Re:Obama has bigger challenges

After reading a classmate's blog about the promises Obama has made to allow some 12 million illegal immigrants to become citizens, I am struck by a couple of things. First is that the author seems to think that most illegal immigrants are on welfare and do not have jobs. I bet that this is a false assumption. Most illegal immigrants are working longer hours, for less money then anyone else in this country. This cheaper labor benefits the most affluent people and businesses the most, but also affects everyday people as well. According to NPR 5 percent of the labor pool in the US is already made up by illegal workers. Second is that it is not the fault of the workers that employers hire them and then do not provide the same services that they would to a documented worker. The businesses do this on purpose, they save money by not having to pay a living wage, or provide health insurance. They are getting the benefits of the labor without the additional costs. It is those businesses that should be held accountable for the extra medicaid money that is spent caring of illegal immigrants and their children. If Obama did allow these working, contributing members of our society to finally become fully accepted and acknowledged we would as a whole be much better off.

Don't Worry Everythings Fine

After reading an article in the Texas Observer about the overcrowding and underfunding of Mental Health facilities in Texas I wanted to look further into the state of our MH Hospitals. What I found was simply outrageous. In an extensive article in the Dallas Morning News from January of this year I learned that not only are the hospitals overcrowded, they are poorly run, abusive, money making machines for private MH providers. These providers not only do a bad job of running the MH Hospitals they also make a lot of money doing it. One such company, TPI, has facilities across the nation, but a larger number in states, like Texas, that have low regulatory enforcement. The article states that these companies are assessed fines, or even given the threat to shut down, but in a process that takes the meeting out of the public scrutiny these fines are greatly reduced and the threat of closing the doors never materializes. It is convenient that one of the CEO's of this company is married to the former chief of staff of Gov. Rick Perry. This kind of misuse of power and influence is absolutely despicable. To take people that are suffering from MH related issues and use this suffering as a way to pad your bank account, or to be an elected public official who continually denies funding to an important piece of our social network is, in my opinion, a great example of the polluting of the human spirit by money and power. These kinds of stories make me ashamed to not be out there fighting everyday against the corporate lobbyists in our capital.