I met her in a homeless shelter some years ago, a bright and articulate woman

[struggle4progress]

who challenged every stereotype about the homeless and who illustrated to me many of this country's problems

She was not lazy or mentally ill or unintelligent. Nor did she have a substance abuse problem

Her situation was the product of a three-fold confluence of difficulties. Her first was that she had developed a debilitating auto-immune disease that limited her ability to work; this, in turn, meant that she quickly had no medical coverage. Her second difficulty was unknown to her until she sought assistance and discovered she was ineligible, having been brought into the US as an infant by her parents and never having become a citizen: she had not realized this before -- the US was the only country she could remember. Her third problem was that she was a single mother: families often provide critical resources in times of crisis, but she had no one to whom she could turn

<edit: mush lurn schpellink>

[midnight]

1. If people were so lucky as to be given all the resources corporations

are given, she would not be in a homeless shelter... I know there are must be many ways to help people finance living situations, but we choose to deny people any dignity... This is not a human way to treat anyone...

[RC]

2. Another reason for Single Payer, Universal Health Care.

[ladjf]

3. By in large, America seems to be getting meaner by the day. nt

[mdmc]

4. //