Monthly Archives: June 2010

Congressman Barton’s Capacity for Betrayal

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At age 56 with a few political and advocacy battles under my belt I’d grown confident in my belief that I could no longer be surprised by a person’s capacity for betrayal and idiocy. I was wrong.

This morning I am watching the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing dealing with BP CEO Tony Hayward. Committee members have already referenced hard data documenting BP’s conscious decision to cut short safety measures for the sake of profit. There is also no doubt that BP’s actions are responsible for the largest environmental disaster in my country’s history, and the death (murder) of eleven human beings.

The moment of betrayal and idiocy that brought me up short, or made the street part of my persona boil up and clench fists, was not when some of the Republican’s on the committee criticized President Obama’s moratorium on offshore drilling and blame the president for the fact the spill has not been stopped, that’s just run-of-the-mill juvenile political dopiness, a skill possessed by members of both parties.  The moment that brought me up short was when Republican Congressman Joe Barton of Texas apologized (apologized!) to Tony Hayward for the $20 billion escrow account the administration pressured BP to create in order to assist those in the Gulf whose livelihoods and lives have been brutalized by the oil spill (did Barton want American taxpayers to pay?).

Barton, who come to think of it might serve as the very plug needed to stop the spill, called the $20 billion escrow account a shakedown of BP, a slush fund. Now, if you need to ask me why Barton’s apology falls into the category of idiocy, you may want to join ancestry.com because you may find out Barton’s a family member. As for why his apology is a betrayal? The escrow account is for the American people, for those American people in the Gulf whose lives and dreams have been destroyed or are in danger of being destroyed. Making the despicable choice of apologizing to the victimizer – BP – while turning your back on the victims is an act of betrayal.

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Could Feeney Be Charged Next?

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A special prosecutor has been assigned to pursue charges against Steven B. Feldman, a Saratoga County New York man who, New York State Police say, used his educational credentials from a diploma mill calling itself Hamilton College to get contracts with Saratoga County.

And what, you ask, is Hamilton College? It is a diploma mill just like Greenwich University, the diploma mill Timothy J. Feeney has repeatedly used to land himself three contracts with the New York State Department of Health and, not incidentally, take part in court cases as an expert.  Moreover, one would like to think any party who aided and abetted either Feldman or Feeney in what amounts to nothing more than a con would be criminally charged too.

According to PostStar.Com, Feldman “provided court-ordered (mental health) evaluations without adequate education.” 

In New York’s Washington County, Fort Ann New York School Superintendent Maureen VanBuren and some school board members have been informed about Feeney’s bogus credentials so if they retained their contractual relationship with him as it appears they have, who knows what may be in store for them.

Clinton County District Andrew Wylie, a district attorney from Clinton County will handle the case against Feldman.

The New York State DOH and the Southern Tier Independence Center have been fully informed about Feeney’s false credentials and both parties have received communication from brain injury survivors, family members and, in some cases, providers, asking that Feeney and his staff be stopped.  Some providers have said they will stop providing services if Feeney returns.  If STIC does sign and contract and does  give the work to Feeney, they did it once before, one has to wonder where the long arm of the law will reach next.

And hey, the alphabetical order of Feeney and Feldman is pretty tight. Wouldn’t it be amusing if people were assigned to cell blocks alphabetically? Lord knows the two would have lots to talk about.

Stay tuned.

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Spider Flowers in Bloom

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For the first time in my life I am considering thinning my library. Actually, I’m not considering it, I am going to do it.  Juxtaposed to this is the fact that for the first time in life I am actually planting flowers in the yard. Now my library has to be in excess of 1,000 books at this point. The very notion of thinning my library, at this point more than 1,000 books in size, has always been anathema to me. However, the time has come. Something about the sanctuary of open space  is at play here. I’ve been dazzled by watching the newly planted flowers bloom. A rose, I can’t remember the specific type,  along with some Pansies and Spider Flowers, known as Cleome’s, are all in bloom. Whenever a new flower bursts forth, my eyes often wet up, the beauty moves me so.

The task of choosing which books to store or give away and which to keep on the shelves will be guided by several things. First, some of the books are signed by my father, a few by my mother, and one or two by Poppop, my mother’s father. They stay. Others are gloriously beautiful and they too will stay,  like the 1937 Random House publication of James Morier’s “The Adventures of Hajji Baba of Ispahan,” illustrations by Cyrus Leroy Baldridge, and the 1938 Heritage Club’s publication of Russian author Dmitri Merejcovski’s book, “The Romance of Leonardo Da Vinci,” with more than 100 reproductions of Da Vinci’s work. These books, like many others, are family members.

There are other books that will stay as well. Books by Steinbeck, Dickens, Tolstoy, Updike along with non fiction works like Shelby Foote’s breathtaking three-volume history of the Civil War and Doris Kearns Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals”.  And, yes, there are more.

I know too that some of the books I donate or give away will likely bring joy to others. I hope so. To read a good book is to experience the blooming of a life. At least it is to me. I develop emotional bonds with books. “Steinbeck: A Life in Letters” has affected me more than any other, and that is saying something because I am, if anything, a voracious reader.

While both books and flowers bloom, books hold the edge, because they bloom simply by opening to the frist page. Flowers are far more independent creatures, which is how it should be. Anyway, the Spider Flowers are in bloom now and emotional bonds abound. 

Life is good.

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Feeney Facts Plain and Simple

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It is  amazing how stone cold facts sometimes get a bit foggy,  or so some would hope. So, I thought I’d lift the fog a bit.

Fact: Timothy J. Feeney continues to say he has a valid PhD and a valid Masters Degree when he doesn’t.

Fact: The Southern Tier Independence Center in Binghamton New York may well get the contract from the New York State Department of Health to be the Statewide Neurobehavioral Project for New York’s Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver.

Fact: All indications are Southern Tier has every intention of giving the work, once again because they did it before, to Feeney and his team. 

Fact: The New York State Department of Health and the Southern Tier Independence Center are fully aware of  Feeney’s bogus degrees and both parties have received communication from brain injury survivors, family members and, in some cases, providers, asking to be protected from having Feeney and his company in their lives. Some providers have said they will stop providing services if Feeney returns.

Fact: If the Southern Tier Independence Center gets the contract and gives work to Feeney and the state doesn’t step up and stop this from happening that means that the Southern Tier Independence Center and the NY State DOH are okay with a dishonest and unqualified individual impacting the lives of the 2700 or so brain injury survivors on the waiver, their families, and the dozens of honorable healthcare providers trying to provide waiver services.

Fact: If the last Fact were to happen, it would mean Southern Tier and the State are not putting the survivors, their families, and the providers first.  And, by the way, it would mean both parties are sticking  it to the taxpayers because it is taxpayer dollars that would foot the bill, and taxpayers deserve honesty too.

Fact: The Kahrmann Advocacy Coalition, whose membership will soon be larger than that of the prestigious Brain Injury Association of NY State, is paying close attention, which is fairly relevant since the coalition was founded by brain injury survivors and their loved ones, they very people all the aforementioned parties say they care about.

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Thanking Eddie Izzard

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Those who know me know I am not about meeting famous people. I am about meeting and, if at all possible, thanking people who have made a difference in my life, and people I powerfully identify with, feel a kinship with. There are now three famous people who fall into that category: Bruce Springsteen, President Obama and now, comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, the latter being someone I’ve only recently learned about, thanks to Emily, a remarkable 24-year-old woman who is like a daughter to me.

Emily showed me a couple of clips of Eddie Izzard on YouTube and I was instantly smitten. Izzard is a remarkable comedian and, as he would say, a card carrying transvestite. Frankly, I don’t know how anyone can watch his performances, listen to his interviews, watch the documentary “Believe: The Eddie Izzard Story” and not love the man. Who he is is fully present. He has the courage to be who he is, and that, to me, is what it is about for each of us; giving ourselves permission to be who we are. Millions grow up being told, in one way or another, that there is something wrong with who they are and so they should be someone else. Bullshit. My friend Dave Listowski has the best retort for that: Be yourself, everyone else is already taken.

In his performances Izzard displays a remarkable ability to take the every day of things, peel back the layers, and show us more, or show us what we already know in a way that is, well, brand new. His bit on computers is funny as hell and then some.

 

In the documentary about his life you discover  that a truly loving heart beats within this man. There is a deep compassion for others as well as a remarkable level of self-awareness. It is not easy for most to be who they are openly and Izzard is a role model for anyone struggling with that challenge.

There is a deeply poignant moment in the movie where he talks about the death of his mother when he was five. Others have written about this moment, though I think sometimes they are so hell-bent on using tabloid phrasing they miss the breathtaking fearlessness of Izzard’s openness. He is talking about recently  reading a letter his mother, Dorothy,  wrote after she knew she was sick. In it she expressed her desire that Eddie and his brother and father be  settled in their new home, the boys in school. It is in this moment that tears slip from Izzard’s eyes. “I keep thinking that if I do all these things, and keep going and going, then… she’ll come back"  And now the tears are pouring from my eyes because I have for so long hoped (hoped!) that if I was just a good enough boy out here in the world my father, who died when I was 15, would come back and never had I heard someone voice the same thing, though I am sure many feel the same thing.

Now some in the tabloid species said he broke down, one said he burst into tears. Again, bullshit. He was fully present, fully in touch with his love for his mother along with the pulsing internal ache one feels when they are feeling the loss of a loved one.

As for his being a card carrying transvestite? Rock on, my brother. I hope some day we meet. If you want to see your mother, find a mirror, look closely, you will see the warmth of her heart looking right back at you.

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