http://www.kansascity.com/...
That is the link
for those of you
who don't know which state
Brownback
is Governor of.
However,
the topic of this diary
is not the tax cuts for the wealthy in Kansas,
and tax increases for the working poor,
covered in the article.
The topic of the diary
is a different Kansas policy idea
that my new bride,
Tonia,
doesn't like.
The title is from her mouth.
More below the fold.
My new wife,
Tonia, has worked for many years
as a home health care worker,
one of those who are paid
by your tax dollars
to provide in-home care
for folks who are either
elderly
and need help
due to complications of old age,
or those who have other disabilities.
In fact,
that's how we met;
Tonia was one of those
paid by your tax dollars
to take care of my first wife,
Pam,
while she was still alive.
The topic of this diary
is a new requirement
imposed by the state of Kansas
on the home health workers,
and the disabled folks they work for.
The new requirement
is that each worker,
at the beginning of each day's work,
must call a special phone number,
from the disabled person's phone,
and punch in a series of numbers,
as a way of getting punched in,
"on the clock,"
so to speak.
And,
of course,
another call,
at the end of the workday,
will get the worker
"off the clock."
But the clock out call
includes a lot more numbers to punch in,
to tell the state
what tasks were done that day
for that person.
Supposedly,
this whole thing
is to make sure the workers
are actually showing up
and doing the work
they're paid to do.
But forcing workers to make phone calls
will not achieve that goal.
It will,
however,
put a greater burden
on workers
who already have a heavy burden to bear,
and are not well paid,
and have no medical,
dental,
prescription,
or vision care
insurance.
Tonia was upset
when she heard about his new policy,
which went into effect
this week,
for some of the workers.
Tonia decided
to call our Governor,
and give him a piece of her mind.
Tonia has an aunt
who is a Kansas State Senator,
so she called her dear auntie
this past Sunday,
and asked her if the Governor was nearby.
Her auntie and the Governor
were both at some kind of function,
and her aunt said,
he's in the room,
give me a minute,
and Tonia said,
get to the Governor,
and put me on speakerphone.
When her aunt got the phone
up close to the Governor,
Tonia let him have it,
cussing him out
as if he were some deadbeat dad
who had walked out
on her mother
or sister,
to be with another woman.
"You aughta do the same shit we doin',
you should call in to clock in,
and you should clock in every hour,
on the hour,
and report what you're doin'."
"And I wanna hear others,
Senators and Representatives,
in the background,
so I can be sure
you're really doin' your job."
"And,
keep in mind,
someday your parents,
and someday you,
are likely to need home care
from someone like me."
"Think about it."
The governor started to speak,
to respond,
but Tonia cut him off.
"I don't even need to hear anything from you."
Tonia's auntie expressed some embarrassment,
but not too much.
She is,
after all,
a Democrat,
representing low income black folks
here in Wichita.
So,
not embarrassed about the message,
but only about my Tonia's blunt style of expressing herself.
Come give my Tonia your love and support.
Thanks for reading.
P. S.:
We heard from more than one reliable source
that the disabled folks
who cannot afford
any type of phone
will need to simply get a phone,
or lose their home care services.
Think about that.