Category Archives: Uncategorized
Life in Rahm’s Chicago. The death of a nameless homeless man in Logan Square.
They would rather spend $$$ putting up barriers instead of buying a nice suit, a haircut, a place to get a shower and sleep, and some good food…perhaps leading to a job offer….
The Kennedy overpass at Belmont and Kedzie.
A man who police say was homeless was beaten to death in Logan Square Saturday evening.
Around 10:50 p.m., the man, 59, was in an alley in the 1900 block of North Ridgeway Avenue when two people got out of their car and beat him with their hands and feet, according to Officer Janel Sedevic, a police spokeswoman.
The 59-year-old was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was later pronounced dead, Sedevic said.
While the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed the fatality, they were unable to provide any additional information.
No one is in custody.
In May, the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) began constructing concrete anti-homeless spikes under the Kennedy expressway at Belmont in Logan Square.
The overpass had provided shelter for dozens of homeless men.
The city built the spikes so high that it blocked the view of drivers…
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Hong Kong’s rising defiance challenges Beijing’s playbook on dissent
Go China democracy!
Labor Day.
Chain Reaction: One Judgment, One Word, One Label – Forever Tarnished
I promised myself that I wasn’t going to get on here today–try to get some stuff done around here, but alas, I couldn’t pull myself away from this heartwrenching post.
Having worked in a state hospital, I can say that everything he wrote is true in my experience.
Some of you might recall the story of the new psychiatrist whom was bullied by the staff with more seniority. They wanted her to give a certain drug to a patient. She refused, saying that it was not warranted for this particular patients’ issues. She had also brought up other stuff that the staff did not want to face. She was compassionate towards the patients and had designed a terrific video on exploring their feelings and the circumstances surrounding them–to help them recognize patterns so they could deal with them better. And one day, when passing on the sidewalk, she related the bullying story to me, but was looking around the entire time to make sure no one saw us talking! incredible.
Another story–a nurse came to the hospital to give a talk to the staff and I was videotaping it. She related her own story of being locked away in a mental institution where she was catatonic (not speaking). One nurse, however, kept talking to her every day. She would encourage her and tell her that someday when she was ready, she would talk again. And she did.
Another story–there was a patient that um, for want of a better word, “got around”. The staff labeled her as a slut. I was thinking that she was probably sexually abused and this was the way she had been taught to connect with people. How is she supposed to know any different when she has been disrespected?
Freud was all about power and control. He and others appointed themselves as the “authority” by which they decided who was mentally ill. They decided that women were mentally ill by being “emotional”….and that I believe is where the misogyny against women started…or at least got its justification.
I think there are different degrees of mental illness–some are temporary, and some, I think, are incurable and the person will never get well.
It is an interesting take on the temporary mentally ill as being on the verge of a ethereal breakthrough–that they have been chosen as a medium to bring about a message.
Finally, heavy metal poisoning must be addressed here–physical causes of mental illness are all but ignored by the profit-driven Big Pharma hold over the mental health system…
It has been known for centuries that mercury poisoning leads to mental illness (mad hatter’s disease), and yet, is never brought up as a possible cause when there are blatant symptoms pointing towards it–sensitivity to light and noise, difficulty talking (autistic), sensitivity to chemicals, loss of IQ points, aching joints and muscles, anxiety, depression, memory loss…I could go on.
One last thing, and then I’m done–it has also been known that gluten intolerance and schizophrenia are linked…and yet I never read any of this until just recently. This has been known since WWII at least–and then got buried when Big Pharma discovered psychotropic drugs.
We need to take the profit factor out of the mental health profession if we truly want progress…
Fair Food Fest
Weather Window, August 23-29
…aahh, the lovely chemtrails above the clouds in #2. Pfft.
Love the canoe in #12 and the dock amidst the beautiful scenery in #16. I suppose for some areas of Canada, the canoe is the only transportation. I am so envious. 🙂
Suad Amiry and the Absurdity of life under Occupation.
…the stories behind the battlefield…
I just finished reading Suad Amiry‘s Sharon and my Mother-in-Law. The books is a result of her Ramallah diaries (from 1981 to 2004), where she described her everyday life under occupation. Absurdity and agony would be the words to describe this book (the feelings it ewokes), spiced with a lot of humor. For example, there is the situation when Amiry’s husband Salim gets arrested during curfew , but not because he was breaking curfew. The reason for the arrest was that Amiry was refusing soldier’s orders to stop staring at him. Then there is Amiry’s dog, Nura, toy Manchester terrier who enjoys more political rights than her owner (Nura was granted a coveted Jerusalemite passport by her Israeli veterinarian in a settlement nearby Ramallah). Amiry decides to laugh about it all! To stay sane – you must find a way to laugh at things, otherwise – it’s easy…
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Breaking News: Governor Jerry Brown Appeals Vergara Decision
Republican Bob Huff…is acting all indignant about unequal education for minorities??
Bwahahahahahahaha. *snort*
In a much-awaited decision, Governor Jerry Brown has appealed the Vergara decision.
LOS ANGELES (CBS / AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown appealed a court ruling that struck down tenure and other job protections for California’s teachers, setting himself apart from leaders in some other states who have fought to end such protections or at least raise the standards for obtaining them.
Attorney General Kamala Harris filed the appeal late Friday in a Los Angeles County court on behalf of the governor and the state.
The move came a day after Superior Court Judge Rulf Treu finalized his June ruling that found five laws violated the California Constitution by depriving some of the state’s 6.2 million students of a quality education. He’d earlier said the system “shocks the conscience.”
The governor’s one-page notice of appeal said that under the state’s constitution “the important issues presented in this case — if they…
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Ruth Conniff: The FBI Is Investigating Charter School Malfeasance
Well, it’s about time!
You might recall that Michael Milken was a part of the insider trading scandal of the eighties. The guy has no qualms about cheating with other people’s money, so why on Earth is he allowed anywhere near taxpayer money??
Ruth Conniff of “The Progressive” reports that the FBI is becoming more assertive in its investigation of criminal behavior by charter schools. Charter schools receive millions of dollars of public money with minimal accountability. In some states, they have gone to court to fight public audits, claiming that the schools are public but the organization running them is a private corporation.
Conniff reports: “From Pittsburgh to Baton Rouge, from Hartford to Cincinnati to Albuquerque, FBI agents have been busting into schools, carting off documents, and making arrests leading to high-profile indictments.”
She adds:
“Charter schools are such a racket, across the nation they are attracting special attention from the FBI, which is working with the Department of Education’s inspector general to look into allegations of charter-school fraud.
“One target, covered in an August 12 story in The Atlantic, is the secretive Turkish cleric, Fethullah Gulen, who runs the largest charter-school…
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