Today I am Thankful for the Women taking care of my brother Stephen at his Group Home Residence and for all the Ladies and Gentlemen who are Direct Service Providers. These poor folks are seriously underpaid. Actually they would make more working at Walmart or McDonald’s!! Because of the low pay they are leaving the field in droves! On the little money they make they cannot support themselves or their families.
Not everyone can take off for International Women’s Day. If you are on Facebook instead Please read my below posts regarding BFair2DirectCare. Support the Workers who care for developmentally and intellectually disabled children and adults. Because of the extremely low pay workers are leaving the field. What will I do on the day that there are no workers to care for Stephen? How will other family members cope?
If you live in New York please call, write or email Gov. Andrew Cuomo to add COLA increase to the Direct Care Providers paychecks. We who live in New York know how expensive it is to live here. I know I’m barely making ends meet and I make much more money than the staff who take care of my brother Stephen every day. Direct Care Workers/Direct Service Providers need a New York Living Wage!!
For those of my readers who live outside the USA now you see that America Does Not properly take care of it’s disabled population. Nor do they care for the Homeless especially the mentally ill homeless many of whom are Women. Because of my work schedule I walk the streets and ride the subways late at night and early in the morning. At 1:00 am there are women and men sleeping in cardboard boxes on the streets. Both Women and men are sleeping on the subway platforms and inside the subway cars. Because of the high rents homelessness in New York is on the rise. Same problem with Homeless Veterans but I’ll leave that for another post.
America ~~ A nation that ignores the needy and feeds the greedy.
Would you prefer to receive a unicycle, bicycle, tricycle or motorcycle?
None of the above. As my vision is 20/100 I cannot operate any type of motor vehicle even bikes!! Me riding a bike would be the equivalent of Mr. Magoo driving a car which is another activity I had to give up.
Mr. Magoo
What is one thing you’d like to accomplish this year?
The most important thing is for me to find an apartment around or before Oct. 1st, 2017. It is not a question of like. Safe, clean housing that is near transportation is a necessity not something I can do without.
What was one of the highlights of 2016 for you?
Being a part of the Paid Family Leave Movement for the State of New York!! I received a personal invitation from Gov. Andrew Cuomo to attend the rally! Paid Family Leave will become active Jan. 2018!! Gov. Cuomo read the New York Times article about my difficulties being a low wage worker and trying to get time off the care for my brother Stephen who has Autism. Please click on the second link to get the link for the New York Times article. Again Praise God my workplace situation has improved so some of the issues I faced then are no longer a problem.
I Thank God that Stephen and I Live in a Democrat, Liberal, Progressive state like New York where the Mayor and the Gov. do their best to protect their citizens, provide New Yorkers with benefits that the rest of the country does not have and is a safer space for minorities and immigrants!! New York is and will continue to be a Sanctuary fighting against all Trump policies!! Trump is against Americans who have disabilities. I am Proud to be a Member of the Resistance!! Yes to Basic Human Rights!!
Stephen and I continue to be Mighty Warriors and Autism Activist/Advocates!
Me and My brother Stephen December 1961
Would you prefer to fly a kite or fly in a hot air balloon?
I’d take flying the kite as I have a Fear of Heights!! I had enough of helicopters and planes!
Optional Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?
Glad the holidays are over and behind me. I can now return to some sort of normal life. No special plans for either this week or next week. January tends to be a bad weather month so other than going to work I’m staying in. However lately the weather has been in the 40s and 50s which I hope lasts for the entire winter.
Now anybody who has been reading my blog posts over a period of time knows that even though I’m on Team Love that I am Not on Team Sucker or Team Doormat. I am a Soldier (U.S. Army 1977-1981) A Warrior ready to fight for my people. I will battle for All peoples who have been disenfranchised!
“You may not be interested in war, but war may be interested in you.”
– Leon Trotsky
Then it’s on Like Donkey Kong!!
I will fight and do battle as did my Biblical namesake!!!
Judges 4-5
New King James Version (NKJV)
Deborah
(See the Full Biblical text below)
However I do most of my fighting with my pen because as the expression goes the Pen is mightier that then sword.
I know Mr. Charles Houston. He is a good man. Please donate so he can keep up all the good work he has done over many years!!
Judges 4-5
New King James Version (NKJV)
Deborah
4 When Ehud was dead, the children of Israel again did evil in the sight of the Lord. 2 So the Lord sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan, who reigned in Hazor. The commander of his army was Sisera, who dwelt in Harosheth Hagoyim. 3 And the children of Israel cried out to the Lord; for Jabin had nine hundred chariots of iron, and for twenty years he had harshly oppressed the children of Israel.
4 Now Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, was judging Israel at that time. 5 And she would sit under the palm tree of Deborah between Ramah and Bethel in the mountains of Ephraim. And the children of Israel came up to her for judgment. 6 Then she sent and called for Barak the son of Abinoam from Kedesh in Naphtali, and said to him, “Has not the Lord God of Israel commanded, ‘Go and deploy troops at Mount Tabor; take with you ten thousand men of the sons of Naphtali and of the sons of Zebulun; 7 and against you I will deploy Sisera, the commander of Jabin’s army, with his chariots and his multitude at the River Kishon; and I will deliver him into your hand’?”
8 And Barak said to her, “If you will go with me, then I will go; but if you will not go with me, I will not go!”
9 So she said, “I will surely go with you; nevertheless there will be no glory for you in the journey you are taking, for the Lord will sell Sisera into the hand of a woman.” Then Deborah arose and went with Barak to Kedesh. 10 And Barak called Zebulun and Naphtali to Kedesh; he went up with ten thousand men under his command,[a] and Deborah went up with him.
11 Now Heber the Kenite, of the children of Hobab the father-in-law of Moses, had separated himself from the Kenites and pitched his tent near the terebinth tree at Zaanaim, which is beside Kedesh.
12 And they reported to Sisera that Barak the son of Abinoam had gone up to Mount Tabor. 13 So Sisera gathered together all his chariots, nine hundred chariots of iron, and all the people who were with him, from Harosheth Hagoyim to the River Kishon.
14 Then Deborah said to Barak, “Up! For this is the day in which the Lordhas delivered Sisera into your hand. Has not the Lord gone out before you?” So Barak went down from Mount Tabor with ten thousand men following him. 15 And the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army with the edge of the sword before Barak; and Sisera alighted from his chariot and fled away on foot. 16 But Barak pursued the chariots and the army as far as Harosheth Hagoyim, and all the army of Sisera fell by the edge of the sword; not a man was left.
17 However, Sisera had fled away on foot to the tent of Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite; for there was peace between Jabin king of Hazor and the house of Heber the Kenite. 18 And Jael went out to meet Sisera, and said to him, “Turn aside, my lord, turn aside to me; do not fear.” And when he had turned aside with her into the tent, she covered him with a blanket.
19 Then he said to her, “Please give me a little water to drink, for I am thirsty.” So she opened a jug of milk, gave him a drink, and covered him. 20 And he said to her, “Stand at the door of the tent, and if any man comes and inquires of you, and says, ‘Is there any man here?’ you shall say, ‘No.’”
21 Then Jael, Heber’s wife, took a tent peg and took a hammer in her hand, and went softly to him and drove the peg into his temple, and it went down into the ground; for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. 22 And then, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came out to meet him, and said to him, “Come, I will show you the man whom you seek.” And when he went into her tent, there lay Sisera, dead with the peg in his temple.
23 So on that day God subdued Jabin king of Canaan in the presence of the children of Israel. 24 And the hand of the children of Israel grew stronger and stronger against Jabin king of Canaan, until they had destroyed Jabin king of Canaan.
The Song of Deborah
5 Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying:
2 “When leaders lead in Israel, When the people willingly offer themselves, Bless the Lord!
3 “Hear, O kings! Give ear, O princes! I, even I, will sing to the Lord; I will sing praise to the Lord God of Israel.
4 “Lord, when You went out from Seir, When You marched from the field of Edom, The earth trembled and the heavens poured, The clouds also poured water; 5 The mountains gushed before the Lord, This Sinai, before the Lord God of Israel.
6 “In the days of Shamgar, son of Anath, In the days of Jael, The highways were deserted, And the travelers walked along the byways. 7 Village life ceased, it ceased in Israel, Until I, Deborah, arose, Arose a mother in Israel. 8 They chose new gods; Then there was war in the gates; Not a shield or spear was seen among forty thousand in Israel. 9 My heart is with the rulers of Israel Who offered themselves willingly with the people. Bless the Lord!
10 “Speak, you who ride on white donkeys, Who sit in judges’ attire, And who walk along the road. 11 Far from the noise of the archers, among the watering places, There they shall recount the righteous acts of the Lord, The righteous acts for His villagers in Israel; Then the people of the Lord shall go down to the gates.
12 “Awake, awake, Deborah! Awake, awake, sing a song! Arise, Barak, and lead your captives away, O son of Abinoam!
13 “Then the survivors came down, the people against the nobles; The Lord came down for me against the mighty. 14 From Ephraim were those whose roots were in Amalek. After you, Benjamin, with your peoples, From Machir rulers came down, And from Zebulun those who bear the recruiter’s staff. 15 And the princes of Issachar[b]were with Deborah; As Issachar, so was Barak Sent into the valley under his command;[c] Among the divisions of Reuben There were great resolves of heart. 16 Why did you sit among the sheepfolds, To hear the pipings for the flocks? The divisions of Reuben have great searchings of heart. 17 Gilead stayed beyond the Jordan, And why did Dan remain on ships?[d] Asher continued at the seashore, And stayed by his inlets. 18 Zebulun is a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death, Naphtali also, on the heights of the battlefield.
19 “The kings came and fought, Then the kings of Canaan fought In Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; They took no spoils of silver. 20 They fought from the heavens; The stars from their courses fought against Sisera. 21 The torrent of Kishon swept them away, That ancient torrent, the torrent of Kishon. O my soul, march on in strength! 22 Then the horses’ hooves pounded, The galloping, galloping of his steeds. 23 ‘Curse Meroz,’ said the angel[e] of the Lord, ‘Curse its inhabitants bitterly, Because they did not come to the help of the Lord, To the help of the Lord against the mighty.’
24 “Most blessed among women is Jael, The wife of Heber the Kenite; Blessed is she among women in tents. 25 He asked for water, she gave milk; She brought out cream in a lordly bowl. 26 She stretched her hand to the tent peg, Her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; She pounded Sisera, she pierced his head, She split and struck through his temple. 27 At her feet he sank, he fell, he lay still; At her feet he sank, he fell; Where he sank, there he fell dead.
28 “The mother of Sisera looked through the window, And cried out through the lattice, ‘Why is his chariot so long in coming? Why tarries the clatter of his chariots?’ 29 Her wisest ladies answered her, Yes, she answered herself, 30 ‘Are they not finding and dividing the spoil: To every man a girl or two; For Sisera, plunder of dyed garments, Plunder of garments embroidered and dyed, Two pieces of dyed embroidery for the neck of the looter?’
31 “Thus let all Your enemies perish, O Lord! But let those who love Him be like the sun When it comes out in full strength.”
Espiritu en Fuego/A Fiery Spirit 