Blog 23
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A word to All Who are Writing to me at this netlog site
I have decided to write to all those who have been contacting me lately. I am married and not looking for anything romantic, just so you know. I am, instead, just looking for friends. I am appalled by how few people online know how to just be friends! It seems like everyone is looking for something else. I love to talk about all kinds of topics and I have a deep love of learning. I am taking free online college courses and would love to find people who are in a similar place in their lives.
I am especially looking for those who are studying Buddhism and meditation and things like integral and evolutionary topics. I am also unashamed to say that I am a liberal and a Democrat! I am a Certified Community Organizer who is taking some time off for health reasons but I love talking about the issues of the day and Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann are my two favorite commentators!
I hope that this will give all of you a better idea of why I created this Netlog site. I love collecting my favorite videos here and I love having a place to speak of my opinions and to share them with others. I am looking forward to hearing from others who would like to share their opinions as well! Thanks! -
New System!
We gave up and finally just got a brand new state of the art computer system! I hope to be much more active now in checking all my online accounts including Netlog! Thanks for your patience!
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Update!
My email was hacked and my computer and all electronics were crashed! I have been offline until a wonderful friend sent me an external hard drive so I could repair my PC and I'm just now back up on Christmas Eve! I hope you have a wonderful and Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Peace on Earth to all!
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BP Oil Spill
Today I have embedded a video on this site that I got from the Environmental Defense Fund and it has Glee's version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" with a video from a person who went to the Gulf Coast and filmed the man-made disaster and brought back the video. I was moved to tears! I hope you are too! This disaster needs to be the final wake up call that drives us off of our dependence on oil and makes us look to clean energy as the solution of, not just our future, but of what we start living like right now! This very day! We stop doing the idiocy today! Ask yourself, what can I do this very day that turns my life around about this?! How do I live from this moment on so that every day there is a change in what I do and how I do it that will make a difference?! And if I do this, how will it look if every person does the same thing? We could make a tremendous immediate difference! A huge impact! Think about this. Then take action...today!!! Thanks!
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D.C. Experience!
I just got back from Washington, D.C. and my MoveOn National Leadership Training! Wow! What an experience! I was in the halls of the Capital and moving along the lines toward the Gallery when I heard the shout go up as the House passed the Senate Health Care Bill. The group in the Gallery was asked to leave for making too much noise but they told us it was worth it to have been there to see the bill pass!
We continued into the gallery in time for us to see John Lewis say a few words about a retiring Rep. from Georgia. After leaving the the House Chamber, we gathered on the corner at Independence with other MoveOn members and we got our picture taken with Rep. Allen Grayson! We are going to phonebank for him to help him get re-elected!
We stayed up till 2 in the morning and celebrated!
My last day in D. C. I went to the Smithsonian Museum of American Art and Portraiture. It was deeply moving. The paintings seemed to leap to life! I also saw the Gallery of the Presidents and I went over to the display case where they had the life masks and hand plasters of Abraham Lincoln. It was shocking to see the huge difference between the first and last face masks and hand plasters. Even though they were done only about 7 years apart, the aging of his body was overwhelming to look at. The first was in his prime and looked strong and healthy. The second just 7 years later toward the end of the Civil War looked gaunt, skeletal, like he was 70 or 80 years old. Like he had seldom eaten or slept during those years. At that moment I truly began to realize the enormity of the burden he had borne for this country. The amount of stress he was under and how much he suffered in agony for his love for this land. If I could meet him now in life, I would give him an enormous thank you and share my spirit of gratitude and respect for him. What he endured was really driven home for me. It was a profound experience.
I now know why it is so bad that the tea baggers are doing what they are doing. They are driving the very divisions that Lincoln worked so hard to end. It is now a Civil War of Ideas. Once again we see signs disrespecting blacks and particularly our black president. Once again we see bricks thrown through windows and words of intimidation being used to create an atmosphere of hate. We see depictions of Barack Obama as The Joker and Sarah Palin using actual "cross hairs" and talking of "targets" regarding dealing with political agendas for 2010. I can just feel Abraham Lincoln's tears streaming down his face as he sees his beloved country repeating the mistakes of history that they have not taken the time to learn. We do not need another war. Especially one that pits Americans against Americans. We need to find peaceful ways to agree to disagree agreeably. We need to respect one another and treat one another with a basic regard for the existence of our mutual humanity. We need to put this country above our own pettiness. This country is a greater idea than our disagreements. Country first, humanity first.
I find myself crying as I write this. I see those hand plasters in my mind with skeletal fingers instead of strong fingers and a sagging face instead of a strong vibrant one. I see us aging him all over again. I see us causing him grief all over again. I see us tearing apart the country that he loved. I see us, if we are not careful, being traitor's to the cause of peace and unity that Abraham Lincoln sought for all of us.
Could we all take a pledge to have civil discourse instead of verbal civil war? Could we all take a pledge to regard each other with mutual humanity instead of turning others into "monsters" or "objects"? Once someone is sub-human, we must look deeply to realize that we will lose "the better angels of our nature" in our treatment of them.
This experience has forever changed me at the deepest level of my core being. I seek now greater understanding, greater patience, higher wisdom, deeper love, a gentle patriotism, a new hunger to love others as I seek to love myself. I am deeply, seriously committed to this. Would you be willing to join in such a journey? Please consider this as a possibility that could change the world. -
Join Me!
We the People Document
We the people, in order to form a more perfect health care reform plan with a public option, do hereby create this video links list document to communicate with our elected officials to inform them of the absolute necessity of getting health care reform done, done right and done right now!!
It is hereby presented that all those who open these links will hear the real voices and see the real faces of real people needing and demanding REAL Health Care Reform with a Public Option!
Please record your video, post it online and then send your video links to melodybrynne@yahoo.com to be added to the We the People Document Campaign!
Thanks for all you do! -
Haitian Relief
I have just uploaded in my favorite videos areas the new version of We Are The World 25 and I hope that everyone that sees it will donate by going to the web address at the end and doing what they can to help.
A doctor friend of mine was down there for about a week and she is just pleading with all of us to do all we can. Please give what you can. I have done so myself and will continue. Thanks! -
Poverty in America
This is an article that made me deeply worry about the future of America. Read and ponder.
January 20, 2010 —
An analysis of the location of poverty in America, particularly in the nation’s 95 largest metro areas in 2000, 2007, and 2008 reveals that:
Reuters/Tami Chappell
* By 2008, suburbs were home to the largest and fastest-growing poor population in the country. Between 2000 and 2008, suburbs in the country’s largest metro areas saw their poor population grow by 25 percent—almost five times faster than primary cities and well ahead of the growth seen in smaller metro areas and non-metropolitan communities. As a result, by 2008 large suburbs were home to 1.5 million more poor than their primary cities and housed almost one-third of the nation’s poor overall.
* Midwestern cities and suburbs experienced by far the largest poverty rate increases over the decade. Led by increasing poverty in auto manufacturing metro areas—like Grand Rapids and Youngstown—Midwestern city and suburban poverty rates climbed 3.0 and 2.2 percentage points, respectively. At the same time, Northeastern metros—led by New York and Worcester— actually saw poverty rates in their primary cities decline, while collectively their suburbs experienced a slight increase.
* In 2008, 91.6 million people—more than 30 percent of the nation’s population—fell below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. More individuals lived in families with incomes between 100 and 200 percent of poverty line (52.5 million) than below the poverty line (39.1 million) in 2008. Between 2000 and 2008, large suburbs saw the fastest growing low-income populations across community types and the greatest uptick in the share of the population living under 200 percent of poverty.
* Western cities and Florida suburbs were among the first to see the effects of the “Great Recession” translate into significant increases in poverty between 2007 and 2008. Sun Belt metro areas hit hardest by the collapse of the housing market saw significant gains in poverty between 2007 and 2008, with suburban increases clustered in Florida metro areas—like Miami, Tampa, and Palm Bay—and city poverty increases most prevalent in Western metro areas— like Los Angeles, Riverside, and Phoenix. Based on increases in unemployment over the past year, Sun Belt metro areas are also likely to experience the largest increases in poverty in 2009.
Over the course of this decade, two economic downturns translated into a significant rise in poverty, nationally and in many of the country’s metropolitan and non-metropolitan communities. Suburbs saw by far the greatest growth in their poor population and by 2008 had become home to the largest share of the nation’s poor. These trends are likely to continue in the wake of the latest downturn, given its toll on traditionally more suburbanized industries and the faster pace of growth in suburban unemployment. This ongoing shift in the geography of American poverty increasingly requires regional scale collaboration by policymakers and social service providers in order to effectively address the needs of a poor population that is increasingly suburban. -
More Changes!
I am now the Chicago Central Council Coordinator for MoveOn.org! It is a huge responsibility and I am working hard on building our council and on having great events that can make a difference!
I am still studying Reiki, EFT, Qigong, Buddhism, Taoism and so much more! It is contributing so much to my peace of mind and my spiritual development.
Academics continue with U.S. History Part 2, 1865 - Present. Also watching current events and doing Political Science and Organizer studies.
Just got designated MoveOn.org Metro Chicago Media Coordinator while I'm also Media Coordinator for my council until I can find and train a new one so I don't have to wear two hats!
Weight loss continues! 2 more lbs this week!
I have the world's best friend in a woman named Janine in CA who is always there for me as I am for her and we really share so much!
My CCH work continues as I am doing a speaking engagement this coming week as well as being part of a panel discussion the following day and doing a Power Point presentation with it. Just got back today from joining with the Jane Addams Senior Caucus at their Annual Meeting and watching the new Power Point presentation about the Sweet Home Chicago Campaign asking for 20% of TIF funds for affordable housing here in Chicago!
So much to do and so little time! But every step I take counts! That makes me feel great! -
Been Busy!
I have been doing studies, exercising, volunteer work, political activity, and online activity and it's been keeping me going night and day! I try to end each day on Twitter so check there at www.twitter.com/melodybrynne to find out what I'm up to every day!
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