Tuesday, August 31, 2010

A Line in the Sand...

I have not heard much still on the Family Cost Participation as of yet, I'm still working on it.

What I have been hearing about, is the border, and in my opinion, I've been hearing way too much lately. Border this, border that, troops going to the border, troops needed at the border, for some reason this is an issue that has taken on huge proportion, and is overshadowing other things, like education, and the needs of those that Governor Brewer and our other legislators insist on neglecting in favor of the border.

Forgive me if this sounds too opinionated but here is my take on it:

We fail to realize that the border is nothing more than a THING, a line in the sand, it is not anything precious, no harm will come to it if there are no troops there, it is not sacred ground that is being violated by unauthorized crossings, but we are treating it as if it were a person or it was sacred ground that we have to throw all sorts of resources at to protect it.

The border is not what is important, it should have little significance, the troops should not be paying attention to the border at all.

Sound crazy?

I think that the troops and our government should pay more attention TO PEOPLE, NOT A LINE IN THE SAND.

We are paying way too much attention to the border and not enough attention to those who are living behind it. I truly wish that we could someday pick our heads up from looking at the line in the sand and look around at those of us who live here and see that there is a greater need of citizens in this state who are suffering tremendous hardship by the hands of our state government, not by the hands of "illegal immigrants". Unjustly burdening families of the disabled is something cooked up by our state legislature.

I don't hear them talk about giving up border safety, or stating they're going to reduce funding because they are broke, , or throwing their hands in the air saying that there is nothing they can do because they have no money, or the state can't afford all the resources they are putting on the border, and for what? To patrol a line of sand. What about the cities and towns in and around the border? If there is such a danger to our citizens, why not post troops near where people are living as opposed to the middle of the desert landscape?

I've heard different percentages thrown around, and while Governor Brewer wants to focus on the 20% of crimes allegedly committed by "illegal immigrants" she neglects to mention what she plans on doing about the OTHER 80%. Oh, I know, lets cut funding to after school programs for at risk youth so the number of crimes committed by citizens increases, and then it can look like we are taking care of the "illegal immigrant" problem. Good plan.

Let's face it, if someone broke into your home and stole your possessions, or assaulted you, would there be less damage if the person was a US citizen? Would you feel better or be less traumatized? Probably not. I know that there is a lot of drugs crossing the border, I do not debate that is a problem, but it would be a problem regardless, in my opinion, the bigger problem is the citizens that are giving them the business, if there was no profit in it, they wouldn't be doing it.

I apologize for the rambling, I just get frustrated, I just feel that a child's education, ability to eat, talk or walk should be more important than chasing people looking to work as well as provide a better life for their families across the desert.

Silly me.

Monday, August 23, 2010

Family Cost Participation is Rearing it's Ugly Head Again...

Okay, so I was wrong, there is rumblings now that the state is still trying to charge ahead with their Family Cost Participation Plan for therapies for children ages birth to 3. I still am dumbfounded by this, why in these economic times would we want to burden families with disabled children further, especially the working ones that pay taxes.

It makes no sense, Governor Brewer pushed prop 101 to tax us more for "education" (might I add that these services are part of the IDEA act, and do come under the Department of Education), nobody asks where that money is going or how it is being used, or why it is not contributing to this program. Maybe I'll call them and ask, I'll post the results of the conversation if I have one, assuming Governor Brewer's office will talk to me.

The draft indicates that the only recourse for parents is to apply for "reviews" all of which are run by the state, who have a vested interest in having the parents pay for services that their taxes already fund.

Who knows how this will all go down, it's crazy to me, the state has made no hesitation to violate our children's civil rights before, I don't doubt they will try to do it again.

Thursday, August 19, 2010

Apoligies...

I am sorry I seem to have been out of touch for a while, but things have been quiet, at least I haven't heard much, and we just moved to a new home. My son has aged out of the early intervention system, he just turned 3, and is now in a developmental program in the school system, so my guess someone probably took us of the mailing list on his 3rd birthday, so I'm not too sure if I would hear anything.

I have noticed on other sites that they are going to implement a team approach for services going forward, which I do believe is a good thing, increased communication is always a good thing, streamlining and becoming more efficient and making sure everyone is on the same page is a good thing too. I wish we could get a first hand experience as to how it works, someone will have to keep me posted.

Be aware anytime a new programs starts like this there will initially be confusion, that is just par for the course, change no matter how positive is always met with some resistance, it will take some getting used to.

Has there been any word on the cost participation? I haven't heard, if not implemented soon, my guess would be our local politicians will be hesitant to push it with elections coming up, I think the last thing they would want would be for one of us to show up on their opponents commercials discussing it, but logic always seems to evade me when it comes to our politicians in AZ.