Hooray for Hollywood! I offered this story to a legit scriptwriter for free on October 2. Havent heard back, but heres what I wrote: Had to wait til sundown to write it. I promise its crazier than you could possibly imagine. High Concept - as far as weve gotten is Bull Durham meets Dogma during Coming to America, and/or Pi meets Wall Steet, as seen through the eyes of Peter Sellers. No, seriously. Yesterday we addressed the SF Commission on Aging and alleged a criminal conspiracy to deprive a disabled person of her rights, under the cover of the American with Disabilities act. That would be Rosa. But that isnt enough - they did it by illegally changing MY records, while I was in the middle of having a SPECTACULAR prostate cancer surgery, under the Affordable Care Act, performed by one of the top urologists in the world. And we have pretty conclusive documented proof. I spent Sept 10th in surgery - the abuse of Rosa got serious on 9/11. I went back into the hospital for two days, last week, mostly corresponding to Rosh Hashannah. I spent the first 23 hours on a gurney in ER. We have stories of middle-aged black male domestic abuse, and the shame of a man having to say that in public, in ER with his broken arm. Or the two people who had to be restrained, one from trying to go back to the Golden Gate and throw himself off. I spent the last 22 hours in 5A - one of the first dedicated AIDS wards in the world (the other is 5B) Rosa comforted a man who was being told for the first time (through translation services) that he was dying of cirrhosis. Another roommate and I listened to the blues at 1 AM, and talked about his knifing. I woke up on Friday, out of the hospital, and went through In Home Social Services intake. Rosa was on the phone with the welfare guy - she got hysterical. The last thing he did Friday evening - almost precisely at the sundown marking Shabbat Tshuva, on top of everything else, was to tell me that we should fix the issue by getting creative with IHSS funds after we got them. Yes, the idiot replicated the ACORN tape, in real life, without the tape. Long story short - the guy dissed every legit social worker in the SF system - which as far as I can see is nearly EVERY other worker, in my experience to date, to create the media wet-dream fantasy of the disempowered - a legit media voice that can lever access to the real power. SO I literally got out of my sickbed to go to the commission, in my bathrobe, with my catheter and lymph bulb hidden under my Nike sweats. I wore a GSOM Night T shirt, and used my enamel snake-headed cane. We made the following statement (note: there is a strict 3 minute per person limit. President James interrupted us, but the council unanimously allowed us to conclude - although the public access tape may be missing everything after I utter the word counsel. My name is Greg Norman Burton, and I reside with my domestic partner Rose Marie White at 30 Day Street in the Precita Watershed of San Francisco. I am retired, survive on my Social Security, and receive MediCal and CalFresh through San Francisco. I am currently surviving cancer, and have suffered for a lifetime with anxiety and depression, as well as undiagnosed PTSD. Three weeks ago, at this time, I was in prostate cancer surgery. My surgery was performed by one of the most eminent surgeons and medical educators in the country, Dr. Peter Carroll. Dr Carroll doesnt do many surgeries personally these days, but the urology residents at SFGH, particularly Dr. Lindsey Hampson and Dr David Bayne, pushed for it. I want to emphasize that money could not have bought this particular surgery. The ONLY way I could have received this surgery, as an average American, is through the Affordable Care Act. In short, I am receiving world class medical care, and been given my life back, by the people of San Francisco. I should be here praising UCSF, SFGH, the clinic network, and the literally dozens of wonderful people I have met in the last two months of dealing with this disease. It is fitting that such an event should take place in Representative Pelosis district, since it is her leadership as much as anything that allowed it to happen at all. Instead, we have what Rosa is about to tell you marring the event, and jeopardizing the success of what was to all indications a wildly successful surgery. ----- I am Rose Marie White and I live at 30 Day Street in San Francisco. I suffer from physically and mentally disabling conditions. I have been a client of the San Francisco Human Services Agency since 2011. In 2012, I made two unsuccessful attempts to work; the failure of my second attempt kicked off a nervous breakdown that lasted for most of two years. About a year ago, my PTSD was retriggered, and I suffered months of suicidal ideation. During most of that time, I refused to apply for Social Security Disability, because I was sure that I would be able to bootstrap appropriate employment for myself very soon. For part of that time, I refused to apply for food stamps. My partner and I currently receive CalFresh and Medi-Cal. Other than the kindness of friends, our only income has been his $813 per month retirement payment. This July, faced with our negative bank balance and poor prospects, I filed for CALM in person, requesting an assessment.I have yet to be contacted by CALM. I was given an appointment to apply for General Assistance on August 25th. On the morning of the 26th, I arrived at 7:45am, determined to see someone who could help me in some way to apply for the assistance that the city had assured me I qualified for. A welter of conflicting information left me distraught and confused, and I sat crying in the waiting area of the HSA. Someone kind figured out that I could use assistance from an ADA worker. A worker would come to my home to take my application for General Assistance. The first available appointment was for September 11th, the day after Greg had surgery to remove his prostate. This was extraordinarily stressful for me, due both to the current circumstances and because I was in NYC on 9/11/2001, and so I asked if there was any way the appointment could be before September 10th, but it could not. So I met alone with her at my home on the 11th, we went over a pile of forms together, and we discussed Gregs Social Security Retirement check. This appointment had taken a long time to get, and we were so grateful. Greg had been operated on the day before, and it was awful to have to have a meeting with a social worker instead of being at the hospital with him, but I did this, and was qualified. We received the sole payment on the 16th. On that same day a Notice of Action is entered saying that because we receive income from SSI, our food stamps are going to be stopped. On this day I was vomiting bile and was sent to Urgent Care. On Sept 23 I arrived at HSA at 10AM in order to complete the paperwork. I got fingerprinted (which I had done before, but which I had to redo), gave her the documents she requested, minus one, and asked for a couple of days to get the last letter to her. At this point I had been given emergency anti-anxiety medication by my psychiatrist because my anxiety and PTSD symptoms prevent me from sleeping and otherwise functioning, and give me migraines. The worker was very annoyed with me and repeatedly threatened to cut off the benefits, saying that if I couldnt get the documents to her on time it was not [her] fault. She knew that I had needed ADA assistance, and why, since she was the one who had come *to my home*. My partner was discharged from his two-day readmittance to SFGH on Sept 25 , and we went home and slept. On the 26th, I called to ask for help from the ADA desk, where I thought I had been helped when I had appeared on August 26th. I was put through to a young woman who explained some things to me that became confused in my mind very quickly, because I became so upset and started crying. She told me that the GA benefits should never have been approved, and would be cut off no matter what I did, so it didnt matter about the letter. I became slightly hysterical, and my partner, one day home from hospital, took over the phone. ------- Lets cut to the chase - at the close of business last Friday, the very last part of his day, when the situation became clear to me, I asked the GA supervisor how we were going to fix this, which developed because of his units error. His advice was to NOT file for a hearing. To supplement the lack of our legitimate benefits he suggested, and none too obliquely, that we commit IHSS fraud and keep quiet. I spent all day yesterday and Monday trying to request a hearing so that our benefits would not be cut today. I was unable to find ANY means of communicating the seriousness of our situation before this meeting today. And I am supposed to be resting, under doctors orders, and avoiding stress. As the Dude said, this will not stand. After this meeting, we will find counsel and determine appropriate legal, state, and administrative charges. Our statements this morning are being emailed to Representative Pelosis office, and to Mayor Lees Office of Disability. I look forward to discussing with them ways to resolve this situation for the benefit not only of us, but for the working class and poor people of San Francisco who desperately need not only the services, but the hope those services provide. We did not ask for this. All we wanted was to heal, and think about the Warriors moving to San Francisco. Before we rest, before we sleep, Rosa and I chant together the Warriors huddle chant from the past -Were all weve got. Were all we need. And that is the truth. Now, if you will excuse us, we need to rest. I need to get cleaned up for my doctor appointment today, and then speak to some people about catheters and whether or not I will need chemical cauterization of my weeping flesh. Thank you. ----- Note that while I planned the Dude gag, I had forgotten Arthur Dent in his bathrobe. And we have taken counsel, today, on Yom Kippur, with my son (who I have told and believe is the head of my house at this point) and with friends, and with the trees and birds (yeah, really - I think I talk to ravens and crows - sue me). And it now occurs to us that if we both belong to the people of San Francisco, we should publicly ask for their counsel. All we wanted was to watch Warrior games and heal and have a garden. But yanno, they gave us - the black and hispanic and crippled and trans folks a lever. How do you think we should use it? So - Pelosi and Lee should be waiting for a shoedrop. We owe NOTHING to any pol in the city as a pol - as people, we owe Pelosi and Obama our lives. Oh, backstory - Rosa is half-Mexican raised as white in a Louisiana trailer. She made it to LSU at 15, and Yale for a Renaissance studies degree. Her life was derailed by an abusive relationship masquerading as BDSM. She is only now - right now - breaking through the PTSD - a breakthrough which happened JUST before the cancer diagnosis. Dramatic tension point: Greg tells Rosa that he is going to break from the abuse she is committing against him. She gets it. She is horrified. She gets over it. Greg is then diagnosed. While detoxing herself from prescription morphine, in the middle of this, she is able to provide Greg with as much help as he needs, but only barely. Greg was on the street and desperate when he met Rosa, but the relationship proceeded on her initiative. For the first time in his life, Greg was invited in to stay. (cue Shelter from the Storm). Through two years of collapse and serious mental horror, played out in a 200 square foot room, they fought to stay together and healed each others traumas. Greg was programmed by his father to penetrate the upper class and crashed out at Columbia in 68. His only professional certification - which he has never charged money for, and very seldom advertised - is in the integration of Kabbalah and transpersonal psychology. The death of his teacher, Herr Professor Dr Rabbi Zalman Schacter-Shalomi earlier this year had triggered a new response to Judaism. Dr Bayne is a tall, handsome young man of color with an extraordinary presence. Hes a Fremont kid who did Harvard undergrad and med school, working in Haiti on a grant one summer co-ordinating surgeries. He was at Harvard with Zuck and Lin - same class as Zuck. Dr Hampsen did her med degree at Ann Arbor, and shes an expert on clinic and medical supply chains and the effect of medical sponsored products on trust and ethics. And they are residents at this point. We havent even gotten to the squatting in a genuine speakeasy for a couple of years, or Burning Man, or L Ron Hubbards great grandson, or the native american church peyote ritual with a lineal descendent of the Arizel. That should give you a clue of what were dealing with as a current, verifiable, reality Regards, Greg
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 06:30:33 +0000