move, making the wheelchair not covered by her current insurance. Her schooling has also suffered since some of the credits she accumulated in New York are not recognized by the schools here, so in effect she has had to start a major portion of her high school education over again. One class not recognized by Hillsborough County Schools (in Tampa) for instance, was Global History. She definitely fits as one of the students that the "No Child Left Behind" Act does NOT cover and she has tried to speak to government representatives about that, but to no avail, as this has created yet another hurdle for her.

LaToya uses what is called a digital dialogue phone which is used by the disabled when they have limited or no use of their arms and hands. Therefore she does not have to pick up the receiver when calling. When she calls the government offices or many other offices that she works with for aid, funding, school information, etc., she is hung up on or told to pick up the receiver. Or those that are answering tell her that they do not believe she is disabled and they refuse to give her personal information since they think their voices are being heard by others over a speaker phone. LaToya has heard that the fine tuning and improvement of the digital dialogue phone is happening to make it sound less tinny, but certainly not fast enough. What is even more important and what is needed so desperately is training for the people that are picking up the phones on the other end on how to answer calls from the disabled, what "freedom machines" are being used by the disabled and certainly more sensitivity training.

Not so long ago, cut curbs and ramps outside of office and government buildings did not even exist, now they are there and considered a normal part of our everyday environment. What Freedom Machines do is make it possible for the disabled person to have a HUMAN INTERACTION with others and just like the learning curve, there is no one way to do that, but MANY WAYS. Finally, disabled people were made equal to other US citizens with the enactment of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA but the genuine equality for all disabled is a long time in coming. Thanks to the wonderful people portrayed in this film for letting us in to see a tiny piece of their world from their point of view.

Zalala
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Some Statistics:

There are an estimated 54 million people with disabilities living in the United States. (U.S. Census Bureau)

There are nearly 7 million school-aged children with disabilities in the U.S. (Congressional Research Service)

Nearly 70 percent of working-age adults with disabilities are unemployed. (U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division and Housing and Household Economic Statistics Division)

Almost 40 percent of working-age Americans with disabilities live in poverty. (World Institute on Disability)

Fewer than 25 percent of people with disabilities who could be helped by assistive technology are using it. (Alliance for Technology Access) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA):
http://www.access-board.gov/about/ADA.htm
All About the Film:
http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2004/freedommachines/about.html
No Child Left Behind Act:
http://www.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml
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"Freedom Machines" will be nationally broadcast on September 14 at 10:00 PM (local dates/times may vary, see below for information specific to your area). The presentation is a special for the award winning P.O.V. (Point of View) series. Below is a list of the stations (with dates and times) in your area that scheduled a broadcast(s) of "Freedom Machines" as of 9/1/04 followed by a list of all the stations in your area (please verify this information):

Scheduled broadcast(s) of "Freedom Machines" near Tampa:

9/14/2004, 10:00 PM, ET, WMFE, Orlando Daytona Beach Melbourne FL
9/15/2004, 3:00 AM, ET, WMFE, Orlando Daytona Beach Melbourne FL
9/27/2004, 11:00 PM, ET, WEDU, Tampa St. Petersburg Sarasota FL

PBS Stations in your area:

WUSF/CHANNEL 16 Tampa, FL
WMFE-TV, CHANNEL 24 Orlando, FL
WEDU/Channel 3, CHANNEL 3 Tampa, FL
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PRESS RELEASE:Technology and the "Differently-Abled"
"FREEDOM MACHINES" PRESS RELEASE!
http://www.freedommachines.com
New Documentary Challenges Basic Notion of"Disabilities"
"Freedom Machines" Showcases "Enabling" Technologies - and Takes Aim at Barriers that Limit their Use--narrated by The Station Agent star, Peter Dinklage,"Freedom Machines" has its broadcast premiere Tuesday, September 14, on PBS’ P.O.V.SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- "Leave your misconceptions andlow expectations at the door."

That is the message at the heart of "Freedom Machines," a new film that has its television premiere September 14 on PBS’ acclaimed documentary series, "P.O.V."It’s a message that resonates for Susanna Sweeny-Martini, disabled since childhood, who is completing her college education with the aid of a power wheelchair and voice-input software; for Floyd Stewart, paralyzed in mid-life by a car accident, who uses "enabling" tools to teach other disabled people to lead independent lives; and for Shoshana Brand, who has blossomed as a small business owner with the aid of a programmable keyboard. These and other personal stories are at the center of Freedom Machines. Yet the film is also a story of broken promises and wasted human potential.There are 54 million disabled people living in the United States today. Yet, despite the promise of innovative new technologies and landmark legislation like the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), lack of funding, information, and political will have left crucial liberating technologies out of reach for most Americans.

Take Latoya Nesmith. A bright 17-year-old who dreams of becoming a translator at the United Nations, Nesmith is determined to get the best education she can. Yet the lack of assistive technology in her public school is a seemingly insurmountable hurdle.

"What happens is that every time it comes to ordering high tech equipment they ask for another evaluation,"says her mother, Felicia Smalls. "…This has been going on for the last four years, doesn’t matter what district."The lack of accessible tools has thrust many parents into the role of advocates - a role that has become a lifelong mission for Jacquelyn Brand, Shoshana’s mother. As the founder of the nonprofit Alliance for Technology Access, Brand urges all parents of children with disabilities to make their voice count. "We have to stand up and demand that our children be provided with these crucial, life-changing tools because nobody else will do it for us," says Brand. "We’re just asking for the same thing that all parents want for their children: the opportunity to lead independent and happy adult lives."

Fourteen years after the passage of the ADA, its promise of equal access to education, employment and other essential activities and services for the country’s largest minority group remains largely unfulfilled. Yet the film makes clear that assistive technologies are not just a human rights imperative-in many cases, they are also sound fiscal policy. "People should not be warehoused in a facility like cattle, but due to the lack of programs that provide assistive technology and attendant care, you have no choice," says Stewart, who, rendered quadriplegic in his mid-30s, freed himself from a de facto life sentence in a nursing home and now teaches others to follow his trail. "Why pay $65,000 a year to keep someone in a nursing home when $25,000 will allow them to live independently?"

Interweaving the stories of unforgettable individuals with commentary from the creators of assistive technologies, and advocates for disability rights and"universal design" concepts, Freedom Machines throws out old concepts of disability, showing that technological advances can accomplish the impossible. By emphasizing possibilities, the film challenges the very language we use. Dean Kamen, inventor of the first stair-climbing wheelchair, asks: "I want to play tennis at 75, I want that new knee. Is the new knee a‘disability device?’ It’s an ‘enabling device.’

Narrated by Peter Dinklage, the four-foot, five-inch star of the film "The Station Agent," Freedom Machines will premiere on national television on September 14, 2004, on PBS’ acclaimed documentary showcase, P.O.V.