The Dish: Vol. 14 No 38—September 19, 2011

Poverty and America's Poor
By John Burl Smith

Americans proudly say "The United States is the richest country in the world." In reality, the number of poor people in the United States (US) continues to grow each year. This fact is not only an increasing problem for those who must deal with dwindling survival resources but also for President Barack Obama, who is in the amidst of a challenging re-election campaign. Looking back at the 2008 election victory, one would never have suspected that the constituency that gave him the highest percentage of their votes would be causing tremors in the White House, much like the earthquake that shook the Capitol over a month ago.

The ground moving beneath Mr. Obama's feet has it epicenter in the black community and the source of the tectonic shift in his support lies in his refusal to use the power of the office of the president and its bully pulpit to address the needs of his most loyal supporters. Mr. Obama's campaign gurus made a calculated decision to ignore the seismic activity in the black community, which began as complaints from the Congressional Black Caucus, because they were convinced that adopting the Bush war strategy of increased militarism, trickle down economics and tax cuts would gain enough support among conservatives to offset loses among black voters.

Metaphorically reminiscent of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami in Japan, the Obama quake and its aftershocks continue to rumble through the black community. One such aftershock is the current controversy raging between supporters of the Poverty Bus Tour, an effort to illuminate Mr. Obama's lack of a strategy to address the problems of poverty, especially in the black community, by Cornel West and Tavis Smiley, and those like Steve Harvey, who see any criticism of Mr. Obama as tantamount to sabotaging his reelection. Viewing the situation from the perspective of West and Smiley, Mr. Obama, unlike other presidents who rewarded their most loyal supporters, is ignoring the fact that the black community is facing depression era conditions, while simultaneously he implemented policies and specific programs for other constituencies or minority groups that supported his election.

Those on the other side, such as Harvey, justify Obama's lack of attention to the problems of black people with claims that Mr. Obama is the "President of the whole United States and not the President of the hood!" They maintain that for Mr. Obama to address conditions in the black community with specific targeted programs would give weight to the charge "he favors blacks over whites." Moreover, they claim that such targeted rescue programs would make blacks more dependent on government and not teach them to stand on their own feet.

Harvey's argument on behalf of Mr. Obama ignores the economic devastation of the current world recession and seeks to separate the black community from other poor communities in this nation. He would have the world believe that poverty is a natural condition for black people and to declare that the black community is a disaster would be to throw good money after bad. Refusing to recognize the earthshaking news published by the US Census Bureau on poverty for 2010 as sufficient justification for West and Smiley's Poverty Bus Tour, Harvey, as Mr. Obama's gurus, avoids seeing black people as part of the general picture of poverty in America. This absolves Mr. Obama of the claim he is "President of all America" when it comes to the people who have suffered most from the "Obama quake."

Accordingly, the Census Bureau poverty statistics for 2010 show another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the US, which means that 46.2 million people in America live below the official poverty line (the poverty line in 2010 for a family of four was $22,314.) This was the highest number in the 52-year history of this statistic. According to Lawrence Katz, an economics professor at Harvard, it was the first time since the Great Depression that median household income, adjusted for inflation, did not rise. "We think of America as a place where every generation is doing better, but we're looking at a period when the median family is in worse shape than it was in the late 1990s."

This report revealed alarming new signs of distress among the middle class. Median household income for the bottom tenth of the income spectrum fell by 12% from a 1999 peak ($53,252), while the top 90th percentile dropped by just 1.5%, and overall, median household income declined by 2.3% in 2010 from $49,445 in 2009. This indicates that the gap between the very rich and very poor widened.

The "American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan" has ended, and left most urban areas untouched by the rescue plan. With state and local governments enacting deep cuts to staff and social programs, economically fragile families are being crushed as the tectonic plates of unemployment and raising prices collide. Minorities are being hit hardest as the rich continue to slide over the top. Blacks experienced the highest poverty rate at 27%, up from 25% in 2009; the rate for Hispanics rose to 26% from 25%. However, only 9.9% of whites live in poverty, which was up only .5% from 2009.

The Brookings Institution estimated that the recession will add nearly 10 million people to the ranks of the poor by 2015. Joblessness is the main culprit pushing more Americans into poverty. Blacks who are historically "the last hired and the first fired" are experiencing unemployment rates above 15% while whites are just above 9%. Trudi Renwick, a Census official said, "Last year, about 48 million people ages 18 to 64 did not work even one week out of the year, which was up from 45 million in 2009."

Median income fell across all working-age categories, but the sharpest drop was among young working Americans, ages 15 to 24, that experienced a decline of 9%. This means young blacks whose unemployment rates hover around 45% is actually above 50%. However, the quaking weight of poverty has come to rest heaviest on children. Swelling to 16.4 million last year, children in poverty reached their highest level since 1962, according to William Frey, senior demographer at Brookings. That means 22% of America's children live in poverty, the highest percentage since 1993.

Arloc Sherman, a senior researcher at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, said that the period from 2001 to 2007 (the Bush years) was the first recovery on record where the level of poverty was deeper, and median income of working-age people was lower, at the end than at the beginning. Seismically, the impact of such statistics on a community would be a 10 on the Richter scale, which is the point of the Poverty Bus Tour. West and Smiley are not engaged in a vendetta to bring Mr. Obama down, and to misrepresent their efforts as such is a disservice to the black community.

The "middle class," facing stagnant wages, depression era unemployment, foreclosures, maxed-out credit cards and adult children still living with their parents, white and black, is struggling, while the rich in the US are living large. Contrary to the premise of comedian and talking head Steve Harvey, black people as US citizens, taxpayers and voters have a right to demand service from their government, regardless who is in the White House and regardless of their color or race. For blacks to keep silent and ignore such devastating economic conditions and for Mr. Obama to hide behind such a demand as a defense to appease white anger makes him a coward and undeserving to be President.

Intuit’s Vibe
America Today: 'Tent City'
By Robert Johnson

Doug Hardman wakes up every morning with a song in his head—a vague memory of his days on stage.

Inside his tepee in the woods outside Lakewood, NJ, at the homeless Tent City, the roosters wake early and the mornings are already cooler. A musician who lost his Florida home in the housing crisis, Hardman says he floats in and out of Tent City, that he's proud of his kids, and misses the life he no longer has. He has a lot of company out here.

Tent City made the news recently and while community leader Steven Brigham says the media attention brought in greater donations, it also brought unwanted attention from local politicians.

After battling with the city for years to have access to the public land here, Brigham found a New Jersey lawyer to represent his case pro bono.

The attorney, Jeff Wild, argued that the homeless population is part of the public and should therefore have access to public lands. Rather than take the case to court, Lakewood City Council settled, and Brigham signed an agreement to put up no more shelters and allow no more than 70 people to stay.

But last winter the community put up three wooden structures to house everyone and keep them warm. "We didn't lose anybody last year," Brigham says, "and nobody got sick."

This year could be different. After City Council members saw the shelters on TV, they sent demolition crews in. The walls were torn down around whatever was inside, and meager furnishings were left to the elements.

This year, the tent city's residents will have to put wood-stoves in tents and plastic shanties, increasing fire risk. Brigham says the town is making it impossible to survive there, hoping to get the homeless out, and he's concerned it will end up killing people this year.

More than 700,000 people are currently homeless in the U.S. and the number has grown 20 percent from 2007 to 2010.

A recent UN report says the way the U.S. denies its citizens access to water, basic sanitation, and criminalizes homelessness is a violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Brigham can relate. He started the camp five years ago and more people show up every year. Some stay, some find part-time work where they can, move on, and wind up coming back.

"There's a real glut of low-skilled manual labor in the area," he says. "There's just nothing for people to do."

Brigham works as a high-voltage electrical contractor on the bridges and tunnels around New York, but his mission is here in the Lakewood forest.

"I found this spot that had no underbrush, which is very unusual," he says, "and this community's become a living protest."

I ask him what he means, and he says, "We're protesting the insincerity of the political system. It's supposed to be for the people and its not."

Reverend Steve Brigham can be reached at P.O. Box 326, Lakewood, NJ 08701. See the pictures of Tent City at www.businessinsider.com/lakewood-new-jersey-homeless-tent-city-2011-9?op=1#ixzz1YJrVr3cx.

Venue for an Artist Speaking Truth to Power
By Cornel West

I want to begin by thanking Reverend Phelps for this space in this prophetic church. I want to thank Sister Sarah Kunstler for her vision of bringing us together. We shall never forget our dear brother William Kunstler, his love, his courage, his vision, his sacrifice. And any time I get a chance to set my eyes on the artistic genius and literary jazzman Amiri Baraka, it just extends years to my life. It’s a blessing to have you here. And for the brothers who spoke so eloquently, whose voices consecrated this evening, resilience, resistance. And when I saw you take the picture together, I could see Nat Turner and John Brown. Oh, yes. I could see the workers’ movement in the 1890s. I could see the brothers and sisters on the corner in Watts 1965, in Detroit in ’67, in Newark in ’67, and 212 rebellions the night Brother Martin Luther King was shot down like a dog one year after he gave his "Beyond Vietnam" speech to bring poor people together, bring a critique to bear on the viciousness of American imperialism. That’s what we’re talking about here.

So, 40 years later, we come back to commemorate this struggle against the historical backdrop of a people who have been so terrorized and traumatized and stigmatized that we have been taught to be scared, intimidated, always afraid, distrustful of one another, and disrespectful of one another. But the Attica rebellion was a countermove in that direction. I call it the niggerization of a people, not just black people, because America has been niggerized since 9/11. When you’re niggerized, you’re unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence, hated for who you are. You become so scared that you defer to the powers that be, and you’re willing to consent to your own domination. That’s the history of black people in America.

Any time you look the terror in the face and you deal with the trauma, even if maybe all you could do is sing a song—and let us never forget the summer of 1971, the number one album in America was "What’s Going On" by a genius named Marvin Gaye. Who really cares? Save the babies. What’s happening, brother? And Donny Hathaway on the sideline, and Nina Simone, Gil Scott-Heron, Pharoah Sanders, Miles Davis and others. You had a whole context in which you could look the terror and trauma and stigma in the face and say, "We gonna stand," the way Sly Stone said "Stand" that same year, in his album. That’s what we’re talking about.

We live in revolutionary times, but the counterrevolution is winning. The greedy oligarchs and plutocrats are winning. One out of four corporations doesn’t pay taxes, but gobble up billions of dollars. And yet, not just 21 percent of our children are living in poverty, of all colors, each one precious, 42 percent of America’s children live in poverty or near poverty. That is sick. It’s a moral obscenity. It’s a national disgrace. Yet, we have a political class, no matter what color they are, that won’t say a mumbling word about that poverty. Why? Because it sits outside of the give and fro between a right-wing, mean-spirited Republican Party, run by the oligarchs and the plutocrats, and a spineless Democratic Party, that’s got ties to the oligarchs and plutocrats, and the poor people get left out. They get invisible, disposable.

And yet, we see the same brothers in the 1950s and ’60s who were coming out of socially neglected and economically abandoned spaces, called "the ghetto" by Donny Hathaway. When Hathaway said "ghetto," that wasn’t demeaning. If you’re from the ghetto, the way he talked about it, you straightened your back up. You got your mind together. You had love in your heart for your brother and sister on the block. And it started on the chocolate side of town, but it spilled over to the vanilla side and the red side and the yellow side and the brown side, too. The unity that we had in Attica among the black and brown—and I saw some white brothers, too. Oh, yes. And that’s elementary. You’ve got to have the unity, but you’ve got to be honest about the powers that be dividing and conquering.

And the young people are hungry and thirsty, but the young people are thirsty for truth. Oh, yes. They’re hungry for truth. And the problem is that most of our leaders have either sold out, caved in, given up They don’t want to tell the truth. They’re too concerned about their careers. They’re too concerned about success. They’re too concerned about just winning the next election for their status.

In 1971, the Attica brothers told the truth. But they weren’t the only ones. You had a whole cacophony of voices telling the truth. But who wants to tell the truth? The condition of truth is to allow suffering to speak. If you don’t talk about poverty, you’re not telling the truth. If you’re not talking about working people being pushed against the wall, with corporate profits high, you’re not telling the truth. If you’re not talking about the criminal activity on Wall Street and not one person gone to jail yet, you’re not telling the truth. Don’t tell me about the crime on the block with brothers and sisters and Jamal and Latisha taken to jail, and yet gangsters engaged in fraudulent activity, insider trading, market manipulation, walking around having tea at night. That’s what we need.

But the sad thing is, the kind of courage that these brothers had in 1971 is in short supply. Because when you bring together the national security state and the military-industrial complex, when you bring together the prison-industrial complex and all the profits that flow from it, when you bring together the corporate media multiplex that don’t allow for serious dialogue—unless we got Sister Amy or Brother Tavis and some others—and then, when you bring together the Wall Street oligarchs and the corporate plutocrats, and they tell any person or any group, "If you speak the truth, we’ll shoot you down like a dog and dehumanize you the way we dehumanized the brothers in Attica," the only thing that will keep you going is you better have some love in your heart for the people. That’s the only thing that will keep you going, the only reason Baraka is a long-distance runner. I don’t care if you agree with them ideologically or not. It doesn’t make any difference. They got enough love for the people in their heart to still tell the truth about poverty, about suffering, about struggle, and be able to look—not just presidents, because by presidents you’re just talking about the placeholder of the oligarchs and the plutocrats—I don’t care what color they are—to tell that truth. And most people, they hold off on that. They say, "No, I got one life, one life. I saw what they did. I saw what they done."

We’re going to have a new wave. We’re going to have a new wave of truth telling. We’re going to have a new wave of witness bearing. And we’re going to teach the younger generation that these brothers didn’t struggle in vain, just like John Brown and Nat Turner and Marcus Garvey and Martin King and Myles Horton and the others didn’t. And we shall see what happens. We might get crushed, too. But you know what? Then you just go down swinging, like Ella Fitzgerald and Muhammad Ali.

About Me: Princeton University professor, Dr. Cornel West, speaking at the Riverside Church in New York remembering the prison protest at Attica 40 years ago and talking about a blueprint for accountability today.

News You Use Worse Than You Think

Michael Thornton, who has been writing for the past two years about unemployment and workplace issues, recently penned 11 Reasons the Unemployment Crisis is Even Worse than You Think; it should be require reading. Below are excerpts from his article.

"President Obama recently addressed the nation during a joint session of Congress and the main theme of that address was the need to create jobs, lots of jobs, millions of jobs. The Great Recession has cost US workers millions of jobs and those jobs have not come back as quickly as they disappeared and in many cases those jobs will never return. According to the Economic Policy Institute, "In total, there are 6.9 million fewer jobs today than there were in December 2007."

That is only a small part of the jobs-hole story, a story that is often ignored, overlooked and oversimplified by mass media. The media have failed to present the unemployment problem, with all its associated economically devastating consequences, in the manner it deserves. It’s possible that unemployment facts and figures don’t translate well for advertisers, or they are too cumbersome to present in a two-minute segment. Whatever the reason, the mass media seem to avoid unemployment details as they would avoid describing and filming fresh road kill during a dinnertime newscast.

The unemployment rate remained at 9.1 percent for August. Unemployment to the mass media centers on that single point within the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) monthly employment report. There is passing mention of discouraged workers and the underemployed, but the true scale of the jobs crisis is given scant attention considering the magnitude of the problem."

Thornton examines each of the 11 unemployment details that mass media underreport or ignore completely. For example, the jobs deficit, the total number of jobs lost plus jobs that should have been created since the recession began in December 2007, is an estimated 11.3 million jobs. According to EPI: "To fill that gap in three years – by mid-2014—while still keeping up with the growth in the working-age population—would require adding around 400,000 jobs every single month. To fill the gap in five years—by mid-2016—would mean adding 280,000 jobs each month. By comparison, over the last three months, the economy added just 35,000 jobs, on average."

In addition to the jobs deficit, there are the business birth/death model, the job openings labor turnover survey, the labor-force participation rate, the issue of marginally attached workers, the underemployed, the not-unemployed unemployed, the long-term unemployed and the99ers.

"What message can be taken from this list of realistic and discomforting unemployment figures? The bottom line is that unemployment is much worse than the 9.1 percent unemployment figure pushed by the media and many lawmakers; in fact it’s considerably worse.

Mass media’s inability to communicate the depth of the jobs crisis is one reason the response to it has been weak and ineffectual. If the media mute the crisis, lawmakers and corporations will continue to act slowly and impotently, forcing millions of American families to suffer needlessly.

Unemployment and jobs creation are national emergencies demanding focused attention with a wide-ranging and rapid response. This American jobs disaster will not vanish if neglected, but what will vanish are the hopes, dreams and financial well-being of millions of hard-working Americans.

Many pundits and some GOP lawmakers excoriate all unemployed for being lazy and enjoying life on the dole. Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) recently said, "People are gaming the system and refusing to take jobs because they get unemployment benefits and food stamps." That naïve and cruel assessment disparages all unemployed, but it’s particularly insulting to the majority of unemployed who aren’t eligible to collect or have exhausted unemployment benefits. If Sen. DeMint and his ilk want to see where the system is being gamed, he may want to look at Wall Street instead of Main Street."

Read the article in its entirety at www.alternet.org/story/152401/11_reasons_why_the_unemployment_crsis_is_even_worse_than_you_think.

Hood Notes: Poverty, Foreclosures and Doubling Up

Since the 2008 financial collapse, the government has spent billions of dollars trying to extricate borrowers from high-cost loans, aid delinquent homeowners, and stabilize neighborhoods. The results have been disappointing.

Currently, the US government has 248,000 residential properties in its possession, the result of record numbers of people defaulting on government-backed mortgages. That is nearly a third of the nation’s 800,000 repossessed homes, making the U.S. taxpayer the largest owner of foreclosed properties. With even more homes moving toward default, Fannie Mae (FNMA), Freddie Mac (FMCC), and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) are looking for a way to unload these properties without swamping an already depressed real estate market.

While the federal government contemplates the disposal of its residential inventory, millions of families are homeless; others are 'doubling up' with more than one generation occupying a single residence. According to the US Census Bureau, the number of multi-generational households increased more than 30 percent to about 5.1 million in 2010 from 3.9 million in 2000.

There are a number of reasons for the increase in multi-generational households. One important factor is an increase in the number of young adults moving back home with their parents. This trend has been on the rise since many college graduates have been unable to find jobs. Another group comprises those 18 to 29 that have simply failed to launch or become fully independent, which may or may not be economics related.

Other factors are ethnicity, immigration and longevity. Multi-generational households are more common among Hispanic and Asian families.

The single most important factor is the rise in poverty. According to the Census Bureau, the number of impoverished Americans rose to a record 46.2 million, while US incomes fell.

Moreover, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which tracks the world’s most developed countries, the U.S. poverty rate is among the highest in the developed world; only Chile, Israel and Mexico have higher rates of poverty.

Without a variety of government programs, including Social Security, food stamps and extended unemployment compensation, the number living below the poverty level of $22,314 for a family of four would be even greater. Since the recession began in 2007, the number of households receiving food stamps has nearly doubled to 21.4 million. (Sources: www.msnbc.msn.com and www.chicagotribune.com)

Politics Y2K11 'AWOL' on Mortgage Crisis
By Mike Lillis

Leading House Democrats are accusing the Obama administration of ignoring the lingering mortgage crisis and threatening tens-of-millions of Americans with foreclosure in the process.

"I couldn't wait to get Obama in office because I was sure a Democrat would do a better job," Rep. Dennis Cardoza (D-CA) said, referring to the foreclosure-relief efforts under the Bush administration. "And, frankly, nothing's happened. The programs that were put in place were abysmal failures."

The lawmakers – encouraged by Obama's mention of mortgage-relief in his address to Congress last week – were quickly deflated just days later when their efforts to learn the details of the White House plan proved unsuccessful.

"The administration has been AWOL on this issue," charged Rep. Cardoza (D-CA), "and the American people are suffering because of the mismanagement." He added, "In my entire political career, I've never seen anything this irresponsible."

Democrats were fired up after the administration declined their request for a briefing with Edward DeMarco, the acting director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), on the specifics of the plan.

Instead, said Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), "they [FHFA] sent us some career employees, and they were not able to answer the questions that we were most concerned about."

"We need to have [DeMarco] here to address the questions," said Cummings, the senior Democrat on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "He's the person who answers directly to the president."

Cardoza said that, during a June 2 Democratic Caucus meeting with Obama at the White House, the president vowed to propose "a very significant housing initiative in September."

"Today we just heard that they don't know anything about it at the FHFA," Cardoza said.

Hours later, Cummings and Cardoza spearheaded a letter to DeMarco requesting a face-to-face meeting. Twenty-eight other House Democrats and one Republican – Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) – endorsed the letter. Cummings said he expects such a meeting in the next two or three weeks.

Cardoza said there's a growing sense the administration is stone-walling. "They're giving us the same speech they'd given us months before. We've seen this dog-and-pony show before. It's nothing new. That's the frustration. DeMarco either needs to do something, or he needs to get out of the way," Cardoza added

Addressing the joint session of Congress, Obama dedicated two sentences to the ongoing foreclosure crisis, vowing to bolster his efforts to help struggling homeowners. "We’re going to work with federal housing agencies to help more people refinance their mortgages at interest rates that are now near 4 percent," Obama said. "That’s a step that can put more than $2,000 a year in a family’s pocket, and give a lift to an economy still burdened by the drop in housing prices."

From the audience, Cardoza – who represents one of the districts hit hardest by the foreclosure crisis – shot to his feet in applause. (Source: www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/09/16

Disgruntled feels: Apprehensive!

The state of Georgia plans to execute Troy Davis on September 21, unless he is granted a stay of execution. Worldwide, people have rallied in support of Troy. Petitions have been signed, calls have been made to the State Board of Pardons and Parole and letters have been written to Gov. Nathan Deal and President Barack Obama urging them to issue a pardon to save a life. There is certainly reasonable doubt as seven of the nine eyewitnesses that testified against Troy during his murder trial and conviction have since recanted their testimony. That was more than twenty years ago when the option of life without parole did not exist in the State of Georgia. More important, the death penalty is not supported by a majority of Americans. It is time to end this barbaric practice. Yet, I am apprehensive about the prospects of an end to this barbarity, given the appeal is being made in the state of Georgia, a slave state and former penal colony, where the governor is bent on channeling Rick Perry and the murderous state of Texas.

Disgruntled wants to know: This week the United Nations will meet in New York. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who is scheduled to address the world body, is expected to request statehood recognition of Palestine before the Security Council. Behind the scenes, the United States and Israel have been working to derail the effort. The US has vowed to use its Security Council veto to prevent Palestine from becoming a state, even though it claims to support a two-state solution to bring peace to the troubled region. A US veto is likely to be embarrassing for the US, not only as an "honest broker" in the Middle East, but at a time when it is supporting the Arab uprising gripping the region. Beyond the Security Council, there is another option. Should the US use its veto, will Abbas take the matter to the General Assembly, where there is no veto power?

Disgruntled says: I received the video link below to a radio broadcast from the Steve Harvey Show criticizing Tavis Smiley and Cornel West for their Poverty Bus Tour, which is supposed to raise awareness of the deepening poverty that exists across this country. Harvey and his co-hosts called Smiley and West poverty pimps with sponsors paying for their criticism of President Obama, who, according to them, is doing a great job as president of the entire United States. To be fair, Harvey, who is "Mastering the Millionaire Mindset" on the cover of the most recent issue of Jet Magazine, also has sponsors for his radio program. And, while he is not catering to the "woe is me" mindset in this particular broadcast, he does have a knack for appealing to the lowest common denominator with his trashy talk and broken English. Only a paid mouthpiece or millionaire would give Mr. Obama a "great" grade. Millionaires have done extremely well during Mr. Obama’s tenure. The same cannot be said for the poor, especially those residing in the black community, which is mired in the toilet. This is not some "woe is me" baseless complaint, this is fact. We need to forget that Mr. Obama is black and assess his performance based solely on the stats. If we did, we would have to admit that especially for blacks, his tenure has been toxic! The broadcast link is www.worldstarhiphop.com/videos/video.php?v=wshhE57V1wm51wvQ5g9g.

Mailbox: E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls

Email www.freep.com...101-year-old Detroit woman evicted over tax bill...A 101-year-old woman has been evicted from the southwest Detroit home where she lived nearly six decades after her 65-year-old son failed to pay taxes on the home. WXYZ-TV reports Texana Hollis was evicted Monday and her belongings placed outside the home. Warren Hollis tells the station he didn't pay the taxes for several years and several eviction notices had been received earlier, but he didn't tell his mother. The home was paid for and Texana Hollis lived there 58 years. Her son lived with her. A neighbor is letting them live in a rental house, and her belongings were being moved there. Others are working to get Texana Hollis back into her home. On Monday night, she was taken to a hospital for evaluation after she became disoriented.

Email www.huffingtonpost.com...Pat Robertson: Alzheimer's Justifies Divorce...By Tom Breen...Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson told his "700 Club" viewers that divorcing a spouse with Alzheimer's is justifiable because the disease is "a kind of death." During the portion of the show where the one-time Republican presidential candidate takes questions from viewers, Robertson was asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder. "I know it sounds cruel, but if he's going to do something, he should divorce her and start all over again, but make sure she has custodial care and somebody looking after her," Robertson said. The chairman of the Christian Broadcasting Network, said he wouldn't "put a guilt trip" on anyone who divorces a spouse who suffers from the illness, but added, "Get some ethicist besides me to give you the answer."

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