Occupy Until I Return — The 6% and the 99% Join Forces

On March 30, 2013 By dancingpalmtreesIn 6% Rally, 633 Third Avenue, 99%, Abuse, Activist, Advocate, Albany, Autism, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Occupy the Hood, Occupy Together, Occupy Wall Street, Stephen Vincent Palmer, Willowbrook2 Comments

Occupy Until I Return – Part Two

Occupy till I return. The word occupy here means not merely to possess, or to take up space as it often does in our language, but to improve, and in the instance of activism to use our talents, gifts and abilities to advance and expand the opportunities, rights, and freedoms for those who may not have a voice or are under oppression. As we Occupy we Redeem the only the time but people worldwide who are victims of tyranny and domination. Our efforts are instrumental in changing their lives from victims to Victory. So Jesus commands his disciples to improve their talents; to make the most of them; to increase their capability of doing good, and to do it until he comes to call us hence, by death, to meet him. See 1 Corinthians 12:7; Eph 4:7. (http://bible.cc/luke/19-13.htm)

Stephen & DeBorah Occupy Albany — Stephen and I in Albany ready to meet the Legislators

Activism Progress Update: well latest news is that the major subject of debate in the NYS Assembly is the OPWDD 6% proposed cut. As I see it if they’re still debating then there is still a chance to restore the money for Stephen Palmer and all special needs people. Also I’m writing articles for Advocate’s Voice newsletter published by QCDD and I’m joining forces with Occupy Wall Street, Occupy the Hood and Occupy Together. I know I used to disparage the Occupy Movement but now I feel they are more organized and have better direction & focus. Plus I need my fellow Occupiers. We all need them. Let’s all safely and peacefully practice the principles of Civil Disobedience.

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

I do not believe in anarchy. My calling is to Occupy within the system. The current structure of government is not going to disappear, however we must make our elected officials accountable and hold them responsible. We must make our voices heard by going to City Council Meetings, Town Hall Meetings, engaging our New York State assemblymen in Albany, marching, protesting, rallying and boycotting. I still believe in the power of the vote and the power of the purse. They go hand in hand. Resistance but peaceful resistance.

God Calls Everyone but Some don’t answer. Many including those in the church look at Stephen as somebody who needs to be fixed but it’s not Stephen who has the problem it is the temporarily abled. By saying Stephen needs to be cured, fixed or healed imply that he is defective. No that insulting attitude needs to be fixed. That type of bigotry needs to be cast aside. No more warehousing of the developmentally disabled and people with special needs!! Defenders of the Faith need to defend “the least of these” — those who are vulnerable in our society, and that includes the disabled, children, our persecuted LGBT sisters and brothers, the elderly, abused women and Veterans. No more domestic violence or sexual abuse against women and girls. No more Willowbrooks, No more special needs/developmentally disabled kids/adults hidden away in attics or basements. No more brutal murders and suicides like Matthew Shepherd, Branden Teena & Tyler Clementi.

We who claim to follow Jesus and his principles must speak out and make a stand for justice, for what is right and honorable. We have the power to put an end to evil and injustice. Activism knows no age limitations or religious barriers. Look at the example of our young sister Malala Yousafzai who risked her life to get an education not just for herself but for all girls and young women in Pakistan. Those who are called can no longer hide inside their storefront churches or within mansion edifices. The world needs us now more than ever!

Malala Yousafzai -- Our Young Sister Activist — Malala Yousafzai — Our Young Sister Activist

Ecclesiastes 9:11

King James Version (KJV)

I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happens to them all.

The Time is now! The Doors are opening! Let’s us march onto Victory! The Battle is not over and Triumph is on the Way!!

Please also take the time to read Occupy until I return Part I published October 14, 2011.

Donations and Freewill offerings can be made directly to my PayPal account deborah.palmer280@gmail.com. Thank you and God Bless.

We are the 6%!!!

On March 16, 2013March 18, 2013 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?

I felt extremely empowered at the March 15^th 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!!

Charlie the Central Park Carriage Horse & Occupy Wall Street

On November 4, 2011November 5, 2011 By dancingpalmtreesIn Central Park Horse, Charlie the Carriage Horse, Occupy Wall Street, Uncategorized

Charlie the Central Park Carriage Horse & Occupy Wall Street

“A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel” (Proverbs 12:10).

“There is a touch of divinity even in brutes, and a special halo about a horse, that should forever exempt him from indignities.” – Herman Melville

http://www.banhdc.org/

You may wonder what comparison could possibly be made between one Central Park Carriage Horse named Charlie and Occupy Wall Street but in his own simply way Charlie symbolizes many horses and people forced to work under strenuous stressful circumstances. However unlike poor unfortunate Charlie people have the ability to speak out against forced corporate slavery.

Charlie, a 15 year old draft horse died while on his way to work in Central Park October 23^rd. Findings from a subsequent necropsy showed that Charlie suffered from stomach ulcers and a fractured tooth. Charlie had no voice. He could not call in sick, nor was he given the proper veterinary care that could have prevented his suffering and death. Most of us who are blessed with a job do have sick days so we can call out, see a doctor and have our medical needs taken care of. Charlie had no such choice. Day after day no matter if it was 100 degrees outside or below zero Charlie was forced to work while in extreme pain.

New York’s esteemed Mayor Bigbucks showed little empathy for Charlie’s long term suffering and death. “Like everyone, eventually they die.” “Some die on the streets.”

Damn.

Very little feeling for the hardworking horses who endured pulling fat, greasy, well fed rich tourists and visitors around Central Park, the 1% who could well have afforded to give Charlie an opportunity to live out his senior years on a farm, running free, sheltered in a warm barn with regular vet check-ups, but no like Mayor Bigbucks there is little sympathy for Charlie.

How does Charlie’s sad end relate to we humans, well many equally hardworking New Yorkers do not have sick days. Please support and sign the petition to pass the Pass the NYC Paid Sick Time Act. Please go to the following link and add your name and voice for the 99% who work hard every day yet are fear losing their jobs if they take a day off sick from work to care for themselves or their children. Stop the indentured servitude and the return to the sweatshops of the 19^th Century. Thank you.
http://signon.org/sign/pass-the-nyc-paid-sick?source=s.fwd&r_by=239048

Charlie you are one of us. Rest in Peace my Equine Friend.

Luke 19:13
And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

Occupy not merely to possess but to Improve the lives around you. Please support the Occupy Movement.

I’ve been following the Occupy Wall Street since it started several weeks ago. How fitting that the movement should have begun in New York, the Financial capital of the world. Many dismiss the occupiers as grungy, lazy college kids with no cohesive message but even with many individual messages the overall message is restitution and recovery for the 99% who were not bailed out by Washington. These are young people who upon college graduation will be saddled with overwhelming student loan debt and no decent jobs with which to even make a dent in that debt. They join with the ranks of others who have lost jobs, homes, are drowning in various types of debt, etc….

Occupy Wall Street is truly a grassroots movement of the common man unlike the Tea Part who represent the 1%. In the last four years the twisted biased media has vilified the working man, unions and any other means the average person in this country has used as a pathway to success. The newspapers and TV news takes the extravagances’ of a few top earning overtime union kings and queens and make that the norm for all union members. I like most union members represent the 99% who work ridiculous amounts of overtime not for the fancy mansion on the hill but to support my family, pay household expenses and maybe take a short fun vacation trip, however I’ve yet to experience the last option.

Occupy Wall Street is akin to the movie Spartacus where the slaves rose up in rebellion against their masters. Well the wage slaves have had enough, as Peter Finch’s character Howard Beale says in the movie Network, we’re as mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. It’s either fight back or see our lives and the future lives of our children swallowed up by the greedy 21^st century robber barons. For those who say the very rich or corporate leaders are the ones who create jobs you are partially correct in that estimation. The jobs they create all get shipped overseas where these corporate giants use the fact that there are no labor laws or unions in foreign countries to continue their own unique form of wage slavery. Why pay an American ten dollars an hour plus benefits when you can pay some poor native of Southeast Asia or South America one dollar an hour or less and not have to conform or answer to any human rights rules or violations.

As people of faith we are to occupy not just by sitting on our butts in our respective houses of worship but to participate, to use our gifts, talents and abilities to improve the lives of those around us, to speak for those who have no voice. So my friends Occupy until our Lord returns. Occupy so that we may give an account of excellence for the least of these for the Master.

http://www.nycga.net

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/30-0

The Parable of the rich man and Lazarus (also called the Dives and Lazarus or Lazarus and Dives) is a well known parable of Jesus which appears in one of the Four Gospels of the New Testament.

According to Gospel of Luke (Luke 16:19–31), the parable tells of the relationship, in life and in death, between an unnamed rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus. The traditional “name” Dives, is not in fact a name but the word for “rich man”,^[1] dives, in the text of the Latin Bible, the Vulgate.^[2] The rich man was also given the names Neuēs (i.e. Nineveh ^[3]) and Fineas (i.e. Phineas ^[4]) in the third and fourth centuries.^[1]

Hoovervilles

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1642.html

Occupy Until I Return

On October 14, 2011March 30, 2013 By dancingpalmtreesIn Uncategorized

Luke 19:13
And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.

Occupy not merely to possess but to Improve the lives around you. Please support the Occupy Movement.

Occupy Wall Street is akin to the movie Spartacus where the slaves rose up in rebellion against their masters. Well the wage slaves have had enough, as Peter Finch’s character Howard Beale says in the movie Network, we’re as mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore. It’s either fight back or see our lives and the future lives of our children swallowed up by the greedy 21^st century robber barons. For those who say the very rich or corporate leaders are the ones who create jobs you are partially correct in that estimation. The jobs they create all get shipped overseas where these corporate giants use the fact that there are no labor laws or unions in foreign countries to continue their own unique form of wage slavery. Why pay an American twenty dollars an hour plus benefits when you can pay some poor native of Southeast Asia or South America one dollar an hour or less and not have to conform or answer to any human rights rules or violations.

http://www.nycga.net

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/30-0

Please continue onto Part Two of Occupy Until I Return published in March 2013.