May is a time of remembrance for the women whose children have been torn from them, and the tenderness of their affections in honoring the loss of these children ripped from their embrace in the name of war. Abroad today we are faced by opposition to the military occupation of sovereign nations by most of the world that stands in opposition to this foreign policy. Again and again the cause of freedom and sovereignty is sullied by our reluctance to bring the armed forces, and its supporting regiments of services home where we belong.
Mother’s Day was created by the women who lost their children in the Civil War and as we remember the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, it is appropriate that we recognize the rights of women to protect their families, and for their loved ones to come home to them safe and sound. We cannot stand for and allow any nation’s indiscriminate violence against other women and children around the world in the name of democracy.
In this time of remembrance let us stand and wave a banner that says, “Children, daughters, sisters, mothers and grand mothers, great and small, we salute you, and in your name we honor you by asking for peace in this time now, and in all lands forever more.” The greatest warrior is she who rises to embrace his brother and sister and to remain standing with her with his arms around her shoulder as long as she asks to be comforted and consoled. Let us Rise and rising march on, march on in peace together

SB 271 on Cutting Revenue from the Tobacco Tax Settlement Being Debated in JBC Monday

The Colorado Legislature has been busy balancing the state budget over the past few weeks. Thank you to everyone who took action on Senate Bill 271, which would cut $15 million from Primary Care Funds allocated by Amendment 35. Due to the overwhelming response from CCH staff and other advocates in the community, the Joint Budget Committee has postponed debate on this bill until Monday, April 27th. House and Senate members continue to look for additional sources of money that could offset the cuts to Primary Care Funds.

In the past few weeks, there have been a number of interesting developments that directly affect people experiencing homelessness. Highlights include:
HB 1064, the Poverty Task Force Bill, has been sent to the Governor for his signature. The bill will create a legislative task force that is charged with studying poverty as it relates to Colorado and coming up with legislative recommendations for how we can reduce poverty in half in ten years.
HB1293, the Hospital Provider Fee Bill, was signed into law by the Governor on Wednesday. The new law allows hospitals to charge provider fees to cover the cost of caring for uninsured patients. Governor Ritter said this bill is the “most significant health reform legislation in Colorado in four decades.” It is estimated that the new provider fee, which will be matched by the federal government, will provide coverage to nearly 100,000 Coloradans.

The Tobacco Tax Settlement was offered to provide health care for indigent people. If the settlement is reduced or eliminated it may never be restored and the impact on countless indigent people who have no health care will be catastrophic in 2010.

Please stay tuned and contact your representatives on the Joint Budget Committee of the Colorado State Legislature. The cost of reduced health care benefits will ultimately be paid by the tax payers in the emergency rooms across the land.

No one can afford to reduce health care for anyone, especially those least able to afford the access to health insurance. We need to stand up for the rights of vulnerable populations.

JBC Members:

Committee: 303 866 2061
Mark Ferrandino: 303 866 2911
Moe Keller: 303 866 2585 303 425 0130
Don Marostica: 303 866 2947 970 227 6133
Jack Pommer: 303 866 2780 303 443 8555
Abel J. Tapia: 303 866 2581 719 671 3311
Al White: 303 866 2586

Governor Ritter: 303 866 2471

AMOR

AMOR, a fleeting glimpse of a rare breeze that shifts and graces our nortils with the sense of ultimate triumph and blessing.
AMOR how I long to be touched and held in your arms and balances glide across the floor in rhapsody of rhythm and grace.
AMOR come home to rest with me and hold me close, tieing me in your sensual fragrance and gifts of sweet repose.
AMOR that wakes in hearts and stirs the passionate sighs of gilded sunrises, ah bless this brow with your light and tempo and the beating of the heart held gift of you kissing me lightly, tenderly, pressing your tender lips against my neck and ears, beating fleeting and reappearing with a gasp of resolute elan. gift and gratitude for the press of hearts to hearts.

Of untold syncopating tempos of fluttering and eye raising, brazen hearts that ride with fervor across unknown landscapes and night walks with hands held close to breasts and hearing the faint voracious appetite of the perspiring flesh, lift me from my place and set me in your astonishing grasp for good.

A Mis Companeras en el Huelga

Estoy un escribador, my esposa era nacio en Borinquen, en Barrio Robles en San sebastian. Vivimos en San Senbastian tres anos. Saco retratos en nuestra casita en la cana encima de una loma. Ensenamos en la escuela de Santiago R. Palmer en Camuy tres anos y dos de nuetros hijos nacieron en Aquadilla. Me encanto la isla Borinquen. Me hace falta le verduras, y mi vecino Juan, y Sergio, y mis estudiantes de la escuela. Hecho menos la tierra. Crece lechoncitos de bodas y corte la cana. Tuvimos una finca en las montanas. Me gusta el sonido de los gallos y durmiendo en el campo mirando a las estrellas. Me hace falta el coqui y los pajarros, y todos . AMO el idioma y la poesia, y la danza, y oir, sentir, tocar, sembrar, aprovechar los costumbres del pueblo y la alma de mis companeros. Soy un jibaro, un campesino, y echo menos todos.
Por eso, aprende como recordar en mi coroazon como esta en Borinquen. Como Eugenio Maria de Hostos dijo, "Se fue de puente a otro lado, y fui de un maestro de un otro, y nunca estaba su maestro de destino suyo." Cada 11 de enero recuerde. Dios te bendiga y tu familia belleza.

A madrigal to a Sweetheart

It is always difficult when one has been cut off, life is never fair.
I always wish there was more, I do not look forward to
the time.
I count peddles, steps, breaths, movements of the hips, songs, high notes, trills, trembling, scant breath, peace. star bursts of life, beauty of singing praises,
to life of startling beauty, to tremors and semblances of freedom and bursts of gleaming insights,
to love and laughter and mirth,
to quiet dawns,
to you, to the cooing of doves and the memories of soft gifts of tenderness and epiphanies.

Life presupposes metamorphosis and explosions of joyous sorrow, blessings of beating hearts and rhythms of unseen metaphors,
of mixing genetic pools and carefully crafted blessings.
Breathe and exhale. Breath gone and clear response, chanting that this is the way,
the life,
the only gift,
of life,
of you.

"The Soloist" is written by Steven Lopez of the L.A. Times. The film version stars Jamie Foxx and Robert Downey Jr. The film is a documentary of a person who is mentally ill and living in the Skid Row area of the L.A. slums, a fifty block cesspool of human life where 90,0000 homeless people die and live in misery. It does not compare to the squalor of Matare, Kenya, where 1/2 a million people dwell, nor does it compare with the lives of the 100's of 1,000's living in favelas throughout most of the world. World wide there are a billion people who are homeless. And yet, it is a microcosm of the universe of the damned.

Nathaniel Anthony Ayers, the protagonist of this heroic tale, blends his innate gift as a musician, while surviving and triumphing in the filth and degradation of the slum in L.A. called "Skid Row." He rises to share his gift with the world in which he has been thrown with dignity and grace.

Art, it is said, imitates life. So poetry and philosophy are connected across time. The origins of all being are an infinite nothing out of which came this life. Who knows whether we will be brilliant or live in darkness, like the blind, struggling fool who first comes into the light? Who knows how to get at the meaning of poems? The life of one artist is as rich and silent as the changing faces of the moon.

Mental illness is like a dark cloud that comes over one in the infancy of one’s life and marks one for good. It is a perpetual dark night of the spirit that rides where you want it to go and for which, you remain helpless to its often shifting patterns. Unfortunately for those who watch the battle waging in one’s thoughts, actions and mutterings the tempests are furious symphonies of disturbed explosions and unpredictable outcomes. These drive the nearest person to hide or to seek comfort elsewhere. Leaving the lone suffer and escaping into the refuge of solitary life without void. In this solace that is impregnable, he is living in a dungeon on neglect.

Coupled with homelessness and the nightmares of the life of living outside for unending sentences, the fury and the rage perpetuates and silences the good that remains. A few brave souls venture near enough to touch the troubled, furrowed brow and reach out as hands do, to touch. Across this chasm comes Mr. Lopez, who is looking for a lead to a story, and discovers true worth as he is transformed by the magnanimous spirit of Nathaniel. In the end it is Steve Lopez who salutes Mr. Ayers as a person who he clearly sees not as friends but as a person of inestimable value and worth. Mr. Lopez qualifies his overture to Mr. Ayers by saying, "It is an honor to be your friend."

In this documentary of the life of a person suffering the story is the relationship and hardship of a virtuoso to make sense to himself of a damaged landscape. The tribute belongs to his warrior spirit to find a sanctuary in the midst of unending hardship. Imagine not being able to hear the notes aloud of one’s beloved compositions, as Beethoven and being driven mad by the desire to create poetry for the spirit? In Nathaniel Ayers there is a true warrior, who duels constantly with the dark nights of the spirit and vanquishes his demons one breath at a time. He is truly on a hero’s journey just as everyone else who reads these words.

Do not pity this wayfarer, his journey is a bitter sweet gift for which he was born to lead and shine. Notice that he has a gift to impart to all of those who suffer and those who are free from suffering in these ways, that we are all connected, all rise up and march on, marching on to what lies ahead in the foggy distance. He has a message that all are valued and must be judged by their deeds in this world and how they choose to live. The fact that he is a homeless double bass player of note is not as important as the guidance that he gives to everyone else, including the reporter from the Los Angeles Times who records his story and publishes, “The Soloist.”

This is an epic tale of life, misery and the unexplained consciousness locked inside most of us. How alike we are and how fragile in our naive perception that somehow we are invincible. We cringe at the sight of the homeless person more than not because we are afraid that we may become just like Nathaniel.
="http://blog.denverurbanspectrum.com/media/blogs/talk/Small_Loeb_250x167.jpg

Subject: FREE Eyeglasses for Children

FREE EYEGLASSES FOR CHILDREN 12 AND UNDER FROM TARGET OPTICAL CARE SERVICES.

If you can not benefit from it, pass this on to be a blessing to someone else!
-----

In case you have a child or know of someone who does (ages 12 and under), they can get a FREE pair of eyeglasses from Target:

Target is doing a special promotion for their optical service. It could end any time but will definitely end no later than April 29th.20Children 12 and under can get a free pair of glasses.

They need to bring in a valid prescription for glasses from their doctor and Target will let the child pick from about 40 different frames. They will place their best lenses in the frames which are non-glare and scratch resistant and normally sell for $200.00. There are no income guidelines. Any child 12 or under is eligible.
You can find stores with optical departments at and are participating before making a trip to their store.

Please pass this information on to anyone who can benefit from this promotional offer. If you know someone with lost or broken glasses please share this information with them ASAP, as the promotion could end at any time. They would like families to come in as soon as they can.

Feel free to forward this information to others!

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About the Ride

On June 27-28, 2009 I will be cycling in the 24th Annual Colorado Bike MS Ride. This event attracts over 3000 riders for a memorable and challenging weekend ride from the Denver area to Ft. Collins and back. The Great-West Life Bike MS, Colorado's Ride 2009 Presented by Sam's Club is hosted by the Colorado Chapter of the National MS Society and proceeds from the event go towards freeing the world of MS.

Why I Ride

I've registered for the Colorado Bike MS ride to fulfill a personal challenge, and also help the National MS Society fund research, advocate for change, and help people with MS and their families lead powerful lives. I believe in the work they do and want to be part of it.

Multiple Sclerosis affects people in the prime of their lives, between the ages of 20 and 50. Every hour someone is newly diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. More than 2.5 million people worldwide live with this unpredictable disease. Having multiple sclerosis means that you may suddenly have blurry vision, that your memory will fail you for no apparent reason, or that you may not always be able to walk, let alone ride a bike. The symptoms of MS are different for everyone - the only certainty is that it will affect yet another person every hour of every day.

I will ride 150 miles in just two days to MAKE MY MARK and do my part to make a difference in the lives of those living with MS.

Let's Move Forward Together

Currently there is no cure for MS. The money that is raised at this event and others like it will be used to find the cause, treatment, and ultimately the cure of multiple sclerosis. The money is also used to provide education, information, direct financial aid, and scholarships to individuals and families living with MS. By sponsoring me you too will MAKE YOUR MARK in this pursuit.

Please join me in the movement to do something about multiple sclerosis now with your donation.

Views and opinions expressed by third parties placing material on this page are not necessarily representative of the views of the National MS Society. If you feel this page contains objectionable content, or you have a technical concern, please contact the system administrator of this chapter. Be sure to include as much information as possible.

By Dexter Filkins from the New York Times

“KABUL, Afghanistan — The young women stepped off the bus and moved toward the protest march just beginning on the other side of the street when they were spotted by a mob of men.

The women were confronted by a much larger crowd in favor of the measures.
Enlarge This Image

Some women in Kabul chanted in support of a new family law for the Shiite minority that permits marital rape, among other things, and applies other restrictions.

“Get out of here, you whores!” the men shouted. “Get out!”
The women scattered as the men moved in.
“We want our rights!” one of the women shouted, turning to face them. “We want equality!”
The women ran to the bus and dived inside as it rumbled away, with the men smashing the taillights and banging on the sides.
“Whores!”
But the march continued anyway. About 300 Afghan women, facing an angry throng three times larger than their own, walked the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that Parliament repeal a new law that introduces a range of Taliban-like restrictions on women, and permits, among other things, marital rape.
It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.
With the Afghan police keeping the mob at bay, the women walked two miles to Parliament, where they delivered a petition calling for the law’s repeal.
“Whenever a man wants sex, we cannot refuse,” said Fatima Husseini, 26, one of the marchers. “It means a woman is a kind of property, to be used by the man in any way that he wants.”
The law, approved by both houses of Parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai, applies to the Shiite minority only. Women here and governments and rights groups abroad have protested three parts of the law especially.
One provision makes it illegal for a woman to resist her husband’s sexual advances. A second provision requires a husband’s permission for a woman to work outside the home or go to school. And a third makes it illegal for a woman to refuse to “make herself up” or “dress up” if that is what her husband wants.
The passage of the law has amounted to something of a historical irony. Afghan Shiites, who make up close to 20 percent of the population, suffered horrendously under the Taliban, who regarded them as apostates. Since 2001, the Shiites, particularly the Hazara minority, have been enjoying a renaissance.
President Karzai, who relies on vast support from the United States and other Western governments to stay in power, has come under intense international criticism for signing the bill into law. Many people here suspect that he did so to gain the favor of the Shiite clergy; Mr. Karzai is up for re-election this year. Previous Afghan governments, during the Soviet era and before the arrival of the Taliban, did not impose such restrictive laws, although in practice many rural women’s freedoms have long been curtailed. Rights advocates say the law for Shiites could influence a proposal for Sunnis and a draft law on violence against women.
Responding to the outcry, Mr. Karzai has begun looking for a way to remove the most controversial parts of the law. In an interview on Wednesday, his spokesman, Homayun Hamidzada, said that the legislation was not yet law because it had not been published in the government’s official register. That, Mr. Hamidzada said, means that it can still be changed. Mr. Karzai has asked his justice minister to look it over.
“We have no doubt that whatever comes out of this process will be consistent with the rights provided for in the Constitution — equality and the protection of women,” Mr. Hamidzada said.
The women who protested Wednesday began their demonstration with what appeared to be a deliberately provocative act. They gathered in front of the School of the Last Prophet, a madrasa run by Ayatollah Asif Mohseni, the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric. He and the scholars around him played an important role in drafting the new law.
“We are here to campaign for our rights,” one woman said into a megaphone. Then the women held their banners aloft and began to chant.
The reaction was immediate. Hundreds of students from the madrasa, most but not all of them men, poured into the streets to confront the demonstrators.
“Death to the enemies of Islam!” the counterdemonstrators cried, encircling the women. “We want Islamic law!”
The women stared ahead and marched.

A phalanx of police officers, some of them women, held the crowds apart.
Afterward, when the demonstrators had left, one of the madrasa’s senior clerics came outside. Asked about the dispute, he said it was between professionals and nonprofessionals; that is, between the clerics, who understood the Koran and Islamic law, and the women calling for the law’s repeal who did not.
“It’s like if you are sick, you go to a doctor, not some amateur,” said the cleric, Mohammed Hussein Jafaari. “This law was approved by the scholars. It was passed by both houses of Parliament. It was signed by the president.”
The religious scholars, Mr. Jafaari conceded, were all men.
Lingering a while, Mr. Jafaari said that what was really driving the dispute was the foreigners who loomed so large over the country.

We Afghans don’t want a bunch of NATO commanders and foreign ministers telling us what to do.”

Human rights of all people are linked to the rights of one person who is enslaved. No one has the right on any grounds to subjugate another person. The foreigners and the Americans especially, need to remove themselves from this but at the same time the Islamic law of the Shites is an unjust approach to the lives of women. It is a dispute that goes back to the control of the male over everything else.