Barackface

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Carolyn Maloney's Newest Lie

Image via WikipediaCarolyn Maloney met Reshma Saujani long weeks ago at an event. Reshma Saujani proposed they debate, Maloney said sure. The following day Maloney put out a statement saying she never agreed to such a debate. Maloney lied.

Only a few days back a promising, young, female TV reporter asked Maloney point blank if she will debate Reshma Saujani. Maloney danced around the question. The reporter asked again, point blank. Maloney said her staff was in conversation with Reshma's staff about the details of such a thing. Maloney lied. Her staff has n-e-v-e-r been in conversation with Reshma's staff. Maloney lied.

A day later she put out a press release saying a debate has been fixed for September 7. There never was a negotiation, how can a debate have been fixed? Maloney is making it sound like she and Reshma talked about it, and together they decided they are going to hold a debate on radio - alarm bells ringing (Reshma is too digitally savvy to agree to a FDR era technology) - during the work day on September 7. I have not bothered to ask Reshma to ask if it is true. Because it is so obvious to me that Maloney is lying, again. Reshma would not agree to such outmoded technology. She is a YouTube/Facebook/Twitter kind of person. She will agree to nothing less than a TV debate that a bunch of TV channels are eager to host.

Maloney. Lied. Again.

No wonder we have suffered from the Great Rececession and the Big Oil Spill. Maloney is a big reason why.

And I'd Like To Take Credit For The Brooklyn Bridge

Image via WikipediaAt least the Brooklyn Bridge exists. The Second Avenue subway line, have you been riding it? It does not exist. How ridiculous of Maloney to try and take credit for a non existent Second Avenue subway line that has been worked upon on and off since 1920?

Carolyn Maloney's Work On The Second Avenue Subway Line

Going by her record, I also expect her to take credit for having earned the right to vote on behalf of women.

Maloney Wrote A Book Saying Her Best Is Not Good Enough
Carolyn Maloney: The Al Sharpton Of Gender Relations
Carolyn Maloney: The Alan Keyes Of District 14

Sorry, but I have absolutely no respect for Carolyn Maloney, and I can't pretend otherwise. She is a lying, exaggerating politician. She is a mediocrity.

Iran On My Mind

Image via CrunchBase

New York Times: Why Not to Bomb Iran the magazine unveiled a cover story saying that Israel is likely to bomb Iran within a year.... “Netanyahu’s belief is that Iran is not Israel’s problem alone; it is the world’s problem, and the world, led by the United States, is duty-bound to grapple with it.” .... Israel’s inclination to attack Iran is “more a matter of the amygdala and emotion than of the cortex and thought.” .... Israel’s regional nuclear monopoly has “near-sanctity, in the public’s mind” because it has “allowed the Jewish state to recover from the wounds of the Holocaust.” ..... “The Jews had no power to stop Hitler from annihilating us,” an anonymous Israeli official tells Goldberg. “Today, 6 million Jews live in Israel, and someone is threatening them with annihilation. But now we have the power to stop them. Bibi knows that this is the choice.” ..... “The challenges posed by a nuclear Iran are more subtle than a direct attack ..... “Iran’s militant proxies would be able to fire rockets and engage in other terror activities while enjoying a nuclear umbrella.” ...... If the Holocaust has left Israelis with an exaggerated fear of Iran’s intentions, it has also left them with an absolute refusal to be cowed. .......Given that the United States would almost certainly be drawn into war with Iran in the wake of an Israeli strike, and given that America would be blamed for the strike whether or not it had green-lighted it, and given the many ways this would be bad for national security, how can American leaders keep it from happening? ....an attack would radically dim what prospects there are for lasting peace in the Middle East; Israel’s downward spiral — in which regional hostility toward it leads to conflicts that only deepen the hostility — would be sustained big time.

I am at the early stages of my digital journeys into Iran. I am in a mood to soak up information. I am in a mood to network among the Iranian diaspora. I want to read up. I want to send out emails. I want to call up a few people. Immersion is the word. You want to immerse.

This is about the concept of open intelligence. What if all information you or anyone else needs is already out there and anyone can access it?

I want to start making some moves. The work has to start in the diaspora.

I said in my last post that Burma would not be possible, Tibet is even harder. (Iran: Am I Running Late? Maybe Not) I need to revisit that statement. I meant to talk in terms of the project I have in mind. Iran is the most possible.

Of course Burma and Tibet are options, but they are not low hanging fruits like Iran. I'd need greater resources and power to make a dent with Burma and Tibet. And Iran should have my plate full for now.

The principles I applied in Nepal and intend to apply in Iran, they are universally applicable. But you have to mutate with the virus. Those principles will have unique applications from one country to the next. You are talking about dynamic, complex situations.

New York Times

U.S. Sends Muslim Center Imam to Arab World to Promote Religious Tolerance: Imam Feisal will be traveling to Qatar, Bahrain and the U.A.E. .... the plan to build a center with a mosque near the site of the World Trade Center attacks has provoked a wave of anti-Muslim sentiment. ..... this is how we engage an issue, have a robust debate ..... we have seen this in various parts of the world, where people who promote tolerance and diversity are intimidated, jailed, killed…. ..... there was frustration in the Muslim world “against the policies of the U.S. government, politically, where we espouse principles of democracy and human rights and where we ally ourselves with oppressive regimes in many of these countries.” ...... a Muslim Deepak Chopra. ..... the blatantly false reporting that has led some victims’ families to think that this project is somehow designed by Muslims to gloat over the attacks on 9/11. That could not be farther from the truth...... the traditional Islamic feast to mark the end of Ramadan will fall on or around Sept. 11.

Oil Plumes May Be More Toxic Than Thought, Scientists Warn Undersea plumes of microscopic oil droplets extending dozens of miles from the BP wellhead may be more toxic to marine microorganisms in the Gulf of Mexico than previously believed .... the heavily dispersed oil in the gulf remains a persistent threat to sea life. .... widespread ecological damage. ..... ive million barrels of oil released from the Deepwater Horizon well had been removed from the gulf through human or natural processes, or had been so highly dispersed that it ceased to pose a significant threat to the ecosystem.

Dimming the Skyline to Save the Birds The New York City skyline is a treacherous place for migrating birds..... leaves thousands of birds dead .... The birds are drawn in by the glow of the city and are unable to see the miles of concrete and glass stretching into the sky ..... collision with manmade structures is one of the chief reasons that most of the species that migrate through North America are declining. In two migratory seasons, Audubon counted 90,000 birds who were killed in collisions with buildings in New York City.

Triumph Fades on Racial Gap in City Schools the evaporation of one of their signature accomplishments: the closing of the racial achievement gap.....in the city’s third through eighth grades, 40 percent of black students and 46 percent of Hispanic students met state standards in math, compared with 75 percent of white students and 82 percent of Asian students. ...... Reducing racial gaps in educational performance has been a national preoccupation for decades. .... Reducing racial gaps in educational performance has been a national preoccupation for decades..... the latest state math and English tests show that the proficiency gap between minority and white students has returned to about the same level as when the mayor arrived ..... worsening economic conditions for poor families and an increase in fatherless black households ...... would continue to close low-performing schools ...... keep pushing to pay more to teachers who work in hard-to-staff neighborhoods or subjects ...... The city has closed 91 poorly performing schools, established about 100 charter schools and sent waves of new young teachers and principals into schools in poor neighborhoods. .... the “Harlem-Scarsdale” gap in math. ...... Asian students have generally performed better than white students on state math tests in the city, and about the same on English tests.

Filling the Tank With Something Else the hunt for miracles. .... the new Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy, which is intended to finance high-risk, high-reward projects. ..... compared to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, part of the Pentagon, which spread seed money for such projects and incubated a variety of useful technologies, including the Internet...... A pound of gasoline holds about 35 times more energy than a pound of lead-acid batteries ..... Benjamin Franklin built a set of glass bottles that stored electricity and released it all at once; he called it a battery because, like guns, the bottles fired simultaneously. ..... convert the tremendous amount of energy stored by plants and trees to a car fuel..... “Cotton is pure cellulose” ..... “real science fiction stuff,” ideas promising enough to attract a few million dollars for research but not quite promising enough to draw the private capital required for small-scale production.

City Cemeteries Face Gridlock virtually no amount of money will secure a final resting place in the heart of a city that is fast running out of graveyard space..... Trinity Church Cemetery in Washington Heights, the last operating graveyard in Manhattan, has stopped selling plots, offering burial only in the most “extraordinary circumstances,” or to people with long-held reservations.... But New Yorkers continue to die, some 60,000 a year. ..... “We have people who would like to disinter Mom and Dad and sell the graves back to make some money” ..... London allows people to be buried upright, while cemeteries in Singapore and Sydney, among others, offer “limited tenure” ...... squeezing coffins into every barren inch, narrowing paths, stacking coffins nine-deep...... “We have had bribes offered, sure,” Mr. Tarantino said. “But we have nothing to be bribed for. We have no room.” ...... the extravagant monuments favored in the 1920s, reminders of the boom before the Depression ..... Despite the bulging waistlines that have necessitated bigger casket sizes across the country, Washington Cemetery is strict: no caskets more than 26 inches wide. ...... Many New Yorkers who struggled and saved to live in the city end up buried elsewhere. ..... 25 percent of all those who die in the city are opting to be cremated ..... the tombstones of the notable and the notorious. .... Being buried under a tree is more desirable than being out in the open.... many Asians prefer to be buried on hilltops

The Making of Andrew Cuomo calling his new vehicle “a toaster oven on wheels.” ..... “This campaign is as much about January as it is about November” ..... he’s more diplomatic, he knows Albany inside out, he has a passion for governing. ..... Populist outrage is building over the state’s historically untouchable public-employee unions, with their ever-expanding pensions and outdated culture of unfireable workers and overpaid bureaucrats. ...... t a little more than two election cycles ago his personal life was in shambles and his political career appeared to be over. ..... the job that his father held for three terms and that he has coveted for the better part of a decade. ..... That Cuomo has become New York’s dominant Democrat figure is something of a political miracle. ...... David Paterson, called a press conference the day after he was sworn into office to admit that he, too, had engaged in extramarital sex and was soon under investigation for a variety of other misdeeds ...... Once a gateway to national office, Albany is now where political careers go to die. ..... Even setting aside New York’s general ungovernability, the state faces a fiscal crisis that many economists say is more dire than the one New York City experienced when it nearly went broke in the 1970s. ..... “Albany’s antics today would make Boss Tweed blush” ..... politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose ..... favors short, declarative sentences and unvarnished imagery. ..... Mario, a voracious reader who writes almost daily in his diary ..... not introspective or philosophical; his intelligence is intuitive and blunt. ..... Cuomo has aggressively pursued pension-padding in the public sector as well as a handful of high-profile government-corruption cases, most notably the lawsuit he filed against Espada for “looting” $14 million in state and federal money from the network of health clinics that Espada founded. ...... he was less interested in pursuing individual companies for wrongdoing than in finding examples of systemic abuse. .... Bill Clinton’s most accessible and quotable cabinet secretary. ..... a larger problem: a perception that Cuomo was too brash, too arrogant, too self-aggrandizing ..... At HUD, he cranked out press releases at a furious pace and traveled so frequently that one Republican senator, Kit Bond, kept track of his itinerary. ...... a middle-class kid from Queens ..... The Kennedys are an open, sprawling family that is un-self-conscious about its flaws. ..... He parlayed his work on homelessness into a job as assistant secretary at HUD ..... a reputation for being irresistibly charming — in addition to ruthless — ..... the same colorful talker he always was ..... a step down from being a cabinet secretary. ..... Most of the historical artifacts inside Cuomo’s office are Clinton-related ..... a book-length manifesto, “The New NY Agenda: A Plan for Action.” ..... the state’s lawmakers enjoy a rate of re-election that exceeds 95 percent.... clean up Albany; get the state’s “fiscal house in order”; “rightsize” its government; and restart its stalled-out economy. .... on paper, his agenda looks a lot like Spitzer’s .... what he did to HUD. When Cuomo took over, the agency was known as something of a slush fund for shady slumlords and real estate developers. ...... “There are 10,000 local governments in the state of New York,” he said at the state convention. “Ten thousand! Town, village, lighting district, water district, sewer district, a special district to count the other districts in case you missed a district.” ...... states can’t file for bankruptcy protection — there has been no come-to-Jesus moment ....... taxes, which are already 79 percent above the national average. ..... Cuomo has close financial and personal ties to the very special-interest groups that are contributing to the state’s budget woes ..... Jennifer Cunningham, a lobbyist for the state’s gargantuan health-workers’ union, which can be expected to provide the most powerful opposition to reforming New York’s bloated Medicaid system, helped run Cuomo’s 2006 race for attorney general and continues to serve as an informal adviser to him. ........ Spitzer and Cuomo have a history of mutual enmity dating to 2000 ..... Governor Spitzer asked Attorney General Cuomo to investigate the possible abuse of government travel privileges by Joe Bruno, the Republican leader of the state. Instead, Cuomo investigated Spitzer for having state troopers follow Bruno. ...... one prominent Democrat who has tangled repeatedly with Cuomo described him to me as “soulless, valueless and ambition incarnate” ..... He rarely fails to mention Mario Cuomo during his campaign speeches, invariably to vigorous applause. ...... Mario Cuomo still practices law at the Manhattan-based Willkie Farr & Gallagher. ... Cuomo told me that he just had a disturbing dream that his son won the election but quit before being sworn in because he couldn’t face having to deal with the Legislature. ..... Mario lobbied Bill Clinton to get Andrew his first job at HUD and lined up a handful of key endorsements for him in the attorney general’s race in 2006. ..... he is pledging to wreak some serious havoc on his father’s legacy of big-government generosity. ..... Spitzer, the self-described steamroller, took the bad-cop approach, effectively trying to bully the Legislature into submission. Paterson, a former state senator himself, tried reasoning with his former colleagues, to no better effect ..... speaker of the State Assembly, Sheldon Silver, a shrewd political tactician who wields enormous power inside the statehouse. ...... The speaker is said to not like Cuomo ..... “His philosophy is that it’s smarter to wait for an opponent to make a mistake than to force a fight. . . . That’s what he did with Spitzer; he just sat back and let him punch himself silly ...... Albany is a complex, temperamental political organism ..... patience, flexibility and the willingness to accommodate ..... like Spitzer, Cuomo has a reputation for being something of a bully ..... they have scoffed at Cuomo’s invitation to sign his pledge. Talking to members of the Legislature, you get the sense they’re spoiling for a fight. ..... “I wish him luck,” Díaz deadpanned when I mentioned some of Cuomo’s reform proposals to him. “We have been getting too many macho men in the government — too many macho men,” he continued, tilting back in his chair and working a wrist exerciser as he spoke. ....... They are preparing for a crusade of their own to beat back a hard-charging executive. “We are expecting a thug,” a senior Democrat told me when I asked about Cuomo. .....where Spitzer played one-on-one against the Legislature, he wants to bring voters into the game. .... He has the votes, but he needs more than that; he needs their fury ... “You get more flies with honey than with vinegar” .... Eliot could have been their best friend. I think I can be their best friend.

Say No To Politics

Image by cliff1066™ via FlickrMy completely non political African American Harvard Law School graduate roomie, can't even discuss politics with him.

Finally A Debate? Is A Non Debate A Debate?

Image via WikipediaThere are all sorts of news stories saying Carolyn Maloney has finally agreed to a debate with Reshma Saujani. I will believe it once I see it. Until then I have my fingers crossed. Maloney has danced this dance before. She will say yes to a debate, and then a few days later she will say she did not say it, never.

A radio debate in the middle of a work day? I say even TV is not good enough. What we need is a YouTube debate. People will have the option to watch whenever they want, and they will have the option to comment. I say a YouTube debate sponsored by a few TV stations. So it's on TV at night, and it's on YouTube as well.

FDR was a while ago. Granted Maloney is from a different era, but trust me, YouTube is just like being on TV. It is not like you have to put on extra makeup or anything.

NY Daily News: Reshma Saujani Vs. Carolyn Maloney On Debating... Again: As you can see here in this clip by Melissa Russo of NBC, when (twice) asked if she'd debate her NY-14 Democratic primary challenger, Reshma Saujani, Rep. Carolyn Maloney first dodged, and then said their staffs were talking and she would "consider it." .... Of course, we've blogged about this issue about a million times -- Saujani trying to invite, push, cajole, whatever you want to call it -- Maloney into debating.... The same arguments stand now as stood then -- Saujani would want to get Maloney into a forum where she could a) show her stuff against the congresswoman, b) get more public attention, and c) expose Maloney to a possible gaffe... which, from a strategic standpoint are all the reasons why the incumbent might not want to do it.
Reshma Saujani On Radio Debate: Apparently, That's Not Good Enough: Remember yesterday, when I wondered if maybe my days (weeks, months?) of blogging about the debate-scheduling squabbles between Reshma Saujani and incumbent Rep. Carolyn Maloney were over? ..... WWRL debate is scheduled to occur in the middle of a weekday on a radio station with no television cameras, at a time when most New Yorkers are at work
Capital Tonight: Maloney Agrees To Debate Saujani: woman-to-woman face-off on Sept. 7
OurTownNY: Maloney Agrees To Debate: The debate will also be on a Tuesday on a radio show most Upper East Side voters probably don’t tune in to regularly. (Perhaps WNYC’s Brian Lehrer would have been more suitable for this race.) .... Previously, Baruch College on the East Side sent out a letter asking the two to debate on its campus Aug. 26, but Maloney would not agree..... The decision to debate came after an interview with NBCNewYork, in which Maloney told a reporter, “My campaign staff is talking to her campaign staff and I’m sure that the issues and the records will be put forward.” .... Saujani’s campaign manager, Kevin Lawler, released a statement saying, “We must have missed those calls and emails—because that’s news to us,” adding, “There has been no effort from her staff to even contact our campaign to discuss the issue.” .... James Allen, Saujani’s spokesperson, said that the campaign has not accepted the Errol Louis debate and wants to hash out mutually agreeable terms
The Lo-Down NY: Maloney/Saujani Schedule Debate, Bike Lane Wars, Pies ‘n’ Thighs for Breakfast

Carolyn Maloney's Work On The Second Avenue Subway Line

Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney: "Ten years ago, when we first started talking about the possibility of building a Second Avenue Subway, people scoffed. I have been championing the project in Congress...."

Maloney has been taking credit for a non existent Second Avenue subway line on the campaign trail. Maloney lacks integrity at a fundamental level.

In 1920 Maloney first came up with the idea.
The Great Depression disrupted her work. Shame on the Great Depression.
World War II disrupted her work. Shame on World War II.
She got back to work after World War II was finally over.
Every time Maloney tried to get down to work, the estimated cost went up, and so Maloney was perturbed. But she kept looking for fresh starts every few years for decades.
1972. Maloney was part of a groundbreaking, one of many it seems.
In the 1990s Maloney got down to it again. Her enthusiasm was still at a high level after decades of false starts.
Many steps, small and big, were taken all through the 1990s and the 2000s. Maloney would like to take credit for them all.

And now you know how the Second Avenue subway line came to be. Go take a ride. Enjoy. And sign the online petition that wants the Second Avenue subway line renamed in Carolyn Maloney's name.

2nd Ave. Subway History
Wikipedia: Second Avenue Subway
NYMag: The Long, Tortured History of the Second Avenue Subway
New York Times: Further Delays Possible for Second Avenue Subway

Reshma Saujani Goes on the Attack Against Carolyn Maloney in Upper East Side Congressional Race

May 21, 2010 ..... Maloney ripped off her ideas on immigration and entrepreneurial innovation. ...... Maloney introduced the bill, which calls for granting two-year visas to immigrants who begin start-ups with qualified investors, on the House floor on April 29, eight days after a Saujani Op-Ed piece proposing a similar idea

Carolyn Maloney Recycles Hillary Clinton "Endorsement" On Campaign Website

The Upper East Side congresswoman's website shows an apparent endorsement from the former senator..... Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney has proposed a spate of immigration and economic development bills that challenger Reshma Saujani said borrow from her own ideas. ........ AsSecretary of State, Hillary Clinton can't endorse political candidates. But that hasn't stopped Carolyn Maloney from recycling an old quote and using an image of Clinton to make it look like the former senator is backing the Upper East Side congresswoman's reelection bid.

Debating Is Not About Media Attention To Reshma Saujani

Image via WikipediaReshma Saujani does not want to debate Carolyn Maloney because she thinks that will get her some media attention. Reshma Saujani has been getting a ton of media attention as is. Reshma Saujani has been attracting national media attention for months now. She has been attracting international media attention.

For Reshma Saujani it is not about media attention. For he debating is about debating itself. For her it is about debates being so very fundamental to the democratic process.

For her debates are about democracy.

For her debates are about respect. Respect for the voters of District 14 who deserve to hear from both the candidates who are running. A debate format will best allow the voters to look at both of them and then go make their own decisions.

For Reshma debates are about the issues that she cares about so deeply and that she has been working on her entire life. Those well thought out positions, you don't cook them up for one election. They are the work of a lifetime. When you debate you are appealing to the intelligence of the voters. 30 second TV ads at some level insult the intelligence of the voters. Debates respect their intelligence.

For Reshma debating is about the crisis that is the 10% unemployment rate in the country. It is about the 50% unemployment rates in some parts of her district.

Debates are the lifeblood of democracy. A Carolyn Maloney scared of debating is a Carolyn Maloney scared of her voters, a Carolyn Maloney scared of democracy, a Carolyn Maloney scared of the big issues of the day, a Carolyn Maloney not having the slightest clue as to how the unemployment rate will be brought down.

I find Maloney's staying away from the weekly debates absolutely disgusting.

When Carolyn Maloney finally shows up for the debates, she is the one that will get media attention. Reshma's media attention will get shared with her. And Reshma is okay with that, because she believes in debating so much. She is even willing to give Maloney some media attention.

Carolyn Maloney: Chicken
Maloney Refuses Debate Yet Again

Charlie Rangel: The Bear Stearns Of US Congress

DENVER - AUGUST 25: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY...

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThere are many people including several members of the New York congressional delegation (standing ovations to old man Charlie, come on) who seem to suggest Charlie is a good guy because other members of Congress have also been involved in the kind of behavior that Charlie has been involved in.

That is like saying because many banks were involved in the nefarious finance schemes, so the first bank you catch should be let go.

Charlie Rangel in the news is a US Congress that passed Wall Street reform but is itself fundamentally unreformed. Standing by Charlie is exactly the wrong thing to do. The right thing to do is to pass Congress reform. And there is enough time before the November election to do that.

The US Congress that made bad Wall Street behavior possible stays unreformed. That is the news here. The blame goes to both parties. And the work for Congress reform has to start NOW!

This is not a one party versus the other party issue. This is about the American people losing further faith in the US Congress, in the political system. This is about fighting impending cynicism.

This is not a one party versus the other party issue but is going to be if foolish Dems keep standing by Rangel. Rangel is indefensible. Instead stand on the side of Congress reform.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Maloney Refuses Debate Yet Again

WASHINGTON - APRIL 03: Committee Chair Rep. C...

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeIt is not true Carolyn Maloney is refusing to debate because she thinks she is too far ahead in the polls. That is not the reason. This race has been competitive for weeks now. (Standing At 40-60 Now, Reshma's Momentum: 70% Vs. 7%, 24,000 Vs. 8,000 Signatures, $2 Vs. $1.2 Million, Reshma's Momentum: Line Graph Or Curve Graph) BusinessWeek called it the top primary to watch in all of America and that was back in May. (Reshma's Is Top Primary Race To Watch In America: BusinessWeek In May) That list included the Senatorial primary in Arizona that John McCain himself is contesting in. If BusinessWeek called it the hottest primary in the country back in May, Carolyn Maloney was not the reason why. She has been an "ordinary" member of Congress. (The Washington Post) She has not exactly had star power. (Sep 15 - Oct 31: Obama-Reshma Should Crisscross The Country, Carolyn Maloney: The Alan Keyes Of District 14)

And it is not because Maloney fears she might end up giving Reshma media attention she otherwise does not have. Reshma has been commanding more media attention than Maloney on her own. She needs no help from Maloney to get media attention. Reshma is the candidate with star power in this race. It is not Maloney. Reshma has been commanding national attention like she should. Reshma is not bothered she might share media attention with Maloney because she knows debating is the right thing to do.

So what is the reason? (Carolyn Maloney: Chicken)

One reason is Maloney is plain scared. It is like getting scared of a scary final exam. Reshma is super duper smart. She is sharp. She is prepared. And so Maloney is scared. I notice Reshma's smarts too. But I am not scared. I get impressed. I am like wow. And I am male.

A big reason Maloney is refusing to show up for the debates is because she is refusing to do the right thing by the cause of women. She needs to plan a graceful exit away from the stage to make way for Reshma. That would be the right thing to do. (Carolyn Maloney: The Alan Keyes Of District 14)

Show up for the debates, give a good concession speech the evening of September 14, endorse Reshma for the November election, wish the party all the best, and gracefully exit and enjoy your retirement. And watch Reshma do wonderful things for women. (September 14 Will Birth The New Woman)

History will remember but one thing about Maloney, and that is that she was in the seat that Reshma ended up taking. She should play nice therefore.

If Carolyn Maloney cares about the progressive cause, if she cares about furthering the cause of women, she should plan for a graceful exit, and that involves showing up for the weekly debates.

This has gone too far. It will take Maloney less time to actually show up for a debate than to keep dancing around the question if she will debate.

Is she saying she is too good for democracy? Is she saying she is too good for the good people of District 14? Is she saying she is too good for the people of New York City? What exactly is she saying?

The New York Observer: Reshma To Maloney: You've Been Talking To Whom, Exactly?!?: an interview Maloney did with WNBC's Melissa Russo yesterday in which the long-time Upper East Side Congresswoman said that, "my staff is talking to her campaign staff" about setting up a debate...... Saujani has been especially active as the campaign enters its final weeks, knocking Maloney for "silence" on the Ground Zero Mosque
NBC New York: Maloney Won't Commit to Debate with Democratic Challenger: Maloney danced around the direct question "do you intend to debate?" Maloney said her campaign staff was talking to Saujani's campaign staff and "the facts will come out and we're working forward." .... After repeated follow up questions about whether she'll debate, Maloney would only say "we're considering it. Stay tuned." .... Saujani's campaign disputes Maloney's claim that her staff is engaging in any debate related discussions. .... Saujani says Maloney is "running scared." .... Saujani's campaign fired back and said Maloney had been ducking them entirely. .... "Last night, when WNBC asked Carolyn Maloney whether she would be debating Reshma, the Congresswoman said that 'my campaign staff is talking to her campaign staff.' We must have missed those calls and emails -- because that’s news to us," said Saujani's manager Keving Lawlor. ""For more than three months, Maloney has consistently ignored requests to debate from both our campaign and third-party groups...On May 10th, the Maloney campaign signed for a letter inviting her to a series of debates with Reshma. Yet there has been no effort from her staff to even contact our campaign to discuss the issue."

WNYC: South Asian LGBT Community Marches In India Day Parade: Additional pressure on the parade organizers came from Reshma Saujani, a young Indian-American congressional candidate who's waged a high-level campaign against Rep. Carolyn Maloney. According to Jain, SALGA hasn't had that sort of political support before.
Capital Tonight: Saujani Decries Dem ‘Silence’ On Mosque: Most of the state’s 29 House members have so far shied away from taking a definitive position on the mosque .... Saujani goes on to note that she has repeatedly tried to get Maloney to debate her, including on Aug. 24 at Baruch College, but has so far failed to get the incumbent congresswoman to commit to going toe-to-toe. .... “It’s time for Carolyn Maloney to tell New Yorkers what she thinks about the issues that affect their lives. She has been silent on the construction of the Cordoba House, silent on Charlie Rangel’s ethics investigation, silent on passing the DREAM Act, and silent on new ideas to get New Yorkers back to work.”
Politi Fi: Saujani Slams Maloney for Declining Debate Invite

Sep 15 - Oct 31: Obama-Reshma Should Crisscross The Country

Image via WikipediaKeeping The House And The Senate

I want Barack to be able to keep the House, because I want him to do the good work he wants to do on comprehensive immigration reform next year. (The Dumbfuck Immigration Laws, Immigration Now?, Save Immigration For 2011, In South Africa They Had Apartheid, In America They Got Immigration)

I also want him to defy history one more time. He defied history in November 2008. His father would not have been served lunch in many parts of this country, and this dude is munching on snacks in the Oval Office. Unbelievable. But critics have started saying anyone can defy history one time. If he were to defy history two times, those critics would be silenced. And I want them silenced. History tells us a sitting president is supposed to lose this November election. Got to defy that, dude. (Obama's Got Momentum: He Could Defy History In November)

Barack's best bet at defying history would be to crisscross the country with his namesake Reshma. There are many reasons why. (Reshma: Obama's Number One Weapon For November 2010)

Reshma has not been in Congress. (September 14 Will Birth The New Woman) If Obama was the face of change in 2008, that face of change this year is Reshma. She has never held political office before although she has been an activist her entire life. She was a top person with Kerry 2004, and she was a top person with Hillary 2008. Since Hillary herself is in the cabinet, I am thinking we Obama people have forgiven "them." She is excellent in the three departments money, message, and organization. Reshma captures the mood for insurgency across the country. She can rightfully say, if you want to add new fuel to the message of change, vote Democratic. Barack has the slight disadvantage of having been in the White House two years, thereabouts.
All those women who cracked up that glass ceiling in 2008. (Firefighters Booing Hillary: Sexist, Al Hagan: Capable Of A Hate Crime, Al Hagan, Carolyn Maloney: Did They Apologize Yet?) Guess what, they are still there. Reshma crisscrossing the country is going to get them riled up. They will become more likely to show up at the polls. (Carolyn Maloney: The Alan Keyes Of District 14)
Reshma is literally the second stimulus bill this country needs. (Reshma Saujani Is The Second Stimulus Bill This Country Needs) The president should let her do some of the talking on as to how this country is going to move from a 10% unemployment rate to a more healthy 5%. I mean 10% could lead to social unrest. Some say it is already happening. It is called the tea party. Reshma's message is that you need to mend the frayed relationship between Wall Street and Main Street to get people back to work, and now, after Wall Street reform, is the time for it.
Just like in 2008, the choice is still between the past and the future. There is no turning back the clock. This country has to choose the future one more time. And Reshma is the face of that future. Reshma could credibly make that case. (Reshma's Is Top Primary Race To Watch In America: BusinessWeek In May) Barack beat McCain in a presidential race. Reshma has beat McCain in this BusinessWeek race. (Positivity, Excellence, Dark Matter)
The 18-38 crowd put Obama into power. That crowd now wants some power for itself. And it starts with Reshma. We run the danger of our 2008 surge crowd not showing up in full force in November. Reshma's crisscrossing the country will give them a big reason to show up. Change now looks like us. (Uptown Upstart, Extrapolations To Reshma 2016, Reshma On CNBC)
Charlie Rangel is the Bear Stearns of the US Congress. (Perfect Time For Congress Reform, Rangel Has Gone Radioactive, Charlie Rangel, Carolyn Maloney And Their Ethics Violations, Charlie Rangel: Motherfucker, Rangel And Maloney Need To Vacate The Premises And For The Same Reasons, The Rangel Drama) I am in disbelief how the New York congressional delegation is giving standing ovations to the crook. That guy is now a political suicide bomber, and he could single handedly cost the Dems the House. He has to be isolated, contained, and quarantined. Bear Stearns' collapse needed to be localized. Do not repeat the mistake. Reshma Saujani has been singing exactly the right tunes on Rangel. She will help the president make the case that Obama might also be black, but he is no Charlie Rangel, and Reshma is a New Yorker, but she feels the same.
Reshma has a presence. (Reshma Saujani: Top 10 Women To Watch In America)

Carolyn Maloney's Six Sins

And then on October 31, they should together celebrate Gandhi's birthday, (Gandhi, Reshma And Tornadoes, Reshma Is Gujarati Like Gandhi, I Am Bihari Like Laloo, Vogue India Features Reshma) and then Obama should give Reshma a few days to crisscross her own district. (The First Time I Heard The Obama Name)

Monday, August 16, 2010

September 14 Will Birth The New Woman

Image by springhill2008 via FlickrReshma Saujani is a remarkable, remarkable candidate. District 14 is lucky to have her contest. New York City is lucky she did not move back to Chicago like that other ma - Obama - after she got done with law school.

She started with a few different national constituencies.

The Indian Americans are the most successful ethnic group in America measured by per capita family income. An average Indian American family makes twice as much as an average white family, for example. Indians tend to have a strong sense of heritage and family values. There seems to be major onus on education, hard work and thrift. Reshma Saujani has been the number one fundraiser in that community for the Democratic Party for a few election cycles now. She has been minting money for the party like crazy. That is even more remarkable for me to watch personally because fundraising has never been one of my strengths.

When she first launched her campaign, her first 50,000 dollars came from what she calls the "auntie network," these South Asian women spread across the country who see in her the fulfillment of all that they perhaps were not able to do. They nurtured loving families, but they perhaps did not have maxed out, fulfilling careers, and they want to relive that fulfillment through Reshma's personal success.

And when I talk tech, I am not just referring to dot coms and dot bombs. By tech I also mean clean tech, bio tech and nano tech. I am talking about the jobs, companies and industries of tomorrow. Many techies I have heard talk about Reshma start out by expressing disbelief. But she speaks our language! She understands our subculture! She is on with our issues! Her appeal is bi-coastal. Actually, sad to note, but the big tech honchos on the West Coast are more excited about her than the big tech honchos on the East Coast. That is yet another sign the West Coast is ahead of the East Coast when it comes to tech.

And there are young professionals of all stripes who are taken by her sheer excellence. She is so good at what she does, you don't have to be in politics to admire her moves. Money, message and organization are the three fundamentals in politics. And she is excellent at all three.

But the constituency that is the most latent, that is the most waiting to erupt in association with the Reshma Saujani name is a symbol that I have taken to calling The New Woman.

If Barack Obama is The New Black Man, Reshma Saujani is The New Woman. The New Woman wants to, is able to, and takes equality for granted. If you think about it, equality is not really that complicated. The woman wants her education. The woman wants her career. The woman wants her health. The woman wants her life.

Equality was always meant to be something unremarkable like the landscape. It is there. You should be able to take for granted. You should not have to put together the beautiful landscape. But it has been the sorry trajectory of history that equality has been a big deal.

The New Black Man gave me culture shocks when he was someone who hardly ever talked about race. He was not being shy, he was not being diffident, what was he doing? Ends up his style is to instead pump billions into inner city schools. Grandstanding was Jesse Jackson.

You necessarily have to go past Al Sharpton to get to Barack Obama. You necessarily have to get past Carolyn Maloney to get to Reshma Saujani. That is the nature of the beast.

The biggest thing that is happening on September 14 is that this country is birthing The New Woman. Barack Obama was still around and he was still a wonderful, wonderful dude before the Democratic Convention in 2004. But the world had to wait until that convention.

There are two kinds of people, people who will have known Reshma Saujani in person or name before September 14, and those that will hear her name only after that. Which kind are you? (The First Time I Heard The Obama Name)

She is a South Asian, fine. And she breathes tech, sure she does. But the big deal about Reshma Saujani is that she is The New Woman.

MyFoxNY: Reshma Saujani

MyFoxNY: Reshma Saujani: Saujani is hoping to pull a stunning upset as anti-incumbent sentiment continues to grow....249,000 registered Democrats live in the 14th.
Wild Citizen: Race by Race US House Analysis – Part 5 of 8 The real race will be to see which Democrat can out left the other. Is DSA member Maloney to conservative? For Saujani, perhaps she is.

Reshma On CNBC

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Wednesday, August 18, 2010

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Tuesday, August 17, 2010

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Monday, August 16, 2010

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