A Not So Little Norman Fact

I only learned yesterday Norman Siegel is Jewish. I mean, how do you know? I can't tell from his first or last name. I can't tell from his looks. There are people in my neighborhood who wear their cap, and have that hairstyle, and the Jewish clothes. That I can tell. But Norman?

All I knew was DFNYC was fanatically behind him. And I watched a debate where he scored real well for the most part: I think he won. And my earlier blog entry was not in any way designed to put him down. It is not adulatory, but I think that entry makes him look like the most deserving of the candidates.

A Little Siegel Incident

I met him yesterday, thanks to Tracey Denton, and I liked him a lot. We made small talk.

"You went to school in Georgia, I went to school in Kentucky."

"Really? Where? University of Kentucky?"

"No, a small school 30 minutes south of there. Berea."

"Oh, Berea. I know Berea. It is a good school."

That practically makes him a southerner. I mean, if he has heard of Berea.

He actually made a comical remark before parting: "Back to private practice!" He had a mischievous smile about him when he said that. I like that spirit among warriors. You give the contest your very best. And if you don't make it, you just dust it off. And move on.

I also learned Lewis is Jewish, the DFNYC Lewis. I can't tell from his looks. And I don't even know his last name yet. Although I am beginning to see a goofy side to him.

If I were on Norman's campaign staff, I would have advised him to handle the Betsy question about her stalker with a little more sensitivity. And post-debate, I'd have engaged in some damage control. I think saying that is being on Norman's side.

And I think he should have done a better job of integrating Tracey into his campaign. Tracey is a major plus. She is a political animal. She is sharp. She is nuts and bolts. She is good at the campaign thing. I have seen her in action. I mean, I have openly talked of her as the Campaign Chair for Dean 2008. Look at it this way. She leads the largest Dean group in the country. It is for a Deaniac to lead the Deaniacs. It would not be a bad idea to have a separate CEO and a CFO, but the chair has to be Tracey. I think. Bobby Kennedy was 35 when he became Attorney General. (Dean Was In Town Yesterday) Check out the photo. She looks like she is the candidate and Howard Dean and Fernando Ferrer are voters she is out to lock in.

And now that I know Norman is Jewish, I don't know what to make of this other DFNYC member's comment that Norman has fought for the right of Nazi groups to do this and that. I have been offered clarification by Tracey that Norman has been for the right of Nazi groups to express their opinions. That is a whole new fact that looks good on him. He is Jewish. He is a fierce civil rights lawyer. So he ends up supporting the rights of Nazis to talk hate. That is gutsy.

And Lewis. I like the guy. He is great. But when the local TV wanted a DFNYC comment on a mayoral debate, they did not get one of the two women Executive Directors. They got the Finance Director, the first male they could find in the hierarchy. To me that is so obviously sexist. It is a glass ceiling thing. I can't choose to not see these things. Although I do have a choice in terms of how I can react.

I feel like we as progressives should openly talk about these things. There is no point in being nice nice and sweeping things under the carpet. The dialogue can be positive. Dialogue is the most productive way to deal with these social schisms.

There is political progressive, and there is market progressive, and there is social progressive. Talking counts. Respectfully talking back and forth.

The Three Pillars

Claiming All The Real Estate For Myself

None of the other members are contributing. So I hereby boot them out.

• jonl
• Aldon Hynes
• Arthur
• Chi
• Rob Dickinson
• Rene' Wood
• David Baker

(When Web Hosting Is No Longer A Problem)

Dean Was In Town Yesterday

69 Photos.

I just got back from my sister's. The event was on the West Side on the 85th Street, and she does not live that far north from there, and so I decided to drop by her place: I had not in months. I just wanted to drop by for dinner. I would have had to go back to my place and cook anyways, so why not let her do it, she is better at it. But then I ended up spending the night on her living room couch. And this morning over leisurely coffee, as we were talking, she proceeded to talk about my car and, bam, it hit me: my car was parked on the wrong side of the street. Today was Wednesday, cleaning day. I hurried back up. At least it did not get towed, but there was a ticket and a big, fat, ugly sticker on the side window that basically said, don't you want a cleaner New York, and you can remove this big, fat, ugly sticker with warm water and a scraper.

Dean was in town yesterday. Tracey introduced me to him. Tracey, you have no idea how much this means to me. She must have known. As soon as I spotted her, tapped her on her left shoulder and said, "Hey Tracey," she was like, "Here, let me introduce you to the Governor .... Governor, this is the guy who started Democracy For Nepal." She reads my face. It is speed reading. I was actually resigned to just taking Dean's photos from a distance. I did not expect to say a few words to him. Who was I? Nobody.

"I am a Dean veteran from 2004. I was in Indiana. I am already working on Dean 2008."

And then we stepped back from the spotlight. A handler then gave us this look and pushed herself between us and Dean. I was about to say, "Lady, this is Tracey Denton, Campaign Chair of Dean 2008. And I am Senior Advisor to Dean 2008. You mind?" But I let it pass. Howard Dean was working hard to keep the spotlight on Fernando Ferrer and I did not want to shift it to Tracey, even if momentarily, even if only in the background.

Big power and big money come up with turf wars. Nowhere truer than on Capitol Hill and Wall Street. When you go swimming, you get wet. When you politic, you deal with turfwater. It comes with the territory.

Yesterday morning I woke up to an unhooked computer. Usually I am online before I go to sleep, and online right after I wake up. The night before I had done the unplugging to change the routine. But a few hours later, I was back online. And I am glad I did. There was an email from Tracey saying Howard Dean was in town to do an event for Ferrer. I was psyched. You mean I finally get to see the guy?

So what is he like in person? He is almost my height. He is very plain. His honesty just exudes. This is not your calculating, scheming, posturing politician. But then I knew that. He is vastly inspirational for some unmistakable personal qualities. That lack of evil also prevents him from seeing evil in others to an extent. But then having some good, loyal staffers can rectify that. Face it, the guy is a doctor. He is not trying to impress you when he looks in your eyes. Or when he shakes your hand. He almost takes a childlike pleasure in the banter or the handshake ritual. A kid and his candy.

I was even more impressed than I was all this time before I met him. He is a plain, normal guy. But he does need to be immunized against distortions and demonizations. The image factory has to be countered with an image industry.

I actually showed up half an hour early. The first event was at 4:30. I showed up at four. I first went to the elementary school right across the street. Then I went to the high school I was supposed to go to. Can't get in early, I was told. This was my first time inside a New York City public high schoool, if the foyer can be called "inside." I did not see any guns! Although there were lots of security officers.

So I walked over to a nearby pizza joint and treated myself to a slice and a can of pepsi. Then I walked back and spent some time watching some soccer. Must have been students from the same school. I like soccer so much, I actually look down upon baseball and football. There is sports, and there is the real stuff: soccer. At my very first MeetUp in town - Brooklyn Friends - a Bostonian had to give me a short intro talk on the Red Sox. "In Boston, we have T-pass."

"Don't root for the Yankees. Red Sox are better. More chutzpah." In Africa they have ethnic wars, in America they have baseball.

Finally I showed up at 4:30, and I was told the event is on the other side of the building. I hurried. But the governor was running late. I saw all these old media TV cameras. The audience was mostly the local media. With my digital camera, even I looked like one of them. The scene got me thinking about how best to blog events and beat old media at the game. Bloggers can blog events more richly than old media can cover events. Bloggers have literally limitless space to say what they want to say. Old media has teeny weeny time slots.

I must not have been reading the local news much. Looked like Ferrer was feeling the heat. One was about some post on his blog, later I learned he was also under fire for some comment he made at some church. That got me a little pumped. Immediately I was thinking punch lines.

Bloomberg is so rich, he is practically a carpetbagger in this city of the poor, the lower middle class, the middle class, the upper middle class, and the rich. Don't vote for him. He is not one of you.

That's one. How do you like that?

The media kept gravitating towards Dean and Dean kept pushing the attention back on Ferrer. Ferrer got all these questions about his blog, and it was so obvious to me the media was responding to the presence of the blogman: Dean. Ferrer does not even blog, his staffers do, although he does submit "drafts and ideas," he said.

The first event was in front of a public school so as to draw attention to the education issue. Then we walked over to a nearby subway station. It was during that walk that I spotted Tracey. And after Dean departed, I stuck around. And Norman Siegel showed up. And Tracey introduced me to him. "You went to school in Georgia, I went to school in Kentucky." Golley, it was like meeting the Who's Who of local New York City politics. Another mayoral candidate has-been was there. Scott Stringer was there. He is running for Manhattan Borough President. He is just such an affable guy with an easy smile, real friendly demeanor. Tracey also introduced me to a whole lot of others, like a "Siegel bodyman, sorry, person," and the guy behind the New Democratic Majority. He is from Seattle. "When I think Seattle, I think Bill Gates. I have not been to the city, but I have been to the state." An anti-war activist: "How long have you been in the country? Now you know we are not all bad."

The subway station event was fun. It is like there are all these animals deep in the burrows. And you throw smoke down one end, and they all show up at the other end, and you catch them. At least one out of 20 acted like it too: "I just want to go home." I-want-to-go-home-to-mommy look on their faces, all these middle age guys. Those must be card-holding members of Billionaires For Bush. And a few at the other end: "Give 'em hell, Howard." Some thanked the "welcoming committee."

The most interesting character of the entire evening was this girl, probably 10. She showed up next to me, on my right, and she was not talking to anyone in particular. She is like,"Where is the TV camera? I am an actress. I am going to be famous one day." I pointed to one camera that seemed to be pointing in our general direction. She made her way to the front. And then threw this high voltage Julia Roberts smile. She was going to be on the evening news, and you and I were not going to get in the way, that's for sure. I thought she had her 15 seconds of fame, and then forgot about her. A little later, boom, she emerges from the underground. She must have crossed the street, then crossed the platform, and then emerged like she were getting off the train. But Dean and Ferrer were busy talking among themselves because a train had not stopped in a little while and there was this lull. No animals were getting smoked out.

"Shoot," she said. And walked away. And then I forgot about her. And then she did it all over again. This time she got to shake hands, and I took a few pictures.

If anyone who knows her - family, family friend, school teacher - that might run into this blog entry, please pass these photos onto her: this is a public service announcement. I do think she is an actress of great potential, and I think she is going to be famous some day. Aspiring actresses who want to shake Dean's hand deserve to go all the way!

Later in the evening, I also gave some thought to my career path. I am a little on the scattered side right now. I need to focus. I am gearing towards public service. Dean 2008 might end up defining me.

Theoretical work in group dynamics is to do with learning some serious maths. The IC idea is not an idea for one company, but two different industries, maybe three, and it is happening in fits and bounds. Google just made a breakthrough with the free, wireless broadband idea: companies will do it better than city governments. If I could focus on my online retail marketing for the money, and then focus on Dean 2008 for the politics, that would be great. Dean 2008 might be the best way to participate in a total spread of democracy worldwide, the best gift to the dollar a day people, my "constituency" of choice. Even my corporate visions have always been about public service: the IC idea is to reach out to the dollar a day crowd. But technology is at best a means. Technology is not the solution. Social and political challenges have social and political solutions. Although internet access helps greatly. No need to ditch anything, just prioritize, and focus on one thing for now. That might be Dean 2008.

A Great Mixer

Yesterday was the best DFNYC event ever for me. Too bad noone was dancing. Loud, fast, simple music. Large crowd. That is my idea of a cocktail. But I did dance on my own before leaving. Lewis: "We should make you the official DFNYC dancer." Is that a mascot?

Mark Green shows up just like that. "Mr. Green, Paramendra Bhagat, new in town." "Mark Green, old in town." And one member - Marion Ms. "Both Lewis and I were born in Manhattan" - works at Kofi Annan's office, and got to meet Richard Gere when he dropped by. (When people ask me what religion I am, I am prone to say, "I am a Buddhist, like Richard Gere." A-n-y association is good.) And a guy in advertising who had a copy of the New York Times, the Arts section, for the 25th! And Dan Jacoby finally learns my name. And Ms. Sunshine birthday girl Heather Woodfield claims her cheerfulness is just a "facade." What a twist. And queen Tracey Denton is all humble about DFNYC. Oh, we are just a small group, just getting by. And Leila shows up with Norman Siegel stickers. And I tell her about a movie I once saw about these Japanese soldiers on little islands out there in the Pacific in the middle of nowhere. It is ten years after World War II and they are still fighting the war because noone told them the war is over. And a guy who worked on this for months because his girlfriend temporarily does not have health insurace: http://www.truthonbloomberg.org. And Andrew and Martha, veterans of the Cesnik machine, all pumped up. And an Austrian journalist who recently covered Katrina: she was associated with the Green Party in her country, but now is a US correspondent for a major newspaper in Austria. Two people running for Congress, one of whom can't tell Austria from Australia: "I guess I will just say Europe somewhere." One of them from Eery, PA. "I've been there!" And Mason from Boston from Cote D' Vere (sp?) who is outraged Goldman Sachs just got $1.6 bilion from the city for moving from one place in the city to another. "I need to tell Tracey about this." And Renna is all worked up about world poverty. "There is a Katrina a day out there."

I shoulda brought my camera along.

First to get there, last to leave.
- PKB.

Bloomberg Is No Democrat --- pass it on
http://democracyforum.blogspot.com/2005/09/bloomberg-is-no-democrat.html

From: "Larry P, member, Truth on Bloomberg Group"
To: "Paramendra Kumar Bhagat"
Subject: Re: was great meeting you at the mixer/TruthOnBloomberg
Date: Fri, 23 Sep 2005 22:15:18 -0400

Hello

Thanks for the link to my site.

I am a professional advertiser, however I'm not a professional campaigner, fundraiser or organizer. Any help will be welcomed.

I really started this site as a push to build momentum. It's a push to remind Democrats of who they really are. It's a push to get people passionate.

While TruthOnBloomberg goes against the mayor, we'll soon have a new site that will display an issue-by-issue reason to vote FOR Ferrer.

When asked "Why should I vote for Ferrer?" these are big things to mention:

1. Ferrer will give universal healthcare to all NYC children.
2. Ferrer will actively get funding for the schools, something Bloomberg has not done.
3. Ferrer will require that developers who get tax breaks for housing MUST build units not only for low earners, but for MIDDLE earners.
4. Ferrer will install a high-level emergency management authority, instead of Bloomberg's NYPD-centric authority.

Talk to you soon,

Larry