And the stupidity continues

In middle September of this year I wrote a piece on the Tea Party debates held in Florida.  It was a pathetic showing on the part of most of the participants.  If this is the best America has to offer you might as well trade in your coins of gold for bullets of lead as the revolution is coming.

My original post can be read at 

http://la-economy.blogspot.com/2011/09/republican-tea-party-debate.html

After seeing the story below I felt that a post that will follow some of the headlines which lead up to the next election was indicated.  The Rick Perry piece below is the first of what may be many as this post is updated in the future.

More below.

The Streets of Los Angeles

IMG_1076a, originally uploaded by myles111us.

Two years ago. September 2009.

Things have not gotten any better and in fact the number of homeless seeking help at http://www.urm.org/ increased 50% in the last year alone. The donations to Union Rescue Mission have decreased 50% over the last year.

Consider giving the folks at URM a hand. Follow the link - http://www.urm.org/ where you can help.

Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles is the largest in Los Angeles. Los Angeles has the highest homeless population in the nation.

Entertainment for the troops

96, originally uploaded by myles111us.

Unlike the movie Apocalypse Now, some of us did not have helicopters land at our base which had Playboy Playmates jump out and dance around on a huge stage.

Downtown Los Angeles - a few hours in photos

Today I spent the afternoon downtown.  As I typically do, I took a few photos with my cellphone.

One reason I was in the area of skid row on this particular day and time was  to count people. Not for some survey or study.  I count people so I can try to wrap my head around what this economy is doing to so many people in our nation.  If the government tells you things are getting better they are not telling the truth, by an even wider margin than one can begin to imagine.

This was the first Friday of a new calendar quarter. I count the people in the same area on the same day (as long as it is not raining which can impact the count) in the same afternoon to early evening time frame.

In 2010 for the last quarter start there were 216 people. In 2011 there were 491. Things are not getting better.

More families, children, young people than ever before.

If you wish to help, and you CAN help in many ways, please go to www.urm.org for more information.

More photos if you select the "read more" link

7th Annual L.A. Ampshow

Mike Franceschini - Tone Wizzard

On October 1st and 2nd the seventh annual Los Angeles Ampshow was held in Van Nuys.  There are details on past shows at www.ampshow.com for folks that want to learn more about the history of the show.

There is a small slide show below of many aspects of the show from my own perspective.  Some camera shots, some cell shots and in every case all snapshots with my typical style that incorporates lack of regard to composition or exposure.  Just get the shot and move on.

There are many photos and the collection of shots will be growing over the week starting 10/3 as more shots are uploaded.

The latest customer service failure - Metro L.A?

I have a disabled TAP card on the Los Angeles Metro system.  My third card expired on 8/31/2011.  On 8/4/2011 I went directly to the Los Angeles Metro headquarters in downtown Los Angeles to renew my card.

I kept waiting for my card to arrive.  As of yesterday it had still not arrived.

I went on to the L.A. Metro website and followed directions for help.  As a side note, they had an option for online chat help but it was down.  This should have been my first tip off.

I wrote up my issue on their web form and was contacted by customer relations.

The following dialog has made me feel as if Los Angeles Metro is now giving ATT a run for the money?  Perhaps they are going to drag customer service down to a low level?

Calling all food trucks

This piece started as a call to Los Angeles food trucks to stop by the L.A. Ampshow the weekend of 10/1 - 10/2.  Since I have some of my own favorite food trucks I thought I'd turn this piece into an ongoing post and list some of my personal favorite trucks.

This weekend is the 7th Annual Los Angeles Ampshow.  It has been held in the same location since the first show seven years ago.

There are not a lot of options for food other than the hotel.  The food there is nice but after many years folks are looking for a few more options.

I am posting this blog so I can send the link to some of my food truck favorite folks in the hope they will come to the show.

Republican Tea Party Debate

Last night I recorded the debate.  I have reviewed the debate.  I will now boil it down for folks using my political expertise and keen powers of observation and insight.

The woman on the left did not answer a single question.  All she would do is go on and on and on about a vaccine that she said was forced onto 12 year old girls.

Click on 'read more' to read more

Piles of money - heaps of need

This is one of my shots that I have in my collection which I took downtown in Los Angeles.  This is the Gas Company Building. 

This is the area of Los Angeles where there is so much financial wealth in the companies, buildings and many of the individuals in the buildings mere minutes away from areas with the highest number of highest need individuals in any single city in the United States of America.

The Southern California Gas Company provides good service from my own experience.  They make a lot of money but in my mind it might not be out of line as some banks and other corporations.

Everytime I look at this building my eyes move to the top of the building which reminds me of a classic hull form or wing cross section.  If it were a boat the points are east and west in direction.

If one stands on 5th Street in Downtown Los Angeles and follows the direction of the right point in this photo as a reference you will be walking east.

Walk for about ten minutes.  It is an easy walk.  It is even slightly down hill.

Glance back over your shoulder at the building as you walk.  The taller building you see next to this one?  That is the U.S. Bank Building.  Those folks have a lot of money as well, perhaps even more than the Gas Company.

As you walk do you notice a change?  Look at the cars, the people, the buildings.  You are walking from one of the most wealthy areas in Los Angeles to one of the most poor areas of Los Angeles, Skid Row.

In ten minutes the landscape will change and the mood will change. 

A minute can make a difference.  In celestial navigation being off one minute in your calculations will put you off your destination by one mile at the equator.  In a fraction of a minute a tragic accident can occur ... or be avoided.  In less than a minute a life can change.

In less than a minute to can feed a family of five people by helping the folks at Union Rescue Mission where $10 will feed five people.  It takes seconds to donate from your cell phone.  To donate $10 to Union Rescue Mission, text the letters URM to 85944. You will receive a confirmation text message. Reply with the word YES to complete the transaction.

If you want to learn more about Union Rescue Mission, the largest establishment helping the homeless in Los Angeles, which is the city with the largest homeless population in the nation you can read more at http://www.urm.org/ and learn many other ways you can help and learn other methods in which to donate.

http://www.urm.org/



Tea Party Experiment

I thought I would combine two of my activities into a little study.  Maybe I would learn something substantial or maybe the results or data would not tell me much in a scientific way.  Either way I would probably learn something.

I have written about my thoughts toward our ineffective government.  I have written about the homeless situation.

I had been taking notice of how vocal members of the Tea Party seemed to be.   Was this true compassion for the people of our nation or was this just talk?  Perhaps little more than climbing on a band wagon of some sort?  Perhaps a desire to be a part of something ... anything?

I decided to reach out to a number of them directly.  I would use twitter and look at #teaparty and #tcot.

I asked each of them to take a few moments and help the homeless in our country.  They could pass along the word, pass along a link, feed five folks for $10 via a quick cell phone text or go to places like http://www.urm.org/ where they could learn more or help in many ways.

I have not seen a single re-tweet.  I have not seen a single mention.  I have not had a single reply. 

Perhaps as time passes this will change.

 I can only look at this in one way.  Not a single #teaparty member that I contacted lifted a finger to help the homeless.  Ineffective?  Only tuned into their own agenda whatever that might be?  Perhaps I am drawing an improper conclusion?

I will let others draw their own conclusion but I will continue to send out requests for help to these folks and continue my study.  If there is anything to report or mention I will update this post.

If you are one of the people who have received a post from me on twitter which sent you to this link and if you have helped in some way, please let me know.  I would love to post your twitter ID here or website, name, or whatever you wish.  Prove me wrong.  You can pass the URM link, donate to URM via the above link or the homeless shelter in your own area or if you are in a real hurry but wish to help you can do this: 

To donate $10 to Union Rescue Mission, text the letters URM to 85944. You will receive a confirmation text message. Reply with the word YES to complete the transaction.  Takes less than 30 seconds and will feed a family of five.  Feel free to leave a comment on this post telling me I was wrong .... at least in your case.

To be fair it has only been a few days since I reached out to Tea Party folks.  Perhaps I will have to eat my words as they prove me wrong.  I would not mind at all if I had to eat my words as that would mean that some homeless people would also have something to eat as well, perhaps even have a place to sleep for a few nights rather than on the street.

Side note?  When I sent the same request to Democrats and Republicans there were responses, re-tweets, mentions, questions, donations, friend contact adds and information was passed along.

Thanks to the folks below that are proving me wrong by passing the word.  Hopefully the list will continue to grow.

8/10/11

@hughhewitt - thank you for the RT.  You are the first,  @Jackson902, @marinemajor, @mahilena, @foundersweb, @dansden, @TheRiverWanders, @seriousfun830

8/18/11

@GrowlGirl