When General Motors reigned, the cry was, "As General Motors goes, so goes
the Nation"!
And the Nation did go the way of General Motors.
And today I fear that the cry is, "As Michigan goes, so goes the other 49
states."
I wish it were not so, but the Monster has found that it can eat out its own
underbelly and still appear to be growing bigger and more dominating. Like
any vicious cancer, it is fooling itself. The very act of feeding itself,
will bring its early death.
Which is not good news for any of us left behind on the rotting bones.
Carl Jarvis(the Cheerful One!)
----- Original Message -----
From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@comcast.net>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 27, 2013 6:07 AM
Subject: Re: [azcb-chat] Fwd: [leadership] Senate Bill to Reauthorize Rehab
Act
It does boil down to people and to dedicated watchdogs Carl. No doubt about
it.
We've been sorely betrayed by people with self interest at heart along with
a dictator of a Governor.
But, RSA folks ignore the obvious even in their own findings.
They just slap the hands of the culprits who misappropriate millions and
then allow new culprits to do worse in my experience here.
Effectively I see this state and other distressed states taking these funds
and then using them for other purposes which some might call money
laundering.
Well, I call it money laundering in fact.
It isn't just VR and IL dollars either.
These so-called libertarian, anti-government types like we have here are all
too happy to take the fed dollars and then run.
Problem with the feds is they don't enforce their own regulations ensuring
that federal dollars are used for the purposes intended in many cases.
Problem with local advocates is generally they dont even ask questions about
openess, transparency and accountability.
Meanwhile back at the ranch so many dedicated people in the field try to do
their jobs with dwindling resources as best they can.
Scofflaw states abound even in the public record of RSA monitoring, and I
have openly called for de-funding of VR programs here in Michigan as a
conditionality of compliance and to send a message to other scofflaw states.
But then again I wish the feds would rigorously enforce the ADA or even
apply 504 and 508 to itself.
Worse I wish the feds would actually jail some of the scofflaw banksters who
blew up the global economy.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carl Jarvis" <carjar82@gmail.com>
To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
Sent: Friday, July 26, 2013 10:16 AM
Subject: Re: [azcb-chat] Fwd: [leadership] Senate Bill to Reauthorize Rehab
Act
> Joe,
> Your experiences with Michigan's Blind VR services is at one end of the
> scale. Here in Washington state, we are toward the opposite end. While
> our
> services can stand some shaking up, the staff does make efforts to hear
> the
> consumers and produce programs that do meet people's needs. We have had a
> good relationship with the Feds over the years, even after the closing of
> Region Ten. The review teams from DC. have been thorough and
> knowledgeable,
> and have generated good recommendations for improving our services. And
> for
> the most part, the Department has had a good record of following up.
> This is not to whitewash the agency or the Feds, but we are doing well
> under rather lack luster leadership. But at least that leadership has
> understanding of the people it is serving. Just not enough guts to push
> for
> improvements and needed state dollars.
> We do have an active SRC. Sue Ammeter is currently the Chair, and comes
> in
> with years of experience on the Human Rights Commission and the King
> County
> Equal Opportunity(not sure of the actual name of the agency). She has
> also
> been our WCB president on several occasions, and is our current Advocacy
> Chair.
> We have several ACB members on the SRC, and the NFB seems to have
> abandoned
> their responsibility as Watchdogs of Blind Services.
>
> Carl Jarvis
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz@comcast.net>
> To: "Blind Democracy Discussion List" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
> Sent: Friday, July 26, 2013 4:18 AM
> Subject: Re: [azcb-chat] Fwd: [leadership] Senate Bill to Reauthorize
> Rehab
> Act
>
>
> Knee jerk response here:
>
> As bad as RSA has been I ddon't know if it would hurt to shake it up.
> Currently it is broken and broken badly. Monitoring of both VR and IL
> services have been a sick joke.
>
> I also don't think reserving 15 percent for transition services is a bad
> thing either so long as over all grants will be expanded.
>
> On tthe flip side we all know over all grants won't be expanded.
>
> And simply moving a function of an agency to another agency doesn't fix it
> either. That would be moving deck chairs on the /Titanic unless other
> reforms take place.
>
> Joe
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "ted chittenden" <tchittenden@cox.net>
> To: "blind-democracy" <blind-democracy@octothorp.org>
> Sent: Friday, July 26, 2013 1:28 AM
> Subject: Fwd: [azcb-chat] Fwd: [leadership] Senate Bill to Reauthorize
> Rehab
> Act
>
>
>> Hi to all.
>>
>> The note by Melanie Brunson below is self-explanatory and deserves your
>> full attention.
>> --
>> Ted Chittenden
>>
>> Every story has at least two sides if not more.
>>
>> To: azcb-chat@yahoogroups.com
>> From: Barbara McDonald <mrsmcdee@q.com>
>> Date: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 18:27:28 -0700
>> Subject: [azcb-chat] Fwd: [leadership] Senate Bill to Reauthorize Rehab
>> Act
>>
>>
>>
>> Begin forwarded message:
>>
>>> From: "Melanie Brunson" <mbrunson@acb.org>
>>> Date: July 25, 2013 3:34:51 PM PDT
>>> To: <rehab-issues@acb.org>
>>> Cc: leadership@acb.org
>>> Subject: [leadership] Senate Bill to Reauthorize Rehab Act
>>> Reply-To: mbrunson@acb.org
>>>
>>> Hello all,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Late yesterday afternoon, Senators Harkin of Iowa and Alexander of
>>> Tennessee introduced a bill to reauthorize the Workforce Investment
>>> Act, which includes the Rehabilitation Act. There are some
>>> significant (and troubling) changes proposed in this legislation.
>>> For starters, it requires that all rehab agencies set aside 15
>>> percent of their budget to provide transition services. It also
>>> splits up the functions of currently carried out by RSA so they can
>>> be moved to other federal agencies. The RSA would be renamed to
>>> focus on employment only and moved to the Dept. of Labor.
>>> Independent Living programs would be administered by the Community
>>> Living Administration at the Dept. of Health and Human Services.
>>> Please stay tuned for more. I have a suspicion that I will find
>>> more interesting developments to report to you as I go through the
>>> text in detail. However, I wanted to alert you to the fact that
>>> the bill has been introduced. The HELP Committee is planning to
>>> mark it up on July 31, so I plan to write a comprehensive set of
>>> comments before then. I will share them with you when they are
>>> completed.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Melanie Brunson
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Melanie Brunson, Esq.
>>>
>>> Executive Director
>>>
>>> American Council of the Blind
>>>
>>> 2200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 650
>>>
>>> Arlington, VA 22201
>>>
>>> (T) 202-467-5081
>>>
>>> (T) 800-424-8666
>>>
>>> (F) 703-465-5085
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> leadership mailing list
>>> leadership@acb.org
>>> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/leadership
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> Blind-Democracy@octothorp.org
>> http://www.octothorp.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-democracy
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
>
> _______________________________________________
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