Goulash (a little bit of everything)

Make Your Vote Count - (and revolt too)

2007-09-25T23:16:00.000-07:00

Everyday I sit and wait for my court date to get my disability while being told told by DHS(Department of Human Services) that I can't get any help unless I 'get a job'. I just don't fuckin get it. Im filing for disability because I can't work after 15 years of banging nails and some pompass asshole is telling me to get a job.

For christ sake - stop feeding the machine(Corporations). Stop shopping at any corporate monster that imports their product from another country using slave labor.

I want a better life, without having to beg and without being told that welfare(Well Money or Money to be Well, the original purpose) makes me scum of the earth.

Whatever you do - VOTE FOR DENNIS KUCINICH in 2008.

If you want a chance for universal health care, or to kill these corporate machines that are killing our civilization (by putting an end to NAFTA) - MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT.

If your one of those that 'dont vote' and your going to throw away your vote - FUCK IT - throw it away for me, because I want a better life for my family, and families to come.

NAFTA - North American Free Trade Agreement = North American corporate whores that buy all their products from foreign slave labor companies , how in the hell is an American worker supposed to compete with slave labor for christ sake.

And these corporate scumbag health care companies that take your money and then tell you your insurance 'doesnt cover that'. FUCK THAT !!! - It's your money - NEVER TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER.

I've been broke for all my life, not that it really matters - I was perfectly happy being a carpenter and building houses - But I am so far in debt now that I don't even care anymore, as a matter of fact; I have vowed to die with as much debt as a person can possibly rack up.

Because let's face it - When is the last time a bank or collection agent scumbag ever gave you a break LOL _ NEVER!!!!

So I say - FUCK EM...... Enjoy knowing that when you die you'll be sticking it right back at them - they can't call you after your dead.

With any luck at all - we'll actually get a President who understands more than war, and death , and poverty , and famine - Someone who actually cares about other people and his wallet.

If you want to have a better life for you and yours - VOTE KUCINICH

p.s. - I need money - donate via paypal - send it to rxhector2k5@yahoo.com

Burned Again

2007-09-07T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go again with another typical day in my life. As a disabled carpenter, there isn't a lot of jobs I can actually do considering I am in pain most of the day because of my blown disc.

So, while I wait for my court date and fight my own govt. for the "Insurance" they took from me for 15 years I have been learning how to build web-sites and trying to work from home.

Let me tell you, it's not easy to retrain yourself and find work, but I managed to pull off a few jobs here and there.

I wound up working on more than one project for this particular person, and it was always hell getting paid because they are so damn picky.

After finishing several projects for a person you would think there would be some sort of rapport, even on a small level.

As luck would have it; while working on not one- but two projects for this particular person, I asked for a small payment on the small project that was originally "just a favor" and the Facist Nazi Bitch had the gall to tell me she wasnt going to pay me until it was finished , and I should be concentrating on the other project and wait another two to three weeks to get any money.

I dont know who burned this little bitch in the past, but when someone who has worked on several projects for you asks for money - THEY PROBABLY NEED IT.

Not only is my phone and internet as risk for being lost again - but so is my power. And I had to tell my kid I need to postpone his birthday because the Nazi Plantation Owner slave worker bitch wouldnt pay the hired help.

If anyone reads this - give Tracey Williams at ProWebAvenue a call (319-247-0869) and tell her she needs to get rid of her "everybody is out to screw me" mentality, and learn to be a friggin human being and give a crap about other people.

2007-07-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

Help the Broke Carpenter

OK people - here's the story, we accumulated an RV for free but it needs some work.

And as always my disabled a** is still fighting to keep the power and phone on LOL, another day in the life of me.

The worst part is I can still walk(limp) and talk, just not long enough for a real job let alone a career.

SO, here's my proposal --

If anyone can help donate to the cause - we are willing to be corporate whore's.

Any and all businesses that want the world to know they believe in America or the American dream, here's your chance - you help us reach our dream and we'll gladly put your company logo's on our RV.

Well, there it is - that's our plan.

Just because were disabled doesn't mean we shouldn't have the chance to see the world.

Any and all people willing to help us out - send your donations via pay-pal to rxhector2k5@yahoo.com , and corporations feel free to contact The Broke Carpenter for corporate advertising.

2007-05-29T22:28:00.000-07:00

Futile Complaints

I read several articles today, mostly about the state of affairs in different countries and it made me think of how trivial my problems are compared to the rest of the world.

In several parts of Africa populations are experiencing genocide, the lowest level of the caste people in India are under extreme sanctions and not allowed to change their religion to escape being part of the caste system. The Mexican "guest workers" are continually ripped off by so called "job recruiters". It's not bad enough that they are so much worse off than I am, that they want to come to this country just to try to survive because they can't in their country.

And I wonder - Should I really be complaining about how bad I have it, that I have to fight my own corrupt government for my disability. Should I be complaining about how crappy my subsidized apartment is and how I have to fight the utility companies.

Some of these people in other countries are lucky if they can make it through the day without being slaughtered, or beat or robbed blind for some of the opportunities that I have had.

You know what, I deserve the right to bitch about any damn thing I want, any time I want. Because I live in America - the "so called" greatest country in the world.

The US is just as good at ignoring their own citizens as any other country. As long as the "corporate" elite keep raking in huge profits at the expense of the lives of the pathetic slaves that keep them going - who gives a shit?

2007-05-26T17:38:00.000-07:00

Finance the Broke Carpenter (slash Geek)

OK, well I am already in debt over my head for a degree that I can't get a job with because NAFTA sent all the countries work over seas.

But that doesn't mean I still don't want to do something with my life LOL (What's left for a disabled carpenter anyway?)

So until I actually have my day in court and get my disability I need some help.

I need help with my phone/internet and power bills - and I really really need help getting new computer parts, my hard drive is on its last legs I think.

If anybody happens to have a couple extra bucks - send it via pay-pal to rxhector2k5@yahoo.com

Thanks,
Joe the Broke Carpenter

2007-05-07T22:14:00.000-07:00

God Save the Queen
(or - the old bat doesnt need to be)

Aww how sweet, the Queen of England gets to eat off the fancy china at the White House with our corrupt government officials while soldiers die and our own citizens have to sue their own country to get their disability.

Will somebody please tell those fat elitist fucking pricks (and bitches) that shoveling their face full of food isnt going to solve any of this countries (let alone the worlds) problems.

Why do we even give a crap about that old bag anyway - isnt she just another powerless figurehead (I guess her and bush have something in common after all)

I hope they fucking choke to death on their fancy fucking dinner while the rest of the poverty stricken US and world has to suffer.

That just about covers me for today.

Peace Out...

2007-05-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

This Corrupt Government can Kiss My "American" ASS

I guess I can't blame them for being corrupt really though, I mean think about this for a minute.

If you had a bunch of people putting an almost endless supply of money in your pocket who's side would you be on?

When it comes right down to it, we're all to blame - Hell, we're the ones that voted for the corrupt sons-a-bitches.

But when it comes down to it, do they ever really give a crap about the people that are responsible for them being where they are?

Hell NO !!!! I personally can't put millions of dollars in their greedy hands because I am only a stupid carpenter. I busted my ass for 17 years of my miserable life in slavery to the "ILLEGAL" federal reserve and only made $117k ($8k/yr). I never made enough money to compete with the gigantic corporations lining the pockets of our corrupt elected officials.

Now we have the most disgusting display of disregard for the constitution ever as a president. After "two" rigged elections(with convictions in OHIO) and enough evidence on the internet pointing to the current (Bush/Cheney) administration as having direct involvement with 9/11 and a president who continually shows absolute contempt for everything our Constitution is for.

What is going to take to have these people brought to justice?

Who is responsible for the arrest and imprisonment of our highest elected officials for crimes of high treason against the people of the United States of America?

The American people, "We The People" have been speaking out and protesting and we even sent a message during the last round of Senate and Representative elections and our highest elected officials continue to ignore the demands of the people who they are supposed to "Serve".

George W Bush and Dick Cheney are "NOT" above the law. (Not to mention everyone else appointed in the Illegal Cabinet)

These foul people continue to scheme and blatantly disregard the law by having secret meetings and signing documents with other countries that "We The People" are not informed of.

Why do you think they call it a "secret"? People usually tell secrets or with-hold secrets because they are "BAD".

Our "Secret" (remember - "Secrets" are bad) Government has been forcing us into a facist slave state since the "Secret" establishment of the "Illegal" Federal Reserve since 1916.

With that being said...

I am on "permanent holiday" until the following events occur...
1) George W. Bush and Dick Cheney are arrested for the crimes of high treason against the people of the United States of America
(As well as every member of their corrupt appointed cabinet members)
2) The Federal Reserve is dismantled and the "Power" to print currency is restored to the Government of the United States.

More Political Rhetoric

2007-05-06T12:47:00.001-07:00

More Political Rhetoric

As the politicians vie for votes they continue on the same path as previous Regimes.

It's all bullshit. While they continue to throw their money at the largest Corporations in America.

IF ANY OF YOU CORRUPT BASTARDS WANT MY VOTE - YOUR GOING TO HAVE TO THROW ME SOME MONEY DAMMIT.

The only candidate that even comes close to saying anything I want to hear is Ron Paul.

Yes we all the war to end, and while national health care for all sounds good; until we actually end the war against our pocket books we will continue be slaves to the Federal Reserve.

While all the politicians except one have repeated the same shit we have heard for years, there is only one who really stands out.

Think about it, it's nice to know that you will be healthy - of course you will. If you stay healthy you can continue your slavery for the Federal Reserve.

2007-04-21T15:53:00.000-07:00

SO PISSED OFF!!!!

OK, well it's another day that I set here in my apathy and think about how pissed off I am at the current regime in office, and how every day of my adult life has been spent in slavery for the rich fuckers that perpetuate their wealth by screwing the already poor even more.

The more I think about the state of affairs in this fucked up country and the filthy bastards in office cheated to get there - there is documented PROOF that these lying thieving fuckers cheated to get where they are and nobody has the power or resources to put an end to this shit.

If I thought for a second that I could march my crippled, disabled ass to Washington and kick those fuckers in the ass - I would do it myself. It's not bad enough that we're already slaves to the corporations and these corrupt bastards, but now we have to be slaves to the military industrial complex too?

I say screw that - If I wasn't married with a family, I would take advantage of my 2ND amendment right to bear arms and take care of business.

But what can one poor, almost homeless, living on welfare and fighting for disability person do?

I can at least write about how I feel... Putting it into words is not as effective as actually doing it - but I am trying to be more involved lately.

At least I can say I have written to my representatives and senators and congressmen - at least they know how offended I am at the current administration and I am one of hundreds, and thousands, and hundreds of thousands that want a change.

2007-04-19T01:51:00.000-07:00

I have heard this proverb/saying more than once and it made me think about how most of my life has been.

We are all created equal (from the Declaration of Independence)

– just some more equal than others (Orwell/ Vonnegut, maybe even others earlier.)

During the course of trying to find the origin of that quote, I find more than one article or discussion regarding the impossibility of “all” people being created equal, and that it would be a “horror” story if we were.

I was absolutely amazed at the sheer “idiocy” of those morons. They totally missed the point of the “philosophical” meaning of this statement put forth by our forefathers when they wrote the Declaration of Independence. Yes, even our forefathers I am sure; thought of the sheer stupidity of everyone being “identical” in appearance.

This brings me to why I tell my story. I have lived my adult life in poverty. My childhood wasn’t too bad I suppose – as far as I know we were “middle class”. OK, so it was just barely over the poverty level. Yeah we had a house, and a car, and food and… Now that I think about it; that’s all we really had. I wasn’t the best dressed kid my school, and mommy and daddy sure as hell didn’t buy my first car or my first crappy trailer home for me. Hmmm, maybe we lived in poverty then too.

I have had to live my life in this country; from my birth until now I am a citizen of the United States of America. And I can honestly tell you that “We” are not equal, we aren’t even close to being equal.

I have tried to be equal. I have worked long and hard. I have tried on more than one occasion to improve my life – be it through buying a house, be it through continuing education; be it through changing careers.

And every step of the way through my life I have tried to be a good, “productive” citizen. But there have been several hardships along the way. There have been hardships along the way that no human being anywhere should EVER have face, especially not a citizen of the greatest nation on earth (Which has been effectively eroded away to nothing during the current Regime of our “so called” elected leaders) The United States of Greed.

For the seventeen years of my life that I was actually able to work, I managed to earn a massive $117,000 (according to my social security records, that’s an accurate assessment). That looks like a pretty good number doesn’t it? Let’s do a little math and see just how much money I really make.

$117,000 divided by 17 years = $6882.35 per year. WOW, what a great life I’ve had. (My wife still loves me and only 1 of our 4 children has abandoned us – I guess that’s not too bad).

It never ceases to amaze me how there are people out there that can make my yearly average salary in one month. And even more amazing that some people make my entire life’s earnings in one month.

Why is it, that some of this nations most skilled workers (I “used” to be a carpenter) are paid the least amounts of money? I’m not by any means trying to imply in any way that I am any better than anyone else – quite the contrary. I am saying that I should be considered an equal. Yet, my yearly income does not reflect equality in any way, and some of the hardships I have had to endure during the last 17 years would suggest that not only am I “less than equal” to many of my peers – I have from time to time thought that my only purpose for being a citizen of this “so called” great country, was so that my “more equals” could have a laugh at my futile attempts to survive.

When the carpenters of this country cannot afford to live in the houses they build, and the janitors cannot afford to use the services of the hospitals they clean, and the teachers of this country cannot afford to pay for car insurance to get to our schools and teach our young – this country is failing miserably to achieve the dreams set forth by our founding fathers.

The last three years of my life have absolutely been the worst three years of my life. Not only have I had to endure being homeless (with my family) but I have received the absolute worst treatment ever from our countries own division of human services. As if it’s not bad enough that the division of human services has been a part of my life on and off for the last 15 years in three different states, but the state of Oregon in particular has the absolute worst case policies and the worst case workers I have ever had to deal with.

If it were not for the amazing help from my church, and the amazing luck of blindly stumbling into a subsidized apartment, my family and I would be homeless. Imagine that, the luckiest thing to happen to me in my life has been to get a subsidized apartment.

I am currently in the process of fighting my government to get my disability. I worked for 17 years as a carpenter. For 17 years I have spent countless thousands of dollars trying to maintain unaffordable car insurance, I have spent countless thousands of dollars to re-instate my driving privileges, I have spent countless thousands of dollars replacing vehicles that were “taken” from me by the very system that I spent so many years building houses for.

Now, after 17 years of pain and servitude and for my country, after 17 years of being FORCED to sacrifice a percentage of my income whether I wanted to or not, I have to “SUE” my own government for money that is rightfully mine. Money that was taken from each and every paycheck I ever received.

I didn’t vote for mandatory insurance, yet I have suffered through the indignity imposed on me more than once of being forced into the “legalized racketeering”. Our own government is nothing more than a façade hiding the “mobsters” with the most votes.

I have suffered through 17 years of honest hard work through poverty and homelessness and I as a citizen of the United States of America DEMAND to be treated with dignity and respect and I DEMAND that this country that I have faithfully served through poverty and homelessness GIVE me my disability.

State of the Union - for the poor anyway

2007-04-17T14:26:00.000-07:00

State of the Union (for the Poor)

My early years before I entered the world of adulthood were filled with stories of the American dream. But alas, that’s exactly what they were; Stories, Tall Tales, Fictions to soon be discovered.

I always knew we weren’t ‘Rich’. But my parents managed to keep me fed and a roof over my head. They did O.K. We lived in a middle class neighborhood for 8 to 10 years, so everything wasn’t too bad. Little did I know just exactly how far in debt my parents really were? At any given moment the smallest catastrophe could have sent them reeling into bankruptcy.

I did OK in school – I was a ‘C’ student, not because I had any learning problems, I was actually in some advanced art and math classes. I was a ‘C’ student because my parents were hammered with the day-to-day stress of trying to keep food on the table and a roof over our heads. I was a ‘C’ student because nobody had any idea that the world or at least the US was going to be driven by unforgiving corporate greed and some of the most corrupt government officials and policies ever imagined.

I quit school in my senior year. Yeah stupid move – there were some issues with the Dean being a moron, he could have very well found some other way to resolve an issue other than failing me at the end of the first semester – So my battle with absolute idiots began before I even left high school.

While I continued to work on my ‘Rock Star’ future, I took up carpentry as a means of being a productive citizen.

This is where the so called ‘American Dream’ has been dismantled and torn asunder.

You hear stories of ‘Work Hard’ and you will be rewarded – BULLSH**. I stuck with carpentry for 15 years. I “WAS” very skilled in my chosen trade, I even managed to work my way up “lead carpenter” and “foreman” a couple times. But amazingly enough, I was never able to make enough money to keep up with the bare necessities needed for survival. All my years of hard work and perseverance my family always relied on public assistance and charities.

I dealt with employers that offered me a raise if I signed insurance waivers and moved to 1099s (the worst thing ever). I dealt with employers going bankrupt and not paying me. I dealt with spending entire tax refunds to re-instate my drivers’ license and pay exorbitant insurance fines (nothing more than legalized racketeering in my book).

I tried to get an SBA loan once to start my own business – That was a joke, the bank said I had one of the best proposals they had ever seen (my advanced high school math skills paid off) – but the bank wouldn’t even submit my proposal to the SBA because not only are carpenters the highest rated “credit Risk”, but I didn’t have any collateral.

So I continued to spend every dollar I could muster to pay for my almost unaffordable car insurance while working for employers who would outright rig paychecks - refuse to honor verbal agreements and just about every other abhorrent behavior that contractors use to screw their workforce. It’s no different from corporate theft really, and when poor broke carpenters have to rely on public assistance programs to pay the bills, there no way we could even imagine the luxury of hiring a lawyer to fight the battle. So we just move on to the next ‘dirty’ contractor who was lucky enough somehow to get his business started.

Look, I know the simple fact that we can’t all be doctors and lawyers and such – but there has to be more to the ‘American Dream’ than wishing we had born with a ‘Silver Spoon’ in our mouths, or even worse yet – waiting diligently for some older family member to ‘DIE’ so we can reap the rewards of some small fortune that they may have.

I have re-educated myself. I have a G.E.D, I even have an Associates degree, I even have several ‘Certifications’ proving that I can at least pass a test.

Once again I got screwed believing in the ‘American Dream’. During my families’ first battle with being Homeless, I took advantage of every re-education and re-training program I could. I thought that I could ‘Work’ my way up a more respectable ladder. After all, carpenters – the people that put roofs over our heads are considered scourge of the earth – so my being in technology has got to be a better career choice right?

WRONG! It seems that the ‘so called’ shortage of technology workers in this country is another farce created by the countries financial institutions in an effort to generate even more debt for the poor people on this country that just want to make their lives better. After all, If I owned a corporation and my government gave me a tax break for sending all my work to another country – I suppose I could the allure of not having to pay an American a decent wage while getting rewarded for it.

After all my efforts and hard work and thinking I even had a snowballs chance in hell, I couldn’t even get a Job in the Technology industry because I am just a stupid carpenter who doesn’t have any experience (even though I graduated with a 3.9 GPA and have industry certifications and generated another $20,000 in debt for myself – WHOOPEE)

I had to resort back to carpentry to try to survive (after having a back surgery) and now I have even more problems. After resorting back to the career that caused me so many years of pain and a surgery, it seems that wasn’t the wisest of choices either – now I have brought myself even more pain and suffering. Not only did trying once again to provide for my family cause me to work for yet another ‘Less than Desirable’ employer, but now I have had to file for disability.

How’s that for the ‘American Dream’? I thought that since I had done such a great service to my country (OK, so I wasn’t a soldier in the sense of being in the military, but I spent the better part of my life being a soldier of the workforce – building and repairing the structures that keep roofs over our nations heads) that I could at least be rewarded in some small way by at least getting disability. Yes, that was my ‘American Dream’, to grow up and file for disability.

It seems that even our countries social programs are under attack – I have received some of the most berating and abhorrent treatment from the Division of Health and Human Services – I received some of the worst treatment ever from our countries social services.

Not only do I have to fight for my right to be considered disabled and receive some form of help from my government – but I have all but given up on even considering using the Division of Health for help because their treatment of people needing help is so abhorrent (probably due to the fact that the current administration is more concerned with ‘Liberating” Iraqi oil fields than with caring for it’s own citizens).

I have a wife, I have children. My entire life has been spent chasing the ‘So Called American Dream’. I can see no way that we call ourselves the most ‘Powerful Nation’ on earth. If we as a country cannot even liberate our own poor and homeless, how can we ever expect to do the same for others.

Our nation is driven by corporate greed and a corrupt government – we need HELP.

When the American people are ‘enslaved’ into debt by the countries financial institutions and our government is run by the corporations who pay for the laws they want or need – we are the ‘Weakest Nation’ on the planet.

Brutal Honesty

2007-04-03T23:46:00.000-07:00

Well people, it's that time of year again when the bills are catching up with us. I've had an OK year so far, hell I even managed to score some odd jobs here and there - I guess thats not bad for a crippled carpenter.

But my good fortune (and I use that term lightly) is not enough. If any body has a spare couple bucks(LOL - like there's a possibility of that in this day and age). Make a donation to the broke carpenter.

One Small Step

2006-12-23T02:15:00.000-08:00

Hey Everybody(LOL),
I don't know if I've actually had more than 2 readers but sometimes I just like to type - so here goes.

The last two years of my life have been absolute crap. I went from being a really good carpenter in the middle of a career change at 30 something, to having a really screwed up back and fighting for my disability.

To be politicaly correct; the last "holiday season" was OK, we managed to get just enough help to keep the kids belief in the "spirit".

This year however, we had some of the best luck we have had since my health started to decline. We recieved a phone call from one of our boys' teacher asking us if we would like to be "adopted" by a local outlet mall.

We were able to get our kids exactly what they wanted (ok, well almost - they didnt get the laptop or the 50" plasma TV but they did get the other things on the list)

It has been a long two years fighting for my disability, and might be longer till I actually get my day in court - I may have to fight the utilities after the new year - but at least the kids will be OK till then.

Reflections Two

2006-12-09T22:51:00.000-08:00

O.K., where was I?  Oh yeah, I had just left high-school because some insensitive asshole of a dean didn’t get his willy wet that morning or some shit.

Well, my parents weren’t exactly thrilled about it, but they were both really understanding about how pissed off I was and they were actually on my side.  My mother made some phone calls and later the next day we received a call from the school superintendent with an apology and he said if I went back to school they would excuse the absence and there would be no further punishment for my offense, even the superintendent was not happy about the Deans actions and told me that the Dean should have been more understanding and just waited the extra week and a half or two weeks to suspend me.

Like all teen-agers, I knew everything and figured I would just get my GED later down the road anyway so I decided to not go back to school (I hear the Dean got a real ass-chewing from the superintendent too).

I had another friend who had quit school as well, and he was working at this day-labor place.  Hey, I was young enough and having my own money sounded nice so I would go to work with my buddy everyday and do stupid labor pools work.  It wasn’t too bad, mostly just cleaning up warehouses and construction sites.  Minimum wage wasn’t too bad.  I was making like $25 a day so I had some spending money.  I was even giving some money to my parents to help pay the bills.

My friend was going to see the world and he wanted to know if I wanted to buy his motorcycle.  Great timing, I had been saving a couple bucks here and there so I took him up on the offer.  Now I had a job, my own transportation and even some money in my pockets.

Well here I am 20 years later, a carpenter with a fucked up back fighting to get my disability.  I wish I could say “I would do all the same again”, but I wouldn’t.  Not for my own sake, but for my kids.

It hasn’t been all bad. There were a few rare times when we actually got to enjoy life for some short periods of time.  But there was way more stress than there should have been.  And it has taken it’s toll.

Our oldest, at seventeen told us what shitty parents we were when he moved out to live with his girlfriend – at least he is going to finish school.  He even found a couple decent job opportunities and found a good path to follow.  I hope he makes it to be a lawyer, I really do.  He was always good at arguing.  I just hope he doesn’t end to be one of those shyster lawyers that works for the wrong people.

Our next oldest the fifteen year old, left us last year.  My wife’s sister came to visit and told him raise as much hell as he could so we would let him go “stay” with her.  Well it worked, that happened right around the time my back had went out again and we were having real money troubles.  So we decided to let him go “stay” with my wife’s sister.

Not to long after he left my wife would try to call and talk to him, but her sister was always in the background running her mouth and telling our boy what to say.  What a bunch of shit that was.  So our fifteen year old gets the life of a spoiled only child.  Not that it’s a bad thing, but my wife’s sister has nothing to do with us anymore now that she has one of our kids.  It’s like she doesn’t give a shit about anybody else in the family.

That really does a lot of good for the other three brothers.  They all hate my wife’s sister and the other brother now, what a great fucking family we have.  The fifteen year old was always really hot-headed though, but it got to the point that he would walk through the house and hit his younger brothers for no reason and then get pissed off at us when we ask him what was he thinking.

Just another perfect example of all the years of poverty kicking our ass.  If I would have done things differently and had more money and less stress we might still be a family.  A real family that actually cares about each other, but I can’t blame it all on myself.  That fucking bitch of a sister-in-law is the bigger part of our own son not so much as even sending his own mother or brothers a fucking birthday card once in a while.  She always looked down at me from day one anyway, like I was less than her – and that was before she had any idea about who I really am as a person.

We really got lucky stumbling into this subsidized housing, otherwise our children would have been taken away and we would be homeless.  But we are still living a really fixed income.

Chalk it up as another year that we pray for the charities to come through for us and hope the kids understand.

Well, if you made it this far and have a buck or two to spare – send it to Joe the broke carpenter via pay-pal – rxhector2k5@yahoo.com.

Thanks,
Joe

Reflections of Poverty

2006-11-26T19:18:00.000-08:00

Reflections of Poverty

I was thinking about some things the other day, mostly about how a lot of uncontrollable events in my life have forced me and my family to remain in a state of poverty.

My last rant about some people with the notion that it is just as easy for me to “Get off my Ass” and do something about it really stirred me up.

Yes, it is true I made the choice to be a carpenter. When I was growing up, like most of us; I never thought about what I really wanted to do when I became older. As a result, when I left high-school in my senior year I more or less just kind of fell into the trade.

Maybe I should start there, with one of the first major events in my life that I really had no control over. I had started smoking at around 13 or 14 I think, and all through my junior and high-school years I had never been caught smoking on school grounds. Well, my luck ran out, and I finally got caught.

It was the first semester of my senior year and as luck would have it, the school system had changed the “maximum” number of allowable absences from 9 (one day a week), to 7. This really sucked for all of us who were able to take a sick day once a week and still keep our grades up. I had missed 6 days for the semester, and only had a two more weeks left for my sick days to replenish.

The Dean caught me having a smoke break behind the Gym, that’s where we all went after lunch to have a smoke. He said finish that up and come to my office. So I went to his office and he said he was going to suspend me for two days. Well, that was going to give me an F in six fucking classes that I had pretty good grades in (Including trig – not bad for a long-hair at my school – full of surfin beach rats and stoners)

I explained to the Dean that this event was going to cost me several failing grades and that If he could wait till the next semester – only a couple short weeks away I would gladly accept the punishment (woohoo – two days out of school).

Well, even though I had never had any problems with this particular Dean, he was an absolute asshole and told me “Well, Buddy – I guess your pretty screwed – I hope that smoke was worth it”.

That pissed me off so bad I went off on this guy and told him what a shit fucking prick he was for not waiting till the next semester to screw me out of sick days. I went and removed all my books from my locker and returned them to his office – I threw my books on his desk and shoved them in his lap – with all the papers on his desk – and told him he sucked as a person and he could take his fucking school and shove it up his ass.

That was the demise of my Senior Year and my diploma. I am not so sure that I would have really been anything other than a carpenter if I would have graduated (I know have a GED and a Degree anyway) But my point is, this was just one of many hardships in my life, that if someone else would have any compassion or understanding for another fucking human being on this planet – that my life might have been just a little better.

Now that we have the beginning out of the way, I can tell you how the rest of a carpenters life goes.

My Basic Philosophy on Humanity (in the USA)

2006-11-11T22:11:00.000-08:00

My Basic Philosophy on Humanity (in the USA)

I read a Blog the other day, and I am vaguely aware of the person past.  While reading through the Blog, said “person” mentioned the fact that they were going to change their voting party from Republican to Independent.  Is it because of their disgust with the current Bush/New World Order administration?

That we can only assume, however; During the beginning of the Blog this person mentioned the fact that there needs to be change.  They recognized the need for Healthcare Reform and better Education.  There may have been a few references to some other issues that are pertinent to Independents and Democrats.

You might think that someone gets what is really going on until you reach the end of the Blog.  The last few lines went on to mention the fact that said “person” doesn’t feel they should be “penalized” by paying higher taxes simply because he/she happens to make more money than most.  (Which is bullshit anyway because the asshole still owes my wife roughly $5,000 from unpaid child support in the last year – you would think this fucker wouldn’t be so far behind if he is so fucking well off)  OK, back on track – said “person” went on to mention welfare reform and how these people need to be taught how to fish so they can provide for themselves.

Now that sounds good, however; Every time I hear that line from a Republican it means force some poor single mother into some shitty minimum wage job cleaning toilets or being a waitress and rip any welfare “assistance” he/she may have away and force them to survive.  That’s not teaching a person to fish in my eyes – that’s taking their ass out in a boat and throwing them overboard to the sharks for chum.

And said “person’s” comment before that – “I shouldn’t be penalized because I’m better than everybody else”.  BULLSHIT.  It’s that fucked up mentality right there that makes the Good Ole USA the  shit-hole that it is.  Instead of thinking about how lucky they are to be in a such a better position they are than everybody else, and how they might actually be able to make a difference – they have to WHINE and BITCH about how much money they AREN’T going to take the grave with themselves.

It really pisses me off when the people in this world think that poor people are just here to fuck them in some way or another.  And I really get pissed when here some rich fuck say people are poor by choice.  NO! ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NOT! People are not poor by choice. I damn sure didn’t choose to be poor.

If some if these mightier than though rich fucking republican bastards would come to realize that some of us (90 percent of the population) actually can’t stand being poor, they might actually get off their high fucking horse.

I was a carpenter for 15 years, and for the 15 years that I was in the workforce busting my ass to stay alive; I was constantly getting screwed.  From the contractor that went bankrupt and screwed me out of a months pay, to the trailer park that I lived in being sold to these California assholes that evicted 60 families in one month all because they wanted “nice new trailers” in their park, to being constantly fined for either not having insurance or legal tags.

Everything that every poor person does in their life usually costs twice to three times as much as everybody else.  Have you ever seen somebody in a Mercedes get a “no insurance” ticket?  I sure as hell haven’t.

I used to spend about $1,500 every year to re-instate my drivers license and another $600 - $1000 just to pay for insurance.  Why? Because I’m a criminal?  NO!!! Because I’m a poor fucking carpenter working for a living and constantly paying late fees and extra money for my SR-22 insurance.

Well, I actually gave up on that shit.  After having my 3rd vehicle LEGALLY stolen from me by the courts because I can’t fucking afford to pay any bills because I’m a poor fucked up carpenter I gave up.  I don’t have a car and I don’t drive anymore because I am too poor to afford it, and I got sick and tired of spending every last dime I make just to keep up with the insurance and the fins and the BULLSHIT.

Now after 15 years of shit servitude as a carpenter and another two years of re-education (Yes, you rich bastards – I went to college and actually PAID money to learn how to “FISH” as you republican assholes put it) and another two years of endless interviews and job searching – WAIT, my two years of re-educations is for a degree in a job that is OUTSOURCED over seas because you stupid fucking republican assholes can’t stand the thought of paying an American a decent fucking living wage. SO AFTER ALL THIS SHIT I STILL CAN”T GET A FUCKING JOB.

SO I did the only thing I know how to do.  I went back to being a carpenter (after having one back surgery already).  And guess what?  Yup, now my back is really screwed up and I get to fight for the disability that I paid for out of every paycheck I ever had for the last 17 years.  And you think I’m here because I choose to be here – FUCK YOU.

The last three years of my life, constantly begging from charities and fighting the power company is not the path I chose in life, and it damn sure isn’t enjoyable by any standards, so if any of you rich fucks that think poor people are here by choice – FUCKING THINK AGAIN.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel !!!

2006-11-07T20:51:00.000-08:00

Well it finally happened. It only took six years too long but it happened. The people of this country finally sent the message that they are sick-and-tired of the disgusting Bush administration. THANK GOD !!!!

Now that the Democrats have control of our country again I might have a snowballs chance in hell of actually getting my disability, or at least living a little better life than I have recently.

It's no secret that I can't stand republicans. Every republican agenda since my birth has focused on abolishing any and all forms of public assistance or any form of help for those in poverty. They constantly bash the poor by giving themselves huge tax cuts. It's no wonder they need to get rid of welfare. The greedy bastards are stuck on the size of their wallets and how much money they can take with them to the grave.

I don't want to sound like I think I deserve a free ride, thats not my point at all.

There was a point in time when I was a go getter. I used to get up everyday and go to work just like everybody else. No, Wait. Not like everybody else. Since I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth I had to actually earn my money. Don't get me wrong, I really used to enjoy beaing a carpenter and building houses. It was good to see a result for my efforts at the end of the day.

But after 15 years of contantly never being able to keep up with my bills, and shady contractors screwing me; I never had the credit to start my own company. I never had the time to sit and breathe for a minute, I never had the luxury of a family vacation. I never had the opportunity to do anything with my life. Why? Because I was born into poverty.

I thought that maybe I could change my life, I went and got a degree after my first back surgery. It's only an AA, but it's a step up from being a dropout. Funny thing is, I never came close to making as much money as I did as a stupid carpenter. Believe me, their isn't a ton of money in the Information Technology sector unless you actually own the company.

After toughing it out for a while and not being able to keep up with the world I had to fall back on carpentry - which led to screwing my back up again - only for good this time.

I don't want another surgery, and I have been beat down for the last 17 years of my life - I just don't give a crap about much of anything anymore. And that really sucks because I used to care.

The last two years of my life since I have been fighting for my disability claim have been the worst two years of my life. The constant poverty has led to the loss of out two oldest children - no they didnt die. Our oldest two children just got sick of living like paupers and decided they wawnted a better life, so one of them packed up to go live with an aunt (The bitch from hell did some really shitty things behind our back to get him there) and the oldest, in his senior year went to go live with his spoiled princess girlfriend (after she was living us and couldn't handle a dose of the real world)

Maybe between now and the next two years something will go right in this country now that the democrats - the people who actually care about other people, especially those of us who are less fortunate - have control of this countries political structure again.

Well, if any of you made it this far - thank you for paying attention. As for myself, I don't really know how I am going to pay the next round of bills - so if you can spare a buck or two - send it via PayPal to rxhector2k5@yahoo.com.

thanks -
Joe the broke carpenter

When will it ever end?

2006-10-23T00:14:00.000-07:00

Well, everything has pretty much gone full circle again. After we got moved there was a rough patch but we recovered from that barely. Then we had a good run without too many problems until recently.

My wife and I both are having a hell of a time with our health. We are a great match. Between her fibromyalgia and my bad back neither one of us can hold a job without getting fired.

We have both resorted to selling the few things that we had worth any value. I finally sold all my carpenter tools. What the hell, it's not like I was ever going to build a house again.

The really screwed up part about all of this is, having to wait up to two years before even getting a hearing for my disability. I mean, what do these people expect happens to those of us who can't provide for ourselves anymore. If we wouldnt have stumbled into this subsidized apartment we would be homeless.

And the rest of society just doesn't give a rats ass whether we live or die. We tried going to DHS (division of human services) for help, OH MY GOD. Those are the most ruthless, heartless people I have ever had to deal with. The fact that I had one back surgery already and live on morphine to kill the pain didn't matter to them at all. Short of out-right accusing me of being a drug addict and a bum they told me to get off my lazy ass and get a damn job. Hell, even if I was physically able to what they want, I still wouldn't get any monetary help for 45 days.

What a great country we live in (the USA). It is so much more important we liberate the IRAQis from their oil so some fucking beurocrat can stuff a shitload of cash in his pocket. IT would just be a shame to make sure that our own people are cared for.

Well, if you made it this far and you can spare a buck or two - send it via paypal to rxhector2k5@yahoo.com.

thx - the broke ass carpenter waiting for disability

Oh Crappy Day

2006-08-05T21:44:00.000-07:00

It's that time again folks !! My wife's deadbeat ex. still hasnt sent us the 2k he owes for back support, the landlords we sued still havent sent us the 900 bucks they screwed us out of and its time pick and choose between which utility we get to fight with this month.

It looks the electric company will get all my aluminum can money this month, they shut us off over 60 bucks last time, and for some reason our bill is getting bigger every month. You would think the electric bill would go down in the summer. I think they are screwing us.

But you know how easy it is for some broke carpenter fighting just to get his disability to fight a huge corporation like the local power company.

So, if anybody wants to help me keep the utilities runnin for another month - send a paypal donation to rxhector2k5@yahoo.com.

Cool - thanks everybody.

The downward spiral.

2006-07-14T00:25:00.000-07:00

Well everybody, here we go one more time. I stumbled into some part-time work at home internet stuff - freelance writing if you can believe it. But everything else has been hell.

I get to decide between power and phone - unfortunatley the loss of either one will pretty much kill any chance I have of making any money at all, let alone surviving.

Story of my life since this back surgery.

This power company has got to be the worst company I have ever had to deal with in my life, they are lucky as hell I can't afford a generator. I would be willing to buy my own diesel fuel just to have the satisfaction of knowing those bastards wouldnt get another dime from me.

So if anybody with the heart and a few extra could really help me out.

Thanks - Joe the broke carpenter.

Another giant company (Pacific Power) Fucks the poor man

2006-06-17T20:16:00.000-07:00

The last couple years of my life have been an absolute nightmare. I have been "asked" to move once - those landlords kept my deposit, I sued them and won but we all know how small claims go - it has been almost a year now and still no return of my deposit. I have been evicted once - hey not that it matters, my credit is already ruined, that landlord is known locally for doing shady things anyway.

It has been two years since I began my battle for Disability benefits. 15 years of carpentry took a massive toll on my body and I have had one back surgery already. But we all know that back problems are the most abused part of the disability department.

Well, at least I have a lawyer now to represent me since I have been officialy denied twice. My lawyer tells me it will be up to 2 years before my case can be reviewed.

So until the day finally comes that I have my disability in hand I spend much of my time begging from the local charities to help me and my family get by. Believe me, for someone that was used to earning their own way in life - the last couple years of my life have been quite humbling.

My most recent battle was with my local power company. On May 22nd I had contacted them about payment of a late bill at which time I paid them $90. The representative at the time relayed to me that I had a balance of $40 left and everything should be OK for a while.

Since I had just paid a bill I was not real concerned with paying to much attention to my mail. BIG MISTAKE. The next bill that they sent 10 days later (June 2) was a disconnect notice for $59. But since I wasn't paying attention to the mail I did not open this bill.

Then on June 15 (22 days from the date of me paying a $90 bill) one of their technicians knocks on my door and tells me that if i can't pay a substantial amount of the $59 owed (I was never able to get how $40 turned into $59) that he was going to disconnect my service.

Well, my wife and I were not even expecting to get disconnected a mere 22 days after paying a $90 bill. My wife proceeds to call the power company on the phone to work out a payment arangement. After several minutes of her talking on the phone while being badgered by their henchman at the door (belive me, if you would have seen his attitude you would think the term henchman to be light) the technician lost his patience and disconnected the power while my wife was on the phone.

Well, that did not make things any easier for us. Since the technician took it upon himself to "officially" disconnect our power over $59, the only way we could get our power back on was to come up with the full $59 - plus another $30 "reconnection" fee.

My wife was on the phone for quite some time with the power company representatives and we always got the same story "we do not care about you" we want our money, and since you are poor - we want even more money.

When asked why there was a $30 reconnection fee - we were told that was imposed to offset the cost of sending more people to reconnect the power. Hmmm, maybe if they didnt jump the gun and turn it off - they wouldnt have to "offsett" anything to turn it back on.

Well, after I called around to some charities I was able to find one willing to pay the $90 to get my power turned back on for me and my family of 6.

It really amazes me that a company of that size would be so threatened by the temporary loss of $59 that they would have to shut off our electricity. And even more amazing that not only do we get punished by having to suffer the indignity of having our power shut off - that we get billed another $30 on top of it all. It is like being kicked when you are already down.

The biggest issue I have with is, when our local companies lose sight of the community they are here serve, what does that say about us as Americans. The representatives hands are "tied" so to speak. The system they use leaves no room for negotiation and if any employee were to be sympathetic to a customer and bend the rules over a mere $59 they may lose their job.

It is really hard for me right now - i don't really fit anywhere. I am not "officialy" disabled yet, so I am one of the those people that fall between the cracks in the system. It seems that as time goes on - the cracks in the system get wider and wider.

I know there may not be a lot you can do personally, but I just wanted to bring your attention a few things for thought.

1) Why is the Disability system so far behind? I recently read an artile about how that system is going through restructuring to make it better - obviously that didn't work.

2) There needs to be some way for people "in-between" working and disability - like me, to be protected and not fall through the cracks.

3) It amazes me to think that huge companies like the power company can be so callous as to just shut someones power off over $59 - and then charge them another $30 on top of that - If I didn't know any better I would think they are doing their best to force those of us already in poverty to remain there - or even worse still - force us into an even deeper state of poverty. Are these companies really "threatened" at the thought of someone just trying to survive?

This Country, this State, even this small County has got to change. If we as Americans continue to remain apathetic to these giant companies and allow them to blatantly steal from those who are impoverished - things are only going to get worse.

Its been forever

2006-06-10T21:06:00.000-07:00

So, I get to wait for up to "TWO YEARS" before I can see the judge about my Social Security reconciliation. What in the hell is that for a process. I will be long homeless and dead in the next two years.

I dont know how in the hell anybody else in this country ever made it that far. I put my share in the pot for 15 years while I worked.

Now I have to fight tooth and nail to get something that is rightfully mine.

Well, hopefully I can keep my elictric and phone and internet for just a little longer.

More BS

2006-04-30T01:42:00.000-07:00

There's nothing more exciting than getting another denial letter from the SSA saying that I'm not disabled according to thier standards.

Let me see, in the two years I have lost my house - been kicked out of more than apartment because I can't work. Had my car towed because I am too broke to keep up with insurance and registration and a drivers license.

I wouldn't think that anyone with a family would porposely go through this nightmare.

And now to make things worse the SSA is saying if they do approve anyone for disability benefits, they are going to make them wait for two years before paying them a dime.

It's just one more perfect example of this republican NEO-CON administration stealing from the less fortunate people so they can keep the never ending war machine turning.

Gas companies are reporting record profits - Is there a fuel shortage? Hell No !!!
Only 3% of our fuel comes from iraq and we are getting raped at the fuel pumps why? Because the fuel companies major stock holders are republicans who are stuffing thier pockets with your hard earned dollars.

This administration has got to be dealt with somehow. They lied about Iraq - sodam? I thought bin-laden was responsible for the twin towers?

When Will it End

2006-04-14T17:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we had another successful begging session. Had to call energy assistance to get help with the electric bill.

Believe me, I hate being a bum. I would give anything to get up tommorow and not be in pain and be able to work. I feel Like crap. I am always in pain, even with the morphine (I do have a doctors appointment to go check on legal marijuana).

I never wanted to be a welfare case and a drain on society. But her I am. A carpenter with a fucked up back living (ha, barely surviving - believe me this is not living) on the handouts of others.

Maybe my appointment with my disability lawyer on the 17th will be productive, but I am still really screwed until I actually get the disability anyway. The bullshit that a person has to go through just to be a part of humanity. Ha, what a fucking joke - humanity.

With all these thieving backstabbing fucking republicans in office there will never be any humanity. Thats ok, they did such a good job fucking everything up for the last 8 years I think it will be a long time before any more republicans get elected into office. Or atleast God I hope so - if the rest of this country is so blind they can't see how bad they are getting raped and screwed I feel sorry for them.

Screwed Again !!!

2006-04-12T04:22:00.000-07:00

So, here we are in our subsidized housing. It's really not as bad as you might think. We live in a rural area - hell, I can't believe they even know what subsudized housing is out here.

We stayed in a hotel for about 6 weeks after we got evicted, it was hell. We had to beg from every church we could think of - I must say, for a carpenter that was used to making O.K. money it was quite the humbling experience.

While we were in the hotel we managed to get our tax return, boy was it terrible. We usually get way more, but between my bad back and my wifes fibro we didnt make a whole lot to really put any in.

We got lucky and a friend of our oldest son told us that her mother manages these apartments, we didnt even know they were subsidized until we came to fill out the applications. It took us about 3 weeks from start to finish to get in, so we had spent some of our tax return on the hotel - that and just trying to stay alive.

We don't have a car, so getting around involves bumming rides or getting a taxi - that costs more money too. When we were getting the utilities turned on the electric company wanted like $400 fucking dollars - can you believe it. That was to pay for the last bill (We had them shut of the power when we got kicked out of the other place, we thought it would be easier to get it turned back on if we didnt just let them disconnect it) plus more for a depost. I said "well SHIT, if I'm paying the last bill in full - why the fuck should you need a deposit too." But you know how it goes - theres usually only one electric company no matter where you live, so they always got you by the balls.

That was pretty much the last of our money and we have just been living of my wifes child support (the oldest two boys are from her ex). We have stumbled across an odd job here and there but things are really hard right now.

Our apartment is not exactly close to any businesses. My back is so screwed up that I can hardly get around, and my wifes fibro usually has her in pain too. Se we have a roof over our heads, thank god. But we havent had enough money to pay the electric bill since we moved in - so they are threatening to shut us off.

It juts really pisses me off. I havent worked for a year, Im constantly in pain, and those Disability bastards treat the whole process like its some kind of damn game. Get denied twice, then get a lawyer to get your money.

So, any way - if you managed to read this far and you really care - help me keep the power on - - thanks

Joe - the broke carpenter

Disability Sucks

2006-04-08T20:27:00.000-07:00

This friggin sucks. At least we made it through the really rough part - being temporarily homeless and living in a hotel.

Now we have the next battle to wage. I have been denied disability benefits after filing for a reconciliation. So, I mean it's not like a surprise. I have read alot about how this porcess works and this is the next step.

The whole system is really screwed up though. A person should not have to go homeless because of anything, especially those with families. So now I have to go get a disability lawyer and fight some more.

TOTAL BULL SH**!!
There has to be soem way to level the playing field for the American worker. Think about it. There is only a small percentage of this countries population that can actually afford to live a normal life. And an even smaller percentage that actually enjoys any luxury.

Why does a person need to be born with a silver spoon in thier mouth to have a decent life. My parents couldn't afford to send me to college to be a doctor or lawyer or anything really. They just didnt have any extra money. After paying all the bills and medical insurance and health insurance and this that and the other, there just was never anything left.

So, like the rest of society; I went out into the world and found a job. You know how it goes, your right out of highschool and you need to make money. Nobody in thier right mind would give anybody with no world experience a job - let alone a career. Unless it happens to be manual labor.

So, I would up as a carpenter. Its actually a really good job. You have to be intelligent, at least with math anyway.

I worked 8 hours a day just like everybody else. Hell, sometimes I worked 12 hours a day 7 days a week. Why? Because at shitty minimum wage, a carpenter has to work longer.

Funny, doctors and lawyers can work to the ripe old age of retirement making a shitload of money and living a comfortable life. Meanwhile the carpenter is always broke and they almost never make it to retirement age because thier backs get so screwed up from the daily torture on thier bodies. So we end up fu*** broke and homeless fighting for disability.

There has to be a better way. Something needs to change. This country needs a revolution.

Don't get me started on the legalized Mafia - you know what I am talking about - Car insurance - if you don't have it becuase you can't afford it you get stuck paying fines through the nose and the rate of your corporate "extorstion" ends up being even more.

Sometimes I think if it wasnt for all the poor people getting fucked out of thier hard earned dollars, this country would go to shit. It's hillarious - almost ironic, that our forefathers came to this country to get away from taxation and we end up being exactly like the country that our forefathers fought so hard to get away from.

The only thing the poor have to look foreward to is disability. What a shitty life. I mean god forbid some poor person gets injured or too old to work. No savings, giant corporations stealing thier retirement. The one system that is in place for some sense of stability is so screwed up that those of us who need it have to go homeless and loose everything we own before we see light at the end of the tunnel.

No Thank You, Mr. Bush !!!

2006-03-07T23:15:00.000-08:00

No Thank You, Mr. Bush !!!
I don't want your d*** in my a** anymore you fuc*** worthless piece of republican shit.

YOUR FIRED !!!
You heard me. As a natural born citizen of the united states, I can honestly say I want your resignation. You SUCK !!! You and your money hungry "war Machine" chronies have fucked up my country so much that I demand you resign IMMEDIATELY.

Thats all for now.

Too Much

2006-03-02T22:22:00.000-08:00

What in the hell is going on with this world !!!
Think about this for a minute, if it wasnt for all the shitty minimum wage and blue collar workers what would all the rich people do? I don't think I have ever met a doctor or lawyer who could build thier own house, let alone build thier hospital or court house.

But here I am. I worked long and hard building custom homes and what do I have to show for it? Nothing but a fucked up back waiting for disability at 36. Oh Yes, this was my goal in life.

It's really funny how it seams that some of the most physically demanding jobs don't pay for shit. This country needs a change. If every low income worker decided to take a day off, NO. Make that if every low income worker decided to take a week off, this country would come to a screeching halt. There has to be some way to tip the scales so that everything is fair.

I broke my back just trying to make it from paycheck to paycheck. I used to think that being a carpenter and doing a good days honest work was the way to live. FUCK THAT !!! It's no wonder people stray to crime.

Not to mention that we have the worst economy with the worst president in history. What a bunch of morons we are in this country. Every body keeps bitchin and complaining about how shitty Mr "Bush" is doing - i say screw it - IMPEACH his ass and fire all his damn cronies.

I don't know how giving all the rich people a tax break helps the poor. Oh, wait a minute. I get it. If all the rich people have more money to go shopping with it's job security for us minimum wage dumb asses.

I tried to fix my path. I figured I would try to change careers at 30 something and go from blue collar to white collar work. Boy was that a fuckin joke. That dumb ass we call a president (by the way - I can bitch because i didnt vote for his republican steal from the poor ass) thinks its funny to give tax breaks to corporations who send thier labor over seas.

So now I have a degree but no way to pay for the student loan because all the jobs are in FUCKING INDIA. It's a good thing I'll never have a chance to meet Mr Bush or I'll probably end up in jail - I mean - somebody has to slap that asshole in the face and tell him what a bastard he is.

Well anyway, why I sit here and wait for my disability to get approved - If you have a couple bucks to spare so I can keep my electricity on - send it to rxhector2k5@yahoo.com via paypal.

thanks
Joe - the broke carpenter

A little piece of sanity

2006-02-26T15:13:00.000-08:00

Well, we finally got back on track a little bit at least. We managed to find a subsidized apartment. It took forever to get the paper work done and we spent alot or our tax return on hotels. But we managed to keep the kids in school at least.

We are moved in at least and don't have to worry to much about the rent. The electric company were cut-throat bastards though and they managed to take our last $400 bucks just to get the power on.

We found a free 89 ford taurus, but it needs a battery and alternator and we still need to get my wifes drivers license and insurance - how we are going to accomplish that with no money will be interesting.

At least the kids are warm and dry, and we have a phone again. Hopefuly my wife can find some job that is not too hard on her fibromyalgia. In the meantime, all I can do is wait for my disability to come through. I managed to get my request for reconsideration in on time, hopefuly the process won't take to much longer.

Well, Just thought i would give everyone a quick update. Hopefully the stress level can stay at a minimum for a little while and we can gather our thoughts enough to get our lives back in some kind of order.

If you could help us get our transportation problems in order - send us a paypal donation to rxhector2k5@yahoo.com.

Thanks - the broken carpenter

2006-01-25T13:15:00.000-08:00

Living in a hotel. Thank God for churches or we would be totaly homeless. Managed to beg for one more weeks worth of money from another church. We found an opening in a subsidy apartment but we need to get all the paperwork done to get in.

My wife found a job and got hired, but her actually being able to keep the job with her fibromyalgia will be interesting. But we had to have proof of income to get the apartment for now.

The ex-husb never sent the 2K he was behind for the year so he probably went to jail for 6mos. That means that our monthly $400 income just disappeared as well. I got my second denial for disability benefits so now I have to find a lawyer. I hear that once a person gets a disability lawyer they have it made - it is just a matter of making it until the hearing.

If anybody can send us an extra buck or two - send it to rxhector2k5@yahoo.com via paypal.

Thats all for now - thanks
joe the broke carpenter.

Finally There

2006-01-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was the last day in our house. A bunch of people from church came to help us get everything into storage.

We are living in a hotel now - until next monday the 15th anyway.

If something doesnt happen between now and then we will be 100% homeless.

If only the damn disability process went a little faster.

Last Night Here

2006-01-08T21:11:00.000-08:00

This is our last night at this house. We have everything packed and ready to go, so first thing in the morning we have to find a storage shed to put everything in. We at least know that we have secured a hotel for 1 week so that took a little burden off our shoulders.

Our new found inventor friend took us to dinner and we talked about some business and manufacturing ideas. What a crazy day. I'm one nights sleep away from being homeless and I end up talking about business ventures over dinner, thats truly funny. At least we got to take a break from the hustle bustle of packing.

Well, it will probably be a while before I get to post again so everybody pray that we make it through the next week and find some real income to find a permanent place to live.

Thanks
joe - the broke carpenter

The End

2006-01-07T18:08:00.000-08:00

We faught like hell, but it wasnt good enough. Everything is in boxes ready to go. We have until Monday at 12:00(noon) to have everything out of the house.

Every plan we could come up with fell through. We won our lawsuit against old landlords for $800 and the wifes ex owes her $2100 by Jan20th or he gets sent to jail.

So, thats $2900 we have coming but it just wont be here soon enough - just figures. My wife just got a call about a job she put her resume in for but now we have to be out of this house and wont have access to our phone# so even if she did get the "Your Hired" phone call we dont have anyway to know.

This really sucks - I've been waiting forever for my disability claim but that antiquated system may as well be running on square wheels.

All I ever wanted out of life was to be a good carpenter, but my back went to hell and I just cant work anymore, what the hell does a person do while they wait for disability benefits?

Went to have coffee with a friend of ours today and ran into this really cool old guy that has some really neat business ideas - hell I have some really cool business ideas but I have no time and no money. This old guy was really interested to know that I have some limited computer skills but once again, even a chance encounter with an opportunity to do something I have no time and no money to do anything.

Down to the Wire

2006-01-05T20:01:00.000-08:00

Well, we got the official papers to be out by Mon Jan 9th or ELSE. That means anything left in the house is lost. My wifes ex still hasnt sent the $2100 he is behind and the other landlords havent sent us the $800 we won in court.

This is such a pain in the ass. All this money that other people owe us and we are still going get screwed in the end.

We do have some interesting news on the good side for once though. We found a job managing a hotel - two bedroom apartment included. We just have wait a couple days for the "Bonding" papers to go through. Yeah, we have all the time in the world. At least its one option.

My wife got a call about a job she applied for right before xmas, but with this situation we are in its hard to know whether or not she will be able to take it.

Just say a prayer that we get the hotel managment job, maybe if the landlord knows we have found a place to move we can get him to give us a couple more days to get everything moved.

Hopefully we will know more tommorow.

Happy New Year 2006

2006-01-01T00:24:00.000-08:00

Here we are at 2006 - the only year I've ever had to start by fighting an eviction right out of the gate.

I have been praying that one morning I wake up and put on my tool belt and start building houses again but to no avail - that prayer has not been answered yet. The good lord must have something else in mind for me.

I can only hope that being homeless isnt part of the plan.

Take care - if you can spare a buck or two make a donation - I even have a new advertising section on the right - send me your logo/image and a link and you boost your web-site PR with another link.

Thanks - Joe the broke carpenter

The end of the road.

2005-12-29T13:10:00.000-08:00

I took the only $200 I could round up to the landlord this morning and he refused to take the money. So it will be pretty soon that we are homeless with the kids. We took our old landlords to court - the ones that kept all of our last deposit - and we won "woohoo". So we will have some money coming but not soon enough. We have been constantly late and behind with everything and even though we had our day in court - we won't have the money soon enough.

Our current landlord just wants his money "NOW!!!" and doesnt want to wait for us to be able to collect from the other landlords.

With no resources left I dont know what we are going to do now. If we dont have a steady residence I dont know how I am going to be able to even keep up with my Disability claim.

If anybody has it in them to help - please - I have been humbled and I am begging again. The suck part about it is - it doesnt get any easier the more you do it. IT only gets harder. It is a huge weight to carry. If it were just me and my wife it wouldnt be so bad, but we have children we have to think about here.

thats it for today. Maybe I'll have it in me to write something else later.

Joe - the broke carpenter

Holding on

2005-12-27T13:35:00.000-08:00

Kids had a good xmas anyway. We finally stood up for ourselves and took the previous landlords to court and WON - woohoo. The only problem is actaully collecting. They asked the judge if they could have 30 days - yeah, like their broke.

Unforntunately my current landlord doesnt want to wait 30 more days for his rent, so we still have to figure something out. I have one more day to get something together before I go see the landlord. Prayers have got me this far.

I haven't had alot of time to work on my eBook or getting any websites up to make money. I don't know, who am I kidding anyway. It will still take days if not weeks for web sites to get indexed by search engines. Plus I have to figure out how to get everything edited anyway. Hell, even just figuring out how do the links and stuff on this page took forever.

My wife has a valid point, the more time I spend ignoring her and the kids - is more time they all hate this infernal computer. Maybe I should just give up and wait for the Disability. But the stress of not knowing whether I can find some way to hold off the landlord let alone find some other way to pay the other bills too - all the stress is just driving me crazy.

There really needs to be some magic button a person can push that will put everything on hold for a little while so they can at least think about what the hell is going on so they can try to make a game plan.

Every time we sit down and try to figure out a plan or even go through paperwork to get an idea of just where we stand - some other unexpected event happens to stop us in our tracks before we can even get a pencil on the paper.

Oh well, such is life. I will just pray some more and go beg at the churches again. Every day that goes by is one more day that I am closer to getting my disability. Well, if you've managed to get this far and you have anything left after Xmas, try to help me keep the roof over my kids heads. They need someplace to keep their extra xmas stuff.

Thanks
Joe - the broke carpenter

Merry XMAS

2005-12-25T20:28:00.000-08:00

Well, the kids had a good xmas thanks to the help of local charities. But we only have until the 29th to come up with some cash for the landlord. Here we are praying for another month, hopefully my disability will go through this time. Oh, wait - it is the holiday season. If you think government moves slow during the regular year you can only imagine the procrastination and paper shuffling that can go on during this time of year.

I have some really cool ideas for an eBook, and for some web sites. If I only had some cash and some time to put my ideas to use. I am trying to get something going using free web-hosting but I still need enough time for the search engines to pick up the pages.

If anybody has any cash left after the holidays LOL - help me keep the roof over my kids heads for another month.

Thanks
Joe -the disabled carpenter
p.s. (look for a donation button somewhere below - I don't feel like making a new one)

One More Time

2005-12-21T21:52:00.000-08:00

9:00 seems to be the standard time for delivery of eviction notices. It never fails. You can't get one of these when the kids aren't home and then when they ask why the police came you just tell them don't worry about it. Here it is 4 days before x-mas and I don't need my kids worried about being homeless.

I tried to do some part time article writing and made a few bucks, but part time for me was 20 hours a day and I still wasn't going to make enough to pay the bills anyway. Then I thought I would try to throw up a bunch of "you can make money on the internet" websites but that isn't working out so good either.

I spend almost all my time on this computer trying to figure out how to save our ass and everything else gets neglected. My kids are ignored, my wife is ignored. Nothing seems to be going right.

We have managed to scrounge up a little bit of money here and there, but you can only get so much from so many before there isn't any left and I don't know how much longer we can hold our ground. This is just crappy timing.

Still Here - Barely

2005-12-21T17:07:00.000-08:00

For those of you not familiar with my blog here let me get you up to speed. I am a carpenter with a bad back filing for disability. So until I actually get approved for disability the only thing I can do is panhandle on the internet - until we become homeless (I have a wife and kids). I have been trying to get an online eBook sales website running, but it is hard to concentrate on getting anything really done because I am continually spending much of my time looking for resources to save our ass.

I actually have a couple sites up and running - I just havent had enough time to advertise them yet. If you happen to be in the position to help keep a family from becoming homeless - you can look for one of my "Make a Donation" buttons, or even better - I would like to think that you can get something for your efforts, so look at the few opportunities that I have up and running in my links section.

Thanks
Joe - the broke - almost homeless carpenter

Another Crazy Idea

2005-12-17T11:13:00.000-08:00

Well, I stumbled onto a bunch of "make money from home" websites. I have seen these things on the internet for years and never thought they really worked. But after doing a lot of searching I have actually found several multiple matching web-sites.

So I can say that I think they really do work, so I decided to try one and see how it goes. Day 1 - Dec 17, 2005 I launched my first internet sales site. It is a freebie at Rxhectors Geocities Website.

If anyone stumble onto my site here and doesn't think that an outright donation to a disabled carpenter is worth thier time, you can at least visit my geocities link above and get something in return for helping me out.

Thanks,
Joe the broke carpenter.

P.S. - if you can help a family in need - we are fighting eviction once again. I have managed to last three months on the generosity and kindness of others. I am still fighting for Disability benefits but until that happens I have to hope my crazy online business works or enough people help me out.

Here we go again.

2005-12-14T22:35:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it through Thanksgiving thanks to a small miracle. But alas, here we are two weeks before Christmas with another 3-day notice. All I need is for social security to come through for me and we will be OK. But I don't see that happening in the next 3 days so we pray for another small miracle.

I'm not going to sugar coat anything. I'm a depressed carpenter with a bad back and I can't work anymore. I have no other job skills to fall back on and even if I did, the morphine I'm on for pain doesn't allow me to concentrate on much of anything anyway.

If some good samaritan stumbles upon my follies, please

Banks Suck !!!

2005-12-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

Through all this BS for the last year, I have barely managed to hold on to my bank account. Just recently, I made one too many purchases however. I almost never have cash because I put every penny I get into the bank. It is far easier for my crippled worhtless disabled ass to make a phone call and pay a bill with my visa check card than it is for me to try to physically get to wherever and write a check.

Just the other day my bank informs me that I made one overdraft too many, and even though they charge me $20 for every overdraft they are cancelling my visa check priveledges. I tried to explain to these idiots that I am disabled and trying to get from point a to point b to pay my bills is not very easy.

But to no avail, the corporate world has no cares for the disabled. It seems that even though my bank gets to make extra money when i fuck up isn't good enough for them. I went round and round with those idiots and they just don't get it. They basically told me they personally don't care that I can't get around very easy.

Thats OK, because when I finally do get my SSI income, the first thing I am going to do is fix my old fucked up other bank accounts and then switch to another bank.

As a result I couldn't make my payment for the washer and dryer - Rent a center doesnt take checks, only money order or visa - they were real assholes too. Because I am always late on my payments they like to complain about how broke they are. Shit, if your business can't afford to wait for a payment then maybe you shouldn't fuckin be in business.

This back problem really sucks. I bust my ass for all those years to be broke all the time anyway and now I get to be treated like shit because I can't work. Sometimes it just really fucking pisses me off.

Enough of me whining about myself. If you have an extra buck or two - help me get the kids something for under the tree.

Graceful

2005-12-02T19:40:00.000-08:00

Well, we have stalled our eviction for the holidays at least. I have no idea how I am going to come up with enough money for christmas for the kids but at least I know they will be warm and dry.

I really want to get my oldest his own TV so he can play video games in his room without taking over the living room TV and leaving his little brothers with nothing to do. I went and helped a church with their website and network and made a few bucks today, if only I could stumble into more extra work like that I might survive.

Trying to climb out of a hole like this once you fall in is almost impossible. I finally broke out of my depression and got involved in this affiliate program and I was actually optimistic for a little while. It hasn't panned out like I thought it would, but I haven't really been working on it enough to get anything out of it.

I spent most of the last two weeks fighting off this eviction. Maybe now I can concentrate on my other miscellaneous internet projects again.

A little bit of luck

2005-11-27T19:58:00.000-08:00

Well, we actually made some progress and got the landlord to take the money we scrounged up from panhandling. We still have a long way to go though. I re-filed for disability and told them I am fighting an eviction, I think they are going to try and speed up the process because of this but who knows.

I managed to do some part-time stuff from home, like editing graphics and stupid stuff like that, but it's still nowhere near paying the bills. At least we can get a pack of smokes here and there. Yeah, yeah, I know - what the f*** are you doing buying cigarettes. Well number 1) im addicted, number 2) if i don't smoke during this stress I'll go insane. We've tried quiting a couple times with some OK results. Hey it took awhile to get the bad habit - it'll take a little while to get rid of it.

If I can just make it one more month I think the disability will come through for us. I am trying to keep my faith but it gets hard sometimes.

Well, I gotta go see if I can learn how to make a million bucks from the internet. So until I figure it out everybody take care.

P.S. - if you got a few minutes and $10 to spare check out the famous $40,000 pay-pal letter here. Who knows, maybe it will work. I haven't had any responses yet - but I gotta find somewhere to advertise it i guess.

Biggest farce of the year

2005-11-25T18:43:00.000-08:00

Here we are, the biggest shopping day of the year. Everyone is going to go shopping so they can numb their senses to everything that going on in our nation. Those of us lucky enough not to have a screwed up back and having to battle the landlord just to have a miserable daily existance will believe that dumping their extra change into the little red Salvation Army bucket once a year actually makes a difference.

If only there were more people in the world that believed this on a daily basis we might actually get somewhere. Yes there are lots of wonderful opportunities out there for people to change their lifes, but with a continually failing economy and an even more failing welfare system things are only going to get worse.

I went to my local Division of Human Services for help and there is no more "emergency" funds available to prevent people from becoming homeless. I was told that since I have filed for Disability benefits that I am a lazy worthless piece of s***, and that if go get a minimum wage job somewhere that my life will be OK.

BULLSHIT - I worked my ass off for 15 years, I worked so hard that I screwed up my back and live in pain from the minute I wake up to the minute I go to bed and this fu**** rotten little pencil pusher who probably goes home and makes his wife mow the lawn and take out the trash is going to tell me I'm lazy.

He better hope I don't get approved for Disability, because the first thing I'm going to do when it happens is spit in his face.

A last resort

2005-11-23T02:21:00.000-08:00

Hello everybody thats been keeping up with me. I managed to scrounge up $10 for this famous oprah letter that I have heard so much about. If anybody wants, give it a try with me and lets see how far it goes.

That's Right $40,000 dollars in your PayPal account - IT WAS PROVEN ON NATIONAL TV & IT S COMPLETELY LEGAL!!!

$10 Dollars... That's all it takes...I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

FIRST, PRINT THIS OUT TO FOLLOW

INSTRUCTIONS EASIER!

To get started just right mouse click and copy this whole page and paste it in an e-mail to edit it. Simply follow the instructions below and in 2 to 3 weeks, you will have at least $40,000 dollars in your PayPal account. Most people respond to this program because of the low investment ($10 dollars) and high profit potential. There is no limit to the income you can generate from this (you can do it over and over).

If you follow the instructions, you will reach thousands of people! Honesty, Faith, and Integrity make this system work. I think everyone has heard of "PayPal". Anyone with an e-mail address can join for F*R*E*E*!

If you're not already a PayPal user, the first thing you need to do is sign up for a BUSINESS account with them, or if you already have a personal PayPal account you need to upgrade to a business account, so you will be able to receive payments. Just click the link below! It's really easy to set up and it’s F*R*E*E.
https://www.paypal.com/us/mrb/pal=PZKVPAX84DMN2

TEAM WORK MAKES THIS DREAM WORK! LET'S GET STARTED: Send a $5.00 dollar donation from your PayPal account to THE FIRST e-mail address on the list along with a note saying "Please add me to your list". Now send the other $5.00 donation and e-mail to the 5th person on the list saying "Thanks I've joined". Remove the 1st e-mail address and place your address at the bottom This moves the 2nd to 1st, 3rd to 2nd, 4th to 3rd, and the 5th place to 4th.

DO NOT TRY TO PLACE YOURSELF IN THE FIRST PLACE. IT WILL ONLY REACH THE PEOPLE YOU SEND IT TO, AND THEN YOUR NAME WILL BE REMOVED FROM THE LIST! If you do this the way it was designed it will reach thousands by the time your name gets to the top.

REMEMBER TO SEND:

1) A $5.00 dollar donation to the 1st person from the list
with a message saying "PLEASE ADD ME TO YOUR LIST,
2) And send a $5.00 donation to the 5th person from the list with the message saying: "THANKS I'VE JOINED". This lets the 5th person keep track of progress of the letter and continue to send out more emails.

Here is the list:

1. corebell2000@yahoo.com
2. shelcaugh@yahoo.com
3. maluisa@ch.cablemas.com
4. becca_evans42@hotmail.com
5. rxhector2k5@yahoo.com

1. Now that you have paid the 1st person and 5th person & sent them both an email & a note, place your e-mail address in the 5th place. (Make sure it's the same e-mail address that you used to open your PayPal account). This is the way you will receive payment. OK, the only thing left to do is to mail out at least 20 copies of this letter. It is the job of the 5th person on the list to ensure there are at least 20 "thank you I joined" replies. The fifth person is the guardian of the system! If there are not at least 20 replies then the fifth person will keep sending the letter until there is.

MAKE SURE YOU SEND $5 DOLLARS TO THE FIRST PERSON TO THANK THEM FOR WHEN THEY WERE THE GUARDIAN OF THE LETTER and $5 DOLLARS TO THE FIFTH PERSON SO MORE EMAILS CONTINUE TO GO OUT! As you will also receive gratis - thanks AND THE SAME BLESSING. When your name is on the 1st slot, 8,000 to 15,000 people will send you 5 dollars!

DO NOT TRY TO PUT YOURSELF IN FIFTH PLACE WITHOUT PAYING, AS PAYPAL WILL AUTOMATICALLY NOTICE THIS AND DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT AND POSSIBLY PURSUE LEGAL ACTION , SINCE THIS IS A LEGITIMATE PROGRAM, AND THEY ARE PART OF IT!

Keep in mind... the most you spent is $10 DOLLARS! (Remember... what goes around comes around)

TESTIMONIALS:

Mary Gatters, Columbus, SC: I only have one thing to say to you... OH MY GOD! I sent out 142 copies total before 20 replied, like the instructions said. Then I went on a short vacation. When I got back my account had over $32,000 dollars in it already and the money was still coming! I'm still
floating on air (especially with my new car). I thought
the 'guardian' system sounded cheesy, but now I realize it is the formula that makes this letter really work! THANKS!

LET'S RECAP STEPS:

Step 1. Set up your PayPal account, if you don't already have one, and send the top name (1st person) $5.00 dollars. DON'T FORGET to include "Please add me to your list".

Step 2. Send the other $5.00 dollars and an e-mail stating "Thank you I've Joined" to the 5th name on the list.

Step 3. Remove the top name, bump the other 4 names up 1 place each Place your name in the bottom slot - you will receive a minimum of $100.00 or more from your efforts.

Step 4. Keep sending the letter until you get 20, "Thank you I've joined" replies in your inbox.

I know that you have seen this on TV or even received numerous messages about this simple program and have probably just deleted them, I know I have! But for some unknown reason this time I decided to give it a try, after all, only a $10.00 investment!

Please give it an honest effort, you will not be disappointed and will be very glad you did when it starts to work. Remember, all you're going to be out of pocket is about the cost of a couple of coffees with the opportunity of banking thousands of dollars into your PayPal account!

Yours In Great Success & Prosperity!

Joe W

The Last Days

2005-11-22T11:50:00.000-08:00

Well, this is our last day before we have to go to court and tell the landlord and the judge that we have no money. So not only are we going to be evicted (which will show up on our credit - not like that really matters anyway). So when and if we get anything together, we won't be able to rent anywhere because they will see the eviction on our report and assume we are bad people.

I hate how this world works. If you ever have even just the smallest problem, it will haunt you long after. I really am at my wits end. The crappy luck just won't go away. I go to church, I help the church and other people out the best I can. Hell, one of our good friends was almost homeless once and we let her and her kids live with us for a year.

Why does this shit keep happening to me and my family. We don't drink, we don't do drugs, we don't steal, we don't lie. We are good honest people. I just have a bad back and my wifes fibromyalgia has been getting worse lately.

Well, if anybody happens to stumble on this you can help me out by sending a donation via pay-pal to rxhector2k5@yahoo.com. I have just become involved in these following programs. I have had a little luck with this one, and I just started this other one , so i don't know if there is any results yet.

Well, take care - hopefully I can write something a little more upbeat tommorow.

Running out of time

2005-11-21T13:21:00.000-08:00

OK, so we are down to the last couple days here. We have learned that my wifes ex-husband who only pays his child support when it's convenient has just bought a new house, has a kick ass IRA, and still thinks that it's not his fault we are so far behind because he only pays his support when he feels like it.

We are sick and tired of being screwed by everybody. Our last landlords kept our $750 depost, after we spent hours and hours cleaning, so we are suing them. Oregon law says that we can sue them for double, COOL. But we don't have that court date until Dec27th, we'll be far homeless by then. We are going to sue the wifes ex-husband for everything he owns and ruin his life just like he ruined ours.

Forgive and forget my ass. My whole life I have lived by forgive and forget, turn the other cheek and the meek shall inherit the earth. I'll inherit the earth all right, to sleep on. We have had it. We are down to survival of the fittest here, and all these people that have wronged us in the past are going to start getting their just desserts.

I am usually not vindictive, quite the contrary. I am usually known for being mellow and just letting things go. Actually this isn't even really a matter of vindication, it's a matter of I'm in the worst position of my life because I am just a stupid carpenter with a broken back. Even I could just magically walk out the door and build houses again, I still wouldn't get paid soon enough to save my ass anyway.

I've been screwed by so many contractors it's not funny. They are almost worst than landlords. I've been promised the moon, then asked to sign insurance waivers and sork for a shitty $8/hr. I have left those jobs immediately. But then your screwed because you have to go hunt down another job and tell them how the last guy was going to screw you.

It never ends. Why in the hell did I not listen to my old man. Because when your 16 you know it all. Your immortal, invinceable and you will be a rock star.

Bummed

2005-11-18T17:55:00.000-08:00

So, my wife has been talking to her ex-husband about our situation. We probably wouldn't be in this situation if he wouldn't have skipped his child support payments for 4 months. And it's always the same story, You guys aren't my responsibility.

He,s right. We aren't his responsibility, but our two oldest kids are his and we have raised them for the last 16 years without his BS. He only pays his support when he feels like it and wonders why the hell me and my wife dont "get off our ass".

The stupid a**hole knows I've had one back surgery, its not like i can just jump and run out the door and go build houses like i used to. And my wife is battling fibromyalgia which is a whole another world of problems. Great, what a pair we are.

We both used to be able to make really good money until our health went to hell. And because we were always there for all our kids and paid all our bills without the ex's help he wonders why we don't have any savings and we're having such a hard time.

Typical Republican thinking. If I steal from them (After all, every time he doesn't pay his support, we have to take up the slack - he's pretty much stealing isn't he) they will just have to work harder so I can steal from them some more.

Don't get me wrong here please. I love all 4 of my kids - the oldest two, even though they aren't really from my sperm; have been with me since before they were old enough to ever know their real ~~father~~ (sperm donor) anyway, so they are pretty much mine because I paid all their bills and they have all my values anyway. Thank God for that, or there would be two more "little republicans" running around thinking that it's ok to steal from the poor and give to the rich.

How's this for weird, I'm two seconds from being homeless and I'm ranting about politics. I don't get how the Democrats can do everything in their power to help the poor and the economy sky rockets and we have a surplus, then you look at republicans doing everything in their power to end any and all programs for the less fortunate and they wonder why the economy goes to shit.

Let's think about it for a minute - If you steal all the money from the poor people who far outnumber the rich, It's no wonder all the businesses are taking a hit. All the poor now have even less money than they did before. It takes everything they have to pay the bills, let alone do extra luxury shopping to make their miserable lives a little more enjoyable.

So we end up with a whole country full of people, who even the smallest of problems could be detrimental to their existance. OK, well I can b**** about it all I want but let's face it, until I raise $100k to run for president so I can fix the worlds problems I'll have to settle for whatever else you have.

I still need to raise some for my rent, until I'm done battling to get my disability anyway. So if there are any able people who believe that a carpenter and his family shouldn't go homeless just because they did their best. Send me a donation.

Good Samaritan

2005-11-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday something amazing happened. Some absolute total stranger stubmled upon my blog and left a kind donation. This in itself is truly amazing. If the world had more people with the christian belief that you should help those in need if you can, it would be a better place.

I dont know that the donor is a christian, but they obviously believe in something other than holding onto their God almighty dollar until their death. I can understand why some of the wealthy want to hold onto what they do have. Hell I have a hard time just paying my bills, I can only imagine how hard it must be to manage a mansion, IRA, mutual funds, stocks and bonds. Hell, I can't even manage my rent.

I am sure some their heirs will no doubt be honored to share in the good fortune. But there comes a point in time when some of these "well to doers" end up hording as much as they can for the sheer pleasure of having it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not condeming all the wealthy, I'm sure they are not all like that. My Good Samaritan has proven that. But there are enough of them that do nothing to help or empower the less fortunate.

Which leads me into the topic for my next rant (If I can keep my roof over my head) about how the current "Bush" administration will do everything in their power to steal every penny they can from every program designed to help and empower the less fortunate. Just wait till I start on that one.

But in the meantime - if you happen to be one of the more fortunate souls and you believe in helping those in need - send your donation to the broke carpenter.

One Crisis at a Time

2005-11-16T17:06:00.000-08:00

So last night at about 9:00pm we get this knock at the door and here's the police serving us with eviction papers. So, now we're really sweatin bullets about what to do. I have an appointment tommorow to refile for my disability, but I'm looking at another 6 month wait for the "system". Maybe now that my back is even worse than when I filed the first time I'll get somewhere.

Ill end up homeless before anything good happens there. What a great system, what the hell does somebody in an emergy like this do? I guess beg. Which is what I'm doing.

So we ran out of cigarettes today and I gotta go limp around and round up some aluminum cans i guess. I know, I know. Your thinking what an idiot I am, but when sometimes when you get stressed you just need a friggin smoke. I've tried quiting a couple times with no luck.

So now I'm stressed about this eviction, I'm out of smokes. This really sucks.

Well, if anybody has any thoughts, or a couple extra bucks for a broke-back carpenter and his family - send it to the broke carpenter.

Thanks
joe

Still at it

2005-11-15T10:59:00.000-08:00

So i am still trying to get my freelance career going, hopefully it will take off before I end up homeless. This really sucks. I really busted my ass as a carpenter. I was working 10 and 12 hour days, hell I actually made OK money. But when you grow up with shitty credit it just hangs on you like a damn disease, no bank will ever give a carpenter a loan. I tried once, the banker said I had the best propasal they ever saw. But with no colateral to back it up, you still can't get anywhere. So now at 36 and changing careers is a real pain. I re-educated myself, went and got a degree with a 3.8GPA - thats not bad for a high-shool drop-out.

But just like the bad credit disease, the "I used to be a carpenter" disease follows you around and you go to 100 interviews and leave feeling great but you just never get that magic "your hired" phone call.

So if any teens ever read this take note - Dont ever quit school - dont ever be a friggin carpenter. Because in the end, when your back gets screwed up your broke ass boss will tell you "I'm just a carpenter too, what the hell makes you think I got any more money than you."

The old carpenter

2005-11-14T20:38:00.000-08:00

SO, after a really hard year and fighting for my disability due to my bad back. I have resorted to panhandling. If anyone feels like helping an old broken carpenter get back on his feet - you can using PayPal or if you want to get something out of the whole deal visit my work from home site.

My Own Mother

2005-11-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

This really sucked. My own mother foreclosed on me. I never really knew her, My dad left her when I was really little. So after 20 something years I decided to see who she was. We actually met and got to know each other. My grandfather who I never met passed away and his house sat empty for a year. I ended up buying the house on a land contract, I had to do alot of work. Obviously no-one really cared for the old guy, because the house was almost condemable when i got into it. As luck would have it, my back started giving me problems again and I lost one job after another. So my own flesh and blood mother forclosed on her own son. And her four grandchildren she claimed to adore so much. And to add insult to injury listen to this. I bough the house for 35k, lived in it and made payments for 4 years for 14k, during the forclosure I managed to sell the house for 59k, but after all the lawyer BS my mother got 37k out of the deal. Thats really funny, the wicked bitch kicks her own family out into street and screws em too - all for the love of the almighty dollar. That's OK, I know whats going to happen when it comes time for her to talk to pter at the pearly gates.

Losing It

2005-11-14T20:11:00.000-08:00

I was a carpenter for the first 15 years of my working life, and a damn good one I might add. But as luck would have it, construction took its toll on my body. I used to consider myself fairly healthy, and even though I have never been a large person, I could always carry more than anyone on any of my crews. I would run circles around most of the other guys and I always got more work done with less mistakes. What thanks did I get? Back surgery and workforce retraining WooHoo.
So now I have a computer science degree - a wallet full of certifications, a huge student loan and I still can't get a friggin job because nobody on the face of this f*** up planet thinks an ex-carpenter is worth hiring. Sometimes I get so fed up with corporate mentality - Its no wonder people go off on rampages.