It’s obvious from the vote fraud and the “irregularities” (nice euphemism for “they screwed us”) that Kerry won the electoral votes. But for now, it’s time to bring back all my Bush jokes. I voted for Kerry because everyone said they wanted a strong and courageous leader, and according to the Repugnicans, Kerry shot himself five times to win those medals. That takes courage. He put shrapnel up his own ass, and that takes guts, doesn’t it? Then he pussied out and quit the morning after the “election.” Don’t get me started on Kerry, I’m more mad at him than I am at Bush.

(more…)

If you’ve been reading the papers, you may have heard that with Propositions J and K falling short of getting voter approval, major cuts are being planned for the City. These propositions would have generated up to $20 million the first year, and much more after that ($40 million sales tax and $57 million for business tax for 2005). As usual, poor folks are being hardest hit by the proposed cuts.

A lot could be said about why the tax measures failed, and whether Mayor Newsom put as much effort into them as he did into his more punitive measures that passed, such as Care Not Cash and the Anti-Panhandling Ordinance (Props N and M). Some are even saying this was part of a grand scheme to make the cuts he wanted all along without looking like the bad guy. On the other hand it is hard to say, because the very same corporate interests who backed him with over a million dollars each on M and N, opposed him on J and K. Apparently, cutting public assistance and putting homeless people in jail is a winner in San Francisco, while paying for services is a loser in our so-called “liberal” city.

(more…)

Probably the biggest frustration we face as advocates is the apparent inability of politicians and bureaucrats—and all too often, all too many people in general—to grasp the most simple, straightforward facts about the main cause of and mainstay cure for homelessness. But since simply throwing up one’s hands and admitting defeat is definitely NOT an option, we find ourselves repeating the same messages over and over, reworking and rewording them in hopes that someday, sometime, something we manage to say will strike a responsive chord in the hearts and minds of those whom we are trying to reach, and the necessary understanding will finally dawn on the people who make the policies.

So, please listen closely and repeat after me-once more, with feeling: The root cause of homelessness is… what? LACK OF HOMES. And the logical remedy for this problem would be… what? PROVISION OF HOMES.

(more…)

El dia 1 de Noviembre se llevo a cabo una vigilia para recordar a las personas que han caido muertas tratando de cruzar la frontera a este pais y tambien por las muchas mujeres que han muerto en la frontera de Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua. Asi tambien las muchas mujeres muertas en la frontera entre Mexico y Guatemala.este acto denuncia los ataques que este gobierno realiza en contra los inmigrantes con sus leyes migratorias que atentan con los derechos humanos mas basicos de los individuos.

(more…)

En los últimos 14 Años el programa de trabajadores ha brindado un esmerado apoyo a los jornaleros que se encuentran en el parque de la 16 y Potrero y también ha desarrollado un amplio trabajo en la calle Cesar Chávez donde actúan en la defensa y organización de los paisas para parar los ataques racistas de algunos vecinos, la Policía y algunos patrones sin escrúpulos que a veces no les pagan.

(more…)

Have you ever ignored the homeless people you see in street and yet wondered about their lives? Or perhaps you avoided encountering them to avoid feeling uncomfortable about what you saw. It’s easy when you do choose to look at them, to see their hopelessness, but ever considered how they became so clearly full of despair?

I did, and still do. It’s become my objective to explain, in tolerable, clear, and compassionate terms how homeless people live, think and feel. I’ve chosen to mostly use imagery to enable you to view their world from their personal perspectives… in intimate terms rarely realized or understood by outside observers.

(more…)

Proposition N was passed by voters in November, 2002, cut public assistance payments (CAAP) to homeless adult welfare recipients by up to 85% in exchange for services offered by the City. It was implemented May, 2004. We have been monitoring the implementation through data gathering, surveys of homeless people, and interviews with service providers.

(more…)

As far as I can tell, no human being on this planet has the ability to hold their bodily functions [fluids?] inside indefinitely. Sooner or later, it’s time to go, and when you’ve gotta go, you’ve gotta go.

Am I right? I realize that there is no delicate way to talk about an indelicate matter, like using public restrooms, but I’m afraid that’s what we’ve been reduced to, having to write an article like this as a way to persuade the mainstream citizenry to let “us po’ folk” use the facilities in a dignified manner. I have zero desire to talk about anyone’s private plumbing, or mine, for that matter. Urination and defecation are not high on my list of conversational topics, either.

(more…)

The rights of mentally ill and younger disabled are pitted against those of the frail elderly to justify a “steal” of LHH from the people of SF.

Concerned physicians at Laguna Honda Hospital, San Francisco’s innovative 50-year-old skilled nursing facility, are sounding a desperate 11th hour call to voters to protect their elders from being mixed in with the “mentally ill, criminals and predators.”

(more…)

If you were in the Bay Area on November 3rd, you certainly felt the collective despair. In an astonishing display of wishful thinking, many of us actually believed that the country, lead by millions of ethnic minorities, youth and working class voters, would swing Kerry’s way. It didn’t happen, and whether or not the election was rigged—something we may never find out, and that is the truly scary outcome of November 2nd—we will still have Bush in the White House and a Congress ruled with an iron fist by the most extremist right wing faction of the GOP.

How will this overwhelming right-wing power-grab play out over the next four years?

(more…)