I was slightly worried when the labor bosses were all with Hillary in the fall of 2007. Bu then once the election results started pouring in it became very obvious to me that these labor bosses are like reptilian tails, they are like the big tail of a dinosaur. You don't look at that tail to look at future trends. That tail is absolutely the last to move. The labor bosses don't give you victory. They come to you after your victory. And that's fine. We welcome them to our victory party on September 14 with open arms.
Maybe these labor bosses are not educated people. When was the last time they read a book?
They are like, oh, Maloney voted for health care reform and so we are for Maloney. The election against the Republican candidate is in November, stupid. The two people on the ballot on September 14 were both for health care reform. They are both Democrats.
Maloney voted for health care reform. Of course she voted for health care reform. She is your classic checkbox Democrat. But someone who votes for health care reform is not good enough to be representing District 14. District 14 is special. You want someone in Congress who would have provided leadership on health care reform. You want a thought leader. You want a national halo around your Congressperson. You want a Super Star. You deserve better than Maloney. Maloney is too "ordinary." (The Washington Post)
I think I left more than 100 voice mails during my Sunday stint at the Reshma 2010 headquarters earlier today. This past week I have been trying to put extra hours into phone calls. I showed up on Tuesday, I showed up on Saturday.
People on the Upper East Side seem to be like me. They don't pick up the phone. They n-e-v-e-r pick up the phone. But I was trying to imagine it was a new voter each time, and so leaving the same voice mail over and over again is still a unique experience each time, but you can take that only so far before your brain goes numb. And I was trying to have fun with the wording of the voice mail. I think the final version went something like this.
"Hi. My name is Paramendra. I was one of Barack Obama's earliest and strongest supporters in New York City. Today I am calling on behalf of Reshma Saujani. Reshma is running for Congress and you can learn more about her at her website online at reshma2010.com, that would be r-e-s-h-m-a-2-0-1-0-dot-com. I strongly urge you to vote for her on September 14 in the Democratic primary. Like I said, Reshma is running for Congress. She is running against Carolyn Maloney. Carolyn Maloney is like Al Sharpton, Reshma Saujani is like Barack Obama. I think you should vote for someone who is like Barack Obama, and that is Reshma. Thank you."
But at some point I ran out of steam for the day. I guess there is a limit to how many voice mails you can leave in one day, in one sitting. After each hour I would get up and go into a corner and do some push ups. To those who looked at me curiously I said, "Making phone calls is a physical act."
Your mouth runs dry, you drink water. You take your restroom breaks. You take a break to go stare at the wall. That is when I found out there are so many community events scheduled for the month.
I am going to drastically cut down on the phone calls now. I am going to focus more on the digital activism part, and the meeting people in person part. Blogging is the big part of my digital activism, but not the only part. And I am really, really looking forward to meeting people in person. Like really.
I think as we move closer to September 14, there are going to be more and more news articles and blog posts about Reshma and my blogging activity is going to have to keep pace with that.
There is this Upper East Side newspaper called Our Town. They had an article a few days back. I replied to it at my blog, and then posted a link to my reply post in the comments section of that article. I see me doing more of that. I might reach more voters that way than by making phone calls.
So today for my phone calls my point person was Paul. Here's my Paul story. In Kentucky once someone asked me,"Can we call you Paul?"
"No, you can't call me Paul," I replied.
I have been showing up for the Reshma events wearing the red, white and blue Reshma 2010 shirt and the rest black. I think I will stick to that until September 14. But there is a dress nazi inside of me that is itching to wear a few different shirts.
Saujani received the maximum primary donation earlier this year from lawyer Marc Bern. Mr. Bern is one of the lead attorneys for thousands of people suing for compensation for illnesses and injuries suffered in the wake of working on the World Trade Center site or being exposed to its toxic dust. ...... He has given tens of thousands of dollars to Democratic candidates over the years, including donations to Ms. Maloney in her past two elections. He declined to comment Thursday when asked why he now supports Ms. Saujani...... Last week, the legislation championed by Ms. Maloney to provide long-term health care for Ground Zero workers failed a vote in the House. ..... "It breaks my heart that the New York delegation, led by Carolyn Maloney, hasn't been able to deliver for our city's 9/11 heroes. A real leader would have passed this bill years ago,'' said Ms. Saujani. ...... Alix Anfang, a spokeswoman for the congresswoman, said ..... unions and liberal activists.
Maloney's heart might be in the right place, but she is plain incompetent.
The labor bosses were all with Hillary in the fall of 2007. De ja vu.
And who is this Alix Anfang person? I keep reading her name in news articles. I did a search on her and found out she is a Reshma 2010 volunteer. It is good to have our people deeply embedded in the opposition camp.
Mar 23, 2010 ...alix anfang rsvped for March Volunteer Organizational Meeting. 2010-03-18 15:40:17 -0400 · Comment · Like ... www.reshma2010.com/profiles/8247-alix-anfang - Cached
The debate around the Cordoba House—or “the Ground Zero Mosque,” as it is sensationally being referred to in the media ...... That religious freedom and interfaith dialogue can endure at such a symbolic site, I believe, is a testament to the strength of American democracy. ...... Sarah Palin urged her supporters to reject the “Ground Zero Mosque” and implored “Peace-seeking Muslims” to scrap plans for the Cordoba House because it represents “unnecessary provocation” and a “stab in the heart.” ...... Michael Berry, a Republican talk-radio host in Houston, told listeners, “I hope the mosque isn’t built, and if it is, I hope it’s blown up, and I mean that.” ..... they have forgotten what makes this country great. The Cordoba Initiative was actually named for the city of Cordoba, where Jews, Christians, and Muslims lived in peace for nearly 800 years during the Middle Ages...... In many ways, New York City today strikes me as a modern day Cordoba ..... We must both relentlessly pursue terrorist networks and staunchly defend our pluralistic democracy. The raw human component of this challenge calls on us to make an equal effort to combat extremism with education, intolerance with interfaith exchanges.
So is Carolyn Maloney saying she has NOT taken special interest money? Why does she not spell it out? Why this non denial? Sorry, but I am being able to see through this stunt. Try something else. Maloney has taken half a million dollars from Wall Street PACs alone, and that's just for this election cycle.
Our Town: Upper East Side: Maloney Pushes Back on “Dishonest” Attacks Maloney’s campaign sent out a mailer highlighting newspaper editorials and fact-checking websites that rebuff Reshma Saujani’s claims. Saujani’s campaign has repeatedly noted that she has not taken money from Political Action Committees while Maloney has accepted $2.5 million throughout her career.
Which newspaper editorials? Which fact checking websites? I have a Google Alert thing set up on the Reshma Saujani name. I get daily email from Google when someone a-n-y-w-h-e-r-e writes anything about Reshma. I have not seen those editorials. Where are they? Which particular Reshma claims? The two claims in this particular paragraph that (1) Reshma "has not taken money from Political Action Committees" and (2) " Maloney has accepted $2.5 million throughout her career," well they are true. They are facts like the height of Mount Everest is a fact.
Our Town: Upper East Side: Maloney Pushes Back on “Dishonest” Attacks “Independent news organizations and watchdog groups agree: Reshma Saujani’s negative campaign is twisting the facts and distorting the truth,” Maloney’s mailer reads. “On Sept. 14, say NO to Reshma Saujani and her dishonest negative campaign.”
Look who is talking. The person who t-a-k-e-s Wall Street PAC money - half a million dollars total - and then turns around and says Reshma Saujani, who as a matter of principle takes NO money from PACs whatsoever, is The Wall Street's Candidate. I agree with Maloney on this one. Vote down the dishonest person on September 14. That dishonest person happens to be Carolyn Maloney. Carolyn Maloney voting for the Iraq War is negative. Carolyn Maloney voting for the Patriot Act is negative. Carolyn Maloney doing BP's bidding in Congress is negative. Carolyn Maloney making Wall Street bad behavior possible over a decade is negative. Carolyn Maloney now standing in the way of Congress reform is negative. Vote down the negativity on September 14.
Our Town: Upper East Side: Maloney Pushes Back on “Dishonest” Attacks criticized Saujani, a former hedge fund attorney, for claiming she doesn’t take “special interest money.”
That claim is so very true. Reshma 2010 is the successor camapaign to Obama 2008. The people wo put Obama into power now want power for themselves and Reshma 2010 is their vehicle. Obama 08 took no PAC money. Reshma 2010 has taken no PAC money. Obama 08 was all grassroots. Reshma 2010 is a grassroots effort. Carolyn Maloney, stop lying. But then I am not counting on it.
She sure has. After 18 years of representing the district in Congress, Carolyn Maloney still does not know a lot of the workers of Wall Street happen to live in District 14. As citizens of the United States, they have a right to make their individual contributions.
Our Town: Upper East Side: Maloney Pushes Back on “Dishonest” Attacks Saujani’s claim that Maloney, who was on a committee that dealt with the details of financial reform legislation, went to a James Taylor-Carol King concert fundraiser and took money from “special interests she is supposed to regulate.”
Charlie Rangel has been charged with 13 "serious" - the president's word - ethics violations. A few weeks back Carolyn Maloney raised money at an event from some Wall StreetPAC types at a time when the Congress and Wall Street were in negotiation on the Wall Street reform bill. Similar behavior had six other members of Congress under investigation.
Why is Carolyn Maloney not under investigation? To have Charlie Rangel under trial, and to not have Maloney under investigation smacks of double standards, smacks of racism, frankly.
They both engaged in similar behavior, but old man Rangel is the only one being put on trial for it. Why would that be?
We now live in the age of Obama. Such double standards should no longer be the way we conduct our business. Put Maloney under the ethics bus, yo.
Carolyn Maloney is planning on a mission to the moon. That is the Maloney campaign's stated reason to not show up at Baruch College on August 26. And while she is at it, she is also going to navigate the Grand Canyon.
She might as well bow out of the race. Baruch College, if I remember it right, has held presidential debates in the past. This is only a Democratic primary for one of many congressional seats in the city. The two candidates should be honored Baruch College invited them over, and my candidate is.
Baruch College has the upper hand here. All it has to do is stay steadfast with its plans to hold the debate and Maloney is going to have no option but to show up. Baruch College needs to go ahead with all the preparations. This debate is going to happen. My candidate will debate an empty podium if necessary. That is Reshma Saujani's commitment to the people in this city, and the people in District 14. That is Reshma Saujani's commitment to the democratic process.
Slavery was ended because Lincoln showed up for his debates. Debating is no small matter. A high unemployment rate will be ended through debating. High unemployment is not even in the same league as slavery, and I don't want to make light of that historic wrong, but ask the students graduating from colleges today if they would like the unemployment rate to climb down from near 10% to a more bearable 5%.
What is Carolyn Maloney scared of? If she is scared of Reshma Saujani's smarts, she has every reason to be. A woman who wrote a book saying rumors of our progress have been greatly exaggerated should plan a graceful exit from the stage and look forward to a comfortable retirement that the working class families of this city can not so much as imagine. Maloney should make way for Reshma Saujani who is going to make some real progress on behalf of women. By the way, I have not been part of that rumor mill. I never thought women made much progress over the past 18 years.
Somebody has written saying Carolyn Maloney has a drinking problem, and she can't speak coherent sentences, and so she does not feel like she can appear in public. What do we have here? A Boris Yeltsin reigning over us?
I predicted only a few days back here at this blog that now I see a debate taking place some time in August. (Standing At 40-60 Now) My prediction has come true. Thank you Baruch College.
Those of you who have been reading my blog know I have long predicted a Reshma victory. Sorry, but for that you are going to have to wait until September 14. (September 1-14: The Niagara Falls Part)
But the best news happens after that. Reshma is going to be one of the reasons Dems keep the House. (Keeping The House And The Senate)
For the debate preparation I am going to watch as much of Maloney as possible on YouTube. I am not looking forward to it. But it has to be done.
Before that I wanted the debates to happen because I wanted the world - District 14 - to see my wonderful, wonderful candidate. (Debating Is "Stunt" In A Maloney Democracy) My interests were political, and yes I had my preferred candidate. I was not hiding that.
Debates get you media attention, some name recognition, there are follow up articles in newspapers, there is buzz in social media.
It was also about democracy. I am a veteran of the democracy movement in Nepal. I appreciate democracy like many people living in democracies don't.
Debating is so very fundamental to democracy. Debates are a democracy's lifeblood. That's what happens in Congress, the ultimate temple of democracy. Members debate. No debate means no democracy. It is as if Carolyn Maloney wants to be declared dictator for life, the Kim Jong-Il of the East Side.
But at the clean tech event I realized the need for Carolyn Maloney, Reshma Saujani debates had much more concrete implications for the future of this city and this country and this world. This goes way beyond the politics of one congressional race.
Unless competing politicians like Carolyn Maloney and Reshma Saujani debate specifically about esoteric topics like clean tech and bio tech and nano tech, the electorate is not going to be part of conversations they so need to be part of if the jobs of tomorrow are ever going to be created. China is already eating America's clean tech lunch. If Maloney has her way, America never ever even gets to the lunch table. This so far has not been a choice between lunch and a late lunch. So far it has been a choice between a late lunch and no lunch at all. Thanks to Maloney the no lunch side has been winning so far in District 14 of New York.
We need Maloney out of there if we are going to be able to dream up the jobs, companies and industries of tomorrow.
Companies From The Clean Tech Event
Rentricity Inc.
MJ Beck Consulting
Sollega
The New York City Accelerator for a Clean and Renewable Economy (NYC`ACRE)
I showed up for the Clean Tech event with an open, blank mind: Reshma 2010 Clean Tech Event July 27 Tuesday. Blank because I did not know much about clean tech at all. I had a few ideas, I could say a few buzz words, I could draw a few outlines. There is a slope: tech as in internet tech, then clean tech, then bio tech, I know the least about nano tech. If the next Reshma 2010 event is going to be on bio tech, I am going to spend a good few hours doing some serious reading online. I am going to do some homework.
It was that feeling that led me to ask the question I asked.
"I showed up for this event not knowing much about clean tech at all and so this has been a wonderful experience. It is so obvious Clean Tech is going to be a major source of much needed jobs for this city, this country, this world. But those jobs will not get created if certain political decisions are not made and those decisions will not get made if the politicians don't feel the pressure and the politicians will not feel the pressure if the voters, the citizens are not actively involved in the conversation, the discussion, and debate around clean tech, and a great way to do that would be to have Reshma Saujani and Carolyn Maloney do a debate on TV exclusively about clean tech, but I don't see that happening. Why are Reshma Saujani and Carolyn Maloney not debating clean tech on TV?"
The moderator looks at me and he gives me a perplexed look for about two seconds. This guy looks Indian, but he is all hostile to Reshma. He does not seem to realize Reshma is not the reason the debate is not taking place. Someone needs to point out he is knocking on the wrong door. And so he says, "You need to take that question to Carol!"
The moderator started out saying he was Australian and that "American politics is baffling to me." If American politics is baffling to him, he should take a crack at Indian politics. JFK's ambassador to IndiaJohn Kenneth Galbraith, well esteemed in the intellectual circles of this country, went on record about "the imponderables of Indian politics."
The panel was a huge one. It could barely fit. It was an impressive panel. The flyer had details on each company and participating organization. I wish I had an electronic version so I could publish it at this blog. I might still type it out and publish the introductory paragraphs on the various companies and organizations that participated.
Off the bat the company that most fascinated me was Bodega Algae. It is "a developer of scalable algae photobioreactors. The closed continuous-flow reactors produce high-energy algal biomass for use in the production of biofuel."
I briefly got to talk to the Bodega representative, a MIT PhD, after the formal program was over. I told her how her company stood out for me of all companies on the list. And she shared some more info. One thing she shared alarmed me. The thinking in the energy industry seems to be that big oil names like Exxon will do biofuel as well because they have the distribution infrastructure. That was alarming to me. That would be like saying Google should have happened under Microsoft and Facebook should have happened under Google. That would totally stifle innovation. The thing to do is to make Exxon share their distribution infrastructure by law.
The political highlight of the event for me though happened before the formal program began. A Sara (not real name) walked over to me while I was talking to another Reshma 2010 intern that I had met once before. She introduced me as a "huge fan of your blog." She said she was a Reshma 2010 intern.
Sara is going to be a senior at high school soon. She said she lived on "the north side of town." I hope that means Upper East Side and not Westchester. The way she presented herself made me think she alone could deliver 50 votes. When I am talking about Reshma Saujani as The New Woman (Reshma Saujani: Top 10 Women To Watch In America), I am thinking about women like Sara.
She asked me if I would do a blog post on her. I hereby pledge to do a blog post on every Reshma 2010 intern and staffer who might express interest. All you have to do is schedule to sit down with me for an hour long interview at the Reshma 2010 headquarters, and let me take a few pictures of you with the others in the room. I like to take a few different pictures and then put them together as collages. That's my style.
I asked her about college applications and where she might want to go. She said she had visited Stanford.
"Me too. It is such a pretty campus," I said.
Sara told me she looked at both the Maloney and the Reshma campaigns before deciding on the Reshma campaign as the one she wanted to intern for. That is a good sign.
Also if high school students are reading my blog, I think I need to be more careful in terms of what I put out. I did not realize.
I have come to realize Sunday afternoons are perhaps not the best time to be making phone calls to voters. I asked Paul last Sunday and he suggested the best time might be weekdays from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM.
My current professional status is that I am a pro blogger. Every day is like every other day to me. I could show up on a Sunday, or a Wednesday.
I got to meet a whole bunch of people, one of them was an Ashish. He said he was a friend of Reshma. You look familiar, I said. I think I might have seen him at the last Reshma 2010 tech event. I asked about his background.
"India."
"Where in India?"
"Jamshedpur."
"They broke up Bihar against my wishes, but that makes you the sixth Bihari I have met in America."
"I am a Punjabi."
"I once got an email from a Punjabi who thought I was one. Paramendra can sound like Parmendar." (Bhangra, Cricket: Exotic To Me)
And Bhagat can sound like Bhagat Singh.
"I came to America when I was nine months old."
That was one remarkable nine month old, I thought.
I aimlessly walked out after the event was over. After whiling away in Union Square I decided to walk over towards Times Square. Up on Ninth Avenue I decide to go over to Central Park. It is amazing to me how well lit all parts of Central Park can be at night. That is a Third World perspective for you. I decided to go in for a walk. I stayed by the big road. That is another Third World perspective for you. Deep inside I came across two Chinese looking guys who asked which way to Fifth Avenue.
"I have no idea where I am at right now, or I could tell you," I said. Then I spotted the two two dimensional buildings of Columbus Circle and told them which way.
Deep in thought, I missed the 14th Street stop for change of train two times.
By the time I got home it was past midnight. My Harvard Law School graduate roomie had already called it a day. The dude shares a few other traits with Barack: he is black.
"See you soon" was Reshma's greeting to me towards the end of the event.
You bet. That might be as early as Wednesday evening.
I like Al. He is a good guy. He has made his effort. I credit him for that. He has done what he could. But we needed a Barack Obama to come along and take race relations in this country to a whole new level.
Similarly Carolyn Maloney should plot a gracious exit from the stage and let Reshma Saujani take gender relations in this country to a whole different level. Carolyn tried. She gets credit for trying, but it's time to move on.
Carolyn Maloney voted for the Iraq War. The starting premise for Obama 08 was that Barack opposed the Iraq War from day one. It had been a dumb war, a trillion dollar misadventure. Obama people don't let Obama people kiss Maloney. I am one Obama person, Barack is another.
But then Queens probably d-o-e-s feel like District 9 to her. 25% of the people in District 14 live in Queens. Only 5% of the federal dollars she has brought has gone to Queens. Maloney's idea of apartheid?
Wall Street has now been reformed. But what about Congress? Has work on Congress reform started yet? You can argue it was the Republicans running the show until 2006 November when finally the tide turned. But Maloney had been riding the tide even before that. Before that she had been a Bush Democrat. She voted for the Iraq War - a trillion dollar mistake; now you know why there is a big hole in the budget - and she voted for the Patriot Act that resulted in much racial harassment across the country. And you thought Arizona was bad. The Patriot Act turned the entire country into one big Arizona and Maloney signed up for it, big time.
Congress made BP bad behavior possible. Congress made Wall Street bad behavior possible.
Carolyn Maloney has been in Congress 18 years. She gets to take her share of responsibility. If she owns BP stocks and she voted the way BP wanted her to vote in the early 2000s, she gets to take responsibility for the Oil Spill. She passed the deregulation that we all paid for a decade later. 2009 started happening in 1999.
Image via Wikipedia
