Tag: Gov. Andrew Cuomo

SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2016 WEEK 9

On By dancingpalmtreesIn Fred Hammond - No Weapon, Grateful - Hezekiah Walker, Isaiah 54:17 New King James Version (NKJV), Philippians 4:13 New King James Version (NKJV), SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2016 WEEK 9, Stephen, Stephen Vincent Palmer, Uncategorized12 Comments

 

http://ceenphotography.com/2016/02/29/share-your-world-2016-week-9/#like-15558

SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2016 WEEK 9

Have you done something you truly want to do today?

Slept until 7:30 am. Trying to coordinate my schedule so I can do more Autism Activism. For example there is a rally on Friday March 11th in front of the Gov. Cuomo New York City office for the Gov. to increase funding to agencies which serve people with developmental disabilities. Gov. Cuomo has proposed increasing the minimum wage to $15 but unless he increases funding to agencies how will these organizations afford to pay their workers. This presents a dilemma for me as my brother Stephen lives in a Group Home and relies on his Direct Care workers for assistance with his daily needs. Now if one can make more money working at Mickey D’s why would you stay helping disabled people? Therefore this may cause agencies/organizations to lose workers thereby affecting my brother Stephen and others like him in a negative manner.

My problem is that my vacation ends March 7th.  I return to work March 8th and it is highly unlikely I can get March 11th as a day off.  Sigh…….

Here is the backstory of my battle and if you do a Blog search using the terms Stephen Vincent Palmer, Paid Family Leave, Stephen Palmer or FMLA you can see what I’ve been going through over the past eight years. Sadly the laws in the United States nor the attitudes of employers have kept up with average citizens (especially those like me in low wage/low level) who must care for a disabled loved one. There is great stigma against those with intellectually or developmental disabilities and their caregivers. What should be a legal/moral right turns into a battle where companies force workers to choose between having a job that pays your bills or losing your job because your disabled family member needs you.  I walk a delicately balanced tightrope with No safety net beneath me.  This weighs on my mind 24/7/365.  However I place my faith in God to deliver not only me and Stephen but all who fight for this just cause.  Like the song says, “I will Praise you in all that I do. In the good times and bad. Whether happy or sad. Because Praise is what I do.”

The New York Times did an article on my brother Stephen and me. Please take time to read this eye opening article of our lives. Thank you.
http://nyti.ms/1BktTeP

What can you help the world with?

Autism Activism. Being an Independent Advocate for people with Developmental Disabilities.  If my job grants me FMLA I will be in a better position for Autism Activism.  Also when Paid Family Leave comes to pass for the New York State I will be able to increase my Autism Activism/Advocacy.

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If life was ‘just a bowl of cherries’… which fruit other than a cherry would you be..?

Maybe an apple. I like the expression being “The Apple of someone’s Eye.” Also New York is known as The Big Apple and has many apple orchards in upstate New York. Otherwise I’d be a pineapple because they grow in nice warm sunny climes

Quotes List: At least three of your favorite quotes?

Philippians 4:13 New King James Version (NKJV)

13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

2 Timothy 1:7 New King James Version (NKJV)

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Isaiah 54:17 New King James Version (NKJV)

17 No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn.
This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
And their righteousness is from Me,”
Says the Lord.

Fred Hammond – No Weapon

https://youtu.be/BzAkMvK1Ljw

 

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

My Vacation. Had a great Birthday on Feb. 27th. Still on vacation. Looking forward to spending time with my brother Stephen next weekend March 5th & 6th.

Praise Is What I Do – William Murphy

Grateful – Hezekiah Walker

 

SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2016 WEEK 5

On By dancingpalmtreesIn A Better Balance, African American Queen, Eva Gordon Palmer, Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer, FMLA, FMLA Inclusion Act, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Let Me Call You Sweetheart, Shinnyo-en Buddhism, Sylvester, Uncategorized, Vice President Joe Biden4 Comments

 

SHARE YOUR WORLD – 2016 WEEK 5

If you had a shelf for your three most special possessions (not including photos, electronic devices and things stored on them, people or animals), what would you put on it?

My Grandmother Eva Palmer’s Musical Sewing Box.  It plays “Let Me Call You Sweetheart.”  My collection of African-American figurines.  Some special edition Collectors plates created by African-American artists.

Grandmother Eva’s Music Sewing Box
Eva Sophronia Gordon Palmer — Grandmother Music Sewing Box

If you had a box labelled ‘happiness’, what would you put in it?

Happiness is spending time with my brother Stephen, my cat Sylvester, being outdoors in sunny warm weather, and photography.  I don’t think either Stephen or Sylvester would like to be put in a box. On the other hand since Sylvester is a cat maybe he would like being in a box but definitely not Stephen!!

Sylvester in my old Laundry Bag
Sylvester Cat Yoga on the bed
Sylvester Cat Yoga Pose

What do you want more of in your life?

Free time and money!!

Daily Life List: What do you do on an average day? Make a list of your usual activities you do each day.

Since I still work a full-time job I spend Tuesday through Saturday at my workplace.

Working in the security field I spend a lot of time at work since the job entails generous amounts of overtime. So between my commute which is one hour going and another hour returning home, plus 8 to 12 hours spent on the job that’s pretty much the majority of my time. This is why I enjoy my Sunday/Monday weekends and look forward to retiring in Spring 2018.

Bonus question:  What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

Being invited by Gov. Andrew Cuomo the the Paid Family Leave Rally held last Friday at the McBurney 14th Street YMCA!! It’s not every day that a working class woman like me gets a call from the Governors Office!! Kudos for Gov. Andrew Cuomo for reading the New York Times article done on me and Stephen last year.

Hearing Gov. Cuomo and Vice President Joe Biden speak and endorse Paid Family Leave was an exhilarating experience!!  As some of my long-time Followers know I’ve been fighting to get FMLA from my job so I can care for my developmentally disabled brother Stephen. Truly it has been a long and winding road but I owe many Thanks to Congressman Hakeen Jeffries, my legal Team from A Better Balance, Gov. Andrew Cuomo who I have faith will push through and make Paid Family Leave a reality for the citizens of New York and Vice President Joe Biden!!

 

(7) DeBorah and A Better Balance

Thank you.
http://nyti.ms/1BktTeP

 

Getting Our Blessing!!

 

http://www.twcnews.com/nys/capital-region/capital-tonight-interviews/2016/01/29/dina-bakst-012916.html

 

Looking forward to attending Buddhist Prayer and Meditation Services at Shinnyo-en New York City temple with my Japanese girlfriend. I thank all my Friends whether they be Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu or Buddhist for their unwavering support and encouragement in my efforts to secure FMLA for Stephen.

(7) DeBorah and A Better Balance

On By dancingpalmtreesIn Uncategorized17 Comments

“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters. This struggle may be a moral one; or it may be a physical one; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

― Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass: Selected Speeches and Writings

Source: (7) DeBorah Le Raconteur

Me and two Members of my A Better Balance Team helping to get justice and the right to care for my brother Stephen who has Autism!!

Removing the stigma thrust upon caregivers and their disabled relatives by the workplace! Go Team!!

 

Here is an article from A Better Balance about the Paid Family Leave Rally and my personal fight for Stephen!!  Please read and Please support A Better Balance through generous donations.  Thank you!

http://www.abetterbalance.org/web/blog/entry/vice-president-biden-and-governor-cuomo-champion-paid-family-leave-at-manhattan-rally

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/triumph/

DAILY PROMPT

Triumph

Getting Our Blessing!!

On By dancingpalmtreesIn A Better Balance, DeBorah Ann Palmer, FMLA, FMLA Inclusion Act, Stephen Vincent Palmer, Uncategorized, Vice President Joe Biden9 Comments

Enter a caption

Today at Governor Andrew Cuomo State of the State Address!! Praise God for Divine Favor with Gov. Andrew Cuomo!! Praise God for Vice President Joe Biden. Last year Gov. Cuomo lost his Father Mario Cuomo was a Great Gov. and VP Biden lost his son to cancer. They understand. They care.

My Legal Team at A Better Balance had invited me to attend Governor Andrew Cuomo State of the State Address and at first I declined. Then yesterday at work I saw a 518 number on my cell phone. The Holy Spirit said return that call turns out that Gov. Andrew Cuomo had read the NY Times article about me and Stephen and through his representative I was personally invited to attend. When the Gov. calls you answer!! At first it was planned for me to give remarks but time was short since Vice President Biden was also in attendance and spoke.

Let me include the backstory on my FMLA struggles for those followers who have recently subscribed.

The New York Times on my brother Stephen and me that came to the attention of Gov. Andrew Cuomo!
http://nyti.ms/1BktTeP

Thanks to my Better Balance Team-mates, Thanks to Gov. Cuomo for inviting me and Thanks to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who has seen my troubles, heard my prayers and is answering. As the Lord spoke unto Mary He saw the low estate of His Handmaiden and stepped in. Just think me, a guard caught the eye and ear of the Gov. of New York State. Miracles Happen!  

After attending the State of the State Address from Gov. Cuomo and Vice President Joe Biden A Better Balance interviewed me on how Paid Family Leave would affect my ability to care for Stephen. As soon as the interview goes Live I will give out the link. Meantime please check out the photos from the event!!

Greater is He Who is in Me than he who is in the world.  

1 John 4:4 King James Version (KJV)

4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

Praise Dance Time!!

Mary Mary – Go Get It

It was an Honor to be at this State of the State Address at the McBurney YMCA located on 14th Street across from the Salvation Army church. A church I attended as a young woman. God said He would bring me before Great Men and he did. Jesus said Fear Not for I am with you always. Many Unions under the banner of AFL-CIO were represented and my only disappointment was not seeing anyone from DC 37 however during the continued standing ovations given to Gov. Cuomo and Vice President Biden I shouted out my Union DC 37!! DC 37 Local 1503 I did nothing special that any one of you cannot do. All you have to do is have faith but remember Faith without Works is dead!! There are people who believe in the Working Class!

Photos of me, my Better Balance Team, Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Vice President Biden can be seen here.

The song that has resonated in my spirit was Tasha Cobbs – Break Every Chain (Lyrics) https://youtu.be/-pD2zIuiC2g. I can’t explain the effect of this song and the call from Gov. Cuomo’s office but I actually saw chains breaking in the spirit world. Both speeches from Gov. Cuomo and Vice President Joe Biden were heartfelt, uplifting and empowering!! Wow!! The energy in the room was incredible. Like Tasha Cobbs sings in the song, “There’s an Army Rising Up!!” Working people are rising up in the Empire State!! With such outstanding Leadership we will Have Paid Family Leave in New York State for 2016!!

Tasha Cobbs – Break Every Chain (Lyrics)

 

2 Timothy 1:7 New King James Version (NKJV)

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

Tasha Cobbs – Break Every Chain (Lyrics)

 

 

DeBorahandStephen_Dec1961
Me and My brother Stephen December 1961

Mary Mary – Shackles (Praise You)

 

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/triumph/

DAILY PROMPT

Triumph

We are the 6%!!!

On By dancingpalmtreesIn 6% Rally, 633 Third Avenue, Activist, Advocate, Albany, Autism, DeBorah, Developmental Disabilities, Edward Palmer, Faith without Works is Dead, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Gov. Mario Cuomo, Mable Elizabeth Palmer, Mable Palmer, March, New York State Capitol, Occupy Wall Street, protest, Stephen Vincent Palmer, Willowbrook8 Comments

We Are the 6%!!

Who Will Stand for You?

6% Budget Cuts Rally
Me protesting in front of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Office Friday, March 15th.

I felt extremely empowered at the March 15th Rally against the 6% budget cuts yet at the same time I’m profoundly sad, a little frightened and very worried that we live in a society and a culture that can shun and throw away disabled people like my brother Stephen, the poor, the working class, yet celebrate the rich, wealthy and moronic celebrities. How is it in America, my country that I love and served in the Military (U.S. Army) to protect, has become a place where the poor and disabled have to fight for the basic dignities of life, whereas the Koch Brothers, Mayor Bloomberg, Rockefellers,  Bushes, Rupert Murdoch, and the 1% are automatically entitled to not only the basics but even the small luxuries that should be available to all Americans. Disability Rights and Activism is also part of the Gospel of Inclusion. We refuse to go back to the days when developmentally and physically disabled children and adults were hidden away in attics or cast into torture chamber institutions never to be seen or heard from. Let’s view disability in a different light as being differently abled, not less than but a person with unique and special abilities.

It’s a crying shame the way we’ve devalued people with disabilities! We should have an allegiance to our most vulnerable populations, especially the disabled. It’s scary to see things moving backwards. I don’t want to see my brother Stephen warehoused in some institution. Willowbrook was a living nightmare for developmentally disabled people and a true disgrace. However each of us has to stand up and fight. Me, Stephen and four van loads of his fellow residents went up to Albany on Tuesday in all that pouring rain to face off our elected officials. I’m doing my part to make sure the disabled are not cast aside like garbage on the trash heap. We need more alternative Voices. We all must speak up. The Rally more than proved that for me. We must not be lulled into apathy and compliancy by fear or the right wing media. We need to return to the civil disobedience of Henry David Thoreau, Gandhi, Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks.

Stephen & I in Albany
Stephen and I in Albany ready to meet the Legislators

One of my girlfriends from the Bronx informed me that I made the 11pm Channel 7 Eyewitness news and on the local Bronx Cable station. I believe that God hears the cries of his children especially the disabled and he will turn Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s heart towards us and restore the 6% budget cuts. Faith without works is dead. We have to make our government accountable to our most vulnerable citizens and for all Americans. Protest. March. Advocate. Be an Activist. Indifference equals death to our basic rights and freedoms. Be the Solution and make it So!!

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