Take 5! - Not talking about Dave Brubeck

Take five minutes to help.  You can feed five people in less than a minute.  You can help by donating time, resources, volunteering, helping with financial donations (tax deductible) and you can help by spreading the word via social networking applications such as twitter, facebook, email, google buzz, etc.  There are many ways you can help.  You can learn more from my friends at Union Rescue Mission at http://www.urm.org/

Take 5 ... as in feed five .... in less than a minute for $10.

I am going to try something during the month of June.  I am going to try to raise a few dollars for the folks over at Union Rescue Mission.  They are the oldest and largest mission in Los Angeles.  Maybe the largest in the nation.

You can donate $10 to Union Rescue Mission right from your cell phone in seconds.  

Text the letters URM to 85944. You will receive a confirmation text message. Reply with the word YES to complete the transaction.  

You will feed 5 people for $10 in less than 30 seconds. Your donation is tax deductible.

I am asking folks that read this to please pass on the link to this blog post.  I am asking folks on twitter to re-tweet this when they see the post on twitter.  Share via facebook, email, forums or anywhere possible.

Hopefully we can all work together and use social media to spread the word and raise a few dollars for the folks at http://www.urm.org/  You can learn much more about what Union Rescue Mission does by clicking on the link.  There is a lot of material on their website.  You can also donate in other ways including PayPal.  (As a side note, I made the first PayPal donation when the system was initiated which was fun on many levels).

I will be updating this post with a running count of the views of the post to see how well the word is spreading.

Many people think they know what the face of homelessness looks like.  Many picture a scene like that above. 

In many cases you can not be farther from the truth.  Click on "read more" for the bigger picture.

Financial Repression Coming to America

Before anybody gets the wrong idea, and even though it is not anybodies business, I will state that I am registered as a Democrat. But ... just as I have lost faith in our system of justice in this country I have also lost faith in our current administration.

As a side note I find it deplorable that some members of our government as pushing the debt debates until the 11th hour to upset the public, worry the public and use the fear of the American public to drive votes away from the current administration and to them in the next election.  Many Americans do not realize that the debt ceiling has been increased many times during past administrations.  Reagan raised the debt ceiling 17 times.  Bush Jr. raised the debt ceiling 7 times. This is nothing new but this is being used to put fear into the heart of the American public.  Again, to many of our elected officials; shame of you.  What little respect I had for many of you has turned to distain and disgust.

Side note to folks that look at statistics of another sort;  Debt increase by presidents: Reagan 186%, Bush II 72% Bush 54% Clinton 41% Obama 23%. Source CBO.

You can continue to read this post, the long version that is updated on a continual basis, each story from each link more depressing than the last.  Or, since our government is making no sense, on 7/28/11 I was driven to write a new post that might fit more into the way our government is currently working.  That post can be read at http://bit.ly/rfnKZg  Can you be as ineffective as our government?  That is the question and topic of the post.

I agree with some of the basic core values of each of the political parties in our country.  My thoughts on big government versus smaller government, abortion, gun rights, taxes, defense, freedom and how freedom is defined, etc., may cross political boundaries. 

In my own case I just observe things on a daily basis and see things getting worse rather than better for the average American trying to live day by day.  High taxes and big dollar portfolios are not as applicable to most of the population.  Gas prices, food prices, basic living necessities, medical attention and a roof over our head is what is important and critical to the vast majority of the population in this country.

I understand that it took many years for the country to get to the current position.  I have written pieces on how America has outsourced jobs, cannot compete for many reasons, how our lack of creative classes in our schools has taken away aspects of creative thinking in art, music, and vocational classes.  I have listened to the point of view that it will take many years to dig out of the current situation.  But, what I cannot wrap my head around is how difficult for me to find some basic examples of how things have gotten better.

Things continue to decline.  What has gotten better?  Where is any improvement?

Homeless in Los Angeles

Homelessness has many facets.  There are homeless people all over the United States and the world.  My   observations tend to focus around the area of Los Angeles as that is where I live but the story is the same for all homeless.  As a point of interest, Los Angeles is the homeless capitol of the United States.

Story from the Los Angeles Times which talks a bit about a film:
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/entertainmentnewsbuzz/2011/10/on-location-skid-row-lost-angels.html

 

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words.  Just below is a little slide show.  There are some very graphic images here so I will caution you in advance.   The reason I am posting this slide show is to try to show more people that Skid Row is a dangerous place that is not a great place for many but is especially traumatic for young children.  The day to day images are not easily forgotten, especially by young children.

Take a look at some of the images in this slide show.  Would you want your children to be in this environment?

Many folks think that they understand what the homeless situation is all about.  They feel that most folks are either involved with drugs, alcohol or just have no desire to work.  This type of thinking is far removed from what is reality.  There are folks who have lost their home and job due to the economy.  There is domestic violence.  There are many other reasons.  There are countless stories of the people who add to the homeless population count.  Please click on "more" below to continue.

Union Rescue Mission April Update from Andy Bales

Most of my friends know how I feel about Union Rescue Mission and their staff. 

If you are a new reader of my blog just scan most of the right hand side of the page and you will get the idea. 

By the way, if you are scanning the side of the page you will see a way you can text $10 in a few seconds to http://www.urm.org/ which will feed five people a complete and healthy meal.  Maybe take a few seconds out of your day to text a few meals?  If you follow the link in this paragraph you can learn much more about Union Rescue Mission.