Plight of the Disabled

“In time of war, when truth is so precious, it must be attended by a bodyguard of lies”

-Winston Churchill

Truth is truth whether anyone believes it or not. Perhaps in war, truth must be protected by a body-guard of lies. And, Since, in my lifetime, America has been constantly at war, we are "jaded" by war, "tainted" by oppression. Most Americans, under the oath of servitude taxation, have little time to philosophize about freedom or truth. Only a blind person can understand the life of another blind person. Only a person who spends his or her life in a wheel-chair, can understand the crippled. My good friend, Dr. John East, who served in the US senate from North Carolina, said to me from his wheel-chair, "The disabled life is hardly worth living." He was called a cripple on the floor of the US senate by another senator, his reply, "You're right I am a cripple." DR. East later killed himself. America does not mind sending its young men and women from its poorest homes to fight for her lifestyle. When they come back battered, they're mostly disowned. More veterans kill themselves than those killed in battle. Without a peep from the churches, America kills 3,000 babies each day. Without a peep from the school house, courthouse, church house, tax paid buildings were any type of exciting activity is going on (libraries, concert halls etc). Americans are able to totally ignore the disabled.

The disabled do not like to play the victim card. Even though, in my lifetime, I have seen politicians and pastors become profanely politically correct and interested in correcting discrimination against other minorities such as blacks, gays, women. The disabled, is the largest minority.

There was a law passed supposedly giving some attention to the disabled, "Americans With Disabilities Act" (ADA). Believe me, this is a totally useless legislation, I have brought many matters to their attention. Discrimination in stores-parks-cell phones (It is impossible for a blind person to use a cell-phone unless you have one you can speak into). I always get back the same letter from ADA, telling me to "hire a lawyer."

This totally blind, 100% disabled service connected, medical officer veteran of the Korean war era, was born in poverty, on a dirt road without power, phone, or water lines, In the dearth of Democrat debauchery of eastern North Carolina. I will never forget, as a small child (sighted then) seeing what went on at the negro insane asylum (now called Cherry Hospital, Goldsboro NC). The black men were all castrated, the women tied on the porches of the buildings, I still remember seeing those with the intelligence and energy to pick beans, picking green beans in a field, a man on horseback riding around them with a whip. This was the treatment of the disabled- mentally handicapped, in  North Carolina

Blessed to later travel the world (DR. Morris' passport has been stamped in 157 countries) I could not see but could sense what goes on all over the world. There are images which I wish I could erase from my mind... A burden to me in my prayer life...Refuges and hungry children at borders. Much of the turmoil of earth, so senseless, "we will bomb them until they want freedom." Bush 41 said, "a world in which there is the very real prospect of a new world order" (Speech before congress, Sept 11, 1991).  To president Bush 41, Bush 43 ,and anyone else who will listen, The only promise of a "New World Order" will only be when men have learned to love one another, "be kind to one another" (Ephesians 4:32).

The disabled desire to live productive lives. My friend, Catherine Vasalou, blind from birth, college at ECU and UNCCH, went to work as a typist at a local hospital everyday. An only child, she cared for and supported, both of her parents until their deaths. Catherine died in a nursing home. She told me by phone, just before her death "I have been ignored in life, I do not want anyone around me after my death. I have told the funeral home just to take me to the cemetery and bury me next to my parents." This writer feels very much the same way. The last thing that I would want, is for those who have stared at me and my disabled condition in life, to at last file by and stare at me in a box.

The worst thing for most disabled citizens, the attitude of American commerce (businesses) toward them. It is a known fact that disabled people make the best employees. They want a job, need a job, want to live from their own work, not from the slavery-taxation, of others or government.

I cannot speak for many, only for myself. I started making my living many years ago, selling collectibles online After the computer become popular. Before the computer, I sold rare books, vinyl records, ephemera, antiques. Mostly on a one-to-one basis with photographs to dealers.

With the internet, answer to prayer for home business I started selling online (Ebay, Etsy, OnlineAuction, AbeBooks, Gemm, Bananza, etc). I had 10,000 items on Amazon alone. A sabotaging employee, got my business kicked off from Amazon. I could give the police report, trial data etc. But it would do no one any good. Its suffice to say I lost my selling privileges with this huge company. Amazon has no empathy for the disabled. Any communication with this giant company, just an automatic-response. Most disabled people do not write something like this, or offer any complaint about anything. So many get a small government check, on which they must depend to survive. Many have told me that they will not jeopardize their check. As one women preacher told me, who went to a nursing home to pray for a member of my church, she told the man that she wanted to pray for his healing, he said, "You can pray, but remember I get a welfare check."

One of my cousins came to this city to visit me. I said, "I want to take you to lunch, were do you want to go?" He had just lost his beloved wife. "Lets go to the restaurant that you Marie and I went to the last time Marie and I were here with you." The two of us received no service at all (Middle of the Island, Wrightsville Beach NC). At the cash register, I asked the owner, "Why did we not get service?" I know that most of you will not believe this, why should I lie? The owner of this restaurant said, "I do not want disabled customers, It makes our normal people uncomfortable." Churches, schools, governments, businesses like Amazon, come to your senses, get generous, make everyone's life more comfortable. 

#1724

Jungle, Jumble, Jihad

People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you've got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta

Ungodliness is a state of mind. There was not a time when Jesus was not aware of the holiness of his father. Faith must be a way of life. This writer must have the faith to believe that God is involved in everything. Faith is a verb, action, based on belief, sustained by confidence. Faith must be life, a way of life. I have the faith to believe that God can subtract as well as add, that in the jungle-jumble almost Jihadist actions of men, IN HIS SOVEREIGNTY, God will handle everything, including the Jihadist actions of one company toward me. "Thou hast called as in a solemn day my terrors round about, so that in the day of the LORD'S anger none escaped nor remained: those that I have swaddled and brought up hath mine enemy consumed" (Lamentations, 2:22).

When you speak of a man's life, you talk about impact, what he does, the resourcefulness of the individual. It has been the resourcefulness of the individual that has made this nation what it is. Most businesses started in the home. I am old enough to remember the woman who started a large clothing-sewing factory in her home. Before the time of motels, there were "tourist homes." Most beauty shops, barber shops, started in homes. Today's large hospitals started in the private individual offices of physicians or surgeons. All new testament churches were in homes, large cathedrals, houses of worship were started and built at least a thousand years after the early church. Automobile garages-dealerships started in blacksmith shops. AND, we could go on and on of how commerce, "sick care", education, specialized services of every type started on a small scale, usually in a home. Before the time of bakeries, large self service grocery stores, mothers made extra money for the family by cooking at home and selling at the curb market.

In the curse of free enterprise, capitalism, governments want control. Now, there must be a permit or a license for everything and, in the fascism-communism regulatory mentalities that afflict the brains of some human beings, large must be better, whether with a smart phone or smart electric meter, your life must be controlled. One of the greatest curses in the modern municipality, homeowner associations. A small elitist group of "supposed" neighbors who regulate and control other peoples homes, people who pay for their home, its taxes, its expenses. Then, homeowners are told what they can and cannot do. Robbing the world of the greatest business model mankind has ever known, the "mom and pop" business, the strip mall concept of small businesses now being "ERASED" by the giants of commerce. This writer has traveled through Communist China three times since the reopening of China to the west. All the stores-businesses in Communist China, Russia, Burma, are much like your local Wal-Mart... huge buildings with great piles of things. Do you miss window shopping? The extravagance of having competitive-civilized service, in any type business? Rapidly coming, just robots doing everything-going through the motions. Watch what goes on in every business enterprise around you.

This world traveler has seen the beginnings of commercial entrepreneurs in developing countries. When you go to a city like Lagos, Nigeria, you find every type of business-enterprise in small stores-offices operated by concerned owners. They want to help you, please you and, this was the American capitalism spirit of my childhood.

The salvation of the small entrepreneur has been online selling. I will not go into every aspect of online selling, just my own personal business. In online selling, just as selling from a brick and mortar building, you face problems. You have all the problems of any other type of business; buyer remorse, employee theft and often disgruntled employee sabotaging, coding and keeping up with everything, postal and government taxes-services. You have wins, might even make some profit, in spite of government, not because of it. The bureaucrat-politician has no concept of what is involved in business success. Most politicians, like Obama have never operated a lemonade stand. The CEO's of most large corporations have never earned a living... they got their positions by knowing the right people, networking at the fraternity house.

Research in England tells us that 70% of all entrepreneurs think that their failures are due to themselves, not the problems afflicted on them by government and others further up the food chain. Time is always a factor and there is not enough time for me to pursue what I want to explain here. We live one day at a time and almost, before you know it, its tomorrow.

I am a totally blind veteran, Army Medical Officer, and I have made my living by investing and still work at age 85.

I am an antiquarian book collector, thousands of rare books and many other antiques (old things). I employ local university students who help me. We sell thousands of dollars in merchandise online every year. We make much money for those licensed by government in E-commerce, such as EBay, Amazon, Etsy and many others. They assist us and get a commission of our sales. We have no quarrel with that. But, Amazon has become a monster-Jihadist, terrorizing enemy of the small business person.

Their latest business model, Fulfillment By Amazon or FBA. To do business with Amazon, you transport your entire inventory to them, where you pay storage fees, handling fees and, if anything is left from their sale efforts, you might get some results from your years of time-efforts-energy. Just think, does this make common sense? You have spent your entire life-money-efforts, collecting, listing for sale inventory which customers might wish to buy. I have over ten thousand items listed in Amazon's sales catalog. Much of the ephemera (paper products) are old documents that have been carefully chosen-purchased, kept in plastic, in climate control and, like old books-vinyl records, kept in plastic-climate control. This company wants me to forgo all my years of training in handling such merchandise. To ship, at my expense, my entire inventory to them for their perusal and disposal. "When orders are received, we will professionally pick, pack and ship the product directly to your customer. In addition, our customer service team will manage customer inquiries, refunds, and returns for your FBA orders." In other words, the new model for American commerce, as in the communist system, big brother controls your business efforts as well as controlling your life.

In the jungle of the new world order, the jumble of financial duress (recessions, etc.). Facing terrorism everyday from some new direction, you now survive in business at the whim of Jihadist competition. The American spirit of free enterprise has been shamed previously by elitists (minorities-especially blacks in business, women in business, the disabled-handicapped in business efforts). Now comes the extremes of taking away from the entrepreneur, every tradition-discipline of self worth. Doctor Benjamin Rush, physician, signer of the Constitution, said, "I have been alternately called an aristocrat and a democrat. I am now neither. I am a Christocrat." What would Jesus do?

A new word in most vocabularies is the word “transparency.” The definition of transparency, according to Merriam-Webster, is “fine or sheer enough to be seen through.”

This new political jargon is being used very much in bringing to light much of the heretofore corrupt practices long hidden in government agencies. Even academia and corporations are being exposed by the light of transparency. Most politicians, when voted out of office, or retiring from active political life, are getting the big bucks (Dashell, Clinton, etc.) by lobbying for these American institutions which have taken great pride in keeping their activities hidden. Try getting information from FTC, FCC, USJD, or any of these other large bureaucratic agencies and you will encounter such darkness that only the sunlight of transparency, often with Congressional influence, can be uncovered.

As long as it has taken for the disabled citizens to have an advocate in the Justice Department (Americans With Disabilities Act, 1990), you will never get any assistance, whatsoever, from this agency. Not in the darkest third-world countries, in which I have traveled and been exposed to tyrants and corruption from the time my passport was stamped until I left the country, is there more exploitation. In some African countries, I have had my luggage taken out of the vehicle, and out on the ground, the authorities in charge just rifled through everything in my luggage. Now this is not the type of transparency we desire. In an airport in Lagos, Nigeria, I was sitting next to the British Ambassador, when a female American Peace Corps worker, who had escaped from Liberia, came over to ask for my assistance. The girl was having a nervous breakdown from the treatment she had received in that nation while Charles Taylor was still in charge. She said that any man in uniform could strip her and search her at any time. This is not the transparency which we desire. The transparency we desire as American citizens is honesty and integrity in our government, in our education institutions, in corporations.

Mr. Erskine Bowles, Chief of Staff for President Clinton, now President of the University of North Carolina system, a member of the board of directors of General Motors Corporation, and a director of other corporations (like Governor Terry Sanford, Dr. Henry Kissinger, Dr. Condoleezza Rice, and many other such well-known Americans, he probably makes more money as a director of corporations than he does as head of the University system). When he conveniently gave an $80,000 raise to the wife of the ex-Governor Easley of NC for as far as I can tell doing absolutely nothing, except being the wife of the governor, I asked, “Why is General Motors in such bad condition with you as a director and why is the University system in such bad condition with you as President?” It seems to me that these influential politicians who fight to get to the top so they can be appointed to these high-priced jobs and directorships should know all about transparency and be able to teach we peons about the value of a dollar and right way to live our lives, which has made them so successful.

One of the most frustrating experiences of my life when it comes to transparency has been my dealing with the perhaps largest corporation in America, Ebay. Ebay has over two million active accounts. Millions of items, every description, are placed on Ebay every hour of every day all over the world. I have been a buyer and seller (mostly seller) on Ebay’s auction line for many years. I have employed, since I am totally blind, many people to work for me in this auction business. I kept about 4,000 items in my Ebay store at all times.

In eight round-the-world trips buying antiquities and historical artifacts, as well as a lifetime of collecting rare books and other collectibles, Ebay has been a good vehicle for my sales along with other online businesses, such as Amazon, AbeBooks, Ebid, and even Craigslist. Of course, you pay a listing fee for anything you attempt to sell and since they own Paypal, Ebay has made a tremendous amount of money from my sales activities.

Yet, I challenge anyone to try to contact Ebay about any matter. They have completely isolated themselves from the public, from banks, from every federal and state agency I have contacted. At a reception at the South Korean consulate on Fiftieth Street in Manhattan, I met the ex-CEO Ms. Meg Whitman. She insulates herself completely from the public. It is that “big I, little you” attitude which persists throughout the corporation (now retired, she seeks governorship of California, will she be so untransparent there?). No CEO, politician, pastor, or any other citizen should be so high and mighty that they can degrade a disabled or any other human being for skin color or anything else. There is not a government agency that will challenge this large corporation at all. FTC, FCC, EOOC, and even the Justice Department. I understand, they pay no attention to any attorney’s letterhead and lack so much transparency and are so isolated from legal and commercial practices that they consider themselves unapproachable.

When any corporation becomes this tyrannical, the nation is in deep trouble. Life is too short for the citizens of a democratic republic to be inflicted by government, academic, or corporate entities who can be completely nontransparent to a world depending on transparency.

Boldness

For many years, I owned a very expensive, totally unnecessary condominium apartment in mid-Manhattan. It was a wonderful launching pad for my many trips abroad as well as giving this totally blind, 100% disabled decorated veteran a lifestyle which it is impossible to find in Eastern NC. I would usually spend one weekend a month in this extravagance. The apartment had a 24 hour doormen and all the other accouterments (fresh flowers in the lobby) that those that were not born in poverty only expect. In flying into the city too many times to count, the pilot would point out buildings of significance because for a first time visitor to New York City, it was, and should be a memorable experience. On January 16th, I could very easily have been on Flight 1549. Can you even imagine the boldness of the pilot of this plane when he ditched it in the Hudson River, and who because of his years of careful study in both the military and civilian flight, knew exactly the right approach to this problem? There are not very many heroes left, anywhere, anytime, anymore. But Chesley 'Sully' Sullenberger III is a hero. He, like the plane, had to be extracted from the river, and there is probably much cargo and many personal belongings that have to be laundered. Not one life was lost in the most frightening and terror stricken efforts to get everyone out of the plane with the heroism of the many who made the rescue possible. I thought it was significant that one woman who should only have been exuberant with the fact that she was still alive, wanted to go back and get her purse. This reminded me of an elderly man in my town, known only for his holding onto every dime possible (he would actually walk through a restaurant and pick up the tips left for the wait help). But, when his own house was burning and he and his wife had successfully gotten outside, he evidently remembered some money inside the house, went back into the burning house, so he had a cheap and inexpensive funeral.

On all of my flights circumnavigating the world 8 times (one round the world trip had 48 tickets in my flight booklet), I never had many close calls in the air. In Timbuktu, Mali (there is such a place) my first day there I saw a herd of goats being herded down the main street. The government only had two small planes at Segou when I was trying to reach the Dogon country, the two planes, one on which I was traveling, ran into one another on the airstrip. One of the most dangerous places on Earth to fly is Peru. Lima, the capital, is one of the world's most dangerous airports. On my second trip to Machu Picchu we had great troubles with a plane at Cuzco, the closest airfield to the ruins.

Easter Island is a small island 500 miles in the Pacific off the coast of Chili. A Chilean airliner only flies into Easter Island once a week, (at least that was the itinerary many years ago when I was there). The pilot, after he left the island, was instructed to fly low and obtain the number of a Russian vessel off the coast of Easter Island. To say the least, it was a scary experience to suddenly look out the window and realize you were about to ditch into the Pacific ocean. But he pulled up and we went on and continued the flight to the New Hebrides. I owned Dr. Samuel Johnson's first edition book on the Hebrides. I wonder if he had such an experience. Later, over dinner with an island official, he related to me just how dangerous that maneuver had been and I should complain to International Officials about it. I have learned in my long eventful life that complaining to bureaucrats about anything is just a waste of my time!

I can show copies of thousands of letters written to the Federal Trade Commission about commerce practices which are absolutely criminal, but you get nothing in return from them but a generic letter which they send out to anyone that writes them about anything. The best just happened recently, you should try this. I wrote them about the absolute fraud and non transparency when it comes to one of the countries largest corporations, EBAY, a company that does business all over the world, who has over 2 million active accounts; (you may,online, see for yourself just how extensive this company and its business portends). From FTC, after writing a concise, well documented letter about my complaint, I received a printed brochure from them and a generic letter which said 'we hope you can find the answer to your problem in the enclosed brochure, if not, write us a letter.' Hypocrisy is a word which means nothing to the average American. As George Bernard Shaw, the Irish playwright, stated long ago, ' If you rob Peter to pay Paul, Paul will always get all the votes.' Certainly, if you have two purkinje cells still functioning, from recent elections and the trash spewed at you on national TV, you know that this is true.

Eastern NC lies in the path of many horrific hurricanes. Most inhabitants my age, and even younger, will never forget Hazel or Floyd. A few years ago, one hit the coast and, as always, electricity and the entire coastline came to a standstill. I was in my house for one week without electricity, knowing about the rest of the world by a battery radio. The imbeciles running for election care so much for everyone, do not have enough intelligence to have organized law enforcement or others to routinely check on people who are disabled, particularly those living alone. We all know, that the churches stopped being concerned about anything but the collection plate, long ago. However, a group known as the Baptist Men of North Carolina, who have their trucks and food preparation trailers, go to places of disaster and, I understand, (I have never eaten any of their food or been a beneficiary of any of their services) prepare food for those in need. The Baptists had set up for this particular event on the grounds of Winter Park Baptist Church (Wrightsville Ave, Wilmington, NC) A black woman and her husband Isaac had done some work for me at an office complex which I owned, stopped by my house on their way home several counties away, (an area which had not been touched by the hurricane.) She said, 'we have been coming over each day to get food from the truck at the Baptist church. She further stated all our neighbors are doing the same. He said, ' their cars look like mountaineer moonshiners because there is so much food in the trunk that the car is tilted upwards at the front'. She said our dogs and hogs love that chicken pastry that they cook. All our neighbors are feeding their hogs with that good Baptist food, she said '. We will give you some, but we know you have food in your house.' This is the type hypocrisy which should be sickening to every 'so called' Christian and to the good people who give the money for this worthy practice. I called the local Cape Fear Baptist Association of NC and spoke with the person in charge of association activities. In the usual seminary pathos, effected voice he said, ' we just hope we will reach some people in need'. He asked nothing about my own situation, I feel sure that he cared nothing about the fact that my only child and his wife and children were on the foreign mission field. The time has long past for those who bare the name of Christ to show some “boldness”.

In 1991, Congress passed Federal law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of workers' disabilities. The act is designed to protect the rights of people with virtually any physical or mental disability. It protects consumers in that it makes discrimination against the disabled illegal in public accommodations, transportation, and telecommunications. In industry, it applies to companies with 15 or more employees and protects job applicants as well as employees, commonly known as the ADA. which gives some citizenship to the countries largest minority (Est. 38 million) those with disabilities. As I have said in at least 10,000 letters leaving my home over the period of 40 years, that I have been totally blind, in the American experience, next to slavery, the greatest shame of this nation is its treatment of disabled veterans and handicapped citizens.

Tomorrow, many of you will take joy in the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States, one who as far as I can ascertain, has done nothing for this country except enjoy its largess, pushed and polluted by the mostly corrupt political machine known to man, whose wife drew a salary of $316,000 a year working for the University of Chicago hospital system, who have little, if any regard for the poor or disabled.

Alexander Pope, the great philosopher, said I will add a new Beatitude which you find in Mathew 5, Blessed are those that expect nothing for they will never be disappointed. Do we have the right to expect boldness from many besides just one airline pilot?