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.
I don't believe the basic premise of this Time article completely. But increased volatility is bad enough news for that part of the world, war or no war. This is troubling.
last Friday's unprecedented joint visit to Beirut by the leaders of Saudi Arabia and Syria ....David Cameron's pleas to Turkey to keep open its communication channels with Israel's leaders ...... despite the outward calm, the region may be on the brink of another catastrophic war ...... exceptionally quiet and uniquely dangerous, both for the same reason ...... "As Hizballah's firepower grows," the Crisis Group notes, "so too does Israel's desire to tackle the problem before it is too late ... What is holding the current architecture in place is also what could rapidly bring it down." ...... Israel is determined to strike a devastating blow more quickly than it did during the last conflict ..... Hizballah believes its capacity to fire missiles into Tel Aviv is key to restraining Israel from returning to finish off the Shi'ite militia ..... the self-styled "axis of resistance" — Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hizballah — have deepened their alliance ..... "tensions are mounting with no obvious safety valve." ..... in the tragic tradition of Middle Eastern wars that have erupted in part because the adversaries failed to understand one another's intentions..... his movement's "divine victory" in standing up to Israel's 2006 offensive, a feat that made him a hero on the streets of the Arab world, Hizballah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah ....... the Israel-Lebanon border, where both sides have been preparing for the next war ever since the last one ended, neither desiring that option but both accepting it as inevitable ...... should Iran's nuclear facilities come under attack, Hizballah's rockets would figure prominently in Tehran's retaliation plans...... "there is no mechanism in place to either address or ease" those mounting tensions
Extensive dialogue mechanisms have to be sought. Those of use who operate in democratic frameworks tend to look down upon those who don't, and I might not want to argue with that, but if that looking down upon leads to vastly reduced engagement, that can create situations that run counter to the self interests of the larger world.
While we hope to create new realities, we have to engage with realities as they exist.
I hope you are coming, because the last Reshma 2010 office opening party I went to was a total blast. This is party time all over again. We have much to celebrate. You have to celebrate the incredible momentum before you get to celebrate the victory. The victory train is on the way.
Those who have suffered Maloney for 18 years. Help is on the way.
Image by Getty Images via @daylife
I have tried to stay away from the Rangel drama, but it is no longer possible. This motherfucker now stands squarely in my way when he had other, better options. Charlie Rangel has become a political suicide bomber, and he knows exactly what he is doing.
Motherfuckers like Charlie Rangel don't have legacies. They don't have places in history. He is too dumb, too shallow, too superficial, too much of a crook to have a place in history, he is too much of a sideshow. He is a fucking nobody. People like me decide what Charlie Rangel's place in history is going to be. Charlie Rangel is a motherfucker. That is his place in history. There, I just decided.
Capitalism has to have its creative destructions. You have to destroy a few banks to create the clean tech, bio tech and nano tech companies of tomorrow. That is the nature of the beast. Democracy, capitalism's twin brother/sister, also has to have its creative destructions. That is the nature of the beast. You have to necessarily destroy Charlie Rangel to create Barack Obama. We created Barack Obama in 2008, but we did not destroy Charlie Rangel before that. That was a mistake. We started the work on destroying Charlie Rangel in 2008. Now is the time to complete the task. This guy needs to disappear from the stage already.
Putting Malia and Sasha into the White House has been a bigger deal than putting Barack and Michelle Obama into the White House. Putting Malia and Sasha into the White House does for the self esteem of young black children across America, and across the continent of Africa, and perhaps for many children in Latin America and Asia that I would not know how to do with a trillion dollars to spend on the project. Having a great leader helped, but countless people like me put countless hours into Obama 08 to bring that about. And I am not letting this guy take away from that achievement. The heck with Charlie Rangel.
You can not win elections as many times as Charlie Rangel has and not see what your idiotic stand now is doing to Barack's effort to keep the House. Rangel is doing this on purpose. This motherfucker never really made peace with the fact that some time in 2004 Barack Obama became a bigger deal than him. The fuck with this guy.
White politicians in New York City who stand by this crook are being racist. They think playing nice to Charlie is playing nice to black people. Instead of doing the hard work of working through their racial prejudices and racial stereotypes and glass walls and ceilings that keep black people away, these whities have long been accustomed to thinking of Charlie Rangel as some kind of a racial short cut. Be nice to Charlie and you are clean, you are not racist. White politicians in New York City who stand by Charlie are racist people who think blacks as a people are crooks and Charlie Rangel somehow represents them. I have walked around and asked in Harlem. Most people never heard of the Rangel name. Obama, on the other hand, is another story.
For every JFK, there is a Richard Nixon. Charlie Rangel is the black people's Nixon. The guy is a crook. His ways have always been corrupt. How dare this pig equate my president with Dick Cheney? How dare he! My guy's very run for the presidency was about his having opposed the Iraq War from the start.
Cut Him Loose, Completely
Rangel was not able to get in the way when he had all the power and we had none, although he tried. He sure is not getting in our way when now we have all the power and he has none. If the American people had mistaken Barack Obama for a Charlie Rangel, they would never have elected him in the first place. I count on the American people's judgment to not mistake a Barack Obama for a Charlie Rangel. But the president has to keep doing what he has been doing. He has to make it absolutely clear Charlie Rangel is responsible for his own bad behavior, and that he wants him to step down and go away, sooner the better. He has to do it more forcefully as necessary.
Depriving My President Of A House
Charlie Rangel has one and only one goal left. The final mission of his political career is to deprive my president of a House. He failed in his mission to deprive my guy of the White House. What the fuck is the House?
Barack Obama has done wonderful things in his first two years. He has achieved FDR status after he passed health care reform. He is going to continue to do wonderful things. But losing the House now would jeopardize the next two years of his presidency. It would jeopardize his plans to work on comprehensive immigration reform next year. And Rangel knows this. I would know a thing or two about Rangel's stance on immigration.
Send this guy back to Uganda where he came from. He does not belong in the capital city of the world.
DL21C
And while we are on the topic.
I consider DL21C an enemy organization. That organization has two options. It can dismantle itself, or I am going to dismantle it. It is not necessary for me to do it. But I am going to do it for fun. And I am in no hurry to do it. Pre-digital organizations have no place in the Obama era. I am going to take that organization apart like it were an old computer, which is what it is.
What is this? Gangs Of New York? Eliminate the leader and take over his organization? I don't think so. I put blood, sweat and tears into nurturing the Obama crowd in this city. My gums were bleeding when you had me inside.
If any DL21C person ends up with any kind of a leadership role in town for Obama 2012, I am boycotting all Obama 20102 events in Manhattan. You got to know who your people are.
I did not expect Reshma 2010 to join Obama's national effort to keep the House and the Senate before September 15, but now our hand has been forced. I went through some tough times for Barack. Having Charlie Rangel for breakfast is going to be easy to do. Now I am going after Rangel like no Republican before me. That motherfucker is not getting in the way of my president and his House. So help me God.
I touched upon some details in this blog post that can disconcert people. But there is a method to the madness. It is a political decision.
Reshma 2010 makes me wants to think of big issues like the mass rapes in Liberia. The Second Avenue subway line is too small an issue by my standards. I want to think about big issues. I want to think about global issues. I feel lucky to be in New York City. Global issues are local to New York City politics. I absolutely love that.
When the democracy movement was ongoing in Burma a few years back, I made a point to read up on the gory details. The regime was killing people in the streets, taking the bodies away, and burning them. I was hungry for all details to do with that.
The issue I think about a lot as I volunteer for Reshma 2010 is that of the global trafficking of women.
Frankly talking about small, unpleasant details from my personal story helps me retain the political boldness to learn up on the gory details of the ugly realities out there that might have political solutions.
Making The Blues Go Away
But my personal pain is real. And I have decided to work extra hard to make it go away, to manage it.
Rigorous socializing. Instead of spending all my time on the phone while in the office, I think I should spend some of my time just shooting the breeze, swapping stories, getting to know the staffers and interns. I have learned many of their names, but I have not gotten to know them well. That is not good.
Rigorous blogging. Blogging is workout for the mind.
The idea is not to make the memories go away, but to train yourself to the point the memories are still there, but they no longer bother you emotionally. The more ambitious thing to do is to turn it all into fuel.
I have thought in terms of writing a very raw 1,000 page autobiography and publishing it online myself. I might do that at some point.
By the time Obama 2008 was claiming the crown in May 2008, the Obama positivity was doing wonderful things for me personally already. I was looking at my 1989 from another angle. Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard. I never went to Harvard. That makes me one better in the out of the box thinking department.
I have a feeling Reshma 2010 might take me to that state as well. If it does, it is going to feel like reclaiming lost ground.
Image via Wikipedia
