Who can tell me sth about the American Dream

[DanaC]

I really dont understand all the flak that seems to come Marichiko's way. I hear that story and I think, Damn I would hate that. I hear that story and I am amazed she is still trying at all. How many people faced with those kinds of difficulties would just give up on life? Maybe if she'd been born with those difficulties everyone would be a little more sympathetic. The fact she has been poisoned in adulthood and had her mental faculties severely hampered and her career pulled from under her feet seems to engender at best disbelief and at worst disdain. Get a grip guys, give the woman a break for fucks sake.

The American dream is alive and well because it is precisely that, a dream. Whether or not the dream is as achievable for many as it may once have been is a different question altogether. I'd like to think as an ideal you wont let that one die. Right now I suspect it's a dream which many share but which few achieve. Maybe if people like Marichiko and the millions of other Americans who have been abandoned by their system at various times in life could be given a little more compassion and help and rather less bitchy disdain and hostility then they too may be in a position to pursue their dreams.

[jinx]

Mari - what was the source of the CO?

Originally Posted by jinx

Mari - what was the source of the CO?

It was a faulty home furnace, Jinx. I had a CO detector in my home, but the thing was malfunctioning which I didn't know 'til after the fact. I was renting a duplex which belonged to my Mom which is why I didn't sue my landlord. I did make a claim with her homeowner's insurance when the doctor I saw from disability told me the damage was permanent. Unfortunately 3 years had passed by time I was finally able to get this verdict, and the homeowner's company took defense behind te two year statute of limitations rule in Colorado.

[ladysycamore]

Originally Posted by DanaC

I really dont understand all the flak that seems to come Marichiko's way. I hear that story and I think, Damn I would hate that. I hear that story and I am amazed she is still trying at all. How many people faced with those kinds of difficulties would just give up on life? Maybe if she'd been born with those difficulties everyone would be a little more sympathetic. The fact she has been poisoned in adulthood and had her mental faculties severely hampered and her career pulled from under her feet seems to engender at best disbelief and at worst disdain. Get a grip guys, give the woman a break for fucks sake.

The American dream is alive and well because it is precisely that, a dream. Whether or not the dream is as achievable for many as it may once have been is a different question altogether. I'd like to think as an ideal you wont let that one die. Right now I suspect it's a dream which many share but which few achieve. Maybe if people like Marichiko and the millions of other Americans who have been abandoned by their system at various times in life could be given a little more compassion and help and rather less bitchy disdain and hostility then they too may be in a position to pursue their dreams.

Thank you for saying that Dana. I can somewhat relate to Mari's situation. While I haven't gone through half of what she has went through, I went through quite about enough BS with the state of PA, and currently, with stupid ass doctors that don't know what the hell they are doing (I'll be switching docs in Novemeber).

[flippant]

You can find information regarding this matter @ www.riddle.wrappedarounda :p nightmare.com
This website is also linked to a lot of other nationalist sayings and abstractions.If you decide to follow this link you may start getting the picture.

Thanks Lady Syc and Dana and to CyberWolf, too. I sometimes get a little more upset then I should over some of the BS, but that's all it is - BS. As for my post about Brianna, well ... No, I'm still pretty pissed at her, and all I did was give her a dose of her own medicine. :p

Hey! Flip, my friend, lost your number and the number Little Chief Storm Cloud supplied me with was forever busy. Will try again.

[Ernestine]

Well it's probably really stupid to make my board debut in the middle of a heated thread but then - why try to be something I'm not, eh?

Marichiko, although my definition of the American Dream (nod to topic) is closer to Lookout's than yours, I feel your frustration and add my two cents accordingly. I have someone in my life who was on Ohio SSDI for several years -$550/month plus medicare/medicaid. It is not a government handout but insurance that we all pay into when we are working and healthy. There should be no more stigma attached to collecting on social security disability insurance than there is for submitting a claim against car insurance. He is now working part-time at WalMart for 6.75/hour so the SSDI checks have stopped but he still gets the medicare/medicaid. It's a good thing he does because his monthly cost for medication is $314. He has schizophrenia and couldn't possibly work without the medication so it's almost a Catch22 situation.

I don't want to derail this thread with too much talk about socialized medicine but the idea has been put forth here that people wouldn't need disability insurance or medicare if they lived careful, seat belted, apple eating lives. That simply isn't true. The number one reason for government funded SSDI is schizophrenia, a disease that strikes young people without reason or known cause. I think the number of people collecting it because they led reckless lives are a very small percentage.

Welcome, Ernestine! I've never discussed social issues with a basset hound before. I bet you have some interesting takes on things.

Your comments on schizophrenia are so right on and thank you for also stating the reality of SSDI payments in Ohio (which match those in the rest of the country).

Your friend is very fortunate that his schizophrenia is not so profound that he can't work even with the medication. I know several people with schizophrenia who draw eiher SSI or SSDI and even with their meds function only with the greatest difficulty. One, especially, is one of the sweetest kindest persons you could ever hope to meet. He'll let people who have nowhere else to go stay at his place - stuff like that. Yet he is so delusional, even with his meds. He thinks that he built the entire city of Colorado Springs and that he played in the band with the Beatles. He lives on that $550 a month plus $140 in food stamps. Needless to say, by the middle of the month his food stamps have been used up and he must walk 4 miles each way to the local soup kitchen because he is afraid of the strangers who ride the city bus system (which is worthless, anyhow, and too expensive for someone who gets so little money).

Many of the homeless people on this country's streets are schizophrenic. They can't navigate the SSI system on their own and don't understand or are afraid of the people in the agencies who might give them help. These people break my heart, but the rest of my fellow Americans view them with callous disregard.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by marichiko

It was a faulty home furnace, Jinx. I had a CO detector in my home, but the thing was malfunctioning which I didn't know 'til after the fact.

A reminder at the right time of year. Home heating systems should be serviced by someone that knows what they're doing at least once a year.

[Trilby]

Oh, you're tiresome. SSI is indeed 550/month but it differs from SSDI which is based on HOW MUCH YOU PAID INTO THE SYSTEM. My 12 year-old niece rc's 550/month in SSI payments because she has cerebral palsy and seizures--she is disabled, but as a 12 year old has, obviously paid NOTHING into the system yet she GETS the SSI as she qualifies. She does not get SSDI. Some people even claim SSDI and SSI together and get subsidized housing and food stamps and subsidized utilities. And they get free medical care (medicaid)---there are programs out there for voc-rehab, too. Who pays for those? You bore me with your incessant digging. No wonder you're in the mess you are in. Enjoy your wallow.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by glatt

I was wondering the same thing. I never shop at Walmart. Mostly because they aren't around here. But I do shop at Target. They are a good clean store with decent employees. Much nicer than the Walmarts I've been to.

Are they as evil? I never noticed that they had rock bottom prices on anything. I mostly just shop there because they have a lot under one roof.

Also, what about Home Depot? Lots of Mom and Pop hardware stores have gone belly up because of the Despot.

I don't know anything about Target.
Yes, Home Depot (and Lowes) have decimated the hardware stores. This is as much the fault of the consumer as it is the giants. OK, for major renovation projects I'll buy the giants make it easier, but if you want 1/2 lf of ten penny nails, why fight traffic, killer parking lots and crowds, to get them them. Half the crowds you're fighting, are there to pick up some little thing but wander around the whole store aimlessly like it's a cultural experience.
Worshipping the Big Box God? Bowing to consumerism? Trying to remember if there's any play left in the credit card? Damifino.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by Ernestine

Well it's probably really stupid to make my board debut in the middle of a heated thread but then - why try to be something I'm not, eh?

Hell yeah, jump right in and welcome to the Cellar.

He is now working part-time at WalMart for 6.75/hour so the SSDI checks have stopped but he still gets the medicare/medicaid. It's a good thing he does because his monthly cost for medication is $314. He has schizophrenia and couldn't possibly work without the medication so it's almost a Catch22 situation.

Damn, schizophrenia and WalMart! That's double jeopardy.

I don't want to derail this thread with too much talk about socialized medicine but the idea has been put forth here that people wouldn't need disability insurance or medicare if they lived careful, seat belted, apple eating lives. That simply isn't true. The number one reason for government funded SSDI is schizophrenia, a disease that strikes young people without reason or known cause. I think the number of people collecting it because they led reckless lives are a very small percentage.

Two separate topics, socialized medicine and disability ins/medicare.
In Marichiko's case, it was the result of something that's easily preventable. If her Mother (landlord) or the management company if there was one, had done the proper maintenance of the heating system, this wouldn't have happened.

Originally Posted by Brianna

Oh, you're tiresome. SSI is indeed 550/month but it differs from SSDI which is based on HOW MUCH YOU PAID INTO THE SYSTEM. My 12 year-old niece rc's 550/month in SSI payments because she has cerebral palsy and seizures--she is disabled, but as a 12 year old has, obviously paid NOTHING into the system yet she GETS the SSI as she qualifies. She does not get SSDI. Some people even claim SSDI and SSI together and get subsidized housing and food stamps and subsidized utilities. And they get free medical care (medicaid)---there are programs out there for voc-rehab, too. Who pays for those? You bore me with your incessant digging. No wonder you're in the mess you are in. Enjoy your wallow.

I continue to feel the same contempt for your statements. Refer to my post to you above http://cellar.org/showpost.php?p=122783&postcount=118 for my reply as well as any future replies of mine to statements you make.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Has anyone considered that at the time "The American Dream" was coined, there was a large immigration movement? Could it be the American Dream was escaping the oppression and/or the crushing poverty/stagnation of the old country? Having the opportunity to work, to work at anything and if you worked well, be rewarded.

[Ernestine]

Has anyone considered that at the time "The American Dream" was coined, there was a large immigration movement?

That's what I thought of first, Bruce. Since people are still fighting for the chance to come here, I think the American Dream must still be alive. I know several immigrant families who have come with very little, managed to open and run a small business, raise children, put them through college and launch them in professional jobs. One example is a Korean couple whose son is now attending West Point. I think, for me, that's the dream in a nut shell, the ability to give your children a better life than you had.

[Love your signature, Bruce.]