Tag: help

Hey everyone,

I had an idea the other day, and I’m going to put it together.  Basically, I’m creating a map of people all over the nation who are willing to donate something – their home, some food, some time, etc – to resistance to war, big business’ greed, and other injustices.  Google Maps makes this surprisingly easy, and although I’m not entirely sure how to do it, I’m sure I’ll figure it out as I go.

All I need now is names.  If you’re interested in being listed so that people can contact you if they need some help in your area, please email me at rossmlevin at gmail dot com.  What I need is:

Your name

What you’re willing to provide

Your contact info (email and phone are preferred, but whatever you want to put is OK)

Your zip code

I don’t want to get too specific, because we all know how snoopy the CIA is 😉

Seriously, though, if this comes together I think it could be a useful tool for activists all over the place.  Say you’re traveling to Philadelphia to help out the striking nurses at Temple University and you need a place to stay for a few days – you could check the map and see that, hey, rossl lives near Philadelphia.  Then you could call me up and see if it’s all right if you crash at my place for a few days while you’re helping these nurses.

In short, if this works out, it could potentially make organizing these things easier.  In a best case scenario, that would mean more action is taken.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

Three weeks ago my own brother robbed me of every cent I had left and kicked me out into the street.

    I just landed a job with an up and coming start up Progressive Political organization, but the job does not officially begin to pay until the end of February. I will be working on several of their projects as an opposition researcher, writer and reporter, among other things. This is the break that I have been waiting for. They have provided me with a laptop and cell phone, which is why I am able to write now. This helps a great deal, but it does not replace the money that my brother has stolen from me.

    So I turn now to you, dearest friends, who are more family to me than my only flesh and blood, in the hopes that you can help me out until this job starts up for me, because my only brother just stole from me the last few dollars I had to my name.

If you are able to, please make a donation to the link below.

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin…

    A full explanation and more below the fold.

Just when things are looking about as down for me as they can get, I find the bottom dropping out again.  I am currently registered with Cuyahoga Community College for the spring semester, reliant on what financial aid I can get to pay for classes and transportation, as well as food when money allows.  I can’t get a job.  Often,I must raid the student food bank just to have enough to eat for the week.

This past semester I learned that my financial aid would be cut off because I had reached the maximum number of course credit hours (93), and would have to file an appeal for further financial assistance.  I did that, got the paperwork months ago, got it filled out, but was told repeatedly by the financial aid office to wait until December, when grades were due to be posted.  So I handed the paperwork in on December 8th, when I was told to, and was informed that it would be two weeks for the process to be completed.

I found out yesterday that the process may take another two weeks or more, partly because of the holidays and partly because FAFSA has decided to take its sweet time.  I have until January 6th to make payment arrangements with the campus business office so I can remain registered for courses.  If I am not approved, or if I haven’t made payment arrangements by the 6th, I will be dropped from my courses and will receive no money from FAFSA.  Payment arrangements must be made with a deposit up front.

This isn’t simply a matter of wanting to remain in school to finish up the required courses to earn my degree.  It’s quite literally a matter of survival.  Because I can’t get a job (no one will hire me), financial aid is all I have to live on.  Without it, I have no money for food, no money to pay for my telephone and Internet connection – I need at least a phone line for prospective employers to get a hold of me, no money for transportation, to say nothing of money for classes and textbooks.  Everything depends on the dubious mercy of FAFSA getting around to reviewing my appeal some time after the first of the year.

So I am typing this entry now, at a public library terminal, reduced to begging you for money, food, and any job postings on Cleveland, Ohio’s west side.  Bear in mind that the only transportation I now have is my own two feet after the 31st of this month, so it has to be within a reasonable walking distance from where I live.

I am willing to provide my full name and mailing address for those of you able to donate money, food, or both.  PayPal locked me out, and I have no other online means of accepting donations.  You can reach me by e-mail here: [email protected]

I’m in a pretty dire situation, so anyone able to help out please do so.  I’m not too proud to beg, not after more than two straight years of unemployment and existing each and every day under the threat of homelessness and starvation.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

     So the bad news is I lost my job. The good news is, well, coming soon, I guess. If anyone knows of quality employment that can be found in NYC, please let me know about it in the comments below.

     My little adventure as a Paid Progressive Activist (Fundraising) has come to an end because I didn’t make my quotas.

     Our daily quotas were $125 a day or $625 a week. Mind you, we’re standing outside, freezing our asses off while busy NYers scuttle by, bracing themselves against the wind. It is not easy to ask for charitable donations in such conditions. If you make your quota you get paid $375 for the week plus bonuses. If not, you get min. wage. I raised $525 in 5 days, but it broke down to 28 the first day, 10 the second, 425 the 3rd, 5 on the fourth and 20 on the last, so I was dismissed. I raised $525 and will get paid min. wage at 40 hours for the week. It seems a neat little scam, don’t it? You can pay people min. wage then sack them the first week whether they are performing or not. Sucks. At least I’ll get that one pay check though.

    Frankly, I am running out of hope for both myself and the political/economic system that is broken beyond repair.

    More below the fold.

Crossposted at Daily Kos

    Because of extenuating circumstances, I now find myself without housing. I will be leaving NY-19 (upstate NY) and goig back to New York City to be staying with friends for the time being, but I would like to solicit your help.

    Problems such as poverty, unemployment and homelessness seem distant and something that doesn’t hit as close to home until they become your problems. With that in mind, I would like to ask for your help in caring for societies less fortunate going into this holiday season, as many of us will nnot be sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner in our own homes with our own families. Many will be going without this Thanksgiving and during the upcoming holiday’s, now more than ever, and I now count myself among them. Therefore, if you can give to the less fortunate, I implore you to do so, but first I ask you to help others even less fortunate than I before I dare to ask you for anything for myself.

Please donate to coalitionforthehomeless.org if you can, anything you can give is very appreciated.

    As for myself, I will explain below the fold.

If you want to host a War Crimes Accountability series diary let me know. I will be posting these myself until someone wants me to pass the baton to them or share the load with me. E-mail me at [email protected] if you are interested, or say so in the comments below.

    Scroll down in order to contact the White House, The Attorney General’s Office, and Congressional Leadership in order to demand accountability today.

img hspace=”5″ align=”left” src=”http://i165.photobucket.com/albums/u65/vradul/warcrimesactionlogo.gif” align=”left”

add > at the end and < at the begin to post

  Click and paste it into your Bush/Cheney Action and Accountability diary.

    NO EXCUSES!

    JUSTICE DELAYED IS JUSTICE DENIED.

    YELL LOUDER!

    ADD CONTENT HERE!

    What ever aspect of the war crimes, cover up and other matters pertaining to the criminality of the Bush/Cheney Administration you feel is appropriate is suitable for this series of diaries, within certain guidelines as will be determined by the

Important points

When calling The White House and AG Holder

– Support a Strong, independent Special Prosecutor

When calling Congressional Leadership and your Congressional Representatives

– Support H.Res 383 to investigate Bush/Cheney and their policies

When calling members of the House Rules Committee Chairwoman Lousise Slaughter and House Rules Committee members

– Support a closed rule with no amendments allowed and public hearings in a select House committee to investigate Bush/Cheney and review their national security policies

    Do NOT YELL LOUDER while speaking to Congressional staff and Representatives. They do not appreciate being woken up.

   Please, call and E-mail yourself if you can too. What else do you have to do? It’s not like you aren’t staring right at the page with the phone numbers and links on it in front of your computer.

    NO EXCUSES

I would like to start an ongoing series of diaries that provides new information on the crimes of the Bush/Cheney administration and the need to investigate and prosecute those crimes, but I can not do it alone, and I need someone’s help.

If you have an active account at the Great Orange Boogeyman, that is even better

Investigate and Prosecute Bush/Cheney

   

    Now that Torture News Roundup has been discontinued for the time being I would like to carry on the hard work of Meteor Blades, Valtin and Patriots Daily News Clearinghouse.

    This will be an ongoing series of diaries detailing the evidence of criminal behavior engaged in by the Bush/Cheney Administration as well as the need to fully investigate and prosecute the Bush/Cheney Administration. I would like to find two or three other diarists who want to contribute to this series on a rotation so that we can keep others informed on a daily basis. If you wish to contribute please e-mail me at [email protected]

Recently the series Daily Torture News Roundup at Daily Kos was discontinued. I would like to carry on this fight, but I do not want to dairy the subject seven days a week.

If I can find 3 – 6 diarists who will rotate this series with me and crosspost here at Docudharma and on the Daily Kos. We can keep the issue in the news, and this will keep the issue on the forefront of priorities instead of just moving forward and pretending it is not there.

   Suggestions for a name of this series are appreciated, or any other help you can provide. Any questions or suggestions are appreciated, and may be asked in the comments below.

Thank you,

MoT

This is cross-posted from Big Orange, with no changes.  Apologies to the dharmaniacs who hate GOS…

Okay, those of you who know me, know that I am more of a commenter than a diarist.  But a story I read today, from yesterday’s NYT, touched me & since Kossacks are so giving (& since this is the biggest forum I go to), I thought it was perfect for a shout-out.

A quick search revealed nothing: if this has been diaried before, I will delete it.

Anyway, there’s a six-year-old girl in New York who needs a bone marrow trasnplant.  Details beneath the jump.

Update: Thanks for the promote, buhdy!

UPDATE #3:  I was able to connect with tes tonight and wire him the money.  I didn’t get to speak with him very long but I know he’s feeling a whole lot better tonight.  Thank you everyone!   Final total for the Dharmathon was $1050 but with the PayPal and Western Union fees I ended up sending $950. Which is awesome!

As some of you know, a beloved member of this blog, theevolutionarysieve (tes), is in trouble.   We hadn’t heard from him in a few months and then he showed up here a few days ago.  If you saw this – you know he’s not in a good place.  

Last we knew he was moving to the mountains to escape the city and begin preparing for the collapse of society.   These were his parting words:

On the road again……..

by: theevolutionarysieve

Thu Apr 17, 2008 at 11:39:42 PDT

I want to thank all of you.  You are really wonderful folks.  I will always consider this a place where I am welcome and where folks patiently try to understand my slightly deranged mind.  I have been going through a bit of change recently and have not been here much, and then only in a fragemented way.  My partner and I are in the middle of preparing to leave the bay area.  We are moving up into the sierra’s.  Near Mammoth Lakes.  I have had a some what precarious existence my whole life.  I am in a period of it now.  I will stop in from time to time. When we have landed and I have set up our satelite dish I will be able to be present again.  For the next four or five days I will check in, then I will be traveling to the high country.  Blessings on you all.  Keep me in your hearts.  As you will be in mine.  Believe in the power of networks of cooperation bonds.  Believe in the good heart.  Thanks for being kind to this old crank.

At this point, I don’t know any more of the story than what he has posted here the past few days.  Along the way to moving down there they had car trouble and borrowed and spent the last of their money getting their vehicles fixed.    They have been camping on National Forest land while he’s working to get money for a place to live.  Obnoxious vacationers from LA and SD have invaded their peaceful woods with their campers and ATVs.  The forest rangers have chased tes and his girlfriend off the land at gunpoint.  They were forced to move to a motel.  It sounds like there is no money left to stay there either.  

Precarious existence indeed.  No time to prepare for collapse.  It is happening to him now.