Thursday, October 06, 2005

DFNYC In The News





People you know and meet regularly show up in the newspaper columns. That makes you feel like an insider. I might have finally arrived!

DFNYC in the News

Submitted by Heather Woodfield on Sat, 12/25/2004 - 9:12am.
NY Observer, October 10, 2005 -"Plutocrats of Democrats Go Bloomberg"
NY Observer, October 10, 2005 -"Return of the WASP? Weld, Dean Hope So"
NY Press, September 28, 2005 -Apparently, they haven't figured out that Meetups are now Linkups and that Heather is a short brunette while Tracey is a tall blond.
The Villager, June 29, 2005
Newsday, June 13, 2005

Best Looking whoever

Nydia Velazquez

Who's New York's most delicious politico? Let's consider the suspects. We'll start with former spinster Alexa Hinton, who got the gang of 51 some favorable ink. Her weapon: long blonde hair, blue eyes and the demeanor of a southern belle bemused by big bad Metropolis. It's too bad she left for a reporting gig down south.

Then there's Kathryn Prael, aide to Congressman Anthony Weiner, who shot up from last place to second in the Democratic Primary. Her statuesque frame, dirty blonde hair and Hepburn eyes gave us an incentive to attend as many campaign events as possible.

We're not exactly sure what the State Superintendent of Banks Diana Taylor actually does at work. Mostly we know her as the taller, trophy girlfriend of Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. We recall one bizarre conversation in which we was introduced to the power couple as a reporter "born in 1978" and Taylor replied that she was in college that year.

Tracey Denton is our reason for covering Meetup.com's meet-ups. The short brunette with wiry lips that shape themselves into political jargon and manufactured laughs is a fixture at the group's events. So are hordes of reform-minded single men and women in flannel shirts. Unfortunately, Denton seemed unaware of the online group's reputation for launching more than the Dean campaign. We'll be happy to explain it some night.

Our vote, though, goes to the congresswoman who gets around (her district is in Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan), Nydia Velázquez. She's young, sexy and rocks a red, rebellious short do. And yes, she does look good angry. After we asked her why her office emailed a press release about a political endorsement—a big no no—she refused to speak to us. She hasn't taken our calls or returned our messages. HOT!


Mr. Dean, as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee, uses New York as an A.T.M., of course, but even more directly he has bequeathed us an insurgent political organization in the form of Democracy for New York. That group, an emanation of his unsuccessful Presidential campaign, supports New York candidates of Mr. Dean’s progressive stripe, but so far it has not made much headway in a Democratic Party that is organized along vastly different, often ethnic lines. Recently, Mr. Dean enlisted the prestige of the D.N.C. (such as it is) behind the campaign of Mayoral candidate Fernando Ferrer.

“I’ve heard from varying sources that they are upset that she’s not even getting a slap on the wrist for this,” said Heather Woodfield, a registered Democrat and the director of Democracy for New York City, a group of Dean supporters.

Democracy for America, the organization founded by Howard Dean after his presidential campaign ended last year, has endorsed Norman Siegel for public advocate. “I have not seen this type of heartfelt reaction to a candidate since Howard Dean’s presidential bid,” said Heather Alexa Woodfield, director of the local DFA coalition group, Democracy for NYC.

Meanwhile, Democracy for NYC, a political action committee with ties to Democracy for America, voted to endorse City Council Speaker Gifford Miller.

On The Web
at No comments:

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Dean 2008


I keep thinking Dean 2008. It might define me. As for money, Bill Gates once famously said, it is not like I am going to buy any more hamburgers or anything. Beyond a point, money is just numbers. And I am confident I can make what I need on the fly. Through online marketing, writing, guest appearances in movies, sitting on the boards of cutting edge tech companies, whatever. Money is no problem in the long run. I don't enjoy spending money, I really don't, and that might never change. I prefer the subway to cabs, and that might never change. The crowd is what I love about NYC. Why would I deprive myself? Ever since I got here, I have been plotting to get rid of my car.

But Dean 2008 might be the best way, the most efficient way, to ensure a total spread of democracy, the best thing that could happen to the dollar a day crowd. I am thinking a deadline here. Say Dean gets into the White House in 2008. And by 2020, every country on the planet is a democracy. JFK set his goal to take the country to the moon. Dean could pledge himself to global democracy.

With that vision, I can see me focusing on Dean 2008 single-mindedly starting from now. I wish there were no term limits. I really would have liked to go head-to-head with George Bush and Karl Rove. I am no Martin Luther King, I am no Mahatma Gandhi, I am Ninja.

I keep having this recurring dream of adding a Pentagon to the State Department. Dean gets into the White House, Barack Obama becomes Secreatary of State. And Obama sets up a peaceful Pentagon. An appendage that is constantly spewing out newer and better tools that grassroots movements for democracy may use worldwide. Both technological and organizational tools. It is war with communications technology. It is the bank robbery gone wrong scene in the movie Heat. This is a heavyweight boxing championship. I am feeling martial.

(Aug 07 '00 They Can Smell Each Other Opinion on Heat)

The next time I meet Dean, I am going to say something like this. "You have seen the James Bond movies. There is James Bond, and there is this old guy, who comes up with cool stuff, guns, cars, watches, pens, that James Bond gets to use to do his work. I am that old man. You are James Bond." Let me do my work.

In 2004, after the Deaniacs got massacred by old media, all Democrats in the field started copying the Dean style, but noone even tried to copy the Dean substance. That substance goes undefined. We have so far only defined it vaguely. Fiscally responsible, and socially progressive is a close approximation, but it does not cut it all the way.

I would like to talk about a One Person, One Vote, One Voice superstructure. Democracy has to be reinvented, like it was invented in 1776, like JFK invented the modern presidential campaign in 1960. Dean gets to reinvent both democracy and the presidential campaign, and then he gets to reinvent the whole idea of governance.

One Person. Every Homo Sapien within the geographical US has the option through DFA to get involved, to contribute, to truly count. Heck, the geographical line might not exist. What would stop an Australian or an Indian from coming online and contributing to our campaign's policy talk on, say, Social Security? Nothing. Our definition of a person is that he or she be a Home Sapien. For now. Them Hindus think non-humans also have souls. So you never know.

One Vote. A vertical hierarchy will have to emerge. We want to reinvent democracy, but we do not wish to invite chaos. There will have to be an organization with hierarchies. The organization will have a total, transparent democracy, and this Ninja preaches a non-violent militancy. But to speed up decisions, we will have the vote mechanism in place. When you can't reach a consensus, you vote, and then everyone gets behind the decision.

One Voice. Each person gets to speak his or her mind. Before you look for where the majority opinion is, you speak up. Preferably blog your opinions. At the one voice level, you don't care what the world thinks, you don't care what your comrades think. All you are concerned with is trying to figure out where you stand, and expressing that stand in the most clear way possible. Step 2 is still to submit yourself to the one person, one vote mechanism, or the consensus mechanism. But step 1 is all about you. And even if you get outvoted, and you still feel you are right, you get to keep polishing your stance, and whatever you say is still archived. It does not get washed away into thin air. Your voice gets archived online if you might so choose.

This superstructure is the democracy we are talking about. And I expect us to be only one step ahead of the competition. That is enough. And I do want us to be imitated. By our rivals within the Democratic Party, and by our Republican opponents. Because if they copy our one person, one vote, one voice superstructure, American democracy goes to a whole different level.

I am not too worried. Walmart is an open book company. When you go inside a Walmart you have seen their entire business model. Kmart and Target and all the rest of them have still not been able to beat Walmart. So don't get alarmed with the total, transparent democracy idea.

Dean 2008 just might clear my head. It might redefine me. It might get me focused like I never might have been before.

NYC is the crown city, DFNYC the crown jewel.

A total spread of democracy through indigenous, non-violent movements that receive maximal external moral and logistical support.
at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)