Here is the first official review of my new release Japayuki, https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/271655 a novel addressing the trafficking and sexual exploitation of women globally:

 

"I want to be the first to congratulate you [on releasing Japayuki]. I want to give you my overall impression of your work: You have crafted a gripping piece.  I could not put it down.  You have a terrific writing style. I can tell that you have done much planning and preparation in crafting your work – especially the way you have thought out the characters and movement that happens in the story.  This is not an easy feat. Your prose is very nicely written with details that capture the reader. Right from the start your plot was very engaging and I found myself really connected with what was going on.  It is easy to have too much going on too soon – not in your case.  Your plot is slow and methodical and you use your dialogue to move the plot along.  With that being said, you really do a nice job of slowly making your way through the story with details and a certain voice (yours as the author) that allows your reader to really interact with the characters (who are all round and very nicely developed). The greatest value in fiction, it seems to me, lies in what we can learn about our own lives when we take time to analyze someone else’s.  Your characters are lifelike and I love it when I leave a story feeling like I know them.  You have a realistic plot and to me that makes for an enjoyable story.  Characterization is one of the most important elements of any successful story.  You did not rush or force anything.  Your manuscript is a nicely developed story that really did read like a movie in my mind. I can picture your setting – your characters.  You have crafted a quality piece of writing. It is hard to believe that stuff like this really happens."   --Lisa C.

 

Not So Special Anymore

This afternoon, I published Not So Special Anymore, an expository commentary on the Special Education Program (IDEA) as implemented in schools across this country. This work took over a year to research and produce; in all honesty, I am not sure the work is finished.

Special Education is a multi-billion dollar federal program that is intended to academically advance “learning disabled” children in America. There are over six million of these children in our schools. That bears repeating; over six million young Americans are allegedly “afflicted” with this permanent, academically disabling condition. The primary manifestation? These children cannot read on grade level. And in that they cannot read, they cannot succeed in any course work they undertake without the benefit of an Individualized Education Plan, an IEP.

Or can they? Are these children truly afflicted with this lifelong debilitating non-medical disease? Or are they pawns in a money ruse?

Read Not So Special Anymore and then decide. Here is the link:

https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/166795

Independence Day Observation

As a 30 year veteran of military service, a life-long defender of our nation’s Constitution, against foreign and domestic enemies, and now a teacher of those young men and women who will take up that responsibility, I celebrate each July 4th with pride and a prayer that this nation will persevere, recover, and thrive for the sake of our grand children and their grand children.

True, things do not look as bright as they should; but in all truthfulness, our (growing) economic woes are not the fault of any foreign enemy, and our ecological problems can only be blamed on flawed procedural processes, ignored safeguards, and less than professional administrators. So, from my perspective, America is hurting today due to domestic calamity, and an overwhelmed political system. Fortunately, these issues can be successfully addressed. Corrective actions can be taken, and our direction corrected.

In all honesty, entering this life as Dwight D. Eisenhower delivered his inaugural address, I have raised an eyebrow at more than a few Congressional personalities that have wondered in and out of the chambers. Now, in my closing years of life, the antics of some congressmen and women personalities have cause me to wonder just how in the world these people came to sit in the same hallowed chamber our formative governmental body did. Granted, the human being is inherently egotistical, self-centered and terminally proud; these qualities are not easily suppressed, no matter where one reports to work. However, when one take the oath to serve this country in Washington, D.C., one would think the focus would be on keeping this nation strong and formidable, not whittle it down in the name of acquiring personal fame, fortune, and notoriety.

In my case, I was content to leave the future of this country to the young until I was asked to do something I have never entertained in my life: lobby congressmen and women on behalf of Huntington’s Disease victims.

Huntington’s disease is not as well known as Autism and Alzheimer’s, Cerebral Palsy and Mental Retardation, but make no mistake, HD ranks as one of the most horrible disease processes known. But unlike the others we hear routinely about, HD, despite it being classified as a terminal illness, is not acknowledged by the Social Security Administration, and therefore, victims play hell in being approved for benefits.

In 2008, Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA51) introduced H.R. 6259: Huntington’s Disease Parity Act of 2008. The bill would simply require the Commissioner of Social Security to revise the medical criteria for evaluating disability in a person diagnosed with HD and waive the 24-month waiting period for Medicare. But it was no go. The bill earned only 9 co-sponsors and essentially died at end of the congressional session.

Fortunately, Rep. Filner resubmitted the bill, now H.R. 678: Huntington’s Disease Parity Act of 2009 and to date the bill has 135 co-sponsors. It presently sits before the House Ways and Means Committee for review. But, it still has a long way to go.

So, why did I choose to become involved in gaining passage of a piece of legislation when I should be relaxing under my oak trees drinking iced tea? For one, I cannot for the life of me comprehend the need for legislation to provide medical assistance to terminally ill citizens via the Social Security System. If one just sits and thinks about this for a second, it becomes painfully obvious that something is wrong with our system when a person who has worked for the better part of his or her life, paid taxes, paid into a social security system, then denied when they need that system due to the fact they are dying of a disease process. And more importantly, while they are dying they are suffering! Incredibly! Unbelievably! I just find it mind boggling that tax dollars are used to build bridges to nowhere, and to build airports that will never see an airplane, yet a terminally ill citizens, a tax payer has to wait for a piece of legislation to receive medical benefits! So yes, I agreed to contact some congressional personalities and has them first, if they will help by co-sponsoring the bill, and second, why this bill is even necessary.

If H.R. 678 is not successful this time around, then I can only pray that our dear God in heaven will forgive us for our collective denial of basic human rights, basic human needs in failing to provide for our own sick in the name of bureaucracy and politics, but more importantly, that those HD victims who die without the help of this government forgive us as well.

Feel like getting involved also? Just follow the link.

http://www.hdsa.org/living-with-huntingtons/advocacy/hd-petition.html

Happy Independence Day to all.

May is Huntington's Disease Awareness Month!

May is Huntington’s Disease (HD) Awareness Month and so I would like to take a few lines and share with you all some basic facts everyone should know about this terrible disease. I have a link to the Huntington’s Disease Society of America, but I will share this family’s personal experience with the disease, using my Joseph’s case to illustrate. I believe the need for awareness will become self evident as your read.

First thing everyone should know is that HD is a terminal illness. There is no cure; there is no treatment. A progressive degenerative neurological disease, once HD develops in its victim it will methodically debilitate the person until their bodies can no longer sustain life. Joseph was in middle school when he was clinically diagnosed.

The primary target of the disease is the brain; as vital communication links are destroyed, functions are lost, forever. A victim will lose gross and fine motor skills. Victims will develop chorea, a dance of sorts, which often causes them to be thought under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. They will experience psychotic episodes of varying intensities, some ultra violent. Joseph’s episodes came without warning or provocation and could last up to 30 minutes. Their speech will become slurred and facial expressions exaggerated. This draws attention and often ridicule from others.

Later, life sustaining systems such as respiratory and circulatory will fail and of course, death will soon follow. Sadly, researchers state cognitive abilities are some of the last lost; so the HD victim is well aware of what is happening to his or her body. Joseph endured and persevered despite his growing symptoms; he was invited for induction into the NHS his second year of high school, holding a perfect 4.0 G.P.A. He was also a member of The Rocket marching band, a decorated AFJROTC cadet, an accomplished artist and writer, and an pretty good baseball player and Boy Scout.

But Joseph was an exceptional child who had strong support; many HD victims simply choose to take their own lives to end their suffering. Unfortunately, many fall further victim to sheer ignorance on the part of others. At age 18, just months after graduating from Judson High School, Joseph experienced a psychotic episode. Three Bexar County Deputies responded to his mother’s call for medical assistance. The deputy’s solution to HD on that morning was to shoot Joseph three times in his own front yard.

I’ve heard many times, HD doesn’t kill a person, the symptoms do; one plaguing social symptom we can all work on is understanding these people and what they are enduring, and then supporting them in every way possible. Unbelievably, not even the federal government acknowledges them; they are not on the social security list of recognized disease process, therefore victims and families play hell trying to get SSI and Medicaid. Joseph was lucky; he was a military beneficiary and eligible for medical care at BAMC. Others─many, many others─are not that fortunate. That is why we are in the process of pushing H.R. 678; this will place HD on SSA’s list, and help victims get help. Please vist that site and consider supporting the bill as well.

May may be Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month, but for many of us, HD is an every day battle. Thanks for listening. Thanks for learning.

Open Letter to House Ways and Means Committee

You have on your table for consideration H.R. 678: Huntington's Disease Parity Act of 2009. Please consider this piece of legislation carefully; for as you ponder and discuss, deliberate and question its importance, its justification, keep in mind that out here, just outside the doors of your chambers, wait many, many afflicted with HD.

We wait for the relief this simply stated bill will bring to our lives, however temporary. We wait for the recognition and acceptance enjoyed by those afflicted with like devastating diseases, such as Autism and CP. You see, we are terminal; we will endure as long as possible, then leave when it is our time. H.R. 678 will do little for us than allow a little compassion and dignity in our suffering and ease the hardship on families struggling to care for us.

In advocating for this Bill many Representatives across the county were contacted and pleaded with to offer their support. Those that listened and respect our plight are listed as co-sponsors; these are truly our heros. Sadly, many others regard terminally ill citizens as unworthy or maybe even undeserving for such considerations. Sader still is the fact that some of these legislators reap benefits for debilitating illness in their own families; their neighbors apparently are on their own.

A personal story was offered to some legislators, an HD tragedy to consider; the tragedy of Joseph Marcus Barron. Joseph was a Juvenile HD case; but, despite suffering much while yet in middle school, he endured and persevered. He in fact achieved above and beyond what is typically expected of a terminally ill young person. He was inducted in the National Honor Society with a perfect 4.0 G.P.A., he marched with his high school band, wore the uniform of the AFJROTC, camped with his local Boy Scout troop, and played baseball with his favorite team. He was a talented, accomplished artist and writer, and loved his girl friend to his last breath. Joseph was only 19 when he left this world, but not before suffering so much pain and agony. Pain and agony not from HD, but from gun shots delivered by Bexar County Sheriff's deputies; apparently Bexar County's solution to HD.

We tried to provide Joseph with the best medical care available; we provided him with more than other families can provide their loved ones. But due to ignorance of a disease process, this young man suffered mutilation, degradation and humiliation at the hands of a social structure. Your strong support of H.R. 678 will provide some relief against this level of ignorance, not all, just some, but it will be a beginning. Please work hard; please do good work. We sit here, waiting.

H.R. 678: Huntington's Disease Parity Act of 2009

Huntington's Disease is a progressive, degenerative, neurological disorder for which there is no definitive treatment nor cure. HD is a terminal process. It has been described as a process which robs it victims of all physical abilities, saving cognitive abilities for last. Essentially, this means as it is a very humiliating process in that the afflicted is very aware of what is happening to their bodies.

There are of course many such disease processes that humans must content with and suffer through. Unique of HD, unfortunately, is that our social structure demands hard written evidence that the disease process is recognized before any assistance can be doled out.

For HD sufferers, H.R. 678: Huntington's Disease Parity Act of 2009 is that document/law.

I have the text of the bill linked; please check it out and urge your representative to support and co-sponsor the measure.