Watching City Hall #469
Watching Krissy run for Kongress IX
(8-8-06)
Josh Wolf … 8th day in prison (for you)
(‘Herding Cats 101)
If ever there were a ‘San Francisco cause’ it is the case of Josh Wolf. I mean, guys, it doesn’t get much better than this for a journalist. … Covering the case, that is.
His father advocated the secession of California from the Union. His uncle (Harland Harrison) is the Libertarian candidate for U.S. Congress from CA #8 (against Tom Lantos). Josh was busted for being a self-proclaimed ‘anarchist’ videographer, or something like that.
Space for Josh’s first fundraiser was donated by Krissy Keefer and Dance Brigade’s, Dance Mission which will host a tribute to Fidel Castro on his 80th birthday this Saturday (12th @ 7:30pm) and host the Wolf fundraiser the following Saturday (August 19th, 7pm).
I got an announcement from Charles Kalish this morning that there’s a ‘Trance music’ for Josh gathering in Golden Gate Park this Sunday (time and location to be determined – don’t wanna give the feds too much of a headstart) …
How could you get a better story for San Francisco? The radical photo-journalist from a radical family, surrounded by radical friends gets locked up by the Bush administration in an attempt to intimidate the alternative online press that just kicked George’s buddy, Joe Lieberman’s, ass in a senate primary race back east (watch out, Nancy).
C’mon, San Francisco, get behind this boy. If you don’t smell a movie here, you’re nose is broke. Lying cops and conniving feds. Footage of anarchists skirmishing with cops! Real video!!! A right-wing judge (Alsop – he’ll be played in the movie by Mel Gibson) who wrote the legislation invading private journalistic sources … wrote it as a law clerk for some pig, ‘Supreme’ (my ass) Court judge.
The barefoot dancer fighting Pelosi, set against the backdrop of some kind of ‘flash’ rave in Golden Gate Park, Castro, the imprisoned American journalist (I thought they only arrested honest American journalists in China and shit like that), … we got a hit here, folks. In other news.
Government moves to erase me
I’m not kidding. Over the past week I’ve dealt with 5 governmental agencies in my quest for early retirement (required by SF’s CAAP program) on social security.
It would mean an extra 40 or 50 bucks a month for me, a decrease from the City welfare rolls of $422 a month and further CCSF savings as I’m transitioned to Medicare (yeah, I’m that old and fuck you for noticing). Anyway, the feds are fighting me every step of the way.
“You aren’t giving me an incentive to help you.”
(Thomas, SS bureaucrat, SF, Market Street)
They really do expect you to kiss their ass. Thomas (who’s thinking of changing his name to ‘Leroy’ – what’s that about?) … Thomas was responding to my sarcasm and literary allusions when he refused to dig my file out of ‘Katie’s’ desk (“I won’t go through her desk.”) … he was standing in for Katie, who’d made the Friday appointment – the following Monday, they simply skipped my number as I waited – Window 2 sucks – left me sitting in the lobby with my documents - hmmm, let me compress this on Social Security.
They have excellent records. 12 years ago they helped me to find my daughter and son after 20 years (they’d been kidnapped by my ex and had their names changed – interesting life, huh?). They amazed me when I filed my initial application for retirement, by laying out almost 50 years of my work history before me. Amazing. Then, they said that they didn’t believe that, not only did they question that I was h. brown, but whether an ‘h. brown’ even existed. The old story. You know the one. No ID required to give us money. Getting us to give you your money back? Different story.
The intake interview with ‘Katie’ went well. She only needed two documents to complete my file. An original birth certificate (she eventually took my only copy after refusing it for weeks – and, through Tomas/Leroy refused to return it, saying it was no good anyway).
An original birth certificate from St. Louis, Missouri. And, a copy of my DD-214 (honorable discharge papers from military). Simple enough, huh?
But, she said if I didn’t get the papers to her within a week, she’d disapprove my application. This had impact because SF’s CAAP program told me that if I didn’t fulfill my obligation to transfer my welfare dole from local to federal, they’d cut me off.
This made it interesting. I knew damned good and well that there was no way on earth to get a DD-214 and a birth certificate within a week. She was looking for a reason to refuse my retirement and, effectively, to put me back on the streets of San Francisco (no pun intended, but it does work, doesn’t it?).
I bitched and she gave me an‘extra’ week. Later, I learned that the minimum time to get a DD-214 copy is 15 working days (it’s been a month and mine still hasn’t arrived).
I went immediately to the office SF hosts for the VA in Stevenson Alley (Tom Horn and Hellman’s wife tossed the VA offices out of the War Memorial’s VA building so’s they could put in extensive offices for their billionaire contributors) … … the VA was great. Case worker, Al Robinson, wrote a nice letter to Social Security saying that any delays in getting my DD-214 were not my fault (if you’re getting ready to retire, expect the Bush people now in charge of SS to fight you for your money: “We’re tightening things up.” - that’s what Thomas/Leroy said; that’s how he described it).
Then the assholes hit a bonanza. After running over to VA from SS on the day of my intake, I went to hang out with Luke Thomas and told him I wouldn’t get paid for a week but that I had to order a birth certificate. He immediately popped out a credit card and called up a service to have my card delivered. $23 as a gift to another broke journalist.
Missouri responded that they couldn’t send my birth certificate because it was no longer being filed in St. Louis, but had been moved to the state capitol in Jefferson City as part of an economy move and for greater efficiency. And, unfortunately, in the transition, the first and middle name on my birth certificate had been lost.
I’m not shitting you
I sat there with ‘Katie’ (government officials, like newspaper account reps, use ‘desk names’) and listened to the bureaucrat from faraway Missouri admit that she had a birth certificate in front of her (we were comparing it to my copy – same form that had gotten me a top secret clearance in the same U.S. Navy that had also seemed to have forgotten me) … she admitted everything on the document but kept denying that I had a first name. I told her that my parents were long dead and I couldn’t ask them how many other kids they had that same April in 1944 but that I’d almost guess I was the only one.
“A special application and 6-8 months wait.”
That’s what the Missouri bureaucrat said in the speaker phone conversation. Katie didn’t remember that apparently. She claimed she didn’t when I complained about the notice she spent a couple of days later saying I only had a week to come up with the documents.
Catch-22 forks bureaucrats and me
The Missouri Vital Statistics form arrived. They wanted proof from Social Security that I exist before they ‘restore’ my first and middle name and send them a certified copy (we’re over $50 here folks and that’s 2 weeks ‘pay’ for me) … return it in , ohhh, saaayyy, 6 to 8 months.
Getting that? Social Security will not verify my identity without a birth certificate from Missouri Vital and Missouri Vital will not issue one without proof from Social Security. Wellll, whoop, ta diii, up is mother fucking down and I’m getting pissed and sarcastic.
Wouldn’t you?
The sword hanging over my grimy neck is the complete cessation from funds from SF CAAP. Removing the safety net when I’m most vulnerable, as it were. Katie and Thomas/Leroy at Social Security want to do that. My City workers don’t. A tip of the hat to Gavin Newsom for that.
And, Darius Karush
Forgive me if I butchered your name, Dar. However, you and your boss have taken ownership (mostly as an ‘unfunded mandate’ but over a thousand of us have a roof we didn’t have) … and, I got mine and I appreciate it and I don’t want to lose it and the feds are threatening it.
So, I called my CAAP worker (Lourdes Leachman – no desk name, that) and she reassured me that they just needed proof I was trying. That’s local, San Francisco. Trying to help when feds are trying to deny.
Feds tossing responsibility to locals?
Sound familiar? That’s how the streets got full of the homeless in the first place. Now, they’re ‘tightening up’ on retirees in addition to evicting the poor and insane? Well, I guess you gotta find that half a trillion friggin’ dollars to bomb Iraq and Lebanon somewhere. Walter Shorenstein sure as shit ain’t gonna give a dime. Dick Blum’s, URS ain’t gonna pay any taxes. Wait, that’s Dianne Feinstein’s husband, right? Reminds me of the other agency I went to for help.
Pelosi ignores my plea for help
It was right there on the flossy, 4 pages of tax-payer subsidized mailer that cost $60k: “Call us for help on your Social Security.”.
Fucking liars! I phoned and they took my name and number and never called back. It made me wonder if they’d have ignored a request from Walter Shorenstein to help him on his early retirement for under $500 a month. Naw, Pelosi is an asshole. Shorenstein is an asshole. Dick Blum is an asshole. Dianne Feinstein is an asshole.
These pricks are about war for oil, not world peace and helping our nations’ poor (especially me). Which gets me back to the point.
Join us for:
August 10th, 10am, City Hall: Ross Mirkarimi’s Rules Committee
meets to discuss incarceration of Josh Wolf.
August 12th, Dance Mission: Happy Birthday, Fidel! (7:30pm)
August 13th, Golden Gate Park: Flash Rave for Josh
August 19th, Dance Mission: Fundraiser/Rent Party for Josh Wolf
At 7pm.
More info on everything follows. This is Josh’s 9th day in prison. Take time off to speak at Ross’ hearing tomorrow for starts. Support your local lefties because, face it, you’re one too and they’ll be after you once they finish with your vanguard.
Solidarity,
